It all Happened so Fast (Complete)

Just a Normal Day

Kamala woke up as she did most mornings, bright and early to the sound of Doug browsing the news headlines on his phone. "Good morning beautiful", Doug said, seeing her stir awake. "Morning Dougie", she replied somewhat sleepily.

It was just a normal morning, or as normal as days got since she was inaugurated as Vice President. Her schedule was always full and there were always things to think about and important work to be done, but the day started fairly normal. After having coffee and some breakfast, they got ready for the day just as normal but something felt off and she just couldn't put her finger on what it was.
Most days they went to their respective offices separately, since they both had different meetings and events, but today Kamala and Joe were giving remarks about the recent evacuations in Afghanistan and Doug was scheduled to attend along with the first lady. The mood lately was more somber in light of the suicide bombing that occurred killing a number of service men and women. Joe and Kamala, despite all the bad press, had made extraordinary efforts to evacuate people from Afghanistan as quickly as possible and today's remarks were an attempt to try and move forward from this devastating blow.

In the motorcade, Kamala was usually busy on her phone with her staff working through a number of daily tasks, but this morning she was quiet, something felt off and she took the time to look out the window and reflect, she held Doug's hand the whole ride, something she didn't ordinarily do. "You ok honey?" Doug had clearly noticed that she was a bit different this morning, he certainly didn't mind holding her hand, he tried to get as much time with her as possible, but her quietness worried him. "No, I am fine honey, just not looking forward to this morning, although moving the troops out of Afghanistan was the right call and we knew there were risks, we certainly didn't anticipate this outcome." Doug squeezed her hand in an effort to show his support, he was always so supportive, he had her back no matter what.
They got to the venue and Doug pulled Kamala's hand closer to get her attention, "you're going to be great this morning honey and after some meetings, we don't have a crazy schedule, we should be home by 7pm, we can have the chef make some dinner at home, I'll draw you a bath and we can relax for once on a Friday evening. Doesn't that sound nice?" "Sounds heavenly", Kamala replied with a faint smile, wondering how she got so lucky to find someone so supportive who always knew exactly what she needed. With a quick kiss, they both left the vehicle, Doug heading backstage to meet with Jill and Kamala being ushered to a small meeting room to go over talking points with Joe.

Doug didn't see Kamala again before the event started, but he was right behind her as they entered the event along with Jill and some senior military officials who were also on hand. He listened as Joe gave his remarks to applause from the audience and his wife stepped up to the podium. She started talking about the events in Afghanistan and the evacuation work that they had been doing, she was a brilliant speaker as usual with compassion and drive to always get the audience engaged. In light of the seriousness of the situation, she set aside her usual little jokes and laughter, but she was detailing the efforts they had made to evacuate as many Americans as possible and those who had worked with the US military. Doug was intently listening but also scanning the crowd as he always did to see the audiences' reaction to her message. Doug stood behind the podium slightly off to the side along with Jill, Joe and senior military advisors. Suddenly Doug saw something in the crowd, a small flash of light that was not usual. He looked around to try and find the source then looked to the sides to see if the secret service detail had noticed the same thing, but they looked in position as normal. He scanned the audience again and saw a little red light flash. It was hard to clearly determine what it was with the studio style lighting, but this time he was sure it was a small red light coming from something being held by an on looker just off to the side of the crowd. He became alarmed, but stayed still not wanting to cause a scene if it was just a notification light coming from someone's watch or phone. He stayed in place but saw it again and this time he swore he saw something being pointed in the direction of the podium. He again looked to the secret service detail, but he saw no alarm in their faces when all of a sudden, he saw something being lifted and pointed directly at his wife. With fear and adrenaline taking over, he didn't care anymore if he was making a scene for nothing and quickly approached the podium shoving his wife from the podium. Suddenly, Doug heard a pop and felt fire in his back and shoulder. The scene quickly turned to chaos. He felt burning but didn't register what was happening, he just knew people started screaming and then his wife was above him looking frantic and calling his name. He wanted to talk to her, to calm her, but he couldn't seem to get out words. He felt so tired and his eyes drew heavy. Doug tried to stay awake and to figure out what was happening, but he couldn't fight it, his heavy eyes just wouldn't stay open.