Five Months Later

Zoe

"You're open, Zoe. You keep closing off here, when you should be closed here and open here."

Raph adjusts my arms, shoulders and hips and I groan.

"You're better than this. Do it again."

He's adjusting my body for moves that I can do in my sleep and I hate it. My body is an incredible thing, it's grown and born five children but in the process something happened to my back and I didn't want him to know. But hiding it was hard. I keep conditioning to rebuild strength and it's helping but it's a slow, agonizing process.

His foot comes across my ankles and I narrowly miss avoiding his leg sweep, then his fist comes at me and as I block the punch, his leg comes forward and he sweeps me off my feet anyway.

I lie on the mat and slap my hand against it, my chest heaving. We've been on a strict regimen for the past month. Shower, feed babies, warm up, train, eat breakfast, feed babies, train, condition, eat lunch, feed babies, train, play with family, eat dinner, feed babies, begin the bedtime routine that took three hours in itself. We're exhausted but I'm slowly getting back in shape.

"Zoe?" He taps my side with his foot.

I grab his ankle and fling my leg up and around his, trapping it before applying a twist that sends him falling toward me.

Smirking I watch as he braces his fall, bringing himself to hover over me.

"You used to close your eyes when I'd fall on you like that." His eyes are bright with surprise and they dart over me as the corners of his mouth quirk up in a pleased grin. I reach up, wrapping my fingers among the tattered tails of his mask, pulling him to me.

"I thought I trusted you then, and I did, but I knew you'd hurt me if you ever actually fell on me. And you still would, but now I know that you'd maim yourself before you ever let that happen." I smile against his lips, "I trust you with everything I am Raphael. There's no fear of you here."

He grumbles begrudgingly but can't hide the sparkle in his eyes, and I laugh when he nudges my jaw and I tilt back my head giving him access to my throat. "Mmmm," I hum as the warmth of his breath against my skin sends shivers throughout me.

He chuckles in between feather light brushes of his lips over my neck and the sound changes the rhythm of my heart. "Zoe," he breathes as he places kisses strategically over my pulse thrumming in my neck, to the scar of his own mark on my shoulder, finally slipping down to wear my heart slams against my sternum, "I love you."

I lower my chin, placing the threadbare fabric of his mask against my lips and I breathe in his unique cedarwood and sweat scent, allowing it to wash over me, provoking memories that bring a lump to my throat and moisture to my eyes. "I love you too Big Guy," I whisper, tracing his nuchal shell with my fingertips, letting each groove, and dip tell its own story.

My skin is covered in scars of its own and as I let my wondering hands caress his unyielding flesh and bone, from the khanji on his arm, to the scar over his lip his body speaks to me, telling me its journey, and he does the like, with hands that have grown as skilled with my body as they are with his sai.

With fingers tracing, our eyes follow and we take turns, I outline the brand on his arm and he whispers, "family," before placing his lips over my shoulder where I hum, "you," then I press my lips against a small crescent on his shoulder and he grins, his eyes flickering with the memory, "you." I run my tongue over the tiny mark, tasting the salt of sweat on him, before closing my lips and dragging them against his pebbled emerald colored skin, moving up his neck where I rub my cheek against the side of his face and he growls before turning his head to plant his lips on my own, all the while unzipping the front closure of my bra.

His mouth leaves mine, seeking my breasts, swollen from nursing three infants, and he takes long draws off each while moaning at the taste of me, and the sound paired with the tingling sensation sends a jolt straight through my stomach, down to my pelvis and out through my toes, "Raph," I breathe, raising my hips in search of him.

He wrestles off my pants greeting me with the friction of his palm and he gasps at how wet I am before latching onto my breast again. It has been so long and I hurt for want of him. He strokes the insides of my thighs and I let them fall away, opening myself to him. As he slowly edges his finger inside me I shudder, clenching my teeth and reaching for something to hold on to. Releasing my breast with a growl, that reminds me of the sound Hisao makes when he nurses, I laugh, and find flaming green eyes burning into me, a trace of milk splashed across his lips. Flashing me an indignant look he withdraws his finger leaving me seeking friction yet again.

"Mean," I gasp.

He shakes his head, shifts his hips and I feel the pressure I so desire, sinking into me as he lowers his mouth to mine and whispers, "Not today I'm not."