Disclaimer – I own nothing. So there is a scene near the middle of this chap that's a little steamier than normal – hopefully you're all ok with that.

Jack bounced up the steps to Elizabeth's front door and let himself in. Elizabeth was leaning over the stove cooking dinner and Jack stomach growled.

"Do I smell something delicious?" His arms slid possessively around her waist and held on.

"Try not to sound so surprised," She turned in his arms and met his lips with her own. "Mmm, if your lips are any indication of what dinners going to taste like I should never again be surprised by your cooking," He nipped at her bottom lip again sucking it into his mouth playfully.

"Go wash up, my father will be here soon and dinner will be done any minute." She gently nudged Jack away and smiled. Her father had been in Hope Valley for nearly two weeks now. They had the three of them settled on a spring wedding; May 2nd in Hope Valley. It had been a bit of a fight to keep it in Hope Valley but eventually Elizabeth's logic had won out, those that wanted to attend their wedding from Hamilton could afford to travel far more than those that lived in Hope Valley and if in the end the destination kept the wedding a tad smaller and more intimate well than all the better for them.

Elizabeth was pushed out of her thoughts by the sound of Jack answering the front door and welcoming her father. The two men she loved so dearly had struck up a mutual respect if not the beginnings of a friendship and her father had even spent a couple of afternoons helping Jack at the house. There was something inside that house that seemed to have changed her father and she was desperate to get inside. She managed to talk Jack into not waiting until they were married to show her, just until it was finished. She felt a little guilty in that she had somewhat manipulated him by saying that it might be nice to help pick out some of the furnishings and final touches and he had reluctantly agreed.

"How was your day father?" Elizabeth hung up her apron as she pulled out a chair for her father and they all three sat down around the table.

"Really nice, I actually went down to that Union City and had a look at their hotels. They have two you know. It's really a bustling small city; I think it will be the perfect place for the out of town guests to stay when they come for your wedding." Jack and Elizabeth shared a look and a smile. She knew her father was trying to be helpful but she really did hope that the ceremony and celebration remained small.

They enjoyed dinner in friendly conversation and when the evening was over Jack offered to walk Mr. Thatcher back to the hotel.

Jack leaned in to kiss her good night but at the last minute he decided to plant the kiss on her cheek, her father was watching after all. Then he escorted the gentlemen out the door.

"I'm leaving tomorrow and I was hoping I might take some of those sketches of the house with me?" Mr. Thatcher's hands were warm in his pockets as he walked with his daughters future husband.

"Of course," Jack looked at him questioningly and Mr. Thatcher continued, " I think it would really make Elizabeth's mother happy to see what you've done. I'm really very impressed with that house young man. It's quite a talent you have," Jack couldn't contain the rise of his chest at the pride that filled him. He'd never put much thought into what it would be like to have a father in law. For the longest time he had been sure that he would marry Rosemary and her parents had already passed. It felt inexplicably nice to have the appreciation and admiration of the man beside him.

"I can't tell you how much that means to me Mr. Thatcher. All the help you've given me this week, the house could be finished much sooner than I anticipated and that is in part thanks to you." Mr. Thatcher slapped a hand on Jack's back and Jack couldn't help the little pinch in his gut. It was something his own father would have done and it sent him flying through memories.

"I know that I did not give the best impression of myself when we first met, or even when I first arrived here in Hope Valley but I need you to know that this week with you and Elizabeth has shown me how lucky I am to have you in my daughter's life. She's a lucky girl and I am a lucky father." Jack fought the urge to hug the man in front of him. He hadn't known just how badly he'd needed to hear those words.

Unable to speak he nodded his head and led Mr. Thatcher back to the hotel. Once the man was safe inside he turned on his heel and walked the short distance back to Elizabeth's. He should have gone home but he couldn't have slept had he been hit with a sledgehammer.

Her door was locked when he arrived so he banged loudly on the front door, Annabelle Fisher from next door peeked out the window to see what the racket was but Elizabeth opened the door before he had to make an explanation.

She had clearly been in the process of getting ready for bed, clad in her nightgown and robe her hair was pulled to the side and it was only braided half of the way. A look of confusion and then worry filled her beautiful face.

"Is my father alright?" She questioned, Jack still couldn't find the words to explain how he was feeling so he nodded a yes and then he took her face in his hands and backed her slowly into the wall beside the stairs.

"Jack?" Elizabeth questioned, her eyes met his and for a moment they simply took each other in. Then his lips were on hers, his tongue insistently begging entrance to her mouth. His hands moved up into her hair and then brushed through, loosening the braid completely. He couldn't get enough of her. His hands slid from her hair down her shoulders and arms and then they were clutching her hips and pulling her even closer, if that was even possible.

Elizabeth had just begun to braid her hair when she heard the loud banging on her door. Her first thought was that there had been some emergency in town but when she opened the door and saw Jack her mind leapt to the worst possible scenario, her father. Jack's face was pale, like he'd seen a ghost, his hands were trembling she didn't know what to think.

She vaguely remembered asking about her father but somehow she had already deduced that this visit was not due to an emergency anywhere. Then almost as abruptly as he'd banged on her door Jack was pushing her back into the wall and claiming her lips.

They hadn't been alone long enough to get into any kind of trouble since the snow storm and she'd almost forgotten those tingles that her Mountie could send fluttering through her belly. His hands were everywhere, in her hair on her neck, her arms, her hips. His fingers tightened on her hips and pulled her in closer, every inch of her body was touching his and without thinking she hooked a leg around his calf to keep him there. Her own hands slid up his strong torso slowly feeling their way around a territory she had mainly just appreciated from afar until that moment. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her when those same hands slipped around his waist and slid down to his perfect derriere fitting him in even more snuggly against her.

Jack was lost; lost to her lips and her tongue and her delicately strong fingers brazenly sliding down his back side. His mind snapped into place when he brought his own hands up to her slim waist and felt the warmth of skin beneath her nightgown instead of her corset.

Jack braced the wall behind him Elizabeth and delicately extracted his body from hers. She was breathing deeply catching her breath and the sight of it nearly had him scooping her into his arms and carrying her up the stairs but they were only going to get to experience that for the first time once and he wanted it to be perfect, not some lust filled bout of passion that one or both of them might come to regret.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"What on earth did you and my father talk about on the way back to the hotel," She had meant it as a joke, hoping to lighten the mood and build a bit of a wall back up between them. They had the opposite effect, Jack's head fell to her shoulder and though she couldn't see him she could feel the tears fall from his eyes. His knees buckled and he fell to the floor before her his arms wrapped around her waist.

Elizabeth's heart rattled inside her chest at the sight of Jack, quite possibly the strongest man she had ever known breaking down before her. Her fingers laced through his hair and she held him close hoping it was what he needed.

After a moment his arms loosened and she slid down to the floor beside him. She pulled him into her lap and continued to stroke his hair something she would have done for an upset student but so much more intimate because it was the man she loved more than anything on this earth.

When he had calmed himself enough to speak dropped a kiss to his temple and waited for him to begin.

"We don't cry in my family, it solves nothing. I never realized how much I missed him. How much I wish he could have seen my graduate from the academy or send me on my way here. There are a million things I wish I could say to him and those moments will never happen, he will never lay eyes on his daughter in law or play with his grandchildren. I really thought I had found peace in that but tonight, tonight your father told me he was proud of me. Your father accepted me tonight Elizabeth and it just brought everything up." Elizabeth's breath caught in her throat, so many of her friends had lost the people closest to them and she still had her entire family. How could she possibly relate to them? Her thoughts turned to those treacherous days after the river had taken Jack when she had thought she might lose him and a tear slid down her own cheek.

"I've never cried for him, for my father. It just wasn't what we did. All those memories and questions and thoughts of things that he would never get to experience just filled me up and I don't know what happened I just had to be with you." He was breaking down all of his walls, truly allowing her into his heart, she cradled him closer.

"You can always come to me. I don't know your father Jack but I know you. There isn't a father in the world who wouldn't be proud of the man you are." He looked up into her eyes and without saying the words they let each other see just how much each one loved the other.

"I can't tell you how badly I want to climb into that bed upstairs and hold you through the night," He brushed a kiss along her jaw and shiver shot through her body straight down to her toes.

Whether he knew the gooseflesh covering her skin was from his nearness or he thought it from the chill in the house, he rose and helped his fiancé to her feet.

"Let's move the wedding up," She whispered and his eyes shot to hers.

"Elizabeth?"

"Why are we waiting until May? We spent two years flirting and falling in love, another year courting. I don't need spring flowers and nice weather, let's do it next month." His face split into a grin and hers was a near copy. "Oh shoot the house?" her stomach dropped at the disappointment when she remembered how badly he wanted the house complete.

"No, let's do it. The house will be close enough and if we have to sleep in the front room for the first little bit, well who cares." She laughed and he brought her in closer holding her to him.

"January 26th, it's the last Saturday of the month. 5 weeks away." He tossed out the date and she cupped his chin bringing him in for another soul searing kiss.

"January 26th, I can hardly wait."