An indirect light was shining on the figure lying on the mattress next to her. She had already been awake for a few hours, watching her lover, trying to memorize his facial features even though she already knew them better than her own, if she was being honest. 

Distressed, she realized that slowly but surely, the morning was approaching and with it the time for their farewell. 

She raised her hand with a bit of hesitation and removed the single strand of dark hair that had gotten entangled in his brows. The gentle touch seemed to wake him, his breathing got a little deeper and he exhaled with a small sigh before opening his eyes. 

Even though there was only an indirect light illuminating their bedroom from within their walk-in wardrobe behind their bed, the blue color of his eyes seemed intensive to her. 

Sometimes, when the lights hit them in a specific way, the intensity of the color took her breath away, just like it did now. He blinked once, maybe he was confused to see her awake at this time of night and looked at the alarm on the nightstand behind her, suppressing a yawn. 

It was 4.13 a.m.

That was early, even for him. The green glow was almost too bright for him right now and he looked away from it, at his wife. 

He breathed in and ran his hand over his face and through his hair before putting it down in her nape to stroke her. 

Her hair felt like silk between his long fingers, its dark brown colour was a contrast to that of his skin, even in the dim light. 

“How long have you been awake?” 

She shrugged and continued to look at him with a small frown. He sighed softly and moved a little closer to her. 

“Yuriko…”

Her worried look was a stab to Vian’s heart. 

He knew she was worried about him, she always was, especially when he needed to leave for a deployment. Often, her worries were reasonable because his job was definitely quite dangerous. 

He pulled her a little closer now and put his arms around her slightly shaking body. Her fingers were pulling on his shirt as if she wanted to never let him go. 

“Riko, calm down. Everything will go smoothly. It always does.” 

Vian did not like promising her something he had no influence on but he wanted to calm her down. He did not want her to cry or be sad, he had never wanted this and he would not start being okay with it now. 

The soft sob he heard escaping her throat almost tore him apart and he hugged her affectionately. 

“I’m sorry, Vian. I didn’t want us to fight and I didn’t want to say those things. I know you care about us so much but… Forgive me, please. I don’t want you to leave without forgiving me. I’d never forgive myself for it.” 

He shook his head softly in response and stroked her back with one of his hands.

The other hand was still in her dark brown hair, which always reminded him of dark chocolate. Vian pulled her even closer and could feel her snuggling up to him, hiding her face on his neck. 

He continued to stroke both, her hair and back calmingly. While talking, his lips gently touched her temple. 

“I know, Riko. I’m not angry. You know, my reaction would’ve been even harsher, if it were the other way around.” 

At least this reference to his own protective instinct was able to charm a soft laugh out of her. 

He could feel her snuggling up even closer and savoured the warmth of her body close to his, knowing he would not only miss her presence but her scent, her voice, the sound of her laugh and everything else that contributed to this woman’s personality.

Slowly but surely, Yuriko calmed down. She used the back of her hand to wipe the tears off her face and snuggled up closer, her cheek against his chest. 

Feeling the warmth of his body had always been a way of calming her down and right now, as she was able to feel his heartbeat under her fingertips and his breath in her hair, she knew that this was everything she would ever need. The family they had started together was the most important constant in her life and she felt as if her love for this man was simply overwhelming . 

She began running her finger over the pattern of his shirt, imagining she was touching the skin below the fabric. 

“I’m just so worried about you. I don’t know what I’d tell the kids if anything happened to you…” 

She wasn’t able to continue, her voice breaking. She could hear the small hint silent reproach in her own voice even though she did not want to blame him for leaving.

Damn it, she knew how important his work was and she was quite sure she would have been by his side in the midst of it all, had there not been their children. 

Still, she also knew how dangerous such an operation could turn out to be and she simply could not prevent to start thinking about all things that could happen to him.

The feeling of his hands on her back and in her hair was calming, just like his presence and his lips on her earn and she wanted to just stay here for the rest of both their lives even though she knew she needed to say goodbye to him in only a few hours. 

The morning was approaching fast. 

She moved a little closer still, wanted to feel his presence as strongly as possible. 

“Yuriko, do yourself and me a favour and try to stop thinking of what could happen. Try to take you mind off what I might be doing. Maybe you can take the kids to visit some friends. I’m sure Raik, Evie and Zachery would love you to come over to their place. Or you’d call Noah, I’m sure he’ll be able to distract you with some of his nonesense.” 

He was silent for a moment as if he was waiting for an answer but she stayed quiet, breathing in his scent and just listening to his voice. 

“I promise I’ll try to call as often as possible. Just try not to worry too much, okay? It’s tearing up my heart to see you like this.” 

She felt his hand moving from her nape to her chin and looked up at him. 

He looked at her softly, a frown on his face and an unhappy little smile on his lips. 

“Let’s not spend the last few hours before I need to leave just looking at each other like it's the last time, hm?”

She mirrored his smile and gently shook her head. 

“No, let’s not do that.” 

Yuriko moved a little bit so she was able to reach his lips with hers and kiss him affectionately. While they were kissing, she ran one of her smaller hands down his torso and let it slip beneath his shirt. 

Yuriko touched his warm skin and the firm muscles below with her fingertips and could feel his hands on her hips, stroking up her body just a moment later. It was only when she heard a little sigh escaping her own lips that she realised he had been removing her silken chemise at the same time. 

Their kiss got deeper, more passionate, while each of them was touching the other one’s body lovingly. Every little bit of skin that was uncovered got the same amount of loving attention as the one before and not even for a second did they break their kiss. 

The annoying bedspread had been flipped over by now even though it was still covering their lower bodies. 

When Vian’s hands reached Yuriko’s breasts, both of them were out of breath but still, they only broke their kiss unwillingly.

Using his strong arms, Vian pulled his wife on top of himself. She was straddling him and he could feel the muscles of her thighs on his sides. He moved his hands a little higher to take off her cream-coloured chemise and pulled it over her head. 

Now, the only thing she was wearing was a black lacy slip. He allowed himself to, once more, take in her appearance and thanked whatever entity there was for having the chance to be this woman’s husband. 

Even after her pregnancies, Yuriko still was lean and almost petite. The curves of her well-toned body were touched by the dim light. Her skin, which was of a slightly darker tone than his own almost seemed to glow golden. 

“Not fair…”, she complained breathlessly, making him smile a little wider. 

He felt her pulling him into a more upright position to take off his shirt as well and he laughed a little while allowing her to do so. 

“You need to be a little faster next time, love.” 

Without paying too much attention to it, Vian let his shirt fall to the floor next to their bed and, smilingly, put his hands onto her hips to pull her closer again. He saw her eyes glinting, of passion instead of tears this time. 

“Well, maybe you should watch what you’re saying while you're in bed with me, Vian Tate. You know I am the one who usually has the upper hand, right?” 

Yuriko was also smiling and kissed him again. Then, she started grinding her body against his, making him moan softly. Her words along with her promising laughter were harbingers of what she would do to him before allowing him to take the upper hand. 

And in this moment, Vian had to admit that he was the most fortunate person on this freaking planet whenever he was in the hands of his wonderful wife.