Author's Note: I was inspired to do this when I read an excellent Little Shop of Horrors fic, "Skid Row Romance", which used this format and led me to seek out the Livejournal community "1sentence", where I found the prompts. I don't post fanfiction on Livejournal so this fanfic does not claim to be directly affiliated with that challenge in any way. (And a shout-out to Marianne Greenleaf as well, who has already posted a similarly-formatted story a while back!)

The time period of these sentences spans the length of Harold and Marian's (pre-engagement) courtship, and I used the prompt set "Epsilon". If I get inspired I might write additional chapters using different prompt sets, that would cover a couple different times in their marriage. And the title is after the Beatles song, which is one of my favorite romantic songs of all time, and the lyrics of which I think fit Harold and Marian pretty well. :)

I've been crazy busy lately now that I'm back in school and currently rehearsing two plays (including playing Audrey in the aforementioned Little Shop of Horrors, squeeee!) and I have been working on fanfic here and there but not making much progress, so it was fun to find something relatively quick to do and not have to worry about plot!

xxx

1. Motion

Harold felt like he had lived his whole life in constant motion, whether it was moving from one town to the next or simply from one end of the music emporium to the other – but he could stay happily in Marian's company for hours on end without ever desiring to be anywhere else.

2. Cool

Her blouse was a little thin for the fall weather, and she shivered, drawing her arms closer to her chest – and then laughed in amused appreciation when she felt Harold drape his suit coat around her shoulders from behind.

3. Young

No matter what her marital status, he couldn't understand how anybody could have ever thought Marian Paroo an "old maid", not when she was clearly so young and vibrant and beautiful – were they deep in denial or simply blind?

4. Last

When the last patron of the day had finally left Madison Public Library, Marian and Harold inevitably ended up stealing a few sweet, furtive kisses among the stacks, and, though she'd never admit it, the librarian looked forward to these moments all day long.

5. Wrong

The only thing that kept Harold from pulling his darling flush against him in one of their more heated moments and running his hands eagerly over every inch of her beautiful body was the knowledge that it would be wrong to do such a thing – and no matter how frustrating it felt, he was determined that their courtship would be done perfectly right.

6. Gentle

There was no doubt that Harold Hill was a boisterous and energetic man, but when he looked at Marian and held her close, he was so wonderfully gentle that it almost brought tears to her eyes.

7. One

A few months ago, Harold had thought the world full of a near-infinite amount of beautiful, fascinating women; now, he saw only one.

8. Thousand

Marian had to laugh privately when her little brother gravely informed her that he would be brave enough to try his hand at a cornet solo, because Harold had taught him that the coward dies a thousand deaths, but the brave man, only five hundred.

9. King

For all of his skill at crafting elaborate schemes, Harold could never much get the hang of the meticulous tactics of chess, and when Winthrop wrinkled his nose in suspicion that his brother figure had let him win, the music professor could tell him in complete honesty that he had not.

10. Learn

She'd always assumed that kissing was a sort of brief and simple thing – certainly she'd never imagined the involvement of tongues, or that the whole thing could end up going on long enough that she felt lightheaded and lost track of time – but, though it was all so unexpected, she was immensely enjoying learning this sort of knowledge from Harold.

11. Blur

Her days used to pass by in a blur, none more remarkable than any others, never anything to look forward to or hope for; now, every day seemed like a treasure, and she felt glad to get up in the morning.

12. Wait

Often, as he waited for her outside her house, he was reminded of that fateful July night when he'd stood alone in her front yard and realized that he would give anything for even the slightest chance that he could be with her – and then when she came out and he was reminded that his once-hopeless wish had actually come true, it was all he could do not to sweep her up into his arms right then and there.

13. Change

It was a testament to how much things had changed in River City that Mrs. Shinn now made weekly visits to the library not to denounce her daughter's reading material, but to seek literary recommendations from Marian for herself!

14. Command

All he'd ever had to do to command the attention of a roomful of people was to stand up and speak, and they'd hang upon his every word – and this con man's trick was still a useful skill when it came to getting his young band members down to brass tacks.

15. Hold

Their opportunities to cozy up together were relatively rare, but he always made a point of finding some excuse to touch her, letting his fingers rest just beside hers or holding her hand under the table when they were in more casual company.

16. Need

Harold had been careful all through his life to never depend on anybody but himself – but after he'd endured a lonely week's business trip in Des Moines where the only contact with his little librarian came in the form of a single letter, it was starkly obvious that he needed Marian in his life as dearly as he needed water or air.

17. Vision

Her glasses helped her to read much more comfortably, but she hated the way that they made her look – at least until the time when he gently backed her against a bookshelf and covered her face in kisses and declared her glasses the most deliciously intriguing mark of a librarian.

18. Attention

Any flash of blonde hair out of the corner of his eye tended to catch his attention, his heart leaping a little at the thought that he might have a chance to see her – and then he always felt slightly embarrassed for his enthusiasm when it turned out to be somebody else after all.

19. Soul

It's not that she could simply forget the years and years that he'd spent swindling and deceiving others, but the reason that she could forgive him is that underneath it all, he had always had a remarkably good and caring soul.

20. Picture

Harold didn't think any photographs of him had ever even existed prior to the snapshot of he and Marian arm in arm on the night of the Fireman's Ball, but it seemed appropriate that the first incontrovertible record of his existence on and place in this Earth should include the woman who had given him a purpose there at last.

21. Fool

The man he once was would have thought him a fool for settling down to give his entire life to one town and one woman, to never again seduce an intriguing stranger, to profit by honest work instead of easy thrills, to concern himself with home repairs and paying bills and teaching kids – but the new and improved Harold called his old self a damn fool right back for ever having thought that way.

22. Mad

He wouldn't go so far as to say that he liked seeing her angry – besides being more than a little condescending, such a sentiment would imply that he took delight in her displeasure, which was not true in the least – but God, imagining the sheer heat of her fury directed in certain other ways was... to say the least, it wasn't the sort of thing he could think about in public.

23. Child

She thought of him as very, well, manly, with his booming deep voice and muscular frame and brazen confidence – but then there were those charming moments when she found him joining Winthrop in one of the child's elaborate, imaginary backyard adventures, and it amused her just how boyish her man could be.

24. Now

It was just supposed to be a little stroll for some fresh air during their lunch hour, but somehow, Harold had managed to lead them to the footbridge; "Now?" she asked with breathless incredulity as he drew her so close that their lips were nearly touching, before he leaned down and affirmed her question without using a single word.

25. Shadow

She used to watch her shadow walk beside her every night when she walked home; now, there was always another shadow walking alongside that one, and she was far too busy enjoying the company of its owner to stare at the ground.

26. Goodbye

It was always a moment of great disappointment when they had to part each evening, and, though it made her tremble a little to consider the full implications of what she was thinking, she couldn't help but wish that he could hold her in his arms all night as they slept.

27. Hide

When he got the chance, he enjoyed hiding little things around her desk – a daisy among her pencils, a ribbon tied onto her stamp – knowing that she would find them throughout the day and think of him and smile.

28. Fortune

Any man who had Marian Paroo's love would have been the luckiest man in all the world, thought Harold, but, considering that he rightly deserved to be living his life in prison instead of with a woman who made him happier than he could describe, he figured that his good fortune far exceeded what he had ever thought possible.

29. Safe

He wasn't accustomed to feeling safe, and he'd always accepted that freedom must be tinged with a certain degree of danger – yet having that weight off his shoulders, the constant weight of maintaining his façade and watching his back and dodging the law, was actually what made him feel freer than he had in many years.

30. Ghost

The first night that he slept in his new house, he was kept awake by strange and ominous sounds from the attic, and he crept up there to investigate, fearing not a ghost but an overlooked infestation of vermin – thankfully, he quickly traced the source of the problem to a drafty window, which would be yet another project for him to fix up, but at least nothing that would make this a house where he'd be ashamed to bring a wife.

31. Book

It should have been easy to find the perfect gift for a librarian, knowing how much she adored books – but if anything, it was even harder for that reason, and Harold had to employ all of his sneaky scheming skills to surreptitiously assess which books she already owned, what she liked and what she wanted.

32. Eye

He knew that it was ridiculous, but somehow, no matter where Mrs. Paroo was in the house, he imagined that he could feel her watchful eyes on him whenever he moved in a little too close to Marian – though he didn't let it stop him from trying.

33. Never

Marian was amazed at how she'd fancied herself "in love" so many times and yet never even come close to imagining how the real thing would feel – not some insubstantial infatuation, but a devotion to another person that was so total and complete, a shared path of discovery that was both exhilarating and intimidating, but that was worth all of the uncertainties and hard work because his happiness was now hers as well.

34. Sing

She had a voice that would make angels fall silent, yet she was too modest to ever let anybody hear except for him and her family; he wondered if he could ever convince her to sing at one of the town events, for he felt that a talent like that ought to be shared.

35. Sudden

Their romance had been so sudden that he was determined to take their courtship slowly, but it was strange going through the requisite getting-to-know-you stages with somebody that he already loved so deeply and could not live without – he was secretly terrified that she might learn something about him that would make her not love him after all, but to his amazement she continued to accept and to love everything that he was, even as he revealed more and more of his past to her.

36. Stop

Sometimes when they canoodled, Harold would have to pull away abruptly and put a stop to things, clearly fighting the urge to lose control – and though Marian could not imagine exactly how he knew that they were going too far, or precisely where the line was that they could not cross, she was glad that she could trust him to keep them from it, even as some instinctual part of herself despised those stops with all of her might.

37. Time

Harold never used to think about the future more than a few weeks ahead, measuring time by how long it'd take him to fleece any particular town, but now his future stretched clear out ahead of him, full of the kind of big, exciting things that he never would have had the time for before.

38. Wash

It was not one of Marian's prouder moments when, while helping her mother hang out the laundry on a breezy autumn day, a gust of wind snatched her nightgown from her fingers – and it was both fortunate and severely embarrassing that Harold walked into the yard at that precise moment to catch it before it hit the ground, sending the librarian into a dash to take it back from him that was even faster than the wind.

39. Torn

He treasured that piece of paper torn from the Indiana State Educational Journal, keeping it pressed between the pages of a Bible that he hadn't read but had carried with him all his life as a reminder of his mother – his two prized possessions from the two women who had made him the man he was today by loving him.

40. History

Once school was back in session, the history books, practically untouched over the summer, always became a precious commodity, and the sudden rush for them could make her job simply exhausting; those were the nights when she tended to doze off in Harold's arms as they talked together on her porch swing, and he would stroke her hair and brush soft kisses against her forehead and make her feel utterly at ease.

41. Power

Harold could grin and smolder and trail his lips along her neck until she nearly melted, but all it took was one deep kiss initiated by her, one little sweep of her hands along his chest, and suddenly he was the one gasping and staring back in amazement – and she was discovering that she enjoyed having this power over him every bit as much as she enjoyed surrendering herself to his kisses.

42. Bother

She walked in on him poring intently over his scores for the first concert, and quickly retreated from the room, embarrassed to have bothered him – but then he surprised her by enthusiastically calling her back in, welcoming the opportunity for her help with the more technical aspects of the music.

43. God

One of the most difficult changes Harold had to make in his life was to stop what Marian would call "taking the Lord's name in vain" – he tried his best, but God, what other word was he supposed to use for emphasis?

44. Wall

Marian felt as though nowadays she was always discovering new things about life in River City, the people there, the world around her; it was as though she'd lived her life there behind an impenetrable wall until recently, when Harold had helped her to tear it down.

45. Naked

Harold had bared his naked body to scores of women without a second thought, but he had never allowed anyone to see into the very depths of his heart and soul except for Marian – and somehow he knew that this would make it so much better than anything he'd ever known when they could at last be together in body as well.

46. Drive

The amount of work that he'd had to do in a few short months was tremendous – in addition to actually running band rehearsals, he'd been spending hours upon hours renovating and furnishing first the music emporium, then his new house – but he'd never felt a more powerful motivation in his life than that to build a life with Marian, and he almost relished the strain if it meant that he was moving closer toward reaching that goal.

47. Harm

None of the leering men who she was once afraid would harm her ever approached her anymore, and while Marian knew it was in part because she was now very much attached, she rather hoped that it was also because, like the other River City-ziens, they had finally come to recognize her as a person to be respected rather than an object for their personal amusement.

48. Precious

He knew what was in the box, but he still gasped a little when he opened it and saw the diamond ring he'd ordered – this was it, the tangible symbol of his decision to be with Marian forever and ever, and he couldn't have been more elated at that prospect.

49. Hunger

Harold didn't consider himself a terrible cook, but after he'd moved into his own house and been required to cook for himself, he was even more grateful for the frequent evenings spent at the Paroo house, where he knew he'd never go hungry.

50. Believe

It still shocked him a little bit, that Marian really and truly believed that he was a good man, in spite of all he'd done – and he was most shocked of all on the day he realized that she'd made him believe it himself.