Two Prompts: Henry breaks the news to Elizabeth that he's resigned and Henry makes a decision that Elizabeth has been hoping for for a long time...but she worries that he's doing it for the wrong reasons.
Henry sighed as he approached the bedroom that he shared with Elizabeth. With all the concern for Alison, he'd been able to put off telling his wife about his abrupt career decision. Now, though, their daughter was settled in with her sister binge-watching something and Jason was well out of their way. It was getting late and the whole family was quieting down for the night. All of the excitement of the day's events had faded away and Henry found himself faced with a discussion he'd been perfectly fine with avoiding.
"You okay?" Elizabeth asked as he fell backwards onto the bed next to her. He looked back at her, sitting on her side of the bed with one of his shirts draped over her form and her hair barely brushing the curves of her shoulders as she watched him with a certain amount of concern in her blue eyes.
He nodded, reluctantly pushing himself up so that he was level with her, leaning back against his own stack of pillows. She was still watching him attentively, aware as she often was that something wasn't right with Henry.
"I'm fine," he began, "but…"
She took a breath.
"That's never good," she remarked. Henry shrugged.
"I quit my job today," he said, and silence followed his words as they sank in on Elizabeth, who was staring at him in shock. The truth was that Elizabeth had never been particularly thrilled with Henry leading the Special Activities Division. However, it had been a much better alternative to the idea of him continuing to work with the NSA and having to keep everything from her; they had seen how that went, and neither of them had been keen for a repeat performance of the events that had nearly sent them both to prison. Henry had been honored to accept the position Conrad had offered him at SAD, and Elizabeth had been comforted by the idea that at least they wouldn't have to keep secrets from each other. Even so, she'd often longed for the days when he was an ethics professor who could come home and grade papers and be normal, especially since her own job was so demanding and unique. Henry had loved teaching, but she'd respected that it wasn't where he needed to be at the time. In spite of that, she'd often hoped that someday he would feel the pull of shaping young minds again and return to such a position...or any position that didn't put him in danger, for that matter.
Now, faced with his very sudden declaration of resignation from a job that Elizabeth had thought he enjoyed, she didn't know what to think. There was a certain amount of hope- hope that he'd come to his senses and wanted to get out of the line of fire. Yet, there was also something nagging at her about it. She was concerned as much as she was hopeful; Henry had yet to explain his reasoning for such a move, but she couldn't help but worry that he'd done it for the wrong reasons. Perhaps he was doing it to keep himself safe, for her or for their kids, or both. But there was an equal chance that he was doing it because he knew that she was uncomfortable, and that was the last thing she wanted him to do. She knew where that would lead; it was an inevitable path to resentment, and Elizabeth couldn't imagine a world in which Henry resented her. It made her feel sick just thinking about it.
"Elizabeth?" Henry prompted, and she looked back up at him, finding him watching her, waiting for a response.
"I- why?" she asked. "Because Henry, I- I'm all for you doing something a little safer, but not if it isn't what you want."
Henry smiled slightly at her, reaching out to take her hand. She tangled her fingers with his and watched him as he gathered his thoughts before taking a deep breath.
"It wasn't about me," he said quietly. "Not...mostly, at least. I wasn't effective in that position because I wasn't accepted in it. Morejon thought that I was the wrong person for the job, and I'm sure he wasn't the only one."
"But, Henry, you-" she began, but he silenced her with a look.
"I know," he assured her. "I know that I was good at it, and I know that I could have affected real change in that position, but I just didn't have the kind of support I would have needed to do that. It just wasn't there. As much as I wanted it to be, it wasn't. So…" he shrugged again and met her gaze. "It was time to move aside. Hopefully they can find someone else to take over who can be as effective as I would have liked to be."
Elizabeth exhaled and leaned back, glancing up at the ceiling. She wasn't entirely sure what to say in response to all of that. It was a lot of information to digest, but at the same time she was somewhat relieved.
"I'm sorry, Henry," she said, and she meant it; while she was glad that he wouldn't be in the line of fire so to speak, she felt for him. She knew what it was like to feel like you couldn't be effective in a position that you knew you had the ability to do well, and it was a hard thing to cope with.
"It's okay," he said. "It stings, and I wish I had managed to do more with that job, but...there is a bright side."
"Oh?" she asked, alerted by the shift in his tone. Henry grinned, and suddenly he'd flipped over so that he was hovering just above her, close enough that she could feel the heat of his body against her own. She couldn't help but smile as he nodded his head.
"Tell me about that," she hummed.
"Well…" Henry hedged, glancing off into the space above her head as if he was contemplating it very seriously. "I'm thinking along the lines of...accompanying you on some of those diplomatic trips, being home every night when you come home, lazy Sundays with the kids again…among, you know, other things," he added playfully as he pressed a kiss against the tender flesh of her neck. She couldn't stop smiling as he spoke.
"Stop it," she replied. "You're making me want to quit my job."
"Ha ha," Henry teased, and Elizabeth laughed, eliciting a warm little smile from her husband, who had never been able to think of a sound he loved more than Elizabeth's laugh.
"Wait," Elizabeth said, and Henry drew back, a little disappointed as he looked up to meet her eyes.
"You're okay though?" she asked. "You're not upset about this?"
"Well, like I said, I do wish that I could have done more," he began, "but overall, no. I don't think it's much of a loss, especially considering the recent events that put the idea of loss in perspective. We've got a full house of people we love. That's all that really matters, right?"
Elizabeth smiled up at him, leaning in to press her lips against his in a sweet kiss. Neither of them were very sure what the next step would be, but in that moment, it didn't matter. They were together, and at the end of the day, that was all that really mattered.
