Christmas 2022 seemed ages away after the last election when Aaron told himself that would be his deadline for deciding if he was going to run for president. Of course it hadn't been deciding so much back then as to make sure he had all his ducks in a row. But somewhere in the last two years things changed.
His four hours as Acting President had shown him just how far Vice President, or any of his other jobs really, was from being President. Most of his adult career he'd been a political advisor of some sort or another. Often a highly trusted advisor whose ideas were generally implemented, but at the end of the day still an advisor. Not the person who actually had to make the call. It didn't even matter that the biggest decision he'd had to make was to switch to decaf that morning because his heart wouldn't stop racing. That power he'd felt was caught inside him, and he was equal parts terrified of being in that position again, and desperate to chase the high.
But more than anything the past two years matured him, and opened up questions that hadn't been on his mind two years ago. He'd somehow gotten far down the line of planning a run for President without even thinking through if he'd make a good one. And now he doesn't just have to worry about himself anymore, he needs to consider what this would mean for Emily. He's seen firsthand how hard the Presidency is on family, and doesn't want his family sitting up worrying over his health anytime soon.
Luckily for him pundits seem to have endless opinions on if he should run. Today's hot take is "What would President Aaron Shore Mean for Mexican Americans?" Long story short they thought he would make a passable but unimpressive President who was unlikely to make any real difference in issues facing Hispanic communities. He misses the days where articles were actually in papers because he would have loved to have balled that one up and thrown it in his trash can, instead of being reduced to just glaring at his phone for a moment. He supposed he can't really blame people for not noticing the work he was doing on immigration reform and border communities since it was going nowhere, but at least he was trying, although maybe it's too little too late.
All in all as he walks into the living room that night Aaron was thinking that he could really use the few days break he should get for Christmas. Even if it had been his deadline it was probably one of the few days people weren't talking about who was running for President. He sinks down into the couch next to Emily, surprised to find that the room has practically been converted into Santa's village.
"You know we're doing Christmas at Camp David not here right?" He jokingly asks, taking in the hanging stockings, not just one for him and Emily, but ones for the rest of his family as well. Kirkman had invited Aaron and his family for Christmas, and without even consulting anyone Aaron agreed. He didn't like letting the man too far outside his sights these days, afraid there would be another episode and he would need to step in. Luckily his family had been easily convinced, and Emily who he worried might have just bowed out of the holiday for another year, had not only agreed but sounded mildly enthusiastic.
"But your family is going to be staying here for three nights, I want it to be Christmassy."
"Well, I think you've succeeded." The rest of the house was actually also covered in Christmas decorations, because apparently the Vice President needed eleven Christmas trees, lest someone accuse him of being Un-Christian. This room was the one room spared the Christmas treatment last year, when Emily was hiding from all things holiday related. It was still the room they'd decorated themselves, or okay Emily decorated herself, but this year it felt to Aaron like real Christmas. Not the bland almost sterile looking trees his staff had put up in the rest of the house, but worn in looking decorations, that Aaron guesses were from Emily's family.
He sits down on the couch next to her where she is attaching Christmas cards to a ribbon. Most of the cards are standard pictures of kids or pets; he picks one up with a fairly formal looking blond family he doesn't recognize and a full typewritten letter falls out from inside.
With a roll of her eyes Emily says, "My Aunt."
Now interested Aaron opens the letter and starts reading, it's an in his opinion over the top telling of the last year's family achievements. Kristen started residency in Baltimore, Amanda and Todd (who Aaron thinks are so similar looking they appear more like brother and sister then couple) moved into a new house to accommodate their growing family, and Michael is finishing up his senior year at college. He tries to imagine what such a letter from his mother would sound like, 'Aaron practically has a panic attack any time his boss so much as coughs, Selena got laid off, and Jo is barely managing freshman year her second time around.' "Impressive."
"She glosses over Todd's DUI and the fact that Mike's a super super senior." Emily says as if reading his mind.
"How very WASPy of her."
She laughs, "Just don't lump me in with them, I'm a Catholic."
Not for the first time Aaron is amazed at how easily Emily makes statements about her heritage. She's Catholic even though she hasn't been in a Church for ages, and he's heard her in the past claim to be 'Italian'. The fact that neither she, her mother nor her grandparents had even been to Italy apparently didn't come into play. Just like her father's heritage and side of the family were of zero interest to her. He couldn't imagine ever just calling himself Mexican and leaving it at that. Maybe one day his grandkids or something would be able to.
For a moment he imagines them passing off ground beef with Old El Paso seasoning as a secret family recipe just the way that Emily does with her lasagna recipe that he is ninety percent sure came off a box of Prince Spaghetti. He wonders how it would feel, having kids or grandkids that only consider themselves Mexican in the most superficial of ways. Bitterly he realizes that he's made a good start of it for them.
"All set?" Emily asks, holding out her hand for the card.
Aaron passes the card back to her, still preoccupied as he often was these days with thoughts of his family, the Presidency and Emily. Sometimes he feels like he's working on a puzzle where he just can't quite get all the pieces to fit together.
"I got you something." Emily says, pulling a box out of a bag sitting on the floor.
"You don't want to wait until Christmas?"
"It's private." She sounds embarrassed.
"Private?" He asks, raising his eyebrows. "Something fun?" He's thinking about the kind of gifts he wouldn't want to open in front of his mother.
"Just open it." she says practically thrusting a box into his hands.
He tears at the wrapping revealing a jewelry box. Wondering for a split second if Emily is proposing to him, which he thought would somehow be both entirely out of yet also somehow in character for her, he opens the box to find a watch. He runs a finger over the faceplate, it's quite a nice watch, simple yet clearly well crafted.
"It was my grandfather's. My grandma gave it to him before he deployed." He's heard her tell the story of her grandparents before, they snuck off to get married against their parents wishes before her Grandfather lied about his age so he could join the Navy at the age of sixteen to go fight in Europe. The kind of story that is cute to hear about a couple from the forties, but if Jo got it in her head to follow in their footsteps he'd be down to Texas so fast it would make her head spin.
"Oh, wow. I don't know if I can take this Em."
"I want you to have it."
"This seems like an important family heirloom." Leaving unsaid that he doesn't think you should give family heirlooms to people you can't decide if you love. Because he's gotten nothing from her beyond whatever she mumbled to him the night of Kirkman's heart attack. Which he's starting to think he imagined, the declaration of love that is. The heart attack had been all too real.
Emily's face dropped. "You are family."
Feeling like he really can't refuse the gift after she said that, but also still feeling uncomfortable and unsure what to say, he smiles at her.
"You- you know I love you, right?"
"It would be nice to hear it every once in a while." He honestly feels too disgruntled to feel happy or relieved to hear those words.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm ridiculous. But you were the most important person in my life even before we were dating. It scared me thinking of losing you."
And then his heart softens. He's spent a lot of time thinking about how he's had more on the line in this relationship then Emily, after all he's been the one to put his heart out there, but clearly all along she's been seeing things the other way around, "Well you're stuck with me now."
She kisses him. It's slow and intoxicating and everything he needs. He pulls her into his lap and for a while they just kiss, but eventually he needs more too impatient to move to the bedroom he takes her right there. And even though this is the one part of their relationship he would have sworn was perfect even it is better now somehow.
After they cuddle on the couch, neither wanting to move away from the other. Emily wraps a blanket around the two of them. "I actually get some of the blanket. What is this Aaron Shore Day?" He doesn't think it's fair to call Emily a blanket hog, they at least pretend to share. Emily is a true blanket thief.
"Well don't get used to it. One time deal."
"I love you."
"I love you too." Her words are still strained somewhat, as if she's still having a hard time getting them out.
After that they sit in silence for a while, he's content to just feel her against him, close to him. Finally he sits up a little to actually put on the watch that kicked this all off. He thinks he may never take it off. Giving the watch a closer look he realizes it really is a nice watch. A very nice watch, in fact. "Do you want to tell me how a sixteen year old managed to afford this in wartime no less?"
"Well, she never admitted to it, but she worked as a cleaner for a wealthy family..." She shrugs, the implication clear.
"Who knew, Emily Rhodes is genetically predisposed to be a trouble maker."
"What can I say?"
He takes a closer look at the Christmas decorations, gifts, and wrapping paper littering the coffee table and his eye was caught by a distorted looking jumble of clothespins and popsicle sticks covered in glitter, clearly some kind of child's arts and crafts project. "What exactly is that?"
"Rudolph." She says, mock offended.
"Really, he looks like he's seen better days."
"Our cat got to him." She says picking it up and running a finger along what he's guessing is supposed to be one of the legs.
"We should get a cat." He says impulsively, "Or a dog." He'd prefer a dog really, they were clearly the superior pet in his mind. But either way he'd like a pet, something to make their home a little more of a home.
"I want to have a baby." She says firmly.
"You do." He almost chokes out.
"Yes."
He thinks she's missing a few key steps. "Shouldn't we get married first?"
"We can get married. That's always been more your thing anyway."
"My thing?"
"You're the more religious one. And the one running for president."
He isn't sure he'd agree he is more religious than Emily. Really he goes to mass from time to time to appease his mother. But she certainly has a point about running for President. He knows for a fact he wouldn't get elected if he has a baby out of wedlock. Probably can't get elected without a wife to begin with. And all that aside, he'd just like to marry Emily. "So you'd marry me?"
"Are you proposing?"
"No. I'm making sure when I do, you don't turn me down and break my heart into a million pieces as you've been known to do."
"That was one time, which I might add you instigated. And I don't think he was all that upset."
Aaron doesn't think Emily really understands that effect she can have on people. "But that's a yes?"
"Yes."
He wraps his arms tighter around her. "You're really something else, Em."
Aaron's father had once told him that life would sometimes gift you a perfect day, and when it did you needed to appreciate it and hold onto it because they didn't come along often. The occasion had been his sister's birth when on the ride to the hospital to meet her, he was still sulking about getting knocked out of the spelling bee earlier that day (everyone knew spaghetti was much harder to spell than airplane, the word Gloria Lopez had won on). The merits of whether any seven year old considers a baby sister a welcome presence aside, Aaron thinks his dad was right.
Today is one of those perfect days. Emily spent the week leading up to Christmas anxiously checking the weather hoping for snow. Aaron on the other hand was hoping for decent weather, he didn't think his family would forgive him if he dragged them from Texas in December and they had to deal with snow. Even after all his time living in DC Aaron barely tolerates it. But Emily ends up getting her wish and they woke up today, Christmas Eve, to a foot of snow.
And to his surprise his family ends up having a great time. When he manages to cut away from work he finds them all sledding, apparently not bothered by the fact that it's barely over zero degrees. He can't resist the pleading look on his niece Cami's face, or the fact that his mom of all people is out enjoying the snow with them so he joins in and lets himself get lost in an afternoon of snowball fights and hot cocoa. And as much as he does not want to admit to Emily that she was right, he has a lot of fun.
But a fun day is the snow is not what has him staring up at the ceiling a full hour after Emily has gone to sleep. It is the announcement his mom made at dinner, with the air of someone revealing a particularly special gift, that their town was thinking about renaming his old elementary school after him. And he had to give it to them, Aaron Shore Elementary School is a better name than Robert E Lee Elementary, but that's where his enthusiasm for the idea ends.
Once again he finds himself wondering if he should do something about his name. He actually asked his staff a few months ago to look into the feasibility and got back a flat out no. Or no if you want to run for President. And to be honest he wasn't sure he'd really wanted to change his name anyway. It seemed like the right thing to do, but there was something so comfortable about Aaron Shore, as if he had total control over who Aaron Shore is, while Aaron Rivera belongs to people. His family, his community, Texas.
Emily sometimes accuses him of thinking too loudly, which apparently he was doing tonight, because she wakes up and shakes her head at him, "Are you seriously still awake?"
"No, I'm sleeping."
"Isn't sex supposed to make guys sleepy?"
"Not when you do all the work." He finds Emily slight dominate streak in bed endlessly sexy and endearing, but he also knows it easily embarrasses her.
"Shut up." She says elbowing him sharply. "So what has you up tonight?"
"Aaron Shore Elementary School, Home of the Owls." If they did go ahead with the renaming, he would need to make sure they picked a cooler mascot.
"I think it's nice. And it's better than Robert Lee."
That seems to be the best anyone could say about it. And Aaron doesn't think better that Robert Lee is a high bar to clear. "It's stupid." He mumbles, feeling a bit infantile.
"Stupid?" When he doesn't reply Emily wraps an arm around him and runs a hand through his hair making him feel more like a little kid that his stupid comment just did.
"Stupid to name a school after me. Or that school. A bunch of Rivera's shouldn't have to wonder why their name isn't good enough." Adult's concerns he can wave off, at the end of the day he thinks you're responsible for your own sense of self, but the thought of little kids seeing a sign every day that said they were not enough worries him. Just like the thought of his kids one day understanding that their dad only made it as far as he did by casting off their heritage.
"Do you still want to change your name?"
"I can't."
"Can't or don't want to?"
"Can't. Not if I'm gonna run."
"So you mean your advisors think it's a bad idea." She says with that stubborn streak he remembers so well from when they first starting working together. It's been a while since it's been directed at him, at least in political matter.
"It is."
"Aaron, running for President isn't always about what's the most politically expedient." After a pause she adds, "If you let your aids determine every move you make, you might as well just let them run."
"I used to hate it when Kirkman went out on some emotional bender."
"But you got over it, and it usually worked out fine."
"Do you think I should run?"
"You know I can't answer that question for you."
"Nice dodge."
"Well I can't."
"I think I will run." He says, trying out the words and finding he has more confidence in them than he would have expected. Really there is a lot he wants to do, a lot he thinks he is well suited, if not uniquely suited to accomplish. Not to mention that he doesn't like the sounds of the rest of the knuckleheads who were thinking of running. There is a reason the Democrats came in third in the last election.
"Good."
"But as Aaron Rivera." School or no school he didn't see how President Shore wouldn't be upsetting to a bunch of kids with the name Rivera.
"I'm happy for you." She says kissing the top of his head.
With those decisions it's like his life has come into focus in a way it hasn't been in quite some time. He can think of a million things to tell Emily, how he wants their kids to grow up speaking Spanish or that he needs her back on his team for the election. Or thinking of the box hidden in his suitcase, maybe this is the perfect time to propose. But then he spies the clock in the corner of his eye and sees it is almost two AM.
Suddenly exhausted he stretches out and yawns, saying, "I love you."
"Love you too." This time here is no hesitation, no awkwardness in her reply.
That night he gets the best sleep he can remember.
