Chapter 63
A/N Changes
Small time jump Beginning of March. Elizabeth is finishing her Junior year. Henry is in the last year of his Masters program.
It is a typical Tuesday night on the UVA campus. Elizabeth and Henry are at his apartment studying. They have completed their midterms and the whole campus is buzzing. Finals are in 8 weeks.
Elizabeth is stretched out on the couch with her feet in Henry's lap. He is mindlessly rubbing them with one hand as he holds a book reading with the other. She is deep into reading a book for one of her Poli Sci classes. The CIA had restructured her classes and she was leaning heavily on Poli Sci these last 2 years of undergrad.
He lowered his book to turn the page one handed, when he looked up at her. God she is so beautiful. How did I get so lucky to have her in my life? He was so deep in thought and staring at her he didn't realize he had stopped running her foot.
She looked up at him when his movements stopped. Wonder what has that beautiful mind of his so occupied?
He did not see her staring at him. He suddenly blinked his eyes and saw her beautiful blue eyes staring at him. "Move in with me," he blurted out without thinking.
The statement totally caught her off guard. "What?" she asked him with a complete surprise look on her face.
He laid his book down and pulled her to him by her ankles. He swung her legs over and took both his hands in his. "Babe, I love you so much. My heart hurts when you are not with me. I can not sleep without you curled up in my arms. You spend more nights here in my bed than you do at the dorm. Hell you have taken over half my closet, dresser drawers and bathroom. There is no sense in you paying for a dorm you are hardly in. Move in with me."
She had looked down at their intertwined hands halfway through his speech. Silent tears started streaming down her face. She was so caught off guard by his question and what it would mean. She looked up and saw the smile on his face and him with a hopeful look on his face. She was so in love with him and his smile and that look gave her butterflies in her stomach.
She released his hands and stood up. She walked over to the window and looked out over the campus. Can I do this, do I want to do this? What would living together look like?
He wanted to walk over to her and take her in his arms, but he had learned that she needed to process this. She would process it in her own way and when she was ready she would tell him. He only hoped he had not scared her with his question.
She stood at the window, wiping the tears streaming down her face. She saw her reflection in the window. The girl looking back at her looked nothing like the one from so many years ago when she had been so broken by her parent's sudden deaths. Henry had given her his love freely and unconditionally. Did she deserve it or him? She pulled the curtain back and it gave her a view of his reflection in the window. She watched him for a few seconds before she turned back towards him and walked to the couch.
She sat down and took his hands in hers. She looked up at him, tears still silently streaming down her face. She leaned over and took both of his cheeks in her hands and pulled his head toward her. She placed a kiss on his lips that was so tender and gentle. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes and nodded her head. She did not trust her voice.
He saw her nod her head and his smile got bigger. "Yes, does that mean you will move in with me?"
She nodded again.
He placed his hands on her cheeks with his fingers under her ears and using his thumbs wiped away her tears. He felt his own tears pooling in his eyes. She had just made him the happiest man in the whole world.
He grabbed her and pulled her tightly into his arms. She was right where she needed to be and soon she would never leave again.
He jumped up and took her hand, leading her towards the door. He snatched up his keys and opened the door.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"We are going to pack up your dorm and move you in here with me where you belong," he said.
She pulled back on his hand and laughed, " You realize it is almost 9 pm. It's a little late to be moving tonight."
He looked down at his watch and laughed too. "Guess I was a little excited for you to move in. When do you want to do it?' he asked as he dropped his keys by the door and shut the door.
"Well, I don't have classes tomorrow and you only have 1 morning class, so I guess tomorrow afternoon. I need to go to the library in the morning and finish a paper, but we can meet up after that. Are we really doing this?" she asked.
He looked at her and nodded his head up and down. "Yes, we are definitely doing this."
The next day Elizabeth finished up at the library and headed to her dorm. She was close with her suitemates and wanted to tell them she was moving out and they would need to find someone to replace her next semester. They had all been together since freshman year.
Cassie and Becky were sitting on the couch in the common area when she walked in.
Cassie looked up and said, "Who is this strange person coming in our suite?"
"Oh haha. I know I am gone a lot, but I do still live here," she told them. She would miss living with them, but moving in with Henry was bringing her such joy and happiness.
"So what brings you here and away from Handsome Henry? Run out of clean underwear," Becky asked with a snicker.
They all laughed and Elizabeth looked up at them. "Well I said I still live here, but that is about to change. Henry asked me to move in with him and I said yes."
Cassie and Becky's faces both broke out in a huge smile. "Let me go check the chart." Cassie said as she jumped up from the couch running into the kitchen.
"Damn, Becky you won." Cassie said as she walked back to the couch.
Elizabeth had a questioning look on her face. "Won what?"
Becky said with a grin on her face. "We started taking bets at the start of the semester when you would move in with Henry. I said before the end of March."
"You took bets?" Elizabeth asked with a shocked look on her face.
"Yep," Cassie said.
"I am sorry to be leaving you guys, I guess you will need a new suitemate for next year," Elizabeth told them.
"Way ahead of you there. We knew this was coming so we already talked to Judy from one of my classes and she is anxious to move out of her double, so she jumped at the chance," Cassie told her.
All three girls stood and circled their arms around each other. They had a strong friendship and they were certain that it would survive her moving out.
Henry arrived a little while later loaded down with moving supplies. About three hours later they had all of her stuff loaded into his truck and her car.
They all loaded up and headed to Henry's apartment. He promised to make them a homemade dinner if they helped unload at his place.
Once dinner was done and the dishes cleaned, they were all sitting in the living room talking. It was getting late so after hugs and goodbyes the girls left.
Henry walked over to her and placed his arms around her waist. "Welcome home," he told her as he leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips.
She pulled him down farther and locked her lips on his in a deeper kiss. The kiss turned into a passionate moment and Henry was soon backing them into the bedroom.
Clothes were stripped and thrown about and she was sitting in the middle of the bed waiting on him. He walked over to her with a hungry look in his eyes and joined in in the bed.
The semester was over and Henry was preparing to leave for six weeks. He was going to Mississippi for specialized pilot training and would be leaving in 6 days.
Elizabeth would be taking an advanced linguistics class but not on the UVA campus. Back in late February, she was called to Langley to meet with the Asst. Director.
She walked in the room and her Aunt Joan and two other men were there. One of them introduced himself as George Peters and the other was the Asst. Director Peter Delgado.
"I guess you are wondering why we called you here," Peter asked her. "We are wanting to build a satellite CIA office away from Langley. Since you and Joan both live in Charlottesville we were thinking there. Joan has suggested maybe on your farm."
Elizabeth was a little shocked and asked, "What would it all entail?"
"Well we will need a secure building and secure housing for future agents to use if they need to be at the facility," Peter said.
"We have the building that used to be my Mom and Great Grandfather's office. It has a big office area, a conference room and a full kitchen. It hasn't been used in a long time and I haven't been out there in a while. I am not sure what kind of shape it is in. We could use that if it suits your needs," Elizabeth said.
"We can come out in a week or so and look at it and decide what we will need to make it fit our needs. It needs to be a completely secured facility so some changes may need to be made. Are you okay with that?" Peter asked.
She agreed and they decided to come out and look at the place the next weekend. Henry had ROTC drills so it would not interfere with any plans.
Once the place was looked over it was decided it needed quite a few upgrades and some more rooms added. Peter also wanted to add a SCIF (Secure Communications Information Facility) to ensure all communication was secured and classified conversations could be held there.
The construction was completed and Elizabeth would be taking her advanced class at the new "office". The class was being taught by a linguistics expert from Langley so it needed to be held in a secure location. She was more than happy to do it there. It would allow her to spend time at the farm and Buttercup.
Elizabeth completed her class and was working on some intelligence analysis. The Middle East was her area of expertise. She was assigned to work on cables and satellite imaging coming in from the area. George had come and gone through the facility a few times over the summer and Elizabeth had gotten to know him. He was a field agent and had been for a number of years. Elizabeth really liked him, but found he was reckless sometimes and nearly blew his cover.
Isabelle was coming back from a long term assignment in London and would be assigned to the farm for a few weeks. Elizabeth was at the airport to pick her up.
They drove out to the farm and Elizabeth got her up to speed on their project. There was some interesting movement on the Iraq border with Kuwait and they were monitoring it.
Henry was coming home tomorrow. Elizabeth had not been at the apartment all summer so she went and cleaned it and freshed it up.
She had talked to him a few times and they were going to spend a couple of nights at the apartment and then the rest of the summer at the farm. He knew about the secure facility that had been built and it was great she could work from there and still be at the farm.
The next day they laid tangled in their bed among sweaty sheets and limbs. She was laying across his chest trying to calm her racing heart and breath. Making love with him left her breathless and always wanting more.
He was running his finger tips up and down her arm. He leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head. "I really missed you. I hate it when we are apart."
She leaned back and kissed him and looked deep into his hazel eyes. She wanted to talk to him about something, but didn't know how to ask him.
He could read her like a book and knew she had something on her mind. "What is it? Babe. I can hear the gears running in your head."
She blushed and ducked her head. It always amazed her how he could read her so well. "What do you think about moving out of this apartment and moving to the farm full time? You only have to be on campus one day a week and I only have classes on Tuesday and Thursdays next semester. The 30 minute commute would not be that bad. We could save the money on rent for this place."
He looked at her and thought about the idea for a few minutes. "I think that sounds like an excellent idea. The lease is due for renewal at the end of August, so I will call the landlord and let him know. When do you want to move?"
"We can do it slowly, we still have almost 2 months. Are you sure?" she asked.
"Babe, I really don't care where we live as long as I get to go to bed with you every night. It doesn't matter if it is here or at the farm. I know how happy you are at the farm, so if that is what you want I am all for it."
She rolled over and straddled him and leaned down and kissed him. "How are you such a perfect man? I truly don't know what I did to deserve you, but I love you and thank you for indulging me on this."
"Babe, loving you is easy because you are so special. I would walk over hot coals for you and not even flinch."
They slowly moved out of the apartment and into her family home at the farm. Since the master had the ensuite bathroom they decided to move into it. They decided to change the bed, it felt weird sleeping in her parent's bed and she just could not do it. The new king size bed was delivered and set up and their farm life was set and they were looking forward to their lives ahead of them.
Their lives would not be a happy bubble for long.