For the prompt: "I will not hesitate to murder you."

Blake and Nadine sat side by side on the couch in her office, steadily working their way through a pile of reports while the Secretary was out at lunch. Elizabeth admonished them for how frequently they skipped meals, but truthfully it was oftentimes the most productive moment they would see all day.

And anyway. Pot, kettle.

Her desk phone beeped and the intercom light blinked.

Nadine glanced up. "Blake, can you just—" She waved at it. He was closer, and she was in the middle of writing a long note.

Blake relocated to her desk and sat down as he turned on the speaker. "Hey, Maggie."

"Hey Blake. Garcia's aide left a message about moving the Congressman's meeting—"

"—which was supposed to be tomorrow over breakfast," he finished.

"That's the one."

Blake sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This will be the third time we've had to reschedule."

"He said he's effusively apologetic," she offered.

"Right. I'll have to take a look at her calendar before I call him back. Thanks, Maggie." He switched the intercom off. "Nadine, do you mind—?"

"That's fine. Just log me out of my email."

Blake jiggled the mouse to wake up her desktop, and Nadine's inbox automatically appeared on the monitor. His eyes widened when he saw the sheer volume. "Jesus," he said. "Is this all from today?"

"Is it bad?"

"Uh, by my standards, yeah. Does Maggie not sort this for you?"

"No, I... I have a system."

"Maybe you'd consider teaching it to her. This is a nightmare." As he was about to log out, he glanced at the email that had been left open on the split screen. One of the words in it caught his eye.

He read the whole thing.

.

Nadine,

Know that I am always watching you. I will not hesitate to murder you. Stay vigilant.

Yours truly

.

"Nadine."

The unusually sharp edge in his voice got her attention. "What's wrong?"

"Did… did you read this email?"

"What email? When was it sent?"

He looked at the time stamp. "About an hour ago. It was already pulled up when I turned on your computer."

"Oh, yeah." She waved it away. "I wouldn't worry about it."

"It's… it's a death threat."

"It's not serious."

"Nadine, it's a death threat!"

"Yeah, and I get a dozen of them a week. They're not important."

"Oh, because you have a lot of experience evaluating these things, do you?"

She eyed him like he'd gone round the bend. "Blake, every email sent and received within this building has already been pre-screened by, I don't know, internal servers or something."

"For spam, viruses, and phishing attacks! Not this."

"I think you're overreacting."

"Have you read the language?" he demanded.

"I can read, yes."

"It's a literal threat of death. They literally said they want to murder you. I don't think I'm overreacting at all. In fact, I think you are severely underreacting."

"Blake—"

"Have you spoken to the FBI about this?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you feel that they need more things to do?"

Her nonchalant attitude was causing him to grow more and more horrified in real time. "Oh my god, Nadine... you're telling me that you have gotten dozens of these emails... and you haven't called the FBI once?" He was going to have an aneurysm.

"Blake," she said sharply. She glared over the rims of her glasses, and it was clear that she was done humoring him. "Drop it."

"Okay, okay. Fine," he said. He stood up and waved his arms to get Jay's attention through the glass. "Jay!" he shouted.

In his own office, Jay's head snapped up.

"Get in here."

"Blake, you're about to really piss me off," Nadine snapped. She tossed the report aside and ripped her glasses off, standing up in a huff.

Jay walked in. His eyes darted back and forth between them. "What's going on?"

Blake moved aside. "Come look at this."

After reading the email, Jay looked up at Nadine. "Did you call the FBI?"

She huffed.

He turned to Blake. "Call the FBI."

Blake picked up Nadine's desk phone. He was halfway through dialing when the gentle chime filtered through the room, indicating that a new email had popped up. Jay hesitated for a moment and then clicked on it. His expression hardened.

"What?" Nadine rounded the desk as Jay stepped back and Blake leaned in.

.

Nadine,

Are you watching your back? I'm going to put a knife in it soon. Stay vigilant.

Yours truly