10:15 am.

"Do you want some coffee?" That had spent the drive discussing different ways to approach Governor Vogel, and this was the most personal question Aaron had asked.

"Sure." It made Emily feel sad. After the initial competition for the Chief of Staff position, they had become friends. They talked about their families, their college days, pretty much everything, and Emily thought they could become more. They made such a great team at work. Their ways of thinking complemented each other. Aaron was more practical and considered the logistics, and Emily was great at accounting for the human factor, different personalities and people's emotions.

Before she knew it, Aaron was handing her a cup of coffee. "I could have paid." She looked at him for the first time that morning.

"I know," he smiled. His smile did things to her that she didn't like to admit.

12:00 pm.

Upon arrival at the Governor's office, Aaron and Emily were ushered into a conference room with the instructions to wait. They were expecting this, and Emily was dreading it.

"The president is meeting with the ambassador of South Korea at 2," Emily informed Aaron who was pacing while on his phone.

"And we're getting communications set up for 3 with North Korea," Aaron added.

"That's good." Emily was engrossed in her phone, responding to emails and messages. Aaron cleared his throat, but Emily didn't look up. She wanted to look at him, but she didn't at the same time. She knew she hurt him, and she didn't want to see that pain on his face. She would never forgive herself for putting it there. He sat in the chair next to her.

"Emily?" Aaron's voice was soft. She knew when his voice softened he was going to say something personal, but she didn't think she could handle it.

"Hmm," she responded without looking up.

"Kirkman told me he came up with the list of potential traitors."

"He did." Her response was short. She wasn't sure where he was going with this, but she was sure she didn't want to talk about it.

"He also told me he ordered you to investigate me."

"Aaron, I don't think now is the time to discuss the past investigation. You're the National Security Advisor. If you want the investigation details, you have access to them. We should be focusing on the domestic and foreign national security threats on hand." She still refused to look up from her phone.

She didn't know why she said what she did. She wanted to reach out and touch him. He had been so close to her all morning, and he smelled so good.

She thought she blew it last time when they agreed to see each other around, but she really blew it this time. She could hear Aaron shift away from her, and she couldn't feel his gaze.

She was good at pushing him away. He deserved better than that, better than her.

2:45 pm.

It had been over 2 hours of uncomfortable silence. Emily kept busy making phone calls and responding to messages, and Aaron had done the same.

He did leave the room for a couple of minutes and came back with bottles of water. As he sat one down on the table next to her, her heart fluttered. There was still hope. She didn't know why she felt this way. She messed up big time. She kept shutting him down every time he tried to talk about the investigation. She didn't even know how to go about fixing it, fixing them, so her plan was to just avoid the entire situation and avoid him when she could.

5:00 pm.

"It looks like we'll be going to dinner." Her voice was soft as she checked her watch. She stood up and walked to the nearest window.

"I figured we'd go anyway. We gotta eat." She turned towards him and nodded. He kept trying. She kept pushing him away, but he kept trying to reel her in, a viscous circle.

She stared into his eyes for what felt like forever. She wanted to say something to let him know that she wanted to fix this, even if they were just friends, but she didn't know what to say.

The door abruptly opened, and Governor Vogel finally came in. Emily snapped her head towards the door and immediately went into action.

"Governor Vogel, it's a pleasure to meet you," Emily greeted as she held out her hand. Aaron was quick to follow, and she could feel his arm brush hers.

6:45 pm.

The meeting with Governor Vogel was testing both of them. Emily had prided herself on her patience, but as the meeting went on, she found herself taking more and more deep breaths. She could tell Aaron was getting irritable as well. He had already tried being nice and tried a tough love approach, but nothing was getting through to this woman. Her rightist views were wearing on them both. Although Aaron was a democrat through and through, Emily tried to walk the middle. The Governor clearly wasn't a fan of practicalness, so Emily tried a different approach.

"Governor Vogel, we all agree that the situation here is not good, and something needs to be done. I'm interested in your perspective, and I'd like to understand it better. Perhaps, we can meet again tomorrow to continue discussions?" Aaron probably wouldn't like this approach. He liked to get things done, but Emily knew Governor Vogel's defenses were high, and nothing was going to be accomplished tonight.

7:15 pm.

She could tell Aaron was irritable and partially with her. After Vogel left them, he questioned if she knew what she was doing. She hid the hurt on her face. She had a plan.

When they finally got to the restaurant 20 minutes late, their reservation had been cancelled. She could tell Aaron's irritability had grown. He didn't seem to want to be anywhere near her, which she completely understood. She was secretly hoping he was just hangry, but she knew she had no reason to be hopeful.

"There's a pizza place next door to our hotel. Come on," she nudged him back toward the car and handed him a granola bar. She was back in crisis mode.

7:42 pm.

"You check-in, and I'll get the pizza," Emily ordered. Emily was ready for food and ready to take her shoes off. She was also ready for Aaron's attitude to change.

"This must be how he feels," she thought. She consistently avoided him, and if it were her, she would be pissed. She just didn't know how to change things, even with all the free passes Aaron was throwing at her.