Making Plans
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them for a little while and will return them when I am finished.
Author’s Notes- This is part of my 1000 followers celebration and a response to the prompt: fluff. This is part of the Path Least Expected Universe and is set after “A Moment of Truth”.
Pairing- Dante/Eleanor (MC/Other)
Rating- PG
Summary- Eleanor and Dante talk about their future.
Words- 639
“You look deep in thought.”
Eleanor looked up from her laptop to see Dante standing in front of her, having thrown his suit jacket casually over one of the chairs. She hadn’t even heard him come in.
“I’m looking at law schools,” she admitted, closing the laptop and standing up to greet him properly.
Dante looped an arm around her waist and then leaned down to kiss her. “Are you thinking about applying?” He asked as he sat down, pulling Eleanor with him and settling her on his lap.
“No,” she admitted, playing with a loose strand of hair, “that door has closed. But I think I needed to look to realize that.”
There was a time when she was going to be a lawyer; when it had been the next step in a life that had always gone according to plan. And then it didn’t. Then her life had veered wildly from its original course until she was far from where she’d started, though she was quite happy with where she had ended up.
“So now I have to think about what I do want to do with my life,” Eleanor told Dante, resting her head on his shoulder. “What my future looks like now that I’m not going to be a lawyer or a queen.”
There was no bitterness as she said the last. She’d never wanted to be queen, she’d wanted Liam. But she’d wanted a Liam free of chaos and obligation and that didn’t exist. And in the end, her love for Liam hadn’t been strong enough to survive her feelings about his life.
“Any ideas?” Dante asked after a moment, his hand resting on her hip.
Eleanor snuggled against him as she pondered the question. She had been in London for two months and they’d settled into a pretty comfortable dynamic and she knew she wanted to maintain that. That she wanted a life with him, she’d just had to figure out what that life looked like.
“Julia mentioned that the children’s hospital needs volunteers to help with fundraising efforts and Emma mentioned that children’s literacy organization,” Eleanor told him, referring to the wives of two of his friends, “I was thinking of filling my free time with projects like that. What do you think?”
She didn’t need to work, her parents had left her more money than she’d ever need, but she couldn’t just be idle either. She needed to fill her time with something, it was that need that had led her working in that bar had the beginning of all this.
“I think it sounds great,” Dante told me, kissing the top of my head, “I support whatever makes you happy, Ellie.”
She leaned into him, “I think this will, plus it gives me the freedom to travel with you in a way that working or school wouldn’t.”
She and Dante had discussed his robust travel schedule and the fact that they’d both prefer it if she went with him whenever possible since neither of them wanted to be apart. “Plus I like to think I can make a difference.”
The only thing that had appealed to her about being Queen, besides Liam, was the ability to help people and she still liked the idea of being able to do that, just in a different way.
“I know you can,” Dante assured her, “I think your plan sounds perfect.” He grinned. “How about I take you out for dinner to celebrate?”
Eleanor smiled. “That sounds great.”
They both got to their feet and Dante wrapped his arm around her as they headed towards their bedroom, both of them smiling, content with where their lives were headed. Because the most important part was that they were on this path together and Eleanor hoped they always would be.
- End
