Prompt: There's no ultimatum, so Elizabeth takes the job in Baghdad but she's miserable and she can read between the lines that Henry and the kids are struggling without her, so she quits and returns to them.
Elizabeth signed heavily and rested her head in her hands. The pages on her desk swam before her, blurry and out of focus. She couldn't take any of it in, the words making no real sense to her and the concepts she was supposed to be reading up on making even less. She dropped her head to the desk. This desk job in Baghdad was turning out to be the worst decision she'd ever made. She had not been so unhappy since the period of time following her parents' deaths and, thinking back on the phone call she'd had with Henry two days earlier, she didn't think things were much better at home.
"How are the kids?" Elizabeth had asked as she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes to listen to her husband's voice. Henry hesitated.
"They're okay," he said evasively, but Elizabeth could read him too well; she caught it instantly.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Henry sighed.
"Jason's sick," he admitted. "He's okay," Henry added quickly before Elizabeth could question him. "It's just a sinus infection, but he's pretty miserable and he misses you. We all do."
It didn't take a genius to decode Henry's cautious tone; Elizabeth bit back tears and sighed.
"Can I talk to him?" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful since she knew what time it was there.
"Uh, he's asleep but I can-"
"No," Elizabeth interrupted, though her disappointment was clear in her voice. "Let him sleep."
"I'm sorry," Henry said apologetically.
"No," Elizabeth said again. "It's not your fault."
But it is yours, said the nagging voice in her head.
And now, Elizabeth was sitting at her desk in tears- just as she had been every day. And in that moment, it hit her. She really couldn't do this. She had thought it every day- that she couldn't do it. But Elizabeth McCord had never backed down like that; she'd never been one to quit. So she had pushed the thought aside, over and over again. And now, suddenly, with a burst of unrivaled clarity, Elizabeth knew that she couldn't anymore. She couldn't let her sick youngest child cry for her across the world and at the same time do justice to her job. And there, with her papers swimming before her, she knew exactly what she had to do.
"Daddy!" Stevie called. "There's someone at the door."
Henry sighed. He was stretched beyond thin just then; going on three months home with the kids while Elizabeth was in Baghdad was really getting to him. With Jason still recovering from his sinus infection and Alison going through a phase that was rife with temper tantrums, Henry wasn't even sure how to cope. And now of course there was someone at the door. He lifted Jason into his arms and took a cautious galnce at Alison; moments before, she'd been screaming about her shoes, and now she was playing quietly. He prayed it would last long enough for him to deal with their unexpected visitor and headed down the staris.
"Daddy?" Stevie called.
"I'm coming, Stevie," he replied, forcing himself to keep his voice even. "Thanks, baby," he told her as he spared a smile for her and headed for the door. When he pulled it open and found himself face to face with his wife, he stopped cold and stared.
"Elizabeth," he breathed.
"Mama!" Jason squealed, and as Henry watched, Elizabeth's face broke into the brightest smile.
"Hi, sweet boy," she said, and Henry almos broke down at just the sound of her voice, there and in person and not crackling over the poorly connected phone line. Jason reached for her and Elizabeth took him into her arms just as Stevie peeked around the corner behind Henry and raced for Elizabeth with a happy squeal.
"Mama, you're home!" she exclaimed gleefully. "You're home, you're home!"
"I am home," Elizabeth said through her tears as she embraced her children, feeling such intense relief in that moment that she couldn't even begin to articulate it. She looked up and met Henry's gaze, tears streaming down his cheeks, and immediately stood. She threw her arms around Henry as the children clung to her and he held her close.
"What happened?" he asked through tears. "You're okay, right? You're not hurt?"
Elizabeth shook her head against Henry and pulled back just enough to look up at him.
"I couldn't do it," she admitted. "I just- I couldn't do it, Henry. I had to come home."
Henry just pulled her close again- he didn't need to speak. Neither of them did. Elizabeth was home, their family was back together, and that was more than enough.