Madam President ✓

24. An Affair

  Did I do that right? Did I somehow manage to insult an entire faith group? Did I sound like a fucking idiot?

  When Amen's ring out from the crowd, I know I did it at least a little right: otherwise I know some of them would be booing me.

  "Excuse me." My eyes wander to the back, where one of the motorcade vehicles is waiting with an open door and three undercover agents.

  They part way without having to be asked again. The respect is something I don't get- shouldn't they be wishing that I died and Cook or Lowe got pulled out of the rubble instead?

I feel the power in my own walk, hear the cameras snapping away and Walter beside me. I can already see these pictures being put in history books no matter how much I may protest.

  I slide into the armored tank they like to call a van, putting me in the middle. An agent shuts and aggressively locks the door on Walter's side. Five seconds later, Jane gets in the other way.

  "I asked my assistant to connect Amber's- her girlfriend and the agent that died- number to my phone for a few minutes."

  "Godamnit that's cruel-"

  "Maybe." She admits. "It worked though. She should be there about the same time we are."

  The motorcade pulls off.

  "How's you're daughter doing with all of this?" Jane asks. "When I.... took this job a few years back mine was pissed but she got over it once I started acknowledging her existence more."

  "Katie's fine. She's always been independent."

  "Willingly? Or out of necessity?"

"Both.... Maybe." I say. "I had my moments but I... was a horrible mother at first. I had the... housekeepers raise her and by the time I started being a mother they'd taught her everything a mother should have. Why is it any of your business anyways?"

  "It's not but-" she coughs. "I'm just making an observation. She could be having a full blown mental breakdown and you wouldn't know. Hell mine might be."

  "Secret service would tell me if she was having a panic attack-"

  "Maybe not." Jane suggests. "The security I hired for mine after a suspect in a case I was working on threatened her life didn't. They went around me to the Director because I was on the brink of solving it and they didn't want to distract me."

  "God that's horrible...." I shake my head, disgusted for her. "I'm going to talk to her. I mean really talk to her, just not now. There's too many things to be done."

"Yeah...." I follow her line of sight to the FBI tent, which is barely visible from here because of the vehicles and reporters blocking it. At some point, some FBI interns set up a podium and the media was finally let in. They must have been able to infer from that alone that something was seriously wrong and there was nothing that can be done about it. They would be right.

I am terrified of looking at the news right now. Ive avoided it the past half hour- and this would be my first real chance to interact with reporters( I'm not counting the one that approached me immodestly after my rescue.)

A few point out the motorcade. The secret service driving us pull around back around so we can go into the tent without being assaulted by a million questions.

Then, just two minutes later- there she is.

It takes her a second. She glances between Jane and I, the realization hitting her.