'Joe! Joe!'
Jill's voice is shrill.
She calls for him again as she makes her way quickly across the boardroom towards the office set aside for the president's private use. As she passes the long walnut table, with teetering piles of documents and briefings and wirebound reports from so many departments the agents look towards her, startled. The urgency in her voice is clear, the pitch and speed of her words an immediate giveaway; something was wrong, big time.
Collectively they turn towards her, hands settle on firearms securely hidden underneath their suit coats they are ready, primed.
Sam hurries behind her, Natasha a step behind him. Vanessa is close by too.
An instant later Joe appears. Partially concealed by Dave who is trying to stay a step ahead of the president, Joe all but sprints from the office.
Inside, his heart is hammering, his mouth dry, hands sweaty. His body reacted immediately to the sound of her voice, to the urgency and the fear he heard tied up in her words.
'What is it babe? Are you ok?' he calls, filling the gap between them with long strides.
'Is it one of the kids? Has something happened to one of them?' His voice is sharp, his words running together, his face ashen.
His expression strikes her immediately. It's like a punch in the gut. It makes her pause, makes her calm down. 'Oh honey. I'm sorry. It's not that. The kids are fine', she tries to reassure him, reaching out her hands to touch him.
She feels terrible. How could I have been so thoughtless? she admonishes herself.
She should have taken a moment and broken the news to him properly. Of all people to come running to like that. She forces herself to slow down for a moment. She reaches out and takes his hands, holding them securely within her own. Joe's experience may have been decades ago but she knows he always fears the worst when the kids are late home or he hears someone had an accident. She's so annoyed with herself right now that, strangely, it makes her calm a little.
She puts her hand on his arm, pulling him closer. 'Joe, I'm sorry', she says again, 'here sit down', she instructs, pulling out a chair from the long table. She pulls a second out for herself and sits after he does. She rubs her hand along his back reassuringly. 'I'm fine. The kids are fine, everyone in the family is fine', she tells him as the agents reassemble nearby, glancing towards each other, wondering what's going on. What has the first lady so distressed?
Behind Joe, Sam whispers to Tony and updates him as best he can but he's out of the loop too. All he knows is that she received a phone call and immediately afterwards said she needed to see the president.
Back at the table the first couple are as close as it's possible to be. The first lady rests her forehead against her husbands. She is stroking his face with her fingertips, calming him, whispering, reassuring him that the danger is not immediate, is not within the family. The team watches as her husband takes a deep breath, trying to calm his fast-beating heart.
Joe turns his blue eyes to her; they are clouded with worry. 'You promise?' he asks, his voice trembling.
'I promise, honey, I promise,' she says, reaching in and placing a soft kiss on his forehead. She slips her hand around his neck and directs him closer, she cradles his head against her chest for a moment. 'Joe, I'm sorry. I should have thought before I came running', she tells him, furious with herself now.
He reaches for her hand, holds it tightly within his own, pressing both against his heart. It's beginning to settle, the thumping at least has stopped. 'It's ok, I just ... old habits. And then the past few days ..., the threats. I just ... I was afraid', he pauses, unable, perhaps unwilling to fully verbalize his fears. His voice is so quiet. His whole demeanor is sad, scared, his mind going to those dark places that he usually just will not allow it to go.
