Ch 12. A/N: Spencer's falling, Ashley's taking a stand, and Christine is throwing down. Sounds like a typical week at the White House…

Today was going to be a good day – Spencer had woken up with the feeling. It was only nine in the morning and she had already completed her two mile run in her fastest time yet and for once she beaten Chelsea in their ongoing push-up burn out competition.

What was going to make today even better was that her whole family was going to be together for the first time in over three years. Today Glen was starting as point guard for the Navy Midshipmen basketball team in their annual preseason match-up with Army. All of the Carlins (plus Chelsea) were headed to Annapolis to see him make his senior season debut. Spencer's parents had even flown in from Ohio the night before, the Admiral somehow managing to clear her surgical schedule to make the game.

Chelsea seemed almost as eager as Spencer did about attending the game, but Spencer knew that had a little to do with getting to watch some live basketball, and a lot more to do with getting to see Clay again.

On their way to the car, she and Chelsea ran into Ashley and Kyla. The president's daughters were still wearing their pajamas and were shuffling their way towards the White House kitchen – no doubt trying to scavenge some food after missing the early Sunday breakfast hour. Though Kyla gave them a half-hearted silent wave from down the hall, Ashley was sporting pretty intense bed head and was obviously still half asleep. She did still did not seem to notice Spencer and Chelsea even when they were about five feet in front of her.

Spencer couldn't help herself. "Good morning Ms. Davies."

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Ashley's eyes shot up to meet her own, but they didn't stay there long. Ashley's jaw dropped and for a full ten seconds she stood there, not-so-subtly checking Spencer out.

Spencer felt herself blushing at the obvious appreciation of her body. If there was one good thing about her marine training, it was that it kept her in better than good shape. Normally her body was hidden under polyester uniforms, or more lately under layers of functional civilian clothing, but today she was off duty and had wanted to dress a little girly for once. She was wearing a navy blue dress and metallic gold flats – Navy Midshipman colors.

Kyla had to elbow her sister in the ribs before Ashley snapped her attention back to Spencer's face and attempted to form a sentence.

"It suddenly occurs to me that I've never seen you wear a dress, I'm just… surprised?" Spencer could hear Chelsea struggling to keep her composure next to her. She had the feeling that she would never hear the end of this one.

"Yeah, well, they're not exactly work functional," She gestured to the form fitting blue material at her torso, which only drew Ashley's attention back to her chest. This girl really did have a one track mind. Spencer felt herself blush even more.

She found didn't exactly hate the attention. It had been a while - a long while - since she had been physical with anyone, and ever since she had realized her feelings for Ashley, she might have been doing some (a lot) of staring of her own.

Chelsea tried to be helpful, "You know... not functional in the sense that there is no place to conceal a weapon?"

"Uh-huh…" Ashley answered not looking at her, obviously distracted.

Kyla rolled her eyes and out of nowhere slapped her older sister upside the head.

"Owww!" Ashley whined, grabbing her head and tearing her eyes away from Spencer to glare at her sister.

"Stop being a perv and let the girls enjoy their day off!" she told Ashley. To the marines she said, "Enjoy the game ladies," She then grabbed her sister's elbow and pulled her away.

When they had past, Spencer set out to continue on their way.

"Damn girl," Chelsea said, letting the laughter finally out. "I haven't seen you so red since that time you fell asleep under the desert sun and looked like a lobster for a week."

"Shut up Chels," Spencer shot back, trying to reagin her cool. How did Ashley manage to make her feel like a pile of mush with only a look? For God's sake, she was practically weak in the knees!

"She thinks you're a total hottie 'Sarge'," Chelsea teased.

"Shut up Chelsea," Spencer growled again, struggling to control the heat in her face and chest. The cool air of the underground garage where the rental car was waiting for them was helping some. They threw their bags in the back seat and piled into the front.

"I'm pretty sure I saw some drool," Chelsea started again, laughing outright now.

Spencer had had enough. She slammed the keys into the ignition but did not turn on the car. Instead she turned in her seat to glare at Chelsea head on, "Corporal Lewis if you do not shut your face I will kick your ass from the Halls of Montezuma to the freaking shores of Tripoli!" It was the kind of yell she was used to using with privates in the heat of battle, but never with her best friend.

Chelsea was obviously taken aback by the outburst, and Spencer was immediately ashamed.

"Oh my god," Chelsea whispered, searching Spencer's face.

"Chels, I'm sorry, I just…" But her apology was cut off.

"You like Ashley! How have I not seen it before?"

Spencer felt her blush coming back.

"You're totally blushing because you totally liked that attention back there," Chelsea accused again.

Spencer responded the only way she could. She twisted the keys in the ignition, threw the car into gear and started to drive. "Don't be ridiculous Chelsea."

"No, no it's not ridiculous," Chelsea returned. "Stop the car Spencer."

"We're going to be late," Spencer muttered. Avoidance was key in these sorts of situations.

"No, stop the car!" With a sigh, Spencer obliged, pulling the car into another spot in the parking garage, closer to the exit. Once the car was back in park, Chelsea grabbed her face and made Spencer look her in the eye.

Spencer's heart sunk. She might be good at hiding her feelings from most people, but her best friend wasn't 'most people.' There was no hiding anything from Chelsea now. The younger girl's eyebrows shot up into her forehead when she saw what Spencer had been hiding.

"You don't just like her, you love her." It wasn't a question and they both knew it. Spencer shook her face out of Chelsea's grip and slumped forward to rest her head on the steering wheel.

She couldn't deny it, so she didn't say anything at all.

"Oh, Spencer," Chelsea's voice changed from one of accusation to one of understanding. She rubbed Spencer's back softly.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it," Spencer replied, begrudgingly glad to get it off her chest and stop keeping secrets from her best friend. "I've tried Chels, believe me I've tried. I know it's wrong, but I can't stop."

She felt Chelsea wrap an arm around her shoulders and give her a squeeze.

"Spencer, sweetie, you know all I want is for you to be happy, but anything with this girl can only lead to lots and lots of trouble."

"I know that," Spencer whined, "I really do. But it doesn't change how I feel." She couldn't stop tears of frustration from collecting in her eye lashes.

Chelsea pulled Spencer into an upright position again, smiling sadly at her.

"Damn girl, you've got it bad, and she doesn't exactly make it easy for you, does she?"

"No she doesn't." Spencer confirmed. Ashley couldn't help being beautiful and amazing and sexy, but she could help her recreational flirting if she wanted to. She did it because she was rebellious by nature, and Spencer figured she got a kick out of making the marine who she thought was straight as a board squirm.

Except, really, Ashley just being Ashley made Spencer love her all the more, and Ashley's teasing made Spencer kind of want to carry her away to the Oval Office, rip all her sexy clothes off, and take her on the president's desk.

Which was wrong. Very, very wrong.

"Spence, the secretly gay thing? It's only one of our problems here."

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, trying to understand what Chelsea was getting at. There were more problems?

"You of all people are not in the right position to be in love with the president's daughter," Chelsea told her seriously.

"I know that too," Spencer groaned, "I'm not in her league."

This time it was Spencer's turn to be hit upside the head. "Oww!" she complained after being on the receiving end of the light cuff.

"Girl! What are you, stupid?" Chelsea bristled, "Of course you're good enough for her! Too good, if you ask me, but you didn't and that's not the point. My point is that as her bodyguard, it is a problem that you are in love with your assignment."

Spencer still didn't quite understand. "What do you mean? I would never let anything happen to Ashley. Never."

"You wouldn't mean to Spence, but it could happen. Think about love in a normal situation. It can be a beautiful, beautiful thing, but let's face it, it turns people into stupid, blubbering idiots. If you can't think straight, you cannot be fully prepared to deal with challenging situations.

There is a reason why the military responds so seriously to allegations of romance between soldiers of the same unit. If they are in a dangerous, high pressure situation, they will forget their orders and their training just to make sure that the person they love is okay – even when their logical minds tell them that the best way to protect them is by following ordinary protocol. Love makes all the logic and training in the world go out the window."

Spencer had to admit that Chelsea had a point. There were already more times than she could count that she had caught herself staring at Ashley when she was supposed to be aware of their surroundings and monitoring the people around them for potential threats.

"Maybe that's true, but what am I supposed to do about it? It's not like I can just walk up to Colonel Michaels and say, 'Sir, I am requesting a transfer off this assignment because even the way Ashley scratches her nose makes me kind of swoon. Oh, and by the way and I am completely and totally gay, only Shh! Don't tell!'"

Chelsea rolled her eyes at Spencer's outburst, but knew that she had a point. "Maybe we could trade? I could take over guarding Ashley and you could look after Kyla. It might make your life a little easier."

Spencer shook her head, "It wouldn't make any difference. Kyla and Ashley are together every day. I would still see her and it wouldn't change how I feel. If anything, it would make me an even worse bodyguard to Kyla, since my attention would be elsewhere all the time. And we would still have to come up with a convincing reason for the change at out next brief with Colonel Michaels."

"Yeah," Chelsea answered, not really giving an answer at all. They sat in silence together for a moment.

"Why her of all people?" Spencer asked staring straight ahead, "Why now of all times?"

Chelsea gave her a half smile, "They say love is a funny thing, and we both know girls have always been your Achilles Heel. You'll figure out how to deal with this, but for now we are going to go watch Glen wipe the floor with some Army ass and help Clay celebrate getting into medical school."

Chelsea did the best she could to keep Spencer's mind off of her Ashley troubles for the rest of the drive, knowing her best friend needed some time to clear her head.

After scanning the busy stadium, Spencer found Clay first and promptly jumped into his arms. He grinned and twirled her around in a circle.

God, it felt so good to hug him – to feel his warmth and smell his familiar cologne. Though Spencer talked to him almost every week by phone, email or skype, it wasn't the same as actually seeing him in person.

Spencer pulled back and held him at arm's length, "Look at my big brother all grown up and heading off to medical school!" Clay would soon be on his way toward following in their mother's footsteps at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

"Hey I didn't get in all by myself you know," Clay replied, unable to suppress his smile. "I seem to remember receiving plenty of letters from a certain sister of mine filled with words of wisdom."

"And let's face it, I pretty much dragged his ass through all the physical training here." Glen had made his arrival, slapping his brother on the back to show that he was kidding (mostly). The summer before Clay and Glen had left for the academy, Glen had pretty much kicked Clay's butt into shape. Out of her brothers, Clay was the brains and Glen was the brawns. Really, they had helped each other get into and through the naval academy together.

Spencer released Clay to give Glen a quick hug. He was dressed in his warm-ups and only had a few minutes to chat before he was due back in the locker room. Soon enough Chelsea and her parents caught up the siblings, and Spencer's family was whole once more.

Spencer could tell that her mother was holding back tears and her father was beaming at seeing them all together. Arthur had refused to let go of his daughter for several minutes when they had come together face to face for the first time in almost a year, and Paula had done much the same. Though Spencer was sure that their father would have preferred that his three child choose less dangerous professions and he made sure each of them carefully thought through their decisions to join the military, Arthur Carlin was more than proud of their service.

"Hey guess what baby sis?" Glen puffed out his chest with pride. "In four short months, I'll finally outrank you. Get ready to drop and give me fifty!"

Chelsea and Spencer glanced at each other before bursting out into laughter.

"Hey!" Glen whined, ever the annoying older brother. "You won't be laughing when that's an order!"

Spencer managed to control her laughter after a minute, giving her older brother a patronizing pat on the head. "Let's see you try that with some of your NCO's once you get settled. Let me know how it works out."

Even Rear Admiral Carlin could not contain a small grin, "Please tell me you retained something from all of that leadership training you've had over the last four years Glen. Things can't have changed that much since I graduated here."

While Glen and Clay would soon be Ensigns and technically outranked non-commissioned officers, there was a little more diplomacy involved with the interactions between NCOs and commissioned officers. Glen might have advanced training and some extra insignia on his uniform, but non-commissioned officers typically had years of experience in the field that was not so easily dismissed.

Clay wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders. "I think the impending brass is going to his head. I promise you that for the most part, he knows his stuff."

"For the most part!?" Glen retorted. Realizing that he was fighting a losing battle, he settled with, "Well, at least I'll finally make more money than you Spence."

Spencer chuckled, "That I'll give you." He needed something to feed that enormous ego of his.

"Glen," Arthur warned half-heartedly. He had long ago surrendered to the fact that Spencer and Glen were always going to bicker. He knew that deep down they loved each other, and so he let their childish games slide. Deciding to change the subject, he picked up the camera hanging around his neck.

"I think it's time for some photos of game MVP and family!"

"Dad, the game hasn't even started yet. Don't jinx me!" Glen whined.

Glen, however, proved to live up to his reputation as an incredible point guard, leading his team to a blow-out victory over Army and setting up some rather impressive dunks for his teammates.

It was the best day Spencer had had in a long time, and yet somehow at every turn she found herself wondering what Ashley would think of the game, or whether she would tease Clay and Chelsea for their shy flirting, or how she would respond to Glen's antics. Ashley haunted her thoughts, and Spencer knew that it wasn't going to be easy getting that first daughter out of her head.

Two days later, Spencer found herself trying not to glare as Ethan Rayne held Ashley's hand in his lap on national television.

Congressman Rayne was being interviewed by ABC news about a new piece of legislation that he had apparently proposed in the House earlier that week. It was yet another bill that aimed to place restrictions on the rights of gay and lesbian Americans, this time calling for a federal ban on same sex marriage in response to three new states that would allow the practice after the first of the year.

"Remind me again why he needs your sister to sit in with him on this interview?" Spencer asked Kyla who was hanging around off to the side with Spencer to watch the proceedings.

Kyla shrugged, burying her hands into the deep pockets of her wool sweater.

"Strategy. His whole argument for the bill is that gay marriage is yet another nail in the coffin of the American family. By having Ashley, his very public and long-term girlfriend on camera with him – even if she doesn't say anything – implicitly tells the American people that they are what a normal couple should look like at that anything else is the 'other' and thus inherently wrong."

She peered over at her sister, who was getting one last puff of powder from the makeup artist before the cameras started rolling and the interview went live to millions of households around the country. "What I can't figure out is why Ashley agreed to do it. She hates being in the spotlight, it puts her too much at risk for being exposed as…" she glanced around quickly to make sure that none of the busy techs were paying any attention to them, "…you know. And besides, she wouldn't shut up about how much she hates this bill yesterday morning. I know she has to keep up appearances, but this is a little much, even for her."

"Hmm," Spencer replied. She wanted to ask Kyla more about the bill, but a bright red light on top of the news camera had flashed three times and the room had gone silent.

Anderson Cooper, who was conducting the interview nodded to the camera and began to speak. "Thank you Katie. Tonight I'm reporting from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC, where I am joined by Virginia Congressman Ethan Rayne and first daughter Ashley Davies. How are you both doing this evening?"

At the mention of Ashley's name, Ethan had raised their joined hands to kiss her knuckles. "Just fine Mr. Cooper, thank you so much for having us on you broadcast." Spencer crossed her arms tightly across her chest, taking far too much comfort from the coolness of the holster underneath her leather jacket. At this range she could probably empty a round or two into the back of Ethan's hand without risk of hitting Ashley.

God, she was going to have to get a grip on these feelings of hers.

Oblivious to the Marine's violent thoughts, Anderson Cooper continued on with his interview. "Congressman Rayne, you proposed some pretty controversial legislature in the House earlier this week that has liberals playing the 'State's Rights' card that is usually firmly in the hands of the Republican majority. Could you tell us a little more about this 'Defense of Marriage Act' you have proposed?"

Ethan laughed a little as if Anderson had said something funny. "Well, Mr. Cooper, I think the name of the bill really gets to the crux of it. The sanctity of marriage – real marriage between a man and a woman as God intended it – is seriously at risk in this country. When any state makes that claim that marriage between a man and a man, or a woman and another woman, is anything but a mockery of nature, it takes away from the true marriages that have been the foundation of families in this country for hundreds of years."

"Can you elaborate Congressman? What is the real risk here?"

"If we allow homosexuals to marry, we're simply encouraging their behaviors. Next thing you know, homosexuals will raising more American children who will be forced to grow up without a mother or without a father and who will be brainwashed into thinking that gay relationships are actually normal. President Davies already has done some great work in the military, giving our troops the ability to focus without the distraction of homosexuals in the trenches with them and we've seen some fantastic results in unit coherence. If we won't allow homosexuals to harass our troops, why should we let them distract from other important American groups – our nuclear families?"

Forget the gun - Spencer was going to pummel this guy with her bare fists. What did a man with uncalloused hands and a five hundred dollar suit know about what was really a distraction in the trenches? How about food shortages, defective body armor, or not seeing your family for eleven months straight because there are not recruits enlisting to relieve you?

Ethan took a breath to continue, but Ashley suddenly seemed interested in the conversation and cut him off.

"You know, Anderson, I think the thing we all need to keep in mind is that this law really has some precedent behind it, you know?" Spencer hardly recognized Ashley's voice. Where her comments were usually witty and sharp, now she was talking as if she was a valley girl reading from a teleprompter that was nowhere in sight. "Ethie was telling me all about the laws that are already out there that show that Americans really want to protect marriage. The one that comes to mind is Virginia's 1924 S.B. 219."

The interview went eerily quiet as Anderson and Ethan both physically turned in their seats to stare at Ashley. Almost instantly, beads of sweat seemed to appear on Ethan's forehead, and his knuckles looked white as he gripped Ashley's hand tighter. He didn't quite seem to know what to say, and Spencer got the idea that this wasn't supposed to be a talking point for the evening.

"Oh Ashley…" Kyla whispered. Spencer couldn't figure out if she was impressed, embarrassed, concerned, or all three.

"What is that?" Spencer asked Kyla, "Did she make a mistake or something?"

Kyla sighed. "Oh no, when it comes to history, my sister always knows exactly what she's talking about."

"Ms. Davies, perhaps you're mistaken about which law you mean…" the reporter offered hesitantly back over in front of the camera, as if he was extending her the courtesy of correcting a misspeak.

Ethan started to say something, but Ashley cut him off again. "No, no… I'm pretty sure that S.B 219 is the one we talked about over dinner, isn't it sweetie?" Ashley looked to Ethan, talking again in that slow, airy voice that Spencer couldn't help but feel was all wrong coming from someone with Ashley's intelligence and fire.

"Ms. Davies," Anderson Cooper tried again after another uncomfortable pause, "the Virginia Senate Bill number 219 of 1924 is more commonly known as the Racial Integrity Act. It made interracial marriages between blacks and whites illegal in the Commonwealth of Virginia until the landmark Loving vs. Virginia supreme court ruling overturning that law in 1967."

"Oooohh," Ashley replied nodding, "Wow. Well this is a little embarrassing. I must have gotten things turned around in my head. Ethan would never support a law like that, I mean, who would?"

Anderson Cooper gave her the tiniest of smiles, as if they were sharing a private joke, before turning back to the camera which was still rolling live. "I think that's a question that the American people will be asking themselves tonight. Back to you in the studio Tim."

One hour later, Ashley was unsurprised to find herself withering under one of her mother's coldest glares as they faced off in the Oval Office.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Ashley?" Christine fumed, slamming her fists down on the broad mahogany desk, sending papers flying in all directions. "That was a LIVE interview!"

Ashley shrugged, examining her fingernails, playing the game. "It was an honest mistake mother."

"Honest mistake," Christine growled, rising to her feet and stalking around the desk to tower over Ashley. "You are trying to sabotage this bill."

Ashley scoffed. "I would hardly call bringing up a historically relevant and analogous law 'sabotage' mother."

"It was calculated, and it was deliberate. The internet is going crazy, trying to figure out what the hell happened – if you're an just an idiot or some sort of liberal double agent."

"One blog called me the Sydney Bristow of gay rights – I think we both know Jennifer Garner's got nothing on me, but I'm flattered all the same."

Suddenly there was a hand in her hair pulling Ashley upright before she could register how much closer her mother's face was to her own. She ould feel the spit as she shouted.

"I've had enough of your bullshit Ashley Marie. I gave you this life, and so help me I can take it all away."

Ashley hadn't seen her mother this angry in a long time and she was actually a little scared. Naturally, her fear made her choose fight over flight as she always did.

"I don't know about that mother, it's an election year. Which of us really has more to lose here?" It was a bold move trying to out manipulate her mother, but she had taken a calculated risk in the interview.

Though she loved her sister to death and would prefer to one day get the fortune her father had left behind for her, Kyla and her inheritance weren't the only reasons that Ashley played her mother's game. Being the president's daughter gave Ashley some power. People listened to her when she spoke. She purposely did her best to keep quietmost of the time, make few public comments, and keep an air of mystery about herself in the media so that when she did speak, people were interested in hearing what she had to say.

And as a gay woman, she couldn't keep quiet about her mother and her party's attack on the rights of gay Americans any more. She'd held onto her cards for long enough now – it was time to make a play and take a stand.

Christine released her hair and took a step back to glare at her some more. Then she snapped.

Before Ashley quite knew what was happening, the chair she had just been sitting in was suddenly was flying toward her chest and a moment later she was lying on the floor with the chair on top of her.

Though the wind was already knocked out of her, Ashley was still startled when half a second later the doors to the Oval Office were kicked in and Spencer and Agent Dennison rushed into the room, guns drawn, looking for the threat.

In another instant, the weight of the heavy chair was shoved off of her and Spencer was helping her to stand, cradling the back of Ashley's head in her hand.

"Ashley, what happened?" Ashley was still trying to figure it out herself.

Spencer reached out and brushed her thumb against Ashley's stinging lower lip. When she pulled it back, there was blood. The leg of the chair must have split her lip. Ashley knew she was lucky that she had been backing away when the chair flew at her, or the thing could have knocked out some teeth.

Spencer looked around, still searching for a threat, but it only took a few moments for her to apparently realize that the only threat in the room was wearing a red pant suit and was nonchalantly assuring her Secret Service agent that everything was fine.

There was an icy fire in Spencer's eyes, and somehow Ashley knew what the Marine was going to do before she could as much as shift her weight to move. She was barely able to wrap a hand around a tense forearm.

"Spencer, don't. Please. It's not worth it." Somehow, Ashley knew that if she let go of the Marine, she would lose her forever.

Instinctively, she held on for dear life.

"But you are," the marine all but growled between gritted teeth. She was pulling gently against Ashley's grip, but not nearly hard enough to actually break away. Ashley watched as Spencer closed her eyes for a moment, obviously having some sort of silent argument with herself

It was Aiden who broke the quiet tension of the room. "Madam President, what happened?"

"I think that's pretty clear Agent Dennison," Spencer growled. She took a step forward and placed herself squarely between Ashley and Christine.

"I'll say," Christine was speaking now. With unrivaled skill, she had quenched her rage and was now playing the part of the exasperated mother. She flapped her hand at Ashley. "I don't know where that girl gets her temper."

Spencer took another step forward, but Ashley refused to let go of her grip on her guardian's wrist, leaving Spencer's right arm stretched out trailing behind her as a bridge between the two of them. "Excuse me?"

Sensing a challenge, Christine took a step forward herself out from behind Agent Dennison. "Ashley has an awful temper. I've been telling her for years that she was going to hurt herself if she kept throwing these tantrums of hers. It's about time that one of the poor inanimate objects she feels the need to fling around took its revenge."

"Spencer, please," Ashley cut in before Spencer could respond. She was begging now, but she didn't care. The situation was primed to explode and Ashley would not give Christine any excuse to take Spencer away from her.

"Sergeant Carlin, perhaps you should take Ms. Davies down the infirmary to get that lip looked at," Aiden suggested, the warning in his voice clear.

The reminder that Ashley was hurt seemed to be enough to get Spencer to stand down. She turned back to take another look at Ashley's split lip and the icy intensity in her eyes began to melt. "Okay." She wrapped one hand around Ashley's elbow and placed another at the small of her back, leading her around the splintered remains of the chair and out of the office.

Before they rounded the corner, Ashley risked a glance back at her mother, catching her eye. Ashley knew she had gone too far at the interview tonight, but her mother had gone too far too, and they both knew it. This left them at an impasse.

A curt nod from Christine told Ashley all she needed to know. This would be just another item added to the long list of secrets and sins that mother and daughter hid from the public eye.

"Thank you," Ashley told her marine when she knew they were out of earshot of the Oval Office.

"For what?" Spencer asked. Her voice was sharp, but her hold on Ashley was as gentle as ever. "I got there too late, and I didn't do anything."

Ashley stopped walking and forced Spencer to look at her. "I know. Thank you for listening to me and not doing anything you would have regretted later."

"I wouldn't have regretted doing what I wanted to do," Spencer replied, "She hurt you."

"And she would have destroyed you," Ashley countered. The shock of what had just happened was wearing off and she was feeling more like herself.

"I don't care. She's your mother, not to mention the President of the United States. She can't do that!" Spencer was barely keeping her voice down.

"It's not like it hasn't happened before," Ashley muttered before she could stop herself.

"What?!" Spencer shouted, all pretenses of keeping her voice down out the window.

"Shhh!" Ashley hissed, wincing when the action made the cut in her lip twinge. She glanced around quickly, finding an empty room which she promptly pulled Spencer into and closed the door behind them. They were in a seldom-used sitting room that had once been meant for afternoon tea in a time when that had been fashionable and was now used to store archaic office electronics. Ashley wasn't sure where the light switch was and opted to finish their conversation in the dim light of the full moon shinning in through the window.

"Look, Christine's not exactly mother of the year - we both know that. But she is sort of the president of this country and your commander-in-chief, so we don't poke the angry bear, you know what I mean?" She ran a hand through her hair, trying to calm herself down and explain things properly. "What I did today in that interview - I knew the risks and the consequences. I did it anyway because it was something I had to do. But there is no way in hell I'm going to let you get in the middle of this war zone between me and my mother – it's a bad place be, ask Kyla."

Spencer leaned back against an ancient copier and crossed her arms across her chest. "Lucky for you, I happen to have a lot of experience in war zones."

Ashley rolled her eyes at Carlin's chivalry, but inwardly was touched by her display of loyalty. She ran the back of her hand across her lip, pleased to see that it had stopped bleeding. "Believe me when I tell you that you have no idea the kind of war I'm fighting."

"Maybe I have a better idea than you think," Spencer replied evenly. Ashley had no idea what that was supposed to mean, and in the dim light, her expression gave nothing away. Damn that girl's poker face.

"Look," Ashley huffed, growing frustrated with a conversation where they both seemed to be saying only half of whatever it was that they were actually feeling. "At best you would have been reprimanded or fired, and alternative scenarios kind of go downhill from there. And I just… I like having you around, okay?"

"Ashley, I'm not going anywhere," Spencer told her with the kind of firmness and finality that Ashley hadn't even realized that she need to hear until the tangle of nerves in her gut that was her fear of losing Spencer finally unraveled itself.

"Promise?" Ashley heard herself asking. She hated that she needed the confirmation like some sort of child, but she had just been burned one too many times. Without even realizing it, she had let Spencer in so completely and so openly that there was nothing she could do now to put back up the walls to perfect herself if the marine turned out to be just like everyone else that came into her life.

"I promise."

A/N: Over 100 favorites, 200 reviews and 300 follows – thank you all for your support! I didn't think I was going to be able to update for a while (...and I probably shouldn't have) but y'all inspired me. The going may be slow, but I hope that it's worth it!