Andrea watched the group of senior staffers walk past her desk, just like they had every day since she took the new position eighteen months ago.
MS=MS=MS
When word had come down about her reassignment, some of her coworkers had felt sorry for her, they'd told her seventh floor was brutal. Jeff, who'd temped up there a time or two, had told her that the chief of staff frowned upon any sort of casual attitude and kept them all working at a tense pace. On one of his days there, he'd said he watched the woman dress down another member of the senior staff publicly. Emma, who worked in press, said that everything was under a microscope and was managed closely.
Andrea had been nervous, on her first day she'd already had a transfer request written up and waiting, but when she'd arrived, plenty early to impress everyone, the floor was still nearly empty save for a few men and women she'd later learned were the senior staff. Her desk was the closest to the secretary's personal assistant, a good looking but highly focused guy that didn't sit the entire morning. As she got her things situated, she watched him vanish in and out of the corner office, pausing only to berate someone about some pastries with a smirk on his face. Andrea was almost able to block him out until a chime sounded at his desk. She looked up to see him drop everything, straighten his jacket, and collect a coffee cup before vanishing down the aisle. What came next, she learned quickly enough, was a variation on a daily routine.
Minutes later, Andrea got her first up close look at the Secretary of State, surrounded by her senior staff as they all rapidly spoke in turns. The coffee had apparently been for her, it was in her hand now, and the assistant had a purse and briefcase in one hand and was tugging the woman's coat off as they all moved. It was loud and it was fast as they blew through, and then the room went quiet.
"Pro tip, don't ever get in the way." Andrea looked up at the person whose desk was to her other side. "I'm Lane."
"Andrea. They do that a lot?"
"Every morning. Blake's phone goes off when they pull in, he and any number of the seniors meet her at the elevator. Watch out, because they do it other times of day too, and on the way out."
"Wow." She thought a moment. "Who is 'they'?"
"Her security detail." Andrea thought Lane was going to say more, but one of the seniors rushed back through. "That's Jay, he's the policy advisor. I think he's nice but he's always rushing so it comes off as rude." She leaned across the space between their desks. "The curly hair guy, that's Matt, he's the speechwriter. He is nice, but if he has his headphones on, don't even look his direction."
"Okay. I think I saw the assistant yell at him earlier."
Lane's lips curled. "He probably ate pastries Blake had put aside." She shook her head. "Never eat anything Blake has marked not to be touched. The little woman is Nadine, that's who we report to, I'm sure you met her already."
"It was quick. I've heard about her though, from other people." Andrea knew she didn't want to cross her boss, no matter how many days she stayed on seven. "And the runway model?"
Lane blossomed into a full grin. "Daisy, she's the press wrangler. Don't ever get on her bad side, never tell anyone you work up here, never answer any question about this job, or you'll have her to answer to."
Andrea looked up when Lane stopped talking and sat back up, the assistant, Blake, has returned to his desk and was watching them closely with a frown.
"You're new." He stated with no preamble.
"Started today, my name's-"
"Andrea Walton, I know. This is a very busy department, everyone needs to be focused on their work, not gossiping."
She swallowed and nodded.
MS=MS=MS
Her first day had buzzed on quickly to lunch, when the assistant left his desk again and vanished into the corner office, appearing five minutes later, the secretary's coat over one arm and purse in the other as he guided her toward the elevators. Andrea dared a glance Lane's way, the other woman only shrugged. "Join me for lunch?"
In the canteen, Lane found a table out of the way. "Want some tips?"
"Please. I had friends feel bad for me when they heard where I was headed."
She chuckled. "It's not so bad. I mean, some days are worse than others. You usually have to just gauge how stressed the seniors look. If Blake's constantly gathering food and tea, keep you head down. If he's at his desk all day, then the day's good. He's just snappy this morning because the secretary worked twenty-six hours straight Friday into Saturday and then snuck back yesterday to do something without telling him." She swirled some fries in ketchup. "If the secretary is here, Blake is here. He's also here when she's not here. Unless they travel, he travels too."
Andrea felt the surprise fill her face. "Wow, twenty-six hours?"
"Fifteen or sixteen is normal for the seniors, especially him." Lane shrugged. "I know you came in early today but try not to be more than forty-five minutes early unless you have a project. It's not all that quiet in the mornings."
"I noticed."
"Look. We see a lot, and they don't really see us, but if you keep your head down, it's an interesting place to work." She leaned forward. "The seniors are nice though, but the president's chief of staff barges through and he's not nice at all."
Lane's words still crossed her mind as they returned to seven. The desk at the end remained empty for another hour, there was no rush of the seniors racing through and the office carried on at a normal hum. The assistant, Blake, she reminded herself, made an appearance midafternoon, a garment bag over his arm as he talked to someone named Henry quickly on the phone, giving assurances that 'it' had been retrieved and he would make sure she was on time this time. There was a pause and then Blake laughed out loud, it surprised her, and she jumped slightly, the sound incongruent with the rest of the atmosphere. When the call ended, he vanished around the corner.
MS=MS=MS
Today, it had been all the seniors that had followed the secretary through and Blake had been carrying coffee and a giant bearclaw when he'd headed for the elevator, so she knew they were going to be busy. The assistant didn't follow the others into the corner office this time though, instead, he dropped the secretary's bags and coat into his desk chair and began digging through the briefcase. Andrea couldn't help her brows going up. It wasn't the weirdest thing she'd ever seen him do, by any means, but it was still outside of normal. He gave a small sound of victory as he pulled a file out and picked up the phone. A year and a half had given her enough experience to know to focus on her computer and block him out, it wasn't worth getting caught eavesdropping on him.
When the call ended, she noticed he pulled out a carry-on case from under his desk, she hadn't been aware they were traveling and wondered if it was all of the seniors going. Seven was a much different place to work when they entire senior staff was out of the country.
MS=MS=MS
Andrea stepped off the elevator to find Lane already at her desk, talking to Jim, both wearing grins. "What's going on?"
"The seniors and the secretary all left for Germany this morning. They're going to be gone three days." Jim beamed. "It's as close to casual Fridays as we get around here."
Andrea sat behind her desk; it was the first time they'd travelled since she'd started. "Not business as usual?"
"Well, it is, but with more gossip." Lane sipped her coffee. "I was late last night finishing up a binder for Jay, he was talking to Matt about the trip over in the outer office. I think they forgot I was still here. The whole conference is hush-hush."
"So, what's the gossip?"
"Matt and Daisy are a thing…again. Jay was lecturing him to leave their thing in the states and not drag it to Germany."
"Ah." She'd seen them around the office, she wasn't surprised.
"At least Germany isn't likely to be a problem trip." Jim added. "The secretary made a trip back when I first started to Iran, the seniors didn't go that time. Instead, they holed up in the conference room." He gestured. "It was weird, to have them here but not here." He shook his head. "Even before things went south, they didn't leave and were all freaked out. Then. The secretary went missing and I just-" He broke off. "It was like this end of the world thing; I don't think I've ever seen then that freaked out before or since. For a long while after, even the other seniors ran everything through Blake first and you know how much they just come and go in there." He said the last be to Lane. "I don't know what happened, but the secretary yelled at Blake a lot. Like… A Lot." He emphasized. "She's no Mister Jackson, but any time she got mad, she would yell at him. Even Jackson stopped coming around as much."
Andrea hadn't been on seven long, but she'd already witnessed first hand the president's chief of staff's rage over anything and everything.
"I heard she threw something at him." Lane supplied.
Jim shook his head. "Not on seven anyway, but who knows what happened away from here. Anyway, even the other seniors were really jumpy and stayed away a lot of the time. Days went by where only Blake went into the corner office."
"And he just took it?" Andrea asked.
"I wasn't here once, but Ellen said she even saw him step in when the secretary started to yell at someone else. He'd close himself and her into the office, later he'd come out and his eyes would be red. Some days the husband would turn up a little later and then leave with her." He shrugged one shoulder. "Every day got worse, some of the newer people started putting in transfer requests, I was almost one of them. Nadine runs a tight ship, but it was hell, constantly worrying when the shouting would start."
"Wow." Lane responded.
"Then she had some medical emergency, we were cleared out so she could be taken away, and the seniors all vanished too. After that, things changed. The way they are now? A lot of it started after the secretary came back from whatever that had been." He sipped his drink.
"I have a question." Andrea turned her chair. "What is… Where does Blake fit into everything? Like, my last couple positions there were administrative assistants that handled the schedule and that sort of thing, but…" Her face twisted as she tried to work out how to ask without it being weird. "Isn't it weird what he does?"
Lane and Jim shared a look, considering. "I think he's more personal assistant?" He answered hesitantly. "Like, he literally started as soon as she was confirmed, even before she got in here. That's what I heard, anyway, I wasn't here yet. I know he knows the kids and her husband really well. They talk all the time."
"I always thought he was one of those assistants rich people have that go with them everywhere. I was in the breakroom once and he and the secretary were joking about something at the college she used to work at." Lane paused. "Some sort of acolyte or concierge even?"
"Who knows." Jim checked his watch and waved before slinking off to his desk.
MS=MS=MS
"Blake!" Jay's voice startled Andrea back into the present. "We couldn't talk her out of the extension. Sorry man."
Blake scoffed. "I can't believe you even tried. I called down to detail, they're handling the flight changes. It's a day in and out, really, I suppose, it's not that big of a deal." He was reloading folders into the briefcase and then his laptop into his bag. "Did she eat?"
Jay grinned. "Inhaled it."
Blake checked his watch. "That buzz'll wear off just after take off then and she'll sleep on the plane."
"She sent me out here to ask you to call Henry about the change. She wants the motorcade to stop by for her bags straight to the airport."
Andrea watched Blake's eyes widen. "Tell her I said no."
Jay raised his hands in supplication and backed off with a grin and chuckle. "I'm out of it. I have binders to finish, she's your problem now."
Blake made a sound that Andrea thought sounded like a growl as he zipped his bag and strode toward the corner office. The secretary must've been coming out, because she could hear their voices from around the corner.
"I am not calling Henry for you; you break dinner plans with him on your own."
"But he'll be disappointed." The secretary groused. "He'll try to talk me out of it."
"You mean the thing we all just tried to do?"
The secretary huffed.
"Respectfully, Ma'am, the president is a pompous tool and you're giving him what he wants." She heard him sigh. "I will call him, but I'm also telling him we're leaving early and picking up dinner and a good bottle of wine on the way, your treat for putting my through this." His voice rose, Andrea suspected the secretary was walking away. "I expect steak!"
One brow arched as Blake returned to his seat and made the call to the secretary's husband, ending with a discussion about dinner and the new departure times. The other brow joined the first when she heard him snicker before answering. "Yes, I am totally crashing there, if I try to go home, she'll probably sneak off to Asia without me."
MS=MS=MS
Two days later, Andrea stepped on to seven to see the chief of staff already rushing around, head down in her phone. For Nadine, it was a very odd look, the older woman never walked anywhere with her eyes on her phone. The floor was otherwise deserted, she was almost to her desk with Nadine seemed to startle. "I didn't know you were here!" Her hand flew to her chest. "It's Andrea, right?"
"Yes, Ma'am." She nodded.
Nadine glanced around anxiously. "Can you come to my office please? You might be able to help me with handling something."
Andrea could only drop her things and follow. She'd never been asked to do such a thing and wasn't sure what to expect as Nadine shut the office door behind her and waved to the sofa.
"Sit, please." The phone in her hand buzzed again. "I need to make a request, if you're uncomfortable with it, you don't have to do it. I can't go into details, but I am trying to do damage control, and this isn't something I can hand off to the other senior staffers." She met Andrea's eyes. "Because they are men."
That caught her attention. "Anything, Ma'am."
Nadine spelled out the vaguely specific request, the weight of which made Andrea realize this wasn't normal State Department protocol. She finished up her request. "I can't give more details; I'm simply trying to help a friend who is helping a friend. Can you do this, quickly?" The phone buzzed again.
"Of course, I'll get the answers to you right away." She rushed back to her desk to find the answers Nadine needed.
It was another day before Andrea realized something more might be wrong on the seventh floor. She walked in to find Blake already hunched over his desk, days ahead of when he was meant to return, typing furiously at his computer. Attempting to not make a sound, she got settled only to have his voice make her jump.
"Thank you." She looked up, his eyes bore into her, begging her to understand. "Nadine said you did excellent work."
She opened her mouth to ask, working out he must be the friend in some part of the equation, but her voice caught. Instead she simply nodded.
They worked quietly at their own desks for half an hour before Blake suddenly jumped up, Andrea hadn't even heard his phone ping, but he was muttering under his breath. She knew that meant he hadn't been expecting his boss to turn up, but she had. He rushed away toward the elevator empty handed, an event that occurred only rarely and she worried over the fact it meant he was thoroughly upset.
The last time she could recall him greeting the secretary with no treat or drink, even the other seniors had avoided him the rest of the day.
MS=MS=MS
"Did she seriously come in?" It was Nadine stopping at Blake's desk after the odd display earlier. "She's sick!" She hissed in a whisper.
Blake's face was hard. He'd been fine earlier, before his phone had beeped that the secretary was on the way up. Then it had gone off and Andrea would swear he swore under his breath before rushing, empty handed to the elevators. Minutes later, he had walked the usual path, the only person escorting her that morning, begging her to turn around as he followed the usual habit of relieving her of her bags and coat as he spoke.
Eventually he'd returned, mood clearly taken a turn south, and worked diligently at his desk.
"I finally told her that at noon I am forcibly removing her."
Nadine smirked. "Good luck."
Despite his clear annoyance, his face shifted. "I texted Henry, he's arriving at eleven forty-five."
That turned her smirk to a full-blown grin.
MS=MS=MS
Today, Blake wasn't taking her bags or coat as they walked by her desk. He wasn't touching her at all, a detail that she was nonplussed to realize struck her as odd. The assistant could be surprisingly tactile with his boss when he was concerned, and he was clearly concerned now. But he was hovering, walking just ahead of her instead of his usual beside or behind. Andrea forgot herself and lifted her head, openly watching them pass. The office was still empty aside from the three of them, so she was further surprised when Blake looked back, made eye contact with her, as they rounded the corner.
Somehow, it felt like she'd become some part of a secret.
The day carried on as normal, though the seniors were far more subdued than usual, deferring all interaction with the corner office to Blake, who tried to deflect as much as he could to avoid going in. From her desk, she caught every time he glanced toward the office with a worried look on his face before turning back to his work. It was at lunch that his voice startled her again. "Andrea." He was watching her expectantly when she turned. "Would you join me for lunch, please?"
She nodded, wondering what he wanted.
He led the way downstairs, stopping briefly to talk to the security agents before heading through the garage to a car. "Is this okay?" He gestured.
"It's fine." She climbed in, taking in the interior, clean and tidy, much like his desk. "Where to?"
"The Ethiopian place on the mall?"
She nodded.
"Look, I know this is all weird and I'm sure you're used to being a fly on the wall, but I really just wanted to express my gratitude for the information you helped Nadine get." He carried on speaking as they drove. Once they got to the restaurant, she found the courage to ask. "You obviously don't have to answer, but… Did that information have something to do with your irritation this morning?"
He studied her a moment. "Officially I can not answer that." He met her eyes.
"Understood."
"What would make you ask that?"
"I've sat in the desk beside you for a year and a half. I'm a people watcher and you are one of the people I get to watch the most." She quirked a smirk at him, he chuckled.
"That's a bit creepy."
"Yeah, I've heard that before. But I know the trip got cut short, that something made you very worried, and that you weren't expecting the secretary in today. I know you've been upset and concerned since she turned up." She sighed. "Also, you have a very specific habit as you pass through and you did none of that today, which tells me you were afraid to invade her space in your normal manner."
He sat back, mouth agape. "How do you mean?"
"Normally you're taking her things, at her side or behind her even. Today you didn't do any of that, you stayed where she could see you. As a woman, I guess that raises flags."
"Are your sure you're not CIA?"
She laughed. "No." She worked on her food when it arrived before speaking again. "I had no intention of ever voicing things I saw or thought, but since you asked." She shrugged.