Disclaimer: I own anyone you don't recognize. Everyone else belongs to Aaron Sorkin.
Spoilers: My stories and slightly the Leadership Breakfast.
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"And the temperature will continue to fall until it stops in the mid-teens for a few days before rising—" the TV went blank as Gracie hit the power button on the remote. She pulled the blanket tighter around her, trying to think of California. It was always warm and sunny there, even in the dead of winter. And even on those crazy days where the temperature became cold, the heat actually worked in their home. Standing up, Gracie made sure to pull the blanket up so she didn't trip as she walked across the hallway to her parents' room.
"It doesn't go that way!"
"Yes it does!"
"It does not! You always cheat!"
"How dare you make such accusations! You're the one who cheats!"
"Ainsley Anne,"
"Samuel Norman,"
Gracie rolled her eyes and finally made her presence known.
"Grace Nicole," she piped up sarcastically, making both of them jump. "What are you two doing?"
"Playing Monopoly." Ainsley muttered, glaring across the floor at Sam.
"Wow. Didn't know Monopoly was a fight to the death."
"Yeah well it is."
"You guys are weird. Can either of you tell me why the heating doesn't work in here?"
"The White House is more than 200 years old and its heating isn't very good." Sam replied. He moved his piece, sighing as he landed on one of Ainsley's properties.
"You owe me," she glanced at the card, "600."
"Bullshit. You don't have any houses on it."
"What do you call those?"
"That's on the next space."
"You need to put equal amounts on all your properties if you're going to buy houses."
"Yeah, well I don't see any houses there Ainsley."
"Because you took them off. You think I can't see when you do these things. I think you forget you're the one who wears glasses."
"Maybe you need them then honey."
"Look, as interesting as it is to watch you two fight, we need to do something about the heating. I looked at the thermostat and the temperature in here is pretty low. We're going to get hypothermia or something." Gracie said.
"What do you know about hypothermia?" Sam asked, looking up at his daughter.
"Gee, I don't know. You've only sent me to school for forever. Look Daddy, can you not worry about all this other stuff and fix the heating?"
"I'll see what I can do about it. You know, I do have a solution,"
"No." Ainsley said sharply, lifting her head to glare at her husband.
"You don't even know what I was going to say." Sam protested.
"Yes I did and no you're not doing it."
"Oh stop. I'm the President. I can do anything."
"It's been three weeks, don't get ahead of yourself. And I don't trust you."
"You're being ridiculous Ainsley and it's been three months."
"I'm not letting you do it and you've only officially been President for three weeks. November to January don't count."
"Oh so then all those people were calling me Mr. President-Elect for the hell of it?"
"It's protocol."
"No it's not. The minute they counted up those ballots and announced I was the winner of the election, I became President."
"Maybe in your mind."
"Stop!" Gracie whined loudly. "Just make it warm!"
"Honey, this happens okay?" Ainsley said, "And there's not much we can do about it until they fix it."
"So I'm going to freeze for the next four years?"
"Eight." Sam corrected, making Ainsley hit him. "Okay four and it's only in the winter when the heating goes bonkers."
"I'm going back across the hall and try to get warm."
"Good luck."
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"Gracie,"
She looked up and saw her father standing in the doorway, occasionally glancing over his shoulder.
"What?"
"C'mere."
"Where are we going?"
"My study. I gotta show you something."
"What?"
"I can't say. Your mother will flip if she hears."
"Where is she?"
"Downstairs in her office but... I'm afraid she'll appear at any moment."
Gracie frowned but put a bookmark in her book and tossed it onto her bed. She was supposed to be able to trust her father and he would never do anything to put her in danger. Would he?
"Does this have anything to do with the thing Mom didn't want you doing before?" she asked, following Sam into his study.
"Yes." he walked over to the fireplace and Gracie's eyes widened.
"No."
"What do you mean no? You wanted to be warm. We'll just... make a fire and sit in front of it."
"Are you kidding me? You and Uncle Josh nearly burned the White House down the last time you tried doing that! No wonder why Mom didn't want you making a fire."
"Look, your mother will just freeze her ass off then. I'm not totally inept at making a fire. The fireplace in the Mural Room just so happens to be welded shut. Now I don't see anything in this room telling me that this fireplace has been welded shut. We'll be fine."
"I don't believe you."
"I was in Boy Scouts. I learned about this sort of stuff."
"Grandma said you came home with burns one day."
"Gracie, your grandmother is old and delusional. She doesn't remember things clearly. Besides, that was your aunt who came home with burns. And do you want to know why? She was hiding in the woods, smoking with her friends and she burned herself with a lighter. She didn't want your grandmother knowing she had been smoking so she told her she got the burns building a fire. I wasn't even living with them at that time! I was in law school! Any time there's anything to do with a fire, I'm the one that gets blamed."
"That's really messed up that you'd talk about your mother like that." she said. "And I wonder why you're the one who always gets blamed."
"Oh stop it."
"Is it wrong that I'm fearing for my life at the moment?"
"Yes because you have no faith in me. I would never do anything to harm you."
"If we lived in the Stone Age, we'd be dead."
"Yeah from hypothermia." Sam muttered. "Because your mother wouldn't let me build a fire and she'd be too stubborn to go find wood or something like that."
"No because you'd probably kill all of us in a fire you couldn't contain!" Gracie exclaimed.
"You know what Gracie, I was being nice. You told me to find a way to help you get warm and I have and you're against it. Now, do you want to go back to your room and freeze or sit in front of the nice, warm fire?"
"I'll stay here."
"That's what I thought." Sam said. "Now you want to stand the wood in a tripod."
"Dad,"
"Let me finish,"
"I don't think I'm going to need to know how to build a fire."
"You never know. Perhaps one day, you'll be stuck in the wild and will need some means of heat to keep warm."
"I doubt I will. I like civilization more. Remember—"
"We need newspaper." Sam interrupted, standing up.
"Remember when you dragged me to that outlandish place on the campaign?"
"No."
"Daddy, those people knew what year it was, let alone that you were running for President. One woman asked me if you were trying to kick Reagan out of office." Gracie said. Sam wasn't really paying attention to his daughter and tried to find a newspaper he could care less about burning. "Dad, Reagan hasn't been in office since the eighties and not to mention, he's been dead for like... ten years."
"Why are all these papers covering the Inauguration?"
"Because they're from three weeks ago."
"Where are recent ones?"
"I don't know. Maybe you didn't bring them in."
"Well, who do you want to burn?" Sam held up two papers, one with a picture of him on the front and another with Ainsley on the front. "Me or Mom?"
"You." Gracie said immediately.
"Gee, thanks."
"I like Mom's dress."
"We'll burn both of us. Put me in first, then her if we need more."
"Whatever. Don't we need the fire department in here or something?"
"I'm perfectly capable of building a fire Gracie. Just watch and learn."
Gracie rolled her eyes and waited as Sam built a fire—and actually kept it under control.
"It's not hard." he said. "And look, we have a fire."
"Very good. I'm proud of you Dad. You managed not to set the place on fire."
"Thanks honey."
"It's warm now. Thanks." Gracie said, moving closer to the fireplace.
"No problem." Sam moved to put more wood in the fire place when the door opened.
"What are you doing!" Ainsley exclaimed, making Sam jump.
"Jesus Christ!" he dropped the log he was holding onto the rug, not realizing it was on fire.
"Sam!"
"Wh—oh shit!"
"And here I was thinking this was going so well!" Gracie exclaimed, moving away from the burning log.
"You did it even though I told you not to!" Ainsley yelled. "God Sam, you're like a little kid!"
"It was cold!"
"I don't care!"
"Stop fighting and put the fire out!" Gracie screamed. "Oh my God, we're going to die! I'm too young to die!"
"We're not going to die." Sam said, trying to find something to put the log out with.
"Use a fire extinguisher!" Ainsley exclaimed.
"Yeah because I see a fire extinguisher around here."
"Here!" Gracie grabbed a pitcher sitting on an end table.
"No! That's—" Sam groaned as Gracie poured the pitcher over the fire, making it worse.
"Water is supposed to put fires out!"
"That's not water! It was vodka!"
"Why do you have vodka in here?" Ainsley asked.
"It doesn't matter!" Sam exclaimed.
"I think it does matter when you have a pitcher of vodka out where our eleven year old can get to it!"
"Ainsley, we have a bigger problem than me and Josh having a few drinks last night!"
"Why is it still here then?"
"AINSLEY!"
"Call the fire department before we—" Gracie stopped in mid-sentence as the smoke alarm began blaring, making them all put their hands over their ears.
"About time!" Sam shouted over the noise as Secret Service agents running in.
"Well Sam, you had the fireplace going, I don't think smelling smoke is going to alert them of anything!" Ainsley yelled back as they were ushered out of the room.
Half an hour later, the three of them were standing in the doorway of the study, staring at the burnt rug.
"Mom, I had nothing to do with this." Gracie said.
"I believe you."
"I really liked that rug too." Sam mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. Ainsley smacked him hard on his arm as she walked past him, making him wince. Gracie followed her out of the room, then turned back to look at her father.
"I'm never listening to you again." she hissed.
"Oh be quiet! You know, this is all your mother's fault."
"No it's not! You dropped the log and we both told you not to start a fire!"
"She startled me. Maybe she should walk in and say hello before yelling at me."
"I can hear you Sam!" Ainsley called back over her shoulder.
"Good!"
"I am never letting you near a fireplace for the rest of your life."
"Oh don't be so dramatic Ainsley."
"Well I'm not! I don't trust you around fire!"
"Hey, you're one to talk Mrs. I Set My Husband on Fire." Sam snapped. Ainsley swerved around and marched over to Sam, poking him roughly in the chest.
"That was not my fault. You tripped and your jacket landed in the fire. You didn't even get injured."
"I don't care. That was my favorite jacket."
"And who got you another one for Christmas?"
"It wasn't the same. It was from a totally different designer. I only told you it was so you didn't feel bad about almost killing me."
"Well now we're even."
"Great and I just lost like two minutes of my life that I'll never get back." Gracie said sarcastically. "You two are ridiculous."
"You want to finish that Monopoly game?" Sam asked.
"Fine but don't start crying when I kick your ass." Ainsley replied. Gracie rolled her eyes as they disappeared down the hallway, still arguing with each other.
the end