The room is shadowed by night, the candles long burned out. Thunder rumbles, reverberating against the walls that shelter them. In the silence, in the darkness, there is only the rain.
They lay placidly together, the love long over. They are tangled, a foot here, an arm there, skin pressed to skin. There is no separation — only an entity that is complete in itself, that is undeniably, ineffably them .
Natalia traces the curves of Olivia's face, her nose, her brow, her cheek. Her knuckles skim the line of Olivia's jaw, and Olivia catches at her wrist, pulling her palm around to kiss it. Natalia laughs and wriggles her arm free, wrapping it around Olivia's back and pressing her head into Olivia's shoulder. She breathes deep, squeezing tight before letting go.
"You warm enough?" Olivia asks, her voice husky with exhaustion.
"I'm warm enough," Natalia whispers, even as Olivia ruffles the blanket so it drapes across Natalia's back.
"You hungry?" Olivia asks.
"I'm not hungry," Natalia says, just as her stomach gurgles. Olivia's frame shakes with laughter, silent at first, until she gasps with the effort of holding it back. Natalia laughs too before silencing them both with a kiss. They fall quiet as it ends, their eyes drifting shut, breathing falling into rhythm as they move as one toward sleep.
"You love me?" Olivia whispers into the dark, her voice filled with such fragile uncertainty that Natalia feels her heart shatter.
"I love you," Natalia replies, wrapping her body more tightly around Olivia's. She looks up into those green eyes, their color all but masked by the darkness, and repeats the words. "I love you."
Olivia smiles, her face filled with bemused wonder. She pulls Natalia against her, her fingertips drifting down Natalia's spine before her palm comes to rest against the small of Natalia's back. "You love me."
"I do." Natalia rests the back of her hand against Olivia's throat. "Now sleep."
Olivia nods, her eyelids fluttering before they fall closed. Natalia feels their hearts thump in unison, their chests rising and falling against each other, and she fights to hold on to the moment, to imprint it upon her soul so it will stay complete, pristine, eternal.
Sleep takes her, wrapped as she is in the warmth of Olivia's embrace. In the silence, in the darkness, there is only the rain.