Chapter Four

"You almost went to jail?!"

The voice boomed out unexpectedly and completely shattered the silence. It startled Elizabeth so badly that she actually jumped. Even after she discovered who had spoken – George Peters, who definitely wasn't going to hurt her – her heart was still nearly pounding out of her chest in terror. George kept on talking, either completely oblivious to Elizabeth's continued fright or totally unconcerned by it.

"What happened to the intelligent Bess that I knew? And here they all thought I was the one who'd lost it. Bah!"

At first Elizabeth thought he was talking about when she went to jail to reverse the family separation at the Mexican border, but she quickly realized he was talking about her near miss on an espionage and treason charge. The charge had felt completely ridiculous then, and it certainly didn't feel any less ridiculous so many years later. That her friend wouldn't be able to see it for as crazy as it was made her rather annoyed, especially since the reason she'd nearly wound up in jail was partially because of him.

"After all this time, that's what you have to say to me, George? It was one tiny mistake based on a completely logical assumption!" Elizabeth retorted. "I solved your murder, Vincent Marsh's murder, and prevented a complete overthrow of the Iranian government at the hands of the United States all with little to no information to go on since you told me next to nothing! And you're complaining about my one mistake?"

George scoffed.

"Well of course you did all that. Never had any doubt that you would figure it all out. You've always been good, Bess. Even better now, I suspect. President of the United States. I always knew you would rise up the ranks, but even I wouldn't have guessed it would be that high. Very impressive. And you're probably one of the few presidents that was almost arrested for treason before being elected."

"George!"

He burst out laughing, leaving Elizabeth caught between wanting to strangle him and hug him.

"I've always had to tease you over your mistakes, Bess. Haven't been able to do it in years, so I had to make this a good one. And you can't blame me for it. You were the one that provided me such good ammunition after all."

Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head at him, but her facial expression gave her away. She just couldn't quite hold back the edge of a smile. George had always teased her about any stupid mistakes she'd made. It had been part of their relationship all the way back to when they'd first met in the CIA. As a group, they'd all poked at each other's mess ups to try and alleviate the guilt and tension that always came after. Her mistake of sharing a classified document with Henry had been a major moment of stupidity too. It was actually very fitting that he call her out on it, now that she thought about it.

George read her expression and grinned broadly at her.

"Ah, see. I knew you couldn't blame me."

"I'm giving you a pass since I've missed you so much."

"So that's all it is, huh?" he teased before his expression sobered. "Thank you, by the way, for solving those mysteries and preventing our country from ending up in a very nasty predicament."

Elizabeth nodded. There were times when she had a hard time accepting praise for what she had done. This was definitely one of those times. Personally she just wished it had never happened. If it hadn't, so many people would still be alive and Juliet wouldn't be in prison.

"I'm glad I could at least clear your name in the end. You didn't deserve to go out by suicide."

"That was just a side note in what you did," George told her with a wave of his hand. "I was talking about finding the other answers and stopping the coup."

"I just did what I had to do."

"No, Bess. You didn't have to do most of what you did, but you did it anyway simply because it was the right thing to do. Certainly wasn't the easy thing, but it was the right thing. That's one of your stand out qualities, you know. You never look for the easy way out. You look for the best solution, the right solution, no matter what anybody else thinks. You're not afraid to rock the boat either, and that, that's what this country needs right now. It's one of the reasons you'll make such an amazing president, and it's what's going to put you on level with the greats. Washington. Lincoln. Kennedy. McCord. You're going to fix things and put us back on the right track to being greater than we've been before."

Elizabeth bowed her head and bit her lip. It wasn't the first time that someone had said she would make a great president and bring about real change. She believed it herself, but there was always that niggling doubt in the back of her mind that maybe she wasn't capable of being what everyone thought she was. George's comparison brought the doubts right up to the surface and put a glaring spotlight on them. He was lumping her in with the real history makers, but deep down she had to wonder if she would reach beyond the mere footnotes, presidents not even remembered by the average person. Fillmore. Buchanan. Tyler. Van Buren.

Here, unlike back in the real world, she didn't have to hide those doubts. She could be completely honest about one of her deepest fears. A fear she had only shared with Henry. George would understand, and he wouldn't judge her for it.

"That's an incredibly high bar, George. What if I can't do it? What if we're all overestimating my ability?"

"Bess, you're more than capable of all of that. Your abilities have only been tested. You have never found your limits, and if you ask me you never will find them. The minute you find something blocking your way you find a way around it somehow. You always have and you always will. If you ever hit the ceiling of your abilities you'll just go down first, or some other such craziness that makes sense only to you yet works anyway, and get above that ceiling. I still don't understand how you make most of what you come up with work, but you do. That's the way you are, Bess. It's built into you."

George did have a point. As she'd mentioned on her first few days of the job as Secretary of State, she'd never met a situation where she didn't have a choice. Nor had she met a problem where she hadn't been able to come up with some kind of answer. It may not have been the perfect one, as that didn't often exist in politics, but it had always been a decent one. She had never let any situation, no matter how difficult, stop her before, and she certainly wasn't going to start now. A slight smile tugged at the edge of her lips.

"Thank you, George."

"You're welcome, love. Now go get to it. You have a lot ahead of you to do, and there's only so much time left if you still want the opportunity to do those things."

"Right."

Feeling much lighter than before, Elizabeth took off at a jog. If George was saying she didn't have a lot of time left, then she needed to make some of it up. There was no way she was going to let herself get trapped here just because she took her time. Too much still needed to be done, and if George was right, she was the only one who would be able to do it.

O . o . O . o . O

Even though this place apparently ran completely on willpower, it turned out that Elizabeth simply didn't have much will to run. That lack of willpower was probably why none of her plans to do consistent runs to stay in shape ever panned out. Before long she had slowed to a walk, though her thoughts continued to race ahead. She had run into quite a few people already and had to wonder who else she would meet. Elizabeth had never met Vincent Marsh, but she was curious if she was about to. He had died right before George, so he could logically be the next one she met. Even though he was a complete stranger, his death had played such a big role in her life. That might be enough cause for him to turn up here. He was the reason for her start in the political arena. He was also the reason for the deaths of many of her friends, albeit indirectly. Those two connections to him brought out a very strange combination of emotions. Hopefully she wouldn't have to face them. Or him. She honestly wasn't sure if she could be civil if she did.

Of course she hadn't run across Andrew Munsey, and based on the timeline of deaths she should have long ago. They'd at least known each other. Considering that, she had to figure she wouldn't be running into Marsh either. If a relationship that had ended roughly hadn't been good enough for a meeting, then a nonexistent relationship certainly wouldn't be no matter how much that person had impacted her life. That was a reassuring thought to be sure.

So lost in her internal debate about Marsh, Elizabeth wasn't paying attention to anything else. The silence was broken by a squeal that sounded like an excited teenage girl, one she would have expected to come from Alison. Startled, Elizabeth whipped around to try to identify the source. It definitely hadn't come from Vincent Marsh, but it couldn't have been from Alison either. Her daughter was safe at home in DC, likely worried half to death but definitely still alive.

Elizabeth's newest guest emerged out of the darkness with her face absolutely alight. While it had been years since Elizabeth had seen her, there was no mistaking who this woman was. After all, she could never mistake Henry's features, and he took after his mother far more than his father.

"There you are! Oh my goodness!" Barbara McCord exclaimed as she dashed over to Elizabeth and grabbed her hand in excitement. "They all said you were coming, but I just couldn't believe it until I saw you with my own eyes."

She leaned forward and gave Elizabeth a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Oh it's so good to see you, dear, even in these circumstances," she continued without giving her daughter in law a chance to get a single word in. "You look absolutely wonderful! It's this presidency thing, I'm sure. It suits you."

"I… thank you," Elizabeth returned, somewhat flustered by the exuberant greeting.

"Now, come, come. I promised them I wouldn't take up too much time. They deserve it far more than I do. We can talk as we walk!"

Still gripping Elizabeth's hand, she started nearly dragging her forward through the dark. Still rather confused but highly amused by the entire thing, Elizabeth followed along behind her mother in law. She had no idea who "they" were but knew there was no point in asking. Barbara was an expert at keeping secrets and she had already flitted on to another subject anyway. The whirlwind of subjects was hard enough to keep up with already without trying to puzzle out unexplained pieces.

"How is Henry? I know my death couldn't have been easy for him, and then his father's and all of the troubles that came after that. Plus being in the spotlight now with where you are…"

"He's fine. Really. I think everything that happened only drew the whole family closer together. Henry seems to be handling the spotlight just fine too. He's been incredibly supportive. I couldn't do what I'm doing without him."

Barbara's eyes locked on Elizabeth's, worry evident in their depths.

"And you're sure he's actually alright? You know how he can be. Henry keeps everything locked up inside so nobody can see what he's feeling."

Elizabeth smiled and gave her mother in law's hand a squeeze of reassurance. She knew perfectly well that Henry wasn't always open about what he felt, but she'd gotten incredibly good at reading him over the years. There wasn't much he could hide from her, though his skill at that did come in beneficial when they had to deal with the media.

"I'm sure. We had a moment a few years ago, but he's been fine since. Actually, there are times when I think he handles the constant spotlight and pressures of my job better than I do."

A relieved smile graced Barbara's face, and the bounce in her step picked up again.

"Good. Good. And the kids? They're alright too?"

"They're doing far better than I could have expected. I'm very proud of them."

Even though Stevie had struggled with the spotlight when Elizabeth had been Secretary of State, she wasn't having any difficulty coping with the attention that having a presidential mother brought. Alison was doing just as well, and still actively participated in Elizabeth's career by choosing many of the outfits that Elizabeth wore to important events. Even Jason, who had wanted to run away the moment he'd realized Elizabeth was going to run, had stepped up and was handling the responsibilities of first son with maturity and grace.

"I am too," Barbara agreed. "They've grown up into such amazing young people. You tell them that for me, alright? And tell Henry that I love him, and I couldn't be more proud of everything he's accomplished, both with his work and with his family."

Barbara stopped and threw her arms around Elizabeth, holding her tight. When she let go she was beaming, though there were tears in her eyes.

"And this is where I leave you, dear. There are two other people who are just as proud of you as I am, if not more so, and they want to make sure you know it."

Barbara stepped out of the way, squeezed Elizabeth's shoulders in farewell, and gave her a slight push. Elizabeth stumbled forward, eyes on the ground as she tried to keep her balance. It was then that a voice from out of the past called out a greeting, and Elizabeth's breath caught in her throat.