A/N: Welcome back guys! Thanks for the reviews and for hanging in there. We are so close to the end. I just want to let you know I slightly altered this chapter, but it's no different from usual. Okay, enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Thirteen
In the middle of the night, Frank rolls over to find his wife facing him, fast asleep. Her arm is outstretched, and her hand is on his pillow. A grin tugs at his lips. When they used to share a bed, Claire would always end up laying as close to his side of the bed as possible with her hand positioned in the same fashion as it is now. He closes his eyes and gently places his hand over hers. By the time he wakes up the next morning, her side of the bed is cold, and she is gone.
The bomb dropped the next morning in the form of a billboard splattered on the main highway in Gaffney. A billboard including Frank's father shaking hands with a member of the Klu Klux Klan, dressed in the signature white robe. Underneath the picture: Underwood 2016.
Claire is having breakfast with Emily while Frank is still sleeping. She wanted to sneak out of the master bedroom before Frank and Emily woke up. Especially since when she opened her eyes, her hand was clasped in her husbands. They were practically nose-to-nose in bed. Claire chided herself for falling back into old habits. Her plan was to reminisce on the past, not relive it. Besides, they don't need to be confusing Emily. Their marriage is still up-in-the-air, and they shouldn't be sending their toddler mixed signals.
"Mommy, where you be?" Emily asks while she lazily walks into the kitchen. Claire sips her coffee and turns to face her daughter. Her daughter must've noticed she was alone in the guest bedroom when she woke up. Oh, I was just manipulating your father by inviting him to sleep in the same bed as me. Claire thinks to herself.
"I slept in the other room. What do you want for breakfast?" Claire quickly changes the topic of conversation before her daughter can connect the dots. Emily presses her finger to her lips, deep in thought.
"Pancakes! We make Daddy dem too!" Emily declares. Frank might need more than a few pancakes to cheer him after the news picks up on the billboard.
The smell of batter filters through their tiny house. Frank rolls over in bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He fumbles into the kitchen, a smile tugging at his lips when he sees Claire and Emily making pancakes.
"Daddy, you want dem?" Emily asks, spotting her father standing at the threshold of the kitchen. Claire chooses to ignore him for the moment, pretending to concentrate on transferring pancakes from the stove to a plate.
"Sure, Em, I'll have some." He can't remember the last time they've had breakfast together as a family. Claire hands Frank a plate and fixes one for Emily before sitting down on the other side of her husband.
"Daddy, what we doin' today?" Emily asks. The toddler loved the campaign event she attended with her parents yesterday. She doesn't want this time with her parents to end. Going back to Dallas with just her mother doesn't interest the three-year-old.
"I'm not sure yet, Em. It's up to your mother." Claire meets Frank's eyes over their daughter's head. She wonders if he caught onto her tactics last night, or if he's genuinely wanting her input.
"I think we should…" Claire begins, but stops when a flurry of people, including Meechum, storm into the house. This is it, the shoe is dropping. Frank furrows his eyebrows and drops his fork. Claire feigns innocence and stays in the dining room with Emily.
"Sir, there's been a new development in your campaign. I think you should see this," Meechum says and turns on the TV. Frank is horrified to see a long-buried photo of his father plastered on the biggest billboard in Gaffney.
"The press has surrounded the house. I can't leave the damn place until I know exactly what I'm going to say," Frank says as he gets a glimpse of the news trucks lining up on the front lawn.
"We need to cancel your events," one of Frank's campaign advisors says.
"Of course we need to cancel my events. The expression on my face is a…" Frank is cut off by Claire coming into the living room, holding Emily.
"What's going on?" Claire sets Emily down and follows Frank over to the TV. Sure enough, the press is discussing the photo. Just like Claire wanted. "My God."
"My father." Frank whispers. He goes over to Meechum to request a favor while Claire watches more of the coverage. Emily tugs on the bottom of her robe.
"Mommy, what's wrong?" Emily asks. Admittedly, Claire didn't think about their daughter when she gave LeAnn this task. She just wanted to get Frank back for everything he's done to their family in the past few months. Claire glances over at Frank. His expression shatters her for just a minute. She knows better than anyone how embarrassed Frank is about his father's ties to the KKK. He never wanted their daughter to find out about a dark chapter in the Underwood's past.
"Someone did something mean to your Daddy, so people won't vote for him," Claire explains. She neglects to mention she was the one who did it. Hopefully, Emily doesn't find out it was her mother who stabbed her father in the back.
"Oh, we gotta help Daddy, right?" Emily asks, her cerulean eyes filled with determination.
"We will."
The Underwoods spend the day locked inside the Gaffney house, doing damage control. Claire makes it seem like she's doing everything she can to reverse the harm done by the photograph. Eventually, her husband will learn that it was her who did it, but she wants him to discover it at a specific time.
Frank wraps up an unsuccessful call with Doris, a congresswoman from Texas he counted on for support. Claire comes in on the tail-end of the call, having just put Emily down for a nap.
"She asleep?" Frank asks when Claire sits across from him on the couch.
"Yes. I had to convince her not to hold a press conference on our front lawn." Frank smiles at the gesture. His daughter has always been his biggest supporter. It used to be Claire, but things have changed.
"She's sweet." Frank mumbles as his smile slowly giving way to a frown.
"What if it's Oren Chase, Francis?" Claire asks. She wants to divert suspicion away from her onto an old political rival of her husbands. Ever since Oren Chase lost the Congressional seat to Frank, he's made it his purpose to make his life difficult. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume Oren was the one behind it. "He could've gotten his hands on a copy. There may be more than one."
"Meechum first, then Clancy." Frank tells her. He wants his own people investigated first before widening the scope.
So far, Claire's plan is working flawlessly. Her husband doesn't suspect her at all and is leaning on her for support. She just must remind herself that he will find out eventually, and he won't easily forgive her when he does.
Later, Frank and Claire are meeting with Oren Chase and Meechum in the church office. Claire hangs back and lets Frank browbeat Chase into confessing he assisted in putting the billboard up. Claire made sure LeeAnn remained anonymous and it wouldn't be traced back to her. It would unravel everything if Chase ratted her out to save face.
After Chase leaves, Meechum brings Emily into the office so they can walk out together as a family. Frank decided he wants to come clean about the photograph to the congregation and the American people. Claire and Emily are merely there for support.
"Ready?" Frank asks Claire, resting his hand on her back. Claire holds onto Emily's hand and walks ahead of him. Emily grips her mother's hand tightly and shies away from people taking their photograph.
The mayor of Gaffney approaches the podium first, giving a speech in support of Frank. The microphone is passed off and Frank tentatively begins his address. This speech means more to him than any before it. He's fighting for his life here. The people of Gaffney and South Carolina need to believe that his father wasn't acting maliciously. He just went to the Klan for money in desperate times.
Frank catches Emily's eye as he's speaking about his family's KKK ties. Although the toddler doesn't comprehend what her father is saying, she isn't fidgeting. She's sitting quietly next to Claire, listening as everyone else is. He's sorry his daughter must bear witness to this. If it were up to him, she would've had been with a babysitter while he and Claire are here. However, having his wife and daughter in the crowd are good optics. And he needs all the good press he can get right now.
"As many of you know, Claire and I have a daughter. She's here, in this room, with us." Frank appeals to family, something people in the South care very much about. "My wife and I have worked hard our entire lives to provide the best life we can for Emily. I never understood what my father did or why he did it until I had a child. The truth is, if I were in that situation and it was the only solution, I would do the same thing for our daughter. I'm not condoning his behavior. I just ask you to empathize with him as a father and as a man."
Claire stiffens in her seat and looks down at Emily. She believes her husband. A pang of guilt slices through her. Before their daughter, Claire wouldn't think twice about what she's done. Maybe this time, she's gone too far.
No matter how many hands Frank shakes or how many people were moved by his speech, he still loses South Carolina. A devastating blow, given it was supposed to be the only sure thing in his campaign.
Claire is busy making sure Emily is fed while Frank is on a conference call with Doug and Seth. They hear Frank's raised voice from the other room and Emily shrinks back in her chair a little.
"It's okay Emily. Daddy's just mad he lost," Claire reassures her daughter. Because of me, she fails to say. Emily nods and takes a bite of her food.
"Is he not gonna be pwesident now?" Emily asks.
"I don't know. We will have to wait and see." Frank losing his home state is not a good sign for primaries to come. Dunbar, his opponent, could easily use the photograph against him in every primary until Election Day.
Emily flinches when Frank slams the phone down on the hook. Claire peeks over her shoulder into the kitchen, shooting a warning glare at her husband to check his temper in front of their daughter.
"Let me talk to Daddy really quick," Claire tells Emily, winking at her. Emily nods and goes back to eating her dinner.
Claire finds Frank in the kitchen, nursing a glass of whiskey. Exhaustion has creeped into his features over the past few hours.
"What did Doug and Seth say?" Claire asks. Frank sighs and takes a long sip of his drink before responding.
"They want me to concede on national television." Frank practically spits the words out. After today, the only thing Frank wants to do is retreat until he can come back stronger. Eventually, news of the photograph will wear itself out. When it does, Frank must be ready for an entirely new campaign strategy that will regain his lead over Dunbar.
Claire reaches across his body, gently prying the scotch out of his hand. She sets it down on the counter and grasps his hand. Confusion furrows Frank's brow. He isn't sure why she is being so nice to him. There's no reason for her to be.
"We will figure this out." We. Frank latches onto the word, forgetting the rest. She didn't say you, she meant we. As in us. Their hands detach from each other's when Emily stumbles into the room.
"Mommy, I done," Emily announces. Claire walks over to scoop up the toddler, running a cold washcloth over her face.
"Say goodnight to Daddy," Claire tells Emily. She knows Meechum is coming back with the safety deposit box Frank requested him to get at any minute. He's going to find out she's the real orchestrator of today's events. Hopefully, Emily will be asleep by then.
"Night Daddy," Emily mutters begrudgingly to her father. Frank laughs at the lack of enthusiasm on Emily's part. He gives her a hug and watches his wife drag their daughter towards the guest bedroom.
When Meechum returns to the house, Frank asks him if he was the one behind the photograph. He doesn't want to because he knows Meechum would never betray him like that. However, he would be a fool if he didn't cover all his bases. Meechum denies it and Frank believes him. The secret service agent would have nothing to gain by leaking the photo. Seth was merely speculating.
Frank goes over to the dining room table and opens the safety deposit box. He briefly looks at the photo before setting it aside. Underneath it, is his mother's earring box. A calling-card of sorts. Claire. His own wife betrayed him in the worst way. Fury courses through his body and he slams the safety deposit box shut.
From the guest bedroom, Claire hears a loud thud and knows its her cue to intervene. She checks to make sure her daughter is fast asleep before meeting up with her husband in the living room. Sure enough, Frank is holding the earring box.
"It's only a wound. It's not fatal," Claire says.
"My home state, Claire."
"Please, sit down. We need to talk. And keep your voice down, Emily is asleep in the next room."
Frank slowly turns around, glaring at Claire the entire time. She's right. Their daughter cannot be woken up by another argument between them. No matter how angry he is at his wife, he must reign it in.
Claire tries to make a case for why Frank should bring her on, not at his wife and First Lady, but as vice president. Initially, Frank is strongly against it.
"You can't win without me," Claire says. They know she's right. Having Claire by his side is his only chance at reelection. He's just too stubborn and hurt to see it now.
"Your mother was right about you. You let your selfishness destroy this family. Did you even think about Emily when you did this?" Frank asks Claire. Her body goes stiff, but she refuses to abandon her goal.
"I did this for Emily, for us." Frank scoffs at his wife.
"No, you did this for yourself, just like everything you've done in the past six months." And you haven't? Claire asks herself, though she decides to keep the comment to herself.
"I can be a part of your campaign or I can end it. I'll do whatever it takes too. Just like your father," Claire throws down the gauntlet. She is not letting this go. Either he puts her on the ticket or she will do everything in her power to make sure her husband never holds elected office again.
Claire walks over to the phone in the kitchen, dialing her detail.
"I'm taking Emily back to Dallas with me, tonight." Claire tells Frank. "I'll need a car to the Greenville Airport. To Dallas, yes." She hangs up the phone and looks at him, daring him to challenge her.
"She's going to be upset you know," Frank reminds her. A flicker of sadness washes over Claire's face before its snuffed out. They are going to disappoint their daughter, again. And this time, Claire has nobody to blame but herself.
"She'll get over it." Frank shakes his head at her, baffled by her selfishness. They are inching dangerously close to tearing each other apart, politically and personally. Their civility towards one another is over. He won't stop her from taking their daughter back to Texas. Realistically, there's not much he can do. Frank must forge ahead with his campaign.
Claire goes into the guest bedroom and scoops up the toddler. She's reminded of when she did this after the State of the Union. Only this time, she's not coming to Frank's aid again. Claire is determined to stay in Dallas until her husband capitulates to her demands. Depending on Emily, she might have to fast track the process if she notices her husband stalling.
"Think it over Francis. I'll be expecting an answer from you soon," Claire says to him as she's heading out the door.
"It's not going to happen Claire." Claire readjusts Emily on her hip and closes the door behind them.
Predictably, Emily starts crying the next morning when she wakes up in Dallas without her father.
"I'm sorry Emily. We had to come back here. Daddy couldn't come. He's too busy with work," Claire explains. She leaves out the part where it was her who decided they should return to the Hale mansion. Emily sobs into her mother's blazer. Claire hears someone come into the living room and looks up to see her mother.
"What's she crying about?" Elizabeth asks Claire. Emily sniffs loudly and turns to face her grandmother.
"I miss my Daddy," Emily tells Elizabeth. Besides being introduced, this is the only interaction the pair have had with each other. Elizabeth lets out a sound that's a mix between a laugh and a scoff.
"Well that's too bad darlin', cause your daddy isn't coming back," Elizabeth says and walks past Claire and Emily. Emily's eyes fill with tears again and she looks to her mother for confirmation.
"Don't listen to her Emily," Claire tells her daughter and picks her up. "Daddy will be back. It's just going to take some time."
What Frank and Claire are doing isn't fair to Emily. It's not fair to each other either. Their marriage has been in limbo long enough, and their daughter is suffering because of it. Claire's given her husband some time to mull over her offer, but now she must show she's serious about it.
Claire writes a note to Frank and asks LeAnn to deliver it to her husband in Washington, personally. It's a letter of intent. If Frank doesn't comply with adding her to his ticket, she will announce her plans to divorce him on Super Tuesday. It will obliterate his campaign. LeAnn jumps on the first plane to D.C. and Claire tries in vain to keep Emily occupied.
Frank reads the letter, grimacing at the contents of it. His wife is completely serious, he realizes this. She would hold a press conference detailing every minute of their blowout in the Oval Office if need be.
"Tell her she will have her answer by this evening," Frank tells LeAnn and sends her away.
Back in Texas, Claire is trying to make a few phone calls while Emily is down for a nap. The line keeps beeping and then goes dead.
"Both the cell and the landline…" Claire tells the Secret Service agent, but he interrupts her.
"We're on lockdown ma'am. We had to scramble the…"
"Lockdown? What are you talking about?"
"There is a current, highly credible threat to you and your daughter's lives. I've been ordered to keep the two of you securely in the house."
Francis. Claire thinks immediately. She's played her move, now he's playing his. There's no real threat to her and Emily. If there was, Frank would've let her know. Unfortunately, her and Emily are stuck in the mansion until further notice.
An hour later, Claire notices the Secret Service agents outside scrambling. Something's happened, Claire thinks to herself just as an agent approaches her on the landing.
"What's happened?" Claire asks.
"The president's been shot."
Claire's stomach drops as shock wraps around her body. Emily. The toddler is going to unravel at the news of her dad's shooting. Claire rushes upstairs to pack their bags while the Secret Service arranges her detail back to Washington.
"Mommy?" Emily asks when she's woken up by Claire's frantic movements around the room. Claire stops and throws down her half-packed suitcase. She's been dreading this moment since finding out about her husband's condition.
"Emily, something happened to Daddy. Somebody hurt him. We have to see him and make sure he gets better." Claire leaves no room for doubt her husband is going to recover. She would rather have Emily cling to that than fear her father's going to die.
"Why?" Emily asks after a few moments of silence.
"You mean why did someone hurt Daddy?" Claire asks, and Emily nods. "I don't know Emily. Sometimes people do bad things to people we love." It's a less-than-satisfactory answer, but Claire doesn't want to scare the toddler. Over his political career, Frank's made a lot of enemies. It was only a matter of time before one of them did something to him. "Get dressed and I have to talk to your grandmother for a minute."
Claire leaves Emily in the guest bedroom and walks into the master. Elizabeth is standing near the window, watching the commotion outside.
"Francis…" Claire begins.
"Michael told me." Elizabeth watches Claire curiously, waiting to see what her reaction is.
"Emily and I have to go back to Washington."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" There's a momentary pause and Elizabeth almost laughs in Claire's face. "Do you expect me to console you? Or tell your daughter everything's going to be alright?"
"No, I just…goodbye Mother." It was foolish of Claire to expect sympathy from her mother.
"Claire," Elizabeth says. Claire turns around, waiting to see what her mother will say. "I hope he dies."
Claire shakes off her mother's comment and goes to grab Emily. Hopefully, this is the last time she will set foot in Dallas for a while. After today, she has no desire to ever see her mother again.
Once they land in Washington, a car takes Claire and Emily straight to the airport. They barely avoid the press, who are eager to get a quote from either of them.
Emily holds Claire's hand while they are directed to a private wing in the hospital.
"Mommy?" Emily asks.
"What Emily?" Claire's too distracted by looking for the doctor to notice what her daughter does.
"Where's Meechy?" Claire freezes at her daughter's question. She forgot to mention to her daughter that the Secret Service agent who was killed was Meechum, the Underwoods favorite. "He's here wif Daddy."
"Emily," Claire kneels to be eye-level with the toddler. She's going to have to break more bad news to Emily, who's already been through enough. "Remember when I said someone hurt Daddy?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, someone hurt Edward too. They hurt him more than they hurt Daddy and he…he died. He's not going to be with us anymore." Claire feels her eyes welling up with tears. She quickly wipes them away, so Emily doesn't see her cry.
The toddler throws herself at Claire, hugging her tightly. Claire briefly lets herself fall apart but realizes its more because of Edward than her husband. Right now, she's confused as to how she feels towards Frank.
"Come on, I have to talk to the doctor who's fixing Daddy." Claire doesn't have time to mourn Meechum. Emily is going to need her to be strong and Donald Blythe is going to need her assistance to run the country.
Emily uncoils herself from Claire and holds her hand again, as if nothing ever happened.
"I want you to sit over there," Claire tells Emily and hands her the iPad with some headphones. Emily does as she's told, and Claire takes the doctor aside, out of earshot from her daughter.
"Mrs. Underwood," Dr. Saxon says when he sees Claire.
"How is he?"
"They're still in the OR. Probably a few hours left to go."
"Is he going to live?" Claire asks directly. She needs to know if she should be preparing her daughter for the worst.
"He took a direct hit to his liver, which is partially shattered. Fortunately, part of the left lobe is mostly intact. Now, we think there's a decent chance he will survive surgery, but even if he does, that's when the real fight begins."
"I'd like to see him."
"As soon as he's out, I'll make sure you know. You first, and then your daughter can come in later."
Claire isn't sure if she wants Emily to see Frank in this condition. She doesn't want Frank lying in the hospital bed to be the last thing Emily remembers of her father. Hopefully, when Frank recovers more, Emily can be brought in. The doctor leaves Claire and she sits down next to Emily.
A few hours later, Frank is being transferred to a private room. He made it through surgery but is still heavily sedated. Claire is granted permission to enter. Emily is fast asleep against her.
"Em, I'm going to see Daddy. This man is going to look after you, okay?" Emily is still sleepy and merely rolls over, using Claire's jacket as a pillow.
"If she wakes up, come and get me," Claire tells the agent before going into Frank's room.
When she first sees him, it startles her. Her husband has a respirator in his mouth, various tubes snaking in and out of his body and his skin is a pale-yellow color. He looks so weak.
Claire parks a chair next to his bed and calls LeAnn briefly to ask how her husband received the letter. Not that it matters anymore. She can't divorce him, not now. Claire hangs up the phone and stares at her husband, remembering a conversation they had about their mortality.
"The lawsuit?" Frank asks when he gets home one night. Shortly after Peter's death, a former employee of Claire's files a lawsuit against her, claiming she was fired because of her pregnancy.
"Among other things," Claire says.
"What other things?" Frank sets his briefcase, coat and keys down on the table before joining her at the windowsill. He presumes Emily is upstairs sleeping, Claire usually never smokes when she's awake. "You know, I cannot guarantee you that all of this is gonna succeed."
"Oh, it's not that." Their scheme is the furthest thing from Claire's mind right now.
"You can tell me, or I could just keep guessing." Frank accepts the cigarette and takes a drag.
"You'll roll your eyes at me."
"Not at you."
"I was thinking about, when one of us dies whether it's you first or me…"
"Well if its me, and I'm sure it will be, you won't be alone for long. And you'll have Emily." Claire takes the cigarette back from Frank, flicking a few ashes off.
"No. I mean, what will we leave behind?"
"We've accomplished a great deal. And I intend for us to accomplish a lot more."
"But for whom?"
"For each other. For Emily." Frank isn't comprehending the point of this conversation.
"Do you think we should have another baby? Another sibling for Emily?" Frank is so shocked by Claire's question, he almost falls off the windowsill. His wife has told him countless times she's only wanted one child. For her to have a sudden change of heart is alarming.
"Sweetheart, we don't need another child. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you." Frank puts the cigarette out in the ashtray and holds out his arm for Claire. She moves closer to him, cocooning herself into his frame.
"Francis can you hear me?" Claire asks her husband. She stands up and inches closer to his hospital bed. "Francis?" She's waiting for a response that isn't coming.
A/N 2: This is hot-off-the-press, I hope it's not riddled with too many errors. Next chapter might be the FINAL one, unless you guys want an epilogue. Please leave a review on your way out and thank you for reading!