Please review! I know this took place when Francis was VP, but I had an idea that I had to run with on this.

James scrambled out of bed when she saw the headlights dance across her wall. When she reached her door and pulled it open a crack to look downstairs, she saw her parents walking inside where Doug met to greet them. She frowned though when she saw her mother looked tired. When her mother looked tired, it was usually because something was wrong, and James could definitely sense something was off when she heard their voices.

"How did it go?" Doug asked, grabbing his jacket to head out.

Francis ran a hand down his face, opening his mouth to speak when Claire beat him to it. "It was as expected. How were things with James?"

"As expected." Doug returned before gesturing up towards her room. "She had dinner around six. Leftovers are in the fridge. Otherwise, she went down about an hour ago. Homework is done. I left her school folder out on the counter. I guess she needs a permission slip signed for a field trip in a couple weeks."

"Thanks, Doug." Francis breathed as Doug headed for the door. "I'll see you on Monday."

James watched curiously, debating whether or not to make her presence known as Claire began climbing the stairs. She paused when Francis came to the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the banister, when Claire was halfway up. "Hey." His voice was soft, like the voice he sometimes used when she was sad and he wanted to make her feel better. She'd never heard him use that voice when talking to her mother, and it made a pit grow in her stomach.

Claire didn't look back, just stopped when the single word was spoken to her. "I'm tired."

James saw the brief nonverbal exchange between her parents and quickly crawled back into bed, closing her eyes knowing her mother would check on her. She pressed her face into her shark, keeping as still as possible when she heard Claire walk in and over to her bed. When she felt Claire press a kiss to her head, she mumbled a sleepy, "Mommy?"

"Go back to sleep, sweetheart." Claire whispered, tucking the blankets around James before leaving the room and closing the door.

James opened her eyes, feeling her chest constrict. She didn't know why Claire was sad, but she knew it had to be bad. Slowly getting out of bed again, she tiptoed over to her door, peeking out. She saw her parents' bedroom door wide open, knew her father was still downstairs. Again, she found herself struggling to figure out what she should do. She wanted to go make Claire feel better, but this felt like something she couldn't fix.

After a few moments, she heard Francis's footsteps moving further into the house, soon on the creaky step at the top of the stairs going to the basement. That's when she quietly emerged from her room, forming to the wall as she walked over to their room. When she got close enough to look inside, she found her mother already laying in bed, back to the door, with the blankets tucked under her arm.

Francis swallowed thickly, listening to Claire tell him about the night she'd never shared with anyone but him. Other than the night she originally disclosed to him, they didn't really talk about it again. So, what he knew was limited. Thinking about her going through that caused a searing pain in his chest, made him want to protect her and coddle her in ways he knew she would never tolerate. He loved her, more than everybody else on the planet besides his little girl. He would've killed McGinnis in front of all those people if she'd have let him, but she was a better person than him. The hunger for revenge was still there, but she channeled it into something good for her. Something that would make McGinnis think that he never even crossed her mind. With his rushing thoughts, Francis barely heard her tell him to get some sleep. "I'm not sure if I can."

"Then," Claire replied, "you should go back downstairs."

He pushed down the urge to reach out to her, instead standing and heading back out of the room. His heart dropped though when he saw his six year old standing just outside her room with her favorite blanket and a stuffed animal in hand. "James? Darlin', what are you doing out here?"

"Why is Mommy so sad?" James asked, staring up at her father.

Francis knew Claire was listening, knew she was worried that James had heard them just now. He crouched down in front of her. "Were you listening to us just now?"

James shook her head. "When I heard you coming up, I went back to my room."

"Back to your room?" Francis frowned.

"Yeah, Mommy was sad when you came home." James stated, brushing her hair back from her face. "I sat by your door in case I could make her feel better. Is there something we can do to make her feel better, Daddy?"

"Oh, darlin'," Francis pulled her to his chest and kissed her head, "not tonight. She's sleeping now. We can think of something tomorrow, but I can't believe you sat up just to be there for your mother. You know that would make her happy, don't you? I'm so proud of you wanting to protect your mother like that."

James sniffled. "But, who made her so sad, Daddy?"

Francis sighed, cupping her face in his hands. "It was just a rough night, darlin'. Just. . .she was reminded of something that happened a long time ago. Your mother might tell you more about it when you're older. I don't know. She's okay though. It just makes her sad from time to time." He tilted his head downstairs. "C'mon, you and I can go play cards or something. I don't think either of us are sleeping for a while."

"Can I say goodnight to Mommy first?" James asked, glancing back towards their room as he stood up.

"She's asleep, darlin'." Francis reminded her gently.

James nodded. "I know. I won't wake her up, Daddy. I promise." She pleaded, flashing her big eyes at him.

Francis smiled with a shake of his head. "Alright, but be quick."

James hurried into their room, careful to be quiet as she went over to Claire's side of the bed where she was laying. She set her stuffed animal down on the nightstand before straightening out her blanket. With delicate movements, she threw the blanket over her mother so it covered her up to her shoulders. She tucked the extra material hanging over the edge against her mother, keeping on eye on Claire's face to be sure she wasn't waking up.

Claire fought hard not to break down. After listening to her daughter in the hallway with Francis to receiving the care she was now, she wanted nothing more than to bring James into bed with her and let sleep take her away from this night. But, she didn't want to scare her daughter. While her daughter knew she enjoyed cuddling with her, it seemed like she had scared her daughter tonight, and it was taking everything in her not to scare her further by quitting the charade of sleeping just like it seemed her daughter had done since they'd gotten home.

When the blanket was adjusted the way James wanted it, she reached for her stuffed animal and laid it in the crook of Claire's arm against her chest. Happy with the result, she leaned over and kissed Claire's forehead. "Love you, Mommy."

"Good job, darlin'." Francis breathed from the doorway, a little thrown when he found himself affected by his daughter's care for her mother. "Let's let her sleep."

Claire waited until she heard Francis and James on the stairs before she buried her face in the stuffed animal, hiding the evidence of her tears even knowing she was the only one to witness them.

She had somehow managed to fall asleep, albeit not for long. Her eyes opened to her clock reading four a.m. While her night had been rough pretty much all around including James's care, she smiled softly with her daughter's scent wrapped around her. Peering over her shoulder, Claire expected to find Francis or at least evidence that he had changed, but she found the bed still essentially untouched on his side. She couldn't hear either her husband or daughter from downstairs, and it make her curious as to if the two were all the way down in the basement or if they had crashed somewhere in the house.

Folding James's blanket over her arm and keeping the stuffed animal close to her chest, she walked out of their room. The whole house was dark, no hint of consciousness anywhere. She took the couple steps to James's room and gently pushed open the door, smiling to herself when she found James fast asleep in her bed and Francis snoring softly on the pull out mattress typically hidden underneath her daughter's bed.

Francis must've changed in their bathroom without her noticing, because he was in a white T and gray sweatpants from the parts of him peaking out from their daughter's magenta 'peace, love, smile' blanket. While he usually didn't snore, she figured it was acting up tonight due to the fact his head was resting on what looked like their daughter's stuffed alpaca. She would've laughed at the sight if she didn't feel so raw and vulnerable.

She walked over to Francis and squatted down beside him, reaching out and rubbing his chest to help him slowly wake up. "Francis, come to bed."

"Comfy." Francis denied, eyes still closed. He did scoot over, however, holding out his arm. "Join me."

"If James wakes up to us sleeping on the mattress her friends usually sleep on, she's going to know something is wrong." Claire stated, taking his hand and tugging on it softly. She sighed when Francis only wiggled with the movement but made no move of his own to get up.

"She already knows something is wrong." Francis breathed. "Just get in the bed, Claire."

Claire huffed out a breath, dropping his hand. While she usually would argue her point further, she knew Francis was right on this one. She didn't have a chance to hide this from her daughter. James knew something was off the second they got home. Turning around, she managed to slip into the bed with a maneuver close to the crab crawl she'd seen her daughter do when she was on a sugar rush. While she hated to admit it to herself, she felt better the second Francis wrapped his arm around her and brought her to his chest. "When did you two get to sleep?"

"Around two. Would've been earlier, but I couldn't find any extra pillows." Francis explained. "By the time I thought about my pillow on our bed, I was already comfy in here. We should upgrade our mattress."

"Is James okay?" Claire asked, biting her lip as she glanced up towards her daughter's bed.

Francis hummed softly. "She's worried about you, but I'm glad that she is. I'd be more worried if she wasn't. She felt better when we came up to go to sleep, and she came and checked on you. Retucked the blanket around you. All she wants is to take care of her momma." He craned his neck enough to kiss her head. "I know her taking care of you like that probably wasn't easy, but you deserve that attention, Claire."

"I couldn't comfort her, Francis." Claire whispered, wrapping her arm around his torso as he started rearranging the blanket on himself to cover the both of them. "I didn't want her to see how affected I was by tonight. All she wanted to do was make me feel better, and I couldn't comfort her and tell her I was okay. I don't deserve her, Francis."

"Yes, you do, Claire." Francis murmured, rubbing his thumb back and forth across her shoulder. "She came in to tuck you in, say goodnight, wanted to make you feel better because of everything you've done to raise her. You've raised her to be loving and compassionate. You've given her so much that she wanted to do the same to you. She wanted to do those things, because she loves you that much, Claire. You deserve her, because you made her everything she is right now. As for not wanting her to see how upset you were, I get that. We've done that with each other, but you know you never have to hide with James and I. With us, it's okay to not be okay."

Claire slowly opened her eyes hearing faint giggling from downstairs, giggles she immediately knew were her daughter's. Between that and Francis's snoring in her hair, it was hard for her not to laugh herself. Just like a few hours earlier, she made like a crab and eased her way out of the bed without disturbing Francis and padded downstairs. She smiled seeing James curled up on the couch in yet another blanket of hers, cocooned into the cushions, and watching cartoons on the TV they usually had tucked away.

"And, here I thought you would sleep in considering how late you were up." Claire teased as she walked behind the couch.

James turned and grinned seeing Claire. "You slept in my room last night."

"I did." Claire nodded, joining James on the couch and quickly covering her legs with the blanket once she was settled into the cushions as well. "I woke up and went looking for you two. That's where I found you."

"It took a while for Daddy to go to sleep." James stated plainly. "He had me read four stories, and he was still awake. He was better though after he told me a story though. He told me about the day he met you and how pretty you were and how much he loves us. He loves us a lot, Mommy."

Claire smiled, making a note to pay some attention to Francis later when she had a chance. "He does. Just like I love the two of you." She played with James's hair. "I guess your father didn't have a great night either."

James shook her head, glancing up at her mother. "Why were you so sad?"

"I just saw someone last night I haven't seen in a long time, and they aren't someone I really want to be around." Claire tried to explain. She prided herself on not lying to her daughter, but this was something she couldn't tell her daughter until she was old enough to understand. "I got a little scared and upset, and your dad could tell. It was doing the same thing to him."

"You were scared?" James asked, wide-eyed.

Claire nodded. "I was. He did something really bad before your father and I met, and it just reminded me of it." She leaned down and pressed her forehead to James's. "I get scared just like you do. So does your father. There are things that scare us, that make us sad, make us mad. When you have those feelings, your father and I want to do what we can to make you feel better."

James rested her hands in her lap. "Do you feeling better?"

"I do." Claire stated. "You made me feel better tucking me in last night and graciously letting me sleep with your stuffed animal. It helped remind me that the past is the past, and I've got a lot now that I didn't back then."

James smiled, wrapping her arms around Claire's neck and hugging her tightly. "I'm glad you feel better. I don't like it when you're sad. It makes me sad." She sighed contently when Claire pulled her closer, bringing her into her lap. "I love you, Mommy. So much."

Claire buried her nose in her daughter's hair. "I love you too, sweetheart. More than you could ever know." She kissed James's cheek and continued to hold her close, giving herself the chance she refused herself last night to hold her daughter for as long as she could.

Please review!