Chapter 4: News is Out and Moving In
"Good morning," said CJ as she stepped up to her podium in the Press Room.
The press replied, "Good morning, CJ."
CJ began the briefing with the President's schedule and some news that happened during the night that wasn't very important. Just when the press thought CJ was done and started to get up, CJ made one last announcement.
"Incase you see Sam Seaborn or Ainsley Hayes walking around, you might want to say congratulations on their engagement. Sam proposed to Ainsley a few days ago and so far there are no plans for the wedding."
CJ was hoping there weren't going to be any questions since she hated talking about the staff's personal life, but Kate raised her hand and asked, "How does the President feel about their engagement?"
"The President and First Lady and very happy for Sam and Ainsley and they have already wished them the best of luck. That is all for now," said CJ as she turned away from the podium and exited out the door.
Ainsley was sitting in a chair in Sam's office watching the briefing with Sam sitting in a chair right next to her. Once she saw that CJ was done, Ainsley got a little confused. "That's all?" she asked Sam.
"Looks that way."
"Oh."
CJ walked by Sam's door when Sam yelled out, "Hey CJ!" CJ poked her head in the door. "Nice job."
"Thanks," responded CJ. "There will probably be questions later on so don't think we are in the clear."
Ainsley started to collect her stuff. "Well I better get going. Bye Sam," said Ainsley as she leaned over her chair to give him a quick kiss. Ainsley started to head out the door. "Great job, CJ. I'll see you later."
"You guys really are something," said CJ after Ainsley left the office.
"Yeah," was the only thing Sam could say.
"I mean a Democrat and Republican, both with strong views are going to get married."
"It's not that big of a deal."
"Except it is a big deal. It's a big deal because it is rare and no one has witnessed- or at least I haven't witnessed- this before. You should feel good that you were able to make this relationship work."
"I do feel good and I think our relationship will work for a long time. Let's get going to our meeting," Sam said as he gathered his notebook and followed CJ out the door.
Around 8 o'clock at night, Ainsley came up to Sam's office so they could head home. She had her jacket on and her sleek black briefcase in her hand. Sam was sitting at his desk still working at his computer, even though Ainsley called before she left her office to let him know she was ready to leave.
"Hey there," said Ainsley greeting Sam at the door. "Almost ready to go?"
"Just one second." Sam finished up the last sentence, saved his work, and shutdown his computer. "I think I'm done here," said Sam as he stood up from his desk. "My place tonight?" he asked.
Ainsley stood up and answered his question with a smile. "Sounds good."
They headed out the door holding each other's free hand.
"Congratulations!" yelled someone down the hall.
Sam yelled, "Thank you!" as the couple continued to walk out of the White House. "So I was thinking," started Sam as he and Ainsley made it out of the White House, "We should have one house with all of our stuff in instead of two with our stuff scattered."
"One house does sound good," said Ainsley with a smile to Sam. "Whose apartment were you thinking of? Mine or yours?"
"I don't think the kitchen is big enough for you," teased Sam. "Both of our apartments are about the same size- small and unable to hold more then three people. That may cause a problem when we start to expand the family."
"Expanding the family," thought Ainsley. "I like the way it sounds."
"We just need to hold off expanding until we get married or CJ will kill me and then we won't be able to expand any more," said Sam to a grinning Ainsley.
The couple had made it to the car and Sam unlocked the passenger side and opened the door, letting Ainsley slide into the car. Once Sam was in the car Ainsley said, "We could always buy something new and live at your place while we look since it is closer to the White House "
"I was just thinking that."
"No you weren't," laughed Ainsley.
Sam started the car. "Yeah, I wasn't. But I'm marrying you because you are smart."
"And I am a Republican."
"That was on list of cons when I was thinking about dating you," said a joking Sam as he pulled the car out to the busy street.
Changing the subject back to the houses Ainsley asked, "When should we start looking for a house? Before or after the wedding?"
"I guess we could start looking now, but we may get busy with the wedding plans. I would like to move into a new place before or a little after we are married. But I don't want to have too much going on at the same time. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sam. I know what you mean."
"Have any bright ideas about what we should do?"
"Let's plan the wedding and get a realtor and just look at houses. I think we should wait until after we are married to move in so we don't have to worry about packing and all the stuff. For now we can just worry about getting my things to your place and find out what we need to get rid of and what we need keep."
"I knew I was marrying you for a good reason," said Sam as he pulled into an empty parking space and turned the engine off in front of their first home they were going to share together.