Someone’s having a birthday and the winner is…..
This calls for a Lizzington one-shot with a few of your favorite things. Happy Birthday and hope it’s a great one pal!
She had first noticed it when they were on the run. Little things really. How he preferred to drive with the windows open and she wanted the air conditioner. His ability to sleep remarkably late for someone running a criminal empire while she generally rose with the sun.
“What are you staring at?”
They are in a diner in some small town after driving half the night and she is savoring the hot meal that awaits and the first coffee in hours. Just as she is about to take the first delicious sip of the only thing that will get her through the day ahead she notices his amused expression.
“I’m wondering how much sugar and cream that cup can hold. You could skip the coffee altogether I suppose-”
“Look do I comment on that sludge you’re drinking? Who drinks coffee like that?”
“Only half the civilized world. Did I ever mention I’m part owner of an arabica farm in Peru…”
And on and on. They always seemed to reach for the opposite of whatever the current selection provided, their arms crossing over one another. Walking into a store or stopping in a town square to stretch their legs, their eyes would invariably go in opposite directions until one or both realized they were walking off alone.
“Raymond, where on earth are you going? We need supplies and there is a market over here.”
“But I see a bookstore on that corner. We must feed the soul as well as our bodies, Lizzy.”
“Well this body is hungry so I’ll meet you at the car in twenty okay?”
And of course as they headed out of town…
“Here,” she says handing him a bag. “The market had a bakery so we can have lunch on the road.”
“Donuts? This is what you define as lunch?”
“The one with sprinkles is mine.”
“What, they didn’t have bagels?”
With a roll of her eyes she puts the AC on high and turns the car toward the highway before answering, “They’re round with a hole in the middle. Close enough.”
It was funny after a while. A game they would play as they drove for hours on end. What’s your favorite and do you prefer became their pastime on these long stretches.
“How can I choose between Dean and Frank?”
Honestly she’s never seen him look more offended.
“There is enough room in the world for Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra and I see no reason for this barbarism, Lizzy.”
Their laughter was like a balm and rare though it sometimes was in those dark days, there was healing in it. After all the harsh words in their past, they would both rather bicker about these little differences than sit in silence. Thinking of the Cabal and the danger closing in.
While they sparred and debated the merits they could almost forget. They could almost be happy for a fleeting moment thinking of these favorite whatevers. It was so close. Almost there.
Until one day they found it. After many, many days in between. Their little piece of happiness and they took it. The battles, however, never ceased.
“How did I not know this about you?”
“What do you mean? I’ve always liked pineapple on pizza,” he responds with his offended face.
“Raymond, I think I would remember-”
“Lizzy, not every tiny pizza joint in the outer reaches of America offered pineapple so it never came up. The real question is how have you never tried this slice of heaven?”
“We’re getting two pizzas. I can’t deal with that.”
“Agnes will back me up on this.”
She is laughing as she kisses him and of course they end up with way too much pizza but neither care. And really it was such a small thing.
“Turning on the tv so I can watch Colbert, what do you think?”
“I’ve never understood this penchant for watching television in bed. Bed is for sleeping or reading and of course the vitally important…..”
As he leans over to nibble that certain spot below her ear and she’s just on the verge of letting him win this one…
“Oh look Jon is making an appearance. We have to watch.”
It never bothered her all these differences, but they seemed to add up in her mind over time. A little seed of doubt and it grew. It hadn’t mattered when they were running but now they are in one place. Finding out more and more about each other as he stayed longer and longer. Until he stayed permanently and now they are happy. At peace even.
So why did it nag at her? When did it stop being a game and became something that caused a tightness in her chest?
He noticed of course. He notices everything. The worry on her brow as he brushes his fingers across to drive it away.
But a shake of the head is all the answer he receives and still the worry is there. Days pass as he watches her and it remains. Palpable now and what hurts her hurts him. He tries again.
Catching her at the counter one morning lost in thought as she sips her coffee, he takes her hand and leads her to the table.
“That is what you need to tell me. Whatever it is, please talk to me.”
She is chewing on her bottom lip as he waits her out, but she doesn’t really know where to begin. However, the pain in his expression spurs her on to finally put it into words.
“We’re complete opposites and you know it. It is ridiculous we can’t even decide on something as simple as what to eat half the time because apparently we are so totally out of sync.”
It flies out in a rush and it takes a minute to digest her words before he is smiling at her.
“Lizzy, is this really what’s been bothering you? I’ve been imagining all sorts of things.”
“Raymond, this is serious. What if one day it stops being funny and we have nothing left because we have nothing in common.”
“Nothing in common? Now on that we surely must disagree.”
There is real fear in the tears that well in her eyes, and he reaches out to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. His thumb is there to catch a tear that escapes and his palm lingers on her cheek for a moment before he continues.
“Shall I list a few things we have in common?”
At her nod he takes her hand once more and lets his thumb stroke back and forth.
“Since I hate burying the lead I’ll start with I love you and you love me. Right?” and seeing her nod again he continues. “And we are both mad about a certain little girl in that swing over there, correct?”
Another nod as she glances toward Agnes, happy in her own world by the window in the sitting room.
“Okay we’re off to a good start. Now it is true we don’t always agree but haven’t we learned to have the best of both worlds? Pizza with half pineapple and half without. We watch Colbert every night and sometimes we make it through the monologue and sometimes we don’t.”
This earns him his first hint of a smile.
“You like to sleep under fourteen blankets and I’ve learned to throw my half in your direction so I don’t suffocate. You enjoy baths and I’m a shower person but I find sharing a bath to be quite pleasurable now. The art of compromise.”
And a bigger smile spurs him on.
“Instead of Frank or Dean, we dance to both. When we stopped into that little bakery to buy a pie what happened?”
“We bought a cherry and an apple.”
Her answer is a little shaky but the tears are gone as quickly as they came.
“Exactly. Lizzy, there is no such thing as too much pie.”
He has almost coaxed a laugh from her. It is just there under the surface as the tension is leaving her body and he relaxes as well.
“But you know we don’t have to compromise on everything. Remember how we both love to sit out on the balcony after Agnes is asleep and talk. The way we can spend hours in the cheese section or a record store. How we do the crossword together on Sundays before taking her to the park. Our drives in the country or the trips to the beach house. On that we agree completely right?”
She nods as those memories are recalled with his words.
“Then of course there is this,” and bringing her hand to his lips he kisses her wrist where a fire once touched her. The damaged place that is healed now and he continues up her arm sending a charge with it.
“You feel it don’t you?” he murmurs against her skin. “That current?”
She feels everything, every single time he touches her.
“You know it is electric currents that form magnetic fields. Do you remember how we felt it that first day when I surrendered and all those days after?”
He has reached the sensitive skin at her elbow and there is just the faintest tremble now.
“Only the distance was too great, too many barriers in between but little by little we stripped them away,” as he brings their hands together once more to link their fingers. “And the pull grew stronger until nothing else remained to hinder it.”
He leans forward and she responds in kind, giving into the forces that draw them closer.
“Well you’d know all about magnetism,” she whispers just as their lips touch and she feels the little vibration as he chuckles.
He pulls back to gaze at her a moment and the humor has reached her eyes now. “It’s all very scientific, Lizzy. Opposites attract and so on and so forth. You see there are these particles-”
“I’m convinced, now come here.” She pulls him forward again and his hands land on her knees for balance.
“And that was a prime example of the laws of attraction.”
Her soft laugh feels so good as his lips meet hers once again. He senses her relief as she kisses him senseless before finally pulling back, a little out of breath.
Serious this time. Quietly searching her eyes to make sure.
“We’re very good,” she reassures him, while her hands run along his forearms a few times causing little frissons of warmth and she smiles as his hands increase their pressure.
“Lizzy we should talk science more often. Especially how friction leads to heat which leads to-”
They are interrupted by Agnes who finally lets them know she is tired of being ignored and with a smile they rest their foreheads together for a moment before Raymond rises to rescue her from the swing. She is not too fussy and soon he has her giggling as he stands with her to bounce her up and down.
His words have eased her worry as Lizzy recalls their journey here. How scared they were to acknowledge this connection and act on it. The trust it took for two people who find such a thing quite difficult. She suddenly feels how silly it was to have doubted what they have now but perhaps it was the fear of losing something so precious. Something they fought so hard for.
She goes to meet them and he wraps an arm around her while she does the same.
Leaning down to kiss her temple he murmurs, “This is my favorite place in the world.”
This little unit of three and they could be anywhere at all.
“Raymond, I couldn’t agree more.”
Holding tight, they spin around to make their daughter giggle. The worry is gone. This is all that matters.
This home they have found. The best of both their worlds.
