Writer's Note: This is a super long chapter, my apologies. But, there was a lot to get through. We are nearing the end of this story. It will be around 40.

Thank you for your reviews. I appreciate all of you taking the time to read this.

Chapter 33

The French restaurant chosen by Liam's parents was the perfect location for the rehearsal dinner. A small private room just for family.

The menu was outrageously good. The President was doing what she does best. Being in the moment without showing there was a crisis going on…a crisis within her family.

She did her best to not avoid Dmitri all together but Henry was definitely having a harder time with this one. She had seen him more than once throw a stern glare his way.

Elizabeth had told him they just had to get through the wedding and then everything would be fixed. As they stood talking to Liam's parents about the wedding excitement, she tangled her fingers with his down at their sides. She squeezed them three times. Not only as an "I love you" sign but it was their way of letting each other know they were there for them.

Leaving the restaurant, Elizabeth watched as Stevie and Dmitri got into their SUV with Eliza. Stevie working her way in as her growing belly was making room for their second grandchild. Her heart broke remembering the day, Stevie came to her and she told her "To gain everything, you have to give everything." Her daughter had done just that and now she was about to lose everything.

Back at the White House, Allie, Jason and Claudia made a bee line for the residence. They were changing and then going bowling. Henry and Elizabeth were guided straight to the Oval Office by Blake. Blake had no idea what was going on but he knew it was serious.

Isabelle had arrived two hours ago and was meeting with Ellen Hill, Ephraim Weare and Gordon Becker.

Walking into the Oval Office, Elizabeth said to them, "Tell me everything."

Isabelle took a deep breath. This was not only the President but also two of her oldest friends. To have to give the details of how their son-in-law had betrayed their daughter and family, but somehow also was tricked to be involved in a cyber-hacking ring they had been investigating.

Elizabeth was still trying to figure out how this happened since Dmitri was simply working at a university helping Russian students with their English.

Elizabeth stood stoically in her navy blue sleeveless dress that fit her body to a tee. She was behind her desk. Her jacket thrown over her chair. She moved uneasily behind the desk as Isabelle spoke.

Isabelle frowned and handed Henry the file. "From what I have learned in the last few hours, in January, Katerina Portaya, started tutoring with Dmitri at the university. They were meeting a couple of times a week at his office. One thing lead to another…"

Elizabeth put her head down and leaned on her desk. Henry had opened the file. Elizabeth was listening to Isabelle but when she looked up she only had eyes for her husband as she saw a shade of red come across his face.

Isabelle followed Elizabeth's eyes and looked down at Henry who was sitting on the couch going through the file.

She sighed, "Last week, the two of them were at none other than the Potomac Lodge."

Elizabeth took her glasses off and sighed, "You'd think he'd have found a different place by now. One not so obvious."

Isabelle shared the look of longtime friends with her. Everybody else had their heads down. Ephraim jumped into to give the investigation information.

"We only discovered Dmitri was involved yesterday. It appears that he was targeted by the Russians. He had another student a Mikhail Stronov. He was the main suspect in our investigation. He had been having meetings at the Potomac Lodge. Yesterday when we followed him and we placed a bug/camera in his room. We came up with these photos." He handed Elizabeth the file. She opened it and sighed. She flipped through them. Photos of the three of them together. Drugs and alcohol strewn across the table. Multiple laptops on the table as well.

"Madam President, I had been hoping to report to you today that we had obtained enough evidence and a warrant for Stronov's arrest. This evidence was the last piece we were looking for. Of course, we weren't expecting Dmitri to be there. We had no idea that he was involved. Until this and we obtained files from his work computer."

"When our agents attempted to arrest Stronov this evening, they found him dead in his apartment. We have surveillance photos from Dulles showing Katerina Portaya leaving the country last evening, with the head of the Russian hacking group we were investigating. He had been working for a social media company here in the United States."

Henry looked up from the file. Elizabeth bowed her head down.

"Was there evidence on Dmitri's computer of his involvement in the ring?"

"We have reason to believe that they targeted Mr. Petrov to gain access to your campaign files. The evidence is in this file."

Henry handed the file over to Elizabeth. She opened it and said, "Did they get any donor's personal information?"

Isabelle spoke up, "Mike B. and Captain Baker are working on that now. We do not believe they got far and we caught them just before."

Elizabeth swallowed. "Is Dmitri still at the house with Stevie?"

Ephraim Ware spoke, "Yes for now. We figured you would want to wait until after the wedding to remove him."

"Do we have reason to believe they are not safe?" she asked.

Ephraim looked down, "That we do not know."

Henry spoke up. "Ask Stevie's detail to remove her and Eliza from the house and bring them here. Make sure they have their bags and all their things for the wedding. Just tell them to tell her it is a security concern. Once they are removed, Ephraim go in and make the arrest. We will take care of Stevie here." He looked at Elizabeth letting her know he would speak with Stevie.

Elizabeth spoke quietly, 'Thank you everyone. Isabelle, please hang back."

Ephraim turned to Elizabeth, he placed his hand on her arm. 'I am so sorry, Madam President."

She gave him a little smirk. "I know. Thank you."

Everyone left the room.

Elizabeth rubbed her forehead and said to Isabelle, "Walk with us upstairs." Leaving the office, she told Blake, 'Please send Mike B. upstairs as soon as possible."

The three of them headed up to the residence. Once inside, Elizabeth turned to Isabelle.

"What the hell? You are my oldest friend. It is Alison's wedding tomorrow. No heads up before that meeting?" Elizabeth's head was about to explode. Henry put his arm on her.

"Elizabeth!" he was firm.

"Don't you even start! I told you we should not have allowed her to get involved with him again. But, we'll discuss that later."

Henry stared at her with his mouth open. She looked at him and he walked away, ripping off his tie and headed for their room.

Isabelle walked her over to sit down. She turned to her on the couch, "What did you want me to do interrupt the rehearsal dinner? I gave Henry the heads up so he could let you know something was going on. We needed a few more hours. Actually, Captain Baker is still down there working with everyone else. Bess, you need to calm down."

"Where's Conrad?" she asked.

"At Blair House. Why?" Isabelle looked at her.

"Bring him in. I want him read in with the investigation. This was a major breach, Isabelle. We need his expertise on this." Elizabeth said quietly.

"Bess, you are far more capable of handling this. You are better at this than he is." Isabelle argued.

"No, it's too close to me. I need to distance myself as President. Work with Conrad. In the meantime, I will have to explain to my daughter what is going on and that she needs to end her marriage the night before her sister gets married!" Elizabeth stood up and Mike B. walked in.

"No, you don't!" He said with that smug look on his face. He always loved knowing things before Bess. It wasn't that often when it happened.

Jay ran in after him and stared at him. "I got this. It's my job to tell her. Where's Henry?"

Henry walked back out of the bedroom now dressed in jeans and a shirt.

"When the detail entered the home to get Stevie. She and Dmitri were in a heated argument. This has apparently been an ongoing thing for the last two months." Jay looked at Henry since he was the one who always handled security for the family.

"Matt had gone with them. Stevie told him in the car on her way here that she had suspected him of cheating. That's what they were fighting about. She had felt he was acting unusual at the dinner party tonight and had called him out on it."

"Oh God." Elizabeth sat down and looked up at Henry. "Are they here yet?"

Jay responded, "About ten minutes out. But, Dmitri is on his way to GWU Hospital."

'What?" Elizabeth asked. Isabelle's eyes were glaring at Jay.

"While Stevie was packing up her and Eliza, Dmitri passed out in the kitchen. As of me coming up here, he hadn't come to yet." Jay continued.

They could hear the laughter coming from the hallway as Allie, Jason and Claudia came back into the residence.

They stopped when they stepped in. Jason said "Ohhh… the gang of five. This can't be good. I promise I have been on my best behavior."

Isabelle started to laugh. Mike B. covered his eyes with his hand. Jay just smiled at Elizabeth.

Henry said, 'Why don't all of you head back down to the office? I will take care of things here."

Those few words, took Elizabeth's breath away. The calm came over her body and she knew they would get through it.

The kids stared at them as they knew something was going on.

Everyone including Elizabeth walked out of the residence, but not before she turned and hugged Henry.

They stepped into the office. The former President turned and greeted the current. He handed her a glass of Scotch.

'Drink this. Take the edge off." She did as he ordered. Conrad turned to the others and said, "Can we have the room? Isabelle stay."

Everyone left and there they were; the remaining three of the Inner Sanctum. Conrad turned to Bess as she drank down the scotch. They sat down on the couches across from each other.

"You don't need my advice. But, you do need a plan." he said.

She took another sip, 'Well for starters, I need to distance myself from all of this."

"Exactly. From here on out, you need to publicly stay out of it. Isabelle you need to work with the gang of eight. Schedule a meeting with them first thing in the morning. Just you and Ephraim. You need to control this in Congress. Tell them you are asking the Justice Department to launch an independent investigation. It won't take long. Two weeks tops. For now, Bess, you head upstairs and take care of your family. Who would have thought they would give you the most stress of your Presidency?"

She looked up at him with her furrowed brow. Isabelle took her cue and left the two of them sitting there.

When the door closed, he saw the tears. It usually took a lot to bring Bess to tears.

"Talk to me, as a friend," he leaned up on his knees to catch her eye.

She looked to the side and wiped a tear.

"I never liked him for her. When he came back Henry told me he had asked to contact her. We made the decision to stay out of it. His sister tracked her down. I should have been smarter and told Stevie to run. They began seeing each other. She came to me because she was nervous about getting involved in another relationship that may fail. I told her sometimes to "gain everything, you have to give everything."

Conrad sat back and let her talk.

"I should have told her then not to do it. I should have told her everything about him. But, it was classified. I sit here now, the night before Alison's wedding, so angry at Henry. He should have never brought him to the house. He never should have given him the opportunity to meet her."

Conrad immediately cut her off there. "You can't blame Henry. How was he to know it would come to this?"

"First, you never bring your asset into the house. He always got too close with people. I tried to warn him. After we gave him up, Henry was so upset. He's had this crazy obsession with Dmitri since the beginning. To me it always seemed that he wanted them together. I never understood it and I never will."

"Probably not. But, Bess you can't lose your marriage or have a massive fight over him. In a few days, Dmitri will not be with us. We boht know how poisonings work. Tomorrow is still a big day for Alison. Everything must stay the same. Any questions from the press, they are to be directed to the Attorney General. It will be fine. Right now, you need to focus on getting Stevie in the right place for tomorrow. She's strong. She will make it through this."

She stood up and said "As usual, you are right."

She hugged Conrad as he said to her "You've proven me wrong plenty of times. Just returning the favor."

She let go and started to walk out. "Don't forget to turn off the lights when you leave." Conrad tipped his glass to her.

It was just after 11:30. Before entering the residence, she took a giant breath, not knowing what awaited her on the other side.

She opened the door and saw the most beautiful sight.

Alison was standing in the middle of the room. Her strapless gown had a sweetheart neckline, the bodice was tight into the waist, it then flowed out with a 3 foot train. Simple but elegant.

Stevie was up on a chair struggling to figure out her veil with Claudia while Alison gave them directions. Jason and Henry laughed at the them from the couch. That caught Elizabeth by surprise. She had expected to find Stevie in a puddle. Instead she seemed almost relieved.

Henry smiled at her, "Well here is the real expert. Let Mom help you."

Elizabeth jumped in and took the crown from Stevie. She smiled at her as she took it from her hands. "You have to put it on a little more forward so you can stick the bobbie pins in. It will settle in afterwards."

Allie stood as tall as she could.

Elizabeth whispered to her, "Oh Noodle, you look so beautiful. And the good news is we have somebody coming in to do this in the morning. Have you decided how you are going to wear your hair?"

"I think I like the separate pieces into the bun. You know the one that looked like a flower."

"That was my favorite too." Elizabeth shot a glance at Henry and they shared a smile.

Jason caught it and said "I am getting pretty tired. We are going to bed."

Allie turned to Stevie. 'I'm going to head into the room. Will you come in and unzip this."

Stevie turned to her quietly and said, "Sure, give me a few minutes."

Claudia turned back and said, "Allie I can do it if Stevie is going to be a few minutes."

Alison smiled at her and said, "That would be great."

They walked out to the other side of the residence.

Elizabeth had sat down next to Henry on the couch when Jason got up.

Dressed in loose sweatpants and a maternity t-shirt, Stevie sat herself in the chair across from them, tucking her legs under her. She carried just like her mother. Never put on much weight just a little basketball. Now at seven months, she was really beginning to show.

"I am sorry for what Dmitri has done," Stevie began.

Elizabeth started to cut her off. "Baby, you do not have to apologize."

Steve swallowed back her tears. "I..I should have told you we were having difficulties a few months ago. But, I didn't want to bother you with it. I had no idea it was this big."

Elizabeth sighed and looked down. 'Well, I am not going to lie to you. Justice is going to run an investigation and they are going to want to speak to you. As stressful as this is, I want you to get as much rest as possible. You need to think of the baby at this point. We are sorry for you, Eliza and the baby. But, we, Allie and Jason are here for you." She shrugged her shoulders when she looked at her.

"Is he going to make it?" she asked purposeful. Almost like the words were forced out of her mouth but not with any care.

Henry began, "That's not likely. The drug poisoning is pretty bad. They will keep him on life support through tomorrow."

Her breath hitched, "Life support?"

Henry nodded, "I'm afraid so."

She looked to the side not facing her parents and said, "it really doesn't matter if he lives or dies anymore."

Elizabeth sighed, 'Stevie, you are hurting now and I get it. But, you need to give it time. He is still the father of your children."

"Give it time? No, I am not giving it time! He cheated on me. He betrayed you and our country. I should have followed my gut when all those stories came out at the Congressional hearing." She stared back at both her parents. Henry looked down and rubbed his hands through his hair.

She stood up and said, "I am going to go check on MY daughter and go to bed. My sister is getting married tomorrow and I will be damned if this puts a damper on that."

Elizabeth grinned at her. She stood up and hugged her for the longest time. She whispered in her ear, 'Baby, you are strong and will be fine."

"I know, Mom." She stared at her father as she left the room. In some ways, she blamed him. Maybe if he had been honest with her from the beginning, she wouldn't have fallen in love with him.

Elizabeth turned to Henry and said, "I'm going to take a bath." She needed to relieve some stress.

Forty-five minutes later she entered the bedroom dressed in pale blue pajama pants and her Frampton t-shirt, ready to go to sleep. Henry was sitting on the bed with a book.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

"Not really reading." He looked up at her. His eyes were glazed and he looked like he could cry.

Elizabeth climbed into the bed, "Stop beating yourself up over this. None of us could have predicted this is the way it was going to go. He was targeted, Henry. We should have seen it coming all along. You aren't the only one that missed it."

"I just feel awful that I brought him into the family. I never should have had brought him to our house," he complained to her.

"Well, in that regard, you needed to listen to the family expert on having assets. But, we don't need to re-visit that conversation now. It's all water under the bridge, Babe." She slid down under the covers.

He climbed into bed with her. She snuggled up on his chest. "Let's try and get some rest. You have another daughter to walk down the aisle tomorrow."

He sighed. 'We'll do our best to make tomorrow the best day."