It's complicated question, you're right! Irina makes the same suggestion to Philip--and this while she claims to have a child herself (albeit one where it's unclear what relationship she's claiming to have ever had with him).
I always figure that part of the issue with Gregory was that he and Elizabeth got together presumably while she was pregnant with Paige or at most they'd have met right before, since they met in '68 (interestingly this means that Elizabeth would have had quasi-consensual sex with Philip before taking the step to actually consensual sex). At that time it seems like she would have been in full ambivalent mode, having made the choice to go ahead with the pregnancy but still not wanting to do it. So their initial relationship would have been probably based around him being the person she could share those fears with--which she couldn't totally with Leanne because Leanne warned her not to tell the Centre that and had done it herself.
So I always imagine that just as her feelings about Philip and the family would have slowly changed with time, so too would her relationship with Gregory. She would only have to see him on her own terms, and may have (based on what we see must have) always talked about her problems with her cover life with him, maybe even using him as a touchstone for who she "really" was with in ways she couldn't with Philip since Philip was bound up with the cover life. Over the years the Elizabeth Gregory saw would have just become a smaller part of the real woman, requiring maybe a little more artifice. But since she didn't resent the relationship with Gregory she probably didn't mind it.
So yeah, it's interesting to think about just how much the two of them are in denial about who the other one is at this point or ever was. Plus, of course, their whole relationship was always based on the idea that the cause came first, so by definition they never promised or wanted the other one to put their affair over orders. It's funny, actually, because while Philip was the relationship that was mandated by the Centre, it's the one that encompasses far more than the job, while Gregory, the secret love she took for herself, seems likely to fall apart without the cause. That's the thing they have in common.
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I always figure that part of the issue with Gregory was that he and Elizabeth got together presumably while she was pregnant with Paige or at most they'd have met right before, since they met in '68 (interestingly this means that Elizabeth would have had quasi-consensual sex with Philip before taking the step to actually consensual sex). At that time it seems like she would have been in full ambivalent mode, having made the choice to go ahead with the pregnancy but still not wanting to do it. So their initial relationship would have been probably based around him being the person she could share those fears with--which she couldn't totally with Leanne because Leanne warned her not to tell the Centre that and had done it herself.
So I always imagine that just as her feelings about Philip and the family would have slowly changed with time, so too would her relationship with Gregory. She would only have to see him on her own terms, and may have (based on what we see must have) always talked about her problems with her cover life with him, maybe even using him as a touchstone for who she "really" was with in ways she couldn't with Philip since Philip was bound up with the cover life. Over the years the Elizabeth Gregory saw would have just become a smaller part of the real woman, requiring maybe a little more artifice. But since she didn't resent the relationship with Gregory she probably didn't mind it.
So yeah, it's interesting to think about just how much the two of them are in denial about who the other one is at this point or ever was. Plus, of course, their whole relationship was always based on the idea that the cause came first, so by definition they never promised or wanted the other one to put their affair over orders. It's funny, actually, because while Philip was the relationship that was mandated by the Centre, it's the one that encompasses far more than the job, while Gregory, the secret love she took for herself, seems likely to fall apart without the cause. That's the thing they have in common.