Three Months Later
Emily sniffled, standing near the grave. Of course, she'd been there when Tom and so, so many others had been buried. But with all the hectic work of being president and arresting a former one for duplicitous acts, she often didn't have the chance to visit alone. Or, at the very least… with Mike and some other agents a few feet behind her. More than that, she'd refused to go to his grave, or anyone else's, until she had answers as to who killed them. And now she did. The court proceedings had been tedious and time-consuming, but he was in prison now. No house arrest, no under-the-table immunity to protect his reputation. Cornelius Moss was locked up for good.
Emily lay the flowers and took in a breath. Lyor had assured her that as Chief of Staff, he would keep things under control, that she needed to do this and could take as long as she needed, even though their Vice President was off getting an ultrasound.
After Moss' arrest, when things had slowly evolved back to normal, or at least as normal as things could be at the White House, Emily had soon realised that with all of the assistance she had given Aaron in his campaigning to be Tom's Vice President, there was no better person to be Vice President than Isabel. Lyor had more experience, but he didn't want to be in the limelight; he didn't want to be the one shaking hands and putting himself out there. Nor did Kendra, who was serving as Deputy Chief of Staff. And Andrea was now her defence consultant, helping her to make the ethical and fair decisions Tom would have approved of. Despite all the people they'd lost, the White House was still running, still thriving. The media eventually realised Emily was not to be underestimated and that she was a perfect successor for Tom Kirkman.
Isabel's decision to keep the baby hadn't been made lightly. She'd thought deeply about what she truly wanted. She loved her work, so she didn't want to give that up just yet. But at the same time, she did love Aaron. No, she didn't regret breaking things off with him. Their careers would have always clashed and created a rift in their relationship. But when she'd pushed all that aside, she'd understood that what she and Aaron had had wasn't something to dismiss. Emily had assured her she would be fully supported, both professionally and personally. Most of all, after so much loss and so much heartbreak, Isabel realised that bringing new life into the world might be the ray of light that everybody needed.
The most prominent reminder of what had been lost was Penny. Trying to navigate life without her parents or brother there to guide her was not easy. After a brief stay, Leo returned to college, managing to use the thought of making his parents proud as motivation to push himself to keep going. But, slowly but surely, Penny adjusted to school and friends and fun again, supported each step of the way by her very big White House family. Trey and Kendra now lived there full time, with Trey taking more philanthropic work in what was now Alex and Tom's foundation. Sasha did, too, deciding more resolutely to use her voice for good in the messy world of politics with Emily's full backing.
"It's funny, I… I think about you all the time. I usually make most of my decisions based on what you would do. But it's still… it's still so hard." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Losing my mom was hard. I knew it was coming, but it was still hard. But… I didn't realise that losing you would hurt just as much. I didn't realise just how much of a father figure I considered you to be until I lost you. And I hate that I was mad at you. I hate that I'd been so disappointed in you when now I know the way you were acting wasn't your fault. It's taken me a long time to work through that. All of it, really. The shock of it all just took so much time to wear off." Emily stifled a sob. "Especially thinking about who was behind it. It still makes me sick. It still makes me so angry. But we've made sure he won't hurt anyone again. And I know all I can do now is lead the country the way you would have. With honesty, with integrity, with the right people around me."
She spoke to him for a little longer, feeling some of the weight of grief lifted from her chest. When she walked into the Oval Office, Lyor was already sitting with two cups of tea. She smelt chai and smiled. Her favourite.
"Isabel called me in the car. She's on her way back."
"How did she go?"
"Good. Everything's fine." He said cheerily. "She's having a boy. Oh, and I've got a few documents for you to sign for Moss' detainment. DOJ promised these are the last ones."
Nodding, she took the papers from him, reading each term carefully to ensure Moss wouldn't receive special treatment. Lyor seemed to be looking at her with sympathy. She could feel her eyes were still puffy so it was probably obvious she had been crying.
"It was harder than you thought it would be, wasn't it?" Lyor asked softly.
"Yeah… it was. But at least I was able to tell him we caught Moss and that it's over. I… I didn't want to see him until I had answers."
He hummed in assent. "Now you only need to focus on being president. And making him proud."
"With Moss in jail, I can." She said assuredly, believing the words. Lyor was right. That was all she needed to do now. "And especially since we upped security around the place. Not going to give anyone the chance to mess with my head or yours, or anybody else's."
"So… I take it you're not so worried about letting this whole thing make you corrupt?" Lyor asked.
Emily shook her head with confidence. "Not anymore. I know now I'm going to do this right."
