It was a particularly freezing Saturday afternoon in Washington DC as Madison stood among the bundled up crowd listening to Davis's inaugural speech. She'd been out there far too long already and as it was she could feel herself getting sick. It was snowing and it was cold and she was afraid she might have been standing in a puddle of water. She was there along, like she had feared, because the rest of the family was back in Tulsa (where it wasn't snowing and it was a not-so-cold 47 degrees, unlike the negative 10 wind chill here in DC) either at home or at the hospital where Zac was still in his coma, not improving, but not getting any worse either.
"I know it is ghastly cold out here so I'll make this brief," Davis began, his voice quivering in the cold. "I had a lot to say but we're not fit to say anything today. I accept this presidency with open arms and I plan to make the next four years the best this country has ever seen. As soon as I get through those doors into that heated White House, I won't even go to my office to get settled in before I sign a bill to bring every single one of those troops suffering today in Korea on the first flight back home. They should be here no later than this time tomorrow."
The crowd of shivering people erupted into a loud roar of approval and Davis smiled. "With that, I'll let you all get home to warm up. Good day!" He waved and left, pulling his coat closer to his body as he went. Madison did the same, pushing against the crowd to her secret service agents who had been watching her carefully but keeping their distance throughout the ceremony.
"Can we go?" she asked, rubbing her arms with her hands in an effort to get a bit warmer.
"Of course, Miss Ashton," they said. "This way." She followed one man, the other falling behind her as they walked across the White House lawn and into the building.
"Aren't you cold?" she asked the man in front of her. He was wearing his black suit and a thin coat over it. He didn't seem to be the least bit cold. "I'm frozen." He didn't respond as he opened the door for her and she went inside. "Ahh�" She smiled and began to remove some of her outer clothing; her hat, her scarf, her gloves, and her coat. Someone took it from her and found a place to hang it as she was led through the new White House towards the Oval Office, where she would be speaking with Davis while he did other things. The aura around her was definitely different; the other times that she was in this building she was not welcome. Here everyone knew her and actually liked her, unlike when Smith was president and she had to make her way as quickly as possible without being spit on.
"You have a message, Miss Ashton," someone said as she was approaching the Oval Office.
"Already? I just got here," she said, smiling. "And I don't even work here." She took the message from the new intern's hand and looked at it. She stopped walking.
"Miss Ashton, the president is waiting."
"I have to go home," she said, putting the note in her pocket.
"What about�"
"I have to go home! He woke up!" she said. "Wait, I have to tell Davis, and then I have to go home." She ran quickly to the doors to the office and went inside. Davis had already signed the Davis Bill (that had been torn up earlier but he drafted again once he'd heard the results of the election) and was in the process of doing other new presidential duties.
"Ah, Madison, come on in!"
"I can't stay. I just got a message�"
"Yes, I got one too. Wonderful news! This'll only take a moment and then I'll have a plane ready for you to go on home. Please sit down." She walked quickly to the chair he was pointing to and sat down. "This is actually better that he has woken up while you're here because now you can go home and tell him. I know the two of you have a lot of plans for the future and you're young, so you can do all of them, but I'm very indebted to the both of you."
"I thought you said you were going to make this quick."
"This is the quick version. But I'll make it even quicker. I want the both of you to come and work for me here." Madison's eyes widened. "I don't need an answer right away, but sometime in the next four years would be nice."
"Well I'd have to think about it and discuss it with Zac�"
"Of course! And I know the both of you have many things you want to do but I would love to have you come here and work for me. Think about it and give me a call when you've made your decision. Goodbye."
"Thank you!" she said, grinning as she got up and ran out of the room.
Madison ran into Zac's room and paused at the door. He was sitting up, looking completely dazed and not entirely himself. Diana was in there with him and she looked over as Zac did when Madison rushed in.
"Hey baby," he said, a smile coming over his face. "Where have you been?"
"I was in DC with Davis," she explained, taking off her coat and her gloves. It wasn't as cold as it had been in DC, but it was still cold. "I knew I shouldn't have gone, but he wanted me there for his inauguration."
"That was today?" Zac asked, his smile fading. "I wanted to be there." Diana excused herself to leave the two of them alone. Madison put her coat and gloves on the chair and immediately threw her arms around Zac.
"I missed you so much, honey," she said, gripping onto him tightly. "Things just aren't the same without you around. I wanted you to be there with me today; it's not the same walking into the White House alone."
"I wanted to be there too, but it wasn't my decision." She let go of him, still sitting on his bed very close to him. "How was it?"
"It was short. I had someone tape it so you'll get to see it. It was really cold so he didn't say much. I already know I'm going to get sick though from staying out there all that time." She grinned, realizing that he hadn't taken his eyes off of her since she walked into the room. "Stop staring at me! I'm not going anywhere!"
"Well I haven't seen you in forever, at least let me stare a little bit." She shook her head. "You look like you're sick. Gimme that forehead." She grinned and he put his hand on her forehead. "Nothing yet but I'm sure by tomorrow you're going to be miserable. Hold it off as much as possible; they're not going to let you see me if you're sick."
"I'll be fine. Did you hear anything about when you can come home?"
"They said I'm doing awesome so they'll let me come home tomorrow. I'm not allowed to leave my bed, but I can come home tomorrow."
"Well then we won't have to worry about me getting sick because you'll already be home." He nodded. "I love you."
"I love you too, Maddie." She smiled. "Do you like your Christmas present?" She nodded.
"Of course." She hit him lightly in the arm. "I hate you though; you never told me you were going to get me something like that. I was completely not expecting a piano." He shrugged.
"I do what I can. It was supposed to be for your birthday, though."
"Yeah, Taylor told me." She looked away, looking just as dazed as he was.
"What�s up, hun? You�re spacey."
"I spoke to Davis," she said. "He offered us a job working for him at the White House." Zac looked at her, confused. "He didn't explain, I'd just found out you woke up and I wasn't entirely there. He kind of just said that and I ran out of there and came right here. But wouldn't that be so cool? Actually working in the White House? I was actually considering it until I realized that it would affect the band. Now that Isaac is coming home you'd probably want to start that up again�" Zac shook his head. "No? Why not?"
"Isaac doesn't want to do music any longer."
"Why?!"
"I don't even know if he's going to come home. He's used to living over there now. He considers that his home now."
"But�but he's in the middle of a war!"
"I know! I tried to convince him otherwise but he's really adamant on staying. If he doesn't come home in the next few days then he's not coming home."
"What is he going to do when he's over there?"
"I have no idea." Madison sighed.
"I was hoping I'd get to meet him before we got married."
"Me too. At this rate he probably won't even come to the wedding. It's like he doesn't even like me anymore," he said. "And if he doesn't come home, that job at the White House seems pretty promising. We'd get the news straight from the source and if we've got a good enough job, we might even be announcing the news."
"That would be pretty cool."
"Imagine that, though; the two of us working straight for the president. Doesn't that seem a little out of the ordinary?"
"That seems very out of the ordinary, but, lately everything seems out of the ordinary. Ever since I met you," she said. "It's surprising how much you've changed my life. Just because I kept going backstage�now we're the most happening couple in the United States."
"I'm ready to go home."
"So am I. But let me tell you this, Mr. Hanson, if you ever scare me like that again I am going to kill you myself. I don't know what I'd do without you around. No more war for you."
"I don't think that'll happen. I'm a veteran now." She rested her head against his. "You don't know what it was like over there, Maddie. The only reason I didn't die over there was because I had an entourage of people taking care of me. They wanted to keep me alive because of my name and who I was, so they would die for me. I didn't want anyone to die for me. I didn't want anyone to give me any kind of special treatment because of who I am. Granted it was the only way I got out of there alive, but all these other people were dying and they were happy to die as long as I was still alive. It hurt. And then I met the natives and they all hated me because I was taking their support away from them�meeting them changed everything. If I'd gone there when I got drafted the first time I would have stopped trying all together. Those people really needed our help and I was taking it away from them."
"But, Zac," she said, pausing to kiss him, "if it weren't for you a hell of a lot more people would have died for people they didn't care about and for a war that didn't involve us. Things like that happen all the time and we should have nothing to do with it. If they really try, they can win that war. It's all part of God's master plan."
"God?" he said, snorting. "God doesn�t exist there."
"That's not true and you know it's not true." Zac sighed.
"Yeah, I know. That's Isaac speaking there. He's not the same person anymore. Even if you did meet him�even if he did come home�you wouldn't be meeting my brother. You wouldn't be meeting the Isaac that I know. He's a completely different person and I don't know why he's like that but he was like that the entire time he was over there."
"I guess war can do that to a person."
"I know one of his friends he was close to died really graphically in front of him and it affected him a lot, but I don't know if that's the exact reason for it. I hope one of these days he'll be my brother again."
"You know what? That's going to happen. Things always work out in the end for you." Zac smiled.
"That's just because you're around." Madison grinned.
"I'm so glad to have you home."