AN: While I was posting Broken and Mended, I wrote a handful of one shots that I'll be publishing over next few weeks. Hopefully by then, I'll have another bigger work ready to go.
It was mid afternoon on Tuesday. Fall seemed to be fading fast. Last week's surprise snow left the ground covered white for three days. Elizabeth Adams was antsy. Weather like this was perfect for riding and yet she was stuck in a math study group. She was the lone freshman in this group. Being very analytically minded, she had tested out of all of the lower level math classes and was well on her way to a math degree. Sitting around her were four juniors, and three seniors, who seemed to having nothing else to do but chat. Elizabeth liked this group and associated with them socially, but she was itching to leave.
When it finally looked like they were about to wrap up, Elizabeth glanced at her watch. She smiled. If she hurried, it would be just enough time to make it to the stable and get a nice ride in before dark. Everyone started shuffling their belongings into backpacks when a figure in the doorway caught her attention. It was a man, but not just any man. His name was Henry McCord. He was a grad student and she'd had the pleasure of talking to him at a couple parties. She found him very likeable and there was no doubt that he was very nice looking. She dipped her head down as she blushed thinking just how good looking he was. Henry directed his attention to Tom Hodges, a senior math major in their group.
"Hey Tom. Are you ready to go?" The lanky young man looked up at his friend.
"Uh, go where?" he asked.
Henry shot him an exasperated look. "I'm having a root canal, remember. They won't let me drive myself home because of the sedation."
"Aww, crap Henry I forgot. I have basketball practice right after this." Henry didn't try to hide his annoyance at the situation.
"Where do you have to go, Henry?" another one of the group asked. "I'm going to visit my Grandma in Ednam Village."
"Thanks, but I need to go the opposite way. My dentist is in Ivy Glen." Elizabeth's ears perked at that.
"I'm going riding at a stable just past that. I could drop you off and pick you up when I'm done with my ride," she offered.
Henry's eyes followed the voice to the person, but he already knew who it belonged to, Elizabeth Adams. He'd talked to her at a few parties. She was intelligent, beautiful and he found her to be quite funny. He'd thought about asking her out, but thought with him being a first year grad student, she would think he was too old. A wide smile spread across his face. "Are you sure it wouldn't be too much trouble?" he asked.
"No. It's right on the way, but I need to run by my room real quick first, if that's alright."
"That's no problem," he said. Elizabeth slung her backpack up on her shoulder and it thudded against her back as she made her way through the rows of chairs. As she got closer, Henry grinned at her. "Thanks Elizabeth. I really appreciate it. I told them I could drive myself, but they insisted someone else drive me."
His smile made her stomach flip, but she tried to keep her cool as she stepped past him. "Gotta follow the rules," she said somewhat awkwardly, and he laughed. He followed her the short distance to her dorm. They talked easily and Henry revisited the notion of asking her out. Later he thought, maybe when we get back to campus.
She left him in the lounge and dashed upstairs to her room where she quickly stripped her jeans off and tugged on her riding pants and threw an old UVA sweatshirt. She shoved her feet in her old Keds while simultaneously pulling her hair back into a low ponytail. Digging her riding boots out of her closet, she dropped a pair of tall socks down in one before leaving her room, pulling the door shut behind her.
Henry couldn't hide his surprise when she came clamoring down the steps less than five minutes after tearing up them. "What?" she asked, as she caught him slack-jawed lounging on the couch.
"I have two sisters and they have a lot of friends. When a girl says 'real quick,' it's never real quick."
"Maybe I'm not like other girls," she smirked. Henry suddenly felt himself hoping he could see that for himself. "Besides we're burning daylight and I haven't ridden in a few weeks. Let's go.*
Once they got on the highway, it was a short drive, taking only a few minutes. They chatted about majors and Henry made a compelling case for taking the Religion and Politics class he was going to assist with in the spring. When they pulled into the parking lot, Henry said, "This is supposed to take a couple hours. If you aren't able to pick me up, I can call a couple different people."
"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll ride until it starts to get dark and then I'll just come by and wait." Henry looked uncomfortable. "Really. I don't mind," she said.
"You're sure?" Elizabeth nodded. "Okay then, I'll see you in a little while." Henry hopped out of the car and disappeared inside.
She returned just shy of two hours later, just as it was getting dark. The receptionist smiled as Elizabeth walked in the door. "Are you here for Henry McCord?" Elizabeth nodded. "Oh good. You can come on back. He's been asking for you." Elizabeth gave the woman an odd look, but followed her through the side door.
She gestured toward the doorway and motioned Elizabeth inside. Elizabeth peeked in before crossing the threshold, wondering why Henry had been asking for her.
Henry was in the chair tilted back as the dentist was finishing up. He was murmuring a constant stream of garbled words and Elizabeth wondered if any of them could understand anything he was saying. She leaned in the doorway until the dentist sat back stretching. "All done Mr. McCord. You're probably going to have trouble speaking for the next few hours, and you need to wait to eat for at least three hours.
"Fwee hou-oos?" Henry questioned. "I'm hungwy." The dentist ignored him and stopped to address Elizabeth.
"The anesthetic seems to be hitting him hard. You may not want to leave him alone tonight." The man patted her shoulder before walking out of the room. Elizabeth's eyes roamed the room wildly, curious as to exactly what she'd signed up for.
It was then that Henry caught sight of her in his peripheral vision. "Elibet! Babe. Tum he-wa." He motioned for her to join him. "Mawy, dis is Elibet. Elibet, dis is Mawy."
Elizabeth gave the hygienist a sympathetic smile. "Elizabeth," she said.
The hygienist nodded and returned the smile. "Mary." She finished cleaning up and unclipped the "bib" from Henry's neck. "There you go Henry. Elizabeth here is going to take you home now. You need to drink clear fluids, don't use straws until tomorrow, and wait a few hours to eat." Stepping around behind Henry's chair, Mary addressed Elizabeth. "Doc had a hard time getting him numb enough, so he's had an triple the normal amount of anesthetic. He's pretty loopy right now. Good thing you're willing to put up with him."
Elizabeth's forehead wrinkled as she tried to process that. "I am?"
Mary turned on her heel and stared her down. "I was under the impression that you were a couple."
"Uh, I offered him a ride. I barely know Henry."
She chuckled. "I'm not sure he's aware of that. Good luck honey. You can take him home now."
It worked in Elizabeth's favor that Henry was at least mobile, walking to the car with no problems at all, but his constant stream of mostly unintelligible chatter was driving her nuts. She responded with a lot of "ohs?" and "uh huhs," having no idea what he was really saying or what she was agreeing to.
They managed to get to the apartment he shared with Tom and she walked him upstairs, sort of hoping that Tom was home, and she wasn't put in an awkward situation. Tom answered the door and Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.
"Tom!" Henry exclaimed seeing his friend in the doorway. "Dis is Elibet." He leaned in close to Tom's ear and spoke in a normal speaking voice. "I like her." Tom burst out laughing and Elizabeth's face flooded a beet red.
"Come on Henry. Why don't we let Elizabeth go home and hope she forgets this because you are going to want to crawl under a rock if you remember it."
"No!" Henry was adamant, pushing away from Tom before turning to Elizabeth. "I wuv oo. Mar me Elibet."
Both Tom and Elizabeth started laughing. "Did you just say what I think you said?'
Tom was laughing, near hysterics. "Oh hell yeah, he did."
Elizabeth put her hand on his shoulder. "I think before I say yes, we should really go on a date first."
Henry nodded seriously. "Dood idea. Bye," he said, entering the apartment and falling face first on the couch.
Tom looked at Elizabeth, with tears still in his eyes. "I'm never letting him live this down."
"No, don't say anything. He would be embarrassed."
Tom raised one eyebrow. "I'll try, but it will be difficult." He laughed. "Thanks for taking him."
Elizabeth bid Tom goodbye and walked back to her car smiling. "That was so crazy," she murmured, laughing to herself, as she started her car and headed to her dorm.
Nothing was ever said about that afternoon and Henry did finally ask her out after she finished the Religion and Politics final the following semester. They saw each other a few times over the summer and officially started dating in late October of Elizabeth's sophomore year. Henry went off to boot camp. Then there was training and flight school, and they hung together through it all until the day that Henry saw the writing on the wall. Tensions were rising in the Middle East and there would be a deployment there. The thought of Elizabeth having to endure a repeat of the pain she dealt with when her parents died was more than he could take. He spent that Friday afternoon drinking with his buddies talking about the inevitable. He eventually found himself sitting in his car in front of their apartment. He knew what he had to do. Henry downed a six pack before heading up the stairs.
Half drunk, he stood in front of the door he'd walked in and out of for the better part of three years and he knocked. Within a few seconds, Elizabeth opened the door and confusion swept across her face. "Hey, did you lose your key? Wait? Have you been drinking?"
Henry squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and started talking. He'd thought about what he was going to say, how he would make her understand that this was for the best, but once he was standing in front of her, and she stared at him looking worried and confused, he couldn't stick to the plan. "I need to go. I'm going to be deployed." When she just gave him a blank stare, he changed his tactic. "I'm breaking up with you."
"You're what? But we've always known you would be deployed. That makes no sense." she implored.
"But not to a war zone. We need to end this before you get hurt."
"What the hell Henry? I love you. We're way past the getting hurt stage. Tell me what's really going on," Elizabeth was pleading with him, holding on to his hand.
He pried her hand off of his. "It's not going to work Elizabeth. I love you and wish you well." He turned, leaving her standing silently in the doorway, tears now streaming down her face.
Henry had a ten second start before Elizabeth came to her senses and chased him down. "You are not going to walk away. I'm not going to let you." He tried to close the car door, but Elizabeth had hold of it. "Talk to me Henry. I love you. Don't do this. You can't just up and leave like this."
"I love you too, but you need more than just my promise of love. It's over Elizabeth," he said. Putting the car in reverse, she stepped back to avoid being hit by the door. He backed into the street and pulled away. Elizabeth sat on the curb and cried. She had no rational explanation for what had just happened. What was he doing? What was she going to do?
She wandered their apartment in a daze the rest of the evening, hoping that one of his friends would talk some sense into him and drag him back. When he didn't come home and she didn't hear from him, she spent most of the next day in bed sobbing. There was the one trip to the kitchen to grab the pint container of ice cream, but after the first couple bites, it lost its appeal and could be found melted on her nightstand the next day. By Sunday morning, Elizabeth's tears were gone. She sat up. If there was one thing that Elizabeth Adams could do well, it was mask her emotions. She went to take a shower, fixed her hair, applied makeup to cover the dark circles under her eyes, and got dressed. Elizabeth stopped by the coffee shop on her way to the library. Whenever Elizabeth had a problem that needed avoiding, her best coping mechanism was study, so that was her plan.
Henry drank another six pack before passing out on a friend's couch Friday night. When he woke mid morning Saturday, he had one hell of a hangover. After spending three hours in the bathroom alternating between retching in a toilet that probably hadn't seen cleaned since his friend rented the place and laying his head on the cold tile floor, which had roughly the same amount of cleaning, Henry drug himself into the shower. With the steaming water pelting him, he realized what he'd done. His chest constricted making it difficult to draw a breath and panic rose in equal measure with his blood pressure. What had he been thinking? Obviously, he hadn't been thinking. Rumors of the impending military action against Iraq were flying and Henry lost all rational thought. He knew he had to talk to Elizabeth. He had to make it up to her. Then doubt settled in. What if she didn't want him back? What if he screwed up so bad that their relationship was beyond repair? He needed to do something spectacular-something so over the top that there was no way she could not take him back. He stepped out of the shower and picked his watch up off of the edge of the sink. Nodding to himself, he had just enough time.
Saturday evening he paced the apartment. His friend had gone to a back to school party, but there was no way Henry could even think of anything but repairing his relationship with Elizabeth. Henry dozed off and on through the night and was up pacing again before daybreak. His plan wouldn't come together until 5. He had to wait until then.
Henry watched each second tick by as minutes became hours. He was so nauseous, he thought he may throw up in the middle of his spiel. Finally, he knocked on her door at 4:15. There was no answer. He knocked again. Nothing. Pulling his keys from his pocket, he unlocked the door and walked into the apartment. As he moved room to room, nausea gave way to all out panic. He'd never considered that she wouldn't be home. Maybe she really had moved on. He spun in circles wildly trying to figure out where she might be.
Elizabeth had put in a good four hours of study. Her body ached all over from the mental exhaustion of focusing on the reading material in front of her instead of Henry. She still had a headache from crying the day before and as she passed by one of the windows and looked at her reflection, she could plainly see that her makeup job had not held. She trudged up the stairs to her apartment and was shocked to see her door standing wide open. By the time she crossed the threshold, Henry came into view. He was standing near the couch turning in circles. Fury rose up in her instantly. "If you came to get your things, you need to do so and get the fuck out."
Henry was so happy to see her that he didn't even notice the tone she used. "Thank God you're here," he said. In a split second, adrenaline of one kind dissipated and was replaced by another. "I need to talk to you."
"Really? Because I'm not sure there's anything left to say," she snapped. "Asshole," she muttered under her breath.
"I made a mistake. I freaked out. I should have handled it better. I should have talked it out with you. I'm stupid." Elizabeth stood across the room, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Those are all true statements, especially the last one. What do you want from me Henry?" She was so angry and hurt that even her love for him was pushed aside. She wasn't going to let him treat her that way.
"What do I want? I want to spend the rest of my life waking up next to you. I want you to be the mother of my children. I want you to be my wife." He surprised himself by saying that. That wasn't part of the original plan, but now he was committed.
Elizabeth's mouth fell open and he saw the fire in her eyes and braced himself for what was about to come. "Are you fucking crazy? You just broke up with me and now you want to marry me? I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen."
"Babe, I know you're mad-" Henry started.
"I'm mad? Do you think this is mad? I am so far beyond mad Henry. I'm furious." As she spoke, her initial fury started to wane and tears formed. "And I'm so hurt. How could you just toss us aside? I thought we meant more to you than that. I thought I meant more to you." Her voice cracked and she tried hard to keep the tears away, but with her words came the realization of just how hurt she was. Tears ran freely down her cheeks and she did nothing to stop them. "How dare you show up three days later and expect me to just pick up where we left off? You're a self centered ass and you can go any time." Elizabeth turned her back to him tried to hold the sob in. She shook with the force of it when it finally escaped her body. Before she knew it, she was wrapped him Henry's arms.
"I don't deserve you and you are right. I was an ass and you should leave me, but I'm begging you to give me another chance. Ours is a once in a lifetime love and I promise I will never screw up like this again."
"I can't say yes to you Henry. Not after the last three days, at least not right now." Henry glanced at his watch. Elizabeth scoffed. "You have better places to be?"
"Yes. Actually we do. Come on." He grabbed Elizabeth's hand and dragged her out the door not bothering to even close it.
"What the hell Henry?" she protested as she was being tugged across the parking lot into the park that butted up to her apartment building. "Let me go Henry."
"Not yet, babe." Henry stopped at the top of the hill. "Okay. Now will you please just give me a couple minutes?" Elizabeth shifted all her weight to one side and placed her hands on her hips
"What Henry? What's the point of dragging me up here?" Her annoyance was evident in her voice. Henry heard the low rumble of the airplane flying above them. He followed it for a moment before returning his attention to Elizabeth.
"I love you more than life itself. I made a stupid mistake. Please, take me back. Please, would you marry me?"
"No Henry. Maybe someday, but certainly not now. Not today."
Henry stepped into her and wrapped his arms around her tense body. He leaned in an kissed her cheek. Her demeanor did not change. Henry was desperate. "Do you love me?"
She stepped back, breaking his hold. "Of course I do, and I was all in forever. You were the one who wasn't." She started to walk away, but he stepped in front of her.
"If I could make you laugh right now, would you agree to marry me?" Henry grinned widely and Elizabeth rolled her eyes. The hum of the airplane still so close was starting to get on her nerves. She started to turn around but her grabbed her by the shoulders. "I'm serious. If I can make you laugh right now, will you say yes."
"Sure, whatever, not gonna happen." Henry spun her around and she looked to the sky, locating the plane. Elizabeth's hand flew to her mouth as the smoke from the plane cut off. "Mar me Elibet" was written across the sky. Her lips betrayed her current mood and turned into a smile. "You knew?" she asked, looking back at him over her shoulder.
"Tom ribbed me about it forever. I had to cook him dinner twice a week for six months to keep him from telling you that I remembered everything I said that day." Elizabeth's smile grew wider and although she tried her best not to, she laughed.
Henry snaked his arms around her middle and rested his head against hers, whispering in her ear. "I know you're angry and you have every right to be, but I want you to know that from this point on, I will always show up for you. So, someday, when you aren't mad at me anymore, do you think that you might possibly, maybe think about marrying me?"
Elizabeth tipped her head back a bit further to meet his eyes. "I did laugh, so I suppose I'm now obligated to say yes."
She felt him shudder behind her. "Are you alright?" she asked.
Henry's legs buckled under him and sat hard on the ground. "No. I'm not okay at all. I thought I'd lost you." Elizabeth sat down beside him, and held his hand. "I don't know what I would've done if you had really walked away."
"Me either."
They sat quietly for quite a while and then Henry said. "Would you be willing to wear the ring I got you? Elibet."
Elizabeth giggled and nodded. "Even though I'm still hurt now, some day I won't be." Henry leaned over and pulled the ring box from his front pocket. He removed it and slipped it on her finger. She sucked in a sharp breath. "It's beautiful Henry."
"Only half as beautiful as you. I love you so much. Let's go home Elibet." They stood and walked down the hill, hand in hand. The problems they had weren't always going to be easiest to fix, but no matter what storm came up, they would weather it together.
Madam Secretary Prompt: "Mar me Elibet" wasn't a mistake by a terrible skywriter - it was absolutely intentional, because Henry knew that it was something that would make Elizabeth cry with laughter.