A/N: Hi! So this is the first thing I've written in a long time. Those of you who follow me on tumblr know I've been having some trouble as of late with my depression but I'm doing better every day. I've been a lot better about taking care of myself and not burning the candle at both ends. And so many of you have been kind enough to reach out to me. I will be working on updates for my stories and hopefully getting completely back on track. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

This is a little something I've been turning over in my mind for months that I finally got finished. I hope y'all like it.

Charleston, South Carolina · June 2015

Olivia hummed along to Lauryn Hill as she molded Rice Krispy treat dough into shapes. She looked like she always did in the evenings: her hair meticulously tamed for the next day's twist out, an old white and gold Smith t-shirt draped over her braless figure, pastel Nike shorts peeking from underneath, her feet stuck in brown leather Birkenstock Mayari sandals. On the opposite side of the island, her older sister Mary Jane stared at her with a smirk. She too was dressed for a typical evening: her freshly sewn-in hair pulled back in a ponytail, black silk camisole and matching palazzo pants, short taupe Uggs.

"Tell the truth, Liv. You're intrigued," she insisted.

Olivia shrugged as she lined a cookie sheet with wax paper. "It's intriguing, but not for the right reasons, MJ. And you just wanna be able to plug it on your show."

"Only a little. I mostly want you to meet someone." Mary Jane had just landed her own hour as a news caster and was looking for hot topics to cover for sweeps week.

Olivia put three trays of treats in her pre-heated oven then handed the bowl of remnants to her sister who promptly dipped her finger in the sticky sweet paste. "But it's not just a meeting. I'd have to marry a stranger!"

"Only for eight weeks, two weeks of which will be spent on a beach in Italy." Mary Jane cocked an eyebrow at her younger sister. "Besides, how well do you really know anyone you get involved with?"

Olivia rolled her eyes as she uncorked a bottle of Barefoot sweet red wine. "Well enough to know I don't want to marry them, usually."

Mary Jane returned the gesture though she offered her glass. "Grocery store wine, Liv? Why not just buy yourself some Mad Dog and be done with it?"

Olivia smirked. "Please pardon my peasant accommodations, Your Highness. I just spent a ton of money on new books for my kids."

"New books? Isn't that something the school should pay for?"

Olivia shrugged. "They've slashed the budgets so much we barely have anything, and what we have has to go the places we need it most like the computer and science labs. Not to mention that some kids come from so little, they can't even get school supplies. We have to pool all the supplies in the middle of the table so none of them feel left out. The kids don't notice—they just love each other—but the need is heartbreaking, MJ. And don't get me started on the starvation rate. Did you know that more than half of the kids enrolled in public schools come from families living below the poverty line? That should be your story."

"Definitely." Mary Jane nodded. "Get me a supply list—a couple from other classes too—and receipts—stuff you've had to buy yourself because the school doesn't—and see if the parents will let us tape the kids. Get us some cute ones, like commercial cute. Plus a few charity organizations owe me some favors. We'll fundraise in the summer, call it something like It Takes a Village. We'll throw a dinner, get the mayor involved, maybe get the kids to sing the ABCs or something. It'll be huge."

Olivia blinked at her sister. "Hard-hitting Mary Jane Pope wants to take my teeny tiny budget crisis to primetime? Stay tuned for film at 11."

"I'm being a good sister." She grinned. "Plus you'll owe me one."

"For the favor you're asking, my kids better get iPads."

Mary Jane scoffed. "So they can drool on them?"

"They're in kindergarten, not diapers."

"Like there's a difference."

"And you wonder why I've never invited you for career day."

"It's because you can't afford me." She refilled her wine glass. "But seriously, what's the worst that could happen?"

"He could be old, or bald, or a serial killer," she grimaced, "or a republican."

Mary Jane nodded. "Point taken. But what if he isn't? What if he's gorgeous, and funny, and smart, and rich?"

"So these people have Disney princesses lying around?"

"First of all, stop talking to your students about your love life, and second, stop being cynical and say yes. Worst case scenario, you end up with a fantastic story to tell at parties."

"First of all, my kids are aware of the pitfalls of modern romance. We had a whole discussion about dishonesty and greed after we watched Frozen. I may or may not have debunked 'nice guy' syndrome before it took hold. And second of all, worst case scenario would be him killing me and eating me on an Italian beach and saying I drowned."

"Frozen's the one with the snowman thing, isn't it?" Olivia nodded. Mary Jane smirked. "Probably not the most educational thing to show, but for what they pay you, you can afford to cut some corners. And I doubt he'd go through all the trouble of applying and getting married just to kill you."

Olivia sipped her wine, giving her sister an ambivalent expression. "I don't know, MJ."

"What else do you have going on? Maybe date that creepy guy from the board of education?" She leveled her sister with a serious stare. "Liv."

Olivia finally sighed and nodded. "Okay. Sign me up or whatever."

Mary Jane grinned triumphantly at her younger sister. "This is gonna be so fun!"

"Fun for whom, exactly?"

"Me. I get to plan the wedding!"

XXXXX

Three Weeks Later

The Wedding Day

Mary Jane grimaced at her nude Louboutins pinching her feet as she paced around her sister's bride room. Olivia's veil had been delivered with a sizable rip and she had decided it was a bad sign for the entire endeavor. Mary Jane rolled her eyes and downed the last of her champagne then set the glass on the vanity. She looked at her sister's face, frowning at Olivia's quivering top lip, signaling impending tears. "Okay, I'm done. I'll be back. You better not be crying."

Olivia didn't reply, too busy carefully blotting her tears before they left her eyes. Mary Jane left the room and went off in search of the groom's room. She went to the door and raised her hand to knock but the door swung open and a tall man in a light gray tux nearly collided with her.

"Are you Fitz?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. Are you… I don't know your name yet."

"What?" Mary Jane frowned then shook her head. "Oh no. I'm not the one you're marrying. I'm her sister. I need you to come with me."

He followed her to the opposite end of the hall to the bride room. Mary Jane turned to him. "My sister is having a little bit of a meltdown. She wasn't too enthused about this to begin with but her veil ripped and she's come completely undone."

Fitz frowned. He was nervous himself but it bothered him that his fiancée—the thought always gave him pause—was having such a hard time. He looked at her frowning sister. "Should I just go in there?"

"I'll see what she's doing first. If you walked in and saw her, she'd probably throw herself off the roof." She opened the door slightly and slipped inside. Fitz was surprised that he could hear them. "He's just gonna talk to you."

"He can't see me," another, softer voice whined. "Especially not like this."

"He's not gonna wanna see you if you keep blubbering, Liv. Just… Go stand around that corner and I'll get him to stand on the other side." A moment later, she reappeared. "Go on in. She's hiding around the corner."

Fitz entered the small powder pink room and frowned at the sound of the hidden girl crying softly. He went to the corner where he could see the tulle of her dress pooled on the floor and sat down with his back to the wall. "Hi."

Her soft voice came a moment later. "Hi."

"What's wrong?"

Her small tawny hand extended, holding the long veil. "My veil ripped."

He took the veil and examined the rip, deciding it wasn't very large and that no one would see it unless they were actually holding the veil. "It's not that bad."

She sniffled. "I know. I'm just scared. This could be the worst decision ever and I'm freaking out. That's normal, isn't it? Everyone who's about to get married is scared, right?"

"Yeah. I'm scared too." She whimpered and Fitz decided to do what any good husband would do: lie. "I'm excited though. I don't know you, but I think this will be fun. I bet you're beautiful—I'm sure you are since your sister's pretty—and smart—your profile said you're a teacher so you're probably warm and kind too. I'm just excited to meet you. I know we'll be married and that's serious but maybe don't think about that so much. We're gonna have a big party then a long vacation then date for a few weeks. Doesn't that sound fun?"

She gave another sniffle then mumbled something acquiescent. Fitz took his grandfather's pocket knife from his front pocket and hacked off the bottom half of his tie then held it out to her. She took it, her fingertips brushing his. "Now we've both got something torn, okay?"

"Okay." She didn't sound like she was crying anymore. "Will you stay with me just a little while longer? Just one minute?"

"Okay." Fitz scooted closer to the corner's edge and tentatively extended his hand. She placed her smaller one inside and curled her fingers between his. Fitz closed his hand around hers and leaned back against the wall. "Can you dance?"

"Yes."

"I can't. I've got two left feet, which I guess is okay since I'm left-handed."

Finally, she laughed, a gentle chuckle that made him smile. "I'll teach you."

There was a soft knock at the door before Mary Jane popped her head inside. "Disaster averted?"

Fitz nodded and Olivia replied, "I'm okay."

"Good. It's time to start."

xxxxx

Fitz wasn't sure what to expect as he lifted the ripped veil. He was sure she'd be beautiful, but she surprised him completely. He'd imagined she and her sister would look alike but they only shared brown eyes and a gently sloping snub nose.

"Wow," he breathed, nothing else coming to mind. A few people chuckled and he smiled nervously.

Olivia smiled back, her cheeks reddening with blush. She had hoped he'd be handsome, but she didn't expect eyes so blue, or hair so thick and beautifully curled. "Hi."

"Hi." He brought his hands up to cradle her delicately boned face. "You are more beautiful than I could have imagined. That probably sounds like a line but please believe me because it's true."

Olivia smiled harder, reaching up to push an errant curl flopping on his forehead back into its place. "I'm not sure what I thought you'd be but 'wow' doesn't seem quite accurate. It's all I've got though."

The preacher smiled as he looked back and forth between them. "I take it I can proceed with the vows then?"

Olivia's smile twitched and Fitz saw the panic flash in her doe eyes. "I don't have any vows."

Mary Jane gently cleared her throat and Olivia turned to look at her, completely unsurprised by her sister holding a piece of paper. She gave her a knowing smile. "You wrote my wedding vows? Wait. Of course you did."

Mary Jane smiled. "This wedding isn't all about you. Stop being selfish."

Olivia rolled her eyes and turned back to Fitz. Her hands trembled slightly as she unfolded the paper, worried about what her sarcastic, terminally cynical sister considered romantic. She quickly scanned the paper then began reading. "I promise to be your lover, companion, friend; your ally in conflict; your greatest fan and your toughest critic; your comrade in adventure; your student and your teacher; your consolation in disappointment; and your accomplice in mischief. I give you my heart and my hand as a sanctuary of warmth and peace, and pledge my love, devotion, faith, and honor. This is my sacred vow to you, my equal in all things."

"That's gonna be tough to beat," Fitz said with a smile. He pulled a tattered piece of paper from his breast pocket. "My family is Irish and these are the traditional Celtic vows. I tried to get out of saying them, but… Let's just say my grandmother has a surprisingly foul mouth for a little old lady."

Olivia watched his tan, long-fingered hands as he unfolded the paper. "You cannot possess me for I belong to myself. but while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give. You cannot command me, for I am free person. But I shall serve you in the ways you require and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand. I pledge to you that yours will be the name I cry aloud in the night. And the eyes into which I smile in the morning. I pledge to you the first bite from my meat, and the first drink from my cup. Flesh of my flesh. Blood of my blood. Bone of my bone. I pledge to you my living and dying, equally in your care."

Olivia wiped away a stray tear. "That's so beautiful."

xxxxx

Olivia glanced at Fitz as Mary Jane stood on the ballroom's stage. She asked for the floor to be cleared for their first dance, then turned to Fitz with an almost plaintive look. "Fitz, please don't judge my sister for making you dance to this song."

Fitz looked at his wife questioningly and Olivia gave a sheepish shrug. "It's the song from Beauty and the Beast, that Belle and the Beast dance to when she wears that yellow dress. I promised my kids I'd bring them a video of me dancing at my wedding and someone asked if it would be like a Disney movie. I don't know why I said yes."

To her surprise, he passed no judgment, instead smiling. "Okay."

He took her hand and led her to the middle of the floor as the song's first strains played. He smiled and gave her a flourishing bow. Laughter flitted through the watching guests as he stood upright and took her in his arms. Olivia was surprised at the way he twirled her around in the spotlight, remembering his admission to being a terrible dancer.

"I thought you'd be terrible," she said.

"I had a few lessons. I guess they went better than I thought." Fitz shrugged shyly. "Or maybe it's all you."

Olivia smiled, her nose wrinkling. "It's definitely me."

"I'm also kinda definitely tanked. What was in that punch?"

At this, Olivia laughed. "Thank god! I thought I was just a lightweight. I have no idea what my sister put in there but I'm really buzzed."

"I think drunk is a nice way to start a marriage."

Fitz laughed. "It worked for my parents."

Mary Jane couldn't stop herself from smiling as she watched them, especially her sister's smile. And the smile of the man looking down at her as he spun her around to the music until the end of the song.

"Unfortunately, my song choice isn't quite as cool as Disney, but I couldn't let my wedding pass without at least one Stevie Wonder song."

At this, Olivia smiled, her eyes bright with excitement. "Is it "As"? That's my favorite Stevie Wonder song in the world."

He grinned. "Mine too!"

"Oh my god. I love you!" Hey eyes widened and she slapped a hand over her mouth then dissolved into giggles at her outburst.

Fitz only smiled, giving her a squeeze. "I completely understand."

XXXXX

One Day Later

The resort was small, but sequestered on Little Stirrup Cay, a tiny Bahamian island, it seemed enormous with its open concept bungalows nestled in blindingly white sand. After their luggage was delivered, Olivia changed into a loose white linen tunic and retired to her room, complaining of jet lag. Fitz went outside to the hammock tethered between two palm trees and climbed into it. He didn't expect to fall asleep, but it was sunset when he awoke. He rolled out of the hammock and went into the bungalow. He popped his head into Olivia's doorway to say goodnight, surprised to find her still awake, staring at the television.

"What are you watching?"

"Chopped," she replied, not looking away from the screen.

"Seriously?" He walked over to the bed on which she was sprawled on her stomach, a plate heaped with wedding cake before her. "Scoot over."

He joined her on the bed and she offered her fork. Fitz took it and ate a bite of the cake. Olivia scrunched her nose as she frowned at the screen. "She's using canned vegetables."

Fitz shook his head. "I can't boil water and I know better than that. At least she hasn't forgotten an ingredient like the red-headed guy."

Olivia nodded. "He'll still probably do better than the tofu guy."

Fitz nodded back. "Definitely. When are vegetarians gonna learn that tofu will never taste like meat? Spices or not, it's just different. Not to mention that sense of moral superiority probably won't go over well with the judges since he's substituting a basket ingredient."

"Definitely. It's one thing to forget. It's totally different to imply the basket ingredients are somehow beneath you," Olivia replied then looked at him with a smirk. "By the way, I would keep your opinion of vegetarianism to yourself around my sister. You'll never hear the end of it."

"I'm sure. I've seen her show a few times. She put this one prolife guy through the wringer so hard that he walked off set. She's really something."

"Something is definitely the word for it. Only she could have pulled off a wedding like ours in two weeks."

Fitz smiled. "Maybe I'm biased but I think our wedding was the best one I've ever been to."

Olivia blushed as she smiled back. "Definitely."

XXXXX

Five Days Later

Fitz frowned when he found Olivia's bedroom empty. He had been planning to watch some late night episodes of Storage Wars, another shared favorite of theirs, but she wasn't there. The smell of eggs and bacon drew him to the kitchen. He smiled at the sight of Olivia standing before the stove in a long-sleeved white shirt with the word "Bride" emblazoned on the back in gold sequins. He could see shorts peeking from beneath the large shirt's hem, and she wore brown leather sandals that he had discovered were her favorite shoes. She had twisted her hair into a braid around her head. He leaned against the kitchen's doorframe, smiling as she sung along to a song playing on her phone.

"This is me praying that this was the very first page/ Not where the storyline ends/ My thoughts will echo your name/ Until I see you again/ These are the words I held back as I was leaving too soon/ I was enchanted to meet you…"

Fitz wore a lopsided grin, a familiar her warmth in his stomach, as he walked over to the island to sit down. "I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life, but some people consider this time of night better suited for dinner than breakfast."

Olivia stopped and turned to him, her own smile equally smitten. "I used to think like that too, but let me float a theory by you. Midnight is a time of suspended propriety. That sounds crazy but think about it. The clock says its morning. The sky says its night. Which is correct?"

Fitz offered no reply, instead raising his eyebrows at his wife as she smiled triumphantly. Olivia went on, "Neither! Meal propriety is completely determined by the time-keeper. There are no rules!"

Fitz laughed. "What a time to be alive."

"Oh that's nothing. I'm full of useless theories like that. Try this one out: between December 25th and January 1st, literally nothing bad counts. Santa's already visited on Christmas Eve so if you were good, you've already gotten your presents, and if you were bad, you can't fix it anyway. So that's five whole days of freedom."

Fitz frowned. "But why wouldn't those days count? Doesn't the list restart immediately after Christmas?"

Olivia shook her head. "You would think so, but consider how labor intensive Christmas preparation must be at the North Pole. They literally work all year for one day, and elves are generally cheerful but everyone deserves a break. And why would you start a new fiscal year five days before the calendar resets? It's illogical. Plus Santa probably needs a break too. He's old, and fat, and running himself ragged for 24 straight hours. So it works in everyone's favor to have that week off."

"You might be the smartest person I've ever met," Fitz replied.

Olivia laughed. "You haven't even heard my best one."

"Well don't leave me in suspense."

"You don't need a reason to buy a cake. You can literally just go buy one. And no one will know that you're gonna take it home and eat the whole thing. And you know what else? Whether or not they know is irrelevant. You're an adult with disposable income and completely free will."

Fitz laughed. "I think the second half of my life just started."

"You're welcome," Olivia laughed. "Want some pancakes?"

Fitz hopped off his stool. "I make the best pancakes ever."

Olivia raised her eyebrows. "I vaguely recall you saying you can't boil water."

He shrugged. "Pancakes are easy though. They're the only thing I ever learned to cook for myself so they're my specialty by default."

"And you're making them for me? I'm touched."

Fitz turned away from the counter to smile at her. "Well don't tell anyone, but I kinda like you."

"Like me, or like like me?"

"I think I have a crush on you, which is cool cause we're already married." He chuckled. "I'm a cart before the horse kind of guy if you hadn't noticed."

"That's totally fine cause I think I like you too."

"Like or like like?"

"Definitely like like. I don't share my theories with just anyone," Olivia replied.

A few minutes later, their plates laden with breakfast food and a bottle of champagne under Fitz's arm, they went to Fitz's room to watch Storage Wars. It didn't take Olivia long to finish her "heavenly" pancakes and half the bottle of champagne. By the third episode, her head lay on Fitz's shoulder as she snored softly. He moved to set their empty plates on the nightstand and accidentally woke her.

Olivia yawned as she sat up. "I should get to bed."

Fitz smoothed her sleep-tousled hair, looking at her shyly. "You don't have to leave."

"I don't?" She mirrored his unsure expression.

He gave a nervous half-laugh. "We've gotta do it at some point, right?"

Olivia's eyes widened and he quickly continued, "Not it as in that! I would never ask you to do that! I mean I would at some point but not—"

"I understand," Olivia interrupted. She lay back on a pillow and Fitz turned off the television then lay beside her. The room was quiet for a few minutes before Olivia spoke again. "Fitz…"

"Yeah?" His stomach quivered, wondering what she would say. He wouldn't have refused her after having such a good time with her, but he didn't want to rush. For the first time in his experience with beautiful women, he wanted to fall completely into her. His skepticism at marrying a stranger had been completely assuaged, and the cynic in him told him it was too soon to be so enamored, but there he was anyway, lying beside a woman who had managed to make him sweat by simply holding his hand in a hammock.

"I'm on the wrong side of the bed."

He stifled a sigh of relief as he rolled onto his side. "But this is my side of the bed."

Olivia smiled, wrinkling her nose. "So this is how it ends…"

Fitz laughed. "Well we made it a whole six days. That's gotta count for something, right?"

"In the interest of making it a whole week, I'm willing to compromise. You give me my side of the bed, and I'll buy you the biggest margarita tomorrow."

Fitz shook his head. "I don't like margaritas."

"I'll win you a stuffed animal at the carnival."

"No thanks. I've already got too many teddy bears as it is." He gave a silly smile.

Olivia sighed. "Okay I'll…let you decide where we live when we get home."

Fitz blinked. "You would give me that kind of power for a side of the bed?"

Olivia shrugged. "I need what I need. And it's not like I said you could decorate. You just get to decide if we live in your place or mine."

"Sounds fair."

Olivia smiled as she crawled over him onto the other side of the bed. She settled beneath the colors, looking up at the half hidden moon's milky glint on the room's skylight. "What is your place by the way?"

"You ever been to Broad Street where all the food trucks line up?" He looked over at Olivia and she nodded. "My place is a few blocks down from there. It's nothing special. One bedroom, one bath, a little terrace just big enough to fit a table on."

"My parents gave me their first house. I would never have taken it if MJ and me hadn't grown up there. It's got two bedrooms, one bath, and the most amazing kitchen. Or maybe it just seems so great because I can remember all the times we made birthday cakes in there. And I've started a little garden in the back. Nothing big, just tomatoes and corn, but it's something to do so I don't sit in the house all day."

Fitz smiled down at her. "Well now we have to live at your place."

Olivia looked up at him. "I was thinking it might be cool to stay in your city apartment. It'll be like college again."

"I was kinda hoping to try out adulthood."

"You wanna grow up?"

Fitz shrugged. "I'm 30. I think it's about time."

"Tell me about it. I'm 26."

"So, we'll live in your house and be grownups. We'll do laundry and watch the evening news."

"We can get a dog and walk it in the evenings, and have brunch on Sunday mornings, and go to the farmer's market."

"You want a dog? I pegged you for a cat person?"

"I'm tragically allergic. But why'd you think that?"

He shrugged. "You went to Smith. You have a Sylvia Plath tattoo. You wear Birkenstocks. You just seem like the kind of girl who has too many cats that she refuses to part with."

For a moment, she looked like she would object, but no feasible argument came to mind so she shrugged. "That's fair."

Fitz grinned. "Okay point for me. Your turn."

"My turn for what?"

"Profile me."

Olivia grinned as she sat up. "Okay. You went to South Alabama because you love the beach. That was the sole deciding factor. And you're an accountant purely for the money. You get your fulfillment elsewhere, probably from running or biking judging by your legs."

"All true. What else you got?"

"Your only tattoo is a tribal arm band because you were 15 and trying to be cool and you lied through your teeth to get it."

Fitz chuckled. "That's unfortunately true too."

Olivia nodded, smiling triumphantly. "Your turn."

"You're a classic romantic: dinner, dancing, and candlelight. And you want the fairytale with the kids and the dog and the lake house and long summer nights watching them chase lightning bugs."

"And you don't?"

"Of course. But I don't ever wanna get so grown up that I can't have fun anymore. I need someone who wouldn't freak out if she walked through the front door and I hit her with a water balloon. You need to be ready to retaliate immediately. And I wanna play old video games and make pancakes after the kids are asleep so we don't have to share."

"Question: yes or no to blanket forts?"

"I have a minor in engineering. We're gonna have the most incredible blanket forts ever."

"Okay what about Monopoly?"

"I am the worst loser. I either win or we get a divorce."

"I'm the same way with Mario Kart. I'll fight you."

"You're never gonna beat me at Mario Kart."

"Then I'm gonna have to fight you."

Fitz laughed then rolled onto his side to smile at her. "So we're gonna do this?"

"We're definitely gonna try."

XXXXX

One Week Later

Olivia plopped onto the couch as Fitz put the last box outside for the trash pickup the following morning. She was amazed that they had managed to get him moved in in one day, with minimal squabbles. She smiled when Fitz plopped down beside her. "Do you wanna cook or go out?"

"Let's order in."

"Pizza, Chinese, Japanese, or barbecue?"

"Pizza and Japanese. I'm in the mood for teriyaki chicken."

Fitz smiled at her. "Is this one of those moments where the rules are suspended?"

"We're adults. We pay bills. We file taxes. We make our own doctor's appointments. We can have two things for dinner."

"Definitely. What do you want on your pizza?"

"Just cheese for me. And extra sauce on the chicken. And some shrimp too."

Fitz pulled his phone from his pocket. "Damn it's dead."

He hooked it up to the charger beside the couch and Olivia smiled as she reached for her cordless house phone. "Use this."

Fitz raised his eyebrows. "You have a house phone? That's probably the most grownup thing I've ever seen."

"It's got an answering machine too," Olivia replied as she rolled off the couch. "Want some leftovers while we wait?"

Fitz smiled as he followed her into the kitchen. "You have leftovers? I'm never leaving this house."

Olivia laughed as she opened the refrigerator. "Ooh MJ bought us my favorite cupcakes. Listen to this: cheesecake cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream frosting and Oreo sprinkles. How does that sound?"

"Like we're having breakfast before dinner, which we can do because we're adults." He smiled when Olivia pulled a six pack of hard lemonade out of the refrigerator as well. "Booze too? We might be taking this grownup thing a little too far, Livvie."

At this Olivia turned to look at him softly. Normally "Livvie" was the hallmark of her sister's teasing, but something about the sweetly casual way it rolled off his tongue made it all his, all theirs. "You might be right. How do we fix it?"

"Blanket fort?"

"Blanket fort." While Olivia ordered their dinner, Fitz set to work building the blanket fort. He had let out the sofa bed and expertly arranged all the cushions so they held up the sheets like a canopy. When she finished, she found him already inside with his laptop. She climbed in with the cupcakes and hard lemonade then lay beside him. "What are we watching?"

"Netflix just added a whole season of Guy's Grocery Games."

"Let's do this."

Fitz started the show and Olivia opened the box of cupcakes. They were halfway through the first episode when their food arrived. Fitz smiled as he watched Olivia greedily eat her teriyaki chicken and shrimp fried rice. He reached over to wipe a stray spot of sauce off her cheek then held onto her face, smiling as he leaned closer.

Olivia smiled, her body almost vibrating with anticipation. "Are we about to destroy the blanket fort's innocence?"

"I think it'll understand if it happens just this once."

Fitz couldn't stop himself from smiling as he pressed his lips to hers.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Don't forget to review! XOXOXO