All eyes on Washington DC.
Whilst the little circle of friends was dealing with Artie's news, the rest of the nation was of course dealing with the countdown to November the 5th, and the Presidential election. Trent found that his every waking moment seemed to be consumed with speech writing, whether it was editing those that he had prepared in advance to reflect the current situation; writing brand new short ones for the President to use in a few hours time, and on two memorable occasions, relaying one down the phone to an aide who then wrote it down to hand to the man himself to make at once. There seemed to be more of these impromptu press conferences as the campaign went on, but Trent was more than able to handle the pressure.
Rory found himself equally busy, preparing speeches for Burt on a daily basis, as he found himself call upon all the more frequently as the Leader of the House to make speeches of support and condemnation. Rory had to write for Carole too, as she was also thrust into the limelight. She was not in the least bit comfortable with this new role, but at least with Rory's carefully prepared words in her hand, she felt she was less likely to ruin all the hard work that had been done with an ill-placed phrase.
The polls were all looking favourable for the incumbent, but then, they always did. Early voting numbers were at a record high, and even the most right wing and Republican of the news channels were more or less conceding that they had lost the election. Secretly, a large percentage of the Republicans in both houses were not too upset about that, as their candidate for the role, who had seemed so good and promising on paper, had turned out to be a huge liability, especially after he made a speech in which he stated that his primary aim was to finish what President Trump had started…
Halloween came and went, and then election day was upon them. Around half of the circle of friends had decided to cast their vote early, or had done so by post; yet not all of those that worked full time had done so to avoid having to stand in a long line to cast their ballot. Those that worked in the theater had left it to the day itself in the main, as had Jeff, who headed to the polls as soon as he had dropped Wes off at school. His husband had voted early, however, as he knew that he would have a full days work to complete, and he knew that the queues at the polls would be equally long both before and after his work day, as other office workers would be trying to vote at the same time…
At Dalton, Thad voted on the day, escorting those of the senior class that were of the age to vote and registered to do so in the state. He had made it his business to carefully eavesdrop on the conversations of those of the boys that were politically active around the school, and was pleased to find that there was almost universal support for the President; however, he did wonder if there were some that did not agree with the warm sentiments, but were too afraid to speak out when all of their peers seemed to be saying the opposite…
Unlike the last two such elections, there was less of a sense that things could go disastrously wrong, and even some optimism that the results could show an improvement on the excellent showing of 2020. In Washington DC, Trent and Rory would spend the morning of election day at home, finally able to relax for a short while; their talents were not needed in the brief lull of speech making that happened on the actual day of the ballot, as was convention. They had already penned the necessary victory speeches, and of course, two speeches in which they conceded defeat, although they had little doubt the former would be the ones in use, and the latter would never see the light of day. If those latter two did get used, then it would also mean that Trent would be seeking a new job, and that was not something that they wished to contemplate at this stage in the game…
The afternoon, however, would see them both occupied on a mission of a different kind. For the angels, there was another reason why election day was so important; it was the date that had been set aside for Finn to marry the woman that he loved. Emily had come into his life as Elizabeth had schemed to allow Wes to marry Thad, and for both of them the attraction had been immediate. When Finn had returned from his temporary secondment to the British section, it had been with her at his side, and now they were about to cement their relationship with all due ceremony. Elizabeth would perform the ceremony herself, as she had done for her son and Blaine; Kurt was only too pleased to be his step-brother's best man, and Wes had agreed to Emily's request that he be the person that gave her away, the two of them close from the time that they had spent working together.
It had, however, proved impractical to gather the whole circle of friends in one place on that date, being in the midst of a normal work week, and so it would be a small event, not that the bride or groom minded; they both liked the idea of a small, intimate event. The venue was also a cause for discussion, until Wes reminded them of something, and pointed out that using it would make it simple for two very important mortal guests to attend, namely Burt and Carole…
As the nation went to the polls to elect a new President, the ordinary business of both Congress and the Senate was paused; the Capitol Building was thus deserted, and it was simple for the Leader of the House to request the use of a smallish room, without CCTV cameras, to host a small meeting. Burt had decided that it would be a pity if he and his wife were the only living people to attend, and so Trent and Rory had been invited to join them. They thus left home after their quiet morning and headed to the Capitol, to attend the 'meeting' they had with Burt. However, they too had been scheming, and en-route they stopped by Union Station to collect a surprise for them all; something that Trent had organised by himself at first, hiding the details even from his husband until the very last moment…
As soon as Burt and Carole were in the room, they felt a draught, and the groom and best man appeared to join them. Finn immediately hugged his mom, and then Burt, before he stood in front of them, awaiting a response. "You look fantastic," said Burt eventually, with a glance at Kurt showing that he knew that his son was probably largely responsible for that. Carole could only nod in agreement, her voice failing her, marvelling at how well turned out her son looked in a tailored tux, his tie perfectly straight, his hair the neatest she had ever seen it…
"I owe all of that to Kurt," Finn replied. "He said, and he was right, that if I really loved Emily, then I had to make a special effort on my wedding day. I do love her so much, so it was certainly the right thing to do, especially as she is going to be wearing a wedding dress that Kurt designed for her; a dress that he won't even tell me the colour of…"
"A groom cannot see what the bride is wearing before she arrives at the wedding, Finn, or it is all sorts of bad luck for them both," remonstrated Kurt. "When my dad married your mom, I hid her dress from him too."
"And we didn't tell you either, son, because otherwise you would have blabbed the details to anyone that had asked," continued Carole.
Finn looked a little offended at that, but then grinned, knowing that it was true, and said, "Well, if I had done, it would only have been because I was so proud of how good you looked!" He stopped, and looked a little upset when Kurt just smiled, then rolled his eyes…
"Whatever she is wearing will not really matter to you anyway, son," admitted Burt. "I couldn't tell you what either of my wives wore on our wedding day, because I was far too busy looking at their faces, and thinking how lucky I was to be marrying such an attractive woman…" As Carole leaned over to kiss her husband on the cheek for that compliment, Finn nodded in agreement. He was certain that Emily would look beautiful to him in a dress made of sackcloth…
There was a knock at the door then, and it opened, Rory sticking his head round it. "I am sorry that we are a little late, but my husband insisted on taking us on a detour, as he wanted to pick up a little extra something for us today. I just want to say that I had no idea what he was up to at all, at least at first, but I can say that had I done, I would have been in complete agreement with his plan." As those in the room already looked at each other in slight confusion, the door opened fully, to admit Rory, Trent, and behind them were…
"Puck!" yelled Finn, and he ran over to bear hug his best friend. Kurt shook his head, and walked over, past the ongoing bro hug, to greet Quinn…
"I was expecting this," she said with a smile, "and honestly, it is perfectly okay!"
"It really isn't," contradicted Carole, coming over to hug the young woman. "However, I must admit that Christopher was the same with his comrades whenever they met up…"
At that point, Puck broke off from the hug, then turned round to face Burt, standing to attention and saluting him. "Enough of that, Staff Sergeant!" Burt laughed. "I am here today as Burt, stepfather of Finn, not Leader of the House. By the way, congratulations on another promotion."
"I really don't know what I did to deserve this one," said Puck modestly in response, and they all smiled, knowing exactly why he had earned it; the bravery that he had shown in a daring rescue of a mother and her three young children during recent floods in the Midwest having made the news…
"We all know exactly why you got it, and that was why it was so easy to persuade the President to request that you be allowed to take some extra leave, and thus be here to join us on this special day," said Trent. "I knew that you would not wish to miss your best friend's wedding if you could help it…"
"Guilty as charged," admitted Puck, "and before anyone even suggests it, I am more than happy to just be a spectator at this wedding. Kurt is his brother, and thus the only person that deserves to be his best man."
"Well, if you are sure," responded Kurt, who had been half expecting to be demoted, "then we can stick to the status quo."
"I think that there is one thing that we could change up though," said Finn, directing his gaze onto Quinn. "I know that this is short notice, and I also know that you don't know her all that well, but would you be Emily's bridesmaid? She doesn't have anyone of her own to ask, and it would even things up…"
Quinn smiled, then replied in a gentle tone, "Well, first off, I would actually be her matron of honour given that I am already married, and secondly, I think that the ultimate decision on whether Emily has a matron of honour should rest with her, not you."
"I could go and ask her what she thinks of the idea, if you would be willing to do it?" asked Kurt, before Finn made another faux pas and suggested that he go and ask his bride what she thought. Quinn nodded, and Kurt vanished, leaving his brother as the only angel in the room.
"So how are your nerves holding up?" Puck asked Finn, sure now that his best friend could talk without being worried he might say the wrong thing.
"They're okay. I thought that this would be scary, but I actually feel so calm. I guess that is because I have actually found the person that my soul wanted all this time. Don't get me wrong, at the time I thought that Rachel was the one, but now that I look back on it, none of the girls that I dated before I died ever made me feel as content and centred as Emily does…." Finn stopped, and went bright red, before turning to Quinn, and saying, "No offence intended…"
"None taken," the former cheerleader replied. "We were forced together in high school by convention; the head cheerleader and the quarterback. We were both meant to find our true happiness with someone else."
At that, Kurt returned. "Emily says yes, as long as Quinn doesn't mind. She will be in the ante-room in a moment, along with Wes, so I will take you in there to join them…"
Five minutes later, and Elizabeth was in place at the front of the room, with Finn and Kurt waiting in front of her. Blaine and Seth had arrived and had joined the small group of people there to witness the ceremony. They had elected to sit with Trent and Rory, and the four of them chatted together happily as they awaited the bride. When Quinn had headed to the ante-room, she had taken Carole with her, at Kurt's suggestion, and now the groom's mother returned, smiling widely. She was no sooner in her seat between Burt and Puck than the door to the room opened again, and Wes stepped out, followed by the bride, with Quinn to the rear…
The dress that Emily was wearing was truly stunning; simple and yet so elegant, with just a hint of opulence. Kurt could be rightly proud of his latest creation, as it was a dress that would not have looked out of place at a royal wedding. The bride herself looked radiant, and smile that graced her lips showed them all that she was every bit as happy as the groom, who was now bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, which had Kurt rolling his eyes playfully. Carole started to cry then, as was only to be expected on the day that her son finally got married…
The ceremony was brief and to the point. Promises and vows were made as two angels, soulmates from opposite sides of the Atlantic, committed themselves to each other for eternity. Elizabeth joined their hands, having supervised the exchange of rings, and then, as had occurred before, so long ago, on that night after Thanksgiving more than a decade ago when Kurt and Blaine had finally married, the bride and groom kissed, and then rose into the air as their union was sealed. Neither Seth nor Rory had witnessed it before, and both gasped at the sheer beauty of the moment. For Seth, it was all the more poignant, as he knew that he would never have a similar moment of his own, despite the fact that he had finally met someone he could happily love for the rest of time….
In the aftermath, as congratulations were being given to the newlyweds, Trent held Seth back, and spoke quietly to him. "Okay, I will bite; what's wrong? I mean, I might be making an error, but you seem to be a little upset in all of this happiness…"
"It's a long story, but I'm okay, really," Seth replied, and then headed off to join the others.
Trent looked confused, convinced that he wasn't okay at all now, and then, Wes was at his side. "His first collection was of a young lady by the name of Kirsty, someone who had been, much like him, living with an ultimately terminal illness. As is the way of things, when Seth got her back, there was a lot of paperwork for them to fill out together, and they began to chat as they did it… the bald truth is that he really likes her, and she feels exactly the same way about him. The problem is, however, that even although it is not an official rule, relationships between angels who have not been together during their life in the mortal realms, whether it was their final spell on earth or not, are strongly discouraged…"
Trent's face had fallen as Wes had spoken, and he replied, "So our Seth finally falls in love, but he can't make it official? That does seem more than a little wrong and very unfair Wes! That explains why his face fell during the kiss; that is what he wants, but he cannot have it…"
"I agree, and I have been looking to see if I can find any sort of way that we can circumvent the rules, but I have to admit, the prospects of that aren't looking good. I mean, in a decade or so, when I get my long service wish, I could ask for them to be given permission to be together, but the way that they are both feeling they might not last that long…"
The wedding proved a welcome distraction on an otherwise hectic day for those that lived in Washington DC. Nobody really thought that there was that much of a chance of the Republicans unseating the President, and even in the elections for the two Houses of the government, there was no realistic danger of the Democrats losing control. The older generation, that key voting group that could make or break a party's chances, had not seen any great change in their standard of living, and those that had seen any alteration had witnessed gains, not losses in the main. As for those at the other end of the age spectrum, the youngest voters had seen the cost of attending college lowered, and the first signs of a decent healthcare system that put patient before profit. There was hope that the nation was now taking the needs of the environment much more seriously, no longer dismissing global warming and climate change as untrue, having seen the evidence first hand…
However, there were still that hard core of support for the old ways out there; those that listened to the most fundamentalist and bigoted of preachers, and believed every word they heard on Fox News. There were those that believed that their beloved President Trump was almost a messiah, that had been wronged by those that were now in office. They tended also to be those that the rest of society described as a Karen, or the male equivalent; the exact name for those men was often disputed, but Trent had stated quite publicly that he personally favoured calling them Richard, or rather, the shortened version of that name that began with a D… They would of course be making up their spurious claims of electoral fraud already, claiming that the election was rigged as their candidate had not won. They would in some cases go on to describe the Democrats as baby eating, deviant, homosexual devil worshippers. As luck would have it, not all of the electorate were so deranged…
Trent would head to his bed early that night, turning in at 8pm, glad of the fact that they lived in a quiet neighbourhood, and that they had a cool, dark bedroom, helped by old-fashioned shutters. He took a very mild sleeping pill, then set his alarm for 2am, as he needed to be in the office by 3am. By then, they would have the best estimates of the state of play for the entire nation, which meant that he could confidently work on the words that the President would say during the course of both that day and those that followed after…
Ironically, as he would be leaving the bed, Rory would be heading for it, as he was charged with staying up late to watch the election shows on the news channels as the results began to come in for the Congressional votes. It would give him some sort of idea of what he might need to prepare for Burt the following day. The fact was that the vote was extremely interesting, as there were far more incumbent Republicans up for re-election than Democrats. Added to that was the fact that Sue Sylvester, and a number of her colleagues, seemed to have formed a more liberal faction within the Republican fold. The numbers that they ended up with in Congress and Senate would influence the policies of the President for the next four years. The fate of much that they wanted to do rested on getting the balance of numbers in the house just right…
By the time that most of the country woke up the following day, the news channels were all talking about one thing; how Kennedy had received the biggest landslide vote in over 40 years, eclipsing by just a little the one that had been achieved by Ronald Reagan. States that had not been blue in decades had now turned that way. The electoral college system, which many predicted would be on the cards to be removed within the next couple of years, to be replaced by a system based on the share of the total popular vote instead, had worked in the favour of the incumbent on this occasion. Early polls also showed that the same sentiments had carried over to the votes for both houses of government too. Democrats had managed in the main to sustain or increased their projected share of the vote; those Republicans who had, like Sue Sylvester, taken a more liberal and progressive standpoint, had by and large kept their share of the vote as well. Those that were on the hard right, those that still loved Donald Trump and his divisive politics, those that had done their best to stand in the way of the incumbent President and his policies at every turn, now found themselves projected to lose, or facing a long wait as the poll was currently too close to call…
Those areas in which those hard Republicans were not on their way out came as no surprise to many; it was the same fertile territory that had allowed Trump to prosper. The irony was that they were often the very same places where the current administration was spending dollars on improving the infrastructure and the standard of living of those that lived there…
Of course, they all knew what the issue was; those same people who would benefit the most from the spending plans voted against the party that would bring them in as they had a prejudice against that party bred into them from an early age. They would vote for those that they did even if the future Presidential candidate of that party proposed to slaughter them all, as their family had voted for them since the year dot…
Some Presidents of course would have been inclined to ignore the needs of those areas now, cut the cash that the government would give them as a punishment for their disobedience, as Trump had done with those cities that did not comply with his wishes. Kennedy would not do that. His plans would go ahead, unaltered, even if those that would reap the benefits despised him. That was how their government worked; all based on equality and fairness. The country was moving forward into a new era, and nobody was going to be left behind, certainly not as a result of where they lived…
By the time that the weekend drew to a close, the result that everyone had anticipated was confirmed, and the President's proposed program for the next four years was being outlined in much more detail. The amount of infrastructure spending that was being suggested was substantial, with much being done to support the creation of the new healthcare system. There was also money to secure those essential bridges, railroads and highways that kept the country moving; that came alongside money for electric vehicle development and increased public transit outside the biggest cities. The money set aside for education would be the highest ever figure. There was also to be money for an upgrade of the entire telecoms network across the nation, news to everyone except those closest to the President. That was welcomed by even those hardnosed business leaders that condemned such public interventions normally…
All in all, the program was based on the idea of inclusion, of making everyone equal. Some likened it to the fabled New Deal of nearly a century before, a plan made to create employment and relieve the worst effects of the depression at the time. As some wags were only too happy to point out, that was the last time that some of the infrastructure that was to be upgraded in the President's plan had been touched by the authorities… The speech that the President gave to the nation to outline those plans was one of which Trent felt especially proud, but that was nothing to the pride that he felt in being part of the administration, in a small way, in these times when hope was being brought to so many…
Across the city, in the hallowed halls of the Capitol, Rory was equally pleased. Burt had been elected as Leader of the House once more, and it was a sign of the changing times that his once clandestine meetings with Sue Sylvester to discuss how they might move things forward in the country could now be held more openly. There was some talk that she was considering putting her name forward for the role of House Minority Leader, now that the previous incumbent had been swept away on a tsunami of Blue votes in his once safe district. The feelings of both Burt and Rory on that suggestion were the same; it was to be viewed with equal amounts of hope and dread. The good relations that they had with the lady might well be damaged if they had to spar in the public arena. Then there was the real danger that such a success might spur her into thinking that she had a shot at higher office; the Vice-Presidency at the very least…