Hi everyone,
So to start I am very sorry for the lack of updates. I work in medical recruitment and look after emergency department doctors so as you can imagine with everything going on atm my work life has most certainly eaten into my free time as the last three weeks have just been shockingly busy. I have not had the time to write at all, if I do find the time I only get about 2 paragraphs done which is not very productive. From last week I have been thankfully working from home so hope to get a bit more done once (fingers crossed) this all calms down.
My updates may not be as regular as they once were but I most definitely have not given up on this or my other fic. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed in the last week or two - it's been encourgaing and nice knowing I still have a few readers hanging in there.
Enjoy the next chapter
XoMariaXo
CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN
A few days later both Elizabeth and Henry were pulling up to Dulles airfield ready to board their flight. Henry watched from the back of his SUV as Elizabeth exited wearing long black wide leg pants with skyscraper pointed black heels paired with a white polar neck sweater. She stood to side of her plane as Blake spoke with her about something that made her laugh, Henry was mesmerised by her.
He found it unfathomable that Elizabeth couldn't see the effect she had on people or understand just how beautiful sexy she was, she stood before his very eyes, very little skin on show but exuding sexiness in its droves and it took all the willpower he had to not go to her and kiss her until neither of them could breathe.
"You are good to go now Dr McCord"
The driver broke Henry out of his Elizabeth induced trance, he quickly exited the car and made his way towards Elizabeth and the small group of her staff that had gathered around her. He was happy in the knowledge that soon enough he wouldn't have to pretend around people but in the meantime he knew he needed to keep it professional
"Good morning everyone, Madam Secretary"
A round of Hellos and good mornings came from Nadine, Jay, Blake and Matt but no one really looked up from what they were doing apart from Elizabeth who looked around at her staff and rolled her eyes,
"Good Morning Dr McCord, you will have to excuse my staff, they are all a little preoccupied" she smiled at him, her private smile, the one she only ever gave him and his heart fluttered as he returned her warmth.
"I promise not to hold it against them" he replied as Matt announced that they were all clear to board, the staff instantly made their way towards the plane but Elizabeth and Henry hung back a second so they could walk the short distance side by side.
Once they had settled in and taken off Henry asked Elizabeth for a word in her office as the rest of the staff busied themselves with work. Once the door closed behind them she turned towards him, sliding his arms around her waist he pulled her close to him and kissed her softly, It had been 32 hours since he last held her and he didn't want to wait another moment. She hummed into his mouth, the contact greatly wanted, it was getting harder not seeing him every day and she was so glad things had fallen the way they had with this trip because she wasn't sure if she was willing to be away from him for that long at the moment.
"You just couldn't wait until we got there could you Dr McCord?" she knew he was feeling the same way as her, she could tell by the way he looked at her when he got out of the car and she secretly loved it.
Henry chuckled at her attempt to hid the fact she missed him just as much as he missed her "Absolutely not and I know you didn't want to either, you can pretend all you want however I did have another reason for sneaking you off."
"Well what can I do for you Dr McCord" Elizabeth asked assuming it would be working related but noticing that Henry seemed a little nervous.
"Well the thing is we never really agreed when we were telling everybody, I know we said on the trip but when on the trip?" Elizabeth suddenly realised that she had never told Henry about the conversation she had with Nadine regarding the best time to let the staff in on their little secret.
"Henry, I am so sorry it completely slipped my mind. Nadine thought it would be best to tell them while we were on the flight there. We agreed to give them an hour to settle it, tell them then and that way they have a few hours to process and get their minds back to work before we arrive. Are you ok with that?"
"Of course, at least we can get all their questions out of the way before we land and hopefully they will give us some space this evening. Am I right in assuming Nadine has booked a separate room for me or are we both ok for your suite?"
"She has booked another room for you but it's just for the itinerary encase any reporters decide to snoop for some reason. Security also insisted that the entire floor is for staff only so everyone else is at the other end and we have the suite to ourselves, Nadine even suggested that the staff meetings were not to be held in my suite this time round and has organised for the other suite to be the meeting room. We have all the privacy we could possibly muster thanks to Matt and Nadine"
Henry smiled as he marvelled at how Nadine and Matt had obviously rallied round to give Elizabeth the space she normally wouldn't get, he really appreciated it and decided that he needed to thank them both personally at some point.
"Looks like everyone has thought of everything! You are very lucky to have such good people around who actually care about you". Elizabeth pondered his words for a second, she knew she had staff that were very good at their jobs but Henry was right, she was very lucky because everyone that knew so far had gone above and beyond what was expected of them and she would be eternally grateful.
"I really am. Now are you ready to go out there and blow Matt, Daisy and Jay's minds?" she held her hand out to him, taking it he replied "Let's do it, I think I will even enjoy it a little".
Stealing one last quick peck they made their way back out into the main body of the plane.
Nadine was the only one who looked up as the re-entered, Elizabeth gave her a slight nod communicating silently that they were ready to inform the staff, Nadine nodded back closing the brief she was working on. She cleared her throat to catch everyone's attention, when they all looked at her expectedly she spoke while Henry stayed right by her side "Everyone, I have a bit of a secret to let you all in on"
She looked around the area as Daisy, Matt and Jay looked slightly confused but intrigued while Blake sat behind them all with a smirk on his face. Elizabeth had told him her plans and he didn't do much to contain his excitement about this finally no longer being a secret. He had been so thankful when Elizabeth told Nadine, he would keep all of her secrets but that didn't mean he enjoyed it, nonetheless getting to see Daisy, Matt and Jay with their jaws hanging open at this nugget of DC gossip was going to make it all worthwhile.
Before she had the chance to say any more Blake interrupted her "Hold on" rising from his seat behind everyone he scurried towards Elizabeth and Henry turning back around to face the staff as he balanced on the edge of a seat close to them "I want to see their faces". Elizabeth's narrowed her eyes at him in disbelief "Whattt? You owe me that much" he chuckled.
"Excuse me does anyone want to tell us what is going on please" Matt asked somewhat frustrated at being kept in the dark for longer than necessary.
"Patient as ever Matt" Elizabeth returned rolling her eyes as Matt shrugged his shoulders.
"OK, so I have recently started dating but have kept it under wraps until we knew it was something long term which it now is"
Before she had a chance to finish Matt piped up again, pointing between the staff "Knew it! I told you all it was a who and not a what that was making her so chipper in the mornings pre her 2nd coffee".
"Excuse me? Am I not always a ray of sunshine in the morning" placing her hands on her hips Elizabeth interrupted him before he could dig his own hole any more, she wasn't really annoyed but keeping Matt on his toes was something she enjoyed and at times required.
Matt gulped, sliding down his seat sheepishly "Of course you are Madam Secretary, I just umm I just meant that recently you seem to be even more radiant in the mornings"
"Nice save as always Matt, you are lucky I am aware that I am not a ray of sunshine pre coffee number two and that I have learned to live with it" Elizabeth mocked sternly as Henry stood beside her, no one had twigged on that it was him she was dating hence his presence but Blake sat with a grin waiting for someone to realise or at least until the 'Who' question was asked.
"I aim to please Mam"
Daisy sat absorbing the information before eventually speaking, she had ran some of the press implications of a new boyfriend through her mind and had questions before she went any further "Mam, I'm very pleased for you, you deserve to be happy but can I ask who it is you are dating?".
Taking a deep breath Elizabeth slipped her hand into Henrys as she turned to look at him, offering an assuring smile.
Jay was the first to see the connecting of their hands "No way! Dr McCord?".
Daisy's mind swirled with the realisation that the Secretary of state was dating a member of the presidential cabinet and how that would play out in the press.
"Well aren't you a dark horse Dr McCord" Matt directed at Henry with a cheeky grin.
Before Henry had a chance to reply Blake cut in clapping his hands together "This is sooooooo good! All your faces" he laughed before Elizabeth gave him a friendly nudge warning him to reign it back in, she knew he was enjoying this immensely because he had been stuck keeping the secret for the entirety of her relationship but she didn't want him to annoy the others until she knew how they were all going to take it.
"Yes way Jay and not much of a dark horse Matt just someone who was lucky enough to fall in love with the most beautiful and intelligent woman he has ever met" Henry stated matter of fact as Elizabeth blushed, the public declarations of love was a new concept for her, bell even the private ones were but she wasn't sure she would get used to them any time soon.
"Like Henry said we have been dating for a little while and it has become quite serious. However right now we are not quite ready to release this to the public but we thought considering we were all away together this week we should let you all in on it for 1 – my sanity, especially if one of you happened to see us together outside work hours and number 2 – Daisy, we did not want you to be ambushed in the press room at any point if a reporter got hold of it but also more importantly because we would like your advice on how to proceed press wise". Elizabeth noticed that Daisy hadn't said much but also knew that she was pragmatic therefore was most likely running multiple scenarios through her brain for their current situation.
Daisy looked up at Elizabeth and Henry, smiling, genuinely happy for Elizabeth but also appreciative of the fact that her boss wanted her professional opinion and help in this situation, it required a level of trust between them and she was thankful the secretary felt they had that "Of course Madam Secretary, thank you for avoiding the ambush, I do appreciate it. We can have a chat at some point this week and work out a strategy that both you and Dr McCord are happy with".
"Thanks Daisy, we really would appreciate any help, this is new territory for us both" Elizabeth grabbed Henry's hand tighter, he rubbed his thumb back and forth across her skin to reassure her he was ok with it all like they discussed.
They were about to return to their seats when Matt shouted over to them "So do we get to ask questions then?"
"Such as?" Elizabeth asked, she knew there would have been questions and she had been pretty confident that Matt was going to be the one to set the ball rolling so this didn't come as any surprise however she wasn't sure if she was quite up to answering them just yet.
She looked between them as they all sat eager for her answer "How about we make a deal? You all spend the rest of the flight getting as much work done as possible then tonight we can all go out for dinner, we have a later start tomorrow so maybe a few drinks as well and then you can ask all the questions you want. Ok?"
"All the questions we want?" Matt asked.
"Within reason. You may ask but I cannot guarantee we will answer. Now do we have a Deal?"
"Deal" they replied in congregation and returned to their workloads.
Elizabeth turned to make her way back to her seat and caught Nadine's eye, she had sat back through the whole thing and hadn't said anything until now "Nicely done Madam Secretary" she grinned as Elizabeth exhaled the breath she had been holding. Mouthing a quick "Thank you" to her she sat down next to Henry, clasping husband between the two seats she settled back into the seat.
When her breathing had retuned to normal Henry turned to her "You ok there?"
"I am now. You?"
He lifted her hand and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles "I'm good as long as you are".
"I hope you don't mind that I suggested dinner, I just wasn't sure I could handle all the questions right now"
"Of course not babe, I think it will be nice to get to know them all a little better"
She gave him a warm smile before snuggling in closer and resting her head on his shoulder. They were mostly hidden behind the seats in front but the gesture didn't pass by Blake as he internally sighed, he was happy that his friend was opening more of herself up to people and allowing more in. She was the strongest, most fierce woman he ever had the pleasure of knowing, never mind be friends with and he admired her no end, however past experiences and her time in the CIA had made her slightly more guarded than she necessarily needed to be, even with her job, but he could see that with Henry's unwavering love for her was helping to break down some of the walls that she had built and it made his heart happy.
