Change of Heart - A Cahir X Reader story

Chapter 17 - The lake

Some time has passed and Cahir slowly got rid of his nightmares and was able to sleep normal again almost every night which I was just so incredibly thankful for. We both knew that these scenes would always be a part of him from now on, but at least they weren't as present in his head anymore as they were shortly after all that had happened. He slowly started training again, not too much at the beginning, but the time he spent with his sword eventually increased.

This went to the point were he, again, had to train some new recruits who managed to stress him out even more than the ones he had before. Cahir came into our bedroom stressed out every single day and I saw that he wasn't doing good at all. So I decided that it was time for me to surprise him with something special. As always, when I wanted to spend some time with Cahir alone, I asked Cecilia to look after Alice who now slowly began to stand up on her own feet and even managed to walk some steps once. Cecilia happily took her, saying that it was good practise for her own child, especially since her husband now tried to take care of her more as well. So when Cahir walked in that evening, I told him to take off his armor and take a ride on our horses together with me. He wasn't sure at first, but eventually gave in after I told him that I just wanted him to relax after all his heavy work.

So we were riding over some fields as it had already gotten really dark, and Cahir asked me where I wanted to take him over and over again. I didn't answer him though, not wanting to ruin the surprise. And that was when we finally arrived at a beautiful lake. The water was glistening in the moonlight which looked just too magical and romantic to be true. We got off of our horses and just stood there, looking at the water in awe. "Want to go for a little midnight swim?", I asked Cahir and he nodded slightly. I slowly took off my clothes and got in, feeling the warm water which immediately made me feel comfortable. "Don't just stand there now, love. Get in here with me. The water's going to help you relax your muscles. And if the water doesn't work, I can massage you as well." I told him. My words actually seemed to encourage him, I've never seen him undress that quickly, then he joined me in the water.

"It feels to warm and soothing." He said. "So does it help you a bit? With your stress, I mean.", I asked him and he nodded. "Yes, helps me get down. Thank you for planning this." I smiled, happy that he enjoyed it. Then I also offered him a massage because he told me that every single one of his muscles was hurting, to which he quickly agreed. He seemed to be enjoying it because he made little sounds of approval every now and then, signalizing that it felt good. And then I thought, maybe I could have a little fun now, so I decided that it was time for some splashing now.

"Oh, I'll get you back for that.", Cahir said, grinning widely before lifting me up and then throwing me back in the water. "You know, my love", I said. "When we first met, I thought that you didn't even know what having fun means." "And now?", he asked curiously. "Now I know that we can have sooo much fun together.", I told him, smirking widely. "Well then, I guess I should show you something that is really fun."

We were just being young, playful and carefree adults that wanted to have fun and forget about everything that has happened recently. And since we didn't know when we would be able to come back to this lake, we decided to enjoy the feeling as long as we could. But, of course, we eventually had to ride back. But I really hoped that Cahir wouldn't be in so much stress and pressure anymore. But if he was, I wanted him to know that I'll always be there to help him with it. We were way to excited to sleep that night, especially Cahir, he seemed to be so enthusiastic about everything, he even took my hand, pulled me closer and started dancing with me with the moonlight shining through the window. It was really cute how thrilled he was, but at the same time, I've never seen him like that, so I jokingly asked him if there was something in the water that changed his behaviour so drastically, to which he only laughed and kissed me. I wished that we could have stayed in this moment forever, but the night slowly faded away and so the stress began once more.