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To her.

She was startled from her spiral by a clumsy hand sliding almost drunkenly over her cheek and eyes and forehead before pressing against her mouth.

“You’re thinking too loudly,” Lydia grumbled. “Go back to sleep.”

The laugh Zann had stifled earlier broke free, and she pulled Lydia tight against her as she pressed a kiss to her palm. “I love you,” she said, her words muffled against Lydia’s hand.

“I love you, darling,” Lydia purred, her voice warm with sleep and soft with affection. Her hand fell to cup the side of Zann’s throat as she stretched against her side like a cat before melting against her.

Zann hummed and kissed Lydia’s forehead as she resumed tenderly stroking her back.

“That feels good,” Lydia whispered, her breath warm against Zann’s chest.

“Good.” Zann smiled and reached down to give her behind a quick squeeze before returning to her previous path. “How’re you feeling?”

“Tired,” Lydia hummed. “A little sore.”

Though Zann thought she detected a smile in Lydia’s voice, she still murmured, “I’m sorry.”

“Mm, I’m not,” Lydia said, and yes, that was definitely a smile in her voice.

“Good.” Zann tickled her waist playfully. “Want me to kiss it and make it feel better?”

Lydia snorted and pressed up onto her forearm, her dark hair falling around her face like a curtain as she smiled down at her. “While that would definitely feel amazing, I don’t know if it’d make things better.”

“Probably not,” Zann agreed, chuckling as she reached up to tenderly tuck Lydia’s hair behind her ear. She stared, absolutely enchanted by the way Lydia’s eyes fluttered as she leaned into her touch. She cupped Lydia’s jaw and gently traced the arc of her cheek with her thumb, her heart so full that she struggled to draw a proper breath. “How did I get lucky enough to find you?”

“How did I?” Lydia countered, her voice thick with the same awestruck emotion that choked Zann. “I’d given up on this,” she confessed, her lashes fluttering as she tipped her forehead to rest against Zann’s. “I mean, there was a part of me that still hoped that maybe, someday, I’d find my happily ever after, but I’d stopped looking for it, y’know?” Her voice was soft, almost sad as she added, “It was just easier that way.”

Zann’s heart ached at the idea of Lydia thinking for even a moment that she wouldn’t find a lasting love. She caressed the back of her neck and lifted her chin to whisper directly against her lips, “Maybe the Fates were just keeping us apart until we were ready.”

“Maybe,” Lydia exhaled as she closed the distance separating them.

Zann’s pulse leapt at the warm, heavenly press of Lydia’s lips against hers, and she whimpered into the kiss as that same golden, buzzy feeling that had swept over her the night she’d first seen Lydia washed over her. She held Lydia close as that first slow, sweet kiss melted into a second, and then a third, and smiled when Lydia pulled away with a sigh of pure contentment. She caressed Lydia’s cheek as she drank in the quiet joy that pulled at Lydia’s mouth and made her look so utterly at peace, and swallowed thickly as she lifted her head to peck her lips, needing to taste that happiness one more time.

And then scoffed softly at the idea of “one more time” ever being enough.

As if sensing her thoughts, Lydia’s smile widened as she blinked her eyes open, and Zann’s breath caught at the depth of emotion that shone in them.

“I love you,” Zann whispered.

“I love you,” Lydia echoed reverently. Her brow quirked with wry amusement. “Y’know, I could kick the Fates’ asses for keeping you from me for so long.”

Zann laughed and tugged Lydia down so that her head was cradled against her. “Me too, beautiful. But, my god, am I just happy that I have you now.”

Lydia hummed and kissed the side of Zann’s throat. “Yeah.” She went so still that Zann was half-convinced she’d fallen asleep again, but then she muttered, “I can’t believe I slept so late.”

“It’s barely after seven,” Zann chuckled.

“Ten.”

“Seven, love.” Zann kissed her forehead. “We’re not in New York right now.”

Lydia arched a perfectly unimpressed brow as she wiggled closer. “I try not to disrupt my internal clock while traveling if I can. When the time change is extreme, I don’t have much of a choice, but otherwise that eight a.m. Monday morning meeting is a little less brutal if my body doesn’t think it’s still only five.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Zann gently stroked her fingers through Lydia’s hair. “So I’m guessing you don’t want to just lie here and go back to sleep? We don’t need to be anywhere until…what? Noon?”

“Eleven, for me,” Lydia murmured. “But I probably shouldn’t.” Her soft sigh tickled the side of Zann’s throat. “But…”