Forever
Author: Krissieli
Title: Second Chances
Part: 25/25
Rating: R
Pairing: Mark & Sabrina - duh (hahaha)
Summary: Something ends, something else begins... maybe. Patience is learned... Help is given... Amends are made... Wants are realized... and acknowledged... Relief is felt... More is wanted... Predictions are made... Memories are started... Choices are presented... Knowledge is gained... Hands = Hearts sometimes... Happiness is attainable... and recognized... the future is looking Bright... Gloom settles in... Nervousness comes and goes... Wrongs are recognized... and righted... Waiting begins... but will end Soon... Realizations are made... feels like Home... Forever starts now.
Disclaimer: Still don’t own anyone, still kinda wish I did
Warnings/Comments: Comments and criticisms are, as always, welcomed and appreciated!
A.N. Thanks for sticking with me through all of this! I feel like this is a good place to end 2nd Chances but, knowing me, I'll get the bug to come back and visit at some point. I hope this final chapter lives up to and maybe (hopefully) even exceeds your expectations.
Mark woke slowly, coming into consciousness reluctantly. Where…? Ohhh… His eyes opened and he glanced down to see Sabrina snuggled against his side, her head on his shoulder and his armed wrapped around her. When did we get in this position? Did we sleep like this all night? I’m not sore… He lay silently for a few minutes, just thinking. I wonder when she’ll wake up. Will it be weird?
While he was musing, Mark felt Sabrina shift and looked down to find her staring at him, his neck anyway.
“Hi,” he said.
“Mmm…” Sabrina’s voice was raspy from sleep, “Good morning. How are you? Did you sleep well?” Why doesn’t this feel awkward? It should feel awkward, right?
“I’m good,” Mark answered. “And I slept great. How about you?”
Sabrina shifted, so Mark could roll to his side and they were face to face, “I’m good too. I don’t remember the last time I slept that well. Did we sleep like that all night?”
“I’m not sure,” Mark was trying not to breathe in her face, “I didn’t wake up at all until a little bit ago…. It was nice,” he finished in a whisper.
Sabrina’s smile lit her whole face, “It was, wasn’t it?”
“What do you have planned for today?”
“Nothing,” Sabrina replied. “Was there something you wanted to do?”
Mark sat up, “Not anything specific. Although…” he looked over her at the clock, “It’s only 7:00, so I wouldn’t mind laying around for a little longer.”
Sabrina sat up as well, “That sounds good. I am going to brush my teeth though.”
Mark nodded and laughed as they got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
“I don’t guess you’ve still got some of my deodorant?” he asked.
“Hmm,” Sabrina tapped her chin. “Not in here, but check the hall bathroom. There might be some in there.”
She handed him his toothbrush and he left the room, giving her some time in the bathroom.
When he came in she was curled back up bed waiting for him, “Did you find any?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, crawling in next to her. “I let Rocky out too. Feel much better now. You?”
“Yup, thanks.” she agreed. “Clean enough to do this:” she leaned in for a kiss and he met her halfway, following her until she was laying down and he was hovered over her.
“Good morning,” Mark said once they broke apart, pressing his forehead to hers.
Sabrina looped her arms around his back, “Yes,” she agreed. “It is…” Anything else she might have said was lost when Mark kissed her again.
“I…” Mark had stopped kissing her, was looking into her eyes, their noses brushing each other. “I love you,” he said quietly.
Sabrina smiled widely, “I love you,” she replied.
“No,” Mark shook his head, “I mean, yes, but it’s more than that. It doesn’t seem like I love you is enough for what I feel for you.”
He felt Sabrina shifting under him and started to move off of her when her arms tightened around his back. “No,” she whispered. “Stay.” Her legs moved to lay on either side of his and he settled comfortably on his elbows so he could look at her.
Mark dropped a kiss on her cheek, then on her eyelid, first one then the other before kissing the other cheek. “You deserve so much more than this,” he said.
“More than what?” Sabrina asked, staring up at him, challenging him.
“More than… I don’t know. You deserve champagne and roses, soft music and a dimly lit room. You deserve to be worshipped.”
Sabrina cocked her head to the side, considering him. “I love you,” she responded quietly. “It doesn’t seem like the words are enough when I feel so much, but you’re wrong. I deserve you. I don’t want champagne and roses or soft music and a dimly lit room. I want you - just like this. I don’t want to be worshipped, it’s too one sided. I want.”
Mark cut her off abruptly with his mouth on hers. If spending the night together was home, this promised to be heaven. He took everything she gave, offering himself to her in the process. His kisses trailed down her neck to her shoulder, her soft moans and quiet sighs urging him on. Her hands were dancing over his back, creating paths of fire on his skin. Don’t stop, he begged silently. Only if you don’t, she seemed to reply. She nipped his shoulder, marking him as hers, and he caught her self satisfied smile as her lips met his once more.
Sabrina was straining up to Mark, as he held himself off of her, before either of them realized all their clothes were gone.
“I…” he began.
Sabrina cut him off, “Yes…. Please,” she cried when he didn’t move.
“I want…can I…? I want to look at you,” Mark whispered, sitting up.
She felt, for a second, like she should be embarrassed, but why? This is what being worshipped is. Sabrina didn’t let Mark look alone. She drank him in, as he devoured her in a gaze. Once they had each had their fill of the other Mark sank onto her, into her, and he heard the air rush from her lungs. “I love you,” he murmured as his eyes started to slip closed.
“No,” Sabrina’s whisper made his eyes snap open, “Look… watch,” she said. Every move he made was reflected in her eyes and while there wasn’t a lot of room for coherent thought, he wondered what she saw in his.
He was cradled between her legs, their fingers laced together on the pillow by her head and there wasn’t a lot of movement, just enough. No sentences, simply single words, “Yes… you… more… want… I… need… please…” and more than any of the others: “love… perfect… everything.” Their gazes were locked together and neither could look away even if they wanted to.
Minutes stretched into hours and Sabrina felt her toes curl and her back arch for the final time. Her eyes closed at last and she felt the keen building but let it out in a sigh. She felt, more than saw, Mark slump, boneless, beside her. She rolled to her side and saw his chest rising up and down, trying to catch his breath. Once he did, he rolled to his side and gathered her close, tucking her head beneath his chin.
“Would it be ridiculous if I said that was… wow?” Mark finally asked.
Sabrina giggled, “No. It was kinda wow, wasn’t it?”
Mark shifted onto his back, bringing Sabrina with him so she was laying half on him and half on the bed. He let his fingers sift through her hair, which was damp with sweat. She was tracing patterns on his chest, just random shapes. Mark stilled her fingers, kissing them one by one, before he laced them together with his, letting them rest on his chest. His other arm tightened his grip on her, pulling her as close as possible.
“I… Please tell me….” Sabrina could feel Mark shake his head as he tried to speak.
“What?” she asked, quietly.
“It wasn’t like that before was it?” he wanted to know. “Please tell me it wasn’t. I can’t believe I’d forget something like that.”
Sabrina chuckled a little sadly, “No, it was never like that. It should have been but it wasn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Sabrina considered her words, “Before I never… I wouldn’t have let you… just look at me. And I wouldn’t have just looked at you either. Did you know you have a freckle on the front of your hip?”
“You wouldn’t have let me look at you before?” Mark sounded a little hurt.
“No,” Sabrina shook her head. “I would have been embarrassed and I don’t think I’d have trusted myself enough to just lie there. I’d’ve tried to cover up somehow…. Why did you want to?”
She could feel him shrug beneath her, “I don’t know,” Mark replied. “I’ve seen you before, I mean, I knew what you looked like with no clothes on, but I’d never really seen you before…. Why weren’t you embarrassed?”
“I felt like I should be,” Sabrina said, “But it was you. Why should I be embarrassed? I love you and I know you love me… not just pieces, but all of me. And if you want to see me, all of me, why shouldn’t you?”
Mark nodded, “Would… would you have trusted me enough last time to just look? You said you weren’t sure if you’d have trusted yourself, but would you have trusted me?”
Sabrina moved her head, “No,” she mumbled before kissing his chest, “I don’t think I would have. Would you have asked?”
“Probably not,” Mark said softly. “I don’t think it would have occurred to me to want to, and if it did, I doubt it would’ve been something I thought I needed permission for…. I’ve come a long way.”
“We’ve come a long way,” Sabrina corrected him. “Trusting you isn’t a conscious thought for me anymore. It just is.”
They were silent for a while, letting their fingers find things previously undiscovered: the way a muscle curved, the sharpness of a bone, the softness of lips. The way her hair felt tumbled around him, the smell of his skin, how silky his eyelashes were, how tightly her hands could grip his arms when he raised himself above her. They discovered tongues the texture of velvet when they ran over each other, that his body fit perfectly in her when they made love…that coming apart could be incredible but coming together was magnificent.
It was later, much later, when Mark spoke again. “I know my parents asked last night, about where we see this going, and we kind of each dodged the question, but you said you’ve thought about where you’d like it to go. Is that… could you tell me?”
“Do you need me to?” Sabrina asked, surprised.
“I think I know,” Mark grinned sheepishly, “But I’d like to hear you say it, if you can.”
Sabrina sat up so she could look at him, “I see this… us like this, forever…. Isn’t that what you see?”
Mark shook his head, “I see something a little different. I see us, with rings on our fingers and kids down the hall. Forever.”
“When does forever start?” Sabrina asked, with tears in her eyes.
Mark pulled her down to him and kissed her forehead, “Now.”