Early March 2020

Matthew woke up with a start and quickly looked around to ensure he was in his room and not on a street. He breathed a sigh of relief and decided he'd sleep better in his parent's bed. He quietly stepped into the room and was surprised to find the bed empty. He checked the bathroom and wandered back down the hall. He padded downstairs and found the kitchen light on. He spotted his mother spooning KD into a bowl.

"It's 2:30 in the morning Mommy and you're eating KD?"

"I couldn't sleep and I'm hungry. What the heck are you doing up at this hour?"

"I had a bad dream and I wanted to sleep in your bed, but you weren't there."

"Oh sweetie, what was your bad dream about?"

"I don't remember." Matthew lied.

"Are you going to just stand there or do you want to get a fork and split this with me?"

Before Mara, could sit down on a stool, Matthew, was beside her with a fork. She chuckled and pushed the bowl between them.

"Mommy you're 54 and Dad's 51 right."

"Yes, why?"

"You don't look like it."

"Thanks, how old do you think I look?"

"55." He replied with a serious face.

Mara pricked his hand with her fork.

"Hey!"

"Hay is for horses, how old did you say I was? I didn't hear you!"

Matthew made sure his hands were out of reach and grinned at his mother. "60."

Mara gave him the evil eye, "Matthew Tobias Seaborn, I'm not amused."

"I'm only kidding Mommy, you look about 35 or 36. I'm also not just saying that so you won't hurt me."

"Sweetie, when have I ever hurt you? Other than the odd slap upside the head."

"It's a figure of speech Mommy. Jenna is coming home next week."

"I know, I can't wait for her to get home."

"I'm going to have to tell her that I think she's being unfair."

"Why?"

"She's been gone for 2 years and she is only going to spend one week at home before joining Dad on the campaign trail. She didn't even want to stay for a week. I heard you telling her she had to spend at least one week at home. I bet Jacob is mad at her and I don't blame him."

"Tell her how you feel them Matty. I'm not happy about it but she is an adult now and she has to think about her future."

"I guess, but it still sucks."

"Yes, but I'm afraid that's a lesson you are going to learn over and over again. Life sucks sometimes."

"Can we have your pizza for dinner tomorrow?" Matthew asked not wanting to think about how many other times life was going to suck.

"Sure, I suggest we both head to bed. You can have your Dad's side of the bed if you want."

"Can I have Tedzy too?"

"You know you are the only person I'd give up Tedzy for."

"I know, that's one of the reasons I love you so much."

"As if I could say no, now." Mara replied as she gave him a kiss on the top of the head.

Matthew practically bounced into bed and had Tedzy in his arms before Mara could sit down on the bed. She rubbed Tedzy's ears and covered her son up. She was just about to fall asleep when she heard her son.

"Mommy?"

"Yes my love?"

"In your heart of hearts, you don't want Daddy to win do you?"

Mara turned to face him, "In my heart of hearts, I just want your Dad to be happy. I wish he didn't want to do this, but I've known since the day I met him, that one day he'd be President."

"If Dad doesn't win I'll be relieved. I like the freedom we have now. If he wins, I'll have agents following my every move."

"True, we will be living in a fish bowl but you forget you have me on your side."

"What do you mean?"

"Ever notice how people rarely, if ever mess with me? Now imagine when I lay down the law that you are officially off limits. I tease your Dad all the time about how stupid Americans are but do you really think anyone would be stupid enough to mess with me when it comes to you?"

Matty thought about it for a second and started giggling. "You'd tear their limbs off one by one, force feed them to the person and then announce the torture was about to begin."

"At the very least." She replied with a smile.

She had a hard time falling asleep without Tedzy to cuddle and ended up taking a sleeping pill.

A few days later Sam walked into the house a little after nine and found Mara and Matty curled up on the couch.

"Hey buddy..."

"Shhs, Mommy is sleeping."

"She fell asleep during Grease? That's one of her favourite movies."

"I know, but she had a pain in her side or her back or both and took a pill for it. It knocked her out."

"How come you haven't moved?"

"Mom's got her arms around my waist. I thought I'd be here all night."

"Let me go change then I'll show you how to escape your mother's grasp."

Sam came down the stairs ten minutes later carrying Tedzy. "Watch and learn son."

Sam pulled Mara's hands off Matty's waist then put Tedzy in her arms. She pulled the bear closer to her and stayed asleep.

"See, all you have to do is give her something to hold when you move and she doesn't wake up."

"Yeah but Tedzy was upstairs."

"A pillow or the throw would have worked too. So is there any food for me or do I need to order something?"

"Mommy made a ton of chicken salad the other day. You can make yourself a sandwich and there is some Greek pasta salad left from dinner. In fact, I'll have some pasta salad with you."

Matty put a large chunk of feta in his mouth and moaned. Sam cut his sandwich and sat down on the stool next to his son.

"I see more and more of your Mom in you every day. You think like her, you act like her and you love the same foods. Mar can never eat feta cheese without moaning at some point."

"I don't have her temper though." Matty replied with a grin.

"No, luckily you have my temperament."

"You really think I'm just like Mommy?"

"Yes, I do. So how about a game of chess?"

"I want to be black this time."

After a hard fought game that Sam finally won, Matthew went upstairs to change for bed. Sam entered the living room and bent down to leave a kiss on his wife's lips. Mara stirred, opened one eye and smiled.

"Time for bed sleeping beauty."

"When did you get home?"

"A couple of hours ago. Matty's gone to change for bed."

"How did Tedzy get into my arms?"

"I taught Matty how to get away from you without waking you up."

"You taught our son how to bait and switch me?"

Sam could tell by her tone that she wasn't very happy. "The poor boy would have been stuck in a very uncomfortable position all night if I hadn't arrived. It's an important survival skill for any man."

"A survival skill? I suggest if you want to survive the night that you find a way to make this up to me."

Sam dropped to his knees and engaged her in a long kiss. "I missed you. How about breakfast in bed tomorrow?"

"Not bad for starters, what else do you have?" Mara asked with a tiny smirk.

"Have I told you lately that you are sexier than the day I met you?"

"Prove it."

Sam smiled sexily at her before giving her a long tender kiss that was interrupted from the stairs.

"Ewe, you guys are always sucking face!"

"Matty, you should be thrilled that your parents are still madly in love with each other. You're not going to be a child of divorce." She stated.

"Yeah, well my young eyes can't take R rated material so I'm going back to my room."

"Sweetie, in a few years I'm going to walk in on you and some pretty girl kissing on the couch."

"I highly doubt that Mom. I'm not in to PDAs."

"Whatever, I'll be up in a minute to tuck you in."

"Once he's in bed, I'll continue my demonstration."

"Help me up." Mara extended her hand and Sam helped her up.

"Matty said you were in pain?"

Mara pointed to her side and lower back, describing the type of nagging pain she was experiencing that occasionally turned into a sharper pain. She told him that she must have pulled something and that the pills helped but they made her sleepy.

"I promise I won't try to entice you into fulfilling your wifely duties."

"Sam, I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that."

"I think I'm going to be really grateful that I dodged a bullet. You are a kind and generous wife."

"That's better, I want an omelet in the morning."

"You're wish is my command, beautiful."

"I'm going to tuck our son in. I'll meet you in bed."

Mara sat down on the side of Matty's bed and picked up the stuffed Donkey from Josh that had been his constant companion since birth. She whispered into Ralph's ear and placed him in his arms.

"Ralph promised to keep your bad dreams away tonight. He is going to bite them away."

"You are silly Mommy, but I love you anyway."

Mara leaned in a left a kiss on his forehead. "I love you Matthew. Sweet dreams."

Sam had just started to crawl into bed when Mara entered the room. She went to the bathroom and then joined him, being careful to not twist her back the wrong way. Sam waited until she was settled to wrap his arms around her, leaving a kiss on her shoulder.

"Oh by the way, attempt to pouch one more member of my staff and I'll end your campaign without breaking a sweat."

"You heard about Ed and Larry."

"Yes, Margaret called me wondering where she could track you down to hurt you. They did a great job for the foundation and now Margaret is scrambling to replace them."

"Sorry, but I needed them sooner rather than later. I'll send Margaret some flowers."

"Don't be surprised if she finds you and beats you with them."

"Did you get an answer about fund raising dinners yet?"

"Yes, the PM is very pleased with how I've handled the situation thus far and would like me to stay away until after the convention. He'd like me to limit my appearances but said that I was your wife and it was understandable that I'd want to be with you. Jon offered to throw you a big dinner."

"Yeah, Josh got the call. It will be scheduled for two weeks after the convention. It should be a fun and profitable evening."

"Kay, enough shop talk. I think we should take Matty skating tomorrow. I don't want you to loose all the skating skills I've taught you over the years."

"You just like laughing at me when I fall on my ass."

"It's not the falling so much as the struggle not to fall that is funny. We haven't gone skating together in nearly a year."

"If I agree will you forgive my comment?"

"I'm feeling compassionate tonight so yes."

"Hey?"

"Hay is for horses. What's up?"

"You left your hair in a braided ponytail."

"So?"

"So, playing with your hair is one of my favourite ways to fall asleep. I've been gone for a week and you are going to deprive me of ..."

"For crying outloud, you are such a big baby." Mara sighed and pulled the two hair elastics out of her hair. "There. Is the big baby happy now?"

"Very happy Mrs. Grumpy."

Sam and Matthew had stopped skating to watch Mara soar across the ice. Her stroking was effortless as she turned and launched herself into a triple lutz, landing a moment later as if it was a tiny hop. Matthew noticed that more people had stopped and were now watching his Mom in a long spin combination. As usual, she was oblivious to the attention. She entered her own little world every time her blades hit the ice. She was in the middle of a spiral sequence when Matthew waved at her. She stopped and skated over to her husband and son.

"Mommy, you should be in the Olympics!"

"Thank you sweetie. I miss skating, I need to do this more often."

"They have open skating every night of the week Mommy, we should have a weekly date."

"I'd love to have a weekly date with the most handsome man in DC."

"Hey!"

"Hay is for horses, Dad." Matty replied with a smirk.

"You mister, have turned into a wise ass."

"Maybe, but you swore again Daddy."

The laughter Mara had been holding in came out and she hugged her son. Sam had put on his wounded face which only made her laugh more. She finally stopped and smiled at Sam.

"Sorry Sweetie, but you were demoted to the second most handsome man in DC when our son was born. I'd make you hand over the sash, but I never gave you one in the first place."

"Ah, damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Mara asked as she noticed a flash go off.

"It seems we have a photographer budding into our private life."

"Then let's give him one hell of a shot." She replied and pulled Sam towards her to engage him in a long kiss.

"Eww, gross! Rent a room!" Matthew hissed.

Mara started laughing mid kiss and ended it, turning to grab her son's hands and spin him around a few times.

"I've come to the conclusion that both of you enjoy embarrassing me."

"It's a parents job to embarrass their children. It's also fun."

"You're mean Mommy."

"Thank you, it's a skill I work hard at to perfect."

Matthew knew he'd never win a war of words with his mother. As best he could tell, no one ever won a war of words with her.

"Can we go for apple pie sundaes after?" He asked.

"Yum, sounds good to me." Sam replied joining them at center ice.

"Sorry, but I thought we'd go to Cocoa Loco instead."

"You haven't made your caramel brownies in ages Mar."

"Mommy made them 2 weeks ago."

"Yet neither of you thought to save some for me? I really feel the love." Sam replied sarcastically.

"Sam, no one forced you to run for President. You miss things when you aren't around."

He was surprised that the normal hostile look in Mara's eyes when he complained about missing something was gone. Sam figured she had resigned herself to the fact that he was running which actually worried him more.