Chapter 15
A/N: Sorry I've given you a bit of suspense over the past few chapters! I will give your hearts a break for the next couple.
I would also like to revoke my thank you to coronavirus… working from home has got me working much more than I typically would and spending more time watching TV after work than ever before! Now that my husband is working from home as well I'm hoping to be able to get more writing done since he will be working more than he was before everything went crazy here and life will feel a little more normal… with a little bit more typing from the other room.
She frantically tried to call her brother's cell phone from the car.
"Come on, pick up." She said aloud to herself after each call.
She probably tried to call him 10 times before she reached the White House. Each one got her the same friendly voicemail but not confirmation that her baby brother was actually ok.
In the middle of what felt like call number 5,000, her motorcade pulled up to the White House and her door was opened for her. She thanked the guard who opened it as she got out but also kept her ear close to her phone.
Another call that went unanswered.
Soon she was at the door to the situation room and greeted by Russel and Conrad along with a host of other individuals who she wasn't able to remember.
She felt like she was operating on auto-pilot. Her mind clearly focused on her brother, his family, and their safety. It was amazing to her how well she was able to handle such a stressful situation in the present and still be focused on an equally as stressful situation in her mind.
As her mind raced in two different directions, it sharply took a turn in a different direction when she realized something she had first realized about two weeks ago but she had let move to another place in her head - she hadn't told Will about the baby.
Henry had called and told his siblings shortly after they found out. He was in the process of mending his relationships with them and knew if they found out from the news that Elizabeth was expecting again they would be crushed.
She texted Will one night not long after she told her staff and the National Enquirer threatened to run her pregnancy but he was about to board a plane destined for Zambia for two weeks of work for the UN before Sophie and Annie met him for their trip. He texted her back that he missed her but was about to board a plane and would call her when he got service but she realized shortly after the news broke that he hadn't returned her call.
It took everything in her to hold back the tears that were forming at her eyes and threatening to stream down her face. She didn't want her little brother to find out by some sleazy tabloid or some generic press release but that was exactly what she allowed to happen.
As she continued to fight back tears, Russell's forceful voice pulled her back to reality.
"Elizabeth!" He spat getting her attention and pulling it back to the situation at hand.
She did an incredible job of pretending like she was paying attention but Conrad saw through it. He knew her better than that. She wasn't ok but she wouldn't tell any of them what was going on, she wouldn't allow anyone to believe that she wasn't ok.
Maybe she was just tired… Conrad thought. Sure it had been two decades since his wife was pregnant but he had some very vivid memories of her fatigue. Maybe it was just her hormones. He hated assuming that one because he knew she was stronger than that.
He was thankful that he didn't have to think about it much longer as Blake interrupted the group with a phone call for Elizabeth.
"Hello?" She nearly whispered into the phone while walking to the hallway.
"Hey Lizzie! What's up is everything ok? I saw you called like a hundred times." It was Will, he was ok.
She let out an audible sigh of relief. "Oh my god I thought you were dead!"
"Why? What's going on?" He cut her off before she could explain anymore.
"There were US aid workers kidnapped and killed in Zimbabwe, aren't you there?"
"No, we left Zimbabwe last night to do a couple days in Madagascar." He heard another audible sigh of relief.
"Oh thank god." She told him attempting to catch her breath. "Hey listen, I'm sorry."
"For what?" He asked, genuinely confused.
"For not telling you." There were those damn tears threatening to fall again. She hated feeling like she was less than the best sister to him.
"Not telling me what?" He had to know by now, right?
"About… about my pregnancy." She told him, still trying to figure out if he was kidding or he really didn't know.
"You're pregnant?! Oh my gosh, congrats! I didn't even know you and Henry were trying, that's so exciting for you two!" This wasn't sarcastic and upset Will, he really didn't know before.
"I thought you knew?!"
"No! How would I know?"
"It broke in the states about two weeks ago. TMZ ran a story with it then my office had to make a formal announcement." She told him, still a bit in shock that he really had no idea what she was talking about.
"Oh wow, that's rough! Is everyone going ok?" There was the doctor in him.
"Yea, I had an amniocentesis a couple of weeks ago, everything is going great. She's measuring right on size, no issues!
"She?!" He questioned with excitement. "Congrats! Do you have a name picked out?"
"Yea we were thinking…" She managed to get out before she was cut off by Blake.
"Ma'am, they're asking for you." He whispered to her.
"Hey I've got to go" she told her brother "I love you, be safe out there."
"Love you too sis, congratulations again!"
She hung up the phone and handed it back to Blake and joining the rest of the team in the situation room.
She somehow managed to make it the next few hours until the situation was able to be passed on to the UN and the United States had done their part. She bid ado to Russell and Conrad before getting into her waiting motorcade with Blake.
"How are you doing ma'am?" Blake asked. He looked at Elizabeth as both a mix of a sister and a mother. He really just wanted her to be ok and was more than happy to help her be ok.
"Exhausted. Let's be late tomorrow, I'd like to get more than" she turned her wrist to look at her watch, it was nearly 3:00AM "three hours of sleep."
"Absolutely ma'am!' Blake told her he'd wait until she texted him that was was up to get anything ready for her tomorrow. She needed her rest and he wasn't going to interrupt it.
He wanted to ask how her brother was, he knew that's who the call was from but wasn't sure why it was so relieving to speak to him. He could probably put two and two together but he tried not to assume much when it came to her and her family.
"Can I ask for your honest opinion, Blake?" He was caught off guard.
"Absolutely." He answered.
"Am I crazy for having another baby?" She asked, very curious but serious.
"I… I don't think so. Do you think you are?"
"Yea. Why did I think this was a good idea?" She asked somewhat rhetorically while admiring and stroking her small but still growing belly.
"I… I don't know, ma'am." He really wasn't sure if she wanted an answer or just wanted to talk.
"Would I be crazy for giving her a 'boy' name?" Her 'boy' complete with finger quotations.
"No… I don't really think so." He wasn't uncomfortable having this conversation, it just really caught him off guard.
"Am I crazy for seriously considering naming my child after an Eric Clapton song?" He again wasn't sure if she really was looking for an answer but he would offer her one.
"I don't think so… How would anyone know that's where you got the name from?" He answered.
"Well I really like the name Layla…" She began but didn't finish her thought.
"That's a beautiful name, ma'am." Blake answered incredibly sincerely.
"But I also think the name Grayson is really cute… but it popped up on a boys name list and I don't know if people would think I'm even crazier for giving her a 'boy' name." The finger quotations made their appearance again.
"I think you should do whatever you think is best! I think they're both beautiful names." Blake told her.
"I told Henry my top name was Everly earlier tonight…"
"That's very pretty as well." Blake slightly cut her off.
"But I don't think it is. I keep thinking about Grayson. Maybe I could spell it like G-R-A-C-E-N to make it more feminine?" She asked.
"I think just G-R-A-Y-S-O-N would be fine." He answered.
"Layla Grayson… Grayson Layla… Everly Grayson… Grayson Everly… Everly Layla… Layla Everly…" She went through all her favorite name combinations aloud not necessarily looking for Blake to answer but not refuting anything he might say.
"I think they are all wonderful names, ma'am!" Blake responded to her thinking out loud as they pulled up to her front door.
"I'll figure it out… I guess I should talk this over with my other half, right?" She joked to Blake before exiting the door. "Have a good night!
The SUV door shut behind her as she walked into her home. She sat her bag down in the doorway and kicked her shoes off next to it. She took her jacket off and left it on the railing of the staircase as she walked upstairs. The exhaustion had finally hit her.
She finally reached her bedroom and had debated whether she had the energy to change into something more comfortable. She ultimately decided she didn't. She was going to snuggle up to her husband and sleep as long as her job let her.
Much to her surprise, her husband wasn't in bed. She checked the closet and bathroom but there was no sign of Henry. She walked out of her bedroom to see a light on coming from Stevie's room. She couldn't believe Stevie was still up.
She opened the door just enough to peek in and see the room void of all furniture and Henry sitting up against one wall, staring at another.
"What are you doing still up?" She asked him, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Well, after you left we moved Stevie into the guest room." He answered.
"Already?!" She responded, taking a seat on the floor next to him.
"Yea, the girls were already excited about working on the nursery and it got Jason away from the Xbox for a few hours. I had to force him to help but he did it with relatively little objection." Henry told her.
"Well he's going to object to just about everything we ask him to do at this point." Elizabeth quipped, a mix of jokingly and seriously.
"Yea and then I was sitting in here, all empty, thinking about how different it's going to be in a few months." Elizabeth brought her head in to meet the side of his as he spoke. "Are we crazy?" He turned his head to look at her.
"Funny you should ask that, I had that same conversation with Blake on the way home." She told him.
"We get one kid off to college, get her back home and thought that was crazy enough, now we're going to start all over." He was doing her same 'thinking out loud but kind of looking for an answer' thing.
"Yea, we're crazy. I won't sugar coat it." She answered him with a smile.
He matched her smile and their lips met for a soft kiss.
"I don't like the name Everly anymore." There, she said it.
"Are we really going to do this all over? I thought you were set on Everly?" He had gotten used to Elizabeth and her struggle to name their children, she could never decide on just one name and she changed her mind up until Stevie was born.
"I mean, I like it but I don't think it's the one." Yep, she wasn't going to make up her mind any time soon.
"So what do you think is the one?" He asked.
"Grayson." She answered.
"Grayson? That's… different. At least, for you." He was shocked to hear her suggest that name, mainly because he had looked at it too but thought she wouldn't be a fan. "I really like it though!" He wanted to tell her he did like it before she thought he didn't.
"I really like Layla too." She added.
"So Layla Grayson or Grayson Layla? Or we could go back to Grayson Everly or Everly Grayson." Hearing him say the name Everly out loud made her like it again.
"Now I like Everly again!" Even she was fed up with her indecisiveness.
"We don't have to decide right now, but let's keep those as our top three. Any other names you want to add?"
"Are we over analyzing a name?" She asked.
"Maybe. You know what we wouldn't over analyze?" He didn't give her time to answer. "Sleep."
"Oh yea let's go to bed."
She waited for him to get up first, hearing his knees and back crack in the process. "Geez old man, are you sure you can handle a newborn?" She joked with him.
"Yea yea let's go." He reached out his hand knowing she would need help up. "Oh wait… I think I see…" He acted like he was looking through her hair. "A gray hair, old lady." He joked right back at her.
"I deserved that one." She said walking out the door and to the refuge of their bed.
