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Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine. I just play for a while, then place them back where they belong. ;)
Summary: A moment in time soon after the events of 6X01 & 6X02. No spoilers.
For those who kept me going as I waded through six weeks away from my home and my Castle.
She wakes, expecting a cold and empty bed. When the bed shifts, and his arm pulls her close, she remembers.
He will be okay.
A smile curls her lips as she closes her eyes and revels in the warmth of his chest against her back and the tangle of their legs. It's been far too long since she last woke up like this, and in this moment, she vows to never let it go this long again.
She reflects on the nights away from him, living and breathing each case as if it were her life at stake. Waiting each evening to speak to him, to hear his voice once more. Each time, wishing the distance between them would disappear. Missing his touch, his smile. The way he can brighten her day by only entering the room.
The job in D.C. was a chance for her to spread her wings, to see if she could make a difference. She did find she can fly without the pull of her mother's case driving her forth. Also, that she can make a difference, but it can never be the life for her. Her life is in New York. Her life is with him, and it frightens her how close she came to losing him.
Funny, how life always seems to send wake up calls like this, and she has had far too many to count. - This is the one she will not ignore.
She rolls to face him, touches his face while he sleeps. Forty-two days she lived without this, without his warmth and touch. Without his smile to wake her each day. She knows now that another week or month apart from him may have been her undoing.
As her decision is made, he wakes, his blue eyes so bright. So alive.
She presses closer to him, touching her forehead to his, breathing him in like on their first morning. Their noses bump gently, and no other words need to be said. She can see in his eyes that he understands.
It's time to go home.