Us for Life - Feltson

Chapter 8 - An End

Tom sat up with a gasp, awake and devastated to be so. What a dream he'd had -- everything he'd wanted for the past ten years -- he'd been just about to have it, to have her. And now he'd woken up, losing it, winding up -- here. 

Where was here? It smelled amazing. Everything was spotless. No doghair on the duvet. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, dying for a cigarette, hungry too. That's right, he was trying to quit smoking. But, why so abruptly, and so all of a sudden? 

No, it couldn't be...

He opened his eyes again, feeling the slight, rhythmic motion of the mass of downy covers breathing beside him in this bed. This was no dog bedfellow. He lay down, propped on one elbow. There she was, her head on the pillow next to his, the silky curve of her bare shoulder rising and falling above the edge of the duvet as she slept here, with him. 

It was real. It was all real.

Tom leaned close enough to brush his lips over her shoulder, breathing her in. Yes, this was all his, somehow. It was all coming back to him, through the fog of his jetlag and the nicotine withdrawal. These were memories, not dreams of the past few days. 

Along with them came his recall of her kind observation that, while a good idea, quitting smoking wasn't urgent, and he could go about it gradually. She hadn't awakened when he touched her, so he let her keep sleeping. He slid out of bed, found yesterday's boxer shorts and undershirt on the floor, and opened a window to smoke into the cool, damp London air outside. Home: in every way, he was home.

He went over all of it again. How the clerk at the registry office who sold them their marriage license had tried hard to be professional but kept muttering "Draco and Hermione -- no one's going to believe it. No one. I can't even -- this is mad..."

The almost elderly woman who'd conducted the actual ceremony had recognized Emma, but not him, which they'd both been in too euphorically good moods to mind.

In the car afterwards, he'd been surprised when Emma asked her assistant to send them to her flat instead of to her mother's house.

"Don't act so shocked, darling," Emma had said, nestling against him in the backseat. "Jane Austen never came right out and explained what the driving motivation behind elopement was, but she didn't have to. Everyone knew it was more about having a honeymoon than anything else."

He'd buried his face in her hair and murmured against her throat. "You've convinced me. I love Jane Austen so very much."

"Don't keep your parents waiting too long," Emma's assistant called after them as they scrambled out of the car toward to door of her flat. "This is all over the Internet and they're going to be wondering."

"Right," was all Emma had called back as they made their way inside.

"Is this really alright?" Tom had said as she'd pushed him against the door and tugged his tie loose. "Disappearing on our own before seeing our parents?"

She'd sighed and worked at the knot. "Mum would have insisted we stay the night. And then -- this -- would have happened in my twelve-year-old self's bedroom."

He had been pushing her jacket off her shoulders even as he'd argued. "That would have been nice though, wouldn't it? Full circle? But I mean, it doesn't matter to me where this happens, as long as this happens."

She'd laughed and spoken against his mouth as he kissed her. "Up in my old room, where twelve-year-old me used to drift off to sleep thinking of you practicing kickflips? It's just that, while I don't mind that girl having a small, distant, nostalgic role in our lives, you don't belong to her. You belong to this Emma. Entirely."

With that he'd growled and pounced and that was that.

Well, nearly. Through the rush and heat of it all, they managed to agree that the baby project would begin after this honeymoon and not during it. The clock continued to tick, but Tom was here now, for whenever she was ready.

Tom sat in the window now, sighing, laughing softly to himself, until the one cigarette he would allow himself today was smoked all the way to the filter. He crushed the butt against the brick of the outside wall and lowered the window pane. The room was cooler now, so he went back to the bed and covered Emma's shoulder. She snuggled deeper into the covers, no sign of waking yet.

He fumbled around the kitchen, trying to find something for them to eat. But she had a good assistant, who had ordered all the perishable food purged from her refrigerator before they left overseas. 

Eventually arms closed around his waist and a face pressed into his back. "Morning," Emma said. "You're up early."

"Am I?"

"Mm-hm."

"Sorry. California time. And now here I am making a miserable show of contributing something to your household -- "

"Our household -- "

"But your coffeemaker is impossible and your fridge is empty. The best I could do was tea."

"Oh, I'd love some," she said as he turned to face her. She rose onto her toes and kissed him. "Have you checked your phone?"

He frowned, his hands running up and down the lengths of her arms. "No, I've had enough lovely, intensely distracting things to think about. Is this my shirt you're wearing?"

"Our shirt."

He laughed and held her close, his voice rumbling into her ear as he walked her backwards, away from the kitchen. "I know you just got out of bed but..."

"Wait," she said. "I asked about your phone because of some texts I got. One from my mother and one," she raised a finger to tap his chin, "from your mother."

Tom gave a spectacular cringe. "My mother still has your number?"

"Apparently."

He swore. "Well, what did they want?"

"To know if we're back in London and married by a registry agent."

He swore again. "Well, I suppose we deserve this."

"Yes, but they don't," Emma said. "And now we have to get dressed and go explain ourselves."

Tom let out his breath. "Shortest elopement ever."

She clasped her arms around his neck, wanting to ask him a question seriously, but not able to stop smiling. "Do you regret it?"

He bowed his head to bring them nose to nose. "Certainly not."

And though they did go to celebrate with their families, they did not get dressed quite yet.

❤❤❤

AUTHOR NOTE: Thanks for reading. No smut for real people but I hope you enjoyed toying with a little sweetness.