Chapter 1: Two Heartbeats Away

The party in the Washington D.C. ballroom was raucous, celebrating the Inauguration of Tom Kirkman as President of the United States in his own right. On the dance floor, White House Chief of Staff Emily Rhodes danced in the arms of Aaron Shore, the newly inaugurated Vice President of the United States. He held her gently, but Emily all the same felt nervous - nothing about him, of course, but rather about the stares they were generating from other guests in the spacious hall. Before long, members of the media might try to flash pictures of the Vice President and his dance partner, to try and add credence to some scoop.

"People are staring at us," Emily murmured to Aaron, failing not to blush.

Aaron expertly twirled her. "Let them. The press is just a pack of hounds trying to sensationalize some story." Gallantly dipping her back, the Vice President stared at Emily hard. "I will always protect you, Em."

She smiled affectionately at him, and allowed him to pull her up out of the dip. Glancing over her shoulder, she spied the President on the dias, trying not to bend over as he waltzed with his chosen partner.

"POTUS seems to be in a good mood." Emily beamed at how Kirkman was balancing little Penny on his toes. Aaron followed her gaze, though his smile was more sad. Wistful.

"Well, Penny can cheer anybody up. Besides... for all intents and purposes, she's the First Lady now."

Emily was ready to laugh, but then faltered as she peered up into Aaron's serious face. "That... seems like quite the burden to place on an 9-year-old."

Aaron shrugged. "Tradition is tradition. Martha Jefferson Randolph served for her father TJ. Same deal for Andrew Johnson and Woodrow Wilson. Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan each had their niece help them in the post."

Emily smirked. "You've been talking to Seth too much."

Aaron sighed. "My point is that Penny isn't alone. Still..." and his voice grew forlorn. "I miss Alex."

Emily nodded, glancing down at her feet and blinking back tears. She still could not believe that Alexandra Kirkman had been brutally killed in a collision with her motorcade. The Secret Service's morale had gone down the toilet and stayed there for weeks afterward. Seeing that Aaron also looked broken up, Emily tenderly cupped his face.

"Want to go get a drink?" Her voice was gentle and soothing.

"Don't feel like it. In the need for fresh air instead."

The pair slipped out of the stifling ballroom, and trying to not imagine that some eyes from the media might be following them. Seeing how Aaron was trying to blink back the tears that were now mirroring the ones in her own eyes, Emily elected to bypass standing in the outside hallway and instead guided him back to Aaron's hotel room. He would be here as the movers shuttled his life into the Naval Observatory in the coming days. Closing and locking the door behind her, she turned to Aaron.

"It's gonna be OK, Aaron," she crooned soothingly.

He smiled at her almost adoringly, the light catching the sheen of moisture in his eyes. "As long as you're here, it will be." Coming forward, he placed his hands on her hips and began kissing her neck.

Emily gasped, though her body seemed to arch into him of its own accord. "Mr. Vice President... w-what are you doing?"

"Aaron, please," Aaron almost begged, darting his tongue out to suckle at the pulse point of her neck. "Come on, Em. You know me. It's us..."

Emily buried her face into his shoulder to stifle her loud moan. Her arms came up to loop around his neck. "A...Aaron," she panted. "We can't..."

"Who says?" Aaron murmured, kissing her collarbone.

"The U.S. government, for starters. You're the Vice President."

"So?" She wanted to swat him for how cavalier he was being, how loose he was already playing by the rules that would now ensnare him for the next four years. His breath was hot on her skin, and though she had not imbibed a drop of alcohol, Emily was starting to feel lightheaded. His fingers, devotedly massaging her hips, were driving her wild. And when Aaron dove in for her lips, she happily met his kiss, until she remembered herself.

"Mmmm... The President!" she gasped. "The President would never forgive us if we..." He silenced her with another attack on her mouth.

"He doesn't have to know, Em. No one has to know. Secret Service might not; they're probably going bonkers looking for us. Even if they were right outside, they wouldn't say anything."

She was running out of excuses. Staring into his eyes, Emily felt herself gradually nod. Aaron's lips met hers in a searing kiss, and she parted her lips to grant him access.

And slowly, the zipper to her dress came undone.

Hands resting on his chest, Emily moved to make quick work of each and every button, shrugging off his suit coat and then dress shirt once every fastener was worked free. Her fingers deftly next unclipped his belt, whereupon she threw down his slacks. Stepping out of them, and without breaking the kiss, Aaron picked Emily up by her bum, giving each cheek a caress and squeeze, and carried her over to the hotel bed. They finally broke the kiss for air, gasping, eyes hooded and dark with lust locking onto each other. Wordlessly, Emily spread her legs, the lace of her panties stretching tight before Aaron had the presence of mind to nudge them off her hips, down her thighs, past her knees... The undergarments remained taut down by her ankles, and she didn't even bother to kick them off as Aaron crawled between her legs.

Lifting her head from the pillow, Emily captured Aaron's lips in hers. Mouths fell open as tongues pushed through, and she fisted her hands in his wavy hair, playing with the nape of his neck.

Then Aaron slowly pushed inside of her.

The familiarity of their position afforded him the ability to be rougher about it (though he didn't mean to) and both of them groaned loudly on impact. Emily tried to think back to that first and one previous time they had been intimate, during the campaign, but found that all thoughts and words failed her to find an exact point of comparison. This moment with Aaron squirming around inside her was beyond her wildest dreams.

She couldn't believe that she was doing this. Here she was making love to the second most powerful person on the planet - a man whose authority was superseded by only one man. Bracing her hips, Aaron began to slowly thrust inside of her, quickly working up a rhythm. Eyes going wide, clawing at his back, Emily bucked her pelvis up to meet him at every undulation. Their bodies quickly worked up a sweat, saturating the mattress beneath them. Aaron's lips snapped to suck at the pebbling, purple nipples of Emily's breasts, and she keened into him further with a plaintive moan.

"Uhhhh... Huhhh... Mmmm... Hmmmm... A...Aaron... Aaron, please... Oh, Aaron, Aaron... I'm going to... FUCK!" Emily came all around him with a scream. A few more thrusts, slower and weakening each time, and then Aaron followed, cumming deep inside of her with a grunt. Grabbing his face, Emily mashed his lips to hers in a final, heated kiss before they slowly, tenderly broke apart.

Turning into Aaron's embrace and holding him close, keeping him deep inside her, Emily drifted away into a blissful sleep.