Aaron was fading fast. He usually enjoyed his weekly lunch with the president but today he could not keep his mind from straying. And he was pretty sure Kirkman had noticed him yawning. Resolving to reengage he made an effort to follow the point Kirkman was making about prescription drug prices. Or maybe it was the opiate crisis.
"If I am keeping you from a nap, I am sure I can find a better way to spend my time as well Aaron." Kirkman said dryly.
"Sorry sir. Late night."
"Hmm. This late night wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the fact that your friend Emily is back in town? Or the news that she shared with me this morning?"
"She told you about the baby?"
"She did." Kirkman was giving him a searching look. "And you better not be the guy she was talking about who's not in the picture. Because I am not a violent man Aaron, but I swear to god-." Kirkman's voice was rising.
"No, no way I would never. It's some tool she met up in Boston. Piece of shit IT consultant that apparently would rather literally flee the country then take care of his kid." Aaron paused. He knew if he started dating Emily there would be questions about the baby, but he wasn't expecting them so soon. "Something Emily said make you think it was mine?"
"No, no. Sorry didn't mean to imply. Just interesting timing with her moving back down here all of a sudden, and the very next day my Vice President is practically falling asleep after a late night, despite the fact that I've seen you negotiate complex treaties on less than two hours of sleep."
Between this and the knowing look Seth shot him this morning Aaron was starting to think the whole White House would be talking by the end of the day. "You think other people are going to connect those dots?"
"That depends. Are there dots to connect here?"
"I dunno. Emily and I are-" He wasn't sure what label to put on them. "Seeing where things go?"
"Jeez Aaron. I don't mean to come off as a pruitan but you understand decent men don't exactly just see where things go with single moms. Emily needs someone ready to make a commitment, someone who wants to be there for her kid."
"I know. It's new. We haven't really sorted out the details, but I'm ready for a commitment. And I'm fine with the kid."
"Most women are going to want someone who's more than just 'fine' with their kid. And you've never really struck me as a kids guy."
"I want them." He was surprised by the earnestness in his voice. "I didn't know I did until." Glancing at the door to make sure it was shut, Aaron lowered his voice. "Izzy was pregnant. She had an abortion. Which I get. Her right. We were broken up. She wants to focus on her career. But, shit it hurt. And it made me realize how much I want a family. And how close I was to having one, except that I went and royally screwed it up. And now maybe I have this chance with Emily. Except I can tell she sees a million reasons not to take it. I can't blame her, they're all real. And I don't know how to convince her otherwise." His hand was shaking. This was the first time he'd ever told anyone about Izzy getting an abortion.
Kirkman got up and walked over the bar, pouring two glasses of scotch. "I think the American people will forgive us one midafternoon drink." Sitting back down he slid a glass to Aaron. "That's a lot to unpack there."
They drank in silence for a bit, Aaron's forehead resting in his hand. "You think I'm stupid."
"Not stupid. And I don't mean to pry. Well any more than I already have. But I think you might be overthinking this. Just be there for Emily. Work on yourself. You can't go back and undo what's done, so you need to find a way forward. Carrying around this level of guilt can't be good for you."
"I did a shitty thing. I don't think Izzy will ever forgive me."
"Well that might be because she doesn't really own you forgiveness. I think that's something you need to work out for yourself."
"Yeah, I know." And then feeling stupid even asking the question. "Do you honestly think there's a chance for me and Emily?"
"You know, I do. Might not be easy, but you're both tough. And it sounds like you care about her. It's actually funny. Alex thought there was something between you guys way back when we first ended up here. We had a bet going because I didn't see it"
"Huh. What made her think that."
"Woman's intuition. And she said your name came up an awful lot when Emily was explaining why she and Peter ended things. That was the guy she was dating at the time."
"Yeah I remember. Best advice I ever gave her."
Kirkman shook his head. "Wait, you actually gave her advice? I just knew your name came up."
"It was a joke, and I kinda felt bad at the time. But he was pretentious from what I remember, a bit of a tryhard."
Kirkman laughed. "He did bring Alex flowers when we had the two of them over for dinner. Made me look like a real heel seeing as I couldn't remember the last time I had brought her any."
Aaron was laughing now too. "See, total tryhard. Good thing I saved our girl from that."
"Well I hope for your sake there's no version of Aaron Shore whispering in her ear at her new office." Scowling slightly at that thought Aaron considered if he could look into everyone in Meyer's office. Probably not without Emily killing him he decided. "You joining me with the Ed Sec at three?"
"Nah, I gotta prepare for my meeting with Renolds."
"Too bad. We're talking about universal sex ed in public schools. And I'm starting to think that maybe I should expand that to include White House senior staff."
Aaron laughed again. "It's the Catholic upbringing sir. Hard to shake."
"Apparently."
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At home that night after a long day at work Aaron sat down and called Emily. "Hey Em. Hope I didn't wake you?"
"Nope. I'm up. I was starting to think you weren't going to call. Already regretting last night?"
Her voice was teasing but Aaron thought he could hear some real insecurity behind the words. "Never, sorry I should have called earlier, but for some reason I was late into work today, so I needed to stay late and catch up on some stuff. So how about you, any regrets?"
"I don't think so. Maybe besides not beating Seth home. Sorry about that by the way."
"All good. Makes me feel less bad about telling Kirkman." He figured it would be better to get that delightful news out of the way.
"Excuse me? You told the president we slept together last night?" Her voice immediately went up about 5 octaves.
"Not in those words."
"Why did you tell him anything? Did it just naturally come up between the situation in Israel, and the defense spending?"
"He asked if your baby was mine, and then the conversation just veered."
"And why the hell would he think the baby was yours?"
"Apparently we're not as subtle as we think we are."
"Ugh, just what I need."
"Sorry."
"Not your fault. I don't know what Tom is thinking. You can be a jackass sometimes but not walk out on your kid level. And I told him the father wasn't in the picture." At least she wasn't mad at him. And coming from Emily, not the worst kind of jackass was practically a compliment.
"He's protective of you." Deciding to change the subject before they discussed any more of his and Kirkman's conversation he asked. "So how was house hunting today?"
"Meh, everythings too far, or too small, or too expensive, or most often all of the above. But I've got more places to check out tomorrow."
"Fun. You wanna come over tomorrow after? We said we would talk."
"Ah sorry. Leo's in town over spring break so I told Tom I'd stop by and see everyone. Apparently they're having a bowling night. I'm surprised you're not going, I thought he said he invited you."
"Yeah, he might have. Not exactly my idea of a crazy Saturday night. But if you're going I guess I could swing by, make an appearance."
"Nice. Don't worry, I won't tell Penny and Leo I'm the only reason you're showing up."
"I'm sure that's their number one concern. So you wanna come over after? I can't imagine family bowling night going too late."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Great, then I'll let you go get some sleep."
"Night Aaron."
"Night."
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Aaron walked into Seth's office. "You going to this bowling thing?"
"Yeah, surprised to hear you're going. Although I suppose Emily is going to be there."
"Yeah, about that. You got a sec?"
"If it's to talk about whatever it is you and Emily are doing, honestly no. I'll tell you the same thing I told Emily, I am staying out of this."
"It's not, well not exactly." Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. "I just, uh. I just want to make sure this won't make things weird for us. I know you and Em dated or whatever."
Aaron was surprised to see a slightly amused look on Seth's face. "Dude, are you asking my permission to date Emily?"
"I guess."
"Bad move. She'll kill you. Or have you killed more likely. I don't think she's the kind of girl to get her hands dirty. So I'm going to suggest we both pretend this conversation never happened. Now, you ready for me to kick your ass at some bowling?"
"Just because I don't bowl, doesn't mean I'm not good."
"That doesn't even make sense."
They headed down to the White House bowling alley. Aaron had been down here plenty of times, mostly with some VIP or another they were trying to impress into voting their way, or supporting them on something. But he never actually bowled himself. He preferred to watch other people make a fool out of themselves. As they entered the room he saw Emily staring intently at her phone. "What's so interesting?"
"Oh, hey guys. Just this stupid article in The Hill. Did you see it?" She passed the phone to Seth.
"'Does Emily Rhodes' return to Capitol Hill signal an end to the hostile relationship between the White House and Congress that has marked the first year of the Kirkman administration's second term?' Jesus I hope so. 'There has been rampant speculation among Washington insiders that Rhodes' decision to take a position in Congresswoman Meyer's office, in spite of more compelling offers from Senate Majority Leader Patterson, was taken at her former bosses urging. Many see this as the beginning of a creation of an alliance between the more progressvie wing of the Democrate Party, which is currently shut out of party leadership positions, and Kirkman's unorthodox administration.' Well, there's going to be rampant speculation now." Seth passed the phone back to Emily shaking his head.
"Like you guys could talk me into anything." Emily said laughing.
"At least I know what pain in the ass questions I'll be answering at the press briefing Monday. How high do you want to set their expectations of you Emily?"
"Sky high. Bring it on." Emily was still scrolling through the article. "Do they really have to dig this picture out everytime I so much as breathe in Washington?" She flashed the phone at them. It was an old photo of her, Kirkman and some other members of HUD.
Aaron took the phone and rolled his eyes. "You look fine."
She shook her head at him. "I never said I didn't. But why was that my hair?"
Aaron took a closer look at the photo. He thought her hair looked pretty much the same, just pulled back in a headband. But he figured that comment wouldn't be welcome. Aaron scrolled down a bit more and caught the name Hazleton. Emily wasn't going to like this. Reading to himself he groaned inwardly. 'Former Senator Hazelton of Vermont has raised concerns regarding her hiring as inappropriate due to her involvement in the highly controversial Pegasus data breach of the Moss campaign. While she was cleared of any personal wrongdoing, questions linger surrounding what precisely her role was in the dissemination of the stolen data.'
"I see our old friend Hazelton couldn't keep his mouth shut." Seth had pulled up the article on his own phone.
"Again?" Emily pulled her phone back from Aaron. "He was in all the papers up in Boston when I got hired up there doing the same thing. That's why I get all my news from the Akron Beacon. I've always found their coverage of me to be balanced."
"Balanced?" Seth scoffed. "Weren't you the one who sent me the 'Local Girl Wins Boston Mayoral Campaign' headline?"
"I don't see anything wrong with that. If you read all the way to paragraph five you found out I only worked on the campaign."
"So is that where you're headed next time you ditch us?" Aaron asked.
Emily shot him an annoyed look., "I'm buying a house here. Should I sign a loyalty oath as well?"
"Couldn't hurt." He smiled at her. "So I'm thinking I should get a few warm up tosses in before Kirkman gets here. Can't make a fool of myself in front of the big guy."
"This I can't wait to see." Seth sat down. Laughing Emily joined him as well.
Aaron scowled at them, "You guys know I'm gonna win." He loved goading Emily, she could turn competitive over anything. And spending time with Seth wasn't bad either. Maybe he did need to spend a bit more time away from his office. Probably wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. And Emily was coming over tonight. All in all, he decided today was going pretty well.