Work Text
Amy stepped into her apartment at about 11.30, trying to straighten out her umbrella before dumping the sodden, mangled mess in the bin. Since when did DC get fucking hurricanes? She made a mental note to slap Sidney Purcell next time he smarmed his way into the office. With the debt ceiling, cliff, abattoir or whichever apocalyptic name they'd given it this time looming, she's tried to stay in the office as long as possible, figuring that the Eisenhower Building would be as safe as it got, but as the Mayor announced a State of Emergency, Dan and Kent had decided having the lights on through the night would make it look like there was a crisis. Because God forbid the public think that a potential default on the national debt during the arrival of a category four hurricane was a crisis.The power hadn't gone out yet, but the mobile networks and TV networks seemed to be down by the time she'd changed out of her wet work clothes. She was rifling though the saturated documents in her bag and wondering if a hair straightener or a hair drier would work better to dry them when her door buzzer went."Hello?""Amy? Can I come in?" Dan's voice crackled over the shitty intercom, made worse by the wind noise."Dan? What the fuck do you want?""I'm begging you to let me inside during a hurricane, Einstein, what do you think? There's trees and shit coming down now, I'll explain once I'm in.""Can't you go to your place?""Obviously not! Just let me in!"Dan was shouting, not in anger, but over the wind and rain. Amy sighed and buzzed him open, before heading down the stairs, guessing the lifts were a bad idea. They met a few floors down."Jesus, Dan, you look awful.""I walked for a mile and a half in a hurricane. I was hardly going to turn up looking like it was my wedding day.""Why can't you get home?""Subway's shut, buses not running, and Jonah kicked me out of his car."Amy stopped on the landing and turned, eyes even more saucer-like than normal. "How the fuck did you manage that? And do you car-share with Jonah? What, is he a fucking Uber or something?""Desperate times, desperate measures; he got West Exec again last week off Greg Shit-for-brains from Counsel in a poker game, and was heading out of town anyway. I may have got in an argument about something and called him an grindingly mediocre son of a skank. Or whore, I can't remember, it was a heat of the moment thing. So he kicked me out into a hurricane, because he's Jonah and has only just got round to object permanence, so basic empathy's a few years off yet."Amy groaned. "For someone who spends all his waking hours covering his own ass, you have a terrible sense of self-preservation sometimes." She flashed him that look of derisive sympathy that she knew he hated as she set off up the stairs again."Well, I think we both know that given the choice between bullying Jonah and avoiding a potentially life threatening situation, it's always gonna be a fifty-fifty at best." Dan said, following her up. "Thanks for letting me in by the way.""No problem, it's been way too long since I let a hobo sleep on my sofa. Because that is where you'll be sleeping, unless the bath sounds more appealing."Dan smirked a little. "Well it kinda does, given what happened last time I was here.""Make your pavlovian erection heel Dan, that was three years ago now. And we both know how deeply uncomfortable on several levels that was."Amy reached the door and opened the apartment, heading off to get some towels to stop Dan dripping on the floor more than necessary. Dan looked around before she came back in and tossed one to him."You've redecorated." Dan noted as he rubbed his hair."It's nice.""A compliment? Christ. Well, it was Ed's idea.""Where is the thin white Duke graduate, anyway?""Boston." said Amy. "He should be OK, they reckon the storm should have blown itself out by New England.""Lucky, lucky Boston. Couldn't happen to a nicer city. Good though, Ed would have probably been blown away back here. I'm sure I saw branches flying around on the walk here that weighed more than he does."Amy ignored him. "I'll put some coffee on, we might as well sort out the speech draft Mike sent through before tomorrow." Amy sighed. "His style's terrible for this kind of stuff, it reads like Dickens does Fifty fucking Shades. All commas and adjectives.""I guess he's distracted about his boat's welfare. It's probably eight miles out at sea by now. Go on then, if the cell networks and TV are down..."Dan was interrupted by an almighty crash from outside, followed by another. The lights went out."Holy shit." Amy was lit by the glow from her mobile. She paced over to the window and groaned. "Power lines are down. Glad my car's underground, some poor fucker's just got Blake Stewarted.""Have you got candles?" Dan asked, getting his cell out and shining it in Amy's face.She grimaced at the cell's brightness. "I think I've got a box of tealights my mother gave me a few Christmases ago somewhere, but no matches.""Aha!" Dan's hand went to his jacket pocket, and triumphantly flicked on a lighter."Do you smoke now?""No, but plenty of people do, and the smoking breaks are where the real decisions get made up on the Hill."Amy rolled her eyes. "Do any of your possessions serve a purpose beyond networking? Your CV must look like the Magna fucking Carta.""Be grateful we won't be sitting in the dark all night, will you? Let's get the candles before our cellphones run out."It took a little while for Amy to find the tealights, eventually under the sink, largely because there was no fucking way she was going to let Dan rifle through her drawers. They lit a few around the living room, carefully away from anything flammable, until they could make out the room pretty well, but they gave up on the speech once they realised their laptops and cells had less than 10% of a battery between them. They were soon sat on the sofa, looking at the still wet documents spread out on the coffee table and listening to the sounds of rain on the window and branches snapping outside."We could check on your neighbours?""Was that concern for a stranger, Dan? You've changed.""They might have power, or something. Or heating, it's getting cold.""I doubt it, and anyway, I've not spoken to them since we moved in. I think they'd be pissed if I turned up now begging for help."Dan nodded. He'd be in the same position if he was at his place. "I'm serious about the cold though. My coat's still wet through.""Man up, Dan.""Come on, can't you lend me one of Ed's sweaters? Or a sweater vest if that's all he's left here, he looks like the kind of douche that wears them.""Nope. Not happening, he'd bust a nut if he came back in the morning and found you wearing his sweater.""Really?" Dan said, "Is he that much of a prick? 'Cause that's seriously fucking juvenile.""That's rich, coming from a guy in his thirties who spent a campaign bus ride through New Orleans playing Marco Polo with Mike. I'll just get you a spare blanket if it's that bad, we might as well get some sleep."Dan was left on the sofa, alone with the sounds of the wind and rain. He stretched out a bit, and shut his eyes. A few moments later, there was a juddery creaking noise from outside, louder than before, and then all hell broke loose as something smashed into the window, breaking it and scattering the floor with broken glass. Dan swore and vaulted over the sofa, clutching a pillow."The fuck..." Amy came back in clutching blankets, and surveyed the mess. Water was coming in the window now, and the wind was scattering papers and books. The tea-lights had all gone out.Dan ventured out to look out the window. "I think that was your neighbours' garage roof." he shouted over the wind. Amy was frozen still as the television keeled over with a crash."Shit. Shit shit shit." Amy lunged for her laptop bag, which had been at the base of the TV stand and barely avoided being crushed, and slung it over her shoulder. "Dan, don't just sit there, how do we block it up?""Curtain? It's not like I've got any plasterboard lying around.""Fuck it, fine." Tentatively picking their way across the glass-strewn floor, they managed to draw the floor-length curtains across and weigh them down with an arm chair. The water wasn't coming in anymore, but the wind still whipped through the room."Dan. Kitchen." Amy beckoned him through the door, still shouting over the racket, as she fetched towels to put around the base of the curtain.The wind was less awful in there, they didn't have to shout at least. They sat down next to each other at the kitchen table.Amy looked at the kitchen window. It was cracked, but seemed to be holding out. "Fucking Ed. Open plan was his idea, that's why there's no doors left apart from to the bedroom.""Can we go in there?"Amy laughed, a single harsh ha."No way, casanova.""I'm not trying to lure you to bed, Amy, I just prefer my balls to be above freezing point.""Well, I'd give you a blanket, but they're covered in water and broken glass now.""Only because you dropped them." Dan muttered."Yeah, to get my laptop and hard drive. I've seen you lose your laptop in the office before. you threatened to bash Gary's head in with a printer cartridge.""Good point." Dan nodded, and rubbed his arms. "You sure you can't lend me a sweater? Or a hoodie? I'd take some of Ed's socks as mittens right now."Amy paused a moment before speaking. "I'm pretty sure he took them to Boston. You know, with a hurricane coming."Dan raised an eyebrow. "Bullshit. How many sweaters does he own?""Only one. He's only got one his mother gave him last Christmas, so he's wearing that back to wear when he sees her. Back in Boston, I mean."Dan smirked and shook his head. "You're normally such a great liar, Ames. When did he leave?"Amy turned to look at Dan, with a slight, defiant upward tilt of her chin. "What makes you think he left me?""The fact that you've been lying about it."Amy broke their glance, cursing under her breath. "He's gone indefinitely, it's not a proper break up. We said we might try again after Christmas.""When the Veep's touring Europe, and the campaign gets going?" Dan snorted. "Good luck with that."Amy's head snapped round. "Fuck you Dan." She snarled. "You can go and sleep on the living room carpet.""Its covered in glass.""That's the point, asshole. Don't be a dick to someone whose sheltering you from a hurricane.""Seriously?""No, but I'm going to sleep in my own bed, and you can huddle under the table in your work clothes.""For what!""For crowing about my breakup, what do you think for, for screwing up Selina's meet and greet yesterday? Which you did as well, but I didn't mention because I thought I owed you a favour for the Furlong shit last week. But no, you're such an ungrateful shit blinded by your own fucking halo shining from your ass to even notice that you'd fucked that up, let alone to hold off on the personal jibes about my breakup until after the fucking hurricane had passed.""Come one, Ames...""No. The hurricane will be past by morning, you've only got six hours. Go get a pillow off the sofa." With that, Amy grabbed her laptop bag and walked down the hall, slamming the bedroom door behind her.Dan sighed, and turned to fetch a pillow from the living room, grabbing the dry, glassless one he'd taken earlier from behind the sofa.************************Any had been asleep, for about a hour, she guessed, when she heard Dan knock on her door."Seriously? I thought I told you to go fuck yourself?""Please, Amy." Dan's voice sounded reedy, and genuinely pitiful."What?" Amy was almost giggling, he sounded so pathetic."It's not funny, I'm feeling really strange. I'm sorry. Please let me in."Amy could hear his teeth chattering. She sighed, got up and went to the door. Dan was standing there, shivering and hyperventilating. She couldn't see in the gloom, but he looked paler than usual."I think I'm getting ill. It's got colder, and my jacket's not doing much."Amy was no doctor, but recognised the early signs of mild hypothermia from when Gary had obsessed over Selina at POTUS' inauguration, after picking her a stylish outfit over a warm one. She's barely heard the speeches over Gary repeating the symptoms like a mantra."Fine. Come in."Dan stepped in, without a word, still clutching the pillow from the couch."I'll get you an old hoodie, it'll be too small but it should help you." Amy took it from the back of her wardrobe and tossed it over. Dan put it on. It was tiny on him, and hot pink with the legend 'Princeton University Democrats' and a cartoon donkey splashed across the front, but Dan looked relived as he put it on."Good. Thanks. Good." Dan dropped his pillow in the corner and curled up on the floor.Amy prodded him with her foot. "Get in the bed, you dummy. You need the warmth. I don't want to explain away a dead body in the morning to the insurance guy.""You're not still mad at me?"Amy smiled wanly. "I had a chance to sleep on it, and no. You were a total shitstain, but I shouldn't have left you out there. There's mace in my handbag next to the bed though, so don't get gropey."Dan looked relieved, and got in close to the edge of the bed, making sure there was a good foot between him and Amy. They were both fully clothed.They lay in silence for a minute until Dan cleared his throat. "Will the insurance cover it? All this, I mean.""Yep, luckily it's all in my name and not Ed's. Now stop trying to be nice and get to fucking sleep."************************Amy woke to the thin, grey light of a wet morning poking through the curtains. The hurricane had passed, as the wind noise was almost completely gone. It took her a few seconds to come to her senses, when her heart dropped as she realised she was spooning Dan.She unwrapped herself quickly, flinching away as if she'd been burnt, and held her breath. Dan didn't stir, and she quickly ran down a mental checklist. They were both fully clothed, good; she was the big spoon, not so good, but at least she didn't have Dan's boner between her cheeks; they were on Dan's side of the bed; so she couldn't blame him, but at least he hadn't done anything while she slept. A score draw, perhaps. She risked a glance at his face; he was sound asleep, and thankfully looked nothing like as pale as the morning before. She quietly slid out of bed, and went out of the room, stopping to put some slippers on, remembering the broken glass.Dan came out about twenty minutes later, bleary eyed and still wearing the tiny pink hoodie over his crumpled suit.Amy turned from her laptop as he came into the kitchen. "Everything's back on, you can charge your cell if you like. The living room's pretty fucked, especially given the fuck-off hole in the wall, but I've swept up most of the glass and called the insurer. They're going to pay for everything, although they won't come until Thursday. I'll get some plasterboard in the meantime, can't be too hard to get hold of.""Good. Glad to hear.""But we're late for work now the Mayor's called of the state of emergency and Ben called, although I bet Selina won't mind once I tell her what happened. We've probably got to deal with FEMA on top of everything else when we get there though, looks like Maryland really took the worst of it."Dan nodded, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes."You got any breakfast?""No, the milk went bad with the fridge being off, so no cereal or white coffee. I'll drive us in and we'll get something on the way.""I'm OK with black coffee." said Dan."Well, I want a latte, and we've not got long.""Well," countered Dan, "we're late anyway and you nearly killed me last night.""Fine. Give me few minutes, OK?"************************The pair put their coats on and grabbed their bags before heading for the front door. The broken window was still covered only by the curtains, but it was a fifth floor apartment, so credit to any looter who made it."Thanks for having me, I suppose.""That's nice of you. Not that it was nice having you around, or anything."Dan grinned as he opened the door for her. "I made a good pillow, though, didn't I? Missing Ed?"Amy groaned. Fucking Dan. Or not, thankfully."For the record, any chance of rebound sex went out the window when you called me Ames." Amy breezed past him and out the door.Dan frowned, then grinned a little. "So there was a chance?""Fuck off Dan." The expletive was shouted, as Amy was already clattering down the stairs. Dan pulled the door to with a smirk and trailed in her wake.