Chapter Forty-Seven - Blurry lines
'Madam Secretary, your car is ready' Blake smiled effortlessly as he greeted her in her office. Elizabeth blinked from her thoughts and shook her head softly as she re-adjusted herself.
'Right, yes. Ok, thanks Blake. I'll be back as soon as I can' She waved her hand around in the air trying to convey her thoughts. Blake nodded eagerly, understanding just what she meant.
``Can you urm, Can you get Nadine for me please, before I go?'' She smiled and continued to pile paperwork into her bag and grab her coat from Blake as he quickly obeyed her request. Elizabeth glanced around her office nervously, she brushed her skirt down a little as her hands became restless. As soon as Nadine stepped into her office she let out a small sigh of relief.
'Thanks Blake, Nadine I need you to make sure that things are in place so that-'
'All Done Ma'am, We will await your call, await the go ahead and then we can move into position' She confirmed and offered Elizabeth a small smile. 'Ma'am permission to be frank?' Nadine requested
'Do I have a choice there?' Elizabeth laughed nervously, her eyes dancing across the room as her uneasiness settled in.
'As I recall you have never met a situation where you don't have a choice in the matter, surely this isn't the first?' Nadine smirked and Elizabeth let out another laugh.
'Ha! Ok, you've got my attention' She smiled at her chief of staff.
'I just wanted to take a moment to remind you that you have all of us here behind you. I can only imagine how difficult this conversation will be, Whilst I am not aware of the intimate details of Dr McCords involvement with Dimitri Petrov, nor how that may have impacted upon your marriage; I am not completely oblivious nor dumb either. So, Just remember that you have our support, always, Elizabeth' Nadine spoke sincerely, dropping her title in the comfort of their growing friendship, a reminder to Elizabeth that she had friends, not just colleagues.
Elizabeth dropped her shoulders and sat back into her stance as she relaxed a little. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, slowly nodded.
'Thank you Nadine, and not just for now, but for everything, especially over the last few months. You've been an anchor point to me in this place; I don't think I'd have managed to come into work everyday if I knew I had to face the staff on my own. Thank you' She whispered her last thank you as the honestly spilled from her. The women exchanged a warm smile before Nadine stepped aside allowing Elizabeth to set off on her journey to Virginia; To find Henry.
Whilst she made herself comfortable in the back of the motorcade, her body preparing for the long car journey ahead, she reached for her phone once again and tried to call Henry, to offer a forewarning of her coming to speak to him. The phone pressed to her ear and her little finger was trapped between her teeth, anxiously biting down whilst she heard the phone ring out once again. Elizabeth ended the call and sighed heavily, her eyes looking at his name on the screen, that was the forth time he hadn't answered. A slight sigh of frustration left her lips as she slipped the phone back in her pocket admitting defeat. She assumed he was still annoyed with her following their last phone call over two weeks ago;
- MS -
'Hi Henry It's Elizabeth' She confirmed
'Hi, have you heard?' He asked
'Yes, the school rang me, I cannot believe he hit someone!' She groaned into the phone as she paced her office.
'Oh that, Yeah, Yeah I know I am on my way to pick him up now' Henry mumbled
'What did you think I meant?' She questioned but his lack of response irritated her. 'Fine, The school said that he tried to use me as an example, can you find out what that means please? Whatever it is, it doesn't sound good' she ran her fingers through her hair.
'Yeah I will,' he replied abruptly.
'Henry are you ok?' She asked, picking up on his mood
'Fine' he repeated her earlier statement and she rolled her eyes.
'Do you want me to come down tonight? Speak to Jason with you?'
'No, I can handle it. He just got into a bit of a fight it's fine Elizabeth, nothing a two weeks grounding and a talking to won't fix' He huffed
'Two weeks! Henry I am thinking more like four! Don't forget that he has been in trouble all week, and now it's resulted in violence and threats!' She shrieked.
'I'll sort it.' He mumbled, completely checked out of the conversation.
'Henry what the hell is wrong? You;'re impossible to speak to' She groaned 'What did you think I was calling about?' She pushed, directing him back to his earlier sentiments.
'It doesn't matter'
'Henry Just tell me, I'm sick of these games' the irritation within her grew as she walked a little quicker around her room.
'I thought you were calling me to discuss Talia Petrov' he gave in, the annoyance within his voice filtering through the phone.
'Talia Petrov' she repeated, allowing the name to run through her mind for a minute before she finally connected the dots, 'Dimitri's sister… Why would I call about her?' She asked, her back already up at the mention of Dimitri's name, despite the fact it was her doing.
'She's been taken, innocently. I thought you were calling to say you were helping her, given you know how much I tried' he confessed
'Sorry Henry, I don't know anything about this situation' she confessed her own truth.
``More like you don't want to know anything about it, it probably landed on your desk and you decided to dismiss it, just give up another of our own for the greater good, that's how this all works isn't it?'' He snapped. The phone call ended along with his rant.
- MS -
Elizabeth dipped her head as their last phone call haunted her memories. She knew that when she and Henry separated things would be tough, and their communication a little tough at times, but she never anticipated a complete breakdown in communication, even around the kids and their welfare. Every time they spoke his anger or her anger propelled through like a runaway freight train, no direction, no barriers and no stopping. The underlying anger continued into the weeks following where neither of them spoke to one another; that was their new normal, but when she thought about it she could hardly act surprised, after all it was a similar issue that brought them to the separation in the first place.
As the journey continued Elizabeth had managed to slip into a light slumber, it was the sound of Matt's voice gently waking her from the driver's seat that made her some to her senses, realising they had arrived. She yawned and stretched as she glanced out the window, his car sitting in the driveway, and Jason out the front playing basketball with some friends.
'Thanks Matt' she smiled sleepily as she slowly climbed out of the car.
'Hey Mom!' Jason shouted and she smiled, waving happily over at him as she walked towards the house. Jason threw the ball to his mates and came running over to her mom.
'Hey Slugger, got some new friends I see?' She looked beyond him and watched as they waved nervously in her direction
'Arh, yeah they're just boys. You ok, how come you're here?'
'The boys?' She raised an eyebrow at him 'Fine baby, Just need to speak to your dad about some work stuff' She smiled 'Go on, I'll see you before I head off' She continued to walk to the house, watching her son run back to his friends, for once he appeared to be settling in and that gave her a little confidence within the decision made to bring him back to Virginia.
She knocked and waited patiently at the door, her mind whipping around as tried to foretell how this moment would go. Elizabeth didn't have long to wait as she watched the wooden door withdraw from her sight, being replaced with Henry's confused stance.
'Elizabeth?'
'Hi, We need to talk' She paused, glancing around and ensuring no one was in earshot 'About Dimitri' she hinted at the topic in question. She watched as his face twisted, he slowly stepped aside allowing her in, his own mind now in a state of overdrive wondering what she could possibly have to say.
Elizabeth stepped inside and waited for the front door to close before she turned to address Henry.
'Is Ali home?' She asked but he shook his head
'No, she is at a friends' he cleared his throat. 'Drink?' He asked
'No thanks, I don't have time. Listen Henry I need to cut to the chase here, I don't want to be brash about this at all but I can't pretend that I am comfortable with this either. I received some intel yesterday which alludes to the idea that Dimitri Petrov is alive' She lingered on her words, her jaw clenching as she watched him attempt to digest the information.
'What?' He exhaled, his voice hitting a higher octave than normal.
'I don't have any details other than the fact they felt he would be valuable one day and they feel that time is now, the Russians want Peter Buckly, in trade for Dimitri' she continued
'And you're telling me why? Conrad would never trade Buckly, he killed his own men' He scoffed, to him it felt like Elizabeth was twisting the knife into his healing wound, forcing it back open again.
'No, no you've got this wrong. Conrad is agreeing; He asked me to get you on side, we need a positive ID on Dimitri at the exchange point, It's set up for tonight, if you'll come' She continued, her words hitting him harder every time she spoke.
'Conrad said yes to all this?' He repeated, Henry was having difficulty accepting that a man he loathed was doing something seemingly for him. 'I feel like there is a catch, something you're not telling me?' He questioned her further and she glanced away from him. 'There, you can't look at me, what's the catch?' He continued and she groaned in frustration, annoyed that he knew her avoidance traits.
'There is no catch, I found out last night and spent eight hours at the white house arguing back and forth with Conrad and Russell trying to get them on board, and another three hours this morning before Conrad finally agreed and I came here.' She shrugged, her eyes blinking away her tiredness.
'Why?'
'Because I need you to ID Dimi-'
'Why did you spend so long trying to convince them of the trade?' He redirected her, a sharpness to his words
'It doesn't matter why, will you do this?' She dismissed, her hands starting to fidget as he pushed her buttons
'It matters to me, If I am to get on board I need to know why I am doing this'
'Because it was the only way to get Talia released. Look Henry I don't have any solid evidence that they're telling the truth about Dimitri, it could all be a lie, but they agreed to release Talia as a form of proof that they were serious. She was released this morning and I knew I had to convince them, for her sake' she lied
'You said you spent eight hours last night trying to persuade them, that's eight hours before Talia was released, why?' His tone stoic as he watched her grimace, her jaw clenching and her body tensing before him. 'I married a spy, I picked up a thing or two' he confessed and she chuckled at the irony.
'Because I knew it would mean a lot to you if Dimitri was alive ok. I don't like the idea of you feeling like you failed him, or that I failed you by making that decision with Conrad, so this felt like the right thing to do. To right out some wrongs' she rambled, her speech not taking a moment to catch a breath as she forced herself to speak honestly with him.
Henry stood for a moment, his hands slipping into his pockets as his mind twisted with his reality. Half of him trying to digest the news about Dimitri, and Talia and the other half wondering why she would go to such lengths for him; especially now.
'Henry I need to know if you will do this or not, My team is expecting me to call with the go-ahead' she rushed him, grabbing her phone from her pocket and looking for Blake's number.
'Yeah, Yeah I'll do it. Let me get my things' He coughed as he dragged himself away from his thoughts. Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief as he walked past her, she had managed to get through the first part, but not without admitting the truth. With a glance over her shoulder and a harsh exhale of air she closed her eyes, willing herself to get through the next few hours of the journey alone with Henry, the first time they'd been alone together in months, a moment she also knew wasn't going to come without some truths surfacing.