A/N: Hello all! A somewhat quick update because, hopefully, I will be spending the next few weeks finishing up this semester of classes (and not spending that time delving into the world of pre-McCord life). I can't get away from writing it, but hopefully this one holds me (and you) over for a while ;-)

Hope you enjoy!

March 10, 1988 | Elizabeth

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" Henry asked once more, only having asked five other times in the past ten minutes.

She sighed, rolling her eyes and growing slightly frustrated with him, "Henry," she said, "I told you already. I have a lot of studying to do."

"But it's spring break," Henry pleaded again, taking her by her arms.

This was the time she almost gave in, she almost let him win her over and actually beat her in an argument. But she couldn't—after all, this was the first thing that resembled a real argument since they'd been hanging out. "Henry…" she breathed.

He squeezed her arms gently and leaned in, pressing his lips to hers before turning back to his Bronco, "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too." She said, and she really did mean it. She'd grown rather attached to him in the past month, although they still haven't technically made it official. They'd been going out on dates, sitting in his truck and talking until midnight—they came to the agreement that midnight was their own curfew because both of them had been struggling to wake up for their classes on time. It was difficult to separate, but they made themselves stick to it. "Be careful, and please call me when you get home."

He walked back to her again, leaving his truck door hanging open. Wrapping his arms around her midsection forcefully, he pulled her body to him and smashed his lips to hers, sliding his hands up her body and moving them to the sides of her head, "I'm going to miss that, too."

She feels her face redden as her tongue slides across her lips, pulling her bottom one in and biting down on it. Her gaze was fixed down on their feet, and she finally pulled her eyes up to look at him once more, kissing him quickly. "There's more where that came from when you get back." She whispered.

He'd offered so many times for her to go with him to Pittsburgh. Neither one of them could really afford a trip anywhere else for spring break, and Henry would've stayed there had she not convinced him that she'd be okay by herself. Amy was off to Virginia Beach to party for the week, which meant Elizabeth would be left in her dorm room all alone. Which was fine, really, she did have studying to do. She needed to get back on top of things. Her grades hadn't been suffering yet, but she had been feeling like she needed to catch up on some of her papers and figured this would be a great opportunity to do so. Even Isabelle had gone home for the break, so she couldn't call her and ask her to study for chemistry. It would be just like old times—left alone to sit in the silence on a break.

She's already thought about calling Will just since Henry left an hour ago, just to check in and see how he's doing at Salisbury School. When she heard that he got in there after leaving his junior boarding school, she was excited for him at first, but then realized it was an even further drive whenever she would be moving back to Virginia for UVA. When she was at Houghton, he was at Cardigan Mountain in New Hampshire. When he aged out and got into Salisbury, they'd spent one year only within five hours of each other, but then when she graduated and left for college, it changed to seven hours.

She never knows what to say to Will anyway, so she decides to just crack open her textbook for political science and finish her paper that was coming up. Once she finishes that, she wanders around her room and cleans for a while, sits down for a while and listens to music while reading over her paper, and snacks on some cashews while dancing around the room. After doing all that, it's only been an hour that has passed by.

Groaning, she sits down at her desk and thinks about something else she could do. "I should've gone with Henry," she thinks to herself, huffing a little and kicking herself.

When he first brought up the idea, she immediately said no. It was way too soon to meet his family, for one thing. They had only known each other three weeks at that point, and although she really liked him and enjoyed his presence, she wasn't sure about meeting his family so soon. Especially with the family that he has.

"Well, I mean, Maureen will be…Maureen."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elizabeth had asked him, actually considering going to Pittsburgh with him a few days ago.

He shrugged, "She's…opinionated. And lets everyone know."

She sighed and shook her head, "I just don't think it's a good idea."

What she didn't tell him was that she was scared to meet his family—she was scared that she would really fall head over heels for him. Although the idea of meeting Maureen and Patrick didn't sound all that enticing, and even his little siblings Erin and Shane, she thought about how fun it must be to be in the middle of all that action. Even if it wasn't always positive action, it was something. It was more than sitting in silence with your brother at the dinner table because you don't know what to say to him, or better than trying to find things to do all alone in an empty college town.

She wipes at her eyes quickly, refusing to cry over this. "You made your bed, Elizabeth…" she mumbles to herself, clearing her throat free of the lump that was rising. She stands up and looks out the window, watching as the rain pours down. It was the cold, slushy rain that can't decide if it wants to be snow or not. Crossing her arms over her chest, she looks down at her watch and knows Henry has only been on the road two hours ago, but she wishes he would hurry up and get there so he could call her.

It was about to be a long week ahead.

March 10, 1988 | Henry

Pulling up to the house, he looks at it and sighs, knowing that he was going to have to tell his family about Elizabeth this time. His mom had been prodding him to go ahead and get it over with anyway, but he just wanted to keep it sacred for a while. Now, though, almost a month in, he feels it's probably time—they'd find out anyway soon enough. They always did.

When he goes inside and says his hellos, gives his mom and sister hugs, and briefly tells his father and Shane hello as they are making their way out to Patrick's car to go get something from the hardware store, he rushes upstairs as soon as he can.

He's got her number memorized even though he carries it around on that little piece of paper from the coffee shop in his wallet, so he wastes no time dialing it in. However, when it just rings and rings and rings, he feels his heart drop. He had told her he'd call as soon as he got here, and why wasn't she answering? He feels a weird twinge of…something. Maybe it's jealousy? Why would he be jealous? Surely she's not doing something to make him jealous. Something in him makes him feel like he deserves all his time, though, and he quickly has to check himself. "She doesn't owe you." He tells himself as he hangs the phone up, but his heart was still saying otherwise.

Maureen and her husband Gene stayed away from the McCord house for the day, and Henry only regretted that because Amanda wasn't there for him to love on. With Shane and his dad gone, and Erin and Mom working on homework, he decided to just stay upstairs and play his guitar for a while.

Ever since that night in the coffee shop with Elizabeth, asking their rapid-fire questions, he'd been learning Peter Frampton's "Baby I Love Your Way" in hopes of playing it for her. He had the tune down mostly, but he was working on perfecting it before showing it to her. He didn't want to play it sloppy for her.

When he heard a knock on his door, he realized that he'd spent a whole hour up here. "Come in," he says, setting his guitar to the side on his bed, uncrossing his legs and stretching them out. He feels the pins and needles in his legs from having his knees bent up too long, and he winces a little as he wiggles his toes.

"Henry," Erin says, "You have a phone call."

He frowns, looking over at his phone. "I didn't hear it even ring." He says, standing up and pulling his phone off the hook. "Is it Elizabeth?" He whispers, and Erin simply nods before going back out the door.

"Hey," he says and smiles, "I'm glad you called me. I called earlier but—"

"Henry." Elizabeth cuts him off, and her tone actually worries him.

"What's wrong?" He asks, "Is something wrong?"

She chuckles on the other end and his shoulders immediately relax, "Well, it depends on what you consider to be wrong, exactly. I'm at a gas station about two hours outside of Pittsburgh because I need to know how to get to your house."

He stands there for a moment, making sure he heard her correctly. His head feels like it's floating away from his shoulders, being carried off by angel wings to a far, far away place. "Wait," he says, "You're—you're coming to Pittsburgh? To my house?"

"Yeah," she answers.

"I thought—"

"I'll explain some other time," she says quickly, "I just…I don't want to be stuck here after dark, so…can you tell me the directions?"

He laughs and immediately asks her where exactly she is, and he gives her turn by turn directions straight to his house. "What made you change your mind?" He asks after she thanked him.

"I'll explain it another time, Henry, just…know that I missed you too much to stay away from you for a whole week, okay? That'll have to be enough for now."

He bites his lip and stares down at the phone base, smiling and nodding even though she obviously couldn't see him. "Okay. I'll let my mom know so that we can hold off on dinner. She'll be so excited to meet you, Elizabeth. I'm so happy you're coming."

He hears her lips move and he imagines her smiling face in his head, "I'll be there soon."

"See you then." He says softly.

When they hang up, he rushes down the stairs and finds his mom and Erin still in the kitchen, still working on her grammar homework. "Elizabeth's coming for the break." He announces excitedly. He becomes very self-aware when Erin gives him this weird look, and he realizes that if he had a tail, it would be wagging wildly back and forth.

"Who's Elizabeth?" Erin asks, looking over at her mom for guidance.

Elaine just smiles at her, "She's a friend of your brother." She says.

Henry shakes his head, "She's my girlfriend."

"Oh," Elaine says, sounding as though she were a little surprised by that statement. "I didn't know you'd made it official."

"Well of course it's official," Henry says, "I asked her to be my valentine."

Erin makes a face, "Could you be any more cheesy?"

Elaine pops her hand against the table in Erin's direction, "Don't make fun of your brother." She says, "Maureen does enough of that."

Erin scoffs, "Well he's a nerd."

"Erin," she warns.

"He is." Erin replies, looking over at Henry and curling her nose up.

"You're grounded, young lady." Elaine says, raising her voice. It was one of the rare times that she did so, but Erin certainly knew how to push her buttons.

"Fine," Erin says, scooting her chair away from the table and picking her grammar book up.

Elaine laughs, "Oh, no, you're not going anywhere until we finish that homework. Not like you have anywhere to go anyway." She says.

Henry smirks. He wasn't sure he believed in karma, but little moments like this made him lean more and more into it.

"Go ahead and make up the guest bed for her, Henry," Elaine says, "I'm guessing she'll be here in time for dinner?"

"If we hold off on it a little." He says, then thinks of his dad and how he hates waiting later than 6:00 for dinner time. "Actually, you know what, let's give her a chance before we throw her straight into family dinner." He says, thinking twice about all this. Oh, gosh, his family was going to eat her up—and not in a good way. "We'll just go out tonight."

"Are you sure?" Elaine asks, but he knows that she's just being courteous—she doesn't want to push dinner back and make Patrick McCord mad just as much as Henry doesn't.

"Positive." He says, going back up the stairs to make up the guest bedroom like she told him to.

This used to be Maureen's room, but now, after all the years of having Erin and Shane around, they finally had an extra bedroom for guests to stay in whenever they came. He would gladly offer Elizabeth his own bed if they didn't have this spare room, but he knows she would insist on sleeping on the couch—that's just how she was.

March 10, 1988 | Elizabeth

She followed the directions religiously, having written them all down while Henry was telling them to her, and when she pulled up to a house and saw Henry's Bronco outside, she knew she was in the right place. She would recognize that thing anywhere with the amount of time she's spent in it.

Gathering her things out of the front seat—her duffle bag, her purse, her keys—she looks up to see Henry standing at her passenger door. "Ah!" She jumps, "Henry!"

He laughs and runs around to the driver's side door, opening it and reaching around her to unbuckle her seatbelt. "I'm so glad you're here." He says as he literally scoops her out of her own car.

"Henry!" is all she could say, squealing a little at the surprise of it all. "Henry, put me down." She says, laughing the entire time.

He looks at her while holding her body in his arms, "Okay, but you have to tell me what made you change your mind first."

She raises her brow at him, narrowing her eyes, "Oh, do I?" She asks, pursing her lips and waiting for him to break. When he doesn't, though, she just slumps her shoulders and lets her head fall back in his arms, "Fine," she murmurs, "I got bored."

"That's it?"

"That's all I'm going to tell you for now." She says, closing her eyes and hoping he didn't press.

When he doesn't and instead sets her on her feet, she feels his lips on hers, "Either way," he says, "I couldn't have asked for a better spring break now."

She smiles at him, thinking how sweet it was that he was this excited to have her here. Maybe she was wrong to wonder if they were official—maybe she was just getting in her head. After all, the Valentine's Day gesture was a lot…maybe they were official. "Well," she says and looks at the house, "This is beautiful."

He looks up and chuckles, "It's a nice house, yeah." He admits, "They've all already eaten dinner, and I told them all that you were coming."

"Oh." She says, frowning, "You didn't wait for me?"

"I did." He says, taking her waist in his arm as they walk to the steps, "They didn't. My dad is picky about what time he eats." He explains, and the change in his tone tells her that he's embarrassed to admit that. When she notices that he's not looking at her, even, that really confirms that he's embarrassed.

"You didn't have to wait for me." She says, stopping at the base of the steps and looking at him, placing her hand on his chest and smiling, "But I'm glad you did."

He kisses her forehead before they walk up the steps to the front door, "We're here." He announces, and Elaine is the first one to round the corner.

"Elizabeth!" She exclaims, "Oh, you're just as beautiful as Henry has said!"

Elizabeth feels herself stiffen when Elaine throws her arms around her, and she hears Henry laughing from somewhere beside her. She can't move to look, though, because Elaine has her in quite the death grip. "Thank you," she says, her voice muffled by Elaine's shirt and hair, "You must be Mrs. McCord?"

Elaine laughs and pulls away, holding Elizabeth's shoulders in her hands, "I am. But you can call me Elaine."

She smiles back at the older woman, "It's really nice to meet you," she says. She has the same sweetness in her features as Henry—her eyes are soft and dark brown just like his. When she smiles, Elizabeth notices that their lips are shaped the exact same way—Henry's just has facial hair around his whereas Elaine obviously doesn't. Her dark brown curls bounce the same way Henry's did before he cut some of the length from his hair, and Elizabeth feels a shiver go down her spine despite the sweatiness under her arms from the way Henry is a copy of his mother.

"Henry has gushed about you every chance he gets," she says.

"Mom…" Henry says, and Elizabeth finally looks over at him and smiles. "I'm sure she doesn't want to hear about all that."

Elizabeth laughs, "Actually, she does." She says playfully, "I quite like that you've told your mom about me."

The way he smiles at her makes her stomach do a flip, and she realizes how shallow her breaths have become since she stepped foot into the McCord house. In the distance, she hears two voices bickering back and forth—a normal occurrence, she's realized—and deduces that it must be Patrick and Henry's brother, Shane.

She feels an arm around her waist and looks down to see Henry holding her to his side, "My brother and dad are getting a headstart on bickering tonight." He says quietly.

Elaine sighs, looking into the direction of where Elizabeth hears the voices coming from, "I'm sure Henry has told you all about this."

Elizabeth just nods, suddenly feeling a little shy, "He has warned me." The way she said it sounded like she meant it derogatorily, so she quickly adds, "But I'm prepared for it," and smiles at the woman.

When Elaine turns toward the direction of the voices and starts walking, Henry leans down and kisses her head, "Thanks for going with it." He whispers.

She looks up at him and smiles, "I really don't mind." She answers truthfully. When they start walking, she holds the words "it's a nice change" on the tip of her tongue, wanting to tell Henry that this is what she's always dreamt of—a lively household with a family who, well, is alive. However, the whole way toward the voices, she got more and more nervous to tell him, so those words stayed on the tip of her tongue until she swallowed them to greet the infamous Patrick McCord.

"Oh, this one's a beauty." Patrick says, walking over to shake Elizabeth's hand.

Henry sighs, "Dad, could you have a little more manners?"

"What?" He asks, "She is!"

Henry shakes his head and Elizabeth is trying to not look, but she can't help it. It makes her want to giggle—Patrick's standing in the doorway with his button-up shirt completely unbuttoned and his belt undone. "I'm talking about your shirt." Henry says.

"Oh, Patrick!" Elaine exclaims, going over to him and jerking the shirt closed, working on the buttons.

Patrick just laughs and shrugs his shoulders, "If she's all you say she is, she ought to go ahead and get used to seeing your family like they are."

Henry groans and looks down at Elizabeth while his mother is fumbling with his father's belt awkwardly, and it makes Henry cringe when he sees it out of the corner of his eye. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Please don't apologize," Elizabeth reminds him quietly, "This is all okay."

"We're headed off to dinner." Henry announces.

"It was nice meeting you, Elizabeth." Patrick says as Elaine finally finishes with his belt and shirt.

She turns around to face the two of them, too, and waves before rushing over and giving Elizabeth another hug, "Oooooh! I am just so happy you make my boy so happy."

"Mom," Henry says and laughs, "Let her breathe."

Elizabeth feels smothered, but in the best kind of way. Somehow not being able to breathe while being hugged by Elaine McCord was acceptable. So she simply laughs and pulls away when Elaine lets her go, "It was nice meeting you, Mr. and Mrs. McCord." She says, nodding at the both of them with two bright red cheeks.

March 10, 1988 | Henry

When they finished with dinner, he had driven them around for an hour or so, showing her the highlights of the city. At night, a lot of the city was lit up and looked rather beautiful, and he decided he really enjoyed the way she marveled at everything. He wondered what her city experience had been prior to this—had she been to big cities? He knew she went to a school in rural New York, so maybe she hadn't been in the city much. She told him that she grew up on a horse farm in Virginia before her parents died, so maybe this was, essentially, something new to her.

"Are you up for an adventure?" Henry asked her after driving for a while.

When she looked over and told him yes without a second thought, he just smiled and drove in a new direction while she was asking him where they were going. "One of my favorite spots in Pittsburgh," he replies, then glances over into the passenger floorboard. "What shoes are you wearing?"

She picks her foot up and shows him, "Tennis shoes." She says, "Why?"

"There's some climbing involved." He says, "Are you still up for—"

"Of course." She says, settling back into her seat.

He smiles and bites his lip, loving that she was so ready for anything.

When he parks the truck, he goes around to her door and opens it for her. She had been protesting him opening the door for her, but finally she's gotten to where she'll wait for him—he's pretty sure she's grown used to it now. When she slides out of the truck, he shuts the door behind her and walks to the back, opening the back doors to get two blankets out, "Here," he says, tossing her one of them.

She grabs it and looks at it, "Blankets?"

"You'll understand when we get there." He says, giving her a mischievous smile.

It took them a little while to climb the hill, but they finally made it up—and thankfully it was cold enough that they weren't even all that sweaty. "Here it is," he says, turning around and looking out over the city, "The Duquesne Incline."

She turns and looks out, and her body freezes, "Wow," she whispers. He's no longer looking at the city, just focusing his attention on her as she takes it all in. Her eyes were moving slowly across the view, her body slowly turning to get the entire landscape. "This is incredible."

He smiles and looks out at the view, too, taking in all the lighted buildings reflecting against the water, "It's one of my favorite things about Pittsburgh. Maybe, actually, my favorite thing about it." He says, then unfolds the blanket by shaking it, placing it down on the ground.

He tugs at her hand and sits down on the blanket, waiting for her to follow suit. When she sits next to him, he gently moves the second blanket from her hands while she continues to be mesmerized by the beauty in front of her, shaking that one out and placing it over their laps. "Beautiful…" she whispers.

"Yeah, it is." He replies, but he wasn't looking at the same view she was. Instead, he was looking at the blonde hairs poking from her ponytail around her face, at her breath forming that little cloud of warmth with every exhale, and the glow of her face against all the lights and the moon. It was just light enough that he could see a little glimmer of sweat around her hairline from the amount of climbing they'd done. "Stunning, really."

She looks over at him, about to say something, but then stops when she makes eye contact with him. "You talking about the view?" She asks, sounding a little more shy than she usually does. With Elizabeth, she never failed to surprise him—she could sound shy and confident all in one tone.

He shrugs and smiles back at her, "I'm talking about this view," he says, keeping his eyes on her.

She leans into him and kisses his lips, "Thank you for bringing me here," she whispers, laying her head against his shoulder and looking back at the view.

"Thank you for driving to Pittsburgh and surprising me." He says again. "When are you going to tell me what changed your mind?"

When she laughs, he immediately recognizes the change of tone. It wasn't her usual cheery, almost giggly laugh, "My parents," she admits.

"Your—" he stops himself, frowning and thinking back to the last time they'd talked about her parents—which was also the first time they had talked about them. She almost never brought them up, so he never did, either. "Your parents? What about them?" He asks softly.

She shakes her head, "It sounds silly." She whispers, "But I spent all my breaks after they died either with Will trying to think of things to say to him or to ask him, trying to play both mom and dad to him whenever we were in the same room together," she pauses and he can feel her tense up a little, "Or I spent them in complete silence, alone in my dorm. My friends always went home for breaks because they had a home to go back to. I had my Aunt Patty and Uncle Don's house to go to, if I wanted, but it never was…it never was home. Even at their house Will and I made the dynamic hard for them. They had kids of their own…and we were just the problem they had been tasked with." She says, her voice cracking a little too much for his liking.

He turns his head to look down at her, taking his arm and wrapping it around her body so that she was snuggled into his side. "I'm sorry," he says, "I didn't realize how hard it was."

She shrugs, "It—yeah." She says, and he can tell without even looking at her face that her eyes are tearing up. He's never seen her cry before, but he has heard his mom and sisters talk through tears enough to know what that lump sounds like as its rising in a woman's throat. "I kept saying I didn't want to come because, well, it's silly." She admits, shaking her head and keeping her view straight forward, "But I didn't want to get…attached?" She's searching for the right word, and she finally just shrugs again, "Yeah, attached…I didn't want to meet your family and feel like I was part of something just to lose them."

"Lose them?" Henry asks, frowning.

"Yeah."

He gently takes her chin in his hand, pulling it toward him, "What do you mean?"

She shrugs, "You never…we've never really talked about us." She says, "For all I know you could be planning on dumping me over the summer to have a summer of freedom."

He laughs quietly, shaking his head, "Elizabeth," he whispers, "I don't plan on ever dumping you." He admits to her, "I—" he swallows those words, wanting to say the "L" word. "What did you think—did you…" his voice trails off as he tries to think of the right words.

She sits up and pulls away from him a little so that she can see him better, "I didn't know if I was your girlfriend or what," she admits.

He sighs and shakes his head immediately, "Oh gosh," he says, then finally laughing as he comes to the realization he's made some poor communication choices, "Elizabeth, you're my girl." He says, watching her face turn a shade redder in the moonlight, "I thought—I thought that's what I was saying when I sent you the roses on Valentine's Day."

"Well," she says, "I didn't want to assume anything…"

He takes her hand in his and squeezes it gently, bringing it up to his mouth and kissing it, "You're my girl, if you want me to be your guy."

She smiles sweetly, "You are my guy." She says, but has a little bit of a mocking tone in her voice.

He smirks, "I know it's cheesy."

"It is." She agrees and laughs. "So…now that it's official," she whispers, scooting closer to him and criss-crossing her legs. She grabs his shoulders to make him face her, and he has never realized how much he enjoys being man-handled before just now. Maybe it's only when she man-handles him that he likes it.

When he turns to face her, her hands start sliding up in his hair, and he feels his body leaning towards hers. He realizes that it's partially that magnet in his body that seems to be sticking to hers, but also partially because she's pulling him. She leans back further and further until they fall a little ways to the ground, and she starts laughing.

"Ouch." She murmurs, "That was way more romantic in my head."

He laughs at her, biting his lip as he looks down at her and lays just to the side of her, placing his hand underneath her head so that she had a little cushion back there. "Oh, so we're going for romance?"

She smiles at him, and he's never seen this much mischief in her expression before—which is saying quite a bit. Elizabeth Adams was, in his opinion, a bit on the mischievous side whenever he got her in private. She liked pushing the boundaries. "We are." She whispers, tugging at the back of his neck again so that the gap between them was closed.

He takes a deep breath and moves his leg, scooting its way in between hers. The way she grips his leg with both of hers makes him gulp, and he has to take another sharp breath so that he doesn't lose all composure. He bends his knee, letting the warmth of her thighs surround his leg before he finally looks her in the eyes and swallows hard, "I love you, Elizabeth."

"I thought you'd never say that." She whispers, kissing him once before replying, "I love you, too."

March 10, 1988 | Elizabeth

Her mind is buzzing, and the more his knee moves up between her thighs, the fuzzier her thoughts become. She's not even sure her thoughts are actual thoughts at this point, or if they're just murmurs happening in her head that she can't even understand. She's not even sure her thoughts are in English anymore.

His lips have been on hers ever since she told him she loved him, too, and their bodies cannot physically get any closer than they are. The blanket was draped over them, but she's not even sure they would need it—the heat radiating from both of their bodies was enough to keep them warm, she was sure of it.

Like Thomas Aquinas said, she was no longer living by reason, she was living solely on sense. And every sense in her body was burning, on absolute fire while his hand rubbed circles on her lower back. "Henry," she breathes, breaking their kissing for a moment and pulling her face just far enough away from his so that her lips could move. She rests her forehead on his, clenching her eyes shut as she felt the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

This wasn't a new feeling by any means, but it was the first time that she'd felt it and felt as though she couldn't control her own desires. Every other time in his truck that it had gotten this far, they'd been able to put the brakes on, and she'd been able to pull herself away and take herself up to her dorm. In high school with Luke, she'd only gotten a little further than this, but it never felt right, so they never went further. But right now, she's not sure if she can make her body do anything other than give itself to him.

She looks into his eyes with a new urgency, swallowing thick. His hips were glued up to hers, and she moves just enough to feel that he was excited, too. Her hands slide between their bodies, and she watches him the entire time to make sure she wasn't taking things too far—the only way she'd be able to stop herself is if he asked her to. And even then, it would be difficult. When she gets to his belt and works to undo it with one hand, he shakes his head, "You first." He whispers and smirks, moving his hand down her body into the top hem of her pants.

If it weren't for his lips on hers, the moan she made would've woken all of Pittsburgh up, but the sound simply reverberated off his skin as he made her squirm with the touches of his hand.

He was zipping his pants back up while she was quietly laughing, biting her lip, "Was this your plan all along, Henry McCord?" She asks softly, "Bring me up to this beautiful place and, well…" she feels her face get hot again, "Touch me in all the right places and let me touch you in all the right places." She suddenly feels a little self-conscious, even though she was joking. She wondered if that really was his plan, "Was…were you planning on going further than—"

"Oh," Henry says, and the shock in his tone was enough to make her take back her initial thoughts, "I—definitely not. I didn't even think we'd do this." He admits, "I just thought…kissing is as far as my head got."

She laughs and leans back on her elbows, looking at the view one more time, "Good," she whispers, "I'm not that kinda gal." She teases. When she sees his face redden, too, she wants to kiss him again, but she makes herself hold back—if she kisses him again, she's not sure she'd be able to stop where they did just then. "I love you," she says, just wanting to hear the words come off her tongue again.

He stands up and takes her hand, helping her to her feet before pressing a sweet, gentle kiss to the tip of her nose, "I love you." He whispers.