Now do you believe me?

Ezra blinked in surprise when Syanna suddenly pushed away from him with her paws on his chest, leaning away from him while his forelegs never actually let her go. He looked at her narrowed, glistening eyes with befuddled confusion, but before he could figure out what he had done wrong she spelled it out for him. His eyes widened as she explained that she did love him and it was hard to keep his brain from just stopping there. He felt like his heart was going to leap up into his throat just from hearing that, but he forced himself to keep his attention on her and to listen to what she was saying instead of getting swept up in the relief and the emotion of it all. What he hadn't quite understood that it wasn't that she didn't love him, just the thought of love itself was terrifying. It wasn't just him in particular that she was scared to love. He desperately wished that he could turn back time and protect her from everything that happened to cause this deep fear in her and all of the trauma that went with it, but he couldn't. It was an enemy he couldn't face and it was by far the worst kind.

"You're not going to lose me," he replied insistently after a moment, his paws that were wrapped around her starting to gently rub up and down her back. "I'm not going to hurt you. That's the last thing I would ever want to do. You deserve every single little bit of happiness in the world and if I can manage to give you even a little bit of that then I've accomplished everything I want." He wanted nothing more than to see her happy and loved and to know that it was okay to have and experience those things. He was completely ill prepared to be able to help her put back together all of her broken pieces, but damn it if he wasn't going to try—even if it meant helping her pick up each little one piece by piece and putting them back together for the rest of their lives.

Despite his best efforts to remain serious, a little grin started to creep across his lips. She loved him. She loved him and he loved her. It wasn't nearly as easy and picture perfect as he might have imagined it to be, but she did and that's what really mattered. He pulled her back into him, kissing across the top of her head and over her ears with a giddiness that was hard to contain. "I love you too," he told her quietly, his tail wagging gently against the fur they were sitting on while he peppered her with affections. "I love this part of you and this... and this... and this..." he murmured against her skin as he kissed her ear, the top of her head, the bridge of her nose, her lips, and moved on down along her cheek and neck, whispering how much he loved every single part of her as he went. He licked away any little tears that might have fallen from her eyes, he kissed away the tension that had built in her shoulders. His claws gently scratched and tickled her sides, trying to pull even the littlest giggle from her just to see her smile.

"Syanna & Ezra"