My Arms Were Always Around You [Vasco/Emma blitz]

My smile only broadens at her approach, and I turn my back when she gives a playful shove. I reach a hand into the drawer and pluck out another before leaning back against the countertop. I remove the wax wrapper and raise my eyebrows before slowly moving the treat upwards toward my open mouth. I move forward to take a bite, smile broader - until I pause, and in a flash of a motion, kiss Emma atop the forehead. I place the treat in her hand and lean back against the counter.

“I want to sleep but a part of me isn’t ready to go to bed yet, eh? There’s talk about going to the southern part of the district and me giving a speech to the men that stock the trains.” I don’t mind talking to others, so much - getting to know men like me, who’ve had a hard time. It’s the being away for so long, and not knowing how this will end. By the light of the lamp hanging from the ceiling I see all that matters to me then, and I’m happy.

But I know a part of me isn’t ready to retreat into that small of a world. Though tonight could be a break.

I smile at the tap on my nose and give a grin. She gets out another thought of our three point plan (the same we spent hours going over: she, detailing the finer points of it, me, making it intelligible for a districter to understand). I think to the polls Lordes has done and know that it’s neck and neck - Ikaia drawing from those loyal to his brother, Maya from those aching for a stronger hand against the capitol, and me, from farmers and those that have felt they’ve been left behind. As much as a handful of votes could change any one of our lives.

“You know that no matter what happens, I’ll be proud of you. Of us, right?” I wrap both arms around her in a hug, and smile. “They’ve listened to us so far - I haven’t been laughed off the stage, eh?” It had been a miracle, but somehow I’d taken to speaking my mind. “And if we don’t win, we’re not going to stop fighting for people who have nothing, I know that much. Not as long as the two of us are together.”

“I think a lot of folks think about what’s supposed to matter, and it’s easy to fall down that well.”

Fighting for something was easier to sell, and to believe. It was harder when the fight was long and change didn’t seem to come. We knew that - we knew almost twenty years of loss, grief and hardship. Months of wearing black - more and more pictures on Día de los Muertos, faces of children that shouldn’t have known what pain felt like. I’d been angry like Sampson, and wanted to smash the world to pieces when Raquel died.

“Mayor Vasco.” I say with a smile, moving behind her in another embrace.

It sounds strange for the youngest of his brothers, the smallest of them, too. Too big. I still don’t know what such a world would bring.

“Would that make you first lady? Hmmm.” I kiss her forehead and press mine against hers. “I think you’d be in my cabinet - somehow I don’t see you sitting back and doing nonsense work, eh?”

I angle into her reach, and feel the warmth of her hand against my back. It’s something special, the light fading and the moon overhead, to know that this is exactly where I want to be. Emma’s the head and I’m the heart, I like to think, that between the two of us, we’re a team. I think I’m lucky standing next to her, that she could see something in me that’s as special as she is. I give another sigh and wrap myself around her in a slow hug.

“Well, you could be head of security, you’re pretty good at making sure all the kids follow your orders, eh?” I say with a grin. “Or I could have you be head of planning all those special parties we’ll throw, eh?” I give a laugh. “No, I’m thinking… something bigger for you. Maybe…” I nod my head, eyes wide. “Vice Mayor?” I smile. “Vice Mayor Emma has a ring to it, no?”