Here for you

Chap 1

Screams. That was the first thing she heard as the first bullet flew by. She turned her head to the right only to witness Jay crumpling to the ground after a flying projectile punctured his leg.

It seemed that her instincts had failed her. All her previous training for this very situation, forgotten. Of course in the CIA she was prepared for this to happen, expecting this to happen. She stood frozen in front of the wooden podium. She saw people shouting, scared of the chaos happening around them. She quickly turned back to Jay, almost forgetting about her wounded policy advisor. She wanted to get to him, to help him. But to her surprise she was roughly pulled backwards by who she guessed, and hoped, was someone on her security detail.

After being pulled from the stage, her feet barely touched the ground while Matt and someone, who she had forgotten the name of, nearly carried her. And from there it was all a blur. Her head was covered by the arms of one of her DS agents, as they ran their protectee to the safety of the motorcade.

The doors of the SUV whipped open, and she was shoved into the backseat. The car took off before the door was even closed shut, before she even had time to comprehend what had just happened. "What was that?" She asked frantically. "Where's Jay?" She added, worried about her injured staffer and friend. But the two men in the front seat of the speeding and swerving vehicle were preoccupied.

"Shots fired. I repeat shots fired. We have Magnolia and are in route to The White House." Matt spoke into his sleeve. To who, she assumed the head of The Secret Service, or someone of the sorts. She tried to focus on what they were saying, but the nausea and ache in her middle was pulling her attention. The dull ache suddenly turned into a sharp stab. Her hand automatically went to her stomach, hoping to soothe the discomfort. But the pang of shooting pain spread through her lower abdomen, causing her to gasp and lean slightly forward in her seat.

"Madam Secretary are you alright?" Matt questioned as he turned around. "I'm… I'm O… I'm okay." She mumbled, trying to find the strength to answer him. Matt seemed unconvinced. His eyes ran over her body. "Oh god." He muttered when his eyes landed on the quickly spreading blood down her pair of white slacks.

"She's hit. Magnolia's hit!" He announced, communicating between the SUV in front and behind them. "George Washington. Now!" Matt barked at the driver. The car did a complete U turn, now speeding in the direction towards the hospital. "I'm fine." Elizabeth argued, weakly. "You've been shot. You're in shock." Matt fought. "I'm… I wasn't hit. I'm… I'm having a miscarriage." She whispered.

~one day earlier~

She had been feeling sick, tired, and moody for the past few weeks now. But she pegged that up to be from the overwhelming amount of stress she was currently under. Her and her staff had been working horrendous hours, putting all their energy in negotiating a deal with The Chinese. The endless meetings with Minister Chen and other diplomats finally came to a stop when they reached an agreement that both sides could live with. With that now off her plate, she assumed her foul moods would go to. But days after, her stomach still churned. After four days of almost seven full hours of sleep each night, her exhaustion still made itself known. Something was wrong.

That's what led her here. Standing or rather pacing in her bathroom of her Georgetown home. Three minutes. That's all she had to wait. Three short minutes. It seemed little to nothing could be accomplished in those one hundred and eighty seconds, but many thoughts ran through her mind. The first being that this was crazy. She was a forty six year old woman, and she was considering the idea that she was pregnant. It was nearly impossible. There was a one percent chance of her conceiving a child at her age, but here she was.

'This wasn't happening.' She thought. 'This couldn't be happening. Not with her job.' She told herself. She jumped when the timer dinged, telling her that her three minutes were up. Elizabeth whipped around to look across the room at the counter. She huffed as she took the few short steps to the surface, still looking straight ahead, too nervous to turn her attention to what sat on the bathroom counter. 'This is impossible.' She told herself one last time before daring to look downwards.

Her heart dropped at the test results. Pregnant. She was pregnant. She was the one percent. 'This isn't happening. This can't be happening.' She repeated. A few tears that were willing to fall earlier escaped from the corners of her eyes. She felt sick. 'Oh god what was she going to do?' She agonized.

Elizabeth glanced down at her watch through her teary eyes. This would have to wait. She didn't have time for this right now. She didn't have the time to fall apart. Didn't have time to call Henry. It was the middle of the day, and she had snuck away from The State Department an hour ago. An hour of lost time. She was needed there, she knew that. Ten minutes after leaving her office she had received calls and text messages asking her about her whereabouts. She needed to get back. There would be questions where she was off to, what she was doing.

Elizabeth stepped up to the sink and took a glance at her reflection in the mirror. Her cheeks were red, along with her eyes. She wiped under her eyes, trying to erase the evidence of her tears. She took a deep breath, working to calm herself down. Trying to get a hold on her raging emotions. She needed to leave. They have a deadline to make. No question they would be at the office through the night. But this speech was important. This would all have to wait.

~present~

"We're almost there Madam Secretary." Matt informed her. Tears were slipping down her cheeks by now. Yes they were almost to the hospital, but she knew it was already too late.