When We Were Young

Chapter 1 – Seeing her again.

This story is inspired by the Adele song, When we were Young. It is set 2 years before the start of season 1 and is completely AU (you will see what I mean when you get to the end of paragraph 2). The story is finished and I will post regularly. Hope you all enjoy. It is not beta'd but I hope not too bad. If anyone is interested in helping me with that please PM me.

The ball room was crowded, far too many people for Henry to actually enjoy the evening. He had come alone, mainly because he had no-one to take. He had been single for a while now, not through his choosing, but definitely single.

The noise in the room was increasing as more and more people arrived and it was almost at the point where Henry couldn't see the door he had set himself in view of. He didn't really want to be here but it was the only way that he could see her. She hadn't come to any of the kid's birthday celebrations for the last year. He had invited her for Christmas, he hadn't heard back and so he and the kids had gone to Pittsburgh to his parent's.

The door opened and the new President, Conrad Dalton emerged from the shadows surrounded by secret service agents to make his way to the stage for his inaugural ball. Behind him came Secretary of State elect, Elizabeth Adams. Now that had hurt. He hadn't known anything about her selection for the job until the DS agents had arrived at his door to inform him of the protection protocols for the children in case they were ever in a situation where they might be under threat. Elizabeth hadn't even bothered to contact them herself. That had been a real blow but he had felt the knife in his heart when she had been announced on TV under her maiden name.

Henry sighed, he was here to ensure that the kids were not going to be adversely effected by their mother's new job. God knows they had suffered enough from her last one.

"I don't know what it will be like when you return." Those had been the infamous words he had used in the biggest fight of their marriage. He hated to be proved right. Elizabeth had gone to Baghdad, she had taken the desk job to try and solve all the problems of the Middle East. However, as he had predicted it wasn't enough for her. She had solved some problems but discovered new ones and ultimately couldn't leave them. One year had turned in to two. He had taken the kids to meet her in France one summer, she had appeared for a few days but another crisis had hit and she had left. They had stayed for four weeks and she never reappeared. They had come back to Virginia and the hole in his heart that had opened when she left increased even more. They hadn't heard from her in months and then she had called.

Ever since she had first gone to Baghdad, they had spoken on the phone, at first it was every night, then every couple of nights. Finally, after the unexplained absence, they settled on a Sunday because with the time difference it was the one day when both she and the children were free, by that time it was more about her relationship with them than with him. He was here to make sure the vague relationship she had with all the kids wasn't ruined or exploited.

Jason barely knew her, and although he would catch his little boy talking to the picture he had of Elizabeth on the wall in the living room, Jason really didn't know what he was missing. Jason was almost two when she left and now he was 10. He had grown up without his mother and Henry needed to make sure that Elizabeth wasn't going to change her MO and actually want to spend time with him to advance her new political career.

Stevie had been 10 when Elizabeth had taken the job in Baghdad, she had not understood why her mom cared more about people in another part of the world than she did about her. Elizabeth had been changed by the time Stevie had seen her again, she wasn't the open, loving mother that had left, Elizabeth had seen too much. Stevie had wanted the mother who refereed little league games and ran the cake stall at the PTA day. Elizabeth had swept her daughters teenage cares aside and in one memorable argument had told her to grow up and to stop focusing on things that didn't matter. Stevie had not asked to see her mother again after that and often deliberately missed the weekly calls. If Elizabeth had noticed she never mentioned it. Henry was here to ensure that Stevie who had struggled with most aspects of being a teenage girl without a mom, would not be subjected to the public eye of her mother's new job.

If Henry was doing this to protect Jason and Stevie it was for Allison whom he was here to ensure that the damage of her mother's absence would not be increased by her mother reappearing. He was pretty sure that they wouldn't be asked to play happy families but you could never tell and if Elizabeth had changed a lot in the last eight years and wanted a political life then who knew what the future held. Allison had been six when her mother had disappeared out of her life and was now fourteen. She had struggled with the fact that Elizabeth wasn't there. She had cried herself to sleep, retreated in to herself and ended up on mild anti-depressive drugs. It had taken all Henry's love and attention to get her to be the child she was now and if Elizabeth thought she would waltz back in then she had another thing coming.

Henry was feeling like two different people at this moment, the father whose rage was increasing with every move Elizabeth made across the ballroom floor and the husband who even after all this time was completely in love with his wife. In the six years they had been officially estranged, following the two years where he had tried to maintain family life and a marriage single-handedly, he had never had anyone else. Every time a woman came on to him, whomever she was, he would always compare her to the Elizabeth he once knew. Elizabeth had been the love of his life, she had been the only one he had ever been with and despite the anger she managed to instil in him, she still managed to get his blood zipping with lust. He was so messed up.

Henry followed her progress across the room, at least she wasn't hanging off the arm of some gorgeous guy that he would feel less than perfect against. He had wondered with the use of her maiden name whether divorce papers would be in the mail but they had not come in the last month since Dalton had announced he would be seeking confirmation of Elizabeth as his Secretary of State when he took office. He had never got on with Dalton, he was the one who would call to say Elizabeth was not coming back, or wouldn't make a meeting they had set up, for whatever reason. However, it was also Conrad Dalton who had brought him here tonight. Henry had been happy to contact Elizabeth at her new office but Conrad had insisted that he come to the ball to see her, what he didn't know was whether Elizabeth was behind the invite or if she even knew her boss had made it.

He was watching her very closely so he saw the moment she realised he was in the crowd. Well she was a spy and until 4 months ago probably the best one that their country had. He had hoped when she was leaving the CIA that she might decide to come back to them but it was all part of the plan to get her a political career, something he never assumed she would want. But what did he know, he thought she didn't want to be an 'in country' operative and then she had become one for nearly 6 years. He didn't know what she did once she had left the middle east but she hadn't made her base in Virginia with them.

He didn't look away from her intense gaze but held it, tonight he was in control and for the first time in 8 years she was damn well going to listen to him. She was clearly startled, although she covered it well, he could still read her like a book. So that answered one question, Dalton hadn't told her that he was invited. What the hell was the new president trying to do?

AN: So let me know what you think, like everyone I love hearing if people have enjoyed my writing, please no flames, I'm feeling fragile. More to come soon.