Hello everyone! I have returned from writing my finals. Thank you all so much for your continued support and reviews.

I'm glad to hear you're excited for the date. I promise the date will be in Chapter 9. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter that provides a bit more setup for my AU.

Henry was on his way to Stevie's apartment building with a bag of groceries in hand. He was so distracted from everything that had happened earlier, he hoped he remembered everything on her list.

Henry was grateful that ever since Stevie had moved out and found her own apartment, the two of them had been able to set up semi-regular Thursday night dinners. Typically that meant whenever Stevie wasn't stuck at work.

He really should've expected the situation they've found themselves in now, but it still felt a bit ironic. And even though he had been around to watch Stevie grow up, and she'd already gone off to college when Russell Jackson had shown up on his doorstep to drag him back into NSA work, this whole situation was feeling a bit too "Cat's in the Cradle" for Henry's taste.

Henry had spent six years working for the government during the Dalton administration. And he hadn't wanted to influence Stevie's decisions, but he did have to admit he was happy that she had also moved to DC when she'd transferred to Georgetown after her sophomore year at Lovell. She was already fairly independent then, but he still felt guilty that he wasn't around very often while he was doing intelligence work. But now that he was working at Georgetown and he actually had more time to spend with her, Stevie was the one who was constantly working.

Henry would be lying if he said he didn't miss public service. It was why he'd hoped that Elizabeth would be willing to hire him in some capacity. But now? He might be getting ahead of himself, but he'd gladly give up any shot at working in public service again if it meant he had a shot at a relationship with Elizabeth. Henry was still shocked that it was even a possibility. He wouldn't dare risk that or risk complicating her life any further by trying to work for any facet of the government while she was president. They couldn't risk any possible appearance of impropriety.

Henry pressed the buzzer outside Stevie's apartment building. She let him know that she had already started cooking and he could let himself in with his spare key.

"Hey, Stevie. I got the ingredients you asked for," he greeted as he entered the apartment's small front hallway.

"Thanks, Dad," she replied as her father rounded the corner into the kitchen. As she looked up from the potatoes she was peeling, Stevie saw that her father's expression seemed to be one of pure joy. Hopeful, she asked, "Oh my gosh, did you get the job?"

Stevie knew how much her dad wanted to work for President Adams, and she completely understood why. Despite the fact that she frequently disagreed with some of Elizabeth Adams's measures when she began as the secretary of state, namely going against her own article and hiring Vesuvian to protect the ambassador to Yemen, she eventually grew to highly respect then Secretary Adams. Once she had started interning for Russell, Stevie had gotten to see a sneak peak behind the scenes at how the administration was run and how the process of governing really worked.

Stevie had to admit that she really had grown to understand why her father found Elizabeth Adams so impressive. Although, she can be a bit of diva when it comes to party planning. Stevie doubted she would have made it through that particular assignment for her internship if it hadn't been for the help of Alison Adams.

Henry was so wrapped up in his own thoughts about everything that had happened with the president at their lunch meeting, it took him a minute to process what Stevie had asked. "Sorry, what? Oh that. Yeah uh no, I didn't get the job."

Stevie was confused. She knew it was probably a long shot that President Adams would suddenly add a new advisor position to her administration for someone she barely knew after just one lunch meeting, but that didn't explain why her dad seemed so happy. "You didn't get the job? Then what's with the goofy grin on your face?"

Henry heard her that time, but now he just wasn't quite sure how to respond. He still couldn't wipe his smile off his face, and he knew his daughter was far too curious to accept anything less than the truth. Despite his years of intelligence work, his daughter always seemed to know when he was hiding something. "We kissed," was all he offered as an answer. He was still a bit lost in his own thoughts.

Stevie could tell that his half-thought-out answer was probably the result of her dad's mind wandering, and now she was more than confused, she was concerned. Her father was hardly ever this distracted by something that wasn't work related, and to her knowledge, he hadn't kissed anyone in years, "You kissed someone? Who did you kiss? The lady that's always flirting with you at the supermarket? I told you—"

"What? No not her," Henry responded, interrupting Stevie. Then he paused. He was hesitant. He wasn't sure how Stevie would react to the news of how his lunch meeting ended. Truth be told, he was still processing what happened himself. He figured he might as well get it over with—rip it off like the very large band-aid that this situation was. "Elizabeth Adams and I kissed," Henry informed Stevie, not quite able to meet her gaze.

Stevie froze. She vaguely heard a clatter, but she never even felt the potato peeler leave her hand when she dropped it out of shock. If she thought she was surprised before at her dad's news that he had kissed anyone at all, that was nothing compared to how stunned she was to hear that her father had kissed the president of the United States. "YOU WHAT?!" was all she could manage at first.

She felt unsteady on her feet as she tried to process her dad's news. "Oh, God, I think I need to sit down," she said as she clung to one of the barstools next to the counter. Once seated, Stevie brought her fingertips to her forehead and rested her elbows on the counter. "Dad, what in the hell could you possibly have been thinking!?" Stevie yelled at him, "You went over there looking for a job, a job, Dad, a freaking job!" Stevie repeated as though saying it more times was actually necessary for Henry to process the severity of what had occurred at his lunch meeting. "She's the president of the United States! For Christ's sake, you can't kiss POTUS!" She screamed, slamming her fists on the counter.

Henry cringed. He should have known her reaction was going to be this bad. His daughter really had grown to be much more outspoken after she had started working for Russell Jackson. Henry tried to demonstrate compassion and understanding at Stevie's response, but that still couldn't change how he felt about what had happened with Elizabeth that afternoon. He still had a slight, soft smile on his face as he informed Stevie, "I didn't kiss her."

"What? But you just said—"

"I said 'we kissed.' I didn't say that I kissed her." Henry looked at Stevie hoping that she would understand what he was saying.

"You're saying that she kissed you? Alright let me get this straight, your story now, is that the president of the United States of America, Elizabeth Adams, kissed you?"

"Yes," Henry's smile widened ever so slightly. He thought that maybe he should be offended by his daughter's tone on the word "you," and maybe if it had been any other woman in the world who had kissed him he would have been. But they were talking about Elizabeth Adams. Henry couldn't believe what had happened at their lunch either, but that still didn't diminish any of the joy he felt regarding Elizabeth's kiss and her accepting his invitation for a date.

Stevie spent a minute taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. Once she started to wrap her brain around what her father was telling her, she couldn't help but point out, "Okay, it's just—I know it really shouldn't be anyone's business, but aside from her being the president, she's like, the most infamously celibate person in the country."

"She's not a nun, Stevie. She's been married before, and she has two children."

"I know, but beside the tabloid rumors about her and Mike B., no one's ever reported any evidence of her dating since her husband died."

Henry was getting a bit frustrated with the direction this conversation was taking. It had always angered him how people felt they had a right to pry into Elizabeth's personal life. Or even make one up as Stevie had just had just mentioned. There had been lots of speculation about who Elizabeth might be secretly sleeping with throughout the years, and none of it was as persistent as the rumors about her and Mike B. It killed him to see those stories. "You're right," Henry informed her sternly, "it shouldn't be anyone's business."

Stevie looked at her dad seriously. Her blue eyes were shining intensely under the bright lights of her kitchen. Henry could see that they were filled with sympathy, and just a dash of pity as she told him, "Dad, I'm sorry. I'm just concerned about you. If it leaks that she kissed you, the press is going to have a field day with it. There will be no escaping the paparazzi, and—" Stevie paused, struggling to admit her next thought. She'd lived through enough trauma in her life that her mind had no trouble finding the worst case scenario of any situation, "there's a reason why her family members have Secret Service agents."

Henry could see that his daughter's anger was actually mostly out of concern for him, and he understood. He just needed to find a way to explain everything to her. He figured the beginning was as good a place at any to start. "Can I explain? Please?" Henry asked.

Stevie gestured to the other barstool, indicating that he should sit down, and she would listen to what he had to say.

"Now I know you know that President Adams and I both taught at UVA at the same time—"

"You've known her that long?" Stevie asked, interrupting his story already. "You never said you had met back then..." she trailed off noticing her dad was shaking his head.

"Longer actually, well sort of."

"What does that mean?"

"Stevie please, just let me get through this, and hopefully it'll make a bit more sense. Deal?"

"Fine. Deal," she looked at him impatiently waiting for him to get to the point.

"I know you're smart enough to have figured out that Elizabeth Adams and I also attended UVA at the same time, and to answer your question as to what "sort of" means, it means that we did have one class together, but Elizabeth Adams had no clue I existed. And I know what that sounds like, and you'd be correct if you're wondering right about now if that means that I had a crush on the president in college."

Henry noticed the look of disbelief on his daughter's face when he admitted that. "I know it sounds surreal when you say it like that, but back then, she wasn't famous. She was just another college student. Except for the fact that she was brilliant, and wise beyond her years. It's probably why I didn't notice how young she was. I know now that she would've been just 17 when the spring semester started that year. Of course her birthday is in February, and she was 18 for most of the semester. But a buddy of mine in the class saw what I didn't at the time: she was too young. The age difference feels like nothing now, but even though I know now that she was 18, I wasn't sure back then, and it was enough to stop me from asking her out."

Stevie could see the sadness in her father's eyes, and as much as she hated to admit it, she knew first hand that there's a reason why the cliché "the one that got away" exists.

Henry could see the pity in his daughter's eyes again as he was telling his story. He tried to shift direction a bit. He smiled, "But hey, then I graduated and I was in the Marines full-time, and I met your mom, and I know you know how much I loved her. And for 13 years we had the joy and honor of raising you together."

Stevie smiled at the memories of her late mother. She had a lot of good memories that she clung to. As difficult as it was to have a mother who was fighting a war for a great deal of her childhood, Stevie had grown up to accept why her mother had made the sacrifices she'd made.

Henry continued, "You know I was devastated when we lost her. The pain was so unreal. But I knew that I had to fight through it, for you mostly, but also so that I could begin to heal as well."

There was a definite gravity to what her father was saying, and Stevie knew that they had both had to do a lot of healing in the last 15 and a half years. Stevie could also sense that they were at a turning point in the story as her father's expression turned into a wistful smile.

"It was a little over two years later when I first saw Elizabeth Adams again. I had no idea she was back in town. And at the time, I had no idea why," Henry frowned briefly with a pang of regret now that he knew she'd moved back a few years after losing her husband.

"We were at this fancy fundraiser for the big donors of the university. Every year they drag a selection of faculty to the event to show us off. I know I'm a hopeless cliché, but when I saw her enter the ballroom in her fancy ball gown I was blown away. I felt like a part of me had come alive again, and being there in the same room as her in Charlottesville again, a part of me felt like I'd been whisked back to my time as an undergrad just waiting on the edge of my seat to hear what brilliant thing she might say next. She was a force of nature, as I'm sure you can imagine," Henry added with a small chuckle, "even when she was 17. At the fundraiser, I'd assumed at first that she'd gone on to get her master's and made it big in the private sector. But I asked around and found out that she'd just finished her doctorate at the university, and that fall was her first semester as a member of the faculty.

I got to hear her speak in a couple of her larger group conversations that night, and I knew—it was like I felt it in my soul—that if I ever did fall in love again, it could only ever be with her."

Stevie was shocked. It was difficult to absorb all of the information her father had just shared. For so long they had been all each other had, and they were very close because of that, but she had no idea the president meant that much to her father. Sure she'd wondered a few times if her father had maybe smiled a bit too much or seemed a bit too interested when her name had come up in conversation, but she never imagined that he'd been hiding the true depths of his feelings that well.

"Why didn't you ever ask her out when you worked at UVA?"

Henry sighed. This explanation was a bit more complicated. But he'd had enough sleepless nights the last several years where he churned this question over and over in his mind to know the answer. "Well, when I first saw her again in 2009, I knew I was still too broken to think about dating again. And I absolutely don't blame you for a second, because this was my choice, but once I did start to feel ready to think about the possibility of dating again, I didn't feel like I had enough time. I was raising a teenager by myself, and I had enough on my plate with teaching and the books I was writing."

Stevie opened her mouth to protest, but Henry cut her off, "I know what you're thinking. I know if it meant that much to me that I should've found a way, but I was so nervous, and I let the excuses pile up, even after you left for college, I'd gotten pretty good at finding them by that point. Or making them up entirely, I guess."

"Dad, you fought in a war. You've flown jets at whatever the speed is you're always bragging about," she teased him. "How could you be afraid of this?"

"Oh, well, come on, you've met her. She's—"

"Intimidating," Stevie admitted.

"Yes. And truth be told, there was also stupidity mixed in with some of that fear."

Stevie thought that this night couldn't possibly hold any more surprises, but once again her dad had shocked her. She never thought she'd hear her dad, the brilliant world-renowned religious scholar, use the word "stupid" to refer to himself. "What do you mean?"

Henry was very serious when he told her, "I was acting like I had all the time in the world. I should have known better by then."

"Oh," was all Stevie could manage. She knew exactly what he was referring to.

"Yeah. It wasn't until I was falling down the rabbit hole of newspaper articles about the 'mysterious former CIA agent turned professor who'd been nominated to be the next secretary of state' that I'd realized that I'd missed my chance with her."

Stevie thought about it, and she realized that they'd been so caught up talking about the past that her dad hadn't gotten back to the topic of today yet. She was afraid to ask, but she had to. "But did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Miss your chance? I mean what happened after she kissed you?"

"Oh, that," Henry responded, once again unsure of how his daughter would react.

"Yeah, that," Stevie added, rolling her eyes.

"I asked her out. And she said yes."

Stevie sighed. This is what she was afraid of. As much as she wanted her father to be happy, Elizabeth Adams really wasn't just some college professor any more. This date could change both of their lives forever. Stevie didn't want to be selfish, but if her dad was dating the president, she couldn't even begin to predict all the ways their lives would change. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't terrified, for both their sakes.

"Well this is a lot to process, and I need to get dinner in the oven. Dmitri is gonna be home soon. So can we talk about this later?"

"Right. Sure of course take your time." Henry wanted to be as understanding as possible. Normally, his dating life would have no effect on his adult daughter, but he'd have to be naïve to think that dating the president of the United States wouldn't affect her if the public found out about it. He knew she'd need time to understand his decision, and hopefully, forgive him. "I know I don't have a right to ask you for any more favors right now, but can we not talk about this while Dmitri is here?"

"What?" Stevie asked, incredulous. "Dad, he was your own asset. Do you really think he can't keep a secret?"

"It's not that. Although, you are right this does need to remain a secret. It's…" he trailed off, a bit unsure of exactly how to explain this, "I don't even know if tomorrow is going to go well."

Stevie turned to look at her father again after she'd finally added the last few ingredients to the dinner and put the pan in the oven. And here he was, her dad, the soldier, the fighter pilot, and the secret agent who had put his life on the line more times than she would ever know, and he looked scared—vulnerable even. Growing up, she never would have thought her dad was afraid of anything. But now, she understood. She'd lost too much, and risked just enough in her own life to understand that caring about another human being is the scariest experience a person can go through.

Speaking of those risks, she heard Dmitri walk through the door. Stevie excused herself from the kitchen, giving her father a moment to himself. She rushed to greet Dmitri. She hugged him tightly, and when she leaned back to look in his eyes, she told him, "I love you, you know that?"

It was rhetorical, but Dmitri could sense the somber weight of the atmosphere in the apartment that night. He smiled at her as he said, "Of course. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she lied. She knew he'd see right through her lie, but she also knew he trusted her enough to know that she would talk about it when she was ready.

From there, the rest of the night was smooth sailing, which was no surprise considering the fact that both the men at the dinner knew quite well how to navigate a world full of secrets.

After dinner, Henry thanked his daughter and her fiancé before he left to return home to what he was sure would be a sleepless night. Only now, for the first time in a very long time, he knew his anticipation and his nerves would be for something exciting, and not thoughts of some dangerous mission, or worry for one of his assets, or dreading a threat to the country's safety. It was a good feeling.

He'd already left the apartment building when he heard Stevie calling out to try to catch up to him.

"Stevie, what's wrong?" He asked, figuring it must be pretty important for her to run outside after him with no coat on in the middle of January.

"One more thing," she told him, shivering from the cold. "She's a terrible cook."

"What? Who?"

"The president."

"Okay if this is your way of trying to convince me not to go out with her, I gotta say, you're off to a terrible start."

"Would you please just listen? I've decided to help you."

"How does insulting her help me?"

"Because I also know that her mother-in-law hates cooking too. They love takeout, and the president's favorite is Chinese food." At that, Stevie could tell that her dad was finally getting the point. "I imagine she misses it. She also loves popcorn, ice cream, and chocolate."

"How do you know all this? You said you barely saw her on the campaign trail."

Stevie smiled mischievously. She'd been waiting a long time for an excuse to say this. "The Harvard Assistants Mafia."

"The what?" completely confused as to why his daughter had just spoken those rather incongruous three words in the same sentence.

"Trust me, it's not as nefarious as it sounds," she explained, quoting Blake. She explained further, "Her assistant is one of my best friends. I've seen him buy a lot of food for her over the years. And you're forgetting that I planned a Christmas party for this woman."

Henry had forgotten. At the time, he had been a little bit busy investigating the senate majority leader.

"So trust me when I tell you, the way to Elizabeth Adams's heart is through food."

Henry smiled. He hugged Stevie as he thanked her. He knew they still had a lot to talk about, but he hoped that maybe this gesture meant that she would eventually approve of him dating Elizabeth.

"Now get inside. It's freezing out here."

Stevie rolled her eyes again at her dad's overprotective habits. "Yes, dad," she responded with a hint of sass before she turned serious again. "And good luck."

He thanked her again and watched to make sure she made it back into the building okay. As he turned to walk away, he smiled, full excitement and hope for what the next day would bring.