Chapter 62
A/N CIA/Reunion
Sorry for the late update. I am usually on top of this, but my desire for writing lately has been not so much. I have a couple of chapters left then I will be caught up. I have some writers block so that is not helping either. Don't give up on this I WILL FINISH IT.
Elizabeth was sitting on a bench outside the library waiting for Henry. They were going to try to cram in some much needed studying for finals. She was deep in thought. Aunt Joan had come home on Monday and invited her to come out to the farm so they could talk.
She had confirmed that she did work for an intelligence service, the CIA in fact. Elizabeth had so many questions and her Aunt was able to answer them all for her. She told Henry she was going out to talk to her aunt, but had not been able to tell him what they talked about. She wanted his input, but was pretty sure she was going to take Mr. Dalton up on his offer to join the CIA.
She felt a strong pair of arms circle her shoulders from behind and melted into them. It had been a long day and a half since they had seen one another and they both missed each other.
She leaned down and kissed his arms. He released her and walked around and sat down beside her. She leaned forward and pulled him into her, locking her lips to his. "I missed you," she said as she pulled back from him.
He placed his hand on her cheek, "I missed you too," he said as he kissed her again. He took her hand and they walked into the library.
Once the door was shut on her study room, she turned to him. He could tell she had something on her mind. He could feel the tension in her body when he hugged her earlier. He thought it probably had something to do with her visit with her Aunt. He waited on her to bring it up.
They unpacked their study materials and she turned to him.
"I need to know what you honestly think about the CIA offer and do you think it will affect us if I take it?"
"I am guessing this has something to do with your conversation with your Aunt?"
She nodded her head. "She told me that she was in the CIA and had been for over 40 years. She was recruited while studying overseas."
She went on to tell him about all Joan and told her and what to expect if she decided to join.
"Babe, what do you think? Is this something you want to do?" he asked.
"I think so. I want to know more about how it will affect my classes and me graduating. I will not take it if I can't finish my degree. I guess I will need to contact Mr. Dalton and see if I can sit down with him and get some more information. That will ultimately be the deciding factor on whether I do it or not."
"That sounds like an excellent plan. Do you have a way to contact him?" he asked.
"Yes, Aunt Joan gave me a contact number for him. I wanted to talk to you about it first before I did anything else."
"I think if this is something you want to do then you should do it. You will be great at it. You speak several languages and with your analytical mind it would be perfect for you."
"Okay, I will give him a call tomorrow and try to set up a meeting with him. We better put the CIA on the back burner and get some studying done. I have a final in Criminal Law that is going to kick my butt if I don't get some more studying done," she told him.
A week later she was sitting in her private study room waiting for Conrad Dalton to show up. It was quiet and out of the way and private. They couldn't meet at her dorms so this was the next logical place.
A knock on the door brought her out of her books.
She opened the door and a tall extinguished man in a suit and bow tie walked in.
"Conrad Dalton." he said, extending his hand to her.
"Elizabeth Adams, but I guess you already know that," she said, shaking his hand.
Over the next three hours she asked and answered questions from him. He told her that she would be continuing her studies and starting next semester if she took the job, her classes would be a little more tailored for her position. She would go to Langley over the summer to perform her orientation and to the "farm" for specialized training.
"You have given me a lot to think about. I will let you know my decision in two weeks if that is ok. I have already filled out the paperwork you sent me to start my background. Is there anything else you need from me?" she asked.
He laughed and told her, "Your background is done. All you have to do is tell me if you want the job and we will get you scheduled for training. I started it when Joan called me a few weeks ago. I will need to talk to your boyfriend Henry McCord, but I don't anticipate any issues there since he is a Marine."
Her mouth dropped open when she heard his words. "You are pretty confident I am taking the job if you have done my background already. How do you know Henry is a Marine, oh wait CIA, I forgot. You guys know everything," she said laughing.
He shook her hand goodbye and left her in her room. She had to get through finals and then she would make her final decision. Henry had told her a few months ago that he would be gone most of the summer for advanced flight training, so her orientation and "farm" training would be coming at an ideal time. It would keep her from missing him while he is gone.
Finals were taken and she was sitting on Henry's couch. They were enjoying a glass of wine after the fantastic celebration dinner he had prepared for them.
"So I made my decision," she told him. "I have decided to take the job on one condition. That you will help me make sure that it will not affect us and our relationship."
"Babe, I will make sure that what we have together only gets stronger. I know that there will be times in our futures that we are separated. Me for deployments and you for whatever the CIA has in mind for you, but it will not affect my love for you," he told her as he pulled her into his embrace.
"I guess I am going to work for the CIA then. You will be dating a spy. How do you feel about that?" she asked with a smirk on her face.
"I think that is hot as hell and I also think I need to show you just how hot in my bed," he said as he bent down and lifted her into his arms.
A month later, she was holding onto him tightly in the airport as he was due to fly out to flight training. "I don't want to let you go. I will miss you too much," she said. She was never good at goodbyes and this one was hitting her really hard. She and Henry had not been separated for more than a day since they started dating. Twelve weeks was going to be a long time.
"You will be too busy with your CIA stuff to miss me. I am the one that is going to miss you. I love you Elizabeth Adams and don't you forget that. Don't go finding you some mysterious spy and leave me for him," he told her with laughter in his voice.
"That is the last thing you have to worry about. No one and I mean no one will ever compete with you for my love. I love you Henry McCord. I need you to come back to me in one piece," she said as she held onto him tightly.
The intercom announced his flight and she reluctantly let him go. He kissed her one more time and turned to walk down the gangway.
She turned with tears streaming down her face and walked away. She would be leaving for Langley in two days and needed to finish packing.
Two days later she drove up to the gate at Langley and presented her ID. The guard directed her to her quarters. She was unloading her car when someone hollered "Lizzie". She jerked up towards the sound. When she saw who called her name she almost collapsed. She was stunned.
"Izzy, is that really you? What are you doing here?" she asked as she ran to her longtime friend.
"Well, Conrad told me you were arriving today. So I wanted to come meet you and no one calls me Izzy any more. It is just Isabelle now," she said as she grabbed her and hugged her tight.
"Wait, Conrad? How do you know him and…. You're in the CIA too?" she asked.
Isabelle nodded her head. "Yes, I got recruited right out of high school. I have been here for about 3 years. Welcome to the club, kid."
"I have missed you so much, I am so sorry we have not kept in touch. That is on me. I kinda checked out on a lot of things when my parents died. Also no one calls me Lizzie anymore either. It is just Elizabeth now. I reinvented myself when I got to UVA."
"Well we have all night to catch up, your training will start on Monday and it will be intense for several weeks. I will be here to help you through it. I have been assigned as your sponsor agent. I requested it after Conrad told me you had been accepted. Let's get you moved in and then we can catch up."
They made several trips moving her stuff in. Isabelle started showing her around and introducing her to the CIA life.
Elizabeth was excited and nervous all at the same time. They went and got dinner and started catching up on their lives. Elizabeth told her about the farm, boarding school, UVA and finally Henry.
"Wow you have been busy the last few years. I can't really tell you a whole lot about my work with the CIA yet. I was recruited when I got accepted to Yale. Conrad approached me my second day on campus. Mom and Dad still live in Colorado, but he is retiring this year so I think they may move someplace warmer. He has pretty bad arthritis and the cold weather is hard on him. Enough about me, I want to hear about Henry. Your face totally lit up when you mentioned him."
"Well we met the summer after my freshman year. We kept running into each other in different places. We literally ran into each other at a pizza place in town and ended up spilling our salad plates on each other. We ate together and as the story goes, one thing led to another and we have been together about a year and a half now. He is in Florida doing flight training for 12 weeks. I will rejoin him when I am done here." She told her the rest of her story with Henry.
"Wow, you have come a long way since Christopher. He sounds wonderful and I can tell you love him by looking at you when you talk about him."
"I love him very much. He has saved me in more ways than one. He knocked down all the walls I built up to protect myself from heartache again. He has another year on his Master's and then he will probably be up for a long deployment, but we are not sure about that yet. Will is at Princeton. He will be majoring in Pre-Med. He wants to be a trauma surgeon. We talk some, but are not really close. We went our separate ways after mom and dad died."
Isabelle could tell the subject of Will hurt her, but she tried to cover it well. "I know it hurts you, he pulled away from you. Maybe it is his way of coping with their deaths."
"I guess, I just wish we were closer. My Uncle Eric and Aunt Evelyn still live in Kentucky and we stay in touch. I guess you probably know my Aunt Joan?"
"Yes she was actually the one that came to me and asked about you when Conrad brought your name up for joining the agency. I knew her face was familiar to me, it just took me a while to connect the dots. Did you know she was CIA?" she asked.
"I had no idea, but I suspected she was involved in some kind of classified or intelligence work since she was so secretive of her work. She finally confirmed it to me when I called and asked her about what she thought when I got Conrad's letter. She had been with the Company a long time. She was recruited when she was going to college overseas. I am sure Mom and Dad probably knew, but never said anything."
They decided to call it a night and meet back up the next day. Elizabeth got ready for bed, but decided to write Henry a letter before she went to bed. She would call Susan, Henry's Mom, tomorrow to see if she had gotten a letter from him yet with his address. He was going to write to her since he would not have Elizabeth's address yet.
Elizabeth started her training and soon her instructors saw what others saw in Elizabeth. She was super smart and very analytical. She could solve most problems in record time and was at the top of her recruit class. Eight weeks in and all the recruits were sent to the "farm". This is where they would learn specialized training, survival skills, combat skills and evasion techniques. This would be the final test to see if they had what it takes to be agents.
Once she completed her "Farm" training, she was officially sworn into the CIA. Receiving her credentials and badge felt so crazy and scary all at the same time. Isabelle was there to congratulate her and welcome her.
They went to her quarters to pack up her stuff. They spent her last night there celebrating and drinking. They talked about their childhoods and all their memories of growing up on the farm.
The next morning, Elizabeth loaded up and was heading back to UVA. "I will see you when I see you. I am not sure when you will be back at Langley. I know with your studies you will be busy and working on your specialized work for us. I will see you when you graduate and be back here," she told her.
"I am looking forward to seeing you again. I have so missed you and I promise we will keep in better touch," Elizabeth told her as she hugged her tightly.
Elizabeth arrived back in Charlottesville and went to her dorm to unload. Henry would not be back for 2 days so she unpacked and settled in. The next day she went to his apartment. She wanted to air it out and have it ready for his return.
The next day she was at the airport to pick him up. She had missed him so much and could not wait to see him. She finally spotted him and ran to him, wrapping herself around him. She kissed him and he tightened his hold on her.
"Hi," he told her as he kissed her.
"Hey," she said, kissing him back.
They retrieved his luggage and went back to his apartment. The next year would be interesting for both of them. Classes and her doing her work for the CIA and him preparing for his deployment. All of that would wait for tomorrow, tonight would just be for them.