Chapter 21: Conclusions and solutions
Tom sits back on his chair; he had gotten so little sleep last night that barely counted as any sleep at all. He looks at his schedule and smiles, Hannah should be here at any moment, and like clockwise here she was. The briefing goes on without a hitch and Hannah is ready to leave when Tom stops her, "Hannah is it true that Chuck is awake?" she smiles, there's some sadness in her smile, "Yes sir, he doesn't remember much though." She responds.
Tom nods he waves her to sit back down, "He remembers you though doesn't he?" he asks as soon as Hannah takes her seat again.
"Yes." Tom smiles and reaches out for her hand which was resting on her lap, "I'm sure he'll get better, I'd like to visit him if I could." His suggestion takes her by surprise, he can see that in her eyes. It takes her a while but she smiles back, "Of course, I'll give Mike the address."
Tom let's go of her hand and stands up, Hannah follows him immediately, "Thank you, how about later today?" he suggests, he sees Hannah fishing her phone from her pocket and going through her calendar, "Well he has a doctor's appointment but we'll be home after 6." She tells him, Tom nods, "Great, I'll be there about 7 then."
"Of course sir."
"Have a good day Hannah." He tells her, she smiles, it's genuine and it almost takes Tom by surprise because he can't remember the last time he saw her smiling.
"You too Mr. President."
Hannah sees Alex on her way out, "Hey!" Alex smiles widely and gives her a hug, Hannah has to admit she missed her a lot, since leaving the white house and Alex coming back she didn't see much of her.
"How's Chuck?" Alex asks, her worry visible in her face, Hannah smiles widely "He's alright, he woke up, although he can't remember much." Alex smiles back "But that's great news! He's alright and he's gonna get better."
"I hope so." Alex gives her another hug. "I know so" she tells her.
"Let me walk you outside."
Tom sees John walking inside, he seems unsure why he is here, "John, I'm glad you made it." He tells him.
"Of course sir, I thought deputy director Wells briefed you." He's discomfort radiating from him.
"She did, this is more of a," he stops, not really sure how to word it, "Personal nature." He sees the realization in his eyes, John nods, "It's about our kids isn't it?" he says.
"Indirectly it is."
"Okay," Tom takes a moment to find the right words, it wasn't so easy as he suspected it would be but he knew he had to move on from that not only for Leo but for himself as well.
"I want to tell you that I don't blame you for what happened, I know you were doing your job, I might not agree with you but you were right." John looked shocked, he definitely didn't expect that.
"I guess I was a bit of an asshole" he says, a half crooked smile on his lips the first time in a long time, "That you were." Tom says smiling back.
"I'm gonna have Hannah continue the briefings, she knows this place much better after all." John says breaking the silence that followed, Tom nods, he prefers it that way after all, "That's fine by me." He says.
Tom walks back to his desk, "Alright, how about the congressman's vetting?" he asks John.
"It's is complete, I will send it over tomorrow, we're working on some last kinks." He answers, Tom smiles, "Good, thank you." He tells him.
"Thank you sir."
Tom stood outside the door for about five minutes, he didn't know what to say, apparently Chuck didn't even knew who he was and yet again he doesn't know what to say. He decides the hell with it and he knocks the door.
It doesn't take Hannah long to open the door, "Sir, come in." she says stepping to the side to let him in. "Thank you Hannah." He tells her when she takes his coat, he turns to his left and sees Chuck, he's sitting on the couch, and for a moment, just a moment their eyes lock, it unnerves Tom, "Chuck?" he hears Hannah's voice from a few steps behind him, Tom takes his eyes from Chuck and turns them to Hannah, "I think I remember," he stops, looking at Tom for a moment, it was like he was studying him, like he was trying to make sure he remembered whatever it was correctly. "Please tell me Damian is dead." He asks Hannah who smiles back at him.
"He is." She tells him, Chuck smiles widely, "Good, he had this plan, he would place a bomb in your apartment."
"He did." Hannah tells him, the two of them almost ignore Tom standing there as Hannah walks to Chuck and sits down next to him.
"He knew about the first lady too." Chuck blurts out, he freezes for a moment and turns to Tom, "He knows right?" he asks Hannah who nods, "Yes. She's back in the white house." Tom says, Chuck smiles, but his attention turns to Hannah pretty fast after that. "Good."
"You understand why I didn't tell you at first then, right?" Hannah ask him, Tom can see her fidgeting with her fingers waiting for his answer, it hits him that Chuck didn't know the truth either, and yet he trusted her, he doesn't know why he waits for the answer with his heart in his throat but he does.
"Yeah." The small word shocks Tom, he didn't expect such an easy resolution to this, he knows that if it was him… well when it was him he didn't take it as easily. He watches as Hannah smiles and wraps her arms tightly around Chuck, and in that moment he understands, just a little bit.
Chuck pulls back and turns his attention back to Tom, "He was planning a biological attack on the white house. He didn't say how, but that's what he was planning." He says. Tom looks at Hannah, the smile was still there and it puzzled him, she realizes that he probably doesn't know "We dealt with this, John and I."
A/N: Thank you so so much for reading, this story has almost come to an end, I wanna thank you all for reading this story and reviewing!
For one last time here's a sneak peek from the epilogue:
Alex was feeling like crap all morning, she had found some really important news yesterday but she didn't have time to talk to Tom at all, hopefully she'll catch up on him later, she hates keeping secrets from him especially something as important…