Note: This chapter is M rated.

Nov 2022

Running a hand over her stomach again, Emily sighed. She had been feeling more like herself lately, but one look at herself in a form fitting dress had her contemplating never leaving the house again. She didn't think she looked bad necessarily, It just did not feel like it was her staring back at her in the mirror. She used to love this dress, but she wondered if the neckline was a bit vulgar now, and if the slit was a bit high at least for the Second Lady. She glanced over at her closet, debating changing for the third time, but Aaron had asked her to be ready at seven and she hated being late.

Deciding there was nothing to be done about it now, and that she was going to be wearing a wedding dress in front of what felt like half of DC in just two weeks, she figured she might as well get on with it. She slipped on her shoes, and feeling slightly unsteady wearing heels for the first time in at least six months, she hurried out to the living room, where she could hear Aaron and his Mother having what sounded like a lively conversation. They stopped their conversation short the second she entered the room making her wonder what she was interrupting.

Before she could give it much thought she was distracted by the sight of Callie giggling away in Lucia's arms. Her newborn baby that couldn't stand to be in anyone else's arms was certainly gone. It tugged at her heartstrings seeing Callie so comfortable with someone else, and almost made her long for the days where she had a fussy baby that demanded to be held by her twenty four hours a day. But she knew she wouldn't trade away the sound of Callie's laugh for anything. It seemed like from the second she laughed for the first time, every little thing made her laugh. Especially the sound of her laugh. Seth told her it was unbelievable that Emily and Aaron had a baby that laughed this much, because according to him neither of them had much of a sense of humor.

"Oh, don't you look beautiful." Emily smiled at Lucia, and mumbled her thanks, trying once again to ignore the pang of longing she always felt around Aaron's mom. No matter how much it made her feel like a bit of a brat, she couldn't stop herself from wishing it was her mom here instead. As Aaron and Lucia continued to chat Emily crossed the room to give Callie one last hug and cuddle before they headed out. She still wasn't sure she really felt ready to be away from her for the evening, but Aaron had been so excited about the idea of going out on a date she had agreed to it.

"Em, you ready?"

"Bye sweetie, you be good for Abue okay?." She reluctantly handed Callie back to Lucia. "Call us if anything happens, and you have my notes on the coffee table."

"Of course, sweetie." Emily knew Lucia was just humoring her, she had raised three children and had five older grandkids, as she reminded Emily earlier when she had sat down with her to give her the details on Callie's schedule.

Aaron cleared his throat and put his hand on the small of her back clearly trying to guide her out of there. So with one final wave to Callie she followed him out of the room. They walked down the hallway in somewhat awkward silence. She felt weird going on a true date with Aaron after all this time. And she was worried that after she'd practically jumped his bones in Ohio he wouldn't ever be interested in her again. She still couldn't think back to that episode without cringing. The only thing that had kept her from totally obsessing over it was her relief that it seemed like Aaron was serious about getting some help to work through everything he was dealing with. And while it would have been unrealistic to expect an overnight change, she could see him really trying to open up more, and just generally be more present. She thought that was at least in part what this date was all about.

Once they were seated in the back of the car, Emily rested her head on Aaron's shoulder. Now that he wasn't pulling away from her anymore, she was taking advantage of every opportunity to be close to him. "So how far is this restaurant?" Aaron had insisted that he wanted to surprise her.

"An hour or so."

"An hour? I assumed we were going somewhere in the city."

"It'll give us some time to talk. Relax."

Emily rolled her eyes at that. She didn't like being told to relax, but she didn't really have it in her to pick a fight over it either. She smiled as he started talking about the midterm results, she knew some people thought they were crazy, but there was nothing she liked more than riling Aaron up over some political point.

They were deep into a discussion about shifting demographics, when Aaron mentioned Arizona's 6th Congressional district, which made her sit up straight. "Excuse me, you want to lecture me about Arizona's 6th?"

"I didn't know it held such a special place in your heart." He replied with an amused look on his face.

"June 2016. You told me there was no point in talking to Congressman Summers about my Section Eight expansion bill, because, and I quote, 'His district is now, and always will be solidly Republican.'" That interaction was the first time she remembered meeting Aaron, she remembered it quite clearly because she had spent over an hour on the phone with Katie that night talking about how smug and arrogant he had been. And hadn't been able to come up with an answer when Katie asked why this smug asshole, out of all the smug assholes in DC, warranted an hour long conversation.

"And there was no point, and the district still would be if it hadn't been for redistricting."

"You're just defensive because I was right."

"Really? And remind me, how exactly did that chat with Summers go?" She could see the smile twitching at the corners of his lips, and he asked the question with feigned innocence.

Emily blushed. She hadn't even been able to get a meeting with the Congressman, and had been basically blown off by his staff as well. "I decided to pursue other avenues to secure the bill's passage."

"And what may I ask exactly were those avenues?"

"Long con. Marry the Vice President."

"So you've been in love with me since 2016?" He said, not hiding the shit eating grin on his face.

"Mmm. Not quite that long." But longer than she was going to admit to him.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I kinda had a thing for you too."

"A thing?"

He just nodded. If they'd been alone, or honestly if it had been a cab they were in the back of, she would have kissed him right now. But making out in a car driven by the secret service was not something she was comfortable with, so she shook her head at him and went back to resting her head on his shoulder.

Aaron eventually broke the silence between them saying, "I've been thinking. About that fight we had, about me watching the news with Callie around."

Emily froze. She knew it was hypocritical, seeing as she had been the one wanting to talk about it before, but now that he was bringing it, she felt like she would much prefer to pretend the whole argument never happened.

"And I think you were right, I don't want her constantly exposed to that either. And I shouldn't have said you don't listen to me. It's more… I don't always speak up when I disagree with you on how we're raising her." Emily could feel her temper starting to flair, she didn't think it was right to blame her for things he wasn't even telling her about. As if sensing what she was going to say, he continued, "And I know that's on me, not on you. But I want to change that."

"You disagree with me, about what?" All she could hear was that she was a terrible mother, and was making the wrong choices for Callie.

"Maybe disagree isn't the right word. But when we talked about Baptizing her, you said you didn't want to and I just went along with that."

"You want Callie Baptized? When was that last time you even went to Mass?"

"It's not the religious part of it. It's my family." He must have seen her argument that they were raising Callie, not his mother coming from a mile away, because he quickly added. "Or the connection to my family, and my heritage. Six generations of my Mom's family have been baptized in that church. I want Callie to be a part of that. I realized, if she was mine biologically I'd be, well maybe not insisting, but close to it, so I'm not treating her like family if I don't for her as well. We say she's my daughter, and we talk about me adopting her, but I've been deferring to you on the big stuff. And part of that is that you're a great Mom and you make great decisions. But I also think part of it is, I don't feel like it's my place to have an opinion."

She didn't know what to say. Everything he said had been reasonable, and she was touched that he wanted Callie to have more of a bond with his family. But beyond the validity of his argument, she had her own reasons for not wanting Callie baptized. It was her Grandparents' zealous Catholicism that led to them telling her Mom, 'You've made your bed, now lie in it.' when she had gone to them looking for support after Emily's dad left. And her time at Catholic school, the one support that her Grandparents had seen fit to continue after the divorce, had left her with a range of complexes about her body, her sexuality, and even just her place in the world as a woman. And she didn't want any part of that for any child of hers. "We can talk about it." She finally allowed. "Is it just the baptism thing, or is there anything else?" She was scared to find out Aaron disagreed with every decision she was making.

"No, really just that. Like I said you're a great mom."

"Would you want to raise her Catholic, or just the baptism?"

"Just the baptism. It's more cultural than religious for me." She folded her arms and took a shaky breath. She didn't know why this was impacting her so much, but it felt like she had been knocked off her center. Aaron pulled his arm around her a little tighter and said, "Hey, we don't need to come to any grand decision tonight or anything, I just wanted to get it off my chest."

She left the conversation there, she wasn't in the mood to have a long drawn out conversation about religion, but she could already feel her resistance to the idea wearing away a little bit. They veered back to talking about the midterms, and before she knew it they were pulling into a parking lot. Emily racked her brain trying to think of what reason Aaron would have had for dragging them over an hour out of the city to go to this bar she didn't think she'd ever heard of but ended up coming up blank. Giving Aaron a puzzled look, she got out of the car and walked alongside him into the restaurant. Once they were seated she finally spied a sign proclaiming 'The King Lives! Live Elvis Impersonator Weds 11/9 8pm'

Unable to keep the huge grin off her face, she asked "Elvis?"

"You do still owe me a date. And I know it's not quite the 930 club, but it was weirdly difficult to find an Elvis Impersonator performing. It's almost as if he hasn't been popular in close to fifty years."

He did have a point she thought looking around the bar. Once you added Aaron's entourage they easily made up half the clientele, and were easily the youngest ones as well. She though wistfully about the night they could have spent together almost five years ago now, if things hadn't gotten so screwed up. But she didn't want to dwell on that tonight, so she got up and held her hand out to Aaron. "Dance with me?"

"Fake Elvis isn't even on yet." He said, gesturing to the empty stage.

"But there's music playing."

"Can I get us a drink first?"

"Sure." She wondered if Aaron was nervous about dancing. Dance lessons were another thing they were supposed to be doing before the wedding that they just hadn't gotten around to yet. So tonight would be a good test of just how ridiculous they would be looking in a few weeks.

Just one glass of wine later the only thing Emily was sure of was that she did not have the alcohol tolerance she once had. She wasn't drunk, but she was feeling loopier than she had in a long time. It had been a fun night, she thought as she leaned against Aaron in the backseat of the car, but she didn't think their dancing had been very good. The booze probably hadn't helped matters. She tried for a second to fight the urge to fall asleep, but the motion of the car lulled her to sleep and before she knew it they were pulling up at home.

Once back in their bedroom Emily started feeling awkward. The fact that she had needed to stop and pump hadn't left her feeling sexy, the buzz from the wine had worn off at this point, and she realized she was alone with the man she was marrying in less then two weeks; home from a very nice date and she didn't know what to do. It had been so long since they'd slept together Emily was starting to think Aaron would never see her that way again. The the memories of him rejecting her in Ohio kept playing in her head. She sat down on the edge of the bed to get changed out of her dress, but didn't get further than pulling off her pantyhose before Aaron said "Wait." And holding his hand out he asked, "One more dance?"

Smiling, she stood up and once he put some music on his phone leaned into him and tried to clear the worries from her mind and let herself get lost in the music. The real Elvis was certainly a better singer than the, admittedly not great, impersonator from the bar. She was just about to make a joke about him, when she realized Aaron hands had drifted just enough lower down her back and she didn't want to kill the mood. They weren't even really dancing at this point just slightly swaying in place; his hand practically cupping her ass.

Still slightly nervous she pulled one arm off his shoulders and started lazily tracing a finger down his chest. She heard him draw a quick breath and could practically feel the shiver go down his spine. As she got lower and lower down his chest she let her finger take a more circuitous route drawing out the anticipation, interested to see what he would do next. Just as her finger was about to reach his belt he grabbed her wrist and held it there tightly as he moved his other hand to the back of her neck pulling her towards him and finally kissing her. They stood there for what felt like forever lips pressed against each other, she deepened the kiss parting her lips; first running her tongue along his teeth, and then meeting his tongue with hers.

He released her hand and she felt his hands fumbling at the back of her dress, clearly searching for the zipper of her dress. She lifted her arm to give him access to the zipper hidden down the side of her dress. Breaking apart from her he swore lightly, muttering about who the hell puts a zipper there, as he pulled it down almost excruciatingly slowly. She felt her legs start to shake in nervous anticipation of him undressing her. His eyes never left her body, his gaze felt intense, taking in every inch of skin he revealed as he tugged her dress down her body, removing her bro and panties as well. At last he let the dress fall to the ground at her feet and he murmured, "You're beautiful."

She smiled, she wasn't sure if he was just being nice, but at least he wasn't disgusted by her. Now that she was undressed she found herself feeling impatient. Biting her lip she walked backward toward the bed. She was a little surprised he wasn't following right behind her, but when she got to the edge of the bed and sat down she realized he was loosening his tie, in the same slow exaggerated movements he had used to undress her just moments before. "Strip tease?" She asked, unable to keep herself from smirking.

"Enjoying it?" He shot back, somehow slowing his movement even more as he started unbuttoning his shirt.

"A little." She giggled, as nice as it was taking in his body, she wanted him to hurry up and join her so she did the one thing that she was reasonably confident would get him moving. She started slowly rubbing two fingers over her clit, never breaking eye contact with him.

She saw his eyes widen, and for a moment he looked like he was going to rip his shirt off and join her in bed, but then his face broke into a wolfish grin, and he slowed his movement even more to a truly glacial pace. "Having fun?"

Upping her game a little she replied with a moan, half real, half fabricated and was pleased to hear him swear under his breath but she still didn't get him moving any faster. She knew she could get up and with a few touches get him in bed with her quite quickly, but somehow this has turned into a competition and that felt like admitting defeat. So she spread her legs a little further apart, and started slowly pumping two fingers in and out of her moving her thumb to continue circling her clit, saying in an exaggerated breathy voice, "Oh, Aaron."

He bit his lip and she could tell this was killing him. She felt some satisfaction seeing him pick up his pace a bit pulling his shirt off and unzipping his jeans, but once he had his cock out she realized that two could play at this game. He was stroking himself in long, slow, deliberative movements.

She cursed herself slightly for starting this, the sight of him touching himself made her all the more desperate to feel him inside her, but she knew neither of them were going to give in anytime soon.

Arching her back and shaking her hair out a little she continued the stream of exaggerated moans. The way she was touching herself was so different from the way she usually masturbated, which was generally quick, fairly quiet, and to the point, so she hadn't thought this would get her anywhere near getting off. But the more she touched herself the more she felt genuine feelings of pleasure start racing through her body. She started moving her fingers more quickly, applying more pressure to her cilt, and focusing less on putting on a show for Aaron, she felt herself approaching an orgasm. She leaned back in bed and it wasn't long before she felt her toes curl and with one final breathy moan she reached her climax.

Lying there enjoying the afterglow and feeling of contentment that had come over her, she felt the mattress dip from the weight of Aaron joining her. "That was the fucking hottest thing I've even seen." He said to her, his voice strained. Turning to face him she could feel his erection pressing against her. Clearly he had exhibited a bit more self control than she had.

"Need any help with that?" She asked, wrapping her hand around his dick.

"God, Em." He flipped her on her back and straddled her, kissing her passionately.

"Aaron…" She gasped into his mouth as he began to grind against her clit. She tangled her hands in his hair as he broke away from her lips and trailed kisses down her jaw eventually reaching her neck and stopping there, sucking at her pulse point. She whimpered at the sensation, not caring that he was sure to leave a mark. His hands were roaming her body, caressing her, and the mix of sensations too much for her. "Aaron, I need you, now."

He pulled away from her and reached into the side table to grab a condom. Seeing he was struggling with the wrapper, and a little scared he was going to damage the condom with his frenzied attempts to get it open, she took it from him and carefully opened it. Looking at the wrapper, she laughed, "Really Aaron, ribbed for her pleasure?"

With a tone of mocking bravado he replied, "Yeah, so I don't want to hear any rumors that Aaron Rivera isn't a gentleman. I paid an extra three dollars for these, you know."

Unable to stop the fit of giggles that came over her at that comment she passed him the condom and then hid her face behind her hands, shaking with laughter.

Aaron moved her hand away from her face, and caressed her cheek with much more gentle movements then he'd been using just moments before. "But seriously, I want to make this good for you. I know having a baby can change things, you'll tell me if there's anything you need?"

She nodded, "Right now I just need you inside me."

A smile spread across his face, and she watched as he unrolled the condom over himself, and then lying on top of her she felt him slowly enter her. The pace was slower then she was used to, but rather than try and hurry him up she decided to close her eyes and just enjoy the sensation. She wrapped her legs around his and moved with him in a slow, steady rhythm. She couldn't hold back a moan when she felt his lips at her ear. He was sucking at her earlobe and whispering to her exactly how good she felt. She felt waves of pleasure coursing through her body again so she reached down between their bodies and started playing with her clit.

The combination of the slow, tantalizing feeling of him hitting all the right spots inside her, and her faster more urgent movements at her clit were enough to push her to the edge again. She scratched her nails down his back as she felt herself overcome by another orgasm. She smiled at the cocky grin on his face, and felt him start to speed up the rhythm of his movements. She could tell he was getting closer and closer to the edge himself, and started to grind back against him to increase the friction between them. With a groan she heard his breath hitch, and soon she felt his grip tighten around her waist as he came inside her, moaning her name. He pulled out of her and collapsed beside her in bed for a moment, before pulling the condom off and getting up to head into the bathroom. He returned shortly with a towel for her to clean herself up with.

Once she was finished she curled up next to him and smiled as he pulled her into his arms. She never wanted to feel as disconnected from him as she had these last months. She heard him mumble, "I love you." to her and could tell he was about to fall off to sleep.

She whispered "I love you too," and let sleep overtake her as well.