A/N: You guys know I have to say thank you for the reviews every time, so I will just get that out of the way. Thank you! I don't know if it's the quarantine that's getting to me, or the fact that I've been re-watching the first two seasons of HOC, but I think I'm turning into a softy. I had to dial it back a little while writing this to still keep Frank and Claire (relatively) in character. Anyway, I will let you guys be the judge…here's chapter six.
Chapter Six
If one more person asks Claire how she feels—and she includes her husband in this—she might snap. It's been less than twenty-four hours since the plane incident, and Claire is ready to go back to Washington. Or—at the very least—get discharged from the hospital.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Underwood, we can't release you until your husband gets here," a nurse says. Reminding this nurse that she's the vice president of the United States will do little. Thankfully, she sees Frank and Emily walking towards her room chatting amongst themselves. "I'll get your discharge forms."
"Thank you," the nurse switches place with Frank and Emily.
"Hi Mommy!" Emily exclaims. Claire notices Emily hangs back by her father instead of running over to the bed. Her eyes float up to her husband's and he nods.
"You look exhausted," Claire comments to Frank. He changed his suit, but it's wrinkled from sitting in the luggage.
"So do you," Frank shoots back. She looks better than yesterday, but she's still wearing the same clothes and hasn't showered. For Claire, this is about as unkempt as she can get.
"They kept waking me up every hour to ask me how I was feeling." Frank rolls his lips together to keep the laughter contained in his mouth. "Francis, it's not funny." He reaches over to pinch her cheek.
"I know. You can sleep on the plane." Claire's eyes divert to Emily, who's holding her rabbit. The five-year-old is understandably shaken by yesterday's events, but Claire wants Emily to bring it up. She doesn't want to force her daughter to talk about if she isn't ready.
The same doctor who told Frank about the supposed twins comes into the room, breaking Claire's staring contest with Emily.
"Hello Mrs. Vice President. How are you and the twins?" The doctor asks. Claire laughs into her hand after seeing the annoyed expression on Frank's face.
"We are fine, and ready to go."
"Any pain?" Claire shakes her head. "Nausea?" Another shake of her head. "Overnight, I didn't see any contractions on the monitor, nor did I see any problems on the ultrasound. You are good to go. However, I want you to ease back into work. Take the rest of the day off, and maybe do half days the rest of the week. If there's any bleeding, pain or you just don't feel right, go to the hospital." The doctor leans over to sign Claire's discharge form. "Any questions?"
Frank folds his arms across his chest and looks down at Emily. His daughter is quiet and hasn't stopped looking at Claire since they got into the room.
"No. Francis?"
"No. I will keep an eye on her." The doctor shakes hands with Frank and excuses himself out of the room. "We have a plane waiting. I need to get back to Washington."
Claire nods and gets out of the bed. Immediately, Emily walks over and takes her mother's hand. Frank or Claire don't comment on it. Their daughter needs to work through this on her own timetable. Pushing her won't help the situation.
When they get on the plane, Frank insists Claire take a nap in the bedroom. Instead of being in the office with her father, Emily elects to stay with Claire.
"Are you sure, Emily? Daddy might need your help," Claire tells Emily. She isn't used to Emily wanting to be by her side constantly. After Frank's surgery, Emily went through a similar phase with him. Emily shakes her head and glances apologetically at her father.
"I wanna stay with you," Emily insists. Claire accepts her daughter's answer and disappears into the bedroom with Emily, shutting the door behind her. It doesn't take long for Claire and Emily to fall asleep.
They are on the ground in less than an hour. Since Claire and Emily haven't come out of the bedroom, Frank tells Doug to go on without him. He knocks on the door, opening it just a crack. Emily is curled up next to Claire with her hand resting on the side of her mother's stomach. Claire has her arm outstretched over Emily. Frank hates to wake them up, but they can't stay on the plane.
"Hey," Frank whispers. He leans down and skims his hand up Claire's thigh, resting on her hip. "Claire, wake up." Frank nudges her gently, causing Claire to abruptly awaken. Emily stirs at the movement from her mother.
"We're in Washington?" Claire asks, her voice heavy with sleep.
"Our flight was only an hour," Frank says. When Claire was in the thick of her contractions, each minute seemed to drag on. In reality, from the time of her first contraction to when they landed was less than forty-five minutes. Frank holds out his hand, watching Claire grab it and lift herself up. Emily hops off the bed and grabs her tiny suitcase.
"When do we meet with Annette?" Claire asks. She knows her husband—the second they were in the air, he asked Doug to schedule a meeting with Annette. Frank gestures for his wife to start walking off the plane. Emily catches up and grabs Claire's hand again.
"We are meeting with her the day after tomorrow." Claire raises her eyebrows.
"Why did she agree to a meeting so soon?" Their emergency landing in West Virginia has been all over the news. Claire watched the coverage from her hospital bed last night. Annette had to have seen it.
"I told her that we are willing to compromise on the maternity bill." Frank gives a nod of appreciation at the steward who takes their bags from them. Claire steps into the residence first with Frank on her tail.
"You don't mean…?" Claire's voice trails off when her husband shakes his head. She won't accept anything less than the bill passing in its complete form, without any revisions or additions. "Good."
"Get some sleep. I'll be in the Oval," Frank tells his wife. Claire tilts her head towards Emily. She's hoping Frank can cajole their daughter into going with him so she can actually relax. "Em, would you like to come with me for a little bit?"
Emily shakes her head and steps closer to Claire, wrapping her arm around her mother's leg. Frank rarely extends the offer for Emily to join him in the Oval. They don't want their daughter interfering with their day-to-day work. For Emily not to accept is more than concerning.
"I wanna stay with Mommy, Daddy."
"Your mom will be sleeping for a while. She's not working today." He doubts his wife will actually listen to what the doctor told her about having the day off, but she won't be allowed in her office. Any work will have to be done in limited capacity at the residence.
"I know. I wanna stay with her." Their stubborn daughter has the same deep-seeded concern about Claire that Frank possesses.
"Okay. I will see you two later, then." Frank gives Emily a hug goodbye and kisses Claire's cheek. "I have my ringer on. Call me if you need to."
"Francis—"
"I know, Claire." He won't gloss over the seriousness of what happened yesterday. His wife just has to accept he's going to be more cautious than usual.
By the time Frank gets back to the residence several hours later, Claire is showered and in her pajamas. She has several files spread out on the bed and is typing away at her computer. Frank shakes his head and quickly checks on Emily. The five-year-old is fast asleep, holding her rabbit securely in her balled-up fist.
"Hey," Frank says as he's leaning up against the door frame. Claire finishes typing something and looks up at him over her glasses.
"Hey. I'm almost done." Frank won't tell her that she's not supposed to be working because she won't listen. He merely nods and walks into the bathroom to take a shower. When he comes out, Claire powers down her laptop and slips out of bed. He can hear her walk into the kitchen, grab something from the fridge and then come back into the bedroom.
"Ice cream?" Frank asks. So far, his wife has craved ice cream with both pregnancies and not much else. Claire lays back under the covers and digs into the ice cream. "How was your day with Em?"
"She's so scared, Francis. I don't want her to be like this for much longer." Claire is a big proponent of facing your fears head on, but their daughter is only five.
"Claire, watching you in labor wasn't easy for me, I can't imagine how it must've been for Emily."
"You think I'm being too hard on her." Frank reaches over and takes the spoon out of Claire's hands, grabbing a bite for himself.
"No. I just think we should…give her some time." Claire takes the spoon back and takes a few more bites before returning it to the freezer. Frank holds his arm out for her and smiles as she scoots closer to him. His hand swings around to rest on her stomach, running it back and forth. Claire lets her head fall onto his shoulder while her hand reaches across his chest.
"Francis, did you want me to lose the baby?" Claire asks out-of-the-blue. She can feel a steady rhythm of kicks where her husband's hand is. Frank's hand stops moving, and he glances down at her.
"Why on Earth would you ask me that?" His tone indicates he's upset, but Claire doesn't take her question back.
"I know what you said about the baby earlier, and it's okay if you did. I just want to know." She won't punish him for being honest, especially since she was the one to ask.
"For a moment…yes. When we got to the hospital, you were throwing up and in pain. I didn't know…I didn't want the baby to live if it meant you weren't going to. I told the doctor to focus on you, and I didn't care if our son was alive or not." Frank looks down at her, wanting to see her reaction to his answer. She nods against the fabric of his pajamas.
"You made the right decision." Claire tells him. Frank leans down and brushes a kiss to her temple.
In the middle of the night, Frank is woken up by a piercing scream cutting through the otherwise silent residence. At first, he thinks it's Claire having a bad dream. When his eyes flutter open, he realizes his wife is fast asleep against him. He removes his hand from the side of her stomach and waits to react in case he was merely dreaming.
A few seconds later, he hears the unsettling noise again. Claire jolts awake, and he instinctively throws his arm protectively in front of her.
"What was that?" Claire asks. Frank shakes his head and then his eyes widen.
"Emily," Frank whispers and throws the covers back. Claire is already out of bed, sprinting across the living room to their daughter's bedroom. Secret service agents are storming the residence, but Frank waves them off. "Our daughter is having a nightmare, everything's fine."
The agents scan the living room and kitchen of the residence before retreating. Claire opens the door to Emily's bedroom with Frank a step behind her. The five-year-old is thrashing around in her bed, letting out intermittent screams.
Claire gets down on her knees in front of the bed while Frank sits on the edge of it.
"Emily, honey, wake up," Claire tells their daughter, nudging her gently. Frank shakes his head at his wife. It takes a lot to jar Emily from a sound sleep. "Emily! Wake up!"
Emily abruptly awakens and launches herself at Claire, nearly tackling her. Frank quickly holds out his hand on Claire's back, preventing her from toppling over. The five-year-old is sobbing uncontrollably, gripping Claire's silk pajamas as hard as she can. Claire glances over at Frank while carding her fingers through Emily's dark hair.
"It's okay, Emily," Claire mutters as she presses a kiss to the crown of her daughter's head.
"Em, sweetheart, you need to calm down," Frank gently whispers. Their daughter is on the verge of hyperventilating. Emily coughs and buries her head in Claire's shoulder.
"Emily, what's wrong?" Claire asks. She hasn't seen her daughter become this upset in a long time. Frank reaches over to turn the lamplight on. Emily stirs and loosens her grip on Claire just the slightest bit.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Frank asks in an effort to coax Emily into talking. Emily nods with her face still hidden in the ivory silk of Claire's pajama shirt.
"Mommy not here anymore," Emily whispers. Claire gently pushes Emily back so she can look at her daughter's red-rimmed cerulean eyes. Frank glides his hand up his wife's shoulder. Claire clears her throat and juts her chin up, blinking rapidly to keep her own tears at bay.
"Your mom's right here, Em. She and the baby aren't going anywhere," Frank takes over for Claire, letting her pull it together.
"I'm scared, Daddy. Mommy and the baby were hurt and…we couldn't help them," Emily explains. Frank isn't sure if Emily is talking about what occurred in her dream or on the plane.
"I was scared too, but you did exactly what a vice, vice president was supposed to do. You made sure your vice president and president were okay," Frank says. Emily wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. It gives the little girl some solace knowing her dad was feeling the same way as her.
"Emily, we're fine. There's no reason for you to be afraid." Emily glances at her mother, looking skeptical. "Give me your hand." Claire pushes her pajama top up, so her stomach is exposed. She grabs Emily's hand, placing it on the top of her abdomen where the baby is. "See? He's fine."
Emily withdraws her hand after feeling movement underneath. She grabs her rabbit and holds it to her chest. Frank reaches over to pinch Emily's cheek. He sees so much of Claire in their daughter, down to how they process difficult situations.
"I'm okay." Emily says to her parents. "You can go now." Claire laughs at Emily's blunt attitude. She thought for sure the five-year-old was going to ask if she could sleep in their bed for the remainder of the night.
"Okay. We will be right down the hall if you need us," Frank tells Emily. He grabs Claire's elbow in an effort to help get her to her feet. Claire and Frank walk to her bedroom side-by-side.
"I want to fucking kill Annette," Claire says to her husband. Frank is taken aback by the vitriol in his wife's voice. He won't disagree. Not only did Annette put his wife and child at risk, she traumatized Emily in the process.
"Me too." Frank interlaces their fingers together just before they step into Claire's bedroom. His wife is even more determined now to get her maternity bill passed. She's willing to wage an all-out war with Annette if necessary—and he is more than willing to help.
"Sir? Ma'am? Annette Shepherd has cleared security," an agent tells Frank and Claire. Claire is sitting in Frank's chair in the Oval with him standing behind her. He's hoping this meeting will go the way they rehearsed. After what Annette did to Claire, Frank has to reign in his temper in order for them to achieve their desired end result.
"Hello," Claire says to Annette as the brunette enters the Oval Office. Annette locks eyes with Frank and then Claire. She crosses the room and sits down in the chair across from Claire. Claire laces her fingers together and sets them on the desk.
"I didn't think I was meeting with both of you today. Claire, how are you feeling? I heard about what happened on the flight to Dallas." Frank clenches his fist at Annette's question. Claire smirks at Annette and leans back in the chair. Her hand flattens against her stomach.
"Oh! He's moving around a lot right now. Do you want to feel?" Claire asks. Annette gives Claire a fake smile.
"No thanks. Let's talk about why I'm here. My understanding is you want to make some revisions to the maternity bill." Frank shakes his head.
"No. We are not changing the bill in any form." Annette grabs her tote and stands up. "Sit down!" Claire looks up proudly at her husband, who is standing next to her. Even if Annette isn't showing it, she's scared of Frank.
"Why would I want to hear anything you have to say?" Annette asks. Nevertheless, she sits back in the chair and folds one leg over the other. Claire reaches inside Frank's desk, pulling out the recorder.
"Because of our little conversation last week, Annie." Claire presses play on the recording.
"Why won't you support the bill, Annette? It's a step forward for women in this country."
"It's a poison-pill to the economy. We shouldn't be encouraging women to have children just to take paid time off. That sets a dangerous and unrealistic precedent."
Claire presses pause on the recording and stands up, walking over to where Annette is sitting and leans on the desk.
"All we are asking is for your cooperation, Annette," Frank says. "You release a statement pledging your support to Claire's bill and this recording never sees the light of day. Nor does the real reason behind our emergency landing earlier this week."
Annette flicks a piece of hair away from her eyes and sits up straighter.
"I was doing the two of you a favor by giving you an out. Why you had one child is beyond me, but she's probably already too screwed up to save. You and Frank aren't meant to be parents."
Claire pulls down the fabric of her royal blue dress down and turns around to look at her husband. He nods at her, giving her the go-ahead.
"This is our final offer. If we don't hear something by the end of the day, we will release the recording and launch a formal investigation into what happened on the flight to Dallas. We all know Dr. Larsen won't hesitate to cut a deal if it means making you the scapegoat."
Annette nods at Claire and gets to her feet. Frank stands up and walks past Claire to the center of the Oval.
"Oh, and Annette?" Frank asks. Annette spins around and desperately attempts to keep her expression impartial as Frank steps towards her. "If you ever come after Claire or my children again, I will not hesitate to slit your fucking throat in broad daylight."
"Understood. You'll have an answer from me soon." Annette gives Claire a clipped nod and walks out of the Oval. Frank walks over and stands a few feet away from Claire, using the desk to lean against. The high they feel after taking someone down reverberates off of them. Frank leans over and presses a kiss to his wife's cheek and then sits back down in his chair.
"Here," Claire says and hands Frank a tumbler partially full of whiskey. She sits on the armrest of the chair Frank is sitting in. He scoots over to give her more room and tilts the laptop towards her.
"Thank you. Ready?" Frank asks. Claire nods and watches Frank hit the space bar to play the video.
"After much speculation, it appears Annette and Bill Shepherd are finally throwing their weight behind the pregnant vice president's maternity bill," Anderson Cooper of CNN says into the camera. "The Shepherds have released a statement saying, and I quote, 'we believe this bill is a step in the right direction for women in our country and are looking forward to collaborating with Vice President Underwood on this historic piece of legislation.' The bill will go to the floor for a vote in the House in the next coming weeks."
The segment stops and Frank closes the laptop, setting it on the coffee table next to him. He glances up at Claire who is frowning instead of smiling.
"Is something wrong?" Frank asks, although he couldn't imagine what it could be. She got the endorsement from Annette that she so desperately wanted.
"I don't like when the media refers to me as the 'pregnant vice president.' It's demeaning." Frank chuckles and rests his hand on her thigh.
"Sweetheart, that's what you are." Claire gives him a half-nod and takes a sip of her water. Frank goes over to the windowsill to grab a cigarette. Since Emily is asleep, he can enjoy smoking in the living room. He lights the cigarette and presses it to his lips. After he releases the smoke from his mouth, he taps the cigarette on the rim of Claire's empty glass. "May I bring up something I've noticed?"
Claire leans more into his side, wrapping an arm around the back of the chair. She stares at the cigarette for a minute, contemplating whether she wants a puff.
"What's that?"
"You…" His hand moves from her thigh to her stomach, rubbing his thumb over the swell of it. Claire looks down, smiling as Frank lets his hand fall away. "You seem more confident and calm this time around than when you were pregnant with Emily."
Claire scoffs and watches him take another pull of the cigarette.
"I don't think so. I know what to expect now and I didn't before." It seems like a perfectly logical explanation, but Frank isn't buying it. He's known his wife for too long to accept her answer at face-value.
"No…I think you've wanted a second child for a long time." Claire averts his gaze, choosing to stare at the lines in the coffee table. What she's about to say is something she's been keeping to herself for years.
"After Peter Russo died, I went to see Dr. Larsen." Frank glances up at her and tosses the cigarette in the empty glass.
"What?" He's surprised his wife kept this from him for four years. She usually tells him whatever is on her mind—whether he agrees with it or not.
"Part of it was to get information about Gillian Cole, but I also wanted to see if conceiving again was possible for us." Frank thinks back to the time surrounding the lawsuit immediately following Peter's death. The night he came home to tell her he was going to be the vice president she was acting weird. And now he knows why.
"Did the plumber finally come?" Frank asks his wife. They had a leaky faucet that was keeping Frank up at night. Claire spins around, smiling flirtatiously at him.
"No. I fixed it." She walks into his awaiting arms. "Francis." He hugs her tightly, rocking them back and forth while dropping a kiss to her cheek. They separate, but still have their arms around each other.
"So proud of you, Francis." After twenty-two years in Congress—and being passed over for secretary of state—every move they made was for this moment.
"I didn't do it alone." Frank tells her and presses a kiss to her lips. Emily bangs her sippy cup against the tray of her highchair. Claire laughs against her husband's lips and pulls away from him. Frank goes over and takes Emily out of the highchair, giving her a barrage of cheek kisses.
"Dada!" Emily exclaims and tries to playfully push her dad away. Claire laughs at the scene. After an incredibly stressful couple of weeks, it feels good to have time with her husband and daughter. Frank walks back over to where Claire is standing. He tries to take his blazer off while holding Emily, but his wife has to help him.
"You said you wanted to talk about something on the phone," Frank says. When he called her earlier to tell him about the nomination, she didn't want to squander his moment. Also, she didn't want to have the conversation about going to the doctor over the phone.
"Oh, no. That can wait."
"No. Come on. Tell me," Frank insists. Claire looks down at Emily in Frank's arms and debates with herself whether she wants to tell him. With him becoming the vice president, another child might be more than they can handle. On the other hand, they aren't getting any younger. If they are going to have another baby, it should be now.
"I, um…earlier today…" Claire trails off and makes her decision. "The rowing machine, I saw, is broken." Frank switches Emily to his other arm, seeming to not notice his wife's internal conflict.
"Oh, it's my fault. The cable broke and I haven't been able to replace it yet."
"What about going for a run with me?" Claire asks with a smile. Frank matches her grin and nods at her. "I'll get Emily wrapped up in the stroller." Emily stops patting Frank on the cheek when she hears her name. Claire accepts Emily back from Frank, much to the dismay of the one-year-old.
"Okay. I'll get changed."
"Why didn't you tell me that night?" Frank asks. He isn't sure whether he should feel betrayed or relieved his wife decided not to move forward with Dr. Larsen at that time.
"It wasn't the right time with you becoming the vice president. And then when we got into the White House, it wasn't the right time either. I saw an opportunity with the maternity bill and went with it."
"You should've told me. We could have done something about it sooner." Claire shakes her head.
"It wasn't a void I felt constantly. When I said I was content with what we had, I meant it. You can want something and be okay with it not happening."
"Not us." Frank does have a point. There's never been a time when they didn't do everything in their power to get what they wanted. Claire drops her hand onto his shoulder while resting the other one on her abdomen.
"I think it's better this way. Emily is older now, and we aren't leaving this house anytime soon."
"No, we're not," Frank states with his eyes shining.
"Speaking of Emily, I think we should do something special for her, Francis. I feel bad about what she saw on the plane." Claire knows it's not her fault, but it doesn't assuage her guilt.
"I agree. She doesn't have much time left to be our only child. Whatever you have in mind is fine." Frank stands up so he's standing over Claire. He pushes a piece of blonde hair back behind her ear. "You did good with Annette."
"We did good," Claire corrects him and presses her lips against his. "This is only the beginning." As Frank pointed out, having Annette's endorsement doesn't necessarily correlate to votes. She's definitely influential, but they are still going to have to whip votes the old-fashioned way.
"We'll get there, I promise." Frank pinches her cheek and walks into his bedroom to grab his pajamas. Claire gets off the chair goes into her bedroom, throwing pillows aside and climbing under the covers to wait for her husband.
A week later, Frank decides to drop by the residence to see Emily after she gets home from school. He's been making a conscious effort to check in with his daughter more since her nightmare.
"Hi Daddy!" Emily says when she sees her father. She's sitting next to a boy with a mop of blond curls on his head and chestnut eyes. Frank is assuming the boy is his daughter's friend Ian. Although, his wife didn't mention him coming over for a playdate.
"Hi Em. Where's your mom?" It's more than a little concerning to Frank that his wife isn't around to watch his daughter and her friend.
"I think she's in her room. This is Ian. Ian, say to my daddy." Ian waves while sucking on his juice box.
"Hi." Frank offers a closed-mouth grin at the little boy. Emily hops off her chair and walks over to Frank, nudging him. Frank slowly bends down to be eye-level with Emily. Emily crosses her arms and gives Frank an irritated glare that surely came directly from his wife.
"Be nice to Ian, Daddy," Emily whispers and dusts a kiss to his cheek. Frank stands up and walks into Claire's bedroom. His wife is sitting on the bench pushed up against the edge of her bed. Various paint samples and pictures of furniture surround her.
"Claire, why is there a five-year-old boy in our living room?" Claire ignores him and holds up a navy paint sample.
"Do you think this is too dark for the nursery?" Frank frowns and tilts his head down to look at his wife.
"Claire wh—"
"Francis, don't start." Claire tosses the paint sample aside and takes her reading glasses off. "We agreed that we would do something special for Emily."
"I thought you meant we were going to take her to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs. I didn't say we could invite that boy over to the residence. And why aren't you out there with them?" Claire skims her teeth across her bottom lip to trap her laughter into her mouth.
"Francis, Emily is five." Frank shakes his head.
"And Emily is also your daughter." Claire gives him a warning look. She's aware of what he's implying, but they aren't even going to go there when their daughter is so young.
"Our daughter has a hard time making friends because of who we are and what we do. I'm not going to say she can't have a boy as a friend when she is five years old. If you want to be the one to have that conversation with her, then be my guest." Frank lets out a sigh. His wife is right. Emily's had to face a lot of unfair criticism because her parents are the president and vice president. However, he would be remiss if he didn't keep an eye on Ian.
Frank glances down at the paint samples in and around his wife's lap. He points to a bluish-gray one near her knee.
"I like that one."
"Me too." Claire watches her husband go back into the living room. When she steps out of her room a half an hour later, her husband is seated on the couch, fast asleep. She walks over to him, placing her hand on top of his. Frank jerks awake just as Claire sits down next to him.
"I thought you were supposed to be on guard duty," Claire jokes with him. Frank rolls his eyes and grabs his briefing sheet that fell on the floor.
"Don't make…" Frank stops when he sees Emily and Ian walking towards him and Claire holding hands. "What's this?" Claire reclines into the couch cushions and crosses her fingers over the swell of her stomach.
"Mommy and Daddy?" Emily asks. She yanks on Ian's hand, forcing him to step forward. Claire extends her hand to clasp Frank's, silently warning him to watch what he says.
"Yes, Em?" Frank asks. He locks eyes with his wife, who is finding this whole exchange incredibly amusing.
"Ian and me are gonna be president and vice president. We are gonna live here and have a baby like you and Mommy." Frank's jaw drops and Claire covers her mouth to hide her laughter.
"Oh really?" Frank asks. Claire squeezes his hand to get him to stop talking. Emily is undeterred by her father's questioning tone.
"Yes, Daddy. After you and Mommy are president, we will take over. Ian will be president first and then me, like you and Mommy."
"I think keeping an Underwood in the White House is a good idea, right Francis?" Claire asks.
"Of course." Emily nods at both of her parents and tugs on Ian's hand, walking them back to her bedroom. Claire hides her grin against her knuckles until their daughter is out of sight. Frank glares at her, not finding what just happened funny in the slightest.
"Well Francis, at least our daughter has a plan." Frank sneers at Claire and gets to his feet.
"I'm going back to the Oval."
A/N 2: I hope you liked this chapter! I want to kind of take your temperature on this fic so far. Do you want more/less Emily? More/less pregnant Claire? More drama? If there's something you feel is missing that should be included in this, please tell me. Thank you for reading and please stay safe and healthy!