So, here is the last chapter of my twist on season 3! I have loved writing this and I hope you have enjoyed reading it. I have some ideas where I would like this to go next, but most of my ideas are dependent on whether DS gets a 4th season, so I'm unsure how I'm going to play it.
For now, enjoy this final installment and don't forget to let me know your thoughts!
Consequences Be Damned
After discovering Lorraine's illegal activites, Emily raced round to Vivienne and Warner's house and banged on the door. It quickly swung open and Warner immediately hugged Emily.
"Emily, we've been worried sick about you." Warner said. "Harry called us, said you'd gone AWOL."
"Is Vivienne here?" Emily asked as she walked into the town house.
"No, she's out with Lenny looking for you, I'll call her-"
"No, wait!" Emily said quickly.
Warner frowned, "Emily, what is going on?"
"Warner I need you to not be my friend right now, I need you to be my attorney, ok? I was going to go to Lenny but she's on the White House Counsel, it's not a good idea-"
Warner gulped, concerned over where this was going, "Emily-"
"My boss bugged Moss's phone." she blurted out as Warner's eyes widened at her confession.
"... how long have you known?" Warner asked quietly.
"About a half hour."
"Who else have you told?"
"No one." Emily said as she shook her head. Warner could see that she was shaking and pulled her into the living room and sat her down. She couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through Emily's head right now. Her mother had just died and now she was being hit with some seriously illegal crap?
"Ok... take out your phone, you need to call the FBI." Warner advised.
Emily shook her head, "I can't do that."
Warner nodded, "You're afraid it will hurt Kirkman's chances. Did he know?"
"No."
"You know that? Or are you guessing?"
"Warner, all Aaron and I have talked about since we started working for Kirkman is how honest he is and how he is not a politician, he is a good man, he wouldn't let this happen." Emily reasoned.
Warner ran his hand through his hair, not sure what to make of all of this. "You may or may not be doing him a favour by delaying... but I guarantee you are not helping yourself. Every hour that you don't come forward, you're going to have to explain that to the FBI, to the federal prosecutor-"
"I get that Warner-"
"I don't know that you do Em. You are going through enough shit as it is, this is the last thing you need right now, dammit." Warner said, completely frustrated by all his friend was having to go through. "Look, Harry also called Aaron, he's on his way home so go back to the house and wait for him and try and get some rest, ok? We'll keep Lexie for as long as you need."
Emily nodded her head. She knew rest was the last thing she would be getting tonight. How could she possibly sleep when all of this was going on? She got up and walked to the door, but Warner quickly pulled her back and hugged her.
"I am so sorry Emily." she said quietly as Emily nodded her head and held back her tears.
Instead of going home, Emily made a probably rash decision and went straight to Kirkman. She played him the recording, she told him what she could without incriminating him or herself. The less he knew the better, but he needed to know that Moss didn't know about the attack. She left the recording with him to do with what he pleased, but she knew he would want to correct the record—consequences be damned.
She then slowly drove home, reality starting to hit her about the night. She had managed to push her mother's death to the back of her mind, but everything came flooding back to her and she began to feel overwhelmed. The most ridiculous thought came into her head as she pulled into the drive way. She sincerely hoped Tom won and Aaron became VP—because then she could move out of this house. The house that she had helped her own mother kill herself in.
She walked into the house and called out for Harry but there was no reply. She figured he must have gone out looking for her. She lifted out her phone to text him and tell him he was ok, but before she could the front door opened. She turned around and saw a frantic looking Aaron standing behind her.
They simply stared at each other for a moment, not really knowing what to say. Their lives were complete chaos. How could they say anything about that?
Aaron simply walked forward and hugged Emily as she broke down in tears. Tears of sorrow for her mother, tears of fear for her boss, tears of relief that she was finally in her husband's arms again. He held her tighter than he had ever held her before as they sunk to the floor with their backs against the side of the staircase. He let his own tears fall as he felt his own heart tear in two at Emily's sorrow.
Soon enough, Emily's breathing started to steady out and Aaron realised she had fallen asleep in his arms. He wasn't surprised at all; this whole day had been unbelievably draining. He lifted her into his arms and carried her upstairs and got her into bed. He didn't even bother changing himself as he lay down beside her in his suit and held her, never wanting to let her go.
The following morning, Emily watched Aaron as he slept peacefully beside her. For a brief moment when she woke up, everything felt like a normal day and then reality sunk in. Her mother was dead, Lorraine bugged Moss, she could be indicted—she was pregnant. Crap. She completely forgot about that. Imagine your life being so chaotic that you forget you're pregnant.
After Vivienne and Lenny had planted the seeds in her head, Emily went out and bought a test, fully expecting it to be negative, but to her surprise the test came back positive, telling her that she was around 7 weeks along. She had planned to tell Aaron while they were in Florida but she never had the time. A part of her was glad that her mother was the first to know. That she could die knowing something wonderful was happening. Yet, a part of her was also miserable that her mother would never get to meet her baby.
Suddenly, Aaron's phone vibrating on the night stand and he groaned. He rolled over and checked his messages. He let out a sigh, "Lorraine is a sadist." he grumbled as Emily lifted her phone to check her messages. "She wants me Texas today for rallies in San Antonio, Austin and Dallas... it's not even 6am."
"That's a lot of breakfast burritos." Emily joked.
Aaron rolled back over and looked at Emily, "I'm not going."
"Yes, you are."
"Emily, no."
"Aaron, I'm ok—I mean, I'm not ok, but I just—I want to go to work. I want to see this campaign through, no distractions." Emily said as she got out of bed and went over to the mirror. She inspected the bags under her eyes before pulling her hair back.
"You can't just brush this off like it's nothing Emily-" Aaron said as he also stood up.
"That is not what I am doing." Emily snapped. "My mother would not want me sitting around here moping. She would want me to go out and win this election and I can guarantee you that my brothers and my dad will literally push me out of the house if I try to stay. I can deal with my pain when this is over."
Aaron nodded his head, realising that it was Emily's choice how she coped with this and he had to support her.
"Will you call me regularly?"
Emily smirked, "Probably not. But I'll watch you proudly on the TV as you win us Texas."
"I think Moss's serious indiscretions are going to win it for us..." Aaron grumbled as he took his clothes off to go for a shower.
Emily looked at her feet, "I'm uh—I'm still not 100% convinced that he was involved."
Aaron frowned, "Come on Em. His right-hand guy, his biggest donor, that cell phone video?" he said, rhyming off the evidence. "They're sure blaming Moss in Texas."
"Yeah, well, fasten your seat belts it's going to be a day." Emily merely said as she walked to the bedroom door.
"Emily... do you know something?" Aaron asked quietly. It was written all over her face. Something was going on.
"Just- the day before, things go bump." Emily said, neither confirming nor denying Aaron's suspicions. The last thing she wanted to do was drag Aaron into all of this. "Anyway, I'm going to shower and then go and see Lexie for an hour, make sure she doesn't think her parents have abandoned her, but good luck in Texas." she said with a small smile before turning and leaving the room. She figured now wasn't the time to drop the baby bomb on Aaron and decided in that moment to wait until after the election.
After the rallies in Texas, Aaron swiftly made his way home to be with Emily. He hated that he had to leave her right now but he knew how mad she would get if he hadn't have gone, not to mention what Lorraine would have done to him. While he was on the plane, he called Warner to check in.
"Hey man" Warner greeted down the line from his office. "How's it going? I just watched your speech in Dallas."
"Yeah, things are looking good for the election, it's almost worth the permanent nerve damage from shaking 8,000 hands." Aaron joked.
"Ugh, there's not enough hand sanitizer in the world..." Warner grumbled.
"Warner, we're going to win this thing." Aaron said quietly, but seriously down the line. He could feel it in his bones.
"Who would have thought? Quarterback Aaron Shore, supposedly corrupted by his two best friends in high school, is now the Vice President of the United States. Seemed like a pipe dream back then man."
"It still feels like a pipe dream right now..." Aaron told him truthfully. "How's Lexie?" Aaron asked. He felt extremely guilty that he'd spent zero time with his daughter over the past few days. He swore at the beginning of all this he would put being a father first and he felt like he was failing miserably. "I hate myself for not being there right now."
"Don't do the whole parental guilt thing Aaron, you're not being a dick about it, you have genuine reasons for not being here and Lexie's going to love you regardless." Warner told her. "And she's good, Jamie has loved having a playmate for the past few days, they really tire each other out. Vivienne said Emily came by this morning."
"Yeah, she said she was going to call over on her way to work... did Vivienne say how she seemed?" Aaron asked. Emily had completely shut down any possibility of talking about her mother right now, but he wondered if she felt different when she saw her best friend.
"Just that she looked a little sad. Viv asked her if she was doing ok and she said she was fine but she probably wouldn't say if she wasn't anyway."
Aaron sighed, "She is not even remotely ok but she wants to get through the election and then deal with everything."
"Is that such a good idea?"
"I don't know man, I tried to tell her that it maybe isn't but she didn't want to hear it. Right now, she just needs my support and if that means waiting for her to come to me then, I'll wait." Aaron replied.
Warner nodded, "That seems fair. Listen, we'll keep Lexie until the election is over, I know things are completely crazed and you barely have time to even sleep-"
"I couldn't ask you to do that."
"You're not asking, we're offering. It's only, what? Two more nights? Then you can finally get your arms on your little girl."
Aaron nodded and gulped. He wanted nothing more than to hold his daughter tightly and never let her go. "Thanks Warner" he said quietly.
"Alright. We'll talk soon."
Emily was on her way to Warner and Vivienne's that night to help put Lexie to bed when Aaron rang her and told her that the President had invited them to the residence for drinks and dessert. She paused for minute before deciding to go. The campaign was over, there was no more to be done, the vote was tomorrow—and Kirkman said nothing about the recording. He didn't change the narrative, he didn't put out the fire, he didn't exonerate Moss—and she had no idea why.
She cautiously walked into the residence and saw Aaron and Seth were already there enjoying a drink together. She watched as Aaron spotted her in his peripheral vision and a smile rose on his face as he turned to look at her. She gave him a weak smile in return.
"Emily, I'm glad you could join us." Tom said as he walked over to the drink's cart. "What can I get you?"
"Uh... just a club soda would be great." Emily said with a tight-lipped smile. After the few days she had had she wanted to be downing a single malt, but that wasn't exactly an option right now.
Emily took the soda from Tom and went to stand beside Aaron, "You ok?" he asked quietly as she merely nodded.
Tom raised his glass with a smile, "To all of you, who believed in me before I was sure I believed in myself and for helping me answer one of Emily's on point questions in early days; thank you all."
Emily looked down at her drink, "I thought it was to be a welcome break from politics as usual. Disingenuous and craven calculation. To restore integrity and honesty to the public sphere."
As she finished, she looked up at Tom with a knowing look as he didn't know what to say. He felt like he owed her nothing, but she clearly didn't feel the same. Aaron eyed her curiously, his suspicions only growing that she knew something he didn't.
"I'll drink to that." Seth said, trying to ease the obvious tension in the room.
The butler soon came in with a tray of desserts, "Ladies first" Tom offered.
Emily sighed, "Why not? Conscience be damned..."
Later that evening, they all stood to leave as Tom called Emily back for a moment. After telling Aaron she would meet him in the car, Emily held back, waiting to hear what Tom had to say. He justified himself by saying he didn't have the time to prove the authenticity of the tape and he wasn't about to risk the presidency on it. Emily couldn't believe what she was hearing, but what was one more let down to add to her ever growing list?
She and Aaron drove through the streets of Washington in complete silence. It was eating Aaron alive how withdrawn she had been all day. While he didn't necessarily blame her, he was thrown when she had a secret talk with Kirkman before they left. Something was going on and he was worried.
"Emily, what's going on?" he finally had the courage to ask.
"Nothing." she said courtly as she continued to look out the passenger side window.
Aaron's gripped tightened on the steering wheel, "Please don't lie to me."
Emily whipped her head around, "Why can't you just accept my answer? You don't need to know everything that's going on, you're not VP yet." she snapped.
"I'm asking because I'm worried about you Emily, something is clearly the matter, so let me help!"
"You can't!" Emily shouted as Aaron fell silent. "There is nothing you can do to fix any of this!"
In that moment, both of them realised Emily wasn't just talking about what whatever secret she had with Kirkman. She was talking about her mother and how broken she felt.
After a moment of silence, Emily decided to be as honest as she could right now.
"I feel like a little part of me has died Aaron." she told him quietly. "And there is nothing I can do to make it better. I helped my mother kill herself. I can't just erase that; I can't just move past that and you can't just kiss it better."
Aaron shook his head, "I'm not trying to just kiss it better Emily and I don't expect you to just get over it in a day and I hope you don't just expect that of yourself either. You're allowed to grieve Emily, you should grieve and I want to grieve with you. I can't make the feeling you have in your heart go away, but I can be there for you as you work through it. I can be your husband. That is all I am asking from you. Let me be there."
Emily didn't respond and they simply drove the rest of the way home in silence. When they got there, Emily saw her dad sitting on the porch steps. Aaron looked over at Emily who was staring sadly at her father. He just looked so lost.
"I'm uh... I'm going to take a drive." Aaron simply said as Emily nodded and got out of the car.
Aaron took off down the road as Emily sat beside her father.
"So... the campaign is over, huh?" he asked. Emily couldn't quite believe that that was the first thing he said to her after her mother had died.
"Yeah. It's all down to the people now." Emily confirmed as she rested her hands on her knees.
"You did really good work sweetie, you should be proud."
"Thanks" Emily mumbled. "Where are the boys?"
"They're at a hotel. We're going to head back to Connecticut in the morning, make arrangements for the funeral. We'll keep you informed."
Emily nodded, "Are you going to be ok?" she asked quietly.
"I'll make it through. I have your brothers and you're just a short plane ride away." He said as he held on to her hand. "I think I might sell the house."
Emily's face fell. After her grandparents had died, that big old house she had grown up in officially became her parents'. She always just assumed it would be there, but then again, she always thought her mother would be there too.
"It's far too big for just me." John concluded. "Though, I'm not sure Peter's too keen on seeing it go so he might take it off my hands."
Emily smiled at her brother's action. "It would be nice to keep it in the family." She wanted to be able to take Lexie there in the summer to play in their huge garden, and one day, take her new baby there too.
"Yeah, it would be. You know... you showed an incredible amount of strength yesterday. You stood by your mother and you honoured her wishes, even though every part of you was telling you not to." John said as Emily felt herself tear up for what felt like the thousandth time this year. "I am so ridiculously proud to say that you are my daughter and while I miss your mother and will always miss her terribly... I can see her in you already and that is a beautiful gift."
"I love you. So much." Emily said quietly to her father as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Oh I love you too... and I can't wait to meet this little baby of yours." he said with a soft smile.
Emily let out a laugh, "Aaron's going to kill me when he finds out you all knew before him."
John smiled, "No. He'll think it was just right that we knew first."
Emily sat with her father for a short while before her brothers pulled in her drive. They all quickly hugged and Emily looked at the four men and smiled softly.
"I know this is going to sound completely ridiculous but... do you guys want to play some football?"
Harry raised an eyebrow, "Right now?"
"Yeah" Emily said "I just—I was thinking today about how we used to play football all the time in the garden and it's one of my favourite memories in the entire world and it's just so simple and you have to hold on to the little things in life. It's the little things that make it all worthwhile."
The boys smiled at her and nodded, "You're on Rhodes." Sam said as he went into the garage and grabbed a football.
Emily played outside with her brothers for a while, though they were extra careful with not sacking her considering she was pregnant. They laughed and they had fun and John even smiled as he watched them. While they knew they would always have a hole in their hearts where Karen used to be, they knew this is exactly how she would have wanted it.
When Aaron arrived home last night, he was surprised to hear Emily humming in the kitchen. As he walked in, he saw her cooking something at the stove. She was a pretty terrible cook, but she made this incredible pasta dish that Aaron couldn't get enough of. He watched her for a few moments and saw that she looked peaceful.
"Hi" he greeted quietly as Emily turned around and smiled softly at him.
"Hi. I thought you might be hungry." she told him as he walked over to her.
"Smells amazing." he said as he rested his hand on her back and kissed the side of her head. "Are you ok?"
Emily nodded, "Yeah. I mean I'm still very, very sad and I probably will be for a long time, but I am ok and I know I will always be ok... because I have you by my side. No matter what."
"Yeah. You will." Aaron confirmed.
"There uh—there's also something else to be happy about." she told him.
"Oh yeah?" he asked as he stole some of the peppers sitting on a chopping board as Emily slapped his hand away. "What's that?"
"Well... I'm pregnant." she said.
Aaron froze and a smile immediately fell on his face, "Really?"
Emily nodded, "Yeah. I wanted to tell you when were in Florida, but I never got the chance and I told mom just before she died and it was a really wonderful moment and I'm sorry you didn't know sooner-"
Aaron lifted Emily in his arms and held her tightly, his face beaming. "That sounds like a perfect moment." he told her as she smiled back and hugged him tightly. "How are along are you?" he asked as he moved back so he could look at her.
"About 7 weeks, so pretty early days... looks like the world is getting that 2nd baby the tabloids were on about." Emily joked.
Aaron let out a laugh, "We are getting a second baby... and it's just amazing. I love you." he said as he wiped away a stray tear that was rolling down her face with his thumb.
"I love you too." she said with a smile before leaning up and kissing him.
The following day, Emily had noticed Lorraine eyeing her curiously all day. Apparently, she had asked Dontae if something was going on with her, but he refused to give up any information other than the very obvious fact that her mother had just died. But Lorraine wasn't buying it. She knew there was something else going on. She had been off with her for a few days now.
Before she could think too much about it, however, news came in that Tom had won the election. They had taken Texas from Moss and they had won. Tom had a second term, Aaron was the new VP and things were looking positive for the first time in what felt like forever.
"So, Mr. Vice President..." Emily said as she walked over to Aaron at the celebratory party. "How does it feel?"
"Pretty good... I have a lot of pride right now, which should maybe be frowned upon but uh—I'm going to soak it up for now." Aaron told her as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
"And rightly so." Emily said as she put her own arm around his waist. "Oh hey, look" Emily pointed through the crowd. Aaron looked up and smiled widely when he saw Lucy.
"Lucy!" he called as she quickly rushed over to him and hugged her brother.
"Aaron! Oh my god, this is amazing! Congratulations!" she said excitedly. "I don't know how to thank you for getting me in to this sweet party." she said with a laugh. "Emily, you look amazing, as always... and I'm really sorry about your mom."
"Thanks Lucy." Emily said sincerely as she felt Aaron squeeze her waist.
"So... my big brother is now vice president of the United States... that gets you some serious cool points." Lucy joked.
Aaron chuckled, "Well if I ever need reminded how cool I am I'll be sure to come to you."
"Sir, it's time." one of Aaron's secret service men said as he nodded.
"I'll catch you later Luc" he said as he gave her one last quick hug. "Come on" he said as he pulled Emily's hand to head up on stage.
The crowd roared as Emily and Aaron appeared. Aaron walked to the podium and introduced Tom who came out with Penny and Sasha by his side. The crowd roared even louder for their President. As Tom went to make his speech, Aaron walked back over to Emily and held tightly on to her hand.
Everyone listened attentively as Tom gave his speech, but Emily's mind was elsewhere. She watched as the FBI approached Lorraine and asked her to come with them.
"... the person that I could not have done this without, standing right beside me from the start, is your new vice president and my friend, Aaron Shore!"
As Lorraine walked past the stage she grabbed Emily's arm and pulled her down to speak to her, Aaron looked on confused, but tried to not turn his attention to it.
"I knew you were treacherous but I didn't take you for this stupid." Lorraine spat, finally realising why Emily had been so off the past few days. She knew about Peagsus and she had gone to the FBI. "You just tainted the greatest victory in Presidential history. Look at you, high on the fumes of your moral superiority. You are the one who leaked Moss' gene results because you thought no one was looking. Hell, they way I heard it, you couldn't even kill your poor mama right."
"You are a fucking monster." Emily spat back.
"I know what I am. I'm someone who wins. But what the fuck are you?" Lorraine challenged, as the FBI officer pulled her away.
Emily stood up straighter as Aaron looked at her completely confused. He didn't hear all Lorraine said, but he heard enough to know that it was nasty and vindictive.
"I would also like to take a moment and add a particular thanks to Emily Rhodes, who has been with me from the very beginning." Tom said as he turned to smile at Emily who was trying her hardest to look attentive. "She has seen me at my best and most assuredly at my worst and whose highest of high standards I will always endeavour to meet."
The only thing that ran through Emily's mind was Lorraine is right. Her few hours of peace were dashed in one second. Who did she think she was? She was supposed to keep the president honest, but how could she harp on about morals when she couldn't keep them herself?
Emily felt so lost and confused standing on that stage. Her husband was so happy and she wanted to relish in it with him, but she couldn't. Not when she felt like a fraud. She leaked Moss' results, she helped her mother kill herself, she wasn't exactly the most honest chief of staff either. No matter the smile she plastered on her face, no matter what principles she spouted, she couldn't help but think:
I am so full of shit.
