Vast

Rory stood in her underwear gazing at her reflection in the mirror. She ran her hand over her stomach. Her fingers traced the line of her scar before whispering over her new stretch marks. They hadn't looked so bad when she was pregnant but now that her stomach was back to being flat, they certainly didn't look great. She frowned. So many scars. She looked at Stephens reflection in the mirror. He was lying in their bed, propped up against the headboard, bedside light on, reading a book. She returned her gaze to the reflection of her stomach as she spoke. "Stephen?"

"Hmm?" He murmured inquisitively as he looked up from his book. Though her back was to him, he smiled at her, knowing that she could see him via the mirror.

"Do you still think I'm beautiful?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, puzzled by her question. "Of course I do. I think you're the most beautiful person in the world. Why do you ask?"

Her hand ran over her scars again. She turned around to face him. "Well look at me. Look at these." She waved her hand over her stomach.

He sighed through his nose and smiled. "I am looking at you."

"And what do you see?"

"I see a strong, brave woman who has been through more in her 21 years than most people have in a lifetime. You don't go through the things you've been through without acquiring a few scars along the way. Besides, those scars are you. They're important. Like that one." He drew a line through the air with his finger, indicating the scar the Ripper left her. "You survived an attack that would kill a lot of people and something happened to you that night that made you a permanent part of my life. And those stretch marks show that you carried and gave birth to our daughter. Scars are what make us who we are. I could never think of you as anything but beautiful and those scars don't lesson that. Not in the slightest." He smiled at her sweetly.

She smiled at him warmly. "Really?"

"Rory, my love for you is vast. So vast that it literally spans life and death. So vast that it will span decades. And when you love someone like that, they are beautiful to you no matter what. Scars won't diminish that. I love you so much Rory. Scars and all."

He held out his hand to her and she smiled as she put out the light and walked over to the bed, placing her hand in his. "I thought the quote was 'warts and all.'"

He kissed her hand and let go so she could pick up her pyjamas from the bed and put them on. "You don't have any warts."

She chuckled as she pulled on the bottoms. "Yet. I may have when I'm an old woman."

"And when we're old and Gina's grown up and we have grandkids, I will still think that you're as beautiful as the day I met you."

She smiled at him as she put on the top and pulled back the covers. She climbed in and cuddled up next to him. "Promise?"

He smiled at her, took of his glasses, placed them on his bedside table alongside his book and turned out the light. He shifted so that he was lying beside her and took her hand. "I promise. I will always find you beautiful."

She smiled sadly. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "No. I meant...promise me that we'll still be together when we're old."

He bit his lip. She wasn't asking for reassurance that he wouldn't leave her. They both knew that he could never do that. She was looking for reassurance that he wouldn't die. Their work was dangerous and it was a difficult promise to make. He never wanted to make a promise to her that he would break. And promising to be with her when she was old meant promising to get old. That was not a guarantee in their life. He knew at all too well. He had died when he was 19. He had nearly died several times since. It was nothing short of a miracle that he was here. And yet, he was here. Despite it all, he was alive. And in that moment, he was sure he would grow old with her. He was as sure of that as he was that she was perfection incarnate. He gazed into her eyes and squeezed her hand. "I promise."

He kissed her gently in the darkness and they held hands as they both closed their eyes. "I love you Stephen."

"I love you too."

Regina cried from the nursery. Stephen chuckled as they both sat up to see to their daughter. "Maybe that's Gina telling us that she loves us too."