Chapter 8

AN: Thanks for the continued support with this story. A guest reviewer seemed to have a slight issue with where the bombs went off in chapter 7. Just to clarify things, one was in Madrid, the capital of Spain and one in the city of Canberra in Australia (the capital of Australia and the capital of ACT), both at the US embassies, which are in these cities. Hopefully that makes it easier to understand. This chapter sees a new threat taking hold and I hope no-one finds it too distressing. At the moment this is rated T, I may have to increase that to M before the end of the story, just to give you a warning.

Elizabeth struggled to take her eyes from the TV screen that showed the buildings with clear structural damage and huge flames erupting from the windows. However, her gaze was drawn to the space just outside the makeshift barriers, where she could see a group of secret service agents in heated discussion. One burst from the group and entered the area that had been set up as the President's temporary office.

"Mr President," he said first in acknowledgement, before turning to Elizabeth. "Madam Secretary, your assistant is out here. He says it's urgent."

Elizabeth looked over at the President. "Mr President..." She indicated to the screens, behind which she could now make out Blake, almost bouncing on his feet.

"Go. We'll update you as soon as we get more information." Dalton pointed to the small TV screen.

Elizabeth walked over to Blake and was quite surprised when he immediately put his arm around her back and urged her to walk with him across the hangar. "Blake, what's going on?"

"Ma'am, you need to come with me. Dr McCord called down. Stevie's on her way to the base hospital. There's something wrong with her."

"What?!" Elizabeth began to run towards the other door but spotted Nadine heading her way. She wasn't a doctor, there was nothing she could do to help Stevie right now, but she was Secretary of State and those were her people caught up in the explosions and they needed her, too.

"Nadine, they just blew up our embassies in Spain and Australia."

"I know, Ma'am. We just received word. I was coming to see what you wanted the staff to do."

"Get on the phone, coordinate with DOD, and get me some protection for our people. Use whatever's needed. Air force, navy, I don't care."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Keep me informed on all casualty information and get Isabelle on the phone and find out what the CIA know. Did you get the ambassadors from London and Berlin on the phone?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Both confirmed that the embassies there weren't the targets and the incidents were being handled by the British and German security services. I'll get in touch with them again. Now that we have these other attacks, we need to ensure there won't be any secondary attacks in London and Berlin, especially if they're now directly targetting American embassy buildings.

"Agreed. Get on it. Keep me apprised as soon as you have any news but right now I need to go and see Stevie."

Nadine turned to leave and Elizabeth put a hand on her arm, stopping her. "Nadine, there's the possibility of many State department casualties. I know you have connections all over the world, so take time to check that your friends are safe."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Nadine managed a small smile before turning and heading back to the area assigned to her office.

Elizabeth turned towards Frank. "Frank, get your guys on your earwig. I want to know what the hell's going on with my daughter." She began running out of the hangar, waiting for Frank to tell her if she was going to her room or somewhere else.

"Ma'am, they have her in the medical clinic, on the edge of the base." Frank came up behind her to guide her to the waiting vehicle.

It was a short journey to the large medical centre and Elizabeth was grateful that they were this close to a state-of-the-art hospital. She jumped from the vehicle almost before it had stopped, definitely before her detail, and ran into the building. They were waiting for her and a young lieutenant guided her to the elevator with Frank close behind her. The nurse wouldn't tell her anything, simply guiding her to the correct floor, and when the doors opened she was shocked to see the state Henry was in. He looked awful and to her dismay his sweats were covered in blood.

"What happened? Where is she? I want to see her." The panic was rising in Elizabeth's chest and she looked desperately at her husband, demanding answers. Despite the equally desperate look in his own eyes, Henry managed to guide her to the small seating area. Once they were both seated, Henry took Elizabeth's hands in his, both gaining strength from each other.

"Elizabeth, she's in surgery. The nurse said we have to wait here until the doctor comes out to talk to us."

"What happened?"

"She was in lots of pain, started screaming, and then there was blood all over her clothes. I got the detail and they had her brought here. I don't know, but I think…" Henry stopped, unable to continue. He simply squeezed Elizabeth's hands.

Elizabeth took a deep breath before saying hesitantly, "She's... she's having a miscarriage, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I think she could be."

Elizabeth suddenly sat up straight, never taking her eyes from Henry's. "We need to tell Harrison."

"Don't worry, I got Carl to call his detail before we left. They're bringing him here."

"Good. Have you spoken to the doctor?"

"Not yet, they only just took her away. God, she was so pale. I couldn't help her, my little girl. She was in so much pain." Henry put his head in his hands.

Elizabeth sat beside him, trying to comfort him, when it was often the other way around. She didn't do inactivity well. She was desperate for information from the doctor, desperate to know if her people had survived the latest attacks, and wanted more than anything to take away her daughter's pain.

Turning back to Henry, Elizabeth took a deep breath to try and get her emotions back under control and then gently pulled Henry's hands away from his face and held them once more, needing the comforting touch. "Are Jason and Alison back in the barracks?"

Henry lifted his head and thought for a moment. "Yeah, they should be. Allison saw us leaving. I tried to calm her down but we were in such a rush. We should try to speak with them." He looked around, unsure how to do that.

Fortunately, his wife's detail took over. Frank nodded to them both and then spoke into his mike. "Matt, can you confirm the location on MSec's children?" He only had to wait a few moments for a response. He cocked his head slightly as he listened then turned to Henry and Elizabeth. "Ma'am, the children are safe. They're waiting in the barracks." He listened once again before adding, "Harrison's downstairs and is asking permission to come in."

"Thanks, Frank. Let him come up. He should be here," Elizabeth replied.

Harrison arrived quickly, looking as scared as Elizabeth and Henry. "What happened? Where is she?" He rushed about the room, demanding attention from everyone, his eyes darting from the detail to Elizabeth and back again, looking for answers.

Henry stood up to get Harrison's attention. "Harrison, calm down. Stevie's in surgery. We don't know what's going on but…" he ran out of steam.

Elizabeth rose and stood beside her husband. She looked compassionately at Harrison and then said quietly, "Harrison, you should prepare yourself that Stevie has probably had a miscarriage."

"No, no… she can't have… we were so…happy…..we planned…." Harrison's emotions began to get the better of him and he backed away from Henry and Elizabeth, the hurt and disbelief evident on his face.

Before Elizabeth or Henry could stop him, Harrison left and ran away from the medical centre.

Elizabeth turned to her head agent. "Frank, make sure his detail have him. The last thing we need is for him to get into trouble."

Almost thirty minutes passed with no word about what was going on with Stevie. More of Elizabeth's detail gathered around them and Blake arrived to offer assistance and to inform her about what was going on in the outside world.

Finally, the doctor came out to see them. "Mr and Mrs McCord?"

"Yes," they both replied, jumping up from their seats.

"Please, follow me. We'll go somewhere where we can talk privately."

Elizabeth looked around at the waiting area, empty apart from her personal assistant and her protection detail. "You can talk here, doctor. These people will find out what's going on, anyway."

"Very well. Let's go and sit down." The young doctor ushered them back to the seats they'd just vacated. Once they were all seated he began his explanation. "Stephanie's very lucky. If she hadn't gotten medical attention as quickly as she did, we may've been having a very different conversation. Stephanie's suffered an ectopic pregnancy... Do you know what that is?"

"Yes, uh…" Elizabeth said quietly, "I had one before Stevie was born."

"Well, that'll make things a lot easier when supporting her. She's lost the baby but we've managed to save her fallopian tube and her uterus. She'll be in pain for a while but there's no reason to suggest she won't be able to have a normal pregnancy and carry a baby to full term in the future."

Elizabeth felt like a weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Thank you, Doctor."

Henry stood up, anxious to see his daughter. "When can we see her?"

"Soon. She's in recovery now." The doctor gave Elizabeth a reassuring smile and then got to his feet. "Someone will come and get you when she's settled and can have visitors."

"Thank you, Doctor," Henry said, shaking his hand.

The doctor looked at them for a moment. "Ma'am, Sir, if I may, could I suggest you find her a counsellor to talk to? This has the potential to change her life."

"Yes, we will, thank you." Elizabeth sat back and watched the doctor leave. She felt Henry grab her hand.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze then whispered, "She's going to be fine."

"Yes, but she's going to need help with this."

"Yeah, but like the doctor said, we've been through this ourselves, so we'll be able to help her through it."

Elizabeth nodded, her eyes filling with tears. Her mind took her back to the horrific experiences she'd had, first with an ectopic pregnancy early in their marriage, and then with just a 'regular' miscarriage. She could still remember her revulsion when the doctor had referred to it as that.

"We can help her, babe. We just need to make sure that she talks about it."

"Yes, I know." Elizabeth sighed, torn between her child and her job. "But I'm going to need to go back to work soon."

Blake cleared his throat beside her. "Ma'am, Nadine said to tell you that everything's under control. They've secured all embassies with the help of the DOD and are deploying troops from naval air carriers in the Mediterranean and in Indonesia. Until we get some intel on who's behind the attacks, there's nothing much more you can do. Stevie needs you, Ma'am, and you need to be here. Nadine has it under control. She'll call if you need to go back to the hanger."

Elizabeth smiled, relieved at her team's efficiency. "Thank you, Blake. Could you contact the President and explain the situation here, tell him to contact me if he needs me?"

"Will do, Ma'am. I'll go back to the hangar now. Give Stevie my best."

"Thanks, Blake." Elizabeth turned from her personal assistant and saw a nurse coming towards them.

"Ma'am, Sir, I can take you to your daughter now."

Elizabeth held out her hand for Henry to take. In the space of a few hours they'd found and lost a grandchild, and now needed to ensure that their daughter survived this personal crisis, while she tried to help the President deal with the national one. However, for now she was simply a mother, desperate to help her daughter with the pain she knew she was feeling.

AN: I hope this has not disturbed anyone too much. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.