Happy Birthday Britt. I am so grateful for our friendship and this one is for you.
*************
Andy can hear her husband's heart as it's beating under her ear.
It's a rhythmic thumping sound, one that reassures her that he is alive and breathing, one she can't seem to be able to sleep without. It lulls her to sleep, has her limbs feeling heavy and her eyelids dropping slowly until they are closed, but she is still half awake .
He never lets himself fall asleep before he is sure she is already dreaming, stays alert until he is sure she is deep enough in her sleep that the nightmares won't wake her, or that she won't need him to hold her for a little bit longer. She knows he never closes his eyes before he feels her breathing even out and her body becoming still, and tonight is no different.
She has her head on his naked chest, as his fingers roam everywhere, trailing lazily on top of her smooth skin. His nose is in her hair as he breathes her in, and she sighs, wondering if that's what true and utter happiness really feels like.
"Babe..." She lets out, the word fading softly as the tiredness makes her slur, makes her prolong every letter of this simple word.
"You should be sleeping." He insists, kissing the crown of her head and lets his lips linger there, unwilling to let go. "We have to report to work early tomorrow, and sadly, I am not your boss any longer, I can't look the other way when you arrive late because we were too busy getting tangled with each other in a late hour of the night, or lost ourselves in one another just before dawn."
"I was just thinking..." She trails off, then turns her head the other way on his chest, the closest thing she can do to shaking her head as her body is still pressed against his.
"Mmmm..." He hums. He sounds exhausted, and maybe she should just drop it, save this heavy conversation for another day.
"It's nothing." She dismisses. "We can talk about it tomorrow."
Robert knows her well, too well even, and he knows the thought is still on her mind, won't let her rest until she lets it out in the open, lets him know what's been keeping her awake. "I can tell it is anything but nothing. And I have a feeling that you want to talk about it now. I have a feeling that if we don't, you will twist and turn in bed all night, and neither of us will get any sleep at all."
She shouldn't have brought this up, not right now, but she has come to learn him too, the good and the bad and the ugly, and she knows that he can be as relentless as she is, and there is no point on spending the entire night debating back and forth, instead of actually letting the one thing that has been sitting on her heart out to the air of their bedroom.
It is way past midnight, and she probably shouldn't have brought it up anyway, even though she knows now it's too late to take those words back. Andy props her hands on either side of his chest as she lifts up her head and takes a quick peek at the alarm clock on his side of the bed, reading 1am in an offensive red light.
They have been invested in each other that night, they way they are more often than not, their hands roaming, their tongues tangling and their bodies moving slowly against each other, meeting over and over and over again.
It is late, the alarm is set to wake the both of them in nothing but four hours, and they are bound to show up at work tomorrow grumpy and sleep deprived, tiptoeing their way to a bunk when no one else is watching and sneaking in a nap, if it will even be possible.
Andy moves her body up the bed, until her eyes meet his. He looks at her curiously, his eyes big and dark and has so much love for her in them she chokes for a moment, the air leaving her lungs and the words refuse to form on her tongue.
