46 tests positive

Vacation Time

'We're meeting Hunter and Melissa and Beau at the White House and traveling down together. Finn is going to join us on Saturday evening, she's flying down herself then ... oh, wait, don't stand honey, I'll get it for you', Jill said, speaking quickly, her excitement evident. Joe held out his coffee cup for Jill to refill it. 'Thanks babe', he said, lightly running his hand across her ass to rest a moment on her hip. It was a totally normal gesture. Not an invitation, not a promise, simply a gesture of natural affection from one spouse to another.

'I take it you're looking forward to our vacation then?' Joe said laughing, getting in a word now while he could. Jill had talked non-stop about the upcoming vacation since they had gotten up, actually since she had woken up. Now that he was home, and they were back together after the Covid isolation, the bill through the Senate since yesterday evening, she seemed to have switched focus entirely to the vacation. She grinned, and took a seat on his lap, lacing her fingers together at the nape of his neck. 'It's just going to be so wonderful to have some time with Hunt, I feel like we never get to talk to him by himself anymore. I don't mean Melissa ...' Joe smiled and kissed her softly, 'I know exactly what you mean. To spend time with him and Melissa and Beau as a family, just time without interruption is going to be magical', Joe said smiling into her eyes. He checked his watch and ran his hand along her back, 'we'd better get moving Jilly, Washington awaits', he said rubbing his thumb along her cheek.

Three days later, two bills signed into law, the House due back in session Friday to pass the final stages of the inflation bill, one First Couple visit to a disaster zone, numerous meetings, briefings, and senior staff conferences later Joe stepped out from the beast and turned to help little Beau out. Family and staff and security bustled around, cameras snapped, video recorded, journalists shouted their questions, the engine of the massive plane providing an all-encompassing soundtrack to everything. Jill's eyes fell on Joe. As always he was the calm at the center of the storm. She approached him, loving the sight of him taking such care of little Beau. He was always so attentive to children; all children but his grandchildren especially. In that moment she wanted to touch him so desperately, to run her hand along his broad back, lean in and kiss his cheek, feel him wrap his arm around her and draw her close. The media presence made that so much more complicated.

She hated when simple gestures of their love were taken and turned into something else, something nefarious, something egregious. She swore she would not give that power over easily to the right wing or the left wing or any other wing that wanted to peddle sinister stories and half-baked nonsense. She made an effort to put that thought aside. As soon as they were out of sight on the plane she could touch him any way she wanted, and she planned to do just that, all week long. Joe would never complain, she thought with a wry grin. She made her way forward towards Joe, every step bringing them closer to their vacation. She was so looking forward to the week ahead, to spending time with him uninhibited. Spending time together as a family.

As Joe introduced Beau to the military liaison officers Jill came to stand beside him, slipping her hand into his; the other held his grandson's hand tightly. In that moment he felt such joy, such emotion that the urge to kiss Jill was almost overpowering. He'd wait, he thought to himself, he'd have all week to touch and kiss her whenever he wanted.

He had gotten used to life without the constant glare of cameras when he was in isolation, now he realized why he was so heartily sick of them already. He'd love to kiss Jill on the tarmac, for no reason other than he was madly in love with this wonderful woman and wanted to show her that. Constantly. He sighed. He couldn't kiss his wife right at that moment though because fifty cameras were trained directly on him and to do so would likely set off some idiotic Twitter storm or give credence to some twisted conspiracy notion. At that moment he hated all of those cameras, just because it meant he missed one precious kiss from Jilly.