I Know, Dani

“I meant!” He babbles, “I meant to say! You did, fix it. Your work is done, you did it. Ravi’s safe now. You are, too. Those little girls, also, and I doubt Oz will let either of you out of her sights for a few years yet.”
Eve nods, vacantly.
“And I won’t let you out of mine as much as I can. You won’t scare me away that easily. I know.”
“You know?”
“Dani,” Maran mutters, voice pitched somehow quieter than a whisper. “It’s a nice name on you. It fits pretty. It’s also…” Blood soaked.
Eve gasps, brokenly. “I swear I’m never leaving Haven again.”
“I understand.” He understands what it is like, to see danger in every shadow and to be the danger.
“I love you,” he says, bundling her into his arms.
“I love you, too.”
He murmurs, “I’ve been calling you sunrise. Wow. I wouldn’t see a mountain if it was right in front of me, would I?”
Eve’s laughter is strident and wet.
“Do you like that? Sunrise?”
She kisses his shoulder, about as wet feeling as the laughter sounded. Not as wet as the lake was, but…
“I don’t have my code book. What does slobbering all over my shoulder mean, again?”
She wipes the wetness off off him with her sleeve, embarrassed. Then, she says, “That meant yes.”
“… I didn’t say I minded your slobber.”
“I do.”
“I ain’t as shallow as you, then, and I’ll keep that in mind next I’m cryin’.”