description manny's wife wakes up to find her husband is home after a few months away on the road. he informs her of the hell he endured in santo padre. (i gave him a last name because he deserves one)
christian serratos as STELLA LOPEZ
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manny montana as MANNY LOPEZ
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Prying her eyes open was a struggle, and every cell in her body told her to go back to sleep, that whatever disturbance she'd sensed beneath the covers of REM could wait. When she managed to get them open, they were heavy and dry, and they fluttered closed again almost immediately. Sleep threatened to drag her back under, but she'd caught a glimpse of an irregularity in the microseconds her eyes had been open. It was a delayed reaction, but eventually it clicked.
She startled awake, but a soothing voice spoke from close enough to reach out and touch. What she'd seen wasn't irregular at all, just a familiar form that'd been gone too long. "Shhh, it's just me," Manny said softly, brushing some stray hairs off her forehead.
Her heart rate slowed, and she smiled sleepily, reaching a hand up to take his. It was warm and calloused, and she pressed a soft kiss to his palm. It'd been so long since she'd seen him outside of FaceTime. Stella missed him, and her chest squeezed.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered, her voice still filled with sleep. To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure she wasn't hallucinating her husband in the dark, but he felt so real here sitting on the edge of the bed, the smell of his cologne and favorite cigarettes lacing the air.
She felt the bed shift and a breath later, Manny was ghosting his lips across her forehead. "I just needed to be home, mi vida."
All Stella could see in the faint moonlight was his silhouette. He was wearing one of his thick, black sweatshirts, the ones he looked completely irresistible in. She didn't know what it was about the absolutely ordinary piece of clothing, but when he had one on, she found herself lost in thought of all the possibilities. She wanted to drift off on one now, but something was wrong. It was written all over him.
