Henrik looked up and down the platform once more, trying to find his Roxanna, wanting to be the one to call out her name first this time, since she was ever so good at finding him first. Finally, he spotted her, and a grin split his lips as he raised his hand and waved at her. "Roxanna!" he called out, watching the lovely smile that lit up her face as she picked up her pace and hurried over to his side.

"Oh, how I have missed your face, darling," she murmured before wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him close for a frantic kiss. "The train ride seemed to take forever," she said as she clasped his hand tightly, allowing him to lead her out into the streets.

"Well, it's a good thing that I live really close to a Thai takeaway place, and we can pick it up on the way home. I have the feeling that we're going to need good food to eat before the evening ahead of us."

From the corner of his eye, he watched as Roxanna blushed a little, ducking her head into her chest as she shrugged a little. "Who said that we were going to do anything this weekend other than sleep?" She winked quickly before letting out her endearing chuckle, and Henrik squeezed her hand tightly before answering with his own chuckle. The balmy late afternoon air encouraged him to walk slowly with her, finding himself pleased to have this time with her, spent in a gentle silence that seemed to gel something between them.

The takeaway place didn't take too long, since they knew his order right away, and Roxanna just ordered the same thing, paying for it before he could even fumble his wallet out of his pocket. "Roxy…"

"Let me get it while I can! We both know that as soon as I become an F1, there's not going to be as much ready cash available to us. We're going to have to pay off our loans and prepare for the future we both want. Unless you plan on staying in your flat for our married life?" she said as she grabbed the bag from the worker's hands.

He shook his head a little as he reclaimed Roxanna's hand. "No, we'll need a house at some point, with a garden for our children to play in. If we're going to have Fredrik in our lives, well, he'll need his own room, sooner rather than later."

"Uh huh," Roxanna breathed out as he let them into the flat. "I really like this building!"

"And the rent is quite nice, too," he said off-handedly as he stepped out of his shoes. Roxanna followed suit before he led them into the small kitchen, gesturing for her to take a seat at the table while he took out glasses for them. "Do you want to use plates, or just eat from the cartons?" he asked as he took a few steps over to the counter, opening a fresh bottle of wine for them.

"I'm fine just eating from the cartons. No need to waste water on washing a full load of dishes when they've included chopsticks in the bag."

He turned to see that she had set out their food and he nodded as he held out one glass. Roxanna took it, and with both hands free again, he brought the bottle and his glass of wine to the table, taking a seat across from her and splitting his chopsticks before digging in. "How was journey?" he asked, watching her face carefully to see if she would hold anything back from him.

"One second," she said through a mouthful of food, and he dipped his head a little as he waited for her to chew and swallow. "It was lovely! I've never been to this part of England before, so it was nice to see a different landscape pass me by. And if we both get assigned here, I'm going to love calling it home. Because I'll have you and my work and this beautiful place."

"I like the way you see our future, Roxanna," he said before taking another bite. "Have you chosen all your seminars and classes for your last year?"

She nodded as she chewed. "Everything is lining up perfectly, and I just have to bear those nine months without you before returning home to England forever. I mean, we've spent a few months apart before, we can handle this, yes?"

Tears sparkled in her eyes, and he nodded as they continued to eat. The silence between them softened into something so comfortable that he didn't want to break it by saying something trite, and so he just smiled a little as they finished their meal, watching Roxanna closely to make certain that she wasn't going to break down. She eventually rolled her eyes at him, which made him chuckle a little, and soon they were just laughing as they ate. It felt good to let go with her, and once they had finally gotten control of themselves, Henrik had to swipe away tears of mirth from his cheeks. "I think that we can more than handle whatever life throws at us, Roxanna."

"Suddenly, I feel like that is much truer than it was a few moments ago. I'm sorry that I'm such a numpty at times. This is all a little new to me."

"It's still new to me, too, darling." The endearment seemed to be falling from his lips even easier than ever, and he relished his ability to open up to her in a way that he had never thought possible. Up until he had chosen Roxanna, he had assumed that John was right. The work was the only thing that mattered, and that he would never be able to love anyone the way he loved the work. Then Roxanna had barreled into their lives, and everything had just fundamentally shifted for him.

Roxanna reached across the table to tap his hand lightly, getting his attention. "You disappeared on me for a moment. Care to share where you went?"

"I was just thinking about how you upended my life in the best possible way. And now I know that while our work is so very important, there are other things to our lives than that." The warm smile she gave him seemed to light a fire in his chest, and he pushed away from the table to cross around to her side, bending in low to give her a tender kiss. "Are you ready to head into the living room?"

"I was thinking that we could head up to the bedroom and talk. Bring the wine bottle, our glasses, and just get comfortable talking. I'm certain that you probably have some new things to tell me about Fredrik, and I have a few stories to tell you about home, and I really just want to be snuggled up close to you as we do that."

Roxanna got up and closed their cartons of food, putting the leftovers in his small refrigerator before picking up their glasses and the bottle. "Roxy…"

"We'll be careful, I promise. Okay? And grab my satchel? Since I have the wine?" He nodded, knowing that he couldn't argue with her, and not really wanting to, any way.