A/N: Thanks so much to Kimber1983 for helping me with the smaller details of this chapter. I truly couldn't have written this chapter without you. So, this one's for you! Any mistakes made with this chapter are my own.
Chapter 8: That Will Have to be Enough
As Elizabeth woke up early the following morning in Henry's bed, she found his side of the bed empty.
She looked around the room and didn't see him.
Figuring he must be in the bathroom, she walked towards it and heard the shower running.
Elizabeth stripped off Henry's t-shirt and the lacy underwear she'd worn to bed after their lovemaking the previous night and set them on the bed before pushing the door to the bathroom open and heading for the shower.
After she opened and closed the shower door, she immediately snaked her arms around Henry's midsection from behind and laid her head against his back.
"Good morning," said Henry as he smiled at the contact from Elizabeth.
"Morning. How long do we have until we have to leave?" asked Elizabeth before placing a kiss against Henry's back.
"Couple hours," replied Henry as he turned around in Elizabeth's arms.
"Mmhmm. Perfect," Elizabeth told him before she kissed his lips chastely and then sunk down until she was on her knees in front of him.
"What are you doing down there?" asked Henry knowingly.
"Giving you a little something to remember me by," replied Elizabeth as she smiled up at Henry.
"I think there's plenty to remember you by," said Henry as he cracked a smile.
"So, you're saying you don't want this?" asked Elizabeth as she gently gripped his penis and began jacking him off.
"Ahh…I didn't say that," said Henry a bit breathlessly as his breathing became ragged at Elizabeth's ministrations.
"Our last hoorah," said Elizabeth.
"I see you've picked up on some of the Marine lingo," said Henry.
"It seemed fitting for the occasion," replied Elizabeth nonchalantly as she continued moving her hand up and down the length of Henry's penis.
"Uhh…" groaned Henry.
Elizabeth continued her hands on approach for a couple more minutes before taking Henry's penis and licking the tip of it, teasing him a bit.
"God, Elizabeth," moaned Henry.
"You like that?" asked Elizabeth knowingly as she continued to lick the top of his penis.
"Mmhmm," replied Henry.
Soon enough, Elizabeth began taking more and more of him into her mouth, doing with her mouth what she'd been previously doing with her hands.
"Oh, god…" Henry trailed off as Elizabeth repeated the back and forth motion with her mouth.
Suddenly, Elizabeth stopped her motions and gently grazed her teeth against the tip of Henry's penis.
"Oh, shit, Elizabeth. Keep doing that," Henry told her as his hands slipped into her wet hair.
Elizabeth just chuckled mischievously at that and began taking Henry's penis deeper into her mouth, making sure to graze every inch of it with her teeth as she went, Henry egging her on every step of the way.
"Fuck, Elizabeth. I'm almost there," Henry told her in between ragged breaths.
Elizabeth stopped her motions for a moment to blow on the tip of his penis and say, "Cum for me, babe."
As Elizabeth continued taking his penis into her mouth, Henry began thrusting deeper into her mouth, bracing her head with his hands as he did so.
A minute or so later, after grazing his penis a bit more with her teeth, he finally came into her mouth and she swallowed it.
A couple minutes later, as she smirked proudly and regained her composure as well, Henry grabbed her hands and pulled her up off her knees until they were face to face.
"That was one hell of a hoorah, but it's your turn now," whispered Henry.
"Oh, really? I wasn't expecting this," said Elizabeth, genuinely surprised.
"I know. You should though," said Henry earnestly before he pushed her against the shower wall and began kissing her passionately.
They stood there ardently making out with each other for a couple minutes before Henry decided to take things to the next level.
As he inserted his penis into her entrance, Elizabeth gasped before she said, "Oh, Henry."
As he began thrusting deeper into her hard and fast, Elizabeth's breathing became ragged as Henry intertwined their hands together as he pinned hers against the shower wall above her head and kissed her ardently.
"Fuck, Henry. Keep doing that," Elizabeth egged him on as they broke apart momentarily for air.
Henry smirked into her skin as he moved onto kissing Elizabeth's neck, sucking and leaving little love bites on her neck to remember him by.
Henry continued thrusting, increasing his speed and changing the angle slightly so he'd hit just the right spot.
"Oh god! Almost there, Henry," communicated Elizabeth.
Henry moved from her neck back to Elizabeth's lips as he kissed her fervidly.
A minute later, he stopped thrusting and told her, "Open your eyes. I wanna remember what those eyes look like when I make you cum."
Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked straight into Henry's as he increased his thrusting speed and depth, finally hitting her g-spot.
"Oh…Henry…yes! Yes! Yes! Yes…" Elizabeth bellowed and then trailed off as she came looking directly into his eyes.
"Beautiful," Henry told her as he unpinned her hands from the shower wall and kissed her.
They lazily made out under the spray of the showerhead for a couple minutes before Henry exited from Elizabeth's entrance.
They each rinsed off before Henry told her,"I gotta get dressed and load my pack up. Do you want me to leave the water on for you?"
Elizabeth answered by reaching behind him and shutting the water off.
They each got out of the shower and toweled off before going to put clothes on.
Elizabeth grabbed Henry's gray t-shirt off the bed and put it back on along with a new pair of her lacy underwear, a pair of jeans, and a cardigan.
Meanwhile, Henry began putting on his undershirt as well as his Marine uniform pants.
After he got his uniform shirt on, Elizabeth came to stand in front of him as she began buttoning up his shirt for him as she said, "Let me."
"Thanks," replied Henry as Elizabeth finished buttoning up his shirt.
Elizabeth then ran her hand back and forth over the McCord patch on his chest.
"That's gonna be your last name someday," Henry told Elizabeth and smirked at her.
"Who says I'm taking your last name whenever we decide to get married?" posed Elizabeth.
"Just a thought," replied Henry as he put his hands up in defense.
"I'd be willing to compromise with a hyphenated last name," supplied Elizabeth as she smiled at the thought.
Henry smiled at Elizabeth before kissing her and then saying, "I could live with that."
Elizabeth kissed him passionately for a couple minutes before Henry broke the kiss and said, "I still have to pack and I have a little surprise to give you before we leave to go to the base.
"A surprise?" asked Elizabeth as she smiled up at Henry.
"Yeah. Let me pack the rest of my uniforms and stuff first and then I'll grab it out of my dresser drawer," Henry told her.
Elizabeth obliged and let go of Henry and went to sit on the bed to wait for him to finish packing.
About ten minutes later, Henry had everything packed and grabbed his surprise for Elizabeth.
"It's nothing huge. Just something I thought you could make use of while I'm gone," Henry told her as he handed her a piece of paper.
"What is it?" asked Elizabeth.
"The numbers of the wives or serious girlfriends of some of my best marine buddies. I thought you could probably use a support system of people who understand what you're going through while I'm gone. Especially with it being your first experience with deployment," explained Henry.
Tears welled up in Elizabeth's eyes as she clutched the piece of paper to her chest and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. I also took the liberty of giving them all your number as well. I just wanna make sure you're taken care of while I'm gone," Henry told Elizabeth as he hugged her tightly.
"That's totally okay. Thank you," Elizabeth told him.
"Yeah. Of course, you have Isabelle to talk to as well, and I'm sure she'd be willing to listen, but I just thought that a group of women going through the same or similar experiences as you might help. They'll be at the base today. So, you'll get to meet all of them," said Henry.
"Thank you, again," Elizabeth told Henry as she hugged him tightly.
They sat there on the bed for about ten minutes, not wanting to let go of each other.
"I've got a little something for you too," said Elizabeth as she went to grab her purse and pulled out an envelope.
"What's this?" asked Henry as Elizabeth handed him the envelope.
"A little something for the ride over there. Something to remind you of what you're fighting to get back to," said Elizabeth as she looked into Henry's eyes.
"I'll keep it in my front shirt pocket and treasure it always," said Henry.
Elizabeth smiled at that before giving him an ardent kiss.
Once they broke apart for air, Henry looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand and said, "It's about that time."
Elizabeth took a deep breath and steeled herself for what was about to come as she took Henry's outstretched hand and interlocked their fingers as they left and locked the apartment door behind them before heading towards Henry's truck.
—-
They held hands across the bench seat of Henry's truck the whole way to the base.
Once they were in the parking lot, Henry switched off the truck and turned to Elizabeth and asked, "How are you doing?"
"I'll be okay," Elizabeth told him, slightly putting up a front for his benefit.
"Are you sure?" asked Henry.
"Henry, I'm gonna miss you like hell for the next year, but it's not like we can stop you from deploying. You're going off to war and that's something neither of us can control. So, the sooner we both accept that, the better off we'll be," Elizabeth pointed out.
"You're right, but me leaving you for a year isn't exactly what you signed up for," said Henry.
"It's exactly what I signed up for, Henry McCord. You were completely transparent with me from the moment we met that you were a Marine. I wasn't under any illusion that this would never happen. We each made the conscious decision to begin a relationship despite what was looming over our heads. It's not a decision I regret in the slightest. Will the next year be hard? Of course it will, but we'll write tons of letters and have the occasional phone call and that will have to be enough. Are you having second thoughts about this?" asked Elizabeth.
"Not about us. Just about leaving you for the next year. I'm sorry I said what I said before. Of course you know what you're doing. I'm just afraid that you won't have any idea what you're in for the next year and when it does hit you, that you'll decide it's all too much. I would completely understand if you did," said Henry, offering Elizabeth an out.
"Henry, I'm with you for the long haul. I'm not going anywhere," said Elizabeth as she looked Henry straight in the eye.
"I know. I was just trying to give you an out," said Henry.
"There is no getting out of what we have nor would I want to. I'm irrevocably in love with you, Henry McCord and I'm not going anywhere," Elizabeth told him with absolute certainty.
"I'm completely in love with you, too, Elizabeth Adams. So much so that it hurts that I have to leave you for so long," said Henry emotionally, and with equal certainty, as he pulled her in for a tight hug.
They sat there and simply hugged each other tight for a few minutes.
As they pulled apart from each other, Henry noticed a few stray tears slipping out of Elizabeth's eyes.
Henry swiped each cheek a few times to wipe some of Elizabeth's tears away.
Elizabeth grabbed Henry's hand and interlocked it with her own before bowing her head and kissing the top of his hand and said, "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for, babe. This is a hard thing. I expected there to be more than a few tears from both of us. Listen, I know how strong you are. That I've never had any doubts about. I just want you to know that it's completely okay to let down your walls a little and cry in front of me and vice versa. Like I said, this isn't easy," said Henry.
Elizabeth shed a few more tears and furiously swiped at them as she looked at Henry and saw a few tears streaming down his face as well.
They both looked up at each other at the same time and both started laughing.
"Oh, god. We're both a mess now," said Elizabeth.
"I know," replied Henry as he chuckled and took Elizabeth's hand in his again.
They sat there in the truck holding hands and trying to regain their composure and when Henry thought they were both ready he asked her, "You ready to get out?"
"As ready as I'm going to be," replied Elizabeth sadly.
"I know. Me too," said Henry morosely as he watched Elizabeth get out of the truck before getting out himself.
After Henry grabbed his pack out of the back of the truck, he locked the truck and met Elizabeth in the front of it with his keys and said, "Here. Take these. You can drive it back to my apartment or whenever you want. I just had it serviced last week. So, everything should be good with it for a while," Henry told Elizabeth as he handed her the keys to his beloved truck.
"Okay," replied Elizabeth as she took her free hand and joined it with Henry's free hand as they walked over to where the rest of the Marines and their families were standing.
Once Henry found his small group of buddies and their significant others, he and Elizabeth walked over to join them.
"McCord!" yelled one of his buddies as they approached the small group.
Henry let go of Elizabeth's hand for a moment and shook hands with the fellow Marine.
"Castro!" exclaimed Henry as the two men shook hands and bumped shoulders before Henry rejoined hands with Elizabeth.
By this time, the rest of the small group had taken notice of the fact that Henry had a woman with him.
"Now, I see where you've been the last two weeks, brother," said Castro.
Henry gave Castro a playful shove at his insinuation before he looked at Elizabeth and said, "Elizabeth, this is one of my buddies, Lieutenant John Castro and his wife, Ana."
"Nice to meet you both," said Elizabeth as she outstretched her hand to shake first John's and then Ana's.
"Good to meet you too," they each replied.
"This is Lieutenant Jason Reynolds and his fiancee, Kimberly," Henry introduced the next couple.
"It's great to meet you both," said Elizabeth as she shook each of their hands.
"Then, here's Captain Marty Jameson and his wife, Maura," Henry told her.
Elizabeth shook each of their hands and they exchanged pleasantries before Henry moved onto the final couple.
"Finally, here's Major Steven Toussaint and his wife, Sally," said Henry.
She shook hands with each of them and then said, "It's so nice to meet some of Henry's best friends and their significant others. To tell you the truth, I was a little nervous and scared coming here today, but you all seem like genuinely nice people. So, just goes to show I had nothing to be afraid of when it comes to meeting all of you."
"I think I speak for all of us ladies when I say you're one of us now," said Maura as the rest of the women nodded their heads in agreement.
"Thank you. That's incredibly kind of you to welcome me into the fold so easily," said Elizabeth.
"Well, when we see Henry at the happiest he's probably ever been, that means something to us," said Kimberly as she smiled at Elizabeth.
"Thank you. I feel the same way about him," said Elizabeth as she smiled and looked across the way at Henry and caught his eye as he was talking with his Marine buddies.
"You two seem to be a great match," piped up Sally.
"You do," agreed Ana.
The women and men stood around in two groups for a while talking and the women got to know Elizabeth a bit before each of them reunited with their partners as it was nearing deployment time.
Henry wrapped his arms around Elizabeth as he said, "I'm gonna miss you."
Elizabeth bowed her head against Henry's chest for a moment before she said, "I can't believe the time is upon us already."
"Me either. It's sort of surreal this time around to be honest," Henry told her.
"Does it ever stop being surreal?" Elizabeth asked him.
"I don't think so. The guys with wives tell me it feels the same way when it's time to go too," explained Henry.
"Okay. I love you so much," Elizabeth tearily told him.
"I know. I love you too," Henry told Elizabeth before he kissed her passionately for a minute or two.
Elizabeth & Henry then enveloped each other in one final hug before Henry walked towards the rest of his Marine buddies as they were about to leave.
The four women came towards Elizabeth as they all held hands, watching their Marines leave them and hoping to God or the universe or whatever that it wasn't the last time they'd ever see them.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading or continuing to read! If you so feel inclined, please leave me a lovely review or a note of constructive criticism.