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She would never tire of watching him sleep. It was one of the few mornings Ella had woken before Aaron. Careful not to move the arm he had wrapped around her so as not to wake him, she propped herself up on her elbow. Her head tilted down and as always, it took her breath away. In sleep, he looked so young, so peaceful. Her eyes roamed over his face, taking in every inch. The perfect angles of his face, so mathematically perfect that it would not cease to perplex her, softened under the blanket of slumber.His soft blond hair tumbled onto his forehead, it seemed immune to bed head. Long lashes fanned his high and defined cheekbones. They fluttered before cracking open the slightest to reveal his beautiful green eyes. Softened by sleep, they held a warmth that brought a smile to her lips.
“Am I still dreaming?”
She laughed softly. He swore it was the most beautiful symphony he’d ever heard. There was nothing he wouldn’t give to wake to it every morning.
“Morning, love,” he mumbled quietly.
“Morning,” she whispered back. He blinked a few times, trying to push the sleep out of his eyes. As he refocused, he noticed her pensiveness.
“Ella? Love, what’s on your mind?”
She was silent for a few moments, just continuing to look at him. Worry slowly seeped in as thoughts of the worst began circling his mind.
“The first time I saw you after the incident, you rattled me.”
His brows furrowed. Did she mean, when he spoke to her in his cell?
“We were out on a mission, one of my few times in the field. I’d already been reeling with everything that was going on. When I saw you, I was on guard. I was scared, nearly froze when I saw you. I followed you anyways. You couldn’t see me because Kenji and I were invisible. But I saw you. I saw you stop to feed that stray dog.” His eyes widened. She had been there?
“You held your hand out to it so hesitantly, pet it so gently. I swear I saw the smallest of smiles on your lips and something in your eyes lightened. It was the first time I saw you do anything kind. And then, in the next few weeks, the more we talked, the more you turned my world on its axis. Every heinous act I’d held you responsible for, every atrocity, you disproved them all. The simulation with the child, the execution of the soldier, all of it. Bit by bit I felt my defenses crumble, my safety net fell away. Blaming you, seeing you as a monster was the only way to deny what I felt every time I looked at you. And you took it all away.”
He averted his eyes. “I’m grateful Ella, but I am no hero. I may not have committed those particular atrocities, but I still have a ledger overflowing with red. I’m not innocent, I am still Warner. I -”
She tilted his chin up so he would look at her. Her eyes searched his.
“You are so much more than Warner.” Her face was inches from his. “You’re my Aaron.”
“Ella,” he breathed.
She lowered her head and pressed her mouth to his. She kissed him with all of the love in her heart, everything that didn't come through in those few sentences. She breathed it all into him, leaving no doubt about what was in her heart. Her hand found his and she lifted it up, pressing it to her chest.
“Do you feel that?” she whispered against his lips. He did. He felt it, her heart. Steady and strong, beating faster every second he held her. “It’s just for you.”
He tightened his arm around her waist, crushing her to his chest. He reveled in the feeling of her in his arms. She pressed her head to his chest, listening to the beat of his heart, feeling when it began to race.
He doesn’t know it, but listening to his heartbeat calmed her better than any medicine in the world. It reminded her that he was here, in her arms. With her. She was no longer stuck in her nightmares where she would watch a bullet rip through him. Cradling him in her arms with his blood covering her, seeping out of him before she could stop it. She’d lay her head to his chest, listening for his heart, and when she heard nothing her sobs would intensify as she screamed louder for him to come back to her.
Here, in his arms, her face pressed to his chest, she had never felt happier. She pressed her lips to the spot right above his heart. A shiver of warmth ran through him.
“I am yours, Aaron. Till my heart stops beating, it beats for you.”