Commitment (26 page)

Chris
,

I hope you have a lovely Christmas. Mine has consisted of discovering that you have been sleeping with half of D. C. I wonder if they all have as much to show for their efforts as I do. You were right. I am an idiot. I truly hope you get everything that you deserve and more
.

The movers will be there Saturday. Merry Christmas. Maybe the redhead will be able to fit you in
.

Cheryl

“Fabulous,” O’Brien muttered.

Thursday, December 25
^th

Alex shifted slightly in the bed and pulled Cassidy into her arms. “Merry Christmas,” she whispered with a kiss.

“Ummm,” Cassidy grumbled.

“Dylan’s going to be in here any minute, you know?” Alex chuckled. Cassidy just snuggled closer, and Alex closed her eyes. “Why don’t I go down and get some coffee started? Your mom will be here in an hour or so,” Alex offered.

Cassidy pried her eyes open and smiled. “Just stay here until he wakes up,” Cassidy whined.

Alex raised her eyebrow slightly. “Tired?” she inquired.

“Can’t imagine why. Someone had me up half the night under the pretense of hearing Santa Claus,” Cassidy teased.

“Well, it’s good practice,” Alex offered her explanation.

“For?” Cassidy asked.

“I imagine we will be up half the night a lot. Might as well do it on our terms while we can,” Alex explained her reasoning.

Cassidy propped herself up and looked at her wife. She felt an incredible sense of love and completion wash over her. They had spent most of the night awake, talking, laughing, and making love. She was amazed at the range of emotions Alex had displayed throughout the night. At times Alex was playful, almost giddy with excitement. Cassidy loved that part of her wife’s personality. It often surfaced when Alex interacted with those she loved, particularly Dylan. Cassidy had expected Alex to display her playful nature when she heard the news that Cassidy was pregnant. The incredible emotional shifts that they both seemed to experience over the course of the night had taken Cassidy by surprise.

At times, Alex would stop their bantering and gaze longingly into Cassidy’s eyes, searching in silent contemplation. Those moments inevitably ended with a languid kiss. Their lovemaking had been slow and sensual, an achingly complete exploration of the other. Their needs had little to do with desire or release. The touches they had shared had been reverent and compassionate. To Cassidy, it felt as if they could both sense new life between them. Somehow, that seemed to spur the ghosts of their pasts, creating a yearning to seek forgiveness and acceptance in one another for all that they had been and all that was to come. It was an intimate promise; a commitment reaffirmed.

Intimacy existed in every moment that passed between Alex and Cassidy. For Cassidy, it mattered little whether they shared a kiss, a laugh, a conversation or even an argument; she felt Alex’s presence within her constantly. She would not have believed that anything could bring them closer, but waking now, looking at Alex after the night that they had shared; she could not deny their connection had grown even stronger.
She smiled and cupped Alex’s cheek, bringing her lips slowly to her wife’s in an effort to convey the depth of her emotion.

“What was that for?” Alex asked.

“You.”

“Me?” Alex asked.

Cassidy nodded. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“Thank me? What are you thanking me for?” Alex wondered aloud.

Cassidy kissed Alex again. “I think you
are
Santa Claus,” she giggled.

Alex felt Cassidy’s head as if she were checking for a fever. “You feeling all right?” Alex asked in mock concern.

Cassidy swatted her hand away. “Knock it off,” she giggled. “I’m serious.”

“Last time I checked I don’t own a red suit or any reindeer. I do like cookies,” Alex’s diatribe was again halted by a kiss.

“There’s only one thing I’ve ever really wanted, Alex,” Cassidy said seriously. Alex’s expression softened; listening to her wife as she reached out to tuck Cassidy’s hair behind her ear. “All I ever wanted was to have a family with the person I loved. That’s all. I’d given up on that, you know…until I met you. It would have been enough for me to share the rest of my life with you and Dylan…but, Alex…this….having a baby with you…”

“I know,” Alex said with a kiss to Cassidy’s cheek.

“I wouldn’t care if I never got a Christmas present again,” Cassidy chuckled through a sudden emotional sob.

Alex nodded with a smile and pulled Cassidy close. Cassidy’s eyes revealed everything that passed through her mind and her heart. Alex had discovered that the moment she met the school teacher. Cassidy’s eyes were more than expressive; they were a window. Alex had often mused that the adage ‘the eyes are the window to the soul’ must have been written about Cassidy. She had watched her wife’s eyes mist over repeatedly throughout the night as the gravity of their new reality took hold of them both. She had witnessed the unbridled passion in Cassidy’s darkening
eyes. Alex understood her wife’s longings. Cassidy was meant to be a mother; to nurture. It was one of the many parts of Cassidy that Alex marveled at; her capacity to love so generously. She kissed Cassidy’s forehead as her wife’s tears subsided and were replaced with soft laughter just as Dylan’s door creaked open across the hallway. A new day, full of surprises was about to begin. Alex painted a mischievous grin on her face and shifted the mood. “Guess I’ll just take those presents I bought you back then; since you won’t be needing them anymore.”

“You will not!” Cassidy poked her wife as the door flew open.

“Come on!” Dylan urged. “Alex, come on,” he made his way to the bed.

Alex laughed. “We’re coming, Speed.”

“Mom! Come on…we have to see if the reindeer ate their carrots!” he grabbed for his mother’s hand.

Alex hopped off the bed and pulled Cassidy with her to follow their son down the stairs. “Well, come on Vixen,” Alex implored.

Cassidy put her hands on her hips. “Excuse me?”

“Hey,” Alex whispered. “Don’t look at me. You’re the one who nibbled the carrots.”

“Mm-hm,” Cassidy groaned playfully as they watched Dylan bound down the stairs. She patted Alex’s tummy. “Vixen, huh? Guess you really are Santa then.”

“Told you; I like my cookies,” Alex answered. Cassidy felt Alex’s lips brush the top of her head as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“He was here!” Dylan exclaimed, noting the presents under the tree. Alex and Cassidy watched as he sprinted to the small table that had held Santa’s cookies and milk. “Santa ate your cookies, Mom!”

“Did he?” Cassidy asked, smirking at Alex. Alex just shrugged.

Dylan sprinted off to the back door in the kitchen and pumped his fist in the air. “See? It worked, Mom. It did, Alex! The reindeer ate my carrots!”

“That’s great, Speed,” Alex told him as he ran full tilt back toward the living room. She nudged Cassidy gently. “I’ll bet they were hungry from keeping all of Santa’s
secrets
,” Alex mumbled in amusement, receiving a gentle whack in return.

Alex and Cassidy settled in for the rest of their morning, watching as Dylan explored the gifts Santa had left. Dylan excitedly showed his parents all of his haul. He handed Alex his new video games and jumped up and down at the toy Batman figures and Iron Man mask Santa had left under the tree. He continued to explore while they waited for his grandmother to arrive so they could move on to the colorful boxes that remained wrapped under the tree.

“Are you going to tell your mom when she gets here?” Alex whispered.

“No,” Cassidy answered. “Only your mom knows and that’s only because I needed her help to execute my plan.”

Alex watched as Dylan scurried around the tree, looking intently. “What are you looking for, Speed?” she asked. Dylan just shrugged, looking slightly defeated and then settled back at his racetrack. “Oh boy,” she whispered to Cassidy.

Cassidy heard her mother’s car pull in and patted her wife’s shoulder. “He’ll be fine, honey,” Cassidy assured her wife as she headed toward the door.

Alex smiled down at Dylan, who was back playing with his racetrack and started to follow. “Maybe we should….”

“Ohhh no, you don’t,” Cassidy warned. “You remember your plan to announce our engagement?” she reminded her wife. Cassidy pointed to Dylan. “CNN is not breaking the news for us this time.” Alex pouted slightly. Cassidy patted her cheek. “You know what the song says, Alex…you’d better not pout.”

“I already got my present,” Alex declared.

Cassidy stopped with her hand on the doorknob and kissed Alex’s cheek. “Come on, Santa, we’d better help Grandma before she gets run over by one of those reindeer.”

“This had better be good,” the president said as he moved through the White House.

“Sir,” his chief of staff began, “I don’t know what this is about, but whatever it is, he said it could not wait.”

President Strickland was irate as he entered the small office that adjoined the Situation Room. “Leave us,” he ordered. He pressed a button on a small console, instantly concealing the glass enclosure. “What the hell is so important that you had to disturb me today?”

“I wasn’t aware that the president was ever off duty,” the man answered.

“Admiral,” Strickland cautioned.

“What the hell were you thinking, Lawrence? Where the hell did you get the idea to bug Alex Toles’ home?” Admiral William Brackett bellowed.

“That warrants you barging in here under the pretense of national security on Christmas?” the president answered in kind.

“It does when we are ready to deploy assets to Moscow. Not to mention Dimitri has his hands on nuclear material. My daughter is off in Belarus with her oldest friend, who happens to be Edmond Callier’s daughter, and who works for Russ Matthews, and Christopher O’Brien’s girlfriend walked into the FBI two days ago,” Admiral Brackett answered.

“While fascinating, I don’t see any correlation to national security,” Strickland replied harshly.

“No? Really? Then you are either blind or utterly stupid…. or there is something you have not told me. Perhaps that is it,” the admiral guessed.

“Bill,” the president cautioned. “What do you want?”

“This needs to be addressed now. Not tomorrow.”

“Admiral, I think you are overreacting. O’Brien is…”

The admiral slammed his fist on the desk. “O’Brien knows more than you give him credit for. And he has information he should never have had, thanks to you.”

“I should think this would be a conversation for your daughter. Where is she this holiday, Bill? No family Christmas this year?” Strickland struck at the admiral.

“Listen to me. O’Brien is a bigger liability than you think. No moves until he is taken care of,” the admiral said. “No moves.”

“And just how do you propose to do that, Admiral Brackett? Another car accident? I doubt your daughter will be so willing this time,” the president responded.

“No. No car accident. Claire didn’t create this. You did. So you are going to help me solve it,” the admiral said. He picked up the secure phone line and handed it to the president. “You have some calls to make.”

“And just what are you suggesting? I have made commitments, Bill,” Strickland said.

Admiral Brackett handed the president a paper. “Read it. You think this is a joke? You just stirred the hornet nest,
Larry
. You have no idea who you are dealing with. You’re worse than Claire. She once told me she was like a cobra,” the admiral shook his head. “You think that a title, an office somehow puts you in control? Who do you think Viktor Ivanov is? What about Jon Krause? Alex Toles? Edmond Callier? Commitments? You don’t know the meaning of the word. You treat these people as if they are simpletons. Like they are insects that you can swat at will. That might be true if it were only one. Ever seen hornets protect their nest, Larry? Protect their young? Their home? They’re workers by nature. They build a formidable fortress to protect their family. Threaten their nest, they swarm violently, and when they attack…well, let’s just say you don’t want to disturb a hornet nest.”

Strickland attempted to swallow the sudden dryness in his throat. “You work for this office, Admiral. This is your department to deal with.”