Por Siempre Y Para Siempre: A Sequel to Take Your Time

Ch. 1 - It Feels Like Yesterday

Rafael wakes up to Olivia smiling at him, "Morning, nena. How'd you sleep?"

"Great," Olivia says sighing peacefully and sitting up from her spot next to him, "You?"

"Also pretty great," he smiles at her. He props himself up to kiss her before she stands.

"I'm going to start a pot of coffee before Noah wakes up," she says quietly before she turns to leave their bedroom and head toward the kitchen. She stops briefly when she reaches the middle of the hallway, poking her head into Noah's room and smiling when she's him still sleeping peacefully. I'm so happy he's safe with me. With us, she thinks to herself, suddenly frowning. She still struggles to recover from the trauma of Sheila's unhinged abduction of her son.

Rafael sits in bed a while longer and takes in the memory of their wedding night. He couldn't help but think how fortunate he was to have a life filled with so much love. He pauses and takes note of everyone in his life whom he loves and loves him back. Shortly after, Rafael gets out of bed and scratches his chest as he makes his way to the bathroom.

A few moments later, he enters the kitchen and wraps his arms around Olivia's waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. "You know, it's been a year since we started dating. Not to mention a whole month that we've been married."

"It feels like it was just yesterday," she turns around to face him and puts her arms around his neck. His green eyes still stunning her, even a year later.

He nuzzles his face into her neck, "It sure does." He kisses just below her ear, sending a chill down her spine, "Best damn year of my life. I mean it."

"Me too," Olivia whispers into his ear before lifting his chin to kiss him. She turns back around to the coffee maker and pulls two mugs off of the shelf above it.

"Oh, I will probably be working from home a lot this week. Not too much of a need for me to be in the office. The majority of the staff are working on submitting grant proposals and completing financial reports for the end of the quarter. Those of us who aren't working on that are canvassing and lobbying for the new free clinic bill we've been working toward, I'd just be alone researching more new bills and stuff," Rafael shrugs and sighs, "Even if I went out to lobby, it wouldn't do much. I may have a lot of community connections, but they're all the people that are already donating and contributing to our success anyway. Though, I'm excited to be able to spend even more time with Noah. I'll actually be able to meet him and Lucy at the park after school. I'm sure he'll be excited about that." He sighs once more before he adds more coffee into his mug.

"Rafa, what's wrong?" Olivia cocks her head to the side. She can tell that something's on his mind and he won't bring it up if she doesn't ask. He's always worried that his trivial problems, his words, not hers, will simply be a burden on top of her already stressful workload, "You know you can tell me when something's up, babe. You're not a burden and never will be." He sighs deeply, exhaling out of his nose and nods before he tries to find a way to word his feelings without coming off as entitled.

"It's nothing, really. I just- I guess I feel like I can be doing more than what this job offers me daily. Even looking at the big picture and the final outlook, I just don't think I'm making a difference," Rafael bows his head as he rubs the back of his neck, "I don't know, Liv. I feel stuck where I am, I think. I sit at a desk all day, it makes me antsy all the time. I want to do something. I miss the courtroom! I miss all the action and tension. It always gave me," He pauses for a moment to find the word he's looking for, "balance." He shrugs before he turns to face the open refrigerator and grabs the eggs for Noah's breakfast.

"Well, you could become a defense lawyer?" Olivia suggests.

"No, no, no, I don't think that's for me," he chuckles at the thought, "anyway, I always play offense, you know that," he winks at her and she shoots him a look, cocking an eyebrow.