Executive Orders

CH 11 | Still In This Together

Chapter 11

One minute.

Fitz felt Olivia relax into him and he wrapped his arms even tighter around her, taking the time to breath Olivia in.

But the minutes ticked by and all too soon, he knew that the world would intrude once more and there were words that needed saying.

Fitz stirred a little, speaking without opening his eyes. "I have a subject I'd like to address before you leave, Ms. Pope."

He was so attuned to her that Fitz felt the tiniest shift in her body language. She tried not to, but her body tensed ever so slightly.

Fitz took a deep breath before he continued. "It's about what you said about having Kimberly Mitchell on the list."

He lifted his head so that he could look at her, holding his position until she raised unwilling eyes to his. "I know what that's about - you're worried about the fact that you are you - "

He raised her hand to his lips to kiss her warm brown skin, then entwined her fingers in his paler ones. The both of them looked down in silence at the contrast.

" - and you being you, and me being me - you think that there'll be trouble." His voice was whisper soft, but that didn't make his words any less true.

Olivia looked up at him and for a moment, she managed to drop her walls down and let her concern show. "It's not a matter of if, Fitz - it's a matter of when - and it's political trouble you can't afford -"

He cut her off gently. "That's just one of the issues that Cyrus sees potentially coming down the road, and I don't doubt for a one minute that this is at least one of the things that he wants to talk to you about in private, away from me. He thinks that I see the world through a pair of rose-colored glasses and I can't - or won't- see that there just might be a battle ahead based solely on the difference in our skin colors."

Fitz's eyes darkened with intensity and so did his expression. "I see the world very clearly, Olivia. Never think that I don't. The one thing I can't see is my world - my life - my future - I can't see any of it without you by my side."

He kissed her then, long and slow and deep until the world went away again and left them holding on to one another, which is just the way he wanted it, knowing it was just what they both needed.

It was Fitz's turn to cradle her face in his hands, to look searchingly into her eyes. Not for the first time, he couldn't help but wonder if that were all it was; he knew Olivia well enough to understand that there were dark places inside her where she couldn't even bear to go. He'd been allowed only the barest glimpse into them and then only at the rarest of times.

What he'd seen had been enough for him to recognize that he couldn't push her to share them - not yet. He didn't know how to get her to let him in; it might take a lifetime before she would be ready, but he knew that he had more than enough love for Olivia to give that to her.

What he did know was how to love her enough to get them both through these times when they happened and to believe that one day they would be a part of their past.

So he wouldn't force any answers from her, not in the here and now. Instead, Fitz drew Olivia close again; one hand came up to gently press her head into the comfort of his shoulder while he buried his face in her hair.

"Don't let Cyrus get to you. Don't let him let you doubt us. Promise me, Olivia."

When he kissed her like that, Olivia could barely breathe, let alone think.

"Promise me, Livvie."

Somehow she managed to get the words out. "I promise..."

He's always having to always has to bolster me up, prop me up, as though I were a child. The thought comes unbidden, unwanted to her and she hates the weakness in her that makes this happen again and again and again.