A\N: It's been a long time since I've written a Designated Survivor story. I've had this idea for a few years, and I finished brainstorming it in the summer. I finally had time to finish writing the first episode and edit and post it. I hope you all like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 1

Working on her computer, the last twenty-four hours played back in Emily's mind. She would never have imagined she might leave D.C. like this. She knew politics was rough, but she had hoped to change things on some level. Moving away now would mean she was defeated and didn't like that feeling. She knew, though, that what was happening wasn't okay. The President knew whom Tom Kirkman was before making him a Cabinet Minister; he shouldn't have been expected to play the political game.

Looking up from her computer, Emily smiled as she saw her boyfriend working frantically on his laptop while also checking his cell phone. Aaron Shore was a political power player on the rise. Anyone within the party knew he was going places. It hadn't been love at first sight when they met, but they had a passion and sexual chemistry. Once they started to date, they began to balance each other out. Aaron is looking more at the people than the policies, and Emily is looking at the political outcomes of some decisions.

She understood why he couldn't tell her about what was coming and wished she had picked up on it sooner. He'd been acting weird and out of sorts for a few weeks. She should have demanded to know what was going on. Although with their busy schedules, they didn't see each other as much as they would have liked to.

The TV in Aaron's office flickered and went off; it took Emily a second to catch on. She watched as Aaron changed the station, but everything was the same.

Then everything started to happen at lightning speed. People in the West Wing were crying or screaming, then windows opened, and she saw something that made her stomach curl. She turned to look for her boyfriend, but he was nowhere to be found in the chaos. Suddenly she was escorted to another room and told to stay by a very brash Secret Service Officer.

15 hours earlier:

Aaron Shore woke up to an empty bed; looking at the clock, he saw it was 4 AM. He smiled as he realized five hours of sleep was the most he'd gotten since the last time Emily Rhodes had slept over.

Emily was passionate and determined and almost as competitive as he was. In all his years of searching, he'd never met a woman who could challenge him intellectually but at the same time drive him crazy. There were some days they couldn't talk without yelling. Despite that, he was in love with her, head over heels. He was going to propose the following evening. He had made reservations at a four-star restaurant. He hoped neither of them would be called into work.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Emily greeted as she walked out of the ensuite washroom, just a towel wrapped around her, "You looked so cute sleeping, you know, all that drool and curly hair," She teased, "I figured you could use sleep in. I have an urgent meeting with cabinet affairs.

"Oh," Aaron perked up, "Did they say what it's about?"

"No, I hope Moss isn't ducking on Kirkman's main talking points. The State of the Union is tonight," She rushed around, getting dressed, "I'll see you later, right? We're meeting at the White House before going?"

"Langdon said I needed to stay and move the President's schedule around for the next overseas trip to England. Some things overlap."

"All right, we'll watch it in your office; we can order take-out." She gave him a quick kiss before leaving.

"Em," Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Minister Tom Kirkman caught up to his Chief of Staff. She spent the entire ride to the White House fuming and saying she would lay into her boyfriend, who was deputy chief of staff for the President. Kirkman liked the kid, although he was a little too politically savvy.

"Em, you can't go into the White House yelling. Do you want to get kicked out?" He tried to add a bit of humour to a tense situation.

"President Moss isn't adding any of our talking points to the speech tonight. Not even one, after all the work everyone did? He knew. I knew something's been off."

"Emily, we need to go into the west wing. Will I talk to Langdon, all right? It would help if you simmered down.

Walking into the White House, though, Emily was anything but calm, and she started getting even more worked up when she saw Aaron. She tried, though, to remain as quiet as she could.

Aaron said something to his boss Chief of Staff Charlie Langdon and then took Emily into a separate conference room.

"You knew!" Emily yelled, "You knew, and you-"

"I wasn't allowed to tell you. I wanted to, but I couldn't risk my career…It's worse than you think, Em. Kirkman is being fired and transferred to a diplomat position in Canada. The President thinks he may be a problem for re-election."

"Canada? Where?"

"Montreal, I think. Look you-"

"Then I'll go too. I'm not staying here. Most politicians aren't like Tom Kirkman. He's a good man. He-"

"You'd leave Washington?" Aaron asked, trying to keep his shock and sadness in check, "You can get another job now, but if you go with Kirkman…

Both their cell phones pinged, and Emily looked at Aaron, "This argument isn't over," She stormed out of the office.

Present Day

It didn't take long for texts to pop up on Emily's phone, and as the news started to sink in, she began to cry. The Cabinet Building was gone. The President, Vice President, Supreme Court, Senators, Congress, and any number of staff dead. Most of the people Emily knew had been at the State of the Union addresses she was supposed to go to. She should be dead.

Emily lost count of the minutes she'd been in the small room. She stopped crying long enough to hear a voice she recognized, then the reality of the situation sank in. She flattened out her ruffled outfit and stepped out the door.

The people able to were busy getting to work stood by the TV set crying or hugging co-workers. Emily took a deep breath and walked over towards her friend, "Alex," she said, reaching out to her friend.

"Emily," Alex said in relief. She unknowingly disregarded her new secret service team and hugged her friend, "Have you seen Tom? I'm so glad you weren't there." She said emotionally.

In what seemed like a well-worked routine and not a big rush Tom Kirkman was sworn in as President of the United States. He was whisked away again, Aaron talking to him as they walked down the hallway.

Alex was ushered away again, but Emily followed. "Alex," She said, then when Secret Service looked at her, she corrected herself, "Mrs. Kirkman, Ma'am." It felt so odd to use those words to address her friend, "How are you?" It was a dumb question, but it was all Emily could think of.

Before Alex could respond, a Secret Service agent stepped in between them, "I need to see ID." He demanded.

"I'm Emily Rhodes; I work for Tom Kirkman at HUD," She handed over her I.D. "Can I help him?"

"President Kirkman is very busy. You don't have the right clearance level to go to the PEOC room. Now I'm going to have to escort you out of here," An agent handed her back her credentials.

"But-"Emily interrupted.

"Please let her come with me," Alex looked at the agents, "She's my friend. My kids know her."

"All right, the first daughter is coming down the hallway now," The secret service agent announced as a teary-eyed Penny rushed toward Alex.

Alex pulled her young daughter into her arms and hugged her as tightly as she could. She whispered comforting words to her daughter as she sobbed. Alex tried everything she could to hold them in for her daughter's sake.

"Mommy!" The seven-year-old sobbed, "They said Daddy's the President! They made me pack a bag. Is this our new home?"

Alex picked Penny up and hugged her tightly, "You don't need to worry about any of that. Why don't we find a bed for you to sleep in."

"The residence will be this way," The aide that had been escorting Penny said, "I'm sorry to tell you, Mrs. Kirkman, we cannot locate your son. A team was sent to his friend's house, but he was not there. We're doing everything we can to find him."

"Thank you," Alex nodded as she picked up Penny, and she and Emily followed the agents up in the elevator to the First Family residence of the White House. As they entered the living quarters, everything became so surreal for Alex. She could see tiny bits of information in the now-dead President's and First Lady's lives. She started crying again and sat with Penny on the couch.

"We have cleaned a bedroom room for the first daughter Mrs. Kirkman," An agent explained to Alex, "We can have a list of approved nannies for her next week if you would like."

All Alex could do was nod as she carried Penny into the room. After an hour, she gave up trying to put her daughter to bed. It was then that Leo entered the residence. The fifteen-year-old knew precisely what was going on.

"Leo," Alex hugged her son, "Where were you? We thought…" She looked at her husband's Secret Service agent and nonverbally thanked him.

"I'm okay, Mom," Leo assured her, "I'll tell you later where I was, I promise. Are we staying here now?" He asked as he got a chance to look around the living quarters.
"I don't know, Leo," Alex responded, "Can you try to get Penny to sleep? I need to see if I can see your father."

Leo wanted to complain but knew it was not a good time to mention anything. He took Penny's hand and led her back to the bedrooms.

Now that her children were safe, Alex started to cry again. She looked at Emily, who she figured was still trying to get cleared to see Tom. Emily shook her head again as she finished talking to whomever she was on her phone.

"Emily, Al… Mrs. Kirkman, I'm so sorry; please excuse me," Aaron walked into the room momentarily, forgetting everything that had happened, "The President has asked to see you, Ma'am," Aaron informed her.

"Thank you," Alex whipped away the tears and left the room.

"Aaron," Emily ran into her boyfriend's arms and started to cry, "This…this…." She tried to keep herself from getting too upset, "How's Tom? I mean, the president?" Tom Kirkman was the last person she thought would become the President of the United States.

"He's struggling," Aaron admitted, "I'm not sure about this, Em. You know I like him, he's your boss, but I don't think he's cut out for this."

"He needs to do this," Emily looked up at Aaron. "I'm his chief of staff. Let me talk to him."

"You were his chief of staff," Aaron corrected, "This is the White House, Em; you're in over your head. I've been acting as his chief of staff," He presented her with a clearance tag, "I got you cleared. Do you want to come?"

"Aaron," Emily took a deep breath. She knew they had a lot to talk about but now wasn't the time. She took the visitor's pass. Aaron offered her and followed him out of the residence.

TBC

A\N: I'm unsure when I'll have time to post the next chapter. I'll try to write it soon, in the meantime please review.