Engaged

Chapter 6

The next two weeks, when they met for their weekly date, Elizabeth and Iain continued to talk over the realisticness of them being together, and whether they seriously thought it would work out if she decided to give them a chance.

But the following week, four weeks before filming was set to wrap and she'd have to have made a decision by, Elizabeth pulled Chloe away from the set for lunch at Chloe's apartment to talk before her date with Iain that evening.

"So what's got you all worked up, girlfriend?" asked Chloe as soon as they sat down to eat. "You're never this insistent to have lunch with me. Something about Iain?"

Simmons nodded as she started to eat. "Filming is quickly nearing its end, and that means I have to make a decision soon. And while I'm nowhere near actually ready to make that life-changing decision, Iain does deserve to know soon something of what's most likely to happen. I know he'll insist it doesn't matter, for me to take whatever time I need, but he deserve something anyway. And I'm not ready to even give that much this week, but I really do need to have at least some leaning by next week."

"I assume that means you two have been talking about this?" asked Chloe. "Because he deserves at least some say in this decision, even if the final decision is entirely yours."

"Of course," answered Elizabeth. "We had our first serious discussion about the realisticness of us five weeks ago, and then the past three weeks we've discussed it a lot more."

"So what can I help with?" asked Chloe. "Seems like you're already talking to the person you need to."

"Can you tell me which choice is right?" said Elizabeth with a wry smile.

Chloe chuckled sympathetically. "Sorry girl, but that's the one thing I can't do. My own personal daydreams of what I wish would happen most definitely should not be taken into account in your decision. This is real life, not some extension of FitzSimmons. You have to be the one to make this decision, and I'm too biased to give you any good advice on what you should choose. The only answer I can give you is, Who would you rather spend the rest of your life with, and do you think it's a real possibility that it could happen?

"If you're at this stage and still have both options open, I would hope you've already come to the belief that you could spend the rest of your life with either of them. So at this point, it's a matter of whether you think each could actually happen if that's the way you choose, and then which guy you'd rather spend the rest of your life with. But that's something only you can know."

Elizabeth sighed, nodding. "I know. And I think I probably deep down know the answer to that question, I'm just scared to be wrong. This isn't a decision I can make lightly — which is probably the understatement of the year," she finished with a light chuckle.

"I know you'll come to the right decision," replied Chloe, patting Elizabeth on the shoulder empathetically.

~AoS~

That evening, Elizabeth was quieter than normal.

She didn't bring them up at all during supper like she had the previous three weeks, and she didn't talk as much as she normally did in general, either, letting Iain carry most of the conversation. But Iain wasn't particularly worried, as he could tell she was heavily preoccupied, and if she needed more time to think about things before she talked with him about it again, he was more than willing to give her all the time she wanted. Plus, she hadn't canceled their weekly date, she simply wasn't as talkative as usual and hadn't brought them up, so he assumed things couldn't be too bad for him, or else she wouldn't have come at all or she would have said something by then. So he simply carried the conversation wherever she seemed most engaged, and gave her all the space she needed on any more serious subjects.