They'd made a four-day workweek a few weeks later and headed off to the farm on a Friday morning. Despite prodding and begging from Elizabeth, the kids all insisted they had to stay in the city for one reason or another and, in the end, she given in with a pout.

Blake had his bag packed with everything he would need to keep in touch with the office remotely, but was hoping to find a bit of peace, which Nadine had assured him he would find out in the country.

They pulled in just after lunch and Blake went right to unpacking the food and other things they'd brought, he'd never really had a look at the place when he'd been out before, so it was all a bit new. Elizabeth gave him a quick tour, introduced him to the horses, and promised a few rides before they had to go back. He found himself later simply sitting out back in a chair, staring across the field, not a single sound of a car or anything else he was accustomed to.

"It's peaceful out here." Elizabeth spoke, pulling a chair beside his. "I planned to move back after my time at State's over."

"Planned?"

"I don't know. I'll be all alone, you know? Kids will be gone, no Henry. It seems weird having this big place to myself. I'm not sure I want to stay in Georgetown either though. Both feel like home, but they're too big for one person." She laughed. "That's assuming my kids all move out I guess."

"What do you want?"

"I love my horses. I love being out, away from the crazy. I think I love it more now than I did before. DC is hard for someone who is used to this." She turned to him. "What do you think?"

"I think you should follow your heart. I think you'll know when the time is right where you should move to. I think the kids, and Henry, will understand whatever you choose."

=MS=

"Sonny is gentle, Blake, you'll be fine." Elizabeth was holding the horse still by its, his, halter. "Left foot in the stirrup and then up and over."

He shot her another doubtful look and then glanced to where her detail were leaned against the SUV, giant grins on their face. "I don't know." They'd talked and hung out the evening before, but she swore the next morning she was getting him on a horse.

"I promise. We won't go too far, you'll be fine."

Blake exhaled at stared at the saddle a second more before grabbing hold and doing what she said, hoisting himself up and over. The horse moved a bit, redistributing the weight, and then he was seated. "Oh."

"It takes a bit of getting used to, but he'll take good care of you." She adjusted the reins and put them in his hand at just the right point. "Relax."

"That won't be happening." He watched her walk away, leaving him on his own on Sonny for just long enough he considered starting to panic, but then she appeared again leading another horse, turning loose and letting it walk free for a few strides before she caught the saddle and mounted as it moved. The sight of Elizabeth sitting on her horse made him forget about his own distress over being in the same position.

A slight nudge of her heel and she was off, Sonny willingly following in line. "He won't do anything crazy on you, he's a bit old now." She spoke as they passed through a gate and up a small path. "Give him a nudge with your heel and steer him up here."

"Umm."

"I swear it's like driving a car." She laughed. "Want a little more speed, use a little more foot."

Drawing from the three minutes of riding instruction she'd given him before bringing Sonny out, Blake pressed his heels into Sonny's belly, his breath stopped as the beast picked up the plod to walk beside Elizabeth's horse. For a while, he simply took in the view as the horses walked, they clearly knew the path as they needed little from the people they were carrying. When he wondered if they would be turning back soon, Elizabeth turned her horse toward a gate and dismounted, opening the gate and clicking to get Sonny to walk through before leading her own in and latching the gate again.

"This is the back pasture of our property. I like to come back here to exercise them because it's a decent size. If you don't want Sonny to run, just pull back when I go, he won't argue much. You can either walk that way along the fence and I'll catch up to you in a bit or you can wait here. At the end is the gate into the front pasture." She mounted again and clicked, pushing her horse to speed up.

Blake found she'd been right, Sonny didn't need too terribly much convincing to stay put as he watched Elizabeth push her own horse into a run along the long side of the pasture, slowing to make the corner and then off again. He found himself mesmerized by the sight and didn't move to head toward the gate until she was walking her horse toward him a half hour later. "Wow, that was…" He trailed off.

"I used to take them out all the time. I miss riding so often." Her smile was more brilliant than he'd seen in a long while. "Henry used to ride, but he only learned after we got married."

"When did you learn?" He heard himself asking.

"I grew up with horses, so… young." She turned her horse and led the way back.

After they returned and got the horses cleaned up and settled, Blake showered before returning downstairs to find Elizabeth, already changed, waiting in the living room with two mugs of tea on the table.

"I appreciate coming out here, but I know you didn't want to come to just give me a break from everything. So, talk, what's been on your mind?"