Somehow, Olivia felt the change in Fitz; she turned in his arms to look up at him. Even in the dimness of the single lamp welcoming them, she can see that there was something hidden behind the love and warmth in his eyes.

"What is it, Fitz?" she asked gently.

"Nothing." Fitz felt the guilt rise up in him as he tried to push his true feelings aside.

"Nothing?" She continues to study him until the truth came to her. Olivia knew that she wasn't quite ready to talk about the other night just yet, but right now, she wanted nothing more that to erase the worry she saw lurking in his eyes.

"Nothing that can't wait." Fitz said firmly. He knew from the look that had come into her eyes, that Olivia had guessed at his thoughts, but he wasn't going to do this now - they weren't going to do this now. Now was about him being here, her being here and the rest of the world was on the other side of the door behind them.

Fitz turned Olivia back around and held her close. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I could get used to this." Fitz let his hands find their way to Olivia's hair, freeing it from its pins and letting the soft mass tumble into his hands "I could get very used to this - to this being our normal - couldn't you?"

She could. Despite her recent memories, she most definitely could. Olivia closed her eyes under his touch, trying her best to let every thought, every worry, every wisp of concern dissolve into nothingness beneath his touch, loving the feel of his thick, warm fingers stroking their way through her hair, pausing every now and then to massage her scalp.

Fitz swallowed his own concerns - knowing that they could wait. Instead he chose to speak love into this space. "This is us, coming home from just another political event. As usual the bastards tried to come at us separately - because they've foolishly told themselves that they might have a chance of overcoming us by divide and conquer - but they don't know what we know - that what we are is something that they could never - ever break."

Olivia knew what he was doing. More importantly, she knew the why of it. He was loving her, putting aside his own concerns and instead choosing to make her feel safe, brushing aside the nightmares before they could make a return.

He finished what he was saying with a brush of his lips along the soft, smooth column of her throat. Her change of mind for her decisions regarding tonight had been so sudden and abrupt that she hadn't bothered with perfume tonight, so there was nothing but the sweet scent of her to inhale, nothing but the unique scent of her, mingled with whatever cream or lotion she'd used on her skin.

Olivia had let her eyes remained closed. "This is home?"

"It will be one of our homes once I'm re-elected." Fitz was more than happy to remind her.

"One of them…" Unbidden, images danced behind her still-closed closed eyes. Of holidays spent in DC and Santa Barbara. In Colorado and all the properties in between.

"We are going to have the most marvelous life, Olivia." Fitz said softly. "Just you wait and see. It won't matter where - because home is wherever our hearts are."

"We're not doing too bad right now." Olivia smiled as the words left her lips.

"No, we're not." Fitz's hands had returned to her neck and shoulders, strong fingers kneading deep into her muscles and she finds herself wanting to purr beneath his touch.

"Mmhmm - please don't stop."

"Where have I heard that before?"

Olivia smiled."You might want to watch that smart mouth or else you won't be hearing it anytime soon."

Fitz bent his lips to her ear. "We can't be having that now, can we?"

"Not at all." Olivia said with another contented smile. "I feel totally selfish right now, because I was in and out of that place tonight - but you had to endure an entire evening with those people."

"You're right. You can make it up to me later."

Olivia turned and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. "I do promise to return the favor."

She smiled at him again before taking a few steps backwards. She stopped by the nearest couch, stopping to balance herself while she slipped off her shoes. "We need to get our first impressions about the evening while they're fresh in our minds - so why don't you fix us some tea?"

"I thought we were off the clock -" Fitz stopped his protest in mid-sentence, giving in. "Sounds like a plan."

Olivia put a smile on her face to match his, choosing to accept the silent gift he offered. If this were home, if this was them, this would be the kind of thing that they'd be doing after a long evening of political maneuvering - and he knew it as well as she did.

The thought filled Olivia with a quiet pleasure - no going home to an empty bed and a glass of wine, but instead, she had the gift of this perfect moment of coming home together instead.

"Now that we're finally - home." Olivia paused to deliberately savor the words. "I promise not to stay up too longer, but we really need to at the very least, get your first impressions down. We might miss something if we didn't."

"I'm not going to argue with you, but I want it put on the record that you're bossy."

"And you love it."

"And you're spoiled."

"Only by you."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way." Fitz savored the contented look on Olivia's face; following her lead, Fitz slips his own shoes off; that simple gesture grounded him in what what might possibly be. The idea of enjoying a cup of tea together at the end of a long night warms him more than any lonely nightcap in the White House could ever do.

Olivia grabbed her notepad, then took Fitz's outstretched hand and let him lead her into the kitchen. Once there, Fitz took her pad and pen from her again, setting it on the breakfast bar before pulling her into his arms.

"This might be silly, especially because I'm more of a scotch or coffee at the end of the night man, but I like the idea of you, me and two cups of tea - very-" he leaned down to brush his lips against hers. " - very -" he kissed her again. "- very - much."

His lips were soft and sweet and warm against her own and Olivia couldn't help the sigh that left her lips when the kiss was done. "I could get used to this."

"So could I." Fitz couldn't help the smile that graced his lips. "Me drinking tea at the end of the night - see how good you are for me?"

His words sent a coil of warmth through Olivia as she perches herself on one of the breakfast barstools, pen and pad ready as Fitz goes through the preparations of making tea, including setting out two mugs and honey.

"So, I guess I should start at the beginning?" Fitz asked. At Olivia's nod, Fitz began relating the evening's events starting with Colleen's arrival and their escape from Elizabeth's presence, deliberately keeping his tone light. "Cyrus will tell you that I was on my best behavior even before Colleen arrived."

"I'll check with Cyrus about that the first chance I get." Olivia teased Fitz with a deliberate skeptical tone in her voice as she looked up from her note-taking. "Not that I mind if you weren't the perfect gentleman - the base needs a little reminding every now and then that you are the commander-in-chief - and for you - that's not an empty ceremonial title."

"One day, the Party is not going to know what hit them." He smiled at her, once again enjoying the happiness that filled him because of the reality of them in this place. It's not that they haven't been here together before - but in this time - in this place - it's different.

"What day is that?"

"You know what day I'm talking about - the one when this plan of yours - of ours - is done and you're by my side. The day you officially become my First Lady - not just in my heart but for all the world to see."

"I can't wait." In the moment, Olivia couldn't deny her hopes and heart was so full with them that she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her.

"Neither can I." Fitz found himself loving the sound of Olivia's happiness, loving the fact that he was the man putting the warmth into that laughter and the glow in her eyes. He loved that here they were, sitting in a kitchen like any other couple that was filled with the scent of fragrant tea, just like any other couple anywhere and everywhere else in the world.

At the same time, Fitz knew that he needed to be gentle with Olivia. The fragility that she's always tried to hide from him was never more evident to him than right now. Try as he might, Fitz couldn't forget what had caused him to send her here. Try as she might to hide it, Olivia needed normality from him and he wanted nothing more than to give her every thing - anything - she needed.

That - as much as anything else - kept the smile on Fitz's face as he added honey to their mugs, stirring them both before leading them back into the living room, where they settled themselves on one of the sofas. Fitz waited until Olivia settled herself on the couch, legs curled up under her, with her pen and pad settled on her lap before he handed Olivia her mug, and sat down beside her.

They both took a long moment to enjoy both the silence and one another's company, before Fitz went on to give Olivia an overview of the rest of the evening, holding her mug every now and then when she wanted to make notes. Only when the grandfather clock in the hall began to chime the hour did Fitz remember that it was past one in the morning. "Liv, don't you think we should wrap things up?"

Olivia tried to stifle a yawn but failed even as she shook her head. "Just a little more - first impressions are important. Plus, tomorrow morning I want to be concentrating on other things - including sleeping in."

"I like the sound of that." Fitz was more than agreeable to that particular thought; because of their sticking to the plan, they very rarely had this kind of opportunity, making the evening all the more special. "But another fifteen minutes more and then you and I are done."

"Fine." She pretended to pout, but truthfully, Olivia was enjoying the feeling of allowing herself to being taken care of. But she did want to know more about the meeting Fitz had had behind closed doors. She was particularly interested in who had spoken and who had not even going so far as to ask who was sitting where in the room and who hadn't sat at all.

"Some who had chosen not to sit might have been very much at ease with showing some sort of subtle - or not too subtle - defiance to Tillman -" Olivia explained "- and that makes them -"

On the same wavelength, they spoke as one - "… a possible ally."

"You can add your Peter Caldwell to that group." Fitz said.

"He's not my Peter Caldwell." Olivia said. Another yawn took her by surprise. "As a matter of fact -"

Fitz didn't let her finish. "As a matter of fact, time's up and we're done for the night."

He took the pen and pad out of her hands and tossed them to the side before he stood up, reached for Olivia's hands and pulled her to her feet.

"Fitz…" her protest was a half-hearted one as Fitz swung her up into his arms - there was something that she should be asking, but suddenly her eyes were so heavy that she could barely keep them open.

"Hush." His voice was as gentle as she'd ever heard it.

Relief went through him as Fitz felt the fight go out of Olivia as her head found its way to his shoulder. He carried her into the bedroom, not letting her down until they were standing just in front of the bed.

He glanced to the side and saw one of his t-shirts laid out.

"What's this?" he asked with a smile.

Olivia answered with another yawn. "I figured I would rest, relax and wait for you in something guaranteed to give me the sweetest thoughts to keep me company - of course that was before I had the brilliant idea of doing a drive-by on your event."

Fitz laughed as he held her close. "A drive-by?"

"Absolutely." Olivia snuggled herself deeper into his embrace grateful and loving the warmth and the strength of his arms around her. "Did I thank you for wanting to take care of me?"

Fitz's throat tightened with emotion and it made his voice a little rough. "I don't remember, maybe you should tell me again."

Olivia tilted her face up to his. "I love that you want to take care of me - I love you, Fitz."

"I love you too, Olivia, I wish I had the words to tell you how much." Fitz closed his eyes, leaning down to bury his face in her hair and breathe her in. Knowing how hard it was for Olivia to say those three little words made them all the more precious.

The wave of emotion that overcame him then carried him through the next little while. Fitz undressed Olivia gently, waving away her half-protests and when she murmured something about a shower, Fitz took care of that as well.

There was a quiet contentment surrounding them as they stepped into the shower. Fitz reached for her body wash, his hands gentle on her body as he soaped and then rinsed her off, the warm water washing away the last of stresses of the evening. And even though the softness of her skin was everything beneath his hands, the overriding emotion within Fitz was the need for tenderness and nothing more.

There were thick, fluffy heated towels waiting for them at the end of it, then Fitz lifted Olivia and carried her to the bed. He helped her into his t-shirt, then slipped into bed beside her.

Before turning off the lamp beside the bed, Fitz looked down at Olivia and smiled. It was clear that she was already hovering on the edge of sleep, her eyelids fluttering as she tried to keep them open.

Before he could even think about it, Fitz has snapped the light off and gathered her into his arms.

"Fitz…"

The way she murmurs his name touches him in the deepest part of his heart and soul because it's full of trust and love and contentment. One hand reaches for his, interlocking her fingers with his and he's reminded of the first time she said his name and what came after.

He hushes her even as Fitz brings her hand to his lips to brush a gentle kiss against her skin before gathering Olivia closer into his arms.

"Sleep, Olivia. Just sleep." he whispers - and so they did.