a/n: thanks for reminding me to update!

pulchritudinous (ajd.) breathtaking, heartbreaking beauty.

"I kind of have a girlfriend." Jason blurted out as his sisters were making dinner and his dad was doing some work. He heard his mom gasp and quickly added, "Nothing official, though."

"What? Tell me more." Elizabeth turned to her son for details and wasn't sure why he hadn't mentioned it before.

"Her name is Piper." He took out his phone and pulled up a picture to show his mom. "Don't tell Stevie or Ali I have a picture, or I'll never hear the end of it."

"She's pretty." Elizabeth commented and tried to push down the sadness of not having been there the past year.

"She's really smart and funny and passionate."

Elizabeth watched as her son's face lit up when he talked about his girlfriend. Something she hadn't seen before. It was nice to see he hadn't completely stopped his life after what happened. "But it's not official yet?"

"No." He tucked his phone back into his pocket. "But after the past year, life's too short to not live it."

"I do want to meet her though." Elizabeth said seriously, and he nodded with a smile.

"On a day where neither of the girls are home." He told her, and she agreed.

"I missed you." Elizabeth spoke. She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it just slipped out.

"I missed you too, mom." He put his arms around her and she held him close. He had gotten so much bigger and was now taller than her.

"Now tell me more about Piper." She pushed back and waited for him to continue.

"She really gets my ideas and she's not afraid to speak her mind." Jason started but before he could continue, Stevie walked in with lunch while Alison got her dad.

They all had lunch together and although it took way more effort than it should have, Elizabeth managed to finish her food. She listened to Stevie telling them about a crazy day she'd had with Russell a few weeks ago and every now and then her eyes shifted to Henry.

Catching her gaze, he frowned worried before mouthing, 'you okay?'

She nodded in responds and continued to listen to her daughter. Most of the story went past her because she was more focused on her family that the plot, but she just laughed along with the rest of the family when they did.

"We'll clean up." Stevie told their parents once they were finished and before Henry could protest, all kids jumped into action and walked towards the kitchen.

"Do you have some more work to do?" Elizabeth asked, and Henry shook his head no. It wasn't anything that could wait.

"Is there something you want to do?"

"Just- sit here with me." She grabbed hold of his hand and started to play with the wedding ring on his finger. Her own one was still on her neck, but she needed something to fiddle with.

"Are you nervous?" Henry nodded at the way she was touching the ring.

"No. I just like the reminder that you're actually here."

"I had an idea." Henry started, "If you want, we could go to the farm this weekend? We'll have more freedom to do what we want without the press butting in."

"You kept the farm?" Elizabeth asked in disbelieve. With a single income, she figured Henry had gotten rid of it.

"It's our retirement. Plus, I was a nice place for us to remember you." Henry admitted, and she sighed. She loved that Henry had still cared so much even after he thought she was gone. She knew she married the right man.

"But- How?"

"Will pitched in and so did the kids."

"Henry." She said with a disapproving tone.

"Not from their savings but Ali has been making some money online with her fashion tutorials and Stevie with her internship." Henry explained. "Besides, we talked about it and they would all rather have a place that reminded them of you, than the latest phone or sneakers."

"Our kids are amazing." Elizabeth sighed.

"They take after their mother." Henry smiled. "So, do you want to go?"

"Yes!" Elizabeth spoke excitedly. No matter how happy she was that she was home, she wanted to get out of the house and not feel locked in.

"What else?"

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth looked at him confused and turned herself to him, ignoring the pain in her ribs.

"If you could do or get anything in the world, what would you want?"

"The past year back, but I get what you mean. I want to have a date night with you." Her hand brushed through his hair and moved back to his cheek. She brushed her thumb lovingly across his cheek and stared into his eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"I love you, Henry and I want to fight for us. I know things aren't going back to normal after one night, but I want to try."

"Okay. I have an idea." Henry proposed, "How about we go on Friday and the kids join us on Saturday?"

Elizabeth didn't want to leave her kids or be separated from them, but she knew she had to let them go at some point anyways. To get over her fears.

"Sounds good."

The kids joined them soon after and they settled for watching a movie. Elizabeth's thoughts started to wander to her parents. She was glad they hadn't gone through mourning her as well, but she really missed them.

In moments like this, she just needed her mother to reassure her everything would be alright. Or her dad to tell her to keep going and not give up.

Henry had given her a family of her own and she was forever grateful, but she would have loved for her kids to have met their grandparents. It wasn't fair.

Life wasn't fair.

For some reason, bad things kept happening in her life and she could really use some parental guidance.

Henry's mother had always treated her as family, despite Henry's siblings. She had been welcomed into the family and accepted by her.

Once the movie was over, and they had dinner together, Elizabeth lay in bed. Everything was still tiring and exhausting.

Henry lay down next to her with a book on his nightstand to read as soon as she was asleep. He wasn't going to leave her.

"Good night." She lay down, facing him while he still sat up in bed.

"Good night." His hand brushed her hair for a moment before he lowered himself to her. Just as he was about to place a kiss on her temple, she turned and caught his lips with her own.

"I'll be right beside you." Henry whispered, and she nodded as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Henry fell asleep about an hour after her with his book on his chest.

At 4am, Henry woke up and instinctively moved to find his wife. His eyes shot open when he found her side of the bed empty.

Had his mind played tricks on him? Had it all just been a dream? Tears already welled up and he wished he could return to his dream. That was until his eye fell on her clothes on the chair and her glass of water on her nightstand.

He sighed with relief as he got out of bed and made his way downstairs. He heard noises and soon realized the TV was on.

He found her sitting in the couch looking at a news repeat from earlier that night. Her face was on the screen and Henry picked up the remote and turned it off.

"Babe." He sighed and sat down next to her. That's when he saw the tear streaks on her cheeks and he wrapped one arm around her.

"I-" She chocked on her words and let out a sob. Henry held her even closer and waited for her to calm down.

"You're safe. It doesn't matter what anyone says or writes, I love you and our kids love you and you're home." Henry promised her as he stroked her back. He had been aware of the different rumours going around after her return.

Most news outlets were saying what kind of a miracle it was and how happy everyone was with her safe return. However, there were a few stories going around saying they planned it, or it was a play from the US government.

And of course, there were stories that were dismissed rather quickly, saying she was a clone or pretending to be Elizabeth Mccord.

Though, the stories accusing her of lying about the whole ordeal were the ones Henry took personally. No one knew what his wife had gone through; and even he only knew parts. There was no way he would let her be accused of making it all up.

The kids and he had managed to keep her from watching the news, but she had finally seen what the outside world thought. He had hoped to shield her from it for at least a little while longer.

Elizabeth had calmed down a bit and now lay silently in his embrace.

"It was scary." Henry admitted, causing her to look up.

"What do you mean?"

"Waking up just now. Without you. It felt awfully familiar and I don't ever want to wake up without you again."

"Me neither." She rested her head on his chest and listened to the calming rhythm of his heartbeat. They feel asleep together on the couch until Stevie walked downstairs the following morning to get ready for work and found them.

"Guys." She whispered as she gently touched her dad.

"Hey." He spoke in a sleeping tone before looking around where he was. Events of the night before came back, and he remembered Elizabeth having watched the news.

"Did you guys sleep here?"

Elizabeth now slowly awoke as well and sat up. She let out a groan when she felt a screeching pain on her side. The uncomfortable position she had slept in caused her ribs to hurt even more.

"What's wrong?" Both Henry and Stevie looked at her with deep worry in their eyes.

"I'm fine. I just slept in an awkward position." She watched as Stevie walked to the kitchen and looked at Henry for help. "Can you help me up?"

Henry grabbed her hand and guided her to a standing position. The fact that she had asked for help showed him she was in more pain than she was willing to let on.

She took a deep breath and slowly the pain ebbs and slid back into being a constant discomfort right beneath the surface of her awareness.

She let go of Henry and managed to walk to the breakfast table to sit down and have breakfast with her daughter. Not soon after the other two joined them as well.

"Mom and I wanted to go to the farm this weekend and we were planning on going Friday. If you guys want, you can join us on Saturday?" Henry suggested and the waited for the kids' reaction.

"Yes!" Alison said excited. "I can show mom my room make over."

"I'm in." Jason said, and they agreed Stevie would drive them out on Saturday.

"Wait don't you have school?" Jason now noticed the fact that his sister was at home while she should be at college.

"I talked to the administration and they allowed for some time off." She explained and saw her parents' worry. "I'm not failing this semester, I promise!"

"Alright. Well it's good to have you home, noodle."

"Since that means you'll be home all day; anything mom needs, you get." Henry told his daughter and she nodded.

Elizabeth sighed. "I can still do things myself, you know."

"But now you don't have to."

"I have to go to work, Jase do you still want a ride?" Stevie watched as her brother jumped up and stuffed the last of his breakfast in his mouth.

She placed a kiss on her mother's head. "Bye mom, love you. Bye dad."

Jason followed her, and they were out the door.

"Anything you want to do, mom?" Alison asked. "We could do some online shopping to get you a new wardrobe."

"I guess I should get some work done then." Henry grinned and got up.

"I promise not to spend all your savings." Elizabeth yelled after him and heard him laugh.

"So, this year there are a lot of new things and colours in fashion like-" Elizabeth listened to her daughter go on about the latest trend and realized how much she had missed hearing her talk about her passion.

Admittedly, she had pretended to talk to her kids the past year. She would close her eyes and if she tried hard enough she could almost pretend it was real.

She would have endless conversation with her children. Not just her children. She would find some sort of comfort in talking to Henry.

She would spend hours imagining what he or their kids would be doing. Would they be having fun with friends? Stuck doing homework?

Henry was busy doing work but quickly his mind started to wander. He loved having his wife back, and he could see his kids getting back to normal, but there was still a wedge between him and Elizabeth.

He knew things wouldn't go back to normal within a week. He had her home, but her mind was still back there. She had fought to get back, yet something was still pulling her away.

After losing her, he had spent hours thinking about conversations they'd had. Things they had fought about that now seemed so unimportant. Arguments over basically nothing.

She was something to live for and always had been. A light in his life. Yet when the darkness came, he realized life was as fragile as a dream.

She had left him without any warning and he prayed every day for a miracle that she would come back.

To her kids.

To him.

The first morning after her passing had been the hardest. He woke to her goodbye. He always thought he would be the first to leave.

Months later, the dust had settled since she left but his heart hadn't mended yet and he doubted it ever would. Night were endlessly long, and he dreaded them more and more. Laying in that bed without her felt uncomfortable.

And most certainly not how it had been supposed to.

He would spend hours just twisting and turning, hoping sleep would come. To go to a dream world where this horrible reality wasn't true. However, every night he would find himself alone.

Every morning it would hit him like a ton of bricks and felt like he got punched in the stomach. The emotions would come flooding in and every single day again, he would quickly pass through the five stages of grief.

A quick glance at the clock made him realize it was time for lunch and he had barely gotten any work done. Luckily, he had time to do it this afternoon. Getting up, he made his wife over to his wife and daughter on the couch.

TBC