phoenix

@annekane

Gabrielle: I’m sure you’re busy, but have you heard anything yet? Is anyone hurt?

Gabrielle Coleman | State Dinner 

@gvcoleman​

  “Keeting’s Bill - what do you think?” Her power of purchase was relegated to the advice she bestowed upon politicians; invited, and otherwise (the latter, when the opposite party was involved). Life was an avalanche lately - though Rory had never drowned so happily in her personal life alongside work, it felt good to be here with Gabrielle, taking things four steps slower. In Rory’s D.C. home, they were stretched across the sofa - evening wine lesbians, serenaded by Tracy Chapman, warbling at a muted volume. “I care about bikes, pollution, yadayada - I love it, I do. But, I don’t know - when you’re laying between my legs, nothing else matters.” 

“Mm…. Then why’d you ask?” Gabrielle quipped, warm - comfortable. It’s hard to deny she’d always longed for this, a simple domesticity that Rory seemed so much happier to offer than Theresa had. She’d loved Theresa, more than words could say, but the woman had been distant, at times - hard to crack into her skull, where Rory seemed open, always, to letting Gabrielle in. She liked that.

It wasn’t like Charlie didn’t know anybody in DC, but finding people so willing to sit and have coffee with them on a friendly basis was rare - and he was hoping that he would get the chance to work with Gabrielle in Congress as well as in the nature they were talking now, as well.

Charlie nodded as she answered their question. “You’re not wrong about that. My team and I have been fielding a hundred and one questions a day it seems like, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Charlie shrugged. “It’s important work that needs to be done, and I’ll be first in line to make sure it’s done and done right…. I really hope it’s getting traction, but it’s still a little early to tell,” Charlie said. They were still trying to accumulate Republican support, that was for sure.

“Makes sense to me. It’s clear this is a passion project for you.” She smiles - indicating that it’s a compliment, coming from her. “I think we get the best work out of people when they’re passionate about what they’re doing. That’s what’s got me where I am, you know? I wouldn’t change that, even if it’s been an uphill battle.”

It wasn’t like Charlie didn’t enjoy interviewing - quite the contrary actually. Charlie loved to talk about what he was doing and how it was going to affect things. However, it didn’t happen very often. They were too partisan, too left leaning, for a large majority of the moderate, and much too radical for the right to even consider publishing anything positive on them at all. Charlie spotted Gabrielle, approached her table with a warm smile as they reached out and shook her hand. “Anytime,” Charlie smiled. “Really. I’m more than happy to make time to talk. How are you today, Gabrielle? Campaigning treating you well?”

Gabrielle smiled as they took a seat across from her, straightening up in her chair. This was one of the things she had always liked most about working in DC - the relationships she could form, the people she could come to know, or even call friends. She and Charlie weren’t quite there yet, she assumed, but she hoped they could get there.

OPEN – somewhere, anywhere in DC. A weekday morning.

“Oh, fuck me,” the esteemed Press Secretary hisses at a volume not quite passable as quiet while her cup falls to the ground. Still, she’s quick to raise a palm at her present company. Ginny doesn’t truly look their way, though, simply waving away the prospective joke before it has a chance to be made. “That is not consent, by the way. Do not actually fuck me – but fuck.” Iced coffee spreads across the floor with haste, but it’s not worth trying to save. Not with how the bottom of her cup had split. “I might cry.” It’s been one of those days. Weeks. Months. Campaigns. “Am I still a respectable government official if I cry over spilled coffee? Before you answer, it’s cold brew. I feel like that’s worth noting.” Finally, she stoops over to pick up the ruined drink and tosses its remains into the nearest trash can with a heavy sigh before pressing some napkins down on the puddle of coffee left in its wake. Looking back to her present company, she arches a brow while squatted down to tend to the mess. “Hope your day’s going better than mine. No, really, I do hope. Mostly because it might buy me some good karma and lighten this whole thing up, but that’s beside the point.”

“Oh, honey - I’ve cried over much less than spilled coffee.” Gabrielle is already crouching to try and help to sop up the spill at Ginny’s side - nothing if not that kind of person, napkins pulled out of her own purse. “I think once - not that long after the inauguration? - I broke a nail even though I’d just gotten them done a few days before and I swear I had an absolute breakdown.” She shakes her head, looking back at Ginny. “All of which is to say, we all do it. But - lemme get you another cold brew.” She makes the offer with a little smile. “And you can cry on my shoulder, if you want. I’ve been there. Really.”

Her focus on the campaign trail had more or less trampled over what had become a secondary job - though it had started far more part-time. She didn’t often appear on NBC, but years of standing in as a talking ahead had helped her to adapt, and she was a wanted voice, sometime, to speak on behalf of Washington “insiders”. (She suspected too it looked good for the “diversity” quota, but she never said so out loud.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said with a coy smile, “you might be surprised how much people can end up changing.” Perhaps by outward appearances no one would think that Alex had really changed much over the last year that he’d been together with Anne, but the fact was that he had. “I’m glad it’s not all bringing you down.” He knew that the daily grind was too much for some. And even being in politics was not the same as well, being in politics. “Wishing you the best,” he added on cheerily. He knew she would be a good politician. The kind that this country needed more of. The notion of the campaign is, well, an awkward topic. His friend base, which he kept on the down low, happened to consist of the entire Republican ticket. He just gave a shrug, in the way that said he’d seen it all and been through it all before and that he wasn’t much bothered. “There’s a lot to do, but like you, I like being kept busy. Though a little less than I used to, since it cuts into date nights.” If it wasn’t clear how in love he was with Anne, it might be with how everything he said seemed to circle back to her.   

“I’ll give you that. Guess love can do that to a person.” She was warm at the notion, especially coming from Alex - who seemed to make Anne so happy, she couldn’t disagree. “Of course- thanks. It’s a lot, but I’m learning to take it in stride. Getting there is the main thing. Then a whole new set of challenges, but I’ve got people who’ll be there for me.”

- - - - -

Seeing her friend relieved a world full of stress that she’d been carrying the past week juggling intelligence events here and there, recruiting for the summer.  It felt good to unwind, bring that all too sweet cup of coffee to her lips and catch up with Gabrielle.  Her campaign sounded just as crazy the more Anne listened, nodding and trying to remember back to those days a few decades ago.

“It wasn’t easy, and I can’t imagine it’s any easier these days.”  Anne didn’t have to experience the same social media craze, but reporters and news hosts were always around regardless.  “Pack light when you’re traveling that much and prepare lots of alternate speeches.  I hear dogs are pretty popular on the trail now, maybe Spot would like it,” she laughed, imagining what it might have been like if Captain was wagging his tail next to her at the podium.  “But the most important thing was having someone beside me who supported me.  It didn’t matter how I did in the polls when I could come home to her telling me I could get through it.”

She made certain to note everything Anne offered up with an eager sort of nod. If there was one advantage to how deeply she had focused her life on her work, it was that she had friends who understood what she had gone through - the choices she made and why, and had made some of the same choices. “It’s a good point. I’ve been bringing him along a little, but having him looked after, too. Poor thing is clingy. I think he still misses her, now and again.” There was no need, she assumed, to clarify on the her in that sentence. “That’s true. I’m lucky, in that regard. And she knows what it’s like. She did it with Julian, for years.” She pauses a moment, quiet. “You know - you never told me much about her. I don’t wanna pry, but - it’s just that I guess you don’t mention her a lot.”

“Crazy for sure,” Anne agreed, correcting herself.  With such an array of personalities in a room full of people who were confident in themselves, she could imagine the details got picky.  “And Jared trying to order some crazy cocktail when everything is premade.”  The poor servers and cooks and bartenders.  Everything in the room was packed and tight enough as it was too without them having to navigate through the crowd.  Anne couldn’t help but grin at the Bell comment, even if she felt bad that Alex didn’t have many friends at the event.  “Yeah, tell me about it.  November will be stressful enough.”  

Hearing about Gabrielle and Rory always brightened her mood, glad both of her friends had found happiness with each other.  “Nothing wrong with still having another place, change things up.  It is nice though, having someone there.  Alex and I have been living together for some time.”  She was surprised she hadn’t brought it up earlier, though it had just kind of…happened, rather than been something official.  “Aside from all these events, how’s the campaign schedule?  Do you guys have any nice vacations planned for the fall in between?  I used to try to sneak away at least for a weekend.”

“Oh, of course. You fill up the room, and there are bound to be a few people who’ll make a fuss. But it’s usually worth it, if you can learn to ignore the people who’ll make it difficult for you.” It had long been her philosophy - those people were always there, and so long as they weren’t causing active harm, you could easily shut them out if you need it. “Same principle to using the block button actively on Twitter. Do you use Twitter? And I mean you, not the DNI’s social media intern,” she added on with a teasing smile.

     Sarah wasn’t content with the woman’s reaction – she thought she’d done a pretty good job at defending herself and her views, and all she got was ‘fair’? But, then again, maybe it was on her for expecting any level of a conversation from a Democrat – after all, they were at the epitome of political-correctness of events. She, too, should have known better. “I did, actually,” she was just as surprised herself. It was known that, historically, Republican presidents got mocked while Democratic presidents got praised at these things, but she thought it had at least not been too over-the-top. With a quick glance at Gabrielle, Sarah wondered once more why she’d been seated at this table. “So… Is this the singles table or…” she left the ending open with a raise of her brows. Surely Gabrielle would be wondering just the same.

The tension lingered, but Gabrielle wasn’t about to pursue it any further than she had to at this moment, having a sip from her glass. This was one of the few times she hated herself for having such a strong stance when it came to alcohol - one drink wouldn’t go amiss and it might smooth her night over, but it was better not to start. “I don’t think so. But maybe I’ll have to ask my girlfriend. She knows more about the seating chart.” Had she brought up Rory just to get a little rise from Sarah? Maybe. She had never been shy about her sexuality, so she probably already knew, but a little shock would have amused her.

The answer would totally be an enthusiastic yes!!!