I wake up with a big smile on my face. It's the last day of school. I have a final exam in Media and Government, and I have to turn in my final paper for Building Democracy and that's it. Lunch with my friends and then nothing. An easy day. I'll probably head to the East Wing, do a little bit of work, then bring Lulu home for some girl time before the family descends on us.

I hear Josh out in the kitchen. Getting ready for the day. He's really been amazing. Who would have thought that Josh Lyman could function as practically a single Dad. He's fantastic. He gets Lulu ready, he makes her breakfast, he gives me time to study, all while balancing one of the most demanding jobs in the world.

But as much as I appreciate him, I can't wait to get back to normal. This degree has been worth it, but it hasn't been easy.

"Da-dee!" I hear Lulu bellow from her room. She does have his lungs. And then I hear Josh hustling to get her. She also has him wrapped around her cute little finger.

I climb out of bed and grab Josh's tshirt and boxers off the floor. They'll do for now. By the time I'm done brushing my teeth and make my way to the kitchen, Josh is serving Lulu her breakfast.

"Mama!"

"Hi, pumpkin. What are you eating?"

"Booberries"

"Blue, Lulu, Blueberries." Josh emphasizes the correct pronunciation from the sink without turning around.

"Booberries, Da-dee." Lulu repeats grinning at his back as she shoves another handful in her mouth.

"One at a time, sweet pea." I gently remind her. Luckily, a handful is only three berries, so she's not going to choke or anything, but still, good manners start now.

Josh turns around with a little plastic plate with bite size pieces of waffle on it. He stops, looks me up and down, then lets out a low whistle. "Nice."

He sets the plate on Lulu's tray, then grabs my wrist and pulls me up tight to his body. "Really nice." He breathes into my ear, as he wraps his arms around me and gropes my ass.

"Mmmmm. This is a nice way to start the day. Do you wanna play hookie?" I ask him in a sultry tone.

"Oh, no, little girl. You have a test today. Don't you?" He teases me even as he leans down to capture my lips in a long kiss.

Lulu giggles as we make out for a few moments before I reluctantly pull away.

"Yeah, I guess I'd better go take that test." I put a little fake pout on, which Lulu quickly copies.

"You can't fool me, you big nerd." Josh laughs. "You're looking forward to this final exam."

He's right. I am. I can't help it. I know I'm going to ace it. I've been looking forward to this moment for over a year. I'm looking forward to graduation on Saturday, and this test is the last step in reaching my dream.

"All done, Da-dee." Lulu announces holding up her sticky fingers. Josh grabs a washcloth, then wipes Lulu down. When he's finished he lobs it back into the sink, and unbuckles her, lifting her out of the seat. Lulu immediately reaches for me.

"Good morning, baby." I tell her as I hug her close. Should we go get you dressed?"

"I can get her." Josh offers.

"It's okay. I've got time before I need to get ready."

While I'm getting Lulu dressed, I hear Josh puttering around the house and it makes me smile. I just love this life we have. And anyone who tries to take it away from us is in for a fight.

By the time Lulu and I come back out of her room, Josh has their backpacks by the door. Plus he's left a yogurt and cup of coffee at the table for me.

He gives me a quick kiss as he takes her from me. "I know I don't need to say 'good luck.' You've totally got this. You're going to knock it out of the park."

"Thanks, babe. Love you."

"Love you too."

"Bye Mama! Love you!" Lulu announces over his shoulder as they head toward the front door.

I grab my flashcards and sit down at the table. A little quick review never hurts.

. . . . . .

Jackie quizzes me in the car on the way to school. "You're totally ready for this." She tells me with a grin. I know am I. It feels good.

Jackie and Scott take me through the back and straight into class. The protests have mostly died down, but there are still a few rabble rousers and today especially, I don't want to engage with any of them before class. I just want to keep my mind on the task in front of me.

We are about ten minutes early, so I flip through my flashcards one more time. Most of the class is here doing the same, but Olive's seat is empty. As the clock ticks closer to 10, I find myself getting more and more nervous. Where is she?

At two minutes til, the door opens and she slips in, with the proctor right behind her. I'm relieved to see her, until she walks up the steps to take her seat.

As she sits down, I notice that one side of her face is bright red. Her lip is split and she's been crying.

Just as I hiss, "Olive…" the proctor begins passing out the exams, face down on our desks.

Olive mouths, "I'm okay." Then pulls her pencils and scan-tron out of her bag.

The proctor gives us both a look as he walks to the front of the room.

"Alright everyone. This is Govt. 318, "Media and Foreign Policy" you have two hours. You should all be familiar with the student code of conduct, but I'll remind you that Georgetown has a zero tolerance policy for cheating. If I see you cheating you will be asked to leave the room and I will bring a disciplinary action and you may be kicked out of school. Good luck, everyone. You may turn your papers over."

For a few moments I just start at the back of the test. What should I do? Without moving my head, I try to sneak a peek at Olive. She's got her head down and she's reading the first question with a furrowed brow. I really want to know what happened, and if she's really okay. But I guess I should follow her lead and focus on this test right now. After all, from all appearances, she's making a supreme effort. I should too.

By question 6, I notice something. Each of my answers has a little faint dot next to it on the exam sheet. That's really odd.

Question 7: The process by which media not only reports the news, but puts it into context for the average viewer is called:

A. Socialization

B. Normalization

.C. Interpretation

D. Engagement

Yep. Interpretation has a dot next to it. I look up. The proctor is reading a magazine, so I look around the room. Jordan is looking right at me. "What the hell?" He mouths at me.

I notice that most of our study group is looking around at each other. We've all reached the same conclusion. This is the answer key. Holy crap.

Well, everyone might hate me, but there is only one thing to do. I get up and walk up to the proctor.

"Excuse me."

He looks up in surprise. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, I think so." I show him the test. "I think this is the answer key."

"Holy crap." He stands up suddenly and looks around the room. Lots of people are looking up and there is a buzz starting to generate. He looks back at me kind of helplessly.

"Do you have the professor's phone number?" I ask him.

"Yes."

"Tell everyone to maintain test conditions. Then call the professor and ask her what to do."

"Good idea."

As I head back to my seat he makes the announcement. The room quiets down but only a few people seem to be working on the exam. A couple are frantically filling in their scan-tron.

Olive isn't making eye contact with me.

A few minutes later, Cynthia walks into the room.

"Attention class- as you have undoubtedly all discovered by now, the answer key was inadvertently printed and distributed rather than the Final Exam. Therefore, the multiple choice portion of the exam will not be graded."

There are a few groans from around the room. But I hear at least one soft "yes!" from the back.

Cynthia continues, "Therefore, the entire final exam grade will consist of the short answer questions and instead of choosing one of the three, you will need to provide answers for all three."

At that there are a few more groans and Cynthia holds up her hand. "Also, you will be given 24 hours to decide whether to designate this class as pass/fail rather than graded. If you designate the class as pass/fail and you were passing prior to the final exam, your exam will not be graded and you will pass the class. If you'd like that option you may designate it on your exam and turn it in now. I'll give ten minutes for everyone who wants to leave to do so now, then for those that choose to stay you'll have the full two hours to complete the exam."

Immediately most of the class, including Olive, start to pack up their things.

I'm a little torn. I want the A. I'm confident that if I write the short answers that I'll ace this exam. But I really don't want to let Olive slip away without talking to her.

And that's more important than this grade.

I quickly write Pass/Fail on the front of my bluebook and join the line of people turning it in.

Cynthia looks a little surprised. "You're almost certain to get an A if you take this, you know?" She whispers as I hand it to her.

"I know. And thank you. I've really enjoyed this class, but there's someone I need to talk to right now. And I don't want to miss the opportunity."

As soon as I get out of the lecture hall I look around the lobby area desperately.

"Hey Donna!" Jordan calls out. "We're all heading over to see if we can turn in our Democracy papers early, then heading over to the Tombs. Come with us!"

"I'll try to catch up with you later. I need to do something first." I tell him as I continue to scan the area.

"Okay!" He answers back and the group heads off.

Once they are out of the way, I can see Olive, huddled in a chair in the corner, looking out the window. Thank god she waited.

"Olive!" I call out to her as I hurry over and take the seat across from her.
"What happened?"

She sniffles a little. "I told Nick I wasn't going to move to Ann Arbor with him."

"And he hit you?"

Olive nods. "I told him I didn't want to drop out of school, that I wanted to finish my degree. At first he was still kind of agreeable, saying that of course, I could transfer. When I told him that I didn't know if I'd be able to get the transfer done by fall and I didn't want to lose any time. He started trying to talk me into it, saying that it wouldn't matter. So then I told him about your story. He was furious! He screamed at me. 'You think I'm abusive? I'll show you abusive.' That's when he backhanded me."

"Oh god, Olive, I"m so sorry."

"Then he started trying to apologize, but he kept saying it was my fault for accusing him. At first when I said I had to leave to get to the exam, it didn't seem like he was going to let me. But then I begged him. I said that if I didn't pass all my classes there was no way I'd be able to transfer. So he let me go, but he told me to, and I quote, 'stay away from that bitch who is filling your head with nonsense. Otherwise, I'll have to take care of her myself."

As soon as Olive says that, Jackie moves in closer to me. She looks straight at Olive. "What's his name and address?"

Olive gapes at her for a second before rattling it off. I've always wondered if my detail could hear certain conversations, I guess now I have the answer.

Jackie turns from us and relays the information into her wrist.

"Wha-what's she going to do?" Olive asks.

"Hmm. I don't know. That was a pretty vague threat. But given the state of your face, they aren't going to ignore it completely."

Jackie turning back towards us and addresses Olive again. "We'd like you to come to the White House and give a statement."

"I think you should press charges against him." I offer to which Jackie quickly nods her agreement.

"I don't know " Olive hesitates. ". . . Do you know who his Father is?"

"Aww, crap. Nick Malken?"

"Yeah."

"His father is the senior Senator from Virginia?"

"Yeah."

"Crap." We sit there silently for a few seconds. Damn it. I still think she should press charges. But admittedly, it might not do any good.

"I don't really want to go back to the apartment." Olive whispers.

"No, I don't think you should. I really think we should go to the White House. I want to see what Josh thinks about this. Do you have any other finals?"

"No. That was my last one."

"Okay. Come with me. I have to go turn in my final paper before we go."

Professor Smythe isn't in his office when I get there, but the Department receptionist is logging in seminar papers. I watch her check mine in and then I turn to leave.

"Hold on a minute. Do you know if Professor Smythe is having office hours this week?"

She checks the schedule. "Yes. He has office hours scheduled from 1-3 on Thursday afternoon."

"Can I make an appointment?"

"You don't need to. You can just drop in."

"Okay, thanks."

. . . . .

Olive looks a little in awe as we slide into the back of the SUV.

"It has lights and a siren." I tell her with a grin.

"Have you used them?"

"Yeah, when Lulu was born. On the way to the hospital."

"That is so cool."

"Yeah. It really kind of is."

When we pull up in front of the West Wing, Olive's eyes get even bigger. We climb out of the vehicle and Jackie takes charge.

"Right this way." She directs us away from the lobby towards the secret service entrance

"Don't I have to sign her in?"

"No. You are both coming with me. We're going downstairs to give Ron a statement so he can access the threat."

Halfway there I pull out my phone. "I'd better give Josh a heads up." I mutter.

But then we turn the corner, and I see him standing outside of Ron's office with his back against the wall.

"Oh," Jackie quips, "he already knows."