Henry was woken the following morning by someone banging on the front door... loudly!

"Who the hell is that?" He grumbled, trying to focus

"Just ignore them... they'll go away in a minute..." Elizabeth covered her head with the quilt and went back to sleep

The banging continued so Henry got out of bed, pulled on his sweats and dragged his tired body to the front door...

"Shane... what the hell... you're not meant to be here until later... what's going on?" Henry was barely awake and now rather perplexed

"Henry... you do not have long but I had to give you a heads up." Shane sounded a little stressed

"Heads up about what?… It's a bit early for riddles."

"Mom and Dad are on their way!"

"On their way where exactly?"

"Here dude... they're on their way HERE!"

Henry was now wide awake and in panic mode

"Why?… Why are they coming here?… We're moving tomorrow!"

"They decided it was time they met Elizabeth... "

"Oh shit... she's going to freak... and she's pregnant... OH CRAP... SHE'S PREGNANT!" A look of utter horror crossed Henry's face

"Please tell me you've told them about the baby?" Shane queried

"No... I was waiting for the right moment... they were so pissed about the whole wedding thing... Oh shit!"

"Is there any chance they won't notice?"

Elizabeth sleepily came down the stairs, still in her pyjamas, blonde hair scraped up in ponytail

Shane looked at her, saw her bump and shook his head

"Nope... they're definitely gonna notice."

She looked up at him and her eyes narrowed

"Shane... is there something wrong?… Why are you here?"

"Hey Elizabeth... you're looking great... " He gave her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek

"Oh sorry Hi... and thanks... what are you doing here?"

"I came to help you move."

"At 8am?"

Shane looked at Henry

"Babe... You need to promise me you'll stay calm." Henry took her hands in his

"In my experience that's never a good way to start... what's going on?" She was looking at him, a concerned expression emblazoned across her face

"My parents are coming." He blurted out

"Oh... well I guess I had to meet them at some stage...I hope we have a chance to settle into the house first... when are they coming?"

"Uh... today... they're coming here... today!"

Her eyes grew wider and she looked like she was about to throw up

"No... they can't... I'm not ready... Jesus Henry."

"There's one other thing babe…" Henry was not looking forward to sharing this little nugget of information

"What?" She could read him like a book and knew something bad was coming

"I didn't exactly get around to telling them about the baby." Henry placed his hands on her shoulders, knowing she was about to lose it

She looked down at the obvious bump sticking out from under her tank and looked back at Henry

"You do know they're gonna see this... right?…God Henry... This just gets worse."

"Go and get showered and try to stay calm... I'll sort the girls out and Shane... Shane can act as a shield." Henry nervously chuckled

"This isn't funny Henry... they're gonna tear me apart…"

Shane raised a brow in silent agreement

"It will be fine... I promise... trust me."

Elizabeth stood under the shower and let the water cascade over her, trying to still the panic that was threatening to take over... She knew she'd have to meet his parents at some stage... but when she knew they weren't happy about her relationship with their son, not to mention the wedding which they weren't invited to... and now they were about to discover a 20 week baby bump... oh shit this wouldn't be good... She felt the nausea take over and bolted out of the shower just in time. Henry heard her and knocked gently on the bathroom door

"Are you ok baby?… Can I get you anything?"

She wrapped herself in a towel and opened the door

"This is a disaster... They are going to hate me... and now I'm vomiting again... oh god." She had turned ghostly white

"Ok... just calm down... go and get dressed and we'll work it all out... I am here and Will and Sophie are here... it will be ok."

While Elizabeth was getting dressed, Henry got the girls up and ready and filled Will and Sophie in on the situation and finally introduced them to Shane.

"I have no idea how this is gonna pan out... but we all have one objective here guys... and that's to keep Elizabeth as calm and protected as possible... ok?"

Elizabeth came down the stairs and smiled

"I'm not a china doll baby... I'm a CIA Analyst... I'll be absolutely fine."

"Not right now you're not... you're my pregnant wife and it's my job to protect you... Are you feeling ok now?" He embraced her and placed a kiss on her forehead

"Well... I have nothing left in my stomach so if I keep it that way, I should be just fine."

"Are you sick again?" Will asked, the concern clear in his voice

"Yeah... it came back with a vengeance this morning... but I imagine nerves had a lot to do with it."

"I'm not happy about this Henry... She shouldn't be getting this worked up." Will's tone was rather accusing

"She's fine Will... see.. she's fine."

"She doesn't look fine... she looks scared to death... someone needs to look out for her."

"And what do you think I'm doing?" Henry was now getting annoyed

"You're putting her under unnecessary stress."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Elizabeth's raised tone stopped them both in their tracks

"I'm stood right here... You both know what my job actually entails right? You do understand what I do? I can handle this... Jeez... do either of you know me at all?"

There was a knock at the door and they all froze... Show time

"Mom.. Dad... what a lovely surprise." Henry greeted them as he opened the door

"It's ok son... we know Shane warned you...Where's my little Stevie button?" Henry's mom pushed past him and Stevie ran to her

"Grandma... you're here!"

"Look at you... you got so big my darling... and so pretty." She gave her granddaughter a big squeeze

"Now... where's my daughter-in-law?"

Sophie had been almost shielding Elizabeth... She stepped forward and smiled

"It's lovely to meet you Mrs McCord…" She held out her hand, unsure of how else to greet her

"That's you now too I guess... Best you call me Marie." She looked Elizabeth up and down and her eyes stilled on the rather obvious baby bump

"Well now... it seems you've been busy son... and you weren't wrong... she is very beautiful... At least you're already married I guess." she looked at Elizabeth and her expression softened

"I'm very pleased to meet you my sweet... Welcome to the family." She embraced her and Elizabeth let out the breath she'd been holding

"And this must be little Alison... what a pretty little thing."

Henry glanced at elizabeth and smiled... a silent exchange that she was doing ok

Introductions were made and Will found himself wanting to stay close to his sister... After barely speaking for so long, this was his time to step up and take care of her for once

Sophie offered to make the coffee and the smell unfortunately set off Elizabeth's nausea again, causing her to dash upstairs

"Oh poor love... Does that happen a lot?" Marie asked Henry

"On and off... She's not been too bad lately."

"You boys caused me terrible sickness... Do you know what you're having?"

"No we don't... Elizabeth wants it to be a surprise."

"Well don't be surprised if you have a boy... that would be my guess."

Patrick McCord had been very quiet... Silently taking it all in

"So a wedding... a baby... when did you decide to cut us out of your life Henry?"

"I didn't cut you out dad... But I had to do what made me happy and you made it clear you weren't supportive of my choices."

"Your choices?…These don't seem like your choices son... "

"well who's choices are they then?" henry could feel his annoyance getting the better of him, the way it always did when he was around his father

"Her... that blonde piece of ass that clearly turned your head."

Henry stood up and squared up to his father

"How dare you speak about my wife that way... she is the kindest, most loving, incredible person I've ever met... and you will respect her or leave our home."

Sophie quickly took the girls outside to play

"You would never have behaved this way... she's bewitched you."

"Bewitched me?… I fell in love... And I was the one who set the pace, not her... She was scared, she wanted to wait... but she's my life and I wanted that life to start as soon as possible." His anger was starting to boil over

Shane pulled Henry back and tried to diffuse the situation

"Let's just calm down... you don't want Elizabeth coming back down to this or the girls seeing you argue."

"Speaking of elizabeth... I'll go and check on her... she's been up there a while." Marie announced, clearly fed up of the heated exchange

Elizabeth was sat on the edge of her bed, trying to settle the nausea.

"Can I come in?" Marie asked, knocking on the door

"Oh.. yes of course... sorry."

"How are you feeling?… You're very pale my sweet."

"I'm fine, really... it's just a little nausea."

"How far gone are you?"

"I'm just over 20 weeks... I'm so sorry Henry didn't tell you... this isn't how we wanted any of this... It's all such a mess." She couldn't stop the tears from falling and that angered her, she was usually so good at keeping her emotions in check... Damn Pregnancy Hormones

"Hush now... none of that matters... Let's look forwards, ok?" She touched Elizabeth's hand and smiled

"I see how my Henry looks at you... he loves you dearly and I can see that same look from you... It may not have been something we agreed with... but I know it's the right thing for him."

"I love him and Stevie so much... I'd never do anything to hurt them."

"I can tell that my sweet... Now let's go and get you some tea... And try ginger... it works wonders for sickness."

They walked back into what seemed like world war 3

The heated exchange between Henry and Patrick had continued and Will had now involved himself

"How can you be so careless Henry... everything you built up with Tara will be gone with the snap of her fingers... She saw you coming." Patrick was shaking his head "We raised you better than this."

"You know nothing about my sister... you're making assumptions based on nothing... She doesn't need your sons money, or house or anything else... she's taken care of herself since she was 14 years old and done a damn good job... She's smart and brilliant at her job... and she has more humility than you'll ever know... so don't you dare bad mouth her in front of me."

"And who are you to speak to me like that?"

"I'm her brother and I will defend her against anyone who accuses her of being a gold digger... She would give anything to anyone... not take it."

"Quite the family you've mixed yourself up with here Henry... good job."

"My god dad... can you hear yourself?… My wife and her brother have been through hell and back most of their lives... and you think you can stand there and judge them? I love her with every fibre of my being and if you can't respect that.. and her... then you won't be in my life."

Elizabeth stood there listening

"That's enough... all of you... I do not want my girls listening to this."

She walked over to where Patrick was standing

"I love your son and his daughter with all my heart... I know you don't agree with our relationship, but you don't have to... We are married and we are having a baby and it's everything we both want... So you have 2 options... you can either refuse to accept me, and push your son away... or you can get to know me and realise that Henry is happy... I'd urge you to make the right choice."

Henry and Shane looked at each other and smiled and Will had a look of pride on his face

"I need some air…" Patrick turned on his heels and walked out

"I'd best go after him..." As Marie headed for the door, she moved closer to Henry

"I like this girl Henry... I like her a lot!"