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Elizabeth knew something was wrong when Alex paused on the doorstep.
Alex hadn’t paused on the doorstep for nearly two years. Not since he was welcome into their home for the first time after that awful business in Egypt. Not since he was forced into the limelight. Not since he became part of their family - for good.
Alex was family, and he knew it.
Family would always be welcome in Elizabeth’s house.
That was how her mama had done it, and her mama before her. And Elizabeth would be damned if a fine tradition like that was ruined by something as simple as moving to California.
But Alex had paused.
She could hear him rocking on his heels on the porch. A nervous habit of his that he had never bothered to fix in his personal life. It was one of those things which… just defined Alex. His ability to separate his work from his life.
Elizabeth envied him.
She had never had that pleasure.
There was a knock at the door.
“Alex,” she said, “What a pleasure to see you. I didn’t know you were dropping by.”
“Elizabeth.” He gave her a serious look, before shaking his head. “I know who you are.”
“What?”
“Elizabeth Haynes? The person that Edward married?” Alex challenged her, “We both know she doesn’t exist. Isn’t that right, Abigail?”
Oh .
Elizabeth sat down.
It had been a long time since anyone called her Abigail. Over twenty years, in fact. Aside from that one meeting nearly seventeen years ago when she’d resigned from her post in the CIA and told them she was keeping her cover identity.
She’d been judged by her boss and her colleagues, but they’d respected her wishes.
Abigail had died.
Elizabeth had been born.
“It’s a long time since I’ve heard that name.” She looked at her daughter’s boyfriend cautiously. He’d brought this to her. There wasn’t anyone else home. He’d chosen his moment carefully. He presumably had a plan. “It’s a long time since anyone heard that name.”
“Does he know?”
“No.” She admitted, “Not at all.”
Alex ran his hand through his hair before collapsing in the chair opposite her.
“Oh,” he said eloquently, “I see.”
There was a moment of silence as they looked at each other, neither knowing what to say.
Elizabeth was the first one to break.
“He was writing some subversive articles. The kind of thing that they used to keep an eye on back in the 80s and 90s. He was critical of the government’s response to global warming, you see.” Elizabeth clasped her hands together on the table, “It wasn’t supposed to be a long-term thing. A year, at most. And then I’d be pulled out. Sent somewhere else.”
“Here you are.” Alex said, his face unhappy, “That’s more than a year. It’s nearly two decades Elizabeth!”
“It got complicated.”
“Sabina?”
“No.” Elizabeth shook her head. “Not Sabina. Edward.”
“The cancer?”
“Yes.” Elizabeth said, and then paused, realising what that sounded like, “No.”
Alex grimaced. “Could you be any less clear?”
“Look, he was a known discontent.” Elizabeth tapped her hands on the table, “He had bad debts. He got approached by some people. The kind of people that we needed to keep an eye on. One of those crowds. You know the type.”
“And you let him do that?”
“I didn’t want him too!”
“Did you stop him?”
“Not at first.” Elizabeth shook her head, “That was when I started to fall out with them.”
“The CIA.”
“And the rest of them.” Elizabeth scowled, “I wasn’t even supposed to get into a relationship with him at first but…”
Alex gave her a look.
She threw up her hands.
“You’ve met the man. He’s ridiculous. He’s stubborn. He’s frustrating. He’s…” She sighed, her eyes staring into the distance, unseeing, “I love him, you know?”
“But you’ve never told him this ?”
“Would you?”
“Yes.”
“What if h-”
“What if he doesn’t hear it from you?” Alex reached inside his pocket and shoved a USB drive across the table, “I didn’t go digging, you know?”
Elizabeth’s heart plummeted.
Alex soldiered on.
“I didn’t go digging, and I didn’t really think about it. But then one day I turn up at work and this is in my pigeon hole.” Alex looked at the USB stick, sitting innocently between the two of them, “Now I figure that there’s a few things it could be. But I’m not fool enough to stick it into my PC. I stuck it into Bill’s computer instead. But it’s clean. Nothing on it. Nothing except your dirty laundry.”
Elizabeth stared at him.
“You know how many people know that I know you?” Alex asked, “And I mean, really, how many people know that I’ve got a girlfriend, let alone that my girlfriend’s parents are in our lives?”
“Alex?”
“I keep my personal life separate.” Alex nodded towards the USB, “Someone else doesn’t want me to do that.”
“Alex.”
“Someone went digging. And this is what they found.”
“He can’t find out.”
“You think they gave me that as a joke?” Alex stared at her in disbelief, “I hoped it was false. I hoped it was all made up. Someone’s idea of a bad joke. But you shot that to pieces, didn’t you, Abigail ?”
“I fell in love, okay?” She was aware that her voice was rising, but she could hear the judgement in Alex’s voice, “I fell in love, and then we got married, and then there was a beautiful child and-”
“And you just never bothered to tell him that the person he fell in love with was a lie?”
“You think this is a lie ?” Tears fell from her eyes, “Alex.”
“Does Sabina know that her mother is someone entirely different?” Alex asked again, “Have you told anyone ?”
“No!”
“Elizabeth.”
“You know why I can’t.”
“Because you’re scared?”
“It’s not that simple. Where do I even begin to explain?” Elizabeth grabbed the USB stick off the table. “And that’s before we even get onto this.”
“You can’t just cover i-”
“Yes I can.” Elizabeth felt her heart pounding inside of her, “And if you know what’s good for you, and what’s good for Sabina, then you’ll help me cover it up too.”
Alex stared at her, something twisting his face.
“Please?” She added, feeling her face crumple, “I just… Alex. I can’t.”
He just looked at her.
Elizabeth didn’t know what to do or what to say.
A USB stick that Alex had picked up at work. At a place where no one should even know that he knew her. A USB stick that gave him everything he needed to pick her life apart.
Someone out there knew her secrets.
Someone out there could destroy her life.
“I’ll give you two weeks.” Alex said, “Two weeks of us trying to find out who sent that.”
“And then you’ll drop it?”
“And then I’ll tell Edward.” Alex set his chin, “I’m not going to help you lie to him more.”
“Bu-”
“You’ve had twenty years to come clean.” Alex folded his arms, “I’m not giving you twenty more years of staying dirty.”
And just like that Elizabeth realised that he was serious.
He wasn’t going to help her here.
The big lie at the centre of her life was about to be ripped open.
She had no idea what to do.