#In this AU she ends up getting in the airforce. No coffee shops for her </3

[deva-arts]

Teehee human Sera being her normal little self.

[tomtenadia]

Aelin’s week - Day 4 - When Rowan is away

Hello all, here we are with day 4 of Aelin’s week. This is a ALB AU set during ch 20 right after Rowan deploys for his six months away. It’s a bit angsty... sorry

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US

When Aelin woke up she realised straight away there was something wrong. That something was the missing warm presence at her side. The lack of Rowan’s arms around her. And his scent, it was just a lingering shadow on the sheets and his pillow. The silence of the house early in the morning. No smell of breakfast or coffee.

Once fully awake it hit her. Rowan had left the day before for deployment. 

“Walk away and don’t look back.” It had been one of the hardest thing ever. She felt his pain in his hand, moving away from her back until the very last second as if to hold on to her until the end.

The first time he left they still hated each other. He was just an annoying guy who she had been saddled with because the airforce had fucked up. But now… since the day at the park when she had forced the conversation about their status, things had improved. And him calling her his other half at the navy party, she knew they were in deeper than both could realise and now he was away, probably a full ocean apart she assumed. He was not allowed to talk about the mission.

Aelin grabbed his pillow and buried her face in it and closing her eyes she pretended he was there.

“We are skirting around. We still have a few hours before we are fully in enemy territory.” The words replaying in her head “Come back to me…”

She felt pathetic but could not push down the fear gripping her. He was an experienced pilot…

And Sam was an experienced firefighter… panic rose in her and pure undiluted terror seeped in her bones. All of a sudden all her doubts crashed back. Had she done the right thing? Getting involved with him? But as Lysandra had said, going out with a man with a boring job was not a guarantee of a successful relationship. So she had listened to her friends and allowed her feelings to grow and now, now she knew there was no turning back. She was in too deep.

With a groan she pushed herself out of bed and wandered around the empty house.

Since the airport accident Rowan had basically been living with her. Even after she got better and went back to work he had told her that he felt better to stay with her just in case some lingering PTSD from the accident would make an appearance. Having him in the house had become normal. She looked around the room and went to their dresser and looked at his clothes. More and more had been appearing every day and she had slowly allowed him to sneakily take some space. Her hand brushed his regular clothes, mostly jeans and a few shirts. On a shelf he had all of his hoodies and t-shirts folded with a precision verging on OCD. Gods, they were so different in that sense. The lack of his uniforms and jumpsuits was a reminder of his absence. Carefully, she grabbed his TAF hoodie and wore it, far too big for her but she loved it because it allowed Aelin to snuggle in it and let the scent of pine and snow envelope her as if in an embrace. His embrace. His arms.

She sniffled it and walked to the kitchen and started making coffee. That at least she was a pro but then opening her fridge she realised the breakfast had to be assembled. Which meant cooking. And she was not allowed to cook. They were meant to go grocery shopping before he left but it never happened so she had very little food in the house. He had spoiled her with his amazing cooking skills. Something else she’d miss.

With a grunt she stomped back to the bedroom and wore a pair of jeans and kept his hoodie then left the house and decided to go and have breakfast at Emrys.

“Good morning Aelin,” the older man greeted her as soon as she walked in the restaurant.

Aelin replied with a sigh “Morning, any chance I can have breakfast?”

“Your man has stopped cooking for you?”

She and Rowan had become regulars at Emrys.

“Rowan deployed yesterday, so I am on my own and you know I am incapable of cooking.”

Emrys laughed “your special breakfast coming up soon.”

After breakfast she was not in the mood to go home so Aelin drove to the park and went for a walk. Her legs took her to the pond where they went on their first date. The day she threw her flats at him and where he had kissed. They had set rules that night. And in Doranelle they had broke them all day by day. No sleepover, no sex. One day at a time. And now they could not keep their hands off each other and they were living together. She leaned against the fence and cast her mind back to their first date when he had held her from behind. His strong arms circling her waist in a grip that screamed I will never let you go.

The ducks quaked and she smiled I wouldn’t, you might end up cooking them in orange sauce. And that was when she had thrown her shoe at him. He chuckled. The sound so rare coming from him. Those rare smiles only for her. A mask of ice and annoyance for the rest of the world. He had allowed her in. Offered her the privilege to see a side of him that she was positive very few people knew. He was grumpy at the world. Her grumpy buzzard. Crouching down she looked up at the sky.   

It was early morning and the sky was still darkish and she could see the Lord of the North still shining bright for the las few hours before disappearing until night. In a mushy, and not like her romantic kind of way she thought if he was looking at the star too. To feel connected to him for a brief second despite the distance.

Aelin shook her head and stood and kept walking until her legs brought her to their bench.

She sat down and and deep sob hit her, her face buried in her hands. He had only been away a day. How could she survive what were probably months of separations? She had to find a way to keep herself busy and not think about where he was. Ignore the lingering panic that had relocated in her heart since the moment he told her that he was deploying.

Aelin took a deep breath and the grabbed her phone. Lys and Elide. She was not the only one who had to say goodbye. Elide was in her same situation and for her it was far worse because it was her very first relationship.

So Aelin had decided to stop wallowing and call her friends and organise a full day for just the three of them.

Once the day was all organised, she stood with a new resolution and gently brushed the bench.

“Come back to me, okay?”

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