Author's Note: I may or may not be obsessed with Nathan's hands - they catch my attention a lot when I'm watching the show. Sorry, not sorry. This one is a little different from my usual stuff - enjoy!

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He leaned forward, and as he did so, he wrapped his hand around his nearly empty beer mug.

Elizabeth's eyes immediately shot to his hands.

His hands.

HIs fingers linked around the mug, the same way he liked to link them behind her back.

Like he did that night.

And she was lost….

She had never really paid much attention to anyone's hands, let alone Nathan's, until recently. She figured it must have been the night he brought her a chocolate egg that she first noticed them. She went to grab the egg from his grip, and brushed her fingers against his. An electric jolt ran up her arm and caused her to freeze, looking up to his deep blue eyes. At that moment, she remembered another time their hands brushed in the library…

Without hesitation, holding his gloved hand out to her and pulling her effortlessly onto Newton, not willing to let time slip away in her need to find Tom, and not caring about the potential scandal of her riding behind him, arms wrapped tight around his middle…

"I can fix that." She reached her hand out, only for his to envelope it, thumb stroking gently as they walked out onto the dance floor, the way he wrapped her hand in his as he brought it up to his chest to hold it over his heart. She had never danced like that with anyone, so close, so intimate, but in full view of their friends. It didn't matter, the world fell away and all that was left was the music and them…

The gentle support on Jack's back as he learned how to ride in the field across from the row house, holding him gently - not enough to push him along, but just enough to protect him if he fell, keeping safe the most important person in her life…

Seeing him sitting there, despondent, hoping Allie would be safe, but knowing how her heart would hurt once she knew the truth. His hand was resting on his thigh, so she reached over, slipping her smaller hand into his, squeezing lightly. His face immediately turning to her, a look of equal parts disbelief that someone was actually there for him and hope because it was her. The relief on his face after she reassured him that Allie would be okay. He didn't let go of her hand until the train pulled into the station, and even then, she could feel his reluctance as her fingers slowly dropped from his grip…

Him releasing her gently after their first kiss, unlinking his fingers one by one as he pulled back to look her in the eye. "I never stopped loving you. Not for a single second." His hand immediately finding its now-so-common place along her jawline, confidently pulling her lips to his, his other hand a strong anchor for her as their first kisses made her knees weak, her own hands gripping his shirt and holding on for dear life…

They were one of his tells - the rubbing of his thumb on the underside of his fingers as they shared secrets, an easy way to relieve the anxiety building up. But how they immediately shifted to a vehicle for tenderness, playing with her hair, pushing it to the side, fingering the ends, making it so he could look deeply into her eyes as he said "I love you" for the first time…

The strong confidence in his hands as they reached for hers the day of Mike and Mei's wedding, both in the church and in the street, until he decided to tease her with a potato. Again, in full view of everyone, he was not afraid to show the world their love…

The concentrated, delicate movements as he baited his hook with a fly, practiced and automatically going through the motions, second-natured, despite his intense conversation with Jack about why we only take the fish we will eat. Always teaching the children a lesson, even when having fun…

He was leaning on the edge of his desk in what appeared to be a causal stance, but as he was listening to Bill describe the evidence against Hargraves, she could see his hands clench the edge, so hard she could see the purple-blue of the veins under the surface, tendons rippling as he gripped harder and harder the more Bill piled on…

The intimate way his thumb brushed upon her ring finger as he placed the smooth gold band upon her finger, the roughness of his fingers a contrast to the softness of her own. She didn't actually watch, their eyes never leaving the other's for a second as they stood before their friends and family pledging their love, but she felt it…

Applying the same delicate precision he used baiting a hook to undress her, small buttons almost disappearing between his fingers, but releasing easily one. at. a. time. as his lips burned a path down her neck from behind, her desperation clear as he took his time, savoring every inch of skin he revealed…

Teasing gently as he brushes them up her sides, his thumbs grazing the underside of her breasts…

The way he palms her thigh to hitch her knee to his hip, adjusting her so he can enter her just right…

How they strongly grip her waist and guide her while she's above him…

"Elizabeth - are you feeling okay?"

She was startled from her daydream and shook her head a little to come back down to earth. "What?"

"You look a little flushed. Do we need to go home?"

She paused for a second, this could work in her favor. "Uh, yes. Let's head home."

He looked at her with concern on his face, but unlaced his fingers from his mug and drank the last of it.

She was mesmerized. Still.

He got up and held out his hand to her. "Here, let me help you up."

She just stared at his hand long enough for him to notice.

"Elizabeth?"

She looked up at him with a little smirk as she grasped his hand. He'd understand in a little while.

She didn't let go of his hand until they were home.