Hi there! Thank you so, so, so much for the comments on the last chapter. I don't think I've ever had that many comments on just one chapter and it really is warming my heart to read all of your reviews. I've never had so many guests commenting either, so thank you very much too! Also, I'm really happy you are liking and commenting this story because it took me so long to actually decide to post it, I was really afraid of what people would think of it.

This chapter is mainly focused on Aaron, I hope you will like it. I'm not saying anything else cause I want to keep the suspense on this chapter. Please review!

CHAPTER 5 - The Rumor Mill

"Hey, I had not noticed, but they are right in the hallways, she does look pregnant, doesn't she?"

Kimble Hookstraten was watching TV in her office as Emily Rhodes was appearing on there. It was rare enough to be noticeable, but Aaron, her Chief Strategist who was writing bullet points on the speech Tom Kirkman was delivering, was doing his best to stay focused. He knew Emily was right by the President, just as Seth was, and Gemma, the recently appointed Communications Director that he had awkwardly met a couple of weeks ago.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, surprised.

"Emily Rhodes, she looks pregnant" she answered.

"Huh...I don't know. Is she?" Aaron asked.

"Well, that's what people say in the hallways, haven't you heard?"

"No... I try to avoid rumors..." he said, honest.

"I didn't know she was in a relationship..."

It was well known that Kimble Hookstraten was very curious. It could good be a good thing, it was definitely part of what had led her to being Speaker of the House. Her interest in everything had led her to knowing things she shouldn't have, and had helped her getting on top of the Congress. But sometimes, curiosity was also her biggest drawback. She was sneaky and couldn't stand not knowing what was happening.

"Did you know?" she asked, seeing he wasn't planning on responding.

"No… Why would I?"

"Well, you worked closely with her, I'm sure you were talking about your personal lives…" Hookstraten said, a small grin appearing on her face.

"We didn't work together for long, we hardly had the time to talk about it…" Aaron deflected.

Truth was he really didn't know. But he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He was still lost in his personal life, he had fallen for Emily, the first woman after months —years— alone, but yet, she wasn't talking to him anymore, she was avoiding him, and even worse, she had betrayed him… He dared glance at the TV and realized that Kimble Hookstraten was right, she looked pregnant. For having spent months with her at work, having slept with her, having seen her naked, he could definitely see that this bump wasn't normal for Emily.

"Do you know how far along she is?" he asked, suddenly curious.

"Well, I remember a few weeks ago, I noticed she was wearing loose clothes, and that surprised me cause we all know women don't wear that kind of clothes in the White House. And now, she's back to wearing tight skirts, and it seems kinda clear now that she indeed is pregnant… So, I don't know. About 3 or 4 months, maybe a little more? It depends on women you know… It's usually easy to hide during the first trimester."

Aaron didn't answer, just mumbled something, but was suddenly withdrawing, doing the math. It was four months ago that he had been investigated by the FBI, four months ago that his life had suddenly fallen apart, four months ago he had had sex with Emily Rhodes… Could he… No, he didn't want to think about this, it wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible.

"Aaron, Aaron, are you okay?"

He was suddenly woken up from his thoughts by his boss. He must have been out long enough because she noticed something was going on. He had become as white as a sheet and was staring into space.

"Yeah. Huh, sorry, I was just thinking about something. Let me go back to my office, I need to look at something…" Aaron lied.

He had just made up a bullshit excuse to exit Hookstraten's office, but truth was he just really wasn't feeling well. He was hot, he was sweating, his heartbeat had suddenly become faster. He couldn't breathe normally. On his way out, he crossed path with Nadia and she could instantly see that something was wrong.

"Aaron, wait!" she called in the middle of a hallway.

Aaron didn't even listen to her and just continued to walk fast toward the exit. He could hear her heels click behind him, but he just didn't have the strength to turn around. He continued on his way toward the exit, and it's only when he found a free bench at the corner of the street that he finally stopped, his breathing short and his hands shaking. He sat there, joined a few seconds later by Nadia who was trying to catch her breath from running in heels.

"Aaron, what is going on?" Nadia finally said after a few seconds.

"You heard the rumor?" Aaron asked, not ready to say anything yet…

"Which one? I mean, we work on the Hill, there are dozens everyday…"

"The one about Emily Rhodes"

It was hurting so much just to say her name out loud.

"The White House Chief of Staff?" Nadia asked.

"Yeah…"

"Well, that doesn't look like a rumor anymore… She definitely is pregnant."

"She didn't look pregnant when we saw her a couple of weeks ago…" he stated.

"She was wearing a large sweater… She could have been hiding it."

Aaron didn't say anything. He couldn't stop thinking, his mind was racing. He could see his hands shaking, his heart was pounding.

"Aaron, what is going on?"

"Emily and I…" he started. "We had sex, a few months ago…" he finally said.

"Wait… Are you?" Nadia suddenly exclaimed, but she couldn't finish the sentence either.

"I don't know. But… That is definitely a possibility."

"Didn't you… Use protection?" Nadia asked.

"Nadia…" Aaron rolled his eyes. He felt like he was being lectured by his mom.

"No, but I'm serious!" Nadia asked again.

Aaron grumbled. He really didn't like talking about his sex life with Nadia. She was like his sister, the only girl of the family. They were only 6 months apart and had been raised together after Nadia's mom had passed away when she was only 2 years old. He had been closer to her than to any of his three big brothers, but there were things he couldn't talk about.

"We did… Or at least I'm fairly confident we did. But I mean…"

"Yeah, I get it." Nadia waved off, understanding her cousin didn't want to talk about it.

They stayed quiet for a while, listening to the cars honking in the street, thinking about everything. At one point, Nadia put her head on her cousin's shoulder, just like they would do when they were younger.

"You should talk to her, you know…" she said suddenly.

"She doesn't even talk to me anymore…" Aaron sighed.

"Yeah, I saw how awkward it was the other day, but you need to know. You cannot let that go. You need to know if you're gonna be a father or not."

"Please, don't say that out loud. I'm not ready for this…"

This time, it was Nadia's turn to sigh. She could definitely understand what Aaron meant.

"Maybe you can ask her next time you see her. There is no point in rushing at the White House to talk…"

"She won't even see me. She's carefully trying to avoid me since I resigned. I met her a few times only, she's always busy with something else, most of the time she sends her deputy to meet me…"

"Really? That is such a childish attitude…" Nadia said, annoyed and rolling her eyes.

"Don't say that… You don't know what happened…" Aaron said, always defending Emily, even if he didn't want to.

"I know I don't, I know I can't. But, that has to do with you spending hours at the FBI right?" Nadia tried.

Aaron just nodded. What had happened was top secret, they both knew they couldn't go into details. But Nadia was there when he had been interrogated by the FBI, she knew that it had happened, so this part wasn't a secret. It actually wasn't really a secret for anyone on the Hill, even though Seth had brushed everything off when he had been asked by a reporter if it was true. Everything surrounding Aaron's departure had been pretty blurry and had led to a lot of rumors everywhere.

"What are you gonna do, about everything?" she asked.

"What do you want me to do? I don't even know if it's true or not…" Aaron answered.

"But, what if it's true… What if everything is true."

"I don't know… I mean, she obviously doesn't need me, otherwise she would have told me…"

"If she hasn't told you, she is such a bitch…"

"Nadia…" Aaron scolded.

"It's true! No matter what happened, if she didn't tell you, she's a bitch. You deserve to know. You're not a monster…"

Aaron sighed, he knew Nadia was right, but he was also already resigned. He didn't want to think about it, he was too exhausted for this.

About a mile from them, Emily was running in the hallways of the White House. The Kunami crisis was in full swing, and the looks on her since she had decided to stop wearing loose clothes were making stressing her. Everybody could see that she was pregnant, whispers behind her back were less than discreet and she was starting to be irritated by all of this. Work was her only distraction and she was bossy with everybody around her.

"Seth!" she called entering his office without knocking. "I need to look at that statement."

"Yeah. Gemma and I are working on it, it should be ready soon…" he answered

"Soon is not soon enough…" Emily grumbled.

Gemma glanced at her and noticed that something was wrong.

"Emily…" she scolded.

"What?"

"What is going on?"

"Nothing…" the Chief of Staff pouted.

Gemma looked at Seth and they both nodded, agreeing that Emily was lying.

"Okay, sit, now." Gemma said, standing from her seat and forcing Emily to sit on Seth's couch.

"I don't have the time for that…" she explained.

"I don't care, what is going on?"

Emily sighed and let go. Resting her head on the back of the couch, she finally explained what was bothering her.

"I'm just so tired of everybody whispering. I shouldn't have listened to you Gemma, I should have kept wearing loose clothes…"

"You know that even loose clothes won't make everything, everybody will know sooner or later. Isn't it better than they know now?"

Emily shook her head no.

"Why?" Seth asked.

"Because it means he'll come talk to me…"

"And you still don't think that you should initiate this and go tell him? He will know… He has to know." Gemma said.

"I know him…" Seth continued. "You should tell him before he learns it by someone else. He will be hurt…"

Emily started getting angry.

"How do you want me to tell him while I can't even look at him without wanting to run away? Huh?" she almost yelled.

"Easy there, tiger. Calm down…" Gemma tempered. "You cannot yell at us like that, it's not our fault you have all this shit going on between the two of you."

"I never said it was your fault…" Emily answered, rolling her eyes.

"Sort your shit out, Emily." Gemma continued, serious. "Have you ever even talked, together, about everything?"

Emily shook her head no, silent tears coming to her eyes.

"I can't, it's just too hard…" Emily admitted.

"It might be too hard, but you don't have a choice. You need to tell him, soon now. Because he probably knows that you are pregnant, and he probably already did the math, and it's only a matter of days, maybe weeks before he actually comes to you and asks you…" Gemma explained.

"You know he will ask at some point or another. He's not the type of guy to let that go, he will ask you, even if it takes time before he does." Seth continued.

"Maybe I should just lie to him…" Emily hinted.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Gemma and Seth exclaimed in the meantime.

"What?"

"Are you out of your mind?" Gemma continued.

"Emily, you cannot do that, and Gemma and I can give you hundreds of reasons for that?" Seth said.

"But I can't!" Emily whined.

"And you think it's going to be easier to lie to him?" Gemma tried to guilty her.

"Emily, look. You're going to have a child together. Whether you actually are together or not is something that you two only can deal with. But you need to tell him the truth. You have to. You know what it was like to grow up without a father, do you really want that for your baby?" Seth argued.

"It's different." Emily pouted.

"How so? Because your father was with you until you were seven? What will you do in a few years, when the kid will ask you who is their father? Are you going to lie to your own kid too, saying that you don't know?" Gemma said.

Emily shrugged.

"No matter what happens, we will be there for you, do you understand?" Gemma said as Seth nodded to her statement.

Emily nodded, a weak smile on her face. The hardest was to come, but she would always have her friends around to help.