Blue remained calm enough to allow Omega to rinse the both of them beneath the warm spray, then she assisted him with toweling them both dry, and silently reached for him once the lights went off and the room fell into cool darkness. But instead of letting him hold her close and safe, she instead cradled his head against her breast, wrapping both arms around him tightly and leaning her cheek atop his damp hair.

She gently nuzzled the top of his head, feeling him settle against her as perfectly as he always did, and Blue sighed. Would things ever be as they were? She didn't believe so, because they weren't the same as they'd been. Life...moved on. Nature did not stagnate. Nor, she determined with a hard frown into the darkness, would they.

A leering grin loomed wavery in her mind's eye, but she snarled defiance at it, and it faded away, leaving her alone with her beloved mate, the storm to her sea, and holding him close against her beating heart, Blue finally slept.