The Phoenix

The Bet

Things seemed unnervingly calm around the White House after Beth's funeral. Staffers scrambled to finish the preparations for the State Dinner while Emily scrambled to find a dress. Finally, she picked out a floor length, off-the-shoulder, red dress which was accompanied by a crystal necklace and nude heels.

Two days before, she had received a letter from her dad, saying that her younger sister Lucy had been given a full ride scholarship to Georgetown, with one exception. It didn't cover housing, so she would be living with Emily, who absolutely loved the fact that he had told her that Lucy would be living in her house, instead of asking. Their relationship had always been rocky. Her dad always worked so he could support them, but on the rare occasion that he was home, he was drunk. Emily raised both Lucy and Sawyer from infancy at only 12 years old because their real parent never even tried to help. Both of her siblings hated their father, and the only reason she didn't, was because she knew him before her mother's death. He was loving and attentive, but after she died he wanted almost nothing to do with his kids. Now she was back where she started, having to teach Lucy all of the important life lessons that one should be taught by their parents in college, not their older sister.

Tonight was the dinner, and the night Lucy finished moving in. Emily put on her makeup while her sister did her hair.

"So, is your boyfriend coming to pick you up?" Lucy teased.

"First of all, he isn't my boyfriend. Second, if he was, you wouldn't be dressed like that." she said. Lucy was wearing a cropped sweater, short-shorts, and UGG slippers.

"Third, I don't care what date is on your birth certificate, you'll always be a three year old."

"Oh, lighten up sis. I think that making out on a couch qualifies him as your boyfriend."

"You have a lot to learn about dating."

"He's going to be there though, right?"

"Yes, Lucy. He'll be there."

"You still haven't told me his name, or what he does."

"That's because I don't want you to find him. All I would have to tell you was his position and you would know basically everything about him. I don't want you going stalker-mode. Get in too deep and you might get a visit from the FBI." Emily explained.

"Okay well, are you at least going to be his date or whatever?"
"Yes! Why do you ask so many questions?" she yell-laughed.

Lucy's badgering stopped after that so she could help Emily get into her dress. The dress fit like a glove. It was actually perfect.

"Alright. I'm heading out."

"Have fun! Tell your boyfriend I said 'Hi'!" Lucy yelled just as she walked out the door.

The drive to the White House was short and uneventful, as usual. Security had been multiplied by 5, but that was understandable. It seemed like every public appearance Kirkman made, something went wrong. His Capitol visit, MacLeish's swearing in, the governor's dinner. Emily parked and went in. Inside was an organized madhouse. People in formal clothes were everywhere, yet somehow she managed to find Aaron.

"Wow, you look, wow." is all he could manage to say.

"I could say the same for you."

Aaron was truly speechless because all he did was grab her arm to lead her to their seats. They sat where the President's cabinet would sit if he actually had one, besides MacLeish, who was staring off into space and being the most antisocial person in the room. He had a hollow, haunted look in his eyes.

"Is anyone even slightly worried about him? He just lost his wife during his inauguration." she asked Aaron.

"He's the Vice President. The nation expects him to be strong no matter what, but, I am concerned."

The dinner began with a toast to the rebuilding of their nation, which of course had to last as long as one of Kirkman's official speeches. However, out of the corner of her eye Emily could see Aaron staring at her. There was a passion in his eyes. There was something in them that she had never seen before. Love. No one had ever looked at her like he did. Then she realized, that's how he had always looked at her. Maybe it had taken her feeling the same way in order to notice it. There wasn't much conversation between them during dinner, mainly because they were occupied with other guests, but they did find some time to sneak off once the dinner had finished.

"So, has Lucy finally adjusted?" he asked her.

"I think so. You know she asked about you."
"Oh really? And how did I manage to come up?"

"I mentioned that little kiss in your office."

"Little, huh?"

"Well," she laughed before his lips collided into hers. That caused another supernova of pure human emotion. All of the muscles in her body relaxed as she allowed her lips to move at will. The force of it all had pushed them both against a wall. Everything in that moment had been perfect until she noticed the First Lady standing in her peripheral. Alex then turned on her heel and walked away. Oh, she'd hear about this later. She and Aaron continued kissing for while longer until she became aware of the swelling that had surely begun in her lips.

"We'd better be getting back." she whispered breathlessly.

"Yeah." he agreed.

They entered the dining room where people were now moving about and socializing. Immediately after splitting up, Alex Kirkman pulled her off to the side with a giddy smile on her face.

"What happened back there?"

"What did it look like?" Emily laughed.

"Who else knows about this?"

"You, Seth, and my sister, but she has no idea who Aaron is."

"Speaking of Seth, he owes me money now." she said.

"You and Seth bet on this?"

"What did you expect?" Alex grinned.

"I'll be right back." she said, excusing herself to go find Aaron.

Emily searched the room for a good five minutes before she found him talking with the senators from North Carolina.

"Oh, this is Emily." he introduced her.

"Emily Rhodes, Special Advisor to the President."

They all discussed North Carolina's economic and industrial state before they went to meet other people.
"Seth made a bet with the First Lady."

"About what?"
"Us."

Aaron looked at her, dumbfounded.

"Yeah. They made a bet that we would start dating and I guess she won."

"We're dating now?"

"Do you want to?" Emily asked, semi-afraid of his answer.

"Of course. Besides, we can't cheat the First Lady out of her money." he joked.

They kissed again, only this time it was much shorter.

"You think we should let Seth know that he lost?"
"No. I think he's about to find out." Aaron said as they watched Alex make her way towards him.