The Many, Many Ways He Says "I Love You"
1 – In for Dinner
Walking out of the clinic doors that evening, Elisabeth glanced up at the sky, noting its many brilliant features before setting off for home. She knew she had stayed late- then again, the intelligent lights inside the clinic had kept her surroundings staggeringly illuminated as the hours had come and gone and the sun set- but the night was very dark to her at that time. Any remaining traces of the sinking sun were obscured by the tree line, out of her sight. Out in the colony, there were only a few people making their way, like her, through the darkness, and most, if not all (she couldn't quite tell from a distance), were members of the security team.
Of course she had a good reason for leaving as late as she did. The clinic had been exceptionally busy that day, and as a doctor she had been in very high demand. Right up until the very last there had been people crying out for her expert attention. When she did finally take leave of her duties, it was only after she had gone around a second time, checking to make sure everyone in her care was stable and properly attended to the rest of the night. She had, to her consolation, been able to send word home along with her eldest daughter, Maddy, who had come looking for her about an hour after her shift was supposed to end. At the time, she had only been able to say that she had been flooded with work and may not be home until later that night. Still, she had not expected it to be quite as dark as it was now.
Though the air was warm she was not particularly tired, or exhausted from being on her feet all day. Finally coming up on her own front door, thoughts of a quiet read seemed tantalizingly wonderful.
"Sorry I'm late," she said after opening the door and stepping into the house, not entirely sure there was anyone to hear what she had said. Continuing on her path without hearing any reply, a wall of scent smote her when she had reached the family room just a few steps from the door. Although she had forgotten that it had indeed been a long while since dinner, and she had not yet taken supper, she suddenly felt very hungry.
Eyes watching her approach, her husband Jim waited for her by the table where two places were set. His arms beckoned out as he greeted her, "Perfect timing I'd say," then smiled.
"Jim? What-," she started, approaching him only to be suddenly caught in a short embrace, then kissed on the temple before being released, "what is all this?" She was rather taken aback. "Where is everybody?" she continued when he offered no reply.
"Well," he began, ever so gently taking her shoulders in his hands to steer her over to her place at the table as he spoke, "Zoey's already asleep, Maddy's studying in her room, and uhh, Josh is at work."
"What still? This late in the evening?" Elisabeth questioned, turning to send Jim a concerned look.
He only nodded with his slight smile and redirected her shoulders back around again. "They're having a birthday party for one of the officers," he told her, "he's fine."
Allowing herself to be sat down, she looked out over the table as her husband took his seat opposite to her. "You did all this?" she questioned in awe-struck disbelief, noticing the meal in front of her was much more complicated than toasted bread with jam.
"Well, Maddy helped me tell the difference between the salt and the sugar," he said with a straight face, "but I did the rest."
"Oh Jim, that's so sweet," she cooed, reaching over to rest her hand on his, upon which gesture he adjusted his hand to run his thumb over her fingers as they sat, staring at each other with those warm smiles only mothers and fathers have.
"And I, am, famished," Elisabeth continued, releasing his hand to retrieve her fork and knife. Jim did the same, and together they sat and began eating.
A few moments later, Elisabeth paused, closing her eyes momentarily to savor the taste of her food. "Mm, so good," she said.
Jim merely smiled, appreciating the complement, then raised the glass in front of him, even though it only held water. "To us," he offered.
"To us," she replied, doing the same.
A/N: This is meant to be a continuing project of (relatively) unrelated one-shots set between Jim and Elisabeth Shannon. As it stands, I've got lots of ideas, some more concretely developed than others, and all (hopefully) enjoyable and coherent. Please: let me know if you like the first installment or if you'd be interested in seeing it continued, I really do appreciate your input.