[There'll be time to be angry later - maybe not at her, but at whoever took her, and once he hears the story, at a whole lot more than that - for now, he doesn't have it in him. His joy at her return is too all-encompassing, it swallows him up as he rolls her under his body, as if he could keep her safe, as if the sheer weight of himself could hold her down, keep her from being taken from him again, under him and with her words coming breathless. She sounds vulnerable, and he's cheered and frightened by it all at once, but she's alive and she's in one piece and she's with him so whatever it is that makes her vulnerable can be tackled.
If they're together, nothing can be completely broken, no matter how afraid he was that she'd gone away, like Molly, not because she wanted to but because she couldn't help it. Losing her...losing Apollo, his firebird, his phoenix, that would be worse than what he's already endured. He's already loved her too long to take another chance.]
Oh, bird.
[His voice is soft, rough, there's a growl to it that's less anger than the threat of tears that he won't let fall, not right now.]
I love you too.
[Words are difficult, it's hard to articulate when his relief and fear and anger and joy are too strong to quantify. So he just kisses her again, tilting his head, burying his face into the crook of her neck, and it's only there that he finds the words to express at least one sentiment.]
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If they're together, nothing can be completely broken, no matter how afraid he was that she'd gone away, like Molly, not because she wanted to but because she couldn't help it. Losing her...losing Apollo, his firebird, his phoenix, that would be worse than what he's already endured. He's already loved her too long to take another chance.]
Oh, bird.
[His voice is soft, rough, there's a growl to it that's less anger than the threat of tears that he won't let fall, not right now.]
I love you too.
[Words are difficult, it's hard to articulate when his relief and fear and anger and joy are too strong to quantify. So he just kisses her again, tilting his head, burying his face into the crook of her neck, and it's only there that he finds the words to express at least one sentiment.]
Don't go again.