A Russian agent gives an assassin a file on Dmitri, telling him that he's been spotting in the "Hays-Adam" neighborhood with his girlfriend. When the CIA figures out there's a hit on Dmitri, the director lets Elizabeth and Henry know that Stevie has been seeing him. Henry is outraged that Dmitri would put her in that position, and assumes that he did it as some kind of revenge for being abandoned in Russia. Henry convinces Dmitri to be bait in order to draw out the GRU hit-man so that Stevie can resume her life. The assumption is that the hit will take place at the hotel the couple frequented, but Henry realizes (just in time) that the hit was going to take place on the road, and manages to warn Dmitri early enough for him to bail out of the car. The assassin is caught by the FBI as he tries to leave the country, and Dmitri gets sent to Alaska after a tearful good-bye from Stevie. 

The Russian president decides to arbitrarily end adoptions to the US, including those already in process. The VP, an adoption advocate, is brought into the planning meeting with Conrad, where it's decided that the response will be more stick than carrot. But she goes off book later that same day, vowing to bring the children who were already in the middle of the adoption process to the US. This is partly because she's passionate about the issue, but also largely because she's trying to set up her own run for president. The fact that she sees Elizabeth as a threat and rival makes their working relationship difficult. After meeting with Salnikov, the two women seem to find a rhythm with each other. But The hit an impasse when the Russian president demands a last minute concession to their deal, and Elizabeth vetoes it on the grounds of national security. Later, Elizabeth uses the arrest of the hit-man after Dmitri as leverage to put the original deal with Salnikov back in place. The two women seem to be on good terms again until Hurst demands that Elizabeth publicly announce she won't be running for office and Elizabeth refuses.