AN: Sorry this took so long. And I'm sorry in advance that it sucks. I've rewatched Break in Diplomacy so many times to try and capture what I wanted in this fic. I don't think it's up to par; but I hope you can get the connection I was going for between this and the previous part. So even though I'm not 100% satisfied; I hope you like it! Please leave reviews because they make me happy. XOXO

Part 2:

Blake stood nearby the DS agents as they patiently waited outside President Andrada's office whilst the Secretary met with him.

Nothing was unusual about that. Sometimes Matt & Frank would stand in the corner of the room during her meetings, but just as often they waited outside the door with him.

It was completely ordinary; until Matt & Frank heard the panic alarm in their ear piece. Blake instantly became aware something was wrong as Matt and Frank leapt into action, barking commands into their arm radios and pushing through the heavy doors to the President's office.

They arrived just in time to see the Philippino president standing in a compromising position behind the Secretary, trying to hold her against the table while his hand tried to travel up her dress and kiss her neck. Elizabeth noted her trusted agents presence as they ran toward her, demanding that Andrada let go of her, but it was a big room and Andrada hadn't moved away. Her agents were still a few strides back, so with the knowledge that she had backup now, she mustered enough strength to spin out of Andrada's hold and forcefully connected her fist with his nose. She just couldn't wait even a few seconds more to have his hands off her. She was a trained CIA operative after all, and her husband was a Marine – she knew basic self-defense but was also smart enough to know she needed a witness. So she needed Frank & Matt to see her struggle before she could react.

Andrada was taken aback, and lunged at Elizabeth in anger, a grunt escaping his lips. Frank had been quick to step between him and the Secretary, preventing him from retaliating while Matt quickly, but carefully tugged Elizabeth's arm and ushered her to safety with a stunned Blake running behind with her.

Once Frank had gotten word that the car had left and the Secretary was secure, he addressed Andrada as his goons came to attend to is bloody nose. "Consider yourself lucky the only injury you have is your nose."

"The United States will pay for this." He threatened.

Frank wanted to address the comment, but it was not his place. So he simply collected Elizabeth's things that remained on the table and left. He knew damn well that it was he who would pay for assaulting a United States official.

Meanwhile in the car, Blake offered Elizabeth a bottle of water which she gratefully accepted with a shaky hand. "You're safe now Madam Secretary." Matt turned in the front seat to look at her.

She nodded as she sucked in a few deep breaths to calm herself, sipping on the water. "I know."

"I'm sorry we didn't get there fast enough."

"Please don't go there, Matt" She pleaded quietly.

"That was a good shot you took at him M'am. He deserved it." Matt tried to change the direction of the conversation, but somehow it still got back to regret. "But you shouldn't have had to take that punch. We should have been there."

"It's okay Matt. I've taken plenty of meetings alone. There's no way you could have anticipated…" She whispered, her voice trailing off as she glanced out the window.

After a few sips of water, Elizabeth held the cold bottle to her knuckles – as the adrenaline had begun to wear off and she began to feel the dull pain in her fingers.

"Is your hand okay, Madam Secretary?" Matt asked, still observing her from the front seat.

She nodded. Still holding the water bottle against her hand.

"We'll get you some ice once we get back to the hotel." He promised.

She nodded again and turned to Blake, her voice sounding defeated. "I need to talk to Henry. And we should call the White House. I don't want the President to hear this from anyone but me."

After nearly 3 years by her side, Blake instantly knew where she was going with this. "Of course. But, M'am you can't possibly think that he…."

"I screwed up the trade agreement. Yes. I do think he will be angry about that Blake." She said more loudly and frantically than she intended. Blake knew better than to argue and remained silent as she apologetically turned her attention back to the window.

They had arrived more quickly at the hotel than she had thought and for that she was grateful. She wasn't sure how exactly she made it back to the large suite, but she'd looked up from her place on the cozy armchair to see Blake offering a bag of ice and two aspirin and accepted them with a small smile. "I left word for Henry. I'll bring your laptop over once I have the President M'am."

"Thank you Blake." She was disappointed Henry wasn't available right away. But she also thought it might be for the best, so she wouldn't get interrupted if Dalton called back whilst she was talking to Henry. Perhaps telling the President aloud would help her before she somehow would have to vocalize to her husband that she was sexually assaulted. That she punched a world leader in response and it in turn disintegrated an important agreement.

"Hey, babe." Henry casually answered the phone with a smile. Talking to his wife was a welcome break from letting his mind go over the details of his day at work. But his smile turned into a frown immediately, his jaw clenched and his chest tight as he heard the shaky breath on the other end of the phone.

"Babe, you okay?" he asked

"Henry." She whispered.

"Elizabeth, what's wrong?

"I'm on my way home." She managed, looking out the window of the plane, deflecting.

"Why?" he asked, trying to pull out whatever had upset her.

"The treaty is off." She deflected again. "We got kicked out of the country."

"Why? What happened?" Henry asked again. He knew something went wrong.

"Because I punched President Andrada and broke his nose."

"Elizabeth….what the –"

"After he tried to feel me up…" she whispered

"He WHAT?!"

"Don't make me say it again, please."

Henry took a deep breath to swallow his anger. She was clearly distraught and he didn't want to upset her more, but he needed to know what happened. "Baby, what happened? Why did he do that? Where was Matt?"

Elizabeth sighed – she didn't want to repeat what she had told the President. Especially after they had teased her a little. Maybe in a couple months the teasing would have been funny, but it wasn't right now and she was upset that it wasn't being taken seriously. Perhaps it was her own fault for trying to not focus on it and focus on how she could fix the treaty. It was her job after all. But it wasn't her job to worry about the peace deal in front of her husband and she needed to muster the courage to tell him.

"He'd been a little overly friendly during the whole meeting. I didn't think much of it at first; and tried to be nice – for the deal you know. But we were discussing military aid. He was telling me that he thought it was sexy that I was using military terms. When I turned my back to get a file…he….he." She said in barley a whisper.

"He what?" Henry gently pushed her to continue.

"He ran his hand up my butt. I immediately jumped, but he grabbed my hips and pulled me to him. He leaned into me and kissed my neck from behind. I froze for a second and remembered my panic button. As soon as Matt barged in, I squirmed out of his hold and spun around and broke his nose." She said all in one breath. "I couldn't stay there one more second with his hands…. Which was good, because he growled at me and tried to retaliate, l but Frank stopped him."

"Are you okay?" Henry asked her gently, trying to keep his boiling blood under control.

"I'm okay." She whispered in a shaky breath as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I wanted you to know before it hits the press. Try and make sure the kids don't see it before I can tell them…."

"Babe…" his heart broke for her, and he knew she was crying.

"The President kicked us out. And I called Dalton and he and Russell made a few jokes….but I failed. The treaty is sure to fall apart and it's all my fault."

"It isn't your fault. You were assaulted. And I'm proud of you for defending yourself. He's lucky all he got was a broken nose. If I ever see that guy I'll break a lot more than his nose."

"Stop…." Elizabeth pleaded. Henry always got overprotective of her and she couldn't handle it right now.

"Okay, okay." Henry agreed quietly and listened to her breath even out on the phone. "You sure you're okay, babe?"

She nodded, but couldn't find more words.

Henry must have picked up on this. "Okay. I'll see you soon then alright? I love you."

"Love you too." She mustered and hung up, snuggling under her travel blanket anxiously awaiting her arrival home.

Henry was concerned about his wife. He wasn't sure what to expect from her when she arrived home after being assaulted. He knew she might be sensitive to his touch, even though he'd never hurt her, simply because of his gender following the incident, so it surprised him how easily she fell into his arms when she walked in the door – but be welcomed it nonetheless.

He was more than happy to whatever she needed, and so he hugged her fiercely and placed a gentle kiss to her head – testing the waters slightly. When he pulled away she was understandably upset and tired from flying there and back in just one day. He'd had a bowl of cereal prepped for her; knowing from Blake that she hadn't eaten. He was pleased she ate a few bites, as he observed her. She was fidgety, understandably, but also he was concerned about how easily she let it go that Andrada was passing his injuries off as a boxing incident. The Elizabeth he knew would fight back against injustice and come forward with her story.

He understood her need to shower, and when she emerged wrapped in a towel, her skin was bright red, evidence of her scrubbing herself clean from his touch. She'd averted his gaze as she passed him to gather her pajamas and climbed into bed, curling herself in a ball on her side of the bed which surprised him given how open she was to his touch earlier. He climbed into bed beside her, and gently cupped her shoulder, offering her his comfort should she want it – but she didn't move.

The next day she dressed in a turtleneck and slacks, as if hiding beneath her clothing. "I haven't decided if I want to leak this to the press, and I'm not telling the kids until I decide what to do." She explained as she got ready to go downstairs.

Henry nodded in understanding, and watched as she put on a good face for the kids before leaving for the day without a kiss goodbye.

Henry knew she wouldn't talk until she was damn good and ready; but he'd received a few texts throughout the day from Blake about her behavior that day. She was so focused on the fixing the treaty that she'd completely brushed aside the fact that she was assaulted and was more or less backing down to Andrada.

It was 2 nights later when she got worked up about the pillows before bed that he knew she was finally ready to talk about it.

"You want to tell me?" He asked.

"I'm working up to it." She told him, plopping into bed. "Nadine thinks I should go public with what Andrada did to me. She thinks it might help the other women he harassed." She said, still facing away from him.

"I think it's entirely your decision." He told her gently, climbing in bed beside her.

"I'm not just any woman in this situation. I'm also the Secretary of State and there's a lot riding on our relationship with the Phillipines. I need to be responsible to that. That's the whole problem isn't it?" Finally she turned to face him, and he gently ran a finger down her arm, offering some comfort as she continued. "We tell ourselves to suck it up, just this once – it would be better for everyone. Like now, I'm thinking about the bigger picture. But just saying that, aren't I marginalizing a woman's right not be harassed and not be assaulted? When does that get to be the bigger picture?"

Henry nodded, agreeing with her, but still remaining silent – letting her get out all her feeling.

"Still just my decision, isn't it?" she whispered.

He smiled at her. "Yes, yes it is."

"Kay." She sighed, rolling over again and grabbing another pillow and turning out the light.

Henry laid back, but still kept his eyes open. Despite her rolling over, he didn't think the conversation was quite over. And a few minutes later, she rolled to him again – this time gently searching for his fingertips. "Henry?"

"Yea, babe?" he turned again, propping himself up on his elbow and giving her his full attention as he squeezed her fingers that sought his.

"Do you think Andrada decided it was okay to assault me because of my looks, or my outfit?" she asked quietly, her eyes sparking in the dim light.

Henry hated immediately that she went there. She hated that she was having these thoughts. "Elizabeth, you are beautiful. Anyone can see that – no matter what you are wearing. But that doesn't make it okay for him to touch you."

"So you don't think I was asking for it? You know with the dress, or even the article a couple week ago…and the tweets about my legs?"

"No." he said firmly, trying to convince her. He hated that the media had gotten to her, made her doubt – made her think that. But he wasn't certain she was convinced as she nodded again and closed her eyes.

A few minutes later she asked again. "Henry?"

"Yea, babe?" he looked at her with the most sincere, caring look again.

"How come, since I've been home you haven't…..you know….touched me at all? We haven't kissed much…or…"

Henry's eyes grew sad and he brushed a piece of hair from her cheek. "I was just trying to give you some space. I didn't want to touch you if you were….uncomfortable." he searched for a word.

She nodded. Her husband was very sweet. So she scooted a little closer, and pressed a hand to his chest. "I want you to touch me. You are my husband. I'll never be uncomfortable around you." She promised him. "I think right now….I….I want you to touch me and remind me how good it feels."

It was hard for her to say what she said and he knew it. Never taking his gaze from her eyes, he pulled her flush against his body and kissed her gently. "I love you, Elizabeth."

She parted her lips and granted him access, humming softly as he caressed her lips gently. As he pulled away, her eyes fluttered open and he nuzzled her softly. "Where did he touch you?" he whispered.

Her hand rose to a spot on her neck, as she turned to grant him access. He pressed a hot kiss to the exact spot and she shivered. "Only I can kiss you here." He told her, and suckled the spot again.

She nodded. "Only you," and she took his hand and moved it to her ass, dragging it up where he touched her just 2 days ago.

Henry growled and squeezed her, repeating her movement but this time his hand slipped beneath her clothing. "No one touches you here…."

"Except you. I'm yours…only yours." She finished, looking him in the eye. His lips pressed against hers, as he held her tight against him, caressing her hip and bottom again trying to replace the memory with this one.

When their kisses became too heated they broke apart. Henry didn't want to push her any further tonight and he could tell their passionate session was enough for her for now as she nuzzled her head into his chest, pressing kisses and thanking him.

"I'm proud of you Elizabeth." Henry told her. "And whatever way you decide is best for you to address this situation, I'll be right by your side."