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

It had been a few days after Nicky got sick and he was finally energetic enough to go back to school. For Agatha, she anticipated that Nicky would be sick for a few more days and called off work for the rest of the week. 

She wasn’t worried about the position she had at her job. The entire show revolved around Agatha Harkness. There is not a conclusion of the show that does not include her, not that the producers would even try.

Since it had also been a couple days after seeing Rio, Agatha thought it would be best to reschedule their date for the night. She had already informed Lilia about dropping Nicky off later tonight so that Agatha can spend her evening with Rio. 

In addition, Agatha also told her son that she had plans tonight. However, she didn’t want to reveal to him that it was a date. Nicky may not remember Wanda all that well, but he knows enough to assume that she was Agatha’s ex. Seeing as how her son still mentions her sometimes, she didn’t want to let Nicky get his hopes up about a woman Agatha had met only a week ago. 

Not that Agatha knew, but Nicky had always been curious why his friends at school had 2 parents when he only had one. It wasn’t a big deal to him seeing a mom and a dad, 2 moms, or 2 dads. It did make him wonder, however, why he only had 1 parent. It didn’t make him feel bad because never once did Agatha make him feel he needed 2.

Most of Nicky’s thoughts about his mom not having a partner wasn’t for his own concern, but for his mother. Nicky knew that he made his Mama happy. But he also knew that it was a different “kind” of happiness than if she was happy from someone else. He wanted her to find someone for her instead of finding someone for him. 

Little did both the mother and son know, the person perfect for the both of them had already found her. 

After Agatha drops her son off at his godmother’s house, she makes her way back to her house to be picked up by Rio. Agatha had fought with her about meeting the singer at the restaurant but Rio insisted on picking her up. She stood her ground that their first date will start and end at Agatha’s front door. 

While Agatha waits for Rio to arrive, she looks at her phone and sees Rio trending. She clicks on her name and sees fans going feral over pictures of Rio from 15 minutes ago, leaving her house. It had only been a couple pictures and a 3-second video, but it was enough for Agatha to get nervous about their date. 

Since Rio gave Agatha the choice of picking where their date was, Agatha was slowly regretting picking a public restaurant. There was nothing left for her to do except hope that there were not a lot of people eating out as it was not a Friday or a weekend night. 

She scrolled down her phone, looking at more tweets from people that were complimenting Rio’s outfit. Even though Agatha was terrified of what the night entailed for her, she found Rio’s effort in always trying to look her best for Agatha peacefully distracting from her worries.

Snapping her from her thoughts, Agatha heard the doorbell ring. She quickly straightened her outfit and fixed her hair before opening the door wide open. 

“Hi, Agatha,” Rio grinned widely as she stood at the door, hands behind her back. Rio brought them to front, surprising Agatha with a bouquet of chocolates. She stepped in Agatha’s space and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. 

Agatha accepted the chocolates and the kiss, immediately delighted as Rio’s lips touched her face. “Hi, Rio.”

“Ready to go?” Rio asks, giving Agatha one last chance to say no.

Agatha pushed all her fears at the back of her mind and nodded. Rio offered her arm for Agatha to take as she loops her hand at the crease of her elbow. 

Rio steps in front of the door of the passenger seat, opening the door for Agatha. The singer reached out her hand for Agatha to take as she climbed into her car. “You look beautiful, by the way,” Rio says before closing Agatha’s door. 

Agatha was glad that Rio took an extra 3 seconds to walk around the car to hop in. Those 3 seconds gave her time to compose herself at how courteous Rio was already being during the first 4 minutes of their date. Flirting with Agatha was one thing, but all the little things that Rio had done for her, like with Nicky’s cough syrup and behaving like a suitor, felt just as romantic.

Rio leaves the radio off as she starts the car and drives further away from Agatha’s place. Rio felt the silence and didn’t know what to make of it. Did Agatha find it comfortable? Awkward? Rio glanced beside her for a split second before looking back at the road. “Are you nervous?”

Agatha keeps her eyes on the road as if she was the one behind the wheel. “No, why? Am I acting weird?” Agatha asks, worried she was giving Rio the wrong impression. She felt excited about her date but her fears had resurfaced the closer they were getting to the public restaurant she had chosen.

“No, absolutely not,” Rio assured her. “You just haven’t said a lot since we left your house. Are you feeling okay? How was Nicky when you dropped him off?”

“I’m feeling okay. Thankfully, I didn’t catch the cold he had a couple of days ago. And yes, he was fine. He loves Lilia so he never protests when I tell him that he’ll be spending time with her,” Agatha started to become relaxed as she talks more about Nicky. 

“But there’s something,” Rio investigated.

“Something?” Agatha furrowed her eyebrows, looking puzzled at Rio.

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Rio says deliberately.

Agatha scoffs playfully. “And why would you say that?”

“Call it a lover's intuition.”

Both of them freeze at Rio’s wording. 

From Agatha’s perspective, she held her breath at the sound. Lover. That was Rio’s first album that she listened to. Maybe she can salvage this car ride by talking about that. She didn’t know if Rio said what she said out to make a joke or as a truth. Either way, one of them was going to have to speak until they got to the restaurant and Agatha hoped it would be Rio. 

From Rio’s perspective, her mind couldn’t have been more distracted on the road even though her eyes were glued to the street. Even though Rio said it without thinking, the singer can’t help but wonder if she meant it.

Rio’s real intent was to make a joke out of the need to hear Agatha’s laugh due to their date’s quiet start. However, Rio wanted to slap herself for creating silence even louder than before. Due to this, Rio speaks first. "I’m sorry. In all honesty, I just wanted to make you laugh. Poor choice of words.” 

From what Rio had just said, Agatha was torn out of mixed signals that she made for herself. The mother had definitely thought that it was too early to be saying the word ‘love’ around each other but had mentally winced at Rio’s explanation, calling it a poor choice of a word. Agatha’s worries grew as the car ride to the restaurant got shorter.

Rio looked to the woman beside her and saw her deep in thought. Rio pursed her lips before turning her signals on, indicating that she was going to pull over. With this, Agatha finally said her first words in the longest minutes that Rio could recall.

“Why are we stopping?” Agatha says, looking out the window. 

Rio pulled over to the side, shifting the car in park. Their car was on the bottom of a hill but was still high enough that they could see a distant view of Los Angeles’ city lights. Rio unbuckled her seatbelt and turned towards Agatha to face her better. 

“Agatha,” Rio says, reaching for Agatha’s hand. She held it gently as the smallest touch would damage her. “Be honest. Do you want to be here?” Rio says, her face showing sadness and a hint of disappointment.

“Oh, Rio,” Agatha says, holding a hand up to her face as Rio leans into the touch. “Did I make you feel like I didn’t?”

At this point, a tear fell from Rio’s right eye as she looked down at their hands. “You were quiet when we got in the car and it was mostly me talking. That’s why I panicked and said, um,” Rio paused, looking at Agatha to make sure that she knew what Rio was trying to say. Agatha nodded, letting her continue. “I think I made it worse by calling it a poor choice of words?” Rio asked Agatha for confirmation. Agatha nodded once more. “I’m sorry I called it that. I just wanted to make you laugh and see your smile. I didn’t mean what I said when I said it was a poor choice of a word. And I hope this doesn’t scare you off but,” Rio paused, looking up at Agatha who was already looking at her. “In the future, I do want to be able to refer to myself as your lover. And you don’t even have to be mine. I just want to be yours.”

Agatha smiled, feeling full with appreciation and reassurance. “I feel like you also deserve an explanation from me too,” Agatha answers. 

“You don’t have to tell me things if you’re not ready. We can talk about other things for the rest of the night,” Rio encouraged.

“Before you got to my door, I saw that you were trending on Twitter. People had pictures of you leaving your house and it had only been an hour ago. Seeing all that made me freaked out of what that meant for us tonight, especially realising that I made a mistake of picking a popular restaurant,” Agatha said, feeling guilty.

Rio’s face softened. “Agatha, don’t blame yourself. Some things are going to take a while to get used to and I’m open to going at your own pace. Even if you never want to go out to a public place, I will be down for that,” Rio claimed. “Just as long as we’re together.” 

“I just don’t know what I was thinking. It really slipped my mind of how much people know you,” Agatha says. Rio sighed, snapping her seatbelt back on and starting the car again. “Where are we going?” Agatha asked cautiously as Rio seemed to be a different person than a minute ago.

Mere seconds ago, she was tearing up. Now, Rio seemed determined to bring the car to the restaurant they had planned to have their first date. 

“I’m going to show you something,” Rio answered. “I know you think that a lot of people know me. The only person I really care about knowing me is you. I want to show you how much effort I’m willing to put in just for you to be the only person that truly knows me. And the only person that can see me.” 

Agatha was confused for the rest of the car ride. Despite that, she trusted Rio. After all, she had never given Agatha any reason not to. A few minutes later, they arrive at the front of the restaurant. “Stay here,” Rio instructs Agatha before getting out of the car and handing the keys to the valet. 

Rio talks to the worker for a couple seconds, suspiciously glancing at the restaurant that’s windows were boarded up by curtains. Agatha could not see anyone eating inside and instead, only sees people walking outside and passing the restaurant. 

Was the restaurant closed?

It can't be. Agatha had just checked this morning. Before Agatha can finish her thoughts, Rio opens her door and offers her hand to help her up. Rio shuts the door before looking back at the valet to park her car. Rio offers her arm to Agatha once again.

“Rio, the restaurant looks closed,” Agatha says as Rio led them to the entrance.

Rio did not give her an answer but instead, opened the door to the restaurant and allowed Agatha to enter first. Agatha was met with silence. The restaurant was completely empty except for a server in the corner who Agatha could only assume was waiting for them.

All of the tables had no plates or cutlery except for one which was in the middle of the entire restaurant. It had candles and the same roses that Rio had brought Agatha the original day that they were supposed to have their first date until Nicky got sick.

Agatha turns around to look at Rio. “Rio, what did you do?”

Rio grabs Agatha by the hand as she leads them to the table, pulling out a chair for Agatha to take. As Agatha took a seat, Rio leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Like I said. I want you to be the only person that truly gets to know me and see me. I rented the restaurant you wanted for tonight so that one, whatever I reveal about myself tonight, no person is going to overhear as they would if there was someone sitting at that table,” Rio says, pointing at the empty table next to them. “And two, you can focus on getting hypnotised by my eyes instead of looking at a hypothetical fan at the bar, trying to sneak pictures of us to post online.”

Agatha snorts. “How are you so guaranteed that I would be hypnotised by your eyes?”

“Um,” Rio paused to act like she was in thought. “Because my eyes are cute, duh.”

Agatha laughs. Rio smiles at her in adoration, taking Agatha’s hand in hers. “That sound. Your laugh. It’s what I’ve been waiting for all night.” 

“Thank you,” Agatha says. “For doing all of this. You didn’t have to.” 

“I wanted to,” Rio assured. “Agatha, I know that by going out with me, you’re thinking about things that you’re going to have to sacrifice in your personal life. Honestly, I can’t even guarantee that no one took a photo of us throughout the walk from the car and the 10 steps to get inside the restaurant. But as much as I can, I will make sure that all your sacrifices for me are not being wasted. I will try my best to be someone deserving of staying in your life, despite not bringing you the peace that you’ve known all your life.” 

“You’re sweet, Rio,” Agatha says. “And I trust you. I want you to know that before you sacrifice too much for me too.”

“I could never sacrifice enough for you.”

“Here we go again with the pick-up lines,” Agatha rolls her eyes as she picks up the menu. 

Rio shakes her head, mirroring Agatha as she looks down at her menu. They spent the night sharing food and getting to know each other better. The topics of their conversations shifted from their childhood all the way to Rio’s stories about previous tours. Throughout the whole date, Rio had kept her promise and periodically asked Agatha if she wanted to call Lilia for updates on Nicky. 

As the night progressed, Agatha had started getting curious about Rio’s long-term plans. Had the singer always planned to be on tour until she retired? Or was there a specific point in her career that she told herself she’ll reach before getting bored and leaving the industry? 

“Okay, spill it,” Rio says, drinking the last sip of her water. “You have that same look on your face when you were hiding what you were feeling in the car.” 

Agatha shook her head. “I was just thinking.”

“About?”

“About your future,” Agatha adds. “Well, I guess, our future now.”

Rio’s eyes widened before realising that Agatha was tipsy. Since Rio was driving, she had chosen to stick to sparkling water. Agatha on the other hand, was reaching the bottom of her red wine. 

All Rio could do now was laugh at how Agatha’s walls were coming down along with her awareness of what she was telling the singer.

“Oh, yeah?” Rio provoked. “And what do you see in our future, hm?”

“You. Settling down and living with Nicky and I after your last tour,” Agatha said, pouring the last drop of wine onto her glass. Rio looked at Agatha in awe at still being able to hold herself together on the chair after drinking an entire wine bottle by herself. 

“How long are you willing to wait until I settle down?” Rio asks, playing into what Agatha was saying. 

“I don’t know,” Agatha says, sipping her wine. “But one thing I know is that I’ll miss you whenever you’re away from us.” 

Rio’s demeanor softened at Agatha’s use of the word ‘us’ meaning she was also considering Nicky to miss Rio too. At this point in the night, Rio supposed she shouldn’t read into whatever Agatha was saying. The mother had drunk enough wine to be considered intoxicated.

Rio looks back at their waiter at the corner and gestures to him to get the valet. Even though it had been fun teasing Agatha about her thoughts on their future, Rio wanted her to be sober for their first conversation about this topic. Everything Agatha was saying, she was saying because she was drunk. Even if Rio wanted to talk about it, Agatha was not in the right mind to have this talk. 

Agatha falls asleep on the drive home as Rio tries to figure out how Nicky would get home. Agatha definitely couldn’t drive to Lilia’s house and back to her house, especially with a child in the car. Rio had thought about picking up Nicky herself, but she wanted to respect Agatha’s timeline of their relationship. Meeting Nicky was a big deal for Rio but to Agatha as well. She didn’t want to rob Agatha of seeing Rio and her son meet for the first time.

The next solution Rio had thought of was just dropping off a pair of PJs to Lilia so that Nicky would be comfortable to sleep overnight at his godmother's place. It was a win-win. Rio could drop it off without Nicky ever seeing her and he wouldn’t have to see his mom knockout drunk. 

As Rio pulled up to Agatha’s house, she went through her purse for the keys to get Nicky’s clothes. Rio didn’t bother turning on the lights in his room to maintain a sense of privacy despite not having met him yet. She felt successful in her plan as she quickly drove over to Lilia’s place to drop off Nicky's belongings with Agatha still asleep in her passenger seat. 

As Rio arrived back at Agatha's house, she turned off her engine and sat in her car. She looked beside her and couldn’t help but admire Agatha for what probably felt like the hundredth time tonight. With Agatha’s hair all over her face, her long eyelashes curved up while her eyes remained shut, and her lips so still and closed. Rio sat still, wondering when she’ll be able to kiss them good morning. 

Despite Rio wanting to stay like this for the whole night, she gathered up her energy to carry Agatha all the way to the living room, pausing to decide if she should take her to her bedroom. Although Rio had only planned to drop Agatha off at the front door before their date started, the singer was getting used to expecting the unexpected when it came to Agatha.

Rio decided against carrying Agatha to her room and laid her down on the couch instead. She took off her shoes and put her legs up on the couch. Even though she was fast asleep, Rio still wanted to make Agatha sleep as comfortable as possible. 

She recalls Agatha commenting on how hot she was at the restaurant and how much she was sweating, mainly due to the way Agatha kept pulling the collar of her blouse down to her collarbones. It distracted Rio more than it should have. As a result of this memory, Rio grabbed a handkerchief that she always keeps in her back pocket, wets it, and damps Agatha’s face, hoping to free her of the dried sweat. 

Once Rio was satisfied that Agatha was not going to wake up for the rest of the night, Rio kissed her forehead once more tonight, closed the lights in her home, and exited her front door. Rio locked it with Agatha’s key while she sat in her car situated on Agatha’s driveway. 

Even though Rio wanted to sleep on the other couch, she did not want to sleep inside Agatha’s house without her permission. She could have just drove back to her place and come back in the morning to give Agatha her keys back, but Rio knew better than to drive sleepy. 

Neither of them envisioned their first date to end like this but as Rio closes her eyes, she could only hope for a dream to beat every detail of her first date with Agatha Harkness.