Prompt : Elizabeths motorcade is in a fairly serious accident. Everybody is fine, but it makes Elizabeth think about her parents and she is fairly shaken up.

I kinda played around with that prompt a little, I hope you like it! Reviews are very much a special thanks for the last reviews you awesome guys left on the last chapter of life unexpected", they were so kind and I'm glad you enjoyed that story!

It had been a long day for Henry. Work had been exhausting him today and he couldn't wait to spend a relaxing evening with his family. Last time he checked, the entire family would be home that night which was rare these days so Henry was looking especially forward to it. Elizabeth had just texted him a couple of minutes ago that she was wrapping things up at work and that she should be home soon too. Henry was just entering there kitchen when he saw all three of his children laughing around while cooking.
"What did I ever do to deserve you", Henry exclaimed and kissed one after the other on top of their heads.
"I'm gonna get changed real quick and then you can put me to work", Henry promised and went up the stairs.
Just when he was entering the bedroom his phone rang.
"Hey Babe, you on the way home? ", Henry answered his phone as soon as he saw the caller ID. The other side of the phone stayed silent though.
"Elizabeth?"
"He- Henry", Elizabeth finally whispered breathlessly into the phone.
"Elizabeth, what happened? What's wrong, are you all right?" Henry did his best not to totally panic but he knew his wife so well, he knew every tone of her voice and he knew that he had every cause to worry if Elizabeth sounded the way she sounded that moment.
"I… yeah, I'm OK… I think. I – we were in an accident", Elizabeth finally said. Henry was already rushing down the stairs.
"Where are you? I'm coming. Just tell me, where you are and I'll be there right away."
"I'm, were still at the scene, they want to take me to the hospital but – but I don't think that's necessary, it was only a bump on the head, I'm fine, I just", Elizabeth rambled slightly incoherently and Henry's worry grew.
"Honey, where are you?" Henry repeated his question. He was running through the kitchen at that point.
"Dad, what's going on?" Stevie asked immediately.
"Did something happen?" Ali asked and Jason just stared at his father, waiting for an answer.
"Mom had a little accident, I'm on my way there right now, I will keep you updated, OK? Just stay here, I don't know anything else right now", Henry said without waiting for an answer from his children.
In the meantime Elizabeth had gotten orientated and could tell Henry where she was. It was only a few streets away since she had been on her way home already.
"I'm on my way, I'll be there in five minutes tops, ok?" Henry said while starting the car.
"Yeah", Elizabeth answered with a shaky voice.
"Let the paramedics take a look at you now, honey. I'll be right there but just let them check you out please", Henry basically begged.
"'kay", Elizabeth simply gave iniand Henry started to drive even faster. He wasn't sure, if it was only the shock or also any possible injuries, but his wife didn't sound good at all. And on top of that, anything that had something to do with accidents that involved cars were incredibly demanding for Elizabeth after her parents had died in one.
"I'm here, Babe", Henry said only seconds later. Elizabeth really had almost been home already, Henry thought. He stopped the car and jumped out. What he saw didn't look good. An entire crossroad had been closed to traffic. He could make out all three cars of Elizabeth's motorcade and Henry suddenly found it very difficult to breathe when he saw the damage of the car Elizabeth was always being driven in. But there were more cars involved, people where running around in hectic, there were firetrucks, police cars, a couple of ambulances. Henry was lost for a moment and immediately regretted hanging up the phone. Finding her in this total chaos would be more difficult than he had thought. That moment, one of Elizabeth's security guys spotted Henry.
"She's over here", he yelled and pointed to one of the ambulances. Henry ran around the ambulance and finally found Elizabeth, sitting on the gurney. Blood was running down from a wound just above her right eyebrow, staining the collar of her blouse in a bright red. She looked distressed, pale, her clothes were crumbled and dirty but other then that, she looked all right.
"Babe", Henry whispered and the paramedics immediately made room so that Henry could find space right next to her. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, stroke her lose hair behind her ear and then looked at her intensly, trying to find some of the much needed answers.
"I'm so glad you are here", Elizabeth whispered and clung to Henry's hand.
"What happened?" Henry asked carefully.
'I don't know, it all happened so fast. We were crossing a green light when this other car just raced into us."
Henry could tell that Elizabeth was distressed so he stopped asking her about what had happened. He would find out soon enough.
"How is she?" he asked one of the paramedics instead.
"We can't say much from here but your wife should definitely get that head injury checked out. I also strongly advise to rule out any internal injuries in the hospital rather soon than late", the paramedic answered and Henry nodded.

"Are Matt and Andy ok?" Elizabeth asked as if she hadn't heard what the paramedic just said. Henry looked at the young man that couldn't be much older than Stevie: "The agents that were in the car with her?"

"As far as we are informed you suffered from the worst injuries because the other car crashed right next to where you we're seated, ma'am. I don't think you need to be concerned", the paramedic explained.

"And anyone else?" Elizabeth kept asking through a haze.

"I'm not sure, Madam, but I can reassure you, that there is nothing you can do from here right now. Let us take you to the hospital."

Elizabeth just sat there on the gurney, getting paler and paler every second, breathing rapidly l. Henry looked at the parametric with a questioning face and the young man nodded. Elizabeth was suffering from a shock. Henry gently pushed Elizabeth back into a lying position and gently brushed a strand of hair out of her face. It was then when he noticed how clammy and cold her skin was. The paramedics quickly admistered an IV to Elizabeth's hand and an oxygen mask on her face. As the fluids started to flow into her body the ambulance finally startet to drive. Henry was seated next to Elizabeth's head, he held her hand in his and gently caressed it. He wasn't sure how aware Elizabeth was of her surroundings, because her eyes kept fluttering close but he wanted do make sure that she knew he was there. After a few minutes, Elizabeth reached up and tried to free herself from the mask. "Baby, leave that on", Henry whispered and held her hand but Elizabeth shook her head. Instead of her, Henry pulled the mask down for a moment so that Elizabeth could say what she wanted.

"Henry, our babies. They can't, I can't do to them, what… Y - you need to make sure that, I", Elizabeth stammered weakly but Henry knew what she was telling him and suddenly aware that the shock wasn't only related to the accident itself but also, and probably much more to the tragic loss of her parents due to a car accident.

"Elizabeth, listen to me. You are going to be OK. You are going to be there for our children, they are not going to lose you, do you hear me? They are not losing you ", Henry said firmly in an attempt to get through to his wife.

Elizabeth nodded faintly and held onto Henry's hand with a firm grip.

Moments later they finally arrived at the hospital where a team of doctors and nurses was already expecting them. Elizabeth was taken to the emergeny room right away. They stitched up her head wound and decided to get a CT and MRT to rule out any internal bleedings. "Though there are no signs for that, I want to make sure that we're not missing anything", the doctor told Henry.

Henry took the time to update the kids and to reassure them that they didn't need to come to the hospital.

A while later Elizabeth was brought into a hospital room.

"Hi Baby", Henry murmured as he got into the room.

"Hi", Elizabeth smiled and returned Henry's gentle kiss.

"You ok?" Henry asked and Elizabeth nodded.

She looked much better, not as pale anymore and without the blood all over the face, the cut above her eyebrow didn't look as scary as before.

Then the doctor came in and explained to them that Elizabeth suffered from a concussion and a couple of contusions, especially from the seat belt but that she had gotten lucky and was fine otherwise. Her body was going to feel sore and she had to take it easy for the next days so that her head could recover.

"So I can go home?" Elizabeth asked.

"I would recommend to stay the night, just for observation", the doctor said.

"Trust me, I will be under the best observation possible when I'm home. No offense", Elizabeth smiled and Henry nodded confirming.

"None taken", the doctor laughed.

"Besides, we've been through an impressive amount of concussions in our family, we know what to watch out for", Elizabeth said.

"Well, I can hardly force you to stay", the doctor said kindly and then instructed Henry and Elizabeth what to watch out for. A little while later, Henry was finally helping Elizabeth out of the hospital gown and into her own clothes.

As hospital rules insist, Henry wheeled her out of the hospital right after Elizabeth signed the release papers and promised the doctor once more to take it slow the next couple of days. On the way home, she rested against Henry and fought against the sleep that was threatening to take over her. On the way, Henry texted his kids that they were coming home and asked them to set up the food in the family room because he knew that all of them needed some family time, especially Elizabeth.

Back home, Elizabeth was surrounded by her children as soon as she walked through the door. "Mom!" "You're home!" "Are you OK?" Alison, Stevie and Jason more or less shouted out while embracing her all at the same time. Elizabeth kissed each child on top of its head and then nodded.

"I'm fine. Just a bang on the head, nothing to worry about", Elizabeth smiled reassuring.

"Are you hungry? We made something to eat, before, you know", Ali asked.

"Starving", Elizabeth nodded, "I'll just take a really quick shower, ok?"

"Sure", Alison nodded and the kids hurried away into the kitchen. Henry stayed with Elizabeth and they just stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds. Then Elizabeth broke off the eye contact and said: "You go, be with the kids. I just need to get rid of that hospital smell and come down right after."

"kay", Henry nodded and made a step forward so that he could hug and kiss his wife. "I love you", he murmured in between kisses.

"Love you too. To the moon", Elizabeth whispered back.

A little later Elizabeth was getting rid of her blood stained clothes in the bathroom. She carelessly threw them on the floor and turned the shower on. She waited outside the shower until hot water steam was starting to fill the room and then let the water wash away the blood and the dirt from the last hours. She just stood there, hands on the wall to support her weight. Her gaze wandered down to her feet and on the way down, she saw the bruises that were appearing across her entire torso from where the seat belt had cut into her flesh while probably saving her life. Saving her life… Elizabeth thought about her children's faces when she had gotten home, just a few minutes ago. Elizabeth's eyes started to tear up. Was that what her mother had thought about, just before she took her last breath? Had she thought about her two children and how devastating it was, that she wouldn't see them grow up, that she left them to grow up all by themselves? She must have been so scared! Elizabeth mind forced her to replay the moment in her head, when the policeman had been standing at their front door, telling her that her brother was in the hospital. And that her parents were never coming home again. Still standing motionless in the shower, Elizabeth started to sob. It had almost happened again. That accident could have had an entirely different outcome. And how brutal, how very brutal and unfair was it, that her mom and dad just got so devastating unlucky and were torn away from their children way too soon. Elizabeth's mind kept spinning as she kept crying and she didn't even notice her husband entering the bathroom. It had been almost half an hour since Elizabeth had started the shower and Henry was worried. His feeling was proven right when he saw Elizabeth sobbing in their shower. Without thinking about it, Henry opened the shower door, stepped under the water, still fully clothed and embraced his shaking wife.

"Henry", Elizabeth sobbed.

"I know, baby, it's OK, I know", Henry whispered calming.

"Just imagine", Elizabeth cried.

"No, honey, I'm not going to imagine and you need to stop too. You are here with us, you are here", Henry murmured. The water must have gotten cold a while ago because goosebumps were all over Elizabeth's skin but she obviously didn't notice that she was freezing. Henry reached out and turned the water he let Elizabeth go for a short moment to grab her robe and wrapped it around her carefully. He led her out of the shower, put his own robe on and hugged her again.

By that point, Elizabeth had stopped crying and the shaking startet to stop as well.

"That was scary, Elizabeth and I can't even imagine what you're were going through. But you are here and we are so grateful for that. We are so grateful for you baby."

Elizabeth nodded, put a hand on her husband's cheek and kissed his lips.

"Thank you for always finding the right words, Henry", she whispered and Henry kissed her back.

A little later, dressed in comfy sweatpants and and an old hoddie, Elizabeth was sitting on the couch, surrounded by her family with a plate of delicious food on her lap and a cup of steaming tea in front of her.

Yes, she was still here and she couldn't describe how thankful that made her.