Hi. Hope you enjoy this. It's a mom thinks / daughter thinks split.

I have ideas for about 4 more chapters so if you like this - there will be more of Allison's journey.

Reviews make my day

Brenda

...

It was getting to be the end of November and it had been an eventful month. Elizabeth McCord was exhausted and was looking forward to going to Cuba for a couple of days, if only to get a little sun and a swim. She had learned that with job - exhausted and overwhelmed was the baseline. The world was determined to be a naughty child and maybe she was so good at her job because she had raised three of the most intelligent, crafty and exasperating children she could find.

Grimly she rephrased her thought. Her kids weren't the worst. Her kids were smart, capable and articulate. She and Henry had done this together. They had loved very deliberately- with a lot of planning, a lot of discipline and a lot of books and activities.

And let's face it. The privilege of their higher paying jobs and the doors that opened had not hurt. The horse farm. The good preschool with Miss Janie. The family connections, the homework help. The routine, the time in nature, the toys. The snuggles and good hygiene and healthy checkups. All of that took a lot of time and patience and it meant she and her husband had to be determined and dogged and crafty themselves

Somewhere in this she hoped to someday retire and go back to the quiet life she had been dreaming of since she was fifteen and her life became a whirlwind of activity and demands. Since she had to help raise herself and her brother.

All of her last trauma had caused her to become a very responsible service minded patriotic woman and she had found a man as crazy passionate as she was.

So together they had raised their kids as best they could and were now managing the risks, rewards and the fallout of three free spirited very determined and yes- spoiled young people. Making life easier for her kids had been all she and Henry wanted to do - but it seemed that sometimes they had gone a little overboard. How could they walk that back a little? It would take some parenting.

She knew she wasn't perfect. Perhaps they should have been less generous with the niceties. But it wasn't so bad- Stevie had done great; until she flamed out of university and maxed out the credit cards and spent a year flying high with men that were totally inappropriate.

Their son was gifted. Excellent at academia. He saw through the bullshit. Except for when he decided to go against his parents and publicly risk causing trouble that made his parents have to walk things back. Jason liked conflict and got off on upsetting the family.

So that was a problem she was discovering was not calming down. Her first few weeks on the job - there had been two brothers who ended up in a Syrian prison. She had been tasked with getting them out. It had made her come to realize that in a few years she could well be the one worried sick about her son in trouble for saying the wrong thing to the wrong people.

Yes- about two or three weeks into the job was when she started having a lot of stomach issues. Anxiety was a beast.

She wished she wasn't a closet worrier but it had to be accepted. It made her check all the boxes and think creatively and stay on task.

So she had tripled her use of tums and she went through a lot of deodorant and her blouses were good for one wearing most days - before they had to be laundered. Her shoes too- needed to be aired out each night.

There was her third child. The middle one. The one who looked less like her and more like Henry. The quiet girl who never seemed to have a crisis but who seemed to need much more careful parenting as a teen then she had as a younger child.

It still bothered Elizabeth that she had missed some telling signs in all of her kids.

Like Stevie losing her mind at age twenty and now Allison trying to grow up way to fast.

Last weekend she had gone to the mall with Noodle and over some curly fries and kung pao chicken ( because at a mall food court you could mix food like that which is how she knew she was setting herself up for lifetime membership as a Tums eater) well - Allison had confided some things in her mother, things that should bring them closer but really, just made Elizabeth want to vomit.

Thank God Stevie had sent James home. All the way back last year - Flint Summers hadn't been the one to sleep with Allie, it was almost some guy named James in the house while Jason was away and so was she. Elizabeth wanted to kill Stevie and Allie but she had resisted the urge to be uncool and instead decided to be grateful that James had gone home. That Allison was still not sexually active, and that she wanted to go on the pill.

So an appointment had been made and now both of her daughters were protected . Or would be in about thirty days. Mama bears had lizard brains too and all Elizabeth wanted to do was say " You are forbidden from having sex until I am dead." But that was modern motherhood. Raising all of her kids to be equal and responsible. She decided that it wasn't Stevie she should be angry with. She wanted to ground Allison for sneaking the boy in - but it was a year ago and she wanted to keep her teenager talking.

Henry had praised her for keeping her cool. He too found these teenagers totally mystifying and she found comfort in that.

So tonight she was the one calming Henry down because Allie had dented the car and gotten it repaired and hadn't said a word.

Henry wanted to throttle the girl and was hung up on this lie and cover up.

Elizabeth was simply grateful that the accident hadn't resulted in injury to their daughter. She had this place in her heart that was terrified she would lose the family she had to circumstances she couldn't control and she knew that her teen needed to drive. She knew it was responsible of Allie to have taken such and adult approach to things

But did her newly hatched independent miss have to grow up so fast?

The chance to change policy in Cuba happened so quickly it made her head spin but she knew she had to try. What a legacy for everyone if she was able to deliver that. The end of an embargo. Opened embassies. What that would mean for the people of America and Cuba? That was the beautiful part that made Elizabeth proud.

The challenge of writing her own speech was a good distraction as was the annoyance of having to promise so many senators something shiny for their vote.

Politics was dirtier than horse crap.

In a way though it was nice to know that Allison was still a kid. Elizabeth felt as though she had been righted in her world again- trying to gin up sympathy for whining. Making sure passports were ready and that Jason would be fine at home with Stevie.

She was direct with Stephanie. No girls. Not one girl. Money and groceries. Ensure the boy showered and went to bed on time. She had enlisted the help of relatives in Pittsburgh and was glad that Erin was there as a back up. She was even more relieved that Erin wasn't going to fill Maureen in on all the little details. This sister in law was pretty cool. She didn't try to cause drama and saw Elizabeth as a regular mom of teenagers. Not as a Jezebel who had come to snatch Henry away with some horses and refined upbringing. Erin liked Elizabeth and knew how sneaky teenagers could be. In fact she said she would come down for the weekend and take the pressure off of Stevie so that way if anything happened there would be more than a 21 year old running the show. Stevie seemed relieved. Now that the truth was out about James and other little things - Stevie said that it was hard parenting her siblings. She promised to do her best and Elizabeth was glad she would have Erin. Elizabeth worried about Stevie being at home alone too. She was only just making good choices again and Elizabeth wanted that pattern to continue.

She winced as she remembered how angry she had been - at Stevie. Not at Harrison.

Henry had been right to scold her a little, remind her of their sex life at that age. Hell she had been married at Stevie's age, and she could be a bit patriarchal. Being a modern woman was complicated stuff. Some of her thoughts and biases weren't as woks as they should be.

There was work she had to do on herself- she admitted. Henry said she was good at dealing with awkward. That was going to come in handy as she juggled all the balls she had in the air right now. One of whom was the insulting Craig Sterling and how it was niggling at her that Conrad and Russell had done this to her. He was all suit and no substance but right now he could tell her that she sucked so bad at her job that Conrad had asked him to come and be a thorn in her side

Henry was stressed about Ivan and angry with Allie, all of which she was sure had a lot to do with his secret job. The one she knew was about operatives and Russia and the War College. His dad was being secretive and Henry didn't have time to go to Pittsburgh and investigate.

This little pause in Cuba should help them all soothe a little.

...

Crap. She had gotten her parents to understand her a little better and respect her maturity and then the last couple of days had happened.

It started with a quick trip to the mall to grab some more lipstick shades and a new calculator for her advanced math class. She had been in a tight parking spot and upon backing up - she had heard a small crunch. Oof. Sure enough a small dent.

At first she had panicked. Mom and Dad and Stevie are gonna kill me. It was a car that they all contributed to and she shared with Stevie. Then she remembered what her parents had taught her - document the incident. So she took a selfie with it. It was a selfie so why not make a face that went with it? This could happen to all of her friends and followers and why not share her experience?

The next thing was to see if she had damaged any cars - no. It was her and a concrete barrier that was low and she didn't see because she was focused on not hitting the jerk face squished up next to her.

Naturally calling her parents when she knew how busy they were would only add to their stress. So she called the Body Shop and took it in and had insurance take a peek. It worked the way her parents and her driving school said it would. It was fixed, she had money saved from babysitting and tutoring and birthdays so she paid for it herself. She asked to keep it quiet because why would her parents need to worry about it when it was taken care of? They always wanted their kids to act more adult.

Two days later her dad didn't see it like that. He was pissed and he was very hostile about it. He wanted to punish her - her mother didn't. So Dad was all about getting in the digs. Normally he wasn't this weird about stuff and her Mom said he was upset about his student. She cared. But what could she do about it? He was being so obnoxious about it.

So as much as she wanted to go to Cuba and enjoy the beach - it would only be with her dad. Who apparently wanted to insult her and tell her she wasn't an adult. Clearly she wouldn't be able to enjoy flirting with Cuban boys. Or spend the days doing what she wanted. It would be daddy and baby noodle. Ugh. She wasn't baby Noodle anymore. And she did not want to tour churches all day.

Mistake number two- whining to mom. Mom hated whining and now siding with dad again. So she had to tread carefully because if she pissed them both off she could end up in Dutch.

Maybe she hadn't done the best thing. Maybe she should have called her dad and had him meet her at the Body Shop. Let him suggest she take a break from driving.

Who knows if that's what would have happened though? She was learning that being an adult was complicated and messy. She thought that being an adult without kids meant she could do as she pleased as long as she didn't break the law.

Ha. Life wasn't like that.

It made sense now and she laid in bed on the eve of the trip wishing she could be 7. Her parents took care of all the big stuff and second grade was a lot of fun.

She also understood Stevie's flame out a little better. This new found wisdom was like a slap.

And she was going to screw up between now and high school graduation and she had no idea when it was going to happen.

She changed thought patterns so she could sleep. She had her music, her charger, her headphones, her book and magazines. A couple of bikinis and a cover up. Clothes. A floppy hat. And she had researched Cuban trivia a little so she could impress her parents and gain a few brownie points on the way to the airport and on her mom's plane.

She didn't pray often but she did tonight. For a safe trip. For grace from her parents and for her dad- who even though he was being a jerk, must be feeling bad about this student he couldn't save.

That had to suck. Her dad cared a lot about his students. He got snippy when his heart was breaking. She could be the bigger person right now. She asked for strength to be a good daughter on this trip.

It would probably be good if she packed her SAT prep stuff. Her mom was helping her with math - she could work on her vocabulary words though. Perhaps her father could bond with her over that.

It was also amazing what her mother was doing as Secretary of State. Now that she had vented to her mom and gotten some attention these last few weeks, it had cleared her vision about what it must be like to be Elizabeth McCord right now.

As she drifted off to sleep Allison McCord decided she would try harder to not demand so much of her mom. Her mother worked hard. She worked long hours. She tried her best. She helped run the world and she still came home and did laundry and picked up socks and helped with homework and took her daughters to get birth control. Stacy Hemsworth's mom had lost it when Stacy came home asking about it. Elizabeth could easily have hired a maid, or sent the kids away to boarding school. She kept them all close and did her best to raise them and get involved in the messy everyday stuff. Right now Allie knew Russia was a disaster, and that some jerk named Craig was bullying her mom at work. When she went to her mom's office the other day she had taken a selfie in her mom's chair. It occurred to the teen that this was where her mom made history. That couch was where her mom sat or took quick naps.

Allison decided that she and Stevie could do more and that maybe even the little dweeb could help too. Maybe he was growing up and could handle some more of the weight of things to help around the house and to be less trouble in their respective schools. Stevie was interested in some new guy with a cute butt from the physics department. Jason was actually in high school this fall. Too bad he couldn't miss the standardized tests but Aunt Erin could keep him from doing something stupid this weekend.

They could do this. Grow up together. Two parents and three kids. They could fumble through this as a family. That's what good families did. She was part of a good family and she should be more grateful.

She felt calm wash over her and she looked over at her little nightlight twinkling. She fell asleep wondering what tomorrow could bring, and deciding she could enjoy herself with her dad and let her mom change the world.

TBC as soon as I can. Busy Friday happening but should be updated within a week.