The Phoenix

Knock Next Time

 "I have just one question," Seth said upon entry into his office, where Lucy had been waiting. "What were you thinking?"

"It's pretty obvious at this point that I wasn't thinking at all."

"It is obvious, but now I have a room full of reporters that are going to be asking every single question there is about it. So you'd better start talking."

"Well, I got in by bribing the bouncer. He was an old friend of mine. We didn't drink anything. We pretty much-"

"You're telling me that two 17-year-olds went to a club and didn't drink at all?" he asked, interrupting her.

"Okay, we had one drink. It was honestly pretty weak too. We just hung out with my friend Eliza all night."

"Ah, so you were with Eliza, but not at dinner."

"Yeah. I actually didn't even eat dinner last night," she said before Seth's phone buzzed.

"Haynes just got House confirmation. Uh, listen, I need you to do me a huge favor."

"Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"So, the Press Secretary has to do this interview with the Vice President and their family just to let America know some interesting things about them. I have a press conference in five minutes and that interview in ten. I'm going to need you to interview them for me."

Lucy's stomach dropped.

"I-I don't know,"

"I already have all of the questions written out, all you have to do is ask them and record it using this," he said, placing an audio recorder on the desk in front of her.

"Alright."

"The meeting is in Room 115, down the hall and on your right. Okay?"

"Okay."
"Thanks. I owe you one." he sighed, handing her the file with the questions on it.

It would have been easy finding the room had her impending anxiety attack not been making everything spin. Luckily there was no one in the hallway to see her stumbling around like an idiot. Sitting down helped calm her nerves, but the Vice-President-to-be and her family entering seemed to just make them flare up all over again.

"Hi, my name is Lucy Rhodes, Assistant to the Press Secretary. He had a conference to go to, so he gave me the questions that were going to be asked." Lucy explained, trying not to sound nervous as she shook hands with the three of them.

"That's fine," Athena said with a smile.

"Alright, so let's just get right into it. Tell me a little bit about your family history. Any historical figures in your tree?"

"Well, as I'm sure you know, my parents came here from Kenya, so there are none on my side. I'm pretty sure my wife has none, either."

All of a sudden Zimmer, their daughter's, eyes went wide and she gasped.

"I know you," she said, getting questioning looks from both parents. "You're the girl who was running around with Leo Kirkman."

The mortified look that was surely on Lucy's face must have been hilarious because Zimmer burst out laughing.

This was going to be a long day.

"Can they just stop asking questions about my sister?" Emily half-yelled.

She and Aaron had been watching the press conference, and every question so far had been about Lucy.

"Okay, I think that's enough TV for you." he said, picking up the remote and turning it off.