Chapter 1: Forget the world (Wherever you are – Kodaline)

Author Note: Hi, actually I should finish my presentation… BUT I have an idea for a story. First of all, I am from Europe and English is not my native language. So feel free to typ out typos. I do my best - thanks to deepL, my best friend :)

The titles of the chapters are random lines from songs - from which ones, I will note. You will see. The story title is a verse from the song 30,000 Feet by Ben Rector.

I am happy about every comment, idea and remark. They also motivate me to keep writing.

Important Storyline Information: I only discovered the show by chance at the beginning of 2020. I loved it from the beginning though. My favorite characters are, of course, Bess (How can a human, I'm talking about Téa too, be so impressive?), Henry (Tim Daly does such a good job. I'm sure everyone wishes they had a guy like him) and Blake (So who doesn't like him?!).

I don't own the characters. I will only use the events in my story that serve it. Also, I'm not sure yet if I'm going to write children. I'm afraid that will make the story too complex. The story is M rated because I don't know how detailed it will be - I'm better off being on the safe side. -Slightly AU

But enough, here we go!

After a seemingly never-ending meeting at the White House, she was finally back in the Truman Building. After closing the door to her office and tossing her high-heels into the corner, she settled down on the sofa. Her body just screamed for sleep. Her muscles ached. She hadn't gotten more than four hours of sleep in three days straight. Just as she lay down, she remembered that she had put on the last blouse from her closet here this morning. Quickly her exhausted brain realized that she had to get home today. She had managed so well to avoid that the last few nights, after all. She thought about it briefly. Either she would manage to get home before 6 p.m. today and get fresh clothes, or she would run willy-nilly on him. Since that was out of the question for her, she would probably have to wear today's suit tomorrow. At the thought of Daisy excitedly rushing into her office and wrinkling her for it, she inevitably had to chuckle softly. Sure, she understood her. She was just glad that she wouldn't be the one who would have to spend the next three weeks answering repeated inquiries as to why she, the Secretary of State, had worn the same outfit twice.

She reached for a pillow and placed it under her head and was closing her eyes when she heard hurried footsteps in the hallway outside her office door. She knew she had a maximum of five minutes left. She sighed and straightened up again. Sleeping was not going to happen again. Although an hour of peace and quiet would do her good, an hour to forget the world.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't hear the knock. Only when the door was slowly opened and the so familiar voice sounded to her.

"Ma'am?"

In her assistant's face, she could see his regret. Good Blake cared for her as if she were his child.

"Mmm," she slapped herself inwardly for making her voice sound so depreciated. The Secretary of State's voice has to sound different, not like a school kid who doesn't want to get up in the morning.

His voice very soft, as if he didn't want to disturb her and rather let her recover "Sorry to disturb you, but our flight leaves in two hours. It would certainly be good if we went over the paperwork already. Nadine and Jay are already waiting in Conference Room 3."

Right, there was something else. Hadn't Conrad said something about an overseas trip? Europe, right. There was another disagreement between Europe and the United States. It was about tariffs on cars and bananas, if she remembered correctly. She smiled slightly. Kind of amusing, not being able to agree on bananas and cars. So now she was sent to Brussels by her government to fix it. But at least, now she didn't have to worry about getting her clothes. Blake would pack her bags as she did every time before a trip, while running from meeting to meeting. Now she just had to get him...

"BLAKE!" she called after her assistant, who was already heading back to his desk.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Can you stock the closet here in the office while you're at my place. I ..." she looked down at herself and then back at Blake, who seemed to understand her without words. "You're wearing the last fresh blouse, I see." he finished with an encouraging smile for her. She couldn't help but nod at him gratefully. Grateful that he didn't question, didn't force her to explain why she hadn't been home in so long.

"Please let the Conference Room 3 know, I'll be right there. I'll just gather some papers quickly." She stood up and headed in the direction of her desk. Blake nodded and hurried off. Two hours until take off is scheduled and he still had to go through that D.C. traffic? Good luck Blake, she was still thinking as his footsteps moved away.

Gathering her documents, she quickly scurried into her bathroom. A quick glance in the mirror was enough to confirm her suspicions. The circles under her eyes were clearly visible and her cheekbones stood out more than usual. Nothing that a little makeup couldn't save, but it still worried her a little. It wasn't the dark circles that bothered her the most, nor her prominent cheekbones. It was much more the feeling of her upper left arm. She rolled up the sleeve of her blue blouse as far as she could and raised her arm at an angle, startled when she caught sight of the shimmering yellow-green hematoma in the mirror. If this was what it looked like, she'd rather not even know what the other spots looked like. Shouldn't something like that be much smaller after almost three days, if not, no longer there at all? Sure, she already knew the kind of sore muscles. The bruised muscles sometimes still hurt after a week, but no hematoma had ever been so stubborn. When the memories came back, she closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.

She couldn't remember much, but she was pretty sure that bruise had come from his strong grip when she refused to hear the three words he so longed her to say. She hadn't felt like it and just wanted to go to bed. The week had been exhausting. She had once again tried to avoid him as much as possible. She would have liked to spend the whole weekend in the office. But that would only have brought attention, which she didn't want. The press was already following her kicking and screaming and she definitely didn't need any more speculation about her current relationship status. So she had left the office at 11 p.m. on Saturday night. All she had done was kill time and answer emails. Something she used to love to do on Sunday mornings after morning sex and while he made breakfast for her in bed. Now it was different. She had just said goodbye to her DS agents, kicked off her heels in the foyer and hung up her coat when he stood provocatively in the doorway. She had wanted to ignore him and just walk past him to bed. But he grabbed her by the arm...

"Madam Secretary?"

Startled out of her thoughts, she merely called out, "Just a moment." Quickly, she rolled down her blouse sleeve and wiped her eye circles twice with a makeup brush. She put on her Secretary of State face and looked in the mirror. That would have to do. At least for now.

"Is everything all right? Nadine and Jay have been waiting for her for 20 minutes."

Oh, crap. The meeting. "Right. I'm done. Enough to get on the plane, right?" She stepped out of the bathroom and raised both arms up in an apologetic gesture while pulling her mouth into a grimace.

Daisy smiled sheepishly "Are you all right? You look tired."

If only it were, Elizabeth thought, and said "I'll have time for a power-nap on the plane."

"But only if we can make the meeting now. Russell Jackson's office sent over three more reports with the explicit note that they're important for Brussels. They don't look like much fun. In fact, he just called again to make sure they were being processed." She shook her head slightly in incomprehension. "As if on us files would get lost."

"Oh, I'm just saying East Asia Report."

"That was different."

"So?" she raised her eyebrows questioningly, "I only know the version where the file was accidentally sent downstairs to the first floor. And we both know that what ends up there always stays there." Elizabeth noted with a smirk, grabbing the stack of papers and her purse.

At Elizabeth's words, Daisy blushed slightly and meekly replied "Maybe that was only half the truth."

She heard Daisy retort something else, but by then she was out of her office door and on her way to Conference Room 3. She had to pull herself together. She was the Secretary of State, for God's Sake. Elizabeth shook her head to sort out her thoughts.

With a smile, she opened the door. "Good afternoon, sorry for being late."