Ad Astra Per Aspera [2] - Band of Brothers

52 | morning

" The real love is the one that makes you a better person. Without changing you into someone different than yourself." 

- Unknown

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When Hazel opened her eyes the next morning, her lips were sore. But then she smiled softly to herself, scrunching up her nose a bit as she giggled to herself. 

Joe. 

His arm was wrapped around her waist, holding her gently against his shallow breathing chest, and she felt so warm in his embrace, completely cuddled up against him. Hazel smiled. 

Hazel stared forward towards the wooden floor, where the sunlight streamed down onto the wooden planks and the various potted plants that were scattered in the corner around the closet. The sweet smell of the mountain air slowly filtered in through the open window and she even heard a few birds tweeting outside, and a few quiet chirps of the early morning crickets. It was a peaceful sound that made her smile more. 

This was all she had wanted - what she had wanted ever since Joe and her had truly confessed their hidden feelings.

To wake up on a beautiful morning, snuggled into his arms together in a warm comforter without seemingly a care in the world. 

And for once, there were no nightmares in her sleep, no images of war that horrified her, no feeling of the wound in her abdomen, no feeling of waking up and wanting to cry - none of it. Being here with Joe finally made her feel safe in her sleep - in reality.

Hazel remembered Paris - the night where a single conversation changed their entire relationship. Hazel hadn't believed it was possible that a single conversation could do something like that, but it had changed everything. It was more than the joking, Joe telling Hazel he adored it, her story about he father - all of it.

 It was the fact Joe Liebgott had sat there and watched her and simply just listened to her. He didn't judge, he didn't make fun of her, he didn't degrade her - he sat and listened to each and every word and picked up on each and every emotion that poured from her system. Hazel felt that Joe knew her to her core. 

And that was an even more powerful feeling than what love was. Hazel felt holding that with Joe was more special than anything in the world. 

Hazel felt Joe shift a bit behind her as the grip he had around her waist tightened a bit and she felt his nose tickling her soft skin against her neck, making her let out a giggle, turning her head towards Joe with shining eyes. His own sleepy eyes looked back towards her, a lazy smirk on his lips, those two dimples making their appearance and his hair stuck up in too many directions to account for.

" Morning," he mumbled, his voice gruff, making her cheeks flame. She forgot how much she loved his morning voice that it made her heart skip a beat, sending her smiling.