Author's Note: I had this chapter separated into two, but I decided to combine them into one. I think it's time to head back to Chicago, so this chapter will cover the last couple of days, wrap up the California trip, and send our happy couple home.

*In this chapter, Jenna briefly shares some information with Hank that may be a little upsetting to some readers.

Chapter 22-You Love Me So Well

Christmas Day

Jenna groaned when her dream was interrupted by her alarm. She set it much earlier than she wanted, as she and Hank were expected at Chloe and Derek's house early to watch Nick's kids open their gifts from Santa.

Jenna twisted out of Hank's arms to grab her phone and shut off the alarm. When it was off, she dropped the phone, snuggling back against Hank.

"We gotta get up babe," he said.

"No," Jenna said, pulling the sheet over her head.

Hank chuckled, pulling the sheet back down as he kissed the top of her head. He knew Jenna hated mornings, and her frustration never ceased to amuse him. "Jen, the twins are waiting on us. We have to get up."

Jenna sighed, finally opening her eyes. "Fine." She reached up and cupped Hank's cheek in her hand. "Merry Christmas babe."

He smiled, putting his hand on top of hers. "Merry Christmas," he said as he kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you. I'm so happy you're here."

They spent a beautiful day with Jenna's family. They had a wonderful Christmas meal, exchanged gifts, played games, and enjoyed their time as a family. During the afternoon, Erin FaceTimed Hank to wish them Merry Christmas, and they both missed her and Jay's presence.

"I wish they were here," Jenna said softly as they hung up the call.

"I do too. It's hard being away from Erin for a holiday. Next year, we'll have to make sure to have the whole family together."

"Next year?" Jenna asked, a small smile creeping across her face.

"Yeah," Hank said, kissing her softly. "Next year."

[][][][][][][][][][]

December 26th

The family spent a lazy day at Sara and Evan's house. Everyone was exhausted from the festivities, so they decided to spend Hank and Jenna's last full California day relaxing around the house. Jenna and Hank had evening dinner plans with Jenna's friends, so they welcomed a calm day with no agenda.

Jenna was looking forward to a night out with Hank and her friends. She missed her friends terribly, and she was excited to introduce Hank to them. Early afternoon, Addison called Jenna to confirm plans for dinner, and she dropped a small bomb on Jenna, one she hoped she would avoid this trip. When she hung up the phone, she went to find Hank. It was time for a conversation she didn't want to have with him, but it was necessary for them to get through the evening.

Hank was outside on the balcony, looking out at the ocean. Jenna slipped up behind him, wrapping her arms around him. She kissed the back of his neck before resting her head against the back of his shoulder for a moment.

"How on earth did you leave this view for Chicago?" Hank asked.

Jenna laughed. "It's pretty spectacular, isn't it?"

"I've only been here a few days, and I'm going to miss waking up to the beach every morning."

Jenna squeezed him a little tighter. "Can we go upstairs and talk for a minute?" she asked softly.

Hank turned around in her arms. "Sure," he said, softly stroking her face. "Everything ok?"

Jenna nodded. "Yeah. We just need to talk before dinner."

Hank took her hand, intertwining their fingers as they walked up to their room. Jenna locked the door behind them before following Hank to the bed.

Jenna sat down next to him, taking one of his hands in hers. "I need to tell you something before we go out with everyone tonight, something I should've told you months ago."

"Are you ok?" Hank asked, reaching over and pulling one of her legs across them and into his lap. His thumb traced soft circles on her calf, relaxing her, as if he knew whatever she had to say was going to be difficult.

"I'm fine, I just...I want to prepare you for any awkwardness that might happen tonight." She took a deep breath. "You remember how I told you that I spent the night with a close friend after my divorce, something I really regret?"

"Yeah, you told me that early on. Is he coming tonight?"

Jenna held her breath for a moment. "He is. I just found that out for sure a little while ago."

Hank shrugged. "Ok. So you slept with the guy. It's not a big deal to me. You had a life out here before me, and I understand that."

Jenna hesitated before continuing. "I know, but I...when I told you about him, I may have led you to believe it was a little more...consensual than it actually was."

Anger started forming deep inside Hank, and he squeezed her hand for a moment, trying to ground himself before he spoke. "Jen, this guy...he...forced you?"

Jenna shook her head, tears coming to her eyes as she saw how much Hank was hurting for her. "It wasn't...not exactly. I was drunk, and Eric wasn't, and he knew that I was past the point of making a clearheaded decision. Had I been more sober, I wouldn't have agreed for him to drive me home, much less go home with him. So he took advantage of the situation, and I woke up the next morning deeply regretting everything that happened."

Hank pulled her close, his forehead resting against hers. "I'm sorry Jenna. I'm so sorry he hurt you."

Jenna pulled back to look up at him. "I'm ok. Really, I am. I just know how he can be, and I'm sure he's going to make comments to try to make us both uncomfortable tonight, so I wanted you to have the whole story."

Hank softly stroked her cheek. "Thank you for telling me. If you don't want to be around him tonight, we don't have to go. I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"I'll be ok. I just wanted you to be prepared for anything he might say or do."

"Ok. Thank you for telling me."

Jenna put her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. "I love you so much. Thank you for being such a good man. You've always been so sweet and so respectful of me. You love me so well, and I'm so thankful for you."

Hank pulled her farther into his lap, her legs straddling his waist. "I love you Jenna. More than anything. If at any point tonight you get uncomfortable and want to leave or want me to knock someone out, you just let me know."

Jenna giggled. "Please don't knock anyone out. You don't need to go all Voight on him."

"I'll do my best."

[][][][][][][][][][]

When they got inside the restaurant, Audrey and Ben were already there, waiting for their table to be ready. Jenna and Audrey rushed to hug each other. Hank smiled as he watched them. He had seen Jenna have these exciting reunions over the last few days, and he loved seeing the joy spilling out of her. Minutes later, Jake, Addison, and Andrew joined them, and just as they were about to be led to their table, they heard a voice behind them.

"There she is!"

Jenna and Hank both turned around. Jenna held her breath for a moment when she saw Eric walking toward them. He scooped her up, spinning her around for a moment.

"Hey gorgeous."

"Hi Eric," Jenna said softly. "Please put me down."

Eric put his arm around her and pulled her close to whisper in her ear. "Chicago has been good to you. I think you're sexier than you were last time I saw you," he said softly as his hand drifted down to her butt, squeezing it just a little.

Hank saw what was happening, clenching his fists to keep from slugging the guy right there. He waited to see what Jenna was going to do, what she wanted him to do, but he couldn't keep himself from glaring hard at him.

Jenna shoved Eric hard, prompting him to let her go. She grabbed his chin. "Keep your hands off of me." She nodded to Hank, and he walked over. "Eric, this is Hank Voight," she said, leaning into Hank as his arm went around her.

Eric looked back and forth between them. "Seriously?" he asked, poorly stifling a laugh.

"Seriously. So, keep your hands to yourself, and please act like a civilized human tonight," Jenna said, taking Hank's hand as they followed the group to their table.

"You ok?" Hank asked softly in Jenna's ear.

"I'm good, babe."

"Do you want me to hit him? Because I will, happily."

"Please don't. I'm fine."

"You'll let me know if you're not, at any point tonight?"

She nodded. "Always." He kissed her softly as they took their seats.

The guys sat at one end of the table while the girls sat at the other end. After several moments of shuffling around, Jenna and Hank ended up next to each other, giving both the girls and guys the chance to talk to him, and giving him the chance to be close to Jenna all night.

"Lucky me, I ended up with the best seat in the house tonight," Hank said, winking at Jenna as a small smile crept along his face. Jenna blushed, playfully elbowing him before putting her arm across the back of his chair. He gently rested his hand on her thigh, his touch almost instantly calming her nerves, and she put her free hand on top of his.

They had a fun dinner, sharing stories and getting to know Hank better. There were lots of laughs, and Jenna was glad that her friends were welcoming to Hank.

Partway through the evening, Addison took Jenna's hand and nodded to Audrey. "Come with us to the restroom."

Jenna squeezed Hank's hand before following the girls. When they got inside, the girls both turned to Jenna. "Oh my goooooodness!" Audrey said.

"What?" Jenna asked.

"I love him!"

"Really?"

"Isn't he great?" Addison asked.

"My goodness, Jen. You two look so happy," Audrey said.

"We really are. He's so good to me. I really love him."

"He's crazy about you. It's like he can't keep his eyes off of you, or his hands!"

Jenna blushed a little. "It's just...we like being close to each other."

"We can tell." Addison hugged her. "I'm so happy for you Jen."

"Me too," Audrey said as she came over and hugged too.

"Thank you both for being so supportive. I'm really happy."

When they got back to the table, they could feel the tension and could tell something was going down. Eric was smirking, while Hank and Jake were both on their feet, being held back by Andrew and Ben.

"Don't do this, not tonight," Ben said, pushing Jake back a little.

Jenna rushed over and stood in front of Hank. She took his face in her hands, trying to pull his glare away from Eric. "What's going on?" she asked softly.

"What's going on? What's going on is that this prick at the end of the table is being incredibly vulgar and disrespectful in the way that he's speaking about you, and Jake and I were about to deal with him before you girls got back." He was clenching his fists, trying hard not to rip Eric apart like he wanted to.

Jenna turned around to look at Eric. "One night. That's all I wanted. Just one night to be with my friends and let everyone meet the man I'm in love with. I wanted one night the way things used to be, and you have to go and act like an idiot."

"Jenna, baby, come on. I was just having a little fun. You know, you've screwed three of the men at this table, and I just thought we'd compare our experiences." Eric looked around the room, grinning at everyone.

Jenna felt Hank start to move around her, and she put her hands on his chest, trying to keep him beside her. "Don't babe. He's not worth it."

"Jenna."

"Please Hank. I'm asking you to let this go. Please."

Before they knew what was happening, Jake shoved Ben out of the way, lunging at Eric, punching him hard in the jaw. Eric fell backwards in his chair to the floor. Ben immediately grabbed Jake, pushing him away from Eric.

"Enough!" Andrew said. He looked down at Eric. "You're done. You're getting out of here without another word, or I'm going to drag you to the parking lot myself and let Jake and Hank handle this however they want. Got it?"

Eric stood up, holding his jaw that was already starting to bruise. He nodded. "Got it," he said, glaring directly at Jenna. He shook his head before walking out of the restaurant.

Hank turned back to Jenna, who was looking down with tears in her eyes. He pulled her close. "Please don't cry," he said softly.

"I'm trying not to."

"Don't let this ruin your evening, ok? He's an idiot and doesn't deserve your tears." Jenna nodded as he kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry Jennie," Jake said. "I know you didn't want it to come to this, but he had it coming. Not going to lie, I've wanted to do that for two years, and it felt really good."

"I know. I just wanted tonight to be uneventful. But that's over, so let's just enjoy the rest of our night, ok?" They all agreed, and they tried to pick up where they left off.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, the tension from earlier dissipated, and they managed to have a fun evening. As they walked out of the restaurant, the girls linked arms, savoring the last few minutes together. Addison and Audrey were her first goodbyes of this trip, and Jenna was fighting back tears.

As the girls said their goodbyes, Hank shook hands with the guys. When he came to Jake, he said, "Thank you for giving that prick what he deserved."

"It was my pleasure. He had it coming for a long time, and I was more than happy to take care of it."

"I would like to have done it myself, but Jenna specifically asked me not to, so I'm glad you handled it."

"I wish Addison hadn't even invited him. I hope Jenna isn't too shaken up after that."

"I'll make sure she's ok."

"I know you will. I'm glad you're there for her." Jake extended his hand to Hank again. "Take care of her."

"I will."

After lots of hugs and a few tears, Hank and Jenna headed back to the house. Hank reached across the console to take Jenna's hand, intertwining their fingers. "Are you ok, babe?"

"Yeah," she said softly, wiping at her tears. "Goodbyes are just so hard."

Hank brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it several times. "I know they are. I'm sorry Jen."

"I'll be ok. Thank you. And thank you for not hitting Eric."

"It took a lot of self-control, and honestly, I'm glad Jake did it. That idiot deserved even more than that right hook to the jaw."

Jenna sighed. "Yeah, he probably did."

"Let's not talk about him anymore. Aside from that, tonight was a lot of fun. I'm glad I got to meet your friends. Let's focus on that."

"Yeah. Let's do that."

"I love you Jen."

"I love you."

[][][][][][][][][][]

The next morning, after tearful goodbyes with her girls, Jenna and Hank were on a plane back to Chicago. Jenna fell asleep before takeoff, and she slept on Hank's shoulder the entire flight, completely exhausted from their trip.

When they got to Jenna's apartment, Hank carried her bags up for her. As Jenna opened the door, she noticed Hank hesitating.

"Are you coming in, babe?" she asked.

"You're not sick of me yet?" Hank asked, a small smile on his face.

Jenna shook her head, grinning as she put her arms around his neck. "I will never be sick of you. You are…the only thing that kept me sane this week. I loved having you next to me, and I'm not ready to let you go."

"Ok, I'll stay," he said, kissing her softly.

Later that night, while laying in bed in each other's arms, Jenna softly said, "Thank you for coming with me."

"Thank you for letting me go with you. I feel like I got to learn a lot more about you. Seeing you with your family…I didn't know it was possible, but it made me fall even more in love with you."

Tears came to Jenna's eyes as she looked up at him. "You mean that?"

"I mean that," Hank said, gently stroking her cheek. "Being with everyone like that…I felt like part of the family, and it makes me happy to think about what our future might be like."

"You think about the future? A future with me?"

"I do. I think about it a lot, and I think it will be better than anything we could imagine."

Jenna pulled him close, kissing him deeply, overwhelmed with how much she loved him. She had been thinking about a future with him as well, for a long time, and while they'd had their bumps in the road, she knew their life together would really be something special.