Ch. 8
**Authors note- I'm so sorry for those of you who have been waiting for an update. I have had two ways to go with this and couldn't decide which way to go. So here it is…I hope you like the direction I took. And hope you all review so I can get your ideas on future chapters.
As Conrad got back to his office, Russel was already waiting. "Sir, what is this I hear about you flying to Memphis?" Russel asked briskly.
"Well Russel, Lydia and I are taking Alison and Stevie with us to see Elizabeth and Henry. As well as to see how Blake is doing. Why do you ask?" Conrad had a pretty good idea. Russel never truly understood the closeness between himself and Elizabeth.
"Well, Sir… it's just that you have meetings. I'm sure the girls can handle a flight by themselves. I mean both of them are relatively responsible." Russel really did not thing the President should drop everything just because the former Secretary of States assistant got shot. "and further more sir, the gunman was killed, so no harm done. Bess can continue on the tour as planned and its not your job to hold the hands…"
Russel's tack was as always absent and about a quarter of the way through his little speech, the President had gone still. After he said the girls could handle a flight, he was mad, but to make a comment of no harm done, now he was livid.
"RUSSEL!" yelled Conrad. Russel for his part stopped mid-sentence. He looked up from his phone to see the President of the United States giving him the hardest stare. If he were a lesser man, he would have pissed himself.
"Sir?" asked Russel confused. He didn't see what he could have said to make POTUS this angry. Sure, he was his usual self, but that didn't normally cause this reaction in the president.
"Are you really that heartless Russel? Are you really that cold, to make such a comment when you know that I have known Elizabeth and Henry for many, many years? Well, here is something you don't know. Both Lydia and myself are godparents to all three McCord children. Before I became president, all of the McCords were fixtures at our home. We vacation together, we had holidays together, I was present at the birth of all three of my surrogate grandchildren. And most importantly Elizabeth is way more than a friend. That amazing and wonderful woman is my daughter in all but name. So, no Russel, I will not put my grandkids on a plane alone and I will not sit here in meetings while my daughter needs me. And if you have a problem with that then my advice to you would be to go to Hell!"
Once Conrad had finished, all Russel could do was stare open mothed and apologize, "I'm sorry sir, I didn't know you were that close. I will keep everything running smoothly. Tell Bess I hope everything is ok…" Russel had been appropriately cowed.
"Thank you, Russel. I am sorry too. I should not have yelled; you had no way of knowing. Bess and I decided that if she took the post of Secretary of State, that we would have to maintain a distance. And normally that would be fine, but anyway. I need you to coordinate getting Jason McCord to Memphis." He handed Russel a note with the name and number of the parental contact. "Jason is in Australia on a school trip. He needs to be with his family. Make sure someone is with him when you tell him what is happening. You don't have to be as sensitive with him. He will see right through that. Make sure he knows him mother is fine first." As he was finishing with Russel, he was informed that Stevie was awake and ready to leave. He nodded to Russel and then made his way to the west lawn to get on Marine One with Lydia and the girls. Once at Andrews they boarded Air Force One.
In what felt like no time at all, they arrived in Memphis. As Conrad and his girls disembarked the plane, they got into the waiting motorcade and began the short trip to the hospital. It was just after 3pm when they arrived at Regional One Hospital.
Once they walked into the entrance deemed safe by the Secret Service and DS, they were met by a nervous Henry McCord.
"DAD! Oh my God Dad! We were so worried. Is Mom ok? Is Blake ok?" Allison was speaking so fast she could barely breath in-between.
Henry just hugged his daughter and tried to get her to calm down in order to explain. He looked up and saw both Conrad and Lydia with a near silent Stevie between them. He gave Conrad a look saying why is she so calm and quiet?
Conrad gave him an equally silent look saying I'll tell you later.
Ok. Elizabeth didn't want to leave Blake alone, so let's go up and let Suzie…Um… she is one of Dr. Doran's Interns who is assigned to Blake and us to explain everything. Just know for now that Elizabeth is fine. She wasn't hurt at all and Blake even though he doesn't look it, is in stable condition.
As they walked, Henry was getting more unsettled by Stevie's demeanor by the second. He remembered Conrad telling him about Elizabeth being like this when he had been declared MIA.
*Flashback*
Harrison Dalton had just been picked up at school by his Daddy. His daddy never picked him up because he had an important job. He made sure the whole world was safe. That seemed like a really big job! His daddy had told him that his Aunty Bess was gonna be staying with them for the weekend. And he was so excited. He loved his Aunty Bess. She was so much fun. He was almost vibrating with excitement. That is until his daddy had told him that Aunty Bess was not feeling well right now. That Uncle Henry had been in an accident and Aunty Bess was sad.
So, it was a much more subdued Harrison who crept into the living room where Elizabeth was sleeping and crawled up next to her and fell asleep. When Lydia came looking for Harrison, her heart melted at the sight of little Harrison giving comfort to Elizabeth and Elizabeth cuddling him back. she smiled and quietly backed out of the living room.
"Lydia…where did harry get to? He's not bothering Bess, is he?" asked Conrad.
"No, honey, he is not bothering her. He is helping her." She motioned to the living room, "Go see for yourself, just be quiet. She is finally resting." Said Lydia.
When Conrad came back into the kitchen Lydia had begun cooking dinner. "Need some help Liddie?"
Lydia looked over to him and saw his face, he had been touched by their kids giving each other comfort too. "Sure Connie. You can cut up the Veggies. Make sure there are extra carrots. Bess likes more carrots in her soup."
Conrad smiled at that. Leave it to Lydia to think of everything.
"Bess, honey, you need to eat something." Lydia was about out of ideas. Elizabeth had not spoken a word in about five hours. Even little Harrison hadn't been able to get her to react.
"Lydia I am really not hungry. I feel nauseous and I really don't want to get sick." Elizabeth was above whining, but not by much.
"sweetheart that is probably from the sedative. I would bet my poker winnings that you didn't eat lunch today before being called to Conrad's office and then you were given very strong medication. It wouldn't surprise me if you were nauseated. But Honey, you need to eat. Even if you do get sick. I have a five-year-old, you think I have never seen puke? Hell, I have dealt with Conrad after way too much bourbon! It will be fine. But you have to eat! No more discussion!" Lydia reassured her and then laid down the law. Elizabeth and Conrad were two peas in a pod! Both stubborn as the day is long!
Elizabeth looked at Lydia with sad eyes and sighed "Ok, I'll try. Just keep a bucket nearby" she tried to joke but it fell flat when Conrad walked in with a sick bucket. Elizabeth looked at him in surprise.
He looked back at her and said "What? We have a five-year-old. You would think they would have some kind of warning before they puke, but I'm here to tell you they don't. I have one of these puppies in almost every room!"
Elizabeth giggled at that. It was the first time she had smiled since being told and it gave Conrad hope.
Conrad felt he was on a roll, "You try to clean vomit off of almost every surface. Wait till you and Henry have kids…"
Elizabeth's face went white and she lost all emotion on her face again. Conrad was worried she was gonna drop again, but instead she said "Oh God… and grabbed for the bucket an threw up spectacularly!" Lydia pulled her hair back and Conrad rubbed soothing circles on her back.
When she was finished. She felt too sick to be embarrassed. Conrad had left to clean the bucket and brought back a clean one. "Elizabeth I am so sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It was…" Conrad was mid-apology when Elizabeth cut him off.
"No, Conrad. Its fine. I should have already told you. But I wanted to tell Hen…Henry first. But I'm pregnant. And I had forgotten about it until you said that!" she was getting panicky. "Oh, my God, what if the sedative hurts that baby…. what if this baby is the only thing I have left of Henry!" She was up pacing the room. While continuing to spill her thoughts. Both Conrad and Lydia were getting worried the more she spoke. "I can't lose this baby… I am already a horrible mother. I actually forgot about my unborn baby!" as she said baby, she began to droop.
At this point, Lydia knew that if they didn't keep Elizabeth calm, she would end up miscarrying. So, she took matters into her own hands.
"ELIZABETH!" Lydia yelled at her. Lydia Dalton never yelled. It stopped Elizabeth in her tracks as it was meant to.
Lydia wrapped her arms around Elizabeth an gave her a tight hug and began rocking gently side to side all the while softly whispering soothing words. Elizabeth calmed almost instantly. Lydia then walked her over to the couch and without braking contact told her in a motherly tone that she needed to stay calm for the baby. Once she was calm, Lydia waked her upstairs to lay down in what was going to be her room for the weekend.
Conrad stayed in the living room torn between being excited that his girl was having a baby and sad that his girl might be alone.
*end flashback*
Once the group had made it to Blakes room, Elizabeth and Suzie were waiting outside. Suzie stepped forward and introduced herself as Dr. Winters but to just call her Suzie. After introductions were over, Suzie sidled up to Stevie. She didn't like how she was looking.
"Hi, Stevie, right?" Suzie said
"yeah, how is Blake?" asked Stevie.
"Well before we go in to see him, I'm a little more concerned about you. Are you feeling ok?" as Suzie was speaking to Stevie, she was leading her down the hall to a room and Elizabeth and Henry had both shared a look and then turned to Conrad and Lydia. It was then that Elizabeth realized and opened her eyes wide and rushed off to where Suzie as leading Stevie.
This was not lost on Alison who turned to her Dad and said "Dad…I thing Stevie is like Mom. She fainted before we got here. But I'm glad she is here now. I'm worried about her. She seemed off before all this happened. Like she was trying to hide something."
Henry knew in that moment that he was pretty sure he knew what Stevie was hiding. And if the looks he was getting from Conrad and Lydia were any indication, they knew too. Henry decided to let the nurse at the station know they were going to the family room and to tell Suzie and Elizabeth know where they went.
"Ok, guys let go to the family room and wait for Mom and Stevie to come back with Suzie."
Down the hallway when Elizabeth caught up, she finally noticed just how bad Stevie looked. Suzie was leading her to a bed. And that was when Stevie gasped and leaned forward. Elizbeth was by her side instantly. Suzie was now yelling for a nurse and to bring in a portable ultrasound and page OB.
Elizabeth was supporting most of Stevie's weight and helping her onto the bed. "Breath honey, just breath." Said Elizabeth in a calm voice even though she was anything but calm on the inside. Her baby was in pain, enough pain that she was having trouble breathing.
It felt like seconds, but was more like minutes as the room was filled with people. Suzie got really close to Stevie and asked in a calm voice, "Honey… I know it hurts, but I need you to look at me, can you do that?"
Stevie grabbed her mothers' hand and looked at Suzie, "Good girl. Now, I know this is hard, but are you pregnant, or could you be pregnant?"
Stevie began to cry and said "Yes. I'm pregnant" just as another cramp caused her to almost fold in on herself as she cried out in pain.
Suzie was still calm as ever, to the point it helped calm Elizabeth who was close to a breakdown. Suzie continued her questions "ok, Stevie, stay with me…Stevie…do you know how far along?...Stevie, Honey it's very important…do you know how far along you are?"
Stevie for her part had never been in this much pain before in her life and was struggling to make words "um…I'm not sure….maybe 14 weeks. I fou…nd out…week after New…Year…s…" all of a sudden people began to talk very loudly and yell.
Suzie looked to Elizabeth and said "Ma'am I need you to come with me…Ma'am…Elizabeth" once she had Elizabeth's attention she said again "Ma'am I need you to come with me. Let them work. She will be ok. They need to start her on Terbutaline to stop her contractions."
Elizabeth was pulled from the room by Suzie who walked her back to Blakes room and then on to the Family room.
