CHALLENGE NUMBER FIVE:
Fear. Whatever the fear is about is, of course, up to you.
NOTES:
Author: Yana
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: Through S4's Red Haven's On Fire
"Tell Kay I'll do it."
He felt something clench in his chest the moment he spoke those words. It was as if a small iron hand had slipped in between his ribs, taken hold, and squeezed.
He wasn't ready for this. He'd worked on campaigns–on THE campaign–and he'd picked up a lot. He hadn't learned everything about being a candidate, though, not yet.
He knew that.
But he couldn't stop the words, the giddy grasping of his id as it seized possibilities he'd only dreamed of. The sheer recklessness of the idea almost made him forget how ill-conceived it was.
Could
"Get me Kay Wilde very quickly, please."
He'd never known a feeling like this. Again the iron fist clenched inside his chest, squeezing, but this time it turned and twisted until the pain became unbearable.
He felt as if he was sinking, folding into himself--but at the same time he was flying. He'd set himself free. He would be unemployable, with nothing left to do in this White House.
But all those thoughts paled in the few seconds it took for the television screen to crush him with the inevitable. He watched, helpless.
There was nothing he could do.
Should
"There's no chance of a miracle?"
At least he wasn't alone this time. His friends were with him, either in body or in spirit, supporting him as he paid for his rash actions.
He owed them. His duties lined up before him, even though they weren't codified by a job description. He wasn't free after all.
He wasn't sure if he could repay them, but more importantly, he wasn't sure that even if he did, he could erase the consequences of those reckless words uttered in the heat of the moment.
And if he couldn't run again, ever? What then?