Past

AN: I have NO clue where this came from. I had this farfetched idea while I was out running… and I ran with it. Pun intended. This story is random, but it was fun and different and I'm a sucker for drama. When I have an idea I need to write it down. I write for myself, but I post here because of the possibility of others getting a kick at my wild imagination. This story's inspired by the storyline of season one episode ten 'collateral damage' Read at your own risk.

It's been eight years since she quit. Eight years since she sat across from Conrad and handed him her resignation, telling him she was burning out and simply couldn't manage to carry on with her job in the CIA. She cried leaving her boss's office. She couldn't believe what she had just done, but she didn't regret her decision to leave the company.

Now she loved her job… at times. She had always felt the duty to help others, and this job was her way of making a difference. She could still recall her first day at Langley. She was excited, yet nervous in a good way. She was ambitious, determined, and her eyes and mind were fresh, ready to make the world a better place.

Over the years her outlook on her job position shifted. She realized that being an analyst was merely a job title. She did so much more than interpreting intel collected by field agents. Her job morphed into much more, leading her tor travel regularly. And her ability to speak Arabic set her on the fast track to the Middle East desk, where she learned of things she couldn't even imagine.

Putting it simply: the job changed her. 9/11 sent her down a long dark lonely road with no return. She was in too deep, but she couldn't see it. Luckily Henry did. The world was falling apart, and she wanted… needed to do more. Fire filled her eyes. The never ending image of the planes crashing into the towers playing over in her mind drove her to work harder and harder for the war against terrorism.

When the opportunity for her to go to Baghdad arose Henry said enough is enough, telling her this wouldn't take back 9/11. He gave her an ultimatum. Her family or her job. She quit the next day.

Eight years ago. She went home that day upset, but as she walked out of Langley it was as if a weight had been lifted from her chest. She could breathe again.

It's been seven years since she began teaching at UVA. The shift from her old job was a difficult one, but Henry supported her through it all. She took a year off before diving into a new career. At the time she had no clue what she wanted to do, so she decided to stay home and spend quality time with her kids. The time off was great, and they soon decided to move to the farm. Henry could see his wife slowly becoming her old self again. Now she appreciated her time home, but soon became rather restless, needing something fulfilling to do. That's when Henry told her of an opening in the political philosophy department. She jumped on it.

That was seven years ago. She was very happy. She had lots of time to spend with her family while still pursuing a career she enjoyed. She also loved being on the horse farm. The large estate was beautiful and the massive land gave her the freedom to ride.

It was November. There was a breeze sweeping across the yard, and the leaves were falling from the trees. Henry and Elizabeth sat side by side on the steps of their deck watching their children rake up fallen leaves into neat piles.

"Stop worrying. It will be fine." Henry said. Elizabeth continued staring straight ahead, and sighed. "I just want everything to go smoothly." She admitted.

"It's my family. You can't expect that babe." He joked. She turned her head to the side, glaring at him. "Henry." She complained before looking ahead again. "Hey…" He started, grabbing her hand with his. "It's two days." He said. She was quiet for a moment. "Maureen…" She began. "Maureen is Maureen. She'll always be difficult. Try not to let her get to you." He interrupted. "Only if you do the same." Elizabeth countered. Henry chuckled.

"Hey!" Stevie called. The couple's attention turned to the yard. "Are you two just gonna sit there while we do all the work?" Their daughter teased. The parents stood from their spot and started walking out into the yard. "Oh you're going to pay for that." Henry teased back.

Elizabeth studied the dining room table, watching on as her husband placed the silverware at each place setting. "We need another plate." She announced. Henry glanced up at her. "No. That's nine." Henry replied confidently. "We need ten." Elizabeth declared. Henry's face read confusion. "Why?" He asked. "Maureen invited a friend." She said nonchalantly. Her husband's eyebrows shot upwards. "She invited a friend?" He was shocked and angry. Elizabeth held her hand up in defense. "Don't make a big deal of it. I didn't want to argue. It's one extra person."

"Grandma!" Allison yelled, instantly hugging Henry's mom after she stepped through the front door. "Hey baby. I've missed you!" Anne said, embracing her granddaughter. Stevie and Jason did the same as their sister and hugged their grandparents. Patrick kissed his granddaughter's heads before teasing Jason about soon being taller than him.

Henry and Elizabeth rounded the corner into the foyer, hearing familiar voices. "Hey you two." Anne called once seeing them. "Happy Thanksgiving son." Patrick greeted Henry as Anne hugged Elizabeth. "It's so nice of you to have us all this year." Henry's mother told her daughter-in-law. "Oh, it's no big deal." She responded. "Where is everybody else?" Henry asked, noticing the rest of his family was absent. "They're about twenty or so minutes behind." Anne answered.

Elizabeth laughed as Jason showed his grandparents how he climbed onto an imaginary horse. The ten year old had recently striked an interest in riding. She didn't know if the hobby would last, but right now horses were the number one topic for her son.

Elizabeth stood from her spot on the couch upon hearing the ring of the doorbell. "I wonder who that could be." She smiled, teasing the kids. She opened the door, and was met with smiling faces and hugs from her in laws. The last one in the line of people was Maureen along with a man standing behind her. "It's nice to see you Elizabeth." She greeted her formally. "Same to you, Maureen." She muttered.

"Oh, this is Zaid." Maureen introduced, stepping to the side so she could see the man. Her smile that had previously occupied her face instantly fell. His eyes. She knew those eyes. She knew him. Lizzie cleared her throat, and stuck out her hand. "It's nice to meet you." She said, filling the silence. "It's my pleasure." He responded before turning and following Maureen into the living room. That glare he gave her sent chills down her back. 'What was he doing here?' She thought.

"Dinner will be in about fifteen minutes." She announced to the room full of people before rejoining her husband in the kitchen. While he worked on finishing up the turkey, Elizabeth busied herself with stirring the pot of mashed potatoes. So caught up in her thoughts she nearly jumped when Henry laid a hand on her shoulder. "You okay babe?" He asked, concerned. "Yeah." She answered, but Henry was nowhere near convinced. "Did Maureen say something already?" He assumed his sister was the cause of her 'on-edge' mood. "No. She's been fine." She said. "Really?" He questioned in disbelief. She nodded her head. "Really."

She smiled through dinner, hoping to god no one could see through it. She appeared calm, while in reality she was on high alert. Her stomach was in knots, nervous over the situation. She simply pushed around her food, and engaged in small talk.

"So how's academia treating you?" Erin addressed Elizabeth, as the plate of green beans was being passed around for the second time. "It's great. I enjoy all my classes and love hearing the opinions of my students." She answered, praying to god no one would mention the CIA. Erin went on talking about her position as a history teacher before the conversation drifted to Anne's job at the hospital.

"So, Zaid, where are you from?" Henry, curious and kind as ever, asked. Why did her husband have to be so polite? "I'm in Pittsburgh now, but I just recently moved to the US from Iraq." He explained. Henry took a sip of his water, and then questioned, "What part?" Elizabeth fiddled with her wedding bands under the table, already knowing the answer to Henry's question. "Baghdad." Zaid replied.

There were a few brief seconds of silence. "You speak Arabic, right Elizabeth?" Shane asked her. Her heart dropped. "I do." She said quietly. "It's a very hard language to learn." She laughed nervously.

"Yeah that's why the company had you on the Middle East desk." Henry commented before taking a bite of turkey. He had no idea what he just confirmed. Elizabeth slowly looked up from her plate, meeting the man's gaze who was sitting directly in front of her. "You've been to Iraq before?" Zaid asked. Her heart sped up. "No I haven't." She said.

Her mind flashed back thirteen years ago. The hot sun. Hot sand. Meeting Mike Hurst. He wasn't a fan of hers. He sarcastically called her 'killer', saying that's what they were over here. Safeer Al-Jamil. Memories of her trip flashed through her head. She'd been tracking him for two years, and Conrad sent her to interrogate him.

"You have been to Iraq." Zaid said calmly but firmly.

She remembered when the soldiers busted down the doors of the very small house. Screams were what she heard first. The man's mother wailed as they carried her son away. 'Don't worry we only want to talk to him.' Bess had said. Then she looked into those boy's eyes… the same eyes in front of her now.

"My cousin Safeer Al-Jamil was dragged away by coalition forces. And you were there. I was there too. And that was the last time I saw Safeer alive. You said you only wanted to talk to him!" Zaid told her. The room stilled along with the people. The sound of forks scraping plates was no longer. "I thought she had a desk job." Someone commented. She wasn't paying attention to the other occupants of the table. She was focused on Zaid, and Zaid alone. "It's the CIA, they lie for a living. What did you expect?" Maureen mumbled, replying to the previous comment. She heard Henry scold his sister, but she tried to ignore them all.

"I was never in Iraq. Do you understand? And while I do know who your cousin was, as to what happened to him…" She trailed off thinking back on the interrogation.

'Safeer you should have stayed in London. Instead of killing your own people, you could be getting your degree in engineering, or settling down with that girl Fiona.' She said before sitting down. 'You're going to tell me when and where the next truck bomb is set to go off, so more innocent Muslisms don't have to die.' She commanded. 'If they lived a virtuous life, they will go to a better one.' Saffeer said. 'Allahu Akbar' repeated in her head.

"Honestly I don't know." She finished. "Are you kidding?" Zaid rose his voice. Henry stared at his wife in shock of what was going on. "Waterboarding!" He spat. "Stop." Elizabeth mumbled. "Stress positions. Physical abuse…"

Elizabeth pushed her chair back, causing a screeching sound against the hardwood, and then slammed her hands down against the table. She was grateful the kids had finished dinner ten minutes ago and were now outside petting the horses. Their ears were far away from this conversation. "I said that is enough!" She shouted. Zaid stood from his chair as she rounded the other side of the table. She was furious. "Elizabeth." Henry called, but she didn't acknowledge him.

"If you want to grieve someone, you should grieve your grandfather Abdul, the scientist who was killed by Saddam. Stop mourning your cousin Safeer." She demanded, taking a step closer to Zaid, leaving them face to face. Henry had stood up from the table by this point and was now standing a few steps behind his wife. "You know nothing about him!" Zaid argued.

"No, I know everything about him. I know where he went to school, who his family was, and who he killed. Your cousin was a mass murderer, and I am glad that I took him off the streets of Baghdad!"

"He didn't deserve to die!" Zaid argued. "The son of a bitch blew up half of Baghdad!" Elizabeth yelled. Zaid scowled at her, nearly growling as he began to reach to the side of his body. But he didn't stand a chance. She was steps ahead of him, and had him pushed against the wall, holding him in place with her body. "How stupid do you think I am?" She barked as she pulled the gun from his waistband, and handed it behind her for Henry to grab. She heard gasps when the deadly object came into view. "You know… I was planning on shooting you the moment I stepped through the door." He taunted. "But I couldn't resist hearing why you killed my cousin." He admitted.

He blindsided her, kneeing her in the stomach, eliciting a whimper from her, but she didn't falter. Elizabeth quickly turned him around, and painfully twisted his arms behind his back. "He murdered thousands of people… The world's a safer place." She fumed.

Still holding Zaid's arms, Elizabeth glanced back at her husband, who was now a mere inch away from her. "Call the police." She whispered. "Already done." He replied. His expression was unreadable. "Could you…" She began. Henry instantly stepped up and took over her hold on Zaid. "I need to…" She trailed off. "Go." He commanded sympathetically. She turned to leave the tension filled room, catching a glimpse of Henry's family. Most were silent. Some were whispering. But they all looked shell shocked. She sucked in a breath and stepped into the kitchen.

She dialed a familiar number. The man picked up on the third ring. "We have a problem." She muttered.

An hour later Zaid was in the back of a cop car, waiting to be taken into custody. "Well what a Happy Thanksgiving." Conrad said sarcastically as he stepped through the doorway followed by Isabelle. Bess laughed slightly. "If you missed me so much you could've just called." Isabelle joked. Elizabeth enveloped her friend in a hug. "Are you alright?" Conrad asked seriously.

She could feel the stares from Henry's family on her form so she turned her back to the living room. "I'm okay. Just wondering how the hell this happened." She admitted. Conrad sighed. "Turns out the file concerning Safeer Al-Jamil was somehow accessed. No other reports were obtained, but we're still working on the how... We should have told you." He declared. "You think." She replied, crossed her arms over her chest.

There was a moment of quiet before Isabelle spoke up. "You said Henry's sister invited him." Bess nodded then turned and stepped into the room filled with her husband's family. Her old coworkers followed. Henry stood upon seeing his wife's friends.

"Conrad." He greeted, shaking the man's hand. "Hey." He said to Isabelle, giving her a quick hug. "It sounds like you guys had one hell of a night." Conrad said, looking between Henry and Elizabeth. "Felt like I was back at Langley." She joked, and they all chuckled.

"Bess…" Conrad started, eyeing the room of quiet people. Curious and annoyed eyes looked up at them. Elizabeth cleared her throat then announced, "This is Conrad Dalton, Director of the CIA, and this is agent Isabelle Barnes."

They all looked unamused. "Maureen, we need to know how you met Zaid." Elizabeth told her. "At a local festival… back in September." She informed them. "Did he approach you first?" Isabelle asked. Maureen nodded. "What did he say to you?" Isabelle questioned. Maureen shook her head. "I… I don't remember." She said. "Well we're gonna need you to remember." Conrad stated. "It was a short conversation… something about the band playing." She muttered.

"Where did you see him next?" Bess asked. "The grocery store. He recognized me. And then we had lunch in mid-November. He told me about not having any family in the US, so I invited him here for Thanksgiving." She whispered.

Conrad shared a knowing glance with Elizabeth. Maureen saw the silent exchange. "What?" She quipped. "You were targeted." Conrad declared. "Zaid knew who you were. You were his way in to attempt to hurt Bess." He explained.

Henry wrapped an arm around his wife's waist, still unsettled by the whole situation. "But how did he know who Maureen was?" Shane asked. "I can't disclose that information, but Zaid's a smart guy… but Elizabeth was smarter." Conrad answered.

"We should really be going." Isabelle reminded. The pair began making their way to the door, Elizabeth following to show them out. "We're taking Zaid in. Making sure he hasn't planned anything else, although other than the stint today, I think he'll come up clean. I'll keep you updated." Conrad told Elizabeth. She nodded. "Stay safe Bess." He said. They said their goodbyes and were on their way.

She took a minute to breathe before returning to the living room. Elizabeth made a beeline to Henry, taking a seat next to her husband on the couch. He squeezed her hand, hoping to ease her nerves. "I'm going to check on all the kids." Shane's wife announced before swiftly exiting the room.

"Are you okay?" henry whispered to his wife, breaking the silence. She opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Maureen. "Is she okay? You should be asking us if we're okay. We just saw a man dragged away and off to god knows where!"

"Maureen." Her mother warned. Henry shook his head. "Well it doesn't matter… just another Thanksgiving ruined by queen Elizabeth." Maureen mumbled.

"That is uncalled for!" Henry snipped, pointing a finger at his sister. "Well it's true. She brings her powerful friends in here, and acts all so high and mighty, above the rest of us." Maureen fought.

"It's protocol." Elizabeth muttered, referring to the CIA showing up. "Oh yeah. I'm sure they had to send the Director of the CIA." Maureen went on.

"Well if you must know, Conrad and I worked on this operation together. And the intelligence concerning Safeer Al-Jamil is very high profile." Elizabeth informed her, keeping her gaze focused on the floor.

"What's going to happen to Zaid?" Erin asked. "I'm sorry but that's classified." Elizabeth explained.

"Classified. Classified." Maureen mocked. "Maureen." Henry cautioned. "Yeah that means they're gonna torture him to get whatever information they think he has." Patrick commented. "Pat." Anne condemned, hitting the side of her husband's arm.

"Well we know that Elizabeth has tortured people." Maureen announced. Henry stood from the couch in anger. "That is enough!" He yelled.

"The CIA is full of secrets and lies and cover-ups for killing people. And your wife was a part of that institution. How do you feel about that ethics professor?" His sister ridiculed.

Henry took a step forward towards Maureen. "The CIA does so much for our country. It protects you and protects me every day from the averted crises that you will never hear about. And I am proud that my wife has been able to make the world a safer place." He fought.

"Happy Thanksgiving." Maureen muttered sarcastically. "Let's not forget you were the one who invited this man into our home." Henry argued, as he sat back down next to Elizabeth. "Well maybe if Elizabeth hadn't of killed his cousin…"

"Maureen, cut it out!" Anne scolded her daughter. Maureen turned to look at the teary eyed Elizabeth and said, "Your past…" but she was interrupted by her brother. Henry cut in. He looked directly into his wife's eyes and said, "Your past is your past. Never be a prisoner of your past. It was just a lesson, not a life sentence. You have done so much good. Whether it be in the CIA, as a professor, as a wife, or as a mother. Your past shaped you into the wonderful woman you are today and I wouldn't want you any other way."

The couple stood in each other's arms watching as their children helped put their grandparents' bags into their car. "Well we made it through the two days." Henry said. Elizabeth looked up at him with a sheepish smile. "Not unscathed." She reminded. Henry kissed the top of her head, and then said, "It's the past babe. Plus, there's always Thanksgiving next year."