Valentines Day was fast approaching and Henry was determined to make it a wonderful one for Elizabeth. She never really got to caught up in the "holiday",what was the point of buying overpriced roses that would most likely be dead in a week, but with the way things had been lately, he figured she deserved a little extra romance. With Valentines day falling on a Sunday this year, he thought that maybe they would have the whole day uninterrupted, but that dream was shortly lived, seeing that it was Friday night and she had been stuck at the office since Wednesday.

"Hey babe! How's it going? Do you think you'll make it home for the weekend?" Henry sent the text, figuring it would be easier to get a reply back than trying to get her on the phone.

"I have no idea…in the sit room currently…I'm so exhausted! I'll let you know more once I know more. Love you baby :*"

"Okay, well let me know, our bed has been so lonely the past few nights with you gone. Love you too babe. Try to get some rest if you can't make it home." Henry was beginning to lose hope that she'll make it home at all this weekend, let alone for Valentines Day.

"I miss being in your arms, I could sleep for days right now. I miss you :*" Elizabeth was starting to get homesick, which was funny, since she was only at the office and not somewhere across the world. The seemingly endless days and weeks wore on her, she missed her family, her bed, and at times she longed to be back on the horse farm in Virginia. This was one of those weeks where she missed all of it, she wasn't always like this when the weeks seemed to never end, but the situation was relentless and it was a tough one, one that she wished she didn't have to deal with.

Henry picked up on the fact that his wife was getting homesick for them, for him, even though it was just through texting he always knew when she was not doing okay. He made up his mind at that moment that if she wasn't able to make it home tonight he would send a surprise to her office in the morning, starting off the Valentine's weekend with sweet gestures, hoping that he could cheer her up and pull her out of the sadness induced funk.

Henry awoke the next morning to the empty spot beside him in bed, knowing she hadn't been able to make it home, he sighed and thought about how he would go about her surprise. "Good morning love, I guess things didn't settle down enough for you to slip home?" he pressed send, hoping that she would see it right away, or that she was getting a quick cat nap in her office.

"Morning babe, yeah, no one wants to work together and its getting annoying"

"How did you sleep last night? I know I hardly slept at all, gosh I miss being in your arms! :("

"I slept as well as I could seeing as how half of the bed was missing something really important ;)"

"Do you think things will wrap up today? Or will you be spending all weekend in your office?"

"I am HOPING that things get settled today and I can FINALLY come home! I swear teaching college students was easier than dealing with some of these politicians…..Crap babe, I gotta go… I love you! Give the kids a hug and kiss for me please! I miss you all so much! OXOX"

"Love you too babe! We all miss you as well, go give them hell! ;) XOXO"

With that last text Henry decided that after breakfast he would head out to the flower shop to hand pick out a few roses he knew would cheer her up. "Hey guys, I'm going to go run a few errands, does anyone need me to pick up anything?"

"No dad, I think we are good, but thanks for offering!" The kids had replied back to him, almost in unison.

"Dad, do you know when mom might be home? I need to talk to her about something." Allison asked.

"No, Noodle I do not…I'm sorry. She said these guys aren't willing to work together yet, maybe you could text her, I bet she would love a text from you. She's getting a little homesick." Henry told his youngest daughter.

"Yeah, okay…I'll send her a text, but I'd sooner have her here to talk to. Thanks dad." Aly said then headed back up to her bedroom to get her phone and text her mother.

"Stevie, Jason I'm headed out now. You guys sure you don't need anything?"

"Nope we're good dad. Be careful, love you!" Stevie replied to her father, knowing that he was on a mission to do anything to cheer up her mother. She didn't need words to know what he was up to, it was all in his mannerisms and tone of his voice. He was indeed missing her mother, they had such a bond that when one or the other was gone for to many days they would mope around the house missing the other.

Henry had pulled into the parking lot of the flower shop, it had been unusually empty for the day before Valentines Day. Walking through the door as the bell chimed he was greeted by the young lady behind the register as she was working on arrangements for those who had pre-ordered.

"HI! May I help you with something, sir?"

"HI, I was looking for a few single roses, do you happen to have any left that are unspoken for?"

"Well you happen to be in luck, we do have a bucket over there with loose roses." The girl said pointing to a bucket that was inside the refrigerated arrangement room. "Most of the arrangements in that room are unspoken for as well as the single roses, please feel free to look around." She added, smiling at Henry.

"Thank you." He replied back, heading over to the room that was filled with many beautiful arrangements. Looking around he wasn't sure if he should just get her a few loose roses, or one of the pre-made arrangements. Roses were indeed her favorite flower, he decided to look over the roses. Noticing there were mostly red ones, he pulled out a few white and lavender ones. Three lavender and two white, each symbolizing a member of their family, the lavender for each of the kids and the white him and her, hoping this would do the trick he took the five roses to the register.

"I see you were able to find a few, would you like a bud vase and babys' breath?" the young girl asked, with a smile on her face.

"Oh yes please, I almost forgot about that! Thank you" Henry replied with a little chuckle. Duh! he thought to himself, she wouldn't have anything at work to put them in, and she always loved her roses to have a few sprigs of babys' breath.

The girl showed Henry a couple bud vases, one purple, a red one, a clear boring one, and a blue one. He decided to go for the purple one, thinking it would make the white roses pop among the lavender.

"Very nice choice, it looks lovely! She sure is a lucky lady to have a gentleman like you in here hand picking roses the day before Valentines Day." the young lady said to him, smiling.

"Thank you, I sure think she's lucky, then again, I'm lucky to have her to buy these for." Henry replied back with a smile.

"Would you like me to deliver them somewhere, or will you also be hand delivering them?"

"I will be delivering them, but thank you. Thank you for your help with the vase, the purple is perfect!"

"Will there be anything else today, sir?"

"No thank you, this will do." Henry replied as she rang him out, handing her his credit card she looked at the name, flashing him an even bigger smile than she had before.

"Excuse me for saying, Dr. McCord, but your wife is such an inspiration. I admire her and respect her. She really is a lucky lady to have you! I wish you both a Happy Valentines Day and pray that the world stays at peace so she may have a relaxing day with you." She said smiling, while handing Henry back his card.

"Thank you, and I will relay the message to her that you think so highly of her. It always brightens her day to hear things like that." He replied picking up the vase and heading to the Jeep.

Not knowing what her schedule was currently like he decided to send her a text. "Hey babe, might you have time for some lunch today? Or won't they let you eat? ;)"

"Haha, I wish babe! These people are crazy! I'm SO hungry…no one seems to want to eat today :("

"I could always bring you something? Name it and I'll deliver! I miss you babe! I need to see you today!"

"You know, I can always squeeze in a quick lunch. I could eat some soup from that place down the street, you know the place, I'm so sick of cafeteria food!"

"You've got it! Anything else I can bring for you? A latte from Starbucks with a double shot of espresso?"

"That sounds wonderful! Let me know when you get here, gotta pay attention again! XOXO"

Henry smiled, he indeed would get her anything she wanted, as long as it meant he was able to see her beautiful face. At that moment he decided to text Blake to give him a heads up, and to make sure she would indeed be able to eat lunch, even if it was for 15 minutes.

"Blake, I will be bringing in lunch for Elizabeth, please see that she gets away from those stiffs to join me. I will be there in about a half hour."

"Dr. McCord, will do! She is in need of a pick me up, and you are the right person for the job. She misses you and its really starting to show. See you in a bit."

Smiling as Henry read Blakes response, he put the Jeep in drive and made his way to the restaurant to pick up her favorite soup, a tomato soup with large chunks of tomatoes and shredded parmesan cheese. He also stopped for coffee for the both of them, knowing she'd need some high-test to get her through the day.

"Hey babe, I'm on my way up, I do hope they've agreed to let you eat."

"Thanks for the heads up baby, I'll get them to a breaking point and will meet you in my office in a few! ;*"

Smiling, Henry walked off the elevator and down the long hallway towards her office. Blake was sitting at his desk and nodded to Henry as he went by.

"Hi Dr. McCord, she's still tied up, but I promise I will have her to you in about 5 minutes." Blake responded with a wink.

"Thank you Blake, she does know I"m here, but I'm sure you ushering her out will make her move a little faster. Henry replied to his wifes' assistant returning the wink.

Henry walked into her office, sitting their lunch and her flowers on the coffee table in front of her couch. He sat down waiting for her to join him, looking at the clock he noticed that 10 minutes had gone by since he had gotten there, knowing how her meetings usually went when they tried to meet for lunch, he started to stand up to go check with Blake as she walked into her office. He noticed she intact was exhausted, and frustrated with the past few days, but none the less when her eyes met his a wide smile broke across her beautiful face.

"Hi stranger! You are a sight for sore eyes, oh my how I've missed you!" she said to Henry as she walked over to him kissing him as he took her in a tight embrace. She melted into his embrace, his hug felt so good against her tired body and his smell brought her a much needed pick me up. Noticing the contents on her table as their embrace broke she smiled at him. "Thank you so much for the roses baby, they are gorgeous!" she exclaimed as she bent down to smell them, oh how she loved the smell of fresh roses in the dead of winter!

"I'm glad you like them, now how about you sit down and relax for a few minutes and enjoy your soup." he said to her pulling her down on the couch beside him as he pecked her on the cheek. "I want you to actually be able to eat something without distraction, because something tells me that you've hardly eaten anything the past four days." Henry always knew when she'd been not eating, it was easy for him to spot, she was always one to put projects and problems first to get them solved before taking time to eat, she had been like this since the day he met her.

She had sat down beside him on the couch, leaning in for a much needed kiss, his lips felt so good against hers as she had been missing his kisses the past few days. She reached for her soup, and taking a bite, thanked Henry for his visit and of course the soup and flowers. She had gotten about half of her soup eaten when Blake interrupted.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but they are asking to continue the meeting." Blake said to her catching the sad expression sweep over her face. "You know, maybe they will finally decide to work together and we can get out of here tonight." he added trying to cheer her up with a little bit of hope.

"Okay, thank you Blake, I'll be there in a minute." she replied back to him, with an exasperated sigh. Looking at Henry she leaned in for a hug, hoping this would give her the wind she needed to continue with these talks. "I'm sorry babe, maybe I'll get to see you again this weekend, but don't hold your breath. This was a nice little visit, thank you for the lunch and the flowers. I love you." She had said to him, getting up and walking with him out of her office, leaving him at the conference room door with a quick kiss and hug.

10:30pm Saturday night

"Hey babe, still holed up in meetings?"

"Unfortunately yes :( "

"Do you think you'll make it home at all tonight or even tomorrow?"

"I honestly don't know. New things keep popping up and we have to stop the talks so I can deal with the other issues also."

"Oh :( okay"

"Babe I gotta go, Love you. Don't wait up. XOXO"

"I like you okay too… give em' hell babe. XOXO"