She looked to the envelope handed to her and when she saw the handwriting she knew it had to be on person only. David Wellington. When she opened the envelope she say his handwriting written at the top "Don't open this until your alone." She shut the envelope and put it in the inside of her coat and joined the rest of her colleagues meeting the army. After a while she went back to the white house and sat in the oval office and opened the envelope again. She had read his formal resignation earlier that day but as she started to read this it was more personal.
Dear Elizabeth,
By now you will have read my formal letter of resignation. This there is my attempt to provide some context for the decision I have made and to hopefully do justice to our partnership which means more to me than I can probably put into words right now.
As to the reasons for my resignation, Saul Berenson will fill you in on details, but it seems that I have been played by a Russian agent. Yes, even I can't believe I'm actually writing that but Simone Martin, my girlfriend of the last few years, someone you have met on several occasions, is apparently working for a foreign power.
She stopped reading. That bitch was going to be the reason why she had to cut off all contact with the man she loved. There was already a sour taste in her mouth that she was losing the man she loved but it got to be an almost sickening taste when she saw that it was because of that bitch. She saw that there was almost another page so she carried on reading.
I am sure you can see that I have no choice but to resign my position as Chief of Staff and remove myself from any connection with you. Whichever way this plays out, you cannot afford to have the blight of a scandal harm your future success. Whether there is hope of exonerating me or not, for the sake of tour Presidency my departure and your disassociation from me are imperative.
Elizabeth couldn't see it instead what she saw was the man who she was in love with being taken from her because of his sex fling and she couldn't speak to him anymore due to it. She almost wanted to vomit, instead she was blinking tears away from her face so she could read.
From this you must see that my continued presence at your side damages you. It makes you seem weak and you are the strongest woman, the strongest person I have ever known. To resign, to apparently abandon you at this time of maximum stress is the last thing I want to do. In fact, it is an incredibly painful thing to do. It seems like a coward's way out, but I have thought and agonized about this and I know it is the only right thing left for me to do.
It felt like abandonment, he was right on that but she knew he was also right on the fact that he must have thought about this for hours. That was one thing she could always rely on David for, he cared and he was being truthful.
I feel utterly humiliated, violated and enraged by her betrayal but infinitely worse than this is my feeling that I have betrayed you, that I have wasted the good fortune that allowed me to work at your side again.
"It wasn't good fortune." Elizabeth muttered to the piece of paper. She wanted to call him and tell him to come back. Not just to his job as chief of staff but also to her. Fuck the job at this point, she just wanted him back with her, back where he belongs, by her side.
Elizabeth, I have believed in you from the very beginning and my faith, confidence, and respect for you has only grown stronger with each day we have spent together and worked together.
Your intellect, integrity and poise constantly inspire me to be the best I can possibly be for you and for this country. To say I still believe in you doesn't fully meet this moment. To say that I have grown to trust you completely and without reservation more genuinely expresses my admiration for your leadership. I told you recently that you could be a great president. Well, the truth is you already are a great President and not least because you are a great and remarkable human being.
She noticed his blazer from the morning still on his chair in the office. She walked over and picked it up before putting it on and wrapping herself in it, god help her if someone asked for her now.
Someone I can honestly say I have grown to know and love deeply and unashamedly. The depth of these feeling surprises me as much as I imagine they will surprise you to hear them voiced. Maybe in another life we could have made a go of it together. Who knows. I'd like to leave with the comfort of that thought, for now at least. I know these are things not usually to be said but I think the moment demands the whole truth and that you should know that I was here for you first and the country second. There it is.
She must have read that paragraph one thousand times, did that mean he was in love with her? "Maybe in another life we could have made a go of it together. Who knows. I'd like to leave with the comfort of that thought, for now at least." She re-read that one million times on it's own. He wanted her. She wanted him. She took off his blazer quickly when she heard a knock on the door.
"Madam President, David wellington is on the phone." Her assistant said.
"Put him through, Thanks." Elizabeth said and she picked up her phone. "David, Hi." She said not sure how this conversation would go.
"Hello, Madam president. I know this might sound an odd question but I was wondering if you had seen my blazer." David asked and Elizabeth looked to the jacket and smiled.
She was tempted to say no so she could keep it but that raised questions to anyone who walked in the office. "Yes, you left it here. Would you like to come and get it? We could meet at the residence if you would prefer." She said softly and David hummed in agreement and she smiled as she heard him move from his sofa "I think we need to talk, as well."
"I assume you want to talk about the letter, Madam president." David said "I don't think there's much I can add."
"That maybe the case… but I think there's something we need to discuss that you made reference to." Elizabeth answered and David agreed with her. "Good. I'll be over there by seven… you are welcome to come over any time after or just meet me there."
"Thank you, Madam President." David put the phone down and Elizabeth smiled.
She read the last few lines of his letter and how he ended it stood out to her. "Your friend always." She smiled as she put the letter down and looked to the jacket. As she looked she felt a wave of nerves hit her, something that hadn't hit until she started thinking about seeing him after everything she knew. David thought that in another life they would be together... Elizabeth hoped that maybe just maybe it could be this life too. But first she had to something to salvage David's career.
"Senator Paley... Like you request Madam President." The secretary said and the Senator walked in.
"You rang me here to save him, didn't you?" Paley asked.
"Save who?" Elizabeth asked as she took a seat next to him.
"Oh come on, do you think I'm a fool?" Paley said and Elizabeth looked at him "David Wellington."
"David resigned." Elizabeth tried to hide the sadness on her face. She couldn't be sad about David in front of anyone.
"Are you in love with him?" Sam said and she looked at him "I won't use this in the investigation... your face when you told me he resigned told me a story."
"David and I work very well together." Elizabeth sighed.
"He came to see me. Warned me... if I touch you he'll come after me. he said that I can rip him to pieces but if I even think about trying to hurt you he'd come after me personally." Paley admitted.
"I can handle myself." That was the only comment that Elizabeth Keane could make.
"I'm not coming after you or David. If you can get Simone to testify I'll leave you both alone." Sam said and Elizabeth looked at him. "Are you seeing him tonight?" Sam said and as he got up he looked towards David's jacket.
Elizabeth followed his gaze and looked at him and smiled "He left it here this morning. I've spoken to him."
"I see... Anyway Elizabeth you have tonight to see if he is worth it and to get Simone to testify saying she took the money and paid the killer. If not I come up with my own ideas."
Sam left and Elizabeth took her phone from her desk and left it a few seconds "Saul... What do we do?"
"We have Martin. We need nothing. You just need to see David tonight." Saul said "Elizabeth... Do you love David?"
"I won't answer that Saul... What I will say is I need to see him."
It got to near 7pm and Elizabeth walked to the residence. Within seconds she saw him stood outside in the cold "David..."
"Madam president...would I be able to come in?" David asked and Elizabeth smiled and allowed him in and handed him his jacket "thank you Madam President."
When he walked in he saw the personal resignation letter sat on the side "I need to ask you something in relation to this."
"Of course. Madam President I hope we can have..." She placed a finger to his lips.
"You don't call me that tonight." Elizabeth said and she took her finger off him "Maybe in another life we could have made a go of it together. Who knows. I'd like to leave with the comfort of that thought, for now at least." she quoted his letter as she stayed close to him "does it have to be another life?" She asked.
"Elizabeth we can't." David said he sighed and lent against the kitchen countertop and she played with his shirt collar like she used to when they were alone before the presidency.
"The investigation is over." She leant over and took his letter "you mentioned that I am... Someone I can honestly say I have grown to know and love deeply and unashamedly." As she moved closer to him and ran his hand over her arm she asked him again "does it have to be another life?"
"No. Eliza-" She cut him off with a strong kiss to his lips. A strong kiss that if anyone would have seen would have been interpreted a lot different. If anyone had saw that kiss they would have thought that Elizabeth and David had been together for years.
She finally let got of his lips and she looked to him and smiled "I love you." She ran her hand over his face "I'm deeply and unashamedly in love with you David. I have been for years. I want-"
This time it was David who cut her off. He placed a finger to her lips and smiled "I love you too and I want you. I want us. I'm not waiting for another life... I want you for the rest of my life and in any other life I have... I want you." He let her lips go and she tightly embraced him "I'm going nowhere expect upstairs with you." She laughed in his arms before kissing him. "You're so fucking beautiful." David whispered before kissing her neck "I wish we never had to hide our feelings from everyone."
"At least we aren't hiding them from each other anymore." Elizabeth said before gasping and gripping onto him as David kissed her neck some more and his hands drifted down her body. "I love you so fucking much."
David unfastened her dress before watching it fall to the floor "so sexy." He muttered near her before he kissed her again"I love you too, Elizabeth."
