She lay with her head on his chest, her ear over his heart, listening intently to the thump/thump/thump of his heartbeat. She pressed a hand to his stomach to feel the muscles there contract beneath her touch. Then, she lifted her hand and held it over his face, feeling the in and out/in and out of his steady breathing.

Even though the last time she had been in danger of losing him had passed years ago, she still feared, like a mother with a newborn child, that one day she would wake up without him.