Happy to Live in Love
Jun. 6th, 2012 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
archiveofarethusaKristen woke up with sunlight streaming through the window into her hand and shining in her hair, and when she shifted herself out of her bed it felt like it never left.
It still struck Kristen speechless how much Cliff cared for her. That he cared for her at all. How he'd smile at her, bright like she made him forget or just not care that there was so much uncertainty in the world; how, when she shook from the hateful phantoms of other men's violations when they kissed, he'd promised he'd wait until she was ready and sounded so damned earnest. And how he'd kept that promise. It almost couldn't be real. It oughtn't have been. He was so idealistic and good-hearted and things like promises really mattered to him, and he'd stayed. He'd stayed with her through being hunted down by an untouchable murderer and mortal wounds and the world becoming suddenly bigger than either of them had ever imagined. Men like him didn't exist, but somehow there he was and she found couldn't doubt he was real for a moment.
Life was frail and she'd missed so much of it, but she was looking forward to every blessed year of it, and every blessed year with Cliff. Life was frail, but today the sun was shining and summer was wrapped around every birdsong and bended green leaf, and today, in the surreal here and now, everything was roses.
It still struck Kristen speechless how much Cliff cared for her. That he cared for her at all. How he'd smile at her, bright like she made him forget or just not care that there was so much uncertainty in the world; how, when she shook from the hateful phantoms of other men's violations when they kissed, he'd promised he'd wait until she was ready and sounded so damned earnest. And how he'd kept that promise. It almost couldn't be real. It oughtn't have been. He was so idealistic and good-hearted and things like promises really mattered to him, and he'd stayed. He'd stayed with her through being hunted down by an untouchable murderer and mortal wounds and the world becoming suddenly bigger than either of them had ever imagined. Men like him didn't exist, but somehow there he was and she found couldn't doubt he was real for a moment.
Life was frail and she'd missed so much of it, but she was looking forward to every blessed year of it, and every blessed year with Cliff. Life was frail, but today the sun was shining and summer was wrapped around every birdsong and bended green leaf, and today, in the surreal here and now, everything was roses.