[milliways] Through The Looking Glass

[dejah_thoris]

 [After this.]

Dejah wakes and eats her breakfast on the terrace, looking out over the city.  When she's done, she finds herself pacing the floor, waiting for the door to Milliways to show up again.

The moment the sun hits the far wall, it reappears in a shimmer of dust motes. Dejah smiles with relief.  She grabs up the copper-clad box with the data crystals, and a few of her notebooks.  She starts over the threshold, and at the last moment, she whirls around and grabs Curtis's hat off her pillow.

The whole place is bustling, so she looks for him in his usual place at the bar.

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[2goodarms]

Eventually, they part, but not too far. Curtis keeps his eyes closed, a soft smile on his lips, absently tracing his fingers over Dejah's shoulder as if to remind himself she's still there.

Little by little, the lightheadedness of the Voice of Barsoom shifts to the vague, drifting feeling one feels just before sleep, with barely a gap between the two. Getting your head reconfigured to sense something you've never sensed before is hard fucking work; he woke up maybe three hours ago, tops, and he's already exhausted again.

It's okay, though.

It's safe here.

His breathing evens out to the rhythm of deep sleep, and still the smile lingers.

[dejah_thoris]

She watches his profile as he drifts off. Watches the way the muscles in his face soften as sleep takes him, watches the tension wash away, smoothing the fine lines around his eyes and mouth. A few weeks ago, he could barely stand to have her touch him, and now, he's sleeping in her bed.

Beneath the mask of sorrow and rage, he looks so young. He was barely eighteen when his world changed; barely more than thirty five now. He's been alive fewer years than she and John were married.

She rests her arm across his chest and closes her eyes, listening to the sound of his breath, steady and even. Of all the things she's imagined doing with him in this bed, this was not one of them. And yet, she can't imagine a more perfect moment than this. Here. Now. It isn't long before her eyes are drifting shut and her breathing matches with his, quiet wonder and joy still blanketing her thoughts.

[Cont'd here]