Alex was waiting for them almost at the door, they had barely parked when the woman appeared on the front door, she had one of what seemed to be the president's scarves wrapped around her shoulders and waved at the two of them. Emily waved back, turning around for Kendra she smiled when she saw her coming too.

"Hey, come in!" Alex stepped aside letting them inside, the room was warm and to Kendra's surprise much brighter than it looked last time she was here. Alex had turned on the lights not just the smaller table lamps.

"Are Leo and Penny asleep?" Emily asked while the two of them placed their bags on the small closet next to the entrance.

"Yeah, they are with my mother on cabin 2."

"Oh." Kendra was shocked she didn't know what else to say and from looking at Emily she didn't either.

"They wanted to give us some privacy tonight." Emily and Kendra exchanged a look, they all know that it wasn't the kids that wanted to give them privacy it was more like they would need it.

"Wine?" Alex shows them a bottle on the bar top, they both nod and she reaches for the glasses in the back. There's a comforting silence while Alex works around the bar getting the glasses purring the wine. She gives them the glasses; Kendra enjoys the strong smell of the wine. The silence between them grows uncomfortable the longer they stay silent.

"How was he," she asks, Alex places the glass softly on the table next to her. She's using the same armchair Tom was having a nightmare on a few months back, "The months I was away."

"He," Emily looks at Kendra, she doesn't know how exactly to word it "He was bad."

"He was angry all the time, with Mike for the secret service's failures, with me for surviving, with the staff for every little thing, with John for pushing the investigation, with Hannah for pulling the string and bringing Damian in the white house. He was just mad at everything."Kendra took over, Emily breathed out in relief she was glad that she didn't have to keep talking about this.

"I wanted to call him; I wanted to let him know the truth." Alex chuckled sadly and took the glass from the table again.

"I don't think it would have helped, he wouldn't have believed it." Emily said, Kendra feels the lump growing in her throat, she knew she would have to say what she knows, even if that meant breaking Tom's confidence.

"I also think he had nightmares, or," Alex turns to her, her eyes widened; Kendra could see she almost knew. It was as if she already knew but it didn't make it any easier for her. "or even at times hallucinations."

"What?"Kendra can see the color draining from Alex's face.

"I did as I promised to you, I was there for him," Alex nodded, "One night he called me, it was about five weeks after the accident, and asked me to come to Camp David so we could talk." Kendra felt the atmosphere in the room freezing, taking a deep breath she continued her story.

"The first night we, we had a fight, I don't ever remember what was it about, it feels so long ago, but we fought and then we talked, I feel asleep on the couch he was sitting in the armchair over there, I woke up he was having a nightmare, he had broken the grass next to him, cut open his palm, knocked the table over. I honestly don't know what he was dreaming about, I never asked but the next night, he had asked to come over again and I did, I heard him talking in the bedroom, so I walked there, he was," the tears she was struggling to keep back were chocking her.

"What?"

"He was out of him mind, he broke things in his way he was yelling, he thought I was you." She doesn't want to keep talking, looking around the room both Emily and Alex were looking at her.

"What else?" Alex was looking at her, she was suspecting what might have happened, "Kendra please tell me!"

"He thought I was you, he called me Alex,"

"You're not telling me everything Kendra," Kendra looked away, she wasn't sure she should tell her the whole truth, how could she tell her that? "Kendra please I need to know."

"He kissed me thinking I was you." Emily gasped, but to Kendra's surprise Alex's face remained neutral. "But when I pushed him away, he changed, his face grew stone cold, and he suspended me for a week, he told to take a week but it was a suspension."

"I'm so sorry for that."

Tom looks around the living room and chuckles, how he found himself alone again? Looking around the room just shows signs of his family everywhere just like the other two times, this time though for some reason it hurts him so much more, looking at Penny's forgotten drawing on the dining table, or Alex's notes about the state dinner on the coffee table or even Leo's shoes left by the door, it's like their things are there but they are gone. He walks to the liqueur cabinet chuckling, is it he always ends there? It seems that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; he's turning into his father day by day. The burning whiskey is giving him the all familiar buzz, it's helping him forget that he is alone, the most powerful man in the world is also the lonelier.

"I still feel his body on me, he had me pinned on the ground, he was whispering in my ear exactly how slowly he would kill me, from times to times I close my eyes and I can still feel his body, his hands on my wrists." Alex get's the glass from the table she tries as hard as she can to avoid the faces of the other two women in the room; she doesn't want to have to face their shocked and possibly disgusted faces.

"A couple weeks ago, Tom rolled over in his sleep and he was half lying on me, I had a panic attack, I was," she doesn't know what to say, what else was there.

"Did you tell him that?"

"Tell him what Emily? That I thought he was someone else, that," Alex stops taking a couple of breaths, she's trying to think why she didn't tell him, he should know, but she also knows that even though he deserves to know he probably can't handle knowing. "He's barely holding on as it is."

"Maybe if he knew," Emily gets up, she's frustrated, both Kendra and Alex can tell, it wasn't easy for her to be so out of the loop and in the last few months she was widely out of the loop. "I don't know Alex, maybe, God I don't know." Alex smiles sadly, a few tears escaping her eyes.

"He needs to get better first. I will tell him, eventually, but for now, I need him to get better." Emily and Kendra nod and another uncomfortable silence falls between them, Alex sees Kendra almost cuddling the wine glass.

"I want you both to promise me that you will not tell him a thing."

"Sure," Emily tells her, she sits down again taking her glass from the coffee table.

"Of course"

"And, please be there for him," Alex knows she's asking too much, this isn't fair of her to ask them to be there for Tom, she knows she should be the one, she was married to him after all. "I'm ashamed of admitting it but I can't, I can't be there, I'm not strong enough to be there for him."

"I want to, but I'm not sure I can do that. I can promise you I'll try." Emily tells her, Alex can't blame her, what she's asking isn't a small feat. To her surprise though Kendra responded differently.

"I can, I was already his punching bag once, why not again." She tries to brush it away, she tries to make it seem easy, like it's not a big thing, she knows and Alex knows that it is probably the biggest thing she had asked of them.

"I don't want you to do anything you don't like, if he says or does anything at all that you're not comfortable with I want you to call me right away, no matter the hour," she sees the realization in Kendra's eyes, she's trying to ignore the fact that she's dealing with a man with a lot of issues. A man that neither of them knows how will react. "No matter what it is."

Hannah couldn't believe her eyes; he was, for the first time in months, actually starring back at her. His eyes were slightly hazy, apparently the drugs haven't wore off completely.

"Chuck, how are you?" she walks closer, taking his hand and notices how stiff his whole posture became.

"Who are you?" he asks her, it feels as if someone punched her in the gut, as if all air left her lungs.

"It's me, Hannah," she tries again, a small smile in her face, she hopes, prays for the first time in years, that he will remember her, that somehow hearing her name will change something but it doesn't.

"I'm sorry I don't," his eyes betray his disappointment, Hannah was ready to let go, she wanted to run away and hide, but realized that he was still holding her hand. He might not remember her but he is still holding her hand, still wants that small touch.

"It's ok, I'll help you through." She doesn't know why she says that, but the smile that forms on his face is all familiar and rewarding.

"Thank you."

A/N: Thank you for reading! As always if you like the chapter please leave a comment!

Sneak Peek

Kendra was almost dreading the day she was going back to work, the weekend she spend with Alex and Emily in Camp David was the first completely relaxing weekend in a long time. She got to know better both Penny and Leo and just relax from all the madness she knew was awaiting for her back in D.C.