Monday rolled around and all the kids were out of the house early in the morning. Stevie went to work; Jason went to school and Alison left to catch up with some friends. Elizabeth was rather anxious for the FBI to come by today.
After breakfast she got dressed semi-decent and waiting with Henry for them to come by.
"Do you want me to stay?" Henry asked as he grabbed her hand while sitting opposite of her at the table.
"Yes."
"Then I will be right by your side." Henry promised.
They waited for a little while longer until the doorbell rang. Henry got up to open the door while Elizabeth stayed put.
"Conrad?" Henry said surprised when he opened the door and found the President himself on his doorstep.
"Henry, it's good to see you."
"You too. We were expecting the FBI." Henry stated as he stepped aside so the other man could enter the house.
"I know." He simply said before making his way to the kitchen.
Elizabeth looked just as surprised as Henry had a little while ago. She got up despite her aching ribs and she mentally kicked herself for being in sweats.
"Hi." Elizabeth smiled before walking towards Conrad and pulling him in for a quick hug. It wasn't something they did often, only in times like this.
"Coffee?" Henry offered as Conrad sat down and filled up a cup.
"How are you feeling?" He asked his former employee, and fake-surrogate daughter.
"I'm really happy. I'm back with my family and ready to put all of this behind me."
"How are your kids dealing with things?"
"They're coping." Elizabeth sighed. "This past year has been really hard on them."
"But we're all very grateful she's home." Henry smiled as he set a cup in front of Conrad and took place next to his wife.
"Thank you, by the way. For allowing Henry time off to be with me." Elizabeth told him and he gave her a simple nod.
"I can't tell you how good it is to see the two of you together again." Conrad sipped his coffee for a moment before setting it back down. "There are however a few things we still need to talk about."
"I'm ready." Elizabeth spoke with much determination. She wasn't sure if it was to convince the two men or herself. Either way, the conversation continued.
"We nearly went to war with the wrong country."
"I think that's what they intended." Elizabeth replied and Henry sighed. They had been so focused in Iran; they missed any signs.
"President Andrada has been informed that the United States will not tolerate what he did, and his actions will have consequences." Conrad started. "You can of course file criminal charges as well."
"We both know that won't matter a bit." Elizabeth sighed. The guy lived on the other side of the planet and he would just get away with what he did.
"However, many people within his government want him out of office and by this time Wednesday, they will most likely have a new president."
"They're planning a coup?" Elizabeth frowned. The irony; she went to Iran to prevent a coup only to create another one in the Philippines.
"The Filipino vice-president will call an emergency meeting this afternoon to declare President Andrada incompetent to hold office." Conrad explained what he had negotiated so far.
"What will happen to him?" Henry jumped in.
"That is up to the new president. Most likely he will stand trial but with the number of supporters he still has in the country, I doubt he will get convicted. No one wants to start of their new presidency with creating a war among his own people."
"So, he will just walk?" Henry growled. "After what he did?"
"Henry." Elizabeth placed a gentle hand on his for him to calm down.
"He will be denied entrance to the United States indefinitely and some of our allies have followed our lead. As soon as he leaves to a country that will extradite him, we will get him and put him on trial here."
"I can't say that's what I hoped for." Elizabeth tried to mask her disappointment. She wished he would be locked up in a deep, dark whole and throw away the key. He deserved to at least feel the way she was now. But from the looks of it, that wasn't going to happen.
"I'm sorry, Bess."
"I know you're doing everything you can. I appreciate that, thank you."
"I wish I could have come bearing better news."
"The men who helped me, what happened to them?" Elizabeth wondered if her captor had gotten to them or if they were safe.
"The secretary of defence is working alongside the new president."
"And Agapito? He was one of the guards."
"We have been unable to locate him." Conrad sighed before finishing his cup of coffee. "I should probably head back, but when you're up for it, I'll come by again."
"Thank you." Elizabeth smiled and Henry shook his hand.
"I'll walk you out." Henry said and got up to walk with Conrad to the door. Elizabeth stayed behind and moved herself to the couch.
There had been a slight sense of unease at the back of Elizabeth's mind since her return. An unsettling feeling something terrible was about to happen.
She felt her heart speed up, her breath immediately started to come in quick, pained gasps. She fought back the rising feeling of dread, though, forcing herself to stay focused long enough to sit down on the couch.
Her body might have been in the present, safe in her own home, but her mind was trapped in the past as she watched through the eyes of herself in the past year. Chained up in a room, noises all around her.
The memories that flooded her mind, only made it worse, and it was becoming harder for her to force air into her lungs. Her vision was blurring between the memories and her living room, and her head was getting simultaneously lighter and heavier.
The fact that none of her family members were nearby to ask for help, scared her. It only added to the overwhelming sensation of unstoppable panic. She couldn't breathe, or think, or do anything to help herself.
She was on dry land, but she could've sworn that she was drowning.
Elizabeth wasn't breathing, despite the hoarse gasping noises she was making.
Henry walked back in and immediately jumped into action. He grabbed her hand and pushed it down on his own diaphragm. She didn't acknowledge the movement, her eyes unfocused and chest heaving violently.
"Elizabeth," Henry growled, before taking a deep breath himself and forcibly relaxing his tone. "Babe, listen to my voice."
Henry physically turned her head until he was looking directly into that half-conscious gaze.
"Feel my breathing under your hand and try to match it." Elizabeth was still gasping to no effect, however his hand on her cheek brought her eyes more into focus.
"Breathe in through your nose, slowly, and breathe out through your mouth when I tell you." There was the slightest hint of a jerky nod.
"Breathe in." Taking a slow, deep breath through her nose for about two seconds, Henry pressed more firmly on his wife's hand, making sure she could feel the pattern she needed to follow.
Elizabeth couldn't get a proper breath the first time, but Henry knew his instructions wouldn't have an instantaneous effect.
"Hold the breath in, as well as you can." Henry counted out two beats, knowing that Elizabeth was struggling to hold onto her lungful of air. "Okay, let it out through your mouth, slowly."
Another two seconds passed, and Henry told her to wait two more beats before repeating the cycle all over again. It was a slow-going procedure. At some point, Elizabeth's free hand had fisted in his shirt, something he knew she was doing for a physical grounding point. It took Henry longer to realize that his own free hand had migrated, resting reassuringly on the back of her head.
Elizabeth was slowly heading back to a normal breathing pattern, and Henry took his hand away from behind her head. The moment he did, though, Elizabeth lost her measured breathing. Henry let his hand rest back in position, quietly talking his wife back to normality.
Although it didn't take too long to get Elizabeth out of the danger zone, Henry spent at least ten minutes hunched onto the couch, making sure that she was going to be okay.
Finally, her breathing and heartbeat returned to their normal resting rates, and she turned teared-up eyes on the man whose hands were still touching her.
"Sorry," Elizabeth mumbled, exhaustion practically dripping from her.
Henry just stared, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that it was finally occurring to him that she was much more affected by the events than she let on.
"I can't do this." Henry took a step back from the couch and Elizabeth looked at him with a terrified expression.
Part of her had always been worried that one day Henry would give up on her. That he would see the broken mess she had become and figure it wasn't worth the trouble. She had tried to shield him from it best she could, but it turned out she should have tried harder.
"I understand." She didn't blame him, though. On the contrary, she had expected it. However, it still felt like a stab to her heart hearing him admit it.
Henry, having noticed her inner battle, realized his poor choice of words. "I didn't mean-"
"No, it's okay." Elizabeth held up her hand and rose from the couch. "I get it. I can't expect you to keep up with me."
"No, no. Stop." Henry shook his head. "I meant I can't watch you suffer every day. Baby, you need to talk to somebody."
"What?"
"I'm not giving up on you. Never. I just think that it would be good if you talked to someone." Henry explained and Elizabeth frowned. She couldn't fully comprehend what was going on and part of her was still convinced Henry was giving up on her. On them.
"I don't need to talk to anyone." She argued. She didn't want to talk about it; she just wanted to forget it all happened.
"You haven't mentioned his name, once."
"Henry." She sighed.
"Say it."
"I can't." She admitted in defeat while tears welled up in her eyes. She was aware she hadn't said his name because she couldn't. Her breathing was becoming more rapid again and her heartbeat was speeding up.
"Okay. Just take a deep breath." Henry assured her. Grabbing her hand with his own, he tried to get her breathing to match his own.
"I just need some more time. I promise it will go back to how it was before."
"Stop. I've got all the time in the world for you, but you can't rush this. You need to feel it. All the pain, grief and sadness."
"I'm scared." She admitted in a tone more desperate and defeated than Henry gad hoped for. "What if I'm never able to stand your touch again, Henry? I don't want to live like that."
"We will figure it out." He tried to motivate her. "Like we always do."
"But what if we don't?"
"I know you haven't told me the extend of what you went through but I can promise you that whatever happens, I'll be by your side. Just the two of us. You and I against the world."
"And the kids." Elizabeth added and Henry nodded in agreement with a smile.
"And the kids."
TBC