Disclaimer: I don't own Designated Survivor

"Hey, I'm gonna need you to join me in a meeting with the President" Aaron's voice sounded behind Emily as he hurried to catch up with her.

"Sure, when?" Emily's eyes stayed glued to her phone as Aaron fell into step with her.

"I'm on my way to the Oval now." Aaron leaned into her as they squeezed through a doorway the same time an aide from legal was running through.

Emily finally lifted her head up from her phone for a second, "So what is this meeting about?" She spared him a quick glance, her eyes returning to her phone for a second before her mind registered what she had just seen and her eyes shot back up to Aaron Shore.

"Oh, wow," She blurted before she could stop herself. His typical sharp suit was gone, replaced by a dark green, snug fit polo and dark wash jeans. She tore her eyes away from his obviously toned chest and abs and forced herself to look up into his mischievous eyes.

"See something you like?" He teased and Emily had to fight the blush creeping up her cheeks. Yes, I see you wearing that on a Saturday afternoon, kicking a soccer ball around our backyard with our future, very gorgeous kids. Aaron gave a small shrug and bob of his head, "I had an early morning today, didn't think I'd be spending Saturday up here around the West Wing." He said in explanation.

"When do you find the time to work out?" Emily asked abruptly, because she had to say something to cover her ridiculous staring and because she was genuinely curious.

"Well, I'm not the White House Chief of Staff anymore," Aaron said slowly, steering her into a quieter hallway, "so I have a little more extra time on my hands now." He grinned down at her as he reached to open the door of the study adjacent to the Oval, "But it's nice to know someone noticed."

Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He was having a little too much fun with this. He did have a reason though… his casual outfit showed off his great physique more than his usual structured suits did. Emily entered the room, straightening herself to a more professional stance in anticipation of POTUS.

Sneaking a glance at Aaron, she same him do the same, his defined chest puffing out naturally as he pulled his shoulders back. He met her gaze out of the corner of his eye that cause butterflies to erupt in her belly. The SOB knew he looked good and was not about to let her off the hook so easily. The door opened and Aaron stiffened almost imperceptibly. But Emily was a near-expert in the study of Aaron Shore. This stiffening was that of uncomfort and annoyance, almost always saved for no other than Lyor Boone. Emily let out a small sight of relief. Even if Lyor deprived her of her essential refreshments during the day, he at least was reliably good for sucking any sexual tension out of a room.

…

"So much for courtesy," Aaron grumbled after the congressional committee members where shown out of the room.

"Yeah," Emily sighed, dropping back into her seat and spinning around to face Aaron who was standing by the door, arms crossed. She opened her mouth but Aaron's phone beeped.

"Sorry," He muttered, glancing down at it briefly before tucking it away.

"Lloyd?" Emily questioned, eyebrows raised, ready for Aaron to rush out of the room again. Ever since his appointment to NSA Adviser, she rarely got more than a few moments alone with him on any given day.

"Nah, it's my tux. I sent an intern back to my house to pick it up since it looks like I'll be here all day."

"Wait, you own your own tux?" Emily asked, her voice part disbelieving, part impressment. She never realized Aaron was that high class.

Aaron scoffed lightly, "Emily, I've worked at the White House for a number of years now. At one point, it becomes more cost-effective for a person in my position to own his tuxedo."

"Wow, who would've known that Aaron Shore is this classy." Emily teased as she got up from her seat to brush past him on the way to the door.

"You seem very taken by my personal style today, Rhodes." Aaron noted as he held the door open for her and followed her in the direction of her office.

Emily smiled to herself as she led the way down the hall. If only he knew the extent of it. "Well, I just don't think it would ever cross Seth or Lyor's minds to invest in a tux."

"Yeah, about that." Aaron gave a quick nod to Sasha before shutting the door of Emily's office. He followed her to the desk, remaining standing with his hands on the back of the chair facing her desk as she took her seat.

"You know Lyor grilled me about who I was wearing to the Correspondent's Dinner?" Aaron told her, giving her a strange look. "Seriously, Em, I mean what does that have to do with our political messaging?"

Emily looked up from the papers she was shuffling on her desk "He was probably trying to make conversation." She told him, her eyes lingering a little too long on how the muscles on his forearms stood out as he braced himself on the chair. Seriously, what was wrong with her today? Aaron scoffed, looking away for a second and collecting his words but before he could say anything, Emily spoke.

"But between the two of them, we have a bigger issue with Seth right now." Emily folder her arms neatly on the desk and looked squarely up at Aaron.

"What, does Seth not have his outfit picked out for tonight?" Aaron asked scathingly but at Emily's raised eyebrow, he sighed and help his hands up, backing off the topic.

"Seth's not funny." Emily stated plainly and she watched Aaron's face contort for a second just as hers did before when trying to find a way to defend their friend. But the NSA Adviser gave up faster than she did.

Aaron sighed conceding, "Seth's not funny." Aaron's phone began ringing again and he scrambled for it as Emily reached over and handed him his padfolio from her desktop, "Aaron Shore." He answered, nodding his thanks to Emily as he listened intently, "I'll be right there, did you call Foerstel?"

"Aaron," Emily said in a low and urgent tone has he began to back away from her desk, "Aaron, I need you to talk to Seth," she hissed, standing up, ready to chase him down. He held up his free hand as if to say "what can I do?" and pointed at his phone, still held to his ear.

"I can't" he mouthed to her, reaching her office and giving her a quick wave and thumbs up as he squeezed by Sasha who was just entering, but his laughing smile didn't go unnoticed by Emily as he escaped out of her office.

"Aaron-!" Emily called out indignantly but he was already gone. She groaned and turned to Sasha.

…

"You're not dressed yet."

Emily jumped, her Blackberry nearly falling out of her hands as she turned quickly to the source of the voice.

"And I see you are," She quipped as they got on the elevator to bring them back to the West Wing. "I was just about to start getting ready when I got the call to report to Command Ops."

"Well, why don't you go start and I'll prepare the update to give to the committee." Aaron offered, punching the button for main floor.

Emily smiled, "I would appreciate that." She boldly reached out and smoothed her hand down the front of his tux, "So this is your tux." She acknowledged, "It's nice." She told him offhandedly.

Aaron smirked, "Some have said that I wear the hell out of it." He replied suggestively but Emily turned away, stifling her smile, not willing to give in.

"Hm."

The elevator doors opened and Emily stepped out, all business again. "Let me know when you've compiled the update, I'll call Senator Cowling and you take Senator Feller." She told Aaron and he gave her a mock salute before heading off in the opposite direction.

…

Emily was the last to join the group huddled outside the Oval waiting for President to emerge. Seth was nervously shuffling through the speaker's notes while Aaron and Lyor were engaged in conversation. Actually, "engaged" was a bit of a stretch. Lyor was commenting awkwardly while Aaron stood next to him, arms crossed, face blank, eyes forward, jaw slightly clenched, his annoyance barely contained in his stance. Emily observed the scene in front of her before stepping forward to join them. Lyor continued to speak as head swiveled to look in the new direction that Aaron was focused in. The NSA Adviser's eyes lit up upon seeing her, arms uncrossing.

"Emily," He said, taking a step forward in her direction, relief flooding his voice.

"That is a stunning dress." Lyor stated, but it was more of a blunt declaration than a compliment. Aaron opened his mouth but Seth spoke first, sparing her a quick look.

"Lookin' good," The Press Secretary offered before reaching into his jacket for a pen to scratch out something in his note cards. Emily smiled, her gaze returning back to Aaron who made a move to walk over to her but the doors of the Oval opened and everyone straightened up to greet the President.

"Well, we may have an impending domestic terror attack upon us, but don't we all look nice for the occasion." President Kirkman smiled around at his staff, "shall we?" The President began to lead the way down the hall as the others fell into step after him, Lyor filling him in on the details of the dinner and who to talk to with what topics.

"You okay?" Emily asked Seth, noticing a faint sheen of nervous sweat lining his brow.

Seth shot her a glance, "I gave the remarks to Aaron. He didn't laugh. At all. Not even a single smile! He just looked at him calmly and said, 'Man, you need some help,' and walked out of my office." The Press Secretary gulped, "No, you know what I think? You guys have been so occupied with this Frank Lloyd thing that it's been sucking all the humor out of everyone. You've all just forgotten how to let loose and have fun."

Emily blinked, biting her lip as she pondered her response. No, now was not the time to psych Seth out. They needed him on the front lines while they were dealing with the Lloyd showdown. "Yeah, maybe you're right." She said awkwardly before increasing her pace to walk alongside Aaron. His eyes cut to her, eyebrows slightly raised, his signature "are you okay?" look specially reserved for Emily. She didn't meet his eyes, there was too much going on for her to answer that question now.

They were walking through the kitchens of the venue now, Secret Service clearing the path for them as they cut through the bustling workers. One cart of glasses got a little too close to them and Aaron's arm came around her waist to draw her closer to the middle of the pathway.

"You need to relax," He told her in undertone, his fingers resting lightly on her back, "You don't want the Chief of Staff looking to wound up in a room full of journalists."

"Right," Emily took a breath, trying to tell herself the nerves were because of the sarin gas crisis and the close proximity of Aaron Shore in his amazing, self-owned tux, walking so close to her that she could feel his body heat radiating next to her through the thin material of dress.

"The President will be cracking wise, right, Seth?" Lyor's voice shook Emily out of her daze.

"Yup, the President is gonna kill tonight," Seth responded, causing Emily to groan quietly. She shared a quick look with Aaron before bracing herself for their entrance.

"Relax." Aaron mouthed to her and she put on a gracious smile as cameras began flashing, voices chiming their greetings to POTUS. Lyor stood a respectable few steps behind the President as Seth moved to address his staff in one corner of the room. Emily moved to take her place behind the President but Aaron's hand caught her arm, pulling her back to him.

"Em," His hand traveled from her wrist to her back, his thumb stroking the skin above her dress, his body leaned into hers, creating their own little space amid the chatter of the guests. "You look lovely tonight," He murmured, his lips brushing lightly against the shell of her ear. His hand lingered on her back for second before he vanished into the crowd, leaving a faint trail of his cologne in his wake. Emily suppressed a shiver and willed her blush to fade as she pulled herself straighter and joined the President in his greetings.

Damn you, Aaron Shore.

…

A light knock drew Emily's attention from the file in her hands and she looked up to see Aaron in the doorway of her office, still dressed in his tuxedo, his padfolio tucked under his arm, one hand shoved deep in his pocket, his expression unreadable.

"Aaron," She said warmly, "come in." Emily stood and walked around her desk realizing a second too late that she was still barefoot, her heels kicked off under her desk long ago. Aaron met her halfway, taking long strides towards her, tossing his padfolio onto the couch. He caught her arms in her hands, stilling her movements. She looked up at him in surprise, but his eyes weren't meeting hers, instead, his gaze scanned up and down her body methodically, let out a held breath once his eyes ascertained that there were no visible markers of harm on her body.

"Aaron," she repeated, loosening her arm from his grasp to rest her hand on his chest, "I'm fine." She said quietly. He nodded silently, taking a step back to regain a more respectable distance between them.

"It's late," Emily commented lightly, moving to sit down on the couch, "I thought you would have gone home." She said, folding her legs under her.

"I could say the same to you." Aaron retorted, his expression now lighter and more relaxed. He picked up his padfolio and placed it on the coffee table so he could sit down next to Emily.

She smiled, "At least I changed," She countered, smirking.

"Hey, I came straight here after court." Aaron defended. Emily softened, a small smile tugging on her lips.

"To check to make sure I wasn't somehow poisoned by the non-existent sarin gas?"

Aaron shared her smile, "Maybe." His eyes searched hers as he leaned in closer.

Emily shifted her position, leaning in to meet him halfway as his hand landed on her knee. This was more like the old times, meeting each other in the Chief of Staff office to celebrate their wins, except this time it was minus a certain Press Secretary and the mood was much more intimate.

"We got Lloyd," She whispered, bracing herself with a hand on Aaron's bicep. His eyes flicked down to her lips, "It's finally over." Her eyes fluttered shut, bracing herself for the fireworks when their lips met. But a second passed and Emily's eyes flew open, to see the hesitation in Aaron's eyes. Emily pulled away slowly, realization dawning on her as a wave of disappointment consumed her.

Aaron's hand came up to stroke her cheek lightly, as if in consolation, but his eyes didn't quite meet hers.

"You'll tell me when I need to know?" Emily squeezed his arm lightly, as if to tell him, I know, it's okay.

"Yeah." Aaron pressed his lips to her forehead and Emily's eyes closed again for the briefest second that his mouth came in contact with her skin. "Come on, let's get you home." He said, standing up and offering a hand to her. Emily took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

"Thank you for taking the lead in the court case tonight." She said as she moved to pack her things, "I owe you one."

Aaron smiled, helping her into her coat, "I think I know how you can make it up to me."

Emily looked up at him, eyebrows raised, "Oh yeah?" she said coyly.

He took her hand in his, leading the way out of her office, "Lunch tomorrow?" His eyes met hers, the silent conversation passing between them naturally. Their time would come. When this Lloyd situation was settled, it would finally be their time to be together, once and for all. But for now…

"Okay," Emily told him, not bothering to hide her smile, "Lunch would be just fine."