This band played my hen party a million moons ago. It was awesome. I am really sad that Michener didn't stick around. His character really grew on me over time.

**Great Big Heart, Killer Flamingos**

The SUVs were rumbling slowly along route 94. Danny had recommended they keep it under 35 miles per hour. Even though the ruts in the packed snow and ice were worn through to the pavement, the day had been warm for January and he was afraid that there might be sections where the slushy muck was beginning to freeze back onto the road. Danny and Carlton sat mute in the front seat while Tex and Michener were in the back, arguing about who's alma mater was better. It was only 4:30 PM but already growing dark and everyone was restless.

"Oh come on Pres. On top of academics, you have to admit that the climate in the Bay Area is much better than Michigan." Tex was ribbing the President about having graduated about the same time, in the same field, but from a higher ranked school. They eventually agreed that after a certain level, the caliber of an individual student's work mattered more than the ranking of the program.

"Well, I suppose it you're OK with earthquakes and you're too soft for Michigan winters." Michener defended good naturedly.

Tex chuckled but he shot back. "Tahoe man. You haven't lived until you've spent your weekends in Tahoe."

"I'll admit, I was too poor for that kind of thing as a grad student." Michener grinned. "I had to settle for football and beer. Oh wait…that's the best football and some pretty good beer."

"Ha. Well you got me on that. I was mostly too poor too, honestly. Spent most of grad school driving through Tahoe on the weekends to get out to see Claire. But every once in a while I'd blow my rent money to go skiing or boating anyways." They drove on in silence for a while. Danny and Carlton had already come this way the day before without any problems. The red glow of Wolf's tail lights in front of them were the only thing they could see in the gathering gloom, but Danny knew that if they could see it would mostly be a landscape of rolling hills and snow bedraggled corn fields broken by an occasional grouping of houses or barns.

Finally the exit came into view and Danny slowed the truck to take a steeply banked corner. In front of him Wolf skidded to a stop at the foot of the ramp where there were three trucks parked perpendicular to the roadway making an improvised tollbooth. Two men in blue parkas with neon utility worker's belts strapped over them approached, one on each side, while a third man watched from the back of a pickup. Danny eyed the hunting rifle the man held. That was some serious firepower for a civilian. A fourth man was sitting in a garbage truck awaiting the order to move and open the pathway forward. Ahead of them Wolf introduced himself and the man he was talking to nodded. The flashlights swung their way and Danny called out. "Hail to the Victors!"

He'd met these guys yesterday and they had assured them safe passage into the city. Beyond Ann Arbor and into Detroit they couldn't make any guarantees, but despite being an early hot spot, the city had stayed fairly organized, probably due to the huge numbers of students that left in the early days and the strict enforcement of quarantine and safe zones. When he'd told Michener, the man had hung his head. "Well there's a cruel irony there I suppose." was all he'd said, confusing Danny.

The lead sentry jogged back to Danny's car. "Lieutenant Green! I am glad you made it back here tonight!" They shook hands through the car window. "I was a bit thrown off by the Aussie up there but you're all clear now. We've arranged accommodations for your group at the university President's house. I'll let them know you've arrived. There's only one place to eat in town right now and they are expecting you for a hot meal tonight."

Danny grinned. He could eat a horse right now. "That sounds great. What's the address?"

There was a fumbling sound from the back. "Damnit Green, turn off the child locks!" muttered Michener. Danny flipped the switch and Michener rolled down the glass in the backseat. "Hello, I am Jeffery Michener." He stuck his head out, despite Tex swearing at him to stay inside. "Thank you for the welcome."

"Mr. President!" The man's brows rose underneath his winter hat. "So glad we could host you."

"You know about the contagious cure?" Danny had noticed that the farther the trip went, the more desperate Michener seemed to be to meet as many people as possible and spread the cure as far as possible. "Where's dinner? I think we'll go straight to dinner so there's more time for shaking hands and sharing the cure immediately after."

"The Redhawk Sir. We heard it was a favorite of yours so we opened it up for the night."

"Good, spread the word to gather on the Diag and as soon as we eat we'll be out there."

"That will be great." The guard smiled warmly at Jeffery. "Green and Burk inoculated a few people last night." The man patted his own upper arm. "We've tried to mingle as much as we could today, but more people will come out if they here you are making an appearance."

Twenty minutes later Danny was sitting with Burk, Tex, and the President in a booth at an ordinary looking pub while Wolf stood between tables, keeping an eye on things. The lights were on, music was playing, and a waiter was handing out menus. It had been six months since he'd eaten in a restaurant and it felt strange, having a choice of what to eat for dinner. He and Burk had done a cursory check before they sat down and everything seemed ok here. There were a few guys in the kitchen and two waiters. The 30 people in their group were tired, but they had perked up at the thought of good food and now were practically filling the little place to the rim.

"Ah, we don't actually have everything on the menu, of course. But we can do most of the sandwiches except anything with hamburger." The waiter frowned apologetically. "We haven't been able to get any beef for quite a while. If you're craving a burger we can fake it with lamb, well ok, mutton really. There's a guy from the town to the west who has been supplying us all winter." He seemed flustered to be addressing the President.

"Oh I have no doubt whatever you can make will be fine." Michener reassured him in that fatherly tone he used with people who were nervous around him. Danny liked that about him, the way he instinctively seemed to try to put people at ease all the time. They chatted as they waited for the food to arrive.

"So, I actually applied to college here." Danny told Michener. "But I ended up at Duke, because it was a little closer to home."

"Understandable." Jeffery smiled. "I choose to go here because it was close to home too. I grew up in Saginaw, only about two hours away." They chatted for a while about that until their meals came.

"I applied here as my backup actually." Burk chimed in. "I figured that if I didn't follow my big brother into the academy, I could console my Mama with football tickets."

'Ah, Big 10. It's all hype." Tex was grinning, completely ruining the effect of his taunt.

Michener nudged Danny. "On that note, I'm going to check in with our people." Danny followed and blocked the sight lines from the front as Michener chatted with the restaurant staff and their own people. Simpson-Slattery's team had taken the first guard rotation outside, but he still wasn't taking any chances. The waitstaff told Michener how they had been running a university cafeteria for survivors but they had volunteered for tonight when they heard they would be serving the President. He hugged a rather surprised waiter. "I should be thanking you. We are very grateful for the support."

Waiters began bringing out plates but Jeffrey was busy talking to one of the guards that had come with them from the roadblock about favorite hunting spots up north. A few people took a bite, but noticing no one was eating, set their sandwiches back down and waited. The room slowly quieted as Michener and the guard kept chatting. Danny listened politely but as his own plate was set on the table his stomach growled hungrily.

Finally, he couldn't resist. He leaned over to Burk. "Wow! I think I'm in love already. Those fries look amazing." Michener took the hint.

"My goodness! No need to wait on my account." He nodded to the guard. "Thank you for arranging such a nice welcome. This is a dream."

He slid into the booth and Danny followed so that Michener was protected on the inside. "I was sorry to interrupt, you looked relaxed for once." He commented, hoping it wouldn't offend the President. "But I wasn't kidding. These are the best fries I've seen in a long time." He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of his plate. "Kara will be jealous. She has a weakness for fries right now."

Jeffery gave a droopy smile. "I fell in love over these fries once. Took my wife here for our first date back in…1992!"

"Oh." Danny recalled that the man's wife and all three kids had died in the Florida outbreak. The thought of going back to that Norfolk nightclub where he had first met Kara but going without her flashed though him leaving his heart feeling like it was pumping solid lead. "I, I'm so sorry sir. You should have said and we could have set up dinner elsewhere." He looked out of the corner of his eye and was surprised to see the President had pasted on a smile. It must be so hard, Danny thought, to keep it together after so much loss.

Jeffery reached across the table for a bottle of vinegar. His hand shook but he seemed determined to ignore it. "You know what? I'm glad I came here. And glad I came with you guys. I had so much nervous hope back then, sort of like I do now. I look at you, such fine young, and.." He nodded at Tex, "not so young men, willing to sacrifice to rebuild this country and I feel tremendous hope for our future. Tremendous hope."

He splashed his fries with the vinegar and then passed the bottle to Tex. "You ever eat them this way?"

Tex grinned. "Can't say that I have. Is this some strange midwestern custom that I know nothing about?"

"Actually, I think it's imported." Michener lifted a fry to his lips and took a good bite. He closed his eyes and chewed behind his smile. "Here's a great memory for you. On that first date we were just 22 and 20. My wife came from a pretty well off family but mine was blue collar. I was very, very nervous that she'd think my manners weren't up to snuff. I was so nervous she'd be offended if I took her someplace less expensive so I took on two extra tutoring sessions to have some extra cash. I showed up in a suit jacket planning to take her to the fancy Chop House on Main Street. She had on jeans and an old tee and said she wanted to come here instead. We ordered, drank some beer, and conversation was going really well. When our food arrived she put little dabs of every single condiment on her fries. And when she got to the fries with vinegar she closed her eyes and made this little sound of enjoyment…" He paused and Danny could see the moisture pooling in the corner of his eye. "You know that sound, once you hear the woman you love make it you will do anything to get it out of her again." They all nodded, even Burk. "That was it, I was hooked. So I doused my fries in the smelly stuff and offered her some more. Of course she refused until I tried it too. And of course, well, the rest is history." It occurred to Danny then, that in some strange parallel universe, where the Red Flu never happened, Michener could have been sitting in this booth with his family, telling the very same story.

Tex helped keep them from traveling too far down memory lane by roping Michener into a discussion about whether the federal government could improve morale by starting up some professional sports again. Pretty soon Wolf was arguing in favor of promoting footie, rugby, and cricket "to be better aligned with the rest of the world" while the three Canadians they had along were arguing about whether the population declines would reverse climate change enough to bring back outdoor hockey.

After the meal they went out into the cold evening. The snow that had been chasing them all day had finally caught up and fat, wet flakes were beginning to drift down, giving everything a sharp glitter under the streetlights. The guard directed them kiddie corner to the university campus where people lined the walkway stretching diagonally under arching trees. Their escort from the toolbooth pointed out the path. "The mayor is in the library at the other side of the Diag. We've got hot drinks in there and we thought we could shake hands along the way and then invite people inside."

Danny caught Wolf scanning the crowd. Yes, this was a security nightmare. But he knew instinctively that Michener would love the idea because it meant meeting lots of people fast. "Alright." He spoke into his mike, hoping everyone else had their headsets in. "Simpson-Slattery, take your team in to eat. Stay on comms and meet us at the library when you finish. Wolf, Burk you guys take a quick pass to the end and then circle back around the backsides and provide cover. Everyone else will be small arms ready. Miller and Cruz, you'll precede Mittens and the cure team. Tex you stick to Mittens. And I'll follow from behind." He looked around their volunteers and waved a short balding guy forward. "Ahhh.."

"Paul sir." He really liked this guy because he always seemed so organized and unflappable. Too bad he was leaving them when they got to the Canadian border tomorrow.

"OK, Paul, get your group organized to do the hug and kiss routine right here behind the President and Tex."

He spoke into the mic again. "Mason and Alisha, you'll provide cover from about 20 yards back." Once the plan was settled they moved forward into the crowd. Danny was right. Michener loved this part. He shook hands, hugged, cried, and cheered with people. And every time someone called him a hero he blushed, thanked them, and announced that the American people were the real heroes in all this. The crowd was surprisingly orderly, save for the kids in brightly colored snowsuits, the pom poms on their hats bouncing as they darted between the trees in games of tag. Their previous events like this had plenty of personnel on hand babysitting the crowd and backup nearby too. Indeed, in Champaign they'd had to arrest some people trying to prevent them from going into a poorer, predominantly minority neighborhood. And in Gary there had been some organized Immune activity they had to diffuse before the event. But this was a small and surprise gathering. And people were even more excited than usual. Maybe it was because they considered the President one of their own that they were willing to brave the icy cold for a handshake from a man who was practically unknown just a month ago.

They were about 3/4 of the way down the walk when Wolf's voice sounded on the comm. "There's two guys combing the backside of the crowd, shaking hands, talking to people, about 20 steps behind Mittens at your 4 o'clock. Want us to pick them up?"

"Are they carrying?" Danny swiveled his gaze, trying to see over the layers of people and steamy puffs of warm breaths against the dark night sky. Adrenalin rushed through him and he stepped between Michener and that angle even though he couldn't see who Wolf was referring to.

"No, mate. I don't think so. Unless you count notepads and cameras. They are talking to people, shaking hands, snapping pictures, all that. But people seem to be getting a little miffed after they've talked to them. One guy grabbed the camera guy, said something rude I think. I'm pretty sure I recognize the guy with the beard. We've seen him before somewhere."

"Granderson?" Could be nothing or it could be some rabble rousing Immunes, either way, this was a situation that called for tact. "Go make friends with these guys and report back. Mason, keep cover on her." He saw them move off into the crowd.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash a few rows back. "Knife!" his brain screamed and he backed up to cover the President more tightly. But when he turned his head, it was only the reflection from someone's camera on a selfie stick as they held it up to take a picture of the momentous occasion. His pulse was pounding now, but as he looked around, his back to Tex's, he saw nothing to be alarmed about. He nudged Tex with his elbow. "See what you can do to hurry Mittens along."

Tex whispered something to Michener and the President nodded. Danny continued to scan the crowd as the President began to walk faster, quickly grasping hands and waving and leaning over to kiss women on their cheeks but not stopping to talk. People were closing in on the pathway behind them, following toward the raised steps at the library. The concrete and brick building was well lit and the steps made a sort of natural stage. Michener whispered something to Tex as he headed toward the steps, stopping to hug a woman and baby and then help a small child with her winter hat.

"You know he's got to make a speech." Despite Tex's relaxed drawl, tense lines formed around his eyes and he shook his head. Danny glanced down the path behind them. He saw the interpreter in Simpson-Slattery's group engaged in deep conversation at the edge of the sidewalk while Garth directed the rest of his group to spread out to watch from the sides. The additional bodies put some of his fears at ease.

"They're reporters sir." Alisha's confident voice rang out in his comm link. "I don't think they are a threat at all. They were in Grand Rapids this morning, that's where we saw them before. I'm escorting them to the front now."

"Simpson-Slattery, you take my position, I'll go meet these guys."

He elbowed his way to the side where Alisha was chatting with the bearded reporter. The somewhat gaunt man did indeed look familiar. Beneath a very nice insulated trenchcoat he wore a sweater over a shirt and tie. No one else other than the President and the mayor were in ties right now. The man immediately thrust his hand forward. Lieutenant Green, Jacob Barnes, I'm with the Washington Post."

Danny declined to shake his hand. Instead he turned to the man holding the camera and wearing a vest full of pockets. His instincts told him that the shorter, fatter, and slightly balding man was less likely to feed him a line about who they were. "And you are?"

"Ravit Patel. Detroit Free Press. We are only trying to record the President for posterity, Sir. Could you get us a meeting with him tomorrow?"

He recalled Michener's words on the press at the meeting two weeks ago. Once again he was irritated that Michener had insisted on taking this trip himself, and so soon. The Navy could have handled distributing the cure while Michener could have spent the time doing important things, like creating a press policy. He wondered what Kara would do in this instance. She'd probably know exactly how to send these guys on their way.

"Look Barnes, Patel, there is no press corps yet and the President is too busy on this trip for giving interviews. We'll be gone by morning. Spreading the cure is our utmost priority right now." Patel glanced at Barnes and worried his lip.

"Is that a formal policy then, the bit about spreading the cure?" asked Barnes.

Shit. He did not want to be responsible for any statements that were repeated in the press. The order was don't talk to the press after all. He tried to think of the things he'd heard Chandler say to the reporters who'd shown up in St. Louis.

"You do not have my permission to use my or any of my people's statements. I'm sorry, but that's the only official comment I can make."

Barnes leaned in , smelling something juicy. "Do you mean to say the President has the military under a gag order! Can you tell me about that?" Damnit. Well, he might instantly dislike the guy, but the little worm was obviously on the right career path.

"No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that I do not give you permission to print any of MY words or the words of ANY people under my command." Danny slammed his fist into his palm for emphasis. Damn it all to hell, he wasn't cut out for these kinds of politics.

"Well, can you at least tell us where he is headed next? It's too bad people here didn't know he was coming. They could have organized a bigger meeting."

"This was unplanned." Danny ground out. "And no, I can't tell you where he's going next."

What about Detroit? Ann Arbor is pretty much an upper middle class crowd here. Any plans for an event in Detroit, Flint, Dearborn Heights? Or is the President targeting white middle class citizens to receive the cure first?"

Danny threw up his hands in exasperation. "Jesus guys. Some would say the man is a hero. Put your skills to good use and raise people's morale with some feel good stories or go investigate something else why don't you!" He turned to go but the crowd was breaking into some kind of fight song about conquering heroes and victors as Michener climbed the steps.

"Now now, I love your spirit but I'm no hero. No let us remember the men and women of the Navy who fought to bring you this cure, who right now are helping put this country back together. And lets remember the leaders in your own community who helped you stick together for six long months. And don't forget the heroism inside each and every one of you. That courage that kept you going. That sense of fellowship which drove you to help each other survive.."

Patel raised his camera and began shooting. "Got to give Michener credit, the guy can give a speech when his heart is in it."

Barnes nodded. "Yeah, he wasn't half this charismatic when he spoke in Grand Rapids this morning. It really means something to him, being here, doesn't it?" He looked to Danny, eyebrows raised challenging him to give a response.

Danny shook his head. "Look guys, it's still a free country so do whatever you want but leave the conspiracy theories out of it, stay out of trouble, and leave us alone to do our work, ok?"