AN: You ask, you shall receive. Here's the next chapter!
Henry was ushered into the Situation Room, and stayed put near the far wall, standing out of the frame like he'd been told.
It was against protocol for him to be in here, but after watching the video of his wife he'd pleaded with Russell to be there when another call came in. It seemed the man had a heart after all.
"Your Secretary of State claims to know you much more intimately than we'd realized Mr. President."
Conrad's nose turned up. "How so?"
Henry's eyes jumped from the screen to where Conrad stood tall at the head of the table.
"She says she's your mistress."
Henry's cheeks warmed as the eyes of the generals who were seated across the table darted towards him.
"She talked of your time in Iraq together." Andrey crossed his arms over his chest. "Of a night you shared under the stars."
It couldn't be.
Elizabeth would never commit adultery.
"Will you save her Mr. President? Or are you willing to let her die?"
The feed cut to a different room, to footage of his wife.
Elizabeth sat shirtless, tied to a chair as pins were taken to the side of her body that wasn't sporting a bandage.
His stomach clenched and he was sure that he would have been sick if he hadn't already thrown up the little breakfast he'd had the previous morning.
"Conrad loves me." He could see the beads of sweat along her hairline. "He'll send someone, and they'll be prepared. We've changed policy and the new protocols work!"
She hissed as a man who stood just out of frame jabbed the small pin into her skin again.
The video flashed back to Andrey.
"This is your last chance, Mr. President." He leaned forward into the camera. "You have two hours."
And then the screen zapped back to images of Nicolai Rogov and the Florida State Capitol.
The room was quiet. Russell's eyes avoided his. Generals' stares stayed on their shoes. And Conrad…
"Henry," the president said as he faced him. "Elizabeth and I… She's never been unfaithful to you."
He wouldn't believe it even if Conrad had stood right here in front of him and told him so.
"Then why did Bess say so?" Russell asked.
"I don't know." Conrad shook his head as he sunk down into his chair.
And just like that, a flip switched and the room bustled with movement and mumbled conversations. His gaze remained on the president.
"Under the stars," he muttered after a minute of silence. Conrad sat up straight and swiveled his chair, so he was turned towards him and Russell. "We ran an op back in June of '03 called Starry Night." His fingertips pressed into the wood of the table as he ordered a subordinate to pull up the report. "There has to be some reason she alluded to the operation."
Henry nodded.
Elizabeth was intelligent.
A straight-A student throughout her years of schooling, except for the B+ she received in her music course during her freshman year of high school.
"It wasn't my fault!" She'd said after he'd teased her.
No, it wasn't her fault because after all the years they'd been together he knew his wife was less than blessed in the musical department. Of course, it hadn't been her fault when she'd had to sing a few verses of a song in front of her class for her final exam.
His lips twitched.
Elizabeth was intelligent.
She was the parent who'd sat at the dining room table with each of their children, helping them through their math problems late into the evening.
Stevie hadn't needed much help until trapezoids, prisms, and parallelograms had made an appearance in sixth grade. He'd squinted his eyes at the problems on the worksheet. And he'd never been more thankful for his wife when she'd taken his spot next to their daughter and walked her through the concept.
They'd babbled about common core concepts later while they'd brushed their teeth and readied for bed. He wanted to look into private schooling, but Elizabeth had assured him that the kids would be fine where they were.
Elizabeth was intelligent.
She seemed to solve crises with a simple snap of her fingers… In their early days at UVA, he'd sworn she'd solve world hunger. He was confident in her abilities, but she was anything but cocky.
"Everyone is crazy talented, Henry," she'd said as she'd curled into his chest after her first day at Langley.
"So are you," he'd whispered.
Elizabeth was intelligent.
He'd been on the sharp end of her lectures before, but the first time he'd witnessed a heated 'discussion' between his wife and a world leader he'd been thankful that he was the one who shared a bed with her at night. Surely, there were more than a few reasons as to why she kept her tone sweet (most of the time) with him. Maybe she knew better than to intentionally pick a fight with the man she took to bed.
Elizabeth was intelligent.
She was smarter than any other woman, any other man he knew. If there was a chance, she'd take it. If there was a way, she'd find the will to make it happen.
"About two hours until the SEAL team arrives," a general announced to the room.
He found a chair near the wall and sat down and prayed. And once through with the Apostles' Creed for the third time, he took comfort in the fact that his wife held the habit of thinking quick on her feet when under pressure.
Henry let out a breath before beginning again.
"I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth…"