A/N: Thank you so so so much for the lovely reviews on the initial part of this fic! Y'all always like it more than i think you will! I took a few liberties with this section (the location of their farmhouse, backstory with becky [ep 2x21], and also a very subpar boyfriend... guesses? (; ) but I hope you like this part regardless. Let me know what you think!

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - 1990

"Elizabeth!" Becky shouted from across the room. She jumped, started when she was abruptly ripped from her thoughts.

"What?"

"Are you going or not? I have to leave in five minutes."

She groaned internally. She didn't want to disappoint her roommate, but she really, really didn't want to go to a Pride and Prejudice themed ball. She shot an apologetic look across the room before saying a word, hoping she would take the hint. "I really have to finish this American Gov paper…" she trailed off, her guilt filling the atmosphere.

Becky sighed, but understood her reluctance. "It's fine. Don't work too hard." She smiled over her shoulder before walking into the hall and shutting the door behind her.

Elizabeth sat on her bed for a moment, flopping backward, eyes landing on the ceiling. There was no way she was going to get a paper written tonight. There was simply too much running through her mind to do so. Perhaps a quiet run on the hidden trail she had found would help clear her mind. Without hesitation she slipped on a pair of running shoes and grabbed her keys.

...

She returned nearly an hour later, sweaty, exhausted, with her mind still rolling. She intended a short run, but when her mind refused to clear she thought she'd try pushing herself harder, providing lackluster results.

She quickly showered, unsurprised when she reentered her bedroom feeling a weight pressing against her shoulders. Sitting at her desk to finish her term paper, the words came, but not as easily as they should have.

Stepping out on a limb, she pushed the paper aside, pulling a piece of paper out of the back of her notebook. She had always been good with words, perhaps a stream of consciousness note would do her some good.

Ugh. She scribbled at the top of the page roughly. It was the only thing she could verbalize, and it left her wanting to scribble violently across the page. She echoed the word aloud, frustration boiling in her chest.

I don't particularly know what I'm going to be writing but hopefully as this pen moves my brain will start untangling itself. That would be extremely helpful, because if I don't release this tension I feel like I am going to blow. Even running didn't help me today. A shower didn't help. NOTHING IS HELPING!

Nothing out of the ordinary has been happening. Sure, I am a bit stressed with midterms coming up next week, but that is nothing to truly be concerned about. I know I'll do fine as long as I take the time to study.

That Henry guy asked me out, again, today. He's so persistent, certainly doesn't give up after just one rejection. He's cute… okay, no, he's pretty hot, but I've already told him I have a boyfriend. If this keeps up Craig probably isn't going to be too happy. Hopefully it doesn't get to that point, I would hate for him to do something stupid to a perfectly nice guy.

I've heard lovely things about him. Craig has a buddy who is majoring in World Religion and thinks highly of him. He's a graduate student, I believe. Maybe a TA too? He's quite the academic, throws himself into his studies and is an avid reader. It seems we always run into each other when searching for resources in the library.

I'm pretty surprised he doesn't have a girlfriend, if I wasn't with Craig I'd seriously consider accepting his offers. There's something about him that I'm drawn to. His bright smile? His dark, kind eyes? Perhaps it is the gentle motivation that pushes him. He isn't selfish like Craig. His ambition isn't so unbridled that he would be willing to sacrifice others to gain clout.

The stoke of her pen became considerably lighter. Her rapid heartbeat slowing to a steady pace as she breathed deeply. She felt a small smile creep across her face as she read her final words.

"Wow." She whispered softly.

Perhaps I have some things to mull over in the next couple of days. I'm not so sure I should let this one get away…

…

Becky walked through the door, exhausted excitement spreading across her cheeks.

"How was it?" Elizabeth looked up from her desk when the door opened.

"It was so much fun!" She immediately leapt into a hurried spiel about the night's events as Elizabeth did her best to listen and write. She wasn't bored by her roommate's interests, but she had come across some startling revelations in the past hours, and she couldn't help allowing a small smile to creep across the corners of her lips.

"Is something wrong, Elizabeth?" Craig stared across the table at his girlfriend as she picked at her dinner, pushing food around her plate.

She merely shrugged, not knowing exactly what she wanted to say. She felt trapped, like there was something she was missing out on, something better than what she was experiencing right now. "I don't know." She mumbled her confusion, her eyebrows following the muddle.

"Okay." His response lacked compassion, as if he truly didn't care what her response would have been. She watched as he shoved a fork back into his meal, devouring the food on his plate. She took this opportunity to stare at him carefully. His eyes were empty, making his lack of feeling obvious.

She wasn't even attached to Henry, yet his hazel eyes still gazed at her with a compassion she had never seen from Craig. It was a look she was so unfamiliar with when he approached her, yet gazing across the table at Craig gave her the starkest of comparisons.

"Do you love me?" She suddenly blurted.

He nearly choked on the bite he had taken. "What?" He coughed. "Of course I do."

Elizabeth didn't feel the genuineness. In only a few conversations with another man, she could almost assure his adoration.

"The eyes…" she whispered. "It's all in the eyes."

"What are you talking about?"

Without dragging the night out any further, she calculated the kindest words to let him down relatively easily. She didn't want to string the relationship out if he wasn't capable of giving her the feeling she knew existed elsewhere, a feeling she was nearly certain she could reciprocate.

After cutting the ties, she left a twenty dollar bill on the table to pay for her meal and quickly made her way out of the restaurant.

BARBOURSVILLE, VA – 2002

Henry watched as his wife paced the floor in front of their bed. "Babe, come lay down. You're making me dizzy." She huffed, etching another rut in the floor before Henry pulled her hand gently toward their unmade bed.

"I can't shut it off!" she nearly cried as she curled into a pile of pillows.

"I promise; it isn't going to be as bad as you think it will be."

The following day was her "first day of school" teaching political science courses at UVA. She had been preparing for weeks now, putting in long hours in her new office, but tomorrow would be her first class. "What if I forget what I'm talking about! I was a straight A student for God's sake! They're going to think I'm incompetent."

"Babe," he laughed heartily. "You were a straight A student! And you have almost 20 years of CIA experience! You'll be fine." He kissed her lips gently, grasping for anything to soothe her nerves. She stretched her neck, letting a groan vibrate her throat. "Do you need to write about it?" He shot her a knowing glance, gently mocking her jitters.

He reached across her waist, pulling her journal (a dated gift from him, of course) from the bedside table to place on her lap. As the journal landed, so did a stray piece of paper, settling softly between their legs.

"What's this?" He asked, timidly unfolding it and handing it to her. He was wary of reading it, knowing it had come from her journal and very well could have been her most intimate thoughts.

She quickly scanned the first few lines of the entry, a wide smile stretching across her face. "Do you want to read it?"

He leaned on his elbow, his cheek resting against her arm as he looked across her lap to see the writing. He listened as she read the thoughts she scrawled across the page hurriedly nearly 20 years ago. "You thought I was hot?" He gazed up at her kissing her bare arm softly.

"Mhmm." She nodded, giggling softly as the stubble of his beard grazed the exposed skin.

"And you thought I had kind eyes?" He moved to sit up, shoulder resting his shoulder against the headboard, moving his kisses to her neck. "And gentle motivation?" She hummed her affirmation, tilting her head, giving him better access to her skin, heat quickly rising within her.

She dropped the letter, not caring where it landed as he moved to hover atop her body. "Hmm." He kissed her softly. "You couldn't let me get away?" She rested a firm hand on his jaw, pulling his lips back to hers, answering his final question with a heated kiss that made her answer obvious.

"Nope." She whispered, their lips parting, heavy breaths brushing one another's chins. "I couldn't let such a handsome catch get away."

He tried to laugh, his lips forming a smile, a heavy pant passing his lips. "I was never going anywhere. I have always been yours." She swallowed his confession against his lips as she wrapped a leg around his waist and sliding a hand down his back.

The thing she hoped he knew: not only would always be hers, but she was certain that she would always be his.