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They had a habit of watching the sunset together when they could. It didn’t happen often. Between work and day-to-day life, finding the time to sit still and watch the sunset was hard to come by. Yet now and then they managed it. Hermione leaned back into Lip’s chest, resting her head on his shoulder as he tightened his hold on her. It didn’t help that she’d had to go back to England and had only been home for a few days.
Lip was always clingier after she had to return home. Whether he would admit to it or not was another question entirely.
“What’s got you so lost in thought?” When he latched onto her ear with his teeth, Hermione gasped as she pressed back into him. She wasn’t expecting the laughter that bubbled up out of his chest. When he finally stopped laughing, he gently nudged her shoulder. “No, seriously. What’s got you so lost in thought tonight?” Hermione sighed before she pressed back into his body, relishing the feel of him being there. She hadn’t realized how accustomed she’d become to sharing a bed with someone. Between the time difference and sleeping alone for the first time in over a year and a half, her trip home hadn’t been nearly as exciting.
“Nothing. Just missed you while I was gone.” Lip hummed before he suddenly pressed a kiss into her neck.
“You couldn’t sleep could you?” Hermione’s head whipped around, her eyes wide, as Lip gave her a soft smile. “I could hear it in your voice and whenever I called you answered within a few rings. There was no way you were sleeping like you said you were.” Hermione laughed, blushing as he gave her a pointed look.
“I guess I just got used to you being there and then all of a sudden you weren’t.” It wasn’t a lie. She had missed him terribly when she had been gone. There was only so much she could take of being way from Lip and the two weeks she had been in the UK had been pure torture.
“I wasn’t sleeping much either.” Hermione had figured that out by day two of her trip, but chose to let his words pass by without commentary. The fact Lip had admitted it out loud was enough for her.
“You should come with me next time.” They both knew it would never happen, but it was the thought that counted. Hermione barely had reason enough to return to the UK as it was. She doubted Lip would ever join her on such a trip. Lip hummed, a noncommittal response if there ever was one.
There was no point in giving herself false hope.
“Maybe I will.” He had waited so long to respond that Hermione was starting to drift off to sleep, but his breath against her ear sent a shiver down her spine. She could practically hear the smirk reverberating through his body. He knew exactly what he had done. There was no doubt in her mind that Lip had done it on purpose. She burrowed deeper into his hold before tipping her head back and resting it on his shoulder. When she did, Lip’s hand came out, tipping her head to the side gently. Hermione watched with bated breath as he leaned in before he placed a kiss on the side of her neck. She held her breath, expecting it to lead to more, when he pulled back and settled her on his chest again before staring off at the sun that had started to set in the distance.
Hermione let the silence envelop them. That was one of the things she loved about their relationship. They could talk and talk for hours when they got going, but they could also sit in silence and let the hours pass them by. As the sun set off in the distance, Hermione couldn’t help but thank the stars for how her life had turned out. She’d been so broken after the war that she wasn’t sure she would ever heal.
She’d given up on herself, but meeting Lip had changed that for the better. Slowly, between Lip and her biweekly therapy sessions with a mind healer, she was slowly coming to terms with her place in the war. It wasn’t easy nor was it a fix.
It was going to take time. Hours of her time and an investment in herself. Something she hadn’t been able to do in the UK. Here, in the dingy and worn down South Side of Chicago, she found herself healing. It wouldn't be an overnight process and Lip wouldn’t fix all her problems. No, most of that was up to her. But she found he helped.
He helped in a way no one else had before. Just his mere presence was enough to ground her most days. Something she hadn’t had in a very long time. Days like today, when all they were doing was sitting there waiting on the sun to set went a long way toward her recovery.
Lip knew that, though they rarely talked about it. He wasn’t set on therapy, but Hermione knew it helped, so she continued to go. Regardless of what Lip thought about it. Their life wasn’t easy, but no ones was. They made the best of their circumstances and powered through the rest.
It was just the way things were.
It wasn’t perfect, but their life never would be. It wasn’t how life worked. She’d come to realize that a long time ago. Lip was a steady presence in a shakeable world. The fact he stayed through her nightmares and post-war stress made him all the more desirable to her. He was her rock when she wasn’t strong enough to stand on her own.
Once she was able to stand on her own again, he was there by her side. An unwavering presence that gave her strength just from being there. It was an awe-inspiring and humbling feeling all rolled into one. The fact his man chose to stay by her side when most people had turned away from her. That he gave her strength on the days she didn’t have any. That he was there when she needed him and there when she didn’t.
She wasn’t sure the man currently holding her knew what he meant to her. But she was willing to spend the rest of her life attempting to make him see it. No one else had taken the time to pull her back from the ledge like he had.
And it all started with a sunset.