The Phoenix

Death Doesn't Discriminate

"Sir?" Emily asked as she and Aaron entered the Oval Office.

The President looked incredibly shaken up.

"Is everything alright?"

"No. No it's not. Agent Wells was right. Peter MacLeish just outright admitted to giving over the files to Al Sakar. He conspired with them to blow up the Capitol, and the bullet that killed his wife was meant to kill me. All so he could become President."

Emily and Aaron shared a look of nervousness.

"I hate to tell you this, but Al Sakar is not who is responsible for the Capitol bombing. Majid Nassar confessed that to Hannah Wells and Jason Atwood during his interrogation."

"What?"

"Luckily, we do know who did. His name is Catalan. He's been evading the CIA for years, and their information on him is limited, but we do know that he had a connection to MacLeish. They served in the military together."

"Oh, my god," Kirkman said, rubbing his face in frustration. "Get Agent Ritter in here please."

Emily's phone buzzed again. It was a text from Sawyer. She needed to go pick him up from the hospital.

"Sir, I'm going to need the rest of the day off."

"Why?"

"It's my dad," she admitted, biting her lip. "He, uh, he passed away a few hours ago and I need to go pick my little brother up from the hospital. He's only 15 so he can't drive, and he really needs me right now."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm sure Aaron can manage things by himself."

"Yes, Sir." Aaron nodded, and the two of them walked out.

Emily began to worry as they headed down the hallway.

"Are you sure that you can handle all of this on your own? I could have Lucy go get Sawyer."

"No, Emily. They need you right now. I'll be fine here."

"Okay."

"If you need anything, call me." he said, pulling her into a hug.

Emily would be lying if she said she didn't cry when she got in the car. Tears dripped down her face as she recalled 12 years worth of happy memories she had of her dad. How he made sure he still paid attention to her even when her siblings were born, or how he had been proud of everything she did. Even though their relationship had gone over a cliff when her mother died, she had always loved her father. She managed to compose herself by the time she arrived at the hospital, which turned out to be a good thing being that Sawyer was anything but. When he saw her, he ran into her arms sobbing, She had never seen another human being so distraught in her entire life.

"Shh. It's okay. I'm here now." she said, trying to console him. Her efforts to calm him seemed futile for a while until he finally managed to speak coherently.

"Sawyer, you need to tell me what happened. What happened to dad?"

"He hung himself. I came home from school and called his name. He didn't answer me, so I went into his room. The closet door was wide open, and there he was," he explained between sniffles. "All he left were these."

Sawyer pulled three envelopes out of his pocket. The only opened one was addressed to him while the other two were addressed to her and Lucy. Emily opened hers and what her father had written ripped her heart in half.

Dear Emily,

I'm so sorry for everything. You were my pride and joy, my oldest, you are my greatest achievement. You've come so far, and you've been so brave. Raising your brother and sister. Being the mother and father that were never able to be there for them. You made everything in life you touched better, including me. When you were born, I had a lot of problems, but when I saw your face, I knew that you would need me in life. I had to be there for you. The death of your mother blindsided me to that. I know that you will always resent me, but that's okay. I've always resented myself for what I did to you. I left you without a father when you needed one most and I will never forgive myself for that. Emmy, I need you to be brave again. I left all of my money in my will to you so that you could take care of your brother and sister. I've always loved you, and I always will.

Love, Dad.

He had died thinking she hated him. She would never get to tell him that she still loved him, no matter how many times he let her down. Tears welled in her eyes again, but she knew she couldn't cry. Not in front of Sawyer. God knows how upset that would make him. Just then, her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was Aaron. He was making sure that she was okay.

"Who was that?" Sawyer asked as she typed a reply.

"Oh, it's no one."

"Em, tell me about your life. I need to think about something other than this. Please."
"That was my boyfriend."

"What's he like?"

"His name is Aaron. He's Chief of Staff. He's sweet, and he's caring, but he isn't afraid to pick an argument with almost anyone. Trust me, that's all we used to do when we first met. I'm not really sure how else to describe him, or how I feel about him. He just makes me feel this way that no one else ever has before."

Her brother sighed. "That's love, Em. Don't be afraid of it."

"Yeah," she chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Well, one thing I know for sure is that we have a lot to do. We have to take care of all the legal stuff, have Dad cremated like he asked, and have me move in with you."

"We do. How about this, for right now, let's go home and move you into my apartment. I have a guest room that you can have. Deal?"

"Deal."

A/N: Hey loves, my next chapter is going to be called Love Doesn't Discriminate, and I really want to make that one special, so it won't be going up tomorrow, it'll be going up on Christmas. I'm having some writer's block on it but I want to really make the chapter fit perfectly with the Love part of the title. We also hit 100 reads (doesn't seem like much but it still makes me happy)! Love you guys!