Fandom: Designated Survivor

Ships: Emoren (maybe more, if there is room later)There are so not enough Lyor fics in this fandom (there are literally 3, people, I looked). He's such a great character, but I feel like we don't see him enough. So this fic is not completely show compliant--Lyor has a sister! Also, Aaron and Emily get their lives together and get together and stop breaking all our hearts. Leo is also getting a new girlfriend, because it is very necessary. And Leo and Penny are going to get some screen time, because the way they handle being the first children is important.

The press is going to tear Seth into pieces, Lyor thought. This political crisis was only the latest in a long string of disasters that the White House staffers had beaten. How they pulled it off remained a mystery to him, but they'd managed thus far.

And they would keep managing, if he had anything to say about it.

"What are we supposed to do, Lyor?" President Kirkman's voice broke through his thoughts. The President wiped his free hand across his face before taking a long drink from the glass of whiskey in his other hand. "How do we get in front of this?"

"Is there even a way to stop this from happening?" The chief advisor to the commander-in-chief demanded. "Isn't it already too late if we're just now hearing about it? Maybe we should focus on damage control."

Lyor shook his head. "No amount of damage control in the world is going to stop this from spiraling if we can't get in front of it somehow. Damage control will be necessary, but not yet. We need to first minimize the issue. Then we do damage control."

"Well, I'm open to ideas," the President stated after a long moment of silence.

Lyor wiped a hand across his forehead, and then rubbed the back of his neck. He had an idea. There was definitely a way.

But none of them--save for him, maybe, and Emily, probably, and definitely the President, who's administration would be saved (for at least another 36 hours), and most likely Seth, who would have something to say to the press before they got a chance to eat him alive--were going to like this very much.

Aaron was going to hate it. Kendra... would be undetermined until she met her.

Maybe the girls would just be happy to see another girl around, and forget about her icy personality.

All possibilties, of course.

Before Lyor could think better of it, he suggested, "What if I knew someone who could help us?"

"You think we need more help?" Aaron smirked, eyebrows raised. Lyor wanted to wipe the smug look off of his face, but Lydia could do that herself. And she would, once she realized what an idiot he was.

"Hang on, Aaron, let's listen to him. What've you got, Lyor?"

"A little sister. She's got the best political brain there is. I call her when I run into a roadblock. You'd think she grew up here instead of in a tiny town in Texas."

There was yet another moment of painful silence.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Emily said, a slight smile on her face. "That's cool."

Aaron muttered something along the lines of "I thought you just landed here from Krypton". Lyor chose to ignore him and turned to the President.

"She's my half-sister, and we didn't know each other until her freshman year of high school. It was my senior year of high school, and we stayed friends. We didn't think of each other as our siblings until a bit after that, closer to when I was starting my masters, but we do now."

"And she could help us?" Kirkman asked, taking another swig of his drink.

Lyor nodded. "Lydia is the best. Better than me. She doesn't always play well with others"--he shot a glare in Aaron's general direction, hearing him mutter, "Probably runs in the family", but gave up when Emily playfully smacked the chief advisor's shoulder--"but she knows what she's doing. She's great at this stuff. Can spin anything, make anything disappear."

Seth spoke up for the first time since Emily dragged him and Lyor by their ties into the Oval office: "She can spin things well?"

Lyor only nodded, unsure of where Seth was going with this.

"Where can I find her? I'll take all the help I can get."

Okay. Seth was on board. That's a good sign.

Kirkman threw back the remainder of his glass's contents. "Not because she's your sister, but if you think she can help us, she can work on this on a trial-basis. Aaron will get her a temporary access card and high enough clearance to help. If it goes well, she can explore a future with my staff."

"Oh, no, sir, I'm not trying to get her a job here. She's just the only one who's going to be able to fix this."

Kirkman shook his head. "I know. You don't like favoritism or nepotists. You have morals. Our nation needs some morals right now." He took a breath, and a sly smile worked it's way onto his face. "But if she's as good as you say she is, she should be working here already, anyway."

Lyor found himself smiling in spite of himself. "Thank you, Mr. President."

"You're very welcome. Now get your sister here--this needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. Emily, clearances for--I didn't get your sister's name, Lyor."

"Lydia, sir. Lydia Boone."

"Alright." The President gave him a smile and turned back to Emily. "Lydia Boone's clearances and I.D."

"Yes, Mr. President," Emily said before turning on her heel to leave. Lyor nodded to Kirkman and his chief advisor and followed the Chief of Staff out if the room.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a sister?" Her voice was playfully accusing--a joke.

Lyor grinned. "Didn't want Seth or Aaron getting their claws into her. Besides, there's plenty of junior staffers that would love to take her to dinnerner, and I just don't think "President's Political Director Strangles Junior Staffers for Hitting on Baby Sister" makes a good headline."

Emily chuckled. She gave him a knowing look, shook her head. "Well, I want to meet her. I need a new shopping partner if she decides to stick around."

Giving her a mock-salute, Lyor promised her that yes, she would meet her, and yes, his sister would stick around. And no, he swore, he was not hiding away anymore younger siblings (that he knew of).

They went their separate ways after that. Emily had to rush background check Lydia and get her paperwork dealt with. Lyor had to convince her to come to the White House.

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Emily had the more difficult job, when Lyor really thoufht about it.

The phone only rang once--Lyor had only just stepped outside and was closing the door behind him--before Lydia picked up and he heard the bright and chipper voice of his younger sister over the line. "How's my favorite older brother?"

"I'm doing good, doing good."

"Liar." There was a pop, like she was opening a bag of chips. "I may not watch the news on a daily basis, but I watch it when I don't hear from you for a suspicious amount of time."

He tried not to sound too hopeful as he prompted, "And?" Lyor knew that she'd already made up her mind about the verdict of the situation--she already knew whether or not this ship was going to sink or not.

"And...it needs the touch of someone who knows what they're doing. Who's running that circus?"

He snorted. Lydia didn't have an overwhelming amount of patience for cluelessness.

"You can be running the circus, provided you don't mind pulling up the anchor and getting the ship back to port within a timely manner."

There was a pause.

"What do you mean... me?"

"The President is getting you temporary clearance so that you can come save the administration from various forms of brimstone and fire."

"The President?" Lydia repeated, her voice barely a whisper.

Hearing the footsteps behind him, Lyor turned around to find none another than the man in question himself smirking. He mouthed, Having trouble?

No, Lyor was not having trouble convincing his sister. While they were on a tight schedule, the conversation was right on track. But... An idea sprung in his head, not unlike a lightbulb.

No one could ever tell him he didn't have a sense of humor.

So no, he was not having trouble, but he nodded and grinned at Kirkman, who nodded, grinned, and motioned for him to put the phone on speaker right back.

This'll be good.

He clicked the speaker button and held the phone between him and the commander and chief. "Hey, Lyds, there's someone very important who wants to talk to you."

"Lydia? This is President Kirkman, and your brother"--there was a crash on the other end of the line, and Kirkman's eyes grew wide. Lyor waved off his concern. His sister had probably dropped something in shock--"has told us all about you. He says you're the best. My team could really use your help. Come to think of it, I could really use your help. I'm sure you've seen the news, and this situation won't go away if we just keep staring at it."

"I think that President Kirkman is offering you a job Lyds," Lyor offered after another pause. "At least on a temporary basis."

"I need directions," his sister huffed. Her voice was quieter, like she was a bit further away from her phone now. She also sounded out of breath. Lyor chuckled. She was probably throwing herself around her apartment, getting dressed and putting together her things for her car and to work. "I don't know how to get there."

Kirkman raised an eyebrow, covered the speaker-mouth-speaking-part of the phone with his hand. "Should she be driving? She sounds... flustered."

"She gets nervous. About... a lot of things. New people."

"Hence the 'doesn't play well with others' part." It was a statement, not a question.

Lyor nodded again.

"Mike," Kirkman called over his shoulder. "Would you mind--?"

"I'm getting the car, Mr. President."

Another member of the Secret Service arrived behind the President, taking Mike's place, and Mike headed for the garage.

"Thank you!" Kirkman called after him. "Send her address to Mike, will you?"

Lyor nodded. "Of course."

The President removed his hand from the phone. "I'm going to have one of my agents come and pick you up, Lydia, of that's alright."

"Can I...? Lyor pointed in the direction that Mike had gone. "My sister has a thing about people she doesn't--"

Kirkman nodded. "You better hurry," he chuckled. Lyor was already taking his sister off speaker, returning the phone to his ear, and high-tailing it to the door. "Thank your sister for me!"

"Yes, Mr. President!" he threw over his shoulder.

Tom Kirkman smiled.

Lyor spoke of Lydia like she was also his best friend, and he was happy that he had her to lean on.