It's Enough To Make a Good Dog Break Her Lead
Sam and Ainsley AU-ish
What about those Republican candidates!
Disclaimer- I don't think they even care anymore…
She can hear him clattering down the hall towards her office, and she searches for some memo, some briefing paper… anything to make her look too busy to talk to him. It's all in vain. He grabs the doorframe with one hand and rotates through the doorway.
"Hey, Ainsley…" he starts.
"I don't want to talk about it Sam!" she interrupts, turning her head away so she can't see his teasing little grin.
"Come on! "he says gleefully. "I gotta tell you, I love every one of these guys!" He unfurls the newspaper he's holding to show yet another spread of the Republican candidate debates. "I mean they just can't seem to resist falling all over each other in their race to the bottom!"
"Sam!"
"It's beyond entertaining…I mean, our best strategy is to keep our mouths shut and let them pummel each other!"
"And as logical as that might be, I for one believe that the day Sam Seaborn manages to keep his mouth shut will be a frosty one indeed," she gestures at him with one hand, "as evidenced by your current diatribe!"
"Come over from the dark side, Ainsley! These guys want to keep you pregnant, barefoot and in the kitchen."
"I don't have any objections to 'in the kitchen' as long as the fridge is full!" She tosses her pony tail.
"Oh come one… how can you support any of these guys!"
She cocks her head at him. "It's not just about these guys, Sam! The Republican Party is more than these four candidates! There are bigger issues, and other policies that I consider to be more important…"
"Women's health and reproduction isn't important?"
"Don't put words in my mouth Sam!"
He starts to make a quick, slightly sexual innuendo, but stops when he sees the tear-brightness of her eyes. His face softens. "Oh, Ainsley…" he says gently.
She tightens her jaw and shakes her head. "No Sam. Don't be nice to me. I need to be angry. "
"They're hemorrhaging votes from women right across the country Ainsley! How can you vote for any one of these guys!"
"Who says I will?" She meets his eyes almost fiercely.
He smiles. "How're you going to tell that to the Colonel?" he teases."Ah say, ah say, Daddy… "
She flat hands him across his stomach and the air whooshes out of him. "I have never spoken like that Sam, and he's not a Colonel. "
He wonders if he's gone too far; stepped over the line of friendly bi-partisan banter.
She looks down at the mahogany desk, at the memos and briefs with the presidential seal emblazoned on them; at the tiny brass elephant Sam gave her on her last birthday. She wonders what it would be like to be here, in the service of a Republican president, but honestly she can't imagine any of the current GOP candidates travelling these corridors, nor can she imagine that any of them would want or value her opinion or her expertise. She sighs.
Sam wraps one arm around her shoulder. "Let me treat you to a muffin," he says by way of a peace offering.