Thank you for your kind reviews. This one will have a lot of plot twists and turns as we go along with Henry and Elizabeth staying true to themselves and each other.
One note, I made a quick change in Chapter 6 as I typed the name wrong. It is Zahir not Zaheed. Sorry for that!
Chapter 7
"Hey, Shane," Henry said hesitantly, calling his brother from the residence.
"Look, we got some information today. Sarah's been injured in an incident. She is at the air base in Italy. We are hoping she will make it home in a few days. We think she will have to go to Walter Reed for some care." Henry heard his brother's concern through the line.
"Elizabeth can make arrangements for you to be brought down here. If Maureen and Erin want to come as well, that's fine. You can stay with us."
After making arrangements with Shane, he hung up and looked out the window over the portico at the Washington Monument. He took a sip of his Scotch. Elizabeth had been downstairs for hours and didn't come up for dinner. It was already 9pm.
The door opened, "You are a sight for sore eyes and I need food." He smiled back at her thinking "that's my wife."
She tossed her jacket aside and he stared at the black bra which had been turning him on since that first day she made the mistake.
He put his arms around her waist. "Want a drink with your dinner? There's a chicken dish that Mike left. It is out of this world."
As they headed to the kitchen, she said, "I should really move Mike to weekdays. I like his cooking better than Cindy's"
"That would cause a major problem and I think we have enough issues to deal with right now," Henry laughed. They made their way to the kitchen as he heated up her food, she was checking a text message from Jay.
"Jay says that Sarah is out of surgery and in recovery. The hospital was given instructions to have her call when she wakes up." Elizabeth said typing a message back to him.
Henry placed the plate in front of her and sat down, "Shane will be here first thing in the morning. He's going to stay with Stevie in Georgetown."
"What did you tell him?" she asked.
"The bare minimum. All he needs to know right now," Henry said.
She was devouring her dinner, when Henry said, "You're exhausted so I will start. We had been together about six months. You forgot your bra when you packed your overnight bag. The only one you had was the black bra you wore under that maroon sweater the night before. The one a beer got spilled on. You had no choice but to wear the cream blouse you packed"
She giggled, "I told you I was going to go without a bra, which scared the hell out of you."
"That's when I told you I loved the black bra more than anything. Still do," he winked at her.
She blushed. He got up and went to the freezer, grabbed the mocha chip, two forks and met her back at the table.
"You want to talk?" he asked her, holding the fork up to her.
She took the fork, "Not really," she joked, winking at him.
"Get it out and then we can go do that," he answered tipping his head towards the bedroom.
"Still trying to figure out why these people took family of the highest level of members of the government. Once we get Sarah and Andrew here, we can find out more," she shrugged her shoulders.
He asked, "How did the bombing go?"
"About that," she paused, "I halted it after Susan talked to Avdonin. He convinced us to not do that amount of damage to that environment. About an hour ago, we teamed up with Russia and conducted a full raid. We got the woman that Andrew was on and about half of the men. The rest of them were killed."
"Casualties?" he asked carefully.
"They are probably still counting. Us. None, miraculously," she put the fork down.
Henry took the last of the ice cream off his fork, smiling at her.
"Still a lot to sort out," she said.
"How about we put a pin in sorting things out for now?" Henry raised an eyebrow at her and tilted his head towards their bedroom. "C'mon you are exhausted. It has been the longest day."
He put the ice cream container away, making his way to the bedroom, he shut off the lights to the residence. The bedroom was lit with only one lamp giving it a warm, soft glow. She was just coming out of the bathroom and unbuttoning her blouse when he walked in.
"Here let me do that for you," she turned and let him do the rest. His breath on her neck giving her goosebumps but calming her at the same time. He reached around and finished the blouse for her, while placing small kisses on the back of her neck. He slipped the blouse off from behind her and placed it on the bench at the foot of their bed. She stood not moving with her navy pants and black bra on. He ran his warm hands over her neck and began massaging the tension out of her shoulders.
"Oh Henry…I could fall asleep just standing here," she whispered to him.
He leaned into her left ear, "Then, let's get you into bed."
She shimmied her pants down as he went to his dresser and threw one of his Marines t-shirts her way. She threw it on and laid herself back in the bed while he went to brush his teeth. Walking back into the bedroom, he looked at her and smiled. His arm outstretched toward her, "Hand it over."
She opened one eye and looked at him. "The bra," he repeated, "Hand it over so you don't fall asleep with it on."
She sat up with a sigh, reaching behind she unclasped it, slipped one arm out and pulled it through the opposite sleeve, slinging it his way.
"It always amazes me when you do that," he winked at her.
She chuckled, "That can't be a turn on."
"Oh it is," he held up the lacy bra, "especially with this one."
He tossed it aside and jumped into the bed scooting himself behind her to finish working on her neck.
Her phone buzzed and she reached for it. "It's Jay. They are putting Sarah through to the line. Why don't you answer?"
As the phone rang. Henry reached over keeping Elizabeth in front of him. He held the phone with his neck against his shoulder so he could still work her tension out.
"Hey Sarah, how are you feeling?" Henry asked switching the phone over to speaker.
"Sleepy and not as much pain as before, but on plenty of painkillers," her voice was weak. She tried to adjust her body and winced, "I think I know how I got made and that person is still out there."
Elizabeth spoke for the first time, "I think you will be debriefed once you are better."
"No, let me give it to you now. Adila Ah-jamil," she said it quietly.
"Zahir's sister? You were working with her?" Elizabeth asked.
"I was. We thought she had turned away from her family. Long story that I will tell you when I get there," Sarah said wincing from the pain again.
"Listen, sweetie, I want you to get rest. But, where did you last see her?" Elizabeth asked.
"In Baghdad, the night before I left. I said nothing about leaving. I was definitely followed," she said starting to fall asleep.
"Get some sleep. We will see you when we arrive here," Henry said.
Elizabeth said a quick goodbye to her but was already dialing up Isabelle on the phone.
"Hey. We just spoke to Sarah. She was working with Ah-jamil's sister? She definitely thinks she made her, which wouldn't surprise me." Elizabeth stated her voice trailing off at the last part.
"We know. I have someone trailing her now. Hopefully we will bring her in soon." Isabelle stated, "I'll get back to you when we do."
Elizabeth missed the last part as Henry was rubbing her shoulders and kissing her neck.
"What? I missed that," her brow furrowed.
"We are bringing her in and I will get back to you when we do."
"Okay. Good night." Elizabeth hung up the phone.
Henry reached one arm around her and moved them to lay in the bed in a spooning position. "You can't do that to me when I am on the phone."
Still kissing her, he said, "I can't help it. The black bra…the scent of you. Every part of you."
She laughed, "Henry," she turned to face him. "You make me so happy even when the world is falling apart."
"Babe, the world is not falling apart. It's a fringe group by the end of week they will all be brought in. I have faith in you." He smiled down on her and kissed her passionately.
She tapped her hand on the bed, "I don't know if I have the energy for this." He made his way down her neck. Holding the cuff of her shirt open placing light kisses on her collarbone.
"Okay, I think I have some energy left," he gave her an impish grin lifted her shirt and kissed her core, running his thumb to the side of her waist tickling her.
She writhed underneath him, laughing, "Henry!"
"Shhhh" he whispered back.
He rolled beside her and pulled her on top of him so she could straddle him.
"Wait a second," she put up one finger as he laid back and sighed. Not knowing where she was going.
She popped off the bed and slid the black bar back on over her breasts. Watching her climb back on top of him, Henry gave her a guttural laugh.
He reached up, put a finger in her cleavage and pulled her down to him kissing her even more, "You are just as sexy if not sexier now as you were more than 30 years ago. I love you, Babe."
"I love you too," she whispered as he entered her and they stayed that way for the next hour.
She eventually crashed on top of him, their legs tangled up together with the sheets.