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[noburden]

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[rosarianoath]

His heart feels light. The earlier events of the evening had made him feel foul and jealous, but pressed against her body, he knows where he is supposed to be. She’s the sweetest, most patient, most enduring woman in the world, and if he could serve her forever, he gladly would. She loves him, despite what he’s done, and what he’s failed in.

“I love you too,” he says, and then he holds her tighter, like he could prove it with the proximity of his body, skin to skin.

[noburden]

"Will you stay the night in my bed?" She asks, hopeful. They haven't made a mess of it yet. She doesn't want to part from him anytime soon.

[rosarianoath]

He presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth and nods.

“Of course.”

[noburden]

"My bed is still nicer than yours. You'll recover quicker, to serve me better," she teases.

[rosarianoath]

He chuckles under his breath.

“In fairness,” he says, “I have never aspired to tempt you down to the basement.”

[noburden]

"All you need do is look at me."

She's weak for those blue eyes.

[rosarianoath]

“I look at you far more often than you even realize,” he says.

[noburden]

"Still?" She asks, clearly pleased to hear it with the way she smiles at him.

[rosarianoath]

“Of course,” he says. “Even months ago, I would live to glimpse you crossing the kitchen, or pass me on the porch.”

[noburden]

"And here I was, always hoping you'd have some reason to strike up conversation with me."

She runs her fingers through his hair.

"I'm so glad we talk more. I'm so glad we spend time together."

[rosarianoath]

"I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Truly.

He smiles. He feels disarmed.

"Do you want to rest longer?"

[noburden]

"Oh, I've been rested. I was only waiting for you." He's the one that begged mercy, after all.

[rosarianoath]

“Oh.”

Well, that’s fair enough. He presses another quick kiss to her lips and then lifts himself off her and onto his forearms so he can look down and ask, seriously:

“What would you ask of me?”

[noburden]

When he lifts himself off her, she seems to suddenly remember something.

"Wait a moment. What are you doing, surprising me when I said I had something for you." Trying to outdo her, Clive? She smiles and gives his shoulder a little shove, moving to attempt to get up.

[rosarianoath]

“Surely we can surprise each other,” he says, getting up and sitting back on his heels.

[noburden]

"My surprises tend to pale in comparison to yours," she says, heading to her closet. She has to go get the stool from her vanity to step on, grabbing a basket from the top shelf above the clothing.

She hops off to set that basket down on it and plucks out a little blue box no bigger than her hand, kept shut with white ribbon. She looks down at it for a long moment.

"Do you remember that winter market?"

[rosarianoath]

"I do," he says, sitting and watching her. The shame of wanting to eke out every second with her will likely still come to him a hundred years from now, when he's served his time and is supposed to be able to move on. His gaze drops to the box. "Even when you loathed to even look at me, you thought to...?"

[noburden]

"Of course," she says, a touch embarrassed. "I was hopeful, deep down, that you and I could at least be... close friends. Like we once were."

She keeps a hold of the box as she approaches him, sitting on the bed.

"It isn't entirely free. The price is one kiss."

[rosarianoath]

He breathes in sharply and smiles at her.

"A small price to pay," he says, turning on his knees to face her proper. He takes her face between his hands and kisses her.

[noburden]

If she had to pick a favorite kiss, it would be ones like that. Jill smiles into it before removing one of his hands from her face to put the box in it.

Inside is a small silver medallion, leather tucked beneath it so he can decide where to wear it--if at all. It's remarkably plain, though on one side, pressed into the metal, is a fingerprint. Her fingerprint.

"Supposedly, when I think of you and you have this medallion, you'll be able to tell. I can't say I know if it works or not, but I've seen stranger items." She can't tell from sight alone, but there's a very unnatural warmth to the silver. A pulsing warmth, like a heartbeat. Jill's busy looking embarrassed.

"I just thought--it would be nice for you to have. So that you know I do think of you, even when we are apart."

[rosarianoath]

He breaks off slowly, more interested in her than the awkwardness of receiving a gift. He takes it, pulling it out between his fingers and looking it over with a fond look on his face.

“It’s very thoughtful,” he says. “Thank you. I will keep it on me always.”

To make good on that, he unwinds the leather cord attached to it and puts it on over his head.

[noburden]

Here she is, sitting beside him with his seed still hot between her legs, and she feels shy over a gift. She laughs at herself, shaking her head.

"Always is a lot, isn't it?" And what if he's with someone else? "Just when you'd like."

But she does lift her head to look at him wearing it, reaching out to press her thumb to the print left on the medallion. It makes her happy to see him finally wear it.

[rosarianoath]

“And if I always like to?” he murmurs, taking her hand the short distance to his mouth, to kiss her knuckles.

[noburden]

She watches him with a warm smile, cheeks still flushed.

"Then I'll be glad to know you'll be aware of when you're on my mind. I think of you all the time."

[rosarianoath]

"I'm touched," he says. "Thank you."

He clasps her hand back to his chest, his gaze warm.

"It's funny, but I had the same thought to get you something at that market. It's sat in my closet all this time, in the same house."