Writer's Note – These final chapters are a little longer as they set the path for the future for each family member. I hope all of you continue to enjoy this fic and bear with my long writing. It's a lot to get in before the end.
Chapter 47 – Stevie
Since her mother's re-election and inauguration, it had been a much easier year and a half on her family. As always, Stevie admired her mother's skillful ability to handle and solve investigations. She and Isabelle worked together investigate Dmitri's death and brought those responsible to justice. She should not have been surprised that Russia was behind it, he was always looking behind his back and now she knew why. Needless to say, she recovered from her grief the best way she knew how and finally graduated law school. She wanted to slow the pace down while raising her daughters. So, she was happy to be solely focused on easy, civil law cases for a family friend's small practice right in Georgetown.
She was in her office poring over the stack of court documents from her latest case. She pulled her coffee mug to her lips hoping it would help her through the boredom of the document. Boredom that was actually making her very grateful, as a single mom of two, the daughter of the President and the sister of one of the fashion world's young icons, she appreciated this part of her life.
Her assistant, Mary came rushing into her office. Her brown bobbed hair swaying side to side, she was nervously pushing her glasses back up on her nose. "Stevie, the nurse at Eliza's school is on the phone. She fell at recess and hurt her arm."
Stevie looked back at her shocked, "WHAT?!" She scrambled to answer the phone. "Hello!"
"Hi Ms. McCord. This is Nancy, the school nurse, Eliza took a bad fall off the monkey rings at recess and seems to have seriously injured her arm. I think you will need to bring her to the hospital. She is in my office now."
"Nancy, we will be right there. Please let her know I am on my way." Stevie hung up the phone. "Marie, please let Cecile know what is going on and I will be right down." She had already begun to call her father's phone.
An hour later, they were seated in a private room at the GWU Hospital Emergency Room waiting for an orthopedist to come and talk to him. Stevie was sitting on the bed with Eliza reading her a book, while the 5 year old sniffled from the round of tears and screams the x-rays brought. Meanwhile, Stevie also listened to her father quietly talking to her mother. "Well, not sure what to tell you, Babe. She's just like you and her mother. Always showing the boys up and proving what they can do, girls can do better. She did make it all the way across in record-time to the last ring before she lost her footing on the platform and fell. You got to give her credit for that."
Henry winked at his granddaughter, who was now listening to him more than her mother's reading. They had been working on the White House monkey bars for weeks.
"Henry, that is not helping while I sit here. How much longer for the doctor to tell us whether she needs surgery?" she asked through the phone.
"Not sure. He hasn't come in yet." Henry's voiced trailed off as he watched the tall, handsome doctor enter the room. "Elizabeth, he just walked in. We'll call you back."
"Well, I can definitely say that is the first time anyone has ever hung up on the President to talk to me." he laughed while Stevie, Henry and Cecile chuckled. Eliza wasn't finding anything funny right now.
He reached his hand out to Eliza first. "Hey sweetheart, I'm Dr. Donahue." He shook Stevie's and then Henry's hands. "Jack Donahue, it is nice to meet both of you, albeit I wish in better circumstances." Then, he turned to Eliza, "How are you doing?"
She looked up at him, her wispy hairs that had fallen out of her braided pigtails, hanging by her face. She looked up at him with tears forming outside of blue eyes that matched her mother's and from what he could tell her grandmother's as well. Her flowered t-shirt and pink shorts were still dirty from the fall. "Not well. Can you fix my arm?"
"Of course, I can. That's what doctors are for. But, it is going to take some time. Will you let me feel your arm?" Eliza hesitantly let him sit on the other side of him from her mother.
Stevie reassured her "It's okay, sweetie."
Stevie's eyes met his as he asked her to give him her pain scale. In true Eliza fashion she answered smartly "Well, definitely more than 10!" Stevie watched him handle her child with a gentleness she had only seen from her own father before.
Dr. Donahue got up and pulled her x-ray on the computer. He turned the computer so Stevie and Henry could see. Henry stood up to look closely but he didn't miss what else was happening in the room. But, he directed his attention to Eliza, "Here's where I get to show you how lucky you are. See here." He used a pen to point to the small fracture in her elbow. "This is where you broke your elbow where you fell on it. Most of the time, kids need surgery for this. But, not you. Your break was clean across and should heal nicely."
Eliza sniffled while Henry rubbed her back.
Donahue turned his attention to Stevie, "She will be in a full arm cast for six weeks. We will have to x-ray it every week for the first few weeks to make sure it is healing in place."
"Oh okay." Stevie seemed a bit awestruck by the gorgeous doctor standing in front of her. Henry noticed and rolled his eyes at Eliza, who smiled at him for the first time.
He interrupted by clearing his throat. "Doctor, I am assuming no activities for the next six weeks?"
Donahue turned his attention to them, "Correct. But the elbow heals in the cast and then a few more weeks out of the cast with movement. So, really no activities for ten weeks."
Eliza's tears began again, "My first soccer game is this weekend, Grandpa. No swimming or horseback riding either?"
Dr. Donahue stepped over and squatted down to meet Eliza's eyes. "Listen sweetheart, I know this is hard. But, it will go by faster than you think. I know your dentist may not agree but one of these always helps during the cast process." He pulled a lollipop out of his pocket and her eyes lit up.
Dr. Donahue then pulled a business card out of his pocket and wrote something down. He handed the card to Stevie and said, 'Please call my assistant to schedule her follow-up appointments. I will see you both in a week."
Stevie smiled back at him and said "I have to be in court next week so it will probably be my Dad or my nanny that brings her."
He looked down into her eyes as if nobody else was in the room, he smirked and answered, "That's unfortunate. Two weeks is a long wait." He winked and walked out of the office.
An hour later, Eliza had melted chocolate chips across her face from the cookies she was eating. Still not changed and her hair still a mess, as she smiled at her grandmother telling her all about how she made it the farthest on the monkey bars of all the kindergarten kids in her school. She was sitting at a small table and chair that Blake had brought in for her. The pink cast now resting in a cushioned sling the White House doctor procured for her.
Elizabeth sighed, 'Sweetheart, I know you want to be the first across but the goal is to do it safely."
"Grammy, the goal is to beat the boys." Eliza took a sip of her milk.
Elizabeth was dressed in a loose skirt and a cream blouse. It was one of her lighter days so far. She grabbed the stack of papers to be signed off her desk and sat next to Henry on the couch.
"What time did Stevie say she would be back?" she asked exasperated with not being able to make her granddaughter realize this was not worth injuring herself.
"She should be here by 4. She was grabbing some things she needed at work to be home the next few days and getting Amelia," he answered not looking up from his papers.
"Maybe they should stay…" she asked but he immediately cut her off. Taking off his glasses.
"Look, I know she's been through a lot but you have to let her do this on her own. Besides, she probably has a phone call to make tonight."
Elizabeth turned to him and asked "To who?"
Henry looked at her, he chuckled and whispered so Eliza couldn't hear. "The doctor."
Elizabeth's eyes went wide. "Seriously? The doctor was hitting on her while caring for my granddaughter. C'mon."
"Not kidding, babe. He gave her his number on a business card. I saw it as he handed it to him," he smiled at her proudly.
"McCord parenting tradecraft still works!" She leaned down and kissed him then said, 'I need a cookie."
A few nights later, on a Friday night, after pizza, a movie, baths, struggling to get the cover off Eliza's cast and getting the girls to bed. Stevie sat alone in her bedroom. She picked up her book and opened it to the page she had left two nights before. Jack's card and phone number with his messy writing of "please, call me" stared back at her. She flipped it in her hands, as she had done the last two days. She wasn't sure she was ready and this time she wasn't going to her mother for advice. No need to freak her out. And "call me?!" Doesn't he know people just text these days? She placed it back in the book deciding to sleep on it one more night. Turned out her light, rolled over hoping Eliza would finally sleep through the night, the cast kept waking her up.
"MOMMY!" "MOMMY!" Stevie sat up thinking it was still the middle of the night, but immediately realized the sun was shining through the window.
"Mom, are you okay?" Stevie looked over startled at her two daughters standing there, staring at her.
"Yeah, how long have you been there?" she asked. Looking at 6:00 glaring back at her from her alarm clock.
Eliza shrugged her shoulders "Just a few minutes. You sleep weird like with your mouth open with stuff coming out, weird." Stevie stared at her daughter, who was looking at her matter of factly, the way her mother always did when proving a point. She could not believe how much Eliza was like her namesake. She whispered to herself, "I should have given you a different name."
"We're coming in!" Amelia announced as she struggled to climb up into her mother's high bed. Getting caught on her Little Mermaid nightgown before Stevie caught her and lifted her up. Her dark curls a mess from sleep. Stevie planted a kiss on her head.
"Okay," she was exhausted. "You two can watch a show for a little bit."
Eliza grabbed the remote from the nightstand and quickly jumped up onto the end of the bed and turned on Paw Patrol. Stevie stared at the backs of her two daughters completely content with their show. She flopped back down and fell back asleep. It might have been an hour…could have been two. She looked at the alarm, definitely two. "Okay girls. Time for breakfast."
"Awww….you didn't sleep long enough!" Eliza complained.
"Well, we need to get up and get moving. Grandpa had some plans for both of you today." she said heading towards her bathroom.
"Not swimming," Eliza whined.
Stevie yelled back to her from the bathroom. "Go down and mark the next day off the calendar on the blackboard. It'll make you feel better."
Then the phone rang. Stevie thought to herself good Lord, people. She opened the bathroom door just as Eliza answered.
"Hey Uncle Jase!" Stevie closed the door knowing he wasn't calling to talk to her.
"Hey Sunshine! How's the arm today?" he asked her.
"Good, I slept all night. Grandma promised me ice cream sundaes today if I did." Jason laughed. Stevie rolled her eyes while brushing her teeth.
"Ohh pancakes for breakfast and ice cream sundaes for lunch!" Jason said back to her.
Stevie swung open the door, pointed to Eliza and said "No way!"
The girls sat at the table eating their oatmeal. The same table Stevie and her siblings sat at for years.
Stevie's phone buzzed. Allie sent her a text "Did you reach out to him yet? By the way, Mom knows. Dad told her. Just hung up from her. She was spycrafting me and it's not even 9am yet."
"WHAT? How does Dad even know?" she typed back quickly.
"Stevie! Their main job in life is intelligence. You think Dad missed that? How are my girls today?"
"Ugh. Girls are good. Eliza finally slept through the night. I was going to text him this morning."
"Oh good. Did you finally sleep too? I am so excited for you. You deserve to be happy!"
"Slow your roll, Allie. I haven't even talked to him yet. I don't even know him."
She got the girls dressed and dropped them in front of the TV while she finished getting ready. Once back in her room alone, she picked up her book and pulled his card out.
"Hey, it's Stephanie McCord. Eliza's Mom. Hoping you are having a good weekend." She threw her phone down on the white comforter on her bed and headed for the shower.
They were sitting at lunch in the White House kitchen. Even as large as the round wood table was, it was a little too close for comfort. Amelia was up on her knees eating away at her grilled cheese. Eliza was engrossed in a conversation about school with Blake and her grandfather. Elizabeth was sitting right next to Stevie reading over a document. Stevie's phone buzzed on the table while she was talking to Amelia about her manners.
Elizabeth glanced at the phone and saw the number. "Hey Stephanie. I worked a double yesterday so slept in and just took the dog for a run. Hope you are having a good day. Great to hear from you." Blake was watching his boss.
At the same exact time, Eliza asked "When is my appointment with Dr. Jack this week?"
The whole table stopped and stared at her. "Dr. Jack?!" Henry turned to her, "Eliza that is not his name."
"Yes, it is. He said 'Dr. Jack Donahue,'" she answered shoving more of her sandwich in her mouth.
Blake looked from Stevie, who gave him the look of please handle this, to Eliza, "No, that's how people introduce themselves. That doesn't mean you are on a first name basis."
She dropped her head down, furrowed her brow just like Elizabeth and said, "I don't care. That's what I am calling him."
Blake looked to Elizabeth who was still eyeing Stevie's phone and then Stevie as if to say "are you going to answer that?"
Blake jumped up and said, "Okay. Time for us to go! Grammy has a meeting and you have plans with Annie, you little stinker." He tickled Eliza at her side while they both laughed.
With that, Elizabeth shoved two more bites of salad in her mouth, kissed Henry and the kids heads and walked out.
Annie passed them walking in the door. She was now 16 and just as tall as her Aunt, while looking like a mix of Elizabeth and Will. Elizabeth hugged her while Blake rushed out of the door.
Walking down the stairs , she said to him "He texted her back. Well, from what I saw she texted him first."
Blake shook his head at her, "Do you ever feel guilt for spycrafting your own offspring?"
"No," she answered and walked ahead of him into her office.
Walking down the pathway at the zoo, Stevie typed her text back to "Dr. Jack." "Hey. Good weekend so far. My parents surprised the girls with a private tour of the zoo. Here now. Eliza is the happiest she's been all week."
"Nice. Enjoy your time at the zoo. I'm off tonight want to talk after bedtime?"
Her mother was walking right beside her holding Eliza's free hand but lurking over Stevie's shoulder.
"That would be great. Will call you then."
"Mind your own business, Mom" she gave her the side eye.
"You know most people don't speak to the President that way?" Elizabeth said more as a statement than a question. Keeping her eyes on Amelia, who was riding on top of Will's shoulders.
"Yes, but I'm one of three who call the President 'Mom' and have the right to tell the President to butt out." Stevie walked ahead of her catching up to her Uncle. Will turned and shot Elizabeth a grin. He loved nothing more than watching his nieces and nephew give it back to his sister.
"Hey sorry, it's a little late. We had dinner with my parents and just finished bedtime. Still want to talk?"
She stared at the phone and nervously hit send. She knew once she did that there would be no turning back. She didn't wonder about the timing. She knew she was ready to date. She just wasn't sure she could feel hurt again. The pain of losing. Elizabeth had many conversations with her about it. But, none of them seemed to help. Her daughters had all of her heart and she knew they would never leave her. Giving that love was easier than trying to trust anyone else.
She brushed her teeth and headed back to her bed. Her mauve pajamas flowed around her lithe body. She pulled her hair out of the messy bun and shook it out.
She climbed in her bed and checked her phone. There it was, "I will always want to talk with you. Call me when you are ready."
That word. "Ready." She had her mother say it, she heard her father say it, she heard Alison say it more than a hundred times. She knew they wanted her to be happy and she was happy with her life with the girls. But, as Jason said never using those words, "there is more to life than being a Mom." She couldn't believe she was actually taking her brother's advice. Might have been the first time in her life she had done that.
With that, she picked up the phone not expecting the change that she did not see coming.
He answered easily not phased by who he was talking to. "Hey Stephanie. How's my favorite patient tonight?"
She immediately chuckled and said, 'Worn out from the zoo and sound asleep. She seems excited to see you on Tuesday."
"Really? That's new," he chuckled.
'Don't get your hopes up. She thinks she is going to convince you to just take the cast off. I have decided not to break the bad news to her." Stevie answered.
"Breaking bad news is a big part of my job. It'll be okay." His voice was deep and quiet over the phone. Stevie imagined his dirty blonde hair a little ruffled.
"So, what kind of dog do you have?" she asked.
"Chocolate lab. Inherited him from my younger sister. She had a baby and didn't have the time for Murphy anymore. So, I took him. I needed the company. Stinks coming home to an empty house."
Stevie bit her bottom lip a little grateful to know there was nobody else.
"So, Stephanie, do you have a dog?"
"No, my parents do and she used to spend a lot of time with us. But, now she prefers to go with my uncle and cousin. Annie gives her more treats than the rest of us." They both laughed.
"I've seen your parents' dog. She's adorable."
"She's a menace!" Stevie answered immediately. "They insist they had her trained but none of us believe them. Also, you can call me Stevie. It's kind of the reason my parents named me Stephanie. They loved the name Stevie."
"I prefer Stephanie. It's a beautiful name for a beautiful woman."
"Ohhh well played, John." They laughed at her swift move to use his formal name as well.
They continued to chat not realizing it had been more than two hours and almost close to midnight. They talked about breaking protocol by him dating a patient's mother, which led to a conversation about her family never being fans of protocol. She explained how it all began when her mother started dating her father when he was a T.A. for her World Religions class. That led to a conversation about age differences. They laughed about Stevie giving her parents a heart attack over Arthur. Jack was only two years older than Stevie so they knew that wouldn't be an issue right away.
"So, I have Friday and next weekend off. Would you want to have dinner or just coffee first?" he asked.
She jumped right in. "Dinner. I don't think my Mom is traveling this weekend so my parents or uncle can most likely take the girls."
"Dinner it is! What's your favorite place?" he asked her.
She smiled and said " I live in Georgetown. Why don't you come here? We'll walk to find a place and maybe make that our favorite place."
"Deal. I look forward to that and seeing Eliza and your Dad on Tuesday. Good night, Stephanie."
"Good night, John." He laughed as they hung up the phone.
Stevie fell asleep more comfortable than she had been in a couple of years.
The week went by super slow. The kind of slow you get when you are waiting for something good to happen in life.
She dropped the girls off to her parents Friday afternoon. She was so grateful her mother was in a meeting since her father was being way more subtle about this date. All he said was "He seems like a good guy. Just have fun."
It seemed to take forever for 7:00pm to arrive. Strangely, she was not nervous but more excited. More comfortable than she had ever been on a date before. She and Jack had spoken twice during the week. He called her after Eliza left her appointment to give her an update and tell her how much he enjoyed seeing her. They then checked in with each other two nights later when he was off.
The call came from the detail that he had arrived. She was dressed in a navy blue dress with small flowers on it. She recently cut her hair back up to her shoulders. It naturally fell around her face. She grabbed her jacket in case the night got cool and opened the door. Her heart nearly skipped a beat. He stood at least a few inches taller than her. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt and a khaki pair of pants. He handed her a bouquet of white peonies in a small square vase. . He smiled the widest grin and said "Your friends out front approved these." She laughed and said "They are beautiful. Thank you. Let me just put them on the table."
They walked for a bit and came upon the small Thai restaurant that Stevie had picked. She had forgotten Secret Service wouldn't just let her walk into a place anymore. They were given a small table in the back with nobody around.
Most of their conversation surrounded red or white wine and what they were ordering. Once those logistics were put aside, Jack asked "So, I feel like I know everything I need to know about Eliza, but tell me about Amelia, aside from what I already know."
Stevie pulled out her phone and showed him her favorite photo of Amelia, sitting on the edge of the White House fountain next to Elizabeth holding a red popsicle waiting for July 4th fireworks. Her dark hair pulled into two braids with red bows at the end of each. Her red and white striped shirt and navy shorts with stars were no different than any other American girl on that day. She smiled at the camera with Elizabeth's arm around her giving her a kiss on her head.
He looked at the photo while Stevie spoke. "She is quiet and pensive, like her father. When she speaks it is softly unless she is yelling at her sister. She could swing for hours. I get tired of constantly pushing her. She can write her name and she loves to color. Unicorns are her favorite."
He responded, "I am sorry for what happened to him. I hope the girls will always know that he loved them."
"Eliza will. Amelia doesn't remember him." She paused as the waitress brought them their wine. "I have photos up but she really just ignores them." Stevie went to take a drink but Jack reached over and softly touched her hand to stop her. He held up his glass, she clinked it with hers and he said "To new beginnings." She smiled the most gorgeous smile his way and replied, "Yes, to new beginnings."
They had a lovely dinner. Walking back to the house, they chatted about everything and nothing at the same time. They talked about Jack's time with Doctors Without Borders. Not about the cases because he didn't want to bring the mood down. He talked about the places he had been and the beauty of the world. Stevie talked about her work with Microloans and US Aid organizations. They realized they both cared deeply for the world outside their own. Both wondering if they were just meant to be together.
He slipped her hand into his as they walked. She felt a warmth she had never felt before. She flinched a little from it. They were under a tree almost back to her family's home. He pulled her back to face him.
"Stephanie, put the "what ifs' out of your mind. I am not here to hurt you or leave you. What we have is something I have never felt before. I hang up from talking to you and can't wait for the phone to ring again. I was not nervous coming here tonight, it was more of a comfort to see you." She dipped her head down. He reached up and gently lifted her chin back to him. "I have traveled this whole world. Always moving from one place to another, repairing children harmed by conflict, disease or natural disasters. My sister convinced me to slow down a year and a half ago and yet I still didn't feel at home. Until now. home never existed for me before you."
She had tears in her eyes.
"Look, I know you have a lot to go through before falling in love again but I hope you will let me be beside you while you do. I want to be the one that shows you true love. I will always be here for you and your girls."
She leaned up and slowly kissed him. It was hesitant at first, he slid his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her closer. It grew deeper but not out of passion but love. It was then that Stevie realized the difference.
They broke apart and continued to walk towards the house. At the top of the stairs, they said good night and made plans to talk the next day.