Thank you to everyone who left reviews on the last chapter! And this chapter, we finally get to meet President Halstead! Hope you all enjoy! Happy reading!


JAY

"Well this I was not expecting," I say with a smile as I pick up the call. I'm home now, lying in my bed, still trying to figure out why I told Erin I love her. I might, I'm not totally sure, I haven't ever felt the way that I feel with her, but if I thought that meeting Abby was going to scare her off, I don't know why the hell I told her that.

"Can't a mama just call her baby boy?" She asks. It feels good to hear her voice, I haven't seen her in a little while.

"Well considering you are on a state visit and I'm pretty sure it's the middle of the night where you are," I tell her as I lean back into the mountain of pillows on my bed, still higher than usual after Erin's visit. She uses a surprising amount of them.

"Couldn't sleep, and I saw the headlines," She tells me.

"Really?" I say as I aggressively sit up. I didn't expect her to see them this fast.

Well no," She admit with a chuckle, "Blake saw and he showed me,"

"And the truth comes out," I say with a laugh.

"You happy?" She asks, turning the conversation towards a slightly more serious note.

"I am, really happy," I tell her honestly. I haven't been this happy in a long time.

"What's her name," She asks.

"Mom," I say, dragging out my words in a whine.

"I won't crazy stalk her, just her name," She tells me with a chuckle.

"Her name is Erin," I tell her, relaxing into the conversation. I love talking to my mom, I don't get to do it as often as I'd like, for obvious reasons.

"Does she get to meet mom and dad anytime soon?" She teases.

"That's going to be a hard no," I tell her.

"Aw why?" She whines, sounding very unpresidential.

"Well she met Abby,"

"Seriously?" She complains, cutting me off. "You picked Abby first? She's not going to want to meet anyone else now!"

"Well she's still here, so just give her a minute, I don't want to scare her," I tell her with a laugh. "Meeting the President and her husband is a very good way to send a girl running for the hills,"

"Ah we're not that bad," She responds, "Plus you know your father is way worse than me,"

"I know Mom," I assure her. "It's not you it's the title,"

"I know," She says softly. "Okay but who'd she vote for?"

"You," I say with a small chuckle. "She thinks you are amazing,"

"Well I like her already," She responds. "Let me know when she's ready, I'd love to meet her,"

"You aren't going to ask me anything else?" I ask skeptically.

"I trust your judgement," She tells me. "And she passed the Abby test,"

"She did," I say with a smile, images of my girl running through my mind. "She met Zoe and the guys too,"

"What'd they think?"

"You know them, Garrett and Adam like everyone and Zoe was just happy to not be the only girl," I tell her.

"How's her restaurant going?" She asks. To this day, my mother amazes me with the sheer amount of information she can hold. She is the leader of the free world, yet she knows that one of my best friends is opening a restaurant. She's incredible.

"Good, she was actually talking to Erin about tile today," I say with a laugh, "And she used us to recipe test,"

"As usual," She responds. "Tell them all I say hi,"

"I will,"

"And I have to go to bed or I am going to get annihilated tomorrow," She says with a laugh, "Gotta get some sleep,"

"Nah, you're going to do great," I assure her. "You always do,"

"Well I'm glad at least one of you have some faith in me," She says with a chuckle. "Blake was freaking out the entire way over,"

"Always does," I say with a laugh, thinking of my mom's very dedicated, though over anxious aide. I swear she won't go anywhere without him. "Get some sleep Mama,"

"I'll try, goodnight Jay," She responds softly, "Oh and tell her hi from me,"

" I will, Goodnight," I say before hanging up the phone, more than happy with my mom's gentle response. Though I'm not sure what she'll say once she hears the whole story, but I'm hoping she'll be open minded.


ERIN

'"You're home!" Kim squeals, jumping out of the car outside LAX arrivals, pulling me into her arms as cars honk around her, though I'm not sure she totally cares."How was the trip?"

"Amazing," I say, quickly slipping out of her hug and tossing my rollerboard into the trunk, still trying to process what Jay said to me. I've thought about telling Kim, but I think I need to figure it all out for myself before I "And I will tell you all about it on the way home, just get in the car so we aren't victims of an unfortunate road rage incident,"

"Smart," She says with a laugh, taking her place in the driver's seat and swiftly removing us from the pick up lines. "Okay, I did as instructed, now tell me everything,"

"It was great," I say with sigh.

"How was the sister?" She asks, keeping her eyes very much on the road, an Ingrid Michaelson song playing softly in the background and the sun starting to set, lighting up the sky in watercolors.

"Harsh," I reply, "But I knew that that was going to happen, eventually she said it was fine, but she's skeptical, which is fine, I was skeptical."

"You are just going to have to prove it to her," She responds with a smirk.

"I've had no problem defying the odds in the past," I say with a smile, the warm Southern California breeze a welcome replacement to the still crisp weather in DC.

"Did you meet his mom?" She ponders.

"President Halstead? Oh God no," I reply, "She's on a state visit this week anyway, plus I don't know if she even knows about us yet,"

"She knows there's a girl," She comments.

"What do you mean?"

"Google his name," She says as she tosses me her phone.

"Okay," I say unsurely as I type in her passcode, quickly navigating to Safari and my fingers flying as I search his name. And then I see, in his arms as he kisses me in front of the airport. You still can't tell it's me though, though this picture is a little bit more clear. As I study the photos, my phone lights up with a text from none other than James Halstead.

Hey babe, how was the flight? Also, just got off the phone with my mom and she seems to be cool with everything? And she says hi. -JH

Flight was good, slept almost the entire way. Glad to hear about your mom. Can you talk tonight? I think we need it. - EL

Of course, call me when you're ready. -JH

"Well you were right?" I say as I lock my phone, nervous to have that discussion with Jay later. "She totally knows,"

"What does she think?" She asks with a squeal.

"She says hi,"


"Hey," I say into my phone, curled on a chair in the backyard, a fluffy blanket pulled around me. After a very loud welcome back dinner with all of my roommates, this is just what I needed, quiet.

"Hi," He responds, bringing a smile to my face. I have a feeling that he's doing exactly what I am, sitting on the balcony of his apartment, which I learned is his favorite spot. He loves it there and I get why, it's beautiful. "I assume you saw the pictures,"

"I did," I respond. I'm won't lie to myself, when I first saw them, I freaked out a little bit internally. It's weird, to have your privacy violated like that. But even though it was out of my control, it was strangely liberating. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I didn't have to care. Nothing more than my state of mind has changed, but I guess that's all it takes.

"Are you sure about what you said?" He asks.

"I am," I reply quickly. I said what I said, I'm not going back. "I meant it. Did you mean what you said?'

"What?/'

"At the airport, as I was leaving. You told me you loved me, did you mean it or was a slip of the tongue something to never be mentioned again?" I ask him, anxious for an answer. I feel my heart beat faster and faster as the line stays silent. "Jay say somethin-"

"Yes." He cuts me off. "I meant it, every word of it,"

"We've been together three weeks, we've been physically together for a total of five days, how could you possibly be sure?"

"I don't know," He responds. "I would say it was crazy if it wasn't me. And I can't explain it, but you are different than anyone I've ever met and you make me feel a way that no one ever could. So I don't know how, but I love you Erin Lindsay."

"Wow," I reply softly. I don't know what to say back. I can't respond with the same, I could but I'd be lying and he'll know that. The word love has always scared me and I've found that all it does is stab you in back. I care about him, but I can't just give that to him. Not yet.

"You don't have to say it back," He reads my mind.

"I know," I say curtly, "I won't, not yet anyway. I'm getting there, I think. I uh, just need some time,"

"I know," He responds softly. "I'm sorry for springing this on you so unexpectedly,"

"Don't apologize," I insist. "Do not ever apologize for your feelings. Just understand that it's going to take a little while for me to catch up,"

"And that is totally fine," He says. "I forgot to thank you for not running for the hills after Abby,"

"Slick subject change Halstead," I say with a laugh, sinking back into my blanket. We didn't really cover the entire subject and I know that there is most definitely more to discuss, but this will have to suffice for now. "And I was close, she kind of scared the crap out of me,"

"She has a tendency to do that," He says with a laugh, "She'll warm up, eventually, maybe,"

"Good to know," I say with a chuckle, "Don't worry, Zoe, Garrett, and Adam made up for it,"

"You like them?" He asks.

"They're funny and sharp, Zoe seems really great,"

"She is, I'm glad you got along with them,"

"It's good that you have people like that, to keep you grounded you know?'

"Yeah, I got lucky,"

"Erin!" I hear, Shay calling from the sliding door, "We're going to watch Kingsman, you in?"

"I'll be right there," I yell back, holding the phone to my chest as I do. "I got to go,"

"Being outranked by British spies in really good suits?" He asks with a laugh.

"You heard that?" I say, my cheeks blushing for some reason.

"She was very loud," He says with a chuckle.

"She is," I respond gently. "I'm going to go now, I'll talk to you soon,"

"I'll be here,"


And he certainly was. As time goes by, the days inching toward graduation, we grew closer. We talked on the phone almost every night, well every night that I wasn't with the girls, cramming for a final, or finishing a paper at 2 AM.

I learned a lot more about him, like that his favorite place to visit is the Irish countryside and that he was born with white blonde hair, that his niece and nephew both call him JJ, Owen took a long time to get a hang of the word Uncle and it stuck. But I also learned some other things, the reason he won't go into politics, because he's afraid that he'll be bad at it or that he'll turn into a politician, forgetting what the point of it all is or that's he's constantly afraid that he's going to lose his mom to the job.

He came out here to Santa Barbara a few weeks ago, meeting all of my girls and somehow making it through the firing squad relatively unscathed, gaining the approval of even the harshest of critics. After they stopped freaking out and shook off the thick layer of starstruck.

But as time went on, I felt myself falling for him, inching closer and closer to uttering those three special words and it scares the absolute crap out of me. I have never felt like this before. I had Charlie, but that wasn't love. I thought it was, but I know now that it was anything but. He still creeps into my mind sometimes, but it's been almost two months and we're still in the clear. My name has not been leaked to the press, but there have been more pictures.

I wanted to have Jay here to watch me walk across the stage, he's my boyfriend and this will be the best day of my life, I want him hear for that. But I understand why he can't be here, though that doesn't make it any easier. It does make my smile a little wider that Hank, Camille, and even Justin are here today. I want them to be proud of me.

Today I refuse to let myself worry about Charlie or be sad that Jay's not here. I have been working, harder than hard to get here since the day Camille and Hank gave me a family, dreaming of walking across that stage in a cap and gown. I didn't think I would ever get here, but I did. Today is mine and no one can take that away from me.


Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 12! And if you guys have anything you'd like to see in future chapters, please do not hesitate to let me know either in a review or shoot me a PM. Thanks for reading!

Please review!

Xoxo,

Addie