Nighttime
He didn't want to close his eyes. He didn't want to miss her while he was way in his dreamland, because no dream would compare with reality. He liked to watch her during the night. The way her cheeks puffed with each released breath. The way she whispered his name while dreaming of him. The way the moonlight made her look like an angel. The way his heart swelled with increasing love every time she would open her eyes and smile tiredly at him.
He would watch her until he could no longer take it and kiss her eyelids, feeling her heartbeat under his fingers just to be sure she was still there with him… He didn't want to lose any second, he wanted to observe her through eternity, mesmerized by her pale completion, touching softly every curve of her body, grabbing her hand and squeezing it between his calloused fingers. He was afraid, more than he wanted to admit, of losing her. He feared every moment she walked out of a room, alone. He feared losing those times together, those sweet moments held between his hands like fragments of snow that in a moment could disappear in a puddle of liquid.
"Why are you awake?" she asked, one night, when turning around and opening her eyes just a little, found his face centimeters away from her, wearing a silly smile over it.
"I couldn't sleep... I don't want to miss any moment of this…" Roy whispered back, afraid of breaking the spell of peacefulness installed over them like a blanket.
Riza giggled softly, touching his face with her warm fingers and feeling his light stubble growing over his cheeks.
"It won't happen just like that…" she replied, nuzzling her face under his chin.
"I just want to hold you close, like this…" Roy said, surrounding her body with his arms and pulling her against his chest.
"Are you scared?" Riza asked, turning her face so she could watch his reaction.
"I'm petrified…" he whispered, and squeezed her more. "I don't know how to do this… I'm scared I will be awful, that everyone will be disappointed… that you will be disappointed… how can I be…?" he said, but was promptly silenced by a pair of cold lips.
When Riza backed away from him, she kept his eyes prisoners of hers and with a commanding tone said: "You won't be awful, you won't fail, you will be like anyone else when faced with this situation! I have all the confidence in you and I know you will make us really proud! You will keep us safe and warm, just like you're doing now…" and while saying it she rubbed her belly, feeling the almost imperceptible bump under her fingers.
Roy's hand jumped to rest beside her own, making her feel the warm of his fingers sipping through her light camisole.
"I'm so lucky…" he said, observing her belly lovingly. "But I'm so afraid… what if something goes badly… what if I lose you and the baby? What if I lose everything I hold dear?" he asked, in a begging tone, like she could, with just one word, soothe his demons.
"I didn't survived two wars to lose when I finally have everything I wanted! I will fight if needed! I won't let you alone!" Riza replied, pushing his hair away from his eyes.
Roy smiled and kissed her hand. Laying down again and cocooning her between their blankets, he finally closed his eyes, letting his mind rest from his daily worries and be enveloped by the warm of the woman he loved, that in a few months would become the mother of his child.
"I will always come back for you…" Riza whispered, before being immersed by the world of dreams.