A/N: Thanks to all for making this foray into the sketchy somewhere between prose and poetry a positive one.

Pale Moon Burning Sun

Where do they belong?

Chapter 8

Her eyelashes, a half-mooned darkness, splashed against alabaster cheeks.

He despised waking her; she slept as peacefully as a baby.

His hand resting on the swell of her hip, lips to ear, he whispered. “Hey, sleepyhead.”

She stirred. His heart swelled. It was so right. He knew it; he was here for her.

Her eyes drowsed with wonder and love and lust as she palmed his bristly cheek, brushing her thumb across his lips.

A shiver of desire as she drew him in; kicking off boots, he hungrily relaxed into it.

Her hand sailed easily up his thigh. He had always loathed a possessive hand, and there had been many, but hers he revered, for she did not possess; he simply was possessed.

--

His fingers brushed dampened tendrils away from her love-flushed cheeks, murmuring, “I’m sorry about the boy. I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

Nestling into the crook of his arm. “It’s okay. Like you said, it was a misguided notion ... a misguided notion to try to right a wrong that I had little right to,” acquiescent sigh, “PR stunt or not, he deserves a chance at a life with his father.”

“It wasn’t a misguided notion. It was a gesture from the heart; one of the many things I love about you, Mrs. Messer.”

Nestling closer. “And you know what I love about you, Mr. Messer?” Feathering strokes. “The fact that you came halfway across the country to say that.” Nuzzling softly. “When do you have to go back?”

“That depends on you.”

Propping up on an elbow, face to face scrutiny. “What do you mean?”

“Lindsay, I’m not leaving you again.”

“But I thought this was what you wanted; to be back on the promotion grid?”

“What I want Lindsay is to be with you ...” words escaping his heart, bypassing his brain, “... and I want you off the street.”

“What?” Eyes orbed in surprise then narrowed in defiance. “Are you telling me to give up my career?”

“No, Lindsay. No!”

“Then what are you telling me to do?”

“This isn’t about me telling you what to do. This is about … Christ, Lindsay, after you fell, I realized that even I can’t prevent something from happening to you out there ... and that’s killing me.”

Rampant denial masquerading as soothing lucidity. “I understand Danny, really, I do but we all face the same risks, the same dangers. I’m no different than you or anyone else on the team.”

“C’mon Linds, you damn well know you’re different. You’re my wife and someday you’ll be the mother of-”

“Don’t go there, Danny!”

“Why not? Just because you can’t talk about it ... because you have to keep it all locked up inside ... doesn’t mean that I can keep it all locked up inside!”

“It wasn’t an ‘it’.”

“Okay if you want to argue technicalities I will. We don’t know what ‘it’ was, hell we didn’t even know ‘it’ existed until ‘it’ was gone.”

“Fuck you, Danny. It was a baby, a part of you, a part of me. How can you not care?”

“Dammit Lindsay, I care. Can’t you see that? I fucking care so much I’m halfway across the country working my ass off night and day just for the chance, Lindsay, not the assurance but just for the chance, that I’ll be able to work my way up the career ladder to make enough to support you AND a family ...” a sharp left into gentleness, breathing life into the admission, “... the family that I want to have with you.”

Hand brushing across tear-filled eyes. “Danny,I-”

Tenderly cradling wet cheeks. “Lindsay, I didn’t understand it then but I do now. And our baby that we lost ... maybe it was meant to be my wakeup call ... and maybe that was all it was meant to be ... this time.”

“Then why can’t I get past it; let it go?”

Resilient arms anchoring her to him. “It’s like you said; it was a part of me, a part of you. Maybe you don’t get past it; maybe you acknowledge it for what it was and look forward to what it can be.”

Vulnerability echoing into the hollow of his neck. “As much as I want that, Danny, I’m so scared of letting go of what I know and plunging into something I don’t.”

Answering plea caressing her heart. “But wouldn’t you rather be scared together than apart?”

Surrendering fears. “Yes, I would,” mingling strength; embracing trust, “we belong together." Restoring the sacred bond.

--

Epilogue

In a land now their own

By virtue of their alliance

Amid harsh light and chilled nights

A burgeoning life

Nurtured by the tranquility of the Pale Moon

And protected by the ferocity of the Burning Sun

Secured in the illumination

Not always visible but always present

Perpetually turning the wheel of life.

--

Again special thanks to MariaLisa, notesofwimsey, Elainhe and Bluenose for their help and inspiration on this piece.