It was Saturday morning and Elizabeth lay in her bed curled up only in a large shirt of Henry's, one that was still strained over her belly. She was just past seven months pregnant and fairly uncomfortable. It felt like the baby had doubled in size overnight. She ran her hand over her belly and grimaced, "Baby girl, that is my kidney you're kicking." She squeezed her eyes shut. At this rate she was going to have to get up and use the bathroom for what felt like the hundredth time that hour. The baby just ignored her mother and kept kicking. "Maybe I'll try a name out on you and see if you respond to one of those...Caroline will you please stop kicking my kidney?" She paused and the baby just continued her dance. Elizabeth sighed, "Okay, Katharine will you please stop kicking my kidney?" Still nothing. "Well one of those is going to be your name so you better learn to answer to one." She joked. She wished Henry were home. His voice was so soothing and calm he could no doubt get their baby girl to at least shift her focus away from her mother's kidney. Thankfully after a moment more the baby decided to leave Elizabeth's kidney alone. Elizabeth sighed in relief, "Thank you baby girl. Now if you could just take a little nap, Mommy would very much appreciate it because she needs to relax."

The baby seemed to sympathize with her mother and calmed down a bit, allowing Elizabeth to close her eyes and start the meditation techniques Henry had taught her so she could clear her mind. She was stressed about work right now and she needed to calm down. All she wanted to do was clear her mind for just a little while.

A little while later Henry came back from his workout to find his gorgeous wife still lying in their bed. She was lying on her side, his t-shirt hitting at the top of her beautiful legs. He knew she currently felt the opposite of beautiful but to him she was always the most beautiful woman on earth. He walked around to her side of the bed and couldn't stop grinning at her. She had her body pillow tucked under her belly and between her legs. It was the only way she could get comfortable lately. He kneeled down beside her, ran a hand through her hair and kissed her temple. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at the sight of her handsome husband. "Hi babe. How was your workout?"

He nodded, "It was good. How are you doing?" He asked, caressing her cheek tenderly.

Elizabeth sighed in frustration, "Better now that you're back. Will you come lie with me?"

Henry ran a hand through her messy hair, "Of course, just let me shower really quick."

He moved to stand up but she grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him back down. "No, no you don't have to shower."

Henry raised his eyebrows, "Um, babe, I'm a little sweaty."

Elizabeth bit her lip, "Yeah, well maybe I think it's kind of hot, you're all chiseled and musky and it's really doing it for me."

Henry laughed but moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. He almost protested but he thought better of it, he could never refuse his beautiful wife. He got up and tossed his sweaty shirt into the bathroom before climbing into bed with his wife.

Elizabeth giggled, "Oh yeah, that's what I like."

Elizabeth snuggled into his embrace, resting her head on his bicep. He wrapped his other hand around her body, rubbing soothing circles over her belly. He then started kissing her neck, making his way around her hairline to behind her ear. Elizabeth felt content for the first time all morning. Henry could always make her feel better.

Later that afternoon Elizabeth, Henry and the girls sat down to watch a movie and Elizabeth was getting a bowl of ice cream in the kitchen when Jason came down the stairs. Elizabeth paused, "Hey baby."

He smiled at his mother and her heart soared.

"Hey Mom, what are you doing?"

"Dad, your sisters and I are about to watch a movie. Do you want to join us?"

Jason thought about her offer and then nodded, "Sure." He paused, "Hey Dad said you weren't feeling very well this morning…are you okay?"

Elizabeth wanted to run over to him and hug him but she didn't want to scare him off. It took everything in her to just smile at him like a normal person and answer. "Yeah sweetie, I'm fine. Baby girl was just fussy."

He pursed his lips as if he was trying to find the right words, "Is that normal?"

She couldn't help herself and wrapped an arm around her son's shoulders. He didn't move away. "Yeah, of course. You know who was the worst?"

Jason frowned, "It wasn't me. It had to be Stevie or Ali."

Elizabeth laughed, "What do you think? Of course it was Stevie!"

"Hey! I heard that!" Stevie called from the family room.

Elizabeth and Jason both couldn't contain their laughter as they walked into the family room to start the movie. It was a small step but Jason seemed to be coming around and that made her so incredibly happy.

That Monday at work Elizabeth wasn't having any better of a time than she had been having over the weekend. The baby finally seemed to settle down for the day and Elizabeth was grateful for the lack of pressure on her bladder. She was sitting in her office going over talking points for her next press conference with Daisy when she suddenly let out a yelp.

Daisy looked up at her boss, concern flooding her face. "Ma'am, are you okay?" She sat forward in her chair, ready to take off and inform Blake quickly if something was wrong.

Elizabeth smiled and laughed, "Yes, I'm fine. She just surprised me by kicking my bladder and now she's up and moving again.

Daisy's eyes lit up a little bit. She had been going a little baby crazy over the last year and though her breakup with Win had only put her plans on hold, it hadn't doused her desire to have a family. So she couldn't help but be a little jealous of her boss.

Elizabeth looked at Daisy, analyzing her expression. Daisy looked almost envious. "Come here," Elizabeth said as she waved her press secretary over.

Daisy looked confused but did as her boss asked. Elizabeth grabbed Daisy's hand and put it on the side of her belly where her daughter was kicking.

Daisy's eyes lit up and a huge smile formed on her face, "Oh my gosh, that's incredible." She paused, wanting to ask a question but not sure if she should.

Elizabeth seemed to read her mind, "It doesn't hurt exactly. It's a little frustrating when she constantly moves though. Sometimes it catches me off guard and when she hits an organ it becomes uncomfortable but most of the time it's not painful. Unless she decides to stomp on my bladder when it's full, that is never fun."

Daisy laughed and reluctantly removed her hand and made her way back to her chair.

"You have plenty of time, Daisy. Waiting is hard but when you meet the right person it will all be worth it. I swear."

Daisy smiled, "Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate that."

Blake walked into the office, ruining their little bonding moment. "Ma'am, Dr. McCord just arrived to take you to your appointment."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Henry insisted on picking her up so he could make sure he got her out of the office. Blake already had to help Elizabeth with more than he should and Henry didn't want him to have to deal with trying to get Elizabeth out of the office when she had other things she could be doing.

The appointment was just a checkup but ever since their scare it was important for them to have that reassurance that everything was progressing normally. Today was the day they were also going to go through her plan. One of the things Elizabeth liked most about Dr. Christine Bell was her honesty. She was straightforward with the McCords and that gave Elizabeth a major sense of relief. She had gone through every situation thoroughly. They had a whole plan in place. Different scenarios for everything they could think of so nothing would come as a surprise.

Elizabeth and Henry were on top of all their baby preparations so when Dr. Bell floated to them the idea of updating guardian documents for their children they suddenly realized that was one big step they had forgotten.

They were both silent on their way home from the appointment. They both knew this was something they had to talk about but that didn't make the idea of actually talking about it any easier.

Henry was the first one to bridge the silence as they were changing into their loungewear before heading down for dinner. "Babe, I know it's difficult but we have to talk about a guardian."

Elizabeth felt nauseous. Talking about what would happen if she and Henry died and left their three older children was painful enough but the thought of leaving three older children and a little baby was physically painful. Just the thought of not being able to get to know their new daughter and watch her grow up made her physically sick. Unfortunately though it was an awful alternate reality they had to plan for. Her job was completely unpredictable and Henry's DIA gig wasn't exactly risk free. They had to appoint a guardian even if thinking about someone else raising their daughter made them sick.

Elizabeth sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. "Okay, you're right. We just have to power through it."

Henry sat down next to her and took her hand in his own. "Where the hell do we even start?"

Elizabeth laughed, "I don't know. Who would Jason and Ali even go to? Did we ever do this for them and Stevie?"

"Well, they all have godparents who are friends but we never actually used them as possible guardians. I'm fairly certain they would have gone to my mother."

Elizabeth frowned. She found herself missing Ailis McCord frequently over the course of her pregnancy and she knew Henry was feeling the same way. She squeezed his hand. "Oh, that's right. Okay, well no offense to your Dad but none of our children are going to him."

Henry laughed, "No offense taken, I wasn't even considering him as an option."

"And there's no way in hell this kid is going to Maureen. She'd grow up thinking something ridiculous like I died just to spite Maureen."

Henry shook his head, "Absolutely not. There's no way in hell baby girl is going to Maureen. Shane's got too much going on. I'd say Erin but I have a feeling Maureen would mess that up somehow."

Elizabeth sighed. Henry was right. "Okay, well she can't go to Will."

"Why not? Sophie's wonderful and Annie's a great kid."

"True, but that's exactly the problem. Will isn't going to be around. Sophie would be doing all the work. Plus in the event that something bad does happen to us I want baby girl to stay with the other kids and I don't think them all moving to England, except Stevie most likely since she's an adult, is exactly a good idea."

"Babe, you're overthinking it. This is just precautionary. They're not actually going to have to go live with Sophie."

Elizabeth smacked Henry lightly on the shoulder, "Do not say things like that and jinx us. I hate talking about this as much as you do but I want to be completely prepared for anything. We owe our kids that much. My parents didn't think anything like that could happen and look at how well that turned out?"

Henry's heart broke for his wife. She hadn't had a bad upbringing by any means but she had a lonely one and he knew she didn't want that for their children. Elizabeth was right. As painful as it was to think about something happening to them and leaving their children without parents it was a situation they needed to deal with. "Okay, well can we at least keep Sophie on the table?"

Elizabeth nodded, "Yeah, I mean honestly at this point I don't know who else could take all of them. Most of our friends are older and they're not going to want even the possibility of taking care of two teenagers and a baby."

Henry rubbed his temples. This was getting stressful. "Okay, well honestly I think right now we're down to Sophie or Erin unless you can think of someone else."

Elizabeth rubbed her fingers in circles over her temples. "Let's just think about it for a couple days, okay?" She was tired and this whole conversation was depressing her. She turned to Henry, wrapped her arms around his middle and nuzzled her head against his shoulder. "Actually how about you just promise me you're going to live forever and then we don't have to deal with this?"

Henry wrapped his arms tightly around his wife and ran his hand through her hair in a soothing manner. "If I could promise that you know I would. But you'd have to promise it too because I don't want to live forever if I have to live without you."

Elizabeth smiled against Henry's chest, "Soooo cheesy." She looked up at him, "I love you, Henry McCord."

Elizabeth spent the next day at work preoccupied, thinking about who would raise her children if she and Henry both died. It was grim and it was making her grumpy and snarkier than usual.

She got home a little late to find Stevie in the kitchen reheating the evening's meal for her mother. She made sure her mother sat down while she got her meal ready for her and as she worked she explained that she had sent her father out for more ice cream, Jason and Alison were both studying in their rooms and she was off to a study session at school.

Henry walked in the door just as Stevie walked out. "Hey babe!" He said brightly upon seeing his wife.

"Stevie." Elizabeth exclaimed.

Henry turned to her and raised his eyebrows. "I'm Henry. I'm your husband. Did you accidentally put on a very old pair of glasses or is this pregnancy brain?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and chose to ignore her husband's teasing."Stevie, as baby girl's godmother and guardian."

Henry set his bag down on the counter and stared at his wife, his prior joking manner was gone. "That's….why the hell didn't we think of that yesterday?"

Elizabeth laughed and got up to walk over to her husband. "I have no idea. It sort of just hit me. I know she's only 21 and that's young but if something happens to us I don't want this little girl being taken away from the only family she's got left. I like Sophie a lot but I'd rather this baby be with her siblings and Erin is great but the Maureen thing still makes me unsure."

Henry laughed, "Yeah, I um, I hate to say that I agree with that. I really don't want Maureen raising our daughter."

"If god forbid something happens to us I don't want baby girl to grow up with anyone but her siblings.

Henry nodded and wrapped his arm around his wife, "I agree. I think it's a great idea. We can wait to ask her about it until after baby girl arrives. That might give her a little more perspective as to what she could be getting herself into. I feel like she'd say yes right away if we asked her now and I don't think that's fair of us."

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around her husband, "Yeah, I don't want to make her feel like she has to do this for us." She paused, "Then if she says yes we can guilt her into taking the other two as well."

Henry laughed, "I think that's a brilliant idea, babe."

He leaned over and kissed his wife's forehead. "I feel good about this babe. Obviously I hope this plan never becomes necessary, but I feel better knowing baby girl will stay with Stevie if God forbid something ever does happen to us."

Elizabeth nodded, "Yeah, let's not talk about it any more though because even though we have a plan it's still bumming me out. Believe it or not, talking about our deaths is not appealing."

Henry laughed, "What a disappointment. I thought it would such a great time."

"I know, the one thing we can't make fun!" She turned to look up at Henry, her face getting serious again. "I love you, babe."

Henry leaned in to kiss her lightly. "I love you, too."

Ailis (the name I chose for Henry's mother) is pronounced Ay-lish. It's an Irish name. I wanted Henry's mother to have a nice, pretty Irish name. If you've seen Brooklyn you'll remember the main characters name is Eilis (pronounced the same way) and I just thought it was lovely. Also Ailis and Alison are close so that might be a thing for another chapter!

As always, thank you SO much for reading and please let me know how I'm doing! x J