Meribella

When sunlight hit her face the next day, Meribella squirmed away from the offending ray and snuggled deeper into her pillow. She thought a few days of being dead would make her feel rested, any maybe she would have if not for the hours spent in Raff's arms. It wasn't the first all nighter they'd pulled, but it was the first one where nothing was off limits, which meant instead of just being tired, she was sore too.

After a few minutes of chasing sleep, she gave up and opened her eyes. The bedroom window only caught afternoon light, and that meant they'd wasted half their day. There was too much to do, but with Raff sleeping peacefully beside her, she couldn't find the motivation to actually get out of the bed.

As if reading her thoughts, the man next to her rolled to his side and looped his arm around her waist. Tugging her against him, he pressed a kiss on her exposed throat, causing her to arch against him in response.

"You keep doing that, and you're going to start something I'll have to finish." She forgot how much she loved Raff's voice when it was rumpled and raspy from sleep.

"I see. Putting the blame on me, but where are your lips, sir?"

"Right where they belong." His hands began to wander, and even though she wanted his touch, she couldn't hold back a slight wince. "Meribella, are you okay?"

She was grateful he couldn't see her face. "Just a little tender."

He sighed and returned his hands to a more PG-13 position. "I'm sorry, Meribella. I should've given you more consideration."

"What, no! Don't apologize. You didn't exactly start that last round."

A sharp sting bloomed on her earlobe where he raked his teeth across the skin, but just as quickly, he soothed it away with a kiss. It made her want to turn to him, tenderness and time constraints be damned, and guide him to her center. They could spend a hundred years in this bed, making up for lost time, and her desire for Raff would never be slaked.

"You're right, but-" He released a long exhale. "I thought about our first time, and this was never how it was supposed to go. I wanted to be careful and make you feel good."

"I think you more than made up for the careful part with the feel good part," she replied, "but why don't you tell me exactly how you imagined it going."

"Meribella," he warned as she wiggled her hips.

She drew his hand back between her legs, the need for release greater than her pain. "Tell me in great detail."

"Well," he started, giving into her like he always did. He took the lead, keeping his touch to the inside of her thighs. Teasing. Taunting. "The sheets would have been satin."

"Of course," she said.

"Sometimes, I imagined tying your hands together so you couldn't rush me. I'd hold them above your head, while I started exploring at your mouth, making my way lower only after touching every-"

The door clanged against the wall, sending Meribella ducking beneath the covers while Raff shot up with a roar. "What the hell, Lincoln? Thorne?"

She tensed. This was not how her survival was supposed to be revealed to her friends. First of all, she'd imagined herself wearing a lot more clothes and not smelling like sex. But secondly, they needed to be sitting down. Calm. From the biting odor in the air, Lincoln was anything but calm.

"See, I told you, Thorne."

"And I told you it was none of our business. Everyone grieves differently. Sorry, Raff. I was trying to stop him."

Meribella knew Thorne well enough to catch the hint of censure in her tone. No matter what her lips said, Thorne didn't seem to agree with Raff bedding a woman so soon after her friend's supposed demise.

"I don't care who he screws. It's the fact that he thinks it's Meribella. The man is out of his mind."

"A little help, here," Raff hissed, poking at her through the blankets.

"Is it bad that I find this a little amusing?"

"Yes!"

"Fine."

Meribella made sure the sheet covered all the necessities before poking her head out and sitting up. If not for knowing how much they'd been hurt, she would have laughed at the expression on Lincoln's face. His mouth competed with his eyes for which could get wider, and he pointed as he stepped back.

"It's a fucking ghost. Raff slept with a ghost."

"I'm not a ghost." She kept her voice low and calming, the way she'd speak to a spooked animal or child. "It's me, Lincoln."

"H-how?" Thorne gasped, her brown eyes glittering with tears. A beatific smile spread across her face. She jumped over Raff, landing on Meribella, whom she smothered with a hug.

"It's a really long story, but we've got a long boat ride ahead of us."

Raff, not nearly a modest as she was, slid out of the bed and pulled on his pants while Lincoln continued to babble. Meribella held onto her friend, and they rocked from side to side, both of them blubbering messes by the time they separated.

"You're not going to leave anything out, right? You'll tell us everything?"

"Right," Meribella replied, casting a worried look at Raff. "Do you think we should tell them about how to break the curse?"

"I don't want to keep anything from them, but I don't want to get their hopes up either."

"What would you have done for a little hope back then?"

Raff scratched his chin and nodded. "Whatever was asked of me."

"Does your mother know?"

"Not yet. We were just getting ready to find you all."

"I know exactly what you two were getting ready to do," Lincoln growled. It was the first coherent thing he'd said after calling Meribella a ghost.

"Oh, please," Thorne griped, shoving her lover playfully. "If I came back from the dead, would you let me out of bed for anything less than the end of the world? Also, I should warn you, there is only one correct answer to that question."

Lincoln caught her hand in his and brought it to his lips. "I try not to think about losing you."

Thorne melted. "Okay, there were two correct answers."

Meribella shuffled over to Lincoln and drew him into a hug. The Beta squeezed her tightly and pressed his face against her neck. She could feel the wet heat of his tears sliding down her skin, causing her own to spring forth again.

"Okay, okay," she said, wiping at her cheeks. Raff pulled her against his side, and the four of them couldn't stop grinning as they all joined hands. She drew in a deep breath. "Let's go home."

                                                                             ******************

Meribella paused in front of Caspian. The selkie warrior shouldn't have been out of the sick room, but he insisted on being part of the send off party. Addien hovered near him at all times, her hands offering support whenever he swayed.

"This isn't really goodbye," he said, kissing her cheek. His remaining eye glinted with emotion.

"Of course not," Meribella sniffled, "we're going to need help stopping Morgan once and for all."

"I'll be ready. I owe your family a life debt."

"Just do me a favor and get well. Addien, don't let him give you too much trouble."

The woman beamed. All traces of the nervous, shy servant girl were gone. In her place was a radiant, fierce selkie determined to hold onto her happiness.

"Don't worry. I'm going to have a lot of help."

"Meribella," Raff called out as he stepped into the boat that would take him to the ship. "We need to leave before we lose the light."

One last hug, and she walked toward him. Addien and Caspian made their way back to their home. Her mother and the rest of her family were already gone. Selkies didn't stay to watch a person leave, believing it would mean they'd never see each other again. Still, it had hurt to watch her mother walk away. They were finally starting to have the kind of relationship she'd always wanted as a child. 

And this might be the last time she'd ever see her alive.

"Raff, will you take this," she said, handing him the letter Dorea wrote. The instructions were clear. She wasn't to read it until after the baby was born, and she didn't think she could resist temptation if she held onto it.

He put it in his pocket. Aurora waited in the boat, her tail thumping against the wooden slats. As the wolf had predicted, their bond no longer allowed them to speak in words, only feelings, and the she-wolf was brimming with eagerness to return to Maine.

Once they were on the ship, the crew wasted no time in lifting anchor and setting their sails toward home. Meribella leaned over the rails and watched as the waves darkened in color- from palest green to dusky indigo. It was hard to stay up here and not swim alongside the ship, but she could feel Raff's unease. He needed her near.

"So anymore thoughts on who they could be?" she asked as the others joined her.

"I still think the Gatekeeper is Lux. All Circles protect Gateways, but as the Priestess Most High, she's in charge of all the Circles."

"And the Gateways as well." A tingle went through Meribella's mind. "Aurora agrees. She said she had an idea, and it sounds like you're on the same page. But the Guardian?"

"Yeah, that one isn't very clear."

Raff scratched the back of his head. "What about an original Guardian?"

"Arthur and his Knights?" Lincoln shook his head. "Didn't they all go to Avalon after the war? It's just their descendants."

"Are there any lines that don't have descendants?" Meribella asked, feeling excited. "Or at least any known descendants?"

"I'm not really an expert on Guardians," Raff said, "but I can call up my buddy Calum. If anyone will know, it's him."

"Good. Then we have a place to start."

They stood together in silence until long after sunset, only breaking away when stars peeked through the black expanse. Lincoln and Thorne bade them goodnight, and when Meribella started shivering from the cold, Raff tugged her toward the cabins.

"Come on you. We need sleep."

"Yes, we do."

"No," he said, pulling back the covers of their small bed. It wasn't made for two but it went without saying that they'd make it work. "Real sleep."

"But I sleep so much better after a little exercise," she replied.

He climbed in and pressed his back against the wall, leaving enough room for her to curl up beside him. "We got plenty of that this morning. Besides, I want you in excellent shape for when we get home. I have a few fantasies I'd like to reenact."

"See, you say crap like that and then hold out."

"I've created a monster."

She moved to her side and brushed the hair out of his eyes. A thick beard covered his jaw, and as much as she liked it, she would be glad when he went back to the carefully trimmed five o'clock shadow. This just reminded her of all they'd been through in the last few months. It was time to return to a semblance of normal- a better version of it.

"Hmm, I think she's been there the entire time. If I learned anything, it's that the real miracle is that I waited so long. Abstinence is a foreign concept to selkies. Honestly, so is monogamy from what I saw."

He cupped his hand over hers and pressed her palm against his cheek. "Just so we're clear, that's not one of my fantasies. Sharing, I mean."

"No worries," she laughed, drawing him in for a kiss. For a promise. "That is not a trait I inherited."

"Good because you're mine. I know that's all caveman sounding and not PC, but it's how I feel. You will always be the only thing I need. The only woman I want."

"Raff, I know there are still hurts between us, but I need you to understand this. Not a single decision I made stemmed from not loving you. I carried my love for you beyond this world. You were my first thought, and I'm going to spend the rest of this life proving it to you. You are enough."

He reached for her then, all thoughts of sleep disappearing from both their minds. After, as Meribella lay catching her breath, she thought of what was to come. They were headed home, but their fight wasn't over. And she wasn't just fighting for humanity. She was fighting for love. For the chance for Lincoln and Thorne to have what she now had with Raff.

Meribella watched Raff as he gave into his exhaustion. With his arm draped over his eyes and his mouth slightly parted, he looked so much younger. Almost childlike. It struck her then, that they might have a child of their own one day. One they could watch grow together. The joy that surged through her was enough that she considered waking him, but they had tomorrow.

"Forever," she whispered as she her eyelids drifted shut. 

She almost missed his reply.

"And always."