Opening the door Emily walked outside and tried to take a deep breath of air. She couldn't take one more second of hearing how proud her Mother had been of her. It was a fucking joke. She'd cheated, lied, and just skirted breaking the law to help Kirkman get elected president. All to find out that he wasn't the man she'd always assumed he was. Well that, and that the FBI didn't take kindly to her delay in notifying the authorities of Lorraine's hacking. Based on how often the phrase 'obstruction of justice' was being thrown around, maybe she was fooling herself thinking she'd skirted breaking the law.

Honestly, she was surprised they'd even agreed to letting her leave the jurisdiction to come down to Florida for the funeral. Her lawyer told her to take it as a good sign they didn't even ask her to wear an ankle bracelet. He'd also asked her what she thought the chances the President would offer her a pardon were, so yeah; either her Mom's friends were being polite or they didn't watch the news. Because she was about as far from the daughter her Mom had been proud of as was humanly possible. And that was before she even let herself dwell of her Mom death, how she'd taken her dying wish from her.

"Emily."

She turned, she'd recognize that voice anywhere. Aaron Shore; Vice President elect. Who if you believe the pundits, was a quick impeachment and conviction away from being catapulted to the Presidency. She was surprised to see him here, she hadn't told anyone in Washington the plans for her Mom's funeral. It was easier to pretend they would care if they knew, then to find out how little she meant to everyone. Seth was the only one she'd even talked to since election night, and he'd given her the 'what can you expect when you've single handedly thrown the administration into turmoil' line. And as a rule no one was ever more positive then Seth, so there seemed to be little point in finding out what everyone else thought about her. But here was Aaron Shore, giving her a sad half smile.

"That was a beautiful service."

"Thank you." Following her Mom's wishes for once Emily had gone along with her outlined plan for a celebration of life rather than a funeral. It was full of joy, light, happiness and a million other things Emily didn't think she'd ever feel again.

"Sorry I missed the memo on the dress code. I feel a bit… conspicuous"

Aaron was dressed in his typical black suit. With everyone else in bright greens, blues, and yellows he did stick out like a sore thumb a bit. Emily could hear her Mom's voice in her head as clear as day; 'I'm not having a bunch of stuffy people sitting around crying over me. Do something happy. On the beach. No black.' But she thought Aaron would stick out regardless of what he was wearing. Between the entourage of Secret Service behind him, his striking good looks, and oh yeah the fact that he was Vice President he was attracting quite a bit of attention from the rest of the guests.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't exactly go out of my way to give you any details about today."

"I hope it's okay I came. I didn't want you to be alone."

Cursing herself she realized that between her last comment and the fact that she'd told no one about this, could easily have given off the impression that she didn't want him there. "No, I- I want you here."

Flashing her that winning smile of his that used to make her weak at the knees, instead of just terribly guilty he said, "Good."

Letting the guilt hit her once again she thought about Aaron and Isabel, who were broken up for good. As much as Isabel might claim it had nothing to do with Aaron and Emily sleeping together Emily knew it wasn't that simple. At a bare minimum she had added fuel to a fire. "Listen, I'm sorry about you and Isabel, I never meant-"

"Can we not?" His voice was rough, almost cold.

"Of course, sorry."

They lapsed into an awkward silence. There was so much she wanted to say to him, but what she wanted more than anything was to hear him say, 'It's okay.' She needed to know that she had come out of this with one friendship intact.

"I never realized your Mom-"

"There's another bar down the beach a couple blocks. Do you wanna get out of here?"

"What?"

"Please Aaron?" She hoped he understood. She couldn't be here anymore. "I can't take hearing one more story about my Mom."

He was silent for a moment, giving her a searching look she didn't really understand "I really wish I could, but with the whole Secret Service thing, an unvetted bar probably isn't in the cards."

"Right." She forgot how different their lives were now. Aaron couldn't just go anywhere he wanted anymore. Even if she managed to stay out of legal trouble and keep some kind of job in DC it looked like the days of going out the bar with Aaron were behind her. She wondered if this would be the last time they'd talk. She couldn't imagine she'd be invited to any upcoming events the Kirkman administration would be putting on. If there even was a Kirkman administration by the end of this.

"We could- I have a room at the Hilton if you want."

She blushed. She'd be lying if the thought hadn't crossed her mind of sleeping with him again. Really the thought of sleeping with him had never been that far from her mind for the last three years. But before she could consider it he corrected himself.

"I didn't mean that. Just that it's somewhere private. We could have a drink."

"A drink would be nice." But whether he meant to or not, he had rung a bell in her head, and now all she could think about was the last time they had been in a Florida hotel room together.

"Do you need to take care of anything here?" He said gesturing in at the restaurant where everyone was still swapping stories clueless to the fact that she was planning to ditch her own Mother's funeral to go screw the Vice President. If only they'd know that would have given her Mom's bridge club something to talk about for months, if not years.

"No, everything's paid for and it's not like anyone will miss me anyway."

Aaron looked like he wanted to say something at that last comment, but as if thinking better of it just shook his head and said, "Okay, after you then I suppose."

It was awkward at first in his hotel room. Apparently Vice President elect didn't rate much when it came to travel accommodation, so he was in a standard hotel room with nowhere to sit except on his bed. And what could they talk about? She wasn't ready to talk about her Mom. He didn't want to talk about Isabel, at least not to her. They couldn't talk about the election, not with the impending legal challenge.

In the end the whiskey helped some, and judging Seth for considering dating Stephanie's Mom did the rest. It got them talking. And once they were talking they couldn't stop, it felt like they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in years and couldn't stop the stories and inside jokes from spilling out. It was nice, she felt almost normal for a moment until Aaron said something to jerk them out of it; "And the most pathetic part of it all is I am going to dance with my Mother at the inauguration."

She didn't know if it was the word Mother, or the unstated reason why she would be his dance partner, or some mix of the two, but they were back to silence. Just as she was about to say something to try and break the ice again he reached out and fixed the strap of her dress, which she hadn't noticed had fallen off her shoulder. Even though he was truthfully putting more clothes on her, it was an intimate gesture and she couldn't stop her heart from skipping a beat.

"It's a very pretty dress Em." His hand hadn't left her shoulder and suddenly she was nervous; feeling like they were two highschoolers on prom night. The hotel room, ridiculous dress, and booze in paper cups certainly helped set the scene.

"I don't really think yellow is my color, but my Mom loved to dress me in it as a kid. I think it was just so she could chase me and sing you are my sunshine in the most off key voice imaginable. But I don't have the complexion for it, especially in the winter." She was rambling, letting her nerves get the better of her.

With his free hand Aaron tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and with the same look on his face from before, the one that she couldn't quite figure out she simply said, "You're beautiful."

She'd been called beautiful before, and she wasn't insecure in that way, she knew she was good looking. But something about the simplicity of the statement and the earnestness of his voice left her speechless.

So she leaned in and kissed him. And let herself get lost in the feeling of his lips on hers, and then trailing over her body, and then his body over hers, and finally him inside of her. And after, as he held her in his arms as if this was all perfectly normal she let herself think only about how nice his arms felt around her.

In the end she didn't make him say it; that she needed to leave. They were both adults with lives to attend to. So she kissed him gently on the lips, and saw for the third time that day that look in his eyes. And this time she saw it for what it was, sadness. Sadness and understanding that they could not be together like this again. That they likely might never cross paths again. She needed to put her all into avoiding a jail sentence and he had an administration to protect. So not only were they in drastically different places, they were actually on opposite sides.

So she bit her lip, trying not to think about how good his had felt, and kept herself from crying until she was safely back in her hotel room.