Blissfully happy. It was how she would have described the summer they spent together following Stevie's birth. She'd been so grateful for her 3 month maternity leave; the government certainly did have it's benefits. Henry had been so grateful that he got to spend the first 3 months of his daughter's life with no interruptions from work of any kind. It was just the three of them and they cherished every second.

Upon arriving back to work; Elizabeth had skillfully hid her tears from saying goodbye to Stevie for the first time with carefully applied makeup. She knew Stevie was in good hands, Alice's. Alice had taken great care of her as a child and was lucky her father insisted she do the same, as he truthfully didn't need her at the farm. So her father continued to pay her; and assigned her to Elizabeth's everyday. Alice couldn't have been more thrilled.

Just as Elizabeth cluttered her desk with photos of her precious baby girl, Conrad had called her into the office and told her that he wanted her to run their Paris office, and she'd need to move in 3 months.

She sprung the news on Henry that night, and much to her surprise he fully supported it. He said his first week back hadn't been as he'd hoped. He was thrilled at the opportunity to live abroad in Europe and study all of the ancient churches and texts. He told her after the fall semester he could take a sabbatical, and study at the Divinity school in Paris and start writing a novel he'd been thinking about.

As soon as Henry was on board she got excited; she couldn't wait to show him were she'd spent her adolescence and re-discover the beauty of Europe with her husband and daughter.

Shortly after Stevie's first Christmas, they packed up their things, Alice in tow, and set off for Paris.

It had been an amazing 3 years. Even though Stevie was a very colicky and fussy baby, they managed. She would always behave for Henry and since he had to spend so much time calming her down, he earned his first B in school. As Stevie got older, she became less fussy and would cooperate for her mother most of the time too, and Henry was back to straight A's.

Elizabeth thrived at work, running ops, managing the office and improving their work output. Henry had even started to dabble in some NSA work from time to time; short week long ops in between semesters and loved it.

But at home, they behaved like a normal family. They took walks every evening to either the ice cream stand or café nearby, never able to soak up enough of the beautiful Parisian lights. They took summer vacations to Cannes, Italy, London and Greece. Her boarding school friends became their social circle and they welcomed Henry into their group with open arms. They'd subconsciously created their own little bubble once again, with no outside forces to disrupt their happiness.

But as Stevie got older, they noticed she spoke just as good French as she did English, since Elizabeth and Henry spoke both while living in Paris. They had decided that they needed to be back to the states before she entered pre-school to she could have a normal school experience.

Conrad abided by her wishes; she'd gotten the office back to above average standards, so someone else could easily manage it from there.

They enjoyed one last summer in Paris, before returning home to Virginia where Stevie could start pre-school just 3 months after she turned 4.

*****Promises*****

As they tearfully waved to their daughter as she ran into her pre-school classroom her blonde pigtails bouncing, Elizabeth couldn't help but think of the moment she held her for the first time. She suddenly longed for a snuggly baby once again.

After Stevie went to bed that night after babbling on and on about how much she liked school and about all of her new friends, her parents were left alone in the living room.

Elizabeth got up and fingered the framed photo of a newborn Stevie. "Seems like just yesterday, doesn't it?"

Henry came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle as he rested her head on her shoulder. "Sometimes….like today, it does."

"I miss baby snuggles." She said softly. Henry smiled and turned her in his embrace. She looked up at him and said. "Maybe it's time to have another baby."

He bent down to kiss her gently. "Maybe it is." He agreed, kissing her again. They continued to kiss and then somehow made their way to their bedroom. They moved together slowly and gently, taking their time, letting each other know how much they loved each other.

"Do you think we did it?" she asked him as she lay curled and exhausted in his arms

"Time will tell." He said. "But we could do it again, just to be sure."

She giggled and leaned in to kiss him, their exploration beginning once more. She didn't know it at the time, but there was already a tiny clump of cells multiplying in her belly, one that was formed their first weekend back in the states just a month ago. The weekend she'd forgotten her pills in the midst of unpacking and settling back in.

******Promises*******

Unlike her pregnancy with Stevie, her pregnancy with Allison had been a breeze. She had very few bouts of morning sickness and had the glow everyone talked about. She'd been just as surprised as her husband when they told her she was nearly 3 months along when they she first realized she was pregnant, telling her she'd be due at the end of March. She thought for sure it would take a year, as it had with Stevie.

Elizabeth was resting on the couch, enjoying a predictable lifetime movie one Saturday afternoon when she felt the eerily familiar sting of pain in her belly 3 weeks to early. She grabbed the phone that was beside her on the couch, dialing her father. "Dad…I need to you come…yea. No I'm sure. Hurry."

Stevie had been playing with her dolls upstairs, so luckily she did not see her mother's discomfort. In between contractions she stood and went in search of her husband, not wanting to scream for him and alarm her daughter. She found him in his office, grading mid-terms. "Honey…." She said, clutching her belly.

He could tell by the way she said Honey that something was wrong. "Babe?"

"It's time to go."

He knew immediately that she was referring to the hospital. "Honey sit." He said, lowering her into the armchair in the office. He had reached for the phone. "Already called….he's on his way."

"Alright." He said as calmly as he could. "Just relax baby. Just breathe." He encouraged, kneeling beside her and holding her hand. "Where's Stevie?"

"In her room, playing." She choked out, squinting as another contraction came. She was trying to be quiet, again not needing Stevie freaking out.

After a few minutes she stood, pacing back and forth while holding her back, trying to alleviate the pressure. "God, where is he?"

"He'll be here any second." Henry promised.

When he saw her father pull in the driveway some 20 minutes after she called, he ushered Elizabeth out of the office yelling for Stevie.

"What, Daddy?" she said, descending the stairs with her Barbie doll in hand.

"Grandpa's here." Henry said. "He's going to stay with you while I take Mommy to go get your baby sister okay."

"Do you have to go get her now?" Stevie asked, somewhat annoyed. She'd been back and forth on her excitement about her baby sister.

"Yes, we have to go right now." Her father said. "You can come meet her tomorrow."

"Baby, come here." Elizabeth said, forcing a smile for her daughter as another contraction hit her. "I know you are mad, but you're going to be a great big sister. You can help me dress her up like you do with your dolls and show her how well you read."

"Okay, fine." Stevie rolled her eyes.

"Okay, I love you baby. Be good for grandpa okay?"

"Love you too. Bye mommy. Bye daddy."

Henry kissed her goodbye and then quickly pushed Elizabeth out the door. "Good luck sweetheart. Hang in there." John said, kissing his daughter on her way out.

"We'll call." Henry said as he opened Elizabeth's door and they waved.

"Grandpa, you're in luck. We're playing Barbies and you can be Ken."

"Okay then." John laughed as Stevie pulled him by the hands up the stairs.

In the car, Elizabeth was finally able to let out a scream and her tears. "Oh god, Henry. Drive fast."

90 minutes later, six pound, once ounce baby Allison had entered the world with a loud, healthy scream. Again, Henry had settled his wife back in bed, leaving his position behind her to go watch over their second little daughter.

Elizabeth tiredly watched Henry wave his arm with Allison's tiny footprints at her.

Again she complained she was freezing and was shaking badly, but Henry wrapped her in her sweater while the nurses finished with Allison.

Allison had been wailing non-stop and fidgeting as the nurses cleaned her and checked her vitals. Her heart rate was rising from her constant screaming, and it concerned them. They quickly wrapped her in a blanket; thinking the swaddle might help and handed her to Henry telling him to see if he could calm her.

Henry rocked his baby girl gently while he whispered to her and kissed her cheek, but she was still fussing, her tiny face bright red.

"What's the matter?" Elizabeth asked quietly, looking over at Henry.

"She's just fussy." He told her, not wanting to alarm her.

Dr. Miller heard the cries and was concerned as well that they were not stopping, after finishing her stitches he knew the nurses could handle Elizabeth from there while he checked in on baby Allison. "Let's try something." He said to Henry, he wanted to try one thing before they would have to mildly sedate Allison to calm her racing heart.

Henry followed the doctor to Elizabeth's bedside and the doctor adjusted her bed and pillows so she could take the baby. He nodded to Henry and he gently passed her to his mother.

With trembling hands, she accepted her screaming new baby and gently rocked her in her arms. She calmed almost instantly. Henry let out a sigh of relief as his daughter finally stopped crying and opened up her big brown eyes, looking up at her mother.

"Looks like she just needs her mom." Dr. Miller said, focusing his attention back to Elizabeth draping another blanket over her legs.

"Shhhh…now there, there." Elizabeth cooed. "What was all that fussing for Allison Jane?"

From that moment on, Allison Jane was definitely mommy's little girl.

******Promises*******

Allison grew up too quickly for her mother's liking. After her first few weeks of constant wailing whenever Elizabeth was away from her, Allison became a very good baby. She slept through the night, ate without fussing, and eve put up with her older sister dragging her about pretending as though she were her very own baby doll.

Time seemed to fly by. Suddenly Allison was 18 months and learning to walk and talk. It seemed far faster than it did with Stevie.

During that time in though, work had been insane. She was dealing with the continued escalation in Kosovo, all while trying to keep a handle on the middle east desk, her main assignment.

Things were moving a mile a minute and she had spent far longer at the office than she intended, and maybe that was why it seemed Allison grew 2 inches a week. And Ally had missed her mother. She'd always favored her mother and would say "Mommy!" the second she heard her high heels click though the house, and wriggle out of her father's arms, crawling or walking to get to her mother as quickly as she could.

"Allison." Her mother would say and pick her up and kiss her. "I missed you so much today…"

On those days it seemed only Allison could comfort her after a long day's work. Of course she loved spending time with her husband and older daughter, but there were nights when Henry's warm embrace wasn't enough. She needed her baby girl snuggled on her chest while she fell asleep to wash away the horrors of her workday.

When Allison had grown too fidgety to lay with her mother every night, it had upset Elizabeth even more.

"Babe, what's the matter?" Henry would ask, always so tuned into her moods.

She'd shrug her shoulders. "Work is nuts. And my baby isn't a baby anymore."

Henry would laugh and pull her in close. "I know, she's growing up too fast."

"Henry, I need a baby to snuggle." She said. "Can we have just one more?"

Henry knew it wasn't just Allison growing up that was hurting his wife. It was the state of the world. He knew it was getting crazier for her at work everyday based on what he saw on the news. He felt her slipping away, being sucked into the craziness. What he always hoped she could avoid; he didn't want her facing what he faced in the war. He didn't want it to consume her, but he was worried it was starting to.

AN: Thank you all for your continued reviews; they mean the world to me! I'm really glad you all are liking this story. I'm hoping to wrap up this one soon so I can get back to Madam President. I know you all have been so patiently waiting!