Work Text:
May 24, 2019, Downing Street
He had watched her as she broke in front of the nation, the world. He had seen her shoulders hunch, and her face crack before her voice filled with emotion as she sacrificed what she had worked so hard for. He had known since Wednesday night, and he had held her after she sobbed when she told him. He was thankful he didn’t have to pull a Denis Thatcher and tell her it was time; she had known without prompting. The whole of Downing Street had applauded her after he had consoled her in her study.
“Ready to go home?” He asked her as they packed for Chequers.
“I made a list for Waitrose. We are running low on washing liquid, and I need more salt and vinegar crisps,” she said quietly.
He began to giggle as he looked at her, arms coming to pull her close. “You never let things linger too long, do you?”
“Real life awaits,” she teased before kissing him. “Thank you for never losing confidence in me.”
His heart softened as he took in how tired and broken she truly looked. “Love, you were given an impossible situation with impossible numbers and impossible odds.”
“I could’ve done better,” she mumbled.
He stopped, spinning her to face him. “You did your best. You broke yourself over this. If the country or even the cabinet knew how much of yourself you poured into it, they would feel like the horrid people they are.”
“I’ve let them all down, haven’t I?”
“Who, love?”
She looked up as tears began to stream down her face again. “All those little girls who looked at me and thought, ‘I could do that’. I disappointed them,” she whispered softly.
Kneeling in front of her, he cupped her cheek. “You have let no one down. Little girls will still see you and know you led a country. They will still see the woman who held it together as everyone else lost their heads. Love, when those little girls grow up and read about you, they will see a warrior. They will see the woman in the arena who didn’t go down without a fight, and they will know that it’s okay for them to be fearless and brave and have steel in their back. They will know they can be anything they want to be, including a prime minister who loves shoes.”
She smiled slightly at the last sentence. “You really think so?”
“I know it,” he says. “I know that there are people that will make sure of it as well.”
“Let’s go home,” she whispered softly.
……………………………………
May 26, 2019
She watched him put the last of the dishes away before coming to sit down by her on the couch. “What are you thinking about?” He asked as his hand squeezed her leg.
“It hurts,” she said with a sad smile.
“It will get better,” he told her gently.
She shook her head. “Not just this. Life in general. Life has...it’s been real bitch to us.”
He laughed as he took in the look on her face. “It has. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I lost my parents, we couldn’t have kids, and I gave my whole life to a party that,” she sighed, “that did what it did.”
He smiled at her. “We still have each other,” he said softly.
“Yeah,” she beams at him, “and you are pretty great.”
“You are the strongest woman I know.”
She looked at him, bringing his hand to her lips. “You are the only person who makes it better. You make it all better,” she whispered before curling into him.
They sat in silence, hands clasped tightly. He was trying desperately to take some of it away, but he knew it was to no avail. She would pull herself together slowly over the coming weeks, and she would be the one to hold her head up again. He would watch her set the steel into her backbone and face the world, and he would watch her dust off her heels before taking a deep breath, ready to fight. She would rise again and again even though it hurt to feel. She would show the world dignity and resilience and strength. She would make men quiver from the power she exuded, and she would show everyone what a bloody difficult woman was. She always did.