Kingdom Come Undone

Shattered Edges Glisten - Part 2

A/N: Sorry this is a little late in the day. Work was a hell hole. :)

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I woke up feeling her trying to catch her breath as she clung to my hands curled around her chest. She apologized when she felt me move to be closer to her, but deeply exhaled at my arms wrapping around her more tightly again.

She kissed one of my fingers, whispering, "I'm happy you're here."

I removed one of my hands from her hold to trace down her right leg, "Me too. I was too worried about you. We can stay here as long as you need. Okay?" She tried catching her breath, inhaling through pursed lips as she exhaled exasperatedly. "You're doing a good job, baby. You can cry more if you need to. There's no need to shove this down. You can feel it. It's okay to feel it. We have nothing to do until tomorrow. We can be here all day if that's what you need."

"Feeling like I can't breathe is making me hot." She mumbled, extending her legs and kicking them to get some air under the comforter. "Can you help?" She whispered, rolling her shoulders for her robe to fall down her back.

"Yep." I replied, sliding my hand from underneath her neck so that I could help take off her robe, discarding it on the floor behind us. She shivered at the sudden chill in the air going down her back from space now between us. "I'm back. I'm back." I whispered, wrapping myself around her now nude figure, running my hand up and down her side as my left hand slid back underneath her neck to hold her hand.

"Thank you."

She let it hang there. Both of us knowing what it encompassed. Thank you for helping. Thank you for being here. Thank you for coming. Thank you for not running. Thank you for it all.

I kissed her shoulder blade, my nose running up the back of her neck as she curled further into me. No words exchanged. No words needed to be exchanged to know that this was where our power was. Our strength as a couple came from our ability to be there. To seek connection and understanding above being right. Above needing absolving to move forward. Forgiveness seeped through our actions and our silence. Being there included all the words we would ever need.

Over ten minutes later, she started speaking, unsure if I was even awake until she felt my nose nuzzle against her back again, "I don't think it's the best idea to have you around Carter for a bit. I don't know what it will take to fix whatever is broken between Carter and I when it comes to you, but it's not safe for you or for us to be objected to that. He asked that you not come to church this Sunday. That you not be there for our conversation with Jacob." She paused, "I don't want to cause a scene, Emily..."

"So, you agreed with him?"

She kissed the top of my hand, "Yeah, I did. I told him that I would talk to you about it."

"What will you tell Jacob? I already promised that I'd be there on Sunday."

"I thought of that." She replied, lacing our hands together. "I'm going to pick Jacob up tomorrow before dinner for us all to see each other and hang out. Carter has to get ready for his next work trip in Vancouver anyways, so it works perfectly."

"Yep. Alright. Whatever you need." I closed my eyes in complacency behind her. I hated this. "I'm sorry for calling Carter a dick and telling him that I didn't care for him. I antagonized him. It won't happen again."

"I'm going to hold you to that. I'm not upset at you. He was being a dick, and you don't care for him. But I really can't do that again, Em. I meant what I said last night." I replied with a singular kiss on the side of her neck. "What are you thinking? You'd usually say more, but I can't see your face. So, I can't be for certain."