Two weeks passed and it was a few days before Lauren left to go to the Netherlands for an exam. She had managed to get her flight to the Netherlands with the help of her mom and her staff on a her current US visa and she could pick up her passport soon.
It had been a busy day and when all kids were home, the siblings watched a movie together. Alison had left to get a refill when she heard her mother come home.
"Are you having an affair?" she heard her mother ask and she took a step closer to hear the rest of the conversation.
"No."
"We'll you're going to have to be a lot more convincing-." Alison couldn't bare to listen anymore and rushed to her siblings. She couldn't believe her dad would do something like that.
"What's wrong?" Jason noticed his sister running back in with a distressed look on her face and tears threatening to fall.
"Mom thinks dad is having an affair." Alison admitted, wiping a tear away.
"What?" Both Jason and Lauren looked at her in confusion, but Alison shrugged her shoulders, indicating she didn't know more.
"I- I saw dad with a woman this morning and when I confronted him, he acted like it was nothing, but I could see he didn't expect to be caught." Stevie explained what she had seen. She had told her mother's press coordinator who apparently had told her mom. At the time, her heart had given her dad the benefit of the doubt, but she knew something had been wrong.
"So, mom's leaving him, right?" Jason defended his mother. He couldn't believe his dad would do something like that to all of them.
"Okay hold on." Lauren mingled, having stayed out of the conversation until now. "Give your father a chance to explain before you write him off."
"Explain how he hurt mom and tore this family apart?" Jason shot back, and Lauren decided it was best to stay out of it. She had not been around long enough to fully understand the dynamics of this family.
"Hey guys, what are we watching?" Elizabeth walked in before anyone could say something. Henry followed behind, standing closely to his wife.
"I'm done watching." Jason mumbled before heading out, followed by Alison.
"Me too." Stevie agreed and left the room as well. Both parents looked after their kids while Lauren stayed on the couch and she sighed about the dramatics. She ran her hand through her hair, flipping some pieces over to the right side.
It was not like she didn't understand where they were coming from. She just hoped they would all talk about it, instead everyone kept silent and pretended nothing was happening.
"What was that about?" Elizabeth asked as she took place next to her daughter on the couch, with Henry following her action.
"Nothing, unless there's something either one of you would like to say?" Lauren challenged, her eyes shifting from Elizabeth to Henry.
"No, why?" Henry asked confused.
"No reason. Is it alright if I freshen up before dinner?" Lauren asked and when Elizabeth nodded, she left to go upstairs as well.
"What is going on?" Henry asked confused, wondering if it was just him.
"I have no idea." Elizabeth whispered, She just ordered dinner and managed to get all kids downstairs to eat.
"How was everyone's day?" Elizabeth asked and raised her eyebrow when no one answered. Even Lauren kept quiet, not wanting to say the wrong things.
"Well I had a great day." Henry cut in, not sure what was going on.
"Yeah I bet." Jason mumbled.
Henry slowly dropped his fork and gave Elizabeth a confused look. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing forget it."
"So, how's the book writing going?" Elizabeth asked, knowing she wasn't going to get much out of her kids. Besides, they had to keep up the story that Henry was writing a book instead of working for the NSA.
Jason snorted and received two questioning glares from his parents.
"Is there something you'd like to say, Jason?" Henry asked.
"I don't know, is there?" He challenged, and Elizabeth dropped her fork on her plate before looking at her kids.
"Okay, what is going on with you guys?"
"I know dad is having an affair." Alison blurted out and started crying. She didn't want her parents to separate and she couldn't handle it, so she shoved her chair back and ran upstairs before she could even get a reply.
"I'm not." Henry defended himself.
"Nice one dad." Stevie blamed him. "I saw you, or had you forgotten?" She followed her sister upstairs to comfort her.
"Your dad's not having an affair." Elizabeth tried to assure the remaining two kids.
"Mom, how can you be sure?" Jason asked and they all ignored the pained expression on their dad's face. How quickly his entire family turned on him after one accusation, scared him.
"It was just a work colleague."
"Yeah that's what they all say." Jason argued angrily.
"Calm down, give him a chance to explain." Lauren told her brother and he now focused his attention on her.
"You should keep out of it. You haven't been here for that long but you're obviously too scared to pick a side. Stop ignoring the obvious." He told her, and Lauren looked at him, surprised about the amount of emotion on his face.
She could see the situation had a bigger impact on him than he would probably like to admit. She tried to not let her brother's words get to her but before she could reply, Henry interrupted.
"Jason go upstairs, now." He said in a stern, but steady voice and Jason got up from his chair.
"Whatever you say, sir." He said with a mocking tone before receding upstairs.
"So far for the nice family dinner." Elizabeth sighed, putting her elbows on the table and dropping her head in her hands.
"Are you?" Lauren asked Henry before asking again, "Are you cheating on your wife?"
"No." Both Elizabeth and Henry said.
"Then, what?" She asked with a slightly desperate tone, "because you have three incredibly upset kids upstairs who need an explanation."
"I gave them one. The woman Stevie saw was just a work colleague."
"You can see how that's not going to work with them, right?" They would need more information to be convinced. What confused her the most was that Henry wasn't even explaining it. It was as if he would rather have them think this than know what was actually going on. But what could be more important than this?
"Do you think I would do this?"
Lauren didn't answer that, couldn't possibly begin to answer it, causing Henry to walk out of the room and Elizabeth dropped her head in her hands once again.
"Who would blame you now if you chose to cut ties with this family." Elizabeth sighed and Lauren looked at her worried.
"Are you afraid I will end up leaving?"
"How can I not? From the day we met, you've been introduced to chaos."
"Trust me, I've had chaotic and this is not it. I'm here and as long as you want me, I'm not planning on leaving." She tried to support her mother by laying a hand on hers. "But I need you to be honest with me. Are you one hundred percent sure he's not having an affair."
"Yes!" Elizabeth cried out. Why didn't anyone believe her? She couldn't exactly tell her kids their dad was working for the NSA.
"Alright, I believe you. I can probably get Alison and maybe Jason on board, but Stevie saw him. You need to talk to her."
"How come you believe me?"
"I don't know the first thing about how this family works, but from the moment I met you I could see that you two have this amazing relationship. Henry told me you are his entire life. That he wouldn't know what to do without you, so I know he wouldn't purposely hurt you."
Lauren left her mother at the table and walked upstairs to convince Jason and Alison that their dad wasn't cheating.
"Your father is not having an affair." Elizabeth stated stern as she walked up to Stevie that night.
"So, what did he tell you? She's a grad student right? Honestly, mom, how naïve are you?" Stevie didn't understand why her mother was ignoring the obvious proof.
"Stevie, if I really thought your dad was cheating, do you think he'd still be breathing? Let alone living here?" Her mother had a point, but it still didn't explain what was going on.
"Maybe you're not interpreting things correctly." She tried to reason with her mother.
"I was a CIA analyst. You're entitled to your judgments, but not to explanations." Elizabeth started, taking a deep breath to continue "and you're grounded for being 20 and drunk in a bar."
"You can't ground me." Stevie argued. Why was she the one getting punished? "I have to work."
"Work and home. Two weeks."
"This is ridiculous." Stevie said, raising her voice ever so slightly. "I'm an adult."
"I guess that's why most adults don't live with their parents." The statement caused Stevie's jaw to drop before she quickly stood in front of her mother. She couldn't believe she had just said that.
"So, you can just take in one kid and throw out the other? Good to know were replaceable." Stevie stormed upstairs, but this time Elizabeth didn't leave it be. She followed her daughter upstairs.
"Stevie!" She opened the door to her daughters room.
"No, you've made yourself pretty clear." Stevie shouted. All the commotion caused the remaining kids to gather in the hallway upstairs.
"I'm asking you to respect our privacy, that's it." Elizabeth told her, but Stevie grabbed her bag.
"No, if you want to play house with your new kid, be my guest. I'm clearly not valuable here." Stevie walked past her mother and pushed Alison and Lauren aside before rushing down the stairs.
Elizabeth regained composure after the sudden outburst and followed her. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Out." Stevie growled and she put on her jacket. Henry appeared from the study and found three kids on the stairs, watching mother and daughter fight. A fight he had missed out on.
"What's going on?" Henry asked. When Stevie opened the door, he quickly pushed it shut and moved between his daughter and the door. The devastated look on his wife's face told him whatever it was, it wasn't good. "I don't know what's going on, but we're Mccords. We talk about things.
"Mom doesn't want me here." Stevie stated simply, but Elizabeth shook her head.
"I didn't say that."
"Sorry, she just wants me to move out." Stevie met her mother's eyes, daring her to refute her words.
"Look, Stevie, I don't want you to move out."
"No, you just want to replace me. You've finally got your baby back and since I'm a screw up anyways, why not throw me out." Stevie dropped her bag and crossed her arms.
"None of you are replaceable." Elizabeth told her, glancing to the other kids for a moment.
"Whatever." Stevie mumbled and walked back upstairs when she realized her dad wasn't going to let her out the door.
Elizabeth's eyes followed her and scanned past the three kids on the stairs. They landed on the look of confusion and betrayal of Lauren.
Elizabeth knew she had promised all of her children were okay but her moving in. And they had been, at the time. It was a big adjustment and decided to just give it time.
After Jason's outburst earlier and now Stevie blaming her sister, it wasn't really they welcome wagon she had wanted for their daughter.
When everyone was upstairs again, Elizabeth turned to Henry. "I'm sorry."
"It'll be okay." He told her as his arms pulled her closer.
TBC