On Saturday morning Henry arrived at 8 in the morning to pick up Elizabeth for their weekend getaway. His little car was already filled with the tent, air mattress, sleeping bags and his stuff and he couldn't be more excited. Walking to Elizabeth's dorm, he came across Jodie and Natalie who were carpooling with Delia and Josh. Finally entering his girlfriend's dorm, Henry couldn't stop smiling about the sight in front of him. Elizabeth was just throwing different things in her bag without any order while listening to some rock music. Henry quietly approached her from behind and slipped his hands around her waist while kissing her neck. Elizabeth squeaked before relaxing into his chest.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Henry mumbled into her ear. "You're ready to go?"

"Hi babe. Yeah, I'm almost done. I just need my toothbrush. Did you pack the camping gear?" Elizabeth shouted to him from the bathroom.

"Yup. All done."

" Ok, then let's go." Henry grabbed her bag while she took her keys to lock the door. Once in the car, they put on some music while driving to the highway. Henry looked at his girlfriend in concern, because he wasn't used to her being so awfully quiet.

"Are you ok?" Henry slightly squeezed her hand in his.

"Yeah, sure. I'm fine." She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Well, you haven't said anything since we left. And that's pretty unusual for you." They both chuckled at his comment, because it was more than true. "So what's going on?"

Elizabeth turned in her seat to look at him." I don't know. I guess I'm a bit nervous?" I mean, you know, we've never spend the night together and now we're going camping? It's just... I don't really know how to explain it."

"No, I get it. It's seems like a huge step, but think about it, we've spend so many weekends together and we always had fun, didn't we? And it's not like we're really going camping. It's more like sleeping outside next to each other and your friends." He grinned at her.

"You're right." She slowly nodded her head. "And just so you know, I'm really grateful you decided to join me. This means a lot to me."

"I know. I'm really glad you have asked me." Elizabeth leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek and now that they had cleared the air about their feelings, they went on to talk about some lighter things, Elizabeth becoming more of herself again. They turned up the music and opened the windows of the car making it feel like a real road trip. Elizabeth wore skinny shorts combined with a white tank top that barely covered her belly and her boyfriend simply couldn't keep his hands away from her bare legs. After two hours, they arrived at the beach house before the others. Elizabeth proposed to go down to the beach, so they walked hand in hand in the sand down to the water. With their feet in the water they turned to each other, both of them smiling foolishly at each other. Henry took a stray of hair in his hands that had made its way out of her ponytail.

"You're so beautiful, Elizabeth." She slightly blushed and looked away. "No, don't." He said. She tilted her head and he pulled her chin up to give her a kiss full of love. His tongue softly found its way inside making their tongues dance together. Elizabeth quickly wrapped her hands around his neck pulling him down to her while his hands caressed her back. Hearing noises from the house, they separated their faces from each other to go and greet the others. They were a group of about twenty people. Elizabeth knew most of them by now, but she didn't really like most of John's friends, because they were all about drinking and parties. After greeting everyone, Henry and her decided to set up their tent, before relaxing the rest of the day.

"You know what, why don't you relax with your friends on the beach while I do this real quick. Honestly, It's not much work." Henry proposed knowing how to build up the tent in and out.

"Are you sure? I don't mind helping you." Elizabeth didn't want him to feel left out.

"No, it's fine. I promise I'll be there in a sec to admire you in your tiny bikini." He gave her a playful claps on her ass combined with a little smooch on her nose.

"Okay, see you in a bit." Elizabeth said while grinning about his comment.

She took her stuff out of the car and went to the beach with her friends. After only a short time, Henry had their tent set up with the mattress and the sleeping bags in it. He took his trunks and towel out of the car and went inside the house to change before following his girlfriend to the beach. Elizabeth laid lazily on her back with eyes closed when he arrived, so he took his time to ogle her beautiful body. His eyes went down her flat stomach to her long legs before being interrupted by her humorous voice.

"You okay there or should I take off my bikini as well?" He quickly averted his eyes from her legs and brought them back to her eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to... I wasn't..." Henry immediately turned crimson and Elizabeth couldn't hide her laughter.

"It's fine. You know, my view isn't too bad either." She said while looking at his abs.

"You wanna go into the water?" Henry held out his hand and helped his girlfriend to stand up. They jumped into the waves joining the others who were already out there swimming. They spend some time playing waterball with Delia, Jodie, Natalie and Josh which ended in a huge splash fight. When the others decided to go tanning, the couple decided to swim further out. Henry was in his best shape ever, but he made sure Elizabeth could keep up with him. After ten minutes of swimming, she started to feel exhausted, already out of energy from the waterball.

"Do you mind if we swim back? I'm kinda exhausted." She said while swimming closer to Henry.

"Sure. Do you want me to carry you?" Henry said while turning around facing the beach.

"Thanks, but I can do it."

"I know you can, but I don't mind. Just hold on to my shoulders." Elizabeth decided it would be much more relaxing, so she swam to his side and grabbed his shoulders. Henry swam them back to the beach while Elizabeth enjoyed the closeness of the two of them. She could feel his muscles playing and she loved how she could feel his skin on hers.

"That's really nice. I could do this all day everyday." Elizabeth said to him.

"Honestly babe, I don't think I could do this 24/7." He responded while still carrying her.

"Sorry, I forgot it's not that relaxing for you. Hold on, I'm gonna swim back the rest." She let go of his shoulders and they quickly made it back to the shore. Walking back to their friends, they sat down on their towels. Elizabeth got some sunscreen out of her bag and applied it on her skin before turning towards Henry.

"Henry, do you mind applying some on my back?"

"Sure." He took the bottle out of her hand and massaged the lotion into her skin. Afterwards his hand wandered to her shoulders, continuing the massage.

"God, that feels so good. Don't stop." Elizabeth closed her eyes while turning putty in his hands.

Henry continued a couple more minutes before leaning back to lie down on his towel. All of them were tanning in the sun while chatting about different things. About an hour later, Delia and the others decided to go to the liquor shop to buy some stuff for the beach party, but Elizabeth and Henry decided to stay at the beach. They talked for a bit, but after a while, Elizabeth fell asleep while Henry pulled out his book to read a bit. Forty minutes later, Elizabeth was still asleep, so he watched her, trying to mesmerize every part of her beautiful face. After some time, he decided to wake her, worried that she wouldn't be able to sleep later that night. Henry slightly caressed her arm and kissed her on the cheek before moving down to her neck. Elizabeth slowly blinked her eyes open, lazily smiling at her boyfriend.

"You wanna go and grab some linner or dunch or whatever it is you like to call it?" Henry whispered into her ear.

"I'd love to. And just so you know, I prefer the term linner." The two of them gathered their stuff and went back to the house. When they walked in, Natalie and Jodie were standing in the kitchen going through the fridge, so Elizabeth asked them if they wanted to join them. Once everyone had changed, the group made its way to the closest restaurant. Elizabeth was wearing a flowing summer dress in different tones of red with little flowers on it while Henry had changed into khakis and a dark blue shirt. After having a delicious Italian linner and some nice conversation, the four of them made their way back to the beach house. Henry really liked Natalie and Jodie and he enjoyed watching Elizabeth interacting with them but he even more enjoyed having her for himself. So when they walked back to the beach house, the two of them hung back and Henry finally had the chance to compliment his girlfriend on her dress.

"You look so stunning, baby. I really love that dress." He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Thank you. I was hoping you would like it." She leaned her head back giving Henry the chance to press a quick smooch on her mouth. Arriving back at the house, the party had already started. Delia and some guy were bringing out drinks while people where gathering on the beach and listening to the music.

"Hey, Henry!" Someone called out his name and he turned around to see who it was. "Come and join us, I need one more guy in my team." Josh was shouting from across the volleyball field. Henry apologetically faced Elizabeth.

"Go, I promised a one-on-one to Delia anyway, so I might as well go and talk to her now."

"Ok, see you later." Henry ran off to the volleyball field while Elizabeth made her way to the house to find Delia.

"Hey you. You wanted to talk to me?" She found her in the master bedroom rumbling through some things.

"Yeah, do you mind closing the door?" Delia asked, making herself comfortable on the bed. When Elizabeth sat down next to her, she started explaining her problem.

"You know, Josh and I have been seeing each other for, I don't know, four weeks? Anyway, I really like him, hell, I might even love him, but he's not very... his should I say it... Satisfying?" Delia expectantly looked at Elizabeth waiting for her response.

"You mean in bed?" Elizabeth wanted to make sure they were talking about the same thing.

"Yes. It's not like it is bad, it's just that he always comes before me, so I never really get to experience my climax. At first, I was fine with that, because I thought eventually I would get there, but now... I mean, I've had some experience so I know what it should feel like. I was thinking that maybe you and Henry have the same problem and you could give me some advice?" Delia desperately wanted her help but Elizabeth didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry, but I honestly can't give you any advice. Not that I don't want to, but Henry and I haven't had sex yet, so yeah... But I guess you should talk to Josh about how you feel? Maybe you can work it out together or he could try to hold off longer?" Elizabeth started to feel weird talking with her about intimate stuff.

"Oh you guys haven't yet? I swear to God, it looks like you did, I mean you guys can't keep your hands off each other." Delia said. "Anyway, thanks for talking to me though. It already feel much better having it said out loud." The girls made their way back to the party and Elizabeth went to look for Henry. She sat down next to the field and watched him play. He had taken his shirt off, his muscles flexing in the sun. When they were done playing, he came to sit down next to her in the sand while she offered him a bottle of water.

"So what did you girls talk about?" Henry curiously asked.

"You know, the usual stuff. Bedroom problems,... She just wanted my advice on something, but I couldn't really help. I mean not that I don't have experience, it's just that she thought maybe I had the same problem, but I didn't because obviously we didn't... You know what, forget it." Elizabeth felt her cheeks turn crimson and turned away.

"You mean because we didn't have sex yet?" Henry asked and at the same time reached for her hand. "Elizabeth, I didn't think you were virgin I just wanted to take it slow. One step at a time, without anyone getting hurt. I thought that's what you wanted to."

"It is. I just wanted to be clear about that." She finally looked up again.

"And I appreciate that. You wanna go to the party now?" He helped her standing up going to get them drinks. They enjoyed themselves while drinking, talking and dancing on the beach and watching the sunset together. When it was finally dark, the party got much louder. People were drunk by now and started doing crazy things. At some point, after being hit on by one of Josh's friend for the third time, she didn't feel comfortable anymore.

"Do you want to take a walk?" Henry immediately picked up on her annoyance and Elizabeth gladly accepted. He took her by the hand and pulled her out of the crowds. They walked about five minutes in silence, getting away from the noise and enjoying the sound of the waves.

"Are you ok?" Henry worriedly looked at her and she smiled back at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I like how you take care of me. I never really knew what it felt like since my parents died when I was 15." It was quiet for a moment. Henry was surprised that she brought up her parents by herself and he didn't want to ruin the moment. So instead of saying anything he squeezed her hand urging her to continue. "They died in a car crash, instantly. My brother was with them, Will, he survived. Thank God he did." She stopped for a moment, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I haven't been there, because I had to study. The last thing I said to my mum was "Close the door." Who does that? Who says close the door instead of I love you?" Elizabeth couldn't stop her tears from falling down and Henry quickly took her into his arms, embracing her with all he had. She started sobbing into his shirt, overwhelmed by her emotions. She never talked to anyone about her parents, but she felt like Henry had to know. Henry whispered sweet nothings into her ear while stroking her hair. They stood there for a long time, Henry trying to be there for her while she could let go of all everything she wad holding back in the past. Once her tears stopped she mumbled into his neck. "I think my parents would have liked you." Henry couldn't be more proud right now, so he started to pepper little kisses all over her face until she started giggling. He gently wiped her tears away and she tried to fix his wet shirt.

"I'm sorry. I think I ruined your shirt."

"I don't care. I can get a new one." He looked at her with so much love in his eyes making her feel like she finally belonged somewhere. "Thanks for talking to me about them. It means a lot to me that you feel like you can open up to me." He earnestly said.

"I trust you Henry, more than I ever trusted anyone else before." For several minutes, they just watched the waves crashing together before Henry broke the silence.

"Do you want to go back to the party?" He asked.

"Not really. Let's just sit here for a while. Just the two of us." She walked backwards to sit down on the sand pulling him with her. It was dark by now, the only light visible was given by the moon and they could still hear the vibrating bass from the party. Henry wrapped her arms around his girlfriend while she buried her head in the crook of his neck.

"Babe, look at the stars. Aren't they beautiful?" Elizabeth was fascinated by the clear night sky and was excited to share this moment with her boyfriend.

"They are, not as beautiful as you though." Elizabeth tried to interrupt him, but Henry wouldn't let her. "No, let me say this. You're the kindest, smartest and most beautiful woman I've ever known. Not just beautiful from the outside but even more from the inside. You make me happier than I ever thought possible and that's why I love you." There it was. Elizabeth just stared at him for a second unable to form any coherent thoughts and Henry already started regretting saying his thoughts out loud. But then, a smile formed on her lips "I love you too, Henry McCord. More than you'll ever know." She leaned in and they celebrated their love in a languid kiss. Breaking apart, both of them smiled like fools, the sadness from earlier completely forgotten. Shortly after midnight, they made their way back to the party, but neither of them were interested in hanging out with their drunk friends, so they made their way to the house and prepared for bed. Elizabeth couldn't hide her tiredness anymore, yawning loudly when she crawled into her sleeping bag next to Henry. Turning their faces towards each other, they started kissing each other slowly until it got more heated. Elizabeth rolled on top of him making Henry moan when he felt the pressure in his lap.

"Babe, we should probably stop. We're both tired and this is not the right..." Before he could finish the sentence, he was interrupted by Elizabeth.

"Come on Henry! Let's just have some fun. I want you so much..." She kissed her way down his neck and pulled his shirt over his head. Henry felt his resistance slipping hearing her moans and feeling her lips on his skin. But suddenly, he took hold of her shoulders and pushed her up.

"Elizabeth, please stop. I'm not gonna have sex with you in this tent where everyone can hear us. I want this to be special." At first, she wanted to be mad at him, but it was impossible to be so when he was just trying to be a gentleman. Giving him one final kiss, she rolled back to her side.

"Fine. But the shirt stays off." Henry chuckled at her command, but did as she said. He rolled over to spoon her from behind and she gladly accepted by wrapping her arms around his and pressing her back more firmly into him. He could already feel her drifting

to sleep when he said goodnight and he couldn't even understand the words she mumbled back. While Elizabeth slept peacefully in his arms, Henry had some time to think about everything that has happened that day.

He found out a few more things about Elizabeth that he didn't know yet, such as her not being a virgin anymore. He had to admit that he was a bit relieved that he would not be the first one to introduce her to the act knowing that it could hurt a little. On the other hand, he wanted to find out more about her past like her ex-boyfriends or family. Today must have been hard for her, but he was glad she finally told him about her parents. Henry nuzzled her blond hair taking in her vanilla scent. He also learned that she was more than willing to give herself to him and that made him proud in a way he's never felt before. Henry wanted nothing more than to be a perfect boyfriend and make her happy and so far he was doing pretty good. With that thought he fell asleep dreaming about the two of them.

The next morning, Elizabeth was woken by the sunshine making its way into their little tent. Henry and her were still tangled together and she could feel his breath against her neck. Slowly turning around, she watched his peaceful face surrounded by his ruffled hair making him look sexy and extremely cute at the same time. She slightly ran her hand through his hair while watching him stirring. He slowly blinked his eyes open and gave her heartwarming smile.

"Good morning gorgeous."

"Hi." She leaned over and pecked him on the lips."You know, you look very cute when you wake up. I could really get used to that."

"Well, I wouldn't mind about that." He foolishly grinned at her. Elizabeth responded by wrapping her arms around his torso and leaning her head on his chest. Laying there for a few more minutes, Henry ran his hand up and down her back until Elizabeth suddenly straightened up.

"You know what, we should go swimming."

"Now? It's only seven in the morning!"

"Come on, ppllleeeaasse." Elizabeth knew he couldn't say no when she said please.

"Ok, fine. Let's go." Elizabeth was already out of the tent, running towards the beach while Henry grabbed some towels for them. Arriving at the beach, Elizabeth was already splashing in the water in her underwear impatiently waiting for him.

"Come on sleepy head. What are you waiting for?" Henry had never seen her that carefree and bolt at the same time, so he quickly took off his clothes except his boxers to join her in the water. They quickly ended up in a full on water fight until they were laughing tears. When they were getting cold, Elizabeth jumped on his back and he gave her a piggyback back to the beach. They grabbed the rest of their clothes before heading to the house to shower and change. Once Elizabeth stepped into the kitchen in a new set of clothes, Henry had already prepared them breakfast.

"My hero. I'm starving!" Her comment made Henry chuckle while he handed her a plate with blueberry pancakes. They sat down on the kitchen counter eagerly consuming the food in front of them.

"Omg, that is so good! Did I die? Am I in heaven now?" Elizabeth suddenly stopped talking realizing that Henry was staring at her. "Do I have something on my face?"

Laughing Henry replied. "No, you look fine. Although I have to admit I liked you better in your underwear." Elizabeth kicked him with her foot. " Ok, ok, I'll take that back. Seriously though, I've never seen you this happy."

"Well, that's because I'm happy. You being here with me makes me happy."

"Me too. I just feel like I'm getting to know another side of you and I like it."

"Thanks... I guess?" Elizabeth didn't really knew what to say to that so she continued eating her pancakes. "So what's the plan for today?" She asked trying to change the subject.

"I was thinking of taking a walk in ocean view park if you're up to it. I don't think the others will be up soon." Henry didn't want to deal with hungover people on this beautiful day.

"Sounds good. That way, we also get out of cleaning duty. I mean not that we're responsible for this mess anyway." They finished their breakfast and made their way to the car to drive to the park. They walked a bit but after a while they decided to sit down to just enjoy the peaceful nature.

"This is such a beautiful place. It was a good idea to come here." Elizabeth laid on her back and observed the nature around her.

"This whole weekend getaway was a great idea." Henry sat cross legged next to her with his hand resting on her leg. They stayed in the park for a couple more hours and Henry used that chance to get to know more about her childhood. Surprisingly, Elizabeth was more than willing to share some of her memories with him and he couldn't be me appreciative. At around three, the couple decided to drive back to the beach house not wanting to get back to UVA too late. Arriving back at the house, Natalie came running towards her.

"Omg, Elizabeth where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Sorry, Henry and I went to the ocean view park. I didn't think we would be gone so long." Elizabeth apologized.

"Well, good for you. We've already cleaned the house and we're gonna drive home in about an hour." Natalie said but then got distracted by Wren whom she met last night. "Excuse me, I'll see you later." With that she was gone leaving Elizabeth behind. Walking to their tent, Henry was already packing the car with their stuff. When they were done, Elizabeth proposed to go to the beach one last time before leaving. They stood with their feet in the water, arms around each other and slowly started kissing each other.

"I love you." Elizabeth whispered against his lips not wanting to let go.

"I like you okay too." Henry responded making her laugh.

They took one final look back before making their way to the car. Driving back to UVA, both of them were thinking that this weekend couldn't have been better.