A/N: I love reading the reviews. Thanks. Some of you are mind readers. The things you have commented on have already been written in the next few chapters. Hopefully that will address your questions. Chapter 10 is almost done and Chapter 11 is well formed in my head. I just need time to type.

Chapter 9

"You have the drinks, right?" Henry said as Elizabeth finally reached the overlook. He had the blanket spread out with the bag of food sitting nearby.

"Good grief Henry. How fast did you run? I am in decent shape, but there was no way I was going to keep up with you." Elizabeth was bent over, hands on her knees trying to catch her breath.

"I just jogged the whole way. Keep in mind, I'm in ROTC, and I've been doing these delayed gratification runs for several months. I've built up decent stamina." He winked at her! "I'm starving! What kind of sandwich do you want? I got a roast beef, ham and turkey. I like them all, so I figured you could choose which you like best."

Elizabeth handed Henry a water bottle. "Probably roast beef, but I'm ok with the others too." She sat down and started unwrapping the sandwich he had handed her. Henry settled beside her and opened the bag of chips facing it so she could get some. They concentrated on eating while thinking about the events of the day.

Since leaving the parking lot, Henry had a nagging feeling about Elizabeth's revelation. It took him a bit to get up the nerve to ask the question. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "Now that you know it will be harder to wait, are you still willing to?

"I was just thinking about that. It's kind of eerie when you do that mind reading thing!" She playfully poked Henry in the arm. "Since you seem to be the only one to cause this reaction from me, it seems I will have to keep you around." The glint in her eye told Henry she was teasing him. She put her hand on his knee and looked him in the eye. "Seriously though, I may not fully understand the why of waiting, but I respect you and your request. I won't push to keep going if you want to stop, but you need to know if you"re counting on me to stop us, I won't, because now I know I want it.. How far we go and when depends on you because I'm all in any time!"

"I can live with that." Henry said, breathing a sigh of relief. Since we're on such topics, are you ready for the next installment of 'Henry is Catholic?'"

"Oh gosh! Just what I was hoping for!" Elizabeth retorted.

"Smart aleck." Henry rolled his eyes. "What suits your fancy? Raising children or pro-life issues?"

"Ooo Alex, I'll take Raising Children for $100."

"Darn, you're thinking faster than me. I can't even come up with a witty comeback," he smiled, glad that they seemed to be on even footing for at least the next few minutes.

"This one is actually pretty straightforward. If we have kids, they will be raised in the Catholic faith. Because it isn't something you subscribe to, the task falls on me to teach them what they need to know, get them to Mass and prepare them for the Sacraments. The only expectation for you is to not undermine what they are being taught. If you had any questions though, I'd be happy to answer them."

"I already figured that would be the case. I had a couple friends growing up and the mom was Catholic and the dad wasn't. Both kids were Catholic. It seemed like that was the agreement. I am curious though, what if we have a child who questions their faith? I mean, he or she would be half mine, and I'm sure questioning everything is in my DNA."

"I would hope they would have questions. Hopefully I'll have suitable answers or if I don't know, I talk to a priest or find someone who does. As an adult, of course they have to make the decision on their own, but I hope I do a good enough job that they would remain Catholic."

"I think I know about the pro-life aspect too. Catholics are against abortion. I have no qualms saying that if I were to get pregnant by you, I wouldn't have an abortion. Done! Easy peasy!"

Elizabeth started to get up and Henry put his hand on her knee to keep her sitting. "Yes, but that's not all. It's a belief in life from conception until natural death and abortion is most certainly part of that, but only a part. It also includes end of life issues like cutting off life support and to what extent life saving measures are employed. And there's one other thing, it's kind of related but not completely." Henry took a deep breath. "The physical purpose of sex is to procreate. That's why being married is important. The Church is against any attempts at stopping the natural consequence of marital relations."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed and Henry knew he was in for a fight. "So you are saying no birth control? Like none at all. Are you even serious?" Her voice grew louder. "No wonder people make jokes about Catholics with big families. If you think I plan on spending my life barefoot and pregnant, you are very mistaken. I have no desire to have 26 kids!"

"Honestly babe, if we had 25 kids, I'm not even sure we'd find the time to make the 26th!" Henry grinned.

"Don't be cute with me Henry McCord. I'm serious. This is where I draw the line."

"Ok, sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood. But really, let's talk kids. Do you want kids? Like someday?"

"Yes, I would like kids-someday." Elizabeth hadn't really thought about the actual number of children much. "My initial thought would be 2, because if something were to happen to both of us, I'd want our kids to have each other. I might be persuaded to go for 1 or 2 more depending on how cute the first two were, but never 26!"

"I can tell you that if our children are as beautiful as you, we'll be closer to 26 than 2. It would wrong of us to withhold perfection like that from the world!" Henry leaned over and kissed Elizabeth.

"Oh you are good!" Elizabeth leaned into the kiss and returned it.

Pulling back. Henry spoke, "so the situation is this. I can't be ok with measures to stop pregnancy from happening and you don't want that constant possibility hanging out there. I physically can't stop you from taking birth control, so I'm putting that ball in your court. If and when we decide to have kids, you can go off of it and go back on whenever you feel it is necessary. I will have no part in it. Will that work?"

"I can live with that. Although this sounds like some sort of negotiation. Losing a little bit of the spontaneity, aren't we?"

"Maybe, but do you really want to have this conversation on our wedding night?"

Elizabeth shook her head with a sly smile. "Right, I'm sure we'll have other wedding night plans. I was thinking about playing Scrabble, what do you think?"

"I think you are awful," Henry said grinning as he reached over and started tickling her. They broke apart laughing. "Hey there didn't you bring something constructive to do?"

They spent the next hour reading and when Elizabeth finished her assignment, they gathered up their stuff and walked more of the trail. It was a challenging hike and they stopped to take a rest on a bench about 3 miles in.

"How much longer is this trail?" Elizabeth asked. "I'm waiting for the downhill portion."

Henry handed her the trail map. "Looks like we should start heading down any time now. We have maybe another mile to go. "You want to hang out here for a few more minutes?" We're in no rush to get back, are we?

"No, not at all." Elizabeth leaned back and interlaced her fingers behind her head, closing her eyes.

Henry just sat back and watched her. God, she is so beautiful. How did I get lucky enough that she loves me?

Elizabeth opened her eyes and shifted her eyes to Henry, "Your level of staring is approaching creepy," she said closing her eyes again.

"Sorry, but I think you are just going to have to get used to it. I think you are the most gorgeous woman in the world and I'm making it my hobby to look at you as often as possible." Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Henry as he scooted a little closer and took her hand putting it to his chest. Elizabeth could feel the thrum of his heart under his shirt. "As long as this heart beats, you are mine. I will always take care of you." As Henry attempted to reach around Elizabeth and pull her closer, his hand brushed her breast. Although, it was unintentional, the effect did not go unnoticed. Elizabeth glanced down both directions of the path. Seeing no one, she turned to Henry and gave him a wicked grin.

Shifting her weight, she threw her leg over the top of him so that she straddled his lap. "How's the view now," she asked lowering her lips to kiss his forehead, then his eyelids, his nose, and finally his lips. He slipped his tongue past her lips, running it along the roof of her mouth. She let out a tiny moan. Running her hands down Henry's biceps, she continued until reached his hands. She placed them on her abdomen and dragged them up to her breasts. Even through her shirt, Henry squeezing her breasts and running his thumb over her nipple sent a shockwave through Elizabeth. Instinctively, she ground her hips into him and he bucked up into her."Damn!" she muttered and leapt off his lap. Landing next to him, she reached across and grabbed his jacket, tossing it on his lap covering the very obvious bulge in his sweatpants.

"Elizabeth? What the heck was that?" Henry was confused as to her sudden mood change, but about 3 seconds later, it was clear when several kids came running down the path right in front of them. He looked over at her, flushed and sweaty, legs crossed tightly and draining the water bottle. He was amazed. "How did you do that?"

She shrugged, "I heard them coming this way. I didn't think it was a good idea to scar a bunch of little kids on a nature walk."

"You must have incredible hearing. The only thing I could only hear was my heart beating in my ears," he smirked.

"Hey, are you ready to go? I'll race ya!" Elizabeth took off, but then turned around and yelled back at Henry, "I sure hope there are more steps in your delayed gratification plan. If not, I'm going to need to join the track team." Henry chuckled as he set out after her.