Up until that very second, Laura stays caught up in him. Her eyes on his lips, and forehead lightly pressed to his, feeling every cell in her body charged and eager. She wants him against her, naked and warm. But what she gets is something entirely unexpected. Words that will take longer than a beat to sink in before it all registers.

Suspended in her arousal, the buzzing in her ears cuts out completely as he says it. I love you and Laura sees the way his mouth and lips form the name. Not just her name, but her given name. The one that has isn't attached to a married name or that life left behind. It's the one that started off believing in things.

In love.

Of course, at that very same moment, comes a fleeting worry that she's about to lose him all over again and before she says anything Laura clings onto him a little tighter. It can't happen again like it did, could it? Yes, it could and there will be no fooling herself into believing that because he said it that it would be hers without some kind of cost. They are on the Barge, after all. And the Admiral wasn't much for promising Happily Ever After's.

Yet, as he keeps talking and admitting, Laura can't help interrupting his last sentence. "I love you, too."

It's soft, but without hesitation or uncertainty, though she's sure she'll replay and second guess everything that's being shared in that moment.

They were in the moment now, though, and it was right.