A/N: Thank you for all your reviews, I love receiving them. I haven't forgotten about The Fallout, I'm just a little stuck on that one right now. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter!
Chapter Three.
For a moment, Claire just stares at him, too shocked to say anything.
"How bad?" She asks after a beat of silence.
"I don't know. We should go, now." Frank tells her and grabs her hand, leading the way out of his office and into an awaiting vehicle. He notices Claire hasn't let go of his hand since they left the White House. "I'm sure she will be fine, sweetheart."
Claire doesn't say anything, but squeezes his hand to let him know she heard him.
"We are firing every single member of her security," she declares a few minutes later, looking at him for confirmation.
"I agree, this shouldn't have happened."
Frank feels bad for his wife. This is the last thing she needs to be dealing with right now. She should be focused on her pregnancy and not the potential danger their other child is in.
When they arrive at the hospital, they are immediately brought into a private waiting room with assurances a doctor will be in soon to update them on their daughter's condition.
Claire alternates between sitting down and pacing around the small room. Frank is talking on the phone when his wife begins another round of pacing. He reaches over and hooks an arm around her waist, bringing her towards him. Claire sighs against him, but reluctantly sits down next to him. Frank ends his phone call moments later.
"What is taking so long?" Claire asks. She is not an impatient person by any means, but it's concerning that they haven't heard anything yet.
"I don't know…" Frank is cut off by a knock on the door. He yells for the person to come in, relieved to see the doctor in charge of their daughter's care.
"Mr. and Mrs. Underwood, I'm Dr. Madison, your daughter's attending. Hannah was brought in with a lacerated spleen, a concussion with mild scrapes and cuts to her face as well as a fractured wrist from the airbag."
Frank and Claire glance at each other in confusion. Their daughter should not have been sitting in the front seat of the car, it is a direct violation of security protocol.
"Airbag? Are you sure?" Frank asks for the both of them.
"Yes, according to the EMT report, she was pulled out of the passenger side," the doctor reviews his notes just to be sure.
"Is she going to be okay?" Claire asks, her voice more strained than she intended. Frank sets his hand on her arm, bracing himself for what Dr. Madison has to say.
"Yes, she will make a full recovery. She will be in some pain for a while and we would like her to stay overnight, but she will be fine. I will have a nurse escort you to her room when you are ready."
Frank and Claire shake the doctor's hand and take a moment to themselves before heading up to see their child.
"Why was she sitting up front? The team knows she shouldn't be up there," Claire says, ire seeping into her tone.
"I don't know, but someone is going to pay." Frank has a feeling this accident was planned, with their daughter being the target.
Claire nods and is the first to leave the room, with Frank following close behind her. They end up at a private patient room at the end of a deserted hallway. Hannah is resting peacefully in her bed, a splint enclosed on her wrist and scrapes marring her otherwise cherubic face.
Frank clenches his fist at the sight of his daughter lying helplessly in a hospital bed. Claire uncoils his hand, clasping it in her own. Her husband has a tendency to be overprotective when it comes to her and Hannah. Their daughter is banged up, but otherwise, she is okay.
Claire gently sits on the edge of Hannah's bed and fiddles with her daughter's hospital gown. Hannah slowly opens her eyes, surprised to see her parents sitting in front of her with agonized looks on their faces.
"Mom? Dad? What's going on?" Hannah asks, her voice soft. "Mom, why are you crying?"
Claire wipes her eyes, not even noticing she was. Frank sits in an open chair, dragging it up to the bed.
"Honey, you were in an accident. Do you remember?" Claire asks. Hannah shakes her head and looks down at her wrist, frowning at the splint.
"I remember you throwing up and Dad telling me not to worry. I don't remember anything else." Hannah looks like she is about to cry, so Frank steps in.
"Hey, it's okay Han. I just have to ask; have you ever sat in the front seat of the car on the way to school before?"
"No, Daddy. You and Mom always tell me to sit in the back. Why? Was I sitting in the front?"
Frank and Claire nod, not liking this new development from Hannah's accident. Someone deliberately made their daughter sit up front the day she gets into an accident. Claire glances over at her husband, noticing by the way he is biting his lip with his teeth that he is agitated.
"Hannah, get some sleep. I just have to talk to your dad outside for a second," Claire stands up and kisses the crown of her daughter's head. Frank does the same and follows Claire out of the room and into an empty patient room.
"This is not acceptable, Claire!" Frank explodes the second his wife closes the door. Claire approaches him, holding her hands out so they are brushing his chest.
"I know, but Francis, she is terrified. We don't need to scare her any more than she already is. We don't even know what happened."
Frank steps away from her, shaking his head.
"Isn't it obvious? Our people betrayed us and put our daughter at risk!" Frank sees a nearby lamp and throws it to the ground, watching it shatter. Claire is unmoved by this, having seen her husband express his anger in similar ways over the years. She moves towards him, resting her hand on his shoulder blade.
"We need to keep ourselves together in front of her, Francis. We will figure out who did this, but Hannah is our first priority."
Their daughter was already hurt once, they will not let that happen again.
"Okay," Frank agrees and takes a few breaths to calm down. Claire is right, they should project strength so Hannah won't be scared. He calls Doug and tells him to look around to see what he finds out about the accident and to keep it to himself. Then, Frank makes a call to the head of Secret Service, requesting new agents without an explanation as a safety precaution.
Claire trails behind Frank back to their daughter's room. Hannah has already fallen back asleep. Frank has food brought up for them, but Claire merely picks at it. He catches her yawn and rub her eyes more than once.
"Claire, come here," Frank says in an effort to convince his wife to relinquish her spot on Hannah's bed.
"What?" Claire asks, not bothering to turn around to meet his eyes.
"Take a break," Frank pulls on her wrist, bringing her over to the chair he is sitting on.
"We both can't fit on that, Francis." Claire beings to protest, but finds herself cocooning her frame around her husband, yawning loudly into his neck.
A few hours later, Hannah stirs, opening her eyes slightly. Her parents are sleeping together in a reclining chair. Her mother has her hand fanned out on her stomach, with her father's resting protectively on top of hers. The teenager furrows her eyebrows, but thinks she is just imagining things and goes back to sleep.
"Hey Hannah, how are you feeling?" Frank asks later on when his daughter has fully woken up. Claire is sitting on her husband's lap, watching Hannah carefully.
"I feel fine. My wrist hurts though," Hannah says with a shrug. She learned a while ago from her parents to downplay her pain unless it's debilitating.
Frank and Claire nod sympathetically. Hannah is in more pain than she is admitting, but they appreciate their daughter's attempt at putting on a brave face.
"Can I go home yet?" Hannah asks. Frank side-eyes his wife. He knows Claire hates hospitals and it looks like their daughter picked up on that as well. Claire elbows Frank in the ribs before he can make a comment.
"No, you have to stay the night. I will stay with you though," Claire offers. She doesn't fully trust the people they are paying to protect their daughter and would feel better if she stayed with Hannah overnight.
Frank wants to protest, but he knows his wife will be insistent on it. Claire needs a good night sleep and neglecting to take care of herself won't be good for her or their child.
Claire realizes Frank won't argue with her about staying in front of Hannah. They would have to reveal the reason why she should be sleeping in a comfortable bed at home and they don't want to do that just yet. The pair haven't had a chance to set up a proper doctor's appointment to make sure everything is going as it should be.
"I'll be fine," Claire whispers in Frank's ear, just loud enough for him to hear.
"I'm sorry Han, I have to go into the office before I go home. I will see you tomorrow morning." Claire stands up to allow Frank to stand, stealing a kiss from him. Frank goes over to kiss their daughter's cheek and leaves the hospital.
Claire sits at the edge of Hannah's bed and eyes her daughter suspiciously.
"What's really wrong Hannah?" Claire knows her daughter well enough to know she holds back sometimes. It's a trait she acquired from her.
"My wrist hurts a lot," Hannah mumbles, a fat tear sliding down her cheek. Claire smooths her daughter's hair and promises she will be back with a nurse to administer pain killers. She understands Hannah didn't want to say anything in front of Frank because he would ask her what type of pain she is in, resulting in her daughter denying herself the medicine. Frank is tough on Hannah. He can't help it, it's how he was raised. He forgets sometimes their daughter is only thirteen.
"Here you go," Claire tells her daughter, holding her hand while the nurse injects some Morphine into her IV. Hannah smiles softly and lets her eyes close. Claire stays in bed with her until she can hear her breathing out. "Can I get a pillow and blanket brought in here?"
The nurse nods and leaves the room, in search of the aforementioned items. Claire answers some emails and calls her assistant to tell her that she won't be in tomorrow either. Eventually, Claire receives what she asked for and tries to make herself comfortable on the recliner. She sends a goodnight text to Frank and quickly falls asleep.
In the middle of the night, Claire is awoken by a high-pitched scream. She bolts upright when she sees Hannah thrashing around in bed.
"Hannah! Hannah! Wake up!" Claire shakes her daughter's shoulders in an effort to wake her up. Hannah screams again and opens her eyes, frightened by the sound of her own voice. "It's okay," Claire assures her daughter, bringing her to her chest while her daughter cries.
"M-m-mom, I r-r-remember," Hannah says, her sobs chopping up her sentence.
"Remember what honey?" Claire asks, pressing her nose to her daughter's hair.
"The accident," Hannah pauses for a second to control her breathing. "Some SUV drove right into us...on purpose."
A/N 2: Next chapter, Hannah reveals more details about her accident and confirms a conspiracy against the Underwoods'. Please leave a review and thank you for reading!
