A/N: Nothing to say this week, just hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading and reviewing.

July 30, 1988 | Elizabeth

"Do I smell pancakes?"

"You smell an attempt at them," Elizabeth answers, panicking because the last pancake she tried to flip looked less like a pancake and more like a crumpled-up ball of brown paper. "Don't get your hopes up," she instructs as he walks into the kitchen.

He laughs quietly and rubs his eyes, "I can't believe that Elizabeth Adams, my Elizabeth Adams, is in the kitchen. Completely unprompted." He says, walking over to her side and peeking more closely at what is in the pan. "This is unprompted, right? You didn't, like, break the faucet in the bathroom that I just worked so hard to put in, right?

She snorts and sees him from the corner of her eye cringe when he sees what's in the pan. "Yes, unprompted," she answers. This pancake was doing better so far, but it still wasn't in much better shape than the first one. "You should've seen the other one." She says, watching as the batter begins to bubble. She watched Henry cook enough over the summer to know that this meant she needs to flip it soon, but she was already worried that it would get messed up like the last one. The spatula is just steady in her hand as she stares down.

"You gonna whack it with that thing or you gonna flip it?" Henry asks, gently sliding the spatula out of her grip without any fight on her part. With an ease that frustrates her, he slides the spatula's edge underneath the pancake and flips it quickly, letting it splash down without issue.

She groans, "Why are you perfect at this?"

"Why am I perfect?" He asks.

She gives him a look, "I said 'at this.'"

"All I heard was 'Henry, Honey Dearest, why are you perfect?'" He says, smirking as he turns to face her and press a kiss on her cheek. "I'll finish the pancakes if you want to get some drinks started for us?"

She nods and walks to the fridge, sighing as she looks in at their pitiful stock. "We need to go to the grocery." She announces, knowing he already knows this. Neither one of them have wanted to accept it since they got paid yesterday, but they both knew that they needed food in order to live, even if it was expensive. "I was really hoping Aunt Patty would call me back and let me know that the funds have gone through."

Last week they finalized all the logistics of getting Elizabeth's inheritance from her parents transferred into her own bank account. As she suspected, it wasn't much, but it was enough to help them pay for rent while getting through school. It was a long process, but it had taken a turn, too, when her uncle passed away somewhat suddenly not long after the last time she'd talked to him about the money. Now, it's been a few months since he'd passed, and her aunt had called last week to let her know that the funding situation was being taken care of finally. Elizabeth wasn't sure when it would ever be final, but she was hoping it would be soon.

"That would be nice." Henry admits, flipping some cakes onto a plate. "Do you know how much it is yet?"

She shakes her head and slips the closes the milk carton back up, staring down into the glasses she just filled, "Nope." She says quietly, losing herself in thought for a moment before blinking and coming back to earth. "My parents weren't exactly rich by any means, so surely they didn't have much to leave me." She continues, putting the milk back into the fridge.

July 30, 1988 | Henry

Working at the coffee shop was less than ideal, and less than fulfilling, too. He likes to observe people while they're reading newspapers or books, or doing some sort of homework, but after working here for so long, he's started to become more and more bored. Just yesterday during a slow stretch of the workday, he found himself counting how many red cars drove by the shop, then switched to how many white cars had gone by. It was definitely less exciting that any of his work as an ROTC Marine.

"Hey handsome."

A familiar voice makes him perk his head up from pouring a cup of coffee behind the counter. He whips around and sees a somewhat short brunette woman standing by the register, chewing her gum, and leaning over enough for her shirt to show a little too much. Stupidly, she still has her sunglasses on in the middle of this coffee shop.

"Tori." He says, still holding the pot of coffee in one hand, the mug in another. He watches as she shifts her weight, "Hi…um…I haven't seen you in…a while." He says, trying to regather himself as he finishes pouring the coffee into the mug.

"Henry," she says and laughs, "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"I have." He answers quickly, then closes his eyes and sighs when he's looking away from her, "I mean, you just…you up and left me."

While adjusting her sunglasses, she shrugs, "Yeah, I did. It was for good reason, Hank." She says and clears her throat, "I heard you were here from John."

"From John?" Henry blurts, looking at her again and setting the mug down too hard, splashing some of the scalding hot coffee onto his skin. He's too distracted for it to really bother him, but he'll find a nice red spot there later from the minor burn. "What the hell are you doing talking to that creep? And why is he telling you where I am?"

She sighs, "Don't talk about my baby daddy like that."

"You're—" He stops and shakes his head, holding his hand out, "John?"

She's digging through her purse now as he sets the coffee pot down, picking the mug back up and giving it to a customer who came back up to the counter wondering where their order was. When he walks back over to the register, he tries his best to not look curious as she's still digging. She finally pulls a picture out and shows him a photo of a baby, "Julia." She says.

He shakes his head and leans against the counter, wanting to snatch the picture out of her hand and throw it in the trash. "Why the hell are you here, Victoria? You randomly leave me, then you apparently run off with someone I called my best friend at the time, then you come back to show me you have a kid with him? Does he even know?"

"That's why I'm here." She says, putting the picture down on the counter and sliding it toward him. "I'm not sure it's Johnny's." She says, looking down at the counter. He notices that she's not meeting his eye, and he finally shakes his head again.

"Oh no," he says in disbelief, "Tori, I haven't seen you in over a year. I—for the love of God, I never even slept with you. You can't seriously be saying this—"

"I'm not." She interjects finally, "I'm saying this to you because John found out I was cheating on him with Kev." She starts explaining, and Henry is just staring at her wildly and trying to keep himself from laughing at the irony of the whole situation. That is until she pulls her sleeves up and reveals the bruises all over her arm, and then slides her sunglasses down her face to reveal a black eye. "I need your help, Hank." She whispers, pushing the glasses back up while suddenly looking much more uncomfortable.

He sighs and stands up straighter, still leaning on the counter. One hand comes up and swipes at his face from his forehead all the way down underneath his chin, "I—" He starts, but just takes a shaky breath and lets it back out loudly. "What the hell, Tori?"

"You're the last person I want to ask," she adds, "Believe me. The very last person. But John had mentioned one time that we couldn't come here because you and him had a falling out of some sort, so I knew I had to come ask you for help…" her voice trails off and she just grabs at her purse uncomfortably, "I shouldn't have come here." She says, starting to leave.

"Wait," he breathes and groans quietly, "Are you living with him or something? Where's the kid?" He asks, taking the picture and holding it up, "Where's Julia?"

She sighs and looks around at the people starting to watch them, "Can we take this outside?" She asks.

He rolls his eyes and looks into the back, "I'm taking a fifteen." He snaps, angrily pulling his apron over his head and tossing it onto the back bar, storming out from behind the counter. She follows him all the way out the door and they stand on the sidewalk in front of the shop, "Spill."

She looks down and swallows hard, "John and I were an item for a while, but then I was sleeping with Kev and started living with him. He kicked me out when he found out I was pregnant and when I thought that she was John's." She explains, "So now Julia and I are living with John, but he just keeps…" Her voice trails again as she brushes her fingers over the bruises underneath her sleeves.

He laughs quietly and shakes his head, folding his arms in front of him, "Do you not hear yourself, Tori? Do you not hear how irresponsible you sound? How insanely immature you're being? Sleeping around with multiple guys at one time—playing around with other guys' hearts…" he trails off and throws his arms down to his side, but she flinches when he does. It makes him close his eyes and take a deep breath, "What are you asking of me, Tori? I can't take you in." He says.

"Why not?" She asks, borderline whining.

"Because I have a girlfriend who I deeply love." He snaps, "We live together, and I don't want to screw it up by even considering to ask her if you can stay with us. That's a little messy, and you would know that if you weren't a cheating, lying—" he cuts himself off and shuts his eyes again, growing frustrated with this whole situation again, "You would know that if you cared about relationships."

She looks at him and folds her arms under her chest, "Hank…"

"Whatever. Like I said, I have a girlfriend who I love and who loves me." He states, "I'm not risking that. You'll have to find someone else to help."

"Henry?" Another familiar voice comes from behind him and he turns around, looking straight into Elizabeth's eyes.

"Speaking of," he mumbles, walking over to her and kissing her on the lips, "I'm glad you're here." He says to Elizabeth, "Before I explain the rest, this is my ex-girlfriend who got messed up with John and some other guy and she's asking for help. That's the short version."

Elizabeth stops and stares at him, letting go of his arm from where she'd been holding on while walking, "Henry," she says and looks at Tori, then back at him, "Your ex-girlfriend?"

He nods and sighs, "Please, I'll explain this all later." He says, "I don't have feelings for her anymore, if that's what you think."

She laughs quietly, "The fact that you're even entertaining her right now tells me you do still have feelings for her," she says, looking at Tori while she speaks. Tori is becoming visibly more uncomfortable, and Henry wonders if she can even hear what they're saying, "Clearly I came at a bad time for you."

"Elizabeth," Henry breathes, looking at her desperately and shaking his head, "I am in love with you. Forever. You're it." He says, "Tori…sure, she broke my heart, but it was what had to happen in the end."

"Henry," she says and shakes her head, "I don't—"

"Hank," Tori calls out and starts walking up to them, "The babysitter just called and said Julia is—"

"The babysitter?" Elizabeth hisses at him, "Whose baby?"

When he doesn't answer immediately, he knows he's made a mistake already, "It's not mine, if that's what you're thinking."

"Well, you don't sound real convincing."

He has no idea what Tori said about the babysitter or the baby herself, but his head now feels like it's spinning, "It's not mine." He says more sternly. "In fact, it might be John's, and it might be some guy named Kevin's kid. I don't know, and I don't really even care, but I do know that she's asking me for help because she's gotten beat up on by John," Elizabeth starts to speak but swallows her words, and Henry just nods at her. "Yeah." He says.

She sighs, "Fine, fine." She says and looks down, "What are you wanting to do?"

"I don't know yet," he admits, taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes for a moment to think, "She needs out of his house, I just don't know where to put her." He admits.

July 30, 1988 | Elizabeth

A quietness washes over them as they stand there a few feet away from Tori on the sidewalk, and Elizabeth runs her fingers through her hair before looking up at him, "Let them stay at our house." She says quietly, almost mumbling it. It was hard enough to think, but harder to actually let leave her lips.

"What?" Henry asks.

"Let them stay with us." She repeats and looks up at him sharply, "I swear to God, Henry, if you are lying to me or something…I swear I will never forgive you and I will never forgive myself for letting her stay in our home. Ever." She whispers, feeling panicked already just at the thought of losing him to some bimbo-ish looking girl.

"Are you sure about this?" Henry asks, "I don't want to pressure you into anything. We can ask around—maybe Isabelle can—"

"Isabelle isn't going to allow a baby in her house." She reminds, "Tell her she can stay. Just don't make me regret it." She says, walking back to her car. When she sits in her seat, she sees Henry turning away from her after having apparently watched her the whole way back, making his way to Tori and telling her something. Tori immediately hugs him, and he pushes her away a little, making Elizabeth feel only slightly better about her decision.

"Sorry we don't really have much furniture," Elizabeth states while unfolding a sheet out on their couch, tucking it in the creases while Tori bounces Julia behind her. "We're still working on the house and—"

"Can you hold her for a minute while I get her bed ready?" Tori finally asks, looking completely exhausted and exasperated as she holds this baby out to Elizabeth.

She just looks down at the infant. She thinks she remembers Tori saying that the baby was three months old. She's younger than Amanda, Henry's niece, but old enough to not be quite so fragile-looking. She takes a deep breath and extends her arms out nervously, wishing Henry hadn't gone and taken a shower at this very moment as Tori slides Julia into her arms.

Looking down at the baby, she starts bouncing almost uncontrollably. She laughs in her head, thinking back to all the times she made fun of Henry for all the bouncing he always did whenever he was holding Amanda. "It's like you get her in your arms and immediately get springs in your legs or something." She'd told him the last time they were there before the Queen Elizabeth incident. Now it's happening to her, too, and she wonders briefly what kind of superpowers babies have to make adults do this.

"I'm going to just run to the bathroom real quick," Tori announces after setting Julia's bed up beside the couch, "You good?"

Elizabeth swallows thick, then just nods while looking at Julia and sighs. When it was just the two of them left, she sits down on their little folding chair, "You're not too bad." She whispers down at Julia who is looking up at her with big eyes. Elizabeth wonders if she can see clearly or not yet—she knows enough about human anatomy to know that babies can't see great until some point during their life, but she doesn't remember exactly when that is. She feels a hair slip out from behind her ear, and Julia smiles when it hangs down by her face. Elizabeth laughs, "I guess you see more than I thought." She whispers.

She looks up whenever she hears the floor crack, seeing Henry standing at the corner of the living room hallway, "Where's Tori?" He asks quietly, leaning against the wall.

"Bathroom." Elizabeth answers quietly, looking back down at Julia.

Henry walks over and scoots the other folding chair up right beside Elizabeth's, sitting down and taking Julia's foot in his hand and gently playing with it, "Are you mad with me?" He whispers.

She shakes her head while looking down at the baby, "I'm not mad necessarily." She replies, "I'm just…sideswiped? If that's the word." She says, "I'm shocked, I guess. You never even mentioned a girlfriend. You said you'd dated…but you didn't say it was anything serious enough that she'd be coming back to you and asking for help."

He sighs and wraps his other arm around Elizabeth's shoulders, squeezing her into him as much as he can, "I know." He whispers, "I'll explain it all tonight."

When Tori comes back, Elizabeth hands Julia back to her mom and they all say their goodnights before Henry and Elizabeth make their way into their bedroom. Elizabeth is tucking herself into the sheets and looking at Henry as he shuts the door, wondering how she didn't see the signs that he had a serious relationship before her.

"Babe," he says, walking over to the bed and leaning on it, "I can see the wheels turning in your head at ninety miles an hour." He states, "We weren't serious. We didn't have…" he shakes his head, and she lets out a sigh of relief when she notices he's back to his normal self, not even being able to say the word "sex" out loud. "You're my first. My last."

She looks down at her thumbs that are twiddling together above the blanket, "How long did you date?"

"Four months." He says, "We started dating right before the semester ended during freshman year, and then we dated a little over the summer, but it never really went far. She went off and left me, and basically I never understood why. She broke my heart—not because I loved her, but because I didn't know what I did that was so wrong for her to just leave like that." He admits, crawling into the bed and sitting up, facing her.

She looks over at him and takes his hand that's laying in his lap, seeing that he's stuck in some sort of tortuous memory, "You didn't do anything wrong," she whispers, "Tori's…lost."

He nods, "Yeah, I see that now. It didn't hurt any less back then, though."

She tilts her head and then looks down at the bed between them, "You promise me that it was nothing more, right?"

He looks up at her and his face softens, and she almost thinks he's going to cry, "Babe," he whispers, "I'd never lie to you about something like this especially. You're…you're too important for me to lose over something stupid. I think more of you than to think of you as someone who…who would break up with me over a relationship if it was serious. It wasn't serious, and I need you to believe me on that."

"I believe you." Elizabeth murmurs, squeezing his hand a bit, "I do."

He nods, "Thank you."

She sighs and takes a moment to think about her next words, then looks up at him and leans in to kiss his lips, "How long is she going to stay here for?"

"I don't really know," he says, "I didn't ask. I just…I couldn't help but help her."

"Is she going to press charges against John?"

"I hope she is."

Elizabeth scoots down to lay on her back and turns toward Henry, taking his hand in both of hers, "How did you ever become friends with that asshole in the first place?" She asks quietly, trying to not sound like she was accusing him of anything.

He shrugs and lays down, facing her while laying on his side, "I don't know. He was the best option I could find, I guess." He admits, "I didn't have many friends growing up. I was kind of the nerd."

"You?" Elizabeth asks.

He snorts and nods, "Yeah, me. I joined the ROTC when I enrolled at UVA just to piss my dad off, but I also thought it might finally get me some kind of…I don't know…"

"Popularity?"

"I guess." Henry answers, "But I wanted…I wanted to help people. I wanted to be the big guy to help the little guy, if that makes sense."

"It makes sense." She whispers, thumbing her finger over his hand and closing his eyes, "I love you, Henry McCord. Please, for the love of God, don't break my heart over this girl and her baby."

"I would never." He whispers, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead.

July 31, 1988 | Elizabeth

The baby had woken up countless times—at least she'd stopped counting after about four times when she looked over and saw that it was still only three in the morning. This wasn't a tiny house in comparison to their dorms they'd been living in, but it was small enough that the living room was way too close to the bedroom when it came to a fussy baby.

She turns and looks at the clock to see that it's 6:38 on this Sunday morning, and she is listening to a baby cry again. Accidentally letting out a groan, she pulls the blankets over her head and feels Henry roll over and wrap his arms around her body, "I know," he grumbles.

His voice was always so low and almost growled in the morning, and it usually made her feel warm inside, but today every extra noise made her want to punch something. Particularly, John. Again. "Should we get up and help?" She murmurs.

"Did I just hear you right?" Henry asks and laughs quietly, "Did you just ask if we should get up and help with a baby?"

She slaps him on the arm and shuts her eyes tight, groaning again, "I just want the crying to stop." She whines.

He laughs a little and kisses her forehead, "I'll start breakfast. Bacon and eggs good with you?"

"We don't have any bacon."

"Sausage?"

"Remember how I said we needed to go to the grocery yesterday?" She asks, peeking one eye open at him.

He sighs, "I'll run to the grocery first, then, and just pick up some bacon."

"And leave me alone here with her and the baby?"

"Well, do you want to go to the store instead?" He asks.

She thinks for a moment and closes her eyes again, snuggling deeper into the blanket, "No." She mumbles.

He laughs and kisses her forehead once more, then throws the blankets off of him and rolls out of the bed, "I'll be back quickly." He says.

When he leaves, she gets up and goes to the bathroom before pulling some shorts on and throwing a sweatshirt over her tee.

"Oh, Elizabeth, you're up." Tori says when she sees her, even though Elizabeth had been trying to sneak around to the kitchen for a drink of water.

She smiles sheepishly and stops in her tracks, folding her arms over her stomach, "Hi." She says, briefly looking at Julia in Tori's arms.

"Did she wake you?" Tori asks, bouncing her up and down again.

Elizabeth clears her throat and looks down, shrugging awkwardly, "I mean, well—yeah." She says, looking up at Tori again and sighing.

"I knew this was a bad idea." Tori breathes, "I just…I didn't know where else to go." She says, looking down at Julia. Elizabeth can't fully see her face, but she's pretty sure she sees a teardrop on Julia's onesie in a place that wouldn't have been from Julia's tears.

Elizabeth wants to groan, but instead she walks further into the living room and leans against the back of the couch on her elbows, looking at Julia and Tori across the room, "As much as I hate to say this, you chose the right person to go to." Elizabeth admits softly, "Henry will help anyone, even if it costs him." She states. "This had better not cost him, but he's willing to help people even if it means that it hinders his own life."

She thinks about how he has pretty much cut his family off, aside from his mom, after Easter weekend. Even if it meant losing out on his own family, he was ready to give that up for Elizabeth and to stand up for her.

"I really don't have any intentions with him, Elizabeth." Tori admits quietly, looking down and shaking her head, "I needed help. That's all." She says, "I feel…I feel bad for asking him of all people. I didn't…he didn't deserve someone like me."

Elizabeth's brow raises and she looks at Tori, "Well, I think he deserves the world."

"That's what I mean." She says, "He deserved better than me. And I mean, at least it looks like he found it." She states, "You two seem really happy together."

Elizabeth nods, "We are." She says sternly, asserting her dominance over Henry even though it felt a little dramatic. She doesn't care, though, she needs to let Tori know that he's completely hers.

She smiles a little bit and bites her lip, trying to keep from crying again, "I really screwed up my life." She whispers, "And now I have a baby…and I'm afraid I'm going to screw her life up, too."

Elizabeth takes a deep breath and stands up straight, keeping her hands on the couch as she thinks carefully about her next words, "Listen," she whispers, "I…I think seeing that you're scared you're going to screw her life up as her mother means that you're going to do everything in your power to love her and care for her and not screw her life up as much as possible." She explains, "You're taking the right step by getting out of John's grasp. He's a dick, and I'll be glad to tell anyone that." She says, implying that Tori should press charges, "She's going to love you as long as you love her and care for her. Keep her safe, and she'll be okay."

Tori nods, "Thanks," she whispers, looking up at Elizabeth, "You'll be a great mother someday to your kids. Whether that's with Henry or not. We both know he'll be a great dad." She says and smiles sadly.

Elizabeth laughs quietly, "Yeah, he will." She says, "And you're going to be a great mom."