A week passes, in which Auron's face haunts me. He looked perfectly contend that moment I kissed his scar. But then I doubt my ability to interpret the look on his face. Maybe he was just surprised. But maybe, maybe he really liked it.
I almost jump out of my shoes when the com sphere chimes. It's Auron.
"Hey," I answer his call, a bit breathless.
"Hello Eanna. Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine, thanks."
"Well…" Auron looks away for a second. "Do you still do walks along the embankment? I would like to talk."
"Sure!" I can't help myself, my face lights up with a big grin. "Just tell me when!"
"What about this afternoon? If this is not too short notice for you."
"Of course not." To tell the truth, I would have latched on almost any excuse to leave the office early on such a wonderful summer's day, but a date with Auron beats everything.
We agree on a time and place to meet, and Auron ends the call.
I look at the time. Okay, so I have three hours left. I'm much too giddy to get any more work done today, and decide to go home.
I shower, eat something, and spend a ridiculously long time choosing what to wear. It's not like I have much of a choice, I don't have that much maternity wear which will fit right now. And I refuse to wear those bulky heaps of cloth which can be folded and adjusted to fit the growing baby belly. Yes, sure, they are practical, but they are also unshaped, and unbecoming, and they make me feel like I'm wearing a tent.
Actually, I really like my pregnant body. Of course, my belly is huge and I have generally gained weight. But I feel glorious in all my enhanced curviness, and I want to show it off as well as I can. So no bulky maternity tents for me!
Well, no time to go shopping now, so I make do with what I have. I choose a flowing skirt with a flowery pattern and I even manage to find a tight shirt in the colour of some boots I have which will match the flowers on the skirt.
When I pass the mirror on my way down the stairs I pause for the moment. I look great. One thought, however, puts a real damper on my spirits.
Yes, I'm deliriously happy because Auron called (just in case anyone missed that), but beside my hopes and dreams, I have no indication what Auron actually wants to talk to me about. His face gave nothing away during the sphere call earlier today. For all I know, he could be planning to tell me that now that Tidus is grown and Jecht is dead, he'll go back to Bevelle.
When I tie the laces of my boots, I come to two realisations.
First, I need to find shoes I can just slip on, or at least shoes that don't require lacing.
Second, even after months of radio silence between Auron and me I still can't bring myself to buy clothes in pink, orange or any other colour which will clash with red.
I am totally nuts.
Surprisingly enough (not), Auron is already there when I arrive. He is sitting on the backrest of 'our' bench, feet on the seat. I grin at the sight.
Auron rises as soon as he spots me. "Good afternoon."
"Hi…"
"You look beautiful," Auron says quietly.
Giddy happiness rises up within me. If that isn't a good start!
"Shall we walk?" Auron offers me his arm and we turn to walk along the edge of the water.
It's a beautiful summer's day, the sky is blue and the sun glistens on the calm sea. I can hear it lapping quietly at the concrete wall below us.
"I have spoken with Tidus," Auron informs me. This man really has the sexiest voice in the history of Zanarkand and Spira combined.
"Oh?"
"Yes," Auron answers dryly. "We had a long heart to heart conversation. Just the two of us, no Yuna to keep the peace."
"Oh!"
"Quite. Tidus can be… rather emotional."
I raise an eyebrow at him. "And you can't?"
"Fair." Auron nods in my direction to concede the point. "You were right, I should not have purposefully kept the boy at a distance. The complicated relationship between Jecht and me was not his fault, neither were the circumstances which made me his guardian. It was not… How did you put it? 'Anybody's fault, really'."
I smile when he says my own words back to me. "How did Tidus react?"
Auron takes a deep breath before he answers my question. "We both had many issues to discuss, a lot of things needed to be said out loud. Once it was all on the table, we could both be calmer. I hope we are in a better place now."
"That took a lot of gut on your part."
"I wish I had not manoeuvred us into a place where this was made necessary."
"Don't get me wrong, I still think you should have treated Tidus differently, but you did what you thought was best. Things weren't easy for you, still aren't, but judging from what you tell me you still have time to treat him better, to make amends. If that's what you want."
"Yes, I think that is what I want. I missed out on many things in the boy's life, because he felt he could not tell me. Did you know that he and Yuna are actually engaged to be married?"
I look away from him, out over the sea. Apparently, this is answer enough.
"I see."
"They kept it from Yuna's adoptive parents, too. I don't think they know yet."
"Well, to be put in one category with these funguars really does make me feel better."
For a moment, it feels like I can physically touch the sarcasm dripping off of Auron's voice, but I cannot fight the laugh escaping me.
Auron raises a questioning eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Nes used the same term for those… people, when Kimahri first came to live with us."
A tiny smile dances around Auron's full lips. "Did he now."
We walk in silence for a while, until Auron clears his throat.
"I have made another decision," he informs me quietly, and suddenly the heat feels oppressive, stifling even.
Auron halts and turns us toward each other. He looks down in me over the rim of his shades and our eyes lock. I await his verdict.
"I would like to be around for…" he gestures towards the baby, "and for you, too. I would like our relationship to continue."
Leave it to Auron to put the most romantic things into the soberest of words.
"I would like that, too."
"I will not be of much help to you," he says with a glance at his bad arm.
"Auron!" I huff. "I don't need 'help'. I recently employed a cleaning lady, I have a midwife-slash-nanny lined up to teach me how to care for the baby and to jump in when I need some space after the baby is born, and the baby has two big brothers who promised to be around for any heavy lifting that needs to be done. I don't need help, Auron. I need you!"
For a moment, we just stare into each other's eyes.
"Besides," I continue, calmer now, "after a millennium of war, you can't be the first man to lose an arm and then become a father. I'm sure there are ways you can do your share of baby care, we just have to find them."
"You have no idea how happy you make me, Eanna." Auron leans his forehead against mine. "I am still not sure how this will pan out, with the child and all, but I am more than relieved that you are still willing to try."
"Oh Auron, I missed you so much…"
"I missed you, too. I am sorry that I walked out on you, and then left you hanging for so long."
"Well, I practically told you to. I'm so sorry, Auron." I start to sob, and Auron draws back in order to fish a handkerchief out of his coat pocket.
"I'm sorry," I sniffle, "I get really emotional, lately."
"Lately?"
I sort and use Auron's handkerchief to dry my tears.
"Let's go sit down," I say when I'm done wiping my face, "I need to get off my feet."
"Is something wrong?" Auron asks anxiously, and offers me his arm again. We turn back towards our bench.
"No, nothing's wrong. I'm just tired all the time these days, the baby's heavy, and I need a break. It's normal."
About halfway, we cross paths with the ice cream seller, and Auron buys us some. We take it back to our bench and sit, properly this time.
Auron smirks, one eyebrow raised.
"I need to lean on the backrest," I inform him, and do just that.
We talk some more, and when I leave about two hours later Auron sends me off with a soft kiss.
I'm still in a very good mood when I float into the apartment a while later. Nes and Kimahri are in the kitchen together.
Lady Eanna want some dinner?
"Sure, thanks!" I beam at Kimahri and fetch the plates and cutlery to set the table. Nes looks at me funny, but holds his tongue for now.
"Okay, mum, spill," he commands a while later, when I smile dreamily into my food.
"It's that obvious, huh?"
Kimahri nods. Lady Eanna very happy.
"Yes, I guess I am. This afternoon, I've been to see Auron. We intend to fix things."
They both look at me intently, wearing identical expressions of both worry and joy.
"Are you sure that's what you want, mum?"
"Yes, I am."
Lady Eanna need not get back with Sir Auron only because of baby. Nes and Kimahri here to help.
"Kimahri's right, mum. I know you were happy with him, but you owe him nothing."
I smile a teary smile. Oh, how I want to hug those two boys, and knock their heads together at the same time! They are so sweet, it's infuriating.
"I know, guys, thank you. I wouldn't get back together with Auron only for the baby. I really want to be with him."
Kimahri tilts his head to one side. Lady Eanna was very happy with Sir Auron. Kimahri want Lady Eanna happy again.
"Thanks, Kimahri."
I can tell that Nes needs a bit longer to come around, but he will, eventually. I know he likes Auron, in a way, and he wants me to be happy. It'll all work out.
It might come as a surprise, but Auron and I can't keep our hands off each other for long. Okay, maybe that's not so very surprising.
One night we meet for dinner at my place, and Auron brings in a bag full of fresh fruit which he deposits on the kitchen counter, along with a container of what looks like freshly pressed juice.
I raise a questioning eyebrow at him, and he smiles that soft, small smile which seems to be reserved for me only. My knees weaken when I see that it's still there.
"You mentioned recently that you miss having something special to drink, now that wine is a no-go," Auron explains while unpacking the bag.
"There is a kind of cocktail you might like. Yuna's mother used to make if for her when she was little, so that Yuna would have something special to drink when the adults had wine." He smiles apologetically. "She made it for a child, that is why it is non-alcoholic, but it is delicious. I hope you like it."
I take a closer look at the fruit on the counter, while Auron hunts for a jar.
"Do you have anything we can purée these with?" he asks from inside a kitchen cabinet.
"Yeah, sure," I answer, and help him find what he needs.
"Did you know that those count as 'exotic fruit' here in Zanarkand?" Auron sounds a little affronted when he hands me three fruits roughly the size and shape of a large egg. "They grow in every other garden on the Isle of Besaid. Would you peel and dice them, please?"
The outer layer of those fruits that are apparently so common in Besaid but quite rare in Zanarkand is a greenish kind of brown, and fuzzy. The fuzz is a bit thistly, though. Inside they are green with a white core and small black seeds. They taste tart and sweet at the same time. Curious!
"Do not eat them," Auron admonishes me. "They are edible, of course, but we need them for our cocktail now." Auron has cut and pressed another fruit which I have seen before, but never tasted. It's yellow, and reportedly quite sour. He purées the ones I have now finished chopping, and mixes them together with a bit of the juice he just made and a sizeable helping of the one he brought in the container. When he is done, he puts everything in a jar, to put it on the table. The result doesn't look very appetising, but well, I'll at least try it.
Shaking my head I go and fetch the good glasses while Auron stirs in a last, mysterious ingredient. He pours us two glasses, and hands me one.
"Try it." He's so tense with suppressed excitement, he's ready to burst. So I try. And I like it. The puree makes it rather thick, but it's easily drinkable with the juice. It's still tart, but also sweet, and there's a flavour I cannot identify.
"That's great, Auron!"
Auron's mouth widens into a grin. "I hoped you would like it! I think Braska's wife added a bit of sugar to take off the edge for Yuna, if you want I can…"
"No, it's perfect!"
And just like that, I have a new go to drink for special occasions.
After dinner, we take our glasses on the balcony and talk for a while, until I begin to fidget.
"You need to sit down," Auron states matter-of-factly. It's amazing how well he can read my pregnant body after such a short time.
I pull a lopsided smile. "I had almost forgotten how attentive you are."
Auron huffs. "I take that as a compliment. Now come, you are uncomfortable. We will go sit on the couch."
"No." I move closer to Auron, and he automatically turns towards me and shifts his right arm so that I can step into his embrace. We've done this countless times, and now it feels both awkward and so, so familiar. Comfortable.
I lean against his right side and look up to him. "I don't want to sit on the couch."
"What do you want?" Auron voice is low and gravely. He clears his throat.
I reach up with both hands, place them on his cheeks and pull his face closer to mine. Then I kiss him.
"I want you."
"Eanna…" Auron touches his forehead to mine and takes a deep breath. "I want you, too, but… will that not be… troublesome for you and the child?"
I shake my head. "We can do whatever we are both comfortable with. We'll figure it out as we go." And I kiss him again.
Next thing I know, we are upstairs in my bedroom, and I peel Auron out of his red sports jacket. I reach for the bindings of his left arm, but hesitate, suddenly insecure.
Auron takes my hand in his and puts it on the knot. "It is all right. Do not be shy."
And I'm not.
Around sunrise, I lie on Auron's good arm, snuggled up against his right side with my back to him. I listen to his regular breathing and try to gauge if he is still asleep. I really need to use the bathroom, but I don't want to wake him up.
"What is wrong?" Auron's voice is raspy, he's still half asleep. But only half.
"Nothing," I tell him and wiggle out of bed, "I'll be back in a moment."
When I return, very relieved, Auron hasn't moved, but his eye is open.
"Good morning," I tell him, and crawl over the bed to kiss him.
"Good morning," he answers, and sits up in bed. With the tip of his finger, he traces first my jaw, then my throat and continues down over my breasts and belly.
"You have grown softer around the edges. I like it."
"I'm glad you like it, because I certainly do," I say and move in for another kiss.
Later, I am curled up against Auron's right side again, but this time I'm facing him. I must have drifted off, because Auron's voice startles me.
"We should have talked about this a long time ago."
"Mmhm?" I raise my head, but Auron tightens his grip around my shoulders and I lie back down.
"We should have talked this out a long time ago. What our goals are for this relationship, where we want to take it. How… committed we are to each other, and what we both want for the future." I can tell he's dead serious.
"We were irresponsible with our lack of contraception, but the fact that we never once had a meaningful discussion about our relationship is far worse, as far as I am concerned. For me, this has always been serious, I wanted, and still want, this to last. Not knowing exactly where you stood after that row we had at the embankment nearly drove me out of my mind."
I mull that over for a long time, so long that I imagine Auron would have started to fidget, if he were a fidgety person.
"Eanna?"
I take a deep breath.
"Well, I suppose talking things over wouldn't have been a mistake, but…" I shift uncomfortably. Auron almost stops breathing.
"Eanna?"
"I rather liked what we had. We fell into step so easily, integrating each other into our respective lives without changing them greatly. We spent a lot of time together, without losing what or who we were as separate people." I smile, and sigh, as I don't think I make myself very clear.
"Being with you was so easy, so carefree, never before in any relationship have I felt so much like myself, and yet so content, so connected. I didn't want that to end."
I shrug, and struggle to sit up so that I can look at Auron. He searches my face, but lies completely still otherwise.
I shrug again before I continue.
"I always wanted us to be forever, and I always knew that whatever we had before I got pregnant would not last forever. Things like that invariably come with an expiration date. But, you know, life would have given us plenty of opportunities for change, and soon enough. Until then, I just wanted to enjoy what we had."
"What kind of opportunities do you mean?"
I shrug once more, and look down on my belly, absent-mindedly stroking it.
"Well, the kids don't need us around that much any more. Not like all day every day, if you know what I mean. Maybe Tidus wants to move in with Yuna properly. Would they live at the house boat and would you live there with them or leave the lovebirds to themselves? Maybe Tidus wants to move out, would you keep the house boat? With Jecht gone and Tidus as good as grown, what's keeping you in Zanarkand? Maybe you want to go back to Bevelle."
I shrug a fourth time, and Auron opens his mouth to speak but I talk over him.
"As far as I know, Nes and Kimahri are pretty happy with our living arrangements at the moment, but would they still be if you moved in with us? In time, Nes might want to move out even if you should not live here. He's certainly old enough." I smile a sad smile at the thought.
"My business is cool and all, and it makes good money, but it's not as fulfilling as I expected it to be when I started out. I need the income as long as I pay tuition fees for the kids, but short to mid term, I might want to do something else. Or hire a manager for the shop here in Zanarkand, and try to establish a branch in… say, Bevelle." Auron snorts, but remains silent.
"You see, endless possibilities, and ample opportunity to talk about our feelings, our relationship and our wishes for the future. I just wanted to, you know, enjoy that wonderful thing that we had for a little while longer, because there was the possibility that things wouldn't work out in our favour. Maybe issues would surface which we wouldn't be able to find solutions to we both could agree on. There was also the off chance that you would end things because you wanted to have children of your own, and I couldn't give you that. Or so I thought."
We lock eyes for a moment and both snort a short laugh. Oh, the irony.
"You liked what we had? You did not think there was something missing?" Auron asks at length.
"For the moment, I was content. Happy, and calm. Like I said, I knew things needed to change, and evolve, if our relationship was supposed to last. And I very much wanted it to last, still want it to. Did you miss something?"
With a sigh, Auron finally joins me in a sitting position.
"Yes and no," he finally informs me. I raise an eyebrow.
"You were very understanding when we got together, still are. You never questioned the way I handle things to compensate for the arm and the eye I lost. Even though you told me that I would have to ask if I needed anything, you made a lot of changes to your behaviour and to your flat in order to accommodate for my disabilities, without me having to say a word. You were very attentive and without being patronizing, you found a way to ease us both into this relationship even though we were coming from very different starting points. You always gave me the time I needed to tell you things on my own, and you always gave me the space I required, sometimes so much so that…"
"That?"
"You gave me so much space that I sometimes wondered if you really wanted me close. I always felt there was something holding you back. As if there was a threshold you were not prepared to have us cross. Now I know why."
I get uncomfortable, and move to lean against the headboard.
"You made it very easy for me," I finally say when I can bear the silence no longer. "You've always been open and honest with what you do and what you don't do, it hasn't been hard to figure out some basic things to make you more comfortable. But obviously I wasn't very good at making you understand that I am interested in whatever you decide to tell me about your past whenever you feel comfortable enough, without either forcing your confidence or appearing disinterested."
"I did wonder why you never seemed to ask many questions."
"Sorry."
Neither of us says anything for a while, until my stomach rumbles.
"All right," Auron comments and climbs out of bed, "breakfast."
Nes and Kimahri are already in the kitchen when we come down. You could cut the awkwardness with a knife, I swear.
"Is there coffee yet?" I ask, and Nes shakes his head.
"Just brewing."
"Will you have breakfast with us?" I ask the boys when opening the cupboard to pull out plates, but Nes points to two bowls of cereal on the counter.
"We are just waiting for the coffee, then we'll go back upstairs."
"Okay," I answer, and with Auron's help set the table for two.
"Well, where do we go from here?" Auron asks halfway through breakfast, and somehow I think he's not talking about a trip this afternoon. He's right though, it's high time we talked about everything we didn't this morning in bed.
"Well, despite the fact that earlier we both talked about our relationship as if it was a thing of the past, I still want us to be together, and I want us to last. What about you?"
"I want the same. And I want us to grow closer than we used to be. Would you be open to formalizing our relationship?"
"Auron! Did you just propose to me?"
"Would you even enter a second marriage?"
"I would certainly marry you! But I would want this to develop more naturally, there's no need to rush. I'd like things to be a lot more… romantic. I like romantic."
"I know. And no, this was not a formal proposal. You would have known if it were, I promise. Marriage is just something I was thinking about, before…"
"Before things went sideways."
"Exactly."
"You were really contemplating marriage?"
"As something I would want for our future, yes. Not necessarily as the next step in our relationship, but I would not be adverse to that either."
"Oh, Auron… I had no idea!"
"I know now. That is why I think we should have talked about things sooner."
I bury my nose in my cup. When did Auron 'I have never been close to someone' Masamune overtake me in this relationship? I'm baffled, and that's why I ask him.
"The morning you told me you had been to see Jecht for the game. I knew at that moment that I wanted to have you forever by my side."
"Auron, I don't know what to say!" Tears pool in my eyes.
"Tell me what you want. For us, for the baby, for our future."
"The baby has severely limited my options. I can't leave Zanarkand right now. I just don't want to be somewhere unfamiliar with a newborn to take care of. I need to stay where I know how things work. Also, with the baby I can't work as much but I still got bills to pay so I can't make investments in branches in foreign cities. I hope you can work with us staying here, because should you decide to leave I'll not be able to follow you. Not for a while."
"Eanna," Auron's voice is very serious when he reaches over the table to hold my hand. "Remember what I told you when we went to see that documentary on Bevelle? My home is in Zanarkand. I have no intention of leaving."
"I just thought, with your duties here discharged, there might be nothing keeping you here. The way you talk about Spira… like you miss it. A lot. And I don't want to be yet another duty to shackle you to a city you don't want to live in. I don't want for our child to be that duty, either."
Tears run down my cheeks and I sniffle. Auron lets go of my hand and hunts for tissues.
"Ever since I left the Warrior Monks, and that was a long time ago, Bevelle has not felt like home any more. For several years, my home was wherever Braska would take me, and after the War, with Braska dead and Jecht in the care home it was indeed duty that kept me here."
He finally hands me a tissue and sits down next to me.
"But there was also the fact that I had nowhere else to go. From what I hear, Bevelle is vastly different from what it was when we left, but the elites are still the same. Yevon is still the same, 'New' or otherwise. So I imagine the bigotry is still the same, too. It is not a place I would want to go back to. I feel quite at home here, in Zanarkand. You are not keeping me, not at all. When our child is old enough, we can talk about travelling because I would love to show you Spira. It is beautiful. And I would love to show you more of my past, my history, but moving away from Zanarkand? I do not think so."
"Okay," I breathe through my tears, lean into Auron and cry some more.
"I'm sorry," I say at length.
"Do not apologise for your fear."
How come that this man always understands me when I hardly understand myself?
"There is another thing I would like to discuss with you. The fact that you do not age. What exactly does that mean for us?"
"Oh, I do age. Just a bit slower than most people, at the moment." I reach over to my coffee cup and realise that it is empty, so I take our cups to the kitchen for a refill.
"Eanna, you do not age 'a bit slower than most people'. You are eighty-six, but you look hardly thirty!"
"Wow, thanks!"
Auron rolls his eye. "I think it is time you told me a bit more about this old family secret of yours."
I bring our freshly filled cups back to the table, hand one to Auron and grab mine with two hands. "It's an extremely complicated spell," I begin as I sit down. "It needs to be cast by an identical pair of twins, on an identical pair of twins. It binds the receiving pair together, suspended in time."
"After the spell is cast, the twins do not age further?"
"Not as long as they are both alive. When one of them dies, time picks up where it left off for the surviving one."
"You mean when your sister died…"
"I'm ageing again since Ianna died, yes. Very slowly at first, but after a decade or two, my body will change at the normal rate again."
"How old were you when the spell was cast on you?"
"Twenty-three."
"Do you know the spell?"
"Yes, but it's useless."
"Because your twin sister is dead."
"Right."
We are both silent for a while.
"How did your sister take your engagement in the War? She must have known that she would continue to age if you died."
I hum and drink some coffee. "Ianna was actually very calm about it. She didn't understand why I would go, but she did understand that it was important to me. No," I scoff and take another sip, "the real problem was my grandmother."
"Let me guess, she was the one to cast the spell."
"Yep. My grandmother and great-aunt had the spell cast on themselves, too, but my mother's twin sister died as a child. When Ianna and I were born, my grandmother was out of her mind with happiness, because the family secret could continue. She didn't take it well that I would just 'throw it all away', as she put it." I pull a grimace.
Nes and Kimahri choose this moment to thunder down the stairs, and thus save me from answering Auron's next question. Without a doubt, he would have wanted to know why I chose to fight in the War. I know that I cannot dodge this question forever, but I am spared for yet another while.
"We are off to school," Nes informs us. "Don't wait for us, we'll not be back for dinner!"
"Thanks for letting me know. Have fun!"
When they are gone, Auron fixates me over his cup, and for a moment I am afraid that he will still ask the War question.
"Does Kimahri know that you are his sponsor?"
I stare at him, open-mouthed. Where is that coming from?
"Wha…" I interrupt myself to clear my throat, "how do you know?"
"I first suspected you might pay for his tuition when Kimahri moved in here. You were a bit too adamant that he continue his education, but I was not sure." He shrugs. "This morning, though, you spoke about tuition fees for the kids. Plural."
"Leave it to you to pick up on that," I moan and hide my face in my hands. "No, Kimahri doesn't know. Neither does Nes, nor anybody else, if you want to know."
I look up again, and now it's my time to fixate Auron.
"And I want it to stay that way. Kimahri is embarrassed enough as it is, he doesn't need to know this on top of it all. You know," I continue as Auron opens his mouth to speak, "you know that he would not want to accept that, and that he would drop out of uni immediately. The whole point in me sponsoring him is that he can actually go to university, even though the Funguars cut him off. I don't want him to quit out of embarrassment. For the same reason, Nes can't know, as he would tell Kimahri. So would the other kids."
Auron solemnly nods his head once. "I agree, and I promise not to tell anybody."
I raise an eyebrow, laughing a little. "What? No lecture? You weren't too thrilled when I let Kimahri move in, if I remember correctly."
Auron pulls his wide mouth into a smirk. "Well, Kimahri is old enough to fend for himself. It is one thing to set him up with what he needs to do so, and it is a totally different thing to do it for him." He empties his cup. "You might want to know that you were only marginally faster than I was, though."
I stare at Auron across the table, not following.
"A few days after the barbecue we had here, Tidus told me the Funguars would pay for Yuna's tuition, but not for Kimahri's. So I thought if Tidus was to play Blitzball and thus would not require money for his education at this point, I might just as well spend it on Kimahri."
For a moment I simply sit, dumb folded, while Auron tries for innocence but cannot suppress his trademark smirk. So I lean over and kiss it away.
Unfortunately, I knock over my cup with my baby belly before the kiss can lead to more.
"Good thing that your cup has been almost empty already," Auron comments when I have mopped up the coffee and we put away the breakfast things.
I snort my disagreement, but resist the urge to make more coffee. As we are in the middle of sorting out our future, we should get on with it. We might not be here all day.
"Have you told Tidus about… about us?" I ask, while I decide to make more coffee after all. We might be here all day.
Auron laughs. "I did not have to. He took one good look at me when I returned from our afternoon at the embankment, and told me that it was about time we fixed things. Apparently, I have been more irritable than usual while we were on hiatus."
I laugh so hard that I almost spill the ground coffee.
"What is so funny about this?"
"I can't decide what's more funny, really. The fact that Tidus is finally speaking his mind to you, or the fact that you obviously have a baseline level of irritability!"
"Oh, really. And you find that funny?"
Auron's voice is suddenly very low, and he slowly moves closer to me.
"I do." My voice is throaty, as Auron is standing right in front of me, his bad arm almost touching my belly.
"Well, I do not." Auron takes one final step, and traps me between his body and the kitchen counter.
"You don't?" My voice catches in my throat and we both shift a little, to accommodate for his arm and our baby.
"No." The single word is hardly more than a low breath, but it unfailingly makes my groin vibrate.
I lean back and to the side, and Auron follows my movement. Bracing against the counter top with his good arm, he trails a series of soft kisses from my ear down over my throat to my décolté.
"I like those little noises you make when I do this," Auron informs me. I feel his words vibrate against my skin just as much as I actually hear them.
"I like that you can make me…" whatever I was planning to say ends in a sigh as Auron gently nips the top of my breast directly above the low neckline of my shirt.
"Yes, quite," he comments, and I feel his lips move against the sensitive skin.
With a deep breath, I push Auron away, but just enough that I can claim his lips with mine.
When I wake up, I am curled up on my right side, with my back against Auron. A grin spreads over my face, and I sigh.
"Am I wearing you out?" Auron's voice is deep and calm, but I can hear his smile.
"You wish!" I wiggle onto my back and stretch like a cat. "It's your daughter who's wearing me out."
Auron turns towards me and pushes himself up on his elbow. "My daughter?" he smiles down at me with a raised eyebrow. "Not too long ago you were speaking about a boy."
I hum. "Maybe it's a girl."
We both smile, and I reach up to touch his face. "Words cannot express how much I've missed you."
Auron's face changes very subtly, until it sports his special soft smile.
And just like that, we make love yet again.
"Auron!" I screech, that much later when he joins me in the shower without warning.
"You have become very jumpy," my warrior informs me. "Move over."
I roll my eyes and comply. "Keep your hands to yourself," I warn him, "we agreed to talk more. And we'll not get around to talking when you… keep doing this…" I moan the last, as Auron has started to lather me with soap.
We do not talk much more that day.
