Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?

Monday mornings for Agatha meant that it was another week to get through. She hated Mondays as she always thought of it as her busiest day of the week. Aside from needing to meal prep Nicky’s lunches, Mondays were also the day that Agatha finds out all of the people she will be interviewing for work throughout the week.

The concept of Agatha dating one to two different people per week made her head spin but remains doable due to her professionalism. It was easy for Agatha to draw a line with everyone she talks to at work since all of them are famous. Many have tried and those who did, failed. 

Therefore, since Rio came into her life, Agatha couldn’t brag about never dating a person from work anymore. Only knowing Rio for 4 days, Agatha still didn’t have an answer for herself as to ‘why Rio?’ out of all people. If anything, she was the most famous artist Agatha had worked with and that should have been enough to never see the singer ever again. 

Agatha hasn’t been romantically linked with anyone ever since Wanda. If she was being honest with herself, she thought it would always stay that way. Since the divorce, she had never entertained an idea about pursuing someone again or allowing someone to pursue her. It’s going to take Agatha a while to get used to dating someone again, let alone someone who everyone is watching. 

Despite their conversations of going on a date, which is tonight, neither of them actually knew what that meant yet. Will a date always mean staying inside? How can Rio fulfill Agatha’s wish of remaining private if that was the furthest thing Rio was as a public figure? Someone is always going to be following Rio around whether they like it or not and whether they knew about it or not. That concerned Agatha the most.

So far, Rio seems to be making all the right decisions when it comes to Agatha. By letting Agatha choose the place and the time, it was Rio’s way of giving her the freedom to take their relationship at her own pace. Rio liked being in control but she knew that in this case, she didn’t need to be. She had already shown Agatha her cards at the coffee shop. She had already given Agatha a link to her schedule. She had even already given her the power to shift and change her personal and work calendar. 

At first, Agatha was overwhelmed with how open Rio was to letting her in so fast. Rio made her feel like the singer had no walls that she needed to break through. Agatha knew that she herself had issues that she needed to work through. A part of her was envious that Rio could jump into whatever they were doing, so fast and head first. A part of her also hoped that there was something beneath the surface that she can explore within the younger woman. 

If their relationship was going to work how they wanted it to, Agatha needs to feel like she can make Rio better. She wants to feel like she compliments Rio as a person. How was she going to do that if she feels that Rio is already the best version of herself prior to having their first date?

As she finishes her son’s meal prep and her premature thoughts about a premature relationship, she looks at the time and realises that Nicky did not get up the first time Agatha woke him up today. 

She headed to her son’s room to help him get ready but grew concerned as he was hot to touch as she laid her hand on his shoulder gently. “Nicky?” Agatha calls out softly.

“Hm?” Nicky mumbles as she turns the other way from his mother. Agatha investigated her son as she tried pulling his blanket off his body. “Mama, I’m cold.” Nicky complained as his mother saw his body shaking without covers. 

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows and immediately grabbed a thermometer. “Nicky, baby,” Agatha said as she moved hair out of his face. “Can you open up your mouth for me? This needs to go under your tongue, baby. Just for a second. Can you do that for Mama?” 

Nicky nodded and did what he was told. Agatha waited anxiously for the beep that indicates the temperature reading was done. Agatha tried her best not to miss work and for Nicky not to miss a day of school. It was important for Agatha that her son gets the best education possible and to make the most out of what he can be capable of. 

Nicky rarely gets sick and when he does, Agatha would drop everything just to take care of him. That will never change, even though she has to cancel her date tonight. Agatha pulls out the oral thermometer from her son to confirm her suspicion. 38.1 degrees. The mother sighs, feeling sorry that her son has to stay like this for a couple days. 

“Baby, you have a fever,” Agatha says, rubbing her son’s back. “Can you get up for a quick shower? It’ll only take 5 minutes.” 

Nicky starts sniffling. “Mama, I’m too cold. I don’t want to.” 

Agatha frowns, feeling bad for him. “I know baby but I promise it’ll make you feel better.” 

“Mama, I don’t want to,” Nicky argues. 

The mother sighs. “Okay. Maybe a little bit later. But you’re going to have to get up, my love. At least just to take your medicine.” 

Nicky gives in. “In a little bit. I just want to take a nap.” 

“Okay, baby. Do you want me to lay down with you?”

Nicky nodded. Agatha wasted no time in getting under her son’s covers and warming him more, despite the heat radiating off his body. She hated it when he got sick. Not because of the fact that she was alone to take care of him, but just seeing Nicky in pain while she could only wait until it got better was agony for her. 

Even though she had other responsibilities like calling work and Nicky’s school, Agatha put everything on the back of her mind as she tried her best to make sure her son was comfortable. 

-

Agatha opened her eyes to her phone buzzing in her back pocket. As she reached for it, she looked at the time and it had been 2 hours since she laid down with Nicky. Groaning, she got up and messaged the producers of the show to let them know that she will not be coming to work today. 

The mother walked to the kitchen and looked at the shelf full of liquid medications. She found the grape-flavored medicine syrup that Nicky always took when he gets sick. Agatha turned on the stove and cooked his favorite chicken soup while getting his clothes ready for a shower. It took a little convincing, but Nicky eventually gave in and let his mother give him a quick scrub, cooling him from his fever. 

As Nicky ate chicken soup, Agatha changed the beddings of his son’s bed and sanitised around his room. She didn’t know if this would help his fever but it would certainly help for her not to catch whatever her son has. Agatha walked back into the kitchen and gave her son the liquid syrup medication, noting the time and when the next dose will be. 

Even if it was a lot of work to take care of Nicky when he was sick, Agatha loved doing it. She loved being able to watch him slowly get better and go back to the Nicky he always is. 

"Do you feel better after taking a shower?" Agatha asked.

"A little bit." 

“Your bed is all ready for you if you want to go lay back down, baby,” Agatha says, brushing his hair through her fingers. 

“I’m sorry you had to miss work, Mama,” Nicky apologised. 

“Baby, don’t worry about it,” Agatha reassured him. “If anything, I should thank you. I didn’t want to go to work today, anyways.” 

“I think I will lay back down once I finish my water,” Nicky says. 

“Do you want me to lay back down with you?” Agatha asks, secretly wanting her son to say yes. 

“Is that okay with you, Mama?” Nicky asked shyly. 

Agatha’s heart softened. “It’s always okay to me, baby. Why don’t you go ahead and I’ll meet you there? I’ll just wash some dishes.” 

“Okay.”

After she finished cleaning the kitchen, she followed her son to his room and found him already sleeping. She moved him slightly to the edge of the bed so she could have some space to sleep in. If there was one good thing about Nicky getting sick, it was the quality time that Agatha could spend with her son. 

-

For the third time today, Agatha wakes up. This time, to the doorbell ringing. She looked beside her, making sure that it had not woken up Nicky. She makes her way to the front door and opens the door to reveal a grinning Rio Vidal, standing outside with roses in her hands. At that moment, Agatha wanted to disappear as she remembered that she forgot to cancel her date with Rio.

From Rio’s eyes, the moment Agatha had opened the door, she knew that for some reason, the mother forgot about the date. Reason number one being the way her silk nightgown was still on, assuming it was from last night. Reason number two was Agatha’s eyes having trouble adjusting to the lights as Agatha squinted at her, almost grimacing at the headlights from Rio’s car behind her.

Despite physically seeing Agatha not dressed and ready for the date, Rio remained smiling as she was determined not to let Agatha see that she was disappointed. 

“Hey,” Agatha says hesitantly. “Come in.” 

Agatha gently grabs Rio’s arm as she leads her inside the house. She leads her to the living room, sitting down and tapping the spot next to her on the couch for Rio. 

“Listen,” Agatha starts. “I am really sorry that I didn’t get the chance to text you earlier about my change of plans. I completely forgot and that’s on me. I was ready for all of it this morning but it just so happens that Nicky got a fever overnight and I spent the entire day taking care of him and I’ve been asleep most of the day too and-” Agatha rambles as Rio stops her, taking her hands in hers.

“Agatha,” Rio chuckles softly. “You don’t have to apologise for taking care of your son. Don’t ever apologise to anyone for doing that,” Rio reassures her. “And I understand. You have responsibilities and I also should have checked in with you throughout the day to make sure that everything was still on for tonight.”

Rio looked down at their hands, her thumbs caressing Agatha’s knuckles. “You know, I was imagining all of the things I would do tonight,” Rio looks back up at Agatha. “Like kissing your hands,” Rio says as she brought up both of Agatha’s hands up to her lips and kissed them gently. 

“And brushing your hair from your face,” Rio continued, doing as she was saying. “Because I’m the type of person that searches up the weather for a date,” Rio said as she tucked strands of Agatha’s hair behind her ears. “And it informed me that it was going to be very windy today. So while I imagined us waiting outside for the valet to get my car, I would pull that move whenever the wind blew hair in your face.”

Agatha smiles at Rio as if she hung the stars.

“And aside from all of that, I would also offer you my phone. I would remind you at times throughout the whole night to check on Nicky and how he was doing without you,” Rio says, pulling out her phone and showing Agatha a contact that says ‘Lilia’ who was Nicky’s godmother and the only one Agatha trusted to babysit Nicky whenever she had plans. 

“How did you even-” Agatha began.

“I have my ways,” Rio interrupted her, smug knowing that she had just impressed Agatha.

Agatha did have plans on dropping off Nicky to Lilia before their date, so Rio wasn’t so far off that theory. She was just really impressed at how Rio knew.

“My point is, even though I had all these plans about how this date would go,” Rio looked at Agatha’s eyes, trying to remember what she planned to say before getting distracted at how dilated they were. “It doesn’t beat just physically sitting here with you. Even though we’re just sitting with each other right now, it doesn’t compare to all the imaginations I had of how tonight would go.” 

“I’m sorry we couldn’t have the date you had envisioned, Rio.”

Rio snorted as she shook her head. “Did you not just hear me, Agatha? I just said that being here with you right now is better than anything I could have planned. Because I can plan as much as I want but those plans stay in my head. You’re actually here with me. And as long as you are, you will not hear me complain about anything, Agatha Harkness.” 

She took the singer by surprise when she lunged towards her and wrapped her arms around her head, giving Rio a hug. Agatha buried her face in Rio’s neck as she felt Rio reciprocate and wrap her arms around Agatha's waist. 

“Thank you for understanding,” Agatha thanked Rio, not breaking their embrace. “I promise, I’ll make it up to you.”

Rio tightened her hold on Agatha, closing her eyes. “You don’t need to. This is exactly where I want to be right now.”

Rio meant it. The exact place she wanted to be was in Agatha’s arms. She had wondered what it felt like to be held by her. Now that she has, Rio dreads to let go. All of the firsts Rio will have with Agatha, she wouldn’t want them to end. She wanted endless beginnings with Agatha because Rio couldn’t handle the thought of doing them with anyone else. 

It’s something about the way Agatha has Rio wanting more. Like nothing will satisfy Rio more than knowing she’ll have Agatha for all her life. Like Rio will not be able to fathom going back to the life she had before knowing Agatha. 

Agatha breaks the contact first as she leans back to look at Rio. “Thank you for the roses. They’re beautiful.”

Both of them look at the bouquet which was sitting peacefully on the coffee table of Agatha’s living room. “I hope you like them. I watched a previous episode of your show and you said that they were your favorite,” Rio brags.

Agatha laughs. “Will you know everything about me before our first official date?” 

“Only the stuff I have to know to make sure you end up wanting a second date,” Rio smiles.

“Guess this flirting thing is going to be around me forever, huh?” Agatha teased.

Rio got caught off guard. “Do you see me in your definition of forever?” 

Agatha froze, not realising what she had just said. 

“What did I say?” 

“Agatha,” Rio whined. “You said it!”

Agatha chuckles. “Maybe after 3 dates, I’ll tell you.” 

“So, you see us going as far as 3 dates?” Rio pushed.

“Oh my god, Rio,” Agatha says, figuring out that Rio was worse than Nicky to banter with. “You really don’t give up easily, huh?”

“Not when it comes to you,” Rio says charmingly.

“You better be careful what you end up saying while you flirt. I don’t like being lied to,” Agatha warns jokingly.

Rio grabs Agatha’s hand and puts it over her chest. “This heart that you feel right now? It could never lie to you. It might just explode if it tries to.” 

Agatha pushes Rio playfully with the hand that was over her chest, her own heart racing slightly as Rio happened to place her hand in a way that the tip of her fingers were almost over her breast.

“You’re ridiculous,” Agatha said, blushing from the contact. She stands up, taking the flowers to the kitchen to arrange them in a vase. Rio stands up to follow her as she stops in her tracks to look at a few picture frames in Agatha’s wall. 

Rio’s eyes twinkle as she looks at a series of pictures of Nicky and Agatha. She couldn’t wait to meet her son once the timing is right. Rio couldn’t wait to give him lessons on playing the guitar and to see Agatha’s ‘mother’ side in action. Although Rio couldn’t deny it, a part of her thought that Nicky looked like her. Mostly his lips. Some of the pictures showed him grinning, his lips curving the way Rio’s would when she smiles. 

She keeps that to herself, planning to tease him about it once they meet. Rio catches up to Agatha in the kitchen as she puts the flowers which were now in a vase in the middle of her kitchen table.

Rio takes the newspaper the flowers came with and throws them in the trash, already familiarising herself with the map of the kitchen. “I really thought I wouldn’t be able to see your home until a couple dates later,” Rio teased.

Agatha agreed. “Me too. At least you were able to see it clean and not how it usually is.”

“How is it usually?” Rio asked curiously, joining her at the kitchen table.

“Well,” Agatha sighs. “Sometimes Nicky would have toys on the kitchen table. The sink would have dishes that I sometimes procrastinate in washing. Sometimes we’d have garbage full of pizza boxes because I also procrastinate in cooking.”

“Is it weird for me to say that I wish I could see all of that?” Rio asks.

“Is it weird for you to say that you want to see my kitchen messy?” Agatha rephrases. “A little bit.”

“I don’t know. I just want to see what you see daily. I want to be part of your routine. And Nicky’s too,” Rio adds. 

One soft spot Agatha had for people close to her was if they think of Nicky as much as they think of her. They’re a package deal and she loved it when friends and family cared for Nicky as if he was her biological child. 

“Are you alright?” Rio asks, touching Agatha’s hand for a slight second to get her attention.

“Yeah,” Agatha sighs. “Just thinking about Nicky again.”

“Do you want me to go? I don’t want to make you busier than you are. Is he taking any medications?” Rio says as she panics. The last thing she wanted to do was overstay her welcome.

“Actually, you just reminded me,” Agatha says in relief. She stood up, opening the cupboards to take out the same cough syrup that he drank earlier. “I’ll be right back,” Agatha says before leaving the kitchen to go to Nicky’s room with a glass of water and the cough syrup.

Rio stands up and examines the medication that Agatha had prepared. As she picked up the bottle, she noticed that it was almost out. She opens her notes app and types the name and the brand of the cough syrup.

A couple minutes later, Agatha comes back with an empty cup and places it on the sink. “Sorry about that. What were we talking about?”

Rio smiles. “Do you want me to go?”

Agatha did not want to say yes. She also did not want to keep Rio out too late, knowing that their date was cancelled. She liked having her company while her son was mainly asleep.

“Maybe we can talk more tomorrow? I’ll call you,” Agatha says, half disappointed that Rio would be going.

Rio got up from the kitchen table and walked to the front door with Agatha. This was the best first date she’s ever had. She couldn’t let Agatha know, though. Rio was excited as to how Agatha would make it up to her.

“Let me know how he’s doing tomorrow, okay?” Rio says as she steps out the front door. She turns back around and kisses Agatha’s cheek. “And you’ll let me know if you need anything, right?”

Agatha nodded, her mind slightly malfunctioning from Rio’s kiss on her cheek. She feels the area heat up. 

“I’ll see you soon, Agatha.” 

“See you later, Rio,” Agatha says, stepping in Rio’s space and hugging her goodbye. They both lean back with their bodies still intertwined as Agatha kisses an area of Rio’s cheek close to her mouth that Rio felt like Agatha was aiming for the corner of her lips. “Goodnight, my Rio.”

“Goodnight, Agatha.” 

Agatha watches Rio drive away, smiling at kissing the corner of Rio’s lips. She locks the door, turns the lights off, and joins her son in his bed. 

Rio drives off as her face is plastered with the widest grin. Her cheeks were starting to hurt from the strain of smiling hard. She makes her way to the drug store to get Nicky’s cough syrup and puts it inside of Agatha’s mailbox. Rio sends a text to Agatha to make sure that the mother receives it when she wakes up tomorrow morning.

Rio: Noticed that you were running out of cough syrup so I got some and put it inside your mailbox. Let me know if you need anything else. Sleep well, Agatha