As Henry stood and waited for Elizabeth to finish getting ready for the ball this evening Henry looked at himself in the mirror. He hated to admit it but this tuxedo fitted so well and Henry agreed that it looked smart. The detailing in the stich was blue which, gave the suit a bit of interest. Adjusting his bow tie his phone vibrated in his pocket. Fishing it out from his suit jacket his brother Shane's name flashed across the screen. Answering it Henry felt suddenly nervous, immediately thinking something had happened to one of his parents.
"Hey Shane, good to hear from you" Henry started positive not really knowing why he was calling.
"Henry! The boy wonder!" Shane's jibe and laughter bought a smile to Henry's lips, tugging at the corners of his mouth turning them upwards ever so slightly. "First you nearly give dad a heart attack by taking a job in the epicentre of all that's wrong with this country and NOW you are in bed with one of them! Do you know about some untold riches that you are due to inherit or something?"
Henry laughed at his brother "I plead the 5th" Poor Shane, Henry thought. Shane along with Maureen, his older sister, lived the closet to their parents and Henry was pretty sure that after his admission of his relationship with Elizabeth, their dad had probably been unbearable. "It's been bad then, huh?" Henry questioned, not really sure whether he wanted to hear the answer or not.
"Nah, he's totally fine. Easy in fact." Shane always the joker , thought Henry to himself. "Being honest now... He only mentions it once a day" Shane heard a frustrated sigh from Henry "Hey, brother, he used to mention it multiple times a day so it's definitely an improvement. Now it's just once"
"Well, I'm happy. Hopefully if they agree to come and visit us then they will see" Henry caught sight of Elizabeth through the crack in the door and stumbled a little, the black of the dress, the blonde of her hair pulled up. He swallowed thickly.
"I think mom is hoping that you will bring her here, you know?" Shane's voice suddenly softer when speaking of their mom, brining Henry's thoughts back to the conversation.
"Oh" Henry hadn't even considered it, he couldn't picture Elizabeth in his childhood home all her agents surrounding it "Ok, I'll speak to Elizabeth and see how she feels."
"Under the thumb already I see" Henry shook his head, smiling. He missed his happy go lucky brother. "Let me know what to tell mom, ok?"
"Will do. Elizabeth has a pretty intense schedule so it may change last minute but tell mom that I will let you know a date soon" Henry thought of his mom and his family meeting Elizabeth and just couldn't picture these two worlds meeting. "Shane, I have to go we are going out soon"
"Argh, yes, the dinner thing for water?" Henry felt touched and a little shocked that his brother knew about the dinner and voiced his surprise.
"You know about the dinner?" Shock evident in Henry's voice.
"Errr yeah, the whole town must've popped round to mom's when they saw you on the news. Mom is loving it." Shane paused "You guys look good together and they mentioned that you were due to make your first official appearance tonight."
"Wow, ok. Sorry if you guys are getting any unwanted attention because of me" guilt washed through Henry, he never considered his family receiving any attention from his new relationship. I'm naive, I must make the effort and see mom.
"It's all good, brother. Don't be a stranger and have a good time tonight. See ya"
"Yep, bye Shane. See you soon" Henry ended the call and stared at the phone in his hand. Suddenly feeling a little guilty and sad for his family. Henry decided in that moment he would try and bridge the gap between himself and his family. Elizabeth was a part of his life now and he hoped that she would remain in his life for the rest of his days, he needed to include her in his family.
"Everything ok, Henry?" Elizabeth's soft voice startled him and he turned quickly and saw her in full. A long black dress fell from her shoulders to the floor, she wore a shawl over her exposed shoulders and her eyes shone. The blue sparkled brightly and her hair was pulled into a soft updo. Henry reached out for a tendril of hair that framed her face. Feeling the softness between his fingertips he placed his palm to her face, feeling her lean into his hand.
"Elizabeth, you look phenomenal." He closed the gap between them, his lips hovering over hers. Her perfume overwhelmed his senses and he breathed in deeply, it was her scent and it was home to him. She leant into him and pressed her lips lightly to his, the fullness of her lips softly cushioning against his. A moment spent like this was a moment well spent and when they came apart and their eyes met. Henry whispered "I love you, Elizabeth"
She smiled and softly repeated those three little words to him. Those three little words that had so much meaning.
"Are you ready to go?" She asked him. Butterflies were rife in her stomach, public events always made her feel like this.
"As ready as I'll ever be. I'm excited to see you in action if I'm honest." She noticed the way he smirked at her, a crooked sort of smile that she had learnt meant he was thinking dirty thoughts. "It's kind of hot watching you in action." He admitted, his voice suddenly low and intense. "Seeing you so powerful and in control and knowing how I can make you lose control, make you tremble and come undone is a real turn on"
Elizabeth felt herself blush slightly as he spoke those erotic words to her. "Keep it in your pants McCord we are about to go to work"
"Ok, Mrs Professional, I seem to remember a certain Secretary of State waiting for me in my office assaulting me with her lips a little while ago now. Teasing her a little before beckoning with his hands towards the door. "Shall we?"
"Yes, lets go. I hope you are ready for this because I'm not sure if I am" she admitted, after Elizabeth had received a text from Daisy earlier expressing the public's interest in Henry and their relationship, nerves had slowly been building in her tummy.
"Well we will just make sure we don't let go of each other! It'll be ok"
—
Flashes erupted in front of Elizabeth and Henry, all they could hear clearly were their names, mixed in with various questions shouted at them both. Daisy had prepared them as to what to expect when they arrived at the dinner however nothing quite prepared them for this. Elizabeth felt a little overwhelmed, this was intense, even for her. All she could do was stand still and concentrate on Henry's hands that never left her. The small of her back, grasping her hand, intertwined with her fingers. Always there, and a welcome constant. It was automatic for her to smile at the cameras now, she had been doing this job for 2 years and it was like a front she put on. A cool facade hiding a overwhelmed woman.
They were ushered inside by security pretty sharpish after posing for photos and saying thank you to the well wishers. They both felt a sense of relief when the doors of the foyer closed behind them, protecting them from the visual onslaught that was outside. Both blinking and attempting to make sense of what just happened they stood still for a moment before hearing a sharp "Elizabeth, Henry!" Echo through the hall. Once Elizabeth could focus her eyes she made out Russell Jackson striding towards her with his phone grasped in his hand, like always.
"Russell" Henry reached out his hand as a greeting, Russell gripped and shook Henry's hand.
"What are you doing here Russell?" Elizabeth was surprised to see him there, POTUS didn't usually attend these dinners.
"Nice to see you too" Russell's voice turned low as he leaned in to continue "I'm not stopping, I just had to speak to a congresswoman who had some intel on the school funding bill" Elizabeth watched as Russell checked his phone and looked towards the doors "errr… I'm pleased for you both. Very well suited together but just don't let any of your personal drama affect your work. The President is too polite to say it so I am, I realise you both are professional but if you start affecting the President's work then there will be words"
Elizabeth knew that chat was bound to come but it didn't help control the annoyance that burnt inside her, there was nothing she could do but swallow her pride. "Fair enough Russell. We will refrain from any lovers spats in the Oval Office"
"The spats I can deal with, hell I wouldn't mind a front row seat just to be nosey but the romance stuff leave it out" Russell broke into a smile when he saw Henry roll his eyes and say "You are such a romantic Russell, Carol is a lucky lady"
As Russell turned to leave Elizabeth called out, whilst wrapping herself in Henry's arms, "if you ever want to double date just let me know" her cheeky smile lighting up her face. They both cracked up at the slight shudder that rippled through Russell as he headed for the doors.
—-
It was a little after 11pm once the dinner, the speeches and the other formalities had concluded and Henry found himself at the bar with a couple of Elizabeth's staffers. They were all in easy conversation and it was nice to be a part of the crowd. Matt who was a little drunk by this point leant in and said "You know, I knew there was something going on between you" his hands moving between Henry and pointing at Elizabeth, who was currently charming some foreign dignitary. As Henry looked over at her, Elizabeth's eyes glance up and locked with Henry's. They shared a moment across the room and smiled a little at each other before returning to their own conversations. They had spent a large part of the evening moving from one introduction to the next, Henry was amazed at how Elizabeth had made every single person she spoke to feel like they were the most important person in the room. It was a quality that he had rarely seen in anyone else before.
"I'd love to hear this" Henry swirled the amber liquid around in his glass before taking a big last gulp, before motioning for another.
"Well, it was when she kept going to her phone one day. I knew it then" Matt stood looking quite proud of himself.
Blake laughed and patted Matt on the shoulder "You had no idea, Matt. You still have no clue"
The group laughed gently at Matt and they continued with various other anecdotes about Matt being completely out of the loop.
"Come on Henry fill me in then. Take pity on me and tell me, did she make the first move? Was it going on in Myanmar?" Daisy shot Matt a look and took his glass away, Matt looked a little dejected as she took it from his hand.
"You'll thank me tomorrow. Sorry, Dr. McCord" Daisy met Henry's eye and smiled warmly at him.
"No, it's ok. I'll tell you all once and once only. So you better hope you are sober enough to remember" Henry chuckled and took another sip and a deep breath "I met her in the Oval Office back when I first started a couple of months ago and I knew in that moment that we were destined to be together." Henry scanned his audience all 3 of them with their heads to the side and eyes wide. "We then had a date and went to Myanmar"
"So it started before then!" Matt exclaimed finding this information exciting "See I knew it!"
"You honestly know nothing, keep quiet" Blake snapped.
"Oh and you do?" Matt crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Yes, of course who does her scheduling? She told me everything" Blake rolled his eyes at Matt and motioned for Henry to continue.
"Well long story short after a rocky start, we relised we wanted to be together and we are moving in together in the next month or so." Henry turned slightly looking for Elizabeth, hoping to be able to leave soon.
"No, no. Don't cut the long story want to know" Chorused Matt, Daisy and Blake.
"Maybe another time guys, I think it's time for me to go" Henry had noticed Elizabeth walking towards him and he reached out for her hand, bringing it to his lips and leaving a little delicate kiss on her knuckles. "Goodnight everyone"
"Wait, before you go, just tell us who made the first move?" Daisy shouted at their backs. Elizabeth and Henry turned around, looked at each other in the eye and smiled. Both called back at the same time "I did" followed by laughter and groans from the three musketeers they left for the motorcade.
"I cannot wait to get out of these heels. 2 weeks out of them was amazing but I'm suffering now" Elizabeth whined a little as she leant into Henry's supportive grip.
"I cannot wait to get you out of that dress, babe" He whispered in her ear as they walked towards the exit.
Playing dumb she retorted "Do you not like this dress?" She felt his hands on her hip gripping hold a little tighter which made her come alive.
"I fucking love it but I think it would look a lot better on the bedroom floor" he growled this time and shot his tongue out to taste her skin just below her neck causing butterflies to erupt throughout her body.
"I agree, your tux should be discarded as soon as we get inside. It looks ridiculous on you, it's clearly meant to be on the floor" Her eyes full of desire flashed at him and Henry hoped the car ride home wouldn't take too long.