Her Sunrise

 

It was late, or rather early morning when he finally got home from work. The house was dark and quiet as he crept upstairs. He knew she was asleep, she had been for hours now, and in an hour's time she would need to be up to get ready for work. This was how it had been for a few weeks now, their hours were off. He'd come home to find her asleep and she'd wake for her day to see him asleep. Though in the early morning hours he'd creep in quietly and slip his arms around her sleeping body, she'd respond in her sleep by curling into him but would fall back asleep before being conscious of it.
She'd kiss him goodbye before she'd leave but in his sleep he'd hardly remember it by the time he woke up. They shared a phone call in the middle of the day depending on when he woke and when she had her lunch, otherwise it was phone messages and notes left for each other.
As he quietly entered their bedroom and saw her asleep, her head on his pillow and her body in the middle of the bed, he realized just how much he'd missed her. He looked over at her, a sleep tousled curl rested across her cheek and her breaths were slow and steady. He felt a longing ache in his chest as he watched her.
He glanced at the clock, a little less than an hour before her alarm was set to go off. As he stared at the numbers, his mind and body tired, an idea came to him that brought a smile.
He decided to shower first knowing he'd be too tired later to do it.
The hot water took the tension out of his shoulders and relaxed him. Once he finished, he turned off the water, wrapped in a towel then walked to their closet and his dresser pulling out his boxers, pajama pants and a t-shirt.
Dressed, he looked over to her, she'd rolled onto her stomach now fully on his side of the bed. Her bare leg peeked out from under the comforter; her face was resting on her arms. He smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed, gently he rubbed her leg, the sensation of her soft skin made his heart skip a beat. He reached over with his other hand and lightly tucked a curl behind her ear, waking her slowly, so as not to scare her.
"Baby; baby wake up." She stirred slowly, waking.
"Is everything okay?" She asked confused as she sat up.
"Yeah, come with me." he smiled to reassure her as he reached for her hand.
"Okay." She slipped out from under the blankets,
"What time is it?" She asked as she followed him down stairs in his shirt and a pair of shorts that she'd fallen aseep in.
"Uh... Forty-five minutes before the alarm." He grabbed a blanket off of a chair, not letting her hand go. He'd missed this too, the way her long slender fingers felt intertwined with his.
He opened the back door and she followed him out onto the porch. He wrapped the blanket and his arms around her from behind.
"Watch the sunrise with me?"
She nodded with a smile laying her head back against his shoulder. He kissed the side of her head resting his cheek against it.  Her body was warm and soft as she leaned back into him.
Together they watched the sunrise, the bright colors pushing away the dark of night, the pinks and shades of gold and yellow out shining the stars against the pale blue sky.
She tilted her head to the side, he glanced down into her eyes, and they had the same warm shades of gold  as the sunrise. She smiled, that gentle smile that made his knees weak. She brushed her nose against his, and then her lips softly eased into a kiss. It deepened with a gentle passion before she pulled back to look at him.
"Good morning honey."
"Good morning beautiful." He brushed his nose back over hers then kissed her forehead.
They slowly made their way up stairs, so she could get ready for work. He never let go of her till she needed to shower and he needed to crash.

When she got out and dressed, she looked to see he hadn't even gotten under the blankets, with a smile that wouldn't leave her the rest of the day; she went to the edge of the bed and covered him with the blanket he'd wrapped her in.
For them, it wasn't the quantity of time they had, but the quality of it.
Before she left she stuck a note to their mirror, a note he'd keep along with all the others she'd left him.
"Thank you for the sunrise."

Reviews

[Star Catcher]

Wow, that was beautiful. Such a wonderful love.