Without You
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them and will return them when I am finished.
Author’s Notes- I got a request for an angsty Liam fanfic where MC leaves during the engagement tour. This was the result. It starts out angsty and then ends up pretty fluffy because I couldn’t resist, I need these two to have a happy ending. This is kind of a crossover with Love Hacks because my LH MC, Evelyn Sloane, makes an appearance.
Pairing- Liam/MC
Rating- PG-13
Summary- The stress of the engagement tour becomes too much for Eleanor and she decides to go home, leaving Liam desperate to fix the mess and reunite with the only woman he’ll ever love.
Words- 1358
Eleanor disappears in the middle of the night. They are in France and it’s not until morning that they realize she is gone.
Maxwell goes to wake her and finds a note. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t belong here. Tell Liam… Well, tell him I’ll never forget him. Please don’t come after me. I need time.
She sends a text, later that day, to confirm that she wasn’t coerced or kidnapped. But she won’t say where she went.
Liam reads the note a thousand times. “I’ll never forget him”, it’s such an empty phrase after everything. He wants to scream, and he does in the privacy of his own room with only Drake as a witness, but mostly he feels helpless.
He doesn’t blame Eleanor, though. The tour has gone on for weeks and he had noticed the toll it was taking on her, but he just kept telling himself that they were doing their best and they’d unmake the traitor. Still he’d noticed how pale she was and heard a report from Hana, how she didn’t seem to have much of an appetite. He’d made an effort to arrange for food she liked and to pamper when he could and he’d convinced himself it was enough.
Until she left.
Liam can’t go after her, he knows that. He considers sending Drake to make sure he is ok but she asked for time and after everything he put her though, he knows he owes her that. So instead he focuses on unmasking the traitor and clearing her name.
It doesn’t take long because the irony is that Eleanor left just as they were getting close to the answers they desperately wanted, and within a week of Eleanor leaving, the plot is uncovered and the people responsible are in custody.
It’s messy and while Liam had told himself he’d been prepared for the worst, the revelation that a woman he had cared for like a mother had been responsible for murdering his birth mother brings him to his knees. His friends try to comfort him and Leo comes back to offer moral support, but the only person Liam wants is Eleanor.
“Go to her,” Drake encourages, “what’s stopping you?”
The easy answer is the diplomatic arrangements that would have to be made, but there’s also the fact that she asked him not to come after her.
“That was before,” Maxwell reminds him, “I mean… You’re free now. She’ll want to know.”
“Stop being an idiot and go to her,” Olivia says bluntly and that’s that.
Though the next problem is that he doesn’t know where to find her. It’s Hana who suggests contacting Eleanor’s cousin. “She lives in San Francisco and runs a lifestyle blog called Simplicity.”
It’s a start and San Francisco is his first stop, with his staff hurrying to come up with something official for him to do there. He doesn’t even register what it is, his mind is focused on seeing Eleanor again. With Bastian in tow, he shows up at the Simplicity office as soon as it opens. He recognizes Evelyn Sloane immediately because her face is almost a twin of the one he loves most in the world.
He can tell she recognizes him too because she stares at him in shock. “Oh… Wow… You’re…”
“I am,” he says with a smile, “I suppose you know why I’m here?”
She nods, her expression suddenly guarded. “I can guess.”
“Do you know where Eleanor is?” Liam asks softly. “I came here for her, to bring her back to Cordonia, as my wife.”
Evelyn hesitates. “She’s here,” she says finally, “in San Francisco.”
It was the answer he was hoping to hear and he lets out a sigh of relief.
“Are you free to make that promise?” Evelyn asks quietly, “because if you’re not, you need to get back on your plane and leave her alone.” He’s not surprised that the news hadn’t broken internationally yet since they’re trying to keep it as quiet as possible as not to throw the whole country into a panic.
“I am,” he assures her.
“Ok, then let’s go,” Evelyn says before leading him out of her office. She pauses to talk to her business partner briefly and then follows him to his limo and gives the driver instructions. They make polite small talk and Liam knows she’s wary of him, this woman who looks so much like Eleanor.
Before long, they arrive at her apartment building and Evelyn hands him a key. “I’m going to get a coffee,” she says, “I’ll be back in twenty minutes. Don’t make me regret this.”
“I won’t,” he promises and heads upstairs. He opens the door and cautiously enters.
Eleanor is sitting on the couch, her knees against her chest, looking thoughtful and anguished.
It breaks his heart to see her looking so hopeless. “Eleanor?”
She jumps at the sound of his name, her beautiful blue-greys widening in shock. “Liam?! What are you…”
“My engagement is over,” he tells her, crossing to be at her side, “Madeleine is in jail, awaiting trial, along with the other conspirators. Including Regina.”
“What? Oh my god, are you okay?”
“I am now that I’m with you,” he assures her, reaching for her tentatively.
She hesitates and then throws herself into his arms.
He holds her tight, raining kisses all over her face. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” she tells him, “I’m sorry I left like that. I just…”
“I understand,” he assures her, “I should never have put you in that position. I just wanted you so badly. I was selfish. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“I wanted you just as badly,” she says quietly. She pulls back slightly and gazes up at him. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
“Anything,” he says, resting his hand on her back. After so long without her, he needs to touch her.
She takes a deep breath. “I’m pregnant. That’s why I left.”
Shock washes over him, though he realizes it makes sense and now he knows why she was pale and tired before she left. “How are you feeling?” He asks immediately.
“Better than I was,” she tells him, she studies his face, “you’re not upset?”
“We’re having a baby, why would I be upset?” Liam asks, placing his hand on her stomach. “Having a family with you is what I want most in the entire world.”
He knows it’s not that simple and there will be some whispers about the timing, but he doesn’t care. This is the woman he loves and they’re having a baby. He takes a ring out of his pocket, not the one that graced Madeleine’s finger, and kneels down on one knee in front of her. “Eleanor Sloane, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
“Yes,” she whispers, “there’s nothing I want more.”
Liam stands up and pulls her into his arms, kissing her deeply. She kisses him back eagerly and soon they are making their way to the couch and he’s pushing her down onto it. She pulls him down with her, their lips attached. Liam doesn’t know how long they’ve been like that, he’s so lost in the feel of her.
“I take it the reunion went well,” a voice says from being him, bringing him back to reality.
He and Eleanor leap apart and he’s sure he’s blushing as deeply as she is.
Evelyn is standing there with an amused look on her face. “I take it you will be going back to Cordonia?”
“Yes,” Eleanor says, resting her head against Liam’s chest, “thank you for everything, Evie.”
Evelyn smiles, “it’s been my pleasure, you know I love having you here. I’m just glad everything worked out. If anyone deserves their happily ever after it’s you.” She looks at Liam. “Take care of her.”
“I will,” Liam promises, “I promise I will never let anything happen to her again.”
He had come to close to losing her and he knows he will never take her granted for again and that he will spend the rest of his life making her happy.
– End
