Hi everyone,
My apologies for no update last week, life got away from me and I had a little bit of writers block however I got back into the swing of thing wrote another chapter today. I feel like I'm hopefully out of my flump. I can't wait for you all to read the next step in their story.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter, please let me know what you think.
XoMariaXo
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE
Elizabeth made her way through the 7th floor towards her office. Upon reaching Blake's desk, she called out to everyone present, "Morning, everyone, I trust everyone had a pleasant weekend, seeing as I was uninterrupted for once, so thanks for that. Blake, can I see you in my office please?"
Daisy, Matt and Jay had all been standing around gossiping and let out a collective ooohhhhhhh when they heard the secretary's tone "So what has golden boy done to get himself into trouble with the secretary then?" Matt asked mockingly.
"Have you all nothing better to do? If not, I'm sure I could ask the secretary or Nadine to fill your schedules instead of leaching around my desk," Blake said, as he got up, adjusted his blazer button and smoothed down his front. He was secretly nervous that he had forgotten something or had sent the wrong email, but he knew this was unlikely so he was at a loss when he walked into Elizabeth's office, "You wanted to see me mam?"
"Yes, Blake, can you close the door please?"
Closing the door behind him, he gingerly made his way to her desk and awaited instructions as Elizabeth looked at him sternly. "Take a seat Blake."
"Is there an issue mam?" he asked as he sat down on the seat opposite her.
Elizabeth couldn't hold it together any longer and laughed "For god's sake, Blake, stop looking like a maimed puppy, I'm messing with you. However, I am going to be needing details?"
Blake relaxed a little now that he knew he wasn't in trouble, but looked at her questioningly "Details? On what exactly may I ask?"
"Blakeeeee," she dragged out his name. She was not going to back down until she had the information she wanted, just the same way he would have kept at her if their roles had been reversed.
"Elizabethhhhhhh."
"Ahh come on that's not fair. You know more or less everything about my relationship, the least you could do is give me some details on yours."
Realization dawned on him, he wasn't used to being clueless so it took him by surprise "God, Elizabeth, you nearly killed me there, much too early on a Monday morning for that, thank you very much."
She sat and tapped her fingers on the desk, waiting him out "Fine! His name is Mark, we met at a bar through friends a few weeks ago. He works in finance; yes, we have had sex and no we have not said the I loves you's. Much too early for that but I do like him. Any other information you require?"
The words 'I love you' stuck in her mind and she drifted off momentarily to thoughts of Henry. Blake watched on and could see her turning something over in her mind, "Earth to Elizabeth?"
"Oh sorry, ok, so when do I get to meet him? If I like the answer, I will gloss over the fact you have only just mentioned him,"
"Well, when do I get to meet Henry?" he asked as Elizabeth stared back him confused "What are you talking about? You more or less have organised my relationship's schedule since the start and have met him multiple times."
"Yes, but as your assistant, when do I get to meet him as your friend?"
This caught Elizabeth off guard "Oh, um, um. Sorry, Blake I hadn't even thought of it like that, how about a double date? We could do something informal like takeout at yours or mine. I do want you to get to know Henry and I would like to meet Mark," Elizabeth felt immensely guilty; Blake was a big part of her life and he deserved better. She never wanted him to think she didn't appreciate him or think of him as just an employee.
"Ok we can organise something. Stop over-thinking it. I would like you to meet Mark because I think it could be something. Oh, and let's be honest, the only reason I knew about Henry so early was because you thought you were never going to see him again and I schedule your life – you are welcome by the way."
Elizabeth chuckled at her friend, "I can't argue with any of that so I will leave the organising up to you for our double date. You just tell me when and I will show up no matter what."
She started to ruffle through the documents on her desk when Blake interrupted her "One last thing before we get stuck with work," Elizabeth looked up at him and raised her eyebrow, "Do you love Henry?"
"What?" Elizabeth spluttered back at him. He caught her totally off guard
"Oh come on, you cant say you aren't thinking about it because as soon I mentioned the 'I love yous' a minute ago, you went somewhere entirely different in your head. I could literally see the cogs working so tell me, do you love Henry McCord?"
Elizabeth was dumbfounded and lost for words, which didn't happen her very often. She had hidden from this question even in her own head. Now that Blake was calling her out on it, she felt like a deer in the headlights. "Blake you can't just ask me that and expect a straight answer," he just looked at her as he watched her work through it.
Blake knew it would be best if he didn't speak now and just let her come to terms with her own answer even if she didn't give it to him. Sometimes she buried her own emotions and reactions so deep that she forgot to work through them, so he had taken it upon himself to pull them out of her when he felt she needed it. Over the years, and regardless of how painful it could be at times, she was grateful he knew her well enough to know when she was shutting down.
She didn't speak for a minute as she processed and then finally spoke in a low voice, "I think so...I know so...but it is much too early, how can I say I love him already? We haven't even been dating for very long." She looked at him expectantly, wanting him to tell her it was too soon, that she was crazy to think she want in love, that, under no circumstances, was she to tell Henry and scare the life out of him, all she got was Blake shrugging his shoulders, "If you know, you know."
"Whatttt?" she exclaimed, "No. That's not fair. You are the one who brought this up, on a Monday morning, pre-coffee number two, may I add, so you need to help me work through it now. I need more than 'if you know, you know', Blake."
"Ok, ok calm down and don't get your knickers in a twist. I just mean that you can know this early on. Love is a connection of two souls, some understand and recognise it quickly and some people take a bit more time. There are no right or wrong answer here, so if you feel it and you feel yourself wanting to say the words then I don't personally think you should hold back out of fear. Life is too short and you out of anyone know that. Anyway, I am 99.9999% sure that Henry feels the same way as you do, all you have to do is watch him anytime he looks at you or talks about you," With that, Blake got up and left Elizabeth's office giving her the space she needed to process.
Henry spent most of the morning, nervous for his one-on-one with the president. He had a favour to ask and he really didn't know if it would be overstepping the mark but he had to ask. Deciding that he needed a little grounding and just because he wanted to hear her voice, he called Blake's number in the hopes of getting 5 minutes on the phone with Elizabeth.
When his call was answered, he didn't take a second to register that it wasn't Blake who picked up, and he just blurted out casually, "Hey, Blake, any chance Elizabeth has a few minutes spare for a quick chat?"
"Who, may I ask, is calling?" Nadine asked, confident she knew who it was but wanting it confirmed be because of how informally the other person on the line had asked for the secretary's time.
"Emm, sorry it is Dr Henry McCord, the president's ethics advisor. Who is this?" Henry could have kicked himself; he knew fine rightly it was Nadine and that he had probably just outed his relationship with Elizabeth to her.
"Dr McCord, it is Nadine Toliver, the secretary's chief of staff. I'm afraid if you need to speak with the secretary, you will need to schedule a call with Blake. He is just not at his desk at the moment but I will ask him to contact you. What will the chat be in relation to?"
Henry was totally caught off guard and could not get his brain to catch up "Never worry, Nadine, I will give Blake a call back another time. Thanks for your time," He hung up the phone before Nadine had a chance to speak. As she replaced the receiver, a very confused Blake happened to returned to his desk.
"Everything ok, Nadine? Were you answering my phone? Sorry, I had asked Pam to cover it for 10 minutes while I ran an errand for the secretary. Who was that on the line?"
"Dr Henry McCord looking to know if 'Elizabeth' would have a few minutes spare for a chat."
Blake could feel Nadine's eye boring into him. He knew it wouldn't take her long to work it out; all she needed was a thread and she would have the whole thing unravelled in no time. Trying to stay as cool and collected as possible, he replied, "No problem I will get him scheduled in, thanks for taking the call for me," he chose to ignore her obvious question about the Henry's familiar use of Elizabeth's name.
Nadine watched Blake as he made himself busy. She knew he was hiding something and he wasn't willing to divulge any more information. She tried to decided whether what he was hiding was something she needed to know, as the chief of staff. She figured that if something was going on, it would be best for her to be in the loop. But, from personal experience, she also knew how sometimes people felt the need to hide things.
Blake could feel Nadine watch him and he gulped as he looked up at her. He hated keeping anything from her; the woman was an old hack at getting information in DC and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this from her for long.
"Anything else I can do for you, Nadine?"
"Blake."
Blake stared back at her, as her eyes narrowed. She knew a little pressure would be enough to break him, but wasn't sure, it was necessary just yet. "You do realise that I know er you are keeping something from me. Better think carefully about whether that's wise."
Blake hated keeping secrets. It made him feel uncomfortable most of the time, but he could put that aside and get on with things if needed. However, keeping secrets from Nadine Tolliver was something that no amount of training would prepare him for, but for the sake of Elizabeth's happiness, he needed to at least try. "Nadine, I have no idea what you are talking about. Now can I get back to work please"
As she walked away, Blake knew he needed to warn Elizabeth. She needed to read Nadine in before he had a stroke from keeping her secret.
Henry got off the phone, knowing he had messed up. He would need to speak to Elizabeth about what they were going to do going forward as the secrecy wasn't sustainable, but right now he had other things to focus on – specifically asking the leader for the free world for help to surprise his girlfriend.
He was finishing up his meeting with Conrad, even more nervous now. Just ask him, he told himself.
"Emm sir I was wondering if you had a few seconds to discuss something on a personal level. Obviously, if you don't have the time its fine."
Conrad could tell that Henry was nervous; he just wasn't sure what about until he asked to speak with him about a private matter, now he knew it was about Elizabeth and he was relieved, "Sure Henry, I can give you a minute or two before my next meeting."
Henry told the president about his plans, and Conrad was more than happy to agree to Henry's requests, secretly loving the fact that Henry was thinking out of the box about how to make Elizabeth happy. He knew that the two dating would create some obstacles but Henry seemed to be taking it in his stride and Conrad respected him more for it.
"Thank you, sir, I understand it is an odd request," Henry said.
"Happy to help if it makes Elizabeth happy. In fact, I just had a thought. Why don't you both come for dinner in the residence just before hand? That way Lydia can meet you properly and you won't have any issues about being seen on the way down."
That sounds perfect I know Elizabeth would love for us all to get together as she has mentioned that she wanted to tell Lydia before anyone else found out and I can use that as a ruse to get her here without getting her suspicious"
With a plan in place, Henry just hoped that Blake would be able to get her schedule to work so he called him to ask, but this time made sure it was definitely Blake on the other end before speaking, "Hi, Blake."
"Dr McCord," Blake lowered his voice "Well played earlier, now Nadine is on my back, so the three of us are going to have to work out a game plan."
"Sorry, I made your job harder Blake, lesson learned. But I will speak to Elizabeth about this issue, going forward, I promise. But, in the meantime, I was wondering if you could schedule a private dinner with the president for Elizabeth this coming Wednesday evening. Just tell her that the president requested it, don't worry he knows all about it."
"I am assuming this is some sort of surprise and that I shouldn't mention that you organised this?"
"If you don't mind?"
"Fine, but all these secrets are starting to wear thin, so you two need to do something about it and soon or I am going to trip up."
"Thank you and I'm sorry, Blake. You know, we both really appreciate all that you do. I promise I will talk to Elizabeth and, remember, drinks are on me when you are free"
Late in the afternoon, it dawned on Elizabeth that she had not heard from Henry. She had expected even a quick call. Assuming he had maybe contacted her personal cell, she made her way out of her office towards the lockers containing her personal items. As she was walking through the office, she bumped into Nadine.
"Madam Secretary, is everything ok?" Nadine knew Elizabeth wasn't scheduled to leave the office, so it was strange that she seemed to be headed in the direction of the elevators.
"Hi Nadine, yes, everything is fine, I just need to check my cell. Anything you need from me?" Elizabeth motioned to the lockers, which were conveniently located near the elevators.
"No mam," Nadine replied and made her way back into the main office and pretended to ask someone for documents so she could watch the secretary.
Elizabeth knew but the way Nadine was hovering that she was getting suspicious. She would have to read her in, but needed to talk to Henry first. Putting it aside as a problem for another time, she finally opened her phone to see a message from Henry. Her face lit up and her heart did a little somersault as she saw his name pop up.
H: Hi baby, I tried to call earlier but you were busy. Missing you already and can't to see you, to hug you, to kiss you, to ... I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Call me when you finish up so I can hear your voice. Your Henry x
Elizabeth couldn't contain her smile as she read the message. She loved it when he flirted with, her so she decided she would tease him back
E: Missing you too, baby, I would love nothing more than for you to come here and show me what ... means. X
She pressed send and checked the rest of her messages and was about to put her phone back into its locker when Henry's name flashed up again
H: Don't tease me unless you are prepared for the consequences, I would happily drop everything right now to come to your office and show you. YH
E: You wouldn't dare, Dr McCord x
H: Try me, I'm deadly serious. YH
She could tell that he really serious and, as much as she would love to see him, she was swamped with work and having him in the same vicinity right now would not bode well for all the reports she had to read.
E: Ok, ok I surrender x
H: Disappointing, but talk later? YH
E: Likewise. But I have reports coming out of my ears. I'll call you when I'm done but it will be late x
H: it's never too late for you to call me. Speak to you later, babe. Your Henry x
Nadine had watched as Elizabeth had retrieved her cell and read her messages. This was odd in itself as it was not something the secretary would generally do, but she saw the smile and slight giddiness that had come over her as she had looked at her phone and thought, well it is definitely a man; no one else would out that kind of smile on her face.