The Sky and the Stars - Tom and Sarah Kazansky

-23-

Married life was good. Dr. and Commander Kazansky settled into said married life nicely - very nicely in fact. 

The first few mornings were spent mostly in bed - they barely left the bed, let alone the house itself. And it was blissful, that was the perfect word for it in fact.  Blissful. 

California became their home, their place to settle down. Sarah missed her parents dearly, but California felt like the right next step, and it had been such an integral place in her and Tom's relationship thus far, so it only made sense to continue it all there. And her parents were a phone call or flight away. 

Sarah had thought she was an early riser, and then there was Tom. Mr. 5:30 a.m., sometimes even 5:00 itself, and he was up and chipper as ever. A definite morning person, though she wasn't all that surprised.

On one such morning, Tom left the breakfast dishes in the sink and turned to her. "Get ready my dear Mrs. Dr. Kazansky, we're going for a drive."

Sarah grinned and sipped her coffee. "Oh are we? And, where are we going, pray tell, dear husband?"

"I have something to show you." He winked.

"Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"You're not going to tell me any more are you?"

"Nope," he grinned. "Not a chance. You'll just have to come along and find out."

"Okay, you've got  me, I'm intrigued."

Half an hour later they were in the car and on the road, passing through various neighbourhoods along the way. 

"Wow, this street has an amazing view of the ocean," Sarah commented, staring out the window as they drew closer and closer to the coastline. 

Tom grinned.  "That's exactly what I thought."

They turned off the main road and into the next neighbourhood, and eventually slowed to a stop before a sprawling bungalow with a FOR SALE sign out front.

"Here we are," he announced. 

"And where are we? Where's here?"

He had a glow in his eyes. "Home."

She blinked back, taking in his words. Well, one word: home.  "Tom?"

"Come on, let me show you." Once out of the car he took her hand and led her up the front steps to the door, where, with his free hand, he withdrew a key from his pocket. 

"You have a key?"

"Yeah, the realtor loaned it to me."

The key clicked in the lock as it opened and Tom pushed the door open to reveal a wide entrance way leading directly into the living room with a large window at the back, gazing out across the ocean. The kitchen and dining room were off to the right, and the hall leading down from the left led to the bedrooms and offices. 

Tom began giving her a tour. All the while his word kept flowing through her mind.  Home.  "And this office already has the perfect stargazing window - I can confirm, I tried it. We can put your telescope right here. So, what do you think?"

"What did you mean by this is home?" she asked him instead of answering. 

"It could be, home, if you want it to be."

Sarah could feel tears prickling her eyes as she gazed around this amazing house. Could this really be theirs? She could see a beautiful garden out front and wrapping around to the back. She could see family and friend gatherings in the living and dining rooms. She could see children running around playing. There was also plenty of space to host overnight guests, which was perfect for both of their families and friends. 

But still, something remained - a big fact.  "I hate to break the moment but, can we afford this?" They had to keep practicality in mind.

"Soon, yes. I'll be Captain soon, and we have enough to put down a deposit."

The tears were falling freely now, tears of joy.  "Oh my God!" She jumped into his arms, throwing her own arms around him as he spun her around. 

She hadn't been expecting to find their forever home so soon after getting married, but why not start forever now? Why not start forever today?

"I love it, I love it so much!" she told him, cupping his face in her hands and staring into his eyes.  

"I'm glad, Sweetheart. I love it too."

"And I love you so much!"

"And I you."

"Let's do it, let's make it our home."

"Okay, let's do it."

And so it was decided - they were decided.

Time to make this house their home. 

--------------------------------

They settled in quickly and easily.  Tom's mother and sisters and families helped them with the moving in process, and Sarah invited her parents for a visit as soon as was possible for them. 

Both she and Tom had an office, just as Tom had proposed upon showing it off to her, Tom's decked out in Naval memorabilia and hers in all things space related. They would have their morning coffee and read newspapers together out on the back patio overlooking the ocean.

"Uh, oh, here comes trouble," Sarah joked as a motorcycle pulled into their nice new driveway. 

"Hey! Nice house!" Pete said as he strode inside. "Not bad at all!" He collapsed onto the couch, stretching out his legs and putting his feet up on the glass coffee table.

"Yeah, come on in, make yourself at home," Tom said dryly. "Hey Mav?"

"Yeah?

"Get your damn feet off the coffee table."

"Oh - yes, Sir." He did as told, as ordered.  "I brought you something-" He opened the backpack he had brought along with him and produced a bottle of  wine.  "What do you say? Let's celebrate."

"Okay, but not on the carpet," Sarah said. 

Pete looked down at the white carpet at his feet and then back at the bottle of red wine. "Good call."

In the kitchen they poured a glass each and toasted.  "To your new house," Pete said, before drinking deeply from his glass.

"Whoa, slow down, Mav."

"I'm on leave, Commander, give me a break." He set his now empty wine glass on the counter. "So are you two gonna give me a tour or what?"

Tom gave a sweep of his arm to Sarah.  "Lead the way, my dear."

"Gladly.  Follow me, Pete."

"Shit," Pete breathed.  "Can I move in with you guys?" The Kazanskys didn't know then about his crumbling relationship with Charlie.

"Absolutely not," Tom said, making Sarah laugh. 

"I still can't believe this is ours," she kept saying, she kept thinking. It was amazing, and it was theirs, all theirs, their home.

Their forever had begun. 

(Hello I'm back! I was really struggling with this chapter for some reason, and I just returned from being away, but I'm back now! Thanks for sticking with me :)

As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it was worth the wait! :))