THE INN AT BOWMANS HILL

They needed to leave and go home. It was early Monday morning and checkout was 9am. They had one hour to pack and checkout but neither wanted to the let the other go long enough to do so.

"Jack, I need to tell you something."

He pulled her even closer, his fingers stroking her bare shoulder. "Your skin is so soft."

"Focus, love," she giggled.

"Sorry. What did you want to tell me?"

"On February 1st, I am going to be officially promoted to Sergeant. Which means there is a ceremony." She tried to make it sound inconsequential but instead it sounded like she was excited.

"Great, what time?"

"10am."

"We will be there."

"Jack, you and Hunter have school and it's not a big deal anyway." She sat up and started getting dressed.

"Beth, look at me." She stood, pulling her sweatshirt over her head and then her jeans came next. "Babe."

"Jack, you don't need to make a big deal out of this."

He got out of bed and went around to her side. "Beth, you are my wife now and Hunter's mom, and we are so very proud of you. Let us celebrate with you. You worked so hard."

"Jack, I don't want a party. I just want it to go by like any other day."

"Why?" He got dressed too as he waited for a response.

"Just because. If you want to be there, fine, but no party. I just want to keep it quiet. Promise me."

"If that's what you want, babe."

"It is."

"Ok. I wish you'd tell me why though."

Everything was packed and ready to go shortly after that. Elizabeth hadn't said another word through the process. He looked at the time. They still had twenty minutes before they needed to go.

He sat down on the loveseat by the fire and looked at her. "Elizabeth, come here." He patted the cushion next to him.

She sat down and sighed. "Jack, we need to go."

"We have time. I'm going to tell you what I think is going on and all you have to do is nod or shake your head, ok?" She nodded. "Ok, so, judging by how serious you look and the timing of how long it's taken you to get to this point of a promotion, my guess is that it has something to do with Trevor." She looked at him, shocked that he had figured it out so fast. "Wow, I'm good. Maybe I should be a detective."

"Jack."

"Sorry. Ok, so Trevor." She nodded. "You and he talked about doing it together? Partners?" She nodded. "But he was Lee's partner, right?" She nodded.

"The last conversation we had the night he died, he told me that he was proud of me and he thought Chief Gowan was going to choose me. Then, he was gone. I didn't have any interest in doing it anymore but Lee told me I should because Trevor would want me to."

"So you took your time but you wanted to do it for him." She nodded. "Now, you did it, finally after two years, and he's not here to celebrate with you so you don't want to celebrate at all."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Jack. I didn't know I was going to meet you and I didn't know I would actually make Sergeant."

"Sweetheart. I love you so much." He put his arms around her and rubbed her back. "I am proud of you but I understand how you feel. If you don't want to celebrate, we won't. It will be just like any other day."

"Promise?"

"Except I will be at the ceremony. I just won't jump up and down and say, "That's my wife!" Elizabeth laughed. He stood up and took her hand, pulling her with him. "I'm telling you, I should either be a detective or a mind reader."

…..

As they drove to her parents house to switch cars, Elizabeth stared out the window. Jack was a bit concerned. He had expected the high of their honeymoon to last a lot longer than it had. So, knowing they weren't due to pick up Hunter and Bruce for a few more hours, they switched cars and then he took her home.

"Jack? Why are we here? Weren't we going to pick up Hunter?"

"We have time and personally, I need to make sure everything is ok between us before we add our son into the mix."

"Of course we are ok."

"You haven't spoken all the way home. I'm ok with that but knowing you, you miss Trevor and you feel guilty for missing him and for bringing him up." He nailed it again and her expression told him that. "Detective, right?"

She smiled as he got out of the car and walked around to her side, opening her door. He led her up to the front door, unlocked it, and then scooped her up. "What are you up to?"

He locked the door behind them and took her upstairs to their room. "So I was thinking," he began, moving his hands to the edge of her sweatshirt and lifting it up over her head. "Who am I kidding, not much thinking was involved." He picked her up and laid her down in the middle of the bed.

"Jack."

"Shh." He touched her lip briefly with his finger before kissing her back into the honeymoon haze they had been in all weekend.

A few moments later, they heard the front door open and little footsteps running up the stairs. "Hunter? Oh!" Elizabeth jumped out of bed and slipped into the closet to get dressed just before Hunter burst through their bedroom door.

"Mom! Dad! Where's Mom?"

Charlotte was now standing in the doorway. "Ok, new house rule," Jack started. "If any door is closed, especially this one," he pointed, "You knock, wait to be told to come in, and then come in. Got it?"

"Ok. Where's Mom?"

"She'll be out in a moment. Ok, now, what happened? I thought we were picking him up in a couple hours."

"He kept begging to come home so I brought him."

"I wish you would have called, Ma."

"Sorry, son."

Elizabeth stepped out of the closet and smiled. "Mama!"

Hunter ran to her, tackling her around the waist. "Hi, sweetie. I missed you."

"Why were you in the closet?"

"I…uh…well. No reason. Lets go get a snack."

"I just had breakfast."

"Ok, well, let's take Bruce for a walk."

"Ok!" Hunter ran out and Elizabeth stared at her husband who was sitting on the bed.

"We'll talk later?"

Charlotte sensed their tension. "I'll take Hunter and Bruce for a walk. You two talk."

"Thanks, Ma."

Elizabeth shut the door and sat next to him. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Are we ok?" she wondered.

"We are newlyweds and if Hunter hadn't just come home, we'd be more than ok right now."

"That's not what I mean. I'm sorry about bringing up Trevor on our honeymoon. That wasn't fair to you. I want you to know that being sad about the past doesn't change anything. I am your wife and I love you very, very much. And that little boy is my son. Nothing will ever change those things."

"Beth, we need to be able to talk about anything, no matter the subject, no matter how hard it would be." She nodded. "Hey," he whispered. "I love you too so much, Elizabeth Thornton. More than I ever thought was possible."

He leaned toward her and kissed her gently, forcing himself not to lose control. "Jack, I think we should go to bed early tonight."

…..

The plan was to go to bed early but Hunter fought them every step and then Gowan called Elizabeth requesting she work the late shift.

"I don't want you to go, Mama," Hunter whined.

"Hunter, listen. Chief Gowan is my boss. I have to do what he says."

"Its not fair. You're my Mama. Doesn't he know?"

"He does know. He also knows that you have a Daddy that will be here with you when I'm not." She kissed both of his cheeks and stood up. "I love you. I will see you after school tomorrow, ok?"

"Be careful, Mama."

"I will, love. Now go to sleep, please."

"Yes, Mama."

…..

She sighed and headed in to take a shower. Jack was waiting on the bed. "Hey."

"Hey, I need to shower and get ready for work. Wanna keep me company?"

"Sure." He took off his shirt and followed her into the bathroom.

"I just meant be in the same room. We don't have time to get carried away."

"Sure we do. You don't have to leave for…"

"Thirty minutes. I need every one of those minutes."

"This is going to be hard. I think I might go back out there."

"Suit yourself." She turned the water on and looked at him. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah."

"Can you pack me a snack? I think there is some hummus in the fridge and pita chips in the cupboard. Oh, and maybe some coffee?"

He kissed her deeply, making her wish she didn't have to leave him. "Sure thing."

….

Thirty one minutes later, they were standing by her vehicle. "Why is this so difficult?" she mumbled as he kissed her neck, just above her collar.

"Can't you just tell Gowan you need to stay home because your husband is going to go crazy without you?" He concentrated on her mouth, first toying with her top lip and then moving on to the bottom one.

"Babe, as much as I'd like to stay home, I need to go. The sooner I leave, the sooner I'll be back."

"But I'll be at work. I'm not going to see you until dinner tomorrow."

"You sound like Hunter. You got a bit of whine in your tone. The only difference is...he's five." She smiled and kissed him again before opening her door.

"Yeah, yeah."

"I love you. Have a good day at school."

"Be careful, Beth." She nodded and got in, driving off a moment later.

….

As she walked in the precinct, she heard, "Surprise!"

She stared straight at Lee. "Coulter, what is this about?"

"Well, Thornton. This is a little congratulations party for you."

"Lee, you know how I feel about this."

He stepped forward and kissed her cheek. "Beth, it's because you got married. Not your promotion."

"Oh. Ok, thank you, everyone." She accepted handshakes from everyone else before heading to her desk. "Are we actually going to get some work done around here?"

"Not you," Gowan told her.

"You asked me to come work, sir."

"I just wanted to get you here for this little celebration. Even I know what it's like to be a newlywed. In fact, my wedding present is an extra week off. Starting now."

"Sir, I appreciate that. More than you know. I've got Hunter's adoption hearing and…thank you."

"Ok, now go on home, Thornton," Gowan told her.

"But first, I have a gift for you," Lee told her, handing her a small black box.

"Lee."

"Beth, you mean a lot to me. Once Trevor passed I came to rely on you to help me through it, mostly because you understood. Now, knowing you're happy….It makes me happy too." She opened the box and smiled. "Its official now."

The silver name bar inside would replace the one she currently wore. "Sgt. E. Thornton."

"Its perfect, Lee. Thank you."

….

Twenty minutes later, she arrived home. She walked quietly up the stairs and into Hunter's room. He had kicked his blankets off so she covered him again, placing a kiss on his forehead. "I love you, sweetheart."

She left his room and headed for her and Jack's room. He was quietly snoring, making her smile. She walked into the closet and unloaded her gun, opened her safe that was on the shelf and placed the gun inside, making sure to spin the lock.

A few moments later, she undressed and climbed into bed beside her husband.

"Hey," he whispered. "Why are you home?"

"Long story. Lets go to sleep."

"I have a better idea."

…..

Elizabeth woke up a couple hours later. The house was dark and still. She could feel Jack's warm breath on her bare shoulder as he held her. She soaked in his presence for a bit before getting up to find her PJs. Just in case Hunter decided to come in that morning, she wanted to be ready.

As she was pulling her tank top over her head, she heard her cat scratching at the door. Elizabeth opened the door. The black cat meowed as she ran in and jumped onto the foot of the bed.

"Hi girl. What are you doing awake?"

The tone of Snow's meow made it clear she wasn't thrilled with the change in their home. Elizabeth watched as the cat walked over Jack and began kneading her claws into his leg. Jack stirred but didn't wake up.

"Be nice, Snow." She picked up the cat and moved her to the chair in the corner. "This is his home now too. You can share me with the boys, can't you? Oh and Bruce too."

The cat did not look convinced.

Elizabeth crawled back into bed and became immediately wrapped up in Jack's strong arms. She loved it. Her house was a home and her heart was full.

Later that morning, Jack woke up to the sound of his alarm blaring. Out of habit, he rolled over and hit it into silence. Rolling back into the same position as before, he realized he wasn't alone. That made him smile. He pulled her close and whispered into her ear, "I love you, Elizabeth Thornton."

Without saying anything, Elizabeth smiled and pressed her back as close to his chest as she could, his arms wrapped tightly around her slender fit form.

"Hey, when'd you put clothes on?" Jack asked with a laugh. "I don't seem to remember you having them when we fell asleep."

"I woke up in the middle of the night and got dressed."

"Why?"

"Hunter."

"Ah. Well…" Jack looked over at the clock. "He won't be up for another hour at least."

"What are you thinking of, Thornton?" she teased as Jack got out of bed.

He walked over to their door, quietly locking it. "I'm thinking we're newlyweds, and I want to spend some time this morning making love to my gorgeous wife before I have to leave her all day."

Elizabeth giggled and reached out her hand, "Come here, love." She pulled him back down on the bed, ready to share their love.

5 minutes later…

*knock knock knock*

"Dad! You awake?"

"You've got to be kidding me." Jack groaned.

"Dad? I'm hungry!"

"Go downstairs, I'll be right there."

"Okay!"

Jack collapsed in frustration on the bed beside Elizabeth. "That was not how I wanted this to end."

"Me either." Elizabeth pulled him in close for a deep kiss.

"That doesn't help, honey," he grinned.

"I know, I just couldn't help it."

Jack looked at the door and back at his wife. "Maybe I can stay here a few more minutes." He began slowly kissing her.

"Dad! You coming?" Hunter yelled from the stairwell, making his parents sigh and laugh.

"Bed early tonight?" Jack asked.

"Oh, goodness yes!" She kissed him again, wishing they had just a half hour to themselves. "Where's a barn when you need one?" she sighed.

"A what? A barn?" Jack asked confused as he got dressed.

"What, oh. Nothing. It's something from a book."

"What kind of books are you reading?" He teased, then moved to dodge the pillow Elizabeth threw at his head.

"Nothing like that! It's a good wholesome story."

"About barns?" he smirked.

"About love and family! Now go feed our son."

"Yes, ma'am."

Hunter was so excited to see Elizabeth that morning. They enjoyed a nice breakfast of yogurt with granola and fruit as a family. Afterwards Elizabeth took Hunter upstairs to get dressed for the day, allowing Jack to do the same.

"He's all set," she said coming into their room. "He's downstairs looking at books right now."

"Great. I'm just about ready myself." Jack finished tying his tie. He looked so handsome in his brown dress pants and navy blue tie.

She wrapped her arms around Jack's waist, placing little kisses along his neck. "I'm going to miss you today."

"I'm going to miss you too. I can't believe I have to go back to work today."

"I know. And to think we thought it would be no big deal to get married and go back to work a couple days later."

"Yeah, silly us." He turned to kiss her.

"Yes. Very silly." She returned his kiss with one of her own.

When it was time she walked them to the door and waved as they drove off. Turning back inside she looked around the now empty house and sighed.

"So… now what do I do?"

Elizabeth was never one for sitting still. Instead she cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry and tidied up everything that sat still. The house was pretty clean to begin with so she soon found herself sitting on the couch flipping through the TV channels.

"Oh yum, that looks good!" She settled on a show on Hallmark. Looked like some sort of morning talk show. They were in the middle of a segment where a guest was cooking pan fried chicken thighs over red rice. It looked amazing. The guest went on to talk about all the different meals she'd made for her family and how even with their busy schedules they always found time to sit at the table and take some time as a family. Elizabeth loved that idea. As Hunter got older, a tradition like that would be very important. She just wished she could cook like that or even close.

"That's it!" she said excited. "I'll teach myself how to cook. I'm Elizabeth Thatch… I mean, Thornton. How hard can it be?"

…..

Tom pulled into his brother and sister-in-laws driveway just after lunch. He'd wasted no time getting some of the best pictures from the wedding and reception printed and was excited to drop them off for them.

He stopped just outside the door when his phone beeped. Pulling it out he smiled.

Julie: It's my day off and I'm bored. How are you?"

Tom: I'm good. Just dropping some stuff off with Elizabeth. Any plans?

He put the phone back in his pocket and went to knock. Hearing nothing, he knocked again. He listened for any sign of someone being home. That's when he heard it. The incessant beeping of a fire detector. Panic set in. He felt the door for heat and ran in.

"Elizabeth?" he yelled out. "Elizabeth?" The house seemed fine, just some smoke coming from the kitchen.

"In here. Stupid alarm!"

Tom placed the photos on the coffee table and headed towards the kitchen.

"Um, Elizabeth… what are you doing?" She was standing on under the alarm poking it hard with handle end of the broom.

"It won't stop yelling at me!"

He walked over and gently nudged her aside. Standing a few inches taller he reached up and turned it off.

"There."

"You're a lifesaver."

"Sure," he laughed. "What were you doing?"

"Cooking. Or trying to anyway. As you can see, I'm not that great at it."

"Don't worry about it. Jack and I grew up with our mom's cooking. She's good now, but most of growing up, she was down right horrible."

"Good to know!" she laughed. "What are you up to?"

"I brought over your wedding pictures."

"Already? Wow! I can't wait to see them! I'll have to wait until Jack gets home though."

"Yeah I figured." He walked over to the stove and lifted the lid off the pan. "What was this?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fair enough. Maybe start yourself out slow. Like with spaghetti."

"Very… funny... " She couldn't help but grin though.

Tom grabbed his phone as it beeped again. He couldn't help but smile that it was Julie. They'd only just met at the wedding. There was no denying they had a connection though.

"Hey Elizabeth, can I ask you something?"

"Of course." She dumped the pans contents into the garbage and placed the pan in the sink.

"Julie seems nice."

"She is." She waited for Tom to continue but he said nothing. "You know that wasn't a question right?"

"Yeah. Well I guess I was wondering if you'd mind me asking her out for coffee. As friends."

"Is that what you're looking for? A friend?"

"Yeah. I can't say anything else yet. I don't really know her. We sort of hit off at the wedding and have talked some. I just don't want to overstep."

"Julie's great. Relationship wise she's picked a lot of losers if you ask me. But she's wonderful. If you want to get to know her, I won't stop you. Just… don't hurt her."

"I promise I won't intentionally. See it looks like I'll be staying in town for a little while. Figured it wouldn't hurt to make some new friends." That was all he was looking for. However, if this friendship with Julie turn into something more, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be disappointed.

"Well, go for it! You have my blessing. Not that you need it, but thanks for asking."

"Of course!"

JACK AT WORK

The period was just about over. His seniors were in the middle of their unit on the Great Depression. Today's lecture was centered around the work of an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, Dorothea Lange. Jack loved every opportunity he had to mix his love for photography and history.

"Now, your assignment for next class is to read pages 196 to 218 and write an essay discussing your thoughts of the struggles of the American people during this time. I want you to study the faces of the men, women and children like these here that Dorothea Lange captures so vividly. How do their stories affect yours? Any questions? Yes, Elijah."

"Is it true you went off last weekend and married that hot cop?" The whole class laughed.

"Do you speak like that to everyone Elijah, or just me?" Jack chuckled. "To answer your question, yes I did get married over the weekend." The class clapped and cheered for their favorite teacher. "Thank you, thank you. Now let's settle back down for a minute here. Elijah, let's take a minute to discuss that question of yours." Jack walked around to sit on the corner of his desk. "You're dating a young lady from the basketball team right? Cassie?"

"Yeah…" the kid wasn't sure where his teacher was going with this but decided to play along.

"Now say some freshman guy comes up to you and says "Hey, your girlfriend's hot." What would you do?"

"I'd pummel the guy."

"Why is that?"

"Because I don't want people talking about Cass like… oh." The class laughed again, understanding Jack's point.

"Exactly." The bell rang and the students began grabbing their stuff. "Remember your assignment for Thursday and as always, gentleman, treat all women with respect. Whether you are talking to them or about them. Have a great day."

"Bye, Mr. Thornton," one student said.

"Congratulations, Mr. Thornton," said another.

"Thank you, everyone."

Jack's friend and assistant hockey coach, Jesse Flynn stood just outside the door grinning. Once the room was empty he walked in.

"So when'd you start teaching etiquette classes instead of history?" he teased.

"Since today when a student referred to my wife as "that hot cop"."

"Well, he wasn't wrong," Jesse teased.

"I know that, but I don't need a kid in one of my classes telling me that."

"Fair enough. So you coming back to practice today?"

"Yup. Elizabeth said she'd pick up Hunter from school and I'll see them for dinner."

"Nice. Team's looking good. We should run some more offense drills before the game Friday though."

"Good idea." Jack picked up a stack of papers from a chair and placed them on his desk. Picking up a picture of his family off his desk he sighed. It was a picture from Christmas when he proposed. Elizabeth's smile radiated off the page.

"Missing your new bride?" Jesse asked. "I can't believe you came back so soon."

"Had to work." Jack sighed, but suddenly he had an idea. "Hey Jess, any chance you can take my last period study hall today?"

"Sure. I don't have a math class to teach that period. If you want I'll take it Thursday too."

"Awesome! After my next class, I'm going to run to see Elizabeth before practice."

…..

Thankfully for Jack, his next class flew by. He okay'd the switch with his principal and hurried home. It wasn't until he pulled into the drive that he realized he hadn't called Elizabeth to let her know. Luckily her car was in the driveway, and no one else's.

He hurried inside.

"Beth?"

"Jack! I'm upstairs!" He took the stairs as fast as he could, meeting her down the hall. "What are you doing…" He interrupted her with kiss. "... home?"

"Jesse's taking my study hall today. I'll head back in for practice in a couple hours."

"Couple hours?"

"Yup." With his hands on her waist he gently pushed her towards their room, kissing her like crazy. "How was your day?" He asked in between kisses.

"Good. I tried to cook."

"Is that what that burnt smell is?"

"Watch it, husband," she grinned.

They reached their room, still completely wrapped up in each other.

"Oh, and I locked the door downstairs."

"Perfect."