Hello everyone!

I am so sorry for the scanty posting lately. I came down with the worst flu and was put out for a while. Hopefully, this chapter is a gift I am giving to you for your forgiveness. I wanted to show a scene with just Jane and Rochester alone, I just love them so much, I hope you do too!

Thank you so much for all your comments. They mean the world to me, and I just love getting them. You are all amazing, hope you are well xoxoxo

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Jane's eyes flashed opened suddenly, and she felt how rapidly her heart was beating. She gasped as she woke, shuddering slightly. Edward moved beside her, and she only now became aware that she had been using his arm as a pillow. She found one arm across his chest, resting in his hair and the other pressed against his chest. She had remember laying here like this, but she only meant to do so for a moment. She did not mean to fall asleep.

"I'm here" was the soft promise whispered beside her.

Jane nodded, looking into her husbands dark, expressive eyes. He looked a little drained, but more so than that he looked attentive and comforting.

"How long was I asleep?"

"I have not really noticed, not long"

Jane's tears had long since dried, but the lead weight pressing on her chest had not lifted, and she knew it would not until she spoke, until she entrusted all her feelings to her husband.

"Tell me what you are thinking. Or even one thing you think of. Your silence is like a dagger to my heart"

"I do not mean to torture you with my silence. I will answer whatever you ask me. I am thinking of how your smell is familiar to me in this moment".

Edward's hand massaged Jane's back slowly. She welcomed his touches, for she knew that he did not expect anything from her, he only wanted to soothe and to comfort.

"How are you feeling?"

"My head still throbs, and I feel a little weak. Otherwise, I am well"

He looked knowingly at her, taking her hand.

"I know your body will mend, my darling, but I could not bare to see your heart chipped, or broken. It would surely break mine"

Jane turned on her back, looking up at the ceiling. She felt the rising of tears prickle her eyes.

"Edward I am so angry at him. Not only because of what happened to me, for in truth it could have been much worse, and the outcome could have been far more severe. I am angry that he thought he could take me, that he believed it to be his right- that he felt it was normal, perhaps, to do as much to me. I do not know how to make sense of such a thought"

"That is because one cannot make sense of a falsehood, and one cannot forgive a lie that they are told to believe. Franklin is a monster, Jane. And you did not deserve to be the victim of his brutality"

His voice shook slightly as he spoke. It made Jane's stomach turn.

"I did not deserve it, and nor did any other woman who I am sure has suffered at his hand. Edward, how many of those women did not have a husband to tell who would listen to them? How many women are married to someone like Franklin, and suffer at their own husbands hand? I cannot even fathom it. I have been naive, spoiled by your goodness- it has made me blind to the true reality of most woman. I feel ashamed I did not know it sooner, and ashamed still that I feel this way when I have not suffered the full extent of what some women do"

"Jane you do not need to suffer too in order to be compassionate. I have been unfortunately privy to men's thinking of what a woman is deserving of. Some men believe that because their wife is their property they can treat her like their other property, like a horse, or the land they own or the money stored in a safe at a bank. Most do not marry for love. It makes it much easier to resent someone you do not love".

"You didn't"

Edward looked at his wife. In moments such as this he was reminded how lucky he was that they were able to talk of his past with little resentment. She had always been more understanding than he would have expected her to be. All of their marriage was stood on the foundation of openness, and honesty in all things. To ignore such an event that impacted both their lives would have been strange, and unnatural.

"No" he continued after an overlong pause, "No, I did not want to be filled with hate"

Jane was suddenly overcome and became very busy with trying to combat the tears which threatened to spill from her eyes. Edward, who lay on his back looking up at the ceiling turned to her, looking guilty.

"Jane, forgive me" her asked, softly, his voice filled with pain. "You wanted to come. You wanted to come with me, and I made you stay. If you had come with me, none of this would have happened. I am so sorry".

"No" Jane corrected him, shaking her head. "Please, do not tell me that. We both know you were only being thoughtful, and excessively kind. I would have listened to you eventually. It was the right thing to do for our child".

"But it isn't good enough" he said, emotion causing his voice to be unsteady. "Jane it isn't good enough. I am your husband, I am not supposed to allow these things to happen to you. I am meant to be there with you, always-"

He did not finish the thought, and he did not need to. Jane could see the guilt he felt etched on his face. She hated that look; She spoke in order to smooth out its harsh lines.

"Edward, you made it back to me in time. What happened was minimal because you were there for me. You did not allow anything to happen to me, for you made it stop. I tried, but I never could have held him off on my own. I cannot be easy if I know you are not, so I must ask you to not take on any fault that is not yours to bare. I need you now, I need you as my husband. Please"

"What is it I can do?" he asked, pressing his lips to her forehead slowly.

"Lie very still"

Her husband looked very confused as she climbed on top of him, straddling him with her legs.

"What are you doing?"

"I do not want any time to pass between making love to you, and having him- well, attempt such with me. I do not want such a thing to be spoiled in my mind, or leave me feeling dirty as I do right now. I want to feel like your wife, which I do most when I am intimate with you".

Edward looked up at her, his face radiating pure love.

"Jane Rochester, you cannot be real"

Jane pulled his shirt off over his head with his help, revealing his toned stomach and strong arms beneath. She touched him, and he felt so familiar. She knew him as she knew herself. Here she was safe, here she was protected. This is where she was herself.

"You are my home" Jane told him as he watched her curiously. "Being here with you like this is home".

Jane could see him struggling to not reach up and pull her near to kiss her, but she had asked him to lie still and she knew he was committed to keeping his word. She grasped his wrists as she leaned in to kiss him, instantly feeling him deepen the kiss, moving his hands to the small of her back so that her large stomach pressed into him gently. Jane smiled, and the sensation felt odd on her face- she had not smiled for so long.

She moved her kisses to his neck and jaw. She was particularly skilled at knowing where to suck and where to brush with her lips so that he groaned and moved restlessly beneath her. To see such made her feel powerful, and full. Womanly.

His short breaths that ended in grunts made Jane smile. He looked up at her, a smile falling over his face before it was quickly replaced with shock as her hand moved to a more private place.

"Jane!" he said in surprise, inhaling sharply.

"What?"

"Nothing" he smiled, weakly. "Not a thing"

"Good" said Jane, "I was not about to stop for you"

A small chuckle.

Jane bent down to once again feel his lips on hers. How much she wanted him. How much her very heart cried out for him, for his closeness.

As Jane mounted him to enter him he grabbed her hips, helping to guide her in.

He was ecstasy.

Jane established a slow pace at first, it was deep and gentle, and made her head feel light with anticipation. But when she tried to move faster and thrust deeper, she found herself too tired. Embarrassment spread through her like ice. This had never happened before, and not to this extent. Her breathing was strained, and she was sure that she looked red and overworked. But her husband had not seemed to noticed, he kept his eyes closed, his grunts continued, all seemed well with him.

"Edward, darling"

His eyes opened upon her, and he surveyed her face with worry.

"What is wrong?"

"I am too tired, I cannot finish"

To her surprise he smiled, chuckling slightly. He turned her over gently, his arm falling under her back in the usual pregnancy position that made her feel the most comfortable.

"Good. I was waiting for my turn"

He kissed her deeply, his tongue skilfully paring her mouth. But he could tell something was wrong, and so he drew back, moving her hair away from her face.

"It is okay. All is well. Trust me".

Once again she felt him fill the aching within her. She moaned deeply as he began to move, her stomach expanded to almost a painful degree. Still, she felt embarrassed, and her mood had depleted significantly. Edward watched all this play across her face, stopping himself in order to give her a meaningful look. Jane groaned in protest.

"I cannot make love to my angry wife, it seems wrong"

"I am not angry, proceed"

"You are put out, then, and I will not have it. Let me see what I can do about it"

Jane eyed him as he pulled opened her nightshirt, exposing her breasts. He gathered them in his hand and moved his mouth skilfully over one of her nipples and sucked gently. Jane gasped, pressing her lips lazily into his chest. She could no longer hold up her head.

"That is not fair" she said defiantly.

He smiled before moving to the next breast, his finger finding the area that wanted him most.

"Ah, I can see you are ready for me to proceed" he said, smiling and kissing her raised peak before drawing back, mounting above her again.

"Are you comfortable?"

She nodded.

Once again the immense aching that had been growing in Jane's stomach was soothed as she wrapped her arms around her husbands neck to be near to him. She stood no chance against him. Within a few thrusts she was finished, fire running through her veins and shaking her from head to foot. Edward smiled at his accomplishments as he finished moments later, crying out in the masculine way that drew Jane's mind back from the wonderful, golden, place he had brought it.

. . . .

"You will not punish me too several not not staying still?" he asked her some time later as they lay in each others arms.

Night was falling now, and the sky began to descend behind the hills.

"I suppose I can pardon you from terrible punishment, seeing as you saved me from an embarrassing end to our lovemaking"

He grinned privately, closing his eyes.

"Perhaps you would have had a disappointing finish, but not I. As soon as I feel your hands on me I have to fight the urge to give into you immediately"

"You are teasing me"

"I am not. Would you like to help me prove it to you?"

Jane turned over smiling, pressing her back into his stomach and feeling his arms encompass her in their warmth.

"Jane you are tired because you are almost nine months pregnant, you do not sleep well in the nights, you do not have an appetite and today you had- an emotionally draining day. One day, when I am quite an old man, you shall run circles around me and our lovemaking and I shall have quite a lot to be embarrassed about"

"Mmm, I cannot wait for such days of love to come" she said, "I think I shall love you even more then, if such is even possible"

"When such days come, we shall have to be very quiet so this little one does not know what his parents do so secretly into the night in their room" he said, kissing her stomach sweetly.

"I am not sure I am ready to see Edward Fairfax Rochester as a father. I do not know if I can trust you to not corrupt our child with such talk"

He laughed as he kissed the top of her head.

"Never shall that wickedness be gone from you, of that I am certain"

"I told you that you were not marrying an angel"

"Ah, but I did" he said seriously, his hand moving over her stomach. "My own angel, who loves me in spite of all my faults and shortcomings. I love her so much, it pains me to think she can never know"

Jane pulled the hand which held her in his arms to her mouth and kissed it slowly. She held it close to her heart as another wave of sleep threatened to overtake her.

"If I fall asleep, will you go downstairs, eat, and take some time for yourself for a little while?"

"No, I do not think so"

"Is it not even a possibility?"

He shook his head, breathing in the scent of her hair.

"I want to be here when you wake, sleep".

Knowing she would not win, she closed her eyes and was asleep within instants.