Chapter 2
AN: intrigued about who the man is? In due time all will be revealed. Going to give y'all 2 chapters and then make you wait for the rest as I tweak it a bit. Hope it is a good read for y'all. Something totally different.
Sorry to those of you that read this story and chapter 1 posted twice. Here is the actual chapter 2.
Time jump-4 years
Henry and Elizabeth had been together 4 years and Henry had just received his orders that he would be deployed overseas for the next year, possibly longer. He did not want to go and leave her without a tangible symbol of their love. He skipped lunch with her that day to make a trip to the jewelry store to get her the perfect ring. He found the ring and was sitting in the park trying to come up with the perfect way to propose to her. He looked up into the cloudless sky and the idea came to him.
Three days later, He asked her to take a walk with him. They strolled along the sidewalk and he told her he wanted to walk up the hill and just sit the two of them for a while. They settled in and Elizabeth looked up when she heard the plane engine. Mar Me Elibet was written out and she was trying to decipher it when she looked back at Henry who was now down on one knee with a ring in his hand. "Elizabeth, I love you more than life itself and will love you until my last dying breath." "Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife and spend our lives together?" Elizabeth was holding back a flood of tears and her lips were trembling, finally a "Yes" escaped her lips and he pulled her into a bone crushing hug. He pulled back and slid the ring on her finger and it fit perfectly. He pulled her up against his body once more and they sat there both looking at the sky as the smoke from the plane disappeared.
Henry rose and pulled her to her feet and told her "let's go home." They strolled arm and arm back to his apartment, soon to be their apartment. Once inside the door, he closed it and immediately pulled her into his arms taking her breath away with a kiss. She pulled back and looked up at him, "Make love to me like there is no tomorrow." He took her hand and guided them to his bed.
The next day phone calls were made to Will and her aunt to tell them of their engagement. Henry called his mother, he knew she would pass the word to the rest of his family. Their small social group was told over a dinner at his apartment and plans were started.
The engagement would be short, Henry wanted to get married before his deployment in October. So this is where they find themselves in Henry's local catholic church on a warm September day waiting to be married. Elizabeth was in the bride's room, a bundle of nerves fighting throwing up when Will walked in. "Are you ready to do this?" he asked. "Yes and No she told him, I just wish that they were here to see this" she said with tears threatening to fall. "Lizzie, they are here." Will bundled her in his arms and wiped away her tears. "Let's get you married."
Several hours later, snuggled up in their honeymoon bed post as she put it "the best love making they ever had" they were both grinning from ear to ear trying to regain their breath. "You have another round in you or are you ready for sleep?" he asked her. She rolled over on top of him answering his question. Two more rounds later and exhaustion overtaking them, they fell into a contented sleep.
Henry was dreaming of her and suddenly his dream changed again. Once more on the bench with the man beside him. "I loved her first,I held her first and a place in my heart will always be hers." the man once again told him and disappeared. Henry bolted upright in bed startling Elizabeth. She observed the troubled look on his face and him gasping for breath. "Henry, what is wrong?" she said with a worried look on her face. Henry didn't know how to tell her without worrying her. "It was just a cramp, but it is gone now. Too much exertion I guess" he smirked and laid back down pulling her to his body.
The next day Henry was lost in his thoughts about his dream when Elizabeth walked out of the bathroom and joined him on the bed. She snuggled against him and they were content in their own little cocoon with nothing to disturb them for the next three days. Elizabeth drifted off to sleep, but Henry was still in his head about the man in his dream. He still looked familiar to Henry, but he still could not place him. He would tell her if it happened again.
The next month flew by for them and soon they were in the airport and Elizabeth was holding onto him not wanting him to leave her to go off to war. Henry pulled back from her and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "Babe, I have to go. I will call and write as much as I can. These months will fly by and I will be back in your arms in no time", he said trying to calm her fears. "You better not die on me Henry McCord and come home quickly," she blurted out to him as he was walking to the plane's gate.
Elizabeth took the rest of the day off from work and went home and cried herself to sleep. The next day she drug herself out of bed and made the trek to Langley to perform her job as an analyst for the CIA. The main thing that would help keep her sane during his deployment, was her being on the Middle East desk and knowing everything that was going on over there.
Time jump-10 months
Henry was huddled up against the mountain face trying to avoid detection. His plane had been shot down four days ago in enemy territory. There were several enemy troops scouring the countryside looking for him. He managed to find a hole in the mountain face and escape into it. He was tired, hungry and thirsty but was determined to hold out until he could be rescued. He examined the cut on his thigh the best he could without turning on his flashlight alerting the enemy to his location. He was finally able to relax once darkness set in hoping to get a few hours of sleep. Henry was dreaming of getting back home to Elizabeth, when his dream changed. He was once again seated on the bench and the man told him "I loved her first, I held her first and a place in my heart will always be hers." Only this time he didn't disappear. He just sat quietly beside him. Henry tried to ask the man who he was and what the message was he was trying to give him. The man just sat quietly. After what seemed like hours, Henry was awoken from his sleep by a Seal Team member radioing that he had been located. Henry was helped up and assisted into the vehicles that took him back to base.
He was laying in the medical unit when his squadron commander walked up to his bunk. "Good to have you back Lieutenant and in one piece" he said. He handed Henry a sat phone and said, "someone really wants to hear your voice."
"Hello, baby, is that you? I am okay with some bumps and bruises and a cut that required some stitches and a broken bone in my thigh," he tried to tell her. Elizabeth was so overjoyed with emotion and crying so hard that she could not understand what he was saying. He tried for several minutes to calm her when he finally heard a weak "Henry". "Yes it is me baby, I am here." "I love you so much Henry, I am so glad you are safe" she told him between gulping for air from her crying. "I have been in the op center night and day since they told me you were shot down. Conrad Dalton, my boss arranged it so I would know when you were found. I am so glad they found you and you are not seriously hurt, I miss you so much." Henry, trying to keep his emotions under control for her said, "Baby, I miss you too. I am going to be flown to Germany for some treatment on my leg and then home. I will hopefully be there in a week." "I will be waiting for you. I can not wait to hold you in my arms," she told him.
A week later, Elizabeth was standing on the tarmac at Andrews AF base waiting for Henry to come off the plane. He was finally wheeled off and she took off at a full sprint to get to him. Throwing her arms around him she nearly knocked him out of the wheelchair. Between their tears they looked at each other so very glad to be back together.
The thigh injury he sustained prevented him from further deployment. Henry was working out of Andrews for the remainder of his two year enlistment and even got promoted to Captain.
