Robert watched as his wife flipped through the television channels on the screen in front of her, switching between CNN, MSNBC, and their local channels. He had even seen her watch Fox News for a few minutes before grunting with disgust and moving on. Her phone in her hand, she was scrolling through Twitter, and occasionally Facebook and Instagram. He knew she was anxious about the election, and to be honest, he was too; he was just hiding it better.

While he managed to calm down enough the previous evening to get a decent night's sleep, she had been restless and woke him up early to go for a run. They had run around 5 miles along the water, and she was keyed up enough that he only had to slow his pace slightly to make it manageable for her shorter legs. Upon returning home, and getting showered and changed, Andy had kept herself busy cleaning their already tidy house while he did some of the chopping and measuring for their dinner that night. They ate a simple lunch together, and when they were both done, Robert hoped they might be able to watch a movie or even go out for a little while in the afternoon, but Andy plopped down in front of the television, the remote in one hand and her phone in the other. That lasted for only a few minutes before Andy was up again, heading to the kitchen for something, she wasn't sure what.

As she got up, Robert sat down, grabbed the remote, and silenced the TV. He really couldn't take another minute of the "talking heads" on television. At this point, until the polls closed, there wasn't a lot of new information, so they were just pontificating on the polls, and what might happen in each state. "I was watching that," Andy scolded as she returned from the kitchen with a glass of water and some carrots and hummus. Having just finished lunch, she wasn't that hungry, but the food gave her something to do, and she figured carrots and hummus were better than devouring the leftover Halloween candy.

"Maybe we could find a movie to watch," Robert suggested, hoping he could dissuade her from putting the cable news shows back on.

"I don't think I could concentrate on a movie," Andy replied honestly. She was nervous about the future of her country, and more immediately, on the possibility of election night violence. If things got out of control, it was possible that she and Robert would be called in to fight any fires that were started by protestors.

"I'm anxious too," Robert confirmed, "But sitting here obsessing about things won't change the results. What if we go and take a walk? Maybe go get a cup of coffee and a pastry at that coffee shop you like?"

"I don't think I'd be very good company, but I don't want to stop you from going" Andy replied. "Why don't you go and bring me something back?"

Robert didn't want to leave Andy alone. If he did, she'd be alone in her obsession, and that wouldn't be healthy, so he made one more attempt to persuade her to do something other than mindlessly flip from news station to news station while they waited for the election results.

"We've done everything we can," Robert began. "We both mailed in our ballots as soon as we received them, we held voter registration drives at all of the Seattle fire stations, and you've nagged your friends about voting since election season started." He placed one arm around her shoulder and pulled her toward him, as he used the other hand to push the remote a little further out of her reach.

Andy knew he was right. There was nothing else they could do but wait for the results, but she was restless and hated feeling powerless. Waiting for the votes of over 150 million of her fellow citizens to be counted was a lesson in helplessness, and because of all the mail-in ballots, who knew if they would even have a result that night. "Logically, everything you're saying makes perfect sense, I just can't seem to settle my mind and my body," Andy explained.

"Well," Robert said with a grin, as he leaned over to kiss his wife. "Dr. DeLuca was telling me about a great way to relieve anxiety."

"Oh, really," Andy teased, as she just barely broke away from the kiss. Carina DeLuca wasn't exactly shy about sharing the results of her research. "What might that be?"

"Let me show you," Robert replied, as he took Andy's phone from her hand, placed it on the table, and began to lead her up the stairs.