I. Emily
The dinner had to be a hasty one this time around, but they could do this again with more time. Now all that mattered was that they were there. Having their first date. For real. Somehow knowing that more was on the table once more made things different. Not necessarily in a bad way, but Emily could tell Aaron was using far more time thinking about what to say to her than he usually did. She took a little bit of satisfaction in being able to evidently make him nervous.
"Do you know what you're going to order?" he asked, placing his menu on the table.
"I think I'll go with pizza."
He grinned.
"Same here."
"Tuna and olives."
"Pepperoni."
She sighed.
"I guess we'll never agree on pizza toppings."
"Or on many other things."
"True."
"Is that a problem?"
"What would you say?"
"I'd say that it's not a problem if we don't make it into one."
They were interrupted by a waiter informing them that the kitchen would be closing in ten minutes and that they only had enough dough for one pizza.
"I don't mind sharing a pizza with you, but next time we should plan ahead a bit more," he started, watching the waiter walk away from their table. "I mean, this is nice and all, but not very..."
"Not very what?" she asked.
"Romantic."
It was sweet, actually. They'd fal- become interested in one another in post-disaster White House, which was the exact opposite of romantic. He didn't need to impress her with romantic dates or gestures because the truth was that she'd go anywhere with him. Not that she'd tell him that yet.
"I never took you for that kind of a guy," she answered.
"Ouch," he joked, but he sounded a bit hurt despite the smile on his face, making her regret her words. She should tread lightly until they talked about what had happened to him.
"I also never thought we'd end up here, so what do I know anyway," she sighed, reaching to lay her hand on his arm, hoping it conveyed some of the words she wanted to say to him. I'm so sorry for what happened to you, you didn't deserve any of it.
"Life is full of surprises. Some aren't as great as this one," he replied, taking her hand in his.
"Listen, Aaron... I know this may not be the right time, but we're going to have to talk about what happened."
"Yeah, we do. But not tonight. Today's been a good day, despite the whole thing with Lloyd, and I don't want to dwell on the past now."
She nodded.
"Okay. Just... I hope you know that when you want to talk, I'm here."
"I know."
He kissed her outside the restaurant, the contact laced with barely contained want. Luckily she was done torturing him (for now) as well as herself. There was no way the night was going to end there.
"My place?" she asked when they parted, his arms still around her.
"Yeah," he nodded, his eyes glinting with the knowledge of what would happen soon. He knew he wouldn't be coming in for a drink, and she couldn't wait.
She wasn't drunk, only a little tipsy. Just enough to loosen her up enough not to be bothered by the fact that they started making out out like a couple of horny teenagers in the back of the cab. His hand gently kneaded the inside of her thigh and she couldn't get close enough. When would this stupid ride end?
Somehow she managed to get her key into the lock and open the door before tugging him in with her. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and he shook it off, letting it fall to the floor. All in all, things were going just as she'd planned, until he suddenly jumped away from her.
"What the hell?" he panted, staring at a pair of glowing yellow eyes.
Emily let out a hearty giggle, reaching past Aaron to turn the lights on.
"This is Zoe," she said, motioning to the grey Maine Coon now cowering under the coffee table.
"I knew you had a cat, but Jesus. She's huge."
She crossed her arms and glared at him."And what's the problem with that? Are you afraid of cats?" she asked.
"No. Absolutely not. I just..."
"Prefer dogs?"
"Well... Yeah," he admitted somewhat sheepishly.
"Well, she never likes the men I bring home, so the feeling is probably mutual. Let me feed her and she'll leave us alone."
Aaron retreated to the couch, while Emily dug out a jar of wet food and Zoe's bowl, watching the feline and the man eye each other warily. Zoe had hated her ex throughout their entire relationship, but she secretly hoped this relationship would turn out different.
"Come on, Zoe, dinner's served," she told the cat, shaking the bowl.
As she'd anticipated, the cat was on the kitchen counter, digging into the food within seconds.
"She won't pay any attention to you after this, so you can breathe again," she assured him, kicking her shoes off as she approached the couch.
His hands came to rest on her hips when she reached him, and the reverent way he looked up at her with his warm brown eyes made her weak at the knees. She'd never lost her mind over a man, and she was determined not to let Aaron Shore be the exception, but it was hard to keep herself under control. The last of that control left the room when she lowered herself into his lap.
The next few hours were very revealing. She was now more than aware that Aaron was a man of many... Talents. Not that she was surprised by this particular discovery. She woke up with her hands still buried in his slightly damp locks, his head resting on her abdomen. That's how they'd fallen asleep after a quick shower. He'd been the first one to nod off, her fingers stroking his hair clearly relaxing him. Emily made a mental note not to let anyone with scissors anywhere near his curls. Carefully moving him off of her, she tiptoed to the bathroom. When she came back, the street lights revealed that her cat had snuck into the bedroom and curled up into a ball on top of Aaron.
This was a first for Zoe, and she snickered at the thought of Aaron finding the cat on top of him. As quietly as she could, she grabbed her phone and snapped a photo, hoping it wouldn't disturb either one of the subjects. The end result came out blurrier than she would've liked, but she still found it impossible not to grin at. Maybe she should set it as her lock screen wallpaper. Although on second thought, she wanted to keep the memory all to herself, aside from possibly teasing Aaron with it occasionally in the future. Despite his totally irrational fear of cats, the sight of him sound asleep in her bed made her sigh in contentment. How had she managed to keep away from until now?
"Do you think we should keep him around?" she whispered as she got back into bed, reaching out to run a hand over Zoe's head.
The cat responded with a short and quiet chirp.
"I'll take that as a yes," Emily murmured, pressing a kiss on Aaron's bare chest before laying her head on it. If they could talk things out, she had a feeling that what was between them wouldn't be short-term.
II. Aaron
Aaron woke up in the middle of the night, and at first nothing seemed amiss. Emily was curled up against his side, the top of her head against his cheek and an arm slung over him. Nevertheless, there was a warm blob on his abdomen and it took him approximately five seconds to realize that Emily's cat was sleeping on him. He swallowed, doing his best to keep his breathing steady. Suddenly the cat's eyes opened and she stared at him in that unnerving way cats often did. It was stupid, but he'd never liked cats since he'd once been attacked by his aunt's family's tomcat. It was insane that he could stay at least somewhat rational when faced with a terrorist attack that had just killed a thousand people and was able to function for weeks with severe sleep deprivation, but a reasonably calm cat was making him uneasy. Think about something else.
Love didn't happen often in Washington. People, at least the ones working in politics, were usually too ambitious and politically motivated for any real feelings to develop. That was the biggest reason Aaron was still single. Or was he still single after tonight? After several years of being single, he'd pretty much resigned to spending his life alone. Then the attack happened and things changed. Losing your boss and most of the people you worked with on a daily basis had a tendency to make a person re-evaluate their life. What had their last thoughts been about? Had they even had enough time to have any? As much as he hated to think about the details, it seemed likely that at least some of them had survived the initial explosion, only to die of their injuries, crushed by the rubble of the Capitol. Most of them had probably thought about their loved ones; their spouses, kids, grandkids, parents, siblings. Their thoughts probably hadn't been centered around their work. He could've been there, too, but earlier that day Langdon had given him a list of a dozen things to do by the next morning. Now he had to wonder if Charlie had done it on purpose, to make sure he survived.
There was no way to know how much time he had left before the Grim Reaper eventually came for him, too, but the attack had opened his eyes, made him more of a risk taker. Opportunities and taking them at the right time was the basis of Aaron's entire career, so why not apply that to his personal life as well? It was better to live with no regrets, after all. Right now he wanted nothing more than for this thing with Emily to work out. He wouldn't get another chance with a woman like her, wouldn't find a woman he felt as strongly drawn to as he did to her.
The alarm on Emily's phone went off way too early.
"What time is it?" he croaked.
"4:45. I need to get up."
"No, you don't. Not yet," he said, tightening his hold on her.
"Two minutes."
"Ten."
"Four."
"Six."
"Fine."
"I win," he grinned against her neck, flipping them over.
They were late for work, but only by ten minutes. Nobody would notice a thing. Except Seth, who rolled his eyes at them both when they walked in together.
"The President wants to see you both," he told them.
"Must be about my new position," he murmured as they walked toward the Oval Office. Side by side. As they should be. How was it possible to be so happy over such simple things?
"Aaron, Emily good morning. Have a seat."
"Thank you, Sir."
"I asked both of you here to discuss Aaron's new job. You two worked well together, despite your differences, or maybe because of them, and I want to see that again. Aaron, I think you'd make a good Special Advisor. You have no restrictions, you get the same briefings and intel as Emily. Is that good enough for you?"
Aaron smiled. It was pretty close to what he'd have chosen to do.
"Yes, Sir."
"Emily, I trust that you have no objections?"
"None, Sir," she replied, shaking her head. Her eyes met Aaron's for a second, the excited glint in them making him wish they were alone.
"Great. I want you to start combing through possible VP candidates together, make me a shortlist. It's about time we get that out of the way."
"Yes, Sir, we'll get started right away," she told Kirkman.
III. Emily
"How many names have you got?"
"Three. You?"
"Four."
"Let's see them."
It soon turned out that the only thing they could agree on was that they should advise Kirkman to pick a woman for VP.
"You don't show a whole lot of enthusiasm in elevating someone coming from similar conditions to yours," she started when he refused to budge on his own favorite candidate.
"A sob story doesn't buy you power or credibility in Washington. It doesn't buy you anything," he replied, his tone irritated.
She bit her tongue. Her head was throbbing and the neck stiff, she didn't need a petty argument with the man she was seeing on top of it.
"Let's get some coffee, okay? We're both going through withdrawal symptoms."
"Good idea."
"I know I shouldn't have brought up your background. I'm sorry," she exhaled, pouring Aaron coffee.
"Forget about it. I shouldn't be touchy about it. I admit that I'm tougher on the ones that I see some of myself in."
"It makes sense, but I hope you can put your cynicism aside sometimes."
"That's what I've been learning from you ever since the bombing."
If they hadn't been in a break room with other people around, she'd have kissed him.
"And I guess talking about potential VP candidates makes me think about what happened with Hookstraten."
"She'll make her way back to the top somehow."
"She might, but I can't help but feel at least a little responsible for what happened to her," he admitted.
"It had nothing to do with you."
"I was her chief strategist, Emily... I should've done better."
"No. What happened wasn't your fault, and I'm willing to bet she already told you that."
He smiled.
"She did. Say what you will about her trustworthiness, but she gave me a chance when few others would've."
And there was another reminder that not everything had been sorted out yet.
"I know. That makes me like her a bit more, to be honest," she replied in an attempt to lighten the mood.
The rest of the day passed more or less smoothly, and they managed to compile the shortlist Kirkman had requested. Eventually they'd agreed to simply push for different candidates. She'd left Aaron to instruct new interns, while heading to her office to meet with Seth. She sat at behind her desk, peeking at her phone. There was another message from Aaron. He'd been sending them every couple of hours since the morning, including twice when they'd been working in the same room. She was getting involved with a very, very bad man.
Lifting her gaze from the screen of her phone, she raised her eyebrows at Seth, who was standing at her door, typing a text with a stupid smile on his face. A smile that she knew all too well by now.
"Who are you texting?" she inquired, frowning at her friend.
Seth grimaced.
"I'm not sure if I should tell you, to be honest."
"Why's that?"
"Answering that question would make the entire point moot."
She shrugged.
"Okay then, suit yourself. It's not another reporter, though, is it?"
"No, definitely not. Now, did you guys draft the memo I can use to update the press on the process of getting us that vice president?" he asked, clearly wanting to change the subject.
"Aaron wants you to wait until tomorrow, which is when we'll give the President our shortlist and talk about our favorite candidates. I'll write you the memo now."
"All right, I'll wait. Anything else?"
"I think we're just about done here, I'll just get that memo to you and then we'll be off."
Now it was Seth's turn to snicker.
"You're already a 'we' after one night? You've got it bad," he teased.
"It was a slip-up. Honest mistake," she claimed.
"Yeah, right. Have fun."
"Thanks."
Aaron had kept his hands to himself all day, but he wouldn't stop stealing glances at her, and the texts were extremely distracting. Suddenly she itched to have his hands on her again, his body safely covering hers, making her forget all about work and everything else.
"Hey," he called out, suddenly in her office.
"Hi."
She passed him and closed the door. Rules were meant to be bent a little, right?
He didn't catch on until she was grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket and pushing him against the door. She felt his smile on her lips, and his hands slipped under her blouse, caressing her lower back.
"Not that I mind this, but I thought you said no funny business at work. Those were your exact words," he teased, brushing his nose affectionately against hers.
"Look at your pretend to be all innocent. Those texts you've been sending me aren't exactly professional."
"We never agreed on 'no dirty texts'."
She rolled her eyes at him.
"I knew I could trust you to find a loophole."
"You want me to come over tonight?" he asked, pulling away barely enough to speak.
"Yeah," she nodded.
"I wish we had time to go out tonight, but it's getting late... I need to pick up some clean clothes, but I'll be there after that."
"We'll be waiting."
"Who's 'we'?"
"Me and your new best friend, Zoe," she replied, wiping her lipstick off his mouth.
"Oh, of course. Sorry," he teased, turning to glance at her desk and flashed her a mischievous grin, making her think back to his last text. No. She was not going to let her mind in the gutter.
A knock at the door stopped her daydream from going any further.
"Another time then," he smirked, giving her one last quick kiss before opening the door to Alex Kirkman.
"See you later," she told him as he disappeared through the door.
IV. Aaron
Aaron was embarrassingly giddy as he packed a bag in his apartment later that night. A week ago he'd been unemployed and half convinced he should give up on his career and head back to Texas, but now he felt like he could do anything. After everything he knew he had to be careful and not get too comfortable, just in case things went awry as they had quite a few times in the last few months, he reminded himself, but perhaps some optimism was warranted. He was still feeling guilty over getting upset with Emily so easily when she'd brought up his background and how it affected his decisions. If they were going to do this, they'd have to discuss the difficult things as much as he would've rather chosen not to touch upon certain topics at all.
"Isn't it a bit late for coffee?" Emily asked, letting him into her apartment.
"This isn't coffee. Try it," he suggested, handing her one of the cups.
"Mmmm... Hot chocolate," she sighed, taking another sip.
"Yeah. I asked them to put vanilla and caramel in yours."
"You sure are trying hard to impress me."
"Is that bad?"
"No. Keep doing it."
He took his own cup and settled on the couch, waiting until Emily sat down beside him before putting an arm around her shoulders. Now, this was the life.
"I had the weirdest talk with Seth today," she said, frowning.
"How?"
"I think he's seeing someone, but he refused to tell me who."
"Yeah, I saw him texting someone. He seemed a little evasive, and he wouldn't tell me either. Don't know what's up with that."
"At least it's apparently not a reporter this time, so maybe he just wants to keep it private for now."
He shrugged.
"Maybe. I called Nadia, by the way. She wants to have dinner with us. I know it's early and all, so you can say no."
"No. No, I'd really like that."
"She's a big fan of yours already. Has been since you first saw us at the restaurant and remembered what she does for a living as soon as I introduced you."
"I have a good memory."
"You do, and that's what I told her. And she told me that I should ask you out."
"Smart girl."
"She is. The first woman in my family with a college degree."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"And you were the first man."
"I was. How did you know that?"
"Ah, it was in your file... You know, the ones I read way back when..."
"Of course. Makes sense. Although I have to say that it seems a little unfair that you know so much about me while I don't know nearly as much about you."
"I've lived a boring life."
"Somehow I doubt that."
"Compared to you I have. Or even to Seth. I didn't have immigrant parents, and I never had to work to bring food to the table for the entire family."
"I still want to know everything. And not to get even with you, so spill it, Emily."
As she grinned at him and started talking about her parents and three sisters, he was reminded of exactly how much there was still to learn about her. Their journey was only beginning, and he couldn't wait. Yeah. He was a goner and didn't mind it one bit.