“Come on, babe, let’s go for a walk.” Rys brushed her lips along the line of Zur’s shoulder, leaning into him and smiling against his skin. It was a lovely day. Winter had just set in and the snow was falling gently, filtering through the treetops in great puffy flakes that settled onto their skin, caught on their lashes, decorated their hair in soft white. She looked damn good in white, and so did Zur.
With a saucy grin and a flick of her tail against his backside, she started walking, glancing over her shoulder just long enough to wink at him. Oh, he’d follow, no doubt about that. She moved just slowly enough that he could catch up, snorting and glancing back at him again when he did so with a playful nip to her withers. “Mmm.” She hummed softly and swayed into him, pressing smiling lips to the arch of his neck.
She’d almost asked him this fall. If maybe it was time. Not to put what was gone behind them, never that. She still hoped every day for a miracle, that at least one of their loved ones would come home. Or would find them, anyhow, since home was long since devoured by the angry earth. Even though she missed them more than she could ever say, she was so damn glad she had Zur. She still hoped, but she’d grieved for years. Missed them for years, searched for years. And she didn’t have an infinite number of years to waste wondering and wishing and hoping.
So she’d almost asked, when the season came around. If maybe, just maybe, they should start...not over. Not start over, but again. Maybe they should start again. Start living again, beyond the quiet little limbo they’d been dwelling in these last years. Make some beautiful babies, surround themselves with love and laughter and the light in their kids’ eyes instead of the hollow ache of its absence.
But only almost. Before she’d worked her way up to it, the moment had passed for another year. This spring, there would be no little piece of the two of them rounding her belly, making her grumpy, making her snarl, making him look at her with wonder in his eyes and grin and ride out the edge, the anger and frustration and impatience of being so goddamn close to popping it felt like it was gonna kill her. And then changing her life irrevocably when it was finally time.
Changing their lives irrevocably, and absolutely for the better.
Maybe next year.
With a quiet little sigh, Rys pressed her lips to Zur’s jaw, to his throat, and kept walking, her body matching his rhythm as they strolled quietly through the meadow together. She relaxed against him, strolling alongside him the way they’d done so often, for so long now. But this time, the words came out, almost on their own. “Hey, Zur?” she asked softly, finally giving voice to the question that had been on her mind for months. “How would you feel about a baby?”
With a saucy grin and a flick of her tail against his backside, she started walking, glancing over her shoulder just long enough to wink at him. Oh, he’d follow, no doubt about that. She moved just slowly enough that he could catch up, snorting and glancing back at him again when he did so with a playful nip to her withers. “Mmm.” She hummed softly and swayed into him, pressing smiling lips to the arch of his neck.
She’d almost asked him this fall. If maybe it was time. Not to put what was gone behind them, never that. She still hoped every day for a miracle, that at least one of their loved ones would come home. Or would find them, anyhow, since home was long since devoured by the angry earth. Even though she missed them more than she could ever say, she was so damn glad she had Zur. She still hoped, but she’d grieved for years. Missed them for years, searched for years. And she didn’t have an infinite number of years to waste wondering and wishing and hoping.
So she’d almost asked, when the season came around. If maybe, just maybe, they should start...not over. Not start over, but again. Maybe they should start again. Start living again, beyond the quiet little limbo they’d been dwelling in these last years. Make some beautiful babies, surround themselves with love and laughter and the light in their kids’ eyes instead of the hollow ache of its absence.
But only almost. Before she’d worked her way up to it, the moment had passed for another year. This spring, there would be no little piece of the two of them rounding her belly, making her grumpy, making her snarl, making him look at her with wonder in his eyes and grin and ride out the edge, the anger and frustration and impatience of being so goddamn close to popping it felt like it was gonna kill her. And then changing her life irrevocably when it was finally time.
Changing their lives irrevocably, and absolutely for the better.
Maybe next year.
With a quiet little sigh, Rys pressed her lips to Zur’s jaw, to his throat, and kept walking, her body matching his rhythm as they strolled quietly through the meadow together. She relaxed against him, strolling alongside him the way they’d done so often, for so long now. But this time, the words came out, almost on their own. “Hey, Zur?” she asked softly, finally giving voice to the question that had been on her mind for months. “How would you feel about a baby?”