Scenes: Franco and Elizabeth
by Tessaray
#1 Contentment.
It's not a state Franco had been reaching for. It's something that has been laid over him gently, lovingly, just like a blanket when he was little. He remembers his mother tucking the silky hem under his chin at night, smoothing back his hair, kissing his forehead. He hadn't known then how precious, how short-lived that feeling of security would be… that feeling of utterly belonging to someone.
And then came Jim Harvey. And then came darkness.
Elizabeth still tucks Aiden in, did so with Jake until only recently and under protest, would love to tuck Cam in, but she doesn't dare. She laughingly confesses this to Franco as they get ready for bed one night, her lip trembling before she catches it between her teeth.
"Who tucked you in?" he asks, nonchalantly kicking off his slippers. He glances up at her silence — her eyes are wide, skin pale. She looks so stricken and childlike it's obvious to him that no one did... not regularly, anyway. Maybe no one ever had.
His heart aches as he comes around to her side of the bed, pulls back the covers, fluffs the pillows and gently takes her hand. She huffs, rolls her eyes, clearly embarrassed as he urges her down.
"Franco…"
"Shh. Let me do this for you," he says.
She settles onto the mattress with an air of impatience, arms stiff at her sides. "Okay fine," she grumbles. "Just for you."
One by one, he pulls up the sheet, the blanket, the comforter and lovingly arranges them around her small body. He feels her gradually relax, her eyes softening as they follow his movements. He finds the silken hem of the blanket and tucks it under her chin... and by the time he's done smoothing her hair and kissing her forehead, tears are slipping down her cheeks.
"It scares me how much I love you," she whispers.
He smiles gently, kisses her lips and sits beside her on the bed. He turns off the lamp and slips his hand under the covers, finds hers, holds it until she falls asleep... and beyond. Deep into the night he watches her beloved face, memorizes the subtle shifts and soft sounds she makes as, bathed in a splash of moonlight, she dreams...
He'll carry this with him forever... this contentment. These precious moments of utterly belonging to someone...
No matter what may come.
-end-