This is Not Your Mother's Presidency: Part 2

[bekkis]

August

“Just fire every single one of those useless fuckers.”

Jensen coughs into his hand as Chad pushes the door open and slams a pile of newspapers on the table. His morning meeting with a group of interns is alternatively his favorite and least favorite part of the job. They’re enthusiastic and excited, but Jensen spends half his meeting trying to reign them in and remind them to keep focused. And Chad loves showing off in front of them. Right now, they’re all standing by the door looking half terrified and half in awe.

“Mornin’, Chad,” Jensen drawls.

“Yea, good fuckin’ morning. Can you believe this shit?” Chad holds up a newspaper, showing the front page and the leading headline for the day. “I don’t know why I fuckin’ bother getting out of bed in the morning if I’m just gonna wake up to this shit. Goddamn Republican fucks.” He kicks Jensen’s desk.

“Are you just about finished?”

“No, I’m not about fuckin’ finished. Fire them all. Every useless piece of shit in Congress, just fire them all. They say, ‘we want something different, let’s get a new President’ but you know what? It doesn’t do any fucking good if those fucks in Congress say, ‘hey, you know what, Mr. President, fuck you and the 52% of the vote you rode in on.’ Fucking fuckers.”

Jensen glances at his interns and tries not to roll his eyes. His meeting with them is effectively over now because Chad looks like he’s not going to calm down anytime soon. “Uh, you guys can leave,” Jensen mutters, waving his hand at the door.

The interns push out of the room and the door slams behind them.

Chad leans against Jensen’s desk and smirks. “I was wondering when you were gonna kick them out,” he says. He taps his fingers against the desk annoyingly.

“I figured we could use a decent story in The Times tomorrow,” Jensen says and pulls the newspapers towards him. “You know, ‘Deputy COS Is Still Batshit Insane’, stuff like that.”

“How fucked are we that a story about what an asshole I am is a decent story for us?” Chad shakes his head and flops down into the chair across from Jensen.

“Pretty fucked,” Jensen replies and blows across the top of his cup of coffee.

“Sorry for, you know, calling Republican’s fucks.” Chad smirks.

“That was oddly uncreative of you, actually,” Jensen says. “You’ve called me worse. In front of the President.”

“True, true.” Chad takes a sip of his coffee. “How screwed are we?”

Jensen rubs his eyes. “Pretty screwed. I have a meeting with Wisdom later before he goes and kills the bill. I don’t know how the hell I’m going to fix this.”

“Awesome. Just what I wanted to hear this morning,” Chad groans, leaning his head back. “I thought we’d at least get to October before we had a disaster this big. Jesus, letting some Senator hold us by the balls just to get what he wants.”

Jensen snorts. “Yeah, ‘some senator.’ We’re screwed if he decides to run.”

“So, we’re just supposed to roll over for him? I just want to get out of this with my pride intact.”

“Better Wisdom than anyone else.” Jensen swallows. He picks at his fingernails for a minute. “Did you see the article this morning?”

Chad groans and leans his head back. “I’m going to de-ball the fucker responsible.”

Jensen tries not to laugh. “We’ve got a bigger problem.”

Chad sits up. “What?”

“Jared thinks the leak is cause of Danneel.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Jensen’s quiet for a minute. “The President agrees.”

Chad lets out a long breath. “Shit. I mean, I know she fucked up before, but I’ve known Danneel way longer than Jay has. No way she pulls this now.”

Jensen nods. “I know. This bill...no way she lets things get this bad with this one. Funding for women’s health, federal grants for health care…”

“No, I know.” Chad shakes his head. “There’s no way she’d leak this shit to the press.”

“So, yeah. That’s gonna be a thing,” Jensen says.

&&&

Jensen’s had a lot of important meetings through his career. Meetings with Senators, Presidential Candidates, and Jared’s mother.

This one has to go well or he’s pretty screwed. Really screwed. Senator Wisdom is the leading Democrat on defense, served in the Navy before he came home and ran for Congress. He was elected to the Senate eight years earlier and even though he’s relatively low down on the totem pole of power, he walks into a room and immediately owns it.

Jensen’s a little terrified of the guy.

“Senator Wisdom,” Jensen says, holding his hand out.

The Senator eyes him warily before reaching out and shaking his hand. “You’re having a rough week.”

Jensen nods and waits for the Senator to sit down before he sits in his own chair. “Yes, sir, we’ve had better weeks,” he says honestly.

“Do you wanna tell me why I’m wasting ten minutes of my precious time to sit in a meeting with you?” He folds his hands under his chin. “I’m a little intrigued.”

Jensen sits up. “The President needs your help on this bill, sir.”

Senator Wisdom raises an eyebrow. “The President needs my help. Well, what else is new?”

“Sir, we need you to push this through committee.”

“You really haven’t given me the incentive to do that yet.” The Senator looks away for a minute. “I’m introducing a bill in a couple of weeks.”

“You want to get in a room with the President.”

“With some cameras. We’ll take a couple of questions and he’ll come out in support in exchange for this.” There’s always a price to pay with this shit.

“Do you have text yet? I can’t have him sign off on anything.”

“I’ll get it over to you by the end of the day.”

Jensen inwardly sighs before nodding his head. If he’s gonna owe someone, it’s gonna be someone like Senator Wisdom.

“You should smile more, Ackles. You work in the White House. You could stand to look a little happier about that.”

Jensen shrugs his shoulders. “Like I said, it’s been a bad week, sir.”

“They’re all bad weeks. Just yesterday, one of your lovely Republican colleagues spent twenty minutes wasting precious time on the Senate floor, ranting about a bill that’s gonna pass no matter how much he wishes it wouldn’t. I have constituents who want one thing and a caucus who want me to do something else. So, you tell me, Ackles, what do I do? I got a reelection campaign to worry about and a President I’m not sure really sure can win the nomination again in three years. So guess what, Ackles, they’re all bad weeks.”

Jensen swallows. “Well, sir, I don’t know if it helps but we’re trying. I’ve worked for a lot of politicians and none of them are like the President. If I was gonna trust someone…it’s him.”

“I hope you’re right. I’ll get that stuff to your office by the end of the day. I don’t want to keep you any longer.” Senator Wisdom stands and holds his hand out for Jensen to shake.

“Thank you, sir. We really do appreciate this.”

Jensen lets out a slow breath when the Senator leaves because he almost got completely fucked and now it might not be so bad.

At least until the next fucking crisis.

&&&

Sometimes he meets Jared for lunch on the Mall.

There’s only so many months they can sit outside in the shade and watch the tourists and students and whoever else is in D.C. exploring the city and seeing the sites. The first year Jensen came to D.C., he went to every Smithsonian museum, used to sit at the Lincoln Memorial and think about home, and stood in line for the Washington Monument. He got bitter and the shine wore off after a couple of years. All the bullshit that came with lawmakers, with Congress and politics, made Jensen see the city as an extension of that.

But Jared, even after all these years he’s been in D.C., he still gets blown away. Jensen doesn’t know anyone who goes and walks across the Mall to see the sites except Jared. He does it at least once every few months. Jensen knows Jared used to do it back in their Senate days and he still does it now.

Now he just drags Jensen with him.

They sit out on the steps looking over the Potomac, the Lincoln Memorial behind them. First thing in the morning, there’s joggers all over this place, running up and down the stairs. At lunch, it’s filled with tourists and professionals, eating by the river and sitting out in the sun. Jensen would normally hate being out like this, except Jared’s sitting next to him, their thighs flush against each other and Jared’s smiling softly. He looks relaxed, regardless of whatever bullshit they’ve got going on right now.

“Nice out today,” Jensen starts. He picks at his sandwich and stares out to the river. A family sits a couple feet away, a little boy running all over the stairs while his mother watches. Jensen pushes his sunglasses higher on his nose and grins at the little girl, who turns to watch him and Jared. She waves at him before turning and pressing her face into her mother’s arm.

“Gonna be cold soon,” Jared comments, finishing off his sandwich.

It’s supposed to be nice and relaxing, some downtime for the two of them. They aren’t supposed to be talking about work or any of the other bullshit that’s going on, but Jensen can’t ignore it. There was another article in the papers today, and Jared had a meeting with Chris Pine behind closed doors earlier in the day that lead to another argument about Jensen’s involvement in the gay community. Jensen would’ve blown off lunch all together, but Jared had tracked him down and looked pathetic enough that Jensen couldn’t ignore him.

“Danneel canceled dinner tonight.”

Jared puts down his sandwich, twisting the cap of his water bottle. “Oh?”

Jensen shrugs. “Yeah, said she had work to do.” Jensen ignores his phone buzzing against his hip.

“So, that mean you’ll go to that fundraiser with me tonight?” Jared glances over at him.

Jensen bites his bottom lip and shoves the rest of his lunch back in a paper bag. Of course Jared has to keep pushing this stupid thing. “Sure, Jared, I’ll go to this fucking thing with you. Jesus.”

“God, it’s not a big deal if you don’t go. I just thought…”

Jensen stands up, grabbing his bag. “I just told you I’d go, okay? I’ll see you tonight.”

He feels like a five year old, stomping away from Jared like this. He glances back when he reaches the top of the stairs and Jared’s standing, hands shoved in his pockets and looking more pissed than he’s looked in a long time.

&&&

“Can I get my missed calls, Katie?” Jensen stops at his secretary’s desk, Blackberry in hand as he scrolls through his emails.

She hands over a pile of notes and grins up at him. “So, Jensen…”

“You’re not getting a raise. No one is getting a raise.”

Katie pouts. “Jensen…”

“Cassidy, we’ve got a budget and frankly, we’re all underpaid. It’s government work, what do you expect?”

“Am I not the best goddamn secretary in the District?” Katie stands with her hands on her hips.

“Well, I don’t have much to compare you to, considering I’ve never, you know, had a secretary before.” Jensen pushes the door open to his office and flips through a pile of paperwork on his desk.

Katie follows him inside, high heels clicking against the floor. “I’m awesome. Why can’t I have a raise? I have bills to pay, Jensen, lots of bills.”

“And I am very sympathetic to your problem, Katie. If I could give you a raise, I would.” Jensen throws half the memos on his desk into his trash and flops down in his chair. “Now can I, like, I don’t know, do some governing?”

Katie pouts. “If that’s what you call what you do. But I’m not giving up on this,” she says, pointing her finger at Jensen.

“I wouldn’t expect you to, Cassidy. Now can you get the minority leader on the phone?”

“I don’t know, is he accepting your calls this week?” Katie leans against the desk and checks her nails. “When I called last week, His staff used a word I don’t think you’re allowed to say in government buildings or in the presence of a woman or small children.”

“I’ll tell you what, if it happens again, I’ll get you a coffee from the mess.”

Katie flutters her eyelashes and puts her hand over her heart. “Oh, really, Mr. Ackles, a cup of coffee from the White House mess? You’ve gone and swept me off my feet.”

“Are you seducing your secretary again? Isn’t there some rule against that?” Aldis leans against the door frame, looking half amused and half worried.

“He offered me coffee from the mess.” Katie fakes a swoon.

Jensen rolls his eyes. “I’ll never make that mistake again.”

“Just because the coffee in the mess is quite possibly the worst thing that’s ever been labeled as coffee?”

Jensen throws his hands in the air. “Oh my god, I take it back, okay? I’ll buy you Starbucks tomorrow!”

“So, Jensen’s offering Starbucks, what about you, Aldis? You got somethin’ better?” Katie sits on the edge of Jensen’s desk, crossing her legs.

Aldis grins. “Well, I don’t know. What’s in it for me?”

Jensen thunks his head against the desk. God help him from Aldis flirting with his secretary.

“Awww, Jensen.” Katie reaches over and pats the top of his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pick on you.” Katie grins. “I’ll go make that phone call.” She hops off his desk.

“Actually, give us like ten minutes?”

Katie nods and smiles at Aldis again as she heads back to her desk. Aldis steps into his office and closes the door behind him. He flops down onto the chair across from Jensen and leans his elbows against the desk.

“What’s up?”

“I need a speech for the President. He’s going to do a press conference with Senator Wisdom in a couple of days and I’ll need a draft by tomorrow.”

Aldis groans and sits back in his chair. “Tomorrow?”

“I’m really sorry. But…”

Aldis nods. “I know, Wisdom says jump and we say how high. What are we gonna do if he decides to run in three years?”

“Cry myself to sleep? Man, right now I’m just trying to keep us alive. This bill is kicking our ass. We can take the win from Wisdom and be at his beck and call for a few months.”

Aldis yawns. “I guess if it’s gotta be someone…”

“Better him than anyone else, I know.”

&&&

Jensen’s avoiding Jared.

It’s pretty childish, he knows. They’re supposed to talk this kind of shit out, but he’s too pissed off to try. They’re at a standstill. He’s got too much shit on his plate to argue with Jared about the leak, about how the administration is derailing not even a year into their term, and about the fact that Jared’s parents are due in town in three days.

Nope, Jensen’s taking the route of avoiding Jared because it’s easier than dealing with what’s about to happen.

Katie knocks on his door, biting her bottom lip as she opens it. Jensen rests his head in his hand and yawns sleepily.

“What’s up?”

“It’s getting close to dinner…” She looks pointedly at her watch.

Jensen sighs. “Can you get me a sandwich? I don’t care what, just something with meat and cheese. And maybe some tomato?”

Katie smiles softly and nods. “You got it. Maybe you should take a nap.”

Jensen shakes his head. “I gotta get this done today. Just a few more hours.”

Katie looks at him uneasily. “You sure? You need Jared or anything?”

“No, no. Don’t worry about it, Katie. I’m sorry you’re stuck here. Just give me a little while longer.”

“If you say so. Let me know if you need something.”

Jensen nods at her one last time and she closes the door behind her. Jensen sighs and leans back in his chair, hands resting behind his head. It’s only been a couple of days since he’s seen Jared outside of Senior Staff meetings. It’s almost like the old days of avoiding each other, but this time it’s different. It’s almost worse because there’s no nastiness behind it but quiet unease. Jensen doesn’t want to hear what Jared has to say and Jared doesn’t want to hear what he’s going to say.

His cell phone rings right in the middle of his one man pity party. He checks the number and if it was anyone else, he’d ignore it.

“Joanna, hey.”

“Jesus, Jay, you sound exhausted,” Joanna says instead of a civilized ‘hello’.

“I’ve never been so tired in my entire life,” Jensen admits.

“You keep up like this…” Joanna starts.

“I know, I know. It’s just. It’s been a shitty week.”

“Well, I’m about to make a shitty week awesome.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jensen can’t help but start smiling. He and Joanna were friends for a long time before they dated and he’s so ridiculously happy that they’re back to being friends again. He didn’t realize how much he had missed her until now.

“I’m coming to visit.”

“No shit! When are you getting here?” Jensen sits up in his seat and pulls up his calendar in his computer.

“Two weeks. You still owe me a beer, Ackles.”

&&&

Even though he and Jared are at a standoff right now, Jensen still shows up to meet Jared and his parents for dinner. It’s something they’ve had planned for too long and Jensen can’t just blow it off. Jared looks a little relieved when Jensen shows up at the restaurant, tugging on his tie uncomfortably.

“I’m glad you showed up.” Jared pulls on Jensen’s sleeve.

Jensen just shrugs and smoothes down Jared’s tie. Jared’s parents wave from the door way and Jensen plasters on a fake smile.

The worst part of all of this is that Jensen loves Jared’s family. Jared’s mom actually hugs him before they all sit down at the table.

“You boys look tired.” Jared’s dad looks at both of them over the top of his menu. “You shouldn’t work too much, you know.”

“Oh, leave them alone.” Jared’s mom squeezes Jared’s hand and smiles at Jensen. “So, Jensen, how is your family?”

Jensen takes a long sip of water before answering. It’s not too awkward, but that’s because Jared’s a master at pretending everything is fucking perfect even when it’s not. Jensen avoids his gaze for most of the evening and he begs off early.

&&&

Jensen’s really fucking excited about Joanna coming for a couple days until he remembers that she and Jared get along about as well as the current administration and Fox News. In other words, if they could set the other on fire, they probably would.

“So, in terms of a name, I’m thinking something like ‘Danni’s Bakery’. And we should sell booze too, cause everyone loves cake and booze.” Danneel slumps down on the couch in her office. Her suit is wrinkled, shoes kicked off and under her desk. She looks almost as tired as Jensen knows he looks.

“I could use some cake. And booze. Like right now.” Jensen rolls his head towards Danneel. “Do you think we could skip this thing and get cake?”

Danneel shakes her head. “No way. Jared’s gonna be more pissed at us than he already is.”

“He’s not pissed at you,” Jensen mumbles. “He’s pissed at me but he’s not pissed at you.”

“Yeah, sure.” Danneel rolls her eyes and pulls her legs underneath her. “Maybe we could sneak out early. But then Misha would want to come too. I think he’s thinking of ways to kill himself over there.”

Misha nods. He’s sitting behind Danneel’s desk, his feet up and hands crossed against his chest, eyes closed. Jensen thought he was asleep.

“I think pen to the neck would be the most effective. But, really, death by office supplies sounds like the way to go.”

Jensen groans and stretches his legs out. “I will pay you a lot of money to let me skip this meeting,” Jensen offers.

“I will let you punch me in the face if you let me skip this meeting,” Chad says, walking into Danneel’s office and flopping down on the couch next to Jensen.

Everyone pauses for a minute and contemplates whether the joy of punching Chad in the face is worth Wrath of Jared that will follow if anyone skips this.

They all sigh.

“I know, not worth it,” Chad mumbles. “I can think of a million people I’d rather sit in a room with than these people.”

“Would you guys stop your whining already?” Jared taps the doorframe and glances around the room.

“Please don’t make us go to this,” Misha pleads.

“You’re all going. And you’re going to put on nice, happy faces and play nice and,” Jared pauses to smack the back of Chad’s head. “I won’t see any fucking headlines in The New York Times or The Washington Post about my staff tomorrow.” Jared glares around the room.

“Why does Sophia get to skip out on this one? It’s really not fair.” Danneel pouts as she stands up and smoothes down her dress.

“Because Sophia has something to go to with her boyfriend and she cleared it two weeks ago. Any other stupid questions?”

“Yeah, why are you acting like…” Jensen grabs Danneel’s arm before she can blurt anything else out.

“We’re all set.”

&&&

The same day the shit hits the fan with the leaks is the same day Joanna rolls into town.

It’s been a steady drip of stories leaked to the press over the months. Dumb things leaked from the White House to the press. But today it’s worse, because it involved a military operation that leaked hours before it even occurred.

The White House is a fucking nuthouse and that’s putting it lightly. Jensen’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing, Jared’s been locked in the Oval with the President, and Misha’s trying to keep everything at bay. It’s not working though, and Jensen’s desperately trying just to keep up.

Joanna shows up at the worst possible time but he can’t turn her away. Joanna’s hovering in the doorway, leaning against the frame and looking bored out of her mind.

“I’m really sorry, I just got…” Jensen starts, rushing into his office. He dumps his pile of newspapers on his desk and he can hear Joanna walking into his office.

“Caught up in the biggest disaster to hit the administration yet?” she offers.

“Something like that.” Jensen sighs and clears off his couch, throwing papers into the trash and on his desk. He offers a spot on the couch to Joanna and runs over to shut the door to his office. “Katie, hold my calls unless it’s POTUS.”

Katie nods and Jensen closes his door.

“I guess I picked a shitty day to visit, huh?” Joanna drapes her coat across her lap and crosses her legs.

Jensen clears off the rest of his couch and turns off his Blackberry as he flops down next to her. He leans over and rests his head on her shoulder. Joanna laughs a little and pats the top of his head. He tilts his head back to look at her.

“Fuck. My. Life. So. Hard.”

Joanna throws her head back and laughs. “Oh, sweetie, you always had a way with words.”

Jensen sits back and wipes his face. “This day is seriously bad.”

“What the hell happened?” Joanna turns towards him on the couch and leans her arm against the back. “The leak?”

Jensen nods. “Something big. Military stuff. It didn’t come from the Pentagon, we’re sure. It came from the White House.”

“Wow. I picked the wrong day to visit.”

“It’s okay.” Jensen shakes his head and leans his head back against the couch. “It’s just a shitty day.”

Katie knocks on his door as a warning and pushes the door open. She smiles apologetically. “Sorry, Jensen, it’s just…”

He nods. “Leaving now.”

Joanna stands after him, pulling on her coat. “You still owe me a beer. And pizza.”

“I’ll call you, I promise.”

&&&

“How did this happen?” The President paces back the forth, hands resting on his hips. “Someone please tell me how the hell this happened?”

Jensen winces and he can see Jared wiping his hands on his pants.

“Sir, we had no warning…”

“Really, you fucking think?” The President throws his hands up. “I want something done tonight. I don’t care if we fire her or whatever. I want this fixed.”

“Sir, it’s not Danneel,” Jensen says desperately.

“Then who is it? Give me a name, Ackles.”

Jensen swallows. “Sir, there’s no way it’s Danneel. She would never do this.”

“She’s too close to the press,” Jared says softly.

“She’s the Deputy Press Secretary! It’s her job to be too close to the press!”

“But the thing with…”

“No, I know Danni,” Jensen interrupts.

“Do you? I mean, c’mon, Jensen. You’ve only been around this for two years. Three years ago, you would’ve thrown her under the bus,” the President says. “If it’s not her, then who is it?”

Jensen twists his fingers in his lap. There’s one person, but he’s not gonna say it now, not when tensions are high and he doesn’t have anything to back it up with. It’s starting to come together in his head but it’s not there yet.

“Just don’t do anything irrational yet, okay?”

“What am I supposed to do? This shouldn’t have leaked. What if it’s something bigger? Because Congress gets back from recess in another two weeks and I can’t afford a leak. You need to fix this Jensen or it’s coming back to you.”

Jensen nods. He barely looks at Jared as they both leave the office, stalking back to his own office.

“Jensen, stop.”

Jensen whirls around and glares at Jared. “Some fucking back up in there would’ve been nice.”

Jared glares right back. “Not when you’re being fucking stupid.”

“Oh, classic. I’m the one being stupid. It’s always the same thing, Jensen’s an idiot and Jared knows fucking everything.” Jensen turns around and storms back to his office. He can hear Jared behind him and staffers practically jump out of the way as they walk through the hallways.

“Oh, talk about classic, Jensen running away from an argument.”

Jensen stops in front of his office and points a finger at Jared. “Fuck you. You don’t get to accuse my best friend of something she didn’t do and then act all high and mighty about it.”

“Guys…” Katie starts.

Jensen gets the picture and storms into his office. Jared follows, slamming the door behind him.

“Tell me who else it could be, cause I’m not seeing a lot of options here.” Jared waves his arms. “Give me a name. Misha, maybe? Or what, Chad? Give me a name.”

“I’m not giving you a fucking name. I don’t just accuse people of doing shit. I’m not Saint Jared.”

Jared throws his hands up and opens the door again. “Un-fucking-believable. You know what, when you’re done acting like a fucking idiot, you can come and find me.” He slams the door behind him.

Jensen holds back a scream and the urge to push everything off his desk onto the floor. He kicks the edge of his desk and curses under his breath. It’s just like Jared to pull this kind of shit.

But Jensen doesn’t have time for it. He grabs his coat and rushes out of his office, telling Katie that he’s going out for a few hours as he leaves the West Wing.

He needs a drink.

&&&

There’s not much they can do in the next few hours. Misha scrambles to fix the problem, him and Aldis locked together in Misha’s office going over what he’s going to say at the press conference later that day. Jensen runs around the West Wing, carefully avoiding Jared and trying to put the pieces together.

There are ten people, maybe twelve, the leak is coming from. Jensen can scratch a handful of names right away, him and Jared, Chad, Danneel, and Misha. Aldis hasn’t been in on all the meetings and half the time he doesn’t get everything until it’s already hit The Times.

That leaves about five people and that’s five people Jensen doesn’t want to start accusing. Jared can get away with pointing fingers. But Jensen can’t do that. He’s got to have something solid. Jared’s gonna be pulling call logs in and out of the White House and that’s going to be what makes Jensen’s case.

He just needs something else.

&&&

Jensen needs to get out of the west wing for a few hours, so he meets up with Joanna for a late lunch the next day at her favorite pizza place down in Dupont Circle and right around the corner from the Metro. Joanna’s already there when he shows up, sitting at a table at the back, right in front of the kitchen. He gives the beer menu a quick glance before ordering something, and Joanna pushes her own glass across the table.

“You look like you could use it more than I do.”

He smiles at her, grateful, and takes a sip of her beer before sliding it back to her. He glances around the restaurant and smiles at the waitress when she brings his drink. He takes a few healthy gulps and Joanna just sits and waits. It’s early afternoon, so the restaurant is pretty empty, not exactly a hotspot for young professionals. They used to go there all the time for dinner, just the two of them, shooting the shit. The wait staff is crowded around the front of the restaurant, near the bar, so Jensen glances around before looking back at Joanna.

“I don’t think things could be much worse than they are.”

Joanna frowns and the waitress comes back over to take their orders. Joanna orders for him and she watches the waitress walk back to the kitchen before she speaks. “About the leak?”
Jensen nods and leans over the table. “Jared thinks it’s Danneel.”

Joanna opens and closes her mouth a few times. “Seriously? My money would’ve been on Sophia. But that’s mostly because I hate her. I’m a little biased.”
Jensen bites his bottom lip. “Right. Well, I know it’s not Danneel. I know her.”

Joanna tilts her head. “Didn’t she have a thing back in college?”

“And she dated Riley Smith who writes for The Times. They’re still friends.”

Joanna nods and takes a sip of her beer. “Then why isn’t it her?”

Jensen rubs his forehead. “She’s loyal. She goes to work to do a job and that’s it. She’s loyal. She wouldn’t fuck us like this. And Sophia’s pissed Danneel got the Deputy Press job and she didn’t. It makes sense to me.”

Joanna taps her fingers against the table, studying Jensen for a minute. “You really trust Danneel.”

“More than most people.” Jensen sighs. “And now she’s gonna get fired.”

“They can’t just fire her on a hunch. I mean, there’s no real evidence it’s coming from her office, right?”

Jensen shakes his head. “Not really. There’s not a whole lot of evidence that it’s coming from Sophia either.”

“But you still think it’s her?”

Jensen rubs his eyes. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Danneel wasn’t even in on half those meetings.”

“And Sophia was?”

Jensen nods. It helps to get all this out in the open but he can’t say more. The waitress brings their food over, two pizzas on bright white plates and Jensen’s not even hungry anymore. Joanna thanks the waitress and orders another round. She picks at her food and frowns at him.

“So, you prove it.”

Jensen nods and bites into his pizza, mostly to avoid talking. He chews and Joanna narrows her eyes at him before digging into her own food.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

He pushes his food around his plate. “We don’t exactly get along. She never liked me. If I accuse her of this, especially with Danneel in the middle, it’ll just look shitty.”

She doesn’t bring anything up about the leaks after that, just talks about her family and Texas and going back to her favorite coffee place in D.C., and it lets Jensen get away for a few hours.

&&&

The West Wing is a fucking madhouse when he gets back from dinner. He stops by Danneel’s office with a tray of coffee and sneaks inside. She has her phone on speaker, and Jensen recognizes the voice on the other end and winces as the guy screams more.

“Sir, sir…” She rolls her eyes at Jensen and sighs a little when he hands her a cup of coffee. She mouths a thank you and takes a sip of her coffee.

He sits down on the edge of her desk, his fingers itching towards the phone. She slaps his hand and shakes her head before speaking up again.

“Sir, we’re just as upset about the leak as you are, believe me. The best we can do…”

The guy makes a frustrated noise and Jensen can hear him slam the phone down on the other end of the line. Danneel rolls her eyes again and hangs up her phone.

“Fucking Christ, Ackles.”

“No shit.” Jensen shakes his head and pulls another cup of coffee from the tray, offering it to Misha as he walks into Danneel’s office.

“Just someone kill me now. Pretty please. I’ve lived a good life.” Misha moans and flops down on Danneel’s couch.

“Someone tell me again why I wanted to work in the White House? Someone go back in time and tell eight year old Danneel that she wants to be an actress or a model.” She stands up and kicks her heels off and flops down next to Misha on the couch.

“You’ve got the legs for it,” Misha comments.

“Right, anyway. Before we go into disturbing territory…” Jensen interrupts. He sips his coffee.

“What are we gonna do?” Danneel asks. She pulls her feet up underneath her. “I mean, this is fucked.”

Jensen sighs and rests his hands on her desk. “We find the leak. Figure out who it is.”

“Right, cause I didn’t think of that.” Danneel rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, well the alternative isn’t any better.” Jensen jumps off Danneel’s desk and heads for the door. “We’re gonna have to scrap dinner tomorrow,” he says, turning around for a moment.

“Yeah, we heard,” Misha says. “It doesn’t do us much good if you and Jared aren’t speaking.”

Jensen shrugs. He’s got too much shit on his plate to worry about it right now.

“Worry about it tomorrow,” Danneel says. “Just sleep on it. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”

Jensen shakes his head. “I doubt it. See y’all tomorrow.” He closes the door behind him and heads back towards his office.

&&&

Jensen’s got a pile of newspapers on his desk, articles circled in red and highlighted. He’s got months worth of news that wouldn’t seem to fit together to anyone else unless they looked for it. But Jensen knows what he’s looking for. He’s been watching for months.

He rests his head in his hands and stares at the newspapers in front of him. He looks up when he hears a knock on his door and sees Katie standing in the doorway, holding a box.

“You were supposed to call me when these came in.” He jumps up from behind his desk and takes the box from her, dropping it on top of his pile of newspapers.

“I didn’t want to bother you,” Katie says, sitting on the edge of his desk. “I think you need some help.”

Jensen shrugs and pulls the top off of the box, throwing it on the floor next to his desk. “I don’t want…”

“What, to drag me in the middle of this? Well, too late, because I’m in the middle of it.” She grabs a few stray newspapers. “Let me help you.”

“Katie, when I prove what I think happened, I’m going to be accusing a senior White House official of leaking information to the press. Best case scenario, I get fired. I’d like to keep you out of the wreckage, if that’s okay with you.”

“Aww, boss, that’s so sweet of you!” She hops off the desk. “But don’t treat me like a kid. Okay, if this blows up in your face, I want to be right there next to you.” She grabs the call log out of his hand. “Tell me what I’m looking for. And tell me why you had me pull Sophia’s phone logs.”

Jensen looks at her over the top of his glasses. “Are you sure you really want a piece of this? Because there’s no take backs.”

Katie nods.

“I think Sophia’s the leak.”

&&&

The shit falls in on them two days later.

Jensen gets called into the Oval Office first thing that morning, head still bleary from the night before. He was up late with Katie, going over call logs and connecting the dots.

It’s not pretty.

He sits and watches Aldis as he paces the Oval. Jensen hasn’t seen him this nervous since the convention. He looks ready to throw up.

“You’re giving me an ulcer,” Jensen mutters, staring down into his coffee and willing himself not to fall asleep in it. This is his last clean suit and he really doesn’t want to get coffee all over it.

“Do you have any idea why he called us in here?” Aldis fixes his tie and sits down next to Jensen. “Any idea at all?”

Jensen shrugs and takes a sip of his coffee. “Could be any number of things. Mostly I’m just trying not to fall asleep.”

Aldis opens his mouth to speak but the door to the Oval slams open and they both jump up. The President walks in, Jared following behind him with Danneel. Jensen watches as the President sits down, gesturing for the rest of them to sit. Danneel sits next to Jensen, pressing her knee against his leg.

“I think we all know why we’re here.”

&&&

Misha shoves all the papers off his desk. Jensen stands in the doorway, watching open mouthed as Misha growls, kicking his chair.

Misha, the zen master, is losing his shit.

“Um, Misha…” His secretary stands in the doorway next to Jensen , shaking a little.

“Would you give Jensen and me a moment?” Misha stares Jensen down. “I need to remove his head from his ass.”

She doesn’t have to be told twice, scurrying away as Jensen closes the door behind him.

“Misha,” he starts.

“No, don’t even fuckin’ start with me. How could you do that to your best friend?” Misha shoves Jensen’s shoulder. “How could you do that?”

“Hey! I didn’t just do that. I know it’s not Danneel, okay? Don’t scream at me.” Jensen takes a step back. “It wasn’t me, okay?”

Misha kicks his desk again. “What the hell was that? Is Jared insane? Has he completely lost his mind?” Misha shoves his phone off the desk and Jensen jumps as it hits the floor.

Jensen runs a hand through his hair. “I thought I’d have a few more days, okay? I thought I had more time.”

“More time for what?”

Jensen sits down in the one chair still standing in Misha’s office. “I think I know who the leak was.”

“Yeah, it was Sophia, no shit,” Misha growls.

Jensen opens and closes his mouth a few times. “And you didn’t think to come to me with this information?”

“Well, I thought you were smart enough to figure it out sooner!”

“Why the fuck didn’t you say anything? I’ve been working on this for three days! I needed more time!”

“Time for what? She’s dating a reporter from The Times! How much more obvious could it get?” Misha pushes away from the desk and starts pacing. “You do realize how badly her career is screwed now, right?”

“Gee, you think?” Jensen gives him the finger. “This is not productive.”

“Yeah, no kidding. What do you have?”

“Not enough to go to the President.” Jensen rubs his eyes. “I need help.”

Misha snorts. “Never thought I’d see the day you would ask for help.”

It’s close to three A.M. before they find a connection. Katie clicks her pen and throws it on the table. Across from her, Misha’s got his hands buried in his hair, staring down at phone records.

“I think I found it.” Jensen holds up a log. It’s the jackpot - a list of calls between Sophia’s office and The Times, all after hours and all days before the leak.

Misha stares at him from across the table. “You’re sure?”

Jensen nods, sliding the logs across the table to Misha. He checks his watch and hides a yawn behind his hands. It’s too late to bring it to the President and he’s not even sure how to do this. Walk into the Senior Staff meeting and lay everything out on the line? Meet with him first thing?

Katie yawns loudly and kicks his leg. “I already called Anna and set up a meeting first thing tomorrow.”

Jensen smiles at her. “Thanks, Katie. I would give you a raise if, you know...”

“It was in the budget?” She grins at him and stands up, starting to clean off the table. “I know, Ackles. I’m a rockstar. Now go home and rest. And call Jared.”

He shakes his head as he grabs his coat. “He’s the one who started it.”

“Yeah, well you should finish it.”

“You don’t think it’s gonna be finished after tomorrow? I was right and he was wrong. The end.”

&&&

Jared’s quiet when Sophia gets pulled into the Oval Office. Jensen doesn’t stop to say anything to him at all, just walks past the secretary’s desk and towards his own office. Katie’s waiting at her desk, looking nervous, and she hands him a cup of coffee.

“Senior staff delayed this morning?” She bites at her bottom lip.

“Yeah, twenty minutes.” He squeezes her shoulder. “You did good.”

She shrugs and hands him a binder. “I wish I didn’t feel so guilty about it.”

“Maybe she shouldn’t have done it in the first place.” Jensen takes a sip of his coffee. “Now would you get back to answering the phone?”

Katie nods and knocks his shoulder again. Jensen watches her for a minute before going into his office, softly closing the door behind him. He can still hear the buzzing activity outside of his office, but it’s muted. He takes a minute for himself, feeling the weight fall off his shoulders before sitting behind his desk.

Someone knocks on his door and Jensen barely has time to open his eyes to see Jared slip inside.

“I’m a jackass,” Jared says simply.

Jensen shrugs. He opens up his laptop and doesn’t meet Jared’s eyes. This isn’t the time or place to have this conversation, but it looks like Jared’s going to try anyway. Jared leans against the doorframe, hands shoved into his pants pockets, hunched to make himself look smaller.

Things might be okay now but Jensen’s still pissed as hell at Jared.

“I’m sorry.”

Jensen types on his laptop for another minute. He’s glad Jared can’t see the screen because it’s complete gibberish.

“I’m really sorry,” Jared says again.

Jensen looks over the top of his laptop at Jared. “We can’t have this conversation here.”

Jared nods and grabs at the door. “Can we meet back at my place? Tonight?”

Jensen shrugs and takes a sip of his coffee.

“Jensen, c’mon.”

“Yes, fine. Now can you give me some peace and quiet? I have shit to do.”

Jared sighs and Jensen doesn’t look back up until he hears the door click closed.

&&&

Jensen stops by Danneel’s office, moving out of the way of an intern running through the office. He opens the door and slips inside.

Danneel’s sitting at her desk, twirling a pen in her hand and staring blankly at the wall.

“Danni?”

She jumps and looks over at him. “Jesus Christ, Jensen. You scared the shit out of me!”

“Sorry. How are you?” He sits on the edge of her desk.

“Besides my career almost blowing up in my face? I’m fabulous.” She throws her pen down on her desk. “I mean, she was my best fucking friend for how long? And she pulls this shit?”

“I guess you’re pretty upset then.”

“You think? I can’t believe she’d do this. After everything we did. All that work and she threw it all away.” Danneel crosses her arms against her chest. “I’m so pissed right now.”

“I can’t really blame you.” Jensen stands up and slides his hands into his pockets. “I mean, god. You almost lost everything over this.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Danneel sits back in her chair. “And to think, all this time…I trusted her! And she came in here trying to act like she didn’t put my career on the line!”

“A lot of people did.” Jensen shrugs. “People pull this shit all the time.”

Danneel snorts. “You knew it the whole time, didn’t you? And she still, ugh.” Danneel pushes away from her desk, pacing in the middle of her office.

“Look, I couldn’t just say it was her. I had to have something more than a hunch. And it just took a little while longer to figure it out.”

Danneel shakes her head. “This is fucked. I can’t believe she did this. I can’t believe Jared thought I did this.”

“Yeah, well you better believe it.”

“Is that why you’ve been fighting so much?” Danneel sits on the edge of the desk next to him.

“Among other things, yes, that’s why we’ve been fighting so much.” Jensen shrugs. “It’s typical Jared.”

“Not really. I mean, being stubborn as fuck, sure.”

Jensen snorts. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Jensen, are you guys…”

“I don’t know.”

Danneel reaches over and squeezes his hand. “I’m really sorry.”

Part Three