You can do this, Kate. You can walk through the West Wing like a normal person. It's not like she hasn't been in the halls before, it's not like she doesn't know the blueprint of every turn and door (seen and unseen). But as she walks behind Alexis en route for the Oval Office, it feels…different. Important.
Not that Alexis realizes how important she is, saying hello and giving out high fives and hugs to just about everyone they pass. She's well-loved here and it's easy to see why. One smile and flash of her ocean blue eyes is enough to have anyone under her spell.
Kate's pretty sure she already is.
"Hi, Ellen!" the girl exclaims as they round a corner.
"Alexis! How are you today, sweetheart?" The older woman's face breaks open on a grin, genuine affection radiating off her as the girl rounds the desk to accept a hug.
"I'm great. This is Agent Kate, she's new."
Ellen stands and offers a hand that Kate takes in a firm but polite hand shake. "She giving you the lay of the land?"
"She said that comes later. Today was all about getting here to see her Dad."
"Well, you girls just go right on in, he's expecting you."
Expecting her. The President is expecting her.
They approach the closed door, Kate taking point as is protocol, rapping on the door a few times to announce their arrival. There's no movement or sound from the other side. Which is odd. That's odd, right? The marine standing guard gives her nothing, no twitch or cast of his eyes to her to indicate if this is out of the ordinary. She glances down at Alexis who just shrugs.
"Maybe he's in the bathroom."
"Alexis," Kate admonishes but she could be right.
She takes a deep breath and slowly pushes the door open. "Sir? Alexis is here to see you." She spots a small table behind the sofa with a note propped on it, the girl's name boldly scrawled on the envelope. The note is being held up by…a lightsaber?
She pushes the door wide, pointing at the table. "I think that's for you."
Alexis squeals, bounding into the room to snatch the note up, greedy fingers withdrawing the card from the envelope. "May the force be with you," she reads out loud.
At that moment the sound of a lightsaber igniting comes from behind the desk and the President rises up, a shining purple lightsaber in his grasp. "Alexis, I am your father."
The girl giggles and picks up the lightsaber on the table, igniting its blue blade before falling to her knees dramatically and shouting "Noooooooooooooo!"
Kate stands aghast. To say that this is not how she expected this to go is a vast understatement.
"Oh!" The President exclaims, the single syllable so filled with surprise that it breaks her from her shock. She looks up to find hirvivm staring at her with wide eyes. Wide, beautiful blue eyes. Set in a rugged face. Above his broad shoulders and chest and a waist that her arms could encircle with ease. Wait, what? No, Kate. "You're her. You're Beckett."
"That's Agent Kate, Dad."
"Only to you, Pumpkin."
He comes around the desk, lightsaber still humming in his hand and he offers his unoccupied one in greeting. She responds automatically, allowing his large hand to dwarf hers, his thick fingers curling warm against the back of her palm. Flashes of what those fingers may feel like other places flash across her mind unbidden. Geez Kate, get ahold of yourself. Inappropriate much?
She's realizes he's talking, babbling really, mostly apologies for "how all this must look" and when was it that she zoned off anyway? She looks up to stop his stream of babbling but the words die on her lips when she catches his eyes again.
Oh, right. His eyes she could happily drown in. And his palm is still burning into hers. She really can't be blamed for not being able to think coherently.
She pulls her hand back regretfully, runs both her palms down the front of her slacks, takes a breath to allow the phantom tingling in her right to dissipate. "It's fine. Looks like you guys are all set up for some fun." She glances over at Alexis, her whole face lighting up as she returns the girl's gleeful grin. She turns back the President to find him staring at her, awestruck. The smile dissolves from her face and as it does, he seems to find his composure again.
"Yeah, they just showed up today, thought we'd break them in. Hey, you're not a Jedi, are you?"
She barks out a laugh before smothering her reaction. "No. Sorry."
"Dammit, I've really been hoping to get one on staff. Ah well, the search continues." He smiles, an amused smile that crinkles his eyes and makes him look like a pleased little boy. It's completely adorable on him.
It's then that she realizes that Alexis has been curiously silent. She looks down to find the girl critically regarding them, her eyes bouncing back and forth between them as if she's trying to figure something out. She's smart, Kate caught on to that quickly today, and she's watched her dad interact with plenty of people before so Kate has to wonder if this is normal, if he flirts with all the women he meets. Because she can admit that's what they're doing right now. And what if this is just how he is?
Then again, he's not the one that was caught cheating.
She clears her throat, breaks everyone out of whatever reverie they were caught in. "I should get going."
He extends his hand again and her stomach flutters at the thought of touching him once more but she manages to work her arm to slide her fingers against his, the handshake more of a caress then a professional courtesy, the electric touch of his skin against hers causing a shaky breath that she's helpless to cover up as it escape her lungs.
"It was nice to meet you." His voice is low and infused with warmth.
"You too," she replies, matching his tone, the softness throwing a blanket of intimacy over the whole interaction.
He's the one that pulls back this time, a wisp of a smile curving the corners of his lips up. She takes a breath and turns to Alexis. "It was good to meet you today too, Alexis."
"Will I see you tomorrow, Agent Kate?"
"No, I don't think so." The girl frowns at her. "I'm not one of the main agents on your detail; I was just along today to learn some things."
"Oh." The syllable is laden with disappointment.
"But you have a party this weekend, right? I'll be along for that."
"Oh!" Kate smiles at how easy it is to turn this kid's mood around.
"You have fun with your dad. I'll see you in a few days." She shields her mouth with the back of one hand and stage whispers, "Try not to beat him too bad; guys have sensitive egos, you know."
"Hey!" Rick protests, the amusement in his tone removing all hope of sounding harsh. "I can hold my own."
Kate raises a disbelieving eyebrow at Alexis, eliciting a giggle.
"It's okay, Dad, we're both good guys so we won't fight against each other anyway. You can be my Padawan!"
"I'll leave you to your lessons, Padawan," she tells him with a grin as she takes her leave, wriggling her fingers to Alexis in a good bye.
She closes the office's door (The Oval Office's door) and slumps back against it, her eyes slipping closed as she heaves a sigh. Her eyes slit back open at the sound of a chuckle to find Ellen laughing softly at her.
"Is he always like that?" Kate asks, pushing off the door to stand by the assistant's desk.
"And how would that be?" Ellen is all curiosity, obvious in the fact that she's interested in the other woman's perspective of her boss.
That flirty? That seemingly interested in women he meets? The thoughts fly through her head but she voices none of them. "Like a nine year old on a sugar rush?"
Ellen nods. "More so when Alexis is around even though I think it's more like she's raising him than vice-versa. He's been on a Star Wars kick lately but I'm sure when the next Harry Potter movie comes out, he'll insist that everyone on staff needs a wand. Again."
Kate laughs at that, so able to easily picture him walking the halls of the West Wing in a Hogwart's robe and an armful of wands. "Good to know. Have a nice day, Ellen."
"Welcome to the White House, Agent Beckett."
That evening, as she's exiting the elevator for her condo's floor, her phone rings in her pocket. She juggles the contents of her arms to extract the device from her jacket, her brow wrinkling in confusion to see Director Rancic's number flashing across the screen. She'd spoken with her boss before she left not quite half an hour ago, what could he want that couldn't wait until tomorrow?
"Beckett."
"I just got an interesting phone call." Her brow contorts further. "It seems you have a fan."
"Sir?" The question practically squeaks out of her throat because what could he possibly be talking about?
"Alexis Castle has requested that you be a part of her daily detail. She'll be expecting you tomorrow. Agent Harris is still primary."
"Of course, sir, thank you, sir, I'll be there." She tries, she really does but she knows that she was unable to keep how pleased this makes her out of her tone. She really liked the girl, has honestly meant it when she's said it was an honor to be chosen to be even a part of her detail and now the kid wants her there every day? She will be there. Without fail.
The smile that Alexis gives her every morning is without a doubt the best part of her job. The girl is bubbly and genuinely happy all the time. She's bright and easy to talk to; Kate finds herself having rather deep conversations with the 8 year old and is surprised at her ability to grasp the complicated concepts that most adults struggle with.
Most days, Kate walks her inside after school. It started because they were finishing a conversation about their favorite novels but it became habit after a few weeks. They both know she doesn't have to, knows that it's a secure entrance into the residence and she doesn't need an escort in the sanctity of her own home but that doesn't seem to matter. Each day, Beckett comes with her in the elevator or walks her up the private stairs before turning to leave herself, nodding at various staff members as she goes.
And, of course, she continues to be Alexis's escort to her Thursday playtimes with her dad.
Kate's never sure what to expect when they enter the Oval Office on Thursdays. One day, they find the President sitting on a quilt on the floor, an elaborate tea set laid out before him. He makes a striking picture in a tiara and glittery wings and luckily, Alexis's squeal of delight drowns out her giggle as she closes the door. Ellen just shrugs at her but the picture stays in her mind all night, drawing out a grin when she remembers again.
One day, Ellen meets Alexis outside the door with a laser tag vest.
"Yes! I am going to crush him!"
Kate is completely taken aback by the girl's intensity and can only watch, dumbstruck, as she sneaks in low through the door, the darkened room and rolling fog the only glimpse that Beckett gets before it snicks shut.
She turns to Ellen. "I get used to this, right?" This is not the first time she's asked.
"You do." She's still not reassured.
There's quiet days too, ones where he's only barely finished business for the day, is still signing everywhere an aide points when they enter the room; days where he's finishing up phone calls Beckett's positive she doesn't have the clearance to hear.
"What's your take on minimum wage?" he asks her one day as Alexis is putting her things down.
She pauses for the briefest of moments, thrown that he would ask her something like this so casually. "I think that the economy has inflated faster than the wage has been raised and that the current minimum is too low to survive on in the current market."
He looks pleased at her answer, a warm smile lining his eyes. "Nice," he says appreciatively. "I think most of my staff is afraid to tell me that. Thanks for speaking honestly."
She shrugs, a move to brush off his gratitude. "What you do here directly affects peoples' lives, why would anyone not be honest about it?"
His smile shifts, it doesn't become bigger, it just becomes more. The warmth in his eyes is now radiating light, a healthy dose of something that looks too much like affection in his gaze. It makes her uncomfortable to be the subject of something so intimate.
But more than that, it makes her happy that she can invoke that kind of emotion in someone. That someone would want to share that emotion with her. She allows her usually tightly held guard to drop and lets a mirroring smile slide over her features, hopes that she's conveying some of what she's feeling right back. He relaxes back in his seat, almost melts against it and she has to believe that she's being successful in sharing it with him.
"What are we doing today, daddy?"
They both startle at Alexis's voice, the girl's excitement making her oblivious to the moment she's interrupted.
Kate makes her way to the door as they decide on the day's activity and when she glances back before she leaves, he's watching her go, that same awed affection on his face.
Without her even realizing, Thursdays become her favorite day of the week.
It hits her one morning as she's getting ready for work. She's singing along to a bouncy pop tune on the radio as she does her makeup; the fact that the radio's even on an oddity in and of itself. She's usually fine with silence, happier in it even but today, today she needed something to drown out the buzzing in her head.
The buzzing that she suddenly recognizes as excitement. It took her a while to realize it because it's been a long time since she's been genuinely excited about, well, anything. Going to Stanford might have been the last time that she approached something with this level of giddiness.
And this time, it's all about him. And just like all people, he's impermanent, completely easy to lose. Because that's what happens with people in her life. She loses them. She lost her mother to murder, her father to the bottle and despite any current recovery on his part, she's sure that she'll never really have her father back. Not like she had him before.
Not that she has him. The Presid-
Rick. He's asked her to call him Rick. And she hasn't, not out loud anyway. Can't because if she never realized that she was developing a crush – holy shit, I have a crush on him –she knew that was a line that shouldn't be crossed. But she's been doing it subconsciously, calling him Rick when she thinks about spending time with him without Alexis around. When she thinks about having coffee together or watching a movie or-
No. Enough.
It needs to stop. Besides the fact that it is so very much beyond any protocol ever written, she can't do this to herself. She can't hope like this; that kind of happiness isn't something within her grasp. It poured from her like the blood from her mother's wounds in that alley when she learned of her death.
God, how would he even react if he learned about that? About her father's alcoholism? Just thinking about how horrified he would be fortifies the wall around her heart.
She has to admit that the kind of relationship she tends to have isn't feasible with him. You can't casually date the President. You have to be in or out, there's no room for leaving one foot out the door. So, she could be polite, she would be cordial but he's the leader of the free world and she guards the man's daughter, there's no room for anything else. She nods to herself, resolved that it's the best way to proceed.
But the thought of it saddens her so much more than she expected it to.
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