Apologies for the delay on this one. Next chapter will post in two weeks, as planned. Thanks, as always, to Team AGW. And to all of you, for your support of this story.

Chapter 16

Isabella made her way back to the West Wing and caught sight of Carmen. "Have they woken you up as well?"

"I had a feeling today would be a big deal, so I came prepared. In more ways than one."

"Oh, yeah?"

Carmen nodded. "I asked Shelley to squeeze me in when you had some free time."

"Free time isn't a luxury I'll have today, but you may want to sit in on this meeting with the press office."

"Do you have another big announcement planned?" Carmen raised an eyebrow at her boss.

"You'll be one of the first to know. But I'm serious, come to this meeting."

"Whatever my Commander commands," Carmen said with a wonky salute.

The pair walked into the Oval Office and were greeted by half the Press Office standing as Bella entered.

"Did something else happen?" she questioned.

Riley sat, leaving room for Carmen to join her on the couch. "No, but there is a lot to coordinate, so it was easier to discuss this all at once and take off running. Carmen, I'm glad you're here. We will need your assistance with a lot of our plans for the next twelve hours."

"Let's start at the top," Bella urged.

"Is Edward joining us?" Riley asked.

"He's on a call with Director Fitzwilliam, but I'll keep him apprised on what we decide here."

"Okay. First, we heard back from the producer at The Late Show with Sean Henry. They're very interested. His team had already returned to New York, but his field producer, Dara Neville, will be back in DC by one o'clock. The plan for today's episode had been a bunch of segments that hadn't been included in his week of shows filmed in DC, so there was no plan to have an audience, and that will still be the case. They're willing to do an extended interview with you, at a location of your convenience. That way we can break the news of your relationship and Sean can have your first official interview. But they won't have all of their equipment, because Dara's getting on the Acela train as soon as he can be packed."

"Is that where I come in?" Carmen guessed.

"Yes. We were hoping you could assist them with filming the interview," Riley confirmed.

"Absolutely. Now, I've had something on a secure drive for a while, and after being alerted to the possible footage leak when Alice called me, I brought it in to go along with any press release now or in the future."

"What's that?" Bill asked.

"Candid photos of the president and Special Agent Masen around the White House. Nothing too personal, and you would of course have final say on any that are released. But as I've been taking photos since the beginning of Harry's presidency, I've been able to document the progression in your relationship."

"I'd love to see them," Bella told Carmen.

Riley piped in to steer the conversation back to the tasks of the day. "That goes hand in hand with Alice's other request. An engagement photo shoot. She wants it done as soon as possible so we have the photos to go along with the press release."

"We can do that. If you'd like, we can take the photos this morning prior to the interview, then the release can go out at any time," Carmen confirmed.

"Okay. I'll get with Athenodora to plan for all this. Carmen, if you want to come up to The Residence when you're ready, we can begin making plans." Isabella turned to the rest of the team. "Anything else?"

When everyone confirmed they were done, Isabella stood and moved toward the exit. "This is the only work that matters today. Tomorrow we can return to governing. Today, we need to get my house right."

The door opened and Isabella stepped out. She informed Shelley that she would be out of office the rest of the day, then made her way upstairs.

Not long after Bella arrived upstairs, Athenodora walked in with several garment bags. "I came with options for today."

"What were you thinking?" Bella asked. At this point, she was so exhausted, she needed to be coddled.

"For the interview, you should look professional, but I thought a little deviation from your usual suits could do the trick." Athenodora opened one of the garment bags and pulled out two suits. One was navy with a frilly blouse, but the other was a deep wine color, with a vest and pants instead of a jacket and a blouse that tied at the neck.

"I like the wine one. I'm still buttoned up, but my arms won't be covered, so if I sit with my hands folded in my lap it'll draw attention to my newest accessory."

"Perfect. Now, I found this dress and I almost didn't want to pull anything else, but I knew I should, just in case." Athenodora opened another bag to reveal a soft petal pink tea-length dress. It had a lace overlay, with flowers at the elbows, a neckline that would come up to the hollow of her neck, and scattered around the skirt. The bottom hem had an antique lace pattern and a tiny pink bow accented the waist.

"That is for the engagement photo shoot with Carmen?"

"Yes. Since it would all be done in the White House, I thought a contrast in the look would help separate these photos from the interview."

"Are we using the Treaty Room for the interview?"

"That was the plan. Carmen is working with members of the Press Office to set that up so it is ready for Mr. Henry and his producer. From there, she'll get ready for the photo shoot, which she decided to do afterwards so as not to rush it."

"Has anyone seen or heard from Edward?" Bella asked.

"Not that I know of, but I can check with Shelley and your detail."

"Thank you."

"You have four and a half hours until the interview. If you wanted to take a nap, it might not be the worst idea."

"I'm too wired. I'm going to review a few things, because as soon as the interview is done and the press release with the photos is released, I'm going to call it a night and sleep away the rest of this awful day."

"I'll let you know if I hear anything from Edward, or get information on his location."

Bella curled up on the couch in her sitting room, determined to get some work done, but a gentle touch to her bicep shocked her awake.

"Relax. It's only me," Edward whispered.

"What happened? You were gone so long," she yawned.

"I needed to settle things with Fitzwilliam."

Bella sat back to look him in the eyes. "You had to resign?"

"No," Edward was quick to reassure. "Do you want to discuss this now, or after the interview?"

"Now. I don't want it hanging over me."

Edward sat next to her and took both of her hands in his. "Sam is now the team leader for Alpha, but I'm still part of that detail. There will be events where I'll need to attend as the fiancé of the President. In those instances, another agent will fill my place. A final decision on my status will wait until November."

"Why that long?"

"If for some insane reason you don't win, you'll have the detail afforded to a former president and I could continue to work for the agency at HQ. But in the more likely event that you win, I'll resign and be given my own details."

"And you're okay with that?" Bella pushed.

"We'd talked about after your inauguration, so this is two and a half months early. I'm fine with it. The bigger concern will be the wedding planning on top of running your campaign."

"That is a headache for another day. I just want to survive the next few hours."

"Sean Henry should be here in about forty-five minutes, so we should begin to get ready."

Bella's eyes darted to the antique clock on the bookshelf. "I slept that long?"

"You needed the rest. Now, come on. Time to break the news that the world's most powerful bachelorette is off the market."

Bella rolled her eyes at his attempt at levity. "I'm more concerned over the spike in death threats when the female population realizes you're no longer single."

For what felt like the tenth time that day, Bella changed into the wine-colored suit, adjusting the ties near her neck. Edward joined her as she finished her hair with a pair of combs.

She took in the crisp navy suit, just a touch lighter than the black he was used to. A subtle difference that not everyone would catch.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes." Bella slipped her ring onto her finger and took his hand as he led her to the Treaty Room.

The corner of the Treaty Room with old paintings had been turned into the set of the interview. A settee sat opposite a single wingback armchair. The cameras were positioned to capture all the necessary angles. Sean Henry stood, speaking to a man she assumed to be his producer. He was a lanky man, tall, with black hair that was just starting to show signs of going salt and pepper. His eyes, framed in round glasses, took in everything around him. He reminded her the tiniest bit of Charlie, with his quick wit and keen eye. It had been one of the reasons she'd chosen him.

"Madam President, thank you for the opportunity to be your first sit-down interview after last night." The slightest hint of his Irish brogue came through due to his nerves.

Bella's head snapped in the direction of his words. "I'm quite happy to have you be the one to handle this. I'm sorry last night was interrupted, you'd been my personal choice to emcee the evening, since I watch your show when I have the time."

"That's nice to know, Ma'am." His eyes shifted to Edward and back. "I was told you wanted to use this interview to break some pretty important news, but the nature wasn't fully disclosed."

"Let me clear that up for you, Mr. Henry. This is Special Agent Edward Masen, my fiancé."

Those focused eyes widened just a little as he took in their posture. "That is quite the announcement. Now, since I didn't know the nature of the interview, I wasn't able to prepare much. How would you like to proceed?"

"My press secretary has some guidelines for you to review, but beyond that, we'll let things go organically. If you ask a question we can't or won't answer, we'll let you know to move on. But I want to be open about our relationship."

"Is this openness being forced?" he asked.

"Our timetable was sped up, but this was always the goal."

"Very well. Give me a moment or two to review those guidelines and we'll begin."

Ten minutes later they were seated. Just before the cameras were turned on, Sean looked up.

"Can I refer to you as Special Agent, Mr. Masen? Or only by your name?"

"Either is fine," Edward confirmed.

With another nod, Sean turned to his producer, who was operating the camera Carmen had provided. The red light came on and Sean smiled into the camera. "And we're back with something a little bit different tonight. By now, you've all heard what happened at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner, so I've been invited by President Swan to conduct her first late-night television interview since taking office a year ago. President Swan, thank you for having me."

"I'm glad you agreed to this interview, Sean. I'm a big fan of yours, so I was excited to have this opportunity with you."

"That's very kind of you, Ma'am. Would you like to introduce the gentleman sitting to your right?"

Bella turned to Edward and reached out to grasp his hand where it sat on his knee. "Yes. This is Special Agent Edward Masen, my fiancé."

"You're not one to bury the lead, it seems. Would you mind sharing a bit of your story with us? The American public will want to hear it."

"Of course. When I was selected by President Clearwater to be his running mate, Edward was a member of his protective detail. At first, any interactions were strictly professional, but over time, a relationship formed between us. We've been together for just over two years now."

"This is a secret you've been keeping for a while, then."

Edward took that question, jumping on the proverbial grenade. "We never kept anything a secret. My superiors knew from the beginning. Though there were some bumps when I became a member of Isabella's protective detail, where we weren't sure how or if we could maintain a professional and personal relationship, it all worked out for the best."

"And as Edward said, we've never hidden our relationship. Our colleagues and the White House staff have known and supported us. It has been wonderful to have a place where we can be ourselves."

"I'm sure this wasn't how you planned to announce the engagement. May I ask why now?"

Edward ran his thumb across the back of Isabella's hand and she took a deep breath, glancing at him briefly before returning her gaze to Sean. "No, it wasn't. We'd talked about marriage, but it wasn't until last night that we realized we were putting our lives on hold for our careers. Don't get me wrong, I love being the President of the United States, it is the greatest privilege of my life, but I have so many other aspirations.

"Originally, I would have hopefully been Harry's Vice President for a second term. It would have allowed me time to marry and start a family before considering my own presidential campaign. But fate had other plans." Bella looked to Edward, who smiled warmly at her.

Sean nodded before pushing forward. "But did something else happen last night to prompt this interview? A planned announcement would have happened through a more traditional source."

Bella sighed in slight frustration. "I think you missed your calling in investigative reporting, Mr. Henry. The truth of the matter is one of the networks covering last night's events didn't stop recording after the room was emptied. They caught footage of Edward and me that they believe to be damning, but in reality, it was a private moment, meant to calm me while the bomb was being defused."

"So this is pre-emptive," Sean confirmed.

"It is a timely announcement of a personal decision made between us as a couple," Edward interjected.

"Well, we'll be right back with President Swan and Special Agent Edward Masen after this."

The cameras went off for a moment and the trio all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Did you have any idea for the remainder of the interview?"

"I thought I'd ask a bit about your upbringing and how that made you the woman and the president you've become. Then we can wrap it up and we'll get to work on editing the camera angles together."

"Excellent. I'm ready to continue when you are."

The second half of the interview ran smoothly. Soon Henry and his producer were taking their memory cards and being escorted down to the press office to work on the finished edit. They'd be able to preview it to Riley before taking a flight back home so they'd be able to get the footage on air for tonight's episode.

From there, Carmen gave the couple both a chance to change and soon they were taking engagement photos in several locations around the White House. A small portion of the shoot included Donut, so he could make his own announcement after the White House released their official press packet with photos and a statement the morning after Sean Henry's interview aired.

Having been awake for more than thirty-six hours at that point, Edward insisted they retire for the day, and Bella told her staff the same. The couple changed for bed and after setting an alarm, they fell asleep fast.

Just after eleven, they woke up to watch the Late Show with Sean Henry, pleased with how the interview turned out.

"It's out there now," Edward said as he switched off the television, plunging them back into darkness.

"Yes, it is. Now we'll see what the American people and my opponents think of the news."