AN: I felt like no picnic series would be complete without this one. In the interest of full disclosure, I only watched the episode once, when it aired. I wrote this and then went back to watch the scene. Somewhere I missed that it was a Florida road trip. Oops! Florida as the destination didn't work with what I'd written, so this road trip isn't to Florida. Oh well!

Thank you so much for the reviews over the past couple of stories. They really lifted me up. There is one more picnic after this. My teaser is that it's something I don't usually write.

Aught 6

"You're sure you'll be okay?" Elizabeth asked her mother-in-law.

"We'll be fine. I've got both your numbers. I can call if anything goes wrong. Seriously, Elizabeth, you seem more anxious now than when the kids were little."

"I'm sorry Margie. I know that everything will be fine. We just haven't been away from the kids for more than a weekend ever. They've always had one of us." In her head, Elizabeth knew she was being silly, but it hadn't even been a year since they had moved to the farm and everything still seemed unsettled. Now, Henry insisted on taking her on a cross country road trip, to Yellowstone of all places. Henry grabbed her around the waist and hauled her off the porch of his parents' house causing the three kids to laugh hysterically.

"Say bye to your mom," Henry called out. 11 year old Stevie, 7 year old Allison and 5 year old Jason all waved and yelled goodbyes.

Even Elizabeth laughed when she heard Jason say, "Grandma, can we have cookies now that mom and dad are finally gone?" Margie McCord ushered the children into the house as Henry and Elizabeth pulled away from the curb.

Henry had grown up taking road trips. Each summer, his father, Patrick, would take a week off and the McCord family would venture out. They had traveled all over. Sure, there were family squabbles and mishaps, like when Shane had set the luggage out at a gas station to look for his handheld video game, which he forgot to return to the trunk and they had to backtrack three hours to retrieve their belongings. At the time, that hadn't been funny, but now it was one of their favorite stories to tell. They all had fond memories of those family vacations.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, had traveled frequently, only her family traveled by air. Michael Adams could rarely get a full week off, so they maximized their vacation time by flying to their destination. The farthest Elizabeth ever traveled by car was the trip from Charlottesville to Pittsburgh, which was roughly 5 hours, and she usually got antsy and made Henry stop so she could walk around and stretch her legs. This trip would be a test.

The couple had had a good time, making touristy stops in Chicago and Minneapolis. It was when they started making the trek from Minneapolis through the Badlands that things went south.

The hotel in Minneapolis had been abysmal. Henry and Elizabeth both slept poorly. They left early and the restaurant where they planned to eat breakfast had an hour wait. Not wanting to wait that long, they decided they would just pick up a gas station danish on the way out of town. It would only be about four hours until their next stop. They would make do.

"I'm starving," Elizabeth mumbled as she leaned against the side of the car, the hot Dakota sun beating down on her.

"I'm hungry too," Henry agreed, as he unloaded the last of their luggage from the trunk to dig out the spare tire. "I'll get this fixed quickly and we'll be back on the road in no time." Elizabeth let out a sigh, but offered to help Henry and half an hour later they were traveling once again. There was a wrong turn, a mistake that Elizabeth completely took credit for, which added another hour to their travel time.

Henry could tell that Elizabeth was getting tired of being trapped in the car. His offer to play "I Spy" was met with a glare that made Henry thankful that she couldn't shoot laser beams from her eyes.

It was a little after three when they pulled into their next destination, a local eatery that had been featured on their favorite cooking show. Unfortunately, the restaurant had closed at 2 and it was the only place to eat for two hours in any direction. That was the breaking point. Elizabeth sat down in the parking lot and cried.

Henry attempted to sit down next to her, but she shot him the laser eye look. "This is all your fault. I wanted to fly into Jackson, Wyoming and drive the hour. You said, 'Let's drive. It will be fun.' THIS IS NOT FUN! I'M NOT HAVING FUN!" she yelled.

Henry took a step back, sighed, and walked to the back of the car and popped the trunk. He dug around for a bit before closing the trunk and getting in the car. Elizabeth was still sitting in the middle of the parking lot sobbing. Henry started the car. Elizabeth looked up at him. Her eyes were puffy and red rimmed, her nose was red and she had tear stains covered the front of her shirt. Her look was indignant.

Henry took a deep breath before rolling down the window. "Your situation isn't going to improve by sitting there sulking. Let's keep going." She opened her mouth to argue, but Henry cut her off. "E-liz-a-beth." Henry's brows were knitted together and the way he spoke each syllable, it communicated so much more than the actual sounds he made. She rose and got in the car and slammed the door shut.

"I'd prefer you not speak to me like a petulant child," she said hatefully, giving him the side eye.

"I'd prefer you not act like a petulant child, so we've all got things we want." He tossed a bag of peanuts on her lap. "There," he said.

"Where did these come from?" she asked, as she bit into the plastic, tearing the package open.

"From my emergency stash," he said and put the car into drive. Elizabeth was about to yell at Henry for not breaking out his emergency stash sooner, but when she looked at him, she decided to keep quiet and eat her peanuts.

After driving for what seemed like forever, they finally made it to a town with a motel. Once they checked in, Henry said, "You go hang out. Take a shower or whatever and I'll bring dinner to you."

Elizabeth looked around at what she could see of the main street. "Ha! Good luck with that. This place looks like they close up shop at 5 pm."

Henry ignored the angry tone and handed her the key card. "I'll take care of it. Be back in a bit." Henry drove through the main business district and found that Elizabeth was correct. None of the businesses we're open. Henry was not a man to go back on his word and considered himself resourceful when he needed to be. He drove through one of the residential areas of town finally stopping in front of a house with several cars parked in front. He got out and smiled. "Barbeque," he murmured. "That's what I'm talking about."

Henry walked about the side of the house and saw a few guys gathered on the back porch around the grill. He took a deep breath, marched up and told his story. "So you can see that I'm in a serious amount of trouble with my wife. I need to feed her and feed her well if I'm going to live to see tomorrow.". They all nodded. "Any chance I could buy two dinners? I'll offer a bonus if you have some sort of dessert."

The man with the spatula nodded his understanding. "Been there, done that," he said. "Just a minute." A few minutes later, he returned with two grocery bags. "Here you go sir. Enjoy." Henry pulled his wallet out. "No, no. It's on me. Go enjoy a good meal and make the wife happy."

Henry thanked the man profusely and made his way back to the hotel. When he walked in, Henry heard the shower running. He took the decorative throw off the end of the bed and spread it out over the top of the bed and then he dug into the bags. He smiled. The man had done well. Henry set out two covered plates that each had grilled chicken, potato salad, and coleslaw. Then there were two small butter bowls that held baked beans and another set of covered paper plates, with two pieces of chocolate cake. Just then, he heard the water stop running. A devilish grin crossed his face. He broke off a piece of cake and walked into the bathroom.

Elizabeth jumped when the cold air whooshed in from the main room. She shot him a look. "Well?" she asked, her tone accusing. He grinned and shoved the piece of cake in her mouth.

"You need to hurry up. I'm hungry," he said walking back out into the room. He had barely sat down when she came out of the bathroom, her t-shirt and underwear clinging to her still wet body. She picked up the piece of chicken and took a bite before wrapping her hair in a towel and sitting down.

She moaned with each bite she took and they ate without speaking for almost ten minutes. "So where did you?" she started.

"When I say I'll take care of it, I'll take care of it." Henry arched his eyebrows at her. Elizabeth felt a flutter in her stomach, but it had nothing to do with the food she was eating. She nodded slowly and smiled. They finished eating and cleaned up together. "I'm going to take a shower now.

Henry emerged a few minutes later and found Elizabeth lying on the bed watching TV. She sat up. "I want to apologize for today."

"It's fine. We're fine." Henry paused. "Are you really having a terrible time?"

"No, not at all. I mean today sort of sucked, but I love being with you. I was just, I don't know: tired, hungry, short tempered. All of that just made me a raving bitch." Henry just stared at her. "You mean you aren't going to tell me it wasn't that bad?" Her tone had an edge, but her eyes were amused.

"Babe, I would never argue with you when you're right." Henry grinned and Elizabeth threw a pillow at him. "I will forever refer to this as the 'Infamous road trip of aught 6.'"

"Why can't you say 2006 like a normal person?" Elizabeth laughed and rolled her eyes.

"2006 is boring."

"You're a nerd," she said. Henry shrugged and then leapt onto the bed tackling her. She lay pinned underneath him, her breaths quickening. "You're a really hot nerd."

"That's better," he mumbled before he kissed her. They smiled at each other. The day had been rough, but at least the evening held a lot of promise.