Yes, she’d wanted to walk before, but not like this. This wasn’t a‘walk away from the job’kind of a thing.
This was a‘RUNfromEVERYONE’kind of a moment.
As he held her, Chris picked up her one hand and kissed her knuckles, seeing them damaged.
He knew what went on because Gene had warned them after her retreat to the gym.
Now, it was about handling the problem at hand.
“I don’t want anyone to know what happened to her,” she whispered. “I don’t want Caspian to ever find out the truth,Christopher. He’ll die. I can’t bury another Marine. Ivan can’t lose another friend, and we can’t lose another son.”
He knew how she was feeling, and that was exactly why he’d said he’d help her. It wasn’t a favor she needed to request. It was an obligation to their family, and being part of that family meant carrying the weight, too.
Way too often, they let her carry it, and that wasn’t fair.
Lifting her chin, so she was staring into his eyes, he was more than willing to go rogue for his wife.
There was no person on this planet that he would do that for but her.
“I need a favor back,” he admitted.
She stared into his eyes, and he saw the exhaustion of being asked one more thing of her. Chris knew she’d given everything she had to being a mother, a wife, and the Deputy Director of the FBI.
And she was empty.
“What?” she asked.
He took her face in his hands.
“When this is over, take some time to recover. You never take time for you. That’s what the doctor is ordering. I’m not going to bitch about how you’re working with a sore arm, or how you’re running on fumes, but when this is over, I need you to rest for a bit.”
She said nothing.
So, he continued.
“I’m willing to break the rules, but I need you to heal, too. You’re not coming back from this if you keep going, Elizabeth. I’ll take care of the kids. We will cover for you. Just think about it.”
She closed her eyes.
Oh, if he only knew the conversation she had with Ivan. She might suspect he told Chris, but she knew Ivan wouldn’t do that. He was loyal to the family, but he was more loyal to her.
Brother to sister.
When she opened her eyes, she was honest.
“I need you to remember something,” she stated.
Chris waited.
“That day in Colombia, I meant every single word I said in that church. The day I married you, I meant it for life.”
He held her.
Deep down, he wanted to freak out by those words, but he refused to let the fear win.
Chris had to believe she’d make it through this storm.
“Me too, Sweetness. I love our family, and the men we’ve bound ourselves too, but you were always the core for me, and you always will be.”
