Ch. 6

Henry and Elizabeth both let out a collective breath and both turned and hugged each other tight. Once they let go of each other, Elizabeth turned to Susie and said "Thank you so much for staying with him. We are so grateful to you. Today will probably be a hard day, so this gives us good news to pass to our daughter once she gets here." Elizabeth turned to hold Blakes hand and continued to speak to Susie "you see, Blake works for me, and even though henry and I think of him as a son, he is soon to be our actual son-in-law. He is engaged to our oldest daughter Stevie. During all of the drama the last few days, I haven't told her what has happened and she and our other daughter are on their way here. So, you will probably be an invaluable source of information once she is here. She will be extremely pissed at me and will have many questions." Once Elizabeth had gone silent, Susie felt she needed to say something.

Um…Ma'am, I may be speaking out of turn here, but my husband was killed in action in Iraq 8 months ago. We had only been married a few months when his tour started. He had 16 weeks left on a three-year tour when his medical unit was bombed. The military is very good at death notification, but I still didn't find out until he had been gone a full week. I had very vivid dreams about my Aiden during that week. I like to think he visited me in my dreams…" she trailed off lost in thought as a tear ran down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. She cleared her throat, shook her head and continued looking a tearful Elizabeth in the eye, "She will be mad, but she will also be grateful that he was not alone and that if something would have happened, she would have been the first to know. I was angry at the Navy for not telling me before, but after a while, I was grateful. It made that week of dreams more comforting. She will be comforted more than angry. You'll see…" she smiled and turned and walked away before Elizabeth or Henry could stop her.

Once the door closed, Henry turned to Elizabeth who was still wrestling with what Susie had admitted. He opened his arms as he knew she needed a good hug and a moment. She wrapped her arms around Henry, put her face in his chest and just took a deep breath. She thought to herself about Susie. She didn't seem old enough to have been married. She seemed Ali's age. She thought a quick second about how she would have felt if Henry had not made it home from Dessert Storm. She would not have been functional.

As she was thinking this, Henry smiled before saying quietly, "This place is amazing. We should consider retiring here. I have never met more kind, surprising people. Yesterday, when you first left with Susie, I was going to give you space, but then I had this overwhelming feeling that you needed me more than you needed space. So, I went to find you but had no way idea where to go, I asked this nurse who told me her name was 'Gretta' and she proceeded to tell me that if I hadn't gotten up to go get you as soon as I did, she was going to grab my ear and drag me to you" he laughed. "she told me she had six sons plus her husband. She said all men, young and old, are either saying something stupid, or doing something stupid."

As she looked to Blake, Elizabeth said in a quite voice, "She may be on to something. Him pulling me behind him and taking that bullet was definitely stupid!" for the first time since the shooting, Elizabeth was ready to be mad at Blake for risking his life un-necessarily. She realized that it would not have been stupid to Blake or even Henry, but right now in this moment, his actions were the most brave yet stupid thing he had ever done to this point, and Elizabeth was going to waste no time once he was awake when she told him just how stupid it had been. Just like all those years ago…

**Flashback December 26th 10am**

Sat outside the psych ward both Henry and Elizabeth were nervous. They had spoken about how to handle Blake once he was released, but nothing could have prepared Elizabeth for the rush of emotion she felt when she laid eyes on Blake as he walked to them. He looked so much better, but yet, all she saw was him being unresponsive on the floor. She rushed to him and grabbed him in a rib crushing hug.

She was so mad and so happy at the same time. Both Henry and Dr. Sherman stood back. When Elizabeth released him, she had an expression on her face that was pure anger. It made Blake flinch. Henry stepped towards them to intervein, but was stopped by Dr. Sherman. She simply said, "No, they she needs to express her feelings and Blake needs to hear them. It will help no one if they both ignore the elephant in the room."

Elizabeth in a fit of rage, held Blake by his upper arms and shook him lightly saying "Are you out of your mind! I read your letter. How could you think that I would be better off without your presence and that my kids would be better off not subjected to your infectious nature! Have I failed you to this extent? Have I really not expressed to you the level of love and care I hold for you? Has Henry or the Kids not shown you enough? Are we not enough?" she was crying at this point and Blake was as well. "you know what, no! this is the most asinine, stupid, idiotic thing you have ever done Blake! And that is saying something. I have seen you get attached to a Mongol horse and get arrested for public urination on foreign soil, but this takes the fucking cake Blake! I mean seriously!" Once Elizabeth was done crying and screaming and surprisingly cursing, she released Blake and looked a bit sheepishly toward Henry then back to Blake expecting some form of answer.

After a deep breath and a look back to Dr. Sherman, who motioned him to continue, Blake simply shook his head and said, "NO! it was the opposite. Not, that it wasn't stupid and idiotic, because it was, but you all were more than enough. But I was afraid that if I let myself love you back, it would be too hard once you saw how broken I am. But Dr. Sherman and I have talked a lot about how my perceptions have been wrong. And I think I am ready to risk it. I love you and Dr. McCord like parents. You are everything I ever wanted in my own parents. I was never enough for them and so, I thought I wasn't enough for anyone. But I know that is not true. I am also sorry that you had to see me at my worst, but it's also helped that you did. Because now, I know you do truly care. Because if you didn't you would have let me die. And I am extremely grateful that you loved me enough to not only keep me alive, but to be angry at me for being so stupid." Blake was nervous and it translated in a very rushed speech.

After his little speech, Elizabeth grabbed a hold of Blake again and hugged him. "Damn it Blake, don't you ever and I mean EVER do anything this stupid again. I swear I will find the most creative way to punish you. It won't be violent, but it will be horrible! Do you understand me?" Elizabeth was in mom mode and it make Blake smile. He replied simply, "Got it! I feel that is not an empty threat." Henry who had been quite up to this point laughed and said "Smart move son. She can be deadly when out for revenge. One time she caught Stevie at friend's house drinking a wine cooler, she brought her home and had her drink about ten shots of tequila and then played rock music on blast the next morning during her hangover! She never drank again. She didn't even want to drink when she was legal to drink." Henry laughed and turned to Elizabeth and said in a surprised voice "now that I think about it, I have never seen her drink more than two glasses of wine max…"

Elizabeth giggled and said "What can I say, I'm good at what I do" Elizabeth was secretly proud that her plan had worked with Stevie. It had an interesting and unforeseen effect on Alison who never tried at all. Only Jason did, and she had been too worried he would enjoy the punishment to try it on the Anarchist. That kid was going to give her grey hair!

After a few minutes, Dr. Sherman cleared her throat, "Ok. Both of you and Henry come have a seat so we can talk about what happens next." Dr. Sherman sat in a chair facing a couch that had Blake sitting between Henry and Elizabeth.

"Ok, Blake you have made some good progress these past few days. I no longer feel you are a danger to yourself. However, this does not mean that this is over. It took years to cause the damage we are now seeing, and one can't expect to repair all that damage in a few days. I need you all to understand that this is going to be a daily thing. Blake you have to tell us what you are feeling. Bottling up your feelings lead us here. You have to talk to us. Until told otherwise, you will have sessions with me every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and a Facetime call on Sunday. These will be a mixture of one on one sessions and group sessions with all three of you or just two of you. Also, Blake, as part of your treatment, you will no longer be living alone. You will be moving into the McCord home an…"

Blake cut her off, "No, I am fine. I have my own apartment. I will come to all of my appointments I swear, but I don't need…."

Dr. Sherman stopped him, "This is non-negotiable. Blake unfortunately, once you chose to take your own life, you have been provided guardians. You no-longer have the ability to be alone. If you refuse to live with the McCords, you will not be being released from the Hospital. Your release is dependent upon having 24-hour supervision. That is the law in the DC."

Blake looked so sad, that Elizabeth pulled him to her and he put his head on her shoulder. "Blake" Elizabeth said in a tone that was meant to sooth and comfort, "We want you with us. Me, Henry and the kids. We are your family now. Now and for always. We are having your apartment packed up and all of your things are being moved to your new room and the rest to storage. I know you hated that apartment anyway. You know this is the best thing. I don't want to see you have to stay here. Now you can come home with us where you belong. And also, I know what your thinking. No one at work will know. As far as they will be concerned, my motorcade just picks you up whenever they do me." When she saw him open his mouth to interrupt, she stopped him saying "and if they somehow figure out that you are staying with us, then its not unheard of for a politicians Personal Assistance to live with them. I know of half a dozen senators, the secretary of Defense and the secretary of the Interior all have their PA's living on site."

After this, Blake relaxed and gave in. "Ok. I do appreciate it. I don't want to stay here either" Blake said quietly.

Dr. Sherman nodded and continued, "Ok… good. Now that that is settled. The next thing is work. I know that you are off work until the 12th of January. I will evaluate you a few days before that to determine if you can return. But I see no immediate reason to think you will not be able to return to work. Now, the last thing and probably the hardest we will be discussing. Until further notice, you are to have zero contact with your parents or your sister. At a later date, we can discuss if you wish to make contact, but as of now, none. That is no calls, texts, emails, or social media. NOTHING! This is my number one rule Blake. You must follow it to get better. We have discussed them at length and I think you will agree that they are a toxic influence on you.

Blake just nodded and simply said in a very low voice that made him sound much younger than he was "Yeah"

Taking that as agreement. Dr. Sherman looked at both Henry and Elizabeth and asked "Do either of you have any questions or need to express any feelings…"

*End Flashback*

It was going on 3pm, when one of her DS agents stuck his head in saying that Air Force One had landed at Memphis International Airport and that the President and her daughters would be here in less than half an hour.

Elizabeth turned to Henry and all he did was open his arms and she settled in on the small couch in Blakes room and listened to the whoosh of the ventilator and the soothing rhythm of this heart rate and waited for all hell to break loose.