Hello friends, here's the next installment! Thanks for all the support.

Hope was a 5-year-old Border Collie who up until the moment she had met Elizabeth McCord had lived a hard life. Her original name had been Polly and her owner had been a large mean man. She had been thrown into walls, kicked, screamed at and on a few occasions burned with a lighter. She had learned to be distrustful of people and up until she met Elizabeth she hated humans. But Elizabeth was different. Elizabeth was like her. Even the man Henry was OK. They had stayed on her level until she was conferrable with them they played ball with her. And then they took her home in the car. She was scared and they could tell, but Elizabeth stroked her head and whispered to her. They stopped at a pet store where Henry went in and bought supplies, toys, dog food, a dog bed, bowls, anything Hope could possibly need. And when they got home Hope could feel that this would be different.

~Madam Secretary~

The literal wall had come down and Henry hoped the metaphorical one would not be far behind. Getting Hope had required Elizabeth to remove the pillow wall between them when they slept to make room for Hope. Henry loved hope more than he thought he would. He had never had a problem with dogs, he liked them very much. But he wouldn't have expected a dog to help Elizabeth like this.

They had dogs in the past but having lived on a farm Elizabeth had never believed they needed to be inside when their job was to be in the barn with the animals. But Hope had been welcomed in to the house and had been amazing for Elizabeth. She had brought joy into the house and had woken Elizabeth up from her nightmares with kisses.

Within a week it seemed as if Hope had always been apart of their life. Elizabeth was sleeping better and Henry felt as if the two of them where making progress. They had started therapy together in addition to their separate sessions and Elizabeth was now ok using the R word with Dr. Andrews. She knew the next step was telling Henry but she still felt apprehensive about that.

Dr. Andrews had encouraged them to "Date" and so Elizabeth and Henry had just returned from their second "Date" of burgers and bowling. Hope greeted them at the door and Elizabeth smiled, "Did you miss us?"

The dog raced around them, thrilled to have her owners home and Henry laughed, "I think that's a yes."

Elizabeth spun around feeling so much joy in this moment. "Can we play scrabble?"

Henry's heart lept at her face which was filled with so much happiness in the moment. "Only if you are ok with losing."

Elizabeth laughed and the sound was music to his ears. "Oh in your dreams. You will lose."

Twenty minutes later they were settled in the living room with Hope on Elizabeth's lap and multiple triple word scores in her favor. "Stevie and her family are coming down next weekend." Elizabeth reminded him as she went for another double word score.

Henry nodded. "We need to start planning our Holidays too."

Elizabeth nodded, "We've got the space here, lets host Thanksgiving with your family and Will. Stevie said she is going to Collin's parents in Upstate New York and Jase said he has to stay home, something to do with his cows. I'm not sure what Allie's plans are. But the kids said they usually go to Jason's for Christmas. Do you want to do a road trip?"

Henry smiled, "And see Jason with his cows? Absolutely. But wouldn't you rather fly?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "The idea of being cooped up in the airplane with no control at all makes me nervous."

Henry nodded, "I get that, we can drive. We can take a week, stop and sight see. It will be fun!" He looked at her, curled up on the couch with her dog in her lap, her blond hair cascaded down her shoulders and her blue eyes glittering. "You've got another triple word score don't you." He watched as she laughed and boldly placed the word that put her solidly in the lead with no hope for him to ever catch up.

When the game ended Henry and Elizabeth started to clean up. Putting away the game and stowing the leftovers away for lunch tomorrow. Henry reached over Elizabeth to put the coffee maker on auto just as she turned around to face him. They were close and without thinking she reached up to touch his cheek. She wanted to say something but he kissed her. And for a moment she kissed him back, but then she felt panic, being trapped against the counter. She was frozen in place, Henry stopped looking at her. "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth gasped for air, and let out a loud sob. Hope came trotting over nuzzling her owner. Elizabeth sank to the floor and Hope started to lick her. Elizabeth worked to control her breaths. When she opened her eyes she saw Henry sitting across from her on the floor far enough away to ensure she wasn't threatened.

Henry looked at her, "Can you tell me?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm scared." She whispered.

Henry nodded, "Me to. But I'll be here no matter what. Please. Please talk to me."

She shuttered, "I was raped"

Henry wasn't prepared for that and he felt like he had been kicked in the gut. "What?" he managed to whisper.

Elizabeth wiped away tears, "I was raped." She said it loud this time and Hope jumped, disliking the loud tone. "It was a prison guard, it happened for years. I never fought it. I just let it happen. And every time it did I died inside."

Henry stared at her trying to process. And then the words hit him and all of his thoughts that things were getting better vanished.

Let me know what you think!