TNAS – Vacation
By: tayryn
Rating: NC-17 (of course)
Disclaimer: Space: 1999 and its characters aren’t mine, they belong to ITC. I’m just playing with them. The children and any other character not previously known… those are mine.
Author’s note: I know it’s been a long while between chapters… sorry. But, as with all things… good things come to those who wait. Whether or not this is one of those things… lol… you decide.
This particular chapter was inspired by my trip to Rio de Janeiro, where I got to spend two glorious weeks with my sister. (MYL, hon!)
~*~*~*~*~
“Helena!” John shot up in bed, screaming his wife’s name in a panicked voice. “Helena!”
“John?”
His breath caught in his throat as a pair of arms slid around his waist and a warm body pressed against his back.
“Honey, what is it?” Helena asked, dropping a soft kiss to his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“The mine… there was a cave in…”
“Mine? Cave in? What are you talking about, John?” Helena asked, shifting around so she could see his face.
John gave her a strange look. “New Alpha. We were…”
“Not that again.” Helena said, dropping her head onto his shoulder. “It was a dream, John. Nothing more.”
“A… a dream?” John repeated, glancing around, a bewildered look appearing on his face. “What to you mean? What’s a dream?”
“New Alpha… Being lost in space on the moon.” Helena told him patiently, sounding like she’d recited it a few times before. “It’s all just a dream.”
“A dream? You mean, we… we met on Alpha though, didn’t we?”
“Yes. We met on Alpha.” Helena answered with a smile. “We met when you took over command from Gorski.”
“What about the explosions in Area one and two? How’d we get back to Earth?”
“Area one burned itself out, and thanks to Victor’s input and your fast thinking, we managed to avoid having Area two go up.” Helena explained. “There was no explosion.”
“No explosion.” John echoed.
“No. Area two burned itself out as well.”
“Why… why can’t I remember it?” He asked her.
“We’re not sure,” Helena answered softly. “You were in an accident a couple of years ago, which left you with amnesia.” Her voice grew quiet and her eyes misted over. “You didn’t know who you were, who I was or even that we were married.” She paused, swallowing back the lump that formed in her throat. “It was hard, but a few days later, you woke up from a very vivid nightmare, remembering everything. But since then, and thank God it doesn’t happen often, you relive the accident in a nightmare and wake up with the delusion or dream of this life on the moon.”
John shook his head, trying to make sense of what she was saying. “So…” he met her eyes, deciding to cling to the one thing she’d said that gave him some measure of relief. “You did say that we’re married, right?”
Helena couldn’t stop the smile coming to her face, nor the soft chuckle that passed her lips as she nodded. “Oh yes, we’re married.”
“For five years.” He stated matter-of-factly.
Helena nodded and John smiled.
“Oh good. At least I haven’t totally lost it then.” He glanced around the room. “And our kids…” his voice trailed off at the sad look that came to Helena’s face. “No children?” He asked quietly.
“No… not yet.” Helena told him, sliding her hand down his arm and into his hand. “But not from lack of trying.”
John smiled, squeezed her hand and met her eyes, a sudden knock at the door stopping him before he could say anything. He squeezed her hand again, before climbing off the bed and moving towards the door.
“Ah, John…”
He turned at Helena’s call and was hit in the face with a pair of balled-up boxers. He peeled them off his face and glanced down. “Right,” he grinned and slipped them on before leaving the bedroom and moving out into the outer part of the suite to answer the door.
“Bom dia, senhor.”
“Bom dia.”
“I have your breakfast, senhor.” The young man at the door indicated the cart before him.
John stepped back and gestured for the young man to come in. “Please, just put it by the window.”
The server did as instructed, and then moved back to the door. “Just leave the tray outside when you are finished, senhor. Someone will be by to get it.”
“I will, thank you.” John said as he shut the door. He turned around and slowly moved across the room towards the window.
“John?”
John turned at the sound of Helena’s voice. He pointed out the window. “We’re in Rio?”
“Yes,” she answered, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. “You surprised me with a second honeymoon.”
John turned around in her arms, laying his hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. “So, how long does this… amnesia usually last?”
“Not too long. A day. Two at the most.” Helena told him.
“Good.” John said, his hands sliding down her arms and then sliding around her waist to pull her closer. “Cause I want to get back to my life with you.”
“Mmm,” Helena smiled up at him, her arms tightening around him. “That sounds wonderful to me.”
“Me too, honey.” John said, lowering his mouth to hers in a loving kiss.
~*~*~*~*~
“Bom dia, senhor e senhora.”
“Bom dia.” John responded to the doorman as he opened the door for them.
“Tenha um bom dia, senhor.” The doorman smiled at them.
John smiled back as he slipped his arm about his wife’s waist. “Obrigado. Prentendo ter.”
Helena looked up at John as they walked along the sidewalk. “What was all that?”
“Oh, the doorman said good morning to us. I replied. And then he told me to have a good day, and I told him I intended to.”
Helena smiled. “I still can’t get over that you can speak Portuguese.”
John simply grinned and slid his hand down to hers. “Come on, bela. Vamos para a praia!”
Helena laughed as John began to walk faster, pulling her with him. Twenty minutes later she gasped. “Oh my… it’s gorgeous!”
“Welcome to Ipanema.” John smiled and then shrugged slightly. “Actually, we’ve been walking through it for a while now, and obviously, this is the beach.”
“It’s beautiful. Look at that incredible view,” Helena said softly, her gaze wandering up and down the beach. “You can even see the mountains.”
“Pretty cool, eh?”
“Oh yes.” Helena nodded, pulling her camera out of her purse. “I can’t get over how white that sand is.”
John watched her, smiling as she snapped picture after picture of the beach.
“I want a picture of us together, John.” Helena said, after taking a picture of him with the water behind him. “With those mountains, islands, whatever,” she pointed to a set of three further out in the water. “behind us.”
“Well, let me ask someone.”
Helena watched as he approached an older couple who were heading towards them. She listened with a bemused smile as they held a conversation in Portuguese and grinned when she saw the couple nod.
“They’ve agreed to take our picture.” John said, walking back to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
“Pronto?”
“Ready?” John asked.
“Yes,” Helena nodded, her smile growing.
“Um. Dois. Três…” the flash went off. The gentleman taking the picture held up the camera. “Você gostariam de uma outra, só por segurança?”
“Sim, por favor.” John answered and pulled Helena closer. “He’s going to take another one for us. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Sounds good to me,” Helena agreed, wrapping her arms around him and snuggling closer as the man holding the camera counted again and then took the picture. She smiled as he walked over and handed her the camera. “Obrigado.”
“De nada.”
The couple talked quickly with John for a few minutes more, and then with smiles and waves they continued walking down the beach as John led her in the opposite direction.
“What were they saying?”
“Oh, they were just commenting on what a beautiful wife I had.” He told her with a smile. “And I thanked them.”
“And that was it?”
“I also asked them if they knew of a really good restaurant in the area which,” he gestured in the direction they were walking. “Is this way.”
Helena merely smiled and followed her husband.
~*~*~*~*~
“Oh my…” Helena moaned, holding her stomach as she and John left the restaurant. “That was delicious.”
“Oh yeah.” John agreed.
“So, where to now?”
“I thought you might like to do a little shopping.” John said, slipping his hand in hers. “There’s a fairly big flea market up the road. Thought we’d check it out.”
“Lead the way.” Helena smiled.
~*~*~*~*~
The door to their hotel room opened, and Helena breezed in, her hands full of bags. She turned and laughed at the sight of John, his hands equally full, trudging into the room behind her.
“I know I said anything, but sheesh, did you have to clean them out?” John grumbled playfully.
Helena just smiled, placed the bags on the floor and rummaged through them. “I do hope Victor likes the shirt we bought him,” she pulled a brightly coloured shirt out the bag and held it up against her as she turned. “What do you think, Jo…” she dropped the shirt and quickly moved over to where he was seated in the chair; his face buried in his hands. “Honey, what is it?”
“Victor’s alive?” He asked in a quiet voice.
“Of course he is. You know tha…” Helena began, stopping immediately as she realized. She crouched down in front of him, reaching up to pull his hands away from his face.
“New Alpha isn’t real.”
“You say it, but you don’t sound like you believe it.”
“I…” he shook his head before standing and beginning to pace the room. “I know you’ve told me it’s all a dream but how can it feel so real? How can the memories of the last five years be so strong?”
“I don’t know.” Helena said, standing and turning to face him. “But what I do know, is that you can’t live in a dream.” She slowly moved towards him. “I’m here. Now, with you. I’m real, John.”
“I know you are.” John said. “That’s just it, I know you are. You. You are always real to me. No matter where I am or what happens, you are always with me.”
“Then let go of the dream, John.”
“I’m trying.” He told her. “And every time I think I’ve let it go, something happens that brings it all back; like your mentioning Victor.” He explained. “I also keep expecting to see our kids running around.”
Helena stopped just in front of him, crossing her arms protectively across her chest, her fingers tapping a tuneless rhythm against her arms.
“I’m sorry.” John said, running his finger through his hair before rubbing the back of his neck. “I…” he stepped around her and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“I need a little time.” He told her, opening the door. “I’ll be back.”
He left; pulling the door closed behind him, not wanting to see the tears that he knew had started coursing down his wife’s cheeks.
~*~*~*~*~
John stared unblinkingly at the water as he let his thoughts drift.
He was finding it difficult to come to terms with all that Helena had told him. That the last five years on New Alpha and the six years before that hadn’t happened the way he remembered.
He remembered marrying Helena… but on the moon, performing the ceremony himself as the asteroid approached. Not in a church service as she’d told him earlier.
Building the houses on their new planet; finding the hot spring that they’d love in more times than he could count in the last five years. The twins’ birth, her coma, his amnesia. He could remember it all.
But he couldn’t remember the life with her here on earth.
And it was confusing the hell out of him.
He loved Helena. Of that he had no doubt. And his memories of loving her and his feelings for her were as strong as ever, but still there was that nagging doubt that something just wasn’t quite right.
And yet, here and now, it all seemed and felt so real. Her arms around him when he woke up screaming her name had felt real. Her warm, naked body pressed up against his back had felt very real.
~ You have to decide what’s real, John. ~ He told himself, his eyes starting to focus on the water as he continued to think.
~*~*~*~*~
John quietly entered the dark hotel room and headed immediately for the bedroom when he didn’t see Helena in the main room.
“Helena?” He called out softly as he slipped inside, seeing her curled up on the bed. He sighed softly, knowing he’d hurt her.
Kicking his shoes off, he climbed up onto the bed behind her and spooned up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and cradling her against his chest.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a soft voice against her blonde hair.
“I’m sorry too,” she said in an equally quiet voice. “I always forget how hard it is for you after one of these episodes.”
“So… does this mean we’re okay?”
Helena shifted in his arms, turning to face him, her arms wrapping around his torso, her legs entangling with his. She nodded and gave him a small smile. “We’re okay.”
“Good.” John relaxed at her words. He brought his hand up to caress her cheek. “I love you, Helena. Nothing will ever change that.”
Helena nodded. “I know. I love you too.”
They cuddled closer together and within minutes fell sound asleep.
~*~*~*~*~
“Oh my God… this is simply incredible!” Helena exclaimed as she tilted her head further back. “It’s so huge! I mean, I knew it would be big, but wow!”
John grinned and leaned back against the railing high up on the Corcovado, watching Helena as she continued to gaze at the Christ statue, her camera once again in her hand and flashing away.
She backed up until she was leaning back against his chest. “Oh, John… this is so… oh wow.”
John chuckled.
“This is even better than yesterday.” Helena said and then tilted her head back to face him. “Not that I didn’t enjoy the Sugar Loaf. I did. But this,” she gestured out with her hand. “This is incredible. And the view… oh my… it’s fantastic.”
John nodded his understanding.
The day before they’d gone up on the Pão de Açúcar, and while there had only been a couple of clouds in the sky when they’d started, those clouds had decided that they wanted to totally surround the Sugar Loaf. Visibility had been nil. But despite that, they’d both had a nice time walking along the one trail and then sitting at one of the café tables to have a couple beers.
“I still wish those clouds hadn’t been there.” John said, squeezing her gently.
“So do I.” She said. “But I still enjoyed it. Besides, how many people can say they’ve gotten to kiss their lover in a cloud. Literally, in a cloud.”
John grinned. “You got a point.”
Helena laughed and brushed a quick kiss against his cheek. “Do you think you can ask someone to take our picture with the statue?”
“I will ask.”
“Thank you.”
Fifteen minutes later, having had their picture taken, John and Helena walked arm in arm around the statue.
“Oh look, John. A chapel.” Helena pulled him over to the gate and together they peered into the small room. “It’s beautiful.”
“Mmhmm.”
They admired the chapel for a few moments more before deciding to head back down.
On the train ride back down the mountain, John tried teaching Helena how to say train, and a few other words in Portuguese but had little success.
“I’m sorry, John.” Helena said with a laugh. “My tongue just doesn’t seem to be able to wrap around those ‘Rs’ like yours does.” She shifted closer, her voice dropping. “But it does like to wrap around and play with yours.”
John groaned with pleasure as Helena’s lips covered his, her tongue sliding into his mouth to dance with his before sucking it into her own mouth. They parted breathlessly several minutes later.
“Do you have plans for us to go anywhere else today?” Helena asked, her face still mere inches from his.
John glanced down at his watch and shook his head. “Nothing but dinner.”
“Think we can eat in?” She asked, running her hand down his chest.
“Oh yeah.”
“Oh good.” She smiled and kissed him again.
~*~*~*~*~
John lay back against the pillows with a satisfied sigh, thinking back on the last couple of hours.
They’d headed straight back to the hotel from the Corcovado, just barely keeping their hands off each other. The moment they entered their hotel room, that changed. They were on each other before the door closed completely, tearing impatiently at each other’s clothes as their need to be together grew.
They’d made love on the floor and then the couch in the main room before finally making it to the bedroom and onto the bed.
John sighed again, the grin on his face growing.
“What are you grinning about?”
He turned towards the bathroom door at the sound of his wife’s voice.
“Oh, was just thinking about us and how the elevator operator almost got a free peep show.”
Helena laughed as she sauntered over to him. “Sorry I took so long.”
“I was beginning to wonder.”
“I… I had to check something.” She told him, stopping at the edge of the bed.
The serious tone in her voice made John sit up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed as he reached out and pulled her closer. “What is it, honey?”
“I… uhm…” she looked down at her hands as she fiddled with the tie of her robe.
“Helena, tell me.”
“I’m pregnant.”
“You’re… I thought… when did you…”
“Just now. I bought a home pregnancy test earlier today.” Helena explained. “The pharmacist spoke English, so she told me what this one would say if I was… and, it says I’m pregnant.”
John’s smile grew as he drew his wife closer. “We’re having a baby!?”
“Yes.”
He slid to his feet, his arms sliding around her waist and drawing her even closer. “We’re having a baby!”
With that, he swept her up in his arms and swung her around, the whole time repeating over and over that they were having a baby. When he finally put her down, they gazed adoringly at each other.
“A baby,” John repeated softly, dropping to his knees on front of her, pushing her robe open and pressing loving kisses to her bare belly. He slowly kissed his way up her body, dropping kisses on her breasts before capturing her lips in a loving kiss.
As they kissed, John scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the bed. He laid her down and then stretched out beside her, brushing soft kisses all over her face.
“I love you.” He told her quietly before covering her mouth in a deep passionate kiss; his hand moving in slow, sweeping gestures up and down her torso before finally cupping her right breast to tease the luscious mound and the rosy tip.
“…John…” she moaned deep in her throat as his lips left hers to join his hands at her breasts.
John smiled against her breast as he kissed and licked circles around the soft mound, before pulling the pebbled nipple into his mouth; nipping it gently with his teeth before kissing his way over to her other breast where he immediately pulled the already tight nipple between his lips.
He felt her hands clench in his hair as he teased the sensitive peak with his tongue and grinned internally as she arched beneath him, forcing more of her breast into his mouth, which he happily suckled on.
Feeling the need to taste more of her, John released her breast and began kissing and licking a trail down her body, pausing to brush feather-light kisses over her belly while whispering softly to the life within.
John looked up when he felt her fingers run gently through his hair and circle his ear; smiling at the happy tears he saw brimming in her eyes. He held her gaze for a long moment until the scent of her arousal reached his nose and the need to taste her grew.
He flashed her an almost feral smile as he resumed his trek down her body, urging her to spread her thighs as he settled between them; his fingers already working through the moist blonde curls.
Unable to hold back any longer, John buried his face against her, his tongue stroking boldly along her slick folds until he found her clitoris and sucked the sensitive bundle into his mouth.
“John!” Helena cried out his name, her hands flying to his head to simultaneously pull his mouth away from her and push him harder against her.
John grinned and continued to work his mouth against her as he brought his fingers into play, sliding first one, then two long digits into her hot, moist channel and moving them in and out of her.
“Oh God… oh yes, John…” Helena moaned her lover’s name as he continued to work his magic on her body until she started to arch uncontrollably beneath his hands and mouth, crying out his name over and over.
John groaned as Helena succumbed to her orgasm and stretched his free arm over her hips to hold her down as he pulled his fingers out of her, circling her clit with them as he slid his mouth down, his tongue thrusting into her. “I love how you taste,” he murmured as he lapped at her.
When her body stopped trembling, John placed one last loving kiss against her and then crawled up her body, pausing to kiss each breast before completing the journey and covering her body with his as he captured her mouth in a searing kiss.
“I love you,” he whispered against her lips as he situated himself in the cradle of her legs.
“I love you too,” she whispered back, reaching a hand down between their bodies to grasp his erection and bring him to her waiting entrance.
Locking eyes with her, John shifted his hips and slowly pressed his length into her. They moaned together as little by little, he stretched and filled her. When he was completely inside her, he held her eyes and began to slowly thrust into her.
“Love me, John.”
“Always, Helena,” he answered as he lowered his lips to hers in a gentle kiss that quickly grew more passionate as he began to thrust with long, deep strokes; Helena moving rhythmically with him.
“Yes…” she moaned low in her throat. “…John… faster…”
John nodded and began to move faster; Helena moaned her approval and then gasped when he grabbed her hands, pulling her arms above her head until their fingers entwined around the spindles of the headboard.
“Hold on…” he as he began to thrust harder into her.
“Oh God… oh yes, John…”
John groaned as she tightened her inner muscles around his thrusting member and moved even faster, grinding his pelvis against hers as he felt his release nearing; wanting her to reach her peak first.
“Wrap your legs around me,” he told her, continuing to thrust into her. He moaned his approval as she complied, shifting beneath him and changing the angle of his penetration. “That’s it…”
“John!” Helena cried out his name as he began to thrust harder into her. “Oh… please…”
Hearing his wife’s plea for release and knowing his was moments away, John’s grip on the spindle tightened as he drove his hips furiously against Helena’s, the two of them straining for their releases; trying to reach the pinnacle together.
“John! Oh God… ohgodohgodohgod… John!!”
John continued to thrust against her as Helena convulsed beneath him, her orgasm ripping through her. Seconds later, his hips thrusting uncontrollably, John threw his head back, her name a hoarse cry on his lips!
“Helena!”
“Easy, John… lay back down.”
Gentle hands eased John back down on the bed.
“Wha… what’s going on?” John asked, confusion evident in his voice and in his eyes. “Where am I?”
“You’re in medical center.”
“Helena? How… I mean…” he shook his head, trying to make sense of what was happening. The last thing he remembered, he’d been lying in her arms; her long legs wrapped around him as he came inside her willing body.
“You were in a coma, John.” Helena explained, moving to sit beside on the edge of his bed. “There was accident in the mine, you caught the tail end of the blast.”
“How long?”
“Four days.” Helena answered, brushing her fingers through his dark hair. “Four very long, very frightening days.”
John didn’t say anything as he let his eyes wander around the room.
“What is it, John?” Helena asked quietly. “Are you remembering something about the accident?”
“Not exactly.” He murmured.
Helena slipped her hand in his, the fingers of her other hand playing with his wedding ring. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know if I… I don’t know what’s real.” He admitted in a quiet voice. “It all felt so real…”
“While you were in the coma?”
“Yes.”
“This is real, John. You, me, the twins…”
“The twins!?” John exclaimed. “Victor and Jocelyn. Where are they?”
“They’re outside with Alan and Sandra.”
“I want to see them.”
“John…”
“Now!”
“I don’t think…”
“Please, Helena. Let me see our kids.”
Helena met his eyes.
“Please… I… I need to see them,” he pleaded with her. “You’re real, I can feel you. I know you’re real… but in the other… in the dream, fantasy, hallucination, whatever it was… our kids weren’t there. Please, honey.”
“Before I say yes… tell me more about your dream.” She held her hand up to stop his protest. “I need to know what happened…”
John nodded at what she didn’t say, knowing she was just trying to protect their kids, and began to tell her about what he believed were his last four days; beginning with his waking up screaming her name.
“Well, that would explain why your EEG was so calm and why you seemed to almost have a smile on your face.”
John smiled and tightened his hand around hers. “You were there. Anywhere you are… I’m happy.”
Helena smiled, leaned over him and placed a gentle kiss on his full lips before straightening up.
“The medication might have had something to do with why your dream felt so real. Then again, so much can happen in a coma that we know nothing about.”
“But why Rio?” He asked. “I’d only been there once. And that was when I was sixteen.”
“I have an idea on that.” She said. “Just before the accident, we were all talking about where we go, if we were still on Earth, for vacation.”
“And I said I would love to take you to Rio for a proper honeymoon.” John finished, a smile starting to form on his lips.
Helena nodded, a matching smile on her lips as John finally visibly relaxed.
“I am so glad we got that straightened out.”
“So am I.”
“So, does this mean I can see our kids now?”
Helena laughed and nodded. “Yes. They are probably quite anxious to see their daddy.”
“I’m anxious to see them too.” John said, sitting up; fluffing the pillows up behind him as Helena moved to the door and opened it. “Wait,” he said suddenly, a thought occurring to him. “What were you doing at the mine that day?”
Before Helena could answer, the cries of “Daddy” filled the air as Jocelyn and Victor burst into the room, climbing onto John’s bed and throwing themselves into John’s arms.
Helena stood back, watching with an affectionate smile as John hugged and kissed both his children until he called her over to join them.
Twenty minutes later, Helena stood and clapped her hands to get her children’s attention. “Okay, you too, time for you to go with Uncle Alan and Aunt Sandra and go to bed. Daddy needs his rest.”
“Aw, mom… do we have to?” Victor whined.
“Yes, you have to.” Helena said to the five year old miniature John. “You too, Jocelyn.”
“Yes, mommy.”
“Kiss your father goodbye.”
“Good night, daddy.” They said simultaneously, each kissing a cheek and then hopped off the bed, walking over to their mother.
“I’ll be right back.” Helena told John as she grasped the kids’ hands and led them out of the room.
John lay back against the pillows as he waited for Helena to return, sighing happily. Very glad to see and hear that his life truly was the way he remembered.
“Commander,” Mathias greeted his patient as he entered the room. “Glad to see you awake.”
“Glad to be awake.” John replied.
“Thought I’d come in and give you a quick check up while Helena sees the kids off.”
“Is it gonna help me get out of here tonight?”
“Afraid not.”
John scowled and then grumbled for Bob to continue. Just as Bob finished the exam, Helena re-entered the room.
“Sorry.” She apologized. “I had to convince the children, that you really were going to be okay.” John nodded his understanding as she turned to look at Mathias. “Well, how is he?”
“Fine. Everything looks good.” Bob said. “So, if all goes well, I will release you tomorrow, Commander.”
“Thank you, Bob.” Helena said, smiling at the grin on John’s face.
Bob nodded and then left the room.
“Come here, beautiful,” John held out his hand to her. “I want to hold you.”
Helena’s smile grew as she moved over to him. She kicked off her shoes and slipped into the bed beside him, curling up against his side.
They sighed together.
“Oh… I missed this.” Helena said quietly. “Missed your arms around me.”
In response, John tightened his arms around her and pulled he closer. “You know, there was one thing I didn’t tell you about my dream.”
“What’s that?” She asked sleepily, the feel of his arms around her; combined with the sound of his heart beating beneath her ear working it’s usual magic and lulling her to sleep.
“Just before we made love that final time,” John began slowly, not really sure if should tell her, not wanting to upset her; knowing how much she’d wanted them to have more children after the twins and being rather upset at their lack of conception. “You ah…”
Helena lifted her head from his chest and gazed at him curiously. “I what?”
“You told me you were pregnant,” he finished quietly and waited for her reaction. The small smile forming on her lips was not what he was expecting.
“You did hear me,” she whispered, her smile growing.
“What?”
Helena reached for his hand and drew it between their bodies and held it against her abdomen. “I told you… shortly before you woke…”
John’s eyes grew wide. “You mean…”
Helena’s smile grew as she nodded.
John’s smile soon matched hers as he snaked his free hand into her hair and pulled her face down to his. “I love you,” he whispered against her lips before kissing her passionately.
~fin