Posted on April 13th, 2018

Sorry for the hiatus in not updating this story. Like many fanfic writers, we juggle the writing with other commitments, e.g., work, personal life, etc. Also, my writing technique focuses on a story arc. Which means offline I have written up a bunch of chapters but haven't posted them because I want to make sure the story arc follows through and everything makes sense.

It was Friday evening and Cassie was sitting in the backseat of a SUV driven by two Secret Service agents who were taking her to Camp David. The President, that is, Fitz, who she was now calling by his first name since they were in the process of becoming friends, was already at Camp David after being flown up on Marine One. Her going up to Camp David to spend the weekend with Fitz was to continue the process of them becoming friends, and traveling separately was to maintain discretion – had she flown up with Fitz, there would be questions as to why.

Since her meeting with Fitz about becoming a friend-confidant to him, Abby worked out the necessary logistics about her and Fitz spending time together and talking. She and Fitz would be "hanging out" – what friends would do, once a week in the evening up in the Residence. They would have dinner, another thing friends would do when they are spending time together, and talk during and afterwards. However, to maintain discretion, the cameras in the Residence would be turned off while she was there. Even though the goal was for them to hang out together once a week, they also knew allowances would need to be made should work-related issues or crises come up that required either his or her attention.

How long the arrangement of them hanging out together would last would depend on Fitz. Since they didn't have an actual therapeutic relationship, it was more of a question on how Fitz was feeling. That is, once he was doing and feeling better, she wouldn't need to come to the White House. Nonetheless, the next few weeks would be an interesting experience for her as she became friend and confidant to the President of the United States. Not that it was something she could or would share with her family, friends, and colleagues. Fitz and Abby trusted her enough to the extent that they didn't require her to sign a non-disclosure form, even though she offered to sign one so that Fitz could feel he was protected, and she wasn't going to break that trust.

When they arrived at Camp David, the security gate was raised to allow the car to pass through. After a driving a short distance, the car stopped along a driveway and Cassie was told by agents they would be taking her to Red Oak Lodge where she was would be staying. Red Oak Lodge was regarded as a VIP guest cabin that was only a short walking distance to Aspen Lodge, the cabin where POTUS stayed. Cassie was glad that she wouldn't be staying in Aspen Lodge – she felt some healthy distance was also needed during the weekend since they would be spending a lot time together. They would be having dinner tonight and breakfast in the morning, followed by some "outdoor" time. They would have lunch together and then the two of them would separate, where he would get some work done while she had time for herself. Afterwards, they would have dinner together and would spend part of Sunday together before heading back to DC.

Cassie, with her shoulder bag slung over her shoulder, and the agents got out of the car. After one of the agents retrieved her wheeled duffel bag out of the back trunk and passed it to her, they walked to the cabin where she was staying. As they walked, Cassie wondered, given how much time she and Fitz would be spending together over the weekend, whether or not there would be some kind of saturation effect – they would get sick of being with each other. If that was the case, there would be the problem of them meeting up a few days later in the week, in which neither of them wanted to see each other. Perhaps, if they were starting to feel it over the weekend, it would be wise for her to go back to DC early so that it wouldn't impact the main objective of Fitz having someone to talk with.

When they arrived at the cabin, Cassie entered into the cabin while the agents waited outside for her. After turning on the lights, she discovered the cabin had two bedrooms as well as a large elegant fireplace. She took her duffel bag and set it in one of the bedrooms. She decided she would unpack after dinner since Fitz was already waiting for her. She left the bedroom and headed towards the door. After walking out of the cabin, the agents escorted her to Aspen Lodge which was only across the way from Red Oak Lodge. An agent guarding the front door to Aspen Lodge opened the door for her to enter.

When she walked inside, she saw Fitz, wearing a charcoal grey cable knit sweater and black jeans, sitting in the living room with his long legs extended and his feet resting on top of the coffee table, and reading a briefing report. Cassie thought he looked so sexy and domestic at the same time. At that moment, Cassie was thinking that President Fitzgerald Grant III must have some serious personality deficits that he has kept well hidden from the world. It had to be the rational explanation as to why Olivia Pope would walk away from him. If that was the case, he was going to need a real mental health professional to help him.

Fitz looked up from his briefing report and saw that Cassie had arrived. He sat up, set the briefing report he had been reading on the coffee table, and got up. He walked towards her and said, "Hi, Cassie. I hope your road trip to Camp David was ok."

"Yeah, it was fine," responded Cassie as she took off her coat and handed it to a butler who was going to hang it in a closet.

"I'm sorry that we can't have you fly with me on Marine One. It would start speculation about us…"

"I understand." Even though Cassie understood the reasoning – an attractive woman seen with President Fitzgerald Grant III would start the gossip mill about a relationship but she didn't think the public would buy the idea of her being President Grant's girlfriend – she wasn't a female power dynamo, the kind of woman who he had been with, like his ex-wife Senator Mellie Grant or ex-girlfriend Olivia Pope.

A butler came into the living room and Fitz gave him a nod, which Cassie took to mean they would heading to the dining room to have dinner. Instead, the butler disappeared and a moment later he and another butler re-appeared, one carrying a small cheese board with covered with cheese, crackers, and fruit, and the other carried a small platter of crudité with a bowl of dip in the middle. They set the cheese board and crudité platter down on the coffee table and left the room.

Fitz said, "Have a seat, Cassie. The chef is giving us a snack as he prepares our dinner. I hope you like duck…"

"I love duck," responded Cassie as she sat down the sofa opposite to the one where Fitz had been sitting. Fitz retrieved his quarter full tumbler of scotch from the end table and walked to the bar.

"Good. A gin and tonic or something else?" asked Fitz as he stood by the bar.

"I'm ok. We are probably going to have some wine with dinner."

"We are," said Fitz as he refilled his tumbler with some more scotch from the bar. He then sat down on the sofa where he had been sitting and set his tumbler on the end table.

Cassie saw that the dip bowl was filled with guacamole. Fitz explained, "I'm a California boy so guac is my preference," as he dipped a celery stick into the guacamole and bit the guacamole covered portion. Cassie followed Fitz's action but with a baby carrot instead.

Fitz cut a small slice from the block of imported aged English white cheddar cheese on the cheese board and asked, "Would you like some, Cassie?"

"Yes, thank you."

Fitz then proceeded to cut a few additional slices from the cheese block. Rather than placing the sliced cheese on crackers, both of them pick up a slice and ate it straight. As Cassie savored the flavor of the cheese in her mouth, she closed eyes and said, "Oh, this reminds me of being back in…"

"England," said Fitz as he finished her sentence with a smile. For some unexplained reason, the sight of Cassie enjoying the cheese made him feel warm inside.

"Yeah," said Cassie with a laugh. She remembered that she and Fitz had something in common – they both earned their PhD degrees from British universities. He had studied at Oxford through a Rhodes Scholarship while she studied at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for public health and the London School of Economic for international relations.

Fitz and Cassie knew they were in an unusual situation in developing their friendship. They both knew each other's biographical information – with Fitz as President, so much of his life was public knowledge and Cassie's information was compiled in a dossier that Fitz had access to and read. What they didn't know about each other was the "behind the story" of their biographical information, such as why Cassie decided to get her doctoral degrees in England, rather than study in the US. This prompted Fitz to ask, "Why did you go to the UK to get your PhD degrees?" Fitz knew in his case he had been awarded one of the most prestigious highly competitive academic-athletic scholarships to study at one of the world's most prestigious universities and it was a chance of a lifetime. He knew from Cassie's CV that she went back to school to get her PhD degrees after being out of school and having worked.

"Truth be told, I hadn't expected to go back to school to get a PhD. The opportunity for me to go back to school to do the PhD was due to unexpected life circumstance…"

"What happened?"

"Believe it or not, my mother died."

Both Fitz's eyebrows raised when he said, "Really?" Fitz knew Cassie lost her mother to pancreatic cancer when Cassie was in early 30s.

"Yeah. I know this sounds horrible but you weren't only one who had an overbearing parent. I never doubted my mother's love for me but my late mother had my life planned out for me – I would either become a doctor or lawyer, get married, have children, to live close by to her so she could be around her grandchildren and to have a say in their upbringing…"

"Sounds like there was no cutting off the apron strings from your mother," commented Fitz with a wry chuckle.

"You've got that right and offspring rebellion is not part of traditional Chinese culture. I wanted a career in health care but after doing pre-med coursework and hanging out with future doctors, I didn't want to go to med school. I knew public health was my true passion since I was interested in health care in a very broad perspective, and not simply about taking care of sick people. Since I didn't want to go to med school, the only alternative left was to go to law school. My mother wouldn't accept the idea of me simply having a master in public health, so I struck a deal with her – I would do a joint degree program, getting both a JD and a MPH. I would get my public health degree and she would get a lawyer."

"It seems like you were good at negotiating deals…"

"Not that good. If I was that good, I would have arranged to get a PhD degree as well. My mother didn't see the value in a PhD degree and considered it a bad financial investment from an academic standpoint – years of schooling without any economic benefit. As you know, after I got my JD-MPH degrees, I worked as a lawyer at a NYC law firm that specialized in health law. While I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, either. What I really wanted to do was public health and to make a difference in improving population health. Truth be told, I was in therapy trying to deal with the anger, frustration, and guilt I was feeling that I wasn't doing what I was truly passionate about but I didn't want to hurt my mother either given all the sacrifices she and my father made in order to provide me the opportunities that I had. My parents had come to this country as immigrants with very little money and worked very hard to achieve what they had. I felt a lot of guilt for wanting something else.

Cassie paused before continuing on, "My life was at an impasse. Then my mother got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and in some crazy way, everything changed for me in positive direction. I don't mean my mother getting cancer was a good thing but it charted my life in a different course. I took a leave of absence from the law firm to help my father to take care of my mother. As my mother's illness progressed, the leave of absence turned into a resignation from the firm and I had the chance to pursue other opportunities…"

Fitz remembered from Cassie's file that she worked part-time as a lawyer for a HIV/AIDS advocacy group and asked, "What that when you became a part-time HIV/AIDS legal advocate?"

"Yeah. If my mother hadn't been so sick, she probably would have been kicking, yelling, and screaming at me for becoming a HIV/AIDS legal advocate. In her book, no respectable Chinese girl would have anything to do with HIV/AIDS, homosexuality, or promiscuous sexual behavior and would have stayed the course to becoming a partner at a respectable law firm," said Cassie with a slight chuckle. "Doing the HIV/AIDS advocacy work got me interested in health behavior and health psychology and I wanted to learn more. Hence, getting the masters in health psychology. At the time, I was thinking about wanting to do work in HIV/AIDS harm reduction and linking it to a policy and law perspective, such as needle exchange. However, I got side tracked into getting involved with a project concerning improving access of essential medicines, such as HIV/AIDS meds, to low and middle income countries. My time on this project made me realized how important health care systems are in the delivery of care and I knew I wanted to study health care systems and to learn how to make them better. After my mother passed away, I felt emboldened to do the PhD. Since I was already in my 30s, having worked, and I knew what I wanted to do for my PhD research project, I didn't want to be spending 3 to 4 years doing course work before getting into the substance of my research. As you know, the British PhD program model is research or project based rather than being a combination of course work and research which is the American model. I figured the British model worked better for me. Between having money saved away, my father wanting to support my dream, and obtaining PhD fellowship awards, I was able to finance my doctoral training in the UK."

She picked up another slice of the delicious cheese and after eating it, she said, "You are probably wondering what would possess me to get a second PhD?"

"Well, it did cross my mind since one PhD is enough for most people. I know it was for me."

"I admit doing the research for a PhD is a lot of work and not something someone would want to experience twice. For me, the second PhD in international relations was a natural progression from my public health PhD. For my public health PhD, I studied how health care systems of developing countries can be bolstered and one way has been foreign aid. There are range of reasons why developed countries provide aid support to developing countries, which range from being altruistic to political necessity. The political necessity part got me interested in how foreign relations is part of this crazy equation of helping out developing countries and I decided to study it further."

Cassie then said sheepishly, "I actually have a confession to make. Consider it as one my secrets."

Fitz's interest piqued and leaned forward to asked, "What's your confession?"

Cassie could see the curiosity in Fitz's eyes and laughed. "I hate to disappoint you but it isn't anything salacious."

"Oh, too bad. So, what is your confession?" asked Fitz with chuckle.

"It something that only a geek like me would think as being confessional. I suffer from Oxford envy."

"Do you?" asked Fitz in surprised voice.

"I do. I've always wanted to study at Oxford but ended up in London instead. So, what was it like for you?"

Fitz paused before saying, "First, being awarded the Rhodes meant a lot to me. Up until that point, everything I accomplished I always felt like my father played a hand in it. This isn't to say having the name Fitzgerald Grant III probably didn't hurt in the consideration process but I knew getting the Rhodes was something I worked for and got it on my merits. Being at Oxford was good for me. I was able to be away from my father with enough distance that I didn't have to worry about his showing up unexpectedly."

After taking a drink of scotch, he said, "I had a great time there. Between living in the college, spending time at the Bodleian Library and buying great cheeses from the Covered Market, life was good."

Cassie laughed at his comment. Fitz realized during his marriage with Mellie and his time with Olivia, they never asked him about Oxford. Granted, he never brought it up in conversation with them, either. Cassie asking him about it brought up good memories and had him think about a time in his life when he was happy and content, and it brought another smile to his face.

"What was your sport?" Cassie knew until recent history of the scholarship program Rhodes Scholars were chosen based on both their academic and athletic abilities.

"Tennis."

"Do you still play?"

"Sometimes. I get to play when my daughter Karen is visiting. I taught her. I admit she was a reluctant student in the beginning but since then, she has developing a liking for it. I don't suppose you play?"

"I know how to play but I'm not very good at it. I'm much better at golf."

Fitz cringed when he heard Cassie mentioned golf which she noticed. "Do you have something against golf?" she asked after eating a blanched asparagus spear dipped with guacamole.

"I play but I hate it."

"Why?"

There a long silence and when Fitz didn't answer her question, Cassie said, "I'm just asking because I'm curious. It's not some Freudian probe, if that is what you are worried about."

"Well, it might as well be for me. I caddied for my father and I don't have good memories about it."

"Did he also teach you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, maybe it is time for you to develop new memories with golf. I'm presuming you only play now because you have to in order get the business of government done. If you played for fun with someone you liked, it might change your perspective."

"Does this mean we get to play golf when the weather gets warmer?"

Cassie chuckle and replied, "Sure, and just because you are the president, it doesn't mean I'm going to let you win."

"I wouldn't think of it since I'm going to win. I have a pretty good handicap…"

"So, do I," countered Cassie confidently.

"Oh, I am so looking forward to this golf game," said Fitz in a mock challenging voice with a smile.

The butler reappeared in the living room and gave the signal to Fitz to let him know dinner was ready. "We can head to the dining room," said Fitz and the two of them got up from the sofa.

As they headed to the dining room, Cassie said, "I don't suppose we can have the cheese platter after dinner…"

"Sure. I'll ask the butler to set it aside in the kitchen and bring it back out after dinner. In fact, we can do what the Brits do – have some port with the cheese platter."

"That sounds good."

When they walked into the dining room, Cassie saw that the formal dining table was set for two with one place setting at the head of the table and the second one to the left. Rather having the butler pull a chair out for Cassie, Fitz did it and after Cassie settled into her seat, he sat down in his seat. Before their first course was brought out, Fitz told a butler to save the cheese platter for after dinner and wanting to have some port served with it.

"Yes, Mr. President," said the butler and gave the cue to another butler who was standing by the kitchen door. The butler went through the kitchen door while the other butler served Fitz and Cassie their wine, a light Burgundy that paired well with their main course, pan-seared duck breast with roasted butternut squash and sautéed kale. However, before the duck, the butler who went into kitchen came out and served them a portabello mushroom "napoleon" appetizer. By the time they finished their hot fruit compote dessert served over vanilla ice cream, Cassie joked, "If I am going to be eating like this while hanging out with you, I'm going to need to add extra time on my elliptical."

"I'll make sure we won't overdo it but I hope you won't be opposed to the idea of the occasional cheeseburger, fries, and milkshakes…"

"Can you make it sweet potato fries?"

"Done," replied Fitz with a smile. "Port and cheese in the living room?"

"Yes," replied Cassie with a gleeful smile.

After getting up from their seats but before heading to the living room, Fitz and Cassie went into the kitchen to thank the culinary team and the service staff for their excellent dinner. Fitz then told the head butler they would have port and cheese in the living room.

"Yes, Mr. President," replied the head butler.

They left the kitchen and headed towards to the living room. As they walked to the living room, Fitz was thinking tonight was one of the best evenings he had in a long time and was definitely looking forward to spending the rest of the weekend in Cassie's company.