Hi! This is the first story I've ever written. Feedback is always welcome and I hope you enjoy this story.

18 years ago.

"I'm so sorry. Your daughter had respiratory problems and there was nothing else we could do. We tried putting her on a ventilator to help her breathe but she just wasn't strong enough." The doctor said once he returned.

It had been a long 20 hours since Elizabeth had gone into labor. She couldn't wait to finally hold her daughter. The pregnancy had been easier than Stevie and she hoped giving birth would go smoothly. Henry and she had been talking about baby names when her water broke. She could see Henry had been trying to stay calm, but he had a slight panic and excitement in his eyes.

A little over an hour ago, their baby girl was born but quickly taken away. Panic had settled in Elizabeth's stomach as she wondered what was wrong. She'd heard her daughter cry which had eased her worry a bit.

Now, she held on to Henry tightly as she listened to her doctor telling them the bad news. She couldn't nor wanted to believe her baby hadn't made it.

"No, no, no." Elizabeth shook her head in disbelieve and Henry stilled beside her for a second until his arms suddenly wrap around her and she's being pulled into his chest.

Why was he holding her like this? He was supposed to blame her for what happened. After all, it was her fault.

Once the nauseous feeling dissipated, she used up almost all her strength to pull herself out of what seemed like a well. Her breathing was shallow, and her eyes became to lose its light. What used to be an intelligent, bright set of ocean-blue eyes were quickly turning into murky, lifeless ones. She shut her eyes weakly and stopped for a second in order to regain her breath.

"I'm so very sorry for your loss." The doctor told her before making his way to the door.

"Wait!" Elizabeth's voice caused him to stop. "Can- can I at least see her?" Henry felt her nuzzle further into his shoulder. Elizabeth was tense in his arms because she was afraid to relax, waiting for reality to come crashing down around her and for Henry to be upset with her.

"I'll see what I can do." He glanced at the pair once last time before walking out, leaving the couple to mourn on their own.

Henry held her close as they both let their tears fall freely. He was sad, grieving but most of all angry, angry that he couldn't protect his daughter, angry that he didn't save her. But most of all he was angry that his wife blamed it on herself. She may not say it out loud, but he knew the thoughts that were going through her head right now. What she did wrong or how she could have prevented it.

"Babe, you can't blame this on yourself." Henry tried to comfort her. His hand was in her hair, fingers combing through her blonde locks and gently freeing any knots he comes across.

She hadn't heard any anger in his voice, no malice, only sadness. She sat there silently for who knows how long, fighting against herself. Her body started trembling as her fear of him leaving grew until she couldn't handle it anymore. As soon as she felt his arms tighten around her, she broke. She slumped against him and wrapped her arms around his middle, face burying in his neck as the tears flow freely.

"Can't I? Henry, I should have taken better care of our daughter." Elizabeth whispered between shallow breaths and tears. The hand in her hair clenches for a second, loosening just as quickly to smooth down her tresses and over her back.

"This is not your fault, alright? You protected her all those months, you did everything you could." He assured her, lips pressed against the side of her head. "We'll get through this together."

That's when she started crying harder, sobbing. Of course, he knew exactly what she was thinking. An open book. It had been that way from the moment they had met. They stayed there until she finally calmed down, hours or minutes later she wasn't really sure- or cared. He held her and repeated his whispered promises between kisses to her hair, temple, cheeks, and eventually her lips when she felt ready enough to look at him with puffy, red rimmed eyes; she knew they were promises he would keep.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Present

It was a day like any other the McCord family household. Elizabeth had taken the afternoon off to spend time with her family. It'd been months since she accepted this job. She loved her job, but it sometimes got in the way or her family. They all knew she was making a difference but sometimes it felt to her as if she was missing a lot of her kids' lives.

They seemed to be settling in alright. The kids had the occasional bad mood and they would painfully remind her they didn't choose to change schools, but she brushed it off. She knew they would come around eventually.

The McCord family had a tradition where they would make a list of movies at the beginning of the year. No matter how busy life got, they had to finish the list within the year. Elizabeth remembered a few years ago when they spent December 31st watching four movies because they hadn't finished the list yet. A smiled lingered on her lips as she remembered that time. The time her kids were so innocent and thought she could move mountains.

"I thought you had the day off." Henry sighed as Elizabeth's phone went off. The whole family was on the couch watching a movie since it had been forever that they were all together and just enjoying a day off.

Elizabeth hadn't really been paying attention to the movie anyways. She had mostly enjoyed spending time with her family and watching them at peace.

"It's Daisy." Elizabeth picked up her phone. "This better be an emergency."

"Ma'am, I'm so sorry to bother you on your day off but this is very important." Daisy said serious and Elizabeth got up with a worried frown on her face, ignoring the stares she got from the rest of her family. Daisy was rarely this serious unless it was bad news.

"Daisy, what is it?" Elizabeth started pacing, wanting to know what it was about.

"I'd rather not discuss this over the phone. Besides, this involves your husband too." Daisy told her, and Elizabeth's eyes narrowed. She started to panic as she ran every scenario through her mind. She had no idea what it could be about.

"Do you want to come over? Or do we need to come in?"

"I'm already on my way to you, ma'am."

"Okay." She hung up and put her phone back in her pocket. She turned to find her entire family looking at her curiously. "Daisy needs to talk to us. She's coming over and apparently it can't wait." Elizabeth told Henry and he frowned. He as well thought about what it could be but came up empty. He hadn't been involved in anything related to Elizabeth's work lately.

"The both of us?" Henry asked surprised and Elizabeth nodded.

"I'll let Matt know, Daisy was already on her way."

"I guess movie day is canceled." Alison sighed as she already got up to press stop. She knew her mom had an important job, but she liked a day like today. Where they could just be a normal family like before.

"No, no. Nothing is canceled. We're just taking a break." Elizabeth protested, enjoying this time with her kids. She walked out to tell Matt, when Daisy's car pulled up. She saw the woman get out and rush towards her.

"Perfect timing." Elizabeth's joke barely got a smile from Daisy. The woman was wearing her anxious face. "Well this must be serious." She mumbled and unnerving feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. Whatever it was, it was serious.

"We'll be upstairs." Stevie told her parents as the kids got up and left the three adults alone. She wanted to know what it was about, but she figured if her parents wanted them to know, they would tell them.

"So, what is it? "Henry asked as he stood next to his wife. A loose arm around her for moral support.

"You might want to sit down." Daisy muttered, only scaring her boss even more but they sat down. "I know I went over the line a while ago with accusations regarding your husband but this time it could become front page news." Daisy lingered around the plot. She knew that if she wanted to do her job right, she'd have to tell her boss. She also knew that this was crossing a line she couldn't come back from and it might cost her, her job.

"Spit it out, Daisy." Elizabeth said, growing more anxious by the second and cold dread sleeping into her gut. She'd never seen her press coordinator this serious and she didn't like it. Daisy was avoiding her gaze. Eyes focused on the floor, lips slightly parted, she looked like she was having an inner debate about whether or not to speak.

"Sorry, ma'am. I have a friend, Linda, who works for a newspaper and she owes me a favor. I told her if she ever hears anything about a big story involving you or your family, she would give me a heads up." Daisy started. She grabbed a file from her bag and put it on her lap. "A boy approached her last week. He said he had a big story involving you two, but he wouldn't say what it was, only that it was big, and he wanted money. He was selling the story to the highest bidder and Linda shut him down but not before he gave her some details. However, if he contacted her, he might have contacted other newspapers too." A small silence fell before Daisy continued. "I'm not sure how to bring this. Uhm- he claims to know your daughter." Daisy said and both Henry and Elizabeth looked confused.

"Which one?" Henry asked, wondering if she was talking about Stevie or Alison. He felt a sudden urge of protectiveness as he thought about which one of his daughters it could be.

"The second one."

"Alison?" Elizabeth breathed, grabbing Henry's hand and squeezing it.

"No, ma'am."

"I'm not following, is this about Stevie?" Henry asked, clearly confused. Stevie was their first daughter. Perhaps Daisy had confused the two, she seemed to be anxious so that could be the reason.

"No, he claims to know your second daughter. The one that was stillborn." Daisy said gentle, knowing she was way over the line again but she was willing to risk her job.

"What?" Both Henry and Elizabeth said simultaneously. For a moment, the room was silent. Elizabeth was the first to recover from the information bomb her press coordinator just dropped. She got up and Henry wondered what she was going to do.

"I want you out of my house." Elizabeth said stern, not sure why Daisy thought it was appropriate to bring false rumors like this to her attention. However, subconsciously she started thinking about the possibilities but quickly shut her thoughts off. There was no way their daughter was alive, she'd held her after she passed. She had buried her.

"Ma'am, you need to see this." Daisy fought her and handed the file to Henry, who opened it to see what was inside. Elizabeth sat down, not used to Daisy speaking to her like this.

"Linda did her research. The boy, whose name I didn't get, claims that this girl is your second daughter. He said the girl's parents adopted her and she started looking for her real parents a few years ago. By doing a lot of research, and what looks like a few illegal hacks, she found out in which hospital she was born and who her real parents were. According to the boy, this is all the research she had, and she has known since before you became Secretary of State, but she didn't do anything with it. He thought since you became the Secretary, he could make money with this story." Daisy said, waiting for a reply. Henry and Elizabeth were looking through all the papers. From hospital records to back account transfers and school reports.

Normally, Elizabeth would have dismissed any rumors and perhaps even fire her employee- and she almost did when she came to her about the affair- but not about this. This she had to know and if Daisy was right- which she wasn't sure she wanted- she'd messed up big time.

"Linda did her own research and managed to find the doctor who was there the day you gave birth. He wouldn't go on the record but he, and I can't quote him on this, admitted to switching your baby with a baby that had been found at the scene of a car accident earlier that day." Daisy said and both parents looked up at her, tears appearing in Elizabeth's eyes.

It seemed like a terrible and unsettling strange coincidence that that there their daughter had suddenly died while being completely healthy during the pregnancy.

An uncomfortable coincidence that she didn't believe in at all but had eventually accepted.

"How sure?" Elizabeth mumbled out as though she was speaking through cotton, and then looked up at the woman sitting in front of her. "How sure are you?"

"The only thing that's holding me back is that there is no DNA test but other than that, the evidence is all here. I believe it. I know this is a lot to process but the evidence is all there. Now, I know I went way over the line on this one so here's my letter of resignation. I just couldn't live with it if I didn't tell you, ma'am." Daisy told the pair, getting the letter from her bag and placing it on the table. Everything went past Elizabeth so fast that she didn't even acknowledge that Daisy quit her job. Henry was just as silent as his wife and they didn't even notice Daisy walking out, nor did they hear their kids walk down the stairs.

"Mom? Dad?" Stevie laughed as she saw her parents in trance. Her smile quickly faded as she realized her word didn't register with her parents. She shared a worried look with her siblings as they moved closer to their parents.

"Is everything alright?" Jason asked worried and Henry and Elizabeth looked at each other.

"Yes, everything is fine. You guys continue the movie. Your mom and I just need to talk about something." Henry said as he grabbed the file and his wife's hand before guiding her upstairs. Elizabeth didn't even notice what was happening, nor the three kids that stared at her with worried expressions.

Once in their bedroom, Elizabeth shook her head as vigorously as she could and became unbalanced for a few seconds when she felt her head spin. She heard the concerned voice of her husband speak, but she couldn't fully recognize what he was saying. She let her tears fall freely as she hugged him.

Henry held her tight as a tear escaped his eye too. He could hear the small whimpers his wife was making. All her could do was try to calm her down. "Shhh, it's okay."

They both stared at the file, curious and terrified. "What do we do now?" Elizabeth whispered.

"Now, we find out the truth." Henry told her.

"I'm scared. Scared I get my hopes up and scared that it's actually true." Elizabeth said before turning to face Henry. "There is no good outcome. If it isn't her after all, we'll just be opening old wounds and if it is her, I could never forgive myself for abandoning her the past eighteen years." Elizabeth started to panic, and Henry tried to calm her down by rubbing her back.

"What if it's all just a really strange coincidence?" Elizabeth sighed weakly as if not even believing in her own words.

"One foot in front of the other, babe. How about we find out first?" Henry said and the two of them read the file and called Linda's number. Daisy had written it on a note for them. They talked for a while and Linda explained everything she knew. She told them she kept the story from running for as long as possible, but it will be in the news either tomorrow or the day after.

"- but honestly, I believe him, ma'am. We had our own investigators doing research and none of what you see in the file is tampered with." Linda finished, and Elizabeth closed her eyes before resting her head on Henry's shoulder. They were sitting on the bed with papers spread all around them.

"Thank you." Henry said before hanging up. He couldn't believe he hadn't been able to protect his daughter. He didn't want to imagine his life without one of his kids but without knowing so, he'd been living his life without her. She had spent the past eighteen years on her own, not being with her family. Anger rose as he thought about the people who took her from them. Was she still living with them? Did she see them as her parents? Did she know she had been taken? Did she think they gave her up for adoption? Questions swam through his mind, as did they Elizabeth's

Elizabeth picked up a copy of the birth certificate and ran her hand over the name. Lauren Marije van Dam. She did her best to ignore the fact that their names weren't under the columns 'mother' and 'father'. The country of origin stated The Netherlands and Elizabeth wondered what growing up there might have been like.

"Lauren, that's a nice name." Elizabeth whispered, and Henry nodded, grabbing a picture of their daughter from the file and looking at it. She looked genuinely happy on the photo which warmed his heart. She took after Elizabeth in the looks, but he also noticed a few things of himself in her.

"Do we tell the kids?" Henry asked, and Elizabeth sighed. She ran her fingers through her hair, clenching them against a knot she felt in the middle of her scalp before releasing them and pulling her hand out again.

TBC