She’s surprised when he enters the bathroom, she thought she lost him at the door to their bedroom. Even more surprising is that he has already discarded his clothes.

Killian’s appearance in the mirror behind her breaks the concentration on her own reflection in favor for his. She watches and feel his arms embrace her. This doesn’t feel cold and distant. As she sinks into it, she’s instead wrapped in a familiar love. Another pleasant surprise. You can see it in the way she almost lets herself smile.

Lex’s chest rises and falls slowly in a heavy sigh, “I’m not sure,” she whispers, letting her hands gently graze over his arms, “Something broken,” is she referring to herself? Killian? Their relationship? Perhaps all of the above.

Killian Decker

Goosebumps run across his skin at her touch. It's electric. Killian responds to the feeling by closing the distance with his lips. They press against the back of her neck in a tender kiss.

"Is that how you feel, broken?" it's clear by his tone that Killian doesn't believe she is. He can't. Because that would mean they won, and he refuses to let that happen.

While they speak, Killian begins to slowly and methodically strip Lex of her clothing. He starts with her jacket. His hands slip underneath and carefully peel the leather from her body.

Alexandra Briarwood

Despite the steamy, warm air, his lips against her neck elicit a similar reaction as goosebumps rise across her flesh. Her eyes close to relish in the lingering kiss.

She is malleable to his touch, moving however is needed to accomplish his goals. His hands slowly discard her jacket which falls heavily to the floor. His touch and actions have completely consumed her attention leaving her too distracted to think, but she already knows the answer to his question so she responds, “Yes,” when she opens her eyes the mirror is covered in steam and she’s thankful for it. She lifts her arms to let him remove her shirt.

Killian Decker

Fingers curl underneath fabric as he lifts her shirt up and off. The injuries are less severe, but the bruises from her fight remain. They aren't enough to distract from how captivating he finds her.

Tossing her top to the ground, he places another kiss on her neck. He's not ready to undress her fully. Instead, he enjoys the sensation of her bare skin against his own. Soft and warm. His heart race with a carnal desire for more.

Killian paces himself both for his pleasure and hers. "Why? You don't look broken to me." he runs his hands down her chest. Gentle in how he touches the parts of her that are bruised.

"You don't feel broken."

Alexandra Briarwood

Another layer removed brings them closer together. It’s a level of intimacy they had denied themselves of for too long. She is happy to let it proceed slowly, savoring each touch as if it is all a dream and she could wake up at any moment.

His fingertips explore her, searching for the sharp edges of a broken woman. All they would find is soft skin with intermittent, sensitive swellings. It isn’t on the outside she’s broken. His tenderness is welcome, but in such stark contrast to their new normal that it doesn’t seem real. Is this real?

Killian’s question requires thought, but that’s not where her mind wants to wander. Right now, it’s consumed in the present along with a growing desire for more of him that supersedes anything else. So, she doesn’t answer him and accepts his assessment of her, for now.

If he accepts her as she is then that is good enough for her. But does he? He’s grown distant and disconnected.

A question that has plagued her slips out, “Do you still love me, Killian?” Is it all worth it? His pain? His torturous nightmares? The dark path he has found himself on, trapped in an organization that threatened them both?

Killian Decker

Whether she knows it or not, Lex is his. She has been from the moment they met. He craved her in ways that few could understand. Even from a distance, his love for her dominated his life. Lex was Killian's addiction. He'd kill for her, suffer for her, and he'd die for her too.

It hurt that she doubted that, but Killian couldn't blame her. They'd struggled to connect since he'd woken from his coma. A fault entirely his own. "Always." a single word spoken with so much emotion that it's almost overwhelming. But it doesn't feel like enough to convey just how deep and utterly he feels for her.

Her belt is easy to remove, thrown to the side as he unbuttons her pants and watches them fall to the floor. He sinks his hands into the softness of her thighs. Reveling in the way she feels against his fingertips.

Lips pressed against her ear whisper a seductive secret. "You're my queen, Lex. I'll love you no matter how damaged or broken you think you are." she'd said something similar to him on Mt.Pyre. When she'd forced him to confront his feelings. It was his turn to do the same.

Alexandra Briarwood

His. That’s all she wants to be. But it seems Rocket is also trying to lay claim on her, taking a dominant role she reserved for only one man. There will no doubt be a time where they asked her to choose, or him to choose, between them and Rocket. Lex knows her answer, it’s the easiest one she’ll ever make. Now she just needs to be prepared and strong enough to defend herself when she makes it.

Always. Just the way he says it makes her shudder. She immediately regrets ever doubting it. Still, it’s what she needed to hear after . . . everything. There’s renewed sense of hope that swells in her chest. He is still fighting for her and she is still fighting for him. Perhaps it’s time they fought together rather than separately.

She steps out of the fallen garments, kicking them towards the wall. Her hands follow his to her thighs. They rest gently on top of his, not meant to disrupt his indulgence. The secret comes as his lips brush against her ear and his hot breath trails down her neck. Goosebumps rise again across her shoulders. It’s electrifying. The familiar words fill whatever voids had been beaten into her with of his love.

Lex turns to look into his eyes, the arms that slip underneath his and across his back pull her tightly against him, “And you are my king,” she lets her lips brush against his collarbone as she speaks, leaving a trail of kisses in their wake as she moves them towards the nape of his neck, “I’ll love you forever, and another after that.”

Killian Decker

His eyes close, enjoying the brush of her lips against his skin. The embers that had been weakly burning since he'd awoken erupt into an inferno. He's alive for the first time in weeks, and it's all thanks to her.

My king.

She speaks the words so naturally and without a hint of hesitation. They're seductive and heartwarming at the same time. It makes everything she's doing that much sweeter.

He shudders the moment she reaches his neck. Pleasure runs down his spine like electricity through an outlet. Instinctively, his hands glide along the side of her thighs. Restraint all but disappearing as he lifts her into his arms.

Holding her tightly, Killian leaves kisses against her neck that eventually led him to her lips. "Always and forever." he whispers. The way he kisses her brims with a gentle but furious passion. His desire to replace her pain with ecstasy is all he wants her to feel.

He carries her into the shower, pressing her back against the tiled wall as the water washes over them.

Alexandra Briarwood

Killian trembles beneath her lips, and for a brief moment she feels powerful. It’s intoxicating, he is intoxicating. She wants more, he wants more. She can feel it.

He lifts her into his arms, and she wraps her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, submitting fully to the moment as her eyes close and his lips touch her skin. They paint a trail towards her own that dissolves any lingering tension left in her body by the spike of adrenaline. Instead, her heart races for different reasons: passion, longing, desire, love.

Lex meets his kiss with equal passion. Arm curled tighter around his neck and fingers tangle themselves in his dark hair. She fills it with the love she hasn’t been able to show him over the past few weeks and the longing for him she was forced to bury deep down while he recovered. For the first time, she feels her Killian in the kiss, the one she lost when the nightmares poisoned him. She deepens it passionately, hungry for what she has been starved of.

Not even the chill of the cool tile on her back or the hot water wetting their skin can tear an ounce of her attention away from him. She lets the passion sink deep into the broken crevices of her soul, flushing out the pain and mending the fissures.

They blend together into one, a seamless mixture, an unbreakable bond. The emotions and passion are so visceral that Lex is happy the water is there to wash away the tears that she cries.

---

Even when it’s all over, she hesitates to let go. Her hands never leave him even as she leans back to rinse the last bit of soap from her hair. Despite the length of their shower, the water never runs cold in Lavaridge.

Killian Decker

Killian watches her with a smile. Enjoying the view as she finishes rinsing her hair. Magnificent in her beauty, Lex makes his heart race even when she's doing something so simple. He hungers to taste her yet again, to indulge in the sweetness that is their lust. That desire carries him forward.

One arm embraces her from behind, fingers sliding across wet skin as he pulls her close. The other brushes her hair aside so he can place a kiss against her neck. Having her so close grants him clarity.

For the first time in a while, Killian feels like himself. He carries that realization into the way that he holds her. Firm, afraid to let go lest he lose both himself and the women he loves. Killian trembles slightly and embraces her with both arms.

"I'm sorry." he doesn't say for what because he doesn't need to. "I won't let it happen again." another kiss, this time on her cheek.

Alexandra Briarwood

Not too long ago she might have feared he was going to break away from their embrace as she feels him shift beneath her touch. Now, it doesn’t even cross her mind. It will always be a welcome feeling to be pulled into his embrace. She smiles beneath the cascade of water before her eyes open to look back at Killian. Even the warm water can’t wash away the lingering of his kiss on her neck.

Her hands glide up to curl around his neck, just as invested in staying entangled together as he is. He apologies, and he’s right to think he doesn’t need to say what for. She knows. Lex doesn’t let him move far. A hand slides forward to cup his cheek in her palm, “I know,” she smiles softly. It’s a promise she knows he’ll keep.

Killian Decker

He melts against her palm with eyes closed. The mixture of water on his skin and the softness of her body sends him somewhere else. A faraway place where the problems that plague them don't exist. Bliss. The kind they used to have before the world felt so messy. Killian's desperate for this moment to last forever. But it's short-lived.

A grim reminder of the pain Lex had just endured flashes into his mind. He holds her tighter, chin coming to rest against her shoulder. "I love you." and though he'd just confirmed he always would - Killian can't help but feel it's worth repeating. Again, his hands explore her body, caressing the parts of her he knows she enjoys the most.

"I'm going to hurt them for what they did to you, Lex." it's a promise. One she didn't ask for, but he makes it nonetheless. There's something else that she needs to hear. It hangs on the tip of his tongue, begging to get out.

"If they threaten my life again - try to force you to do something against your will. I need you not to worry about me. I'll be fine. The only thing that matters is you."

He needs to see that she understands, so he turns her around. Baby eyes that are unwavering in their resolve stare deep into gold.

"Can you do that for me, Lex?"

Alexandra Briarwood

“I love you too,” an affirmation sealed with a kiss that presses against his wet cheek and another that lingers as he explores. Hands slide smoothly against wet skin down her shoulders, her chest, over her stomach and rest on her hips as he holds her tighter. Everything about the moment is perfect. Lex desperately clings to it, wanting to urge him to keep going and trace every inch of her with his fingertips. But he speaks again, and what he says makes her tense up against him.

Revenge. It’s a craving she’s familiar with. It’s what drove her to make the mistakes that eventually led to where they are now. She is feeling it now too. There is a deep seeded anger swelling inside planted by those that wronged her and threatened the one thing in life she loved unconditionally, “We will,” she corrects, letting the seed sow roots.

When he turns her around he is met with a furrowed brow and a familiar defiance in her eyes. What is he saying? He doesn’t seem to understand that he is, in fact, her whole world. Willingly submitting him to danger would go against every fiber in her being.

His baby blues bear into her. He’s serious, unrelenting. There’s silence drowned out by the steady fall of the warm water against the tile. She struggled internally for a moment, not willing to accept what he asks of her. She isn’t sure she can keep that promise when it matters. She’d always put him first.

She’d also do anything for him, put his well-being before her own at all times. If this is what would bring him peace then she would consent. Killian would be able to see she doesn’t want to, but she gives in, “Yes,” she promises.

Killian Decker