AN: Thanks for all of the positive reviews. These are a little shorter, so I'm getting better at the drabble thing (not really-it was a terribly painful process to cut out words). I hope you like it.

Summer 2003

Henry stood inside the hangar at Langley waiting not so patiently. He paced back and forth. Elizabeth's plane was due in an hour ago. He'd just talked to her the previous day, before they boarded the plane leaving Germany. She'd spent the last eight months in Iraq as a lead interrogator. Henry was excited to see her, but he couldn't drown out the anxiousness he also felt. He didn't know what it would look like when she came home. He remembered vividly how hard it had been when he returned from his deployments and he was flying planes 20,000 feet up. He didn't sit face to face with evil day after day.

Dark clouds hung in the sky adding to the already dreary mood of the day. As plane touched down, the sky opened up and rain poured down. He watched as the plane made its way off the runway and toward the hangar. It stopped a couple hundred feet from where he stood at the opening. Miscellaneous military officers deboarded and then there she was, standing at the door of the plane. Any concerns Henry had with regard to the coming weeks and months vanished and he stopped breathing. She walked down the stairs, being careful not to slip on the wet steps. When her feet touched the ground, Henry couldn't hold himself back any longer. He ran to meet her halfway. He picked her up and she clung to him, their tears indistinguishable from the rain. He kissed her cheek and moved to her lips. When their lips met, there was a desperation that they hadn't known before. She had been as anxious as he was, and as they explored each other for the first time in eight months, they both let go of that, knowing they would be okay.

Spring 2005

Elizabeth wrung her hands together. She sat in the car debating how long she could reasonably stay there before it was obvious that she was avoiding her home. The windshield wipers raked across the glass, once again bringing her home into view. She left the CIA just three weeks ago, after having worked there almost 16 years. She was adrift, now wandering aimlessly through life. She was still a mother, a role which she loved dearly, and a wife. She was unsure how she felt about that.

Henry had issued the ultimatum. If she took the station chief position in Baghdad, she would be gone for at least a year. He had told her that he didn't know what it would look like when she returned. He made her choose: him and the kids or a job that she loved. Obviously she would never willingly give up Henry and the kids, so she quit, but now, not having the job, she had a gaping hole in her life. Add to that, she and Henry had never been so out of sync. She didn't blame him for the choice she made, but she did blame him for forcing her to choose.

As the wipers swished across the windshield once again, she saw Henry standing on the front porch. Busted. She might as well get out and go face the awkward silence that they now surrounded themselves with. Elizabeth opened the door and was hit with a wall of water as the rain poured down on her. She grimaced, but couldn't really bring herself to care all that much. She got out and trudged up the walk and up the three steps to the porch to where Henry stood waiting. "You're wet," he commented.

"Yeah," she mumbled, unable to start any kind of conversation with him.

"Listen, babe, I'm sorry. I wish it would've happened differently. I hate seeing you like this." He reached out and took her hands. "Tell me what I can do to make it better. To make you better."

"I don't know. I'm empty. It takes everything I have to be functional for the kids. I hope it will get better, but right now, I'm angry and I don't know how to fix it."

Henry pulled her toward him and kissed her forehead, still wet from the rain and then placed a chaste kiss on her lips. I'm sorry." He stepped away and she sat down on the top step and cried.

Fall 2014

Elizabeth sat in the swivel chair on the back deck holding the $5 bill in her hand. She studied the word on the back. "Tamerlane. What is that supposed to mean?" she murmured.

"Hey babe. What are you doing out here? It's chilly." Low thunder rumbled in the background. "And it's going to rain."

"I know. I'll be in soon. I'm just trying to process this. What are we getting ourselves into Henry?" she implored.

"I don't know. But we are better off knowing that not knowing." He motioned to her. She moved from the chair to swing to sit next to him and he covered her with a quilt.

"Thanks," Elizabeth leaned into Henry's side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I want to know that you'll be safe."

"I'm surrounded by DS agents 24/7," she said.

"And George was a trained CIA operative and knew something was going down and he still fell victim. We can't be too careful." Henry studied her. The thunder rumbled again. "Tell me that you won't do anything crazy."

"I promise," she said. She tilted her head back to look at him and Henry took the opportunity to lower his head and take her upper lip in his, stilling only for a moment before brushing his tongue against it. Her lips parted willingly and let him in. She wrapped herself around him tighter as the rain started to fall. She willed the droplets to wash away her fears.

Spring 2018

Elizabeth walked through the door, dropping her bag, coat and shoes just inside. She was exhausted, happy, but exhausted.

"You're home," Henry said, smiling as he came into the living room. He swept her into a warm embrace and kissed her. "Welcome back. How'd it go?"

She smiled warmly, "We got it done. Nuclear disarmament is a reality."

"I'm so happy for you babe. Should we celebrate with a drink?" She nodded.

"Let me go change. I'll meet you on the deck."

Fifteen minutes later, she sat on the swing with her legs draped over Henry, a scotch in her hand. They sat together for a long while in silence. Elizabeth had her whole being wrapped up in this disarmament deal since the near miss incident the month prior. She didn't realize how wound up she'd been until this moment. As she sat next to Henry, with each breath she took, she unraveled a little further. Henry had been focused on his own thoughts and it was her gasp that brought him back to reality.

"Babe?" he suddenly shifted into a protective mode. She pulled her feet off his lap and turned her body, putting her head between her knees trying to regulate her breathing. Henry took the glass from her. "It's okay," he said, rubbing circles on her back. "Slow deep breaths. Okay, you've got it. Just breathe, slow and easy."

When she calmed, Henry brought her back up and she rested against his chest. Raindrops landed sporadically on the deck around them and she focused on the soft thump of the drops hitting the swing awning where they sat.

"All of a sudden, the weight of the situation just hit me. We were so close. If we hadn't been able to get this deal worked out, it could've happened again and maybe we wouldn't be so lucky. Maybe no one could stop it in time." Her breathing became shallow again just thinking of it

"But you got it done. It was scary, but you fixed it."

"But what if I didn't?"

"But you did." Henry placed a kiss on her temple and then one on her cheek. "You can't 'what if' the situation now. You've done everything you can to make sure it doesn't happen. That's all you can do."

The rain tapped out a steady beat on the wooden deck with a softer pelting noise on the swing awning. Elizabeth closed her eyes and leaned against Henry. "Thank you for always being beside me. I couldn't do it without you."

"I'll always be here." He tipped her head back and kissed her softly. His lips were warm and soft against hers filling her with a deep contentment. "Let's go to bed babe. You're worn out."

"In a minute. I want to just sit here with you and enjoy the rain." Pressing a kiss to her head, he pulled her in a little closer and gave the swing a gentle push. They could sit here together all night if she wanted.