Chapter 13

Katherine McPherson awoke to sunlight seeping through the window. She felt glazed with it, as if she could stay warm and glowing with it forever. She felt the soft, cotton sheets around her and nestled deeper. She didn't want to move and risk waking him up. She could feel the contours of his body through the sheets and she smiled softly. His arm was tossed over her middle, and she felt a warm rush down to her toes. She couldn't believe she was this lucky, to be here, to be in the same room as he, much more the same bed.

She sighed, and his eyes fluttered awake. He drew his arm tighter around her and buried his face into the crook of her neck. He inhaled deeply, and Katherine's smile grew wider.

"Mmm, good morning," he said.

"Good morning," she replied.

He stretched, and she heard joints cracking and loosening. She snuggled closer to him, content as a cat on a windowsill.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"Yes, very," she said. A dream had come to her in the night. She was on a hill, overlooking rolling, green meadows with purple flowers and humming bees. The sky was azure as only dream-skies can be, and the sunlight turned into honey as it dripped from the sky.

She turned toward him, and looked into his warm, brown eyes, the sunlight making them deep pools. She smiled, feeling a bit foolish at how happy she felt, and hoped he felt a tenth the same. He smiled back, and they lay just there, just staring for a moment. She embraced the moment and felt nothing else for the space of ten heartbeats.

He grinned and scooched her even closer and wrapped his arms completely around her. He nibbled at her shoulder and moaned.

"I have to go soon," he said.

"No, you don't," she said. "The city can watch itself for a while."

"What remarkable faith you have in our stinking, sinful city," he said. "Alas, I do not possess the same faith. Besides, if I go, I can keep you safe from all the monsters that threaten our walls."

Katherine giggled. "Or you can protect me from right here."

He glanced down.

"I'm afraid, madam, that I am not properly attired for providing fair maidens protection," he said, with a wicked grin.

Katherine rolled herself on top of him.

"No, indeed not I should think," she said, relishing the way his face turned to instant desire. "But you must promise me that after you have protected the city, you will return and become very improperly attired." She twisted a lock of his hair through her fingers and felt him stirring beneath her.

He moaned. "Katherine, why must you persist in making leaving this room difficult?"

"To make you return that much more quickly," she said. "However, I understand how difficult it is to leave with me pinning you down. I shall quit teasing you so."

He started to sit up and she slid off him. She flounced out of the bed, but let the sheet fall to the floor. Walking naked across the room, she poured a glass of water and toasted him.

Gods, he looked like a god, sheets tousled around him, sunlight illuminating every chiseled muscle in his frame. Katherine turned to set her glass down and let him admire that view as well.

"Katherine..."

Oh no.

She recognized that tone in his voice, the one that told her that he was about to say something unpleasant.

She turned around slowly and eyed him over the rim of her cup.

"Yes?" she said.

Derrick cleared his throat. "I-um, I have to leave soon, with my unit. My commander has placed us on patrol duty."

Katherine's heart started to sink into her stomach. Patrol duty. Gone for three months.