Chapter 51

It was a warm spring afternoon in Hope Valley as Elizabeth sat by the edge of the pond writing in her journal. She looked up and across the pond to where she saw Jack out in the row boat with their two daughters. Every so often she noticed Tilly's and Abby's heads bob up above the rim of the boat while her husband struggled to safely seat them back down. Elizabeth chuckled to herself watching them before returning to her journal.

Elizabeth became so caught up in her writing that she was surprised when two little girls clambered onto her lap. She put her journal aside and brought them into her arms as they wrapped their own little arms around her.

"You girls have fun with Daddy?"

Both girls nodded their heads before returning their affections back to their Mother again, reacting as if they hadn't seen her all day. A moment later Jack joined them, he sat down on the grass next to his wife and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Dada kiss?" Abby asked as Tilly giggled upon hearing her sister.

"All my girls want a kiss huh?" Jack asked, and he kissed Abby on the cheek before doing the same to Tilly.

"Well Daddy's kisses are the best." Elizabeth pointed out, as she looked over at Jack and they both smiled at each other.

Abby then proceeded to climb off Elizabeth's lap and went over to Jack.

"I don't know what you've been feeding the girls Elizabeth, but they wouldn't sit still in the boat today."

"I noticed." Elizabeth said with a small laugh. "I saw Ned sneakily giving them candy this morning when we were at the Mercantile."

"Well that explains it then." He said with a small laugh.

"I still have mine!" Tilly said, pulling out a half-eaten soft candy from the pocket of her dress before proudly presenting it to her parents.

Elizabeth winced noticing the sticky candy that must have been sitting in her daughter's skirt for a few hours.

"What happened to Abby's candy?" Elizabeth asked.

"She didn't like it. She spat it out and gave it to John." Tilly casually pointed out, referring to Lee and Rosemary's son.

"Oh." Elizabeth said as Jack and her tried to hide their laughter. "Well, next time don't give people food that's already been put in your mouth alright girls?"

Both Tilly and Abby nodded in agreement. Tilly popped her own candy back in her mouth and Abby yawned before relaxing her head onto her Father's chest.

"Maybe we should head home. Looks like someone needs a nap." Jack said as he noticed Abby's eyes slowly opening and closing.

"Yes, both you girls need a nap today, you're going to Aunty Abigail's this evening." Elizabeth told them.

"They are?" Jack asked surprised.

"You've forgotten what today is?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course not. It's our five-year anniversary since the day I asked you to marry me. That's why I took the day off work to spend with you."

"What's a rosal?" Tilly asked.

"A proposal is when you ask someone to marry you." Jack informed her.

"To have a weeding?"

"Yes a wedding, but it's also when you ask someone to spend the rest of their life with you." He continued.

"You wanted to mawwee Mummy cause you like kissing her?" Tilly asked.

"Well, that's one of the reasons…" Jack said as he was surprised at his daughter's suggestion and had to think before giving her an appropriate answer. "But I really wanted to marry Mummy because she is the most beautiful woman I have ever met." He started, now looking into Elizabeth's eyes. "Inside and out and I count myself as the luckiest man in the world to somehow have won Mummy's love."

"Inside and out?" Tilly asked confused as she looked over at her Father.

"Outside means her physical beauty." He said looking at Elizabeth again before looking back at Abby. "As in how pretty she is. Inside though is her heart. She is kind, generous, patient, intelligent, understanding and so many more amazing qualities."

"Ok." Tilly said, feeling satisfied with his answer as she snuggled into Elizabeth, who was distracted by hearing her husband's words and she smiled at him.

Jack and Elizabeth then noticed that Abby had fallen asleep in Jack's arms.

"Time to put this little munchkin to bed." Jack said and they all stood up.

"And this one too." Elizabeth said referring to Tilly as she took her hand as they started to make their way home.

Later that evening…

"I'm so sorry Abigail." Elizabeth said as Tilly and Abby chased each other through Abigail's kitchen. "Maybe I shouldn't have let them nap so long today."

"It's fine Elizabeth. This way at least I will get to spend some time with them."

"Well if you're sure."

"Of course I'm sure." Abigail insisted.

"Can you keep Jack distracted for ten minutes for me?"

"I will." Abigail said, understanding what Elizabeth's plan was.

"Girls I'm going now." Elizabeth said, and her daughters stopped what they were doing and ran over to her.

"Where you going Mummy?" Tilly asked while Abby clung to her Mother's skirt.

"Daddy and I are going on a special date. We will be back in a few hours."

"What's a date?" Tilly asked as she tilted her head to the side and looked up at her Mother.

"It's when two people who love each other spend some time alone and go out together."

"Oh. Like when Daddy takes me horse riding, or out on the row boat all by ourselves?"

"Something like that." Elizabeth answered as she smiled at her daughter's reply.

Elizabeth picked up Abby and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"You girls be good for Aunty Abigail alright?" Elizabeth reminded them and then kissed them goodbye.

She handed Abby over to Abigail before thanking her again and then made her way outside the kitchen door.

"Where's Elizabeth?" Jack asked when he walked in from the dining room almost ten minutes later.

"Mummy's on a date." Tilly said casually.

"Without me?" Jack asked, feeling somewhat perplexed.

He noticed Tilly had a worried look on her face and he went over and picked her up.

"I'm sure Mummy's waiting for me somewhere." He said, trying to console his daughter.

"She is, and she asked me to give you this." Abigail said handing him an envelope.

Jack placed Tilly back down onto the ground and took the envelope from Abigail and slowly opened it.

"Take a walk with me…" The note read, and Jack recognised Elizabeth's familiar hand writing. He looked up at Abigail who motioned toward the front door of the Café and his gaze followed her direction.

Jack kissed his daughter's goodbye and then headed for the front door of the café.

He opened the door and saw a pathway of mason jars and lit candles, displayed much like the night he proposed to Elizabeth.

Jack then noticed Elizabeth making her way over from down the side of the Café's porch.

"Like our proposal." Jack whispered to her as she reached his side.

Elizabeth nodded and they quietly looked into each other's eyes and held their gaze.

"Oooh so pwetty!" Tilly said as she squeezed past her Father's legs to look at all the candles and Abby followed her. This went unnoticed by Jack and Elizabeth and Abigail ushered the girls back inside the café and closed the door behind them.

Jack wrapped his arms around Elizabeth's waist and pulled her in close, her hands ran up around his neck and she closed the distance between them even more.

"So, will you take a walk with me?" She asked quietly as a smile played out on her lips.

"Actually, I want to change something tonight. I want to kiss my wife before we take a walk…"

Elizabeth smiled upon hearing his words and they both leaned in till their lips met. Their soft gentle kisses lingered until they heard a nearby disturbance.

They looked over to the café window by their side and saw Tilly and Abby peering through the glass, their little faces pressed up against the window pain as they looked up at them. Jack and Elizabeth laughed as they watched their daughters.

"Maybe we should take that walk." Jack suggested as he picked up the lantern she'd left on the nearby table and he then held out his elbow for Elizabeth to take hold of.

They waved goodbye to the girls who blew them kisses through the window. Jack and Elizabeth did the same in return and then Elizabeth took hold of Jack's arm and they headed out onto the main street. They walked down the pathway of candles which led them all the way to the Church.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked as he felt her guiding him towards the pond.

"I thought we could have a picnic out in the row boat."

"Like our first unofficial date." He told her as he remembered.

She nodded and gave him a smile.

Jack helped Elizabeth into the row boat and then got in himself before rowing them out to the middle of the pond. Once they were a fair way out he stopped. They looked back towards the Church and looked over the beautiful array of candles lighting up the grounds in front of the Church.

"You hungry?" Elizabeth asked after a few moments.

"Sure." He replied as he watched her reach for the picnic basket she had left in the row boat earlier. "Let me guess, roast beef sandwiches?"

"Yes." She smiled upon realising he remembered. "I could have easily made something else this time, but I thought it might be nice to reminisce."

"Anything with beef is always welcome, but yes, your cooking has greatly improved." Jack said as she handed him a sandwich.

They sat in companionable silence as they ate their sandwiches while occasionally stealing glances at each other.

"It's nice to have you all to myself for a change." Jack said as he was reminded again that they were alone, which didn't happen too often these days.

"Actually, there's something I wanted to tell you… and technically we're not alone."

"We're not?" Jack asked as he looked out around the pond to see who could be there.

"Jack" She said, trying to gain back his attention and he looked at her. She cautiously moved over to his side of the boat and he steadied the boat as she did so. She carefully sat down on his lap and looked into his eyes. "I don't mean out there, I mean here…" She said taking his hand and placing it on her stomach.

"Really?" He asked, and she noticed the excitement in his eyes and the smile on his lips and knew that he understood.

"Yes really." She said smiling back at him. "We're going to have another baby."

Upon hearing her confirmation, in his excitement he quickly ran his hands through her hair and gently brought her head down towards him until their lips met. He felt the boat sway and he quickly pulled back from the kiss to steady them.

"Careful, we might lose an oar." Elizabeth said laughing.

"And we'd be stuck out here all night." Jack said, wondering whether it would really be that bad after all.

"Abigail knows where we are, she'd find us."

Jack grinned and leaned in for another kiss, being more careful this time not to rock the boat.

"While I liked the idea of picnicking in the row boat for old times' sake, maybe I should have taken you on a picnic where no one could find us…"

Jack raised an eyebrow upon hearing her.

"We still could go somewhere, we've barely been gone an hour." He reminded her, and she smiled.

Jack picked up the oars and she went to stand, intending on going back on the other side of the boat, but he stopped her.

"You're fine here." He told her as he held onto her and then settled her on the seat in between his legs.

He picked up the oars and started to row and she felt his biceps every so often brush against the side of her arms as he pulled at the oars.

"You can lean back if you want." He suggested, noticing that she was sitting quite upright.

She carefully leaned her back into his chest and tried to relax. The rocking motions caused by his body working on the oars weren't so much relaxing, but she did feel protected being surrounded by his strength.

Soon enough they reached the shore. Jack helped her out of the row boat before pulling the boat up onto the shore. He then took her hand and they briskly walked home.

Jack opened the front door of their house and allowed Elizabeth to enter before he followed her in. He quickly pulled her into his arms before she could get further away from him and he knocked the front door shut with the heel of his shoe.

She smiled up at him as he wrapped his arms around her slim waist and she rest her hands on his upper arms. They both leaned in until their lips met, and their kisses quickly intensified. Jack carefully walked her backwards, their lips never leaving each other's as they crossed the room. They stopped at the bottom of the staircase and Jack pulled away from their kisses.

"Thank you." He whispered breathlessly.

"Whatever for Jack?"

"For giving me another baby." He said and then gave her a brief gentle kiss before looking into her eyes again.

"Well I didn't exactly make this baby all on my own." She reminded him as she gave him a small smile while she started to remove her coat. He placed his hands over hers and then proceeded to undo the buttons of her coat himself before removing it from her shoulders, then slipping it off her arms, and then hanging it over the railing of the staircase.

"You may not have made this baby on your own, but I'm still thankful as you're the one that's left with all the hard work when it comes to bringing this child into the world."

"It doesn't seem so hard when I know at the end of it we both get a tiny little person that is a part of the both of us. I'd do it a dozen times if you wanted me to."

"A dozen?" Jack asked surprised and she nodded before starting to undo the buttons on his coat now.

"I know neither of us seriously wants a dozen, but you know what I mean. I love you so much Jack, you make me so happy. Therefore, my desire to make you happy is so strong that I wouldn't be able to say no to you, and I wouldn't want to either." She said as she slipped her hands inside his coat, up onto his shoulders and then pushed the coat down his arms to remove it.

"That's so sweet of you Elizabeth and I love you too, which is why if you asked for a dozen I also couldn't say no." He said now helping her remove the coat before placing it over the railing next to hers.

Elizabeth smiled and then started to make her way up the first step on the staircase, before she could get further thought Jack pulled her up into his arms.

"Jack!" She said, pronouncing his name with surprise.

"I think we need to get moving if we're going to do what we intended to do. Otherwise the two children we already have are going to start to wonder where we are."

"And Abigail too." She reminded him.

"I think Abigail probably knows already." He told her, and he noticed her cheeks redden.

He kissed one of her blushed cheeks and she then buried her head into his neck as he proceeded to carry her up the stairs and into their bedroom.

A/N Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed this. I'm just sorry it took me so long to update this story (it was my first chapter since S5ep9)

I guess I put in this chapter a lot of things we were one day hoping to see on the show but obviously won't be now.

During the time I haven't been writing fic I've started up at new IG account which works somewhat like fic - I post a pic of Jack and/or Elizabeth and then write a sentence as if it's from them. It's helped me find joy in the show again and I've had some fun with it. Some of the stories in this fic I have incorporated into it but there's also plenty of new ones too. If you'd like to check it out you can find me at thornton_clan

Also if you haven't already checked it out I wrote a short honeymoon fic with a happy ending Epilogue (its also briefly entails Tilly and Abby's future also) If you're interested it's called "Finding Our Way."

Thanks for reading. Please leave a review, I love hearing from all of you!