The Desires of The Heart

Lifetimes

The next morning I'm gently roused from my sleep by a gentle, cool kiss being placed on the top of my head and I tilt my head up slightly to gain another sweet gesture followed by a soft chuckle.

"Good morning Darlin'. Sleep well?"

I simply hum in approval as I stretch underneath the warm covers. Looking up at him, a grey light filters in from the shades on the widows signifying another rainy day in the pacific northwest and I'm content with staying where I am. Stretching again, he places a sweet kiss on my temple before making me pout when he moves towards the edge of the bed.

"You can't blame Emmett this time. We are fully able to spend all day in bed." I raise a brow and he chuckles.

"I thought I'd get you coffee or breakfast. You know, human things."

He chuckles lightly, and it's times like these where I realize I'm so incredibly lucky, but I also can't help but wonder if this is what our last life together would've been like. The two of us together spending mornings slowly waking up in each others arms before we had to worry about responsibilities or any children we might have had. My heart is saddened slightly at this realization, but having this second chance is more than most people get, and I'm not letting it slip through my fingers.

"Why don't I grab you something to eat, and then we can spend however long you would like in bed?"

He smiles as my stomach lightly growls, and I smile in surrender, happy with the compromise. He leaves with a kiss and I roll over onto my back, still just relishing in the fact that this is our place, and we are finally spending some much needed time alone together—I couldn't have asked for a better surprise. I'm lost in my thoughts until I smell the wonderfulness of brewing coffee and wonder what other surprises he has up his sleeve. I close my eyes to just enjoy the moment, when I feel the other side of the bed depress and I peak an eye open to see Jasper with a tray full of fruit, porridge, English muffins, and the steaming cup of coffee.

"Oh Jasper, this all looks amazing!" I sit up and he places the tray on my lap and I use one of my hands to pull him closer and give him a sweet kiss.

"I really hope it all tastes okay... I haven't really had to cook in a hundred years." He admits, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck, but I smile widely loving the fact that he cooked all this.

"It's wonderful. Thank you so much."

I kiss him again before digging into the spread, of course starting with my coffee. The fruit is delightful and the porridge reminds me of cold days from my past life and the feelings that bubble up are conflicting. Setting the spoon down, I dissolve into those memories and the what-could-have-beens, knowing that even though we found each other again nothing could be as it was..

"Soph? You alright?" Jasper looks at me with a bit of worry, placing a comforting touch on my shoulder.

"Yeah...I just–old memories decided to resurface, and they just took me by surprise and the emotions came with.. I just wasn't expecting it was all." My lips curl into a sad half smile that doesn't convince Jasper.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I begin to say no, but a soothing wave of comfort urges me to tell him about it. I give him a knowing look, but he simply grabs my hand and waits patiently.

"The breakfast.. it just made me think of my old life and all the things we never got to do and is so unknown if we'll ever be able to do some of those things...and so it was just a lot of emotions I wasn't expecting during breakfast." I shrug summing up my thoughts, sort of, afraid of making him feel bad.

"I'm sorry that things got so complicated and lost in timing, but things–us, we can rediscover our lives together and make new memories. We can become something new, together." His words make me smile and cause a warm feeling to spread throughout my entire body, because it feels as though he's trying to say more, but we haven't really talked about the future much.

"I understand if this is too forward, or too soon for your liking, but we have time to figure things out and nothing has to happen right away...but Sophia, god I had a better plan for this..." He shakes his head before taking another deep breath.

"Sophia, I want to spend as much as my life with you as possible, and figure out what our future looks like. What do you say to finally, after all this time, becoming Mrs. Whitlock?"

The shock of hearing him finally say it aloud causes me to sit in silence to mull over the truth of his words and of his emotions rolling towards me. And to use his original surname and not his adopted, makes my heart swell and race concurrently and I'm lost for words.

"Jasper..." He gently folds my hands in his and I can feel the love, assuredness, desire, and confidence from his touch and I know from this simple gesture that this is the most sure about something he's been in a very long time.

"I—yes, Jasper. For all the lifetimes we've yet to live, I want to be with you for all of them."

We smile at each other and he pulls me by the back of my head into a deep kiss filled with the emotions I felt earlier, and I'm floating. Content with being in this moment forever, I thread my fingers through his soft curls as he does the same to me–deepening the kiss. Before it goes any deeper, he pulls away with a smile before reaching into his bedside table and pulls out a small, green suede box. Opening it he reveals a vintage ring decorated with diamonds and sapphires and he slips it gently on my left hand, and his smile widens.

"After a hundred years, it's finally where it's supposed to be."