fembuck | Fic: When My Bones are Tired, and My Body Weary There Is You (Olivia/Rachel, Fringe)

Title: When My Bones are Tired, and My Body Weary (There Is You)
Author: Janine
Fandom: Fringe
Pairing: Olivia/Rachel
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don’t own them.
Summary: A devastated, bruised and battered Olivia comes home to the safety and comfort of Rachel’s loving arms. Set post 2x04 - "Momentum Deferred".

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Rachel was hunched over the kitchen sink finishing up with the last of the dishes from dinner when she heard the front door open. Upon hearing it she shook her head slightly, it was past ten at night and most people would have been home from work long ago, but she had long since gotten used to Olivia’s strange work hours. She didn’t like them, especially with Olivia still recovering from the car accident, but she had gotten used to them and knew that it was useless to comment on it.

“I wasn’t sure when you’d be getting in so I put everything away,” Rachel began when she heard Olivia’s footsteps enter the kitchen. “But I could fix you a …” the younger blonde went on, however when she turned around and saw Olivia’s face she stopped speaking and immediately walked over to her sister and drew her into her arms.

Olivia released a shuddering breath when Rachel reached her and then wrapped her arms around Rachel’s body, holding her tightly as she dipped her head down and tucked it into the warm curve at the base of Rachel’s neck.

She didn’t want to cry and alarm Rachel more than her haggard appearance already had, but as the heat from Rachel’s body seeped into her along with the faint scent of her sister’s favorite vanilla lotion, Olivia found her eyes beginning to sting with tears and, knowing that she was safe, she let them fall.

Rachel’s hand moved to the top of Olivia’s head and lemon scented fingers began to gently comb through her soft, pale hair. Gentle, soothing sounds emerged from Rachel’s throat as she stroked her fingers through her sister’s hair. She had seen Olivia come home looking run down and exhausted before. She had seen her come home bruised and bleeding, she had seen her come home looking angry, depressed, confused, and hopeless, but she had never seen Olivia break-down like she was at the moment.

Pulling back slightly, Rachel lifted her hands to Olivia’s face and raised it so that she could see her features. Cupping her sister’s face in her hands, Rachel allowed her thumbs to stroke across the smooth skin of Olivia’s cheeks wiping away the damp streaks her tears had left while her eyes searched her sister’s face looking for bruises, cuts, or anything else that could give her an indication of what had happened to her. There were no visible signs of injury however, and after a few seconds Rachel’s hand drifted back around Olivia’s waist and she allowed her sister to pull her back into a hug.

They stayed like that for a while, and then when Olivia’s breathing began to calm and her hold began to loosen, Rachel led her over to one of the chairs around the kitchen table and sat her down. She stepped away then, focused on moving to the sink and getting Olivia a glass of water, but her sister reached out for her grasping her by the wrist and tugged her closer and closer until Rachel found herself seated on Olivia’s lap.

“What happened?” Rachel asked softly, her eyes stinging with unshed tears as she looked down into her sister’s devastated face.

Olivia looked up at her, blinking rapidly for a few seconds, and then she shook her head before burying her face in Rachel’s neck once more.

“What happened?” Rachel repeated as she wrapped her arms around her sister again, “you’re scaring me,” she whispered, her voice trembling as Olivia’s nose brushed against the base of her throat.

“Charlie,” Olivia rasped pulling back from Rachel’s neck so that she could look up at her. “He’s … he’s dead.”

“Oh god,” Rachel gasped, her eyes widening and freeing some of the tears that had been welling within them. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed out, taking Olivia’s face into her hands again. “I’m so sorry,” she repeated, leaning forward to press her lips to Olivia’s forehead before she embraced her once more.

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Olivia was freshly showered, dressed in a comfortable pair of pajama pants and a tank top sitting on comforter of her bed staring at the wall when Rachel entered her room.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Olivia looked over at her and stared intensely for a few seconds before dropping her eyes down to her comforter and murmuring, “Yes,” under her breath.

Rachel moved further into the room and then slipped on to the bed beside her sister. “Can you talk about it?” she asked taking Olivia’s hand into her own.

Olivia looked down and with her eyes focused on the dark bed spread beneath her she shook her head.

“I kind of thought that would be your answer,” Rachel murmured, offering Olivia a small smile when the FBI agent looked over at her. “Do you want a brownie?”

“A brownie?” Olivia asked in a charmingly befuddled tone of voice.

“I made them for dessert. Ella ate all the ice-cream, but the brownies are pretty damn good on their own.”

“If you do say so yourself,” Olivia teased feeling some of the muscles in her body that had been tensed before Rachel’s entrance begin to loosen.

“I do say so myself,” Rachel confirmed smiling. “So?”

“I’d love a brownie,” Olivia responded softly, her eyes holding Rachel’s as she gave her hand a squeeze. “Thank you,” she added seriously, holding onto Rachel’s hand for a moment longer as the younger blonde made to slip off the bed.

With their hands still joined, Rachel leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Olivia’s forehead, then pulled back and murmured, “You’re welcome,” with a roll of her eyes before she headed for the door.

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“What?” Olivia asked a touch peevishly as Rachel smiled widely at her. “Stop it,” she complained, which only made Rachel smile even wider. “What?”

“You eat like a five year old,” Rachel responded still grinning before she popped her thumb into her mouth to wet it and then reached out for Olivia, running the damp digit across the corner of her mouth clearing away a smudge of chocolate.

“The icing’s gooey,” Olivia muttered colouring a little as Rachel popped her thumb into her mouth to suck away the evidence of her messy eating. “Buh ’ids ood,” she continued a moment later, depositing another forkful of delicious brownie into her mouth.

“I did say so myself,” Rachel replied smugly.

“You did,” Olivia agreed before smiling a large chocolate-y smile that made Rachel laugh.

“Are you sure you don’t want any actual food?” Rachel asked as Olivia finished up with the last of the brownie and twisted to the side to rest the plate on the bedside table. She’d never have let Ella get away with eating nothing but a brownie for dinner, but she decided that it would be unwise to point that out to her older sister.

“Yeah,” Olivia murmured contently, falling back against her pillows, “My stomachs still all queasy from yesterday.”

She grimaced a little at memory of Walter’s flatworm cock-tail. She wasn’t sure what was worse, the drink itself or the results. She’d managed to pull muscles she didn’t even know she’d had during the seizure that had accompanied her memories of her meeting with William Bell.

“Why, what happened yesterday?” Rachel asked stretching out beside Olivia and tucking herself against her sister’s side, though she was careful not to lean too heavily against her. Out of her blazer and work shirt Rachel had been able to detect some new bruises marring Olivia’s skin and she knew that her sister had managed to get herself banged up again.

“Walter,” Olivia muttered a little darkly, swallowing against a sudden wave of nausea. “He put together a little cocktail to try and help me remember what happened before the crash,” Olivia explained keeping her eyes focused on the ceiling as she spoke, unable to meet Rachel’s eyes while she deceived her. “It was … disgusting, really disgusting … really, really disgusting.”

“What was in it?” Rachel asked curiously. Olivia very rarely admitted to anything being too much for her, and she was perversely interested in finding out what Walter could have made her drink that forty-eight hours later would still make her gag a little just thinking about it.

“Flatworms,” Olivia said, angling her head down and to the side knowing that she wanted to see Rachel’s reaction to that revelation.

“Ugh, eww,” Rachel moaned, lifting her head enough to look at Olivia with a completely aghast look on her face. “Sometimes you are too hardcore,” Rachel muttered, giving Olivia one last look before lowering her head again.

Olivia made a small sound of agreement in her throat as she wondered whether the drink would have tasted better with strawberries or worse. Her stomach rolled again before she could decide however, and she realized that it would probably be a good idea to stop thinking about it if she wanted to keep that brownie down.

“Did it work at least?” Rachel asked, distracting Olivia from her gastrointestinal concerns.

“Yeah,” Olivia breathed out, “but as usual it ended up creating more questions than it answered.”

Rachel wanted to ask more, but she knew that it would be a waste of breath. Olivia couldn’t answer the questions she had. She didn’t know much about the department that her sister worked for, but she knew enough to know that the work she did was extremely secretive, the ‘I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you’ kind of secretive.

Besides, Rachel wasn’t even sure if she really wanted to hear the answers to her questions even if Olivia was allowed to tell her. Olivia was the strongest person Rachel had ever known and she routinely came home beyond shaken up by what she had seen. It was cowardly, but Rachel wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle knowing what Olivia knew.

Olivia was the warrior woman, she was the protector. Rachel was the one who kept the home-fires burning, warm food on the table, and a bottle of peroxide and some cotton balls at the ready.

Soft lips pressed against Olivia’s bare shoulder and the agent sighed at the contact, tilting her head to the side to brush her own lips against Rachel’s forehead. A few moments later, Rachel drew her lips away from Olivia’s shoulder and angled her head up and Olivia leaned down pressing their lips together, her eyes fluttering closed as a feeling of warmth and contentment flowed through her.

“Mm,” Rachel hummed as Olivia’s lips drifted away from hers. Her hand had found its way under Olivia’s tank top and was resting on the agent’s flat stomach as she spoke, but she didn’t move it any higher knowing that Olivia was in no shape for anything more than kissing. “You need to stop getting banged up,” Rachel sighed, stroking her thumb over the smooth skin beneath it before removing her hand from under Olivia’s tank.

“Is that the only reason you’re concerned with my physical well-being?” Olivia asked lifting a pale eyebrow high on her forehead as smiled down at her sister.

“Yes,” Rachel dead-panned, though her eyes twinkled with amusement. “Well, that and it will be very helpful when you can start opening jars again.”

“Finally the truth comes out,” Olivia sighed before dutifully angling her head towards Rachel’s once more so that the younger blonde could place a series of gentle kisses on them.

“You’re tired,” Rachel said when she pulled back from Olivia’s lips. Olivia’s breathing had begun to slow, and she was blinking more often in an attempt to keep her eyes open. “That’s good, maybe you’ll be able to get more than two hours sleep tonight,” she continued as Olivia leaned her head into her touch.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Olivia muttered though she was exhausted enough that her tone wasn’t as gloomy as it could have been.

“Should I …”

“Stay,” Olivia interjected, forcing herself to focus on Rachel even though her eyes wanted to close. “I …” she paused as Charlie face swam before her eyes, pale, with a streak of red running between his eyes from the bullet hole she had put there. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“You're not,” Rachel whispered kissing her cheek. “I’m going to check on Ella, and then I’ll be right back. Do you need anything while I’m up?”

Olivia shook her head sleepily. “Just you,” she murmured. When her bones were tired and her body weary, Rachel was the only thing that could sooth her and all she needed on earth. “Just you,” she repeated, allowing Rachel’s hand to slip out of hers, knowing that her sister would be back soon and that then, she could sleep.

The End