Authors note
A different take on the sexual harassment Elizabeth experienced while she was with Andrada. This is probably pretty personal in one way or the other for every woman out there, including me. So, consider this a trigger warning, be safe and strong and have fun with some drama and hurt&comfort. It has been a while since I posted anything but I'm always grateful for reviews and let me know if you want this story continued.
Elizabeth turned around, her fist crashing into Andradas face. She wasn't thinking, only acting on instinct and on training, training she had received and needed decades ago. When she saw the blood starting to pour out of Andradas nose, running across his lips and turning his teeth red, making him look even more evil than before, Elizabeth froze for a moment, before she threw a couple of napkins into Andradas face. Andrada looked up with a look of a predator and Elizabeth realized that she might have made it all much worse for herself than it already was.
"Oh, you like it rough", he hisses and made it step towards. Elizabeth checked out the room, trying to find a quick way out of there but Andrada cornered her, with a desk and the wall behind her back. Elizabeth tried to run forward, to get past Andrada and to the door where she knew her detail was waiting for her on the other side. But at the same moment Elizabeth started to run, Andrada lunged forward, grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her back so hard, that she stumbled backwards and fell into the table that stood behind her, the edge of the desk painfully cutting into her back before she fell onto the ground, struggling for air due to the impact. Before she could collect herself, she felt the soles of Andrada's shoes crash painfully into her ribs and stomach, coming after her again and again within seconds and with such a force that all Elizabeth could do was to curl up in a ball as much as possible to protect herself from the violence. Before she knew it, Andrada stopped and though her body protested and the pain made it hard to even breath, Elizabeth tried to get up.
"But we haven't even started with the fun part", Andrada whispered smiling, as he forcefully pushed Elizabeth flat on the ground and straddled her. For Elizabeth it felt like the fog in her head finally lifted and she started to yell for Matt like her life depended on it until she felt a fist crashing into the side of her face. Elizabeth could vaguely feel that another hand was pushing her dress upwards, slowly uncovering parts of her body that only belong to her and if anyone, Henry. Elizabeth started to scream for help again, fighting against Andrada's hands that felt like they were everywhere. She squirmed under the weight of that man, trying to get some space so that she could fight back. And finally, when Andrada looked down, trying to get a handle on Elizabeth panties, Elizabeth collected her strength and yanked her knee between Andrada's legs, right where it would hurt him the most. He let go of her for a split second, cursing her loudly and just in that moment, Elizabeth could hear her detail crash into the room, yelling her name.
Elizabeth let out a shaky breath, knowing that it was over and let herself sink fully onto the ground again, shaking. She didn't notice much from then on, a couple of man grabbed Andrada and got him out of the room, a lot of yelling happening around her while Elizabeth just laid there, on the naked ground, with her dress pushed up just enough to make Matt take of his jacket and lay it over her body.
"Ma'am, you're save now, you're gonna be all right", Matt murmured as he pressed a tissue against the cut above her eyebrow, stopping the blood to gush across her face, pooling on the ground. Elizabeth was unable to find words, unable to find control over her body that felt like someone had tried to run over with a truck. She didn't even notice that Blake had entered the room and Blake was glad that he had a second to regain his composure after seeing his boss lying in her own blood, curled up in a ball in the corner of this gigantic room, with Matt kneeing next to her, pressing down onto a wound in her face with a tissue. Blake took a deep breath in before he hurried to Elizabeth. He didn't know what to say though, so he just kneed down next to her head, lifting it up very gently so that he could put his beloved and crazy expensive Burberry jacked underneath it. It took Elizabeth another minute before she started to regain control over her thoughts. "Matt?" she murmured.
"Yes, Ma'am?"
"Get me out of here please?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
With the help of Blake and Matt, Elizabeth slowly rose into a sitting position, wincing in pain from the shots of pain that were sent through her body with every movement.
"Should I call an ambulance?" Blake asked quietly.
"Hell no", Elizabeth looked at him, almost pleading, "no ambulance, I'll be fine, please just get me on our plane. No doctors, no ambulance, just the plane." Blake and Matt exchanged looks. Matt nodded and turned around to another guy from the detail. The look was enough to let Matts colleague know that they had to do.
Elizabeth couldn't tell how much time had passed, she couldn't even remember how she had gotten there, but she suddenly found herself lying down in her small but noble bedroom on the secretary's plane, an icepack draped over her face and ribcage, when she heard a soft knock on the door.
"Ma'am?" Blake asked carefully before he entered the room.
"Yeah", Elizabeth sat up a little and carefully, ignoring that the icepack fell of her face and that her torso started to send new waves of pain through her body.
"Sit", Elizabeth invited him to sit down on the bed with a nod.
"Ma'am, your detail organized a doctor to join us on the plane. Maybe you should, I mean… Maybe…", Blake suddenly couldn't find the right words anymore as Elizabeth's blue eyes seemed to pierce him.
"I need to talk to POTUS", Elizabeth finally said, "and Henry, did someone talk to him?"
"POTUS is informed and so is your husband", Blake nodded.
"Did you – what did you tell them?"
"That there was an incident, that you are fine but on the way home".
"That's all?" Elizabeth looked at Blake questioning.
"And that you'll probably need medical attention when we get back", Blake admitted. Elizabeth sighed.
"Blake, where's my phone?" Elizabeth asked. Blake reached into his pocket where he pulled out Elizabeth's phone.
"Thank you", Elizabeth took the phone from his hands and noticed that Henry had tried to reach her a couple of times. Blake got up, feeling that Elizabeth wanted some privacy.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, I really think you should let the medics take a look at you before we land."
"Thank you Blake", Elizabeth said with a small smile but without letting Blake know whether or not she agreed.
On the other side of the world, Henry was currently pacing up and down the office that he shared with his wife. An incident, he thought, that could mean anything. They would tell him, if it was really serious, right? On the other hand, they had said that she'd probably need medical attention when they got back. But why didn't she get that there right away? That probably meant that whatever had happened to her wasn't too bad, right? If Elizabeth would just pick up the phone, Henry thought, right when his phone started to buss.
"Elizabeth!"
"Yeah", Elizabeth responded slowly and took a shaky breath in.
"Baby, are you all right? They told me that there was an incident and that you're on your way home but they didn't tell me anything else and I just", Henry rambled on until he noticed that his panic was taking control over him. He took a deep breath in and asked again: "Are you all right?"
Elizabeth looked up in her bedroom on the plane. There was a mirror montaged at the wall right across from the bed. She had never noticed it up until now. Up until now, when she caught a glimpse of herself just for a second, before she looked down at her hand again, which was also turning red and blue, probably due to the fight she had put up, trying to stop Andrada from – well, trying to stop him altogether. It dawned on her right then and there, that she had to prepare Henry, that she couldn't let him see her like that without a warning. But she also didn't want to talk about it.
"Henry?"
"Yes?"
"I'm gonna hang up just for a second so that we can switch to facetime, ok?"
"I'll call you, just hang up", Henry urged her. It only took a few seconds until Elizabeth appeared on Henrys screen. What he saw almost took his breath away.
"Elizabeth", Henry whispered. She wasn't all right. She was alive, yes, but his wife wasn't all right. There was dried blood in her hair and on her face, though it looked like someone tried to hastily wash it away, maybe Elizabeth herself. The right side of her face was already purple and would probably get even worse before it would get better.
Elizabeth looked pale and Henry could tell that she was shaking slightly.
"I know, not my best look", Elizabeth tried to lighten the mood but none of them laughed.
"Did someone take a look at that?" Henry asked carefully. Elizabeth shook her head slightly and before Henry could say anything else, she said: "I just… I can't Henry. I can't have someone… poking around, fumbling, I just… I can't, ok? I can't."
She sounded out of breath and Henry desperately whished he could be directly by her side.
"Ok, ok", he told her, "it's ok honey, you don't need to do anything you don't want to do. Can you – Babe, what happened?"
Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment and took another breath in, regretting it in an instant due to the pain in her ribs. She very slightly grimaced in pain but enough to let Henry know that it wasn't only her face that had been injured.
"I don't want to push you. If you don't want to talk", Henry started but Elizabeth interrupted him.
"Andrada tried – he tried to", Elizabeth just couldn't find the right words, "well, he didn't get very far", she said bitterly instead. Pictures started to form in Henrys head and it took everything out of him not to swipe each and every single piece on his desk across the room. Instead he tried to concentrate on his wife and his breathing.
"What can I do?" he asked slowly.
"Just – tell me something? Tell me something to get my mind off this – this mess, until we land?"
"Of course. Under one condition – as soon as your plane hits the ground, you'll let me drive you to the hospital. And if you feel drowsy or if the pain gets worse or so, you'll let the doctors on the plane take a look at you."
"Fine", Elizabeth exhaled.
And then Henry told her about the kids. He told her random stories about their shared past, reminded her of some of their funniest memories and continued to do so hour after hour until her plane finally landed.