A/N — I realized today that it's almost February! If you have prompt suggestions for Valentine's Day, drop me a note. xoxo — kals

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Chapter 22

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"Major Green," the man said, approaching the side of the East Room of the White House where Sasha and Danny were standing in an effort to avoid talking to anyone, "it is a pleasure to meet you. My nephew has told me so much about you. Ah, and Admiral Cooper, a pleasure to see you again."

Sasha hid a smile at the scowl Danny didn't quite manage to hide at the mention of one of his least-favorite Germans. "Thank you, President von Hohenzollern. Always a pleasure to see you. How is Karl?"

"You know the boy," the man sighed, but the gesture was entirely fake, "he flits here and there and never settles down. I did hope that he might have found a reason when he introduced the two of us, but Karl informs me that you are engaged to Captain, er, Admiral Chandler. All of your promotions have been well-earned."

"Well-earned, my ass," Danny muttered as Alexander von Hohenzollern, the President of Germany and Secretary General for NATO, made his way to the next group of people, consisting of the newly-appointed Secretary of Defense, Secretary Michener and newly-promoted General Hurtado. "You might have earned it, getting Rachel's project greenlit by Congress. But I told Karl to do his worst. I can't believe he spun things to make it look like I was responsible for President Gispert's rescue."

Sasha bit her lip to keep a smile from her face. "Are you mad about the promotion or the fact that Karl will inevitably lord the favor you owe him over you for years?"

"The later, of course," Danny muttered, before noticing Kara on the other side of the room chatting with several members of the Nathan James crew. "I think I might get a drink after all."

Before Sasha could find somewhere to hide, Jed approached, leaning over to brush a kiss against Sasha's cheek. "Don't even think about running off."

"It's good to see you, Jed," Sasha said, sincerely this time. "Tom didn't mention that you were coming."

"The kids wanted to see their dad," Jed replied, taking a sip of his whisky and giving Sasha a satisfied smile that she recognized from old. "We're having dinner together after this. You should join us. Not like they serve anything worth eating at these things."

Abruptly, Sasha felt tense. While the three days that it took the Nathan James to reach first Norfolk had been busy, there had certainly been enough time for Tom to mention that Ashley and Sam would be in Washington when they arrived. Had the oversight been deliberate? Still, Sasha reasoned, this might be an opportunity to officially meet the Chandler children as a member of Tom's crew, rather than their father's girlfriend. "Which hotel? I'll try to come by to say hello."

"Or have dessert," Jed teased, drawing a smile from Sasha. "We're at the Hotel Washington. Tom mentioned that he was staying there?"

"Yes," Sasha admitted. Of course, when Tom told her where he was staying and asked Sasha to come by later, he failed to mention that he wouldn't be alone.

Jed, however, was grinning. "Great. Dinner's at seven."

Nodding absently, Sasha scanned the room. "Where are the kids?"

"Oh," Jed said airily, "they went back to the hotel room after the ceremony. This sort of thing doesn't interest them."

Lucky kids.

"Is it safe for them to be at the hotel alone?" Sasha asked without stopping to think. After what happened in New Orleans she had, admittedly, been more cautious than usual, but Sam was only nine, after all.

"Oh, they aren't alone," Jed said airily. "Did I forget to mention that Darien's here too?"

Sasha wished that she had something stronger than Perrier in her glass as she took a sip. "Yes, you did."

xxxxx

"Why are we doing this again?" Danny whined, tugging on the neck of his dress collar as they exited the White House to make the five-minute walk to Hotel Washington.

"Because," Kara responded briskly, "there's no way we can send Sasha to meet the Captain's kids and his ex-wife without having a back-up plan." Danny shot Sasha an irritated look but she shrugged as Kara continued laying out the plan she figured out immediately upon learning of Sasha's dilemma. Vaguely, Sasha wondered whether she could recruit Kara away from Rachel. She would make an excellent logistics officer. "We will enter the dining room together and all say hello to Captain Chandler and his family. Danny and I will then allow the host to escort us to our own table. I've asked that our table be close to the bathroom on the basis that I'm pregnant and have to pee a lot..."

"Which is true," Danny muttered.

Kara ignored him. "If Sasha wants out, she gives the sign while walking past us to the bathroom and then Danny claims that he has an urgent message and both of you have to leave immediately. We will then regroup in our hotel room..."

"Where we'll get room service?" Danny asked hopefully. "Ditch the uniforms? Enjoy the first night we've had in months where the survival of the world doesn't depend on us?"

"Where," Kara said, voice conveying her displeasure at being interrupted again, and Sasha hid a grin, "we will discuss what happened and determine the best way to proceed."

Danny sighed. "What exactly is wrong with having dinner with Darien anyway? You said she was nice, Kara."

Kara stopped, hands moving to her hips. "If you are suggesting that it would ever be okay for me to eat dinner with Rebecca you had better get that idea out of your head right now."

Eyes wide, Danny's gaze darted from Kara to Sasha, and then he took a step back. "Good point. We can relax tomorrow."

xxxxx

Tom was listening to Sam chatter about his new skateboard when his gaze was caught by a group of newcomers in uniform. The majority of the hotel was comprised of military, so it was hardly a surprising sight to see people in Navy blue, but Tom would know this particular woman in any uniform. More importantly, Tom knew that Sasha planned to return to her condo tonight. Which raised the question of why she was here unless. Tom's eyes shot to Jed, who was smiling broadly, suppressing a sigh. He should have suspected something was going on when the server didn't remove the extra place setting.

Tom turned, eyes narrowed. "Dad, please tell me you didn't..."

"Sasha!" Jed raised a hand, waving her towards their table. From across the ballroom, Tom could almost read the resignation in Danny's eyes as he and Kara trailed Sasha across the room, and wondered whether this was something the two of them did regularly. Somehow, Tom didn't imagine Sasha going into a date without having a clearly defined ex-fil plan. Jed gave Tom a satisfied smile. "I ran into Sasha at the ceremony today and invited her to join us."

"Of course you did," Tom muttered, before realizing that Ashley was watching him with a rather pinched expression. It was one that he was beginning to see quite often and, usually, meant she was unhappy. There was no time to recover, however, as Sasha appeared at the table, and Tom began making introductions, finishing with Danny.

Sam's eyes lit up. "Wait, you're Chris Green's brother?"

Danny's smile was easy, as though he was used to being around kids. "I sure am."

"Chris is awesome," Sam gushed. "He helped me fix my skateboard when it broke and taught me all kinds of tricks."

Danny leaned forward, his voice dropping. "Guess who taught Chris those tricks? Maybe tomorrow we can find some boards and hit the parking lot."

Tom glanced at Sasha, his question apparently clear because she leaned over to answer, keeping her voice low. "He's got like a billion cousins, and they all have kids. He'll make sure Sam doesn't get hurt."

"We'll see," Darien said, talking to Sam. Then, before Tom realized what she was planning, she added. "Won't you all join us?"

"Oh, we couldn't..." Kara began, only to be cut off by Jed.

"Nonsense. Any friend of Sasha's is a friend of ours," Jed said, before catching a passing server to ask them to add a leaf to their table. Five minutes later, everyone was seated.

Ashley promptly turned to Kara. "Are you pregnant?"

"Ashley! You never ask that." Tom hissed, only to have his daughter roll her eyes at him.

From the way Kara's lips thinned, Tom could tell she was amused, but she kept a straight face. "As it happens, I am. But your father is correct that you should never ask a woman if she's pregnant."

Ignoring the set down, Ashley asked. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

With both kids occupied, Tom turned to Sasha, who was seated rather awkwardly between Danny and Jed, with Tom across the table between Darien and Kara. He gestured between the two women. "Darien, this is Sasha Cooper, who was instrumental in the development of the cure. Sasha, this is my ex-wife, Darien."

Darien smiled, lifting her wine glass. "I've heard so much about you, Sasha. Jed sings your praises from morning to night."

Reminding himself that Darien had been sick, and likely was not feeling her best even without having Sasha appear, Tom resisted the urge to kick his ex-wife under the table. Sasha, on the other hand, seemed perfectly at ease as she lifted her own wine glass. "Jed's mentioned you as well. I think he said something about you planning to open a yoga studio?"

"Why yes," Darien seemed surprised, but then pleased, glancing at Jed with an actual smile — something that was a rarity in their contentious relationship. "I've been considering the idea for several years. I initially was looking at locations in Norfolk, but with Tom working out of the Pentagon, I'm going to start searching for locations in Alexandria. Assuming there's still a market for yoga."

Tom tried to remember Darien saying anything about a yoga studio. Sure, Darien had been into yoga for years but opening her own business? And how had Jed known about that when Tom didn't?

Sasha seemed to be considering the issue. "Perhaps you could market it as therapeutic exercise. Even hire some counselors willing to talk to people about what's happened over the past six months. I imagine that would do well."

Their entrees arrived quickly, and Tom found himself managing to relax as the conversation moved to fishing. Jed was in the process of inviting Danny and Kara to the cabin when Sasha stood, motioning to the bathroom.

Unfortunately, Darien stood immediately after her. "I'll join you."

Kara's mouth opened, but Sasha gave a shake of her head, so subtle that Tom would have missed it if he wasn't looking right at her. He was watching the two women disappear into the hall when Ashley spoke. "Are the two of you dating?"

"Don't be stupid, Ashley," Sam shot back. "Mom and Dad are divorced. They aren't dating."

Ashley gave a sigh. "Not Mom, you idiot. Is Dad dating Sasha?"

"Don't call your brother an idiot," Tom said, before taking the plunge. "But, yes. Sasha and I are ... seeing each other."

Sam wrinkled his nose. "Does that mean you kiss?"

"Yes, it does," Jed replied, saving Tom from figuring out how to respond in a way that was true, yet didn't raise questions concerning the fraternity rules.

"Ew."

As Sam turned back to his chicken fingers, that seemed to be the extent of his thought on the matter. Ashley, on the other hand, was frowning at Tom. Deciding that there was no point in pushing Ashley, Tom turned to Danny. "Kara mentioned that the two of you wanted to buy a house. Where are you looking?"

xxxxx

Darien was silent on the way to the ladies' room but Sasha wasn't fooled. There was only one reason for Tom's ex-wife to voluntarily join her and that was to have a conversation outside of Tom's hearing. Sasha had actually been tempted to accept Kara's offer of protection but, ultimately, knew that it wouldn't have worked. While ducking Darien might make for a more pleasant evening, it would just be delaying the inevitable.

Sasha walked immediately to the stall to take care of business. If there was anything worse than dealing with female drama, it was dealing with female drama with a full bladder. Darien didn't bother with the pretense, merely checking her hair and makeup while she waited for Sasha to emerge. In the harsher lights of the bathroom, Sasha could see Darien's pallor, a harsh reminder of how sick the woman had been only weeks before.

"I know who you are," Darien said, but the words were soft, factual, nothing accusatory. "You're the one who got away. And now he's finally caught you."

In general, Sasha objected to the idea that she was something to be caught or held, but decided there was no point in arguing semantics with Darien. "Tom and I dated, yes, but that was a long time ago. He loved you, Darien. I saw him after he found out that you were sick. He was devastated."

A smile played along Darien's lips. "I know he loved me, still does in his own way. He just never loved me the way he loved — loves — you. I never thought that head-over-heels thing was real, you know, just an excuse for people in lust, who wanted it to be more. I was so convinced that the best basis for a marriage was compatibility, and love would follow. But it's been fifteen years and even I can see the spark between you."

Off-balance, thrown by Darien's honestly, Sasha wasn't certain what she could say. "I had nothing to do with your divorce. You should know that."

This time Darien laughed but, again, there was nothing malicious in the sound. "I didn't think otherwise. But if we were still married right now, do you think it would make a difference in how he felt?"

No. Sasha knew the answer instantly. "Tom would never cheat."

"Not intentionally," Darien replied. Sighing, she turned to face Sasha. "I know that Jed set us both up tonight. Lord knows why. I've never understood how that man's mind works. But I wanted you to know that I hope things work out for you and for Tom. I know that you had something to do with Jed getting the kids out of Norfolk." Darien held up a hand when Sasha would have protested. "No, I was married to a Navy captain long enough to understand national security, but I can also put two-and-two together. And I can't hate the woman who made sure my children got out of a hotspot."

Sasha remained silent, wondering how long she would be forced to accept the thanks of those who managed to escape the virus, whether or not she was responsible, knowing that she had sent thousands of others to their deaths. This ship v. that. One family v. another. She had never asked Danny if he blamed her for his mother's death or Rachel if she blamed Sasha for Michael's death, knowing that the answer didn't matter.

Because she would never stop blaming herself.

Pushing the grim thoughts away, Sasha considered the current situation. Whatever happened in the future between Sasha and Tom, this was unlikely to be the last time the two women interacted. Sasha held out her hand. "How about we agree to a fresh start? Letting the past stay in the past and starting over?"

Darian nodded, setting her hand in Sasha's. "That sounds good to me."

xxxxx

Three hours passed before Tom walked into his hotel room, tossing his jacket on the bed. While the kids were sleeping in Darien's suite, they had wanted Tom to stay and talk until long after bedtime. At least Sasha had agreed that it didn't make sense to return to her condo tonight, given that she hadn't been back since before the Nathan James left port and had no idea what condition the building was in. Like the remainder of the Nathan James crew, Sasha was assigned her own hotel room, but wasn't surprised to see her standing by the window, staring out. Although Tom doubted that she was enjoying the view of the White House for which the hotel was known.

Tom clicked the lock shut behind him, wondering what Sasha was thinking. "If it makes you feel any better, I read Dad the riot act."

Sasha turned, raising an eyebrow. "Do you think it will make any difference?"

Sighing, Tom shook his head. That was the thing about his father. The two men might have reached a truce and even come to enjoy spending time together regularly, but Jed could still drive him crazy. "No."

Sasha laughed, a smile crossing her face. "Actually, dinner was fine. "

"Then what's bothering you?" Tom asked.

She hesitated, then looked at him, her eyes reflecting an exhaustion that Tom felt to his bones. "Do you think that things will ever seem normal again?"

Wrapping his arms around her, Tom tugged her close, stroked his hand down her back. "I don't know, Sasha. I honestly don't know."