April
April smiled as she weaved her way through the group of small children. It had taken her a while to get ready, but when Mike saw her, he knew all that time she spent was worth it. She wore a green dress with brown flowers all over with a green cardigan to match and white heels. Mike was really proud of the way she had pulled herself together in the past few weeks. With everything that happened with William and the picture of the two of them coming out, she had handled it all respectively well. Not only was Mike proud of her, the entire Asher clan was. Well, except Conner. He didn't see there was a reason to be proud of her. She just continued to carry on as same old April. He just didn't know how hard that was for her.
When April finally looked up from the small children, she saw Mike smiling at her so she returned back a small smile. When she finally reached him, she rolled her eyes. "I know I'm hot, Banning, but take a picture and it will last longer."
"No." He shook his head as she joined him at his left side, his eyes going straight forward. "I was just wondering why you picked such an ugly puke green color."
Her hand automatically met his arm with a hard slap which he just smiled to. They looked back to all of the kids, smiling at how they were all having fun, especially Conner. He was off talking to a little girl, making them both smile. "How much do you want to bet that Conner is going to blow it?" April asked Mike with a devious smile on her face.
"Are you kidding me?" Mike scoffed while looking off at the two kids. "No. Not with what I've been teaching him."
April turned to look at him, her eyebrows furrowed. "What have you been teaching him?"
"You know," he spoke with a shrug. "The normal on how to talk to girls."
She raised an eyebrow at him which he shrugged to, making her look back to Conner and the girl. That's when Conner put up his hand, leaning on the side of the White House while her back was to it. April's mouth dropped as laughter began to pour out of her. "Oh my god." She turned to look back to Mike, her mouth still dropped. "You taught him how to be a fuckboy."
"I did not." Mike spoke, offended with her.
"You may not realize it," she spoke while looking back over to Conner. "But you did."
"So, are you saying I'm a fuckboy?" Mike asked while crossing his arms.
April looked back to him, a playful smile on her face. Just as she opened her mouth, there was a loud pop that filled the air, followed by screams. April looked over, but before she could see anything going on, Mike tackled her down. There was another pop and more screams, Mike making it his job to cover her entire body so she wouldn't get hurt. April's hand moved to Mike's as he grabbed it instantly as tight as possible.
There were two more pops, April cringing at every one, as Mike just held her tighter and the area was filled with grave silence. "Gunman down." One of the other agents spoke into Mike's earpiece.
Mike slowly started to sit up, his arm still on April's neck, forcing her into the grass. "Stay down." She nodded rapidly as Mike continued to look around. He could see a group of the agents around someone lying on the ground as everyone else was on the ground, some protecting others, but the majority of them had their hands over their heads.
He slowly brought April up when he saw for himself that the threat was gone. She looked around with a frantic look on her face as her breath went in and out rapidly. When Mike looked back to her, he saw how terrified she was. He put his hands on her shoulders, studying her face all over. "Are you okay?" She just nodded, still looking around all over, just nodding so he would think she was okay. "April, look at me." he spoke, breaking her out of her terrified trance to stare right into those icy blue eyes she had become so acquainted with. "Are you okay?"
She bit her lip, knowing she couldn't lie to him. She shook her head as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a tight hug. April stood there for a moment before wrapping her arms around his entire back, feeling herself begin to cry into his shoulder.
"April!" they heard Conner call out.
April immediately broke away from Mike, hurrying to her little brother with open arms. "Conner!" She cried out, practically picking him up in the hug. Mike just continued to look at the two. His heart was pinching in his chest. The fact that those two kids were so close to losing their lives. It hurt him. Those kids slowly became his everything. If anything happened to either of them, he would lose his mind.
"Conner!" All of them turned to see Ben and Maggie hurrying towards them. "April!"
"Dad!" Conner yelled, running into his arms.
"Mom!" April screamed out, practically tackling Maggie down with a hug.
All Mike could do was watch them. April and Conner could have been killed today and Mike didn't do anything to make sure that didn't happen. He knew he shouldn't, but he felt guilty. He felt like he could have done something. And now, he was going to make sure that April and Conner were the most protected kids the White House had ever seen.
"This is honestly ridiculous." April complained with her hands on her hips while watching Mike pound nails into her windowsill.
"Yeah, well," Mike spoke, inspecting his handy work before stepping back. "You'll thank me when the time comes."
"Mike," she began calmly, knowing that if she didn't talk to him calmly, she would explode. "It was one incident that wasn't even remotely close to my bedroom. You are being insane!" She finally screamed, feeling Mike's overprotectiveness smothering her. Her own father hadn't been like this since the shooting.
"You need your window for something?" He questioned in that sarcastic ass hole way he always did with her.
April threw her hands in the air, completely irritated. "I would like to enjoy the freedom to open up my window and get a nice spring breeze!"
Mike shrugged like it was no big deal. "You can go outside."
She scoffed, completely done with him before turning into her bathroom to get ready. "Get out of my room!" She yelled as she began to undress for the repeat of the Easter Egg Roll.
Mike leaned against her bathroom door, knowing he couldn't enter because of her current state, but he had to make her understand in some way why he was acting this way. "April," he spoke slowly and softly. That was enough to stop her and listen. That voice, she would listen to any day. "I need you to be safe." As he said that, she felt her heart tighten at how vulnerable he was in that moment. "If anything were to happen to you, I would never be able to forgive myself." She thought back to what William had accused her of a few weeks ago. Because you love him?! She wasn't in love with Mike, but she did love him. Obviously more than William.
She opened the door to her bathroom, now fully clothed in a new mint green dress for the occasion. "Mike," Her eyes were a lot softer when Mike's almost hurt eyes flickered to her. "I get it." She spoke softly, playing with the hot pink belt accentuating how small her waist was.
Mike smiled down at her, their height always such a major difference. "Thank you." he whispered before leaning forward and planting a kiss on her forehead.
When he pulled away, April sighed, almost bouncing at wanting to tell him this next part. "Just ease up a little?" He rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile at her. She understood, but this was a teenager that they were talking about. She wasn't down for any restrictions. "You can't protect me from everything."
"I can damn well try." he spoke before pointing the door. "Now get your ass out there, everyone's waiting for you." She smiled. That was the Mike she knew following her. "Honestly, why does it take you two years to get ready?"
"Oh," she spoke, turning back to look at him from the door. Mike's smile just got wider at the sight of hers. "Shut your face."
Mike kept his eyes trained on everything going on around them. Nothing would be able to stop him from that this time. He hadn't even seen April since he escorted her outside. While Mike's eyes were trained on every guest that passed him, Ben showed up next to him. "Sir," Mike acknowledged without even looking at him.
Ben smiled a little bit while looking over at him, finding this all so amusing. Sure, Mike was great at his job, but he was usually playful. Today, though, he had laser focus. No amount of playfulness was on his face. "You know," Ben began, not directly looking at him. "We're all fine. Me. Maggie. Conner. April." He made sure to save April's name for last, knowing he was the most worried about her.
Mike turned to look at him, smiling a little bit. "I'm glad to hear that."
"And it's okay to let your guard down just a little bit." Ben continued, trying to make his point.
"With all due respect, sir," Mike began, knowing he had to say that before he got to his point. "I don't tell you how to do your job."
Ben nodded, his head going from side to side, knowing just how blunt Mike could be. "Fair." He then moved closer to Mike, knowing he was most definitely going to want to hear this next part. "I just saw April hurrying off with William Guthrie." Mike's head snapped to the president, his eyes automatically filling with fire at what he just heard. No way was this kid around April again. "If you wouldn't mind checking on that."
Mike almost ran Ben over with how fast he hurried off to go find her. She was going to be in trouble when he found her. Especially if she was actually thinking about getting back with that fuckboy.
He finally found the two towards the back lawn of the White House, near one of the very big trees where hardly anyone was at. They were talking passionately, hands waving and those blue eyes Mike couldn't find himself without, turning into a hot red.
"What the hell is going on over here?"
When they both looked to Mike, charging for them, April's eyes immediately filled with fear while William's filled with annoyance. "Nothing." April spoke, her eyes going back to William, a hateful stare on her face.
"Bullshit." Mike spoke, turning to roll his eyes at her before turning back to William, giving him another death glare. "What the hell are you doing here?"
William moved towards him, getting right in his face. "Well, Miss. Perfect invited me."
Mike looked behind William, making direct eye contact with April. "You and I are going to have a conversation later that you're not going to like much." April rolled her eyes at him, but her glare immediately moved back to William, burning a hole in his back.
"Newsflash," William spoke with a bit of a chuckle, getting into Mike's face again, Mike's glare getting even deeper than before…if that was even possible. "You're not her boyfriend, you're a glorified security guard, and you can't tell her what to do."
Mike stood there for a moment, an angry smile spreading across his face as he looked around the immediate area. When his glare finally got back to William, he tackled him down. "Oh my god!" April screamed, watching the two wrestling each other on the grass.
And of course, the president's daughter arguing with her ex-boyfriend didn't attract the press, but her ex-boyfriend and the man she was having an alleged affair with fighting in the middle of the White House Easter Egg Roll caught their attention. "Stop!" April screamed, trying to pull Mike off of William. It wasn't for William, it was for the sake of both of their reputations. Cameras flashed all around them, and as soon as that happened, the rest of the Secret Service agents were there to tear apart the fight.
"You know what?" William screamed to Mike as they were both getting pulled apart, April immediately at Mike's side, grabbing onto his arm to keep him from launching into another attack, knowing he had the strength to break out of the grip he was in. "You can have her." He shrugged off the grip the agents had on him, throwing his hands in the air. "She's just my sloppy seconds."
Mike was in a fury, thinking about ripping his head off in front of all of the cameras here, but April was furious. That's when she charged forward, sucker punching him right in the nose. "Ass hole." She called before he fell to the ground unconscious.
Her hand was throbbing, but she honestly didn't feel it at the moment. The adrenaline was still pumping through her. Mike couldn't do anything, but look her up and down. She knocked him out with one hit and probably broke his nose along with her hand. Damn, he was impressed.
Ben pushed through the crowd, finally seeing his best agent sweaty and being held back by all of his other agents, his daughter's right hand broken and purple, and finally, his daughter's ex-boyfriend and current youngest member of the House of Representatives lying on the ground in front of them all, blood coming out of his nose and unconscious. He sighed, taking the whole thing in. "Maybe a redo of this event wasn't the best idea."
April sat on the right side of the couch in the middle of the Oval Office, her right hand wrapped up in a cast while Mike sat next to her, a few bruises and scars on his face and William the farthest from April with bandages on his nose, a big black bruise around the bandages. Ben and Maggie sat at the couch in across of them, looking back and forth at the three. They didn't know who they were the most disappointed in, but they could all agree that they hated William.
Allan Trumbull, Speaker of the House, was walking back and forth between the couches, trying to find what to say while Lynne Jacobs stood near the desk, giving Mike the death glare of all death glares. "The amount of shenanigans that have happened during this office have been inexcusable." He stopped pacing, turning so he was facing the three siting on the couch. "And they all seem to come down to the three of you."
April and Mike shared a worried look before turning back to Alan. "It's all on me, sir." Mike spoke immediately.
"No." April immediately interjected. "It's all on me. Don't take this out on Mike."
William scoffed, causing them both to give him a dirty look. "What's that supposed to mean?" Mike asked.
"Nothing." He spoke with the shake of the head. "You two are just so perfect for each other."
April leaned over Mike, looking William right in the eye with an angry stare. "Do you want me to break another bone?"
"That is enough." Ben spoke in a stern voice, April immediately leaning back into her seat, knowing that voice better than anything.
"Mr. Speaker," Lynne spoke, gaining everyone's attention back to the Secret Service Director. "Mike is the best agent we have. Any trouble caused by him," her voice got stern as she looked over to Mike. "I guarantee, is worth it."
Allan looked back over to the three on the couch, knowing something had to be done for everything they had all caused. "In the time of four months, a Jackson Pollock original has gone missing," Mike looked at April, giving him a concerned look, still not knowing where that painting was. "The press has printed multiple stories on your head Secret Service agent and the President's daughter and now a full out brawl in the middle of the White House lawn."
The three continued to sit there, not sure what to say to any of that. They knew it was all true. April and Mike both knew it was their fault, but it was all natural reactions of normal problems.
"Mr. Speaker," Mike spoke, standing up, everyone's eyes going immediately to him. He looked to April, knowing he had to stand up to all this for her. "We can't be at fault for the press following every bit of our problems." He shrugged while looking over to Ben and Maggie. "This is a family. They're going to have family issues that they can't help, yesterday included. And if you can't accept that like how you accepted Bill cheating on Hillary, with all due respect sir, you can go fuck yourself."
April's mouth dropped with a bit of a smile as Mike walked out of the office, leaving everyone else to mull over what he had just said. Lynne had her eyes shut after everything he had said, hardly being able to believe this was her best agent and all the pain he was causing. William was pissed off as usual and Ben and Maggie didn't know if they should laugh or go do something about it. April decided to break up the silence by being the first person to stand up and walk out.
She hurried down the hallway, seeing Mike's back, hurrying after it. "Mike!" She called out, causing him to finally turn around. "Thank you for standing up for me."
Mike shook his head, moving closer to her. "Anytime."
She nodded, that smirk she always used with him creeping back on her face before she turned around. "Hey, April!" he called, turning her around instantly, ready to listen.
He stood there for a moment, try to come up with words that wouldn't sound derogatory even though this was the only subject he wanted to use derogatory words for. "Why was William at the Easter Egg Roll?"
April bit her lip, moving towards him, knowing this was going to be hard to talk about. "Yeah, that's something I really wanted to talk to you about, but was kind of scared to." He turned his head to the side, curious to what she was talking about and then at the same time, just as scared as she was for what he was going to have to do.
William was at his favorite bar, drinking crappy beer and watching the only sports program you could get at two in the morning. This particular one happened to be a soccer game. Brazil vs London. While William signaled for the bartender to get him another drink, April sat down next to him, giving him a slight smile. When William finally recognized her, he looked shocked. Almost like her there was all he had ever wanted. "April? What are you doing here?"
She didn't look at William, though. She looked right past him. Right at Mike in the chair on the other side of him. William turned, let out an angry sigh once he realized what she was looking at, turning back to his beer. "How are you doing, William?" Mike asked, April smiling at the way his accent crept out.
"What the hell do you both want?"
Mike shared a look with April before looking back to William. "April told me about the deal you two worked out." William looked over at him, shifting slightly. "She told me about the pictures you took after sex and how you threatened to leak those pictures to the press if she didn't keep giving you sex whenever you wanted."
William finished off his beer, knowing Mike was about to kill him. Just as he finished it, his thoughts came true, Mike grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, lifting up off the ground, looking him right in the eye. "Here's what you're gonna do," Mike started with a smile as the bartender just watched with a worried face. "You're going to delete those pictures you have of her and you're never gonna talk to her again."
"The other thing." April reminded like he had actually forgot, but Mike would never forget.
"That's right." Mike spoke with a nod. "You're also gonna tell the whole world what an ass hole you are, but you're gonna tell everyone that April was your beard and when she no longer agreed to it, you got violent. Got it?"
William nodded, his eyes filled with fear, knowing he would do anything in that moment to get Mike out of his face. "And if you don't follow up on any of these conditions, I'm gonna track you down and I'm gonna fucking kill you for ever bothering her." He pushed William away from him, letting him finally run out.
Mike sat up on the bar stool next to where William was as April took William's spot and untouched new beer. "I don't think he'll be bothering you anytime soon."
"I owe you." April spoke while taking a slug of the beer, knowing Mike wouldn't say anything if she didn't. "Big time."
"Oh," Mike spoke, sarcasm dripping in his voice. "That was my god damn pleasure."
April laughed as Mike signaled the bartender, quickly ordering a glass of bourbon, the two sipping on their drinks together. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier." She whispered, causing Mike to look back to her with a concerned look.
"You were scared." He defended.
She gripped her beer, thinking back on all of it. "But I don't want to be scared." Mike looked to her, realizing she was never more serious about something in her entire life. "Even back with the shooter." She was shaking her head, feeling this epiphany hit her like a ton of bricks. "I want to be stronger than that." She turned to look at Mike, pure determination on her face. "Can you teach me how to protect myself?"
Mike smiled as he looked at her. He thought she would never ask. "We start as soon as that hand heals."
She smiled at him, his smile just getting wider as they raised up their drinks and clinked them together in cheers, knowing tomorrow was going to be a start to something new.
Mrs. HappyAnarchy: William is just that character that is not to be trusted. You can tell especially in this chapter that he's just a sketchy person. I'm real excited to write OHF with April in it, but of course we still got a little way to go. Thanks for your reviews!
kgriswold249: William is not one to be trusted. Gladly, this is the last chapter he will be in so we can rejoice for that. I hope you liked this chapter, sweetie and thank you for the review!
Okay guys, I'm the worst person ever for getting this up to you guys so late. School is kicking my ass right now and my weekends are booked up with work and work. I hope you all liked this one and remember to review!