No Love Without Sacrifice

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weakness. Elizabeth McCord didn't take things for granted. Especially not when it came to her family and her new job as Secretary of State. But sometimes she felt as if she was dropping the ball in what was meant to be the most important thing her life.

Love, love Madam Secretary and how amazing is the acting I mean, come on, also, can I please have a husband like Henry please?

I own nothing but what you might not recognize, this is just for fun regarding my new favorite show.

Thanks so muhch for all the reviews I'm so glad you're liking it!

Chapter 2:

The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.

Audrey Hepburn

Elizabeth woke up on Sunday, her youngest child practically on top of her, she rolled to her side carefully not to wake her up. "Hi" She found Henry's face across from her.

"Hey..." Henry reached out for her hand. They remained silent for a moment. She had not wanted to tell him what had happened the day before as she was called for the Office. And he for one wasn't going to push it. They knew how this worked, they had both put their lives on the line more than once in the past, saying goodbye to their children and not knowing if they made it homr the next morning. She was deep in thought as she felt her husband kssing her hand. It was just that, caring showing of tenderness that made her fall in love with him like she'd done back when they were kids. "Should we.."

"No." Elizabeth moved her eyes to watch her baby girl sleep, she had had not reacted as badly as her siblings about the move, really she had been the most understanding of them all. but it was probably because she didn't know what her new job implied. Not as well as the girls or Jason. "No, the house is quiet, I just want to stay like this a little longer." Henry sighed, as they both watched their child sleep.


This wasn't meant to be as hard, she was scared about telling Henry about the pregnancy, but having to tell her children proved to be extremly dificult too. "Please don't tell me you are dying..." Stevie huffed.

Alison thigthened her grip on Henry as she shushed her sister. "Mom?"

"Of course not, no one is dying.." Elizabeth sat across the rest of her family, Henry held on to Alison as Steve and Jason sat there expentantly. "Quite the oposite actually." She smiled at Henry as she then turned back to her kids. Stevie's eyes drfted to her mother's flat tummy. And her eyes grew wide. She had done this twice before already.

"Oh My God!" She piped in. "How? No wait, don't say anything!." She added nerviously as she tried to look away from her parents. I mean she was almost 16, she knew how this worked. How you were meanr to make a baby.

"What?"" Her 8 year old brother asked.

"It wasn't like it was planned honey it just..." Henry pointed out amused. "Mom and i are just as surprised as you are..."

"What?" Jason asked again. "I don't get it..."

"Could you be more clueless?" Stevie said with a laugh. "They are having a baby, mom is pregnant." Her sibling's eyes widened in utter surprised.

"Oh My God!" Ally mused. "How did it... I mean you.." Henry looked over at her wife as she struggled with having it to explain it to her 11 year old that mom and dad were still able to have a baby because they weren't that old, after all, they did have Stevie quite young, not that they would conclude that just yet. "And, are you happy about it?" Her sweet girl asked.

"We are, I mean, it will be quite the adjustment for everyone, but I think we can make it work, right?" He glanced over at Jason who remained silent.

"Yeah, sure, I'll help anyway I can" Alison said with a smile.

"Thank you Noodle, that means a lot." Elizabeth moved to hug her middle child as she kissed her forehead.

"This is crazy, I mean, I am practically an adult, that's like 18 more years raising someone.." Stevie argued as she hugged her dad. "But I'm all in..."

"Well that is a relief..." Henry joked hugging her.

"Jason?" Elizabeth asked her youngest child. "Honey? What's on your mind?"

The little boy looked up for a moment. "Can I be excused?"

"You have nothing you want to say buddy?" Henry asked softly.

"Yes, can I go to my room?" He said, Elizabeth looked at Henry who shrugged.

"Sure..." She said with a smile. As she watched her son disapear.

"Well, that went well..." Stevie pointed out as Alison turned to her mom.

"You think he's okay?"

"I'll go talk to him." Henry said as he made his way upstairs to Jason's room.

The door was half open and Jason sat on his bed, he was clearly upset as he spotted his dad and turned away. "So that was quite the news, huh?" Jason shrugged. "Come on buddy, you've got to give me something."

"What if it's another boy?" Henry smiled sweetly at him.

"Then you'll have someone to help you against Stevie and Alison.."

"But that's you. You and I are a team." He said as a matter of facty. "Another kid is just going to ruin everything..."

"Oh buddy, that's so not the case, do you think mom and I loved Stevie less once you and your sister came along?" Jason waved his head. "Then what makes you think it will be any different this time?"

"I don't know.."

"I promise you it won't..." Henry kissed Jason's forehead. He looked over at the door to see Elizabeth standing there. Tears streaming down her face. "We love you so much buddy."

Darn hormones.


Jason was the one awake when his parents made it downstairs. He was watching TV as he munched on cereal. "Good morning."

"Morning." He said back, barely making eye contact with them.

"Oh, I so need coffee." Elizabeth smiled as Henry made a point in hurrying to give her some. "Thank you babe, you are the greatest.."

"I am here to please." Henry smirked as he leaned to kiss her softly on the lips. "So, what are we doing today?"

"Not sure, I wish we could just stay home and do nothing..."

"I'm all in for that!" Jason called from the couch. Henry and Elizabeth glanced at each other.

"Or, I might have a better idea." He said behind Jason and snatched the remote from his hand.

"Hey!" He tried pulling on his dad and Henry landed on the couch next to him, both of them still wrestling.

Elizabeth spotted Hannah coming down the stairs as she reacted from all the sound downstairs. "Hi mommy..."

"Hi baby.."

"What are they doing?" She asked, her eyes wide from excitement.

"I'm...I'm not sure.." Elizabeth giggled as Hannah moved to join the action, jumping between her father and brother.

"Ahh!" Jason laughed as Hannah giggled, as he began to tickle her. "Stop, stop, I give up.." Jason raised his hands in defeat as Henry left the couch to join his wife back in the kitchen.

It was about an hour later that Ally and Stevie joined a game of basketball. And for one, Elizabeth endulged in the prospect that as Hannah had put it, she had kept people safe, because she had done her job.

"This is real life, don't let it pass you by, laugh and cry.
This is real life, sometimes we love, sometimes we fight."

Rayna Jaymes


What did you guys think? I just love McCord family fluff! Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts with me! I love hearing from you. I do apologize for any mistake :)