Chapter Eight - So it goes

22 days ago…

'Do you really think that was appropriate Henry!?' Elizabeth snapped as she slammed the front door behind her, not giving a second thought as to who else might be home. Henry was sitting at his desk writing, he inhaled deeply as he saw her turn into the room. He rose slowly and peeled his glasses off his face, he knew earlier in the office that presenting her with the divorce papers wasn't the best of ideas he had ever had, but when she threw back at him that their marriage wasn't going to be saved as they were 'already at war' he couldn't help but match her inferior.

'Alison is home' he warned

'Well, then' she paused and walked over to the sliding doors of their office, closing them tightly and secluded them in. She turned to face him, her foot tapping impatiently as her arms folded before her. Never in her life had she felt as angry as she did in that instance.

'So that's it Henry? You're going to come into my office and hand me divorce papers then when I come home and question you, what? You've got nothing to say, is that it?' She challenged him, her voice slightly elevated.

'What about you! Telling me that you don't believe this is worth fighting for! Is that not saying the same thing?' He snapped back

'No!' She instantly replied, her arms snapping to her side as her body flinched with anger. 'You put me in an unfair position, I could not refuse to go to the situation room and stop a potential impending war with Russia Henry. Everything we have will come second to moments like that, always' she cursed.

'And that's what happened, we had a moment to try and rectify this and you put work above our relationship once again!' He shouted

'Oh that's unfair Henry! If I didn't go and Russia started a war there wouldn't even be a tomorrow to fight for!'

'That's not the point Elizabeth, The point is you didn't even give it a second thought, I told you our marriage was over and you couldn't even spare a further five minutes to try and salvage it!'

'Salvage what Henry!? Salvage what exactly because from where I was standing you'd already made your mind up that there was no marriage to salvage, in fact you talk about having moments to rectify this, but that's all we have tried to do and what good has it done us?' She shouted at him, her fists balling tightly at her side as she struggled to contain her emotion.

Henry began pacing the floor, his mind in overdrive, he was wrapped up in a mix of guilt and anger. He caught his reflection in the window and paused, how had they gotten here? How did he ever come to the conclusion that a divorce was the acceptable answer? He lowered his shoulders and turned to face her, her face was scared with pain; it was the first time he had really looked at her since all this arguing started between them seven months ago.

'Elizabeth..I.' his mouth ran dry, words escaped him. His heart froze in the moment, for a split second he considered if a divorce was the right thing, given all the hurt he has caused her.

'What Henry?' She inhaled, the outlay of anger still present, but it was a very shallow emotion, deep down she was hurt and pushing him away was the easiest thing to do. 'WHAT' she slammed her hand down on her desk, demanding attention as he let the air fill with silence. Henry jumped, he was taken back by her motion, his eyes narrowed onto her and he realised he had lost the ability to read her, unable to get through the walls anymore, in truth she shut him out a long time ago, he just hadn't noticed.

'I'm sorry' he dipped his head. His body fell heavy with the confession and he stepped back, sinking into the office chair dipping his head into his hands.

'Why?' She asked, glancing behind her checking Alison wasn't around. When she turned back to face him, she jumped a little as he was looking at her; his eyes thick with torment causing her to glance away, she might not have physically got the divorce papers but she knew she was part of the cause which led to him getting them, neither party were innocent in this one.

'For everything, for-'

'No, I mean why did you get the papers?' She slowly took a seat adjacent from him in the cushioned chair, her elbows resting on her knees as she listened intently. She needed the truth now.

'I honestly don't know, I just found myself there and…after everything that's happened I just…'

'Got tired of fighting' she finished his sentence for him

'Yeah' he paused as the hurt from their broken hearts poured into the room. 'It wasn't meant to be a definitive thing, the papers…' he mumbled. She tilted her head and screwed up her face

'Sorry? Henry, how is throwing divorce papers onto my desk not a definitive thing?' She hissed slightly, her anger now creeping back inside. 'You can't play those games Henry, you either want a divorce or you don't. Which is it?' She thrust her arm before her as she sat watching him completely baffled by his actions. Henry looked at her and watched as the sound of her phone ringing filled the room. He chuckled at the irony, watching her retrieve it from her pocket and answer it, informing a member of her staff she would 'be there now'.

He shook his head in disappointment and scorned at her 'there you go again, Secretary of State before Elizabeth McCord my wife' he snapped.

'I take it that the divorce papers were definitive then' she gritted her teeth and retrieved them from her bag. She stood and walked over to him, where he remained seated at his desk. Her hands shook as she placed them on the table. Henry looked up at her and shook his head at her

'I have to go, there has been a threat of an attack on one of the US embassy's in Europe, but for what it's worth Henry, I would have given up being Secretary of State long before I decided to give up being your wife. Unfortunately you made that decision for me.' She spoke calmly but her insides were screaming, desperate to stay in his loving arms and fight, but she couldn't, this is what he wanted and she never wanted an unhappy marriage. She swallowed hard and turned away from him walking toward the doors,

'These are signed' the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. Elizabeth stopped and tilted her head back fighting back tears. Turning on the spot she looked at him from across the room, the distance between them evident.

'You want a divorce, congratulations Henry, that's what you're getting. Don't hand me a document that you don't want me to sign'

'So that's it? That's all you've got to say? You're just going to sign them?' He stood at the desk, his hand holding the papers firmly in place, he was shocked to the core, unable to fathom the fact she had so willingly signed them.

'What do you want me to do? If you want to go ahead and leave then go ahead and fucking leave Henry!' She had finally snapped, her voice quivered as her body shook with heartache. 'What did you expect Henry! Do you want me to cry and scream? I can't do that, If I cried every time someone left Henry I would never stop crying. So yeah, that's all I've got to say. Go!' Her voice rose higher in pitch as she battled with her tears, trying to not succumb to the heartbreak in front of him.

'I can't be begging for anyone anymore' her voice shook as she inhaled deeply and made her swift exit. Leaving Henry stood there alone with the signed divorced papers within his grasp. His thumb slowly swiped away the fresh watermarks as the tears dripped from his face, onto the papers of his future.