Thank you to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter, the response completely blew my mind and encouraged me to get y'all a resolution really quick. Hope you guys enjoy chapter 10! Happy reading!


ERIN

"Well," I say, looking her straight in the eye as I feel the tears start to brim the edges of mine, directing all of my willpower to stop them. "I can't accept that,"

"Excuse me?" She ask, cocking her eyebrow at me.

"You don't have any right to say that, you don't know me, you don't know me at all." I say, almost laughing as the words fall out. "And I know that there is a high probability that this won't work out, most relationships don't. But we're trying and we will manage," I tell her.

"Er-" She says as she begins to say my name.

"I'm not done yet," I insist, quickly cutting her off, using an amount of force in my voice that's surprising even to me. "I'm a pessimist, I was more than reluctant to start this for all the reasons that you've said, so I get it. But someone told be to believe in the good and to trust in the possibility of the best case scenario. So that's what I'm going to do, and i won't let you get in my way," I swallow nervously, anxious to see how'll she'll react. But she doesn't, she just looks at me, and then she laughs?

"What?" I say annoyed as she continues to chuckle.

"I get it now," She tells me, a kindly satisfied smile on her face as she looks over at me.

"You get what?" I ask her confused, still quite heated from our previous exchange.

"Why you are different," She says, that smile only widening.

"What?" I ask again.

"Everytime I talk to my little brother he just said, just wait until you meet her Abby, she's different. I thought he was being a lunatic, who could be so wonderful, so different that he would move mountains. I get it now," She tells me.

"What do you mean?" I ask, her explanation being quite flowery but lacking depth and reason.

"You aren't like any other girl he's dated before. You really don't care what I think about you,"

"And that's a good thing?" I ask, more than confused by her demeanor.

"Yeah it is," She says, "You care what he thinks of you, and while I hope you realize that he will care what I think of you, you won't let that discourage you. Most of the girls would have run for the hills as soon as he even brought me up. I know I would have,"

"So are you changing your mind?" I ask hopefully.

"Not entirely," She explains, "I still think that this a long shot and there's still a very low chance that all of this will work out, but you care. And you're willing to fight, so I'm giving you my blessing and if it comes down to it, we will go to bat and crawl out on a limb for you. You're real and you're genuine, I can tell that you aren't here to gain anything. Hell, you've just got everything to lose,"

"Thank you Abby," I say, responding to her kind of confusing acceptance?

"But," She cuts in, "This doesn't mean I completely approve and it definitely doesn't mean we're friends, I have my eye on you. But if you make James happy, well I can't really ask for anything more can I?"

"So I passed?" I question.

"With flying colors," She tells me with a smile. I've had my doubts this entire morning, but for the first time I'm relaxed, because the smile isn't forced, I can see it. It's in the eyes. It's always in the eyes.


"So," Jay says as we walk along the waterfront, hidden under the cloak of darkness, Atwater, Ruzek, and Roman walking around us in a moving triangle. After the breakfast at Abby's, with the surprisingly good resolution, we spent the rest of the day just hanging out in the apartment, watching movies and just being together, Jay made cooked dinner and it was nice, really normal. "I heard she gave us the go ahead,"

"Begrudgingly yes," I say, my arm looked around his as I lay my head on his shoulder, our steps both in sync. "I've been doing some thinking today,"

"About what?" He questions nervously.

"About us," I say casually.

"Good or bad?" He asks with an eyebrow raised.

"Good," I assure him with a him.

"Alright shoot," He says as his gaze drifts to the river.

"I don't want to hide anymore," I say softly, a soft smile forming on my face.

"You don't?" He says, his head whipping back towards me.

"I don't want to go public, like release a statement or go to an event with you, but I don't want to hide. The media can guess, that's fine. Let 'em wonder,"

"What about Charlie?" He asks, knowing that that's always been my greatest fear.

"Screw him," I say with a smile as I look up at him, feeling a weight of a thousand pounds fall of my shoulders. I've been working up the courage to say those words since the night he left me in that alley. But it's in Jay's arms that I finally felt safe enough to utter them.

"Seriously?" He says as he looks down at me, a look of solid disbelief in his eyes.

"It's been six years babe," I say. "I can't live my life in the shadows," I tell him. "I can't, I won't let him dictate how I get to live, not anymore,"

"Are you sure?" He asks. "You know that your safety is my first priority,"

"I know," I respond, "It's one of my favorite things about you, but I'll be okay. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself,"

"I know you can, but he's hurt you before." He tells me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him. "I just worry about you, especially because you are so far away,"

"I can't just leave Jay, it's school,"

"How would you feel about taking a security detail back with you?" He asks.

"Absolutely not," I say firmly, "No,"

"You won't even consider it?" He presses me.

"No," I say again. The last thing that I need it two guys in suits following me around campus. Besides, they are here to protect the First Family, I'm just a girlfriend. And I don't need it. I don't want it.

"Okay," He says, effectively dropping the subject, "But would you consider being my date to something, not now. But at some point?"

"I'll consider it," I tease.

"Oh progress," He says with a smile as we turn around at the end of the walk to head back to the apartment. "Can I ask one last thing?"

"Shoot,"

"Did Abby have anything to do with this?" He asks. I don't say anything. I've been wanting to say it for a while, but I'd be lying if I said she didn't have something to do with it. Her words scared me, mostly because I knew that she was right. And I'd also be lying if I said Charlie didn't still scare the absolute crap out of me because he does, but I can't live my life based on that fear. "Erin?" He presses.

"Yes," I say.

"Damnit Erin, we don't have to do this is you don't want to!" He exclaims, dropping his hold on me as he throws his hands in the air.

"Jay stop," I say, grabbing his hands with mine as all of his security flinches. I usually don't notice them and they're all great guys from what I can tell, but it's moments like these when I really wish that he didn't have them. "It's my choice and how I got there doesn't matter,"

"What did she say to you?" He asks, a new fire in his eyes .

"You really want to know?" I question, almost angrily.

"Erin, just tell me," He says, his voice softening as his eyes look right through me.

"She told that she didn't think it would work. And that hiding was going to lead to failure. So I decided that you were worth it, that I was going to choose to believe in the best case scenario, just like you told me."

"I'm going to let you compromise your safety over what Abby thinks could happen," He tells me.

"No, I'm doing it." I tell him. "I am doing this for me, I cannot live like that anymore, waiting for him to pop out from around every corner. I can't live with the fear,"

"So you are choosing to ignore it?" He says, still unsure.

"And hope for the best," I say finishing his sentence. "It's all I can do. And I need you to have a little faith, that I can hold my own,"

"I know you can," He says as he pulls me back into his arms. "It just scares me is all and I hate to think that you're doing this for me or for my family,"

"I'm doing it for you, because you are willing to do all of this for me," I tell him with a smile, "And now, we're not going to talk about it anymore. Because I have sixteen hours left with you and I don't intend to spend any of it fighting,"

"Okay," He says before leaning down to press a kiss to my lips, holding me in his arms, "Sounds like a plan,"


"You want to head to bed?" Jay asks as he closes the door behind us in the apartment, "It's getting late,"

"Yeah, why don't you head up? I'll be right there, I just need to make a phone call," I tell him. Every since I made my choice, the only thing on my mind has been telling Hank. Camille already knows, but I knew that she wasn't going to be the hard one. He's not going to like that I'm dating Jay and he's certainly not going to like the fact that I'm willing to put myself out there again. If there was anyone more concerned about Charlie than I am, it's Hank Voight.

He was there that night, he saw what he did to me and he was the one who got me out of that, so all I can do now is brace myself for his reaction.

"Alright," He says as he plants a kiss on the top of my head, "I'll see you in a minute then,"

"Okay," I confirm as I hit the first number listed in my favorites, the same number that was on the business card he gave me all those years ago.

"Hey kid, how you doing?" He says, answering quickly on the second ring.

"I'm good, really good actually. I just wanted to talk to you about something," I say, nervous to tell him. I love him and Camille more than anyone in the world and their opinions and approval are important to me, I just hope I can get it.

"What's going on?"

"I just made a promise to Camille that I'd talk to you before she saw my face on the cover of Us Weekly and I don't know how much longer I can promise that that won't happen," I say slowly.

"What did you do?" He asks, his voice decreasing in pitch but rising in volume.

"I've got a new boyfriend," I tell him nervously, my tongue running over the tops of my teeth.

"He some floofy Hollywood guy? I told you to watch out for those guys in California," He warns. I almost have to laugh, he's been telling me that since the day they dropped me off in the dorms. He's as smart as they get, but I don't know if he realizes that living in Southern California doesn't automatically mean you'll be fraternizing with the members of the Hollywood elite.

"No, not exactly," I tell him, waiting for the blow. "He is famous though,"

"Oh,"

"He's President Halstead's son," I say, my words met with silence on the other line. "Hank please say something,"

"You know what you're doing right? What this could mean for you?"

"I do,"

"You know that he could find you?"

"I know,"

"You've got a good head on your shoulders Erin Lindsay, I trust you to make your own decisions. You've earned that right. Just promise me that you're being safe, your safety is your first priority, and that if things get hairy, you will call me and ask for help."

"I will," I tell him, still waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is so unlike Hank, I expected him to lash out, to yell, tell me how stupid this was. But he didn't.

"Okay then," He says. "I've said my piece and I trust your judgement. Just be careful,"

"I will, I promise." I assure him.

"I love you kid,"He said, another weight falling off my shoulders.

"I love you too Hank,"


"Hey babe," Jay says as I read over the news on my phone as he makes coffee in the kitchen. Last night was amazing. After talking through everything with Jay and coming clean with Hank, I just feel at peace.

"What's up?" I ask as I look up from the article, which is funnily enough about his mom, though I'm not about to tell him that.

"What do you think about meeting a few of my friends? Well one of them, you already saw Adam,"

"In what capacity exactly?" I say as I raise a brow. "And no more siblings,"

"Of course," He says with a laugh, "Just brunch, with Adam and my friends Garrett and Zoe,"

"How do you know them?" I ask curiously.

"Garrett was my college roommate,"

"You had a roommate in college?" I interrupt.

"Yes?" He responds with a weird look on his face. "Everyone does,"

"I don't know, I just thought they'd give the son of the leader of the free world a single,"

"You know I don't get as much special treatment as you might think," He assures me with a head tilt.

"Really?" I respond questioningly, my eyebrow cocked.

"Yeah you got me," He says with a defeated laugh, "They tried, but I insisted on the double. I just wanted to be like everyone else,"

"How'd that work out?" I say with a laugh, the constant eye of the Secret Service may not have been super helpful with that.

"About as well as you think it would have," He says with a smile, "But it's the effort that counts right?"

"Oh of course," I tease him. "So Zoe,"

"Yes, Zoe Amsbary,"

"As in Attorney General Joseph Amsbary?" I question.

"Yeah, that's her dad."

"Do you have any friends that aren't the offspring of your mother's staff? Just wondering," I say with a teasing smile.

"I mentioned Garrett didn't I?" He responds.

"Well yeah, but other than that, all I know is that you hang out with your siblings and your mother's cabinet's children. That's pretty lame dude,"

"You picked me," He says with a smirk.

"I talked to you in a crowded ballroom, you picked me," I assure him.

"So you must be pretty lame then too?" He tells me with a smile as he leans across the counter.

"No," I respond firmly, "That was you expanding your horizons," I pause to plant a quick peck on his lips, "into the realm of awesome,"

"And I guess that paid off," He says with a smile.

"Oh the jury is definitely still out," I tease.

"So what's the deal on brunch?" He asks, with a roll of the eyes, tired of my tangents.

"Brunch isn't a real meal," I point out.

"Well considering the time, we can call it an early lunch. Better?"

"Much," I tell him with a smile. "And an early lunch sounds great."


Hope you guys enjoyed! Please review!

xoxo,

Addison