"Leo you can't keep her hidden like some princess in a tower. It's time she faced this!" Jed snapped at his subordinate angrily.
Jed looked to his Chief of Staff with a naked rage. They were standing in the Oval Office and he wanted Leo to act like it, in here Leo had to be the Chief of Staff and nothing else, not Cadence's father.
Leo stared back at Jed unflinching with only a hint of the worry he felt in his blue eyes. "Sir I know but I don't know where she is," he confessed.
Jed's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't know?" he repeated in a horrified disbelief. "This woman has been accused of helping terrorists by the CIA and you don't know where she is?!" Jed's voice rose an octave as he let his anger slip into it again.
It was as if Jed was trying to compete with the volume of the wind roaring outside. It had been blowing a gale since the early hours of this morning and showed no signs of letting up.
Leo suppressed the urge to sigh. This wasn't his day, hell it wasn't his week or his month. Yesterday he had dealt with Josh, Toby, Sam, C.J then Mal and Jenny with his President sprinkled into intervals never mind all the issues going on outside Cadence. There was a trades bill with Japan to consider, there was protesting in Ohio over a land tax, and the ambassador of France was due to visit next week. Leo hadn't slept and he felt he hadn't really stopped speaking to people either. His one small sliver of silver lining had been Josh telling him quietly this morning that he, Sam and Toby were determined to fight back against the CIA and see Cadence cleared of the implication of their rumours and reinstated as the charitable helper she had tried to be in Colombia. That was of course if it was what the President wanted to do.
Today Jed was going to address his nation about the news his own team had leaked and the news the CIA had countered it with.
"Sir I've been trying to find her," Leo insisted. He paused as a shadow crossed his face and his mouth creased down. "I'm worried about what she might have disappeared to do," he confessed darkly. "You know how well she deals with stress," he added pointedly.
Jed's gaze softened slightly before he could help it. He wanted Leo to stop being a father in here but he knew that was impossible. If it was one of his three girls in trouble, as he had previously alluded to Zoey, he wouldn't be able to be the President anymore.
"Alright," Jed said quietly. "Where do you think she is?"
"I'm not sure, she's not at home or with Mallory," Leo admitted, "and she isn't at the Eisenhower either. I'm about to ask the Vice President now but if she's not at work, and she shouldn't been since she's on leave, I doubt he would know where she is."
Jed frowned at this. "I'll be honest Leo I'm surprised he's standing by her on this, it doesn't do him much good."
Jed was pacing about, he had an energy he couldn't quite rid of and he knew it wasn't going to end until he finally made his speech.
Leo nodded wearily. "I'm surprised myself sir, John is a good man but he's ambitious too and he offered to go to Colombia because of this which is unlikely to do him any favours."
"Well I wouldn't be too sure of that," Jed murmured. He raised one finger and waved it as he made his point. "I mean he could turn things around in Colombia, he would be meeting with the President as well as his Vice. Still, we need him to go, it's the very least we need after this mess. If we don't reach out diplomatically they have every right to consider retaliation, our own men provided their criminals with weapons, there is no denying that Leo. Never mind this suggestion of helping innocent villagers get murdered."
Leo stared back at his leader curiously. There was a questioning burning in him that he was almost afraid to ask but he figured now was as good a time as any. "Sir, you are making a speech about this today. Are you going to mention Cadence?"
Jed gave Leo a steely stare as he considered a sardonic retort and made himself swallow it down. There was no avoiding the issue of Cadence McGarry, thanks to Director Wolfe she was plastered across most of the papers.
"I'm going to inform the public of the truth," Jed remarked firmly, "that members of the CIA did provide cartel members in Colombia with weapons and that the CIA Director chose to release a story about Cadence McGarry to distract from this truth. I cannot state that he was attempting to blackmail us with it, we would look weak then nor can I say much more about it, people will think I'm defending her not because she deserves it but because she's your daughter. Leo, asides from some half-crazed CIA agent we have little evidence for Cadence's version of events. I believe her Leo," he added solemnly before Leo could interrupt, "I d but I think it's for her boss, the Vice President to talk about, if he will do it."
Leo nodded agreeably. "You're going to focus on this business with the weapons."
"I have to be careful mentioning the villagers Leo, the CIA may have had a hand in their execution but it was Colombian soldiers that carried it out. If we want peace mentioning that won't help us and we have only Cadence and this Sparks' word that these villagers were innocent. I have to talk to the President of Colombia first before I make any speech to the public," Jed retorted bluntly.
"When are you doing that sir?" Leo pried.
"When you find Cadence," Jed answered. "You have to consider the Colombians will want to talk to her too Leo and her silence is damning to the public, she needs to address them and respond to this story."
Leo looked noticeably alarmed at this thought. "Sir I don't need my daughter pushed over the edge," Leo protested.
"Leo she had to expect this coming into the world of politics with this shadow over her, she has to help fix it or she's finished in our world," Jed replied sternly.
Jed's stare turned sympathetic as he waved his hand down dismissively. "Now I don't want her...doing something drastic," he chose his words awkwardly. "Leo, I love her like one of my own," he reminded his Chief of Staff, "but she can't run or hide from this. If she leave us to clean it up then people are always going to have doubt and wonder if she's gotten away with something because she's your daughter. If she faces it head on she'll win more respect so find her."
"Alright, I'll go ring John."
Leo turned and exited out of the Oval Office. He walked quickly with a noticeable weight on his shoulders. Jenny had been fierce with him last night, Mallory too but they had both come at him over the phone with a different approach.
Jenny had been snapping that Leo should have never elevated their wayward daughter to such a prestigious job. She had told him that this latest scandal was in a way his fault because he should have known better with Cadence. That had angered Leo, he couldn't understand why Jenny was so tough on their youngest. Cadence had suffered in life, she deserved a break.
Mallory had been angry because she believed her father hadn't done enough to stop the CIA leaking this story. She had also expressed that she felt Leo and Jed should have rushed to Cadence's defence immediately. Mallory couldn't understand why Jed wasn't on the pulpit before the press screaming out her sister's innocence. Mallory was blinded by love and unwilling to consider that such a move might be damning for the President.
Leo understood the real reason for Mallory's rage because he felt it too- guilt. Mallory had no more known than Leo where Cadence had been or what she had gotten himself into and neither of them could understand how they had let something like that pass them by.
Leo missed Mrs. Landingham's look of sympathy as he headed through to his own office.
Margaret bore a more open look of pity and worry for her boss. The redhead's mouth parted to address him but he walked past her too swiftly for an interruption.
Leo stepped into his office, shut the door tightly and dropped onto his seat wearily. He pushed both hands through his fading grey hair and cursed down to his desk. Cadence wasn't the only one at risk of jumping off the edge.
Leo had almost gone for the bottle last night. He was staying in a hotel, it wasn't exactly hard to get to a bar. He had done it too after Jenny's last ranting. Down to the lobby and right up to the counter where any pleasure he wanted was waiting. Sparkling at him enticingly, just a few words and notes away.
Leo breathed heavily as he stared down at his desk. He could see the glass tumbler the bar man had reached out for him and he had smelt that wonderful whiff of whiskey as the barman had started to pour it. Leo had been more than close last night. A flashback of Cadence sobbing in her prom dress had driven it back.
Leo had waved off the barman and the drink. Threw down a note for the confused man's trouble and turned away angrily. He hated himself for being so public about it. He could guarantee the discretion of the hotel but not its residents. So far there had been no murmuring of it, no icing on the cake for the scandal of the McGarry family so he figured maybe no one relevant had witnessed his moment of weakness.
Leo's gaze drifted over to his phone. It was time to call John. Leo wasn't hopeful.
John didn't know what had woken him- instinct, the wind whipping up outside, a flurry of thoughts that wouldn't silence for sleep or the warm body beside him that until a couple of hours ago had stirred repetitively for drunken staggers to the bathroom?
He rolled over to glance at a clock that wasn't there and reminded himself for the umpteenth time that this was not his bedroom. He could only imagine what the Secret Service agents were thinking. He had tried to be discrete about it but the point of the agents was to know where he was at all times. Sure he hadn't noticed anyone noticing him coming in here with a small bundle of clothes and then failing to exit again but he was sure someone had.
For someone whose career might be at risk for a move that could only be considered stupid, John didn't feel particularly alarmed about it. All John felt was woe coupled with sympathy. He sat up in the bed and looked to his companion. She was rigid beneath the sheets and curled up in a defensive ball. He wondered if she was sober yet. He wanted to embrace her but he was afraid of waking her, she hadn't slept much and hell neither had he.
The room was dark but there was a hint of blue at the edges of the window. Morning had broken, John just didn't know which hour of it. He lay back down and turned on his side so he was facing her direction. There were both going to need to get up soon.
John figured to hell with it and he moved closer to her so that he could wrap his arm about her and hold her against him, her defensive ball of flesh cradled in his own. He just wanted her to feel safe because he didn't think she had felt that in a while. He knew this was momentously stupid and he wasn't even getting anything for it. There could be rumours of sex and for once they'd be unfounded, it was cruelly unfair.
He couldn't exactly deny that the desire was there, dishevelled she might be but the rise of the morning wood was still present. John had to admit, if only to himself, he was still a man easily weakened by physical pleasures.
"John," she murmured softly.
"I'm here Cady," he assured her. "Just keep sleeping for a bit."
She moved back into him and he felt her hand reach over his to pull it about her stomach. He hugged her with it and she squeezed his hand gratefully.
John stayed awake feeling the headache that was beginning to bud from both fatigue and stress. He didn't know what to focus on- Colombia was the obvious thought but there was another pushing it aside, Cadence's latest bombshell to add to all the others and somehow it was the one that impacted him the most. He had so many questions about it- when had it happened, how long had she been carrying the baby for, had she known she was pregnant and why had she never told him?
John squeezed Cadence tighter and inadvertently startled her.
She pulled away from his grasp and sat up suddenly, bushy haired with bloodshot eyes and a sallow pallor.
John sat up too.
Cadence's stare turned wary as she turned it to him and reached a hand up to her pounding head. She felt a rush of emotions- guilt, grief, embarrassment, confusion, there were too many to pick just one. She pushed them back as she pressed her palm against her brow in an attempt to relieve some of the pain.
Cadence saw the hurt in John's blue eyes and wanted to take it away because she knew she was the cause. It wasn't often she had seen him looking so openly wounded- sometimes a vicious word from Suzanne could bring it out or a callous dismissal from Jed, waving John off like he didn't matter but generally the Vice President rose above all that and shrugged it off and the armour stayed on and no one got to glimpse whatever annoyance or pain he felt.
Cadence tried to remember how she had gotten here, where here even was and what all she had said to John.
"I'm sorry," she murmured.
It was a general apology, one meant to cover everything.
John frowned. "Cady we have to talk," he said, gentle but firm.
Cadence bowed her head to her lap. "Can I go to the bathroom first?" she quipped quietly. "The room's spinning a bit."
"Sure."
When Cadence didn't move, John realised she didn't remember her many trips there throughout the night.
"That door there," he said, pointing to the one on her side of the bed.
Cadence looked up and followed his gesture. She stood up and wavered slightly on her feet as the room bounced before her. She pushed her hair back with both hands and strode wearily forward.
Tired and sore, Cadence didn't bother to take in the generous size of the bathroom or its expensive décor. She noted the marble tiled floor only because it was cold on her bare feet.
Her business done, she took a moment before the large, three panelled mirror. She ran the silver tap, cupped her hands over it and splashed the water about her face before reaching for a white towel of Egyptian cotton. After drying off, she glanced at herself again. Cadence knew she looked like shit and that there wasn't much salvaging it. Her eyes slipped down to the rest of her, pausing at the shirt she donned.
Cadence smiled at the uneven buttoning before giving a groan as her head throbbed again. She had a vague memory of John asking for her permission to dress her for bed. A groan of embarrassment followed this time as she recalled giving a crude answer, giggling and asking if he was going to use his teeth to do it.
Knowing if she lingered any longer in the bathroom John was going to think she was avoiding him, Cadence returned to the bedroom reluctantly. She took a few steps forward before halting to stare over at John awkwardly. She had no idea what to say to him.
"You said we needed to talk," she said quietly.
John nodded sombrely. He extended his right hand out across the mattress pointedly. "Do you want to sit?" he queried.
Cadence shook her head and winced at the gesture caused another flare of pain through her skull.
John stood upright, pausing to push down his black boxers. "Cady you told me the real reason you quit my campaign and left, do you remember?"
Cadence folded her arms and nodded rapidly. She fought the urge to look away from him, wanting in that moment to be looking at anything other than John.
"Tell me about it Cady," he pleaded. His intense blue stare was upon her, sad and begging. "Did you know you were pregnant?"
"No," she said flatly. "It was in the early stages," she murmured. "I just...I woke up one night and I was in this intense pain." She swallowed hard. "Even when the blood came I didn't quite work it out, I needed told," she explained awkwardly, "when I went to the hospital."
"Jesus Cady why didn't you call?" John demanded.
"Because you were at home in bed with your wife, where you should have been!" she snapped back. "What was I to say? Hey John I was very briefly carrying your child? You were running for President for Christ's sake! And I was finally realising what a shitstorm we'd created. I mean you were just letting off steam with me, fucking your intern on the side to lose some stress, it wasn't serious for you."
"Cadence cut the crap," he scolded her as he tensed with anger as a flare of heated emotion filled his eyes. "It was serious for me, it wasn't supposed to be but it was. I told you, I searched for you, I wondered about, hell I looked for the leak of your thesis and found out it was you! I couldn't understand, you hurt me with that, not just yourself."
Cadence nodded as she dropped her arms by her sides. "That was the point, no one would think we'd had an affair after that and if anyone had noticed I was trying to hide something they would have assumed it was that."
She fumbled with her hair again and gave John a look of despair. "I was broken John, I didn't know how to feel, I should have been relieved I suppose but I was devastated and I thought about what could have been and realised how stupid I had been. I thought it wasn't serious too but I realised then that it was, that I wasn't think about what would happen when the campaign ended."
John stepped up to her and she flinched as he reached out a hand to press lightly against the side of her face. "Cady you should have told me," he addressed her in a firm but quiet voice.
"I should have told you a lot of things," she murmured bitterly as she bowed her head, "about the CIA, Colombia. I've made such a mess without meaning to."
"Well we'll fix it," John assured. "You were doing the right thing in Colombia, you're not getting punished for it and you are good at your job, don't think otherwise."
"Hmm."
John kissed her lightly on her crown. "Cady I would have looked after you and the baby if you hadn't lost it. Even if it had killed my career I would have acknowledged it, I need you to know that."
Cadence kept her head bowed as she felt fresh tears run down her face. "I need to go home," she said quietly, "before I screw up again by being here and you end up with another scandal."
"Cadence I make these choices, the responsibility is mine," John said sternly as he pulled back from her. "Your clothes are on the chair," he explained as he nodded to the right in the direction of the chair. "If you want to go, I'll get a car sorted for you."
His hand slipped under her chin and he tilted her head up to him before leaning down for a kiss.
His lips brushed against hers briefly as he kept the gesture chaste. "If you feel on the edge again you call me," he said seriously. "Don't go for the whiskey, it's a dangerous path."
Cadence nodded. "I know, I've seen it with my father."
She glanced over to her clothes and felt a prickle of embarrassment at the sight of her raccoon slippers resting under the chair.
"I have to go," she murmured, "dad will be trying to get in touch with me soon I'm sure and Mallory. She's rung at least twice a day since this news came out."
"Alright, I'm going to retreat to my room and get a shower, I'll get the car arranged as well."
John headed to another neatly folded pile of clothes resting on top of a set of drawers. They were a pair of trousers and a shirt since he wasn't about to throw all discretion out the window and wander the Observatory in his boxers.
It only took twenty minutes before Cadence was in a secure car and on her way home again. Five minutes after that John got the call from Leo. Although he felt guilty for it, John feigned ignorance to Cadence's whereabouts but promised to look into it and let Leo know.
Cadence had figured her troubles for the morning were done but now here she was at half eleven being proved wrong. Her only consolation was that at least her appearance had improved thanks to a hot, soapy bath and a change of clothes. She had found her apartment unlocked but mercifully undisturbed and wondered if Gavin had continued in his fashion of gossip spilling or if he was demonstrating some discretion about her state.
She had barely had time to style her hair before her father appeared on her doorstep, panicked, worried and yet relieved too. The hug he had greeted her with had been a shock and was probably the reason why she was where she was now.
Leo hadn't really had much time to talk with his daughter. He had pleaded with her to come with him to the White House, vowing to explain en route to save time. It was a short journey however and Leo had been brief and vague, realising he didn't have the full explanation himself to give.
Now here she was, in the White House, surprised as she stood before the President in the Oval Office.
Jed was stern faced as he looked across to Cadence and tried to see her as the President and not a father. It was why he had forbidden Leo from coming into the room with her, a decision he knew had hurt his second-in-command, as necessary as it was. It had failed however because he could hear Zoey's pleas and angry outbursts about the matter. His youngest daughter had hounded him about Cadence ever since Director Wolfe had gone to the press. With Zoey's many reminders of all Cadence had done for her, conjuring up fond memories of them as children, it was all but impossible for Jed not to view her through a father's eyes.
"Cadence I've had a very lengthy conversation with President Alcazar," he addressed in a voice that was forcibly calm. "It's been agreed that the Vice President of the United States will conduct a visit to Colombia to smooth over relations. This will be by offering condolences for the unnecessary loss of Colombian lives and an apology for the actions of a few misguided American citizens in an unsanctioned act of violence. There will be no mention of war or betrayal," Jed added firmly.
The President paused to give Cadence another look of scrutiny. She was rigid but calm and holding his gaze, knowing more was coming.
Jed placed his hands behind his back and tried to muster some warmth into his blue stare. He knew that her foolishness had come from fear and he believed she really had been ignorant in her knowledge of the CIA's deeds but ignorance was sometimes hard to forgive.
"Cadence you are to go as well," Jed informed her firmly, "but not as John's P.R. The Colombian President had agreed to publicly thank you for your charitable work on the condition that there is no more talk about Colombian soldiers killing innocent villagers or mysterious packages on planes."
Cadence felt the roof of her mouth turn dry with Jed's words, there was an uneasy jolt at the mention of thanks and then a roll of nausea at the mention of the plane. She sensed the lie that was coming before Jed even voiced it and it filled her with sorrow and rage.
"You have to apologise first," Jed informed her, "for unwittingly becoming involved with a minor fraction of Colombian villagers who themselves were involved with acts of treason to their government. Providing this happens publicly, on Colombian soil, there will be no mention of terrorists and the Colombian government will support that you knew nothing about what the villagers were up to and you were there to help impoverished villagers."
Cadence swallowed the lump building in her throat as rage mixed with shock. She didn't think today was going to be such a whirlwind of revelations and emotions and it was hard for her to know what to feel.
"Sir it's not true," she said flatly.
"It is," Jed remarked sternly, "as close to the truth as we are getting because the actual truth makes everyone look bad and there is no proof for it save for the rambles of our mad Agent Sparks," he added hotly.
The agent was still very much a problem point for him, he was out of Director Wolfe's grasp but under the guard of the FBI whilst undergoing psychiatric evaluation. Jed wasn't sure it was much of an improvement for the unstable man.
"It is a very small price to pay for peace and you will understand Cadence that it took a lot for me to secure this arrangement," Jed informed her. "We are now having to lower our taxes for the importing of Colombian goods, which will boost trade for them."
Cadence nodded solemnly but it was still hard to swallow the news as once more she heard gunfire ringing in her ears as people she knew died.
"And after sir?" she pried.
"After?" Jed gazed at her in surprise. "If you and John get us peacefully to an after all I hope for is that he reigns in his ego the next time he speaks to his counterpart of another country and that you have no more surprises of what you were up to on your gap year."
"You don't want me to quit?" Cadence queried in surprise.
Jed shook his head. "Asides from the fact that my daughter Zoey would make my life unbearable, Presidency or no Presidency, and my wife too, Abbey sends her compliments on your bravery in Colombia by the way and her admiration for your work down there," he added gruffly with a nod. "Cadence, you are good at your job, which doesn't always please me, I can admit I share a certain discomfort seeing a man who was for so long my rival earning popularity with the people, even though he's on my team but that's my personal problem. Frankly, John doesn't deserve you and if were so dumb as to let you go I'd have to insist on a space being made for you on my team."
"Thank you," Cadence said sincerely.
She was trying to express happiness but it was hollow as she didn't feel it, she couldn't even feel relief. There was just a strong sense of survivor's guilt, an awful feeling she had tried to quash since escaping Colombia. She could still recall the names of the villagers that had died, which made it all the harder to think how she had to betray them now.
"What about Director Wolfe?" she pried quietly.
"Much as I would love to see that man in prison it doesn't appear likely to happen," Jed grumbled. "There is a lack of evidence and we are agreeing that the villagers were involved in acts of betrayal against their government, how they paid for that and who made them pay is not for us to voice. There is also the issue of him presenting four agents to us who were supposedly trying to eliminate a potential terrorist threat to American soil, one of whom was tortured for it."
Jed frowned and looked to his desk briefly before looking back to Cadence. He hated that the truth of the matter was he had no real say in Director Wolfe's fate. Oh sure he voice an opinion and they would nod along to it but in the end the CIA would, as it always had, do whatever the hell it wanted in the matter. Jed imagined Wolfe would be ushered into an early retirement with some financial incentive, hell maybe they'd even send him off with a reward. It was disgusting but the rumours and tales made his and his agents' status murky. To some they were traitors and to others they were heroes.
"And Agent Sparks?" Cadence pried. "Can I see him?"
She studied Jed's face, trying to spy a reaction to her question. She didn't even know if she wanted to see Benjamin Sparks, it was more than she felt she had to see him.
"After Colombia," Jed retorted, "if he is able. I don't know much about his current situation," he added bluntly before she could ask. "Physically he is stable but mentally he is not a well man."
Cadence nodded again as she felt fresh guilt and sorrow.
"One more thing," Jed added firmly as he pointed at her, "you can't travel down with John, not directly. You can go on the same day and follow behind but we're making it clear you're going to represent yourself, you're not there as part of the Vice President's team. He is to make his, that is the American government's apologies separate to yours."
Cadence tried to keep her emotions in check as she digested this latest piece of information. The thought of travelling back to Colombia was unbearable but to do it without someone familiar was a little too daunting. She made herself nod anyway, knowing she had no choice in it.
"I'm going to make my speech to the press today on the matter," Jed said. "Then, tomorrow morning I want you and John to head for Colombia. This matter needs ended."
