Authors Note: This is just a one shot of something I thought of. This is one of the songs my mom used to sing to me at night, when I was a baby.
Disclaimer: I don't own Madam Secretary, as much as I wish I was part of the McCord family.
Elizabeth had come home late that night after a long day full of meetings at Langley to a dark house. She walked upstairs and found both Stevie and Alison asleep in their respective rooms. She walked down the hall to Jason's room. A quick glance in the darkroom and nothing seemed out of place. She started to turn away but something stopped her at the door. There were soft whimpers coming from her son's crib. Panic started to build in her chest as she crossed the room and leaned over the side railing.
Jason lay in his crib, whimpering softly in his attempt at sleep. Elizabeth leaned down and lifted him up. She cradled him in her arms rocking him slowly. His whimpers soon became full on cries and Elizabeth looked down at him helplessly. Rocking him seemed to do nothing in the attempt to soothe him, so she gently put him back down in his crib and hurried across the hall to her and Henry's room.
Henry was sound asleep, but nonetheless, she turned, on the light. Henry was still sleeping through the commotion of Elizabeth changing from her work clothes into her PJs, grabbing Jason's stuffed cow that had been left on her nightstand and turning up the volume of the baby monitor next to their bed. She hurriedly left the room and crossed back into Jason's room. He was still crying, this time there were hot, wet tears streaming down his face.
"Shhh. You're okay Jason. I got you baby" Elizabeth whispered in her son's ear as she held him, rubbing circles on his back. She looked at his face. There were tear streaks running down his chubby little cheeks. His eyes were red from crying and his nose was stuffy from being sick. Her poor baby was sick and there was nothing she could do right now besides letting him cry into his mom's shoulder.
The cries had finally woken Henry, and he came running into the nursery. Elizabeth turned towards her husband. He stood frozen in the door frame, panic written across his face. "What's wrong? Is he okay? Elizabeth, what happened?" Henry questioned, a tone of urgency covering his words. "Calm down Henry. Jace is okay. He's sick and he just needs his mommy" Elizabeth reassured him. Henry's shoulders relaxed a little, but one of his kids was still sick and he felt helpless standing there in the hallway.
After a few minutes of slowly walking Jason around his room, his cries quieted to a whimper into Elizabeth's shoulder. Sensing that putting him back down in his crib would only cause him to start crying again Elizabeth opted to let him sleep with her and Henry in their room. She slowly turned towards the door and quietly padded out of the room and into her and Henry's bedroom. Henry followed close behind his wife as she sat down in the chair in the corner of the room, their son drifting off to sleep in her arms.
"How do you want to do this? Let him sleep in between us or…"Henry let the end of his sentence fall when he saw his wife shake her head. "He's finally sleeping and I don't want to change that. I'm gonna sleep here with him" she said from her place in the rocking chair. Henry gave her a skeptical look, "You're sure that's a good idea, I mean sleeping in that chair can't be comfortable and you need a good night's sleep because you have that meeting tomorrow?"
Elizabeth shot him and "I'll do whatever I have to for my baby boy" look. Henry got the message and backed down. He was a little disappointed that he wouldn't get to spend time with his wife and take care of his son, but he knew that Elizabeth had barely seen either of them all week and being away from Jason was the hardest for her right now.
Henry retreated to their master bedroom and grabbed the quilt off the end of the bed. As he was walking out the door he turned around and grabbed her phone charger. He carried the blanket across the hall when he came to the doorframe he was greeted with a beautiful site. Elizabeth was sitting in the rocking chair with her eyes half closed, her arms wrapped protectively around Jason who was asleep with his head on her shoulder. He tiptoed across the floor and draped the quilt on two of the most important people in his life. He reached for her phone which was resting on the railing of Jason's crib and plugged it in on top of the dresser. After taking one more look at this beautiful part of his family, he backed out of the room closing the door behind him and went down the hall to check on the rest of his beautiful family.
He peeked into Alison's room and saw her fast asleep with her stuffed dog clutched furiously in her left hand. He continued down the hall, stopping and slowly opening Stevie's door. He noticed the book that lay open next to her as she slept. Henry couldn't help but feel a little proud that his eldest was turning into a bookworm. As he closed the door he thought about all that he had to be thankful for, his wife who was all around a superhero, his eldest daughter who was turning into a miniature copy of Elizabeth, Allison who was just beginning to discover the world, and Jason who was full of surprises, but at the end of the day he was the sweetest boy a parent could ask for. As he fell back asleep Henry couldn't help but wonder how he got to be so incredibly lucky.
Elizabeth had fallen asleep with Jason in her arms for what felt like only minutes before he woke up and started crying again. Elizabeth opened her eyes and glanced at the little clock shaped like a monkey sitting on Jason's dresser. The bright numbers flashed the time- 3:17 am. It felt like minutes, but she had already been asleep for three hours. Looking down at her son she saw him squirming and scrunching up his tear-stained face.
Sighing she stood up and adjusted her son in her arms. She slowly started to rock him back and forth as she padded around the room. Jason didn't stop crying though, he only became more restless and started to cry louder. Not wanting to wake her family up, Elizabeth quietly whispered to her baby, "Shhh baby boy. It's okay. You're okay." Her words did little to quiet his little sobs, but after a few minutes his cries quieted down to a loud whimper.
Walking over to his crib Elizabeth rocked Jason in her arms. Seeing that he wasn't going to stop crying anytime soon Elizabeth got an idea. Standing next to the crib she started slowly, softly singing to her baby. "I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck, I- love-you. You're my son, my sunny son. You're the brightest sun in the world. I love you oh yes I do, I love you-you're my bugaboo, a bushel and a peck and hug around the neck," she sang quietly, rocking him to sleep as she went. "A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. Sh, sh sh," she whispered as she lay him down in his crib.
Elizabeth looked down at her sleeping son and wondered what she did to deserve to be the mother of this incredible sweet baby boy. She thought of her family and many moons ago her mom would sing her that same song, rocking her to sleep in the quiet of the night.