Remember to Live [Narcissa/Lucius, Post-War]

Remember to Live

A/N: On tumblr, narcissathevaliant won third place in my fic giveaway, and she requested Lucissa cuteness. Oneshot for now, but I'm definitely tempted to see where it goes. Please let me know what you think. (The stories for first and second place will be up soon.) x

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Now that the last remnants of the Dark Lord had been swept away from the house, Malfoy Manor had begun to feel like home again.  It was difficult to remember a time before the fear and pain, but as Narcissa rolled over to face her sleeping husband, she thought it might be possible. 

            Lucius finally looked like himself again; the shadows of Azkaban were gone from his face, and the rise and fall of his chest was steady, no longer interrupted by nightmares except on rare occasions when Narcissa would wake him gently and pull him to her and whisper assurances that everything would be all right.  His pale blond hair framed his face in a halo on his pillow, and he looked more like the ambitious young man she'd married nearly twenty-two years previously than he had in months. 

            He's going to be okay, she thought.  We're going to be okay.

            Now, though, he stirred.  She wondered whether he'd somehow felt her watching him.  He cracked an eyelid and gave her that half-smile that melted her heart so easily, and he slid an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. 

            "Everything all right?" he muttered, brushing his lips against her forehead. 

            "Mhm." She kissed his neck and smiled against his warm skin.  "Just thinking about how much I love you."

            When he chuckled, she felt his breath against her hairline, and when he leaned down to catch her lips with his, she kissed him back tenderly, her hands tracing his chest.  While prison had robbed him of a bit of his strength, he'd built it back since his return and the end of the war.  Narcissa savored the feeling of his sturdy arms wrapping around her as he shifted on top of her carefully. 

            "I love you," Lucius breathed between kisses that became more passionate the longer they lingered.  "Thank you."

            "For what?" Narcissa trailed her fingertips along his back, trying hard to ignore the scars she felt marking his skin and to avoid thinking about the ones she'd acquired, as well.  It's over.  We're safe. 

            "Everything."

            Grudgingly, she pulled her lips back.  She stared up into his grey eyes and understood exactly what he meant.  He'd already said the words too many times to count, after all.  For standing by him despite everything he'd done.  For defending him while he'd been incarcerated and unable to intercede on his own behalf and for taking care of their family, of Draco and Lena.  For lying to the man who'd enslaved them for so long and making their freedom possible. 

            Narcissa shook her head.  Tears bit at her eyes, but she held them back.  She still didn't believe she'd done anything special-she loved him more than life itself, and she knew that if their places were reversed, he would've done the same.

            "I love you," she said again, resting her hands on his cheeks and pulling his lips back to hers. 

            He smiled against her lips, his hand skimming down her side and sliding around to her stomach to rest on the small bump beneath her nightgown.