A/N: Hey guys!

Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Elizabeth

"We didn't see anything, sir," the police officer told Henry, and Elizabeth felt his hand on her left shoulder, his arm tightening around her shoulders. She tugged at her robe with her left hand, closing it over her midsection and staring down beside the officer's boots. "We searched the woods and the proximity of your property. We found the dirt bike tracks, so there was definitely one out there, but we didn't find any evidence of anything else."

Elizabeth's right arm was tucked behind Henry's back, and her other arm had been toying with the edge of her robe. She slid it inside the tightest part and rubs on the top of her belly, a nervous habit she tried to break with almost all her pregnancies, but it got worse with Jason.

"You didn't find any footprints?" Henry asked.

"No footprints," the police officer said, "But the snow is still falling and it made it hard to even track the dirt bike."

Elizabeth swallowed hard and leaned her head to the right, resting it on Henry's shoulder while closing her eyes and feeling like she's going to fall backwards from the sudden rush of dizziness that hit her.

"So how can you say we're safe?" Henry asked, his voice heavy with a deeper concern than his last question.

A silence passed by, and Elizabeth opened her eyes briefly, "We can't promise anything, sir," the officer finally answered, and Elizabeth shut her eyes again tighter than the last time.

"Thank you," she heard Henry say, but she already felt weak, and she had to sit backwards on the chair behind her.

Henry looked down at her and asked if she was okay, he worried over her for a moment more, and then dismissed the police officers. When the door shut, Elizabeth let out a quiet cry, and she couldn't help but pray that her kids don't get hurt in all this.

Weeks have gone by since the last time she heard the motorcycle, and neither one of them have heard it again. Henry assumes they were watching from somewhere and saw the police, but Elizabeth says they're waiting for another time and were taunting them.

Regardless, she's been on edge for the past few weeks. She's been watching over her shoulder every chance she gets, and she's checked in with the schools at least once a week to make sure their security is tight. They updated both schools to ensure that she and Henry are the only two who are able to check any of the kids out, no one else under any circumstances. They tried to keep it quiet for the kids, but they sensed something was going on, too. They just didn't know what yet.

Today, she stands up from her desk chair and waddles down the hall, thankful that this class is the one just an elevator ride up and then a few rooms to the left. She pushes the button for the elevator and waits, crossing her arms over her stomach and looking over her notes briefly—midterms were already coming up, and she had lots of class business to discuss today.

The elevator arrives and she presses the button for the second floor, letting the doors shut and riding it upwards. When they open again, she steps out, walking a few rooms to the left, and then goes in the door. 10:01, she notes, I'm a little late. "Good morning," she says to her class, a group of cheery juniors and seniors. Blake Moran is in this class again, and she's come to depend on him for being one of her star students. She even tried to get him to switch his major to political science and keep his finance credits for a minor, but he didn't agree to it.

She lays her papers down on the podium and spreads everything out, listening as the students shuffle their own papers. It's oddly quiet in here this morning for a group who knows each other somewhat well, and she eyes them silently a few times before finally looking up and leaning on the podium. "How are we all doing this morning?" She asks, her hand resting flat against her lower back. Everything feels like it's on fire this morning, and she's still got sixteen weeks or so to go.

A few people mumble something that sounded like "good" or "fine," and then she eyes Blake. "We sure are quiet," she says, looking directly at him. There's a young woman that sits beside him, and typically they're chatting, but today neither one of them are looking in each other's direction. She narrows in on Blake, then switches to the girl, Jane, and back to Blake.

Finally, he breaks. "We're just all a little overwhelmed with the work." He says, "I think, I don't want to speak for everyone else…" His voice trails off, and Elizabeth picks up the unsurety in his voice.

"Is that the case?" She asks the rest of the class, and a few people nod. She nods, too, and looks down at her syllabus. "How about we cut out some of the reading for next week, and then some of the reading for class this Thursday. Let's only do the Smith chapter for that class, and we'll revisit next week's reading on Thursday." She instructs, looking back up. They were writing everything down, and then some of them had already been looking up at her. Their eyes dart up toward her eyes, and she notices, finally, that they are eyeing her.

She looks down, checking to make sure she got dressed. Shirt, check, she lists off, bra, check. Pants, check. Her eyes freeze on her shirt, though, and she can see a clear outline of her little bump.

She looks up at them again and raises her brows, "Is that all?" She pushes, standing back behind the podium fully again, out of their view.

She knows she should've told the school by now. She knows that, but she also knows she hasn't had the energy over the past few weeks to really even consider a meeting with the dean or anyone else. This job was something that she needed, unfortunately, and while she knows it's illegal to fire someone for being pregnant, she also knows that they can make her life a living hell until she just simply quits. So she's stayed silent and she's worn big coats all winter and loose sweaters. But today, she noticed as she looked down a moment ago, she forgot to button her sweater shut, and you could clearly see the outline of her stomach.

Everyone stays silent, and finally she sighs and comes out from behind the podium, making her way around to the front of the table. "I know what everyone's thinking, I think." She starts shakily, crossing her arms over her stomach and not making an attempt to hide it. "Midterms and spring break are coming up, and I want to address something." She pauses, swallowing hard and trying to will herself to not get dizzy, but it's not working well. She attempts to steady herself with a hand on the table behind her. "I won't be out of class," she says, not addressing the other thing. "I will still be here until the end of finals, and I'll still be your professor the entire semester." She explains. She makes eye contact with a few of them, and then settles on Blake, and then Jane. "And I hope that I can trust all of you to keep this information quiet so that the school doesn't make my job impossible, okay?" She says, hoping that it didn't come off as a slam to the school.

But also, the school shouldn't be so worried about pregnant women.

"So…you're…" Jane says, looking at Elizabeth.

"Pregnant?" Elizabeth asks, and then she can't help but laugh at the oddity of this entire situation. She laughs a moment too long, and the students are all looking at her with a concerned expression. All except for Blake, who's laughing along with her. "Yeah, I'm pregnant." She admits. "I'm due in June."

"We knew it," Blake blurts out, and then he looks around as though he's about to get in trouble for saying it.

She smiles at him sweetly, shaking her head, "I just didn't want to tell anyone until it all…" she doesn't want to explain it all, the personal part of it, her age, nothing. So she just shakes her head again, "I wanted to keep it quiet, just something between me and my husband and then our kids."

"You have kids?" Someone in the back says, and she realizes it's Tyra, one of her star juniors.

She nods, "I do. Three of them." She says, glancing at the clock. 10:09. I should be teaching. But she continues instead, leaning into the table more, "Stevie is thirteen, and she's a spitting image of me these days but just in personality." She admits playfully, "Alison is eight, and Jason is six. They're all coming around to the idea of having a sister." She says.

"I didn't even know you were married," Jane says, and a few chuckle and agree with her.

Elizabeth feels her face redden, and she nods shyly, "I keep my life quiet," she admits, thinking back to that day Adnan grabbed her from campus. She takes a sharp breath, trying to steady herself from spiraling, but it's happening quickly. She stares at a spot on the ground in front of her, trying to keep her throat from closing.

"Are you married to Dr. McCord?" She hears another voice, and she looks up to see a boy named Kevin talking to her. He's one of the lesser "stars" in her class, but he does show up and usually pays attention. He just doesn't always speak up and grasp the concepts in his papers.

She nods, "I am," she says.

"He's my advisor," Kevin says, a smile coming across his face, "I thought the picture on his desk was of you when I was in there earlier this semester." He admits, laughing now.

She smiles a little, too, and nods, "That's the picture of all of us at Disney World," she recalls, thinking back to the last time she was in his office. He's always in hers these days, and she can't remember the last time she went and visited him instead. "Jason was only three then, so he's a bit bigger now. All the kids, really," she admits.

"Dr. McCord is a really great guy," Kevin adds.

"Yes, he is." Elizabeth says, then smirks to herself as she turns around toward the board, thinking, Great enough to carry four of his kids, that's for sure. Her hand comes around to her back again and rubs out a sore spot there, wanting to groan a little as she feels the baby up in her ribs. She's not big yet, still, but she's just big enough to be a little bit of a nuisance when she's up that high.

Just as she's starting to speak and write on the board, she hears a voice again, Jane's, she thinks. She doesn't turn around, though, and finishes her board. "Was that why you were out last semester?" Jane asks.

She and Blake had both been in her class, and she'd had to be out for two days whenever she was kidnapped. That was the only time she'd let herself be out since she had so much of a class load.

She stops mid-word, leaving "Midterms due on Satu" on the board in blue ink. Her body is frozen there, and she thinks back to that time again, and how the pain in her ribs that she feels now is nothing like the pain she felt in her side then. She can't make her arm move down the board; her body is completely stiff.

"I'm—I'm sorry." Jane says, "I shouldn't have…"

But Elizabeth still can't move. She just stares at the words up on the board:

PLIR 352

Spring Break

Papers graded

Midterms due on Satu

"Professor McCord?" Blake's voice is next, and she can hear the concern in it. "Professor McCord, are you alright?" She hears a desk squeak, and then another desk, and she can feel her body get hot with embarrassment of causing a scene, yet she still can't make it do anything else other than stand and stare at this board.

She feels a hand on her arm, and she jumps and looks over to see Blake Moran. "Professor McCord?" He asks again, and she swallows thick.

"I'm alright," she breathes, "I…ah. I think…let's just…" she's mumbling and she is trying to get herself to stop, but nothing is working.

"Let's sit down," Jane says, the other body that got up and moved to her. Blake is holding her by the arm while Jane goes and drags a chair over, and they help Elizabeth sit down in it behind the table.

She swallows hard and feels her lungs opening up again, and she tries to take a deep breath in. She looks up sheepishly at Blake, thanking him with a smile, and then she nods to the desks to assure him it's okay to sit down. Jane follows suit, and Elizabeth clears her throat.

"I'm sorry about that," she admits, looking at her class. "I, um, I was out for other reasons at Thanksgiving. Let's talk about midterms." She says, trying to get them off that subject entirely.

She discusses through her midterm assignment and tells them about their papers that have been graded, and then she hears the classroom door open. "Elizabeth?"

"Henry?"

Her eyes go wide when she sees him, and then she shoots a look over to Kevin. He immediately shies away, and he tries to give her a little smile, "I'm sorry," he says, "I was just…I got worried about you and sent an email to Dr. McCord."

"Are you alright?" Henry's asking, coming up to her behind the podium.

"I'm fine," she assures him, and then she stands to her feet carefully. "I'll be right back," she announces to the class.

Henry walks right beside her, and she's thankful he chooses to not embarrass her by not holding onto her arm on the way out. When they get out into the hall and the door shuts, he gently takes her by the hand, "What the hell happened? Kevin just emailed me and said you weren't feeling well."

She looks down and gasps for air when he mentions how she was feeling, and she shakes her head, "I told them I'm pregnant," she says, ignoring the fact that she kind of had to come clean since she'd forgotten her wardrobe choice and neglected buttoning it up. "And Jane asked if that's why I was out—it was… it was innocent, she didn't mean anything by it." Elizabeth breathes, and she runs her tongue roughly across her dry bottom lip and looks up at Henry, "I just…"

"Had a panic attack," Henry finishes for her, and he wraps her up in his arms. "When are you going to talk to someone about this?" He asks quietly, his words tickling her ear.

She shakes her head while still wrapped in him, "I can't," she whispers.

"You can't what? Talk?" Henry asks.

She pulls away gently and swipes at her eyes, making sure no tears escaped in this whole ordeal. "I can't talk to someone about it because I can't just share CIA secrets, Henry," she whispers quietly, "I…trying to talk to someone about those things is worse sometimes than just dealing with it."

When she says it, she knows he understands by the way he looks at her. She knows, too, that he has his own secrets from his NSA days and his Marine days that he's had to carry. Secrets that she shouldn't know, but that she had to pull from him in order to get him to not have so many nightmares. Ones that could get them both arrested, but that she'll never speak of for as long as she lives.

He just nods a little, wrapping her in his arms again and pressing his lips to her head. "Are you okay now?" He asks, "Why don't you just cancel—"

"I'm not canceling class," she interrupts, shaking her head. "I'll be alright."

They pull away slowly and she peeks around into the glass of the door, taking a shaky breath.

"Also," she says, "Next time you sign a student of yours up for my class, could you warn me you two are email buddies?"

Henry smirks and then scoffs, rolling his eyes as she playfully pushes him on the chest. "I'm glad he said something." He says, "And I kind of forgot I even signed him up for this class. That was the week after the conference."

Her mind goes back to that conference, the one where she took a pregnancy test and found out that, somehow, even through her husband's vasectomy, she was pregnant. The one where he accused her of cheating on him. The one where she couldn't even blame him for that reaction, though it hurt to no end to think he could believe she'd do such a thing. All the emotions come flooding back to her now, and she stands a bit more rigid again, but nods. "A stressful week." She says.

"Very stressful," he adds in. He presses a kiss to her head again, "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure," she says, only partially a lie. She's telling herself she's okay, so that's what truth she's deciding to tell Henry.

He nods, and when they part ways, she makes her way back into the room. They don't speak of anything that just happened, and though it's an obvious elephant in the room, she moves on to talk about deadlines and grades and midterms and break, all the things on the board, and then she teaches them about more international relations.

Henry

He lingers around her classroom for a few moments after, debating on whether he should stick around for longer or not. Checking his watch, he looks down the hall and sighs, deciding he should leave her alone. She's a grown woman, if she says she's fine, she's fine. He tries to lie to himself, but he knows better. He knows she's lying to herself, too.

He feels his phone buzzing in his pocket, and he pulls it out to answer it. "Hello?"

"Dr. McCord," a voice says, and he squints trying to recognize it, stopping in his tracks. "We know where your kids are. In fact, I'm watching your daughter walk on the track now."

"Who the hell is this?" Henry snaps, rushing toward the stairs to run back to his office and call the police on his phone. As he's running, it crosses his mind that Elizabeth could be in danger too.

"It doesn't matter who this is," the voice finally says, "Your wife knows who this is."

"What do you want from us?" Henry asks, stopped at the doorway for the staircase and resting his hands there, trying to decide if he should go get Elizabeth or if she's safer in a classroom of people who look out for her, clearly.

"I want your wife to turn herself in to us, or we move forward with your kids."

"Our kids—" Henry stops himself, squeezing his eyes shut and bursting through the door and running down the stairs. "Lay a hand on them and I'll kill you. I'll kill you and whoever is working with you."

He hears a motorcycle start in the background of the phone, and his eyes widen. He looks out toward the door and then sees Elizabeth's office, deciding he'll try her door first to call the cops. When he gets to it and feels it's locked, he shoves it with his entire body and rushes to her phone. Just as he picks it up, though, the person on the line of his cell phone hangs up. He mutters a little cuss word underneath his breath, still picking up the phone and dialing 911.

After quickly explaining the situation, he rushes back up the stairs to get Elizabeth. "We need to leave," he says, pushing through her door.

"Henry?" She says, looking at her class and then at him, "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"We need to leave now," he says, staring at her from the door.

She's scrambling to get her things together, and he feels like he needs to just go and pick her up and grab her and take her to the kids' school. Which school do I even go to first? Stevie? The cops will be there any minute—but Ali and Jase…

He grabs her wrist a little too hard whenever she finally makes it close to the door, and she snaps at him, "I'm sorry," he says quickly, realizing and loosening his grip. "It's the kids. Someone just called me on my cell phone and said he's watching Stevie right now at school. I heard the dirt bike, babe. He was on it."

"What?" She breathes, her voice immediately filled with absolute terror. Her pace finally picks up and she's almost even in front of him, and by the time they get down the stairs, she's leading the way to the car.

He looks over at her quickly as they sit at the red light, waiting to turn into Ali and Jase's school to pick them up first—they'd decided that in the parking lot of the University. She's got her hands resting on her stomach, and his heart tightens—his throat, chest, all of it. He sees the tears lingering in her eyes and he reaches over and takes her wrist gently, sliding his hand down and holding hers. "Hey," he whispers, "They're going to be okay."

"I know," she whispers, her other hand sliding around the top of her stomach as she looks down. "They've come at me from every angle, Henry…I don't know what to do. I should just—"

"You're not turning yourself in."

"If it makes them stop…"

"I never tell you no," he reminds, looking at her still and hearing a honk coming from the car behind them. He continues to stare at her, and when he hears the second honk, he finally tears himself away and goes, "But I'm telling you no. We'll find another way."

Out of the corner of his eye now as he whips into the school's driveway, he sees her rubbing her belly, and he reaches over and grabs her hand tightly. "They'll be okay. All of the kids," he says, his voice becoming soft again, "We'll find a way to make sure of that."

She nods a little and he watches as she tries to take a breath, but she's struggling. He squeezes again, and as he comes to a stop at carline, he reaches over with his other hand and pats her knee. "Breathe with me before we go get the kids?" He asks, his eyes searching hers.

He watches as her eyes also desperately look at his. His heart feels like it's breaking watching her panic like this, all because of a job she had to do because of the CIA. He wishes now that she never would've taken that role, that she never would've been put in that position in the first place. But past is the past, and he breathes in deep and nods at her to do the same.

Finally, she breathes in with him, but she can't breathe as long. She lets it out sooner than he does, and she gets teary eyes again, "I can't…"

"Yes you can," he counters, nodding again and breathing in now. "Do it with me, babe."

She breathes in deeper this time, her eyes finally locked on his as she tries to match his breaths. She tightens her grip on his hand and her other hand is pressing into her stomach, and he tries to not lose eye contact though he sees her still panicking. He leans in and presses a kiss to her cheek, "Stay in here and I'll go get the kids."

"I want to come with you," she says, unhooking her seatbelt.

"Babe," he cautions, his hand on his doorhandle, "You don't think you're safer in the car?"

She stays quiet for a moment, and he can tell she's unable to really think. "I—"

"It's okay, I'll be quick." He says, waiting for her to signal before he gets out, gets the kids, and heads back to the car. With the kids in tow, they head quickly to Stevie's school, trying to explain to Ali and Jase that there was just a little incident and that they needed to come home with them. Henry could tell the kids weren't buying it, though, and he and Elizabeth had to exchange a few looks, knowing both of them hated lying to their kids just as much as the other.

When they get to Stevie's school, Henry immediately clocks the police surrounding the area by the track. "Stevie," he breathes, barely putting the car in park before he jumps out of the car. He hears the door open behind him and he makes himself turn around, seeing Elizabeth rush toward him. He reaches out for her hand as they run together toward the scene, "What's going on?" He demands.

He gets closer, and then he finally sees that there's a man on the ground underneath a police officer, and Stevie is nowhere nearby that he can see. "Where is our daughter?" He barks.

"She's safe," a man says to him, looking at him then back to the man pinned underneath the officer, "This guy was caught on a dirt bike. Fit the description."

Henry breathes out and turns toward Elizabeth, and she lets out her breath, too, and turns into his chest. Her body is shaking when he wraps his arms around her, and he rubs her back gently and feels tears rushing into his own eyes.

"Stevie…" Elizabeth whispers, "Where is she?"

"We'll take you to her, ma'am." The man says, and Henry looks at his name tag and realizes he's from the CIA. He breathes shakily and follows the man into the school, and Stevie pounces on him immediately.

She wraps her arms around his neck and cries into his chest, "What's going on, Dad?" She asks, her voice muffled.

He rubs Stevie's back and watches as Elizabeth reaches out to her, too. He makes eye contact with Elizabeth, and she nods a little, and he nods too. "Honey," he says softly, gently pushing her off his chest so he could find her eyes. He wipes away her tears and rubs her arms gently, "Someone tried to hurt mom a few months back," he explains.

"When she came home all beat up?" Stevie asks.

Elizabeth swallows thick, "Yes," she breathes, leaning backward against the wall. "We didn't tell you guys because—well, it was dangerous." She admits, shaking her head, "But now it's dangerous for you not to know. The man was arrested, but he had planned on hurting you because he couldn't get to me any other way."

Stevie's mouth twitches and she stares at Elizabeth for a moment. Henry thinks that she's going to speak any second, but instead, she turns away and bursts through the door. He looks at Elizabeth, "What was that about?"

She shakes her head, "You know I can't win with her these days," Elizabeth murmurs.

They follow their daughter and find her sitting right outside the room, her arms crossed as she's slumped down in the chair. He stares at her, wondering what's going through her head. He tries to pull his skills out on her, the ones he so frequently uses on Elizabeth, but he can't. His head is still spinning with fear and adrenaline. "I know that this isn't something that's easy to hear," he says, and Stevie starts to interrupt but he holds his hand up, and she stops, "But the threat is over, and we had to keep the truth from you guys to keep you safe."

"Do Alison and Jason know the truth now?" She asks pointedly, almost as if she knew already that they hadn't told them.

They exchange a look, and Henry shakes his head and looks back at Stevie again. "No," he says, "And they don't need to. The threat is over."

Stevie stares at him, and he recognizes this as Elizabeth's look of defiance. It breaks his heart a little, yet also makes him so mad that she has to be explained any of this in the first place. Finally, she stands to her feet and looks at Elizabeth, "Are you okay?" She asks.

Elizabeth's hand is resting on her stomach again, "I'm okay," she breathes, "I just…I was so worried about you kids." She admits.

Henry's hand slides around her lower back and he tucks her to his side, "Let's go home," he says.

Elizabeth

As they pull into the driveway, she feels a sense of calm settle over her finally. But it's quickly met with the familiar feeling of worry when she feels the tightness in her stomach once more. When they're all inside, the kids start on their homework upon Henry's request, and he walks over to Elizabeth and immediately expresses his concern about her.

He's noticed. She knows he's noticed, too. She's seen the way he's been watching her all day and been watching her hand, and he can always tell when she's uncomfortable or when something's wrong. She reaches out to grab the counter in front of her, leaning over just slightly and completely blowing any possibility she had of covering this up.

"Hey," Henry says, "Are these contractions?"

She bites her lip down and swallows hard, nodding a little, "I…maybe." She murmurs, taking a sharp breath and then steadying her breathing as she stands up slowly again. "I'm fine, though. I'm fine. I just…these didn't happen until later with the others." She says, her voice breaking a little before she clears her throat.

He ushers her away from the counter and into the living room, "Let's get you off your feet," he worries, "All this stress…" he murmurs, not going anywhere else with that statement.

"I'm fine," she breathes as she plops down onto the couch, then takes one breath and immediately starts with the tears again. Frustrated, she growls a little and wipes at her eyes quickly, annoyed that she's having such a hard time controlling her emotions.

He sits next to her and offers his hand for her to squeeze, and she does. Immediately, she feels a little release.

"I thought the worst of today was over," she breathes, "And now this…"

The silence makes her uncomfortable, and she leans over on Henry's shoulder. Her right hand rubs along the bottom of her stomach, pushing up the front and trying to calm her muscles. She looks down at her stomach and swallows hard, closing her eyes and thinking about the ultrasound. She's healthy, Elizabeth tells herself, it's just all the stress from the day. She's a healthy baby.