Unannounced, they enter. No fanfare, no fuss. They simply spill into the room and linger, filling the air with a magnitude worthy of greater accolades than the Scottish lilt and distant gunshots emanating from the television.

A fruity aroma tantalizes her senses as she raises the wine glass to her lips, the liquid warming the path to her stomach until it settles and relegates the heat to her cheeks.

Releasing a contented exhale as the vessel returns to the coffee table with a 'clink', she surrenders herself to the gentle slope of the couch, the wine-induced tranquility urging her back in a languid lean until she locates her desired destination. She feels a twitch at the base of her head as his bicep welcomes the weight, his outstretched arm hinging at the elbow, his hand greeting her forearm with a tender embrace.

Her legs brush over the ash coloured suede as they curl up and sit neatly to the right of her, evoking a memory that seems concurrently tenuous and fitting. It is the cool, velvety fabric that brings the reptile to mind and the recollection of her abhorrent declaration of nature defied, should a snake try to crawl back into a skin once shed. She allows her left cheek to seek repose against his collar-bone as she banishes the cast-off remnants of a time, place and person she barely recognizes further into her mind's recesses. The affectionate tracing of a line back and forth at the crook of her arm reminds her that this skin shall not be outgrown.

She wraps her arm around him, drawing herself in closer. It is as though the proximity directly correlates to the feeling of adoration overwhelming her as she tucks her head under his chin, the faint scent of garlic, red wine and aftershave concocting a soothing elixir. His left arm reciprocates by resting across her waist, his hand providing protective reassurance as it fans flat against her lower back, his right abandoning its prior canvas as the side of his index finger tenderly strokes her face.

She knew it to be true, but she never anticipated that hearing it would represent the first time she truly understood what it meant.

The crown of her head begins to bare the brunt of a growing heaviness and his hand delicately drops to perch upon her shoulder; the increasingingly deeper breathes indicate that sleep is not too far away.

But before he succumbs, he tightens his hold briefly, a physical accompaniment to emphasize the words as they tumble out in a moment signifying a simultaneous first and last.

'I love you Ziva'.