Chapter Twenty

It was nearing 1:30 by the time Henry turned up at the Hoover Building. Despite Elizabeth's promise that she would come home early, Henry still had a sneaking suspicion that it would take more than a promise to get her to leave. The State Department was still bustling as much as it usually did when he walked in. He didn't gain any real attention until he reached Blake's desk. Elizabeth's assistant glanced up at the sound of his approach and smiled a greeting at him.

"Dr. McCord. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I came to pick up Elizabeth. She's in her office, I'm guessing."

"The Secretary? She's not here."

Henry had already started around Blake's desk and was heading toward Elizabeth's office, but at Blake's words he slammed to an immediate stop and whipped around. The speed of the motion nearly gave him a headache, which wasn't a good combination when added to his growing sense of panic.

"What?"

Where would Elizabeth have gone on the first day back to work? Even a trip to the White House would have been ill-advised. They'd survived months without her. They could have handled today too. Of course Henry couldn't see his wife ever bringing up that point. If they'd called, she would have gone. He wouldn't have put it past her to instigate the trip to the White House, or wherever else, herself. Honestly, wherever she was, Henry wanted to strangle her. She'd been supposed to be taking the day easy. It was only her first day back. Why did she have to do this?

Blake saw the fire ignite behind Henry's eyes and seriously hoped his boss' husband wouldn't shoot the messenger. He'd never seen that kind of look in Henry's eyes. From a man who was usually so placid, it was rather terrifying. Even worse, he had no understanding of why Henry was so upset. Really, from what Blake understood, Henry should be pleased Elizabeth wasn't there. It meant she had done what he'd asked of her. Unless of course Elizabeth had outright lied about Henry's request, but Blake doubted that. The most she ever did was fib a little bit unless she was running some kind of CIA-esque op under the radar, and none of those involved her husband. She would never lie about something like this.

"Why on earth would Conrad have called her to the White House or sent her somewhere else on her first day back?" Henry roared.

The light clicked in Blake's mind and he finally understood why Henry was so riled up. He quickly tried to diffuse the situation caused by Henry's misinterpretation.

"The President didn't send her anywhere. The Secretary went home about an hour ago. She said she'd promised you she would only work a half day and she wasn't about to break her promise."

Henry almost rocked back on his heels he was so surprised. He hadn't thought there was any chance Elizabeth would leave on time. It was why he had shown up at her office himself. He had honestly figured he would need to drag her home, and he'd already considered what threats he could use to get her to cooperate. To hear none of that was needed didn't quite compute. It was like not being good at math yet walking into an advanced calculus class and finding it easy. Henry finally managed to get his dumbfounded brain back into gear to answer.

"She really went home?"

"Well, I didn't physically put her in the car and drive with her, but yes, that's where she was headed."

Any remaining anger fizzled out of Henry and he flopped into the chair beside Blake's desk. Now he was worried about whether Elizabeth's on time departure meant something bad had happened. Elizabeth might or might not tell him the truth about her day, but that didn't particularly matter. Henry had long held Blake in his confidence about most things related to Elizabeth that might affect her work. Blake had always reciprocated, which meant Henry had all the information he needed right here.

"She was alright today?"

"As far as any of us could tell. She only used her oxygen when she came in and when she left." He paused and then his voice took on a more nervous tone. "Hopefully that's alright?"

"That's fine, Blake. She only uses it when she needs it. By this point she's pretty good about knowing when that is. The fact that she didn't need it for anything other than extended walking is a good thing."

"Then she did wonderfully. Honestly, Dr. McCord, she seemed like her usual self other than having slightly less energy. It was wonderful to have her back. We're all rather fond of her."

"And not so fond of the Deputy Secretary," Henry said with a smile.

He didn't need to ask it as a question since he basically knew it as a fact. Blake's face remained completely impassive.

"Your words, not mine."

True or not, Blake wouldn't say anything against his boss, even just a temporary one. Henry could read between the lines though, and he laughed. With that he stood up so he could head home himself and catch up with Elizabeth.

"Keep an eye on her for me, Blake."

"Always. If I don't pay attention she certainly won't."

"True," Henry returned with a laugh.

It was why he had shown up today. More often than not Elizabeth didn't pay attention to minor details like things pertaining to herself and instead focused only on the big picture and how to achieve what she wanted. That was one of the reasons why Henry liked Blake so much. Blake also recognized the detriment of that personality trait and did his best to manage the areas she ignored for her.

He waved goodbye to Blake and headed home. Hopefully his first look at Elizabeth when he got there would confirm everything Blake had said: that she was alright and her day had been at least relatively easy.

O . o . O . o . O

Henry came home to a completely silent house. It was too early in the day for any of the kids to be home, but he knew Elizabeth was there. Her detail outside had confirmed that when they'd passed her emergency bracelet off to him. He had at least expected some kind of greeting from her, but he got nothing. The most he found was a trail of her belongings leading away from the front door. First her briefcase, then one heel and another a few steps later. Her suit jacket was on the kitchen floor, whether thrown there willingly or ending up there after it had fallen from the back of a chair Henry wasn't sure. He could hear the quiet puffing sound of her oxygen concentrator and followed the noise into the family room. Soon enough he found Elizabeth, sprawled nearly face down across the couch. One arm dangled over the edge, and Henry suspected one of her legs would have too if not for her skirt limiting its range.

He knelt down beside the couch and rested his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. At first she didn't wake up, but as he rubbed her back she started coming around. She shifted onto her side with a small moan and gazed up at Henry.

"Hi."

"Hey. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Just tired. Going back was a lot more exhausting than I thought it would be."

A smile slipped over Henry's face no matter how hard he tried to prevent it. Elizabeth would read into that smile and know exactly what had caused it. She would want to pummel him for it too. Still, Henry couldn't help himself.

"Does that mean you're actually glad I made you work only half a day for the first week?"

"Don't you dare say it."

Henry held up his hands in total innocence.

"I didn't say anything."

True, but…

"You don't have to actually say it. I know you're thinking it."

"Can't exactly stop that, babe."

He kissed her forehead and brushed back her hair. She smiled at him despite her annoyance. After all, he really had been right, but that didn't mean she wanted to admit it.

"Turn this off, would you?" she asked as she pulled her oxygen tubing off and dropped it on the ground.

"Your oxygen levels have been okay?"

"All day. I've been really careful."

As Henry turned the concentrator off Elizabeth sat up and held her arms out for him. He sat down next to her, and she immediately snuggled into his side. She unconsciously released a contented sigh once she was settled. It made Henry smile.

"How was your day? Other than being tiring."

"Amazing. You have no idea how good it felt to be back. It made all of the hard work and struggle in the last few months worthwhile."

"That's great, babe."

Elizabeth rested her hand against Henry's chest and let silence prevail for a moment. Henry could sense that she was contemplating something big and gave her that time. Once she put it all together and was ready she would tell him. Trying to push her into it before she was ready had never worked. Elizabeth had always shared things in her own time. When she finally did speak it was rather hesitant and unsure. She didn't even look up at him.

"There was something I wasn't expecting today, too. Something other than excitement. When I walked back into my office I was scared, Henry. Even though I knew logically that there was no reason to link poison with that room, they were automatically linked in my head anyway. It was like my PTSD all over again. I couldn't logic my way out of the fear."

Henry definitely didn't like the sound of that. At least she was openly talking about it though. With Elizabeth that counted for a lot.

"Did you have flashbacks?"

"No. Nothing like that. It was more of a constant tightness in my chest. An uneasy, shaky feeling that something bad was coming or that something wasn't right." Her forehead furrowed as she suddenly realized something. "Actually, it's rather like the feeling you have when you get back on a horse for the first time days after you got thrown off. It happens sometimes when you don't immediately get back on."

Elizabeth might have known exactly what that felt like, but Henry had no idea. While he understood the concept in theory thanks to being around when his children had fallen off and been forced to get right back on, he had never experienced the fear himself.

"That feeling goes away as you keep riding though, right?" he asked.

"Yes. After you get over the first hump of terror it goes away pretty fast."

"Well, if what you felt is the same as getting back on a horse after a fall, hopefully by the end of the week that feeling will be gone."

"Shorter than that, most likely. The worst of it was already past when I left, and it's hard to focus on what once happened there when there's so much work to do. There's not enough room in your head for illogical fear when there's that much to get done."

"The one benefit of your crazy job."

"Any job is crazy when you're trying to catch back up after being gone as long as I was."

Though she certainly wouldn't argue that her job was quite a bit crazier than most. Still, she loved it and didn't regret going back for a moment.