The President and the First Lady are on a three day official trip to London. The kids are at home at the White House and Aaron decides to check up on them, only to be asked an awkward question, by none other than Penny.
Penny is all smiles as she greets Aaron Shore. "Hi there," she says, waving at him with one hand and holding onto a doll with the other. "Mommy said you might visit."
Aaron wonders when and how he became so predictable. He hadn't mentioned anything at all to the First Lady about a potential visit to her children in absence of the first couple. "How're you doing, Penny?" He asks with a smile, crouching down to her level to say hello properly. "I wanted to thank you for the birthday card you sent for me."
Penny smiles right back at him, giving him a quick hug. She hands him a doll and grabs his hand, escorting him to where she's set base on the carpet in the living room. "You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it."
"Leo's in the shower," she adds.
Which makes Aaron curious as to why Penny has been left unattended. In a manner of speaking, that is. There were a bunch of Secret Service agents right outside the door, ready in case of any situation.
But next thing he knows is that he and the First Daughter are engaged in a serious discussion about dolls, and Aaron swears that he hears a Secret Service agent snicker outside. Oh well. He's fine with it as long as Penny is happy and occupied and well, and as long as Seth never hears about this conversation. He grimaces at the mere thought of it. His friend wouldn't let him live it down.
Aaron nods when Penny says something, not quite sure she's just said but hey, he can't let her feel as if he's not paying attention. He guesses that it's okay that he's forgotten the tail end of their talk, when he's been paying attention throughout otherwise.
"You're not listening!" exclaims Penny.
Aaron snaps his head up. "What's up?" He asks, rather absentmindedly, as he places one of the dolls in her fancy pink convertible car. "Nice car, isn't it?"
Penny nods. "Yeah, I know. But like that's sides the point-"
"Besides the point," he corrects automatically.
"Whatever," says the little girl with a shrug. She's sitting quite comfortably in a cross legged position, with Aaron sitting right next to her on the rug. If anyone else was in the room, they'd comment on how nice it was to see the broody and all too serious Mr. Shore playing with the President's daughter. There was also the fact that he was a giant in comparison to little Penny and her collection of dolls. It was certainly an interesting sight to see how well they got along.
"So where do babies come from?" asks Penny casually and Aaron's eyes widen in shock. He really didn't expect things to take such a drastic turn but he's got this. He used to be the President's Chief of Staff, at the freaking White House. He can sure as hell handle a kid's question about basically biology, right?
"Maybe you should ask your mom," he says, suddenly looking away from Penny as he realizes just how terrified he is of a little girl. Nicely done, he thinks. He starts smoothing out a nonexistent crease on his pants and actively avoids Penny's curious face. He also wonders
"I haven't see a baby in such a long time," adds Penny sadly. Then she sighs.
"Oh, you don't wanna see one anyway," Aaron laughs nervously, begging any higher power for an escape from the situation he'd found himself in. "All they do is cry and poop a lot." He remembers meeting his baby cousin, Nadia, for the first time, and she'd peed on him while he held her in his arms.
Penny shakes her head. "No, that's not what Mommy said!"
"What DID she say then?"
She taps her head thoughtfully. "Oh, she said something to Emily about how she's gonna have a bunch of pretty babies one day!" She looks delighted at that thought. "I can't wait! It's gonna be great."
Aaron's jaw drops. Alex was discussing babies with Emily?! As in, his girlfriend, Emily? The one who shared his bed almost every other night? "What else did they talk about, huh?"
"Em said that her babies are gonna have the best daddy ever but I don't know if that's gonna happen since my dad's already the best," her face scrunches up, as she goes deep in thought.
Aaron's eyes light up. "Best daddy ever, huh?" He repeats. His heart starts to tug at the thought of this and he's suddenly experiencing an unfamiliar warmth coursing through his veins. He can't really explain how wonderful it is to know that Emily thinks that way about him. They've talked about the future a few times, discussed how they're going to make this world a better place. That's where their interest lies, but they've never discussed their future, even though they're both quite certain that they're partners. In everything.
He likes the idea of getting Emily pregnant, and having beautiful bossy babies with her. He likes the idea of having a family of his own, where he's the dad and the husband and he has Emily Rhodes as his wife, and the mother of his children. He likes the idea of having a little person that's half him and half Em and it sounds like a dream come true.
"Yeah," nods Penny. "That's what she said." She reaches for two crayons out of her Crayola box and hands the green one to Aaron and keeps the blue one for herself. Aaron hands her a few sheets out of her coloring book to work on.
They both start coloring in silence until Aaron says Penny's name. "Hey Pen?"
"Yeah."
"Did they mention who the daddy is?"
"Uh huh." Not once does she look up from the dragon she's carefully coloring.
"Who?"
"You."
"Oh."
That settles that.
A moment of silence washes over them until Penny asks another awkward question. "So, Aaron, when's the baby coming?"
Aaron chokes on nothing. "Umm," he's not quite sure what he's supposed to say.
At this point, he's oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend's already pregnant, and currently spending her day off at home, puking her guts out. Oh well, he's going to find out soon enough anyway.
At this point, Leo's made a re-appearance and he's howling with laughter. He's obviously been eavesdropping. To which, Aaron glares at him.
"Umm, enough of this," he says firmly. "No more talking about babies."
Penny pouts. "You're no fun."
Aaron nods in agreement. "I know," he says. "But hey, Pen?"
"Yeah."
"Whenever there is going to be a baby...you'll be one of the first few people to know." A second later, he realizes that he said when and not if, and his face cracks into a small smile of its own.
Penny smiles at that.
/
A/N: I'm having so much fun writing all these DS stories! I'm so invested in helping to build our fandom from the ground :)
Please review. It would mean the world to me. Let me know if you have any story suggestions! It'd make me so happy to hear from you
P.S: I'm currently working on 2 Emron one-shots that I intend to post soon. They may or may not be directly or indirectly linked to the pieces that I've already posted. Let's see how it goes! ;)