The sunglasses gave her away. He had to suppress a smirk and tilted his head to hide the smile on his lips. A disregarding snort let him know that she had noticed his reaction. Briefly, he considered apologizing, but then decided against it. Especially since she had already passed his desk and disappeared into her office. He heard her drop her bag plumply on the floor, as she always did, before he heard the all too familiar sound of her writing chair.
Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three... He got up, grabbed the documents and her coffee, and walked through the doors, as he did every morning. "Good morning, Ma'am. I take it last night was..." he pondered for a moment what words to choose before hesitantly saying " ...pleasant." She lifted her head, which had been resting on the tabletop earlier, and looked at him over her sunglasses. "You asked Russell to be there?" Blake warmed. "Asked to it, I wouldn't say. How about suggested?" He raised his shoulders apologetically and was about to launch into a detailed explanation when Elizabeth raised her hands defensively. "Please, don't force it." Without a word, Blake set the coffee on the table in front of her and placed the documents next to it. "I've rescheduled a couple of meetings. If everything stays quiet, you'll only have to be at the lawyer's at one, and then they can go straight home."
"Thanks," she muttered. Blake turned without saying another word and was about to walk out the door when "BLAKE?" He stopped short and took one deep breath in and out. "Yes?" "I hope you all had a nice evening." He turned and looked at her with narrowed eyebrows before giving her a smile and stepping back into the room, closing the door behind him. "Our evening was, and I think I speak for all of us, very nice. Thank you again." He nodded his head slightly in gratitude. She remained silent. He knew there was something else on her mind. He waited. Looked into her eyes and tried to interpret her expression. Still she remained silent. The silence in the room was almost unbearable. He waited. The coffee on the table grew colder and the hands of the clock on the wall moved. He searched her eyes for what she seemed unable to formulate. There was something there. A heaviness. The gleam from her eyes had disappeared ages ago and the luminous blue had gone out. He had not asked further. It was also of limited concern to him. As much as he hated to say it, he was only responsible for her doing her job. As Nadine had put it a few weeks ago. 'It's none of your business. You won't know anything until she tells you. Before that, everything is fine.' Besides, he had learned that she was Secretary's kind of person who didn't let on. The poker face, as all the Senior Stuff called it. He wasn't even sure to what extent she told her close friends about her feelings, thoughts and fears. But now? Now he saw something different. He tried to read her eyes as he noticed the tear sliding down her cheek. He pulled up one corner of his mouth in embarrassment and continued to look at her. "Ma'am, when I..."
He couldn't finish the sentence. She had circled the desk and thrown herself at his neck. Her tear choked voice, made his heart break for her. "Will you hold me only for a second, please?" He hesitated again briefly. For him, it crossed a line, but as his jacket became wet with her tears, he carefully put his arms around her and stroked her back in a caressing manner. He felt her relax a bit before she pulled away after a moment. Uncertainly, she stood in front of him and wiped the tears from her face with her blouse sleeve, while she kept her eyes shamefacedly fixed on the floor next to his feet. Softly, barely intelligible, she whispered, "Thank you." Embarrassed, he nodded at her and then, gathering all his courage, asked her "What's the plan at noon today? Did Andrew agree?"
Elizabeth turned and walked toward the sofa. As she sat, she buried her face in her hands and rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. "I don't know. I'll have to sit there at noon today and listen to what he has to say. If he shows up at all."
Blake stood behind one of the chairs that faced the sofa. "I see. Is Mr. Barnow accompanying you?"
"No. I... We decided that wasn't a good idea. I asked Isabelle." "Ah, your mysterious spy friend?" "Yeah, that one." Elizabeth had to grin slightly. "I called her last night. Conrad had suggested it, after all, he knows her. And he said we must have another one of our famous spy reunion dinners." She reminisced. "God, those were the days. The last time we all saw each other was almost three years ago..." She looked at Blake. "But anyway, this is getting too far. The president's office should be contacting you soon about this or I will come back to you about it." Blake just nodded. Something wouldn't let him go. "Excuse me for asking. But how do you plan to handle this?" "With the Spy reunion dinner?" Elizabeth frowned before connecting the dots.
"Oh...yeah. That was actually the reason I called you back in. I want as little attention on it as possible. So far, yeah, it's been working really well. I mean, there's been virtually no article about..." she waved her hand around. "...You know..." He nodded. There had indeed been little media attention about her nose and about her absence for several days. „Maybe I will leak a short statemet or so." She paused briefly. "...Can you gather the senior stuff in the conference room before I have to go to court? But not a word." She raised an admonishing finger and dismissed him.