Chapter 209

We don’t stay long on the roof – we don’t need to. After all, tomorrow night we’ll be together again, all sleeping in the same room at the Academy. There may be other nights, in the future, where we greet the dawn after our midnight toast – needing to talk for hours, to catch up, to laugh, to cry.

But tonight isn’t one of them. And I’m smiling, warm and pleased, when I press the door to Jackson’s room open and slip inside.

I burst into a smile when I see that he’s dozing against his pillows, Tiger seated neatly at his side, his wrapped present from me still sitting on the bed in front of him. Because even if he fell asleep doing it, I can tell he’s waiting for me.

Softly, I climb up onto the bed, and he’s awake before I can even move Tiger gently to a place of honor on top of the headboard so that I can take his place at Jackson’s side. Jackson inhales a deep breath that turns readily into a purring little growl of pleasure when he sees that it’s me, and he wraps me up tight in his arms, nuzzling his face warm against my neck.

“All okay?” Jackson murmurs.

“Yeah, everything’s perfect,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing his cheek, his shoulder.

Jackson pulls away a bit, sniffing. “You’ve been crying.” A statement, not a question.

I laugh, looking into his face. “You can smell that?”

He just frowns at me, not answering the question, wanting an explanation.

“It’s okay,” I murmur, cupping his face in my palm. “Happy tears. I just…love them. Jesse and Rafe. So much.”

Jackson looks at me for a long moment, his expression softening, and then he nods, accepting the explanation, not needing anymore. And I smile at him, loving that he lets me have my little inconsequential secrets, parts of my life that are just for me.

But right now, I just want to be with him. “Are you ready for this one?” I ask, nodding over to the present on the bed, wrapped in the same gold paper as all the rest of the gifts this morning. I admit – I had mom wrap it when I ran out of time yesterday.

Jackson frowns, glancing between the gift and me. “You should have told me we were doing presents,” he murmurs. “I would have gotten you something.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask, quirking my eyebrow. “And what would you have gotten me?”

He just stares at me, completely without an answer or even an idea of what gift he would want to give. “You’re right, this was kinder,” he says, nodding seriously and making me burst into laughter. “But next year I am getting you two. And they’ll be good.”

“Okay,” I murmur, reaching out and nudging the gift closer, really wanting him to open it.

Jackson sighs, I think still feeling guilty that he’s getting a gift when I am not, but he pulls the box closer to him and begins to eagerly pull the paper off. When he sees another cheerfully colored gift box inside, he just frowns at me. “Why did you bother to wrap it? It’s already in a box.”

“Just open it!” I say, laughing, desperately eager for him to see the gift.

A little smile plays at Jackson’s lips as he complies, using both hands to lift the lid off the box and then tilting it towards him as he peers inside. And then he goes very still, his mouth popping open a little bit.

I squeal a little with excitement, taking my arms from around his neck and fisting my hands beneath my chin, grinning eagerly at my mate. “Do you like it?”

“Ariel,” he murmurs, reaching into the box and letting his fingers trace over the dozens of boxes of DVD’s – dozens of television shows, all full runs. “This is amazing.”

I squeak again with excitement, watching eagerly as he reaches in and lifts out the one thing that I thought might be confusing to him – a very clunky device that lots sort of like a laptop but…not.

“What…is this…” he murmurs, opening it and staring at the screen, trying to figure it out.

“Um, it’s a TV?” I say quietly, reaching out to tap on the little opening where you can load the DVD’s. “Actually, it’s a portable DVD player – you can recharge it – I know it’s an old technology Jacks – and it wasn’t expensive, since no one really uses these anymore, but I figured that since we don’t really have TV or streaming services or laptops at the Academy, that you could have this –“

He turns to stare at me, his mouth open a little bit, completely shocked.

I grimace a little at his reaction, not really knowing what to do. “Do you…do you like it?”

“Ariel,” he breathes, turning his face reverently back to the device and to the DVD collection. “I…I love it.” Then he gasps a little, his eyes lighting on something, and quick as a flash he reaches into the box and pulls out a set of dvds. “How do you work it?” he murmurs, pulling open the case and glancing at between the device and me.

I laugh, and then show him, and he nods eagerly, listening and loading one of the DVD’s, starting to press play.

“Jacks,” I say, shaking my head and laughing, putting my hand on his arm. “It’s late – I can show you all of this in the morning –“

“No,” he murmurs, reaching out to put the DVD player flat on the bed as the first episode starts up. “I want…is it okay?” he whispers, looking over at me. “Are you tired? I know it’s late, but I want to watch one. With you.”

A slow smile stretches across my face as I look at my big tough mate. “It’s not too late. That’s perfect.”

We take a minute to get settled – to put the rest of the DVD’s in a safe spot on the floor – though I see Jackson glance at them as he puts them down, clearly desperate to look through them and see what he’s got.

But he brings his attention back to me as I settle warm against him. Jackson again wraps his arms around me, and I tug Tiger down to hold in my lap as we focus on the screen, quietly watching the drama unfold.

“That’s Raquel,” Jackson murmurs, pointing at the screen and telling me information that I already know – that I’ve known for years, frankly, because we’ve all seen Besties a thousand times. “She was supposed to get married but…she didn’t.”

“Sounds familiar,” I say, my voice dry.

Jackson smirks at me but then turns his attention back to the screen. “And that’s Russ,” he whispers, like it’s a great secret, pointing again when the dark-haired actor comes on the screen. “He’s Raquel’s mate, but she doesn’t know it yet. No one does.”

I hum interestedly and settle against Jackson’s chest, inhaling a deep and contented breath, thinking about how lucky I am to be perfectly happy for the second time tonight.

But just as I’m sinking into the show, getting lost again into the storyline, Jackson reaches out and presses the pause button.

“Ariel,” he says, and I turn my face up to him, confused. I find his steady sapphire eyes looking at me intently as he reaches out and cups my face in his gigantic palm, holding it like a treasure. “This was the most…wonderful day. I could never have imagined it – that it could be so…nice, to just sit around with people. And play, and eat, and talk. Thank you, so much, for letting me have this with you. For sharing your family with me.”

“Your family too now, Jackson,” I whisper, reaching up and cupping his own face in my much smaller hand. “Forever. We get to do this every year.”

“Forever,” he murmurs, smiling at me softly, turning the word over in his mouth like he’s trying it out for the first time, seeing how it tastes. And then he smiles, like he likes it.

I push myself up a then, bringing my face close to his and pressing a soft kiss to his mouth. And he returns it willingly, almost reverently, but I pull away after a moment and smile, settling back against him.

Because we don’t need to push it any further tonight. We have time.

So much time. Forever.

Feeling precisely the same, Jackson reaches out and presses play on the DVD player again, turning the show back on. Quite quiet, quite calm, we watch it together in perfect contentment.