"Nate!" Elena called from the kitchen "You're going to be late again."

"I'll be out in a minute" Nate called out from their shared bedroom. He looked back at his wall mirror and adjusted his black tie until he found it to his liking. Next he looked over his black suit and white undershirt with black matching pants.

Nate thought it looked good and next he went to his nightstand and picked up his required black sunglasses, along with his 9mm handgun and finally his badge which read 'Secret Service'. He's been part of the secret service for 4 long years now and today was a big day for him and America. Today was the new President Lucas Brennan's inaugural speech in front of a large crowd. Which is where Nate's job came in.

Nate's thoughts were thrown aside when his door opened to reveal a small girl standing there in her hello kitty pajamas. "Daddy!" she yelled happily and ran towards Nate.

Nate let out a chuckle and put his hands out letting his daughter jump into his arms. He picked her up and kissed her on her nose getting a giggle to come out. "Hello Lily and happy 6th birthday" Nate said happily.

Lily looks almost exactly like Elena with the same eyes and hair. But she acts nothing like the calm Elena more like her adventurous father always wanting to go on hikes and do dangerous things at the playground at school. Nate remembers being called down to the school almost twice a week because Lily would always get hurt not majorly but a few bruises and scratches.

"Thank you daddy" Lily said with a smile on her face. "But you're going to miss my party tonight because you'll be at the president's speech thing" she said with her smile fading.

"Hey" Nate said kissing her nose again "Don't worry I wouldn't miss your party for the world Lily, I will be there I promise"

A smile found Lily's face again but raised her hand and pinky finger. "Pinky promise?"

This time it was Nate's turn to smile and he brought his free hand up and wrapped his pinky around hers saying "Pinky promise".

They both shared a quick laugh and Nate said "Come on let's go join Mommy for breakfast".

Lily nodded and he walked towards the open door. He opened more and walked out towards the large kitchen seeing a women wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts cooking what seemed to be scrambled eggs over the oven.

Nate walked into the dining room and placed Lily down on one of the chairs. "What would you like to eat for your birthday breakfast" Nate asked.

Nate watched as Lily put on her adorable thinking face that reminded him of Elena. "I got it" Lily blurted out "Chocolate ice cream with whip cream and a cherry please".

Nate let out another laugh and said "I don't think mommy would like that idea Lily"

Lily snapped her fingers and let out a 'darn' before thinking again. Silence took over the room and Lily looked like she wasn't getting anywhere in her decision so Nate decided to chime in. "How about some chocolate chip pancakes?"

Lily practically exploded out of her seat and said "Yes, yes daddy I want one of those please".

"Coming right up."

Nate bowed making Lily giggle and walked back into the kitchen. The first thing he saw was Elena still making the eggs and a smirk came to his face. Nate walked up behind her silently and wrapped his arms around her stomach picking her up off the ground.

"Ha-ha Nate- stop it" Elena said through the laughs.

Nate tickled her for a little while longer and decided to put her back on the ground. She turned around to face him and saw he was all dressed up in his suit with his black glasses on and a frown came to her face.

Nate saw this frown and asked "What's wrong Elena? Does something look wrong?"

Elena got closer to Nate and reached up for his glasses taking them off. "Yeah these glasses hide your beautiful eyes".

A smirk came to Nate's face as he moved closer to Elena's face and placed his lips to hers in a very chaste kiss. He then took his sunglasses back and placed them in his suit pocket before saying "We have a breakfast request from the birthday queen".

"Oh really what would that be?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes."

Elena smiled and walked over to the cabinet and took out some pancake mix and a bag of chocolate chips. "Looks like I have the perfect ingredients for the queen". Nate chuckled and Elena walked back over to the oven getting ready to make the pancakes when her eyes darted to the microwave to see the time. "Oh god Nate it's 9:20. You're supposed to be there for security detail in 10 minutes"

Nate looked at the time and knew he was cutting it short "Alright Elena I got to go quick I love you" he said and gave her another quick kiss before returning to the dining room.

He entered the room to see Lily sitting there quietly waiting for breakfast. At the sound of the door opening she looked up to see Nate with his sunglasses on and a briefcase in his hands. A frown came to her face as she realized it was time for him to leave.

"I'm sorry Lily but I have to get to work now".

Lily looked down at the ground and said "Alright daddy bye".

Nate could see that she was clearly upset but he didn't have time to talk to her right now and ran to the front door quickly putting his brown shoes on and grabbing his keys. He opened the door walked out and closed it quickly running over to his black SUV with tinted windows.

He ran around the side and quickly jumped into the drives seat placing his briefcase in the passenger's seat. Nate placed the keys in the ignition and was about to turn it when his eye caught on something.

It was a picture of him leaning against the tree in the park. He had his right arm wrapped around the waist of Elena and on his left shoulder was Lily sitting with a big smile on her face. Nate felt terrible for neglecting Lily so much always having to go to work for pretty much the whole day.

"Don't worry Lily I'm not missing your party for the world" Nate said turning the car on and pulling out of the driveway heading towards the White House.

(3 hours later)

Nate was standing with the other 5 Secret Service bodyguards behind the podium. He can clearly see the thousands of people standing in the crowd waiting for the new president to come out and make his entrance speech.

"Hey Nate" a male voice called out

Nate turned to his right to see his friend Phil who also is one of the Secret Service bodyguards. "Hey what's up Phil?" Nate asked.

Phil walked towards Nate and stopped next to him crossing his arms behind his back looking professional. "Nothing much" Phil said looking at him. He then noticed that even though he couldn't see Nate's eyes because of the sunglasses that Nate wasn't in a great mood.

"What's wrong Nate you seem off today?"

Nate let out a sigh and said "It's about Lily". Phil already met both Elena and Lily when he invited him over for dinner a couple of times so Nate continued. "Today is her birthday and the first thing she tells me is that she is upset that I'm going to miss her birthday party. Do you know how that make me feels Phil? Like I'm neglecting her and to be honest with myself I am neglecting her. I'm gone every day of the week and for the whole day. I mostly come home when she is already asleep and I leave for work before she wakes up. I promised her that I would make the party today but I don't know if I can keep it, it depends how long Mr. President's speech is."

Phil thought of a response for a second before saying "Look Nate I know that is a tough thing you're going through but I don't know what to say. Which is bad because usually I am the one that offers a lot of people good advice. But I know without a doubt that this speech won't be that long and you will be able to get back in time to eat the cake with your daughter".

A smile came to Nate's face causing one to come to Phil's. "Thank you Phil you always know what to say."

Phil waved it off and said "No problem. But I have a question for you mi amigo"

"Lay it on me".

"Alright you know how the super bowl is coming up right?" Nate nodded his head and Phil continued "Well I was thinking of putting money down for this game and I wanted your opinion. Should I bet on the Seahawks or the Broncos?"

Nate laughed and said "Well the Seahawks of course".

Phil laughed this time and asked "Really why?"

Nate was about to go into football mode and talk extensively about the Seahawks when a voice in his earpiece was heard. "It's time the president is coming out everyone get to your stations".

Phil and Nate looked at each other and smiled before Phil walked back to the other side of the line of Secret Service.

Only a couple of minutes later did the President walk out of the hallway not before nodding at Nate and the rest of the bodyguards. He stepped up to the podium and an eruption of cheers developed in the crowd.

"Good morning people of America" President Lucas Brennan greeted to the crowd yet again hearing cheers.

He continued on with his speech talking about what he is going to do to help America become economically better, but Nate didn't want to hear it as he switched to his and Phil's private channel on the system.

"What's up Nate" Phil said into his wrist where his communicator was located.

"I just wanted to end our little chat about the Seahawks that's all" Nate said grinning towards the other man.

Nate saw Phil smile back and said "Yeah sure kid let me hear it".

"Well first of all when you talk about the Seattle Seahawks you got to start off with their defense and of course how-"Nate was cut off when he saw the other bodyguards next to him put their hands up to their ears. Phil saw this and he nodded at Nate which he did back and quickly switched back to the main channel.

"I repeat we have lost contact with one of our ground teams in the perimeter stay sharp snipers we may have a problem on our hands and bodyguards do whatever necessary to make sure the president doesn't get hurt" the Captain of the Secret Service sounded off in the comm line.

Nate looked around the crowd quickly trying to see if anything looked too suspicious. He didn't see anything so if anything were to happen there would be a sniper involved and Nate knew he had to trust his fellow Agents.

"Something doesn't feel right" Nate said into the main channel for every agent to hear.

He heard the Captain reply saying "Yeah I don't like this situation the ground team is still missing and no one can find them."

All of a sudden one of the Sniper Agents yelled out into the comm "I got a hostile sniper 700 yards to the Northeast"

"Somebody get the president now" the Captain yelled out.

Time seemed to slow down as Nate started to run forward from his spot in line towards the presidents back. He jumped forward and tackled the President not before hearing.

BANG

He felt pain as a bullet ripped through his chest and exited out of his back. Nate landed hard on the floor and felt the blood start to pour out of his chest wound.

He heard the screams of women and men as they ran away. After that he heard another large bang and the sniper from before came back on the comm line "Sniper's down is anyone hit?"

Nate wanted to answer back but found himself unable to do so.

"The president is safe but we have a bodyguard hit its Nate" Phil screamed into the comm as he kneeled down next to Nate.

Nate watched as Phil ripped open his black suit and looked at the wound. Tears started to form in Phil's eyes when he saw the large hole in his friend's chest. "What's his status?" the Captain asked over the comm link.

Phil pulled his wrist back up to his mouth and said "Not good he has a .50 Cal hole in his chest. We need the paramedics up here right now"

Nate heard the conformation on his earpiece and started to cough allowing blood droplets to come out as well. Phil noticed this and started to rip Nate's suit in half. He then used the suit parts to put pressure on the wound and hopefully stop the bleeding.

"P-Phil"

Phil looked down to see one of Nate's eyes open and the other one closed. "Hey don't talk mi amigo you're going to be alright".

That didn't stop Nate "P-Phil I br-broke the pr-promise"

Phil stopped what he was doing and looked down to his friend seeing the frown on his face. "Nate you're not braking her promise I'm getting you to that party alive even if I have to carry you there. You're not dying on me, you're not dying on Elena and you're not dying on Lily."

"Where are those god damn paramedics" Phil yelled into the comm line.

This time a female answered saying "We are 2 minutes out sir just hold on".

Phil looked back down at his friend and gave a forced smile. "You hear that Nate the paramedics are going to be here in 2 minutes. They're going to make you better and then you can go home and Hug Lily and kiss Elena".

As Phil was saying this Nate's eyes started to close but he would not allow that to happen as he started to shake his body.

"Phil tell Elena I Lo-love her so much and t-tell her I'm sorry. Tell Lily I love her an-d I will b-be in a b-better place."

"No way you're going to tell them in person how much you love them"

Phil turned around and saw two women in red running towards them with a stretcher in hand. A smile found its way to Phil's face as he turned back around only to have his smile completely disappear. Nate's eyes were closed and he was motionless.

Phil found himself shaking his friend but this time his eyes weren't opening. The medics pushed Phil out of the way and a girl with blonde hair and green eyes kneeled down next to Nate's neck. She placed two fingers in his neck checking for a pulse at all.

"I've got a pulse but it's really weak we need to get him to the hospital right away" the woman said to the other medic. She nodded and they both picked up Nate and placed him on the stretcher.

The woman who checked his pulse looked at Phil and said "We're going to need help carrying him out of here can you help us?"

"Of course" Phil said without hesitation.

He walked over to the stretcher and picked up the front end while the two medics got the back end. "Where is the Ambulance?" Phil asked while running down the hallway.

"Just go all the way down the stairs and its right there" the medic replied.

"Alright Nate you're not dying on me that easily" Phil said running down the stairs determined to save his best friend and keep his promise

A/N: the next and final chapter will be up tomorrow please read and review.