Chapter Text
January 25th, 2011
9:44 PM
He wasn’t around during the last one.
It’s a ridiculous thought but it’s the only one that seems to stick long enough for him to grasp it.
He wasn’t around during the last one.
Of course he wasn’t, the last time the United States was attacked had been in 1941. Pearl Harbor. He knows this. He doesn’t know much right now except for the fact that he is certain the last time the United States was attacked was in 1941.
He wasn’t around for that.
The car makes a sharp turn and the Capitol comes into view. Or where he thinks the Capitol was. He doesn’t know much right now. He racks his brain for every history lesson he’s ever sat through, trying to remember the last time the United States was attacked on the mainland.
He can’t remember.
He wasn’t around for that.
But he sure as hell is around for this.
9:44 AM
“No!” Is the first thing Sam Seaborn hears when he walks into the office that day, followed by the sound of laughter which makes him smile.
The office is casual on most days, giving him plenty of time to be with his wife and kids and the sounds coming from the break room makes him smile simply for the fact that if Lou Lou Ruiz is letting herself be laughed at this early in the morning, it’s going to be a laid back day.
Except he’s forgetting something, he can feel it gnawing at the back of his mind but instead of walking into the lion’s den that is the break room or his office where he’s sure an over eager intern or two will be waiting for him he heads over to Ginger.
“Good morning, Mr. Secretary!”
“Let’s try to keep it that way, shall we? What’s on the schedule for today?”
“Well you’ve got senior staff in a few minutes, I bumped your breakfast meeting with Senator Kennedy to a lunch meeting since I already knew you were going to come in late, and Josh wants to see you at some point before tonight.”
Ah. Josh.
He loves the guy of course, he was the best man at his wedding, but the State of the Union being tonight has definitely put him on edge, which in turn puts Sam on edge and therefore makes Sam’s already prickly director of communications Lou Lou prickly and that’s never good for anyone.
“We can’t get out of the Josh thing?”
“Not if we want to keep our jobs.”
Sam groans knowing that a meeting with Josh this close to the State of the Union means one of two things: he’s changing his portion of the speech or is singling him out to be designated couch surfer for the night.
Or both.
Josh, the dick wad he became when stressed, probably wanted to do both.
9:58 PM
He feels really bad about that dick wad comment now even if it was just inside his head. He has no idea if his best friend is alive. He doesn’t even know where he is let alone where anybody else is. Everybody he knows and loves could be dead.
10:02 AM
“Good morning everyone!”
A chorus of “good mornings” greet him ranging from enthusiastic to a complaint about getting him another watch.
“Yes, yes, what do we have today?”
His chief of staff, Mike, starts “Well we’re obviously preparing for tonight - ” but is quickly interrupted by Lou Lou who says “He’s not giving the speech Michael, there’s nothing to prepare for.”
Before the two can get prickly, Randy, ever the peacekeeper quickly intercepts talking about a school district in Alabama that wants to hang up the Ten Commandments in every classroom which immediately distracts the two long enough for Sam to take a breath and actually take a look at what he might be doing at his meeting with Senator Kennedy.
His policy advisors, Jake and Maddie, makes their way over to him as the other three argue about Alabama and the two manage to have an actual conversation before Sam has to bring up what he’s been dreading to the group.
“Josh wants to see me.”
“When?”
“Before tonight.”
“No!” Says Lou Lou immediately slumping in her chair as Randy good naturally pats her on the back.
“It could be nothing.” Sam says, a smile on his face.
“You’re getting sidelined, Sam. Again.”
“We don’t know that!”
“We do know that! You’ve been the designated survivor twice!”
“Well maybe this time they’re calling to give me a promotion.”
The last comment was met with an incredulous look from everyone in the room so Sam quickly followed up with “Hey, if it means they don’t cut out our part of the speech, I’ll be designated survivor for the rest of this administration. But just in case this is a cutting the speech down thing, I want you reviewing the speech, Lou Lou, just so we make sure we keep all the important bits, you’re in charge today.”
This doesn’t cheer Lou Lou up at all and she gives the room a deadpan “Go team.”
10:05 PM
He’d sent Mike and Maddie to the Capitol. He’d probably sent them to their goddamn deaths. Jesus Christ, how many people had been in the Capitol tonight?
He runs through his people in his head, most had gone to their usual bar but Mike and Maddie, why the hell had he sent them to the Capitol? It’s not like them being there would’ve changed anything Santos said -
Santos. Santos. God Santos and his wife and their two little kids.
How many kids had been in the Capitol tonight?
12:32 PM
“Mike!”
“Sammy!”
“Good news!”
“What counts as good news for normal people or what counts as good news for you?”
“Yeah, ha ha. Our portion isn’t being cut out. But - ”
“But you’re the designated survivor.”
“Yeah. Listen I want you and Maddie there, all right? Just in case the White House speechwriters try anything, is that okay?”
“Of course, I’ll let her know.”
10:08 PM
“Sir. Sir!”
It’s with a jolt that Sam realizes the man in the car’s passenger seat is talking to him. No one refers to him as sir.
He knows his name, the man in the passenger seat, he just can’t think of it right now, God what was it, Evan? Elijah? He and Ainsley had almost named Maxwell that, it was a good name, a strong one -
“SAM!” It’s Ainsley’s shout that brings him out of whatever state he was in. It’s only now he realizes how scared she looks and how tight she’s gripping his hand.
“Wh - what?” Is all he manages to get out.
“Eagle is down, sir.” Says maybe-Elijah from the front seat.
“What does that mean?”
Ainsley lets out a small sob before hugging him and Sam’s hand automatically goes to her head. He knows exactly what that means. He just doesn’t know what happens next.
He wasn’t around during the last one.