From the Bookshelf of Turning Pages At Midnight…

“Aren’t you going to ask what that is before you let me in?” I frown.
He raises his aviators and flashes me a smile that can hold up the entire universe with its magnitude.
“What’s the point? I’ll give it to you, anyway. Be it money, a snog, a shag, a kidney, a liver. God, I hope it’s not my liver you’re after. Unfortunately, mine has seen some mileage . Come on now, Aurora.”
“Rory.”
“Rory,” he amends, dragging his straight teeth over his bottom lip. “Much more fitting. You don’t look like a princess at all.”

‘All this time.
All this anger.
For nothing.
I want to hug her.
I want to fall down on my knees and ask for her forgiveness.
To cry.
To tell her what happened.
To hide it from her, so she won’t know how awful it has been.
I want to kiss her. Dip my fingers in her long, currently snow white hair. Press my lips between her eyes and thighs and over her beautiful, flawless heart that always beats faster when it’s under my palm. I want to keep her warm. Forever.’

“I’ve tried to fight what we have for so long, Mal. I no longer remember what it feels like to let go and allow you to pull me down the rabbit hole.”
I take her face in my hands, move her away so she can look me in the eye. “Newsflash, Rory: you’re already there. There wasn’t one moment in time, from the second we met, that you weren’t mine. Just like I’ve always been yours.”

“Mal,” I breathe.
He slowly looks up. I see bad things have already slipped into his broken interior.
“Have you ever been in love?” I ask.
A huge smile breaks on his face. It is true and big and real, and it can keep me burning forever. I know as long as I see this smile every day, I will never be cold.
“Funny you should ask. Yes, yes, I have been. I still am. It started eight years ago, in the most unlikely event, and it has no expiration date.”