480;

[flair]

Title: in sickness and in health
Characters: Markus, Eliza
Rating: G

"After I'm married and have a kid, are you going to leave?"

He looked up from his book at her words. He watched her raise her hand and touch the window pane where he was reflected, and watched her turn her eyes to meet his. There was a sadness to them he couldn't place, because he had never felt something so deep and rich. He shut his book quietly and glided to her; he took her hands in his and smiled.

"I will have to," he promised. She nodded and turned her face away again. The sadness was still there; it was even more apparent than before, captured by the wateriness of her silvered eyes. He leaned forward to lick a tear away, sliding his tongue against the bottom of her eyelid; he repeated the motion with the other, and drew away to let her blink.

"Until then," he murmured in the tensed air between them, "I am yours."