Devotion (John Seed)

40. It's Important

John spent the next few minutes telling his siblings what had happened in the jail, telling them how they escaped unharmed. A few minutes into the conversation Amelia walked down the stairs, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a comfortable tee shirt, with damp hair.

"Oh, hello" Amelia smiled a little awkwardly but politely, shocked to see the whole Seed family sitting in the lounge area.

Joseph and Faith smiled at her as a form of greeting while Jacob just smirked and shook his head. Amelia nodded at them before finding the only free seat in the room, she sat down beside Faith. She didn't want to seem rude by leaving the room, surely they had come to check on them so she should at least sit with them.

"Deputy, how are you?" Faith asked her, turning to Amelia with a soft smile.

"I'm fine, just tired" Amelia assured them, smiling a little. She tensed a little when Faith took one of Amelia's hands in hers, holding it on her lap. She relaxed a little when Faith stoked her hand with her thumb.

"Deputy, I want you to know that we are thankful for the decision you made" Joseph commented, smiling fondly at Amelia.

"What decision?" Amelia asked, not sure what the Father was talking about.

"Your decision to leave the resistance behind, to choose my brother" he clarified, making John look at the deputy.

"Joseph" John sighed and Amelia thought it was a little amusing, it's was kind of nice to watch him get embarrassed by his brother. It's almost like a normal family.

"I didn't make any decision. I chose John a while ago" Amelia shrugged, shaking her head a little. John smiled softly at her confession, Faith was smiling like she had just watched her favourite romantic movie, Joseph just nodded and smiled in approval. Jacob, on the other hand, just rolled his eyes.

Joseph returned to speaking with John but Amelia couldn't focus, she was too tired to pay attention to the conversation and she wondered how John could stay awake. The four Seeds turned to Amelia when she yawned. "Sorry" she apologised, turning a little red.

"No don't apologise, it's very late and we only came to see if you both were alright. We should leave and let you both rest" Joseph shook his head, feeling that he should be the one apologising if anything.

"Thank you Joseph, but you know that you are always welcome here" John assured him, nodding and smiling politely at his brother.

"Of course John, we shall see you both tomorrow" Joseph nodded back. He placed his hands on John's shoulders and touched their foreheads together, before doing the same with Amelia. Faith hugged them both goodbye before joining Joseph at the door. Jacob just patted John on the back of his shoulder as he passed him, nodding slightly at Amelia as he passed her. Amelia couldn't help but feel like she was making some sort of progress with Jacob.

John went to the front door with his siblings while Amelia sat on the sofa, drifting off to sleep again. John said his last goodbyes before closing the front door.

Once the siblings had left and John had closed the front door, he turned to face Amelia. He laughed softly to himself when he saw that she was already asleep on the sofa, her neck craned back in an uncomfortable position. John just smiled as he walked over to her and picked her up bridal style. She stirred and curled into his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his neck very lightly.

The baptist carried her up to their bedroom and lay her on the bed, pulling the sheets over her body. She was asleep once again. He got changed before climbing into the bed beside Amelia, he shuffled closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. His thoughts drifted back to before his siblings showed up, back to when Amelia told him that she loved him. Even if it was in her sleepy state.

John's thoughts were disturbed when she stirred again and shifted back, closer to him. He smiled and kissed the back of her head, before closing his eyes and holding her against him. He grumbled under his breath before shaking her arm gently, trying to wake her up. "J-John? What?" Amelia groaned as she slowly woke up and rolled over onto her back, tilting her head to look at him.

"I need to talk to you" John told her softly, brushing her hair out of her face for her.

"Can't it until tomorrow?" She asked tiredly, barely able to keep her eyes open.

"No. It's important. I need to tell you something, about what you said earlier" he said quietly, smiling a little at her. He sighed and frowned when Amelia's eyes closed again. "Amelia...Amelia" he shook her awake again but she just batted his hand away, rolling over again so that she was facing away from him.

"John, I love you but I need to sleep" she mumbled. There it was, she said it again. John sighed again, she said it while she was practically sleep deprived, while she was practically asleep. Just like earlier, she probably didn't even realise that she was saying it.

John sighed defeatedly before laying down bedside her and wrapping his arm around her waist, pressing  Amelia's back against his chest. He would just have to wait, it would be more sensible to discuss this when they have both had a good nights sleep anyway. "I love you too" he whispered into her hair, even though he knew that Amelia was asleep and wouldn't have heard him.

But the way she turned around and buried her face in his bare chest made John wonder if she had heard him in some way. He fell asleep, wondering if she heard him but more importantly wondering if she remembered or even realised that she had said 'I love you' in the first place.