a/n: I'm so glad none of you have giving up on this story because neither have I! Let me know what else you'd like to see in this story.

eleutheromania: (n.) a great desire for or obsession with freedom

"Let's go inside. I'll start making dinner." Henry offered as he realized the afternoon had passed by them rather quickly.

"So, what's for dinner?" Elizabeth asked as she kicked off her shoes in the hallway and walked towards the kitchen.

"A surprise. You can call the kids, take a nap or a bath and I'll take care of dinner." Henry told her and she knew he wanted her out of the kitchen. A bath did sound good, so she leaned in to kiss him before going upstairs to the bathroom.

Once there, she realized it was the same as she had first come home. Only his stuff was there, but she liked the smell of his shampoo, so she just filled up the bathtub.

Grabbing her phone, she quickly stripped and sat down. The hot water felt amazing on her sore body and for a moment she closed her eyes.

She didn't want to fall asleep so she got her phone and called the kids.

"Hey mom." Stevie's cheerful voice was heard through the device.

"Hey baby. Are you guys okay?"

Yes, everything is fine here. Ali and I are making dinner and Jase is playing a video game. I'll put you on speaker."

"Hi mom." Alison now joined in.

"How's the farm?"

"It's perfect, just as I remember. Though, I miss you guys." She told them, hoping it wouldn't sound too desperate.

"We miss you too." Both daughters replied.

"So have you guys had dinner yet?" Stevie asked and Elizabeth raised her eyebrow.

"No. Why?"

"No reason." Stevie told her but Elizabeth could just hear it in her daughter's voice. Something was going on, but before she could ask any more questions, Alison cut in.

"Jason is going to prom with his girlfriend." She made sure to say it a bit louder and Jason heard her. He switched off his game and jumped up to join his sisters.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"But she is your date." Alison teased him and Elizabeth laughed at the sibling's bickering.

"At least I have a date." Jason shot back.

"Oh please I had a lot of fun with my friends." Stevie told him.

"Guys, be nice." Elizabeth warned and all three kids had forgotten their mother was still on speaker.

"Sorry." They all apologized.

"Mom, dinner is ready. We'll see you tomorrow." Stevie told her.

"Okay, bye guys."

"Love you." Alison said before hanging up.

Elizabeth spent a little while longer in her bath before getting up and drying off. She got dressed rather quickly because she was ready to eat something.

As she made her way downstairs, she stopped half way and looked around. Henry was stirring dinner surrounded by candle light and on the table was a vase of roses.

"Henry." She sighed as she continued to look around.

"Hey." He stopped what he was doing and walked over to her. "You wanted a date night."

"This is perfect." She met him at the bottom of the stairs, tears prickling in her eyes. "More than I dared to imagine."

He wrapped his arms around her waist as she stood two step higher than him. "I'm forever thankful we can do this again."

"Me too but baby," Elizabeth started as she looked past him towards the stove. "You might want to check on dinner."

Henry snapped around and found his pasta boiling over. Quickly moving towards the kitchen, he took the pan off the stove.

Elizabeth laughed as she watched her husband move frantically around the kitchen. He seemed to have been just in time as he finished making the plates.

He grabbed his wife by her hand and guided her to the chair. After she sat down, Henry got the two plates and placed one in front of her before sitting down himself.

"May I offer you a lovely non-alcoholic glass of refreshing water." Henry joked, knowing she couldn't drink alcohol with her medication.

"That would be lovely." She smiled and he poured her a glass. "All of this looks great."

"Our daughter helped, though."

"So that's what she was talking about. She asked earlier if we'd had dinner yet." She swirled her fork through the pasta and took her first bite. "This is amazing."

She groaned as she continued to eat and Henry smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

"I missed your cooking."

"I would be lying if I said I missed yours." Henry joked and she laughed.

"I can totally do with your cooking for the rest of my life."

"It might be a mixture with take-out, though. Some basic chicken with rice." Henry sipped his drink and watched her expression drop. "What's wrong?"

"Just- I've had enough rice the past year."

"We can totally do noodles." Henry suggested, hoping it would take her mind off the past year.

"I could live on this for a year." Elizabeth told him as she finished her last bite.

"I hope you left some space for desert." Henry cleared the plate off the table and came back with two carton boxes. "Mocha fudge."

"I love you." She told him as she plunged her spoon in the ice cream and started eating.

"I tried to make it perfect for you."

"From now on we'll make it a regular thing." Elizabeth closed the carton with much regret but she wanted to keep herself from getting nauseous.

"It's a date."

"Movie night?" Henry suggested as he loaded the dishwasher and waited for her to reply.

"I think I can do without movies for a while."

"Then we'll just 'chill'." Henry suggested and awkwardly laughed at his wife's raised eyebrow. "The kids taught me some 'slang' the past year."

"Oh God." She groaned. "It's getting worse. Seriously? Slang?"

"What?" Henry pretended to be offended as he closed the dishwasher. "I can totally be 'rad'."

"Please stop." She laughed as she listened to the words coming from his mouth.

They once again lay down on the couch, tangled in each other's arms. The only sound was the constant humming from the dishwasher that was on. That, and Henry's even breathing that calmed her down.

"Is there anything you want to know?" She suddenly asked. She could imagine he still had some unanswered questions.

"Is there anything you want to share?"

She thought about it for a moment. Part of her wanted to tell him everything, but also a part of her wanted to protect him from it.

To her it was much easier to answer his questions, than to tell a story about what had happened.

"Will we ever be the same again?" She whispered and heard him sigh.

"No. We'll be even better than before. Seeing what it's like without you made me love and appreciate you even more. Though, I didn't think that was possible."

"Me too, but I can barely kiss you without having a breakdown. How will we ever get us back?"

"With time and patience. Don't forget that you only came back a week ago. I didn't expect you to kiss me right away but the fact that I get to, makes me feel like we are coming back even stronger than before." Henry kissed the top of her head and she grinned.

"How is it you always know the right things to say."

"Practice." He simply stated.

"What if I can never bare more of your touch?"

"Then I'll only kiss you for the rest of my life." Henry readjusted his grip on her and held her tighter. "Babe stop thinking about what if."

"I can't help it. I'm just.." She trailed off and Henry smiled when he found her fiddling with his wedding ring again.

"You're just?"

"I'm scared." She admitted. She was terrified. Terrified of losing everything around her. To lose her kids. Or Henry.

She was afraid Henry would one day wake up and wonder why he still put effort in her. Why he was still with her when he could have someone else.

Someone less broken.

"I'm scared to death of losing you again." She told him as she sat up and turned around to face him.

Henry prompted, forcing himself not to contort his face; he knew that the last thing his wife needed right now was pity. This woman in front of him clearly was not the Elizabeth from last year, but her pride was still strong

Courage was a word he had always associated with his wife. The fact that she had survived the past year and was pushing herself so hard to return to normal had brought new meaning to the word.

"You won't lose me." Henry murmured so low that Elizabeth lifted her head and wondered if she had understood him. She sighed and rested her head on his chest.

Today was a good day. Perfect, really. They did nothing but the simplicity drove her to want more.

She was terrified that it would be taken away from her. These moments were much too strong to describe them with simple words.

When Henry asked her to go to the farm, she was initially terrified. She was afraid to leave her kids out of her sight for even a minute.

Most people would say that is what being a mother is, but this was something else. A deep underlying meaning. In this case it was simple.

A fear of loss.

Of losing the three kids that called her mom. The lights of her life that carried her through dark times.

She felt her eyes getting heavy and closed them. Soon after she fell asleep, safely in Henry's arms.

She sat on the bed since the chain prevented her from moving around much. However, when the door opened and Andrada walked in, she got up and stood besides the bed.

He took a few steps and stood in front of her, pushing her roughly against the wall. She screamed in pain and surprise, but her instinct took over, and she used her right hand to slap him. "Let me go."

His face moved closely to hers. For a second, she regretted her gesture, but the hold he still had on her waist had loosened.

"Just let me go. She repeated, louder this time and pushing him backwards with all her strength.

His hand crashed into her face as it met her cheek, and even though she had already taken blows in the past, the pain hit her hard. She had tears in her eyes, and despite the dizziness, she retaliated. She raised her fist but missed her target when Andrada hit her in the stomach. She gasped in pain and felt a hand grab her hair to force her to straighten up.

Her scream echoed in the empty room as she tried to pull away.

"Look what you are making me do." He hissed. "You inflict this on yourself."

He held her by the shoulders, their bodies pressed against each other. Elizabeth tried desperately to hit anything but only managed to touch his cheek and jaw before one knee hit her side .

He pushed her on the bed and in one fluid motion, made her turn around so she lay on her stomach. He sat on her back and all she could do was swallow and wait as she felt his breath against her ear.

"You really are a beautiful woman, Elizabeth."

She forced herself to stick against him to try to get rid of his grip. "Get off."

Tears were blurring her vision, but she could feel everything. His chest was completely against her back to keep her from moving, and she wanted to hide in a dark hole and never get out.

"So pretty." He whispered in her ear.

He ran his fingers over her hip. She closed her eyes and squirmed away from his touch when he got off her.

"I love you." She heard him say as she crawled backwards as far as she could. "I love you and the kids. We'll grow old together and be one of those annoying couples in the nursery homes."

She frowned at his words and was confused because she didn't remember this. She didn't remember him saying that.

Focusing on his words, she heard Henry's voice and dared to open her eyes. She looked around and found herself still in his arms on the couch.

"We'll play scrabble all day long and of course I'll let you win every now and then or else you won't want to play with me."

She closed her eyes again for a moment and listened to him.

"And there will be a lot of mocha fudge. I'll make sure the kids bring by a batch whenever you need some."

"I'll hold you to that." She cut in and looked up.

"I should've known you would wake up when I talked about food." Henry grinned. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yeah." She sighed and untangled herself from his arms. She sat next to him on the couch, her knee bent so she could rest her chin on it. "I need to tell you something."

"Go ahead." He encouraged her.

"You asked before if he- if he ever touched me like that." Henry's eyes widened and his mind started creating all kinds of horrible scenario's.

"He didn't." She promised him. "I just think that, if I had still been there, he would have."

"Why do you think that?" Henry asked calm.

"A few days before I escaped, he came close but stopped. I don't know why, but I think that, had I been there for a few more days, he would have."

Henry backed away, but Elizabeth moved with him, narrowing the space between them. She felt his gaze on her, waiting to move, waiting for permission, waiting for something.

Henry inhaled when she moved her head toward him and stopped when their noses touched.

"Say something."

"How can you even stand to be around me?"

"Because you're not him, Henry. Because you've shown me hope again." She started, "Because I love you."

I love you." Henry took a deep breath, eyes shining with tears. " I love you so much. I love you when we fight. I love you when you are sad. I love you when you're not here."

She sniffed and tears rolled down her own cheeks. Henry took his wife's hand in his and put it on his chest, against his heart. "You'll always have a place here. There will always love and support for you. There will be good and bad days, but it will be days together. I am so proud to stand by you, and I am aware of how lucky I was to have found such a wonderful mother for our kids, a friend and a wife. No matter what life will throw at us, I know that we will be able to overcome everything."

She didn't realize she was crying until Henry put his hand on her cheek and wiped away the tears with his thumb.

"Are you renewing your wedding vow?" Elizabeth joked and Henry let out a laugh.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Henry wondered if they should. It would be nice to do something like that with the kids. Obviously they weren't at the wedding because they weren't born.

A yawn from Elizabeth made him stand up. "Let's go upstairs."

She let herself be guided by him and only ten minutes later she was laying in bed with Henry by her side.

"Thank you for today." She whispered.

"Any time." He watched her lean closer and they shared a kiss before she lay comfortably in his arms. It didn't take long for the pair to fall asleep

TBC