WOW! You guys are rock stars at reviewing! Normally it's like pulling teeth to get people to comment. Thank you so much! I appreciate it! I am glad you are enjoying it. I wrote this kind of quickly and so I hope it turned out alright. I am also no medical professional so..yeah. I look forward to more of your thoughts. I am open to ideas or requests as I have no idea where I am going with this thing. Enjoy!

Henry was tired. It was his own fault. He had been impulsive and yelled at the President of the United States! Conrad had taken it well. Henry felt a bit ashamed of his outburst. Conrad had let him say his peace and had even looked abashed. Henry knew that Conrad felt the weight of his choices and that the man had only done what he felt had been necessary. Still, it was unfair, even despicable to have given up their own asset. Especially one that had given them the information Dimitri had given. Henry was sick knowing what the young man would now go through. It was a death sentence, a painful one. He was angry and felt betrayed. The fact that his wife had been in on the whole thing only made it sting more. He knew she didn't have a choice in the matter, not really. He also knew that she had probably tried to talk Conrad out if it. He knew her. She was kind and fair and knew this would hurt him and she would have tried to avoid it. But it had happened and she had been there. In his head she was a part of the failure he felt. He could still see her face when he was explaining the whole debacle to her. She had been still and quiet. The light from the window made her hair glow and he remembered thinking how beautiful she was. But her face had been sad, almost lost. Then he heard her voice. It was small. "It was part of the deal." He couldn't have heard her right. But she said, "We had to think of the greater good." Then his anger had roared. He asked her why she couldn't talk the President out of it. He knew it wasn't fair. Her face had shown her pain and sadness as he lashed out. But he couldn't help himself and refused to accept it. He left. When he returned it was late. He had kicked his shoes off and simply crumpled onto the sofa, his head aching. He told himself he didn't want to wake his wife. Deep down he doubted she was asleep. He was hiding from her. He was hurting and upset and didn't want her company. That fact made him even more troubled. He needed to go. They needed to get to Talia before the GRU did. She'd be leverage now to get Dimitri to talk. He wasn't going to lose her too. He didn't want Dimitri's sacrifice to be completely in vain. The next morning Henry had told Elizabeth he was leaving. She looked tired and he knew she hadn't slept well. She never slept well without him. His guilt grew. He didn't fully make eye contact with her. He didn't want to see her hurting and he was still frustrated. He had quickly pecked her on the cheek and left before she could protest or ask to talk. He wasn't ready to talk. It might be a while before he wanted to.

Hours later Henry looked at his phone as it rang for the second time that morning. Seeing Elizabeth's name again, he hesitantly silenced it. Jane gave him a glance as she drove and instead of acknowledging her questioning eyes he asked, "What's our ETA?"

"About 10 minutes," she replied. "You think she'll come with us?"

"I hope so. Though getting her trust us won't be easy."

Just as they were pulling into the place, Henry's phone rang again. The number was blocked and so he silenced it. "Blocked number," he explained. "Let's go."

However, they stopped short when Janes phone rang."Blocked number." She answered it. After a moment she turned to him with a serious expression and handed him the phone. "It's for you."

Henry was a bit confused but also had a nervous anxiety starting to build up inside his chest. "Dr. McCord here."

"Henry," Conrad began.

The tone of the President's voice told him right away it was bad news. His thoughts immediately went to Elizabeth. "Conrad, what's wrong? Is Elizabeth-"

"Henry we need you to come back. There's been an attack on Maria Ostrov."

"What? I don't understand. Is Elizabeth-"

"Bess got injured, Henry."

"No..." Henry couldn't believe what he was hearing. His heart had stopped. His brain felt sluggish.

"We don't know how badly yet. They're taking her to St. Anthony's hospital. I'm going there now."

"You don't know...but she's alive?"

"Yes," Conrad assured him. "According to Matt she asked for you."

Henry tried to breath. He had silenced her call. Guilt and pain began to settle deep and hard in his chest. "What happened?"

"I'll explain when you get here," Conrad said.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Henry ended the call and turned to Jane. "I have to go. It's Elizabeth. There was an attack..."

"Go. I'll talk to Talia. Take the car. I'll call a taxi. Go."

With a nod of thanks Henry took the keys. He felt sick. Elizabeth was injured. He should have been there. He should have answered the phone! If he lost her...after the way he'd left her...he'd never forgive himself. The worst scenarios began running through his mind. He had no idea what to expect. He took a breath. She was alive. He ignored the voice in his head saying, 'for now'.

When at last Henry had made it to St. Anthony's hospital, he was quickly directed to the fifth floor. It didn't take much to spot the agents standing outside a door to the right. When they saw him they opened the door for him. Henry entered and saw Conrad and Matt. They both looked stressed, tired and in Matt's case...a bit disheveled. Henry burst out, "Where is she? What's going on?"

" Glad you got here," Conrad said. "They took Bess into surgery about 2 hours ago."

Henry tried to focus. "Surgery for what?"

Conrad sighed, "We aren't sure. They said she was bleeding internally and rushed her off."

Henry's heart was pounding with frustration and fear. "I need an explanation. What the hell happened this morning?"

"Take seat, Henry. I'll fill you in," Conrad said.

"I'll stand," Henry said stubbornly. Conrad nodded. Ten minutes later Henry was caught up to speed. He turned to Matt. "Thank you for getting to her so quickly."

"I'm sorry I couldn't have done more," Matt said with guilt.

As if for the first time, Henry looked Matt over and suddenly felt his stomach drop at the amount of blood covering the man's white shirt sleeve. "That's hers?"

Matt nodded solemnly. "She had a head wound, and as you know they bleed quite a bit."

Henry tried to breath. "When do we expect to hear anything?"

"Soon," Conrad said.

There was silence for a moment. Henry resisted the urge to shout that soon wasn't good enough. He was sick with worry and felt like he didn't know everything he should about his wife's condition. Her sad face from the day before kept popping into his head. Distracting himself he asked, "Ostrov?"

"She didn't make it," Conrad replied as he rubbed his temples. "I've been trying all day to convince the Russians to hold to the peace deal. But it's slowly crumbling. The generals never wanted it. They blame the Ukrainians for this of course."

Suddenly Henry said, "The kids! I need to call them. I assume the media has broadcast something?"

"The story is beginning to hit the news cycle," Conrad confirmed.

"Do they know about Elizabeth?" Henry asked.

"That's a bit unclear right now," Conrad confessed.

Not wanting his children to hear about the bombing from the news he excused himself and went into the hallway to call Stevie. She answered after only one ring. "Dad! I just saw on the news... and Russell just sent me home …. were you guys there? Are you ok?" She sounded a bit frantic.

Henry sighed, "I'm fine. I wasn't there. Your mother...she was there. She's been injured. She's in surgery now."

"Oh my gosh. I don't... she's going to be alright, right?"

Henry could hear here trying not to panic. "I…I honestly don't know. She hurt her head and she had some internal bleeding which is why she's in surgery but...I haven't talked to the doctors yet," he confessed. "I just…can you hold down the fort and let Jas and Ali know?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Just…"

"I'll call you guys as soon as I know more, I promise," Henry said as he tried to keep calm. "I'm sure it will all be alright."

"Ok. Yeah."

"I love you," Henry said. "Give Ali and Jas a hug for me." He was blinking to keep the tears at bay. These were the words and actions he had neglected to give his wife just hours ago. Now he worried he'd never get to.

"I will."

Henry ended the call running his hand over his face and breathing deeply as he tried to gain back some of his composure. He returned to the room where Conrad and Matt sat waiting for news. Henry paced back and forth. Another twenty minutes passed before the door opened. The man looked around and finding Henry asked, "Are you Elizabeth McCord's husband?"

Henry quickly made his way toward the man in a white coat. "Yes, how is she?"

"I'm Dr. Johnson," the man extended his hand and Henry absentmindedly shook it as the man continued, "I am sorry for the long wait. We just finished up in surgery and are making her comfortable in a recovery room."

"What happened? Will she be alright?" Henry asked.

Conrad rose but stayed back. The doctor said, "I am confident she will recover, though I can't say it will be easy. When your wife arrived her blood pressure was dangerously low. We immediately started a transfusion and started accessing where she was losing blood. It became clear that two of her ribs were broken on her left side. There was substantial bruising which was a good indication of internal trauma. We immediately took her into surgery. Once there we saw that a small fragment of bone from her cracked rib had nicked the aorta. We worked as quickly as possible to remove the bone fragment, and repair the artery. We carefully looked for other bone fragments but found none. It was touch and go for a bit but your wife is a fighter. Her blood pressure has stabilized. We have her heavily sedated and have wrapped her chest to help secure her ribs."

Henry nodded as he absorbed the information. "The President said she had a head wound?"

"Yes. Fortunately, there is no fracture to the skull and as of right now there is no swelling. We will monitor her for a couple of days though. We had to stitch up the wound. She will have a slight scar near her hair line. She has a severe concussion. Because of where the wound is located, I wouldn't be surprised if she had slurred speech, and possibly some mobility issues on her right side. Nothing permanent but her brain is bruised and she will likely have symptoms for up to a week or more. Things to expect would be dizziness, nausea, headaches, light sensitivity, and possible memory loss or confusion."

Henry's heart rate picked up at all this information. He couldn't believe all that his wife had endured and would still have to go through on her road to a full recovery. He finally found his voice, but it was a bit shaky. "But it will go away? The symptoms? There won't be lasting brain damage?" Having Elizabeth alive but not herself was unthinkable.

"Her concussion is very serious, but as long as things remain as they are, I don't see her having any lasting effects. She was lucky. A foot closer to the blast and we may be having a very different conversation." The doctor's face was serious but sympathetic.

"Thank you. Can I see her? " Henry practically begged.

A small smile graced the doctors face as he replied, "Yes, she's in room 522. However, there is a bit more information I need to pass along to you."

Henry's anxiety made his heart beat hard and fast. There was more? He nodded and tried to focus as the doctor said, "Her right arm is broken and in a cast. It will be fine in about 6-8 weeks. But she also sustained some second degree burns to her lower legs. We have of course cleaned the wounded areas and dressed them. I have also put her on some antibiotics to help insure she doesn't develop an infection. It will take 3-5 weeks before the burns to fully heal."

"Ok. I assume it will affect her movement?" Henry asked.

"At first, yes. Burns can be very painful. The flow of blood to the area that will occur when she stands can cause the areas to throb. The healing skin may feel tight too. We will give you instructions on how best to keep her comfortable and ease her into standing and walking around when it's time to discharge her. For now, I think you've been overwhelmed enough. She's stable and resting."

"Thank you again," Henry said.

The doctor nodded and looking around asked, "I assume the Secretary's security detail will be staying as well? "

Conrad stepped forward for the first time, having given Henry some space during the doctors debrief. "Yes, we will have at least two DS agents posted at all times outside her room. "

The doctor gave a little nod of respect. "Of course, Mr. President." The doctor turned back to address Henry. "She won't wake up for a while but you can sit with her."

Henry nodded and then turned to Conrad as if asking permission to leave. Conrad patted his arm and said, " Go. I'll try to drop by later. I have some things to attend to. Keep me posted."

"Thank you, Sir." Henry left the room and two DS agents followed.

Matt stepped out of the room as well and said, "With your permission I'd like to come see her later."

Henry gave the man a small smile and shaking his hand replied, "Absolutely, Matt. I can't tell you how grateful I am that you stayed and where there to help her. I'm sure when she wakes up, she'd enjoy seeing you."

"Thank you, Sir. I'm so sorry I didn't protect her more."

"It wasn't your fault. None of us saw this coming," Henry supplied.

The two men parted and Henry began the walk down the hall to see his wife for the first time since walking out on her earlier that day. He opened the door and found the room only half lit. It was quiet except for the occasional beep of a machine. Henry made his way to the bed. His heart clenched. There was the love of his life. Her hair was a bit of a mess as it lay strewn across the pillow. Her face was pale and a large bandage covered the left side of her forehead. Tubing ran around her cheeks and into her nose, providing extra oxygen. Her right arm was encased in a white cast. He was relieved that it started below her elbow. She'd at least be able to bend her arm. Her legs were covered by a blanket. He was grateful not to have to see the bandages but was also curious as to how wide spread the burns where. Instead of thinking on it, Henry sat heavily in the chair near the bed, took his wife's cold hand and kissed it gently. He tried to remember what she had been wearing that morning but he couldn't remember. And why would he? He hadn't even bothered to give her a proper look before turning away from her. He berated himself. He wasn't worthy of her love. "I'm so sorry Elizabeth." He was broken from his thoughts when his phone buzzed. It was a message from Jane. Talia hadn't wanted their help. He could still feel the betrayed, angry and hurt feelings for what had happened to Dimitri. And now his heart hurt for what Talia might have to go through if the GRU found her. He'd have to work that out. He knew it wasn't going to just go away. But right then, in that moment, none of it mattered. He sat looking at the woman he loved more than anything and the thought how close he had come to losing her made his chest ache. He hadn't even kissed her properly or told her how much he loved her. What if she had died and the last thing he had done was refuse to sleep next to her? He felt sick. Suddenly the dame broke and Henry let his tears fall. "I love you." He held her hand tightly, his tears making her fingers wet. "I love you so much babe. I'm so sorry." All that mattered was that Elizabeth was alive. She needed him and he was not going anywhere this time.