I had this idea for a fanfiction in my head for a long time now and I though I'd just give it a try. Please be aware that I am no doctor and most of the knowledge I have about what is ahead in this fanfiction comes from "Dr. Google".
This was actually supposed to be a One-Shot but I just couldn't stop writing. I think I will add one or two more chapters.
English is also not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes.
Now I hope you will enjoy this chapter and take the time to leave me a much appreciated review!
Elizabeth turned her alarm off with a groan. The night just hadn't been long enough. She had gotten home around 4am and every bone in her body was telling her right now that three hours of sleep just weren't enough.
"Just today and then there's a free, relaxing weekend ahead", Elizabeth told herself when she dragged herself under the shower. When she got in the kitchen with her hair still wet, the kids and Henry were already having a heated discussion about whether chocolate chip or chocolate chip and banana pancakes were the real deal.
"Good morning", Elizabeth forced herself to smile when she came down the stairs.
"Morning mom", Stevie, Jason and Allison greeted their mother.
"Coffee?" Henry asked and was already taking a mug out of a cabin when Elizabeth responded the unimaginable.
"No, thank you, I think I'll stick with tea today."
Suddenly all eyes were on her.
Henry furrowed his brows. He knew that Elizabeth had gotten in late and had thought that what would keep her going today would have to be tons of caffeine, it usually was.
"You OK?" Allison was the first to ask in disbelieve.
"Yeah, just a little queasy", Elizabeth fake-smiled.
Henry tilted his head and watched as his wife filled the water boiler with water for her tea.
"I'm fine you guys, the world won't stop because I'm skipping my morning coffee once", Elizabeth chuckled and finally her kids continued their discussion.
"Do you have a long day ahead of you?" Henry asked a little later while Elizabeth was putting her makeup on in their bedroom.
"I don't want to jinx it but no, not really. I have a sign treaty scheduled for later but I'm actually hoping for an early start into a completely free weekend."
"Fingers crossed", Henry smiled.
"Yeah, fingers crossed", Elizabeth sighted.
"Sleep might help with that upset stomach of yours", Henry murmured while lowering himself onto his knees so that he could pull her into a comforting hug. Elizabeth let herself sink into Henry's arms.
"Yeah, probably. It's been a long week."
"Or is anything else bothering you?"
"Stop worrying, Babe", Elizabeth chuckled while still in her husbands embrace, "it's nothing, like you said, I just need to catch up on some sleep."
"'kay", Henry nodded and placed a gently kiss on Elizabeth's lips.
Over the course of the day Elizabeth started to feel better but she was still glad when she got home just before 6pm and enjoyed having a relaxing dinner with her family and an even more relaxing downtime in front of the TV with her husband and a glass of wine. Her head was resting on a pillow on Henrys lap, her legs stretched out on the couch and it didn't take long before her eyes started to become heavy and for her to fall asleep. Henry smiled down on his wife and had to admit that he felt relieved that she finally got some peace and quiet. It wasn't often that Elizabeth felt off and when she did Henry couldn't stop but worry about her. Gently he took her glasses off and continued to caress his sleeping wife till the end of the movie they had chosen.
When it was over and Henry turned the TV off, Elizabeth woke up.
"Is it over already?" she asked drowsy.
"Yeah", Henry chuckled, "you slept through most of it. Are you feeling better?"
"Yes, so much better", Elizabeth sighed.
"I'm glad. I was a bit worried about you today."
"I know. And though I could tell you that there was no need to worry but I know that you will see it differently so I just won't", Elizabeth smiled and sat up. Henry put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her gently while she rested her head on his chest.
"True", he said, "come on, lets go upstairs."
The McCords spent the weekend as a normal family and Elizabeth enjoyed every minute of it. Though she wasn't feeling 100% like herself, she kept quiet about it so that nobody would worry since she was sure that she just needed a couple of hours of sleep in her system and everything would go back to normal.
It was in the middle of the next week when she was woken up by a strong wave of nausea that sent her running to the bathroom. It didn't take long until she felt the hands of her husband holding back her hair with one hand and stroking soothing circles on her back with the other.
"OK?" Henry asked after a few moments and Elizabeth nodded. Henry got up and held out a hand which Elizabeth took gratefully and got up on her feet a little wobbly. She rinsed out her mouth and then rested her hands on the vanity.
"Babe", Henry sighted while stroking over her back.
"I just need a minute."
"You wanna go back to bed for a little?"
Elizabeth shook her head: "No, I have a meeting in an hour and a half, I need to get ready."
"Are you sure you're up for it?"
"Yeah, I feel better."
"Don't you think it might be a good time for a doctor appointment? You haven't felt well for days now."
Elizabeth tilted her head and Henry smiled faintly: "I know when you put on a show when you think you need to protect us from something."
"Can't keep anything from you, can I?" Elizabeth chuckled.
"And you shouldn't feel like you have to", Henry replied.
"I know, I'm sorry. I thought this would pass faster."
"So, you are going to see a doctor?"
"Not today but I promise, if it gets worse I'll squeeze it in", Elizabeth answered diplomatically and Henry was fully aware that she was saying that to shut him of and didn't actually plan on seeing a doctor. As long as he knew her, Elizabeth had hated everything about doctor appointments and therefore had a habit of avoiding them as much as possible. Henry knew that pushing her too much wasn't going to do any good so he let it go.
A little later Elizabeth was starting to feel better and answered Henrys text message truthfully when she replied that she was doing ok.
It was already pretty late when Elizabeth got home that day, the kids were already sleeping but Henry had waited for her to come home.
"You hungry?" he asked after greeting her.
"Yeees", Elizabeth exclaimed, "I have been craving a P&B sandwich all day long!"
The moment she said it, Henry and Elizabeth stared at each other.
"Henry, that's not possible!" Elizabeth said after a few moments passed.
"It's not?"
"I… That's…. no", Elizabeth stammered.
"Nausea, fatigue, cravings for P&B?" Henry summarized what they both were thinking.
"That just isn't possible", Elizabeth said more to herself than to Henry.
"But it's not entirely impossible either, is it?"
"Henry, I have an IUD and I'm 46. I can't be pregnant," Elizabeth hissed. Her heart was beating up to her ears at that point.
"Oh my god… oh my god", Elizabeth whispered over and over. Her mind was racing as she tried to remember the last time she had had her period. Elizabeth held onto the kitchen counter with shaking hands. Henry got to her side and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Babe, it's going to be ok", he whispered.
"I don't see how", Elizabeth murmured, "where do we even get a pregnancy test from? I can hardly just walk into a store and get one and neither can you."
"Blake?"
"I can't ask him to do that", Elizabeth shook his head.
"Daisy?"
Elizabeth took a deep breath in. "Yeah, she's probably the best one to ask. I'll call her."
After an awkward conversation and an even more awkward encounter with Daisy, Elizabeth was pacing up and down the bathroom while her husband held the small piece of plastic in his hand that would foretell their future.
"How much longer?" Elizabeth asked for the tenth time.
"Thirty seconds", Henry answered.
"Gosh, Henry, I don't believe this. I'm pushing fifty, we have three almost grown children, I'm the secretary of state and just took a pregnancy test like I'm twenty-something."
Henry looked up from the test wordlessly.
"What?" Elizabeth asked with big eyes. She knew the answer though and Henry knew that she knew. Elizbeth sunk onto the bed, her head in her hands. Henry rushed to her side and took her in his arms.
"This can't be happening", Elizabeth whispered. Her breathing was starting to become labored as her heart started to race.
"We will figure this out, Babe. You are not alone in this, ok? I'm here, I got you", Henry tried to sooth her but her breathing continued to become more and more labored. Henry let Elizabeth go and placed his left hand between her shoulder blades and gently pushed her forward.
"Breath, Elizabeth, deep breaths. Come on, you've got this. Deep breath in", Henry took a breath in, "and deep breath out."
Elizabeth tried to focus on what Henry was saying but her mind kept racing. How was she supposed to do this? How would the kids react, what was she supposed to tell POTUS and her staff? She would have to quit and the media will be tearing her family apart over this. And at her age, there was so much that could go wrong. Not to mention the IUD, it would have to be removed which could likely cause a miscarriage…
Henry kept pushing Elizabeth down until her head was nearly parallel to her knees.
"You gotta breath for me, Baby, deep breaths", he kept talking to her and finally Elizabeth was able to gain control over her breathing. It took a while until she was back to normal but the panic attack and what had led to it left her completely exhausted.
"What are we going to do, Henry? God, what are we going to do…"
"You are exhausted so right now, we're going to bed and get a goodnight sleep. You have a free morning tomorrow, don't you?" Elizabeth nodded.
"I'll take my morning off to and then we'll have some time to figure out our next moves. We'll be fine, I promise", Henry persisted.
"Yeah", Elizabeth took a shaky breath in.
The next morning started the same way the last one did. Elizabeth jumped out of bed, hurried to the bathroom and remained there until the nausea subsided. That day she was in the bathroom alone though, Henry had obviously already gotten up. Elizabeth flushed and slowly got up to her feet when a wave of dizziness caused her to lose her balance. Carefully, Elizbeth sat down on the floor again, hoping that it would past as fast as it had come. At that moment Henry came into the bathroom.
"Babe, are you all right?" he asked and kneed down beside his wife. Elizbeth had been looking pale the last couple of days but now she was as white as a ghost.
"Yeah, just dizzy", Elizabeth sighted. They had been through this with all of her pregnancies before. The first three months had been crucial each time, nausea, dizziness and weird cravings accompanying her every step of the way. Henry remembered as well so he calmly got a wet cloth and gently placed it on Elizabeth's back of the neck. He looked at her questioning and she nodded. It had helped all the pregnancies before and it was helping now.
"OK, I'm good", Elizabeth said after a while and Henry helped her up.
"You in the mood for breakfast?" Henry asked.
"Yeah. I'll be down in a minute", Elizabeth nodded.
Half an hour later, the couple was seated on the couch, toast, tea and coffee on a tray between them.
"How are you feeling?" Henry asked after a few moments of silence.
"Hm", Elizabeth hummed and it took her a little to find the right words, "I'm overwhelmed. How about you?"
"Overwhelmed hits the nail on the head…"
"Yeah", Elizabeth sighed.
"What do you want to do now?" Henry asked. He wanted Elizabeth to set the pace. He knew that even though he was just as much affected by this unplanned pregnancy as she was, it was her body and she needed to process what was happened in her own rate.
"I'll need to make an appointment, I think I'll schedule one for next week. That gives us a little time to process before… well, you know with the IUD…"
"It's likely that you'll miscarriage when they remove it, right?"
"Yeah", Elizabeth nodded. After Jason was born, Henry and Elizabeth had put a lot of thought into the kind of birth control they wanted to use and had decided that the IUD was the best option. And it was supposed to be more than 99% effective, which had seemed quite promising at the time.
"We'll just take each day as it comes and deal with whatever lies ahead of us together, all right? I'm here", Henry reassured.
"Yeah, I know", Elizabeth said.
"We'll keep quiet until we know more?" Henry asked.
"I think that would be for the best. There's no point in telling anyone anything as long as we don't know anything for sure."
Henry nodded and took a sip of his coffee.
"The kids are already worried about you though. They've noticed that you're not totally fit…", Henry thought out loud.
"I know", Elizabeth agreed, "but it's only for a couple of days. I'll try to schedule an appointment for Monday, that's only four more days."
"Okay. I'll go with you."
"Yeah", Elizabeth smiled weakly.
But everything came different than Elizabeth and Henry had planned.
It was Saturday night and Elizabeth and Henry were attending an event that Elizabeth would call one of "the things". Without the usual small amount of alcohol in her system, Elizabeth had even more trouble to keep a smile on her face. Not only that she found the people around her straining but she also had a stomach ache that simply wouldn't disappear.
Henry noticed her strained expression and found an excuse for both of them to disappear in the hallway alone.
"Babe, are you OK?" he asked her while he placed a hand on her upper back. Elizabeth leaned against the wall of the hallway with her shoulder and nodded.
"Yeah, I just have a stomach ache."
"Is it bad? Should we go the hospital?" Henry asked concerned.
"No, no", Elizabeth shook her head tiredly, "I just want to go home. It feels the same it did with Jason. It's just uncomfortable."
"Ok. Let's get out of here then."
"Yeah", Elizabeth gladly held Henrys hands and was relieved when they were sitting it the car. On the way home, Henry was watching his wife closely and wasn't convinced that she was "just uncomfortable". He had seen her in real pain a couple of times before and knew her pokerface well.
At home Elizabeth went straight to their bedroom while Henry was preparing a tea for her. It was only ten minutes later when Henry walked into the bathroom and found his wife hunched over, holding onto the bathtub with one hand and pressing the other onto her abdomen.
"Babe," Henry exclaimed and immediately rushed to her side, "what's going on?"
"Urgh, I don't know. The pain got pretty intense all of the sudden."
"Come on, lie down", Henry said and helped Elizabeth until she lay on the bed. Henry sat down on the mattress right next to her and Elizabeth took a couple of deep breaths. One hand was resting on her abdomen and Henry laid his hand over hers.
"What can I do for you?" Henry asked after a while.
"Could you maybe get me a hot water bottle?"
"Of course", Henry nodded and a few minutes later he was back with the hot water bottle in his hands. Before Elizabeth placed it on her stomach, Henry helped her out of her dress and into her PJs.
"Do you need anything else?"
"No, the warmth feels good" Elizabeth smiled. Eventually she managed to fall asleep but only to be woken up a few hours later by an intense pain in her abdomen and a terrible sickness. She got up as quick and quiet as possible and stumbled into the bathroom. She hadn't even reached the door of the bathroom when a wave of dizziness rushed over her and Elizbeth needed to hold onto the wall of their closet so that she wouldn't fall to the ground. Before she could make another step the pain in her abdomen intensified and Elizbeth hunched over in pain, pressing her right hand into her side while she held onto the wall with the left one and moaned quietly. It was loud enough to wake Henry though.
"Elizabeth", he burst out and was by her side in seconds, "honey, what's wrong?"
"I'm not sure", Elizabeth whispered, "but this doesn't feel right anymore, Henry. It really hurts."
"Ok, all right", Henry gathered his thoughts, "do you feel like you need to throw up or can you walk to the bed?"
"Bed", Elizabeth replied through clenched teeth. It felt like her stomach was being ripped apart.
Henry put an arm around Elizabeth's waist and supported her towards their bed. Just when they were about to reach it, everything went black and Elizbeth passed out in Henry's arms.
"Elizabeth, Baby", Henry exclaimed. He picked her up in his arms and laid her down on the bed. Then he reached for his phone with one hand while the other was constantly caressing her face.
"Matt, we need to get Elizabeth to the hospital right now", he told Elizabeth's security detail, "she passed out. No, no ambulance, it'll take too long. I'll carry her downstairs, just get the cars ready."
"OK, come on, Honey, let's get you some help", Henry murmured as he picked Elizbeth up and started carrying her downstairs.
"Henry", Elizabeth whispered and opened her eyes weakly.
"Hey sweetheart, it's ok, you're going to be all right. You passed out for a moment but we'll get you to the hospital now, ok? It's going to be ok", Henry reassured while he walked down the stairs. Two security men were already expecting them and held the doors open. Elizabeth nodded faintly.
"Dad, what's going on?"
"Oh my god, Mom!"
Henry looked up and saw his two youngest rushing down the stairs.
"What happened?" Jason asked.
"Mom passed out, we need to go to the hospital. Allison, call Stevie and tell her to come home, ok? You guys stay here and I'll call you from the hospital."
"No, we want to come", Jason demanded.
"We don't have time to discuss this, please just stay here. I will call you as soon as we know something", Henry promised and rushed out the door.
Just moments later they were speeding towards the hospital. Henry held Elizabeth in his arms. She was becoming paler every second and Henry could tell that she was in pain more and more just by looking into her eyes that were clouded from the pain. It was then when he also noticed that her pajama pants were stained red.
"We are almost there honey, hang in there. We are almost there."
Elizabeth winced when the car took a sharp turn and a tear escaped her eye.
"Don't be scared Baby, it's going to be ok", Henry tried to calm her but the truth was, that he was terrified himself and they both knew it.
"Henry, the baby", Elizabeth winced.
"I know, sweetheart, I know", Henry murmured.
Moments later they arrived at the hospital where Elizabeth was already being awaited. Only a few minutes later Henry was holding his wife's hand while she was being examined, luckily the doctor hadn't sent him out of the room.
Elizabeth was in and out of consciousness and when she was awake, the pain was so crucial that she barely got a word of what was being said around her. That's why the Dr. Wilder was mostly talking to Henry.
"Do you see that?" she pointed to the monitor of the ultrasound machine.
"Yeah", Henry nodded.
"That's the uterus."
"Ok?"
"We should be able to see the fetus but there is nothing to be seen", the doctor had been looking serious before but the look on her face now wasn't a good sign. Henrys heart started to beat faster.
"What is it?"
"I'm afraid you wife is suffering from an ectopic pregnancy. The fertilized egg attached itself in the right fallopian tube. I can't say much more, I can't see enough with the ultrasound but we need to get her into the ER right away. The tube has ruptured and started bleeding which needs to be stopped promptly."
