The news broke that night. They all saw the speech Conrad Dalton gave, but it was late and their father simply said that their mother was tired and she was sleeping. Jason doubted that. So, she had been in Iran and nobody informed him. They didn't even know if her mother had any injuries. They didn't know if she really was as fine as their father insisted.
That was completely normal though. Their parents were good at shielding, covering up and keeping a lot of things secret from their kids. Jason appreciated that most of the time. He knew his parents fought just like any couple did, but he rarely heard anything other than muffled voices from their bedroom late at night or hushed conversations in the living room. It was the coldness, when they said goodbye in the mornings or the lack of physical contact during the nights or simply the fact that they didn't share any kisses in the evenings. Occasionally it was just the fact that his father wasn't reading in an armchair by the front door to welcome his mother back home. But these were small things, and they always went away. Jason was thankful for that.
He woke up just a little past midnight and he really needed to pee. So, Jason got up and walked through the quiet hallway to the bathroom. On his way back he heard some voices from his parents' room and for a moment he felt the urge to rush back to his room, close the door and put his earphones on, but something stopped him.
"Elizabeth, talk to me," his dad demanded.
"There is nothing to talk about," his mom replied.
"So you went to Iran, saw your friend die, nearly died yourself and that's nothing?" he heard his father say loudly. What the hell happened there?
"Henry, I'm tired," she said weakly.
"Babe, I'm just worried about you," Jason heard his father say ever so gently. He could almost see him pleading and wrapping his arms around her, that seemed to be the cure for his mother almost every time.
"I'm fine," she said. His mother was cold, almost as if she wasn't even there, like she was indifferent.
Then there was silence.
"Elizabeth, I just had to wake you from your nightmare, so you don't pull all your stitches. You're not fine," his father said. It was a statement and there is no way his mother could fight against it.
What? His mother had been hurt? He really wanted to know what had happened to his mother in those days and he really wanted to know how badly she'd been hurt. On the other hand Jason wanted to leave his parents alone and give them some privacy, but he found himself unable to move. Maybe he wanted to know what happened behind the closed doors.
"I'm sorry I woke you," his mother said sincerely. "But I don't wanna talk about it now," she said and Jason knew the tone – it meant that this was it, there was no room to negotiate. Wonder if she used the same tone at work and foreign diplomats knew not to cross after that either or did she just use that with her family.
There was a long silence.
"You think you can fall back asleep?" he asked.
"I'll try," his mother replied.
"Matt said that there are sleeping pills in your bag," his father said.
"I don't want any pills," his mother was firm.
Jason could almost see his father resign and wait for his mother to say or do something. It was all quiet.
"You're bleeding," his father said.
"Where? Which one is it?" she asked.
Which one? If she had to ask that question, then it meant more than just one injury. Jason became worried. He still thought his parents were like superheroes – nothing could hurt them. He thought they were invincible.
Not anymore.
"It's your left hand, babe," his father said calmly.
There was silence, then he heard her mother curse and soon after that there was some water running in the bathroom. There were footsteps and muffled voices, but Jason couldn't figure out what was said. He heard the water being turned off, footsteps again and then the voices became clear again.
"We should talk with kids about it," his father suggested and Jason agreed with him.
"Conrad made a statement, they know what happened," his mother replied. Jason could name so many things that he still didn't know but wanted to know.
"I don't mean that. They might wanna hear from you, what went down and the fact that you were injured. They will want to hear their mother's side not the press release from the president," his father reasoned.
Jason could only hope that his mother would agree.
"Babe, the kids might see something, it'll be worse for both of us then. Besides we promised transparency in this house," his father argued.
"Well, I'm not gonna be walking around the house naked, am I?" his mother fought back.
Jason could hear his father raising his eyebrows and tilting his head.
"I always wear long sleeves and the cuts will heal. It's not like we have to mask a gunshot would this time," she said with venom in her voice.
Wait, what? His mother had been shot and he didn't know? Or maybe his father had been shot? Nobody was telling him anything.
"The kids were so young then. It was way before Jason was even born," his father explained.
Silence took over once again. Jason heard the bed creak a little and some rumbling of the blankets.
"Do you really think Stevie believed the appendicitis cover?" his mother asked.
"It was different," his father fought back.
"How?"
"You were CIA then and Stevie was only six at the time. She didn't understand the complexity and the dangers of your work, but now they do. Except now you're the lead diplomat of our country not CIA operative," his father explained.
"I was CIA analyst," his mother corrected.
"Yes, you were supposed to have a desk in DC, but you were all around the world doing god knows what," his father accused.
Wait, Jason barely knew anything from her time at the CIA. True, she had quit long before he could remember, but Stevie and Alison were older. They had never talked about their mother being hurt.
"I was doing my job. You went off to war right after we got married," his mother accused.
"You married a marine."
"You married a spy."
Silence fell over the room again. Jason didn't like where it was heading, he also didn't like the way his parents were fighting. He liked even less the fact that their parents had some habit of lying to their kids and while he liked some shielding, he didn't approve of it much this time. There wasn't anything about the conversation that Jason liked.
"You are no longer in the CIA and your trips aren't secret anymore. They used to believe that you are invincible superhero, but you are not. And the kids aren't in preschool anymore. Stevie and Alison figured out that you were in Iran. I had to tell them that you were missing and they were there, when I got the call that you're fine. They were really worried about you and it would be good for them to hear what happened from you," his father explained.
Jason felt anger towards his father and sisters – they all know where mom was, but didn't tell him. They let him play video games and joke around with laffy strings, while their mother was lost in the middle of coup in Iran.
"And Jason?" his mother asked with concern in her voice.
"He didn't know," his father said. Jason wanted to disagree, but he couldn't interrupt. "Stevie and Alison didn't say anything to him. They were really good sisters."
Jason disagreed with his father again. They were not good sisters for keeping secrets from him. Jason had the right to know just like everybody else. She was his mother too.
"I'll talk to the girls," his mother said in defeat.
"Thank you," his father said.
What about him? She'd talk to his sisters, but Jason has the same right to know about things. He wants -needs – to know everything. He was so worried about his mother as well and he was done being out of loop.
"And Jason too, I need to talk with him as well," his mother decided.
Finally something he could agree on. About time he would be considered like an actual member of the family and be told about things.
"Babe, they just want to know if their mother is okay and they need to hear that from you," his father said.
Jason agreed with dad too. He heard some more rumbling of the blankets, movement on the bed and then he was fairly certain what was kissing.
"Henry," her mother protested. "I am way too tired to have sex."
On that note, Jason found his feet again and quietly walked back to his room. He didn't hear his father's protest on how he wasn't expecting sex. Jason heard too much already and maybe tomorrow he'd confront anybody in regards of what really happened.
***MSec***
Oddly enough the next day Madam Secretary acted like nothing had happened. Over the next few days they barely saw her – occasionally she left before anyone else woke up and came back after they were already asleep. Honestly, there wasn't much different about it anyway.
Jason heard her parents disagree, it was mainly his father suggesting that his mother needed to slow down and take it easy. Her mother of course had a mind of her own and she did whatever she wanted.
And even though Jason knew that everything wasn't okay, to an outsider it might have seemed like it. Oh, and his mother never talked with him about what had happened. As he learned the night before, that was normal.
If she would talk with him about her job and the nature of her trips, then that would be something out of the ordinary. That would be different.