After a long wait, more of Lauren's backstory will be revealed soon (I know I said that before but this time I actually have an idea)

The phone rang five times before it was answered. "Lauren."

"It's Henry, please give me a minute before you hang up." He pleaded, and he waited for the sound that she hung up, but it never came.

"I wasn't planning on doing that."

"I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to right now, but I need your help and I'm out of options." Henry told her, and he hoped she would be willing to help. He didn't mean to sound desperate.

"I've been wanting to talk to you as well." She replied, and it caught him off guard. He hadn't expected things to go this smoothly and he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I was hoping you'd want to meet. I'm already on my way to you, actually."

"Alright, before you take the exit towards campus, there's a roadside diner. Should I meet you there?" Hoping this way, they would manage to avoid the press.

"Yes, I can be there in about an hour."

"I'll see you then."

When he reached the diner, he found her already inside. "Hi." He said before slipping into the booth opposite of her.

"Hi."

"Can I get either of you anything?" The waitress interrupted them.

"Coffee would be great." Henry told her, and the waitress turned to Lauren.

"Tea please." The waitress left with their order and Henry stared at his daughter, not sure where to start.

"I'm sorry." She spoke, and he raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"You're sorry? I'm the one who should apologize."

"I can't imagine what's it's like for you with everything that happened."

"It's been tough but we're managing." Henry spoke as he wrapped his hands around the steaming cup of coffee that was placed on the table before removing them again.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to apologize." Henry started, gazing into his daughter's eyes to make sure he had her attention. "I'm sorry about what I said."

"When you basically denied I'm your daughter?" Lauren asked, the words he spoke coming to her as she thought back of that moment.

"I didn't mean it." He tried to assure her. He needed her to know that he hadn't meant it and that he thought of her as his daughter.

"Yet you said it."

"I'm not looking to fight with you." A small silence fell in which neither of them said anything. "I miss my daughter and I can't remember the last time we talked. Truly talked."

"We never actually talked. It was you pushing my boundaries and ignoring every limit I set." Lauren shot back, and Henry wondered why it had gone so well in the beginning of the conversation, yet he was fighting with his daughter again.

"And I'm- we are sorry about that. From now on we will listen to you."

"Just forget it. What did you come here to talk about or was that it?" Henry looked down after her comment and felt her eyes stare at him. "You came here because you need something."

"I'm out of options." Henry said in defeat and Lauren let out a mocking laugh.

"You just said you would listen and respect my limits and now you're here doing the complete opposite?"

"Please just hear me out. If not for me, for Elizabeth." Henry pleaded, and it seemed to grab her attention.

"What about her, is she alright?"

"Not really." Henry said, and Lauren looked at him worried. "She's been having really bad panic attacks and anxiety." Henry told her, and Lauren nodded.

"Has she gone to see someone?" She asked, trying to fit everything together.

"No. She keeps telling me she's fine, but she isn't, I know she isn't. I think she might have PTSD, but she won't talk about what happened. She needs to open up or this will eat her alive." Henry told her, and Lauren nodded, understanding what he had said but still not sure why he was here. "My plan was to call her assistant Blake and clear her schedule for the weekend. I want to take her and the kids somewhere away from the city, we have a farm and she loves it there. I know I have no right to ask you this, but I was wondering if you wanted to come with us and talk to her. Maybe she'll open up to you and I know that's a lot to ask but I'm out of options." Henry said, clearly feeling hopeless. Lauren thought for a moment.

"This weekend?" She asked, and he nodded. "Okay but I'm not staying overnight."

"I'll take it." Henry said, happy she was willing to help. "I hate putting you in this position."

"If you think I'm the one she'll open up to; I'll help but just to be clear I'm doing this for her." Lauren took a deep breath. Her silence was revealing, and Henry realized what he had just done. He knew his daughter needed time and space, yet they pushed her anyways.

For a moment she simply stared in silence at something in the distance. "I'm really sorry but I have to get to class." Henry quickly got up.

"I'll let you know what the details are." Lauren nodded before walking past him and out the door.

Henry called Blake on his way back to DC. "Hey Blake, it's Henry."

"Dr. McCord what can I do for you?" Blake said.

"I need a favor. I want you to clear Elizabeth's schedule for this weekend without her knowing."

"Sir?" Blake asked, and Henry knew he felt conflicted.

"I know she's your boss, but you know what she went through. She's not okay and she needs to be with family." Henry tried to convince him.

"Alright but please talk her out of firing me when the time comes." Blake agreed, and Henry let out a laugh.

"Don't worry, she won't fire you and Blake?" Henry started.

"Yeah?" Blake's voice sounded.

"Thank you." Henry said before hanging up.

He felt bad for guilting her into this, but they needed it, she needed it.

Saturday morning, they all left to go to the farm. It was a quiet drive and Henry held onto her hand the entire time. He really hoped she wouldn't be mad at him.

When they finally got there, he told the kids to go inside while Henry took Elizabeth aside for a moment. Lauren had parked the car a bit out of sight and Elizabeth hadn't noticed yet.

"Babe, we're all worried about you. You're not fine and we all wish there was a way we could help you." Henry started but Elizabeth interrupted.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Elizabeth told him, she forced a smile before walking towards the house. He sighed before following her.

"You need to talk to someone and if you won't talk to me..." He trailed off and Elizabeth turned around, anger clearly visible in her eyes.

"Who's inside?" Elizabeth asked calm, trying to keep her anger to a minimum. When Henry didn't answer she opened the door to find all four kids inside.

"Henry!" She slightly shouted as she turned around. He didn't know what to say so she continued.

"You use our kids to guilt me into coming here and then you what? Told our daughter to come here and play therapist?" Elizabeth said angrily. Henry knew these were emotions from what happened, and he was glad she was letting them out, he just didn't want them to affect the kids.

"If you want to blame someone, blame me. This was my idea." Henry told her, hoping she would direct her anger at him. He could take it but from the looks of it, their kids couldn't. Alison started to silently cry while Stevie held her. Jason and Lauren just stayed silent.

"Oh, I do! You could have just come to me."

"I did! but you refused to talk to me." Henry said, starting to get frustrated.

"Because I can't process for five minutes? You really expect everything to be back to normal after this weekend? I almost died, Henry."

"Elizabeth!" He'd had enough, and he watched their kids. She followed his eyes and noticed Alison sobbing, Stevie was hugging her and was crying as well. Jason had his arms around his sister protectively while Lauren rubbed Alison's back with one hand. Elizabeth got tears in her eyes before walking out.

"Babe-" Henry said, wanting to go after her.

"Wait! I'll go." Lauren said, putting her jacket back on. "It's why you brought me here." she said with a slightly annoyed tone before walking out and she looked around to find Elizabeth. She caught a glimpse of blonde hair going around the corner of the barn and she ran towards it.

She found Elizabeth walking towards the fields and she quickly caught up with her.

"Wait." She yelled but she didn't wait so Lauren picked up her pace and not soon after she grabbed Elizabeth's arm. She noticed tears on the older woman's face, but she knew this was the time to get her to talk. Otherwise she might keep it in forever.

"Why?" She simply asked. Elizabeth wiped her tears away and looked confused. "Why did you run away just now?"

"Because I hurt everyone around me." Elizabeth told her.

"Why?" Lauren asked, not sure what she was doing but if it was working she would try to keep her talking.

"I say all the wrong things." Elizabeth admitted before she started walking again and Lauren followed.

"What do you feel right now?"

"I don't know." Elizabeth said but one look at her daughter's face and she realized she would have to do better than that. She feared she would ask her about what happened. Before the incident should would have been able to control her emotions but now she felt so raw and exposed that she was certain she was going to break if she answered.

"I feel nothing." Elizabeth sighed.

"What about back in the house?"

"I felt angry, hurt but also relieved." Elizabeth explained.

"Why relieved?"

"Because- because I could be angry at something, at someone."

"And you've felt this anger since Iran?" Lauren asked, and she noticed the flashbacks flooding into Elizabeth's mind. The woman started to panic, and Lauren realized something was wrong. Elizabeth grabbed a nearby tree to keep herself steady.

"I can't- I can't do this." Elizabeth said panicked.

"Yes, you can. You've been through so much and you are strong and fearless. Talk to me what is going through your mind right now?" Lauren asked, keeping a careful eye on the woman for any signs of distress.

"I couldn't save them, the screaming, the ringing, the blast." Elizabeth said between tears before her eyes grew wide.

"Breathe." Lauren said, realizing she was having a full-blown panic attack. "Look at me!" She said, raising her voice a bit so Elizabeth would hear her.

"In."

"Out."

"In."

"Out." Elizabeth started to slowly calm down. She took her mother's head between her hands and stared into her eyes.

"This." She said, waiting a second to make sure she was listening. "Is what happening when you don't talk about it. They love you and they only want to help. Let them. You don't have to do everything yourself. Show your kids it's okay to feel things and ask help when needed." Lauren told her before pulling her in a hug. They stayed like that until Elizabeth was completely calm again.

"Are you ready to head back?" Lauren asked, and Elizabeth slowly nodded.

"I screwed up." Elizabeth sighed.

"No, they know you're not back to your old self."

"I mean with you." Elizabeth said as they took a longer route back to the house. "I screwed up as a mom with all my kids."

"No, you didn't. You have two amazing daughters whom you taught to be strong and fierce. You've got a son who adores you and looks up to you. And then you have one more, slightly awkward, daughter who you've cared for so much and been so patient with." Lauren told her, and Elizabeth smiled

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier in the house. I'm really glad you're here." Elizabeth said, and Lauren nodded.

"No problem." Lauren said. Elizabeth noticed the lack of enthusiasm and realized how much they'd pushed their daughter in the last few months. She'd want to take things slow but instead they rushed her into things.

"How are things with you and your da- Henry?"

"It's a work in progress."

She watched her daughter from the corner of her eye as they walked back in silence. There was a lot they needed to talk about, but she told herself that from now on they would actually listen to their daughter.

Elizabeth sighed as she realized how much she had missed out on. The girl next to her was fully grown up, yet she hadn't been there for a single thing.

"I missed out on so much of your life." She didn't mean to speak it out loud, but she had so she waited for a reaction.

"I know." Came the simple, sympathetic reply from the youngest of the pair. Elizabeth sensed she didn't really want to talk about it, so she let it go, for now. For some reason her daughter was keeping a distance and she understood it would take time to build a relationship, but this was different. She decided she would talk to Henry about it and maybe he would know what it was about.

Henry.

She'd completely messed up. She had promised herself she wouldn't take her feeling out on him and instead she did the complete opposite.

She took her anger out on him and the kids and she would have to do a whole lot better than 'I'm fine' now to win them back.

They reached the house and hesitantly Elizabeth walked inside, followed by Lauren. They found the rest of the family on the couch with each a cup of tea or hot coco.

Henry shared a look with Lauren before hugging his wife. Elizabeth kept her tears at bay although she wanted nothing more than to bawl her eyes out safely in Henry's arms. However, she couldn't do that to the kids. Not here anyways.

"I'm sorry about earlier." She apologized to her kids as she went around to give each of them a kiss placed somewhere on top of their head.

"We're just worried about you." Stevie told her before she sat down on the couch.

"I know, and I know I haven't been myself lately, but I promise I-" Elizabeth stated before taking a short pause. She looked from Henry to Lauren before letting out a sigh. She knew what she needed to do but that didn't mean she liked it. "I'm going to get help, I'll talk to someone and I'll be back to being me in no time." Elizabeth told them and they all smiled. Henry gave Lauren a grateful look as he mouthed thank you.

TBC