It's great to be back, you think as you stride down the hallway greeting staffers.
Like I never left, your mind continues as you ask after children.
I miss this, you realize as you are once again greeted with cheerful cries of "Mr. President!"
Yes, you muse, I am definitely going back into politics.
Shown into your old office by a new assistant, you walk over to your favorite window overlooking the Rose Garden. Young Tom sits on the couch, looking like a second-grade student meeting his favorite teacher for his report card. Or an overeager bunny rabbit, you're not sure which. It's easier to pretend than to change your mindset, so you fall back into natural patterns. Or what was your natural patterns when this office was yours. Tom lets you do that. There's no Wild Turkey in the drawer.
Later, Tom introduces you to the First Lady, Alex. You have the kitchen bring up your favorite snack via your faithful butler Gerald while the three of you discuss cabinet appointees and views on business. Tom's letting his wife bring up his points. It's obvious he respects her and her opinion a great deal; he's acting the part of a preteen with his first crush.
Half an international crisis later, you are sitting with Tom in the Red Room; you watching the current President work through a stack of papers. The two of you hash out the responsibility toward America that his job comes with versus the value of a single human life. When Tom argues his point, you get a sudden vision of a teenager angling for later curfew that he knows his parents won't let him have. When he finally cedes his position, the two of you head down to Emergence Operations to oversee a rescue mission.
It's after the American citizens are rescued, after it's clear to you that Tom followed your advice, after Tom's put America's interests first, that he throws an unexpected curveball. President Kirkman gives the order to bomb a couple of bridges, to delay the rebel forces for some time. You feel the pride of a master watching an apprentice start out on his own.
You see a proud oak finally out of the shadows of the forest surrounding it.