In His Arms Chapter 22 - "The Reckoning"
Elizabeth | Post-Extraction – Day 10 (232 Hours)
When she opened the car door, the air felt like she was breathing under water—the humidity was that thick. She wasn't sure which was worse: being in a deafeningly silent car with Henry for the past four hours where she pretended to be asleep the whole ride or being in this stifling underwater-like heat in D.C.
As Henry was working to get her crutches out of the backseat, she swung her legs out and dangled them outside the car door. Her hand was still in her pocket, her fingertips jangling the chain on his dog tag that he'd given to her. When he came around with her crutches, her eyes darted immediately to the one hanging around his neck, tucked underneath his shirt.
She took the crutches without saying anything, just one more moment of feeling like they were being ripped apart from each other.
Conrad walked up and looked at Henry, "You need to be going immediately," he said, looking back at where he'd just come out of Langley. "Otherwise we're going to have a bigger problem. Rawlins is waiting on you."
Henry nodded, swallowing hard. "I scratched your car, sir."
Elizabeth looked at him and felt her jaw tighten, thinking, you had to tell him now? But Conrad looked at the side of the car and sighed, nodded, and then looked at Elizabeth. "Everyone's okay I assume," he said.
"Fine," she murmured, using her crutches to walk past Conrad and toward Lydia's car—the one he apparently was driving now that the 4Runner had been occupied. She could feel both of their eyes on her back, and she turned around and looked at Henry, then looked away when she felt the immediate pain that shot through her chest.
Conrad let out a sigh, "Alright then," he mumbled, looking at Henry. "I'll let you two say your goodbyes."
She looked at Henry when Conrad when to his car and shut the door, and Henry just shifted awkwardly. Finally, he stepped toward her and hugged her tight, his lips right beside her ear and his scruff tickling the side of her face, "Be safe," he whispered. "Don't forget what I gave you."
You gave me everything, Henry. Life. Love. You.
"I will," she whispered, meaning she'd try to be safe. She closed her eyes and felt her throat tightening when he started letting go, and she almost pulled him back, but she knew this was how it needed to be.
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