Kate was standing at the terminal when he dragged himself wearily off the flight from DC

Kate was standing at the terminal when he dragged himself wearily off the flight from DC. Once the decision had been made things had moved very quickly, and Toby Ziegler, director of Southern Poverty Law Center, had told him to get down to Alabama to start work on Monday.

"Liebchen," she greeted him with a hug.

"I've missed you, Kate" Noah told her as he savored the feel of her in his arms.

"Let's get your stuff," Kate told him as she led him to the baggage carousel to collect his luggage. Within another half hour they were in the car headed towards Kate's condo. "So what's the story?" she asked.

"Let's hold off on that. You said your mom and dad wanted to have both of us to dinner. I'd rather tell you all at once."

"What happened, Noah?" Kate asked again.

"Nothing!" he told her. "Nothing bad happened. It would just be better if I weren't working for my mother."

"Alright," she decided. "I'll let that drop for now. Who did you get to replace you?"

"Billy," Noah told her. The car jerked to the right as Kate's attention shot to her passenger. "Hey!! Be careful."

"Billy?" she asked. "You can't mean..."

"William Hayes Seaborn. Yes."

"Billy?" Kate asked again. "Billy isn't a Democrat."

"He's an Independent."

"With serious Republican leanings," Kate countered.

"He gets it from his mom. It's not his fault he's a political mongrel," Noah quipped causing Kate to laugh until tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Political mongrel?" Kate asked. "Tell me you've never said that to his face."

Noah shot her a shocked look. "Kate! I can't believe you'd think I'd ever do anything like that. It would be like kicking a puppy."

Kate pulled up in front of her home and turned off the engine. "I thought Billy was working for his dad?"

"Yeah, but he was only a junior staffer."

"You were only a junior staffer."

"I was further up the food chain than Billy," Noah protested.

"The food chain for the Governor of South Carolina is a lot bigger than the senior Senator from Connecticut, and that still doesn't explain why Billy would drop everything to move to DC."

"Sara got recalled from China. Officially, she's covering the White House for Matt while he's on paternity leave."

"Unofficially?" Kate asked.

"Unofficially, I think someone at the State Department pointed out that having the Secretary of State's daughter covering a situation that was fast becoming a revolution had a huge potential for becoming an international incident."

"Someone at the State Department? And why would someone at the State Department do that?"

"Maybe because the Secretary of State is an over-protective father and told them too?" Noah pretended to guess with an almost straight face.

"Maybe," Kate agreed with a chuckle. "That does explain Billy's decision though. Has Sara gotten a clue yet?" Kate asked as she unlocked the front door.

"No," Noah replied as he dropped his luggage inside the door. "But she isn't the only one."

"What?" asked Kate. "Who else?"

"I can't tell you. Ask me again in a few weeks," he told her gazing deeply into her eyes.

"We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow," she announced breaking eye contact as she tried to quell the knot in her stomach. Noah had always had an affect on her, but he only saw her as a friend. She wasn't going to jeopardize their friendship by making a pass at him she told herself yet again.

"Oh?" Noah asked. "I figured tomorrow would be some sort of orientation."

"Fraid not, liebchen" Kate replied. "We're filing a suit tomorrow. Dad's going to need you in on it since you have your license in Virginia."

"What?"

"We're bringing a wrongful death suit on behalf of Jasmine and Mark Genaro's children with the cooperation of the grandparents."

"Jesus!" Noah breathed. He was familiar with the case. It had been all over the media for months. A black woman and her white husband had been found murdered just outside the Newseum at Rosslyn, Virginia. The crime had been particularly gruesome and shocking, and so the police had quickly ascertained that the bodies had been dumped there while the actual murders took place somewhere more remote. It had puzzled the authorities why the Newseum had been chosen as the dumping ground, but only at first. When the police had arrested four suspects in the Genaro murders the phones at his parent's offices and their home had rung off the hook for weeks with reporters wanting a comment. That night his parents had opened their photo albums and several bottles of wine and allowed the alcohol to numb them as the memories they'd tried so hard to put behind them resurfaced yet again. "The Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of the orphaned Genaro children is suing West Virginia White Pride?"

Kate nodded taking hold of his hand. She was glad she'd been the one to tell him. This would be a difficult first case for him, but she knew it was the right decision. Noah, unlike his father, was a brilliant attorney and had experience with this kind of case from his internship with Charlie Young. "Mom and Dad are calling everyone in the family tonight to prepare them. It'll hit the news cycle tomorrow night in time for the evening news."

"Once more into the breach..." Noah murmured.