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She's usually awake before the dawn, but today she turns off her alarm and buries herself under the covers. It's too cold outside of this cocoon, too lonely. They can't expect her to go out and brave that just yet.
Besides, this is where he is.
He's still asleep, as immune to her alarm clock as ever. She's careful not to wake him as she creeps closer, putting her head in the little cavity between his chest and shoulder. She got the news the moment they took her away from her new friend, and she still needs to put her hand on Fitz's chest and make sure his heart is beating. They only told her to get rid of her, knowing that she wouldn't fight to stay. She only wishes they gave her enough time to help.
He stirs a little, bringing a clumsy arm around her and brushing his beard into her hair. She can still feel the way he clung to her when she found him, just as scared and relieved as she was. She wonders what he saw as he was dragged into darkness, but she doesn't want to know.
She traces lazy patterns on him instead, swirls and hoops. Hearts. One big one over his left side, as if she's casting a spell. As if it protects him. She lays her hand down flat again and remembers the girl lost on another world, who wanted nothing more than what she has right now. Her fingers dig into his shirt of their own accord, grounding her into the present, where the emptiness is banished a long with the secret hidden behind her favorite word. They share nearly everything now.
She's content to be here with him, bitter about the times she wasn't, angry at the man who took her away, in love with the one who came back to her. She's embarrassed at the time she wasted and desperate to make these moments count. It's almost too much to feel at once, but she feels it all, holding him as close as she can, breathing with the steady rise and fall of his chest. The rhythm stutters.
"Hmmph."
He shifts under her, and she lifts herself to see him, to be the first thing he sees. He smiles at her with sleepy eyes.
"Morning."
She smiles back. "Morning."
Her hand finds its way to his face, a thumb brushing over the whiskers at the corner of his mouth. She kisses him slowly, gently, feeling the way his smile widens.
"Mmm," he says when she pulls away. "Good morning."
"Well," she defends, "I missed you."
She tries to put a sparkle in her eyes, but he's looking too deeply to be fooled. His hand cups her hip, his thumb finding the skin underneath her shirt and swiping up towards her waist.
"I'm here."
He says it, but he can't possibly know what it means.
"You almost died."
"Nah," he says, shrugging with that ridiculous Scottish bravado of his, "I wouldn't dare. I'm too afraid of what you'd do to me."
She scoffs at him. "Me?"
"Yeah," he teases, smiling. "I know how you feel about promises."
She has a scathing remark ready to go when he reaches up to kiss her this time, and all indignation melts away. She slides her hand to the back of his neck to keep him close, feeling instinctively that this is a promise, too. This was also a dream, once. She savors it.
"Do we have to go?" He stamps a kiss on her forehead, then waits for her answer. She can't help but think of all the things she has waiting for her today—a mountain of paperwork, endless reports, and absolutely no time in the lab with him. She closes her eyes and finds the decision all too easy.
"No," she says.
Fitz glances towards the clock. "Are you sure?"
She only straightens. "I'm the boss."
She's the only one who gets to see this smile, and it's her very favorite thing. It's a different kind of kiss when this smile starts it out, soft and yet strong enough to shoot warmth all the way to her toes. They're here now, together, and she forgets about the rest of the world. She forgets about the heartache and the worry, the pain and loss. Nothing in this world exists except for the taste of his lips and the promise that she'll have him forever.
And that, she decides, is how it should always be.