Chapter 63 – Fighting for Love part 2

Jack turned to look at Nathan. Nathan motioned to the stairs. Jack turned to see Elizabeth standing there with tear streaked cheeks and a look of bewilderment on her face. She had come when she heard Jack raise his voice at his parents, she was concerned as she didn't want Jack to say something that he would later regret. She knew that he had always been close to his family and she wasn't going to come between them. Elizabeth hadn't gone far, she was on the stairs when Doug and Lee had gotten to her. Doug was trying to reassure her when she heard Jack and without thinking she moved to go to him. She had just wanted to give him a measure of comfort. She had heard the pain and strain in his voice that was also laced with anger. Elizabeth knew that his anger was directed at his parents, but she still wanted to go to him.

There was also surprise in what she was hearing. Then Elizabeth remembered the phone call that Jack had gotten from Devin on Sunday afternoon and suddenly everything made more sense. Between what Gran had said and the phone call from Devin Jack had suspicions that they might be related and he needed to check. Elizabeth wondered if that was why Jack had been a little more distant the last couple of days. He knew that they weren't related, but maybe he still has concerns. Elizabeth had a thousand questions in her head, but she couldn't even think straight to start asking them. The only thing that she could focus on was Jack saying that he wanted to marry her.

Jack immediately moved to Elizabeth as fast as he could. Without even thinking, Jack wrapped her up in his arms. He then leaned her back just slightly and brushed a feather light kiss across her lips. He then pulled her tight to him and just held her. Elizabeth listened to Jack's heart and knew that it beat in tune with her own. She had been so surprised to hear him speaking to his parents in a raised voice that she had come back up the stairs. She had stood there completely shocked when Jack had once again declared his love for her, going as far as saying he wanted to marry her. She knew it wasn't a proposal exactly but at the words her heart had leapt because she knew it was what she had wanted as well. As they stood there, no one else mattered. Jack and Elizabeth were in their own little world and everything was alright for that moment.

"Do you really love me?" Elizabeth whispered against Jack's chest.

Jack moved Elizabeth out of his arms and held her with just enough room between them so he could look into her eyes. Jack took his hands and cupped her face. He used his thumbs to brush the last remaining tears from Elizabeth's face. He looked at her with those green eyes and a dimpled grin, both of which were making her weak in the knees. Jack was momentarily lost in the depth of Elizabeth's blue eyes. If Jack could see anything but Elizabeth, he would have seen the anger on his mother's face. The love between Jack and Elizabeth also shielded them both from the anger that was not radiating off Charlotte.

"Yes, I love you, Elizabeth Thatcher." Jack said. "I know that we haven't known each other long, but I love you with every fiber of my being and I don't think I would be able to continue living if you left me. I am serious, I want to marry you. I want a future with you here. I know that now is not exactly the right time and I am not exactly asking you, but I am telling you that I fully intend to have a future with you if you will have me."

"Yes, Jack Thornton." Elizabeth said. "I love you as well and I want a future with you as well. I know that we need time to work everything out, but I can't hide my feelings for you. I know that we said we need to take things slow, but I want nothing more then to call you mine."

"Elizabeth Grace Marie Thatcher." Jack said softly. "Will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend and at some point in the future when the time is right my wife."

Elizabeth smiled, it was a smile that reached her eyes for the first time since Jack had met her and it caused Jack's heart to beat wildly.

"Yes." Elizabeth said. "Yes, John Parker Thornton II. There is nothing that I would love more in the world than to be your girlfriend and eventually your wife."

Jack pulled Elizabeth back into a tight hug. He really wanted to kiss her, but he was suddenly aware of everyone that was standing there watching them. While still holding Elizabeth, Doug gave him a pat on the back and a smile that he approved. Lee gave Jack a smile and a thumbs up. They then both turned and headed downstairs. Jack turned and looked at Nathan who gave him a lopsided grin. Jack walked Elizabeth back over to where Nathan had been standing watching them.

"Congratulations." Nathan said. "Don't think I am going to let you use that as an excuse when I beat you in jumping."

Both Jack and Elizabeth let out a little chuckle. Jack let go of Elizabeth long enough to pull Nathan into a bro hug. Nathan wrapped Jack in a tighter hug. Elizabeth had her hand on Jack's back.

"Thank you." Jack said. "And no excuses. I will beat you fair and square."

Before letting Jack go, Nathan whispered something to him and Jack looked up at his new friend.

"Definitely, my friend." Jack said. "Most definitely."

"Good." Nathan said. "I had mostly worked things out with your parents, but thank you for standing up for me. Now talk to your parents. I am heading downstairs. We will talk later."

Nathan walked by and gave Elizabeth a squeeze on her arm and she pulled him to her for a moment. She gave him a hug.

"Thank you for being there." Elizabeth said. "Thank you for being supportive of both of us and I honestly truly see you as a friend."

"My pleasure." Nathan said. "I was honest when I said you remind me of my sister."

Elizabeth smiled at Nathan before letting him go. As Nathan left, Elizabeth went back to Jack who wrapped an arm around her and pulled her back against his chest. She snuggled in, thinking how well that she fit right there under his arm, against his body. It was like that spot had been carved out just for her. Together they turned and faced Jack's parents. Jack looked at his mother, the expression on her face was something that Jack couldn't quite read. He wasn't sure if she was unhappy or shocked beyond belief. Jack then looked at his father who wore a similar expression, but Jack could see the wheels turning in his father's head. Jack knew that he was thinking of everything that had happened in the last week, everything that he knew and maybe even a few things that were finally making sense.

It took a few moments, but then Thomas' expression changed to one of acceptance, reluctance, but acceptance none less. Acceptance that he no longer had a complete say over his son. Acceptance that what he wanted wasn't as important as what made his son happy. Acceptance that he would have to adjust his vision of what he thought his son's future would look like. Reluctance to give in to those things, maybe because of Jack's age, but also a realization that if he continued to push he would completely lose his son. Thomas knew that even if he didn't like it, there was nothing that he could really do about it and that upset him the most. He knew that JP was a good kid with a good head on his shoulders, but he still wished that things were different. He also realized that JP knew more about his past and the things that he had done then Thomas thought. He wondered if JP would ever trust him again, much less forgive him. Thomas had hoped and prayed that JP would never find out what he had done, but when JP was yelling at them, Thomas knew that he knew. Thomas didn't know how much he knew and was sure that there would be questions at some point.

"Are you going to say anything?" Jack asked. "Or are you just going to stare at us?"

Jack stared at his parents for a few more moments before leaning forward and kissing Elizabeth on the cheek. At that point, Charlotte started pacing and muttering. Neither Jack or Elizabeth could understand what Charlotte was muttering. Thomas took a deep breath, closed his eyes and counted to ten. When he blew out the breath and opened his eyes, he looked from his son to Elizabeth. He gave a small almost unnoticeable nod to Jack.

"Elizabeth." Thomas said. "May I call you Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth looked at him when he said her name and nodded that he had permission to call her by her first name.

"First, I want to say sorry to you." Thomas said. "I wasn't upset with Nathan and if you got that idea, I am sorry. Like I said I wasn't upset, concerned maybe, but I am not upset. I had a report and needed to follow up on it. I figured it would be easier to go right to him and get his side of the story. I am sorry that you were upset, but Nathan has assured me that nothing happened. You also need to understand that Nathan is new to the security team and I only met him shortly before you came up here. I am trying my best to keep you, JP and everyone else safe. I have never had to deal with the situation that we are in at the moment. Yes, we have had security over the years, but we have never been in this kind of situation where there are multiple threats to multiple people, all of which need to be protected. Please forgive me."

Elizabeth didn't trust her voice, so she just nodded. Jack tightened his grip on Elizabeth, trying to give her strength.

"Thank you." Thomas said. "Now, that being said. I am …."

"Dad." Jack said. "I would stop and think before you go any further. I have made my choice. I chose Elizabeth. Would I love for you to accept my decision? Of course. Your approval or disapproval for that matter will make no difference to me. It will not change the plans that I have made. As pointed out, I am eighteen and an adult. I have the right to make decisions about my life, with or without your input. Trust when I say that if you continue to push me, you and Ma will be the ones that lose. You want and need to be involved in my life. I don't need you to survive. I don't need you in my life. Do I want you in my life? Yes, but you will need to accept my choices. I don't want to talk about this anymore, at least tonight. Tensions are running high and I don't want anyone to say anything that they will regret in the morning. It has been a long few days and I am tired. Now, if you will excuse me six am comes early."

"You're right." Thomas said. "It is late and we have all had a long day, but this conversation is not over, guaranteed. We will talk about this tomorrow."

"Night." Jack said. "Come on Elizabeth, please walk downstairs with me."

Elizabeth turned and nodded to Jack. Jack led them to the stairs and they were halfway down before Elizabeth stopped Jack and turned to face him. Jack stopped and looked at Elizabeth.

"Jack." Elizabeth said. "I don't want to come between you and your parents."

"If they can't accept my choices." Jack said. "Then that is their problem and not mine. I was honest when I said I wasn't sure if I could live without you."

As Jack finished speaking, he let his gaze drift from Elizabeth's eyes to her lips and back to her eyes. Not seeing any hesitation in Elizabeth's face, Jack leaned forward.

"Elizabeth." Jack whispered his voice full of emotion.

"Yes." Elizabeth breathed out.

"May I have permission to kiss you?" Jack whispered.

Elizabeth didn't give Jack a response, but leaned forward and closed the distance between them. Jack wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her as close as he could. As Jack returned Elizabeth's kiss, a small moan escaped from Elizabeth. Jack felt the fire stirring in him and pulled back. Resting his forehead on hers, Jack looked into the blue eyes that had stolen his heart.

"Thank you." Jack whispered, his voice rough. "I have been wanting to do that since we were in Central Park."

"You're welcome." Elizabeth said. "You aren't the only one that has wanted to kiss, but I think I should go to my room."

"You're right." Jack said.

Jack turned and continued to lead Elizabeth down the steps, her hand completely intertwined with his. When they got to Elizabeth's room, Jack turned her to face him again. He gave her a quick kiss, then allowed her to go to her room. He only let go of her hand when he needed to as Elizabeth went to shut the door. Once Jack heard the latch catch, he headed to the sitting area and plopped down in a large chair. Jack knew that it would be a while before he was able to calm his body down enough to sleep. As Jack sat there, an idea came to him. Jack quickly grabbed his phone and started sending a flurry of messages. When he was done with that, he went to his room and quietly grabbed his computer. Even though Jack was quiet, Nathan heard him, but at the moment was going to give him a little space and time.

Jack went back out to the sitting area and after a few moments decided to head upstairs so as not to wake anyone. Jack paused long enough to hear his parents talking, arguing actually. He listened for a bit and then when they left, he headed up the rest of the way. Jack set up his computer on the counter and before taking a seat, poured himself a glass of ice tea. He then quickly looked at his email, and responded to two that he needed to answer. Once Jack had finished those things, he set about doing what he wanted to do. It took a little bit of time to find exactly what he was looking for, but once he did he knew that it was perfect. Once Jack had taken care of the details on three different websites, he leaned back in his chair with a bright smile on his face. That smile quickly faded as Jack thought about what he had heard his parents, specifically his mother say. He was sure that he didn't have all the information and he knew that they were still hiding several things from him. Jack decided to try and not let them put a damper on his good mood – Elizabeth had agreed to be his girlfriend and eventually his wife and for that he was overjoyed.

Jack did a few more things on the computer, including sending a few emails looking for information, before finally shutting it down and heading back downstairs. Jack went over to the gym and took a quick, very cold shower before heading to his room. Jack stopped at Elizabeth's door and said a quick prayer before finally going to his room. Nathan woke slightly when Jack crawled up onto his bunk, but Nathan decided that it was too late to talk to Jack, but he wasn't going to let the next day go without talking to him about what was going on.

Even though Jack was still very wound up when he crawled up in his bunk, he said a quick prayer before rolling over and falling asleep dreaming of a very special lady that he couldn't wait to make his wife. At one point, Nathan got up during the night, when he stood up and looked over at Jack, he saw that Jack was fast asleep with a huge dimpled grin on his face. Nathan took that as a good sign, but he knew that it wasn't going to be easy. Nathan wanted the best for both Jack and Elizabeth. He wanted and prayed that they would take it slow, but after what had happened that night, he wasn't sure that they were so willing to wait anymore. Nathan also knew that no matter what, he was going to have Jack's back and support the young couple. He knew that without a doubt that they would be together and that given their age, there might be some struggles. Nathan went back to bed, said a prayer for everyone and then tried to go back to sleep.