Disclaimer: I don't own Designated Survivor.

1/3

"Em? Em, we need to get going if we don't want to be late." Aaron called, knocking lightly on the door.

She tore her eyes away from her hands, "Uh, yeah, just give me a second." Emily heard his footsteps retreat and she took a deep breath, looking back down at the offending piece of plastic in her hand. She tried to think but her mind was very blank, restarting every time she began on the trail of a new thought.

She jumped as Aaron knocked on the door again, his voice closer to the door this time with a note of concern in his tone, "Emily? Are you okay in there?"

"Yeah," she said, but her voice was a little to high-pitched, wavering a little.

"Okay, I'm coming in-," Aaron said after a pause, the doorknob clicking as he put his hand on it. She quickly swept her things back into her makeup bag and opened the bathroom door to reveal a very surprised Aaron standing on the other side, his hand still outstretched to where the doorknob was a second ago. He recovered quickly, his brow knitting together as his eyes scanned her quickly.

"Everything alright?"

Emily brushed past him, leading the way out of the bedroom and into the living room, "Yeah, I just couldn't get my mascara to work this morning." She said breezily, dropping her makeup bag into her purse and picking up her coat. She turned to face him, his expression still skeptical, hands tucked neatly into his pockets as he watched her. Emily jerked her head toward the door, "C'mon, Shore. Let's roll."

…

"Okay, so I have the preliminary standings on the healthcare bill and here's a schedule of the meetings for the rest of the week, as well as room for your changes." Sasha rattled off as she walked into Emily's office. The Chief of Staff, startled at her sudden appearance, spun around in her chair to face the desk, her fingers closing around the object in her hands.

"What are you doing?" Sasha asked slowly, approaching the desk suspiciously, her eyes narrowed shrewdly at the guilty blush that rose to Emily's cheeks. Realizing that there was no way out of it, she sheepishly raised her hands to the top of the desk, her fingers sliding apart to reveal the white stick nestled in her hands.

Sasha inched closer, her eyes widening, "Oh my God, Emily…" Her eyes shot up to meet Emily's "Whose…?"

Emily looked down, avoiding her assistant's piercing eyes, "Uh," She swiped a finger over her eyebrow as she struggled to formulate a response while she was still trying to process this information herself. No one knew that she and Aaron were involved. Even she wasn't 100% sure what they were.

Emily slid the test back into its box to buy herself more time to respond, "It's… complicated. Look Sasha, I know I don't need to ask you this, but if you could just-,"

"My lips are sealed." Sasha promised, setting the binder in her arms on Emily's desk.

"Thanks," Emily told her, relief flooding over her as she handed Sasha a stack of files, "These are my finished notes and the finalized documents for Public Engagement."

Sasha nodded, lingering for a second, "Just one thing, a personal curiosity of mine… Is it Aaron's?" She asked in a hushed voice, glancing quickly at the doorway as she stepped closer to make sure more one heard.

"Sasha!" Emily exclaimed, trying her best to look scandalized but she knew the young women saw right through her.

"Hey," a knock on the frame of the door caused both women's heads to swing towards the front of the office to see Aaron standing there. Sasha's hand quickly shot out and slammed an open file shut over the pregnancy test box lying on the desk. Emily decided that after today, she was forever going to be haunted by the sound of Aaron's knock.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt." He said, hesitating at the threshold, a bewildered look on his face.

Emily blinked, trying to compose her face into a more calm expression as her heart thudded in her chest, "No, its fine, come in." She said in a forced voice, folding her hands in front of her to stop them from trembling. Sasha quickly snatched the folder into her arms as she caught Aaron glancing curiously at the bulge.

"So I just talked to the Saudi Ambassador and the summit is a green light. They're looking to set the date for two weeks from today." Aaron cut his eyes over to Sasha, shifting his feet as he his eyes lingered on the folder, "There's also the subject of the Congressional ethics inquiry…" He said pointedly as Sasha returned his gaze a little too intensely, her stance next to Emily very much akin to that of a personal guard dog.

"Right. Sasha, can you give us the room, please?" Emily asked, her eyes communicating silently with her assistant, thankful that it was Aaron who unknowingly gave her the much-needed quick escape. Emily felt her panic begin to subside as Sasha nodded.

"Sure, I'll come find you later with the completed ten-day book for the President." Sasha said quickly, but in her haste to leave, the tip of her pointed heel caught on the leg of Emily's desk and she lurched forward, just barely catching herself with her free hand gripping the edge of the table. Emily rose from her chair as both she and Aaron moved towards the falling White House aide, their arms outstretched to catch Sasha but while Emily's eyes stayed focused on her assistant's stricken face, Sasha and Aaron's attention was drawn to the floor in front of Emily's desk. The Chief of Staff turned away from Sasha's pale face, leaning slightly over the dark wood of her desk to see what they were staring at.

The bright pink and muted lilacs of the box lay on the floor, standing out crudely against the dark carpeting of the floor while the white stick stood out starkly in the middle of the floor just a few inches away from its box, a mocking contrast to the dark wood and solemn, refined details of the office. Emily felt the color drain out of her face as a thick silence fell between the three, standing around in a misshapen circle around the items laying on the floor. Sasha was still bent over the side of the desk, the folders still in her arms, her eyes wider than Emily had ever seen them, to the point that she was worried that her eyes were about to pop right out. Aaron on the other hand, hand a frighteningly blank look on his face, his jaw clenched somewhat, his hands hanging uselessly back at his sides, like the two parallel lines on the used pregnancy test.

"There you are, Aaron! I've been looking everywhere for you, man. Look, I need to run my briefing past you- I just added a couple items about the Congressional inquiry and I want to make sure I'm not violating your national security filter-," Seth burst into the room from the side door, a hand shoved carelessly into his pocket, the other waving around a stack of papers. He stopped just outside their circle, behind Aaron, his eyes following their frozen gazes to the floor.

"Whoa, what the f-, whose is that?"

Emily slowly raised her eyes to Seth's taken aback face, while the Press Secretary looked between Aaron, Emily and Sasha. Sasha's eyes remained glued to the stick as Aaron's eyes rose to fixate speechlessly on Emily, the weight of his gaze causing Emily to begin to panic as she watched Seth's eyes move so fast between the three of them that she was afraid he would become dizzy like she was suddenly feeling. The question seemed to hang in the air for an eternity until, to Emily's great horror, another knock sounded from the main door and Lyor popped in.

"Hey gang, what's going on? Why is everyone standing around so quietly?" He said in his usual aloof manner, striding to the middle of the office. Emily's brain was screaming at her to stop him but all she could register was Aaron's eyes boring into her as she looked anywhere but at him. Thankfully, Seth still had his sense about him and blocked Lyor bodily before the Political Director could get close enough to see what had the senior staff frozen in their places.

"What? What are we looking at?" Lyor tried to catch a glimpse from around Seth but Sasha pounced on the box, shoving the test into its bright packaging and jamming it into a folder in her arms, hugging it all to her chest tightly.

"It's mine!" She squeaked, fleeing from the office without so much as a look over her shoulder. Aaron turned slightly to let the young women past him, his eyes fixed straight ahead, staring at nothing likely still in a state of shock.

"Come on, guys, you know secrets kept between colleagues yield to a toxic work environment." Lyor complained, "I can't function properly when there is something of importance that I am kept out of the loop on…"

"Get out." Emily muttered, lowering herself back into her chair. Seth turned to look at her, stepping back from Lyor as Aaron's head swung back around in her direction. Lyor's mouth gaped open, still confused about what was going on.

"What?"

"I said everyone out!" Emily snapped, pointing at the door, "And no questions to Sasha." She warned for good measure but something told her that the men were not fully convinced. Or at least, they wouldn't be once they recovered from the awkwardness of the whole situation.

Look out for Part 2 coming soon!

On another note, what do you guys think of me making this into a series of one-shots based on the Emily-Aaron-Lucas-baby universe set up in "From Across the Room?" Let me know your thoughts! Updates to "Relative Comforts" coming soon as well.