Silver Buttons

***Epilogue***

The days were beautiful and filled with more love and laughter than Terry could have ever imagined was even possible for him. Marrying Jessi was the best thing he had ever done in his collective life events, of that he was sure. He had noticed Jessi seemed a little 'hidden away,' as of late, this worried him, he didn't want to see his love in bad health or hurt in any way, if something was bothering her, he wanted to know, they had no secrets between them.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" He asked one evening as they sat together on the couch watching one of their favorite shows, his arm was firm around her shoulders, looking down at her, his brow knitted with worry.

She peered up at him with those large, doe-like eyes that drove him wild, "I-I'm alight, Terry," she said half-heartedly.

He didn't believe it for one second, call it intuition, or the fact that he was well-trained in the military to catch those little changes, but, it was much simpler than that, he knew how his love ticked and what made her tick. To see the smallest of changes within her was easy for him. He rose a brow, looking down at her, expectant of a better answer.

She sighed heavily, "Alright, fine, fine," she rolled her eyes and curled her feet under her, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt, "It's just... Your birthday is coming up and, I have a surprise for you, and I just don't know if you'll like it. I mean, I think you will but it's not what you'd be expecting."

Terry grinned, 'She's been upset over a gift she has for me... Sweet as sugar, what the hell did I do to deserve this angel?' he thought to himself as he pulled Jessi onto his lap, she straddled him, curling her arms around his neck, avoiding eye contact.

Placing thumb and forefinger against her chin, guiding her gaze up to him, "Sweetheart," he purred, "There isn't a thing in this world that you could give to me that I'd dislike. I got you, the best gift to myself I could ever have... Baby, the fact that you're worried about something silly like this just means you love me," he smirked, "Whatever you plan on giving me, don't worry, I know I'll love it because your sweet, small hands will hand me whatever it is. Stop worrying about it, Jess, ok?"

Still in his grasp, she smiled reluctantly, "Ok," she said quietly, "I love you, Terry, I just don't want you to be disappointed."

Terry gripped her jaw, bringing her lips to his, possessively kissing her, an arm snaked around her waist, keeping her in place as she wriggled and whimpered. She loved how dominant Terry could be, it still sometimes surprised her when he would do things like this, showing his love was either with psychical touch like this or surprise weekend getaways or even the small things like letting her sleep in on weekends and making sure the staff weren't too loud so she could rest.

Breaking the kiss Terry smiled, still holding Jessi in a vice grip, "I love you, Jessi. I always will, my soul found the one it loves in you. Don't ever be afraid or embarrassed, for any reason when it comes to us, whether it's a gift or an emotion. I love all of you."

Jessi always melted when Terry spoke like this, which was more often than one would think. Terry had an immeasurable sweet side, not many saw it, Jessi thought herself lucky that she saw the sides and pieces of this man and she could keep it all to herself.

'I really, really hope he likes it,' she worried to herself as she wrapped around Terry on the couch. Meanwhile, Terry sat there, content with Jessi on his lap, wrapped around him. Oh how he longed for the cool evenings when he would get home late to see Jessi wrapped up in his sweatshirt and sweatpants waiting for him on the couch, to easily lift those clothes from her beautiful flesh and warm himself against her.

A couple days later, Jessi took the afternoon off when she knew Terry couldn't get away from his classes, his birthday was today, she had already, um, celebrated a little before he had left for work. He had woken up early, as always, she woke when his alarm went off, whispering 'happy birthday, Terry,' was all it took to make him smile then send a warning that he wanted to hear her scream his name before he left for the day. Of course, Terry got what he wanted.