Will & Tessa \ Wessa

Wales

Will and Tessa rode slowly, not drawing any attention to themselves in the small town.          

A family friend of Edmund and Linette Herondale, an old neighbor, could not stop smiling at Will and Tessa welcoming them in to her home.

She was happy that the boy had settled down.

They ate and laughed, the friend telling Tessa stories of Will as a little boy. How naughty and restless he had been. How he stole his fathers fastest horses and rode like the wind across the gleanns.

She felt great pride that she could share these stories of handsome Gwilym with his wife.

After the meal the old lady pointed to a worn path leading up a quiet road. "You remember?" She asked before putting a key in Will's palm. "Syth ymlaen."

"I remember."  Will replied.

Will led Tessa to the house he had grown up in, where he had lived with his parents and sisters, before they had moved further North into the solitude of their current home.

Before horror and life had caught up with them.

"And it's ours?" Tessa asked.

"All ours." Will assured her as he pushed open the heavy door, which groaned and protested from lack of use. "No one has to ever know we're here."

"I love it, Will." Tessa's eyes were wide and full of emotion.

The house was small and cozy, built with love and maintained with it over the years.

This was hers and Will's alone. They could do as they pleased without anyone constantly watching and passing judgment on them. No one telling them what to do.        

Will leaned against a wall and watched Tessa slip off her boots and walk around the small house barefoot, the cool hard wood under her feet.

She opened cupboards and drawers and run her fingers across the rich wood panels. She opened doors to pantries and a small living room.

Their home. Her own home with Will.

"I can cook for you." She noted.

Will folded his arms and laughed, "Can you cook, Tess?" His blue eyes were dark and watchful.

He noticed every move she made, the way her fingers lingered on the items in the house, touching them each in greeting.

She glanced at him, "I can boil water."

"We'll starve." Will replied.

"We'll starve together."

"That's all that matters then."

After he showed Tessa the nooks and crannies of the house, they lay in bed, the windows thrown open to let in the crisp Welsh air.

They heard soft sounds that filtered in from the neighbors, soft laughter and muffled conversations of stragglers on the path.

The tune of a haunting Welsh ballad floated in and they both listened, Will explaining to Tessa what the words meant. "Peidiwch â bod ofn, agorwch eich calon."       

"I'm never afraid when I'm with you." She said. "I love you." She said it matter of factly, as one would confirm the sky was blue and the sun was butter.

"And I love you."

They made love throughout the night, after the world around them had gone still and very quiet. Tessa's body responding to Will with fervor and exaltation, every touch made her skin sing with pleasure, wanting more of him, all of him, forever and always.

The fire between them alive and pulsing, a light that could never be extinguished, and as always the ever present awareness of love took hold and locked firmly into place, the sense of reverence and desire that would never allow them to be without the other. 

Tessa lay tucked safely against Will, her back against him, his strong arms around her. He had fallen asleep, but Tessa lay awake listening to him breathe, listening for any sounds of the coming dawn.

Tessa turned in Will's arms and watched his face as he slept and knew he slept fitfully.

He was haunted by the things he had seen, the things he experienced as a Shadowhunter, the people that he - that they - had lost...

But Will was strong, stronger than anyone she knew, strong in many ways, and she was grateful for the fears he helped her brush away, because she had her own fears navigating their Shadowhunter world, the strength he passed on to her sometimes seemed to lift her off her feet and she rose above it all, tall and confident.         

Tessa run a finger down the bridge of his nose. Their son - if they had a child - would look just like him, Tessa thought with a smile. If...

Or a daughter, Will liked to remind her.

Tessa was intensely happy, a happiness that thrummed through her veins like a living thing. A happiness she would be fiercely protective of for always, for Will.