Chapter Two

Was she going the right direction? There was no way to tell. Elizabeth could be going in circles for all she knew. Everything looked the same. With absolutely nothing as a guide, she could have veered way off track ages ago and never would have known. It left her with another difficult decision. She could keep going and risk getting further away from where she was supposed to be, or she could try to turn back. There was an equal chance for either option being the wrong choice, especially since she didn't have a very clear idea of where she was supposed to be going. Just as she was about to glance behind her a different voice drifted out of the darkness and stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Elizabeth jumped in surprise once again. One moment there had been nobody there and the next she was facing a fallen friend.

"Anton?"

Anton Gorev was standing right in front of her, hands tucked behind his back and a smile on his face. She still couldn't understand how there could be no indication of anyone nearby until they were standing right in front of her in plain view. There had been no sign of light or even movement in the endless darkness prior to this moment, yet here Anton was. She could see him perfectly clearly. Normally that would mean she should be able to see something about his surroundings too, but she couldn't. Elizabeth couldn't even see the ground beneath his feet. The lack of visibility made no sense. Then again, none of this made any sense.

"Hello, Elizabeth."

Anton's greeting sounded like they were meeting back in her office in DC under normal circumstances. That definitely wasn't what this meeting was, and Elizabeth wasn't about to continue the basic, pleasant conversation that Anton had started. Instead she wanted answers. Patrick hadn't given her any, and she wasn't about to let this second opportunity slip by her.

"What are you talking about? You wouldn't do what?"

His smile widened and light glinted in his eyes. It was an expression Elizabeth recognized even though it had been years since she'd seen it given how long ago Anton had died. The humor on his face almost made her nervous. Typically she saw it when he and Russia were about to pull some stunt on her. What it could amount to now she had no idea.

"I wouldn't turn around. As pleased as I am to see you, I wouldn't want you to stay here."

Elizabeth's jaw dropped open. It would have been nice if Patrick had mentioned that little detail. Of course it had probably seemed unnecessary to him. Her father in law would have never considered turning back. He was one to keep plowing ahead regardless of what stood in his way or what the signs were telling him. Even so, he definitely should have told her that turning back could result in her being trapped here. It was rather important information that any normal person would have shared right away.

"You're kidding."

"Hardly. As I said, I don't want you to stay here. If you are here then you can't continue looking after Olga, and I know you've been doing that. I appreciate it more than I can express. I hope you will continue to do so."

"Of course, Anton. We're happy to. Olga is a wonderful girl and deserves to have someone looking out for her. I just wish that someone could have been you."

"As do I, but to have the president of the United States looking after you is a high honor. Congratulations on your appointment, by the way. It's too bad things didn't work out the way I had planned. We would have made a good team. Changed the course of history together."

"I wish that could have been the case too."

Anton nodded once before waving away the concern over the lost opportunity. It was not something worth focusing on at the moment.

"Regardless, you've never had a problem changing history on your own. You're really quite good at it."

"You mean that in a good way, I hope," Elizabeth laughed.

"Of course. You will be an amazing president, Elizabeth. One that Russia will not be able to take advantage of, which is a good thing really. Perhaps it will force our two countries to become friends instead of enemies."

That might be hoping for a little bit too much in Elizabeth's opinion. She had become friends with Anton, but he was the exception. Even though she'd been able to work with Constantine, she wouldn't have called their relationship friendly. Despite the limited friendliness, it had probably been the best relationship between an American and Russian politician that existed. That said something about how well they managed to get along. No matter how good Elizabeth was, the years of mistrust between their two countries wouldn't be easily changed. Friendship might be setting the bar way too high, even for her.

"Friendly, at least."

"That would be a good start, yes."

Anton held his hand out for her. When she grasped it, he placed his other hand over the back of hers and held tight.

"You must go now, but I wish you the best of luck, Elizabeth. Don't look back. Not until you're back home. And even then, look forward. Looking back won't get you anywhere."

"Thank you, Anton. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Elizabeth," he replied as he let go of her hands.

As Elizabeth started walking away she couldn't help thinking how strange it was that in this moment she had a chance to say goodbye to her friend even though she hadn't had that opportunity when they'd both been alive. Of course it was even stranger to consider that she was using those words "been alive" in relation to herself. That was still something she didn't really want to think about and pushed it out of her mind. Focusing on not turning around and continuing on into the unknown was going to be enough to think about, and it would do a good job of keeping her distracted from her apparent death. Or whatever the heck this was.

It soon became more than just not turning around that occupied her mind as she continued walking. She'd always enjoyed math, and so much of math was patterns. There were patterns to what she was experiencing now too. All of those pieces were slowly clicking into place. Elizabeth was starting to get a feel for when her "guides" would show up. There was a pattern to the timing. It seemed like whenever she had been walking alone for a while and started to wonder whether she would have to make the rest of this unknown trek by herself someone from her past would appear out of the ether. She was starting to see a pattern in who was showing up too, and now her mind was truly whirling. Never in a million years had she thought she would get the chance to speak to the friends she had lost throughout her life again, and she didn't know what to say. After all, some of them had died because of her. What could you possibly say in that scenario? Elizabeth had absolutely no idea. Nothing would ever feel like enough.

"Glad to see you, Ma'am. For a moment I was worried you wouldn't show up. You do have a habit of skirting the rules and making your own parameters."

Elizabeth's heart clenched and for a moment she couldn't breathe. The whole Iran coup disaster had been chaotic. Everything had happened all at once and putting together an exact order of events had been impossible. Until this moment she'd thought Fred Cole had died first. Apparently she'd been wrong.

When her next guide had been about to show up, she'd been expecting Javani. He would have been bad enough. To face her former security agent, someone who had died literally because of her decisions? She wasn't ready for that, especially not since she'd been focused on what she should say to Javani. Of course, she highly doubted any amount of time would feel like enough to face the man who had died to save her. Yet here he was, standing right in front of her whether she was ready or not.

Her whole body began trembling and she had to place her hands on bent knees to brace herself as everything came rushing back. Fred's voice as the explosions started. His weight on her back as he tackled her to the ground. The blank, glazed look to his eyes when she realized he was gone. Elizabeth could never forget. The fault for Fred's death lay squarely at her feet and no one else's.

With her guilt raging, Elizabeth didn't notice Fred's approach until he rested his hands on her arms to try and calm her. Initially she flinched, but as his grip on her arms tightened it acted to ground her.

"Enough, Ma'am. You've beaten yourself up far too much for my death already."

She looked up at him, guilt still etched across her features.

"How can you say that? If I hadn't insisted upon going to Iran you would still be alive."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps we would be in the middle of a nuclear war with Iran because you didn't go and I would be dead anyway. You did what you needed to do, and it was the right choice."

"There are moments when it doesn't feel like the right choice."

Fred couldn't help but grin.

"Everyone has moments of doubt. I suspect you know better than to truly believe that it was the wrong decision," he told her. "The outcome wasn't perfect, but you've been in politics long enough to understand that most outcomes aren't perfect."

It was a painful thing to hear, but Elizabeth knew the truth behind his words. She couldn't deny them as much as she wanted to.

"I still hate that part of the job."

"That's what makes you so good at it."

Fred glanced off into the darkness that Elizabeth couldn't penetrate. Apparently he could see something out there even though she couldn't.

"Time is running short. It was an honor to save the Secretary of State. It is even more of an honor to know I saved the future President of the United States."

"You could have been the lead agent for the President," she replied, a sad smile crossing her face.

"Thank you, Ma'am, but that's not a job I envy anyone. Especially not when you're the one they have to protect."

Elizabeth burst into laughter. She couldn't deny that she had made diplomatic security's lives difficult. Even though she was working with the secret service now nothing had really changed. She still drove her agents absolutely crazy and never made the choice that would be easy for them to manage. Just like with Fred, there were moments when she saw the desire to throttle her or tie her up and throw her in a locked bunker flicker behind her lead security agent's eyes. She couldn't exactly blame him for that desire either.

"I'm aware that I'm not the easiest person to protect."

"You aren't, but normally you're difficult for good reasons so we accept the special challenges you present."

He couldn't help grinning at her with that slight dig. It didn't help Elizabeth bring her laughter back under control, but she appreciated that. It made seeing Fred again less painful.

"Before you leave, promise me you'll listen to them," Fred requested. "I don't want to see you here again for a long, long time."

He was still looking after her. Warmth flooded through Elizabeth and she reached out and gave Fred a quick hug. She wasn't technically his boss anymore, so she didn't feel wrong doing it.

"I promise I will try."

"That's probably the best I can ask from you."

"Probably."

Fred smiled and stepped back away from her.

"Good luck, Madam President. Go change the world."

Elizabeth was well aware that the only reason she was even around to have the chance to change the world was because of Fred. She definitely wasn't going to waste the opportunity he had given her.