"And you're sure you will be fine here for a few hours?" Daisy asked again. Nadine appreciated the sentiment, but the idea that she couldn't take care of herself for a few hours… it was laughable, to say the least.

"I've been doing it my whole life, Daisy. I'll manage. Besides, I have a friend coming over, remember?" Nadine reassured her. "Go! It's not even up to you, anyway. A press conference kind of requires a press secretary."

"Fine, just… don't do anything stupid, okay?" Daisy chided.

"I don't need to be looked after…"

"Okay?"

Nadine sighed in resignation. "Yes, okay, I will be careful. Now don't mess up our forign policy!"

"That's not even my area of expertise…"

"Just go!"

Daisy grabbed her leather bag and slipped out the door, calling out, "See you later!"

Nadine hobbled around her apartment on her crutches, doing her best to straighten up the place before Angie arrived. In all honesty, she had no idea how this visit was going to go. She hadn't talked to her former best friend in nearly a decade, and it had been even longer since they had met up. Roman had still been living with her at the time; he had driven to the restaurant on his learner's permit.

Lifting objects off of the floor was no small task to maneuver on crutches, but she was a pro at navigating on the apparatuses. She had way too much experience. Replacing throw pillows that had been scattered to make a place for Daisy to work, she had the living room looking spic and span in no time. Well, it must have taken some time, because she had hardly finished the task when the doorbell rang.

"It's unlocked!" she called out, hoping that Angie would take the signal and open the door. Angie got the message, and the door burst open.

"Sorry I didn't open the door for you, I just…" Nadine was cut off by the feeling of her friend's arms wrapping around her in a tight and warm embrace.

"Please," Angie said as she held Nadine, "I wouldn't have made you do that. I'm not a crazy person, as much as you may think I am." Angie let go of Nadine, and her eyes traveled around the open area of the condo. "Nice place you've got here."

"Yes, well, I…" Nadine stuttered, still catching her breath from the unexpected embrace and not quite sure how to respond.

"Nadine, are you alright?" She had to hand it to her former best friend; the woman got straight to the point. Unfortunately, the point was not something she was too keen on talking about.

"Well I'm here, aren't I?" Nadine shot back, though not maliciously.

"I'm serious," Angie countered, eyeing Nadine's foot, wrapped in bulky bandages, and crutches.

"It was just a broken pin in my foot, Angie. No big deal," Nadine tried to reassure her.

"And how long did you try to hide it this time?" Angie inquired, and Nadine groaned internally. It wasn't the first time she had tried to hide that something was wrong with her ankle. Angie had done several times what Elizabeth had done a few days ago: forced her to take care of herself.

"Um… a few weeks?" Nadine mumbled.

"Nadine!"

"I was busy!" Nadine defended. "I didn't have time to be off my game!"

"Yeah, well, look where you are now!" Angie wasn't wrong. Nadine had been told by several doctors that if she had come to the hospital when the pain had started, the damage to her ankle would have been far less severe, and she would have had a much shorter recovery period.

Nadine would have responded, but a spike of pain from her foot caused her to grimace before she could catch herself.

"You're in pain," Angie stated, and Nadine didn't have it in her to downplay, simply nodding instead. "How 'bout we sit down? My feet are tired from the walk here," Angie suggested. Classic Angie. She knew exactly how to not make Nadine feel weak. Of course, Nadine knew exactly what she was doing, but she appreciated the gesture. She worked her way to the nearest couch, unapologetically claiming the entire piece of furniture. Angie instinctively grabbed the crutches, and Nadine thanked her. Nadine put her back to the left armrest, used her hands to help her swing her right ankle onto the cushion next to her, and brought her left leg up to meet it. She sat sideways on the couch, watching Angie plop down on a comfy chair next to her.

"So, I saw you in a press release awhile back. You work for Elizabeth McCord now?" Angie asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I'm her chief of staff," Nadine casually replied.

"Didn't you work for… what was his name? Vance? Victor?"

"Vincent Marsh. And yes, I worked for him for a little over six years."

"That must have been the last time you called me, when you started working for him. He was a senator, right?"

"Umm… yes…" Nadine confirmed, very uncomfortable with the current topic of conversation.

"So, how'd you end up working for Elizabeth McCord?"

"Well, when Vincent… passed away, Secretary McCord took over only two months later. In a move that had all of us floored, she chose to keep all of Vincent's old staff, including me."

"Is it better? Working for Elizabeth McCord, I mean?" Angie asked innocently, unaware of just how big of a question she was asking. Nadine had hated working for Elizabeth at first. Elizabeth was nothing like Vincent. She didn't follow rules that needed to be broken. She didn't hide behind policy and ignore those the policy hurt. She had more integrity that any politician Nadine had ever met, maybe because she wasn't a politician. She was human. Nadine had been horrible to her in the beginning. She had hated her for the simple reason that Elizabeth was not Vincent. Nadine had thought that she would spend the rest of her life with that man, and Elizabeth had waltzed in just months after Vincent's death, expecting her to do the same job in the same place for a different person. But… Elizabeth was better. Nadine had never loved her job before, but now, she found herself excited to go to the Truman Building. She loved her job. So yes, yes it was better.

"Yes," Nadine said after a few seconds. "The Secretary is nothing like other politicians. She is better in every conceivable way. Of course, it makes my job harder when she ignores set protocol to do what's right, but I would rather she do that than do the ethically wrong thing. She keeps me busy, that is for sure."

"Is that why you stopped calling?" Angie suddenly inquired. "Did Vincent keep you that busy too?"

"Well… yes and no." Nadine had known that she would have to explain the Vincent situation to Angie, but that hadn't made her look forward to it any more. "You see, when I was working for Vincent… I was more than just an employee…"

Angie looked confused for a moment, and Nadine paused, but as Angie's face dawned with the realization of what Nadine was saying, Nadine pressed on.

"I knew how wrong it was, Angie. Of course you know that the man was married. I… nobody knew, and I didn't want to tell anybody. It eventually became easier to just not talk to people who would have one conversation with me and figure it out. People who knew me too well."

Angie seemed slightly shocked, but recovered quickly. "Are you alright?"

The question brought a sense of deja vu to Nadine. Elizabeth had asked basically the same question the night Nadine had told her about Vincent.

"What?"

"You loved him, and he died. Are you alright?"

"I didn't love him. Not really, anyway. I thought I loved him, but it was all a lie. He used me, and he was planning on dropping me. Trust me, my biggest problem with him is not the fact that he died."

"Okay… wow… I guess I can understand why you never called… I mean, I guess I can't blame you…" Angie stuttered.

"I really should have called…"

"Well, I'm glad you called now. You're not on your own, are you?"

"Oh, no. My coworkers made sure of that. The Secretary's press coordinator is staying here for a little while. I told her she didn't have to, but she's the closest thing I have to a daughter, and…" Nadine rambled, but was cut off.

"Nadine, I'm glad you're not alone. The press coordinator… that's Daisy Grant, right?"

"Yes… how'd you know that?"

"Please, you don't think I watch the news every morning? Plus, with my business, I have to keep track of what's going on internationally."

"What are you doing now?" Nadine asked, ashamed that she didn't know what had gone on in her friend's life for the last decade.

"I'm the co-manager of a nonprofit that sets up arts programs in low-income areas across the world. We have to be aware of what is happening all the time, so we know when to be on the lookout for anti-American violence."

"Makes sense," Nadine concluded, before looking up at the clock. "Good grief, I totally forgot about lunch! I am a terrible hostess!"

"No, you are a woman who just had major surgery and invited a friend over. Do you mind if I dig through your fridge?" Angie asked, brushing off Nadine's apology.

"Umm… go ahead. I'm sure Daisy left some sort of breakfast food in there, if you're into breakfast for lunch."

"Yeah, I'm good with that!"

Nadine and Angie talked for a good part of the day, catching up with each other to make up for the decade they had lost. It was close to five o'clock in the evening before Angie had to make her exit, bidding farewell to Nadine and promising to call more often, and leaving strict instructions to recover fully before going back to work. Instructions that Nadine had no intention of following, but she didn't say that.

Angie hadn't been gone ten minutes when Daisy burst through the door, looking like she had been awake for days, even though she had only been at the office for a number of hours.

"Sorry, long day. Reporters are brutal. How was your day?" Daisy asked as she ran a brush through her long hair.

"Actually, it was pretty good!" Nadine smiled. Maybe something good had come out of this mess after all.