A Silent Brother No More

A Silent Brother No More, pt 5

“Jem, do you want to go inside or would you rather stand on the front step?” Tessa asked again bringing him out of his momentary lapse in focus. 

Jem noticed his heartbeat was racing.  Were his palms sweating?  Nervous energy was flooding his system and he was unsure how to answer not wanting to sound too eager, but not so nonchalant in his response that she would misconstrue his level of interest.

“Yes, absolutely, Tessa.” He smiled brightly at her, and she quickly returned the smile, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

Tessa unlocked the door, and after taking Jem’s hand firmly, walked inside with Jem trailing closely behind.  The flat was very neat, and not overly furnished with comfortable looking sofas in earthy tones.  When he breathed in deeply he noticed the faint smell of violets, and it made his heart ache.  The room, the smells, the colors were all his Tessa.  He felt as if he being given a gift by being in her home, a place she considered a sanctuary or a retreat where she could be herself. A smile played at the corners of his mouth, and he sighed.

He turned to see Tessa anxiously straightening pillows that did not need straightening.  He laughed quietly, and she stopped in the middle of fluffing a pillow knowing she had been caught.  She laughed and shrugged.

“Sorry.  I haven’t had visitors in quite some time, and well, you aren’t the usual kind of visitor now are you?” she teased him, smiling.

“Indeed, I am not,” he allowed and crossed the room to where she was standing and wrapped his arms around her bringing her in to his embrace.  She returned his embrace, and raised herself on to her toes to bring herself closer to him.  Jem buried his face into her shoulder, taking in her warmth and breathing in the fragrance of her hair. 

I could stay like this forever, he thought to himself.  Just to have her in my arms again, to breathe her in, it is enough. This time when he sighed, he let it escape his lips, and buried himself even deeper into her embrace and searched for her lips.

She eagerly met his lips and again he was burning.  Fire surged from his lips through the rest of his body. He could feel the burning tingle to the very tips of his fingers. The burning was not like what he remembered from his time addicted to the yin fin.  What he felt now filled him with energy, and made his heart feel so light he was certain that he might lift off the ground had Tessa not been keeping him grounded.

I will burn alive. I will turn to ash right here in her arms, and I will die a happy man.

Her lips were soft, and met his with the same kind of wild hunger he felt coursing through him.  He felt her hands moving up his back, tentative at first, and then with more force and speed.  His breath caught in his throat when he felt her fingertips brush against the bare skin just under his jumper.  He heard her gasp briefly, and he let out a moan that was muffled by her lips on his.

Reluctantly, he pulled himself away from Tessa’s lips to look into her eyes. Those gray eyes, with an endless depth, and he lost himself in it. He brought his forehead down to meet with Tessa’s, and rested his hands on either side of her face.  Tessa’s hands rested on his waist and he could hear her deep breaths, feel the rise and fall of those breaths in her shoulders.  His Tessa, so alive, so vibrant in all her movements and in every breath she took.

“Oh Tessa. My Tessa. I don’t think I could be happier than in this moment with you right now.” He kissed her forehead, and brought her into a new embrace.  He couldn’t bear the thought of her being too far away from him now that she was his again.

“We have time to put that theory to the test, Jem” Tessa teased him. “Our time together has only just begun. There is so much I want to show you, so much I want to experience with you.”

“I would have given anything just to spend a solitary day with you, to love you as only mine.  It feels almost impossible to think we have a lifetime ahead of us to be together.” Jem was remembering bearing his soul, his darkest desires, to Tessa in her room at the Institute after his initiation into the Silent Brothers.  He had told her then that all he wanted with her was one day, one day as her husband and she as his wife, before he died and he would have been content.  To have the opportunity to live a life with his love was filling him with an overwhelming happiness.

“But we do, Jem. Not just one day, or even a week, but every day for as long as we walk this earth.”

“It sounds wonderful Tess, it truly does.” Jem still couldn’t comprehend it. A future with his Tess.

“The question now is, where should we go first? We have the whole world at our fingertips to explore together, and we just need to pick a place and go.” The excitement and anticipation was clear in Tessa’s voice, and it was infectious.

“China” he answered her quietly, as if saying it too loudly would make the possibility of visiting the place of his birth vanish. “I would like to go to China first, Tess.”

She smiled her knowing smile, making it clear she had already known this would be his answer.  Chuckling softly he pulled Tessa close, whispering in her ear, "Wo ai ni. Ni hen piao liang, Tessa. Zhe shi jie shang, wo shi zui ai ni de."

Wanted to share some more of the story with you all. Seeing your encouraging comments, and votes, is pretty awesome so I don't want to make you wait :-)

So, I wanted to share a song suggestion with you that I think fits Will Herondale perfectly.  The first time I heard this song after reading the Infernal Devices, I literally almost cried because I thought it reflected Will so exactly, and the sadness of the lyrics broke my heart. 

My song suggestion is, What if I Told You by Jason Walker. 
The song opens with the lyrics, "What if I told you who I really was / What if I let you in on my charade? / What if I told you what was really going on / No more masks and no more parts to play"

Okay everyone, I hope you loved this more recent part and I want to hear what you think about my song suggestion and I want to hear what songs you think are perfect for any of Cassandra's characters.