Madam President (65 page)

Dev's heart started beating again. "It's about time you gave up on that selfless crap and got with the program, Mighty Mouse."

They both laughed, but the sound died quickly when there was a knock at the door; David opened it and poked his head inside. "Ready?"

Dev pushed herself off Lauren's knees and stood, offering her hand to her lover. When they were both on their feet, Dev nodded to him and David opened the door, allowing the small group of men and women to file into the Treaty Room.

Lauren held her breath as her eyes darted to Wayne. He gave her a smug smile, and she almost ended up in a heap on the floor from the sudden release of tension.

David was the first person to speak. "Madam President, I think we've come up with a solution that we can all live with."

Dev crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Bruce Jordon. "Is she fired?" She casually draped an arm over Lauren's shoulders and pulled her close, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

The silver-haired man crossed his own arms and jutted out his chin. "One way or the other, Ms. Strayer will no longer be employed by the Emancipation Party." His defiance was obvious, and Dev felt her temper begin to flare.

The President lifted her arm from Lauren's shoulders and took a step towards Chairman Jordon. Her hands twitched, wanting to form fists. "You mother-"

But David slapped her on the back - hard - causing her to cough and sputter, and cutting off Dev's snarl mid-sentence. "You really ought to see to that cough, Madam President."

Dev turned murderous eyes on her best friend.

David cleared his throat, figuring he'd better get to the heart of the matter before Dev had a stroke or killed him. Or both. "As I was about to say, this is the arrangement that, with Ms. Strayer's consent, we'll implement immediately. Lawyers from the Party, as well as Starlight Publishing, agree that, should the matter go to trial, there is a reasonable likelihood that Lauren's romantic relationship with you, Madam President, materially alters her ability to perform in a manner that is consistent with the terms and reasonable expectations of her contract. In other words, she may be found to be in breach. Though, at this point, all parties concerned want to avoid litigation."

Lauren threw up her hands and rolled her eyes.

"What in the hell does that mean?!" Dev roared. "Speak English, not lawyer."

David pursed his lips. "Here's the deal, Madam President." But he glanced at Lauren as well. "Starlight Publishing has offered to buy out the remainder of Lauren's contract with the Emancipation Party. In addition to taking over her salary for the next three years, they will compensate the Party for the salary she's already been paid over this past year. Starlight will also pay a reasonable fee for the biographical information Ms. Strayer gathered while working for the party."

"If you can call two million dollars reasonable," Wayne snorted.

David ignored him. "In return, Ms. Strayer will deliver a biography as planned. However, she will be under the direct employ of Starlight Publishing, who will receive all profits."

Lauren finally joined the fray. "So, I can continue to do my job, write the book, live here, and the only thing that changes for me is that I report to Starlight and sever any ties with the Emancipation party?"

Wayne winked at Lauren. "That's the deal, sweetheart. You can thank me later."

"Where do I sign?"

There was a knock on the door.

"Madam President, I have the contract that Chief of Staff McMillian requested," Liza called from the outer office.

"Come in, Liza, and thank you," David answered as the President's tall assistant brushed past the attorneys and Wayne and presented David with three copies of the contract they'd just negotiated.

Wayne handed Lauren a pen. "I think this is where you sign."

Starlight Publishing and the Emancipation Party's attorneys each took a moment to give the document a quick once over before their solemn nods declared that it was, indeed, an accurate reflection of the deal they'd struck.

Bruce Jordon signed first, then Wayne, and finally Lauren, who launched herself at Wayne and gave the flustered man a firm kiss on the mouth for his efforts. When he figured out what was happening, he pulled Lauren into an affectionate hug, laughing when she squeezed him so hard he could barely breathe. "Thank you, Wayne," she whispered in the stocky man's ear. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"You don't have to thank me, sweetheart. A bestseller will be thanks enough."

Lauren laughed then gave David a hug as well. "I know this was mostly your doing, David," she said softly, her face and voice conveying her true gratitude.

David's already ruddy skin took on a darker shade of red. He shrugged lightly. "Just doing my job." But his warm brown eyes glittered with pride over a job well done.

Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh."

"What about my hug?" Dev griped playfully. "I'm last on the list?"

Lauren grabbed the President's hand. "You rate a full-blown celebration, Madam President. Liza," she said, never breaking eye contact with Dev, "how long until the President's next appointment?"

"Twenty three, nearly twenty four minutes," Liza answered without hesitation, causing Wayne to raise both eyebrows. The woman was a human organizer and alarm clock all rolled into one. He wondered whether she was single.

"Good." Lauren smiled at Dev. "Would you like to take a walk with me?"

Dev's face instantly mirrored the happy grin. This was turning out to be a great day. "Lead the way."

Lauren and Dev padded slowly to the door, hand in hand. The writer opened it for Dev, who was just about to walk through when she felt Lauren let go of her hand.

Lauren spun around and stomped back to face Bruce Jordon.

"Mr. Jordon," Lauren squared her shoulders, "you are an asshole of the highest order. And it will be my supreme pleasure to let America know that fact in Starlight Publishing's biography of the President." She smiled insincerely and spoke in her sweetest southern drawl. "Have a nice day."

And with that, Lauren marched past Devlyn and out the door.

Dev looked back to the Party Chairman with a smirk so perfect David wished he had a camera to capture it. "What she said."

Then she ran to catch up with Lauren, who was already half way down the hall.

Sunday, November 7
^th

"C'mon, Daddy. Pick up the phone. You're always home after dinner." Lauren punched the speaker phone and video functions and waited, hoping tonight would be the night he would answer. She'd dutifully called her father once a month since her mother's death, just as she had since leaving home thirteen years ago. Only, since Anna Strayer's suicide, Lauren's father was suddenly never home when she called.

The generally stolid, retired plumber had told his daughter in no uncertain terms that when she chose to go back to Washington, D.C., after Dev's shooting, and while Anna was still in the hospital, she was choosing Dev over her own mother.

Lauren hadn't disagreed with her father. Though the circumstances weren't quite the way he had made them sound, Lauren knew in her heart that if there were a real contest, she would always choose Devlyn.

His attitude had softened immediately following his wife's death, however, and when Lauren came home for the funeral, he welcomed her with open arms. But it only took hours for bad feelings to rear their ugly heads again, and for Howard to assign blame for his loss to Lauren. If she'd only stayed to help. The stress of reading about her daughter having an affair with the President was simply more than the fragile woman could be expected to take. If she'd only sent Anna to different doctors... The list went on and on, and Lauren found that she couldn't leave Tennessee fast enough.

But that was four months ago, and though they'd never been close, she'd never gone this long with no contact at all. While she was quite certain that she'd never have the kind of relationship with her father that Dev had with Janet and Frank Marlowe, she still loved him and wanted to know that he was okay.

Lauren was about to give the verbal command for her phone to hang up when her father picked up. A flashing green light on Lauren's phone let her know that there was no image available. She remembered that her father had always hated that part of the phone and only allowed a visual link to please her mother. Now that her mother was gone, he must have disabled everything except for the simple voice transmission.

"Hello."

"Daddy?"

Click.

Lauren blinked at the sound of the buzzing dial tone. "Oh, that went well. Guess you figured out how to turn off the caller ID. Still mad at me, by any chance?" she muttered sarcastically. But she was hurting, despite the fact that she tried to brush it off.

The blonde woman snatched up Gremlin and Princess' leashes from the top of her dresser. Both dogs magically appeared from nowhere, beating Lauren to the door. "How do you do that?" she asked the short pooches, feeling herself slipping into a full-fledged bad mood. She bent over and snapped the leashes on the collars and grabbed her jacket from the coat rack near the door.

When she opened her door she was surprised to find Ashley standing there. "Hi, Ashley." Lauren peered down the hallway, looking for, but not finding, Ashley's brothers. "I was just on my way out to walk the dogs. What can I do for you?"

Ashley dug her toe into the carpet. "I dunno." She reached down to pet Gremlin and Princess, who were howling, their bodies shaking in utter delight at the sight of their friend.

"Okay," Lauren drew out the word. "Well, we could talk when I come back, or you could join us? Grem loves it when you walk him."

Ashley smiled and reached for the leash. "I was coming over to see if he and Princess could play. I'm bored."

"Ahhh... I see," the writer stated seriously, trying to remember what she had done for fun at Ashley's age at, she glanced at her watch, 7:30 P.M. Somehow she didn't think throwing rocks at the abandoned house at the end of the street, putting pennies on the railroad tracks so passing trains could flatten them, or staring mindlessly at the television for hours on end would be high on Dev's list of approved activities. "Wanna borrow a jacket of mine?"

Ashley's eyes lit up. "Sure!"

Lauren chuckled softly. "Okay, you can have this one." She held up her worn jean jacket for the girl's inspection. "Or," she put the end of Princess' leash between her teeth and grabbed a second jacket from the rack, "Dhis un."

The girl selected the butter-colored suede jacket and shrugged it on. It swallowed her whole, and Lauren gave her a fond look, helping her push up the sleeves before she shut the door to her room.

Lauren said to the first agent they passed in the hallway, "We're going to the south lawn to walk the dogs." A few seconds more, and the agent normally assigned to Christopher joined them at the top of the stairs, remaining several respectful paces away. Lauren glanced down at Ashley. "Amy's night off tonight?"

"Uh huh."

Gremlin could tell they were getting near the door, and he began pulling Ashley along.

The dark-headed girl was trying to pull him back into line, but failing miserably.

"Gremlin!" Lauren barked.

He slowed for a moment in response to his mistress' cross use of his name, but soon began to tug on the leash again.