Aaron Shore hadn't meant to fall in love with Emily Rhodes. He couldn't even pinpoint the exact moment he'd realized he loved her, it had sort of just happened. Just like the kiss in the bar the night before. He hadn't meant to kiss her the way he did. It was supposed to be just a quick "one and done" to get the other guy off her back, but as soon as his lips were on hers, he found it near impossible to stop. Nevertheless, it was 5 a.m and she was asleep on his chest. He hadn't meant for it to, but it had happened, and he didn't have a single regret.

Emily's eyed fluttered open just as the world outside the window began to lighten.

"Morning," she said groggily, reaching up and resting her hand on his jaw as she kissed him with a lazy grin.

"Morning," he replied, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer to him.

"What time is it?"

"It's 5:30," Aaron muttered, kissing along her jaw.

"That's plenty of time," she responded, flipping them both over so she was on top of him.

Oh yeah, he had zero regrets.

Emily walked into the White House that morning feeling almost like a new person. It was as if the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders the night before, and the longing regret she felt every time she saw Aaron was gone. Her first item of the day was the President's morning briefing, and she ended up running into Kendra on the way there.

"Morning," Emily smiled at the other woman.

"Morning. Someone seems brighter than usual today," Kendra said, an eyebrow raised in question and slight amusement.

Shit, Emily thought. Kendra was a lawyer, she read people like a book and could practically see right through their pages. She also knew that Emily had gone out for drinks with Aaron the night before since she'd been asking her for advice.

"I slept really well last night, so that's probably it," she said.

"Mhm," Kendra muttered, obviously not buying her story.

It made her nervous. Emily didn't want anyone finding out about it. She and Aaron had been together for less than 24 hours, and they hadn't even put a name on what they were yet. They had to keep up appearances in front of everyone, but it wasn't going to be easy when all either of them wanted was the other's hands on them.

She walked with Kendra into the Oval, where Kirkman, Aaron, Lyor, Seth, and a few other Senior Staff members were. The briefing went, as usual, everyone telling the president what he needed to know for the day, and everything would have been fine had Aaron not been stealing glances at her the entire time. It was incredibly distracting, and she must've begun to look flustered because she could see him holding back a smirk. Keeping things professional with him was going to be harder than she thought, but Emily Rhodes had never been one to back down from a challenge.

Finally, the meeting ended, and she headed back to her office to do paperwork until her first meeting at 10. She was halfway through her stack of files when Aaron walked in.

"Hey, what's up?" she greeted, turning her attention from the file to him.

"I have that memo for you about the new TSA screening equipment installations. Oh, and I also got you this," he said, placing a cup of coffee on her desk.

"Gee, what gave it away?" she asked, taking a sip. Just because the giant weight was gone, it didn't mean her sleep deprivation was as well.

"Nothing, nothing, I just figured you'd be pretty tired after last night," he joked.

"Yeah, well, if I remember correctly, you're to blame for that," Emily said, standing up and taking the memo.

"Last time I checked, that was a two person job, and if I remember correctly, you were-" he said before Emily cut him off.

"Kendra, hey," she said as the woman walked in. "What's up?"

"I just needed to get some files for an appeal conference later today, but I can come back later if-"

"No, it's fine. I was just leaving," Aaron explained, winking at Emily before turning on his heel.

"Oh, Aaron, remember we have that meeting with Senate leadership today at noon," she called after him.

"Can't wait," he replied with a joking grin.

Kendra closed the door behind him and leaned her back against it, earning a puzzled look from Emily.

"You slept with him," she stated in a matter-of-factly tone with an all-knowing grin on her face.

"What?" she nearly yelped, more surprised by Kendra's straightforwardness than anything else.

"You hooked up with Aaron last night, didn't you?"

Emily groaned loudly and buried her face in her hands. There was no way she was going to be able to lie to Kendra, she was too good at reading people.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed loudly, before being shushed by Emily. "Sorry,"

"You can't tell anyone, Kendra," she demanded. "I mean it. Not even by accident,"

As much as she loved Kendra, she was awful at keeping secrets, and that's what scared Emily.

"I won't, don't worry. Am I the only one who knows?"

"Yeah,"

"Not even Seth?"

"No, and I really don't need him finding out. He's a terrible liar and if the press asks him anything about it, we'll be screwed."

"I can't disagree with you there"

It was almost midnight when they finally finished up work. There hadn't been a national emergency, which meant they had to deal with all of the technical stuff they'd put to the side during times of crises. Still, it was incredibly tedious and had left both she and Aaron exhausted.

Emily was taking a break from everything and sat on the arm of her couch, not really watching the TV because her mind was elsewhere. She was snapped out her daze by a faint knocking on the doorframe. Aaron.

"Hey," she greeted quietly as he shut the door behind him.

"Hey, I just wanted to check on you. I haven't seen you since the meeting," he replied, taking a seat next to her.

"Yeah, I've just been finishing up all the paperwork that I've been putting off. I'm just about done here though. What about you?"

"Same here."

"Well, national crisis or not, today has been exhausting," Emily sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Aaron leaned down and rested his cheek against her forehead.

"Remember the last time we sat here?" he asked.

They both quietly laughed, remembering that night. Half drunk and high on the atmosphere of the MacLeish confirmation. Neither could remember who made the move on who, but neither party had any regrets.

"Damn, if these walls could talk,"

"They'd tell a lot of stories."

"Not all of them had happy, endings," Emily sighed.

"That's true," Aaron paused before reaching over and gently taking her hand in his. "But I know one that did,"

A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for all the positive feedback and reviews on the last chapter! I really hope you liked this one just as much. If anyone has any requests for future chapters, feel free to request them on here or over on my tumblr: designatedtrash.