Tom paused in the doorway for a moment and watched Aaron apparently explaining in great detail to Callie the finer points of one of the paintings in the Oval Office. He realized that while he had seen a lot of Emily with Callie, other than a visit at the hospital and a few passing glimpses he had not seen much of Aaron with Callie. He'd lost count of the number of times Emily had insisted with an almost desperate look in her eyes that, 'Aaron is a great Dad.' or some variation of the phrase. He'd worried that she was compensating, or at the bare minimum grading on a scale, but seeing Aaron pretty clearly in his element with Callie, he was relieved to realize it was probably a genuine statement.
He cleared his throat and then watched Aaron turn around and practically stand at attention, addressing him, "Mr. President."
Tom sighed. "You're getting married, I think we can dispense with the formalities for today at least." He could count on one hand the number of people who called him Tom these days. He'd hoped that as his Vice President Aaron would feel more comfortable being informal with him, and while that had not proved to be the case he'd gotten his hopes up again that when he started dating Emily her degree of comfort would rub off on him. But if anything it was the other way around, Emily was reverting to the formality she used when she worked in the White House more and more often these days. It was isolating going days sometime without anyone but his sullen teenage daughter treating him as a human being. And really she didn't treat him as a human so much as an inconvenience.
"Sorry sir." Aaron replied with a smile that made it clear he had no intention of following Tom's request.
"Come sit down, we have a lot to talk about." Tom honestly didn't even know where to start with Aaron. He'd originally intended this sit down as an opportunity to give him a stern warning about his relationship with Emily. Tom needed to be sure that Aaron understood just how serious of a commitment he was making, especially marrying a woman with a child. His mind couldn't help but harp on negatives, Aaron cheating on Isabel, Aaron going a year without talking to Emily, and imagine the worst outcomes. And then this morning Mars had burst into his office demanding to know if he had known Aaron was planning on changing his name. And it embarrassed him to admit that no, he did not. Reckless wasn't a word that Kirkman thought he would ever be applying to Aaron, but here they were.
He hated that his first thought had been 'What the hell does this kid think he's doing?' He'd known for a while that the days of Tom, the starry eyed HUD Secretary turned president, who needed the calculating politically savvy Aaron Shore to lead him into battle were long gone. But he didn't welcome the stark reminder that Aaron was now the one on an idealistic binge, while he was stuck playing the pragmatic politician. It wasn't that he was changing his name, Tom thought to himself, it was the way he was doing it. Anyone with half a mind for politics would understand that you don't just wake up one morning and decide to change your name. These things needed to be done carefully; needed to be given full consideration.
Aaron crossed the room and sat on the couch across from him. Tom watched as Aaron resettled Callie into his arms, bouncing her slightly, keeping her on the blanket covered in brightly colored elephants that was apparently protecting his tux.
Feeling himself starting to dread starting the conversation he knew he needed to have, he stalled, "Callie going with the informal look today?"
Aaron ran a hand over Callie's back, smoothing the sleeper covered in trains. "Changing her before the last minute feels like it's asking for trouble. I just need to hand her off to Emily's Aunt at quarter of."
"I'm surprised she hasn't been up with the ladies all day."
Apparently it was not the right thing to say. In a defensive, bordering on harsh voice, Aaron replied, "She is my kid. I don't see what the big issue is with me spending time with her."
"No one said it was a problem. Or at least I didn't"
Aaron sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's my family. They're good people. But they can be... traditional. Especially my uncles, they don't see it as a man's place to help take care of the kids." Shaking his head he added, "My father wasn't like that. He was…"
Tom waited, but Aaron didn't complete his thought. Instead Tom watched him fiddle with a piece of paper in his pants pocket, until he got too curious and asked, "What's that you got there."
"Ahh, my Dad's prayer card. From his funeral." Pulling it out of his pocket Aaron stared at the small piece of paper. "I like to carry it on important days."
It was hard to hear how embarrassed Aaron sounded at that admission. Tom had been frustrated with Aaron lately to be sure, but he would never want Aaron to feel like he had to hide his feelings about his father. 'The same way you want him to keep hiding his heritage?' A nasty voice in the back of his head asked, but Tom pushed that thought aside, reminding himself that he wasn't upset Aaron was changing his name, it was the way he was doing it.
Getting up from his seat to sit next to Aaron, Tom took a closer look at the prayer card. The tattered edges were the first thing to catch his eye. The thought of Aaron fidgeting with the card, hoping to find some solace, year after year was painful. "Do you mind?" He asked, holding his hand out, and Aaron passed him the card. He didn't think there was much of a resemblance between Aaron and his father, unless you looked at the easygoing smile on the man's face. A smile that Tom realized he had not seen on Aaron's face in some time. These days Aaron's smile was that of a strained politician. And then his eyes passed over the year of Arturo's death.
Sometimes Tom forgot how young Aaron was when he lost his father. No one was ever ready to lose a parent, but twenty three was a hell of a time. Not much older than Leo was now, Tom thought to himself. He couldn't help but think about what he would want for Leo, if for some reason he was not able to be with him on the day of his wedding. And he wouldn't want this. He would want Leo to have a friend and mentor who was unabashedly on his side, rooting for him, proud of him, guiding him to the right course. He knew Aaron admired him, knew Aaron sought his approval. And here he was keeping it out of reach behind a laundry list of reasons that Aaron wasn't good enough for Emily, and outrage that he could no longer bring himself to feel about Aaron changing his name. A decision that Tom knew for a fact wouldn't have been easy for Aaron to make.
"He'd be proud of you Aaron. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks." Aaron said in a low voice not quite meeting his eye. "I know I should have warned you I was changing my name. I just kept putting it off, and I let time get away from me." And then finally meeting his eye, and speaking with more confidence he added, "But I had to do it. I have a family now." With that Callie let out a squeal. Aaron shifted her in his arms, turning her around. She almost immediately reached her foot into her mouth. "You wanted to show the President your new trick, didn't you?"
Tom wasn't sure which he found more amusing, the sing-song voice or the look of pride on Aaron's face, which was more commiserate with someone's child getting accepted to Harvard then figuring out that they had toes. "She's got to be one of the happiest babies I've ever seen."
Aaron chucked wryly, "That's because you haven't seen her at night. Or heard her. We were starting to get her on a good sleep schedule, but then with the family in town this week and everything going on she's been all over the place."
"Well don't worry, in fourteen years you'll be accused of being a fascist if you try and get her out of bed before eleven AM."
"She would never." Aaron said, smiling down at his baby.
"Of course not." Tom replied, smiling as well. "You're taking care of yourself? I know those sleepless nights can't be easy on top of everything you have going on." That was as close as he was going to come to advice today Tom decided. Any long speech about taking care of Emily and Callie didn't seem to fit anymore. It wasn't what Aaron needed, and it not like a long forgotten speech or threat was going to stop Aaron from doing something stupid five years down the road anyway.
Aaron nodded. And then after pausing to think for a bit he said, "I am. And thank you for the advice on the therapist. You were right, it's what I needed to do to be a good father. And husband."
Tom was taken aback for a moment. He hadn't realized Aaron had actually followed through on what had really been more of an order than advice. "Good, we can all use some help sometimes, I think."
"Especially when you're marrying someone like Emily." Tom could see the laughter dancing in Aaron's eyes.
Laughing himself he said, "Well then I guess I should let you go. I'm thinking Emily will not be tolerant of any tardiness at her wedding."
Aaron stood up to leave, "You're right. if I'm not careful she'll be the one waiting up at the altar for me."
Acting on impulse Tom stood as well and found himself giving Aaron a hug. "I'm glad you two found each other again."
"Thanks," Aaron replied in a gruff voice, which Tom suspected was his best attempt at holding back the same tears he found himself blinking back.