Thank you all for the support in the first chapter, I hope you continue to like this story. And a massive thank you to my proof reader Taylor.
There wasn't a part of her skin that wasn't covered in blood, her hair was in rags and her clothes destroyed. But Elizabeth was alive, and she was safe now. The family couldn't be more grateful for this second chance. But they had so many questions, how did she get home? How did nobody know that Elizabeth was still alive? Somehow they were to believe she had died, and the whole world was about to receive this news from the President.
Shit! Henry realised and pulled away from the hug, he looked over at the television. Conrad had already begun to speak. The kids all pulled away when they felt Henry pull away and looked at where Henry was, instantly realising what was wrong.
However Elizabeth was still in the dark and walked into the room as she mumbled her first words with a dry and rough voice. "What's going on?" She directed her eyes to where the rest of the family's eyes were. She watched the TV as Conrad spoke, him going through the details of what he knew about the Coup. It was then that Henry spoke up.
"Conrad thinks you…" He turned to face Elizabeth. "He thinks you died in Iran, he's making a statement. He is going to tell everyone…" The words struggled out of Henry's mouth; in a matter of seconds he was at his phone, calling Russel. He looked at the screen, being able to see Russel behind the president, even if he was in the corner.
As much as hearing that everyone thought she had died was painful, it didn't surprise Elizabeth. She had come home in as low a profile as she could, and she didn't have any time to contact anyone because most of the ride home she was demanded to rest and had a medic working on her.
Russel got the alert and looked discretely at his phone, seeing that it was Henry and feeling he should answer. Russel walked off the sight of the camera and answered the call. "Hey, Henry. I am sorry for your…" His sincere words were broken off by Henry.
"No, she's alive. Elizabeth is alive; she is standing next to me. You need to stop Conrad saying anything!" His words were rushed, and his tone hectic as he told a now stunned Russel the news. But before he could react Henry handed Elizabeth the phone, knowing the man needed to hear her for himself and not think Henry had gone crazy in his state of grief.
Getting the hint, Elizabeth held out her shaking hand and took the phone putting it to her ear. "Russel." Was all she managed to quietly say, the pain in her throat and her low energy restricting her saying any more.
Russel couldn't believe it, he was actually hearing Elizabeth's voice. And then it struck him, what Henry said. He needed to stop the President saying Elizabeth was dead, he turned his head toward Conrad, knowing the speech and knowing that he was about to announce what he thought happened to Elizabeth. He hastily made his way toward Conrad, the McCord's all watching as Russel came onto the screen and approached Conrad. Managing to whisper into his ear before he said anything.
Dalton's expression turned into a frown of confusion as he heard Russel state that Elizabeth was indeed alive, something Conrad never thought he would hear. It almost felt like a dream or some cruel joke to mess with him about a friend of over 20 years. He didn't know what to say or do in that moment. Something the president should never be, especially in a situation where the public are looking for stability.
The McCord household watched on nervously as they saw Conrad's expression change from sorrow to one of confusion and possibly even pain. They awaited for his response, for the actions or words that were sure to follow the news he had just received.
After what felt like minutes had passed, Conrad cleared his voice, stood straight again as he composed himself and began to address the nation again. "I apologise for that. We are still very much learning about this Coup with the rest of the nation and world. Secretary McCord was there during the Coup, however she is alive." He said simply, not knowing any other details other than that. Conrad then finished his speech and walked off the podium, allowing his press team to take over with the little information they had. Right now his main priority was his friend and employee.
Back at the State Department, Elizabeth's team had been sitting around the table, watching Conrad's press conference. They were still in tears, all still mourning the death of their former boss. It still very much felt like a nightmare, a dark surreal thing that they just wanted to wake up from. They watched with frowns as Conrad took a moment to stop to listen to Russel, wondering what was going on.
And as he began to speak again, uttering their boss's name. They all took a deep breath as they waited for the words they didn't want to hear.
" –Alive." Did they hear that right? Nadine looked around the room at the equally as confused faces.
"Did President Dalton just say Secretary McCord is alive?" Daisy spoke up first, looking around at her colleagues, while asking the question they all had been wondering in their minds.
"I am going to go and uh make a… a call." Nadine mumbled as she walked out the room and toward her office, ready to call Russel Jackson and find out what on earth was going on. She entered her office and walked straight to her desk, picking up the phone laid on the table. She used the number for Russel and then hit call, putting the phone to her ear and waiting for him to pick up the phone.
Russel was walking back with Conrad to the Oval office when he heard his mobile ring. Taking it out of his pocket, he noticed it was one of the offices of the State Department and instantly accepted the call, knowing her team would have questions. "Hello…"
"Hi it's Nadine Tolliver, Madam Secretary's Chief of Staff. The staff and I were just watching the press conference –" She got interrupted by Russel, who was now standing in the office outside the Oval office.
"Yes, the information we was given about Elizabeth was wrong. I have spoken to her, but at the moment I don't know a lot. All I know is that she's with Henry."
Nadine sighed. "Okay, thank you. Shall I call the McCord's? And see how they are doing?" She asked, feeling the need to make sure Elizabeth, the boss she had begun to get along with, and ultimately like, and the family she had started to know, to make sure that they were all okay, and to give any support they needed at this time.
"For tonight I would suggest leaving it, but maybe call tomorrow. The President and I are going to be speaking to them tonight. It might be overwhelming for her to have loads of people contacting her. But I will send your regards to her, and let her know that you'll be calling her in the morning, if she isn't feeling up to it I will let you know." Russel's tone of voice and usual attitude had changed completely; he was actually being gentle and sensitive about it all. Nadine was sure she had never heard him sound so concerned over a colleague.
"Alright, thank you." Nadine gratefully said, and with that the call ended. Nadine then went back to tell her staff that what they heard was in fact true, and what information Russel had told her.
Back at the McCord house, the family were still recovering from the shock of Elizabeth being home, and the close call that they had seen on TV. However that was soon broken when Henry got a text on his phone. "Um babe? The president would like to call." Henry spoke up as he looked at the screen.
Elizabeth nodded, understanding. "Okay, um kids, why don't you all go downstairs into the sitting room and we will be down soon?" She asked in her hoarse voice, almost inaudible if it wasn't for the near silence of the room. The kids simply nodded and Stevie led Jason and Alison out, they descended the stairs to the kitchen and immediately began to make a drink for Elizabeth, guessing she would need one. They wanted to help her as much as they could.
Once alone in the room, Henry replied to Russel agreeing to the call and then gestured to Elizabeth to sit down on the bed. As she sat Henry closed the door, switched the TV off and then sat down next to her. His arm wrapped around her from the side, and pulled his wife close to him. They stayed silent the moments before the call, just taking a moment to breathe and compose themselves and just bathe in the comfort of one another, to be together, to be close again.
Elizabeth jumped at the sound of the phone ringing, Henry having felt it and realising she was probably jumpy after what had happened, rubbed her arm comfortingly and pressed the answer button, putting it on speaker.
Conrad honestly didn't know what to say. As the President and her boss, he needed to be professional. But as her friend, all he wanted to do was drop all formalities and just be the supportive friend that he had been for over 20 years. He decided on the friend approach, that's what she needed, friends, support, not a boss. "Hey Bess, how you holding up?" His voice was soft, and showed the concern he felt for her.
Elizabeth cleared her voice, preparing herself to speak. "I'm doing okay, a little achy and tired." Her voice still sounded the same as when she first spoke, the pain in it having not gone.
Conrad was quite stunned at how she sounded, Elizabeth sounded awful, not that he would say that to her. But he just like everyone else, knew Elizabeth wasn't as fine as she was saying she was. There was no point arguing with her however, because that woman would never do well with people admittedly knowing she wasn't okay. "Alright, I still want you to take a couple of days off. Spend time with your family, as they had quite the scare tonight, we all did. And it will help you recover from your aches and catch up on sleep."
"Thanks." She didn't even fight it, Elizabeth knew in herself she wasn't ready to work. In fact all she wanted to do was get under the covers and sleep all the memories of the last couple of days out of her memory. "I would like to pop into the State Department tomorrow though. And see how my staff are doing."
Henry who was still sitting next to her, who had remained silent was now trying his hardest not to say anything against what she wanted to do.
Before Conrad could say anything, Russel spoke up. "Nadine was going to call you in the morning. Maybe just speak to her instead of pushing yourself?" Russel suggested.
"Fine, I'll ask her in the morning if I can go and see them." She of course knew that was not what Russel meant, but he should know to not leave any way for her to twist it by now.
"That's not what I meant."
"I know, but still. If I feel up to it I am going. Don't worry if I start doing any work Blake will get my security team to force me out the building if they have to." She tried to bring a little bit of comedy to the conversation, which worked as everyone in the conversation gave a small laugh, and Elizabeth smiled.
"And I will be making sure she doesn't over do it." Henry chimed up.
"Okay, well we will let you both go now. If you need anything, me and Russel are a call away. Goodnight."
"Thank you. Goodnight." Elizabeth and Henry said in sync and with that the call ended.
With a deep breath, Elizabeth collapsed backwards onto the bed while Henry put the phone on the side. Silent tears filling her eyes, Henry turned to face her, seeing the water marks on her cheeks and the expression on her face that reflected hurt, and sadness. He laid down next to her, resting on his side. A hand running over one of her shoulders.
"You okay babe?" Henry asked, his voice laced with concern over his wife.
"I know I said to the kids I would go downstairs, but I really want to sleep." She mumbled, and with Henry's understanding nod Elizabeth shuffled to her part of the bed and pulled the covers over her, closing her eyes. She didn't even bother getting changed, she didn't have the energy and just needed the sleep.
"They will understand." Henry then placed a kiss to her forehead, standing up and walking to the bedroom door, he turned around to look at her and could tell by her slow breathing that his wife was asleep.
Henry closed the bedroom door and went downstairs to his kids, allowing Elizabeth the time she needed to sleep in peace.