Elizabeth

Elizabeth fought against the urge to roll her eyes when it registered that the ringing phone wasn't going to die out. Of course she just had to get a call right in the middle of such a heartfelt conversation - although - 'conversation' could be used loosely at the moment.

"Sorry, one second." She leaned over to give Henry a quick kiss before getting up and fishing her phone out of her purse. After walking back in, she perched herself on the arm of the chair and looked pointedly at the name on the screen: Blake.

Biting her lip as she shot Henry a look, she pressed it against her ear, "I thought I had told you to go home."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, something has come up. Your presence has been requested multiple times, I don't think it is something we can put it off."

"Okay, I will be there as soon as possible." She hung up and looked over at Henry, "Looks like that hot bath will have to wait."

She bit her lip and thought for a moment, "Would it be wrong to return and take a bath at one in the morning? Although, if this takes that long I would probably just end up falling asleep in the water."

He stood and squeezed her shoulders, "No matter when you get back, I will be here." He walked over to the door with Elizabeth trailing after him, grabbing her coat and helping her slip into it, receiving a small smile for 'thanks.'

She gathered the rest of her stuff and stilled, her back to the door. "I will let you know when I'm on the way back. Oh, and-" She grinned up at him, "-we can do dessert before that bath. I will try to get back as soon as possible, I don't want you eating all the ice cream without me."

"I would never!"

"That's what you always say, you dork." She smirked and met him in the middle for a good-bye kiss, lingering for a couple of extra seconds before pulling away, "I love you, don't have too much fun without me." And she slipped out of the door, leaving the warmth and comfort of her home, and into the chilly night.

She leaned her head against the cool window; watching as houses passed by and fighting the dizzying effect of light from the street lamps flashing in and out of the backseat. The hum of the engines drifted back to her, the slight vibration of the window growing increasingly harder and harder to tune out.

As the motorcade pulled to a stop at a stop sign, something stirred in the shadows. After no less than two seconds, said thing moved into a patch of light - the sight of a dog, nose practically glued to the ground, washed her in a small wave of relief.

It's small, black and brown body looked healthy yet cold; the short coat on its body, although seemingly thick, must not have provided much insulation. She felt a pang of obligation when it walked over and began to sniff trash cans; who knows how long it has been out there, the last time it got enough to eat or had clean water to drink.

"Wait!" She leaned forward and whacked Matt in the shoulder, silently grateful that he was easy to reach from his spot in the passenger seat.

He twisted around to get a look at her, "Ma'am?"

"The dog."

"Dog, ma'am?" He twisted back around, looking out the window.

"We can't just let it wander the streets, it'll get hit!

"Ma'am-"

She ignored his comments of concern and looked in the backseat, giving a triumphant little 'ha!' when she found a very convenient blanket folded up and stuffed under a seat. She directed her gaze to Frank.

"The least we can do is see if it has tags, we can't just leave it on the side of the road!" She watched as his eyes danced from the rear-view mirror, to Matt, and back again, his face as impassive as ever.

As Frank pulled off to the left and turned on the hazards, she unbuckled keeping the dog in her sight. "I'll make it quick," Matt spoke into the microphone on his wrist and twisted to speak to her.

"Ma'am-"

His protests ended abruptly as she got out of the vehicle as gentle as possible, the blanket in hand and door wide open. She did her best to ignore him getting out after her, silently sliding into space behind her. The curious glances of the other Agents that now stood outside of their SUV only driving her towards the dog that was finishing up sniffing a spot on the sidewalk.

The sound of her soft whistle got it to notice her presence immediately, its whole body wiggling in excitement as it ran over. It stopped in front of her and sniffed at her legs, never stopping as she wrapped it in the blanket and picked it up.

"Ma'am." She glanced behind her to see Matt in his spot a few paces away from her, Frank parallel to him.

"Yes, Matt?" She turned around and held it out for him to see, "You want to search-" She peeked inside the blankets, "-her for weapons?"

She smirked as she watched the ends of Frank's lips tilt up ever so slightly, while Matt's gaze danced between the dog and the Secretary.

"Surely you don't think that she poses a threat? I mean, feel free to pat her down, I don't think she would mind the attention." She fixed the blanket; bringing the bundle up to her chest so she could keep it wrapped and supported, while simultaneously getting a clear look at the tags on her collar.

"Look, she has tags. We can give this number a call, and drop her off on the way to State."

She walked back to the SUV after receiving a pair of curt nods, sliding into her seat as gently as possible. The second they pulled away, she gave the number a call; the family was just ecstatic that someone found their little Yorkshire Terrier, Bella. Hanging up, she tossed her phone off to the side and started to scratch the sleeping dog's head. "If your superiors have any complaints, I will happily explain it to them." She glanced up and shot the men warm, knowing smiles before directing all of her attention to the terrier.

Bella turned out to be the fur-baby of a single mom, who had her hands full with two six-year-olds. Apparently, she had mastered the practice of slipping out the front door when the groceries were being carried inside - thankfully she had only been gone a few hours, and is now safely back with her family.

The trip added an extra fifteen minutes onto their original seven. They were roughly five minutes away when Elizabeth's phone rang, Blake's name lighting up her screen for the second time that night.

"Blake, I'm only a few minutes out. Has anything changed?"

There was a moment of silence before Blake responded, his voice shaky. "Good evening ma'am, I just wanted t-"

He was promptly cut off; his voice being replaced with shuffling followed by the unmistakable sound of a phone being pushed up against an ear, albeit a third-parties ear. The line was silent for a moment before the monotone voice on the other end spoke.

"Madam Secretary! I must say, it is very inconsiderate to be late to the very party being thrown for you."