To Have & To Hold

Chapter 28 - Mr President

It had been about five minutes since their unpleasant conversation and they had sat there in an awkward silence the likes they hadn't had before. Stella had been upset with him before this and she would be upset with him after this as well. It was mostly an awkward silence for Jaiden because there were so many other things he wanted to say to her but that would have to wait until she had cooled back down.

In any case it wasn't handy to start it all up again at this moment as they were about to arrive at the president's office building. Jaiden recognized the street and the building as it came in to view up ahead. They would need to behave normally in front of Blake and whomever they would encounter on their way up to Garvey's office lest their cover be blown.

For that she needed to be her airy and cheery self just coming over to visit with her favorite, albeit unofficial uncle. That reminded Jaiden; he needed to ask about her extended family. He hadn't seen any of them at the social gatherings he had witnessed so far. It was all friends of Moira's and people who wanted to be friends of Moira's aside from a handful of young women who at least pretended to be Stella's friends. She hadn't mentioned them to any great extent since he had seen them leave on his first night here so he assumed they weren't too important or near and dear to her.

It made him wonder if any of her extended family were welcome at the house if they even existed. If they were banned from showing up then perhaps they could serve as allies to Stella and Jaiden's cause. He would have to ask once they were back from Mr Garvey if she had stopped sulking by then.

It was true that he had said some pretty awful, but true, things. They had made her feel guilty which was the real reason for her being angry with him in the first place. He didn't blame her for any of it as how could she possibly be to blame? She hadn't, as she had stated, 'made the rules' and had only had the misfortune of being born on the wrong side of the fence. Or the right side depending on who you asked.

From a revolutionary point of view she was the enemy but she, and others like her whom were undoubtedly out there somewhere among the colorful masses, was an invaluable resource to any movement of dissenters. They were inside the system, a part of it, and knew it well. They could provide information and get things done.

All he needed was to get in to touch with them somehow.

But first he needed to get Stella out of that house and ready for her eye operation. Without that she wasn't going to get too far unless she could gather people to her side some other way than becoming the Hub's next presidential candidate.

The car pulled up to the building and stopped neatly in front of the building's main entrance. A doorman approached the car and opened the door to Jaiden's right, giving him a polite, well practiced smile. Jaiden glanced over to see Stella already beaming as she normally would.

"Good afternoon, miss Coyle! Always a pleasure to see you." The man said as he moved out of the way to let Jaiden pass. Jaiden waited for Stella to emerge, aided by the doorman whom acted like he was a very close friend of hers. Stella accepted his help and smiled back at him.

"Why, thank you. It's always a pleasure to be here. I hope we've caught him in?"

"Naturally. Madam knows his schedule very well." The doorman confirmed.

Stella stuck her arm out passed the doorman which seemed to confuse the man. Jaiden had seen this before and stepped up to take the arm in to his own. It was like the doorman had only just now seen him standing there. He put on a look of great surprise as he inspected Jaiden then looked back at Stella whom had already taken a few steps forward toward the building's entrance.

"I didn't know you had a new one? When did this happen?"

Jaiden could tell by the slight twitch of one of the corners of Stella's mouth that she'd rather the man leave her alone but she turned to smile at him nonetheless.