A reimagining of 1x01 and 1x03 in the world of The Minor Leaguer and this story!

There's some references to chapter three of The Minor Leaguer if you're confused by anything and want to check it out!

Enjoy!

Reconcilable Differences

It was a more hectic day than usual in the White House as everyone prepared for the State of the Union that night. Aaron had barely made it through the door of the West Wing before he was bombarded with issues from staffers concerning tonight. For someone who wasn't attending the State of the Union, it frustrated him how involved he had to be with the planning and making sure everything ran like clock-work.

He finally made it into his office and immediately sat in his desk chair, rested his head back and closed his eyes. His hectic morning certainly wasn't helped by the head ache he was sporting. He perhaps had one drink too many last night with Warner and George to celebrate Warner making partner at his law firm, something which he instantly regretted as soon as he woke up.

He jumped slightly in his seat when his office phone started ringing. He moaned, took a deep breath and lifted the phone.

"Aaron Shore" he greeted down the line.

"Would you care to explain to me why the secretary's entire domestic agenda has been erased from President Richmond's speech?" a voice barked at him down the line.

Aaron buried his face in his hand. He swore someone had it out for him. Someone knew he was having a terrible morning and decided it would be funny to present him with a mad Emily Rhodes.

It had been a long three years working together in Washington. Ever since their explosive fight at Warner and Vivienne's wedding, they struggled to put their differences aside and often found themselves butting heads at work. Today appeared to be no different.

He lifted his cell phone and saw that he had 8 missed calls from Emily and a bunch of texts, so he had no doubt she would probably be mad at him about that too.

Aaron sighed; "Emily—"

"Don't 'Emily' me Aaron, just give me a straight answer."

"Can you please stop shouting down the phone?" he asked as he rummaged around in his drawers for some aspirin.

Emily scoffed lightly; "Looks like somebody took the celebrations too far last night." She had heard from Vivienne that Warner was sporting an impressive hangover, so she wasn't surprised to hear Aaron was sporting the same.

"Yeah well at least when I'm drunk, I don't sing awful renditions of Michael Bolton songs and drunk dial people—" Aaron challenged, remembering back to the time Emily got drunk after her boyfriend broke up with her and drunk dialled Aaron.

Emily glared down the phone; "Let's not go there." She said through her teeth.

"How did you even get a copy of the speech?" Aaron asked. He knew Emily had her ways but gaining this was impressive.

"That is not important right now. Why are none of Tom's programs included in the speech?" Emily asked slowly,

"I don't know Emily, it's the president's choice—"

"We have worked so hard over the past year for these programs Aaron—"

"No one is questioning that Emily—"

"Just get us a meeting with Langdon, stat." Emily demanded.

Aaron sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head in his hand. "I'll text you the time." he grumbled, wanting more than anything for this conversation to be over.

"Good." She said before hanging up.

Aaron put down the phone and quickly downed the aspirin he found before standing to leave the room. If hour one of work had been as bad as this, he dreaded to think what the rest of the day would hold.

Aaron cursed himself for asking the question 'what else could possibly go wrong?' when he left his office to arrange a meeting between Kirkman and Langdon. Here he was, walking through the West Wing, trying to guide a man on how to be president. A man with no political ambition. A man who was thrown into this role when the whole government had been killed in an attack on the Capitol not two hours ago.

He barely had time to process what had happened. He'd received countless numbers of texts and phone calls from friends and family making sure he was ok, and he'd only had time for a quick response of "I'm ok" before he had to go and help Kirkman.

Although he would never admit it, the first person that crossed his mind when he heard about the bombing was Emily Rhodes. The girl who had been the biggest frustration in his life since he was 18 years old. Despite being on bad terms for the past three years, he cared about her a hell of a lot—though his pride would never let him admit that. His fears for her safety were swiped away when he remembered Kirkman was the designated survivor, so Emily wouldn't be at the State of the Union. It wasn't until he saw her in the flesh striding through the West Wing corridors, that he let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding in. But he would never let her see his fear.

"Aaron!" she called when she spotted him. "I finally got past the gate, what's going on?"

"Can't talk right now Emily, I need to get back to the PEOC—" he said coolly.

"Well you're certainly making a habit of ignoring me today." Emily bit back. There is was. The dig about not answer her 8 calls. He was wondering when that was going to come. Aaron merely rolled his eyes, not really in the mood to fight with her right now—he also didn't have time to fight with her.

"Is Tom going to be in the PEOC?" Emily asked.

"It is his meeting." Aaron responded as if it were obvious.

"Well, then I'm coming with you." Emily stated calmly, but surely.

Aaron turned around to look at her; "Sorry, Emily, but in there it's code word clearance only, you're not authorised."

Emily gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes. In any normal circumstance, he'd be making a dig at her for being a minor leaguer and minor leaguers couldn't have access to the President. But it was clear his mind was elsewhere. She still wouldn't put it past him to try and score points now though.

"Aaron if you are choosing now for a pissing contest—"

"That's my point Emily, this is no contest. Now if you'll excuse me—"

"Aaron, President Kirkman needs people he knows by his side. You and I have our differences, believe me I know, everyone is the whole of Washington knows, but those differences are entirely personal, and it should really have no bearing on your better judgement right now. Those issues do not need to be brought into the White House, especially on a night like this. You know how important it is that I am there for him right now." Emily said, trying to reason with him.

Aaron agreed with her. He wouldn't deny that. But this was beyond his control right now. There was nothing that Emily could do to help the situation at this moment—that was his judgement, despite any personal differences.

"I said no Emily" he said quietly before turning and walking away.

As mad as Emily had been at Aaron today, when she saw him in the White House, a wave of relief ran through her. She knew he wasn't supposed to be at the State of the Union, but she still feared that he had gone anyway. She would have never forgiven herself if she left their relationship in the state that it was in and he had died.

When he finally turned around to look at her, she was taken aback by the pain that was in his eyes. She knew him better than anyone and while he could put on a good front, she could tell he was afraid. He was worried. She had no doubt he'd lost friends in the explosion and he'd barely had time to process this. He was thrown into situation no one could have imagined, with no time to breathe.

"Aaron!" Emily called after him, causing him to turn around. She went to say something, but her breath just got caught in her throat. She didn't know what to say, but she just needed him to know that he would be ok.

Aaron gulped when he saw the pained look across Emily's face and realised that perhaps he wasn't as good at hiding his as he thought. He knew what she was trying to say. He understood why she couldn't get it out. He merely nodded at her to show he understood, before turning around again and walking on.

No one could have prepared them for this, no one could have prepared them for being thrown into this working situation together, but they knew they had to fix things. It was just a matter of who would be able to put their pride aside first.

"You know, red line's been running since yesterday." Aaron said as he caught up with Emily in the corridor. "I'm just saying, if you want to be Chief of Staff, you might think about leaving a little earlier."

Despite everything that had happened, Emily and Aaron still managed to find a way to be at each other's throats in work. They were driving everyone around them nuts, but they were both stubborn, and neither were prepared to let their guard down, especially with the Chief of Staff job on the line.

Emily sighed and continued to look down at her phone; "Not that it's any of your business but my boyfriend asked me to marry him this morning and it's a little rude to walk out in the middle of a proposal."

Aaron felt a little twinge in his heart when Emily said the words boyfriend and marry. He knew she had been dating this guy Justin Winchester, but it never occurred to him that it was anything serious. He'd met him once at Warner and Vivienne's house and didn't think much of him. He was exceptionally ordinary, and Emily Rhodes deserved to be with someone who was a little more than ordinary.

Aaron cleared his throat and realised that he had been silent for a moment too long; "Justin asked you to marry him?" He asked, trying to play it cool. "Who knew he had it in him, Warner and Vivienne always said he was a bit of a weasel." He said with a scoff as Emily glared deeply at him. "How long have you been going out again?"

"Ten months, why?" Emily asked.

Aaron let out a laugh as Emily stopped in her tracks. What game was he playing? They had both done exceptionally well in ruining each other's relationships in the past, so she was waiting for his attempt at a fatal blow to ruin this one.

"Something funny Shore?" she asked as she crossed her arms.

"It's classic post-disaster acceleration." Aaron stated as Emily raised her eyebrows, not understanding where he was going with this. "Traumatic events tend to make people re-evaluate their lives. Babies, marriage, divorce. It happened after 9/11." He was about to say she was lucky, but he feared his face would give away that he didn't mean that at all.

"Is it really that shocking to you that someone would just want to marry me, for me?" Emily asked.

"No, that is not what I'm saying—"

"and I haven't actually decided… yet." Emily said, slowing down at the end of her sentence when she thought she'd caught on to what Aaron was trying to get at. "I get it." She said in her light bulb moment; "You want me to say yes so I'll be distracted, and you'll get Chief of Staff. Wow, Aaron, impressive, that is low even for you." Emily said as she started to walk on again.

Aaron quickly caught up with her, reached for her arm and turned her around, not quite believing that she would think that lowly of him. "What are you talking about?" he asked as they stood uncomfortably close. "You really think I would be ok with you marrying Justin Winchester?" Aaron asked quietly as Emily simply stared up at him in disbelief.

This wasn't about the job—this was about them. He didn't want her to get married- period.

Aaron cleared his throat and took a step back, before anyone could start talking about the moment Aaron Shore and Emily Rhodes shared in the West Wing corridor. Emily remained silent, unsure what to say. He had no right to tell her not to get married. Not since he walked away from her countless times. She certainly had no right to get mad at him—considering she was the reason two of his girlfriends broke up with him.

"But like you told Caroline—" Aaron said breaking the silence between them, remembering what Emily had told his ex; "Love in Washington doesn't happen every day." Before walking on and leaving a stunned Emily in his wake.

To say that Emily was pissed when Aaron got chief of staff over her would have been an understatement. She thought she deserved that job more than anyone. She understood Kirkman's reasoning, but it didn't make it any easier.

When Aaron made it clear earlier that marrying Justin wasn't a good idea, she realised he was right. Post disaster acceleration was definitely not the right reason to get married. She went to Justin's office down town that afternoon to tell him that she couldn't marry him and that she was sorry. He merely nodded his head and asked; "Is it because of him?" Emily knew exactly who he meant, but she wasn't about to admit it in that moment. She played ignorant, but Justin was no fool. It had always been him.

After she left Justin's office, Emily thought about the damage she and Aaron had caused each other over the last three years. It was damage she couldn't quite believe she had caused to someone she cared about so much and she felt ashamed that she had let it go this far.

As she walked past Aaron's office that night, she watched him as he lifted a bottle of whiskey out of his drawer and smile. She noted how at home Aaron looked as he looked around his new desk and she finally made herself known as she walked into the room.

"It looks good on you. The office, it suits you. Really, congratulations." She said with a small but sincere smile.

Aaron couldn't quite believe that Emily was standing here being nice to him, but he wasn't about to question it. "No hard feelings? I'm sure I could hunt down a couple of glasses—"

"I should get home. I promised my mom I'd video call her, she's a little freaked out about me working in the White House right now." Emily explained.

"Understandably." Aaron said with a nod. "So, I get a job and you get a fiancé." He stated, dying to know what she'd said but assuming it was yes. "You're probably the real winner here."

Emily wasn't sure she was ready to have this conversation with Aaron, but she knew she had to say something. "I said no. Post disaster acceleration isn't the right reason to get married."

Aaron sighed; "I didn't mean that—"

"No, you definitely did." Emily said with a little smile. "And you definitely meant what you said about Daniel being a weasel."

"I just—he is exceptionally ordinary Emily. And you deserve more than ordinary." Aaron confessed.

Emily nodded, both of them knowing there was more to Aaron's reasoning, but neither were willing to acknowledge it.

"Well at least I won't be late for work again. And now we're 1 for 1 on ruining each other's relationships." Emily pointed out, seeing as Caroline had broken up with Aaron after her chat with Emily.

"Well, Jessica did break up with me in college because she thought I had feelings for you and I did screw up your date with Ben that same night." Aaron pointed out.

Emily scoffed at how ridiculous this whole situation was; "2 for 2 then." She half joked.

Aaron decided in that moment that if Emily could put her pride aside and come in here to congratulate him, then he could put his pride aside and fix things with her.

"I'm sorry that I accused you of sabotaging my relationship with Caroline. It was out of line and unfair. Caroline and I were never right to begin with and—I'm sorry for everything that's happened with us over the past few years. I should never have let it get this far, I should have put my pride aside—" Aaron said.

"It's ok. I'm sorry too. I can't believe it's taken us three years to get here." Emily said with a little laugh.

"I know, if only our friends could see us now." Aaron joked, knowing that Warner, George, Vivienne and Lenny wouldn't quite believe they'd managed to put their differences aside.

"I guess now we can start working together like normal adults who don't hate each other."

Aaron looked at Emily with a softness in his face. "I could never hate you." He confessed.

Emily looked at her feet, trying to hide the soft smile that was forming on her face. She could never hate him either, but she felt she had confessed enough for tonight.

"Just—don't get too comfortable. Chiefs of staff get replaced around here all the time." She said raising her eyebrows and smirking. "Goodnight Aaron." She said, before she turned and left the room, leaving a stunned yet relieved Aaron in her wake.

He was finally getting his Emily back.