Alright- this is my first Madam Secretary fic & my second story EVER... so please be kind but any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I hope you all enjoy the story.

I do not own Madam Secretary.

Allison POV-

Allison had been feeling off for quite some time. On top of being constantly tired, she didn't seem to have an appetite.

She looked into the mirror. She had only lost ten pounds but when you were already kind of skinny to begin with, ten pounds was really noticeable. Her school uniform looked huge on her, and she needed a lot more makeup to cover up the bags under her eyes. She knew that she should have her parents take her to the doctor, but she really didn't want to bother them. It was just two weeks ago that her family was consumed with worry over her mom when she went missing in Iran. Those hours when no one knew whether she was alive was pure agony.

She thought everything would go back to normal when her mom returned but her mom had been acting really weird. Allison had looked up the symptoms her mom had been displaying and she was almost 100% positive that her mom had PTSD.

Allison headed downstairs and grabbed a banana and a glass of water. Her brother was sitting at the table playing his videogames, Stevie was looking at her cellphone and her parents were just walking down the stairs.

"Just keep them in your pocket if you need them," she heard her father tell her mom.

"I'm not going to need it, I'm fine," she heard her mother softly reply.

Her parents had taken their conversation to the office. Even if Allison wasn't able to hear their conversation, she knew they were talking about her mom's anxiety pills that the doctor had prescribed after her "almost heart attack." She didn't think that her mom had taken any of those pills, which was good. Her mom could be stubborn but she was smart enough to take medication if something warranted it. If her mom's anxiety had gotten really bad, she would've taken them. She also heard her parents talking the other night and apparently her mom had been going to therapy. Allison almost wished that she could see a shrink; to be able to tell someone anything without worrying if she was putting extra stress or pressure on them.

Her glass of water was empty and she got up to refill it.

"Dang, Allison, your shirt looks huge on you," she heard Stevie say to her.

Thinking up an excuse quickly, Allison replied. "Yeah, I think I accidently stretched it out in the wash, it got tangled up with my other clothes."

"This is why you are supposed to separate your clothes when you put them in the laundry," she heard her mother yell from across the room.

"Yes, I've learned my lesson. I will now sort my laundry like my life depends on if," Allison said jokingly. "I've got to get going, I'm meeting with Jessica to go over a group presentation before class," she continued as she grabbed her backpack.

"See you guys later," she said as she headed towards the door. "Have a good day Noodle" "Love you honey," she heard her parents say.

Elizabeth POV-

It was 4:45. "Almost time to head home," she said as she started organizing her desk. Today had seemed to drag on and she just wanted to be at home with her family. She felt that she hadn't really gotten to see them much since she had gotten back from Iran. It seemed lately that her kids were living completely foreign lives at times. Stevie had become encompassed with school life; Jason was busy with his anarchical ideas; and she had no idea what was going on with Allison.

When she had said goodbye to Allison this morning, she seemed okay… a little thin. It was weird that she made up that lame excuse that her uniform stretched in the wash. Although Stevie had seemed convinced, she wasn't fooled for a second.

'Why would she lie about that,' she wondered. She hoped Allison hadn't started one of those crazy diets that all the teens were into. Now she was even more eager to get home. She needed to talk with Allison and get to the bottom of it.

She hit the intercom button.
"Blake can you come in here please?" she asked.
Within seconds Blake appeared in the doorway, "Yes Ma'am?" he said.

"I'm going to get going a little early tonight. Is there anything pressing on the schedule tomorrow?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. You have the budget meeting at 11:00, but otherwise your schedule is open," he stated.

"Thank goodness," she said. "The office could use a slow day after the hectic one we had today. Can you have my car pulled up to the front please?"

"Yes, ma'am. It should be waiting for you by the time you get downstairs."

"Thanks Blake," she said as she headed out of the doorway.

Elizabeth POV

As soon as she walked through the door she was hit by the delicious smell of dinner.

"It smells wonderful, what did you make?" she asked.

"I made a vegan stir fry," Stevie responded as she stirred the pan.

"I hope that it tastes as good as it smells, I'm starving." Elizabeth said as she headed to put away her stuff.

Jason and Henry were sitting on the couch playing video games.

"Hey honey? Is Jason kicking your butt?" she teased.

"Oh yes I am!" she heard from Jason.

"I'm only losing by a little," said Henry defensively.

"Hey honey, where's Allison?" she asked as she leaned over the back of the couch.

"I'm pretty sure she's upstairs doing homework." He said not taking his eyes off the video game.

She headed upstairs. 'Ugh, I hate these heels,' she said as she pulled them off. The reason why she wore them, she had no idea.

She knocked on Allison's door. Not hearing any reply, she poked her head in.

"Hey Noodle, can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure, "Allison replied, sitting up from her bed.

Elizabeth crossed the room and sat down.

"I feel like we haven't really had the chance to talk since I came back from Iran," she started. "I wanted to check in with you and see how you are doing."

"I'm doing fine Mom, nothing has really changed." Allison replied looking down at her books.

"Are you sure there's nothing you need to talk to me about: school, friends, One Direction?" she joked.

Allison smiled, "Yes mom, I'm sure. I'm doing well in school, Jessie and I got an A on our history presentation; my friends are the same, and One Direction hasn't been the same since Harry left."

"Haha, well if you are sure," Elizabeth said getting up from the bed. "Dinner seems to be ready, you should come on down and getting something to eat."

"Okay, I've got about two problems of Geometry homework left and then I'll head on down," she said looking back at her books.

Elizabeth looked over at her daughter. She didn't believe anything Allison said, and that worried her. Allison used to be so open with her and now her youngest daughter wasn't being truthful. She didn't want to press Allison further tonight, but hoped to figure it out soon. She turned from where she was in the doorway and walked over and wrapped Allison up in large hug, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

When she let go, she heard Allison, "what was that for?" she asked.

"No reason, I just hadn't done that in a while."

Yes, Elizabeth would need to find out what was going on very soon.

Elizabeth POV-

"I think something is going on with Aly," she said as she turned off the bathroom lights and crossed the room to their bed.

"Why would you say that?" asked Henry.

"Well I hadn't noticed anything before this morning. But Allison's uniform is really baggy on her and Stevie asked about it. Allison gave this obviously fake excuse that her uniform stretched in the wash. I got to thinking about it, and Allison has been looking a lot more tired lately and hasn't been her bubbly self. When I got home tonight I went and just asked her how everything was going in her life and she told me everything was fine, that everything is the same. She was obviously lying to me Henry; she couldn't even look me in the eye," she said concerned.

By this time, Elizabeth's head was swimming with crazy things about what could be troubling Allison.

"I mean what if she's on a crazy crash diet or using drugs?!" she explained.

"Alright honey, calm down. We both know Aly would never use drugs. Remember that time she thought she smelled pot on Jason, she went crazy interrogating him until we found out that Jason's friend had been smoking."

"And I don't think she's on a crash diet, we both saw her eat tonight," he said while pulling Elizabeth into his arms.

"I'm sure she is just stressed. This house has been a little hectic here lately and she is just probably trying to figure out a way to deal with everything," he continued.

"Do you think we should take her to a medical doctor or psychiatrist?" she asked turning to him.

Henry paused for a moment thinking. "No, you asked her if she needed to talk, and I feel that if she feels that she needs to see someone, she will let us know. Let's wait for a few days and just see how she's doing."

"How does that sound?" he said pulling away to look at her face.

"I think it sounds like a plan that I can work with," she responded with a kiss to his lips.

Allison's POV-

Her mom had to know something was up. Not specifically what is was, even Allison herself didn't know what was going on with herself. She just knew that her clothes weren't fitting right anymore, she was always tired, and this morning during her history presentation Jessie had to take over because she suddenly couldn't see the screen. She was fine one moment, and the next the letters became a blurry mess. After class the blurriness went away. Allison just hoped it stayed that way. Maybe she just needed glasses… glasses wouldn't be so bad. Both of her parents had glasses and as soon as she got them she would be as good as new.

"Hey dad, can I ask you something really quick?" Allison asked.

Her dad looked up from his computer.

"Sure Noodle, what do you need?" he asked.

"Well, I think that I might need glasses," she started. "And, I was hoping if you had time today, if you could take me to the eye doctors." She finished.

She hoped he would have time today. She didn't want to bother him. He always had so much work to do. There was a reason she had gone to her dad and not her mom who was sitting in the other room reading a book. She didn't want to be a bother to either of them, but since her mom rarely had days off, she decided it would be better to ask her dad.

"Honey, what makes you think that you need glasses?" he asked concerned. He took off his own glasses and set the down on the table.
"I've been having a little trouble seeing the screen at school."

Her dad looked at her for a second before responding. "Of course I can take you Noodle," he began. "Give me ten minutes to save the documents I'm working on and I'll grab my keys."

"Thanks Dad. I'll go grab my coat." Allison said and headed upstairs.

Elizabeth's POV-

"Finish your chapter already?" Elizabeth said putting down her cup of tea. Henry had been complaining just last night how long it was going to take him to finish his next chapter.

"No, I'm taking a break," he said hanging over the back of the couch. "Allison wants me to take her to get her eye's checked." He said.
Elizabeth's face must have shown intrigue because Henry continued without question.

"She said that she has been having trouble seeing the board at school."

"Maybe this is what has been bothering her for a while," Elizabeth said excitedly.

"Hopefully. I will let you know all about it when we get back," Henry said as he kissed her cheek.

Allison POV-

"Sorry about having you take me all way there for nothing." Allison said to her dad as she stepped through the front door. "I really thought that I was having trouble seeing but it was probably just an eyelash or something in my eye." Allison continued walking towards the stairs.

"Not a problem Noodle." Henry said going towards the kitchen; "I'll call you down when dinner's ready," he continued.

Allison headed upstairs, 'now she had no idea what was wrong with her', she thought. Although she had told her dad that she must've been mistaken about her eyesight; she knew she was having trouble with it. The eye doctor had said her eyes were perfect and now she didn't know what to do next.

Elizabeth POV-

"Warning, I'm making dinner tonight, so be prepared to order a pizza if it goes as usual," she said jokingly.

"Duly noted," her husband said in response. She felt his familiar arms wrap around her from behind.

"How'd everything go at the eye doctors? Are Allison's eyes as bad as yours?" she said turning around to face him.

"Actually, Allison's eyes were perfectly fine. The doctor said her eyes were 20/20," he responded.
He reached over and grabbed the ladle to taste test the food.

"What exactly are you trying to make?" he said jokingly. "It smells like meatloaf, but tastes like spaghetti."

"Woah, what do you mean the eye doctor said her eyes are perfect? Didn't you say she was having trouble seeing in school? That's not something Allison would make up for attention or miscalculate," she said concernedly.

"I don't know what to say hun, that's what the doctor said."

She hopped onto the counter, one of her favorite places to sit.

"I still think something is up with her. She doesn't seem right and this just makes things weirder," she said placing her hands on Henry's shoulders. He didn't seem as concerned.

"Maybe you should just go up and talk to her instead of doing that spy-crafting thing the kids are always accusing you of."

Elizabeth smiled. "That would be the simplest solution; wouldn't it?" she said and he nodded in agreement.

"Dinner smells to be about done, I think..." Henry said. "I'll call the kids."

Next day
Allison POV-

She felt absolutely terrible. Her stomach hurt but she pulled herself out of bed anyway. Over dinner last night, they all were talking about how her mom used to burn cookies anytime they had bake sales at school. They decided to make some today but everyone else had already made plans, so Allison and her mom had agreed to try and bake some.

Her dad and Jason were going out to the park to practice stupid football drills and Stevie was meeting her study group at the library.

She honestly just wanted to lay in bed all day but she couldn't remember a time when she spent quality time with her mom, just the two of them.

"Hey mom, ready to get our Betty Crocker on?" she said to her mom. Her mom was rifling through the pantry.

"Well I would say yes, but it appears that we are all out of sugar," she said with a guilty look on her face.

"What?!" Allison exclaimed. "How could we be out of sugar?"

"I think your dad finished off the last of it in his coffee this morning."

Allison gave her mom her biggest death stare, "Hey don't look at me, I only take cream in my coffee." Her mom said putting her hands up in the air.
"I'll just go down to the store and grab some, and I'll get some cinnamon too and we can make snickerdoodles. You're favorite." Her mom said heading to the front door and grabbing her purse.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Allison asked.

"No, I'll be back in about 5 minutes. Can you just look up the recipe so we try not to butcher the cookies this time."

As soon as her mom left, Allison headed upstairs to look up the recipe. Hopefully with her help, she could prevent her mother from ruining the cookies.

After the recipe was printed, she laid down on her bed. She really felt terrible. She already had a stomach ache, and now her head was starting to pound.

She was going to have to tell her mom. Right now, she felt so terrible that the thought of causing her mom more stress didn't matter. She had never felt like this before and it had lasted too long to ignore it anymore. When her mom returned, she would tell her everything.

She heard an engine outside, she got up slowly to look out the window. A wave of dizziness caused her to have to reach for the wall to stabilize herself. As the room stopped it's spinning, she glanced out the window and saw her mom climbing out of her SUV. She slowly turned around and started walking towards the door. Her dizziness came flooding back and she reached for the door. With her hand grabbing only air, she felt herself falling forward but didn't notice hitting the floor.

Elizabeth POV-

The trip to the grocery store had taken longer than she planned. She had just grabbed the cinnamon and sugar and was headed towards the checkout line when a large group of college students had come up to her asking for an autograph. Although Allison was waiting at home, she didn't want to be rude. The media would be in uproar and Daisy would have a field day. She could see the headlines now, "Secretary McCord rebuffs collegiate interested in foreign and domestic affairs.'

She spent about ten minutes signing autographs before she was finally able to purchase her items and head home.

She was hoping that today would allow Allison to confide in her about what was bothering her. She missed her Noodle. It had been so long since the two of them had actually had a discussion that didn't involve her on the news. She was afraid that sometimes Allison felt ignored. It was a common problem with the middle child. Stevie had always required a lot of attention. Since dropping out of school and dating her boss; Stevie had been at the center of her and Henry's parenting focus. Jason, being the only boy and the anarchist of the family had also required a lot of attention. He seemed to have settled down for now and thankfully had managed to keep himself out of trouble, sans the fight at school and the transferring to public school.

Finally arriving back home she headed to the kitchen. "Alright Noodle, we are all set to bake," she said as she grabbed the measuring cups and bowls from the cabinets.

"Aly, did you find the recipe?" she yelled at the bottom of the stairs.

Not receiving any reply, she headed up the stairs. Seeing Allison's door closed, she quickly knocked and pushed open the door.

"Allison!" she yelled. Her daughter was laying on the floor unconsciousness.

"Allison!" she yelled again. "Can you hear me?"

She rolled her over onto her back and checked for a pulse. 'Please find one. Please find one,' she pleaded to herself.

Feeling one, she ran downstairs. She could easily grab her cellphone and call 911, but she knew grabbing her security detail would allow her to get to the hospital faster.
"Frank!" she said ripping the front door open.

"Madam Secretary?" he asked concerned. Her face was pale white and she had a scared expression.

"Allison, she's unconscious. I need your help to get her to the car. She's needs to get to the hospital." She said forcefully. She practically yelled at him. She honestly didn't know if she made any sense at all. Before she could say it again. Frank ran inside the house.

"She's upstairs." She said following after him.

He took the stairs two at a time and by the time she had made it to the top of the stairs, he had already pick up Allison and had turned around and was heading towards the stairs again.

"We'll get her to the hospital in no time Ma'am." He said trying to reassure her.

She couldn't even comprehend him enough to generate a response. All she knew was that her little girl was unconscious and she didn't know why. Maybe she could have prevented this if only she would've talked to Allison sooner.

Suddenly, she was being helped into the back of an SUV and was now holding Allison's head in her lap. 'How could I have let this happen?' she thought.

She should have been a better mom. She should have asked more questions. Should have paid more attention.

Henry, she thought. She needed to call him. Realizing she forgot her phone and purse on the kitchen counter, she turned to Frank.

"Frank, do you have your phone? I need to call Henry," she said with a quivering voice. She touched her face and felt wetness on her fingers. 'How long had she been crying?' she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted.
"Ma'am we've already dispatched a team who are going to retrieve Dr. McCord and have him meet us at the hospital," he said calmly.

She turned her eyes towards her daughters face again and placed her fingers on her neck. Finding a steady pulse was the only thing that was preventing her from completely breaking down with worry.

It felt like forever, but they finally reached the hospital entrance and Frank was carrying Allison out of the SUV. Scrambling after him, she saw her daughter being placed on a gurney which was being pushed by the medical staff that had suddenly surrounded her daughter.

"What happened?" she heard a doctor yell out.

"I found her unconscious about ten minutes ago."

"Does she have any medical issues or on any medication?" he asked.
"No."

"How old is she and is she allergic to any medications?"

"She 16 and she's allergic to Penicillin," she heard herself say. She couldn't stop staring at her daughter lying on the stretcher. She suddenly didn't look 16, but instead looked like the little girl who used to trip over everything while dragging her favorite teddy bear around. 'When had she grown up' she thought to herself.

"Ma'am!" she heard, pulling her out of thoughts.

"Is there any chance your daughter may be using drugs?" the doctor asked seriously.

"Absolutely not. Allison would never use drugs. Never." She said forcefully. 'How could this guy even think that,' she thought.

"Has she been complaining of any weird symptoms lately?"

"I know that she was complaining about her eyes. My husband took her to the doctor's office yesterday, but the doctor said her eyesight was perfect. She's also lost a little weight lately" She said.

"Alright, well we are going to take Allison into the back and run some tests. Either myself or someone else will come and talk to you as soon as we know anything." He said and turned away.

She somehow found herself sitting in the waiting area and was trying to answer the insurance forms the nurse had given to her after the doctor had left.

'How was she supposed to concentrate when her daughter was having tests performed?' she thought to herself.

She put down the papers and began to pace the room. Her security had arranged for her to wait in a private room. It wasn't anything special, it had greyish blue walls, uncomfortable chairs, and old magazines. She stopped at the large window that overlooked the city. How was life going on when she suddenly felt as if her world was ending? She knew she shouldn't overreact, but how could she not? She had absolutely no idea what was wrong with her daughter and that terrified her. Without the steady heartbeat that she felt in Allison's neck; it would look like her daughter was dead. At this thought, she broke down. Her head fell to her chest and her body shook with sobs.

Her head flew up with the sound of the door opening. Instead of the doctor, it was the face of her husband that greeted her.

She wasted no time getting to him and was wrapping her arms around him before he could say anything.

"What happened?" he said as he pulled away from his wife. She felt his hand on the small of her back guiding her to a chair.

"I don't know what happened." She said quickly. "We were going to bake cookies like we talked about last night, but I realized we were out of sugar. I went to market to get some. I was gone for only twenty, thirty minutes; tops." She said looking into his eyes with desperation.

She continued. "When I got back home I called out for her and she never responded. And when I went upstairs to check of her I found her." She began to choke up but kept going.

"I tried waking her up but she didn't respond at all. I swear I thought she was dead at first" she said through tears. "I checked that she had a pulse and when I found one I ran downstairs and had Frank help me carry her to the car," she finally finished placing her head on Henry's shoulder.

"How long have you guys been here?" she heard Henry ask.

"I don't know, it feels like hours but I think it's only been twenty minutes."

"What do you think it is?" she asked looking up at him.

"I don't know honey. I think we are just going to have to wait for the doctors to get back to us." Henry said as he wrapped her back up in his arms.

Allison POV-

Allison opened her eyes. Her head hurt and her throat was dry. Looking across the room, she noticed it was dark out. Moonlight streamed in through the blinds. She was in a hospital bed. 'What happened to me?' she thought as she continued to glance around the room.

A small alarm clock on the side table told her it was 2:43 a.m. The next thing her eyes saw broke her heart. Her dad sat on the couch, eyes closed. And her mom, leaning against him with her eyes closed as well. 'How could they be sleeping but still manage to look worried?' she thought.

She didn't know whether to wake them or to leave them be. She didn't know what was wrong with her, but it had to be bad if she was in the hospital.

'Why didn't I tell them something was wrong sooner?' she thought to herself. She might've been able to prevent this.

Her headache got worse and she moaned without thinking. She saw her mom's eyes flutter open and look up at her. Her mom jolted upright, waking her dad in the process and the two of them were by her bedside in moments.

"Honey, can you hear me?" she heard her mom say.
Her mom looked so sad. Her mom had bags under her eyes and tears in her eyes, her clothes were all wrinkled, and her hair was a mess. She felt her mom's hand grab onto hers and squeeze.

She wanted to respond but wasn't able to make her voice work and only managed another moan and squeezed her mom's hand in return.

"I'll go get the doctor," she heard her dad say.

"Noodle, you're in the hospital, you've been here for about two days," her mom continued looking from their entwined hands to her face.

'Two days!' she thought. 'How could she have been unconscious for two days!' she mentally screamed at herself. Her heart began to beat quickly and she began grasping for breath.

She felt her mom stroke her hair, "Aly, calm down. You're going to be okay. Everything is okay." She heard her mom say. After about five minutes of her mom's soothing voice and the stroking of her hair, she finally relaxed just as her dad entered the room again with a woman. The woman turned on the lights and approached her.

"Allison," she heard the woman address her.

She turned her eyes away from her mom.

"I'm Dr. Miller. Can you tell me your last name?" she asked while shining a light in her eyes.

"Mmmm," she mumbled. She couldn't form the word, 'What was wrong with her?'

She moved her eyes to her mom and dad and could see the worried looks on their faces.

"Okay, Allison. Good try. Why don't you try and get some rest while I talk with your folks." Dr. Miller said.

She felt her mom's hand begin to slip away from hers. Before her hand was completely gone, she reached for it pulling it back down while groaning. Before they left, she needed something for her head, it felt like it was going to explode.

"Honey, what's wrong?" her mom asked.

She didn't respond vocally but just took her free hand and moved it towards her forehead.

"Does your head hurt?" asked Dr. Miller.

Allison nodded.

"I'm going to send in a nurse with some pain medication to get rid of that headache of yours okay," said Dr. Miller.

Soon her parents and Dr. Miller were gone and a nurse was injecting something in her IV. She fell asleep before her parents came back in the room.