AN: Hello Everyone! Happy M Sec Day! I am so very sorry for the delay in this story. Many of you know the reason for the delay - so thank you for your messages during the week to help get me through! After 14 days of 12 hour work days, I have rested and plan to get back to regular writing. Many thanks to RenDot again for your medical knowledge - and also for the idea about Will.

Chapter 3

The waiting was going on longer than she imagined. It seemed like days. She was in a daze as she sat in one of the plastic chairs, her heart beating rapidly. Her gaze was glued to her fingers, fingers that Henry gently gripped for the brief moment before his surgery began. She starred at his dried blood on her hand until a steaming cup of tea came into her view. "M'am?" she heard Frank's voice seconds later. "Please?"

She glanced up at him, her blue eyes full of fear. "Thank you, Frank." She said quietly and reached for the cup with a shaking hand and sipped the drink.

A few moments later she rose and looked out the window, still sipping the tea, attempting to calm down. She debated a xantax, but she had to stay alert until she had word on her husband.

In the distance she could see the beautiful blue of the Miami beaches, waves crashing against the sand in the early evening light. It was beautiful, but instead of the scenery calming her it caused her to choke back a sob as she suddenly wished she and Henry could be walking down that beach right now. "God please let him be okay." She said to herself.

The loud dancing musical notes coming from her phone jolted her from her daze. She pulled her phone from her pocket and slid the green button across the screen, taking a breath and composing herself.

"Mom?" Stevie's shy voice came from the phone.

"Hi baby." She said, swallowing the lump in her throat , forcing herself to not sound terrified.

"Hi. We just wanted to call and check in…."Stevie's voice trailed.

Elizabeth pictured her children huddled in she and Henry's bed, the phone on speaker and Stevie being the brave one and calling. She pictured them huddled up with Henry when they were waiting to hear about her. They shouldn't have had to do this again.

"We wanted to make sure you landed okay and…." Stevie trailed, not wanting to ask for fear of bad news. She knew her mother would have called with an update and she should have assumed no news was good news, but she had to be sure.

"I did baby. I'm at the hospital. Dad is still in surgery. But I saw him for a quick second before he went in so…" Elizabeth said, trying to be positive.

Stevie nodded, looking to her brothers and sisters. "What is he having surgery for?"

Elizabeth looked up and wiped her tears away. "I don't know baby…..they haven't come to talk to me yet."

"Mom, we deserve to know." Stevie pleaded. She was just like Elizabeth sometimes, never faltering from her ground.

"Baby. I really don't know all the details. As soon as I do I promise to call okay?"

"Fine." Stevie choked back a sob.

"Baby. I promise. Dad squeezed my hand before I went in – so that's a really good sign okay?"

"Okay." Elizabeth heard the tears this time.

"I love you guys." Elizabeth promised as she went to hang up.

"Mom wait! Please, you shouldn't have to wait alone. We can come…..we…" Stevie pleaded. She was sensitive to her mother's PTSD and didn't want her mother alone.

"I'm fine guys. Really. You sit tight and I'll call soon. Okay? Love you." She repeated, not sure who she was trying to convince.

"Love you, Mom." She heard Ally and Jason say before they hung up.

Elizabeth set the phone on the table and put her head in her hands as she sobbed again.

*****Quiet Pain*****

"Okay guys. Clearly something is going on that mom is not telling us." Stevie said to her siblings.

"Should we call Grandpa?"

"No. Let's wait until we know. Mom has enough to deal with. But maybe we should call Uncle Will…."Stevie wondered.

"Yea, he's a doctor. Maybe he can find out what's going on and tell us!" Jason said.

"We should ask him to go sit with Mom. She shouldn't be alone." Ally suggested. "Do you think he would?"

Stevie shrugged her shoulders. "Let's find out."

*****Quiet Pain******

"Hi McCords." Will Adams greeted with a smile over his skype account.

"Hi Uncle Will!" Stevie put on her best smile, as did Jason & Ally. But Will immediately noticed their red, puffy eyes.

"What's wrong guys?" Will asked, concerned. "Is your Mom okay?" He thought back to when Henry called him after he had heard about the Iran situation on the news. Henry told him how Elizabeth was okay, but was suffering PTSD. He had made a note to come visit and make sure his sister was okay. By the looks on his nieces' and nephew's face he wondered if she had another attack.

"Mom's okay…I think. But it's our Dad." Stevie began.

"What is it?"

"We aren't sure. Mom came home from work and told us that Dad went on some mission to Bolivia, to save a religious cult. Apparently he somehow got hurt and was air lifted to Miami. Mom went to meet him…..but no one will tell us what is wrong….and Mom….she wouldn't let us come….and he's in surgery but we don't know for what and…."

"She shouldn't be there alone." Will finished for Stevie.

"Exactly." Stevie replied. "Can you help us Uncle Will?"

He looked across skype at the sad eyes of the McCord children. He thought back briefly to when he lost both his parents. He knew exactly what they felt like. Alone and scared. Just as he and Elizabeth felt when they were children. Granted, Elizabeth was still there and Henry seemed to be fighting, but it was scary nonetheless. His nieces and nephews were living their own kind of hell. Having one parent almost taken, and two weeks later the other was in danger.

Then he thought about his sister. Even though she was younger, she was always the brave one, the one that took care of him. He was so happy when she found Henry. Finally someone to take care of her, and that he did. He was wonderful. He couldn't imagine what Elizabeth was feeling right now. He was also worried this could trigger a PTSD episode, and it was the last thing anyone needed.

He nodded to the kids. "I'll fly right out."

"Thank you Uncle Will!" Stevie smiled.

"You bet kiddo. I'll go look after your Mom. Do you think you can handle those two trouble makers?" He smiled.

"Of course." Steve smiled, pulling her siblings in for a hug.

"Alright. Stay strong McCords." He said, closing his computer.

******Quiet Pain******

Meanwhile in Miami, a doctor appeared in the door frame. He was an older man, in great shape with salt and pepper hair like Henry's. He was clearly an experienced surgeon. "Madam Secretary?"

She looked up and timidly shook the doctor's hand as he offered it "Just Mrs. McCord tonight…"

He offered her a kind smiled as he took the seat beside her. "Alright then, Mrs. McCord. I'm Dr. Peter Gibson."

She looked up at him timidly, waiting for what he was going to throw at her. She prayed it was good news.

"Your husband pulled through the surgery." He said gently, watching as she let out a breath.

"So he's….he's going to be okay?" she asked.

"Well, making it through the surgery is a very good sign, but he's not completely out of the woods yet."

Elizabeth felt the tears return to her eyes.

The doctor reached out and grabbed her hand. "Your husband lost quite a bit of blood and was unconscious for a long time before he got here. We will know more when he wakes up, but I do want to caution you that he could have brain damage."

"Brain damage….." she repeated

"When someone has lost that amount of blood and was deprived of oxygen for an unknown amount of time, it's always a possibility. But like I said, him making it through surgery is a very good sign. He's strong."

"That he is." She tried to smile.

"As far as his injuries, those were limited to his neck. He did have some damage to his airway, so we had to perform a tracheostomy. He was very lucky the knife missed his major arteries, but it did damage his vocal cords. We were able to repair, but expect him not to be able to speak for a while as it heals. He also has on a neck brace, which will help keep his neck steady while it heals. "

She nodded. She wasn't sure she could remember all that was said. All she heard was possible brain damage, tracheostomy and no speaking and it sounded terrifying. But she clung to the hope he would be fine. He made it through the surgery and gripped her hand. She knew he knew she was there His brain was fine.

"You can see him now if you like." He encouraged.

"Yes…." She said, rising to her feet.

The doctor guided her trembling form to his room. "We've set up a second bed for you M'am. We want to make sure you can rest too, we understand you recently went through an incredible ordeal yourself."

"I'm fine." She insisted.

"Of course M'am. But nonetheless, you need to take care of yourself too. "

She timidly walked into Henry's room. The lights were dim and the monitors beeped steadily. It made the neck brace look less scary in the dim light. She swallowed back her tears as she set her coat and bag on the chair and moved to sit on the edge of his bed. "Baby, I'm here." She whispered, pressing her lips to his forehead and running her fingers through his hair. "You are going to be just fine...you just need some rest...I love you."

Ignoring the bed that was beside his, she curled her slim form around Henry, allowing him to feel her presence, her warmth, and her breath on his cheek.

She draped her arm around his middle, inching her fingers beneath his hand as it rested on his chest. After a few minutes she felt him again, just barley griping her fingers with his. He knew she was there and it was all she needed to assure herself that he would be okay.