Supermarket Flowers
Chapter One
a/n – this is my first ever madam secretary fic – I'm probably going to struggle with state department stuff so please forgive me. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Elizabeth McCord sat quietly on one of the hard-plastic chairs in the waiting room of the dental surgery. She sighed as she swiped her phone open and checked her messages. She aimlessly scrolled through them but was not actually reading them, her mind was elsewhere. Her stomach was in knots as she waited to be called for her appointment – she was never a huge fan of the dentist, but this time was different. She absent-mindedly brushed the side of her tongue along the lump that had formed at the side of her mouth two weeks prior as she had done so frequently over the past few days.
Abscess. It's got to be she thought to herself. Just an abscess, they'll give me antibiotics and send me on my way.
She continued to scroll through her phone, trying to clear her mind.
What if it's not though? She asked herself. The knots in her stomach tightened. There was always the possibility that this wasn't an abscess, she hadn't had a fever. True, there had been swelling, but there was no throbbing tooth ache to accompany it. She took a deep breath and closed all the tabs on her internet browser.
"Elizabeth McCord?" A voice called from the back of the waiting room. A young woman in light blue scrubs was standing there with a clipboard. Elizabeth jumped up from her seat instantly.
"Yeah." She said, grabbing her bag and putting her phone into her pocket as she walked forward to the back of the waiting room.
"Hi there." The woman said. "I'm Emma, I'll be your dental nurse today, if you'll just follow me, I'll take you through to Dr. Vithlani." Elizabeth nodded and followed Emma down a short corridor and into a room with a plate reading Dental Surgery 3.
Inside the room, a woman sat at a computer in the corner, dressed in green scrubs – she was quickly reading over Elizabeth's health records to get herself up to speed. She stood up and shook Elizabeth's hand.
"Madam Secretary." She said. "Good afternoon, I am very sorry for the wait, please have a seat." She gestured towards the dentist's chair and Elizabeth complied, sitting down gingerly on the chair.
Dr Vithlani sat on a stool opposite the dentist's chair and scanned over the forms that Elizabeth had filled in.
"So, Madam Secretary – "
"Please, call me Elizabeth." She corrected.
"Okay, Elizabeth, what is it I can do for you today? I see you're not due your check up for another few months?"
"Yeah, I think I have an abscess, could you take a look?" Elizabeth explained. Dr. Vithlani stood up.
"Absolutely." She said, hitting the controls to lower the chair to the correct height.
Elizabeth closed her eyes as she opened her mouth, to allow the doctor access to the inside. After a small amount of poking and prodding, the doctor sighed.
"Are you experiencing any sensitivity or tooth ache in the nearby teeth?" She asked.
"No." Elizabeth answered.
"And no fever? I see there is a good amount of swelling here." She continued.
"Nope, no fever."
The doctor placed her tools back on the table beside the chair, and looked to Emma, the dental nurse.
"Emma, could you get me some x-ray films please?" She asked. Emma went into the large cupboard next to the computer and retrieved a box of films. Dr. Vithlani placed a film into the dental x-ray holder.
"Ok Elizabeth, I'm going to need to take an x-ray to have a better look at what's going on, can you please bite down on this?" She asked, sliding the plastic holder into her mouth and positioning it correctly. Elizabeth hated dental x-rays, the plastic holders always felt too sharp and it was a struggle to hold it in place in her mouth. The doctor and dental nurse exited the room while the x-ray photo was taken and re-entered shortly after. Dr. Vithlani removed the x-ray holder from Elizabeth's mouth. She then sat down at her computer and waited for the slides to load.
"Hmm." The doctor commented, looking at Elizabeth and then back to the x-ray slide. She then got up and took out another x-ray film from the box on the counter.
"Sorry Elizabeth, I'm going to need to take another x-ray if you don't mind."
"Okay." Elizabeth said, her voice quivering a little. The holder went back in. Once again, they left the room while the photo was taken. It was a few minutes later, after having stared at the x-ray slides that Dr. Vithlani moved back to the stool near the dentist's chair.
"Well, I've taken a long hard look, and I'm sorry Elizabeth, I don't believe this is an abscess." She said, her face was drained of colour. Elizabeth's heart skipped. Oh God.
"So, what does –" Elizabeth choked out.
"I am going to be urgently referring you to the George Washington University Hospital. With any luck, you should have a consultation there with one of the maxillofacial doctors and then they will take care of you from there."
Elizabeth felt as though she'd been hit by a truck, her head was spinning as she took all of this information in, after a moment's silence she sat up and started to get up from the dentist's chair.
"Thank you, doctor." She said, heading for the door.
"I'm truly sorry, Elizabeth. I wish it was an abscess." The doctor said, Elizabeth nodded in response. She opened the door and left the room. Slowly she walked back out into the waiting area and up to the reception desk. The receptionist looked up from her paperwork and smiled.
"How may I help you?" She asked. Elizabeth cleared her throat.
"I – I need to pay for my visit." She answered. The receptionist nodded as the desk phone rang. Elizabeth opened up her purse and pulled her credit card out, ready to pay.
"I'm sorry, just one moment." She said and picked up the phone. "Yeah? Yes, she's here now. Okay, I understand. Thank you, doctor." She placed the phone back into the cradle. She looked to Elizabeth, her smile faded, and her face was drained of colour.
"That was Dr. Vithlani," The receptionist explained. "There is no charge for your visit. She wanted me to let you know she has already sent over the paperwork to GWUH to get your referral rolling. Have a nice day, Madam Secretary."
"Oh, okay then, well thank you." Elizabeth said, putting her credit card away in her purse. She headed for the exit and stopped for a moment take in a deep breath of fresh air. Her motorcade was waiting just outside of the building. Her DS agents were standing outside one of the vehicles.
"Everything okay, Madam Secretary?" Matt asked as she approached them, opening the car door.
"Fine thanks, Matt. Sorry for making you wait out here." She said.
"You were never one for protocol, ma'am." He said, a small grin appeared on his face.
"Well, you know, it's not like they were going to murder me with a dental drill." Elizabeth joked, sitting down in the backseat of the car, she closed the door behind her. Matt got into the front seat of the car.
"Back to the office, ma'am?" He asked.
Elizabeth paused for a moment, pulling her phone from her pocket. There was a missed call from Henry.
"Uh, actually Matt, I need to call back to the house." She said, unlocking her phone and heading into her messages.
"Yes ma'am." Matt said, and the vehicle pulled off. Elizabeth began typing a message to Henry.
E: Sorry, was in the dentist.
H: That's ok babe, how did it go?
E: I'm heading home, can you meet me there? I'll be home in 20.
H: Sure… babe is everything okay?
E: See you at home.
Elizabeth sighed, she hated having to be cryptic but there was no way she was going to tell Henry this news via text. She exited the chat and brought up Blake's chat thread.
Blake, I need you to clear my schedule for the rest of the day, I'm needed at home.
She sent the text and then turned her phone off, she closed her eyes and rested her head against the car window. How was she going to tell Henry that their world may be about to change, and not in a good way? She felt sick at just the thought of it.
Breathe, just breathe she told herself as she tried to keep her cool, the last thing she needed right now was a panic attack. The ride home felt like forever. She simultaneously couldn't wait to be home and didn't want to go home. By the time the motorcade arrived outside the house, she got out and slowly walked to the front door; she opened it and stepped inside.
"Anybody home?" She called out, when she got no response, she headed to the kitchen and retrieved a tub of ice cream from the freezer and a fork from the dishwasher. She sat at the table and began to eat. She was glad her children were all out. She didn't want to tell them what was going on yet, it would be too much to worry them about something that she wasn't one hundred per cent sure that she had yet.
She looked up from her ice cream as she heard a key in the lock and the sound of the front door opening.
"Elizabeth?" She heard Henry call out.
Oh God, this is it she thought
To Be Continued