Bonnie & Claudia

London

97 hours remaining.

She woke to hands gently shaking her shoulders. "Hm?"

"Honey, wake up. You fell asleep." Came Henry's soothing whisper. Claudia cracked her eyes opening groggily, realising she was still in her blue chair, phone in one hand, notebook in the other.

Then it all came rushing back to her, the events of the past day. But she was so tired, too tired to process her emotions, and let Henry help her into bed.

Claudia lay awake for a long time, mind alive and whirling.

"Henry?" She whispered at one point, turning towards her husband. He lay on his stomach, head pressed deep into his pillow.

"Yeah?" Came his muffled, sleepy response.

"Why didn't you tell me you were running for mayor?" The question had been bugging Claudia all night.

"I wanted it to be a sure thing first. Wait until we got my campaign and election affairs in order, until I had the highest probability of success. I just didn't want to disappoint you guys." His response was raw and emotional, and made Claudia's heart ache.

"You know you can tell me anything. We're a team." And Claudia meant it. Her hubby just smiled in response, eyes still closed. Claudia rolled onto her back.

"Promise me you won't let Jessica eat barbecued squirrel." Claudia whispered and Henry barked out a laugh.

"It was either that or teach her how to hunt deer. She thinks she's Bear Grylls." Henry responded, voice light and airy. Claudia couldn't help but smile. I did find a print-out of the Man VS Wild legend himself underneath her bed last week.

Henry rolled closer to Claudia, propped himself onto an elbow and started to kiss her neck. Claudia closed her eyes, smiling softly, enjoying the intimacy. She found his mouth with hers, and the kiss deepened.

Do I feel like it? Hm, would be nice... But I'm too tired to put any energy into it. And I know that's when I like it the most...

Opting against continuing things, Claudia pulled back and rested her head on Henry's chest. He sighed but rubbed her arm soothingly.

"Henry?" She asked after a while, staring up at the ceiling, unsure of if her husband had drifted off.

"Yeah?" Came his identical muffled response.

"I need to go find Junior. I'll be leaving tomorrow." Like she'd said the magic words, Henry jerked up, wide awake. Claudia lifted her head off his chest and sat up in the bed.

"What? What are you talking about? Detective Colins is working on the case." He asked, alarmed and Claudia shushed him.

"This is about me, Henry. This is my past catching up to me." She whispered, voice quiet but firm. Eight years of being a mother had taught her when to compromise and when to stand her ground.

They argued for what felt like hours. Henry was terrified, and naturally felt it was a bad idea. And as Claudia hadn't mentioned the phone call, combined with his limited knowledge of her past, she couldn't really blame him.

After substantial reasoning, justifying and straight-out begging, Henry started to give in. Claudia wasn't sure if it was the sleep deprivation or the concern for Junior, or the fact that he knew his wife could be stubborn as an ox.

Regardless, I'm grateful. Grateful he trusts me to handle this. She thought to herself, watching him doze off.

Claudia struggled to sleep, tossing and turning restlessly the whole night. By the time soft dawn light filtered in through the curtains, Claudia was out of bed, showered and in the kitchen with Heather.