Chapter 1

"I am really glad that we decided to wait," Lisa said as Jack softly brushed his thumb up and down her arm, a soothing gesture that she didn't want to miss anymore. She had grown so accustomed to small things like this that she didn't know how she went so long without him by her side.

"Am I really that bad?" Jack chuckled softly and watched Lisa turn in his arms to lightly hit his chest, all the while shaking her head and laughing.

"Of course, you're not. I just think it isn't the right time for us to get married. I thought we agreed," Lisa said and settled back into her position with her back pressed against his chest. They had spent the better half of the past four hours sitting like that on her couch, just enjoying the company of the other, on one of the rare occasions they both didn't have anything to deal with.

"You're probably right," Jack murmured, lost in thought. The decision to get married was rushed and out of the wrong motives. An angry proposal was not how he imagined to ask for her hand in marriage, ever.

"Gives you the chance to plan something romantic for the next time," Lisa said and pulled the hand that had been brushing her arm softly across her and fully nestled into his tight embrace.

"You are already thinking about next time when we barely survived this time," Jack laughed and the sweet scent of her shampoo made him feel more at peace and home than anything else ever had.

"You can't blame Lou for reacting the way she did. You never steal a woman's show when it comes to her wedding," Lisa said, defending the behavior of his granddaughter.

"Still, I had anticipated a bit more enthusiasm," Jack said.

"Well, you can't have everything."

"At least I have you," Jack said and pressed a soft kiss against the side of her head.

"And I have you," Lisa said and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence, both seemingly lost in their own thoughts. While Jack simply enjoyed the close company of his loved one in quiet surroundings, the topic of marriage didn't seem to let Lisa go.

"You don't think it's a mistake, right?" Lisa said and started to subconsciously chew on her lower lip.

"What?" Jack asked confused as he wasn't able to make the connection, having already moved on from the topic.

"Blowing off our engagement."

"We didn't blow off anything, Lis. We simply decided to wait a bit longer until we were ready," Jack said and squeezed her reassuringly.

"Right," Lisa said and sighed quietly.

"I mean, we're not even living together, so it's insane to think about getting married, isn't it?" Lisa started again, this time making Jack the one to sigh.

"Lis, why do I get the feeling that you are thinking it's a mistake," Jack said, releasing Lisa from his arms so she could sit next to him, facing him. Lisa didn't know what to say and shook her head in confusion.

"I don't know what I am thinking," Lisa admitted and rubbed her hands over her face. That's not how either of them had imagined their quiet day alone to go.

"But you said you were fine with it."

"I know and I am … kind of. I do love what we have but I want something, anything, to bring us even closer. I want to spend more time with you. We barely even see each other and if we do, it's mostly during family dinner at Heartland. I want to spend more time with you and not your family, as much as I love them," Lisa said and Jack didn't know what to say.

He had never been good at arguments and was glad when they had settled on not changing anything in their relationship, as change came at a close second on the list of things he wasn't good at.

"I don't know what you want me to say what hasn't already been said, Lisa," Jack said and immediately regretted it as he saw Lisa's expression change.

"So you don't want to spend more time with me?" She asked offended, her anger slowly surfacing.

"Of course, I do. I wish I could have you around me all day long, every day, but that's not possible. You're living here at Fairfield and you know I have responsibilities at Heartland. I can't just leave whenever I want to be with you. You'd have to move in with me for that to even closely work!" Jack said and Lisa grew awfully quiet.

"Why don't I?"

"Excuse me?" Jack said, completely lost at words. A week ago, this wouldn't even have been of topic.

"I don't know Jack. All I know is that I want something to change and if moving in with you means spending more time together, then I am definitely willing to give it a go," Lisa said and Jack still tried to recover from the turns the conversation had taken.

"I mean, you never know until you try. I love you Jack and I am willing to put everything into this to work, but are you?"

"Of course I am. I love you, too. Don't you think this is all too sudden though?" Jack voiced his concerns.

"We could try it for short periods of time for a start. Then if it works, we can stretch the periods until I am not going home anymore. Look, I know this is all a big stretch but I'd rather try and fail than never have tried at all," she said and he slowly nodded. He didn't want to spend any more time fighting and he also wanted to spend some more time with her.

"I agree. If this means seeing my beautiful girlfriend more often, I guess it's worth a try," he said and smiled at her before slowly going in for a kiss.

"I'll figure out everything organization wise tomorrow and can come for dinner in the evening, stay a few days and see where it goes from there. It's going to be fun. You'll see," Lisa said and beamed at him, while he was still a bit skeptical about the whole thing.

"I'll be sure to let Lou know you're coming for dinner. We don't want any more surprises."