The Phoenix

Business As Usual

"Gun!" she heard someone yell as a shot rang out.

Aaron grabbed Emily and covered her head as the Secret Service pulled them all into the Capitol building. The next thing she knew, they were being thrown into the president's convoy and speeding back towards the White House.

She and Aaron were put in a separate room from the President to somehow ensure their security. Emily sat on a couch while he leaned on the wall across the room, staring at her.

"Look at me any harder, you'll drill a hole in my head." she told him.

Aaron walked over and Emily stood, being pulled into a hug.

He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to. He had put his entire body over her so that she would be safe. Had anyone shot at her, he would have gladly taken the bullet.

"You shielded me."

"What was I supposed to do? Use you as one?"

"Do you know who took the bullet?" she asked.

"No, I grabbed you and ran. I wasn't sticking around to see who was going to be next."

"I just can't comprehend the fact that it could have been any of us. Me, you, Seth, Kirkman, Alex, anybody."

"Hey, we'll be fine. The country will be in a frenzy for about a week, but it'll blow over eventually."

Just as she buried her head in his chest, Seth walked in. Aaron pulled away and faced him.

"What's going on? I thought they were keeping us in separate rooms."

"They were, but I figured that you guys would want to know what happened."

"Alright, well, spill."

"The bullet hit Beth MacLeish in the head. She died instantly." Seth explained.

"Oh, my god." she said, covering her mouth with her hand. Aaron reached his arm around her and pulled her close to him. Seth just stood there in awkward awe, pointing his finger at them both. He had probably assumed the hug he walked in on was a spur-of-the-moment-near-death comfort thing.

"You two?" he asked.

She and Aaron shared a look of happy amusement.

"Yeah." he said.

"The press will find out about this at some point. The whole world has it's eyes everyone close to the president. What do you want me to tell them when they ask?"

"Tell them the truth. But hopefully no one is asking about two staff members dating right after the assassination of the Second Lady." Emily told him.

"Yeah. Well, I'd better be getting back." Seth told them, turning and walking out.

Emily stood in silence for a while.

"What's on your mind?"
"Aaron, the MacLeish's have two daughters, the oldest is only eight. They just lost their mother on live television." Emily said, her voice breaking.

"They'll be okay, they still have Peter."

"Who was just elected as the second most important official in the country. Listen, I lost my mom when I was 12. I had to practically raise my little brother and sister. My dad was constantly working to support us. My life was absolutely terrible." she explained, a tear falling.

"Hey, hey, hey." he said, catching her as her knees buckled and she began sobbing into his shoulder. Emily had gone through every second of the pain that comes with losing a parent. Her brother and sister had both dodged a bullet since they were too young to really be affected by it. Imagining the hell that those girls would be going through at eight and six years old broke her heart. She would never wish the kind of pain she had to endure on anyone.

Aaron held her and shushed her.

"They'll be okay. I assume that they'll be moving into the White House with MacLeish, so we can make sure of that." he told Emily, placing her back on her feet as she wiped the tears off her face.

"Alright." she said, composing herself.

"You never mentioned that you had siblings."

"Lucy is 17 and Sawyer is 15." Emily explained, as Mike entered.

"The President would like to see you both." he stated.

They both nodded, and Aaron placed his hand on her back as they walked down the hall and into the Oval Office. However, he took it off before they entered. This wasn't something that either of them wanted to discuss with the President right now.

Alex sat on one of the couches, and it was obvious that she had been crying. Emily scanned the room, and MacLeish was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's MacLeish?" Aaron asked.

"At the hospital." Kirkman said grimly.

"Aren't you worried about another assassination attempt?"

"We don't think that the assassination was meant for him or Beth, and his wife just died. We did send extra security."

"What did you call us in here for?"

"I wanted to let you know that things around here will be business as usual. We can't seem weak. If we act weak, they'll try again. The State Dinner next week is still on. That's all." the President explained.

They exited the Oval Office the same way they came in and headed towards Aaron's office. "Business as usual, huh?"