Chapter Text
Callum sat on the corner of the bed to take of his boots, sinking into the mattress. A smile tugged on his lips as he watched Rayla take off her overcoat and dress down into her sleek Moonshadow pajamas. Three years married and the sight of her still took his breath away. She turned and smiled at him over her shoulder, running her fingers through her hair to undo the signature braid she’d adopted in recent months. Once it was all untangled, she made her way over to their bed.
She sat down on the bed slightly behind him, sliding her hand over his shoulder and down his chest. Callum let out a long sigh of contentment as she placed a gentle kiss at the base of his neck. She moved upwards, slowly trailing kisses closer and closer to his jaw. It would be so easy to just let her continue. To get lost in her scent and her lips and the feeling of her skin… but he couldn’t. Not tonight. Tonight he had something important to get off his chest.
“Rayla?”
“Hm?” She replied softly, not pausing her kisses.
“We need to talk.”
She stopped.
“Okay…” her voice was tentative as she scooted herself around to be directly next to him. “What’s up?”
Callum exhaled.
“Rayla,” he took her hands, smiling gently, “You have been… the best six years of my life.”
A concerned look spread across her face. “What are you—”
“Just…” He gave her hands a squeeze as he interrupted. “Let me finish.”
She closed her mouth and nodded, still looking worried.
“In exactly one year, the stars are going to align. Aaravos could— will come back.”
A small whimper escaped the back of Rayla’s throat at the topic, but she nodded, letting him continue. He faltered.
“And…we don’t know if— I need you—” He stopped, the words tangled in his throat. He looked down and away from her eyes, then let out a long breath. “This isn’t easy.”
He tried again. A different tactic this time.
“I was really little when my dad died. I don’t remember very much about that time, but I do remember his funeral.” Rayla squeezed his hands in comfort as he continued. “I remember my mom crying so much, and I remember… I remember worrying that I would never see her smile again.”
A small tear rolled down his cheek, and Rayla was quick to gently wipe it away. He sniffed, trying to regain composure.
“But then she met my stepdad. And fell in love.” He smiled, meeting Rayla’s eyes once more. “And she was happy. And they had Ezran, and she was really happy. The happiest I’d ever seen her.”
He sighed, trying to get his words right. “What I’m trying to say is… we don’t know what’s going to happen in a year. We don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”
Rayla caught on to what he was saying. “Callum…”
He held up a hand. He had to finish.
“If something happens to me; if I don’t… make it… I need to know that you won’t let it stop you from being happy.”
It was her turn to cry, the hot heavy droplets trailing the outline of the purple marks on her cheeks. Callum wished he could kiss them away, but he knew he’d get caught up in her, so he settled for mimicking her earlier movements and brushing them away with his thumb. He left his hand there, cupping her jaw, and waited for a response. She inhaled a shaky breath.
“Callum, I can’t…” she began, but then shook her head defiantly. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”
He sighed, deflating. He had been worried about this.
“Rayla, I wish I could agree with you about that, but the truth is something very well could happen to me.” She shook her head still, fully in denial, but he ignored it. “We need to talk about this now, while I’m still here. I need you to know that… that I’d be okay with you finding someone else.”
He forced the sentence out past the lump in his throat. He loved her. He would do anything for her. Her happiness in the future might hinge on these words, and so he had to say them. Even though he didn’t know whether or not he believed them. Rayla grabbed his wrist tightly, holding onto him like a lifeline.
“I don’t want someone else, Callum,” she pleaded, “I just want you.”
“And I will be yours for as long as I can be,” he promised, pressing his forehead against hers, “But—”
“No,” she said firmly, “No buts.”
He sighed again.
“Rayla—“
“No. I am not having this conversation with you. Not now. Not while we still have so much time.”
He took a breath, ready to argue, but she clamped her hand down firmly over his mouth.
“I will not dwell on these… what ifs, Callum. All that matters is right here. Right now.” She took her hand away, trailing it around the back of his neck. “And right now, I have you.”
He smiled sorrowfully, conceding the point.
“You have me,” he agreed.
She pulled him into a tight hug, and he let himself live in the moment. He breathed in her scent, felt the warmth of her cheek pressed against neck. He wished he could stay here, right here, forever. But he couldn’t. And even as she pulled him down onto the bed, and wrapped herself around him underneath the blankets, he couldn’t shake the feeling that someday they would need to confront this. He worried that when the day came, it would already be too late.