mommy and daddy

He’d already showered so his short messy hair had been combed back and was still damp. He was wearing his slacks and belt, but no button up shirt on yet. He liked to wait until his hair was a bit drier before he put it on. As he pulled cups and the coffee tin from the cupboards above, she couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles shifted on his back, the sparse long hairs that sprouted from his back and shoulders. He only got to the gyms on the weekends, but he walked around job sights a lot for his work, so he had a nice balance between muscle and leanness. Before last night she wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but now she sat there with her mouth open, staring like a dead fish.

Sophia smiled and blushed. “It’s like a dream. We can finally live our lives true to each other, no longer having to hide, no longer kept apart by family or obligation. Every night, I get to fall asleep beside her in our warm bed, and every morning, I open my eyes, and she’s right there with me. We get to spend our days and nights together, talking, laughing, whispering. If not for you, I don’t think we ever could have been blessed with such a life, with such freedom and happiness. Thank you for everything.”

“I’ll admit, we could have certainly used a healer and an archer on our team. But I know how Sophia feels about me, and how you feel about Valia. If the four of us traveled together, she and I would have been a distraction to you two, and your relationship would have suffered for it.” He stood over Alexis and held out his hand to her, just as he did when they spoke in the snow. “You two deserved a fresh start, a chance for your love to bloom in the sun instead of wither in our shadows. I apologize for the arrest and messiness that happened after I beat Seraph, but I am glad to return here and see you two living your lives, free and in love. That’s all I wanted for you two.”