A/N: There will be one more chapter of this one.
April 24, 2019
Elizabeth finds her husband in their bedroom. Their old bedroom, or current one again. They plan to make the farm house their home base for the campaign. Although the kids are staying in the Georgetown home.
"Mike wants me to do an exclusive interview." He studies her, looking for any sign of any emotion. He can't find any. Her walls are still up from the conversation with her staff, and he knows that she still has trouble putting them back down when it comes to this.
"Is that you want?" She shrugs. He can tell that there is a million scenarios playing in her head at this moment of how this could all go. It's the spy training; her need to always think ahead eighteen steps, to always calculate probabilities as if she can quantify the variables, even if there's a billion of them. "Don't think about the outcomes just yet babe. One thing at a time. Do you want to do an interview?"
Her head shakes ever so slightly and her shoulders deflate. She sighs, "I don't know what to do."
He takes her hand, rubbing his thumb along her knuckles. "You can do whatever you want to do. I'll support you no matter what. If you want to do an interview, then we should do it. If you don't, then we'll find another way."
"To be honest the only thing I can think about right now is getting rid of Kincaid. And I don't know how to do that either." It is the only thing she can think about.
"We'll figure it out. You're a smart woman and used to be a great spy. We've got the resources..."He trails off because he can't believe he's implying that they have him murdered.
"Having him killed is not a solution, that'll wreck the campaign more than the story being out there. And if he's the one who leaked it, then people will know who to look for if he winds up in a ditch." He nods because he knows she's right. No matter badly he wants Kincaid to be dead, because he deserves to be dead, he knows Elizabeth is right. They can't kill him.
"Does..." She pauses and swallows, "Would coming clean get rid of him. Would it make him go away if I let it be known what happened? Maybe Mike's right just get it out there and move on." She's playing a long game, the election is 559 days from now. That's a lot of time for the American public to forget this, unless of course her opponents use it against her for the entire campaign. But she wouldn't let that happen, or would she? Could she even prevent it? She's the first woman in American history to get this far, to get all the way through the announcement, to have a super pac lined up behind her. She's trying to balance her desire to be done with him and her desire to win the election.
"I don't know babe." He wants to tell her yes, but he doesn't know if that's true. He doesn't know if it will make it all go away, to have her say what happened in detail, tell the world what she went through.
"I don't want to be known for what happened to me." Her voice is small.
"I don't think you would be. Politically you're known as someone who is willing to compromise. You are strong headed in your desire to make progress. You fight injustices. You are the perfect balance of pacifist and hawk. Those are the reasons why people are already lining up to vote for you. Telling people what you survived won't change that." That he knows is true. He knows what people look for in a President. A leader they still want to have a beer with. Someone they would trust to watch their kids. Someone who is forgiving but still plays tough on whoever the enemy of the day is. Elizabeth is all of those things. But he knows she's also a woman. He knows that fact will also be taken into consideration come election day. It will be an uphill battle for her of, is woman too emotional to lead? Too angry? To against the patriarchy? But the fact is Elizabeth has already proven that she isn't. She can point to specific times in her career, in her life to prove her worthiness of the presidency. She has also been able to show that she has learned from her mistakes. She can hold her own in a debate with any man across the aisle.
"I'll talk to Mike again in the morning about that. Um, did you watch the news? How was Marty's show?" The habit she's gotten into since she was appointed as Secretary of State, of not watching editorial news and then asking him about it still makes him uncomfortable. He hates that she expects him to be the one to hurt her feelings. He dodges the questions like this when he can, but he knows that today is not one of those days.
"It wasn't great. But he's going to attack you left and right the whole campaign. We know that, Fox News is not going to be nice to you." She nods because she does know that.
"So what he say about it?" She's almost afraid to ask, but she's had enough of being blindsided today.
"He implied that you are..." He doesn't know what word to use. He knows the tag that is trending on twitter, well on the Alt Right side of twitter. But he refuses to look at his wife and say the word, lying or bitch, even if it's not him saying it.
"A slut, a liar?" She asks trying to fill in the blanks.
"Yeah." He says flatly.
"Oh god." She lets out a sound that is half sob and half laugh.
"Babe," he reaches over and puts his hand on her knee, feeling her tremble under the pressure. "People know it's not true. On our side of twitter people are calling you brave and a survivor. Saying that they can't wait to call you their president." He smiles and squeezes her leg, feeling like he's making some kind of difference.
"They are?" She asks nervously.
"Yeah," He smiles and grabs his phone. "Elizabeth McCord is so real for how she handled that today. Praise hands emoji, hashtag me too." He reads to her.
"That was a good one." She says smiling.
"It was cool to watch Bess put that reporter in his place, hashtag vote McCord hashtag times up." He continues to read to her and she smiles.
"So I should do the interview?" She asks.
"Only if you're okay with it. I am sure you could handle it. And it might help you, just like face the nation did after Iran. When you got done with Bob, you said it felt good to not have people speculate about it, to just have it out there."
"Okay." She says quietly. He's proud of her, not only for surviving but for standing up for herself. For not letting people get away with it. She's always been this way, going after the bullies, the ones who took advantage of their positions in life. "Will you hold me tonight?"
"Always." He promises.
April 25, 2019
"Okay, I know what I want to do." Is her greeting to Mike at six thirty the next morning as she walks into the campaign HQ. It's just him and Blake there this early and they both look at her ready for her to go on. "I don't want to do an interview. Not 60 Minutes, not Face the Nation. I want to give a speech with a follow up press conference." She looks from one man to the other and smiles. It's the smile she always gets when she's made her mind up. The one that tells people not to argue with her, but to just get on board, because this is what they're doing.
"Why?" Mike knows that no one can tell Elizabeth what to do. He knows she will do what she wants and do it how she wants. But he wants to clarify her reasoning on this.
"Because I know what I'm willing to talk about, because I know what things I don't want pushed on and I control a press conference. I can't control and exclusive interview." She leans on the table in front of them. "We're talking about the future of our country and we need to be able to talk about what matters without the media trying to dictate what the issues are. Because none of the issues that I'm trying to solve, involve the fact that I'm a rape survivor." She pauses for effect. "And if you think it does then you've been listening to the wrong people. No one cares about that. They care about how it effects my ability to lead, which is not at all. So let me talk about that." She looks at each man and nods. "What do you say?"
"I guess I can't argue with that." Mike concedes pretty easily, because she's making sense.
She stands straight and beams. "Good. I wrote the speech with Henry last night." She grabs a legal pad out of her bag and hands it to Blake. Who in turn, opens his laptop to transcribe it.
"Why don't you ever type these?" asks Mike. "It saves trees and climate is one of your major issues."
"I like the paper and the feel of writing them out." She starts, because typing important things never feels right to her. It's why she has journals upon journals filled with her writings. Hell the first draft of her dissertation lives in five college ruled three subject notebooks. "Also, paper is made from a renewable resource that stores carbon, is recyclable, and is manufactured using mostly renewable energy including biomass, biogas, and hydroelectricity. So it's mostly carbon neutral. We should talk about computer servers sometime though, because they are not." She feels the need to add the fact for some reason, maybe because she gets tired of justifying her need to purchase journals repeatedly. Mike stares at her for a second, before shaking his head.
"Okay..." he begins. "What did you say in your speech, I'm not reading the messy cursive?"
"Fine," says Elizabeth. "I said: Hey Assholes, what happened to me has nothing to do with the campaign, or my ability to be the president." Her face is absolutely serious, other than the tiny glint she has in her eye.
"You're fucking with me." Mike says, hoping to god she is.
"Of course." She laughs. "But, seriously, I acknowledge what happened to me, and then I've pivoted to policy."
"What policy, we haven't discussed policy." Mike stares at her for a moment and realizes he needs to back off. She is resolute on this.
"Blake email me a copy when you're done. Bess, we have a campaign merchandise to approve." She rolls her eyes, this is the part of campaigning she already finds exhausting. The begging people for money. Approving t-shirt designs so she can sell them for thirty dollars a pop. Bus she follows Mike anyway.
May 3, 2019
She looks around her. TV cameras and microphones. Mostly press, some internet pundits. She notices a lot of younger people with phones, who Daisy pointed out as TikTokers, which is where most young people are getting their news. Henry is here too, always her number one supporter.
"Good Afternoon everyone." She takes a strong start and notices the eyes on her, which are bothering her more than the cameras. She doesn't know why, but it reminds her of that first trip out of the apartment after. The one made her skin itchy, the one that made her feel like everyone was looking at her, even though they weren't. Except now they are.
"I'm here today to talk about something a little more personal. As a lot you may know, in 1991 while I was on a jog in Langdon Park Forest, I was sexually assaulted. At the time my attacker was not known to me, but was later able to be identified as Thomas Kincaid." She takes a breath. She knows it's a calculated risk to publicly identify him. But she talked it over with Henry and Dr. Sherman and Mike, and then she decided he doesn't get peace. He doesn't get to live in anonymity. He may never go to trial or be convicted of what he did, but she can take away his peace. She takes another deep breath. It feels good.
"Going public with this story was honestly never in my plans. I was never going to speak to this publicly, and if Marty Hawk didn't send a reporter from his show to my announcement to ask me about it, I never would have." She stops to look around the room again, knowing there are still people who haven't heard. "But I believe this is an oppertunity. An oppertunity for me to tell other survivors that they are not alone. That what happened to you does not define you, and I know that because it does not define me."
Another breath. And then she continues. "Unfortunately, many victims of sexual assault do not receive the support and resources they need to heal and recover. That is why I believe it is essential to enact policies that prioritize the needs of sexual assault victims and help them get the justice and care they deserve." She pauses, letting everyone take in her words.
"First, we need to increase awareness and education about sexual assault. We need to teach people about what sexual assault is, how to recognize it, and how to respond to it. We need to educate people about consent, boundaries, and healthy relationships. We need to make sure that every person understands that sexual assault is never the victim's fault and that no one deserves to be sexually assaulted." Her voice is stronger now, the words coming easier. It doesn't matter that she's talking about herself. This is important. This will change things.
"Second, we need to improve our legal system's response to sexual assault. We need to make it easier for victims to report sexual assault and seek justice. We need to reduce the stigma and shame associated with reporting sexual assault. We need to ensure that every victim receives fair treatment from Law Enforcement Officers and Investigators. We also need to provide support and resources to victims throughout the legal process to minimize the trauma caused purely by navigating the legal system. Now our system is set up to protect the accused, and I do not wish to change that, or to infringe on human rights within the US. But providing adequate support to crime victims would not put an undue burden on the defendants." She takes another pause, and finds her husband's eyes. He smiles at her, he's so proud of her. In this moment, for the first time he doesn't see Elizabeth his wife, the woman who could be president. He sees a president. He sees her strength and her ability to lead through crisis. Her ability to cheer her people on. It's in this moment that he knows she will win.
"Lastly, we need to provide comprehensive care and support to sexual assault victims. This includes access to medical care, mental health services, and victim advocacy. We need to ensure that victims can receive these services without fear of judgment or retaliation. We also need to provide long-term support to help victims heal and recover from the trauma of sexual assault." She takes a deep breath. She knows it's not enough. She knows she needs to keep going. But she has to take a break. She looks down at her hands, feeling their weight on the podium. They feel heavy.
"I want to end by saying thank you. Thank you to my husband, Henry, who has always been willing to be my man beside the woman. He has endlessly supported me through this trauma and for him I am forever grateful. Thank you to Dr. Kenzie Sherman, whose insight helped me understand the importance of telling my story. To President Dalton and Chief of Staff Jackson, your support in this matter has been overwhelming and I am eternally grateful. And thank you to all survivors, both here today and those who cannot be here today. Your courage inspires me and reminds me that we are all stronger together." And just like that, Elizabeth is done. She rests her hands on top of the podium, letting the silence settle around her. She feels tears prickling behind her eyes as she watches the crowd. The few supporters of hers, who aren't press applauding. Some reporter unwillingly smiling at her, and some of them noticably not.
"Are you taking questions?" She looks, its the same reporter from Fox News who called her out at the announcement. He looks nervous. She has no patience for this.
"Yes," she says, looking at the reporters. "I'll take a few." The reporter clears his throat, looking at his notes.
"Do you really expect us to believe that a woman who has been raped can be the president of the United States?" The smirk on his face mimics his bosses. And she wonders why someone would want to impress Marty Hawk so bad.
"I do. Because I know that we're not broken. We can survive anything if we believe that we are not alone. I've survived. I can be the President because I can lead this country. I am a National Security expert, I am an expert on the global economy. I know foreign policy better than any candidate in this race. But most importantly, I'm the only one who can bring hope back to America. Hope that things will get better. That they won't stay the way they are. Because this country deserves to be the beacon of hope she once was." The reporter looks at her the same way Marty did when she scolded him on live TV.
"I would also say, that the statistics are one in four. If you've voted for four women for any office, you've voted for a rape survivor." She stands, stepping away from the podium. She pulls him to the side. "Now tell you boss if he has any more questions I'd love to go on his show. But he's never invited me back since that time he almost called me a bitch on national television." The reporter nods, looking confused. He must not have expected her to be so tough. Then again, she gets that a lot from men. She takes her husband's hand in hers and they walk away from the press together.