Leah sighed as she watched Mike get dressed. "This isn't fair, you know?"
He looked to her while straightening up his tie. "Am I supposed to change the fact that there is a fundraiser on Valentine's Day?"
"No." She spoke while getting up to hand him a pair of black socks. "But someone else could have done it."
He sat on the bed as he watched her put an earring in her ear. Since she wasn't having a night with Mike, she was going to have a night with the girls. "Yeah, well this is what puts food on our table and a roof over our heads."
"Yeah." She spoke coming back into the room from their closet. "I know."
That's when he got up, going straight for her. "Then stop complaining."
"Shut up." She mocked as he leaned in to kiss her.
After their lips parted, her arms went around his neck as his went around her waist. "After I get back from the party and you get back from girl's night, we should have our own celebration."
He moved to her neck, kissing and nibbling on it, causing her to let out a bubbly laugh before looking down at her watch. "You have to leave now if you're going to be your usual five minutes early."
"You're right." He grumbled while pulling away from her, giving her a quick kiss before heading out the door. "I love you." He called before walking out.
"I love you too." She called just as the door shut and she was left there to think about which earring she should be wearing tonight.
April smoothed out her dress in the mirror with an annoyed look on her face. "A fundraiser on Valentine's Day?" She groaned as she looked at her mother who was still lacing her dress up in the back. "What a great reminder that I am completely and utterly alone?"
Her Dad looked to her in the mirror while fixing Conner's tux. "You don't need a man to keep you happy."
She groaned again. She loved her dad a lot, but he had to bring this up every time she complained about a guy or lack of. "I got it, Dad. The first twelve times you've told me."
"Well," Maggie spoke as she moved a loose stand out of April's face. "He is right."
April turned to her mother, shaking her head. "You're supposed to be on my side." Maggie started laughing as Ben and Conner walked up to the ladies. Ben put his arm around Maggie's waist, making April shake her head more, still disappointed about her mother not being on her side. "When did this union happen?"
Maggie and Ben looked to each other, those fake thinking faces on. "Twenty-three years?" He questioned while looking to his wife.
She looked up, doing mental math. "Yeah, this year it will be twenty-three."
That's when they leaned forward and gave each other a loving kiss that Conner and April pretended a gag to. "Ugh, let's get out of here, Conner." She spoke as she pushed him forward.
Ben and Maggie pulled apart, still smiling at each other as she shrugged. "Works every time."
Right as April pulled open the door to get out, Mike was standing there, about to turn the doorknob. "Well," April sang out. "Hello, Michael."
He rolled his eyes at her while moving past her to get to the president. "Why is your name so short?" He complained, not finding anything to make her name sound longer than it really was.
April smiled to herself before turning around to see Mike begin to lead Ben and Maggie out the door, April and Conner falling in line behind their parents. Once they got out the door, Forbes was the caboose in the line, all of them making their way outside and into the cars.
Mike was in the limo with the family along with Forbes, the six of them making conversation the entire ride there. During that time, April leaned forward, finding herself right in Mike's ear. "You don't have anything better to do on Valentine's Day?"
He smirked as he turned to look at her. "You would be bored out of your mind if I wasn't coming to this thing with you."
April faked a sigh with a dramatic look out the window. "True."
He was looking all around, measuring potential threats always. He could be fully engaged in a conversation, but he also knew how to make an escape plan if needed to. It fascinated her. "What do see and hear that everyone else doesn't?"
He looked back to her, those eyes meeting each other again. That insane spark everyone but them noticed. "Possible threats."
The car slowed to a stop as soon as they got there, but Mike and April just wouldn't take their eyes off of each other. He leaned in close to her like she did to him, whispering, "We're here."
April gave him a bit of a smile as he opened up the doors, Ben and Maggie going out first and then April and Conner. Sure, it had only been a month since they had moved into the White House and her father had become president, but she knew, just like her mother, that Ben was the most important thing to them. And if it came down to it, they would save him over them in a blink of an eye. That's why he was always the first to get escorted out. April, she always made sure she was behind Conner for that reason. She would rather it be her than him any other day.
Inside, the ballroom was decorated with hearts, red and pink. April shuttered at the thought of her pink bedroom again. She really had to redecorate. Could you even redecorate the White House? Well, she was going to do it anyway.
As she looked around the room, she knew this was going to be one of the worst nights of her life. It was going to be a bunch of smiling politicians all in line to meet her (mostly scheduled by her father) and that, she was not thrilled for. She continued to look around while her father was shaking hands and smiling, looking for the one person she lost sight of through all of this. Then, at the corner of the room, she saw him. She looked back to her dad, planning out the perfect time to make a getaway, and she made it through without being spotted by anyone else.
When she made it by Mike's side, he didn't look at her, he just kept looking around the room, analyzing any sort of threat. "I need a drink." She told him.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Aren't you eighteen?"
She scoffed as he finally made eye contact with her. "Yeah, and I also have a tattoo of a storm cloud on my shoulder that no one knows about. I think we all know April has had a few drinks in her life."
Mike smiled a little bit while looking straight forward, thinking about the tattoo all over again. It was pretty lame. "Shouldn't you be meeting politicians, kissing babies, that sort of stuff?"
"Yeah," She spoke before picking up a glass of champagne off of one of the waiters trays. "Something like that."
Mike turned to her with a challenging face. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I won't tell if you won't." She spoke in that same almost seductive voice.
Right as she was about to take a drink of it, he pulled it out of her hands and set it on another waiter's tray. Her mouth dropped from shock and anger at what he had just done to her. "You'll thank me later when your mother and father don't kill you."
"April," she suddenly heard her father call.
She shut her eyes, knowing he was going to find her eventually. "Go." Mike whispered as he pushed her toward her father. "Meet politicians, kiss babies, that sort of thing."
She turned back to him, giving him a threatening stare despite that smirk on her face as Mike returned a cocky smile. When April had turned around, she was shocked this was the first politician she was meeting, and it was not what she expected. He was…cute. "April, I would like you to meet William Guthrie, the current youngest member of the House of Representatives."
"Wow," she exhaled quickly while immediately sticking her hand out to shake his. "Hi."
He chuckled slightly, shaking her hand while Mike gave them both a weird glance. April was acting weird. Really weird. She was giddy. Playing with her hair. Laughing too loud. That's when it all hit him. She had a crush on this guy. Mike's mouth dropped, a smile on his face as he watched closer, folding his arms in almost disbelief, never seeing this side of her before.
"I'm April Asher." She introduced. That's when she shut her eyes, shaking her head. "But you already knew that." That's when it sounded off to April, causing her to open her eyes again. "Not like you should know that." She began to laugh, her hand still gripping his in that handshake that seemed to start so long ago. "I'm not one of those girls. I'm just saying that because my father introduced us so he must have already talked to you about me." That sounded even more wrong. "Not like he had to or anything. I didn't ask him to. I – "
"Oh my god." Mike whispered out, taking his all not to laugh at how much of a fool she was making of herself.
That's when she realized she was still shaking his hand. She looked into his eyes, noticing how scared he looked from all the talking she was doing. "Oh my god." She muttered before letting go of his hand and turning away, retreating back to Mike who was laughing at her. She gave him an annoyed look, but his laughing just continued.
He grabbed a glass of champagne from the waiter, handing it to her. "Okay, I think you deserve this." She downed it as fast as possible, putting the empty glass on another tray of one of the waiters walking by. "I think you should have just stopped at 'I'm April Asher'."
She gave him a fake laugh, making Mike laugh even more. "Ugh, I sounded like a complete idiot." She spoke before throwing her face in her hands.
"He could take it as cute." Mike spoke with a shrug. "Because it kind of was."
April turned back to him with an eye roll. "Yeah, the guys who find that cute are guys who love to fuck dumb bimbos like a monkey."
"Well, I must be one of those." They both turned at the sudden interruption of their conversation, noticing William was right there, his eyes on April. "Because I thought you were damn cute back there." He shook his head, his eyes studying her entire body. "Definitely not a dumb bimbo, more like a smart, awkward hot girl."
Mike and April both turned to look back at each other, Mike giving her a knowing stare at the fact that he was right. "So," William spoke again, putting a hand out for her to grab. "Would you like to dance?"
April just stood there, just kind of stuck there. "She would love to." Mike answered for her causing her to give him a dirty look as he pushed her forward. He just gave her an impressed face as William led her to the dance floor at the fact that he was into her and he wasn't bad looking.
Once they had gotten into a dancing position, William looked into April's eyes, that dark brown clashing with that bright blue. "Are you always that awkward?" He asked as a joke, making her laugh instantly.
She looked back up at him, finding herself a lot calmer than she was a minute ago. "Only when I see a very hot, very impressive guy for the first time."
He shook his head while looking down, obviously embarrassed by what she had said about him. "Well, I am twenty-five and a member of the House of Representatives."
"Don't brag." She accused in a mocking tone. He did a light chuckle to that, obviously not finding it that funny. Mike would have found it funny, she thought to herself.
Conner came up to Mike as April and William kept talking during their dance. Mike's eyes were trained on what was happening between the two. He was inspecting every bit of movement, keeping mental notes on what to warn April about this guy, but so far, he found nothing wrong with him just by his look. "What are you doing?" Conner asked, finally taking Mike out of watching the two.
"What?" He asked quick, looking to Conner, but then finally processed what he had said earlier. "I'm just watching April." He eventually turned to look back at the two, but Conner just continued to stand there, studying him.
"Why are you watching her?" He asked, glancing quick at April before looking back to Mike, the confusion still on his face.
"You know." Mike spoke with a shrug, not really coming up with a good answer, eyes still locked on what was going on with April. She was laughing at something William was saying, making Mike very, very nervous.
"What?" Conner asked, completely confused with what he was saying.
"What?" Mike spoke, looking back to him, not remembering at all what they were talking about.
That's when Conner looked back to April, noticing she was pulling William away and off the dance floor. "Do you have a crush on April?" Conner finally asked with a knowing smile while turning back to look to Mike.
"What?" Mike asked with a bit of a laugh, but when he looked back to the dance floor and he couldn't find her, he looked slightly panicked. He didn't know where she was or what she was doing in that moment. "It's my job to make sure she's safe." Mike explained quickly, still looking all around for her. "That's what I'm doing."
Conner just continued to look at Mike. It was bullshit. He knew it as much as Mike did, but he was going to let him have it. Especially with how shaken up he was being over April. "I'm gonna go get dessert." Conner said before walking off with a smile on his face at what was still happening.
"Yeah, you do that." Mike spoke, finally catching sight of April and keeping his eyes on her.
That was about the time Maggie had noticed the look on Mike's face when she and Ben were dancing. "Babe," she spoke as she excitedly hit his shoulder. "Look."
Ben looked out to see Mike's concerned, focused face on April while she was laughing and talking with William at the bar. "Oh." Ben spoke in a slightly excited voice before looking back to Maggie. "This just got interesting." She nodded to him excitedly before looking back to them.
April moved the sponge around her face one last time before looking at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a light blue tank top dress with a white cardigan. She was looking around her room like a crazy woman, trying to get everything she needed while her mother just sat on her bed. "April," Maggie spoke in a soothing voice. "You need to calm down."
"Calm down?" She asked her while pacing around her room. "This guy is amazing and successful and I'm just some loser who he's probably using to get closer to Dad and…" she finally just threw herself down on the bed, becoming just a big ball of anxiety. "Ugh!"
Her mother began to pet her hair, wishing she could let her know how amazing she was. But this was April. She would never look at herself like that. She was just like her father in that sense. "Honey," her mom spoke. "You can't let that thought stop you from making connections with people."
April rolled over, her head now on her mother's lap, looking up at her. "How do you do it?" She asked in almost wonderment. "How have you stayed this sane through it all?"
Maggie continued to run her fingers through her daughter's hair, just transfixed on her. "I have you and your brother to think about. That's how."
April smiled as Maggie leaned down to give her daughter a kiss on the forehead before making her stand up. "Come on," she said enthusiastically while gripping onto her hands. "Let's pick out your shoes."
Mike stood with the President in the Oval Office, knowing that the kid who was talking out April was going to be in here soon to talk to Ben about how they were spending the night. Mike most definitely wanted to be there for that. And he was going on the date whether she liked it or not.
That's when William stepped in. He obviously looked nervous, but walked right up to Ben and Mike. "Nice to see you, Mr. President." He spoke with a polite nod.
"Nice to see you too, William." He greeted.
William looked over to see Mike, knowing automatically that he was secret service and he was going to be a hard one to get by. "Nice to meet you." He spoke with an extended hand. "William Guthrie."
Mike looked him over for a second before sticking his hand out to shake his. "Mike Banning." He didn't want to lie, so he wasn't going to say it was nice to meet him which was acceptable because he was secret service and they didn't necessarily have to show emotions.
"So," Ben spoke, putting on his "President" voice. "What do you two have planned tonight?"
"Dinner." William spoke with a nod, not wanting to sound too eager, but excited enough to be taking his daughter out on a date. "And then a movie."
Mike rolled his eyes slightly at how cliché this date was. "Sounds nice." Ben spoke while clapping a hand on his shoulder. "I'm just going to warn you that there's going to be a few members of secret service tailing you on this date. So, don't try anything stupid."
"I would never, sir." He spoke in almost a frightened voice.
Mike rolled his eyes again while looking to William. He was just too polite. Something was up with him. He just couldn't put his finger on it. "Then you two have a good night."
Mike looked over to Ben like he was insane. That was it? No big speech about how he would kill him if he hurt her? Well if Ben wasn't going to do it, Mike was. Mike wanted William to be scared of him because if he hurt April in any way shape or form, he was going to literally kill him.
He was about to pull William aside when April walked in with an excited face. All Mike could do was look at her. She was slowly dying her hair to a darker color, making those eyes stand out even more than before. And that dress, really brought out those eyes. She and William talked for a little bit before April looked to her father and Mike. "I'll be home by twelve."
"Not any later." Ben spoke while pointing to her before she leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Twelve?" Mike whispered to himself.
Together, they both walked out of the Oval Office, leaving Mike to just continue to stand there dumbfounded. "Sir," Mike began while turning around to look at him. "Are you – "
"Mike," Ben spoke in a tired voice, knowing exactly what he was going to ask. "I know what I'm doing, especially with April." He laughed at how stressed out he looked. "You'll understand when you have your own kids."
Mike chuckled a little bit at the thought before looking back to the door. He hated this. He hated all of this. "I better get down – "
"You're not assigned to be with April tonight."
That took Mike completely off guard. He had to be with her. Especially tonight. "But sir – "
"Banning," Ben spoke in the calmest tone he could at this point with Mike. "Go home. Go to your wife. Everything will be all back to normal in the morning."
"If I can sir," Mike began, making Ben sigh out of almost annoyance. "I would like to stay for just a bit longer." Ben let out another long sigh. "Just until April comes back. It would make me feel more at ease."
Ben just stared at him for a moment. He should call himself lucky for having someone he cared that much about his family, but like his wife said, he was doing this because he loved April. "Fine." Ben breathed out. "But I'm going to bed."
Mike laughed while giving him a nod, knowing it was understandable. "Goodnight, sir."
"Goodnight." He spoke before walking out of the office. The second he did, though, he thought of something. He poked his head back in, giving Mike a serious look. "Let me know what time she gets home."
Mike just chuckled, giving him another nod. "Will do, sir."
April walked through the halls of her house, thinking back on the night, her lips still tingling from that goodnight kiss. Her shoes were in her hand, knowing her feet were going to be aching in the morning from all that dancing they did. She really didn't care, though. It was an amazing date.
She kept thinking on it until she realized that Mike was lounged on a chair in front of her bedroom door. She looked at him for a moment, noticing his eyes were moving. He was in REM. That's how deep of a sleep he was in. She suddenly went forward to kick his foot, knowing if she was going to get into her bedroom and sleep, she had to wake him up. "Mike!" She whisper yelled to him.
He jumped up, going straight to his gun and she put her hands up in a mock defense. "Take it easy now ex special ops."
"April?" He spoke in a tired voice while stretching out.
"Yeah." She spoke obviously. "I kind of live here."
He then looked to his watch, seeing that the time was 11:59 before looking back up to April. "You're cutting it a little close."
"I said by twelve." She spoke with a shrug. "I'm gonna spend as much time as I can out."
Mike laughed as he looked up at her. "So, how was it?"
That smile grew on her face again, shrugging at the thought of it, not totally sure she wanted to share this information with Mike. "It was good for a first date."
"With that blush on your face, you're gonna tell me the date was just good?"
She then gave him an annoyed look. "You're not even supposed to be working tonight. What are you doing here?"
He looked to her with a tired face, giving her a bit of a smile. "I stayed here," he spoke as he got up. "To make sure you got home okay."
"Aw," she spoke in a fake voice, throwing her hand on his arm. "How sweet."
"Yeah, well, I'm leaving now." He quickly moved out of her slight embrace like he didn't even want to feel, making her roll her eyes.
"Good." April spoke, turning around to look at him. "Go home to your wife and get some sleep for your shift tomorrow."
He rolled his eyes at her with a smile before turning down the hallway, waving to her before she opened the door to her room. "Night, April!"
She smiled as she watched him continue to walk down the hall, thinking about him making it home okay like he thought of her making it home okay all night. "Goodnight, Mike." She whispered almost just to herself.
She finally opened the door to her room, quickly getting herself ready for bed. When she finally laid herself down, she remembered how great her date was. The only thing she could think of, though was the fact that Mike stayed there until she got home. And that's what she fell asleep thinking of. Mike.
Mrs. HappyAnarchy: Hehehe glad you liked it and the prank war. April is a tricky one, that's for sure :)
FizzWizz2011: I will *fakes solute*
MicoleR85: So glad you like it! Thanks so much for reading, love!
So, I went to go see London Has Fallen today and it was so good! You all have to go see it! Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and remember to review what you like about the story and what you want to see happen with April and Mike! Until next time!