This is the last chapter of 2006, the next chapter will be posted January 8th once we're all back at college and able to get to our computers again. Consider this a season finale, of sorts. Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah! Happy New Year!
"Last big vote of 2011." Charlie strode into the bullpen. "We've gotten away with that big Lobbying-Campaign Reform Bill and higher fuel efficiency standards in the last month. Think we get away with this 'don't ask, don't tell gambit?"
"It's through committee, the House passed it 244-191 and now it's on the floor of the Senate." Gunny cracked his knuckles. "Debate started on the Senate floor fifteen minutes ago, looks like a close vote."
"Nine Democrats are for sure going to vote against it." Charlie mentioned. "They're up for re-election this year and they don't want to give the Republicans anything to whack them with. We've got one Senator on the fence, the freshman Senator from Kentucky. He says, he'll consider voting for it."
"Did you tell him that the White House would consider it a real favour." Morley stepped into the conversation.
"I did, he told me that he appreciated how important this was to the White House and that he would give it due consideration before casting his vote." Charlie replied.
"That snivelling son of a bitch!" Gunny cursed. "The President went to Kentucky three times during the midterms to campaign for him. He can't stiff us on this one."
"The Vice President has set down a sleeping bag in the freaking Senate, he's not moving from the chamber until every last Senator has cast their vote." Stacy stood with them.
"He's the tie-breaking vote." Kat walked over to join them. "This was a policy we should have struck down fifteen years ago, why the hell is everyone so reluctant to do what needs to be done?"
"Because the Senate is full of stodgy old men who remember their service in Vietnam and a time when a gay stigma got the piss pounded out of some poor guy in your platoon." Gunny looked back at the Deputy Communications Director.
"And that's the kind of thing that they want to enforce?!" Morley questioned.
"It's the kind of thing that's affecting their judgement." Gunny replied. "A few of the young Republicans are motivated by the Evangelical Christian lobby, sure. But a lot of these men have some military service on their record or someone in their family does."
"It's going to be a long evening and a long night." Stacy rolled her neck.
"Longer if someone filibusters." Kat reminded them.
"Let's go watch this on C-SPAN in the Oval office. This is the last big day of business we've got with Congress before they head home for Christmas and the New Year. Then we come back, it's the primary season for the Republicans and half of them will either be out campaigning or out stumping for the ones who are campaigning." Charlie clapped his hands together. "Besides, the President sent down to the kitchen for some pizza and nachos so that we could actually eat something while the Senate debated and voted on the issue."
"You're still telling me that we might be one vote down, though?" Gunny turned to Charlie as they walked through the bullpen and toward the oval.
"The key word there being might, boss." Charlie reminded him.
"You guys head over to the Oval, the President and I have the press conference. OMB numbers were just agreed on by Democratic and Republican leadership. With the latest budget numbers, our surplus is going to be 16.6 billion dollars this year. The President wants to share the good news with the press." Stacy headed off toward her office to collect press briefing papers.
"Maybe we have him sit down on Meet the Press with Russert this weekend and do a one on one for a full hour. It's the toughest interview in politics, but the President pulls it off every time." Gunny suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Stacy nodded and Morley rolled his eyes. Communications at the White House always got a little nervous when the President sat down with any interviewer that wasn't Oprah or Jon Stewart. Morley, Kat, Charlie and Gunny headed off for the Oval and Stacy headed for the briefing room.
2134 ZULU
OPNAVS OFFICE – PENTAGON
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
Harm and Sturgis were glued to C-SPAN. This vote in the Senate was going to affect Navy policy after all and if the Navy was going to have to rewrite regulations on homosexuality, it would be best if the Deputy Chiefs of Naval Operations knew if they needed to start rewriting that policy tomorrow or never. Bax tapped on the door to Harm's office and walked in to join them.
"Close vote?" Bax asked as he took a seat in one of the big chairs in the office.
"Still doing speeches. At this point it's Senator Paulson of West Virginia going up against Senator Hayes of Mississippi." Harm answered.
"Paulson's the Democrat and Hayes is the Republican, right?" Bax checked.
"Yup." Harm answered as he reached for the Tostitos. "Paulson is also the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, ninety-four years old and still spry enough to likely take Hayes to the cleaners in a fistfight. How's Jen?"
"Doing great, she enrolled at GWU to get her Ph.D." Bax informed his friends who just kind of looked at him funny. "And no, she's not pregnant yet."
"Time's a wastin' buddy." Sturgis quipped.
"Yeah, you're getting up there in age." Harm added.
"Shut up, so are you." Bax retorted.
"True, but I have three kids." Harm pointed out.
"How are Mac and little Matt by the way? Sorry, I haven't been around to see them lately." Bax quickly shifted gears.
"Mac's doing good, I think she's got a little bit of cabin fever and she's eager to get back to work next semester. Matt's good. Not sleeping through the night yet, but otherwise good." Harm chuckled. "It's Sasha that's got me a little worried though."
"Why's that?" Bax questioned, suddenly concerned about his goddaughter.
"Harm's just being overprotective on account of who her best friend is." Sturgis jumped in. Bax was prepared to laugh but he settled for an explanation from Harm.
"Tim Ross." Harm stated quickly. "That kid is too smart for his own good."
"Harm, they're nine years old." Bax deadpanned.
"Eight," Harm corrected, "and Sasha's my little girl, I get to be protective."
"Protective is one thing, Harm. You stew about it." Sturgis laughed.
"Well, the kid is over at the house pretty much every night after school. Mac thinks the whole thing is really cute, but I don't know. I think Tim's a little bit too much like his dad." Harm was just having fun with it now.
"Harm, I reiterate, they're eight years old and they're just friends." Bax chuckled and turned his attention to Sturgis. "How are Bobbi and Izzy?" By Izzy, Bax was referencing young Isaiah Turner who had been born almost four months earlier.
"You know Bobbi, trying to conquer the world and be Supermom at the same time." Sturgis chortled.
"You should ask her if that title comes with a cape." Bax reached for a chip.
"I did." Sturgis dunked the nacho in some salsa.
"What did she say?" Bax was grinning from ear to ear.
"She reminded me that as Chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she controls the spending for the Navy." Sturgis answered.
"Speaking of which, Sturgis. Your wife is about to give her speech before the Senate." Harm called everyone's attentions back to the TV and turned up the volume.
2215 ZULU
PRESS BRIEFING ROOM
WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
"Good evening, everyone." Stacy stood behind the podium and looked out into the press gallery. "I realize that this isn't our regular meeting time but I felt that certain things warranted the attention of the press. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, The President of the United States."
Stacy stepped aside from the podium and the White House Press Gallery got to their feet. Nate walked into the briefing room and stood behind the podium. "I always wondered what it would take to get people to stand when I entered the room." He joked and the press had a good chuckle. "I have some very good news to report. In accordance with the latest numbers from the OMB, that's the Office of Management and Budget for the new guy from Reuters," the press had another chuckle, "and as agreed upon by both parties in Congress and my office, the budget for the coming fiscal year will produce a surplus of 16.6 billion dollars." The President looked up into the gallery for a second. "This is the first budget surplus since President Clinton. I guess I'll take your questions now."
"Mr. President," the reporter from CBS raised his hand, "early in the year, the White House was touting the possibility of college tuition subsidies for working class families, have you given up on that policy?"
"No, I agonized over the decision to postpone that policy rather heavily, I listened to the opinions of my advisors and I arrived at the conclusion that, while a college education is important, it was important to get the federal government into the black so that running the program didn't increase the size of the deficit." The President answered before calling on another reporter.
"Sir, how do you answer those critics who say that in signing the campaign and lobbying reform bill that was pushed by the Democrats in the House, you were serving your own interests and not necessarily the best interests of the people?" The reporter from the Wall Street Journal asked.
"A campaign should be a debate about ideas, a contest between two competing philosophies for the moral authority to govern. By getting rid of 527 ads what we've done is gone to length to ensure that the ideas of the candidates are more important then the ability of some special interest to throw mud. As for lobbying reform, government is supposed to be the representatives of the people, it cannot function in the purpose intended if the representatives are subject to the fundraising whims of major industries. The people belong in government independent of the influence of lobby groups." The President answered and moved on to the reporter from ZNN.
"Sir, we all know that next year's election is looming large on the horizon." She paused for a second.
"Is it, I hadn't noticed." The President joked, once again earning a few laughs.
"What I mean to ask, sir, is are you worried that the push of Senate Democrats for higher fuel efficiency standards will hurt you in states like Michigan that have economies dependent upon auto industry manufacturing?" The reporter pressed.
"This job is never easy, you can please some of the people some of the time and rarely can you please everyone. The reality of higher fuel efficiency standards is the same now as the realities of seatbelts were fifty years ago, the auto industry needs to keep up with energy concerns and we need to lower our dependence on foreign oil imports. You can't drill your way to energy independence, so regardless of how it may affect my electoral prospects, I felt the need to do the right thing. That having been said, I think the people of Michigan are a wise and insightful group and they'll acknowledge the necessity of this move." The President gave a paternal nod and moved on to the reporter from the Washington Post.
"Mr. President, right now the Senate is debating the passage of S1105, the bill that would end the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy from the military regulations and allow open homosexuals into the service, you're on record as supporting homosexual equality. How do you respond to those who say that this is just a response to Reverend Stanley's march against gay marriage at the National Mall a couple of weeks ago." The reporter had his tape recorder in the air.
"I'd say that equality is, or at least should be, the call of every President since Abraham Lincoln. A lot of us have tried in our small ways to make some impact whether the equality be based on gender, race or sexual orientation. I suggest that Reverend Stanley take a step down off his soapbox and take a quick reading of the part of the Constitution which stresses the separation of church and state. Then I would suggest that he open his Bible to 1 John 4:20 where St. Paul writes "If anyone says 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." This bill that the Senate is debating is a plain and simple measure of equality. And if they pass it tonight, I will personally go down to the Senate chamber and sign it right then and there." The President's rebar spine held him upright in the mould of the great men who had held the post before him. "Thank you, that's all." He stepped down from behind the podium and headed off back toward the Oval.
Stacy took over the briefing. The President never was an easy act to follow.
2256 ZULU
ST. ANDREW'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
CRYSTAL CITY, VIRGINIA
Mikey Roberts practically had to drag Sergei here. He was convinced that Sergei needed to talk to someone about his problems with Anna, and really no one would be better at helping him through that then would Anna's sister Beverly. Beverly Chegwidden was a Presbyterian Minister and the kind of person who was basically a psychiatrist and a minister wrapped into one. She did counselling which was helpful, she did couples counselling but the powers that be weren't ready to make that an option for Sergei and Anna yet.
"I don't understand why I have to talk to a counsellor." Sergei whined as they walked over the crimson carpet toward the Reverend's office. Mikey tapped on the heavy wooden door.
"Because if you don't, your CO is going to bust your balls, so no matter how unpleasant this may be, I imagine that would be worse." Mikey reminded him. Reverend Chegwidden came to the door and opened it.
"Sergei, nice to see you again." Beverly nodded at the young man. "You too, Michael."
"You can just call me Mikey, ma'am, most people do." Mikey grinned. Beverly Chegwidden might have been the wife of the Secretary of Defence but she was just about as close to June Cleaver as any woman could be in the modern day. Sergei walked into the office passed the Reverend Chegwidden who still stood at the door. "Good luck, ma'am. I think you'll need it."
"As St. Paul said, Michael, 'if God is with us who can be against us?'" She smiled at the younger man and closed the office door. She turned back to face her desk and walked back across the room. "Sergei, I don't want you to loathe our sessions together, I want you to see this as a place where you can come and talk about what's honestly bothering you and I hope that I can help you work through it."
"What's honestly bothering me, Reverend is that I have to come here at all." Sergei started. "Yeah, I got drunk one night. Yeah, I got in a fight and yeah, the whole thing was incredibly stupid. But it doesn't make me a psych case."
"No, it doesn't but why did you get drunk? Why did you get in a fight?" Beverly took a seat in her chair.
"I suppose I got in a fight because I got drunk, Reverend." Sergei sniped sarcastically.
"I think we both know that it's not that simple, Sergei." She reminded him. "Almost a year ago, your fiancée died, is that right?"
"Yes." Sergei nodded. "She was killed by a suicide bomber in Israel."
"I'm sorry." Beverly paused. "Were you there?"
"Yeah," Sergei nodded. "She, uh, she died before the ambulance could even leave the scene."
"Were you angry?" Beverly chanced.
"Of course I was angry!" Sergei almost burst out of his chair. "How the hell do you think I felt, I just watched the woman I love die in front of me for no other reason then the fact that she was Jewish and Israeli."
"Have you talked to anyone about it since it happened?" Beverly shifted the position of her chair.
"My brother, a little but not really. Mikey and Johnny came by one night to talk about it but I, I just couldn't." Sergei huffed.
"Why couldn't you talk to them?" Reverend Chegwidden crossed her legs behind her desk.
"I was," he hung his head, "I was in the bag. I'd gone through about four bottles of vodka in a week."
"Fair to say that it probably doesn't bring out the best in you?" A little bit of that Reverend soft judgemental tone snuck through.
"Probably, it's just that I didn't really have anyone to talk to, I guess, I don't know. Harm's got his kids and his job and none of my friends seemed to want to talk to me." He intertwined his fingers.
"Yet they came to see you." The Reverend pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah they did, didn't they." Sergei grinned slightly. He'd taken the first steps at least, but it was going to be a long row to hoe.
2449 ZULU
THE OVAL OFFICE
WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
No one had their suit jackets on any more. Nate, Gunny and Charlie all had their sleeves rolled up. The Vice President had called the quorum and ended the debate, bringing all the Senators into the Senate chamber for the vote. The tension in the room was dialled up a few notches as every set of eyes was focused on the television. The First Lady had joined them with the kids and Harriet to watch the vote take place. The President wasn't sure that the kids even understood but this was surely going to be one of the defining moments of the first term of his Presidency.
"Think that Senator Bennett is going to vote with us on this one?" Gunny turned to face Charlie, his Deputy Chief of Staff and chief legislative advisor.
"I think he might. I think he wants some allies in the White House if we get re-elected next year and he wants some federal aid for Kentucky." Charlie explained.
"If the young Senator votes with us on this one, I might be so happy that I'll handout money to every person in Louisville." The President added as he rubbed little Jack's head. "Honey, is Tim at the Rabb's again?"
"You can't separate him and Sasha Rabb, it's as if the two of them are attached at the hip." Nicole smiled. "It's kind of cute actually."
"I'm not sure that Admiral Rabb sees it that way, ma'am." Gunny chimed in. "The Vice President is calling the votes from the Republican side of the aisle first."
"We're about to hear forty-one people say the word 'nay', what's so exciting about that?" Kat humoured as she took a bite out of a slice of now cold pizza.
"You think Senator Coles might defect from the Republicans on this one? He's running for President as a moderate and this would still keep him in the good graces of Northern Virginia voters and moderates in the blue states." Gunny turned to the President.
"After the last election, didn't we prove that something like thirty-two states can be 'blue states'?" The President questioned. "He'll vote with his party. He's the ranking member of Armed Services, he almost has to."
"I can't believe that we're going to see nine Democrats defect. There are going to be headlines in the Post and the Times tomorrow that we couldn't even control our own caucus, the pundits are going to have a field day." Morley stressed as he paced around in the office.
"Only if you use the word 'caucus', then Jon Stewart will have a field day." Gunny joked. "Alright, they're calling for the nays on the Democratic side of the aisle."
"Which means we're about to hear from a few of our southern and plains state Senators who think I'm trying to let the gays run the government." The President rolled his eyes and looked down at his son. "Don't use that word."
"What, government?" The child said with a smile at his father.
"You sure you didn't raise a Republican, sir?" Gunny chuckled and reached for his Pepsi on the coffee table. The votes were in on the nay side, there were fifty. A cheer rose from the group.
"Hold up, hold up, hold up!" Charlie cautioned. "Bennett could still abstain from voting, in which case, we still lose."
"The Vice President has unrolled his sleeping bag in there; he won't let Bennett leave without voting." Stacy reminded her co-worker. The Vice President began the aye votes and the White House senior staff that was gathered in the Oval Office began begging some mercy from the heavens. They watched C-SPAN rack up the white numbers in the Aye column. Everyone was hanging their head, afraid to look at the screen and preferring to just listen to the commentary. "They're going to call Bennett last, he has the least seniority of any Democrat in the Senate." Stacy reminded them.
"Shhh." Gunny hushed her playfully.
"Senator Knowles of Iowa!" The Vice President called out on the TV and Senator Knowles registered his vote in the affirmative column. All the air seemed to be sucked out of the room, they knew that Bennett was the next up. "Senator Bennett of Kentucky!" The Vice President called and all eyes drifted back up to the television screen. They watched as the amount of votes in the affirmative went from 49 to 50 and tied the vote in the Senate.
The room erupted with shouting and fist pumping. Gunny and Charlie high-fived each other, the First Lady kissed the President in a mock up of the picture of the sailor and the nurse in Times Square on V-J Day, Morley was pumping his fists like engine pistons and Stacy leapt into Gunny's arms for a quick hug. He lifted her into the air before slowly lowering her back to the floor. "We won." He whispered to her, a grin quickly spreading across his face, his arms still wrapped around her.
"Yeah, we did." She was blushing and trying to avoid his gaze. Lest he realize how much she was enjoying this. The President grabbed his jacket from the back of the couch and put it on. As he did this, the Vice President cast the deciding vote to pass the bill on C-SPAN.
"Come on, you three." The President pointed to Gunny, Stacy and Charlie. "I said I was going to sign that bill on the floor of the Senate tonight, and that's what I'm going to do." He tossed their jackets to them as the three of them headed to the door of the office.
"They're going to write about tonight in history books, sir." Gunny cheered as the door to the office closed behind them.
0120 ZULU
RABB RESIDENCE
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
Harm came strolling into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around his wife who was standing in front of the sink. "You getting ready to head back to class next month, Professor?" He whispered in her ear. She nodded and leaned back to kiss him on the cheek.
"How're things at work?" Mac whispered. "Did Tom Boone throw a fit over the Senate vote?"
"I think Secretary Chegwidden made him leave the building before the results were announced." Harm smiled and opened his fingers over her stomach. "Where are the kids?"
"Tommy is with Frank at a Capitals game in the city, Matt is asleep in the cradle." She pointed to the place five feet behind her where she had set up the cradle in the kitchen. "Sasha is out in the backyard building a snowman with Tim Ross."
"He's here again?" Harm sounded astounded.
"Harm." Mac gave him a warning tone.
"I know, I know, it's cute." He chuckled and kissed the sweet spot behind her ear.
"That's right, it's good for Sasha to have a friend." She nodded, trying to ward off the want to just let her husband's ministrations take over. "Besides, you should see the two of them help each other with their homework. Besides, she might have a little crush on him."
"I don't approve of that." Harm said in a mock serious tone.
"Harm, she's going to be turning nine next year." Mac reminded her husband.
"I don't approve of that either." Harm chortled. Mac giggled a little and headed over to the screen door that lead from the kitchen to the backyard.
"Kids! Hot chocolate!" Mac called and two small figures wrapped tight in snowsuits came trudging toward the house from the backyard. When they got there, they kicked off their boots and Tim flipped off his hood. The kid fired off a salute at Harm. "Admiral Rabb."
"Marine." Harm was slightly amused by the respect that the eight year old was able to show even at his age.
"Mom, you have to come out and see our snowman later, it's really cool. He looks just like Frosty!" Sasha was really excited, she reached over and gave Tim a big hug. The eight year old boy tried his best not to look annoyed with his best friend. A battle that he was obviously losing if Harm's quiet chuckles were anything to go by.
"Okay, Sasha, maybe later alright?" Mac hunched over and rubbed the top of her daughter's head. The little Rabb walked over and took a seat at the table, taking Tim Ross with her.
"Dad, you should have seen Tim, he gave me a boost on to his shoulders so we could put the head on the snowman, it was really cool." Sasha's eyes lit up as she blew on the surface of her hot chocolate.
"Mac, he's impressing our daughter with his strength at eight years old." Harm whispered in his wife's ear.
"Is that a grey hair?" Mac pointed to his temple and Harm immediately pulled a spoon out of the drawer to check. This caused Mac to giggle a little as she took a seat at the table with her daughter. "How was school today, guys?"
"Lots of fun, we won a game of dodge ball. Jack, Brad, Arleigh, Tim and me, we took the other team to town." Sasha was beaming a smile.
"Sasha's a really good athlete, and she's better at Math then I am." Tim Ross smiled quickly as he took a sip. "This is really good cocoa, Mrs. Rabb."
"Thank you, Tim." Mac chuckled lightly, this kid was too polite for his own good. Mac's attention was diverted to something that was coming in over the radio, she turned toward her husband. "Harm, could you turn up the radio, please?"
0155 ZULU
US CAPITOL BUILDING
WASHINGTON, DC
The President's motorcade pulled up to the Capitol and the President got out of the car along with Gunny, Stacy, Charlie and the Secret Service detail. This was a great day, or evening rather. It felt like campaign season was kicking off. The President and his entourage began to walk up the steps of the Capitol as the Vice President, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House began walking down the steps to meet them.
This was the 'Pennsylvania Avenue Street Gang' as Time Magazine had dubbed them three years earlier. The group of Democrats that was capable of pushing through legislation that the caucus agreed on. Time Magazine had never touched on the fact that between them, there were often policy disagreements and there had been policies passed that the White House didn't entirely agree with or that some Democratic Senators weren't entirely pleased with but compromises were ultimately reached.
Crowds had gathered on the Capitol steps behind police barricades. On one side was a cheering crowd that had come to thank and cheer on the President and congressional Democratic leaders for passing the bill. On the other side was a group of Evangelicals that Reverend Stanley had likely collected from Virginia for a protest today and brought to the Capitol right now. Nonetheless, the President was signing autographs, shaking hands and waving to people as he made his way up the steps.
The Secret Service was trying to push him along and get things moving. It was slightly below thirty degrees Fahrenheit and they didn't want people getting sick because they weren't wearing coats. Gunny and Stacy walked a step behind the President grinning the whole way and trying hard not to cast longing glances at one another. Halfway up the steps, they were met by the congressional delegation. "Mr. President." Senate Majority Leader Ed McLaren reached out and shook the President's hand. "I believe that we've got a bill for you to sign." The old Missouri Democrat was smiling as he said it.
"I believe you do, Ed." Nate chuckled. The senior members of White House staff and congressional Democratic leaders posed for a quick photo op. That's when all hell broke loose. Someone in the crowd shouted 'gun' and there was screaming and a few loud popping sounds that indicated that shots had been fired and then for seconds after that, the only sound that could be heard were the sounds of Pete Simpson, Chief of the President's Secret Service detail calling in.
"Shots fired. Repeat, shots fired."