ADORATION

Warm firelight flickers and plays, adding its soft hues to the glow of candlelight.

Door shut against the world.

Water splashed onto the floor sparkles in the flickering light of the flame; scented bathwater cools within the tub, flat and still; forgotten.

Side by side husband and wife exchange loving, knowing looks; lips meet in salutation.

Eowyn gazes with heart overflowing at the figure lying so still against the silken quilt, hair damp from the water, skin glistening; still learning the un-familiar planes and vistas of his body.

Drinks in the sight; consigning each image to memory.

With warm gentle fingers she traces the contours of scalp and face, fingers combing through dark, damp locks; caressing cheeks and brow.

She looks down into pools of knowledge, sees love and trust in the depths of a soul, so old, so young.

Soft kisses follow where fingers led, ghosting paths of discovery over features soft with contentment.

She pulls down the coverlet to expose arms and chest. Hands, slick with scented oil, explore the contours beneath her fingers; fingers moving to the rhythm of a heartbeat; caressing, kneading. Each arm tended, each finger massaged, a kiss planted in each palm.

He sighs.

Her exploration moves back to his neck, and down over chest and abdomen, never losing contact, fingers splaying over collar-bone and ribs.

He squirms under her ministrations, but she is not done yet. She rolls him over and removes the coverlet, exposing his nakedness.

Her hands resume their tender exploration; thumbs working gentle circles across his shoulders and down his spine.

She cannot resist the temptation and trails kisses from nape to the dimples at the base of his spine. Worshipping with hands and kisses she moves lower, caressing buttocks, thighs and knees.

Eyelids begin to flutter.But she is not done yet.

She rolls him back. Takes his face in her hands and bestows soft kisses on eye-lids, nose and chin.

He nuzzles her face, tasting her skin with lips and tongue; catches her hair with questing fingers.

She laughs and moves away but her fingers still dance over chest and shoulders. She glories in her power to nurture and cherish.

She looks up into the eyes of her husband, her beloved.

Adoration glows in his eyes. Watching. Loving.

She goes back to her task; buries her face against warm, scented skin. Breathes in; joy settles in her heart and tingles in her breast.

She moves closer, lies down beside him, and pulls him close; his head resting in the crook of her arm, her hand caressing his back.

She unlaces her gown. His fingers rest on the swell of her breast; lips nuzzle, questing, seeking, finding their goal.

Exquisite pain; exquisite pleasure.

She drops a kiss on his soft downy head; smiles at his look of absorbed concentration as he nurses.

Her son.

Her blessing; her joy.

Faramir leans over, kisses son and wife; enfolds his family within his embrace.

She looks to him again and seeks the reassurance of his love; she had feared sharing his affection, but this is not love halved.

This is love doubled, tripled, magnified beyond measure or comprehension.

She gives in to sleep; safe, cocooned, protected.

Faramir keeps a silent, loving, vigil; Lover, Guardian. Father.