This is Me Trying - A Designated Survivor Continuation (2021)

Chapter 1 - Emily

Emily Rhodes ran out of Park View Arena, tears streaming down her face, as she tries to walk home. Not a good idea, it's Election night in D.C., and her condo was a good 45 minute walk away.

Now what?

She felt numb.

The man, actually, the President she had worked for the last 8 years wasn't the man she knew anymore.

She left the White House and went to the campaign instead, and now, that's over. Her suspicions about Lorraine were right, she screwed everything up and everyone over.

There was no one there for her, nothing for her to do in this town.

Seth seemed cozy with Riya, and God knows what was going on between Aaron and Isabel.

This was the perfect opportunity for her to start fresh, something she's been chasing after before she found herself back in D.C. again, before her mom received her diagnosis, and before she could have a second to just breathe.

She takes in a deep breath.

She was free, to be who she wanted to be outside of the Washington politics, except she felt the complete opposite.

It didn't feel right. None of it did.

She was getting close to turning 30, and she definitely thought her life would have been so different by now. She thought she would have settled down, resumed her post as Chief of Staff, ran for office, or something. Never in a million years did she expect herself to be exactly where she was 2 years ago, the night the Capitol blew up.

The night Tom Kirkman was sworn in as the President of the United States, where she stood outside of the White House, and her credentials were denied. She didn't know who she was anymore. She wasn't the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development's Chief of Staff, she wasn't anybody. For those two hours of her fighting her way into the White House, she wasn't sure what the point of it all was anymore.

That feeling hit her like a train at this exact moment.

She is snapped out of her thoughts by a ping from her phone, and she looks down. A text from Isabel.

"Emily. I'm so sorry, I'm probably the last person you want to hear from, but I could really use someone to talk to right now."

Below that, were messages from Aaron,

"Hey! Where'd you go? We're celebrating tonight at the Residence, and Tom wanted me to make sure you'd come!"

and one from Seth,

"Em, are you okay? Where are you?"

She must have missed both messages while she was deep in thought. She ignores them, and clicks on Isabel's name, and immediately calls her. She was the last person Isabel saw before the President and Vice President-Elect took the stage, before Isabel left the venue. She had said she wasn't feeling well.

Isabel picks up on the first ring, crying, "Emily, I'm freaking out and I don't know what to do. Will you come over?"

Emily quickly responds, not knowing what is happening,

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"N-not exactly, I just don't know what to do anymore..." Isabel says between sobs.

"Try to breathe, Isabel, I'll be right there," Emily says as she turns around and crosses the street, taking her towards the direction of Isabel's apartment in the cold November wind, not knowing what on earth she was about to walk into.