Missed Birthday - Miguel O´Hara
When he finally came home, the whole house was dark except for the last candle which was ready to lose its light soon. He deeply sighed at the look of a fully prepared dinner table with food that you had been preparing probably the whole day. Miguel told you not to cook, and that he would take you somewhere for a nice dinner, but you probably knew that he would not be able to make his promise come true. He leaned down to blow the candle when he spotted his favorite dessert that you have made just for him, untouched. It was your birthday and you made HIS favorite meals? With a head full of disappointment himself, he went upstairs ready to apologize at least a thousand times.
Miguel was trying so hard to come back to you every day at a reasonable time. But today was different. Of course, the biggest emergency came not last month, not last week, or yesterday. It had to happen today. All he could think about the whole time was you, the reservation he had in your favorite restaurant, the flowers he was not able to pick up, and the small red box that was hidden in his pocket.
He could vividly imagine how you cooked dinner. Speakers playing your favorite music and having fun dancing in the kitchen. You were always so excited to see his face brighten every time he took a bite of your food. He praised you for taking such good care of him, he thanked you for loving him. Everyday. And he could not come home for your birthday at the promised time?
Miguel stopped in the middle of your shared bedroom to realize that the bed was empty. His heart started racing and his head was filled with the worst scenarios. What if you had enough and you left? He panicked. He ran downstairs to check if your handbag was still there. You would not leave without it. His heart filled with a small wave of relief when he spotted the bag at its usual place. He quickly grabbed it to check if your wallet was there. Frantically going through your belongings in your bag he accidentally spilled half of your stuff on the floor.
"Miguel?" An almost silent voice interrupted his search party.
"MY LOVE!" He jumped to the couch where you fell asleep while waiting for him for hours.
Miguel hugged you so tightly that he almost broke your ribs.
"Uh, that… hurts...." You tried to escape his embrace.
"I am so sorry. Really sorry. Can you forgive me?"
"That's ok. You are always a little rough if you don't control yourself." You smiled as you stood up wrapped in a blanket and slowly headed to your master bedroom.
"I meant to ruin your day. I will make it up for you."
You stopped. "I know. But I would prefer if there would be nothing to fix. I don't know if I like this."
His heart stopped. He just stood there in the middle of the living room watching you trying to leave the room in the dark.
"Ouch!" You moaned as you stumbled on the furniture in your way.
"Let me." Miguel picked you up into his arms ignoring your objections.
After carefully placing you on the bed he turned on a small lamp on the nightstand and his breath got stuck in his lungs.
Emerging from the dark, your eyes were staring at him with a glow that he had never seen before. Why are you so beautiful? Your messy hair, big sleepy eyes, and face that was made for caressing.
A sudden urge moved him closer to you as he leaned to taste your lips begging to be kissed.
But you turned your head away from him.
You could have stabbed him right into the heart and he would feel the same pain as he did at the sight of you pulling yourself away.
"Y/N?" His voice filled with longing for your closeness.
Without a word you stood up and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind you. All he could hear was his aching heart beating in the tight chest and water filling the bathtub.
Miguel wanted to leave you space, not pushing on you, but he could not help himself. Your love and your relationship was built on the constant physical closeness. There was not a minute when he was not holding your hand, hugging you or at least caressing your face. Seeing you pulling away was something he never experienced and it was driving him crazy.
After not getting any answer he lightly knocked on the bathroom door, and Miguel went straight in.
"Can I take a bath in peace, please?" You said almost fully submerged in the warm water.
"Anything you want, my sun." Miguel smiled as he sat down by the bathtub. I just want to be close to you.
"That is a surprise." You murmured.
"It was not my fault." He sighed. "You know that…"
"I know what?" You looked him straight in the eyes. "That I will spend my whole life waiting for you, hoping that you will come back to me in one piece?"
"You know that you are my main priority!"
"The only thing I know is that I am tired of being scared to death when you do not come home at an acceptable time. I am not mad at you for being late. What is one day in comparison to the whole lifetime spent together? But I do not know if I can handle spending my nights shaking because of how anxious I am because of you."
A single small and warm tear rolled down your face. Miguel tried to wipe it, but you pushed his hand away.
"I would much rather leave you while you are still alive, not knowing if something happened to you after."
"Do not say that." He frowned with eyes filled with pain.
"I think I should pack my stuff tomorrow morning…"
"DO NOT SAY THAT!" Miguel jumped up, staring at you from the height. "You do not mean that."
"I do mean that."
"You do not love me anymore?!"
"I do! And that is the problem! I am scared to death to see you forever gone!"
Before you can say anything else, he grabbed your underarms and pulled you from the bathtub just to painfully hug you. His clothes stuck to your bare skin, soaking wet.
"I am not going anywhere." Miguel whispered into your hair while his hand was protectively holding your head.
"I can not do this. I can´t."
"Do you love me?" He asked after he freed you from his embrace. "Tell me the truth."
"I have already said it." You mumbled trying to reach a towel behind him.
"So say it again." Miguel begged.
"I love you more than anything. There is nothing, no one that I could love more."
"Then let me show you how much I care for you, how much I love you. I would sacrifice the whole world just to keep you safe."
"I am not the one that needs to be kept safe." You said straight into his face as you tried to leave the bathroom.
But he stood there, in front of the door staring at the floor.
"Can you please let me go? You are scaring me." You begged.
"I would never…" He mumbled as he let you go. "Y/N! I would never hurt you. You know that."
"I know, but I think that things are getting out of hand…"
You sat down on the bed, wrapped in the towel that you took as he was staring at you while still standing at the door.
"…I can spend the night at my sister's place and we can talk in the morning." You said while trying to remember if your sister was home from the trip she left for a week ago.
"I-I do not know what to say." Miguel almost whispered with shoulders trembling under the weight of the situation.
He was never scared to fight. Anyone or anything. He never cared, because he knew he would be the winning one. But with you, he was vulnerable. Nothing could hurt him more than life without you and your love.
"You have opened the gates of heaven to me and now you want to lock me out." He said as he sat down to your legs, placing his head into your lap, hugging your hips. "I know that you did not sign up for this, but you know that there will not be a day when I would not fight for my life just to come back to you. No matter what it takes, I swear to protect you… And myself, so we can keep building the life that you deserve. A life that you will hopefully want to spend with me. And one day with our children too." He mumbled into your belly after he placed a kiss on it.
"I'm just scared. I do not want to see you to…"
"I know, I know!"
Miguel took your face into his hands and kissed you deeply while caressing your cheeks with his thumbs, slowly pushing you to the top of the bed so you could rest your head on the pillow.
"I am here. I am with you. I am home." He whispered after he kissed every single inch of your body on the way to your lips. "Let me love you. Let me be with you. Be with me." He kept going, interrupted only by kissing you everywhere he reached.
When you finally responded to his affection, he took a deep breath like when you touched him for the first time. He always loved your touch, but tonight, he felt like a dry earth finally getting long-awaited rain.
"Miguel?" You mumbled, lost under him.
"Yes, my sun?" He looked into your eyes, lost in the need of you and your love.
"I need you to hold me in your arms. The whole night. Promise?" You begged.
"I promise I will hold you, love you, and protect you as long my heart is beating." Miguel said as he kissed your chest on the place where your heart was hiding.
Drunk from his scent on your skin and his lips on yours, you completely forgot about your plans. But he did not forget about his. About the little red box prepared for the right moment.
