Inspired by the guitar lying next to Henry during his phone call to Elizabeth about Buddhism in 2x12, and my everlasting love for this song. Imagine it nice and slow like the one by twenty one pilots. Enjoy 3
"I like the middle way," she said, whisper-shouting while turning her head towards Henry.
"That was not the middle way, that was winning," he answered, his hand making that faux tough guy move she always laughed at.
"Well I like that too."
She laughed aloud and he smiled, and they turned their heads in unison, planting a firm kiss on each other's lips. When Elizabeth moaned softly against his mouth, he released her right before planting another smooch on her curled-up lips. She mouthed a soft and smiley hi in between kisses, and after that, they entered the warm comfort of their home again, glad to be out of the searing cold.
"Will the neighbours ever forgive us for our outrageous behaviour, you think?" he said, wrapping his arm around his wife's shoulders, caressing her upper arm lightly.
"Correct that: your behaviour," she chuckled, swatting at his chest. "I thought I could trust you with this, just eggs and mimosas, like we said."
He pulled her close, coming to a halt in front of the staircase, and she rested her head on his chest. "We didn't even get to that. Blake, he–"
Her head shot up, and she gasped, placing her hand flat on her chest in pure feigned shock, "Blaming this on Blake? How dare you?"
He cupped her cheek, inching closer to her, until their lips were only a breath apart, and he whispered, "He had a PowerPoint presentation, babe." He closed the gap and gave her a quick peck, before he saw her mouthing NO HE DIDN'T, entirely amazed – but also impressed by Blake's never-lacking precision, of course.
Mouth agape and eyes big, he nodded at her, and pulled her closer, hands firmly on her waist, and he started tickling her, anticipating the high screech of her beautiful laugh he hadn't heard in too long. But instead of her laughter, he heard a loud groan, followed by some ows, and he ceased his teasing immediately, removing his hands from her body.
"Ahhh, my back, remember?" she said, cringing and biting her lip, as she pressed her head against Henry's chest in pain.
"I'm sorry, babe. Let's get you upstairs, okay?" He went first, taking her hand in his, leading her towards their bedroom. Leaving her sitting on the bed, he entered the bathroom, retrieving some lotion to rub her sore back. Turning around, lotion in hand, he walked back up to her, and he found her lying flat on the bed, face down, probably already dozing off. He placed the lotion on the nightstand and crouched next to the bed, his face aligned with hers. Stroking her soft locks to the side and putting them behind her ear, he softly caressed her cheek and leaned in closer. Whispering silky Elizabeths and babes into her ear, she opened her eyes again and groaned at the sudden lack of sleep.
He leaned in to brush his lips against her cheek ever-so-lightly, before eyeing the lotion waiting on the nightstand. She moaned, hard, and sat up again, raising her arms in the air to let Henry undress her. Shivering at the sudden contact between her warm back and his cold hands when he took off her shirt, he pulled them back and rubbed them together, occasionally blowing into his cupped palms. Elizabeth's arms moved up to take his hands in hers, bringing them to her mouth, blowing softly into his already warming hands. She leaned in further to press small pecks on his palms and fingers, and then stopped, surrendering to the fatigue. She closed her eyes and leaned her head in his palms, softly groaning when his hands moved up to cup her cheeks.
"Baby, just go lie on your stomach, I'll take care of you," he murmured. He unclasped her bra and threw it on the pile of shattered clothes next to the bed, while she moved to lie down. "Where does it hurt exactly?"
Face planted in the duvet, she said something that sounded like errywher, and he chuckled. He grabbed the lotion, got on the bed and swung one leg over her, resting on his knees to not inconvenience her. He squeezed a few dollops of lotion onto his hand and rubbed them together, before placing them on Elizabeth's shoulder blades.
"Oh baby, that feels so good," she moaned.
He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her hair. Henry wondered what had her so sore tonight, she never used to have big problems with her back before. Not before Iran, at least. There'd been an ever-present haze of stress and fear even surrounding her ever since that unfortunate day. And even though she constantly reminded him that Henry, baby, I'm fine, he knew she wasn't, not really. She still bore all the events with her as a constant burden she shouldn't be carrying. And she keeps on telling him that Henry, baby, I'm fine, because her panic attacks had ceased – or so she said – and she wasn't having nightmares anymore, but he knew better. But this wasn't the time to get into it, she had seen and done enough for the day, and he had something better to do in that moment.
A dozen minutes later, she gave her all-lotioned-up back a last two pats, before shifting off of her again, moving to lie in his spot next to her. To his great surprise, she wasn't sleeping, or not anymore.
"Thank you, that was amazing," she murmured, not even attempting to get under the covers.
"I'll get you out of those pants now," he said.
She snorted, "My my, Professor McCord, aren't you the naughty one?"
He rolled his eyes at her, "No, you are going to sleep, missy."
She groaned as she turned around to move more to her side of the bed rather than the middle. Lying on her back, she unbuttoned her pants and shimmied then down her legs, before throwing them somewhere in the room. "Pyjamas please!" she called after Henry. He returned with them in hand and threw the bunch of fresh clothes at her. Waiting for Henry to get under the covers with her, she looked around the bedroom that had become so familiar to her, to them: their safe haven where they could just be them, even though their communication could have fared better the last few weeks. But this wasn't the time to get into that.
And then she noticed the guitar neck protruding next to the dresser, and she realised he must've been strumming on it while she was gone, something he really only did when he couldn't find anything else to do.
"Baby, were you very bored while I was away?" she said, lifting the covers to lie under them, against better judgement.
He turned around, frowning, "What– what makes you say that?"
She motioned her head in the direction of the guitar, and he instantly knew where this was going.
He let out a huff and shook his head, "No. Elizabeth, no."
"Please, it's been so long! Pleaaaaase, Henry."
"Can't we… have sex instead? Come on, Elizabeth, you know I don't like it."
She shook her head resolutely, "Nope. No guitar, no sex."
He sighed and averted his gaze to the floor, "You're gonna continue this until I do the thing, right?"
She perked up and smiled contentedly, "Oh, you know me so well."
Accepting his fate, he went to grab his guitar, before going back to the bed, taking place on top of the covers with his guitar in his lap. Elizabeth had settled under the duvet, having pulled it all the way over her nose, so only her bright flickering eyes were showing, surrounded by an aureole of golden hair.
"The usual?" he answered.
She nodded, adding a yes please before softly pinching his upper leg.
"Here it goes."
Wise men say only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay
Would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you
For I can't help falling in love with you
He watched her as he played, her eyes slowly closing, drifting away, but her smile never even trying to leave her face.
He placed his guitar on the floor next to him and turned off the light, before getting under the covers and taking her warm body in his arms. She moved in the dark, tentatively searching for his face with her nose, eventually nudging it against his cheek. She shifted forward to press her lips to his, immediately asking for entrance as her tongue licked the seam of his lips. He cupped her cheeks as they deepened the kiss, just enjoying each other for those last beautiful moments before sleep claimed them.
"I love you so much," she murmured against his lips.
"I love you too," he said, pecking her one last time for the night.
She rested her head on his chest and found his hand on his side, and she sang, completely disregarding her lack of singing capacities, knowing full well Henry would too.
"Take my hand, take my whole life too."
And as he joined in, "For I can't help falling in love with you."