THE UNEXPECTEDNESS

A few weeks after their fight, everything was back to normal between Aaron and Emily. She had talked some sense into Aaron's mind, and he had given up the idea of resigning. It had taken them a good two or three days for everything to really come back to normal, and they had decided to change their organization at work. They had figured out a better way to make everything work, and since then everything seemed for the best. Emily had truly freaked out over the idea of Aaron resigning. She knew it was hard to adjust to being equals again, but she truly did not want him gone from the White House. They had promised each other it would never happen again, and for now, it had not.

Emily had taken the morning off to take Inez to the pediatrician. It was a regular monthly visit, but Emily was always stressed with them. Aaron had wanted to come too, but they had not been able to both take the morning off, things had been a bit crazy at the White House recently. So here she was in the waiting room of the pediatrician. She was looking at Inez, who was happily smiling at her, playing with the keys of the car. Inez was truly a gem. She was rarely crying without a good reason. That night when she had cried so much a couple of weeks ago was an exception. Since she had started daycare, she was sleeping all night long. Now a little more than 4 months old, she had grown a lot, much more than Emily had imagined it was possible. She was starting to eat jars of baby food, which had felt like a huge step for both Emily and Aaron. Emily was thinking about everything that had happened in the last 4 months, about her family, her work, when suddenly, a thought popped in her mind. She had given birth to Inez 4 months ago, but she had never had her period again since then. She realized that she had never really thought about it, or thought about asking a doctor about it. She was cut short in her thoughts when the pediatrician welcomed them in his office. After a quick examination, he asserted that everything was fine for Inez, which was always a huge relief for her mom. She was growing perfectly, she was in the average for babies her age, and it was actually great since she was a little premature.

"Doctor, I have a question… I'm sorry to ask you that, I know it's not really your topic, but I was wondering when I was supposed to have my period back after the pregnancy?"

"You are not breastfeeding, are you?"

"No I'm not… Is that a problem?"

"No, absolutely not, but usually mothers who are not breastfeeding tend to have their period earlier…"

"So you think there is a problem with me?" Emily asked, starting to worry.

"No, absolutely not, every woman is different, but you should go talk to your gynecologist. He will be the most qualified to answer your questions…"

"But nothing serious?"

"No, I'm sure it's nothing serious… Don't worry." the pediatrician smiled softly.

Emily left the doctor's office with Inez, wondering what could possibly happen. She was imagining the worse: cancer, incurable disease, infertility. Her mind was racing while waiting for the elevator, and as she was looking at Inez, smiling in her arms, she could feel herself about to burst into tears. She was starting to freak out, and she decided to go up to the gynecological floor of the hospital. Inez still in her arms, she walked to the front desk to ask if her gynecologist was available. She was trying not to freak out when she explained the nurse at the desk her gynecologist was available, reassuring herself in the meantime by saying nothing was urgent, but she was just not feeling well. She got annoyed pretty quickly when the nurse told her that no appointment was possible before the next fews days, but Dr. Alberts came around and spotted Emily. He quickly came to say hi and realized that something was not right.

"Mrs. Shore, how are you doing?" Dr. Alberts asked, shaking her hand.

"Dr. Alberts, I'm fine thank you. I was just worried about a few things and wanted to make an appointment with you, but you're not available before the beginning of next week apparently." Emily answered.

"Oh… I'm sure I have 5 minutes for you, how about now? I'll be a bit late, but I'm sure that won't be long…" he answered, inviting Emily in his office.

Emily sat with Inez at his desk.

"So, what can I do for you? You look stressed" he asked.

"I was wondering when I was supposed to have my period after my pregnancy… Inez is 4 months old now, and I still haven't had my period, and I just realized that and it is worrying me…" Emily was reeling off.

"Okay, slow down. Keep you calm." Dr. Alberts said, trying to temper Emily. "Are you breastfeeding?"

"No I'm not… I was with Inez's pediatrician earlier, and he asked me the same question and told me to come and see you…" Emily could feel her stress in her voice.

"Ha yeah, I'm not surprised he asked you to come. We'll just run some tests quickly, but I'm sure it's nothing important, you shouldn't worry about it. It happens all the time, every woman is different. I've seen some having their period a month after the birth, others six months after."

"Are you sure? I mean… I've had so many weird things in the past. I just… It's not cancer?" Emily asked, biting her nails.

"Cancer ? Why would it be cancer ?" Dr. Alberts chuckled. "Mrs. Rhodes, you are a very healthy young woman, there is no reason why you would have cancer. It most probably has something to do with your hormones, nothing to worry about. I'm going to order a blood test for you, and we'll see how everything is going on. Alright?"

Emily felt only half-relieved, but still, it had felt good to talk to her doctor. It was only 11 a.m. when she exited Dr. Alberts' office, and she decided to take the blood test before dropping Inez to daycare. She wanted to know more as soon as possible, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to think straight before having answers. Deep inside, she was imagining all sorts of scenarios, how to tell Aaron that she had cancer, or that they wouldn't have kids again. She knew it was too early to even think about having another kid, but she knew they wanted to have more kids in the future, and it was scaring her not to be able have kids again. She was just too young for that. She shook her head to get her ideas straight and got a large cup of coffee after dropping Inez at daycare and on her way to the White House. It was burning down her throat but it felt good to have something else to think about. She was back for lunchtime at the White House and she met with Aaron to eat.

"Hey, how was the appointment? Is everything fine with Inez?" he asked, entering her office and kissing her softly.

"Hey, yeah everything's fine. She's growing up normally, everything is normal. Everything is looking good." she answered.

"Great. I was starting to worry, I thought your appointment was at ten…"

"Yeah. It was. But I went upstairs to see my gynecologist afterwards…"

Aaron raised an eyebrow, intrigued, and Emily continued.

"I was waiting for the pediatrician, and I was thinking about everything, and I realized that I never had my period since Inez… So I started freaking out…"

"Oh… Is that normal?" Aaron asked, half worried, half uncomfortable about the conversation.

"Well, she said that it could be. So she made me do a blood test, and so I did it just after cause I know that I won't be able to think straight before I have results, but apparently it's just a thing with hormones…"

"Well, tell me when you have the results. Now you're worrying me too…"

"Aaron… Please don't worry. One of us needs to think straight and stay sane as long as we don't have the results."

It made Aaron chuckle and he took his wife in his arms for a short moment before eating lunch. The rest of the day went by pretty fast, and Aaron felt relieved to have Emily back at the office to help him out with everything. The days had been pretty hectic since he was back to being Chief of Staff, and even though the rhythm as National Security Adviser had been intense, it just wasn't the same. He actually wondered how he had done all of that on his own when he was Chief of Staff in his time, and how Emily had done all that on her own for the past few years. There might have only been one Chief of Staff in all the previous administrations, but this was for sure a two-person job.

Exhausted, he asked Emily to be the one leaving early to pick up Inez from daycare at six, and he came home to take care of his baby girl. He changed into more comfortable clothes and gave her a bath and fed her. He then played with her until it was time for her to go to bed. He loved spending time alone with her, and since she was growing up so fast, she was now reacting to all of the things he was doing, she was smiling and babbling. She was starting rolling too, and it was more and more work to be sure she was safe. It was amazing him to see her grow up, from this tiny thing that came out of Emily's womb to this little smily girl reacting to her dad's silly behavior. She was making Aaron's life more full, plain and simple.

Emily came home later than expected and ended up not being able to see her daughter before it was time for her to go to bed. It was the little things like that that Emily missed with her crazy job, but she was thankful for Tom Kirkman's idea to make her and Aaron co-Chiefs of Staff. She was realizing day by day she would have seen her daughter even less than that if they still had both their crazy jobs, and her daughter would basically have been raised by a nanny. She would have hated herself for that. Though, she hoped that one day when they would have another kid, they would have less crazy jobs and would be able to be a normal family. Sure, she loved her job and she wouldn't trade it for the world, but since she had become a mother, she was craving for a basic office job with basic regular hours.

The morning after, both Emily and Aaron were at work when Emily got a call from her gynecologist who had received the results of her blood test. She sat on her chair, listening to the results, speechless. If there was one thing she had not thought about, it was that. Aaron, who had heard her on the phone, came to her office to ask, and saw her pale as if she had seen a ghost.

"Em…" he started, walking toward her.

"I'm pregnant…" she said in a breath.

"What?" he asked, surprised.

"I'm pregnant. Again…"

Aaron sat in the chair opposite her and didn't say anything. He became as pale as Emily. Inez was a bit more than 4 months old and they were already expecting their second child. This was not how things were supposed to go. They had not planned this at all. It was just too soon.

"How…" Aaron wanted to start…

"Do you really need me to draw you a picture?" Emily asked, raising her eyebrow.

"No, of course not. But… So soon? Is that even possible?"

"Apparently… Dr. Alberts says that I got pregnant my very first ovulation. That's why I never had my period back… I never even had the time to realize everything was back to normal"

"Woah…" Aaron couldn't find his words. "That's…"

"Insane?" Emily cut him short. "Yeah I know…"

None of them talked for a moment, the silence in the room was heavy, as if a storm had just come through the office. It lasted for what seemed like an eternity, and only Aaron's phone ringing in the office next to them made them come back to reality.

"I have to take that, I'm coming back…" Aaron said and rose quickly to answer the call.

Emily didn't even bother to answer and went back to her thoughts. How were they going to deal with everything? Having one child was something, already quite complicated with their jobs, but two? That close in age? Emily didn't even know precisely how far along she was. Since she had not gotten her periods back, she couldn't precisely know it before the ultrasound. Her mind started racing about her quitting her job, being a stay-at-home mom and how she would hate having to do that but how she wouldn't have the choice because daycare would cost too much for two children. And then she started thinking about diapers, bottles and everything that they would have to buy in double. She started freaking out and ran out of her office to go to the bathroom where she splashed some water on her face. She met Kendra there, and she quickly noticed something wasn't okay with Emily.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just a little weakness…" Emily lied.

"You sure? You don't look fine, you're really pale…"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Nothing to worry about. I'll… tell you everything, but I just can't right now…" Emily admitted.

"Ok sure. You know where to find me, come whenever you need or want." Kendra answered, stroking Emily's back gently and leaving the bathroom.

Emily looked at herself in the mirror. It's true, she was pale. She was as white as a sheet, she looked tired and it was only the morning. She was suddenly feeling nauseous and ran in one of the stalls to throw up her breakfast.

In the meantime, Aaron was finishing his call and saw Kendra knocking at his door.

"Hey, is everything alright? I saw Emily in the bathroom and she didn't seem fine…" she asked.

"Yeah. It's… complicated." he started, unsure of how to answer. "We'll explain. She's in the bathroom you said?"

"Yeah. Well, I guess she is still there. I'm here if you need anything…"

"Thanks Kendra, I'll go see her."

Aaron walked to the women's bathroom and knocked discreetly. He opened the door and heard Emily in one of the stalls.

"Em, it's me…"

She pulled the door open, squatting down in case she were to throw up again. Aaron walked toward her and lowered himself to her level. He took her hair gently in his hands and made a quick ponytail with the hair tie she always had around her wrist, a habit she had taken after her very first pregnancy. He rubbed her back until she was feeling better, and helped her standing up. He took her in his arms while she started sobbing.

"Hey, we'll figure things out. We always do."