A/N: Here's the next chapter! It has a time jump and a twist at the end! Hope you enjoy, please read and review!

Chapter 2: A Day In The Life (October 2024)

It was a month before Election Day. Donna's campaign had been going very well so far, having won the Democratic primary by a very impressive margin. The primary had been held just a week or so before the twins' 16th birthday. She had also been interviewed by the Georgetown Hoya in August, an interview that put her on the map with young voters. Now, she had plunged full force into the general election season, with a Republican opponent who seemed intent on using her inexperience in politics to his advantage.

Brett Edwards had been a Baptist minister before sensing that he was called to be a politician. He was now the head of the Montgomery County Board of Education, which meant that Donna dealt with him regularly on her crusades for improved special education while on the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee. He was conservative, strict, and dead-set on destroying his opponent-all the things Donna was not.

That was why Annabeth had arranged a debate to be hosted by WTOP, to showcase Donna's strengths and highlight his weaknesses. It would be held at the Gwendolyn E. Coffield Recreation Center on a Friday afternoon at 6:00.

The morning of the debate, Donna woke up bright and early. After her usual routine of checking the headlines and her emails, she showered and dressed before going down the hall to the bedrooms to sound the wake-up call.

"Kids? Time to get up!" She called, knocking on Leo's door first. She opened it to find Leo already stirring and sitting up.

"Good morning, baby," Donna said as she pulled open his curtains. She barely had time to react as Leo wrapped his arms around her waist tightly.

"Whoa, what's this for?" She laughed.

"'Cause I love you," Leo replied sweetly.

Donna smiled as she pressed a kiss to his blonde hair. "I love you, too. Why don't you get dressed for school while I get breakfast going, okay?"

"Okay, Mom," Leo answered.

Donna then went next door to wake Matty. "Matty? Time to get up."

"I'm up." He grumbled as he opened the door. His voice had begun to change over the summer, and he had shot up a few inches. Donna thought that he would be at least a couple of inches taller before he stopped growing.

Just then, Matty cocked his head towards the girls' bathroom. "I think one of the twins is puking."

Donna paled. "What?" She rushed over to the bathroom at the end of the hall, where sure enough, she heard the unmistakable sound of retching. She rapped on the door once before entering to find Anna hunched over the toilet, miserable.

"Oh, Anna!" Donna exclaimed. "What happened, sweetie?"

"I don't know," Anna answered truthfully. "I got sick like this yesterday, too."

"You did? You didn't seem sick."

"Uh-huh. I felt sick in the morning, but then by lunchtime, I felt better. I think I'll be okay to go to school."

"Are you sure?"

Anna nodded.

"Okay. Well, if it doesn't get better tomorrow, I think we should go to the doctor, okay?"

She shrugged. "Whatever you say, Mom."

"Do you want to take a few hours and see how you feel?"

"I have a test first period," Anna argued, already standing up.

Donna sighed. If she didn't have the debate today, she would be seriously considering forcing her headstrong 16-year old to take the day off from school. But she didn't have the time or the energy to argue with her this morning. "Okay. But call me if you get sick again, all right?"

"All right, Mom," Anna replied. She kissed Donna on the cheek, then disappeared into her bedroom.

Donna shook her head, then headed down the stairs to a welcome sight: Josh greeting her in the doorway to the kitchen with two cups of coffee.

"Thanks, honey," Donna said, taking one. "I needed it this morning."

"Morning, Mom." Matty and Abby both greeted her. Abby turned back to her papers, muttering to herself.

"Morning, guys." She replied. Grabbing a protein bar out of the pantry, she ate and drank as she read over the latest talking points that Annabeth had sent. Her communications team had been working round the clock for debate prep. "I swear, you'd think this was a presidential debate with all the prep work going into it."

"Well, he's a strong candidate. You need all the advantage you can get." Josh said, coming over to grasp her hand as she read.

Donna kissed him quickly. "I know that." She set down the papers and turned to face her kids. It was her usual routine before they left for school to run through everyone's after-school activities, particularly since they had started high school.

"Okay. Leo-Boy Scouts, Matty-soccer, Abby-debate practice, and Anna-marching band. Did I get everything?"

"Yep!" All four kids chorused.

"Will you be able to come to the game tonight, Mom?" Anna asked. She played clarinet in the school's marching band, and it was one of the last games of the football season. Donna had missed several of them due to campaign events.

"Honey…" Donna trailed off.

But Anna needed no further explanation. "Yeah, the debate. I forgot."

"It's at 6. If I wrap up quickly enough, I should get there in plenty of time for halftime."

"I won't count on it, though." The disappointment was evident in Anna's voice, but she tried to be mature and realize that her mom's campaign had to come first.

Donna smiled softly before pulling Anna in for a hug. "You know I wanna be there, right? Nothing is more important than you guys. Nothing."

"Yeah." Anna shrugged. Suddenly, there was a honk from outside. "Oh, that's Ben. I gotta go." Anna grabbed her bag from the table and rushed outside.

Donna went to the window and watched as Anna gave the driver, a curly-haired boy her age, a chaste kiss on the lips as she climbed into his car.

Josh came up behind her. "I still don't approve of this."

"She's 16, Josh. It's perfectly acceptable for her to have a boyfriend."

"Not by my watch."

"Honey, you just don't want to accept that she's growing up."

Anna had met Ben Kaplan, the son of prominent Maryland Senator Mike Kaplan, on the day of Donna's campaign announcement 10 months earlier. His mom, Lucia, was a teacher at the high school and was Hispanic. Donna and Lucia were friendly, and Lucia had given her plenty of moral support over the last months. Mike was a bit standoffish, but all four parents got along. Ben and Anna were close, but Donna often wondered if they were closer than any of the four of them realized.

But now wasn't a good time to bring up her concerns to Josh. Not when he was already annoyed at their PDA. Instead, she turned and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek before grabbing her purse. "I need to go or I'm gonna be late."

"All right. Have a good day, baby." Josh said as she opened the front door.

"Wait." She said. She walked quickly back into the kitchen, where she said, "Bye, guys. Have a good day."

"See you later, Mom." They said as they waved and finished their breakfast.

Donna smiled and turned back on her heel towards the front door.

She walked out of the house towards the driveway. Josh came to her window as she started her car.

"See you at 6." Josh told her. "I'll be there before you go on."

"All right. Love you."

"Love you too, baby." Josh stood, waving, as she pulled out of the driveway and into the street.

The day was spent in a flurry as Donna went from one office to another-hammering out language with the speechwriters, doing debate prep with the main campaign staff, and going over logistics with Annabeth. They were still talking when they pulled up to the debate site at 5:30.

"So, run me through the topics one more time," Donna asked Annabeth as they fell into rhythm outside the car, their heels clicking in sync with one another on the marble floor of the community center.

"Opening and closing statements are two minutes apiece." Annabeth rattled off. "With each topic, there'll be a two-minute response time, with a one-minute rebuttal, then discussion. Topics include education, health care, public safety, environment and land use, transportation, and community and housing issues."

"Okay. In that order?"

"Probably not, but we'll see. All told, this should take about an hour and a half."

They reached their prep room, and Donna spent time rehearsing her opening statement and changing into a crisp blue suit bought just for the occasion. Just then, there was a knock on the door. She turned to find Josh in the doorway.

"Hey." She said, putting on tiny gold earrings. "You should go out and find your seat."

"Yeah, but I thought I should make sure you had this first."

Donna gave him a questioning look, but it immediately changed when he handed her a pearl necklace. She teared up as she put it on.

"I figured you'd want it with you," Josh confessed. "What with it being Mom's and all."

"It's perfect." She said, kissing him deeply.

Annabeth knocked on the door. "It's time."

"Okay," Josh told her. "Deep breath, chin up. Game on!"

Donna smiled. "The kids are out there?"

"Abby, Matty, and Leo are."

"Let's do this." Donna smiled at Annabeth as she walked gracefully through the hallway.

As they reached the auditorium, Annabeth stopped her with a brief hug. "Break a leg."

"Thanks, Annabeth," Donna replied.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said the moderator of the evening, "please welcome your 2024 8th District Congressional candidates: Delegate Donnatella Lyman for the Democrats, and for the Republicans, Mr. Brett Edwards!"

The two walked out from opposite sides of the stage to gracious applause and met in the middle to shake hands.

"Best of luck, Delegate," Edwards said with a hint of arrogance in his voice.

"You as well," Donna replied, trying her best to ignore him.

The pair went to their places, where the moderator, an anchor for WTOP whose name Donna couldn't remember off-hand, began by inviting them to deliver their opening statements. Mr. Edwards gave a canned speech about wanting the best for the community at large and doing whatever it took to make sure their children went to the best schools for the cheapest amount of money.

Donna spoke eloquently about how her lack of experience wouldn't prevent her from doing everything she could for her district, taking talking points directly from her stump speech as she talked about improving things for them rather than making it harder. Donna wasn't measuring, but there was a lot more tangible support after her opening statement than his.

The very first question was about education: "What resources and conditions lead to an excellent school, and how will you make sure that every K-12 student in the state of Maryland, not just in your district—especially those from historically marginalized communities—has access to these schools? Mr. Edwards?"

"Well, it's a simple question with a simple answer." He said, looking into the audience. "It's clear that even in the state of Maryland, particularly in the underfunded areas of Baltimore and Washington DC, people are not getting a proper education. I believe that public schools are falling apart in this state, and children are being left behind!" The audience cheered at his remarks. "But I also think that while this district is not being underfunded, we need greater accountability. That is a system that I have worked hard to change while on the Montgomery County Board of Education, and I will continue to change it on a state and national level."

"Delegate Lyman, your response?"

"I believe that by people, you are referring to those who aren't ignored." Donna began calmly, but the biting remark did not go unnoticed by the audience. "And you are forgetting a very important subsection of students-those with special education needs. See, this is where redistricting and gerrymandering fail constituents. It's our children who have to pay the price when schools-even here in Montgomery and Howard County-become overcrowded and they become just a number. Yes, I agree with you in that we do need accountability in our schools, but we need accountability for all students and all children, not just the ones that are obviously redlined. So, tell me, how do we fix that? Tell me how we do that, and I'll drop out of the race right now."

Applause broke out, and Donna looked down, attempting to hide the smile of satisfaction that came with besting her opponent.

Off to the side, as Mr. Edwards continued with the discussion part of the debate, Josh and Annabeth watched with glee.

"She's gonna wipe him off the map on Election Day," Josh said, amazed.

"Got that right," Annabeth replied, not taking her eyes off her candidate and friend.

After another hour and a half, with Donna taking strong positions on all the issues and politely taking the opposite side of every issue brought to the table, the debate ended, and Donna was undisputedly declared the winner.

Josh swept her up in his arms when she came off the stage. "You killed it up there, baby."

"I did, huh?" Donna replied, grinning into his shoulder.

"You bet." He said. "Those guys would have to crazy not to vote for you."

Abby and the boys ran up to her.

"Mom, that was awesome!" Abby told her, hugging her tightly. The boys then took a turn hugging her.

"Thanks, baby," Donna said, smoothing back Abby's hair. Then, she checked her watch. "Think we can still make the game?"

Abby's eyes lit up, but she tried to be nonchalant. "Yeah, I think we can make it."

It took a little bit of luck, considering they were getting to the school at the end of the second quarter, but they managed to get 5 tickets. Climbing into the band section of the bleachers, they could see Anna suiting up for the show and clutching her clarinet. Donna thought about calling out to her but did not want to distract her.

Suddenly, she caught Anna's eye. Her eyes lit up when she realized that her entire family had turned out. She waved to them, and they waved back.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the James Hubert Blake High School Marching band proudly presents their 2024 show, "Romeo and Juliet "!"

The people in the bleachers cheered loudly as the band ran onto the field and took their places alongside the color guard.

As the band began their show, Donna leaned over to Josh. She had had something on her mind all day, even before the debate.

"Do you think Anna's feeling OK?"

"Yeah," Josh replied. "I mean, besides the fact that she was throwing up this morning, and yesterday morning."

"Wait a second. You knew she was throwing up yesterday morning?"

"She said she was fine. She was just nervous about a test." He turned to her. "She was throwing up this morning?"

"I'm gonna take her to the doctor if she's not feeling better by tomorrow. Strangest flu I've ever seen."

"Donna, you really think this is the flu?" Josh said, a stricken look on his face.

"Why? What do you think it is?"

"Think about it." Josh stated, scooting closer to her and lowering his voice so the other kids couldn't hear. "She was throwing up two mornings in a row and felt absolutely fine later. What does that sound like to you?"

Without even really thinking about what she was saying, Donna said, "It sounds like what happened when I was pregnant with the girls." Her eyes got as wide as saucers as the reality of what she just said hit her.

She locked eyes with Josh, who nodded.

"Oh, my God," Donna said in a small voice. "Do you think she could be pregnant?"

A/N: And now we're off to the races! Just as Donna's campaign is reaching new heights, reality comes knocking. Let me know what you thought, and stay tuned for the next chapter!