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"Hey, how is she doing?" Claire asked as she walked into their daughter's room. It was still early, the sun barely peaking up over the buildings, and Francis had spent the last hour trying to soothe their nine month old back to sleep.
"Fever is down." Francis stated, gently rocking James as he stood in the middle of her room. As soon as he picked her up, he could tell she woke from a fever. Her cheeks were too rosy, and she rubbed her forehead against his cheek every time she would rub her eyes from exhaustion. He helped her out of her sweat soaked pajamas and just let her be in her diaper. She soon passed out on his shoulder, her little hands fisting the material of his nightshirt. "Barely coughed though when she was crying. I think we're on the mend."
Claire sighed, gently rubbing James's cheek with the back of her fingers. "We better be. She hasn't been herself for a week." She opened up the closet, pulling out a nightgown for James and turning back to Francis. "I want that nurse taken care of, Francis. She acted like we were crazy for bringing James in, and she listened to her lungs."
Francis nodded as Claire rested the folded nightgown over his other shoulder. "I already called the hospital to ream them about her. They brushed me off, but I will ensure that she doesn't work in another hospital again."
"Update me. I have my own plans for her." Claire added before glancing at the zoo themed clock they had hung up on the wall. "I suppose I should call in. I don't want to take her in when she's still feeling like this."
Francis shook his head. "Go to work. I can spend a day home alone with my daughter." He saw the smirk on Claire's lips, her eyebrow arching questioningly. "One time. She wouldn't burp, and we had no clue she could projectile vomit like that. Besides, this is the first morning she called for me to come get her. I think my work schedule might be taking up too much of my time with her."
Claire chuckled. As much as Francis loved his job, she knew that he valued his time with James as much as she did. Even if he was a wreck and sleep-deprived, Claire could walk in with James and make him ready for another twelve hours of selling a bill. "Francis, this job is still new. Calling in to take care of your sick daughter would let people there know that we have a daughter they can use against you."
"Only my office has to know, and they already know about James." Francis waved off her concerns. "I've got a picture of the three of us on my desk. Anyone close to me in that office knows about it." He kissed Claire's cheek. "It's my turn to stay home. We'll be fine." He picked up James's blanket as they walked out of her room, knowing she'd want it at some point during the day. "Plan out your strategy for the nurse if you manage to find the time. I have a feeling she'll have trouble finding work in D.C."
Claire's eyes fluttered open to see her feet propped up on the coffee table in the bright white nurse shoes that had been left for her with the scrubs. Glancing down, she saw James fast asleep, curled up in her lap like she had been when they brought her home from the hospital after the attack. Her head was resting on Claire's shoulder, tucked into her neck, and Claire was resting her own head against James's. Much like when she was little, one of her daughter's fists was curled around the material of the large scrubs shirt she was wearing.
Her attention to her daughter's features was interrupted though when one of the agents stepped inside the small waiting room and cleared his throat. "Ma'am, Secretary Durant is here. She's wondering if she should come in or just leave the clothes with us."
"Send her in." Claire stated, her voice raspy fro sleep. She held James tighter against her before Cathy walked in with a couple shopping bags in hand. "Cathy, you are too much. I'm sure it cost you a small fortune to open that store back up at this hour just to buy some clothes."
"I had a favor to call in." Cathy smirked before sitting down beside her. "Besides, these clothes are comfortable and will bode well for when you have to leave through the swarms of reporters waiting outside." She pulled out the black leggings and matching athletic jackets. "I didn't know how long you'd be here, so I brought a couple days worth of clothes. I forgot to get James a birthday present anyway."
Claire smiled, humming softly. "I don't think she noticed. As much as she's been put through, she's amazingly resilient." She met Cathy's eyes, seeing hers on the sleeping teenager in her lap. "I don't think she's had this much pink on since she was a newborn."
Cathy chuckled, shaking her head. "Especially something so flashy. After a while, this color could hurt your eyes." She reached out, brushing back some of James's hair. "She seems pretty content though. Francis always said you were a natural with her. Although, I don't think there's a thing you couldn't do in his eyes."
"He's great like that." Claire smiled softly before pressing her forehead to James's. "He and I used to just stare at her, Cathy. Even if we were on the phone to promote a bill or organize a charity event last minute, in the middle of all that chaos was her. I know he doesn't like to talk about James at work, but I sometimes think he would give up everything to make her happy. . .or do everything in his power to ensure he could have his way and make her happy." She chuckled softly, tears welling in her eyes despite her best effort to stop them, before looking back at Cathy. "I can't lose him, Cathy. Neither one of us can."
"He'll pull through, honey. If I know Frank, he'll fight tooth and nail just to prove a point, and he's got much more to fight for than that in this." Cathy reassured her friend, gently rubbing her shoulder. "We just need to wait for the good news."
Claire sighed, exhaling sharply. "I hope so. How bad is the news?"
Cathy shook her head. "It's like the country is falling apart. Finding out last month's President tried assassinate the entire first family now has left everyone on edge." She leaned back in the chair, extending out her legs. "The secret service member that was helping Garrett was pronounced dead just an hour ago. Nothing has been released about Garrett, but the public has already crucified him if he does live."
"He thought we made up the whole thing." Claire admitted. "That we somehow staged James's kidnapping and Gordon's actions."
"Staged?" Cathy's eyes widened to saucers. "You and Francis were a wreck, and all that evidence in Gordon's room. James was found handcuffed in his shower, right?"
Claire cringed, but nodded. "Yeah, Meechum found her, but Gordon killed Meechum. Doug just happened to be near when the gun went off that killed Gordon." She saw more surprise hit Cathy. "You didn't know James shot Gordon?"
"No, but, my God, this poor girl can't take another attack in her own home like this." Cathy breathed with a shake of her head. "She really is resilient. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree there now, does it?"
"Yeah, Francis probably seems a bit much in the office sometimes because of that trait." Claire chuckled.
Cathy shook her head. "I was talking about you, honey." She picked her purse back up, leaving the shopping bags next to Claire's feet on the coffee table. "Keep me posted. I should get to the White House and keep things running as smoothly as possible until Francis wakes up."
Claire smiled kindly as the other woman stood. "Thank you, Cathy."
Claire walked back into the waiting room after changing into one of the outfits Cathy had bought for her. She found James sitting in one of the waiting room chairs the wrong way and staring up at the TV. Sick of sitting normally, she had taken the chair and pushed it to the floor so she could sit on the backrest and lean back against the seat cushion to watch the news, and Claire didn't bat an eye as she looked from her to the TV. "Anything?"
"A lot of pissed off people." James stated as her mother crouched down behind her, resting her forearms on the chair by her head. "One of the reporters said they haven't seen this much hate towards one person since the day they fried Bundy."
"I remember that day." A voice said from the doorway. Both women looked over to see the doctor who had told them that Francis and Doug were going to be taken into surgery.
Claire stood quickly, walking over to him. "Dr. Crawford, sorry about the mess. We were getting a little restless."
"I don't mind." He smiled with a shake of his head. He hugged his clipboard to his chest, speaking when James stood next to her mother. "The President and Chief of Staff have both come out of surgery. Mr. Stamper is back in his room resting. He should recover nicely. He'll probably need a cane for a little while and has a concussion, but he should be back to normal after some physical therapy." His face took a grim look as he glanced down for a brief, steadying moment. "As for your husband, his injuries are a little more complicated. We were able to remove the bullet, but it took out one of his kidneys. It doesn't look like anything else was damaged, but we won't know for sure until after the first twenty-four hours."
Claire swallowed hard, rubbing her chest. "What if something else was damaged?"
"If it damaged his other kidney, we could be looking at finding an emergency kidney transplant." Dr. Crawford explained. "I examined the kidney once we stabilized him. In my opinion, I didn't see anything wrong with it physically. But, sometimes things happen internally that we just can't diagnose until later. He did very well in surgery though. He's in recovery right now and should be back in his room in a couple of hours. With the medication we had to administer though, he will be in and out until that twenty-four hour mark." He rested a hand on Claire's shoulder. "Mrs. Underwood, considering what transpired, this is still very good news."
"When can we see them?" Claire asked.
"The President - not until morning." Dr. Crawford stated. "As for Mr. Stamper, we only allow family to visit in these kinds of situations-"
James interrupted, feeling betrayed that she was being cut off because of an issue of DNA. "We are his family."
Dr. Crawford pursed his lips together, nodding his head. "Yes, I noticed that he listed the President as an emergency contact. He also had his brother listed on there, so we have notified him. I'm sorry, but I can't let you in to see Mr. Stamper until he or his family gives consent to other visitors." He glanced around the waiting room, seeing that they had settled in. "Considering all of that, I would recommend going home and getting some rest. Come back tomorrow afternoon when you've had a chance to rest."
"No, we'll wait. Gary should be here in a few hours anyway to see Doug." Claire countered before shaking his hand. "Thank you for coming and telling us." She waited for him to leave before turning to James, seeing the fire burning behind her eyes. "Doug is probably out cold right now anyway, sweetheart. As soon as he wakes up, he'll be asking for you."
"But, he shouldn't have to wake up alone." James whispered, tears clouding her vision. "I'm the closest family he's got. He hasn't talked to his brother in years."
Claire nodded. "I know. It's not fair." She wrapped her arms around James. "We'll see him though. Don't worry."
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