A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews! Writing this is super fun and I'm glad you're enjoying it as well!

I have survived two full weeks as Secretary of State. I don't know how…. but I did. Ali and Jason survived, Henry survived, Max survived, we all survived.

I don't think any of us thrived, but we all survived together. I got pulled into a last minute formal dinner the day before the event and Max drove up to spend the evening with Ali and Jason. Ali and Jason have only complained twice a day about their school, and Henry and I managed to have sex twice. It's no secret these were not the best weeks of our lives.

It's only been two weeks and I believe Max is thinking about moving to DC. He wants to change our agreement and have the kids during the week and I would get them every weekend. I whole heartedly support Max being a very involved father but I'm not willing to only see the kids on the weekend. I told him if he moves closer to DC, we can talk to Ali and Jason and determine which two weekdays they would like to spend with their dad and stick to at least every other weekend.

I don't think Henry will mind but he's going to have to be ok with Max potentially moving to DC. My children remain my top priority, that's non negotiable. As a result, Max remains incredibly important to me.

Sometimes Max is still my best friend. After my dinner, he spent the night at my place instead of going back to Charlottesville and it was such a surprisingly fun evening. We ordered cheap Chinese food and spoke fondly of the older days when we would eat dinner in bed and watch reruns of SNL until we fell asleep.

Max has been my shoulder to cry on for so long… I almost think he's happy to have a break since Henry and I started dating. Max has heard all of the CIA stories that scarred my soul but that I would never let anyone else know. I miss that comfort sometimes.

I've missed a lot of comfort these last two weeks. My staff, while talented and incredible, seems to hate me. Russell Jackson continues to nag me about an 'image consultant' and it's hard to keep so many stressful things about my job inside because no one that I have a personal relationship with has high enough clearance to hear about them. My new comforts have become my bathrobe, slippers, and a glass of Merlot.

Each day gets me closer to Henry being here full time. I can't wait for those days.

This weekend we talked at length about what vacation we'd love to take right now. I'd love to get away for personal reasons but it'll probably be a while before that can happen. I think we might have that destination picked… whenever it can happen.

Max always wanted adventurous vacations. He wanted to hike parts of the Appalachian trail and ski in Colorado but after spending weeks or months in war torn countries, that's the last thing that seems like a vacation. I started to drag my feet to vacations after the first few adventure vacations. I'm so thankful Henry enjoys more low key adventures like me.

Henry has tried to visit Santo Domingo three times already but each trip was changed at the last minute. He's been dying to see the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor… I understand why. It's the oldest cathedral in the Americas and the gothic architecture is absolutely stunning. I'd take a quiet beach with a few adventures mixed in at any time.

Our anniversary is coming up in a few months and I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to make the trip happen then. It kind of seems silly to celebrate dating anniversaries at our age but it's a good excuse to do something for each other that we wouldn't normally do. He surprised me with an amazing horseback ride and a beautiful picnic for our sixth month anniversary… I don't always remember the exact dates for things like that but he does.

It's not that I'm not sentimental but somehow Henry is even more sentimental than I am. Max wasn't always the most romantic but it didn't bother me, now I don't know how I lived without the little romantic things. Coffee and breakfast in bed was a regular thing during the weekends that Henry was in town, random flowers when he wasn't, and my favorite chocolate croissants from the bakery back home as soon as he got to my place.

Home. Charlottesville still feels like home, I guess it will always be home. I know DC will eventually feel like home but it's not there yet. I don't have a favorite coffee shop, I don't know if the closest grocery store carries the tea I like, there are so many things that make it feel like it's still a foreign land. I've always said that home wasn't really a place, it was a feeling, but now I'm truly understanding my words.

He is my home, he's my comfort, he's such a huge part of my world, he's my new forever… I know it, I can feel it. I would happily spend the rest of my days in the comfort of his arms.

I hope my job doesn't make that impossible. I know there were times this weekend when I wasn't the Elizabeth he fell in love with… I was stressed and calculated and dismissive in some ways. I know he understands probably better than anyone ever can and I'm so lucky to have him.

Lately I've been reflecting a lot on where Max and I went wrong. I don't necessarily think there was one big moment, it was just the accumulation of many differences that can't be worked out. He would have never understood what I'm going through now and really the only people who actually can are the ones who have actually sat in that chair and they're few and far between, but Max and Henry would have reacted to it totally differently. That's not a bad thing, they're just different people.

Speaking of different people… I've finally met one that's becoming nearly impossible to work with. I don't think Russell Jackson is purposefully working against me, but it seems like he is sometimes. I guess when I took this job I thought things with Conrad and I would be different, that I would be his trusted advisor on the things my department handled and the subjects I was the expert on… I was wrong. I mainly take orders and give feedback to Russell, and a part of me hates it.

I think there are big parts of my staff that hate me. I feel like they're all ready to leave in a moment's notice. It didn't feel right to get rid of them, their boss had just been tragically killed and they all knew the job better than I did. The value in keeping them on all my team is so much greater than I can imagine. I really don't know how I could ever thank them but I hope none of them leave before I get the chance to.

There are already talks of what my first trip will be. I'm thinking Turkey… I think everyone else is thinking something different. I was pleasantly surprised with how caring my staff seems to be and how they are constantly trying to help me balance being a single mother and being Secretary of State. My second trip will likely be to India and it'll be the first trip we take as a family.

Ali hasn't stopped talking about going to the Taj Mahal since the idea came up and I think that's the only good thing either of them have found about my job so far. Ali misses her boyfriend and both of them miss their old school. I know Jason likes that they have the house to themselves and he can play way more video games than I would let him, but he shockingly confessed to me last night that he misses our old schedule… and his dad.

I'm sure he's already talked to Max about it 15 times before it was brought up to me once. He's always been that way. I'm not the first one he calls when he needs someone to talk to, but I'm the first one he calls when he needs comforted and I love that.

Henry won't replace Max, I never want him to. I just hope that Ali and Jason can begin to see him as like an extension of myself, someone they can go to and be supported by. I think Ali is getting that… Jase will eventually come around.

And the time will eventually come around when Henry is here and we can move towards forever, together.