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Amy chewed her thumb as she watched Selina trying to get comfortable in the seat. She was still wincing and squirming when she thought nobody was looking. Jesus. She had to get a grip on that.‘The polls are terrible,’ Mike whispered.‘Yeah,’ Amy said, dragging her attention back. ‘I know.’‘Everyone hates Kent,’ he whispered.‘I can fucking hear you,’ Selina said.Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Mike’s idiocy aside, he does have a point. We expected a bump from the engagement news but that’s not happened.’‘Kent’s not going anywhere,’ Selina snapped.‘No, Ma’am,’ they chorused.‘So just… make it work,’ Selina said. ‘Whatever you gotta do.’Amy nodded but really what was there to do? Kent’s cool nature and dry humour were an acquired taste. He was exactly the sort of person that flyover country assholes loved to hate. He wasn’t just smart, he was clever, and he made no effort to hide it. At least Andrew had been charming. Charm could go a long way, especially with the most stupid.***Ugh, Furlong. Furlong was exactly what was god damn wrong with politics: old, vitriolic, white guys, screaming and demanding like their wants were the only things that mattered. Didn’t she have enough problems to deal with without his entitled, aggressive ass?The only older white guy she was interested in spending time with was back in D.C. Selina turned the engagement ring around on her finger. It was ugly. He’d told her that she could change the band. She hadn’t. She’d just had it resized.Selina walked around her suite and kicked off her shoes. Gary scurried after her, picking them up. She’d pick the wedding rings. Well, Gary would pick three or four matching ones and she’d make a final decision. Same with the wedding outfits. Kent generally dressed okay, but it was going to be a public occasion, more or less, so they couldn’t leave anything to chance.‘Has he called?’ she asked Gary.‘Congressman Furlong?’She rolled her eyes. ‘No! Why the fuck would I be asking about Furlong? Kent. Has he called?’‘Not yet,’ Gary said.‘Huh.’Selina took her meds. Look, it wasn’t a big deal. Okay? It was just… Her body had been gearing up for a baby and now the baby wasn’t there. That was all. Hormones were a little out of whack. That was all. It wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t mean anything. She didn’t need any help.When she woke up in the night, when Kent had to hold her huddled in the dark until she could sleep again, that didn’t mean anything. ‘Amy,’ Selina called.‘Yes, Ma’am?’‘Can we get Kent out here this evening?’She almost heard Amy roll her eyes.‘I will call him now,’ Amy said.‘It’s for the fundraiser,’ Selina said. ‘It’ll look weird if I’m out in public without him so soon after the engagement.’‘Ooh, I can get some suits sent here,’ Gary said happily.‘Sure,’ Selina said. ‘Knock yourself out.’***Frank gave “Superman” a nod as he walked towards the hotel room door. He hadn’t been notified that “Superman” was going to be joining the party, but it wasn’t much of a surprise. He’d been at the residence most nights the previous week. Some of the guys had a book going on how much longer he’d last. Frank didn’t hold with that sort of thing, and besides it seemed in bad taste with the miscarriage and all.‘Frank,’ “Superman” said in greeting, as he tapped on the door.After a few minutes, “Ultra-Man” came rushing out, clutching his huge bag to his chest. It was half open with bottles and papers stuck out haphazardly. He adjusted his grip on the bag and rubbed his shoe against the back of his leg.‘I’m sure she’ll be finished in a minute,’ he said.Frank said nothing. “Ultra-Man” was talking to himself much more than he was talking to Frank. Besides, they both knew it wasn’t true. Even before the noise started.“Ultra-Man’s” grip on the bag tightened until his fingers blanched. He laughed, a high-pitched giggle, while he looked away.‘You ready for Christmas, Frank?’ he asked, looking around the corridor wildly.Frank waited until the other man looked in his direction and then nodded.‘I’ll probably be working,’ “Ultra-Man” said. ‘Selina needs me.’There was a particularly loud, particularly feminine groan from the hotel room. “Ultra-Man” turned bright red.***Mike fist-pumped as Selina started crying. It was amazing. He still couldn’t believe that it worked, and this well! Who’d have guessed that she had enough human feeling to even cry that first time?‘Are you seeing this, Amy?’ he asked, hearing someone walk behind him. ‘This is better than we hoped for!’‘What the fuck are you talking about?’Mike spun around. The colour drained from his face. ‘Uh… hi, Kent. I can explain…’***‘What the fuck happened to you?’ Amy asked, folding her arms. ‘What are you doing with ground beef?’‘They didn’t have any steak,’ Mike mumbled, holding the bag of loose meat to his eye.‘Thank fuck for that. You might end up the first asshole to get E coli of the face,’ she retorted.The useless idiot lowered the bag. ‘How bad does it look?’ he wavered.Amy squinted as she leaned in. ‘What happened?’He squirmed. ‘I tripped,’ he said.‘And landed on your eye?’ Amy waved her hand. ‘Never mind that. Come on, we gotta get her to the next interview. I’ve had some thoughts about how to prime her.’He dragged himself to his feet. ‘Uh-uh. I’m not doing that again.’Amy put her hand on her hip. ‘But it’s working. Her numbers are going up.’He licked his lips. ‘It’s amoral.’‘Amoral?’Mike hesitated. ‘Immoral?’Amy glowered at him. ‘You don’t even know why you don’t want to do it.’He glanced around nervously. ‘Yeah I do.’She tapped her foot. ‘And that is?’Mike tried to draw himself up. ‘It’s wrong.’ He faltered in the face of her baffled disgust. ‘Kent knows we deliberately triggered her.’Amy threw up her hands. ‘You moron!’‘I know!’‘It won’t work if she knows!’***There were tiny delicate creases at the corners of Selina’s eyes. They were entirely natural and entirely normal. Kent considered them a perfect ornament to the sweep of her eye-lashes. Selina, he was well aware, did not. In fairness, simply opting out of the patriarchal insistence on traditional female beauty was not a possibility for her. She was dependent on her popularity and her popularity was, in part, dependent on her conforming to a very specific spectrum of culturally-defined feminine beauty. Too little and certain men would abhor and rage at her. Too much and certain women would mistrust and dislike her.‘Quit staring at me, ya fucking nut,’ she said. She was peering at herself in the bathroom mirror.‘Why?’ he asked.She looked at his reflection in the mirror. ‘Why stop staring at me?’Kent nodded. ‘Yes. Why?’‘Because it’s fucking weird,’ she said, turning around.‘It’s rather late for you consider my behaviour odd,’ he said.Selina reached around to squeeze his ass. ‘You keep creating new ways to be weird at me.’Kent leaned into her touch. There were, he knew, men who disliked women confidently expressing sexual desire. It was a perspective that he had never understood.‘I’m glad that you appreciate my creativity,’ he said.‘You know that’s not what I said, right?’He gave an easy shrug.Selina turned back to the mirror. ‘You haven’t said anything about…’Kent raised his eyebrows.She groaned. ‘You know. The… bullshit.’‘You know that I avoid opining about your work,’ he said. ‘We both agreed that it was better. It avoids disagreements and provides you with a safe space to vent if you need it.’She gave him a look that he had seen too many times on too many female faces.‘Cut the shit, Kent,’ she said. ‘You know that Mike deliberately…’‘Triggered you?’ he suggested.‘Right.’ She squared her shoulders. ‘And my ratings went up so…’Kent pursed his lips. ‘I believe so.’Selina brushed her fingers through her hair. ‘Look, it’s just… it’s hormones. You know?’He cocked his head. ‘You have nothing to be embarrassed about.’She reddened. ‘I’m not embarrassed! Why the fuck would I be embarrassed? Just because I’m the most senior politician in the country and I fucking cried in front of Roger Furlong? That I showed weakness in front of that arrogant, misogynistic, animated turd? An entire generation of little girls are growing up looking to me to see what women in politics can do and I fucking let them down. Trust me, I don’t feel embarrassed.’He flinched but managed to keep her gaze. ‘Okay.’‘Okay? That’s it?’ she asked. ‘You’re not going to tell me that I didn’t let them down?’Kent took a step forward. ‘I’m not concerned about some theoretical future generation, Selina, and I’m sure that you aren’t either. I’m concerned about you.’‘I’m fine,’ she said brusquely, turning back to the mirror.‘I’m not,’ he said.It was her turn to flinch. She avoided looking at his reflection. ‘Well you’re a fucking pussy.’Kent put his hand on her shoulder. ‘You have to be more gracious than the men, more rational than the men, work harder than the men, and be stronger than the men. If you’re really concerned about the little girls coming after you then give yourself something they need: permission to be human.’Selina shifted in her seat. ‘Yeah, well,’ she grumbled. ‘No fucker gave me permission.’Kent snorted and then kissed her cheek. ‘You can give yourself permission.’Selina hunted through her makeup. ‘You’re gonna be okay though?’ she asked quietly, carefully not looking at him.‘I think so, in time.’She took a breath and squared her shoulders. ‘Yeah. Yeah. Just a matter of time.’ She blew out her cheeks. ‘Let’s go raise some fucking funds for that ungrateful asshole.’***It had been weird seeing her mom like that. Okay, Catherine had seen her in the “spa” when things had gotten so, so bad, but that was different. That was like… a total break with reality. She’d get this glassy look in her eyes and her voice would be completely disconnected. But after the miscarriage it had been different. She hadn’t been blank or disengaged. She’d been just…quiet and sad. Catherine hadn’t been planned. She knew that. Both her parents had told her more than once. The baby hadn’t been planned. For someone as smart as her mom was supposed to be, she made some terrible decisions about sex.‘Where’s everyone?’ Catherine asked, half hiding in the doorway to the kitchen.Kent looked at her over his shoulder. ‘Good morning.’‘Hey.’ She played with a lock of her hair. ‘Um, Merry Christmas.’‘Season’s Greetings,’ he said, turning around. ‘Your mother is in her bedroom. She has a light schedule today so she’s having breakfast in bed.’Catherine tightly folded her arms. ‘She’s that bad?’He shook his head. ‘She’s not… distressed. I merely thought that she could benefit from some TLC.’Catherine pulled a face. ‘Of course, because it’s totally one way. People take care of mom. Never the other way around.’She expected him to brush her off if he was happy with her mom or start bitching if he wasn’t. That’s what people did. What men dumb enough to date her mom did.Kent put his hands on his hips. ‘Okay. That’s valid.’‘When did she ever take care of you?’ Catherine asked. ‘It was your baby too!’He swallowed. Catherine didn’t know Kent well, but she knew that he wasn’t cold or emotionless. Her mom tried to hide what she felt, pretty badly most of the time, but Kent was just low key.‘Yes, it was,’ he said. ‘Your mother knows that.’‘But you’re running around after her just the same,’ Catherine said.He was quiet for a moment. ‘I’m making breakfast. I’m going to take it into the bedroom and climb into bed with her. I don’t need someone to look after me. I need someone to hold me. She needs someone to hold her.’Catherine shook her head. ‘I know her better than you do.’He pursed his lips. ‘Understood.’She shifted from foot to foot. ‘You gonna be okay?’ she asked more quietly.He squared his shoulders. ‘I will.’ He took a cup down from the shelf. ‘Would you like a coffee?’Catherine shook her head. ‘I’ll go say hi to mom and then I’ll leave you guys to… do whatever is it you need to do.’Kent brushed his hands together. ‘She’ll be glad to see you.’‘That’ll be a first,’ Catherine said, turning away.Kent sighed. ‘She loves you,’ he said. ‘Some of us are… less comfortable expressing ourselves than others.’‘No shit,’ Catherine said.***Selina held up a sprig of mistletoe above her head. ‘Merry Christmas.’Kent chuckled as he walked across to the bed, carrying the tray. ‘We already did that.’‘What, we can only do it once?’She took the tray from him, so he could slip into the bed. He’d already showered; the natural scent of his skin had been covered by body wash and cologne.‘We do have other things we can do,’ he suggested.Selina leaned back against him. He put his arms around her waist.‘This is nice,’ she said.‘Yeah. It is.’Selina turned around and kissed him. ‘This breakfast better not be the only present you’ve bought me.’The End.