Author's Note: Hello there! I just recently finished the first season of DS and what can I say, I can't watch a series without picking up at least one ship. Sigh. And because I couldn't stop thinking about it, here's an Emily/Aaron fic for your souls. It's been years since I published anything new here, so please be gentle. Also, I've been brewing some other ideas for Emron fics but I'm not sure yet as to where they're headed so I guess we'll see if they end up here soon!

Enjoy this for now and thank you in advance for reading. :D

Chapter 1: The Enemy

"Okay, what the hell is your problem!?"

It was probably extremely unprofessional for the Chief of Staff of the President of the Unites States to say that, but Emily Rhodes was sick of this. She tried as hard as she could to maintain her patience around this guy but today, that patience had run out.

She slammed the binder she had in her arms on the wooden table in front of her and turned to face the smug-faced man before her. Just minutes ago, they were both kicked out of the Oval Office for arguing in front of POTUS.

"ALRIGHT! That's enough! You two sort this out somewhere else now. I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with you both!" were President Kirkman's words earlier. They had just spent fifteen minutes screaming over one another, arguing over which audience the President should prioritize in the next town hall invitation.

But determined as though Emily was, the man standing in front of her unfortunately was as well. "You need to stand down, Emily. You know my call was the right one and you can't accept that." He said with an air of arrogance that seemed inseparable from this character.

"Fred," she exclaimed. "The kids from those different schools and homes need this town hall. The group of retirees you're arguing for doesn't! Their concerns have been addressed in the previous town hall and having them here again is a waste of time. Those kids have legitimate immediate concerns about how the state of their education and housing are." She walked towards the receiving area of her office and crossed her arms across her chest.

"They're kids, Emily. Some philanthropist next door can probably pick up on those issues. I get that you don't see that because you're new to this job–"

"New to this job!? I've been doing this for months now while you've been where exactly?" She demanded.

Fred Asterick was a jerkface bastard who came to the White House one day with what seemed to Emily like a plan to turn things upside down. He was supposedly a young yet esteemed staffer from President Richmond's administration, but for some vague reason, he only resurfaced to offer his "expertise" on White House affairs a little more than week ago. And since then, Emily had been on edge because of him and his habit of imposing on her, her staff, and her work.

"We've been over this, Ms. Rhodes. I'm not going to discuss it again. What I want to discuss is why you were handed this job when you clearly aren't fit for it." His face looked down on her and the edge on his voice was making her blood boil inside of her.

"And no, don't you tell me that you're doing just fine in your position. If you were, then POTUS would be halfway around the world signing that agreement with Vietnam. If you were, Governor Dencel wouldn't be rejecting POTUS's orders about police activity in his state. If you were, then I wouldn't be here correcting your damn mistakes in this job! If you were really competent enough to handle the position so gracefully handed to you, then this House would see it!"

Emily blinked and her arms dropped beside her sometime in the middle of his words. Her eyes were stinging and her head was throbbing but she wasn't going to shed any tear in front of this jerk. She became aware that her perfect cuticles were now puncturing her smooth palms.

When she opened her mouth to speak again, her tone was dangerously quiet. "Asterick, you act like you know everything that's been going on in this House, but you don't. Because while we were putting out the flames of the explosion, you were busy having your ass wiped for you on your cruise ship. And I'm not here to prove to you that I'm worthy of this job because if you really cared about serving the President and his people, then you wouldn't waste a second slowing us down with your useless inputs and antics. But then again, you're the one here that was never fit to serve the public no matter what your name once meant to this House."

There was silence for a few moments and Emily suddenly became aware that someone was standing by the doorway of her office looking both pissed and worried.

"Mr. Asterick, I think you should leave." The man at the door said, stepping inside and standing by Emily's left.

"I was just about to, Mr. Wright." Fred said with finality, moving to walk out the door and close it behind him. Within seconds, Emily collapsed on the nearest leather sofa, head in her hands and elbows on her knees.

"Think he was glad I was here to send him out. Two more seconds and he would have run away whimpering." Seth said in a lighter tone, peering down on his friend.

"You should have waited two more seconds then." She mumbled in reply, before raising her head up and straightening on her seat. "He's an arrogant, pompous bastard and I hate him."

"Hey, don't worry about it alright? POTUS trusts you more than any of us. And I know it's your insights he considers more than Asterick's." Seth laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "Plus, I think even he is annoyed of Asterick so I won't be surprised if tomorrow we don't hear from him ever again."

Emily looked at him and deadpanned, "Don't give me empty promises, Seth."

Something was up.

Aaron tore his stare from the petite figure sitting at the corner of the table across him, to look at Seth who was two seats away from the brunette.

Seth's eyes looked back at him with a knowing expression. Aaron could tell he wanted to spill. Carefully, he brought out his phone from his pocket and typed a message underneath the table.

What's going on w/ Emily?

The conference had already lasted for more than an hour and so far Emily had barely talked more than necessary. She didn't engage in discussion as much as he expected and when she did, her responses were short and clipped. She avoided looking anywhere but on her file folder and notebook as much as she could. Aaron speculated whether the hour was taking a toll on her already, given that it was nearing 8 in the evening and he knew none of them had eaten dinner yet to give way to this meeting. But no, this wasn't just exhaustion.

Something was bothering her.

Long story. We need 2 talk. Asterick is trouble. came Seth's reply.

Aaron's eyebrows furrowed.

Asterick?

Immediately his eyes landed on the devil himself who was a seat away from Seth, looking a little too please with himself. For what reason, Aaron wasn't sure.

Just then he glanced back at Emily who was now looking back at him with serious but sad eyes. He knew his worry was reflected on his face but she wasn't responding to it, wasn't giving him any indication to reassure him she was fine.

What the hell happened?

As soon as the meeting ended, Seth and Aaron occupied the corner of the room, and they waited until most of the people were out before proceeding with the explanation. Seth took up the next five minutes discreetly relaying to his friend what he heard that morning as he was on the way to Emily's office, and what he witnessed as soon as he stepped foot inside and made his presence known.

Aaron felt his insides twist in anger that he was surprised he hadn't stormed out yet to beat Fred Asterick to a pulp right there and then.

"He said what!?" He demanded, even though he clearly heard every word that came out of Seth's mouth. "That son of a bitch! That's why Emily's been so damn distant? That's why she's been shutting everyone out? Because of that asshole!?"

"Hey! I'm as furious as you are but we can't be having an internal crisis right now." Seth pointed out.

He was right. Aaron knew the White House was no place to foster this conflict now. But at the same time, he knew he wasn't going to stand idly by if someone like Asterick was causing so much trouble to the House. He hadn't given it much thought yet with everything else going on, but it now made sense why everyone seemed to be on edge because of their new visitor and his "strong suggestions." It wasn't just Emily. It was the whole West Wing.

"Fine," Aaron huffed in frustration. "We'll get rid of the crisis."

"What are you saying?" Seth asked cautiously, eyes narrowing to read his co-worker's expression.

"Fred Asterick won't be entering the White House after tonight," Aaron declared, straightening his suit and looking ahead. "I'll handle it."

Aaron bolted through the door as soon as his conversation with Seth ended. He didn't care that people were starting to stare as he turned hallway after hallway looking like he was about to murder someone. At this rate, he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't. When he stepped onto the corridor that led to the upper floors where the guest rooms were, he spotted the culprit walking towards the stairs.

"Mr. Asterick," he called from the end of the hall. Fred Asterick turned around and flashed Aaron a smile that came with a curious look.

"Aaron! I was just heading up to my room upsta-"

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" His voice caught the attention of the few Secret Service agents passing by. He had reached Fred and was now a meter away from him.

"Excuse me?" Fred's cheerful vibe dropped and he had the nerve to look insulted.

Aaron didn't care. He had a lot to say and he was going to say it.

"Look, if you had that big of a problem with the White House Chief of Staff, you could have taken it with the President himself, instead of personally attacking the person he hired for that job!"

Fred looked to the floor as he collected his thoughts. When he looked up, his face carried a cocky grin but there was no humor to it.

"I see she's told you about our conversation this morning, huh?"

"She didn't tell me anything! That's how much of a decent person she is. You, however, are the complete opposite." Aaron could feel his anger rising in this chest. "How dare you!? How dare you question her abilities as Chief of Staff!? You!? Who only appeared here a mere nine days ago without any clue on what has been going on in this House for the past four months? You showed up here to be nothing but a burden to everyone."

Fred rested his hands on his hips and his forehead crunched. He looked equally angry now.

"Listen here, Shore. We've known each other for a while now before this whole ordeal. You know I don't like the new ones being handed the jobs that are meant for serious, more competent people! Not your Ms. Rhodes. And especially not your President," he spat.

The flame of rage inside Aaron flared. His words were now coming out through gritted teeth.

"She never asked for this! When are you gonna wrap your head around that!? Emily Rhodes didn't ask to be in this position! Neither she nor Kirkman asked that they be thrown into the war zone when all hell broke loose! Kirkman was appointed and he accepted the toughest task in the world and so did Emily Rhodes. The Secretary of HUD became President overnight and she was forced to follow him, despite knowing her life would be a thousand times more difficult once she did. She wasn't entitled, she was brave for choosing to stay."

"Shore, I get it," Fred replied, holding up a hand. "You like her around. But don't act like she lays golden eggs. She's not special." Fred shrugged at him and Aaron wanted nothing more than to punch his face.

"How the hell would you know!? You've been around for nine days, Asterick. And not once did you make an effort to see how this House was doing under her supervision. Emily Rhodes runs this House like no one else and you are an idiot for not seeing that!"

Unbeknownst to both of them, a certain brunette was now pushing herself off of the corner cream wall which she had been glued to for the past few minutes, listening to the not-so-discreet confrontation she stumbled upon. As she hurriedly walked away from that corridor, tears formed in her eyes and she started walking faster with her head down.

Meanwhile, across Aaron, Fred let out a humorless laugh. "Don't tell me she's got you wrapped around her finger as well. I grant you, she's pretty

—"

That was when Aaron surged forward and pushed Asterick's shoulders hard with both his hands. Asterick lost his balance and stumbled backwards. A couple of Secret Service agents started to move towards them.

Aaron stepped forward again and said in a dangerously low tone, "You better get the hell out of here now and never show you face again because the next time you say something like that, you won't be walking away freely."

Asterick raised his two palms up in show of his surrender. He slowly backed off from Aaron as the two agents reached them.

"Do we have a problem here, Mr. Shore?" Clearly, they knew who held more authority around here.

"No," Aaron answered, not taking his glare off of Asterick. "Mr. Asterick was just leaving the White House."

A/N: Chapter two coming up in a while! Thanks for making it this far into the fic. :D