NOTES: I chose not to write the breakup scene with Mary-Ann, because the ending of Chapter 5 is supposed to lead you to know what happened from the S4E3 Applebee's reference that Dan made. Also, I think in some meta way, it sort of reinforces how uninteresting the relationship was and how singularly focused he is on Amy. The breakup and holidays is all going to be very trite to Dan compared to his desire to get back to her.

Amy had never actually given Dan her private cell number, but he wanted to have this conversation in person anyway. He saw her for the first time the day of the swearing-in, in the hallway of the Rayburn Building. He grabbed her arm and excitedly led her into the nearest supply closet.

"I did it," he said, panting with exhilaration. "I broke up with Mary-Ann."

Amy's brow creased in irritated confusion. "Who?"

"My fiancée! I ended it!" Dan was grinning from ear to ear, fighting the urge to spin around with Amy in his arms.

A dead silence hung heavy in the air. Amy's jaw hardened, and just when Dan felt as though he must have been standing in that spot his whole life, she spoke.

"Why in the ever living fuck did you do that?"

.

"Why?" Dan asked incredulously, his smile crumbling. "What do you mean, why? I did it so I could be with you."

Amy did not respond. Her body remained still, with the exception of a very slight shaking in her hands that she tried to hide, but her eyes looked in every direction that wasn't at him. Dan's anxiety rose with every moment. "Amy, please say something," he begged her.

She slowly brought her stony gaze to land directly on him.

"You're pathetic."

Dan felt his heart drop into his stomach.

"You ended your engagement because why? We fucked a few times? You think you're in love with me now? You're weak," she spat out. Her eyes narrowed, bitter and accusing. "You're like all these other cavemen who catch a whiff of pussy and fall to their knees in front of it."

"It's not like that," he started, but didn't know how to finish. He couldn't say he was in love with her – she had already made it clear that was not the right move. But then how else could he explain himself?

"It's always like that, Dan." His name was caustic on her lips.

He spoke, deliberately and slowly, opening his hands to her. "Amy. You are… the only thing… that matters to me in this moment. There is no one – there will never be anyone – who makes me feel the way that you make me feel. I want to rob banks for you. I want to drown in oceans for you. I want to conquer the world so I can bring you the pieces of it."

Amy fired back at him with an icy fury. "You know what makes me feel that way? My job. Why doesn't yours? Have some fucking pride. You could be good at this, you could be a fucking king, but you'd rather be a peasant on a goddamn mountaintop bringing me virgins to sacrifice. I don't need you to conquer the world for me – I am already doing it! And when I am done, I will swim in the wreckage! And where will you be? Bending over for some minor state representative because you're too romantic and idealistic to play the game, or ruining your career so you can impale yourself on a white picket fence."

He was growing almost terrified of her, wanting all the words to stop. He backed away, until a supply shelf trapped him, but she continued the assault.

"I don't want to be responsible for you, for what you need to feel! I'm not here to fill up your fucking shell of a life! What happens when I get tired of you? Huh?" she taunted him. "Do you kill yourself? Do you vanish?"

Both, he thought. "I don't know," he said.

"Well, I guess you're gonna find out," she said, slamming the door.

.

.

The wind whipped the torrential rain into his face. Every so often, lightning cracked the gray sky. His peacoat blew open as he walked, allowing the rain to soak through his white dress shirt and suit jacket. The angry honking of D.C. commuters provided background noise for his walk to the nearest bar.

Whiskey neat.

A thin brunette walked up to him. "Drinking alone?"

He nodded.

"Aren't you dating Amy Brookheimer?"

The undiluted liquor burned his throat.

"I dumped that bitch."

.

He was rough when he fucked her. He told her to say his name. To say it again.

"I'm the fucking king," he said as he came inside her.