Chapter 6

A/N: We're ignoring the time jump between Season 1 and 2 and also following the constitution which means that since Tom is sworn in with less than half of Richmond's term left he'll be able to serve two full (4 years) terms, and elections are less than a year ago. This chapter takes place two weeks after the last one, around April 15th.

Enjoy!

Hannah feels like she's being watched the entire day, she can't wait to get to her apartment, lock the door and pour herself a glass of wine, in the safety of her apartment she could finally shake that feeling off of her. She knows something is wrong the moment she opens the door and sees the lights on. Her hand grips her gun tightly. She sees him sitting on her bed a smug smile on his lips starts forming the moment he sees her.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, her gun firmly aiming at his head, this time she wasn't taking any risks.

"I came to talk darling" he stands up, his hands mockingly raised.

"Don't call me that!" her grip tightened on the gun and her knuckles were turning white

"Lower your gun, we need to talk" he takes a few steps closer to her and reactively she takes a few steps back.

"I have nothing to say to you!"

"Yes you do. I know what you did Hannah remember?" Her breath gets caught in her throat, his words fell from his lips with such a sardonic smile that it's bone chilling. For a moment she is sure he knows, he actually knows what she did.

"What is that? Because last time I checked it was you who got the first lady killed!" She almost screams the last word to him, she tries to keep all her real emotions at bay but the president's tear stricken face at the funeral breaks her. It was because of him she had to lie to a man that always treated her with respect, kindness, even inviting her to have dinner with him, his staff and family on thanksgiving.

"Where's the evidence about that?"

"It was you who called the hit on me! It was you who planted the evidence about the first lady's mother! It was you who trespassed into the archives two hours earlier than me!" She sees his face not changing at all and she wonders is there any chance, any chance at all that he might not be guilty? Any chance that she might have been even more wrong than she thinks?

"It was also me that helped you take down Patrick Lloyd. If I was Pax Americana why would I do that?" the cold smile on his face was all she needed to tell her that she wasn't that wrong about him, he was indeed guilty. Even if he never admitted it.

"Because you wanted it to be you, because he knew he was going to die anyway and wanted to throw us off, because you needed to earn my trust!" he chuckles and takes another step closer to her, this time she stays frozen on her spot, not moving barely even breathing, but still clutching her gun for dear life.

"Smart. Still not evidence but smart theories Hannah."

"Even if all that is theories you still tried to kill Chuck." She was proud with herself not breaking when she said Chuck's name, it was getting harder and harder for her to talk about him the longer he stayed in a coma.

"I heard about Charles, I was deeply saddened by what happened to him" the fake look of pain and sorrow on his face enrages her.

"YOU DID IT TO HIM!"

"No."

"Yes you did, and as soon as he wakes up, he'll be able to indentify you." She takes a couple steps closer to him until the barrel of her gun almost touches him, it's in his face but he still doesn't even blink. "Get on your knees and put your hands behind your back"

"You can't arrest me." He tells her smugly not moving a muscle to comply with her order.

"Yes I can you are a suspect in the murder of Alex Kirkman and the attempted murder of Chuck Russnik. Get on your knees and put your hands behind your back."

"I don't think so."

His next move surprises her; he launches forward and knocks the gun from her hands. Hannah falls back her shoulder crashing with the wood floor of her apartment hard; she feels a blinding pain for a second going through her entire body. A yelp leaves her lips for a moment, but she recovers fast. She brings her right hand up and uses her palm to break his nose, his pain allowed her to roll from underneath him to the other side of the room where her gun had fallen.

He launches forward catching her ankle, she looks back, there's blood coming from his nose, smearing her floor and his skin as he tries to pull her back by sheer force. She tries to use her free leg to kick him back but she can't. He puts his knee on her back forcing her firmly to the ground but to Hannah's delight lets go of her ankle, she uses her leg to kick him firmly on the groin.

Damian yelps and she can hear his body hitting the wood. She takes off for her gun again.

"Not so fast sweetheart" she hears him say through his teeth. A blinding pain explodes on the back of her head and she loses a step before everything turns black around her.

She doesn't know how long she was unconscious for but when she opens her eyes, the lights are closed and Damian is nowhere to be seen. She touches the back of her head, the spot he hit her is throbbing, she can feel the blood there.

"Dammit!" she says through her teeth. Hannah gets up and looks around her apartment; a strange smell comes off of the vents and fills the room. It takes her a little more than a second to realize what this smell is. She takes her gun from the floor and runs out as fast as her feet can carry her. She's barely out of the front door when the windows to her apartment explode showering the grass with fragments.

She tries again and again to reassure the paramedics that reached the scene that she was alright, that it was merely her ears ringing and nothing else, but she couldn't. They were worried about the bleeding from her scull she insisted she was fine multiple times. She was going to have to report it she knows that but she wanted to delay having to call Aaron for as long as possible.

It surprised her greatly when his car stopped abruptly next to an ambulance. A cop tries to stop him and she hears him scream at him that he is the president's national security advisor and he better not stop him. The young cop is frightened and steps aside letting Aaron pass by, he makes his way straight to her.

"Are you alright?" he asks, his voice full of worry. She looks at his eyes; they look frantically at her, as if he's trying to figure out if there's anything she won't tell him.

"I'm good" she says softly "Mild injuries. Ask the paramedics!" she tells him with a small smile when he looks at her in disbelieve.

"Was it, you know." He asks, his voice soft, barely above a whisper, his eyes focusing on her.

"Yeah." She responds looking away, his eyes were burning her, she felt as if every spot they touched on her skin was on fire. Maybe it was because she was hiding so much under her skin, so many lies that was eating her inside out.

"Hannah take some time off, please, you were almost blown up." His voice is pleading her to follow his words, she looks up.

"Aaron, I need to find Damian!"

"You need to rest; I'm going to inform the president that Rennet is still alive." His face turns cold, all emotion of pain, worry and care left almost as fast as they appeared.

"No please! He'll put the whole FBI on it and he'll go dark, we're never going to find him!" she feels her heart beating faster, this can't happen, Tom Kirkman will be furious at this, he will put the entire army if he can onto it and Damian would disappear forever. She needs to find him fast; Alex needs her to find him fast.

"Hannah it's still better than having just you going off on him."

"Aaron, please, please trust me, we have to keep this between us. Yes if the entire FBI was in on it we'd have more people but it would take us months maybe even years to find him." she sees him take a small step back, he is surprised by her sudden and forceful reaction. She doesn't have time to worry though, this would be the worse idea and she can't have him do that no matter what the cost.

"It could take you longer to find him on your own, and also we have years." She looks at him in surprise, she thought for months that Tom Kirkman wasn't going to be reelected but to hear it from Aaron's lips is by far most surprising; this man was in politics his entire life, if he doesn't believe that the president can win reelection then he isn't going to.

"No we don't, the president right now is not gonna get another term and you know it, I know it, everyone knows it. We have until next January hell, November till he's considered a lame duck." He looks away, covering his mouth with his hand.

"You think you'll find him faster?" he asks her after a short pause.

"Yes!"

"Ok, but I still want you to take the week off." She opens her mouth to fight him back but she sees Alex alone and unprepared of the true dangers in Alaska and freezes. Something tells her that Damian was in her apartment for something else not just to 'talk' to her, she is worried he might was looking for proof that Alex was alive.

"I think you're right I need it. I think I'll take a trip out of D.C." she sees him smiling, happy that he won this fight with her. She's thankful when he doesn't ask more questions. "Will you visit Chuck while I'm gone?"

"Of course, I wouldn't leave him alone." She smiles and kisses his cheek softly.

"Thank you Aaron." She says before walking away, she needed to go to Chuck's apartment and have a shower; the smoke was choking her here.

Hannah was looking at her phone for a long time after he booked the flight. She knew she had to call Alex and inform her of her visit but at the same time she knew that this wasn't the news the older woman would like to hear. She finally dials the number and braces herself.

"Hey Mrs. K!"

"Hannah! How good to hear you. Is everything alright?" the woman's voice sounds relieved almost as if she was waiting by the phone for someone, anyone to call her. She can't imagine how tough it must be living all alone in the middle of nowhere after spending a little over a year under the most intense microscope in the world which is the American presidency. "Can I come home?" her question breaks Hannah's heart, she knows she doesn't have the answer the woman wants.

"Not yet, I'm getting there," a disappointed sign leaves Alex's lips and it feels like a stab to the heart for Hannah, she put this woman through this nightmare and she had no way to get her out yet. "What you say I visit for a week, keep you some company?"

"That," Alex hesitates for a moment, "That would be amazing."

"I'll be there tomorrow morning." Hannah says smiling into the phone. She knows deep down she does that she isn't the visitor the woman on the phone truly wants but she will ignore it, for just tonight she will let it slide. It's a lonely world when the only people you care and love are either on the brink of death or you lied to repeatedly.

"I'll be waiting."

Tom closes the door to the living room behind him, he knows the secret service are probably on the hall right outside but he just wants some false sense of privacy at the moment. He looked around, they were so used sitting there with Alex that he can barely see himself living in this building alone anymore.

Tom walks to the liquored cabinet in the corner next to the big half moon shaped window and takes out the whiskey. For a moment he freezes, last time he tried to drink his sorrows and worries away she appeared reminding him that this wasn't who he is. For a moment he wishes she will appear again this time. Maybe this is the way to have her around him again. But as he opens the bottle and pours the drink to a crystal glass she is nowhere to be seen.

"You won't come and stop me this time?" he ask no one in particular, he knows the dead can't hear him, she can't hear him but it doesn't hurt trying. Walking around the empty room he empties the glass faster than he thought he could.

One glass follows the next and he finds himself passed out on the couch before he can even realize it.

"Tsk, tsk." Tom stirs in his sleep; he hears the disappointment in the voice in the room. "How pathetic Tom." He opens his eyes slowly; she sits on the chair by the big window looking at him sleeping on the couch, the bottle on the floor, empty, another half empty on the coffee table.

"Fuck off." He reaches for the bottle on the table and brings it to his lips. The alcohol burns his mouth, his throat, everything, but he ignores it the buzz he gets from it far outnumbers the downsides. He wants to pass out again, he wants her to disappear.

"You are amusing me. Your pain is," she stops for a moment, Tom looks at her, her blue eyes cold and unemotional "Entertaining."

"Whatever you say you fucking bitch." He whispers, under any other circumstances he would be mortified by the language he used, the language she always makes him use, but he reached to a point where he doesn't care anymore.

"Your mother should wash your mouth with soap Tom! What is this language you use, to your wife of all people!" there's a sardonic smile on her face, one that makes the back of Tom's hair on his head stick up.

"You're not her! You hear me? YOU ARE NOT HER!" he throws the glass but she disappears fast, the crystal crashes on the wall behind her.

"Hannah!" Alex opens the door Hannah was standing there, a small bag in her hands was all she was carrying, the older woman took her in her arms, giving her a tight hug which pulled her by surprise. "It's so good to see you!"

"I see you're back on your feet!" Hannah says as they pull back and Alex lets her in the cabin. It didn't change much since the last time she was here, of course Alex did, she had picked some weight since last time, and she seemed to be much healthier than she was even before the accident. There was a smell, a wonderful smell filling the room and such warmth that Hannah always associated with the Kirkman family.

"Yeah Callie came few weeks back and gave me a last check up, I'm good as new." Alex walks to the kitchen; she moves around gracefully, Hannah follows her sitting on a stool in the kitchen island looking at her prepping some more coffee. Apparently her addiction to caffeine was going on strong. She places a white mug in front of her and grabs the cream from the fridge with one hand and the sugar from the counter with the other. Looking at her move around she's the epitome of grace.

"This is great. Really." Hannah tells her, she smiles softly back at her, only for a moment though, the smile turns to a somber expression pretty fast.

"How is he?" she asks, her voice breaking a little.

"I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that Alex." A sad chuckle leaves her lips, she knew that would be her response. Hannah wasn't going to look for conformation with Tom not as long as her lies were so fresh.

"You've been avoiding him." Alex states.

"I can't look him in the eyes and," Hannah takes a breath, Alex studies her face, she's trying to find the right words, something to explain exactly what she was feeling, Alex knew that face. She knew it too well from young lawyers in the office trying to figure out the words to use as to not get in trouble "Lie to him like that."

"I know. Some nights," Alex stops, biting her lip, she isn't sure she should admit this to anyone. "Some nights I think it would have been better if you never warned me, if you didn't get involved," She stops again, turning to her side, her eyes getting lost on the outside of the cabin, there's still some snow in some spots but most of it it's mostly melted. "But then I think of the danger Tom and Leo and Penny would be in and I hate myself."

"I don't regret it, who knows what would have happened if I didn't, you might not have survived if not." Alex turns and looks at Hannah, she hadn't thought about this possibility, she honestly never thought about how close she had came to death, maybe one little thing changing, like Hannah warning her, would led to her actually dying. "I don't regret that. I don't regret saving your life."

"Thank you." She responds with a small smile gracing her lips. A comfortable silence fell between them for a few minutes before Alex talked again. "I've made breakfast; you said you'd be here in the morning."

"I was late I had to buy something first." She reaches inside her coat and takes out a handgun, the magazine and an extra clip, placing them on the counter softly.

"What's that?" Alex asks, she leans as far back as she can in her chair.

"A gun." Hannah states as a matter of fact. Alex rolls her eyes leaning closer back again.

"I know, why you giving it to me?"

"I…" she stops for a moment thinking if it's worth it to lie to her, she might have to face the reality, he might already know where she is and come after her any day now. "Damian came to my apartment; I'm scared he might find out that you are alive. I want you to have it with you at all times, I'll show you how to use it, the weather is getting better here so go outside and practice with it after I leave." Alex reaches for the gun in front of her and takes it in her hands, studying it for a while. "I need you to be able to defend yourself in case he finds you before I can come here."

Kendra looks at the view outside her window. It's still rather cold, although it's April and yet she yearns for the outside, the air in her face everything. Seth is sleeping peacefully on the couch in her living room, exactly where he was since Christmas refusing to leave her alone at home the sentiment is sweet but she feels suffocating right now. She looks one last time on the sleeping figure on the couch and turns on her heels grabbing her coat and keys and leaving the house without a second look.

She finds herself at the cemetery again. This time she remembers to stop and buy some flowers. Taking the small bouquet in her hands she walks to her grave. There are fresh flowers there again, like every time, Tom Kirkman after all visits the grave at least every other day, it's the last way he has to feeling closer to her.

She leaves the flowers on the soft ground; the grass is wet from the rain that was purring here and three days nonstop. She is glad it's not raining right now. She sits down knowing full well that her pants will be wet instantly and that she might get a cold if so. All logic is out the window though.

"Hey Alex." Looking around the rest of the cemetery is empty, she needs to stop visiting so late at night, she thinks. "I'm back again, I came to tell you that Tom is better, well better-ish."

She smiles sadly this was all she had at the moment, but at the same time it wasn't like Alex could actually hear her. "He's functioning but he's not the man you knew Alex. I don't think he'll ever be the same."

A/N: Here it is Chapter 6. Chapters 7, 8,9,10 and 11 are taking place three weeks after chapter 6 during which Tom deteriorates.

SNEAK PEEK:

Tom sits on his desk, everything around him is spinning, he wants to throw up at the moment but he tried to remind himself where he was. He looked at his schedule again and groaned, John Forstell was the last person he wanted to see…