Time Frame: Immediately after "Jealousy"
Synopsis: Chris & Rita try to have an uninterrupted weekend together
IF WISHES WERE STARS...
by Rosebud
Chris sat alone in the bright Florida sunshine quietly eating his lunch at a table near the lunchwagon. Glancing up, he saw Rita and George Donovan walking in his direction. The two had spent the morning on paperwork for an upcoming trial.
Chris was acutely aware of how much he missed Rita when she was not at his side. For the last few weeks their demanding workload had almost precluded any personal time together. This weekend, they promised, would be spent together with no outside interruptions.
Rita, upon seeing Chris, waved, a luminescent smile on her face. She sat next to Chris with George sitting across from them. Chris discreetly slipped his right hand under the table and held Rita's left hand. He just had to touch her. Rita returned the squeeze letting him know that she felt the same.
George smiled warmly at Chris and said, "Hey, Chris, looks like you've got your partner back. We've got all the paperwork on the Rivera case finished."
"Glad to hear that, George. I don't like my partner away from me too long."
"Yeah, she's the only partner you've ever had that could keep your butt out of trouble."
Chris glanced at Rita who had chuckled at George's remark. "Yeah, never let it be said that Chris Lorenzo can do without his partner." His subtle remark slipped past George but not Rita. She blushed slightly.
Then George glanced at his watch and stood up. "Hey, I'm late for another meeting. See you guys later."
Chris responded with "See ya" as Rita said, "Bye."
Chris leaned over and whispered in Rita's ear, "I thought he would never leave. Missed you so much, Sammy."
She glanced around to see if anyone was looking, and with her voice sultry with desire, asked, "We're still sneaking out early today, aren't we? I want to get you alone."
"Ooh, Sammy, don't talk that way right now! I'll have you down on the ground in a minute." He stared at her hungrily and then sighed, "But unfortunately, I've got a meeting with Cap at 3:30."
"Okay, but remember, it's just you and me the whole weekend."
"Definitely. Let me buy you some lunch. Can't have you too weak from lack of food."
"I don't know, Chris. The last couple of times I ate here it didn't agree with me. Maybe I could just have a salad."
"Let me go get it for you." Without thought, he ran his hand around Rita, slightly stroking her backside as he kissed her lightly on the cheek before standing up and walking towards the lunchwagon.
Rita watched appreciatively as Chris strolled toward the wagon. Smiling to herself, she couldn't decide which view was better--Chris walking away or Chris walking towards her. Either way, both views were worth watching.
Harry stood at an office window watching them from a distance. "Nothing going on that I can see to make a federal case about," he thought, "although the kiss on the cheek could be misconstrued." And at this distance, he wasn't certain if Chris' hand had made actual contact with Rita's derriere. He'd seen Chris kiss Rita on the cheek before, and Chris was a touchy-feely kind of guy. Harry shook his head and walked back to his office.
That afternoon Chris sat in Harry's office, his impatience to leave obvious as his fingers beat a silent drum on his leg as he waited for Harry to get off the phone. It was 4:25, and, having promised Rita to get home as soon as possible, he was anxious to leave. She had already left to go by her place to pick up enough clothes for the weekend. From there she would take a cab to his apartment so that her car wouldn't be outside his place all weekend. They were becoming quite adept at sneaking around.
Eventually, Chris' mind, lulled by the drone of Harry's voice, drifted off as he thought of their weekend plans. When Harry hung up the phone, he said, "Well, Chris, back to what we were discussing. I think we've covered everything until the DA gets back with us." Noticing Chris' lack of attention and glazed over eyes, Harry shouted, "Hey, Lorenzo! Are you awake?"
Startled, Chris sat up straight, remembering where he was, "Huh? No. I mean yes. Just thinking. Sorry."
Harry leaned back in his chair. "You seem a little absentminded. You've been doing that a lot lately. Is there some problem you need to talk about?"
"Problems? No. No problems. My mind just wandered for a minute."
"Humph. Can't fool me. You're probably thinking about some girl."
Chris colored slightly.
"Ah, hah! Got you! You've got big plans for the weekend!"
Chris, startled by the question and sensing a trap, stuttered, "Plans?"
"Hello! Yeah, plans. You're a young single guy. I bet you got girls lined up wanting to go out with you. So. Tell an old married man. What have you got planned?"
"Actually, Cap, I, er, I plan a quiet weekend at home."
"Come on, Chris. You're not fooling me."
"Honest, Cap. Just a quiet weekend."
"Well, if you can't think up a better story than that, get out of here. By the way, where's Rita? I didn't see her leave."
Chris answered, "Uh, I think she left awhile ago. You need to talk to her?"
"No, just wondered. She's been kind of quiet lately. I wondered if everything was okay with her."
"Actually, Rita mentioned to me recently that she's very happy with her life now." Chris struggled to keep a straight face.
Harry said nothing for a moment as he stared at Chris before finally saying, "Well, if you say so. Go on. Get out of here. I know good and well you've got some girl waiting on you."
Chris grinned and left heading for home, relieved that Cap hadn't asked who the girl was that was waiting on him.
Rita was walking downstairs when she heard the sound of a key in the door. Chris broke into a grin when he saw her. Closing the door, he sat a sack on the floor and walked over, picking Rita off the bottom step and kissing her. Putting her down, Chris pulled his jacket off, tossing it across the room, and then hugged her close to him. His desire for her was obvious as his hands slipped down to her hips drawing her closer. Slowly his hands worked themselves under her skirt where he expected to find something lacy. Finding nothing but soft skin, he stopped kissing her for a moment and grinned, "You bad bad girl."
Chris gently laid Rita on the floor, quickly divesting themselves of clothes.
Rita closed her eyes, reveling in the feel of him as he came to her. Their anticipation for this moment had been building up all day, and it took only a matter of minutes before they stilled, breathless but satisfied as they lay quietly in each others arms.
Finally, Rita stirred slightly and noticed a sack at the door. "Did you buy something?"
"Yeah, I thought I'd grill us a steak for dinner tonight. Okay with you?"
"Great idea. I'm hungry."
"If I've got the strength to cook, I'll get everything going." Chris grinned as he stood up, pretending to stagger from weakness and grabbed some of his clothes and went upstairs. Coming back down in jeans and a t-shirt, he smiled when he saw Rita, dressed in one of his old sweatshirts which came down to her knees. She was busy in the kitchen working on the rest of the meal.
He walked up behind her, put his arms around her waist and hugged her, "Love you, Sammy. Hey, have you put on a little weight?"
"No, I don't think so. Are you saying I'm fat?"
"You are parfait! Forget I mentioned it. I'll start the steaks."
The hours passed quickly as they talked quietly, enjoying each other's company. Chris walked Rita upstairs to bed, each silent and lost in thought as they fell contendly asleep in each other's arms.
The next morning Chris woke up first. He glanced at the clock and was surprised to see that it was almost 11:00. Carefully, he slid away from Rita so as to not wake her. "Boy," he thought, "we must hae lost more sleep in the last several weeks than we realized." Prompted by the growl of his stomach, he quietly went downstairs to make breakfast. After getting the meal prepared, he put it on a tray and carried it to Rita.
"Rita, Rita," he whispered softly in her ear. She opened her eyes groggily, "Hmm?"
"Got our breakfast. Scoot over, and we'll share."
He eased in beside her and began feeding her fruit between bites of his own. Finally, having eaten their fill, he put the tray down on the floor. Rita leaned back into his arms.
Rita look up at him. "You know, we really ought to get out of this bed."
"Why? We'll just end back in here anyway."
"You're a dog, Christopher."
"And you've got me on a chain, sweet Sammy." He reached over and kissed her. She responded passionately, pushing him back onto the bed.
Rita began running a riot of kisses up and down his body until Chris couldn't contain himself. He flipped her over on her back and began to make her writhe until she pulled him to her, and they both sank into each other. Sleep eventually overtook them again. When they awoke later, they both lay quietly, holding each other.
"Chris, did you ever imagine that things would work out this way?"
"I would never let myself think about the possibility, Rita."
"Why?"
"I knew that if I thought about it, I'd probably act on my feelings. So, I just kept pretending I loved you just as a close friend. There were a couple of times over the last few years though that it took all my strength to deny my feelings."
"Oh, really!"
"Yeah," he whispered, "Really."
"And when might that have been?"
"Oh, lots of times, but the worst was when your friend was killed, and everyone thought it was you."
Chris whispered softly as he remembered. "When you walked in the door, and I saw you were alive, man, I almost lost it there."
"I didn't realize until later what you must have gone through."
"Yeah, after seeing the body, I spent the night walking the floor and crying off and on. I wouldn't accept that it was you because my heart told me you were alive."
Rita caressed his face and kissed him gently. "Hey, let's get off this subject. It's getting way too serious here. Besides, Chris, I really got to get out of this bed."
"Okay, but come right back."
Rita grinned as she headed to the bathroom, "If you promise to bring me something to drink."
Chris stood up and stretched as he reached for his robe. Wrapping it around him, he ran downstairs to get a drink. Opening the refrigerator he saw that orange juice was about all he had left, and he made a mental note to stock up on groceries. Hurrying back upstairs with two glasses of juice, he handed one to Rita who had gotten back into bed. Chris pulled her to him, and as they each sipped their drinks, they continued talking.
Finally Chris put his glass down and put his arms around Rita and began kissing her softly, tasting the orange juice on her lips. "Your lips are so soft," he whispered. "Remember when we were on the case where we had to "soul" kiss for an hour?" He ran his fingertips across her lips.
Rita shivered, "I could never forget that."
"You know I couldn't walk for awhile after that."
"Crippled you, huh?"
"In a manner of speaking. That's how I want to kiss you now." Chris leaned her back and began softly kissing her, enjoying the feel of her. Rita's emotions ran riot as she responded to him. Minutes later a tiny sob escaped from her. Chris broke their kiss, "Did I do something, Rita?"
"No, you just make me feel so . . . , I don't know, cherished."
"I do cherish you." He stopped talking and stared into her eyes. Putting his forehead against her he whispered, "I want you again."
"I know. Come here, come to me," she replied huskily.
Chris needed no second invitation and joined her taking care to be gentle as they shared their love. They each fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms.
Much later, Chris woke suddenly and noticed that the light was fading from the day. He slipped on his boxer shorts and t-shirt and padded quietly downstairs so as to not wake Rita. It crossed his mind that Rita had been sleeping a lot lately. But thinking of the many nights in which they had not slept a complete night, he smiled and decided she just needed to catch up on lost sleep.
He walked to the fridge and opened it. The steak was gone, and there wasn't much else left to eat. Deciding that pizza was the best choice for dinner, he picked up the phone and ordered one. After he hung up, he looked around for his wallet. It was on the floor with the remainder of his clothes alongside Rita's clothes. He began picking up the clothes, grinning when he came across a particularly fetching piece of lacy undergarment. Going back upstairs with the clothes and wallet, he saw, as he dropped everything on the dresser, that Rita was still asleep.
He heard a knock on the door. "Pizza man got here fast," he thought.
Chris dashed downstairs and flung the door open. There stood Harry and Fran. Harry shouted, "Chris, do you normally come to the door in your underwear?" Fran giggled.
Chris' mouth gaped open in surprise, "Cap, Fran, what are you doing here? I was expecting a pizza."
"Must be some cute pizza delivery girl, huh, Harry."
"Yeah. I wish I could get a cute girl to deliver pizza. It's always some clown who can't add. Can we come in, Chris?"
"Uh, sure. But the place is a mess." Chris frantically scanned the apartment for any of Rita's things. Seeing nothing incriminating, he heaved a silent sigh of relief. Then, he visualized Rita upstairs, asleep and naked in his bed. He groaned inwardly.
Harry and Fran had seated themselves on the couch. Fran was obviously excited about something. "Chris, Harry said you didn't have any plans this weekend."
"Uh, well. I'm just hanging around the place."
"I hate to see you spend the weekend alone." Fran looked at him expectantly.
"Oh, no," thought Chris, "Another niece is in town!" Chris cast a nervous glance upstairs.
Unbeknownst to Chris, Rita had awoke when she heard Harry's voice booming at Chris. She knew that, with the design of the apartment, she couldn't make a noise without being heard downstairs.
Fran looked at Chris closely. He seemed to be twitching. "Chris, are you feeling all right? You seem to be a little nervous. I've got a little herb tea that can settle you down."
"No, no, Fran. I'm just fine."
"Anyway," interrupted Harry, "Chris, we came by to see if you'd like to go out to dinner with us. Nothing fancy, just a burger."
"Well, I've got a pizza on its way, Cap. Thanks. You and Frannie go and have a good time."
"Are you sure, Chris? We can go by and pick up Rita if she's free," Harry asked, eyeing Chris who was struggling to look calm.
"Rita?" Even as he said it, Chris knew it was a stupid remark to make.
"Yeah, Chris. Rita. Your partner. You remember her, the gorgeous brunette that works across from you." Cap looked at him in exasperation.
Thinking quickly, Chris responded, "Well, I remember Rita saying something about being busy this weekend."
"Why don't I give her a call?" Fran reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone.
"No!" Chris jumped up. That, he knew, would be a disaster. The previous week Rita had begun having all her unanswered calls forwarded to an answering machine in his apartment insuring that she missed no important calls while she was at Chris'. If Fran called Rita's line, the call would be forwarded to the machine which happened to be sitting right next to Fran.
Rita covered her mouth as soon as Chris shouted no. She knew exactly what was going through his head.
Frannie was startled when Chris jumped up. Harry frowned. Something definitely was going on. He just couldn't put a finger on it.
Chris realized how loudly he had said no. "Sorry, Frannie. Now, I remember. Rita went tovisit Keisha this evening. And like I said, I've got a pizza on its way."
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Chris got up and opened the door hoping it was the pizza delivery guy. It was. "Pizza delivery."
"Thank God!"
"You must be one hungry dude if pizza makes you that happy."
"You'll never know. How much do I owe you?"
"$16.50."
"Oh, wait a minute. My wallet's upstairs." Chris ran upstairs. Rita lay there fighting the giggles. Chris took one look at her and started laughing. To cover his laughter, he tried to make a coughing noise. He grabbed his wallet and ran downstairs.
"Here," he said, thrusting a $20 at the guy, "Keep the change."
"Gee, thanks."
Chris turned around and almost dropped the pizza. Fran was standing at the refrigerator, door open, eyeing the lack of contents. She looked at the size of the pizza box. "Are you going to eat all that by yourself?"
"Uh, no. I mean yes. You know, it will last for at least two meals."
"Chris, you need to eat better. There's no food in this place. No wonder you're so twitchy. I'll bring you some of my lasagna next week."
"Oh, you don't have to do that. But you're right about no food in the place. I think I'll go shopping later and stock up."
Harry stood up. "Frannie, let's go. We'll go by Rita's place and see if she's home anyway. Maybe she won't mind going out with the old folks."
Chris walked them to the door and, bolting the lock as they left. He looked up to see Rita walking downstairs, "Coast is clear, Sammy! Now, that was a revolting development!" They both dissolved into laughter until tears ran from their eyes.
Rita looked at Chris when all the laughter had died. "Chris, we hae to tell him before he figures it out."
"Yeah, I know."
At that moment, Rita's answering machine kicked on. "This is Rita. I'm not in right now. Leave a message at the tone."
"Rita, this is Harry and Fran. We're calling from our car. We wanted to know if you wanted to go get a burger with us. Chris said you were at Keisha's, but we wanted to try anyway. Bye."
Chris and Rita looked at each other and started laughing again. Finally Chris looked at her as they walked to the kitchen bar. "Okay, we go in next week and 'fess up. I can't take any more surprises. I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I opened the door and saw them."
Rita sighed heavily, "Okay. But until Monday morning, it's just the two of us." "Come on, Rita. Let's eat the pizza before it gets cold or they knock on the door again."
With that, they ate their pizza in silence, both thinking of what would happen once Harry knew of their relationship.
Minutes after they finished the pizza, Rita looked at Chris, "Let's go for a walk on the beach, Sam."
"Bored?"
"No, just need a little fresh air. The pizza doesn't seem to be agreeing with me."
Chris frowned slightly. "You aren't getting sick again are you? You seem to be doing that a lot lately."
"No, I feel fine. I guess the pizza wasn't the healthiest thing we could eat."
"Okay, tomorrow we eat healthy. Bean sprouts and tofu."
"Yuck. Let's try a walk on the beach first."
It was dusk when they started their walk on the beach. Rita took a deep breath of air. "This isjust what I needed."
Chris pulled her to him and squeezed her tightly to him. "Love you, Sammy. You do know that, don't you?"
Rita smiled at him, "Of course, I do. I love you, too, but I never get tired of hearing you say it."
Chris grinned, "Well, you're going to be hearing it for the next 60 or 70 years."
"Gee," she said, "I don't know if that's quite long enough, but it will have to do I suppose."
Chris leaned back and looked into her face, brushing the windblown hair from her eyes. "Rita," he stopped for a moment, trying to find the words that he wanted to convey, "when we were just friends, there was always something missing here." He put his hand over his heart, "I know now what was missinng, it was your love. Now that I have that, my heart is whole, and I want you to know how happy you've made me. I want to make your every wish come true so that you're as happy as I am."
He paused for a few seconds, his emotions clearly visible on his face as he strove to find the right words, "I wish I could give you a gift that would show you how much I love you. But there's just nothing in this world that I can give you to adequately express how I feel." He then whispered, "Rita, if my wishes were stars, I could give you a galaxy."
Rita looked at him, tears shimmering in her eyes, "Chris, what a lovely thing to say. But you don't have to give me anything but your love to make me happy. I don't want things, I want you." Leaning up to his face, she kissed him softly and held on to him tightly.
"Let's go home, Chris." Rita broke away from Chris and began walking up the beach towards the car. Chris smiled as he followed when something about her appearance caused him to stop in his tracks. He realized that several things that had bothered him over the last week or so had an obvious answer. Running up to Rita, he opened the door for her, his mind whirling. After he got behind the wheel, he asked, Is there anything you want to tell me? You know if you do, all you have to do is start talking."
Rita looked at him, "I know that. We've always been able to talk."
"Just wanted to be sure you knew that. Because if there's a problem, I want to share it with you."
Rita, a puzzled look on her face, said "You know I would." And then she yawned.
"Hey, Rita. Going to make it back before you fall asleep?"
"Yeah, I'm just really sleepy. You won't let me get any sleep."
"I won't let you sleep! I think it's the other way around," joked Chris.
As they entered the apartment, Chris looked closely at Rita. Weariness was clearly etched across her face. Now he knew something wasn't right. "Go to bed, Rita. You're exhausted. I guess I have kept you up too much lately." Guilt was written all over his face.
"Oh, Chris," said Rita as she looked at his stricken face, "you haven't done anything. I was teasing, but I think I will go to bed after a shower."
"Look, we're low on groceries. I think I'll run down and pick up a few things."
"Great." She yawned again and headed upstairs.
An hour or so later Chris returned with the groceries. He began putting them up, knocking over a few cans in the process. He glanced upstairs expecting Rita to say something. Walking upstairs, he saw she was deep asleep. Chris sat down on the bed and stared at her before pulling the covers back gently from Rita. Chris ran his hands gently over her. Again, he detected a subtle difference in her body. " No, on second thought, maybe it was his imagination," he decided.
He sighed, still pondering whether to bring the subject up or not as he took his shower. Coming out of the bathroom, he sat and looked at Rita for a few minutes before climbing in beside her. Gently he pulled her into his arms, kissing her softly before drifting off to sleep.
The next morning Chris woke up to the sound of Rita being sick in the bathroom. He stumbled out of bed to her side. Rita was, by that time, standing at the sink rinsing her mouth. "Chris, where did you buy that pizza? It must have been bad." Chris didn't say anything but pulled her to him.
"Rita, you've been sick a lot lately. Is there anything wrong?"
"No," she looked up in his eyes in complete honesty.
"Okay, but if you don't get to feeling better, I want you to go to the doctor."
"Sam, I'm not sick. Just bad pizza. I feel better already."
Chris decided to not press the issue. "How about we eat brunch later this morning? Give your stomach some time to settle."
"Okay."
"Get back into bed. Just to sleep. I want you to get to feeling better. Can't have my best girl puny now, can I?"
Rita smiled wanly as she got into bed, still obviously tired. Chris leaned over and kissed her forehead, concern in his eyes. "I'll even get out of here so you can have some peace and quiet. I think I'll take a run."
"Okay," she mumbled, half asleep already.
Chris stood by the bed watching her until she fell asleep. He took a deep breath, trying to control his anxiety. Something was wrong, and he knewit. Finally, he went downstairs and left on his run. As soon as Chris returned, he checked on Rita and saw she was still asleep. After cleaning up, he walked back downstairs to wait for her to wake up. Sometime later he heard her footsteps as she came downstairs.
"Chris, you shouldn't have let me sleep so long. You must be starving."
"I'm a little hungry, but I wanted to let you rest. Come here." Rita sat down and put her head on his shoulder. "Rita, I'm worried about you."
"I'm fine. I promise. It's just a bug or something. Let's go eat. You pick the restaurant, and then if you're a good boy, I'll let you take me to the movies."
"Oh, Sammy, you know I'm always good," he said, leering wickedly at her before laughing at his own double entendre. She laughed with him as he pulled her up and walked her to the car.
Standing in line at the theatre, they were deep in conversation when they heard a familiar voice.
"Chris, Rita, what are you two doing here? Are you on a double date or something?"
Chris glanced at Rita quickly and saw she was looking back at him. A look of panic was in both their eyes. Before either could answer, George Donovan continued, "I'd like to introduce you two to my date, Maria Belton. Maria, this is Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lance. They're with the Palm Beach police department."
Chris smiled at Maria. She was lovely, and since George seldom dated, he knew she must be special. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Rita held out her hand. "Nice to meet you. George, where did you find this lovely lady?"
George smiled widely, "Would you believe at a PTA meeting? Our kids are in the same class. We just got out of our movie and are going to get a bite. Want to tag along?"
"No thanks. We just got here. We've got to get on in before the movie starts." Chris smiled at him hoping that the next question wouldn't be, "And what are you two doing here together?"
George just looked at them for a moment with that very question on his lips. But looking into Chris' eyes, he could see an unspoken plea in them. He decided not to ask. "Too bad. It's terrible though, when someone like you, Lorenzo, can't get a date and have to go to a movie with your partner. My condolences, Rita, on being stuck with him."
Rita smiled, going along with him, "Yeah, George, he owes me big time for going to a movie with him."
George laughed softly and then said, "Well, Maria, let's go. Hope you two enjoy the movie. So long."
"See ya, George. Nice to meet you, Maria," Chris said, smiling broadly, relief echoing in his voice.
"Bye," added Rita.
Rita and Chris turned and entered the movie theatre. George stood with a look of concentration on his face and then turned to Maria, and said, "Ready to go?"
Maria smiled at him, "Sure. Nice friends you have, George, but I don't know who they think they're fooling."
George smiled at her, realizing that she had picked up on what he was thinking. "Yeah, I don't know who they're fooling eiher except for one person. And I don't think he's going to be fooled much longer. But I'm not going to be the oneto tell him." With that they left.
Chris and Rita sat down in the darkened theatre. "Chris, do you think we fooled him?"
"Not only no, Rita, but hell no. George may look like a boy scout, but he's got one of the sharpest brains around. But he's a standup guy. I don't think he'll say anything to Cap. But soon, Sam, we have to tell him soon."
After the movie ended, they arrived home, both tired but pleased with their weekend.
"Chris, this has been nice. Just the two of us."
"It was parfait, Sammy. Why don't we just sit on the couch and talk." Chris noticed again that Rita's color was not just right. "On second thought, why don't you go to bed. I've got a few things to do down here."
Rita yawned, "No argument here," and walked upstairs.
Chris watched Rita walk up stairs and sighed, worry on his face. Walking to his bookshelf, he retrieved a book titled, "Medical Symptoms and Diagnosis." Fran had left it when he was recuperating after being shot by Debra Bouchard. He sat down, thumbing through the contents until he found the section he wanted to read.
After carefully reading, he walked upstairs with the book in his hand hoping to talk to Rita. She was fast asleep, and it wasn't 9:00 yet. Chris sat down on his side of the bed and opened to the chapter titled , "Symptoms of Pregnancy," As he read, he mentally underlined the symptoms that he had seen in Rita. After realizing that nearly all of them related to her present physical condition, he closed the book and stared down at Rita. She obviously didn't suspect anything. He knew she would tell him if she did.
"What to do," he thought. "Should I ask? No," he finally decided. "I won't. I should let her tell me when she's ready." He smiled to himself hoping his guess was correct. Children were something he had long wished for and nothing could make him happier, except for marrying his Sammy. Another unspoken wish in his heart.
Switching off the light, he snuggled close to Rita before wrapping his arms tightly around her. Happiness coursed through him as her body's warmth touched his skin, and he thought, "We'll tell Cap this week. And maybe soon Rita will have something to tell me."
Before sleep finally captured him for the night, his heart swelled with joy with the realization that he was holding his own galaxy tightly in his arms.
If wishes were stars . . . .
THE END
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