Anger boiled up inside Emily, her inner core was molten, she was almost sure. She paced back and forth backstage, waiting for Aaron's speech to be done. She couldn't focus on anything he was saying, her head spinning with thoughts. How had she fallen for Aaron's charm once again? She hated every part of her that had onced ached for him. How could he have done this to her? How dare he say all those promises to her, only to turn around and flaunt Isabel in front of her? To use their daughter as a prop, pretending to be one big happy family? Emily heard the crowd applaud, signaling that Aaron was done with his speech. Her stomach rolled, her breakfast fighting to stay down. Aaron appeared first, holding Elena's hand, Isabel right behind them.
Emily jerked Elena's hand out of Aaron's. "HOW DARE YOU?!"
"Mommy what's wrong? Why you mad?" Elena exclaimed.
"Emily, let me explain. . ." Aaron pleaded, reaching out for Elena.
Emily hoisted the toddler onto her hip. "No Aaron let me explain. This is exactly what I ran from. The drama, the mind games, THE LIES! You've been back in our lives for two months and it's been nothing but trouble. I'm done letting you disrupt my life, I'm done letting you disrupt our daughter's life."
The pain in Aaron's eyes was clearly evident. " it was Lorraine. The picture, the set up, the. . . "
Emily threw up her hand. "Save the excuses." She grabbed her coat and started to head for the door.
"EMILY I LOVE YOU!" Aaron called out.
Emily paused for a moment, his words freezing her in her tracks. There was something in his shout, a pain behind it. She took in a slow breath.
"I mean it Emily. It's you. It's always been you."
His voice was solid, and Emily wanted nothing more than to turn around and fall into his arms, believing this was all a misunderstanding, but she couldn't do that. Not again. She stiffened up, walked briskly out the door, making sure not to cry until Aaron could no longer see her.
Aaron watched her walk out the door, wanting to run after her, but knowing it wouldn't help.
"I didn't mean to hurt you." a female voice said behind him.
He turned around to see Isabel walking up to him.
"You. you are the reason I lost the two most important things in my life. Don't talk to me ever again." he sneered.
Isabel's face crumbled. "Don't do this Aaron. We are perfect for each other. We. . ."
"THERE IS NO WE!" He screamed. "DON'T YOU SEE? I LOVE EMILY!"
"I knew it's always been her." Isabel said quietly.
"And it always will be." Aaron hissed, as he bolted out the door.
…
"Thanks again for letting us crash here." Emily said, pouring some scotch into her cup. "It shouldn't be too long."
Seth took the bottle from her, and poured some in his glass. "Stay as long as you need. I mean it."
Emily shrugged. "It's not exactly a bachelor pad with a toddler and her frazzled mom camping out."
"I work for POTUS. I'm not exactly rolling in time to entertain the ladies." Seth chuckled.
"I feel that." She replied. She took a swig and winced. "This is. . . something."
"It's all the corner market had. All I had was some wine coolers Stephanie left a long time ago and from the looks of Aaron on the way home, I figured you needed something stronger."
Emily's face crumbled. "He was upset?"
"He wouldn't talk to me, but he looked awful. I haven't seen him this upset since you left the first time."
Emily looked up even more concerned. "When I left the first time?"
Seth nodded. "It was bad. Almost as awful as this scotch. He didn't show up for almost a week. He wouldn't talk to anyone and I'm pretty sure he was living solely off of Doritos and booze. He didn't even gel his hair back! He was a wreck."
"I didn't realize that me leaving would have that much of an effect on him" Emily stammered.
"He was in a really bad place, for a really bad time."
Emily could feel the tears welling up inside. "If I mean so much to him, Why would he do this to me? Why would he just lie to me? You saw him prancing on stage with Isabel, pretending they were a happy family with MY daughter."
Seth rubbed his temples. "You know first hand that not everything is what it seems in D.C. If Aaron told you he loved you, he meant it. Next to Kirkman, he's the most honest man in the whole metro area. Emily, if you could have seen the pain in his eyes. . . . when you left, part of him left."
"Maybe, but it seems like he's moved on. You know, finally picked up the pieces. He seemed pretty happy with Isabel."
Seth sat his glass down. "He doesn't have one picture of Isabel in his office. Not one. But do you know what he does have? A picture of you. Well, it's you and him, at the Governer's ball. It's tucked back behind the Scorpion paper weight that he keeps on his desk, but it's there. I've walked in on him looking at it quite a few times."
Emily was blindsided by this revelation. "I. . . I don't know what to do."
Seth tilted his cup back, drinking the last of his scotch. "I know what to do."
"What's that?" Emily asked inquisitively.
Seth narrowed his eyes, placing a hand on Emily's shoulder. "You need to talk to Aaron."