Kingdom Come Undone

Bruised Like Violets

A/N: Honestly, I cannot even fathom that the day of this story's return is finally here. To say the last three months were hellacious would be an understatement. Being immuno-compromised, illnesses come often and linger, and so while I will not go into details, I am doing much better over these past two weeks. Additionally, one of my closest friends nearly lost her life in a fully separate tragedy, and my nights have been swarmed with phone calls and talking her through panic attacks, etc. It just has been a nearly impossible time to write. I know that many of you do not particularly care about what was going on in between writing chapters as you're just grateful I'm alright and something new to read is here, but I feel its only right to keep you updated. Especially for those people who have been following my work for years now. Anyways, here is nearly 15,000 words for you all. I hope you enjoy :)

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Headed into Thursday, the only word to describe our home was tense. There was a palpable tension radiating from the bones. Of our spirit. Of the house. Of the very bodies inhabiting it. It didn't help that the house felt packed in and of itself. With Carter arriving Wednesday morning and Maya not leaving until Thursday afternoon, every space felt confined. There was no room to breathe. No room to escape. No room to sit in all Jacob was facing. All we were facing.

Wednesday evening after work, I found Alison in our walk-in closet, and when I turned the corner, I chuckled wondering how I hadn't thought of it myself. "There she is..." My voice trailed, attempting to gauge her emotion through body language alone.

She was sitting on the floor facing our shoe rack, picking up each pair of shoes one at a time and placing them back as tightly together as she could to attempt to fit the four or five pairs that always laid strewn about the carpet. Her eyes were clear though as she glanced up at me, immediately raising her hand to hold mine. I settled on the ground behind her, extending my legs out for Alison to scoot back into my chest. As her hands settled on my upper thighs just above my knees, I felt her fully relax against me, even for a brief moment.

My arms wrapped around her waist, turning to kiss the side of her neck gently. "You doing alright there, my love?"

"Better now." She muttered, curling her hands around my thighs and rubbing them back and forth. We yearned for closeness in our relationship. Begged for additional time any way we could get it. "How's downstairs?"

"Quiet, right now. Jake is taking a nap, and Carter ran out to pick up dinner for all of us. When I didn't hear anything from you for a bit, I told My that I was going to come looking for you." My hands moved toward the sides of her waist, feeling the cotton from her shirt taper as her waist grew smaller in comparison to her hips. Gripping her tightly, my lips trailed along her right shoulder. We all knew what we were up against tomorrow, and it already exhausted us. We were past the point of conversation; we wanted it done. "Honestly, I'm happy I found you."

Alison pulled her head out to the left to look at me, "Today?"

"Today and always." I replied, slinking my hand down her leg. Clutching my right leg more tightly, her left reached around to cup the side of my face. Her thumb etched just below my lower lip as I kissed it tenderly. "I love you." My voice whispered out, releasing the tension from the space around us.

"Love you, Emmy." She leaned forward, moving her hand to now nip at me in exchange. Her teeth were replaced by her lips, kissing me delicately. "How much time do we have?" I knew what she was insinuating as my eyebrow raised, my nails scratching at her skin in reply.

"None really..." I groaned as Alison pressed herself further against me hearing my rebuttal.

With one more brief kiss, Alison pushed herself to the left, popping up off the floor effortlessly. "Then we make time!"