A/N: Don't own Madam Secretary or any of its characters. Just playing in their really fun sandbox for the time being! Come join me by reading this story/chapter!

Really love how this chapter turned out! Hope you're happy with it as well. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Borrowed Time

It was the day before Henry's deployment and he and Elizabeth had decided to spend their final day together.

So, Henry and Elizabeth had spent the morning in bed and had finally gotten up to make some food because after having made love three times during the night and morning, by the early afternoon, they were both famished.

Henry had started cleaning out the fridge that night after they'd made love for the second time.

Elizabeth had woken up and found Henry in the kitchen throwing stuff away that would go bad while he was gone and had shortly thereafter distracted him by telling him to come back to bed before she had kissed behind his earlobe and down his neck while her arms wrapped around his middle from behind.

He'd turned around to kiss her among other things and after that they'd ended up on the kitchen floor that time.

Now, as Henry looked through his dismal food supply, or what very little was left, he said to Elizabeth, "It's either boxed mac and cheese or we go out somewhere."

"Mac and cheese it is. It's hard enough that I have to share you with the Marines for nine months to a year. I don't wanna share you with anyone else until it's time," admitted Elizabeth before she kissed Henry's lips a little possessively.

After they broke apart for air, Henry whispered, "Fair enough. Plus, mac and cheese is like comfort food, isn't it? At least it was for me."

"Me too. My mom used to make it for me when I was a kid and had a bad day," Elizabeth told Henry.

"Does it make you sad now?" asked Henry carefully.

"No. It's a good memory actually," said Elizabeth as she smiled a bit wistfully.

Henry said, "Okay. I'll get the stuff out and make it then."

"Uh uh, babe. Sit down and relax. Chances are you won't get many chances to do that over there. I may not be a gourmet cook like you, but I think I can manage to make us some mac and cheese. After all, the directions are on the box. I promise to ask you any questions I may have so that I don't burn your apartment down," Elizabeth told him before she kissed him chastely and pushed him towards the living room.

Henry did as he was told and sat on the couch and turned on a baseball playoff game as he glanced back at Elizabeth every so often, occasionally sneaking a peek at her ass as she wore one of his old t-shirts that barely covered it.

"I can feel you staring, Henry McCord," said Elizabeth a few minutes later.

"Do you want me to stop?" asked Henry.

"No," replied Elizabeth as she smiled to herself as she poured the noodles into the pot of boiling water and stirred them.

"Good. Cause I never want to stop," Henry told her as he came up behind her in the kitchen and nibbled on her earlobe for a few seconds.

"Don't start something you can't finish, McCord," Elizabeth warned him as she teasingly backed up into his growing erection.

"I'd say the same to you, Elizabeth Adams," Henry told her as they settled for him kissing her neck while she watched the pasta carefully.

"Mmhmm," hummed Elizabeth before she let out a moan when Henry nipped and sucked at her neck.

"Mine," Henry whispered into Elizabeth's ear as she stirred the pasta some more.

Elizabeth just laughed at his sudden possessiveness, knowing he wasn't trying to be possessive in a controlling way.

"Marking what's yours?" asked Elizabeth a bit breathlessly.

"Mmhmm," Henry hummed affirmatively into her neck.

"Here. Taste this," Elizabeth told him a few minutes later as she held the spoon with a few noodles on it out to him.

"I'd rather be tasting something else right now," Henry murmured into Elizabeth's ear before taking the spoon with the noodles on it.

"God, you're insatiable," Elizabeth told him.

"So are you. If I recall correctly, you were the one who woke me up at three in the morning to tell me to and I quote, "fuck me," Henry echoed her words back to her.

Elizabeth blushed at the memory before she begged Henry, "Taste the noodles before they overcook."

Henry tasted the noodles on the spoon before he responded, "They're perfect."

Elizabeth turned the stove off and set the pot on a cool burner before she turned around in Henry's arms and asked, " Do you have a strainer?"

"Sure. Second upper cabinet on the right side of the stove," said Henry.

Elizabeth opened the cabinet he instructed her towards and found the strainer on the top shelf.

As she strained to reach it, Henry's old t-shirt rose up her body, exposing some dark blue lacy underwear beneath it.

"Enjoying the show?" asked Elizabeth as she stood flat on the ground again.

"Mmhmm," hummed Henry appreciatively before he whistled at her.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and ignored his cat call before putting the strainer in the sink and grabbing the pot off the stove and pouring the pasta and water into it so it could drain.

Meanwhile, Henry came up behind Elizabeth and wrapped his arms around her middle and asked, "Are you ignoring me?"

"No. Simply trying to focus on the task at hand," Elizabeth told him before she turned towards Henry and kissed his lips chastely once again.

"That's fair," replied Henry as he let go of Elizabeth as he noticed she needed to make her way to the fridge for the butter and milk to prepare the mac and cheese.

After a few minutes, the mac and cheese was complete and had been spooned into two separate bowls before Henry and Elizabeth made their way to the couch and began eating their food.

Once they were done about fifteen minutes later, Henry offered to wash the dishes while Elizabeth told him she'd clean out the rest of the fridge.

They worked in tandem in the kitchen doing their chosen chores.

Once Henry finished doing the dishes, he sneakily walked up behind Elizabeth and wrapped his arms around her as she threw away something from the fridge.

As Elizabeth pressed the back of her body towards Henry's she said, "Someone's happy to see me."

"Always," Henry told her as he nibbled on her earlobe.

"I guess this can wait until later," Elizabeth smiled as she told him, referring to finishing cleaning out his fridge, before closing it and turning around in his arms.

"Thank god," Henry let out a sigh of relief before he pulled Elizabeth closer and kissed her lips ardently.

Elizabeth let out a moan when Henry moved from her lips to her neck, nipping and sucking on some skin, making small hickeys down her neck until he made it to Elizabeth's collarbone and sucked and nipped there as well.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth had one of her hands at the back of Henry's neck, while the other traveled downward until she reached the bare skin underneath his t-shirt and settled her hand on his hip as he came up to kiss her lips passionately again, this time with a little tongue on Henry's part.

Elizabeth granted his tongue access to her mouth as they both dueled for control.

After a few minutes, Henry's hands traveled to Elizabeth's hips as he slid her navy blue lacy underwear down and off her hips until they slid to the floor.

Elizabeth quickly stepped out of them and kicked them across the kitchen.

Henry responded by lifting Elizabeth up until she was sitting on the countertop.

Her legs wrapped around Henry and pulled him towards her until he was standing between her legs.

"Got you right where I want you," Elizabeth smiled mischievously at him.

"Oh really?" asked Henry.

"Mmhmm," hummed Elizabeth.

Henry responded by removing his t-shirt off of Elizabeth, exposing her bare breasts and torso to him.

Elizabeth did the same and removed Henry's t-shirt from his body, exposing his chest and fairly chiseled abs.

"Happy now?" joked Henry before kissing her again, this time more chastely so she was able to respond.

"Not quite," Elizabeth told him.

"Tell me where you want me and I'll give you whatever you want," Henry whispered huskily.

"Here for now," Elizabeth guided his hands towards her breasts.

Henry felt them up for a minute of two before his tongue began tracing circles around her areola teasingly.

"Henry!" exclaimed Elizabeth frustratedly.

"Alright, I'll stop the teasing. For now anyways," Henry told her before winking seductively at her and giving more direct attention to her nipples for a few minutes.

After a few minutes and several moans later, Elizabeth told him a bit breathlessly, "You have such a talented mouth, McCord."

Henry just bowed his head between her breasts and smiled into her chest for a moment before picking his head back up and smiling again cockily as he responded with, "You haven't seen nothing yet."

Elizabeth took advantage of Henry's distracted state to grip him through his jeans.

"Oh god! You're so good at that," Henry told her, egging her on.

Elizabeth responded by unbuttoning his jeans and pushing his jeans and boxers halfway down his legs before grabbing his penis and gently squeezing it as she echoed his earlier words by sultrily saying, " You haven't seen nothing yet."

Henry quickly pushed his boxers and jeans the rest of the way down and kicked them across the room, likely into a heap with Elizabeth's clothes, or what little she'd had on, before he reached into a kitchen drawer and grabbed a condom.

"I need you," whispered Elizabeth in his ear.

"Where?" asked Henry as he put the condom on.

"Anywhere and everywhere," Elizabeth told him.

Henry smiled cockily before he said, "It would be my pleasure…and yours of course."

Elizabeth laughed at his cheesiness before she slid to the edge of the countertop and once again grabbed his penis, directing it and him towards her entrance.

"You're the one who was so insistent on us screwing for the fourth time since yesterday. Why all the teasing?" asked Elizabeth.

"I love to draw it out a bit. Makes it all the more pleasurable," Henry told her honestly.

Suddenly, Elizabeth leaned down towards his ear and whispered, "While that is true, I think we've had enough foreplay for now. If you don't fuck me in the next two minutes, I'll have to take care of things myself."

"That would surely be a sight to see...or hear…or both…" Henry trailed off.

"Not the point. Not this time at least. I need you," she grabbed insistently onto his penis and inserted it into her entrance herself.

"Alright. Point taken," Henry told her before kissing her lips ardently as he began thrusting fast and hard into her.

"Mmhmm, Henry. Right there," Elizabeth directed him.

Henry pushed in a little farther, knowing just the spot, by feel now, that would make Elizabeth scream his name.

"Oh god, Henry! Yes! Yes!" bellowed Elizabeth loudly.

Henry continued thrusting into her fast and hard, but it was apparent Elizabeth needed something more to push her over the edge.

So, Henry's right hand reached between them and flicked her clit a few times with his fingers and she screamed, "Fuck, Henry. That feels so good. Keep doing that."

Henry did as he was directed and soon enough, she came around him.

He kept thrusting, seeking his own release, and as Elizabeth's walls clenched tightly around his erection a few minutes later, Henry cursed, "Shit Elizabeth!" as he too found release.

Henry's head immediately found a spot to rest on Elizabeth's shoulder as she continued sitting on the counter in front of him.

"You were amazing," Elizabeth told him.

:"So were you," Henry told her a bit breathlessly before he placed a kiss against her shoulder.

They stood there for a few minutes in complete silence before Elizabeth asked, "So, are we gonna pretend this isn't happening and just make love all day or are we gonna talk about it?"

"What?" asked Henry.

"Deployment. The fact that you could be gone for up to a year. What that looks like for us," Elizabeth told him.

"I mean I guess we can talk about it. I've never really had anybody to talk to about it before. So, if I'm bad at talking about it, please forgive me," Henry vulnerably told her.

"Okay," replied Elizabeth as she grazed his cheek lovingly with her hand.

"So what do you wanna talk about first?" asked Henry as he looked into her eyes.

"Are you scared?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Yes and no. There's always the possibility of something terrible happening to you, but I trust the guys up there flying with me to have my back just like I have theirs. The end goal is for all of us to come back home safe. Doesn't always happen, but more often than not it does have a good outcome. What about you? How are you feeling about all of this deployment stuff?" asked Henry.

"I think I'm mostly okay with it except that I'll miss you so much while you're gone and the thought of you not coming home to me still scares the hell out of me, but after our talk the other night, I've been feeling slightly better about it. Still scared, but I believe you when you say you'll always fight tooth and nail to come back to me and that you'll always fight for us and what we have," said Elizabeth, trying to play it cool.

"You know you don't always have to be the strong one, right?" asked Henry.

"Yeah, I know. I think the whole deployment won't really sink in until you leave tomorrow. It just doesn't quite seem real right now. It's like we are and have been in this bubble for two weeks now and as you're leaving, it's gonna pop. I know that and like I told you before, I'm ready to be devastated by you, Henry McCord," Elizabeth reiterated to him.

"Hopefully, it won't come to that, but if it does happen, I've instructed my family to include you every step of the way," Henry told her.

"They know about me?" asked Elizabeth, a bit taken aback.

They hadn't really talked about when to tell their families about their relationship.

So, it surprised her that he'd mentioned her to them.

"Yeah. I hope that's okay," said Henry.

"Yeah. I just didn't know when or if we were doing that. That's all," explained Elizabeth.

"Alright. I also gave them your phone number so that they're able to contact you in the event that something does happen while I'm over there," said Henry.

"That's fine. Good, actually. I understand the need for you to put your affairs in order before you go over there should something happen," said Elizabeth.

"I also have something else for you. Hold on," Henry told her as he bent down to retrieve something out of the pocket of his jeans.

Elizabeth desperately hoped it wasn't a ring or some pre-deployment proposal. I mean, she'd understand why he might do that, but she also had to be realistic. They'd only known each other two weeks and even though they were already irrevocably in love, they were still young and she wasn't even out of college yet. There would be plenty of time for that later, she repeated to herself like a mantra.

Henry suddenly got up off the floor with something grasped in his hand and Elizabeth exhaled a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding.

"You okay?" asked Henry, having noticed her breathing.

"Yeah. I just thought…" Elizabeth trailed off.

"Thought what? That this was some impulsive pre-deployment proposal?" asked Henry, having known guys who'd done that.

"Yeah," replied Elizabeth as she laughed awkwardly.

"Oh my god! No. I'm not trying to scare the shit out of both of us by doing that. It's not that I don't want to someday. Just not now. When I propose to you, I wanna do it right. You deserve that rather than some impulsive and rushed proposal just because I'm leaving to go to war," Henry told her.

"So, if this isn't a proposal, which I'm just as relieved as you are that it isn't right now, then what's in your hand?" asked Elizabeth curiously.

"A gift," Henry told her mysteriously.

"Well, I gathered that much," Elizabeth told him.

Henry turned his hand over and dropped what was in his hand into Elizabeth's before revealing the object to her.

"A key?" asked Elizabeth.

"To my apartment," Henry told her.

"For what?" asked Elizabeth a bit confusedly.

"To come over whenever you want. Whether I'm here or not. Deployment can be a lonely time for those left behind. If you ever wanna come over just to lay in our bed or smell my pillow or borrow one of my t-shirts or whatever you need, it's yours to keep," Henry told her, indicating to the key.

"Okay," replied Elizabeth as she smiled at the small token that meant so much before she kissed his lips in appreciation.

"Plus, the rent and utilities are paid for the next 12 months. Someone might as well get some use out of it," Henry told her after they broke apart for air.

"Thank you," Elizabeth told him as she hugged him tightly.

"No problem," responded Henry as he smiled at Elizabeth before kissing her cheek.

"So, what now?" asked Elizabeth.

"We make the most of the time we have left until tomorrow morning comes," replied Henry.

Elizabeth smiled at Henry before jumping off the counter and into his arms as she kissed him ardently.

"Bedroom," they both said at the same time once they broke apart for air.

These next twelve months would surely be hard on both of them, both physically and emotionally, but as long as they remained connected in whatever ways they could, they both had faith that they could endure this hurdle in their relationship.

Together.

And soon enough.

Apart.

A/N: Please leave a review if you so feel inclined! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, but if not, constructive criticism is always welcome as well. It helps me become a better fic writer. So, don't be afraid to comment whether it's something nice or something you liked or something constructive I could work on.