Chapter 31- Family
Elizabeth and Hope walked down the stairs the next morning around 10:30. She had an 11am meeting with the NSC to discuss the next day's schedule/plan for the G7 Summit. Then, Minister Chen for a brief meeting and visit with Secretary Thompson. She was looking forward to a little more time with him than the evening before.
Later in the afternoon was the tasting for Alison's wedding. They figured they would get that done while Liam and Alison were here. She often thought about how her two daughters were so different. Stevie so political, but not wanting a White House wedding. Allie so non-political, but wanting her wedding to be the event of the year at the White House.
She was in a good mood as she played with Hope walking down the hallway. Dressed semi-casually with a dress shirt on and a gray pants. He hair was down today because it was Sunday. She tended to go more casual on the weekends. Sometimes if it was just her and the staff they would be in jeans.
As she stepped into the office, Blake was not at his desk. She took notice of the bottle of grape Pedialyte sitting there. She and Hope made their way into the Oval Office. Hope ran under the desk while Elizabeth took stock of the stack of reading for the day. Good news was the large stack included her evening reading as well.
Jay then rushed into her office, "Good Moring, Ma'am. Sorry I was expecting you a little later."
"Henry fell back asleep so I came down early to get ahead on some things. Where's Blake?" she asked pointing towards his desk outside her office.
"In the bathroom." Jay hesitated. She gave him the spill it look. "He's a little hungover."
"You sure? He didn't even drink last night." She dropped the file on her desk, "Oh My God. All of you went out after?"
"They did. I did not." Pause. "Ma'am"
Elizabeth laughed. "Who else should I expect to be hurting today?"
"Well, Daisy is not as bad. But, Stevie, Alison and Jason, might be in the worst shape. Well, you'll be lucky if he even gets out of bed from what I hear. Is he even home?"
She looked at him raising her eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "I have no idea. Where is he?"
"Also a good majority of the German and Chines delegations."
"They all went together? With my kids?!" her voice was a little raised by now.
"Apparently." Jay answered with a chuckle in his voice.
"Who is Jason with, Jay?" she suddenly became serious.
"I just got off the phone with his detail. They are at the Mayflower. Alison and Liam are at Stevie's."
"Right, because they wanted to stay there. Why isn't Jason at Stevie's?"
"I'm being told he met a young German woman last night." Jay answered shrugging his shoulders.
She put up her hand and said "I will call Henry."
With that, Blake walked in her office looking rather exhausted.
"Your handkerchief is off." She said to him dryly as he handed her a coffee.
"Nice, very nice." Blake answered back as Jay laughed.
"Where did you stay last night?" she asked.
"Trevor and I went home…" he answered hoping to end it there.
Elizabeth moved her hand beckoning more information, "At what time?"
Blake answered quietly, '2 maybe 2:30am"
"Nice. Well, I am here until at least 3 today, maybe 4. Just so you know. Can you please message Henry to come down as soon as he is up?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Blake turned and closed the door behind him as Elizabeth and Jay burst out laughing.
The door re-opened and Ellen and Gordon walked in.
"Great time, last night, Elizabeth. Normally, I hate State Dinners but that was fun." Gordon said.
"That cake was to die for," said Ellen.
Elizabeth answered, "Apparently both the night and the cake were a big hit. However, I think it is hitting some of my staff and family hard today."
"Oh we know," Ellen said. "Andrew was in that crowd as well."
"Oh boy. Good thing most of them have the day off." Elizabeth said.
Secretary Thompson arrived from another meeting. This summit was more work for her than anyone. The five of them sat and reviewed the plan and revised Elizabeth's speech.
It wasn't long after that Minister Chen showed up for his time with Elizabeth.
There was a couple of trade deal conversations that Secretary Thompson needed Elizabeth to push Chen on. When she left, they sat and had coffee and chatted more personally than business.
When Chen left, Henry gave a knock from the other side. Hope, who had been sleeping under her desk all day, perked up and ran to his side. He kneeled down to her to pet her and scratch behind her ears.
"Jason's back and in bed," he said as Elizabeth made her way to him for a hug.
"He better have made it out of that hotel without any photos. Henry, I can't take it anymore. He needs to cool it with the partying. The girls were never like this," she complained.
"Ummm, are you forgetting Alison's time in Milan? She went out all the time and those were caught on camera as well. Babe, he's in college. What do you expect?"
She looked up at him with the unhappy look. She turned and headed back to her desk, throwing up her hands, "Henry, he is my son. He is out all the time drinking. We have been talking to him about this since high school. It's embarrassing to have those photos out there. I also expect him to not have a one-night stand with a member of a foreign delegation! We are talking to him again today…"
"Tonight." Henry corrected her again. She threw her face down and stared at him. "Okay today. Whatever you say, you're the President. I'm going to take Hope for a walk. Want to get some fresh air."
Just then Blake walked in, with the revised copy of her speech. "I can't with all this reading to do. But, I bet Blake would like some fresh air."
She smiled at Henry as he laughed at her joke.
Blake dropped her speech in front of her, turned and walked back out without saying a word.
The lights in the room glared down on him and hurt his head so bad. Then came the billowing voice of his Uncle. "Wake up, McCord! Wake up, it's almost dinner time for Pete's sake! And you stink! Have you even showered today?!"
"Uncle Will get out!" Jason yelled back covering his head under with the blanket.
Will played with the light switch turning the lights on and off in a swift motion.
"No way, man. Your mother sent me to get you out of bed for dinner. Be glad it's me and not her. You are in troouuuble!" He went over and gave Jason a shove. "C'mon you will be sitting and eating with us! Let's go. I didn't traipse all the way over just to stare at my overbearing sister at dinner. I want to see your face at that table before you go back to school. Take a shower first."
A half-hour later it was your typical McCord dinner. Food was being passed around, Elizabeth was giving Jason the side-eye when she wasn't dishing it out to Will for his comments. The kids were pretty quiet realizing their mother was not pleased with their night out.
Annie was the first to speak, "Last night, was fun!"
Elizabeth answered, "So I hear."
Allie's turn. "For the record, we were back at Stevie's by 1:30. Your staff stayed out way later than we did."
Elizabeth pulled her wine glass away from her mouth and stared at Henry.
Henry's turn, "Ohhkay, we are going to talk about this a little later. It's Melanie's first meal with us. Who wants to tell her a little bit about themselves? Jace, why don't you go first?"
Everyone laughed as Jason looked up from his mashed potatoes.
"Obviously, I am Jason. The youngest, only and prized son of my dear parents. Sometimes I agree with them and sometimes I don't. I am a junior in college and I am 21. So, for the record (emphasized for his sister as he sped up his speech) at least I was of age when I went out drinking last night, unlike Stevie!"
Stevie glared at her brother. "You know what, you spent plenty of time drinking at high school parties, which you got busted for as well.
Jason asked, 'Allie, where is that talking stick? Because Stevie I believe it is your turn. Why don't you tell Melanie all about you and Dmitri?"
Liam turned to Allie, "You had a talking stick?"
Allie glared at Jason, "You are the worst."
Jason was cracking up, Elizabeth stared at Henry willing him to make it stop and Stevie and Dmitri looked at each other shocked.
Annie sat back in her chair and burst out laughing at her cousins' fight.
The whistle definitely rang louder in the White House residence with the high ceilings. It made all the kids including Annie jump a little and stop.
Henry said firmly, "Enough."
Elizabeth turned to Melanie and said, "Why don't you tell us about yourself?"
Melanie said, "Do I just go or do I need a talking stick to start?"
They all laughed. Jason said, "You are going to fit in just fine!"
