Well, I'm back after almost 3 years! I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to update this story. Thank you for all your support since I've last updated. I promise I will be posting way more regularly now. I hope you enjoy this next chapter :)
Sitting down at her desk, Elizabeth shakes the mouse to wake her sleeping computer. The lock screen reads:
Wednesday, May 16th
11:36am
"How the hell is it only 11:36am?" Elizabeth groans as she leans back in her chair, running her hands through her hair. She takes a moment to reflect on the day she is having.
It's not even noon, yet somehow it feels like she's lived ten lives today. At just 11:36am, it has already been roughly 6 hours since she woke up vomiting, 5 hours since she first saw the positive tests, 4 hours since she pulled herself off the bathroom floor to meet with Conrad and Russell in the White House, 1.5 hours since she stopped to get her blood drawn, and 2 minutes since she hung up the phone with her doctor who confirmed that she is, in fact, pregnant.
Somewhere between 8 and 10 weeks pregnant according to Dr. King. She will find out for sure tomorrow. Thankfully, Dr. King is willing to stay late tomorrow to see her because Elizabeth is slated to leave for a 6-day conference in Switzerland on Friday morning. There's no way she could have left for a whole week without having been seen. It would have driven her crazy.
Information is her crutch. Knowing as much information as she possibly can at any given point gives her a sense of calm and security. For as long as she can remember, she was always reading: learning as much as can about any given topic. After her parents died, she dove even further into research. Books became her solace in her newly upturned life. There wasn't much that she had control over, but when she was reading, she was in charge. She got to choose what she learned and how she learned it. This freedom comforted her and got her through some of the hardest moments of her life. Though she is not that lost, orphaned little girl anymore, knowledge still gives her a sense of control like nothing else.
Right now, though, she feels pretty powerless. There is so much unknown about this situation. Sure, she has been pregnant before, but this is different. She is decades older with three adult children and a very high stress, dangerous job. There is so much that can go wrong, and it scares her. It scares her like she doesn't think she has ever been scared before. It scares her so much that if she keeps thinking about all the unknowns, she will drive herself insane, and lord knows she does not have time for that right now.
So instead, she decides to put her feelings on the back burner for the time being. For the next few hours, she will focus solely on her work until she can get home and begin to process this life changing news in the comfort of her own home with the man she loves. Before completely turning her brain off, she sends Henry a quick text saying:
Doctor just confirmed this morning's news. Talk more when I get home. I love you.
With that, she locks her phone and begins to push herself through the rest of this crazy, crazy day.
