Here for you
Chap 6
"Okay, now let's address this. How the hell did she get past security?" Russell shouted, looking around at the men, waiting for an answer. "She was in the CIA Russell! You don't think she could give her detail the slip?" Henry yelled, frustrated. Where the hell was his wife?
Lightening flashed followed by a loud clap of thunder. The noise seemed to shake the entire house. Henry stood frozen, hands flat against the kitchen island staring down at the floor. 'Henry I'm fine. Well not fine.' He's running the words of the note she had left through his mind, trying to read in between the lines when Russell's voice pulls him from his thoughts.
The chief of staff has his phone in his hand. He's frantically typing something while looking up from time to time to stare down the other occupants of the kitchen. "I just can't wrap my head around this. You are all highly trained professionals who've underwent extensive training and you just let The Secretary of State waltz on by!" He shouted. He was fuming; Eyes staring daggers at a handful of members from Elizabeth's detail.
"Russell yelling isn't going to fix this. She left. How she did so isn't vital at the moment. We need to focus on the problem at hand." Henry said firmly. Whatever Russell was about to say died on his lips. He was speechless.
The room fell into a silence. Henry rubbed his temples hoping to alleviate some of the tension in his head. His mind is going a mile a minute, replaying the past week looking for a sign. A sign that she was in so much distress that she would be driven to leave. But god damn it everything she did in the last week was one big indication that something was wrong. He should have known better. He should have intervened. He could have helped her… but could he? And then in dawned on him… He'd seen this before.
Henry's gaze fell on the doorway when The Director of the FBI, Keith Doherty began to talk. "There's a tracker on the jeep. We'll have The Secretary's location in about ten minutes. Once we do I'll send DS after her." He announced. "No." Henry spoke up. Russell and Doherty exchanged confused expressions. "I won't let you do that." Henry clarified. "And why the hell not?" Keith grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Henry thought on his words before saying, "We need to let her go."
"We can't do that." Russell disagreed. "She is my wife! And I am telling you what is best for her!" Henry asserted. "This is what's best for her! Right now she is out there unprotected with no security. She is vulnerable." The chief of staff pointed out. "I can assure you she can very much handle herself."
Russell simply shook his head in disbelief. "Conrad will say the same thing." He tried to convince. "You wanna bet?" Henry mumbled.
"Gentleman." Conrad Dalton addressed the room. "Mr. President." Russell greeted formally while the others in the room remained quiet including Henry. "Now if I heard correctly, my name was just mentioned." Conrad declared.
Russell and Henry locked gazes before both turned and began rambling incoherent words at The President. The man quickly held up his hands silencing the pair, but before he could speak a small sleepy voice filled the air.
"Dad?" The men turned to the origin of the voice. Stevie stood on the staircase, eyes shining with worry. "Sweetheart… I'm sorry we woke you." henry addressed, moving towards his daughter. "Is mom in trouble?" She nearly whispered. "No." Henry answered at the same time Russell muttered 'She will be.' "Honey, go back upstairs. I'll be up soon." Henry commanded calmly. She nodded her head. He watched his daughter disappear up the stairs before returning to stand by the kitchen counter.
"I was filled in on my way over here… What seems to be the problem now?" Conrad questioned. "Dr. McCord doesn't want agents to go after the Secretary." Russell mocked. "Reason being?" The President directed at Henry. "Thomas Duncan."
Conrad's face fell with the simple mention of the name. Thomas Duncan was a colleague and also a close friend of Elizabeth and himself back in the CIA. Agent Duncan worked closely with his wife for nearly ten years before his life tragically came to an end. The Company had been in hysterics ever since the towers fell. They were running around struggling to gather new intel on Bin Laden while all also trying to ignore the guilt hanging over their heads knowing they had failed to connect the dots.
Only a mere month after the September 11th attacks had Agent Duncan been deployed to Iraq. Thomas had been undercover for two months building relationships and filtering intel back to The Company. Elizabeth and Isabelle had been playing the part of Duncan's handler, being as everyone at CIA was spread pretty thin at the moment. The op had been going pretty smoothly; they were getting the information they desperately needed. They had a long way to go, but they were making progress especially with the help from an asset on the ground in Baghdad.
Their contact was very useful, someone Elizabeth came to trust. At the time she had no idea she couldn't have been more wrong. The man who she believed was on their side had arranged a meeting between Thomas and a top target of The Company. This is what they'd been working towards. They were so close to getting this guy; she and Isabelle were ecstatic.
Elizabeth had spoken to Thomas an hour before he was meant to be with a high ranked member of al-Qaeda. She had assured him that the meeting would go off without a hitch. She reminded him that she and Isabelle would be watching the interaction through his body camera. They had laughed together, relieved his time in Iraq was coming to a close. Elizabeth had promised him he'd be coming home soon… She was unable to keep that promise.
She watched as their contact led Thomas through a doorway into a run-down building, but something was off. The room was empty. Before she could even get her words of warning out of her mouth, their asset turned and shot Agent Duncan in the chest four times. She watched her friend die… He never got to come home.
Elizabeth acted as if she was unfazed by the tragic loss, but Henry could see through her front to the inner turmoil she was experiencing. He could easily guess that she blamed herself for Thomas's death.
The week after 9/11 he thought she couldn't be home any less, but she proved him incorrect. It was go go go for her every minute every day whether it be at home or at work. She was nonstop. She came home late, tired and drained, and then she cared for their six month old baby. She didn't sleep. He was worried about her, and apparently so were others.
One afternoon Henry received a call from Conrad asking if Elizabeth was indeed alright, saying he was concerned. Her boss, director of the CIA, the person who should be able to easily read people was turning to him for answers? Henry's anxiety grew.
He attempted to talk to her, hoping for her to open up, but she didn't budge. And then one night she came home after all the kids were asleep, and told Henry she needed time to herself, saying she'd be back in three days. She placed a kiss on his cheek before walking out the door. She drove to Martha's Vineyard and stayed in the vacation home she had inherited from her parents. He had no idea what epiphany she had while there, but she returned three days later ready to talk and ready for his support.
"I have no idea what the hell happened or what she's going through, but if you force her back before she's ready you'll end up with a non-functioning Secretary of State. She'll be a shell of herself." Henry admitted, staring directly at The President. Henry couldn't tell what was running through the man's mind. Conrad stood frozen until he muttered, "okay."
"Mr. President." The Director of the FBI opposed, unbelieving what he just agreed to. President held a hand up to Keith while also choosing to ignore the stare he was receiving from Russell. "We have her location. We'll monitor her, but leave her be." He declared. Henry sighed in relief. "Although I agree she deserves the time away, this situation is still a dangerous one. I'll give her a day… maybe two before I put agents on her." Conrad said firmly.
The rain was beginning to slow down as she turned the car down the long gravel road. Elizabeth flicked on her brights, illuminating the pathway. Once the house came into view she put the car in park and sighed. Now that she was here she had no idea what to do.
She made a mad dash to the door, working to avoid the rain. She fiddled with the keys in her hand until finally the door was able to open.
The house was dark, being as it now sat empty, unused. It felt different being here alone. Elizabeth took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of their old home.
She took a few steps further into the room, not bothering to turn on any lights. Relief flooded her body. For what… she didn't know. She took another shaky breath before letting the tears fall down her face.
She was alone. Free from the eyes of others. She was tired. Tired of upholding this picture perfect façade. She needed to grieve. She needed to feel the full emotions of her loss. She hadn't had that chance. Hadn't had the chance to fall apart.
Her tears suddenly turned to sobs. Sobs that wracked through her entire small frame. She unknowingly found herself on the ground from the force of her shudders. She fell… she was finally able to fall apart.
AN: Hey guys here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it because this one was fun to write, and I really like this one for some reason. I promise you'll see more of Elizabeth in the next chap! So I wanted to tell you how I originally came up with the idea for this story because I realized I never did. Read on if you're curious… so I'm generally an anxious person and one of the things that has always cleared my head is being in a car. (I couldn't tell you why). Whether I'm the driver or the passenger I always seem to come up with my best ideas while out on the road and listening to music. Anyways late one night I had to pick up my younger sister from a friend's house. It was raining and there were nearly no other cars out on the streets. And suddenly I just imagined Elizabeth soaring down the highway in the pouring rain. I was like okay but how can I make this believable because obviously Elizabeth can't drive because of her job position. I played with the idea of making the story pre-series but I opted not to. So I conjured up this situation, and that's how 'here for you' came about. I hope you all stick with me because I am really excited for the rest of this story!