Savior

Verse 7

Camila gently moved her hands over Lauren's arms, rubbing out the tension from her muscles the best she could, feeling the shivering stop slowly as she did so, carrying on quietly, adoration painting her features, "We'll have love aplenty, we'll have joys outnumbered, we'll share perfect moments -"

"You and me," Lauren finished with a quiet sigh. Her withdrawals seemed to have gone away, and as she turned her gaze up at Camila, she had little pools of tears in her eyes.

Camila's heart fell, face contorting with concern. Her fingers darted up and smoothed away the wrinkles on Lauren's forehead and caught tears as they fell, "What's wrong?"

Lauren shook her head, laughed tearfully, "Nothing at all. It's so weird," she murmured almost in disbelief. "Sometimes I think ..." she seemed hesitant to speak. Even over the time Camila had been sheltering her, caring about her, and even though they'd established an intimate relationship, Lauren was still (and might always be) a very guarded person, "Sometimes I think I'm dreaming. I'm so used to everything being ... bad that it's hard to believe this is real, or that it's going to last. It scares me."

"Don't be scared," Camila's words insisted, even as she continued stroking the skin of Lauren's cheeks, pressing small kisses where each teardrop dried. "Please don't be scared. I can't guarantee that things will always be perfect but I am never, ever leaving you. This isn't a dream. I can't live without you," Camila's voice broke and she closed her eyes, taking a shaky sigh, "I can't explain it. When you were gone it was like there was someone squeezing my heart in their palm, and I couldn't breathe, Lauren. You're all I thought about.

I know I'm the more vocal one of the two of us, admittedly my heart is always on my sleeve, but it was a strange feeling. I couldn't breathe without you, I felt numb. I craved even the sight of you and I felt so incredibly alone that it crushed me." Camila hesitated before continuing on, "My first year on Broadway I sent you tickets to the show, and you never came, and I didn't understand why then but it broke my heart. I'd cried to Shawn about it. I didn't know why it mattered so much."

Lauren looked a little in disbelief, silent for so long that Camila was almost afraid she'd said something wrong. As emerald eyes searched her face for some unfathomable something, Camila was half-ready to retract her words before she felt Lauren surge forward and capture her lips in a kiss that stopped her heart. Camila's hands hesitated in the air before they slid slowly around Lauren's shoulders and pulled her familiar warmth closer. She knew Lauren wasn't very good at expressing herself through words, and that this was Lauren telling her she absolutely understood what Camila meant.

###

"I hate airports. The coffee alone is enough to make one regret buying a ticket to fly," Shawn waved a dismissing hand in the air as they passed a kiosk. He nearly jumped aside as a foreign vendor approached him, and he recoiled, "No, thank you, I think I have quite enough .. nail files," he rushed out and his hand latched around Camila's arm.

Camila laughed softly, sipping Starbucks, "God, Shawn, it's not like you're going to catch some terrible virus here. Besides, we're only here to pick up Dinah and Normani."

Lauren was striding beside Camila, wearing jeans and a long coat, her gloved hand holding Camila's in her own as they approached the boarding schedule. The digital lettering ticked by and Lauren's hand flew out to the next flight listing, "10:45 am," she thoughtfully checked the clock beside them.

Camila smiled appraisingly, receiving the same smile in return and a quick peck on the lips as Lauren leaned over.

"Girls, please, you two spent so much time groping each other in the taxi that I don't think I can even bear a peck right now," Shawn stated lamely and huffed. He smoothed out his vest and sat down, crossing his legs.