Half-way to the Stars

[JMR: Warning, this definitely treads the edges of being too intimate to print.]

As he awoke, the familiarly unfamiliar weight on his left arm was pleasant, if light, and he rolled over to cuddle with his bride without opening his eyes, nuzzling the back of her neck. Momentum carried him a bit further than he was used to, and they floated together above the bed for a moment before sinking lightly back.

He kissed her nape.

"Mmm. Tickles." She shivered and squeezed his hand. "Nice."

A sharp odor that seemed like it ought to be familiar assailed his nostrils. Fireworks? Gunpowder?

He opened his eyes. Through the veil of her hair, the darkness, pinpricked with tiny lights, in contrast with the painfully brilliant silvery glow in which the bed itself was bathed, also seemed tantalizingly familiar and at the same time unfamiliar. He wondered in his mellow thoughts why he didn't remember the yellow-white desert landscape wallpaper motif visible around them, then rolled over on his back and contemplated the blue, green, brown, and white crescented light fixture floating above their bed, as the oddly excess momentum caused him to bounce lightly again.

"More!"

His bride's demands took priority over thoughts about design motifs, and he lost consciousness of his surroundings again for a time.

"You are such a romantic!"

He awoke again, floating on his back. In the darkness, he could trace the outline of his bride's body against the glow of the brilliant pinpricks in the darkness around them, where she was sitting up, firmly gripping the bed fabric with one hand, humming the tune of the song he had serenaded her with the evening before as he carried her across the threshold of their apartment.

The brilliant glow illuminating the bed was gone, along with the landscapes, and the light fixture above was apparently extinguished, all replaced with the surreal black darkness and its brilliant pinprick lights, dusted in places with glimmering clouds of shining silver. The view reminded him of the night sky viewed from some rare place on earth where city lights were absent, but the configurations didn't quite match constellations he knew.

"Romantic?"

"Which is to say, ...," she began singing, then stopped. "But there's a small problem."

"What's that?"

"What does one do, halfway to the stars?"

Realization drifted into his mind, and he chuckled as he sat up carefully, holding onto the bed with one hand, and wrapped his free arm around her again.

"I guess we go back. Next stop Jupiter?"

"We could."

"What stars did you take us halfway to?"

"The nearest triple, whose name no one seems to agree on."

"Makes sense. What are we breathing?"

"Unimportant details. Ready to go?"

"We get to come back?"

"I think it's up to you, if can we ever get another break like this."

"We'll claim parental leave."

"Considering who the boss is, I'm sure we can do that. I've waited so long."

"We've waited."

[JMR: I'm considering using this for the honeymoon scene for one of my paranormal love story novels. But of course there are details that would have to change.]

[JMR201909121359: Heh. Misheard lyrics: "let me play ...". Maybe I should fix that. But then I'll have to write whole new lyrics to avoid attracting copyright lawyers with nothing better to do:

We'll fly to the hinter moon or maybe twice as far,
Tour the inner planets, or go halfway to the stars.
When two are so happy together there is nothing they can't do.
Which is to say, I love you.

I'll have to write another verse or two later. For now, this should do.
]