This turned into something I didn't intend. Hopefully, it's still an enjoyable read. Happy New Year everyone!

"Henry," Elizabeth whispered, gripping the sheets tightly.

Henry twitched, sensing something was wrong, but remained asleep beside her.

"Stop…Please…No…" she whispered.

Elizabeth?

Henry's eyes popped open. He reached for Elizabeth automatically, hoping his touch could help ground her and bring her out of whatever nightmare she was trapped in.

"Babe?" he asked, squeezing her arm lightly.

"Please…Stop…" she whispered again, tears rolling down her cheeks.

I hate seeing you like this.

He sat up more fully and rubbed her arm. "Babe, please. Wake up."

"Henry…" she called out, desperation seeping into her voice.

"Elizabeth. I'm right here. Wake up. You're safe." He squeezed her shoulder.

She continued to grip the sheets between her fingers, hands tensed.

"Babe, wake up. Come on," Henry said, shaking her slightly.

Elizabeth gasped and then opened her eyes. She frantically looked around the bedroom, unsure of her surroundings.

Henry moved so that he was in her line of vision, rubbing her shoulder gently.

"Babe?" he asked softly, trying not to startle her.

"Henry?"

"Right here. You're okay." He smiled at her in the dim moonlight.

Her face crumpled as she dissolved into tears.

Henry reached for her and pulled her into his chest. "It's okay, Babe. I'm right here. It was only a dream." He rubbed her back in soothing motions.

She clung to him and continued sobbing. "It wasn't a dream, Henry."

What?

"I know it felt real, but I'm here. Nothing is going to happen to you."

"It was a memory," she mumbled, burying her face in his chest.

Oh, Babe.

He continued to rub circles on her back. "I'm sorry. That must have been awful. Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "I can't…"

He kissed the top of her head. "That's okay, Babe."

She mumbled something that he couldn't quite hear, but he felt the vibrations of her voice against his chest. He gave her some time to collect her thoughts, not wanting to push her too much while she was so distraught. "Whatever you need, you just let me know, okay?"

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Henry, needing to ground herself in reality and get rid of the nightmare. "I can still feel him touching me. I want it to stop," she whispered.

A surge of anger and protectiveness coursed through Henry and he took a deep breath to calm himself while holding Elizabeth.

I want Farhad dead.

"How can I help?" he asked, softly.

"I don't know," she admitted.

He continued holding her against him, hoping that it was helping her feel a little safer. "That's okay. Am I making it worse right now?"

She clutched at his shirt. "No. Don't go."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Babe." He kissed the top of her head again, glancing at the clock on her nightstand.

We've only been asleep for three hours.

"It's still acceptable to go back to sleep if you want. I know you're exhausted," he said.

"I'm not sure I can."

Sometimes, after a particularly bad dream, I would find her sitting at the window seat in the bedroom, lost in thought.

He rubbed her back. "Would turning on the TV help? It might drown out the noise in your head."

She shook her head. "I don't want to keep you awake, Henry. You need sleep too."

If it keeps you from having nightmares about the terrible things that happened to you, I'm all for it.

He wrapped his arms tighter around her back, drawing her in. "I don't plan on going anywhere today except the kitchen downstairs. I can nap later if I need to. I promise I don't mind," he said, reassuring her.

Elizabeth said nothing and Henry moved one of his hands up to stroke her hair softly. She sighed contentedly.

This always works.

Several minutes passed in comfortable silence as Henry ran his fingers through her hair and listened to her breaths becoming more even on her way to dreamland.

"Henry…" she said, yawning.

"Yeah, Babe?"

She rubbed her nose against his shirt, fully relaxing into him and Henry smiled, closing his eyes.

I still got it.

"I need a favor," Elizabeth said into the phone, while sitting at the desk in her home office. She yawned, and then smiled as Henry entered the office and brought her a cup of coffee. She mouthed 'thanks' to Henry before taking a sip.

Mike B. laughed. "Has the Moral Mrs. McCord finally grown tired of D.C.?"

She rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Mike."

Henry leaned against the desk, arms crossed, watching Elizabeth on the phone with Mike B. She locked eyes with him and then pressed the speaker button on her phone.

He better have something useful. I would give anything to make her feel better about this whole trial. I already hate that she has to face Farhad in the first place.

Elizabeth rubbed her right temple. "I need you to look into Farhad Azimi's lawyer. I'll take anything you can find. If he kicked a kid in third grade, I want to know."

"Any reason why?" Mike asked.

"I need to know what to expect with the trial. I take it you've seen the news and what his lawyer is using for defense?" she asked.

Henry reached over and squeezed her shoulder in support.

It's okay, Babe.

"Yeah, why you are worried about his defense? It's not true, is it?"

Henry moved so he was standing next to Elizabeth. He put his arm around her shoulder and felt her lean into him slightly.

"Of course not, Mike!" Elizabeth said a little louder than she intended.

"Just asking. Sheesh. You know, you and Henry are the only two weirdos in this town still faithful to each other."

Elizabeth looked up at Henry and smiled. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Forever yours.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Elizabeth said. She took a deep breath. "I also need to know everything about the judge presiding over the case. Call it a hunch, but something seems off about him."

"Your spidey-senses are tingling?" Mike asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Can you help me or not?"

"I'll see what I can find. Take care of yourself, Elizabeth."

"Thanks, Mike."

She ended the call and turned to look at Henry.

"You okay?" he asked, rubbing her shoulder.

She took her glasses off. "As okay as I can be when basically asking for oppo research. It feels wrong."

"You don't have to use the information that Mike finds. But it might quell your uneasy feeling regarding the trial."

She gave him a small smile and sipped her coffee. "I hope you're right."

"Come on," Henry said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up out of the chair. "Let's go see what I can make for lunch."

Henry was reading on the couch in the living room while Elizabeth slept against him. They had started out watching a movie, but she fell asleep twenty minutes in and Henry didn't have the heart to wake her. When he suggested the movie right after lunch, he secretly hoped that she would take a nap, and he smiled to himself when his plan worked beautifully. Give his wife some carbs for lunch and then turn on a movie she's seen before, and it was pretty much guaranteed that she would doze off. He also refused to let her turn on the news, insisting that they watch a movie instead. Henry absentmindedly rubbed her arm and prayed that she continued to sleep for most of the afternoon.

She needs it.

When they woke up this morning, he had sent one of the Secret Service agents to fill the prescription for Elizabeth's pain medicine so that her leg would stop bothering her. She reluctantly took a pill just before they started the movie, and Henry wondered if the medicine had contributed to her falling asleep so quickly.

I hated seeing her limping. Too much of a reminder of everything that happened that I couldn't protect her from.

His cell phone buzzed on the table near the couch, and Henry sat his book down to answer the phone before it woke Elizabeth. She shifted against him, pushing her face deeper into his shoulder. "It's okay, Babe," he said, rubbing her back with his free hand.

Picking up his phone, he glanced at the screen to see that it was Maureen.

He breathed deeply, trying to ready himself for whatever mood she might be in. "Hello?" he said, softly.

"Hi, Henry. What is this I hear about Elizabeth cheating on you with some foreign guy and the Vice President dying? You can't call your sister and tell her what's going on? I shouldn't have to learn about you on the news. It's not right."

Henry rolled his eyes.

Here we go.

"Maureen…" he said, struggling to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Well?" she asked, goading him.

"Maureen. Elizabeth is not cheating on me. You know us better than that."

He glanced down at his wife, making sure she remained blissfully unaware of this conversation in her slumber. She looked peaceful; her lips parted just slightly as she breathed in and out against him.

I'm the luckiest guy on earth.

"You don't call enough. Or come home unless someone's dead or dying. So what are we supposed to think?" Maureen asked on the phone.

"You're supposed to know that none of that is true. My God, Maureen. Do you even hear yourself?"

"Well I saw on TV that Farhad guy's lawyer said that he was meeting Elizabeth off the record…"

Henry closed his eyes, and took deep breaths, squashing his desire to throttle Maureen through the phone. "She was kidnapped by Farhad Azimi in Geneva. Beaten. Shot. I've been in Hell thinking she was dying in a foreign country. So forgive me for not calling you right away to clear up the lies being spread around on TV."

She sighed against him, and wrapped her arms around his torso.

"Shh. It's okay, Babe. I'm right here," Henry whispered to Elizabeth.

The silence on the phone stretched on.

"Henry. I'm sorry," Maureen said, her voice full of regret. "I had no idea."

He shook his head and rubbed Elizabeth's arm, needing to reassure himself that she was okay for now.

"Yeah, well…"

"Is she okay?" Maureen asked.

He clutched the phone tightly. "She will be. It's been a long few days. One thing after another lately."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Henry. Really. I didn't think that…"

"Yeah, Maureen. What else is new?" Henry asked, harsher than he intended.

"I'm sorry. I never should have suggested that she was being unfaithful to you. I should have known that it was a lie. But what about the other stuff I'm hearing about the Vice President dying? The news is saying she killed herself."

Henry released a breath. "She did."

"Oh my God. What? Why?"

"I think it's classified," Henry replied into the phone.

"But you know, don't you?"

"Maureen…I don't want to talk about this anymore. Yes, the Vice President killed herself. Yes, I know why. No, I can't tell you. Honestly, you should be used to this by now."

Maureen chuckled softly on the other end of the phone. "What good is having a brother with a high security clearance if he can't tell me anything?"

Elizabeth hummed in her sleep. Henry leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Is there anything else you needed right now?" Henry asked Maureen.

"I guess not. Sorry to bother you. And I'm sorry about what happened to Elizabeth. She didn't deserve any of that."

She really didn't deserve her sister in law accusing her of being unfaithful either, but…

"Thanks, Maureen. Talk to you later."

"Bye, Henry."

He ended the call and put the phone back on the side table. He moved so that he was fully laying down on the couch and felt Elizabeth settle against him. He reached for a throw blanket, wrapped his arms around her, and then pulled the blanket over them both.

"Henry…" she whispered, half asleep.

He kissed her hair and decided that an afternoon nap with Elizabeth in his arms sounded really good right now.

"Ali? Jason?" Stevie called down the hallway, looking for her siblings.

Alison opened her door and then popped her head out of her room. "What's up?" she asked.

Stevie grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her toward Jason's room. They opened the door and saw him sitting on his bed, eyes closed, headphones on, jamming out to music.

Stevie grabbed his foot, startling him. "Hey! What was that for?" Jason asked, removing the headphones from his ears. "And why are y'all in my room?"

"Have you seen this?" Stevie asked, pulling out her phone and pulling up a video she just saw on the news.

Jason sat up and Alison leaned over so they could all see Stevie's phone, while she turned up the volume.

A reporter appeared on screen, a crowd of people behind her. "The White House is reporting thousands of protestors on the South Lawn. The chants and signs are in agreement. They appear to want Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord to be removed from office."

The camera panned over to the crowd where the chant "McCord doesn't keep her word! Keeping her is absurd!" could be heard, loud and clear.

Ali covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my God, this is insane. They want Mom out of office? But why?" she asked.

Stevie sat down next to Jason on his bed. "Probably because of the stuff about her supposed affair with Farhad. But that's just a guess. It could be any number of reasons."

"They can't do this! She didn't do anything wrong!" Jason shouted.

"Shh," Stevie said. "Mom and Dad are napping downstairs. I don't think they know yet."

"Well we have to tell Mom!" Ali said. "She deserves to know!"

"Do you really want to wake them up from what is probably the most sleep they've gotten in days to tell them this horrible news?" Stevie asked.

Jason looked between Stevie and Ali. "Well not telling them feels like lying. Dad is an ethics professor."

Stevie put her hand on Jason's shoulder. "Look, Jase. I'm not saying we never tell her. I'm just saying we wait until later. Or let someone else break the news to her."

Ali wrung her hands together and paced around Jason's room. "Is anyone else thinking that she should quit? I know that's selfish of me, but…"

Stevie nodded. "I've definitely thought about how much easier it would be for all of us, but that's not our decision to make. A life outside of the public eye, no security, and no crazy internet firewall sound enticing right now, but we have to think about Mom and how much this job means to her. How much good she's done while Secretary of State. That has to be worth something."

Jason looked down at his lap, avoiding both Stevie and Alison's gazes.

"Jase? Something you want to share with the class?" Stevie asked, nudging his shoulder.

"It's really hard hearing all of the horrible things people say about Mom sometimes. I'll admit it would be easier if no one knew who she was. But at the same time, I know that her work is important. She's literally bringing world peace. How can we ask her to stop doing that?"

Stevie smiled at Jason. "That was incredibly mature of you, Jase."

He rolled his eyes, the moment suddenly over. "Yeah, yeah."

"So we aren't going to say anything about the protests on the South Lawn of the White House?" Ali asked, seeking clarification.

Stevie sighed. "I think we wait a few hours. See if they're awake then."

"Aye, Aye, Captain," Jason said, fake saluting his sister.

Ali chuckled. "You're a dweeb."

"Can I go back to listening to music now?" Jason asked, gesturing to his headphones dangling around his neck.

Stevie stood up to get off of Jason's bed. "Come on Ali, he needs his alone time," she joked.

"Get out of my room," Jason said.

"We're leaving. Calm down," Ali replied, rolling her eyes.

Henry opened his eyes and found Elizabeth staring back at him, her head resting on his chest.

"Hey," he said, smiling at her. "What's going on?"

She beamed at him, drawing nonsensical patterns on his chest with her fingers. "Just enjoying the view."

Any view with your face in it is my favorite.

He chuckled. "What time is it?"

"Almost five. We slept a long time," she replied, sleepily.

"No complaints here."

She rested her cheek against him and closed her eyes again. "The kids have been oddly quiet since lunch. None of them came downstairs to ask for anything."

"That's a good thing. It means they're independent."

She laughed and he felt her shake against his body. "Or they're sneaking around and hiding stuff from us."

Henry frowned. "You okay, Babe?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Just thinking."

"Care to share with the class?" he asked.

She continued to move her fingers across his chest. He wasn't sure if it was more to soothe him or herself.

"Just waiting for the other shoe to drop honestly. I know that nothing is resolved yet and it scares to me to think that we have no idea what's coming or how to prepare."

He ran his hand through her hair a few times, trying to calm her nerves. "I know what you mean. But all we can do is lean on each other. We'll face whatever it is, together."

She leaned up to kiss him softly. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He rubbed her back, content to just be on the couch with Elizabeth.

Minutes passed before Elizabeth spoke again. "Hey, were you talking to Maureen earlier? I swear I heard you say her name."

Henry tensed and she froze.

She heard some of that?

"Henry?" she asked.

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes. She called."

"And?" Elizabeth pushed.

He attempted to keep his tone light-hearted. "And she's Maureen."

"Henry. Tell me."

"There's nothing to tell. She asked about you because she saw the news. That's it."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest again. "Oh, God. Which story?"

He rubbed her back and tightened his arms around her, hoping that she would drop it.

"Henry. Please," she begged.

I don't want it to hurt you. It already upset me.

"She accused you of having an affair with Farhad. I told her what really happened and that shut her down pretty quickly."

Elizabeth looked at Henry, eyes shining with tears. "She really thought that I…"

He kissed her cheek. "I know. I told her that she should have known better than to believe that."

Elizabeth clutched at his shirt. "I knew this would happen. The public is going to believe that I had an affair with that horrible, slimy, disgusting…"

"Hey. It's okay," he said, stroking her back. "I know the truth. And Maureen does too."

"But she believed the story at first!" she said, tears now running freely down her cheeks.

This is breaking my heart.

"I know. None of this is fair. But it's going to be okay, Babe. I promise. The truth will come out eventually."

What can I say to her to make this better? I just want her to feel loved. And safe. And not hated by the public because of a lie.

The house phone rang, and Elizabeth jumped, startled. She pushed off of Henry, and sat up on the couch, wiping her tears.

He cupped her cheek. "I love you. Be right back," he said.

He walked over to the kitchen, to answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Jay Whitman and Daisy Grant are here, Dr. McCord. Do you want me to let them through?"

Henry sighed.

Now what? Can't we have one day of peace?

"Yeah, let them in."

Henry hung up the phone, and walked back over to where Elizabeth sat on the couch. "Babe, Jay and Daisy are here. No idea why yet. Do you want to go wash your face?" he asked, trying to give her a moment to make herself feel more ready to face whatever news they were about to get.

She nodded and then gripped his hand. "Yeah, I'll be right back," she said, making her way upstairs to their bathroom.

He smiled at her. "Take your time."

Henry walked over to the front door to let Jay and Daisy in. "Hey guys, she'll be down here in a minute. Can I get you something to drink?" he asked, gesturing for them to follow him to the formal living room.

"No, I'm fine," Jay said.

"Me too," Daisy replied, clutching her ipad.

Elizabeth calls it the tablet of doom.

He sat down on the couch, leaving room for Elizabeth to sit next to him when she came back downstairs. Daisy sat in the chair closest to the stairs and Jay sat in the other.

"So," Henry said, clapping his hands together. "What brings you guys here?"

Nothing good, I bet.

Jay gave Henry a sad smile. "I'd rather not have to say it twice, Dr. McCord. We'll wait for the Secretary to come down."

"Fair enough," Henry replied.

"How is she anyway?" Daisy asked.

"She's doing okay. Still sore, but she's strong."

And jumpy. And having nightmares. And clingy. And worried about our kids.

"That's good to hear. We've missed her at the office," Daisy replied.

Henry nodded. "Yeah, it's been a hard few days for all of us."

Several minutes passed and he glanced at the clock.

What is taking her so long?

He stood up from the couch and glanced at Jay and Daisy. "Let me see what's keeping her. I'll be right back," Henry said, walking up the stairs.

"Babe?" he called out, when he got closer to their bedroom. "You okay? Jay and Daisy are waiting downstairs."

He walked into their ensuite bathroom and she was nowhere to be found.

Don't panic. She still has to be somewhere in the house.

"Elizabeth? Where are you?" he called out again.

Walking back into the bedroom, he glanced at the bed and saw her blonde hair over the top of the mattress on the side closest to the window. As he approached the far side of the bed, he saw her sitting on the floor, knees drawn up to her chest, shaking with sobs.

"Baby? What happened?"

Her head shot up and she stared at him, tears running down her face.

"I can't do this anymore, Henry."