Madeline woke up to Elijah's hand trailing down her naked body, with his erection pressed firmly against her ass. If she hadn't been sore, and he hadn't been naked, Madeline would have assumed it'd all been a dream. It wasn't as if she hadn't had those dreams pretty much every time she'd fallen asleep next to him in the last week. 

But when he nibbled at her earlobe as his hand came up to cup her breast, it was all the confirmation she needed. Last night had most definitely not been a dream. "Good morning."

Madeline let out a soft groan, arching her body against his, and bringing her hand up to drag through his hair and pull him closer. "It is a good morning, isn't it?"

"It was," Elijah told her, taking her arm in his hand to inspect it. "You said I didn't hurt you."

Her wrist had visible bruises of finger marks from when he'd woken from his nightmare. It didn't hurt, but there was little point in telling him that. Not only would he not believe her, but it still wouldn't erase the fact that it'd happened. "Bruises fade, Elijah. I'm just sorry I couldn't keep the nightmares away this time."

"It's that house," Elijah admitted. "That's all it is, but when I see it, everything just comes rushing back. The beatings, the burns, the smell of booze on his breath, the sound of his fucking voice. I thought I could do it. I thought enough time had passed where I could face all this shit. That bastard is six feet in the ground, but he still has this control over me. I just wish you hadn't gotten stuck in the crossfire."

Madeline's heart ached for him. Here Elijah was, a grown ass adult who appeared so strong, both mentally and physically, yet still had the kindest heart. Yet there were moments where he became that frightened, angry boy she'd watched drive away in the early morning hours. 

She turned in his embrace to look him in his clouded over eyes. With one hand on his face, her fingers trailed from his cheek to his perfect lips. "You brought up being in therapy. I know you must have missed your last appointment, but I think this is something you should work on there before trying to work on here. This is a lot to take in, Elijah. You shouldn't have to do it alone, and I know there are things you don't want me to know about. You admitted as much in your letter."

Elijah turned onto his back, releasing himself from her embrace, and pressed his fist to his forehead. "I have a box in my apartment full of letters I never sent to you. Maybe someday I'll work up the courage to let you read them."

She remembered the closet she'd tried to look through, only to tell her it was full of old crap, then abruptly closed the door. Madeline guessed that's where the letters were. Still, despite them being written to her, she'd avoid the temptation until he allowed her to see them. 

"I wrote you, too," Madeline told him. "You're free to look at them whenever you want."

"You wrote me?" He asked, his voice higher than usual.

Madeline nodded, placing her head against his chest. "When I got your letter in the mail, I wrote you back that day. Do you know what I said?"

"What did you say, M&M?"

"I told you that I didn't need the perfect, tidied up version of you. I just needed you. It's as true now as it was then. You don't need to be strong around me, and you don't need to hide. You can show me every bit of that darkness, and I'll cherish it all, because it means you trust me."

"I trust you," he spoke from above her. "I trust you more than anyone in the world."

As Madeline's hand brushed against his lower stomach, she ran into something they needed to have a conversation about. "We had sex."

Elijah chuckled above her. "That we did."

"You asked if you could have me," Madeline pointed out, hating that she'd have to say the next words aloud, "but we really didn't talk about what that meant. I don't know if you're planning on keeping me, or if-"

He tipped her head up, and forced her to look at him. "I'm only going to say this once, M&M. I asked if I could have you because every day I wake up next to you, my life becomes better. That first day, I woke up when it was barely dawn, and having you in my arms felt like I had all my missing pieces back, even ones I didn't realize were missing. I was able to fall right back to sleep because you give me peace. I could feel this even then.

"You brought up later that day that I deserved love, but all during that conversation, I was wondering if I hadn't let myself get attached to someone in that way, because I was meant for you. So yes, Madeline, I plan on keeping you. 

"What you gave me last night... You never gave that to another man, because everyone before me felt wrong to you. You and I, we aren't wrong. This is what we were always meant to become to one another. It may feel like we spent too much time apart, but I think that's what we needed to open our eyes to this."

**************

By the time they'd made it downstairs, everyone in the household seemed to already be awake, and the smell of turkey was in the air. 

"Good morning, sleepyheads!" Her mom called out.

Elijah stepped into the kitchen ahead of her, placing a kiss on her mother's cheek while she busied herself with side dish preparations. "Morning." He poured two cups of coffee, adding a bit of creamer into both, then handed one off to Madeline.

Her dad sat at the small table in the kitchen, newspaper in hand, with his own coffee next to him. "I heard you last night."

The coffee Elijah took a drink of landed right back into his mug. "I'm sorry?"

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Elijah. Besides, it seemed like Maddie took good care of you."

Out of fear of spilling his coffee all over himself, Elijah set it back on the countertop, his face beet red. "I know your family's always been pretty open with one another, Mitch, but this conversation isn't going to happen. If you want to give me the whole 'protective father' speech, I'm game, but we're not going into details about last night."

The newspaper dropped from her father's grasp, the papers spilling out onto the floor, while her father took off his glasses. "Are we having the same conversation right now? Because I can't imagine your nightmares requiring a 'protective father' speech."

Elijah was very much a deer caught in headlights, and as much as Madeline wanted to back out of the room slowly, her feet wouldn't allow it. Elijah's lack of response seemed to be the only one her dad needed.

"Oh," her father responded, allowing it all to sink in. "Why in the hell would you think I'd want to talk about that?"

"I don't know!" Elijah fired back. "I was fucking confused, okay?"

"Is this honestly the way we're finding out the two of you are together?" Her mom asked. "Or is this just sex? Did you two have sex?"

Elijah rubbed at his eyes, then moved his hand to the back of his neck. "Yes, no, yes, and I can't believe I just fucking did that."

"Who's having sex?" Her grandmother called out from the living room.

"Elijah and Maddie!" Her dad responded.

She heard her grandfather laugh. "Well, I should hope so, the way he was staring at her all goddamn night. Just so you know, we've been sending her condoms since she started college. Didn't want her getting knocked up until she graduated. Knowing Maddie, she should still have plenty left."

"Effing hell," Madeline mumbled, feeling her own cheeks start to redden, and felt Elijah's knowing gaze on her. Truth was, she hadn't used a single one.

Her mom crossed her arms. "If you two are in a relationship, you're going to tell us the right way. So walk out of the room, come back, and try again."

Elijah's gaze moved from her mom, to her father, to her three times before he shook his head and walked out of the room. When he returned, Elijah planted his palms on the sides of her face, and pulled her into a deep kiss. 

His lips moved perfectly in sync with her own, his teeth nibbling at her bottom lip in a playful way as he struggled not to smile between each kiss. 

"Awe," her mom squealed. "That's so much cuter than just being told he had sex with her in the room next to us."

Her dad dropped his head to his hands. "Jesus Christ, Mary."

Elijah was no longer able to control himself, and his lips began to shake against hers before he pulled away and began a near silent laughing fit.