Chapter Text
April 6, 1992
37th Street Towers, Manhattan
8:07 PM
Hillary, carrying two bags of groceries in her hands, stumbled as she pushed the glass doors with her upper arms. It was already past 8pm and the darkness had taken over New York. Hillary had took the time after work to replenish her house supplies. After surviving the long lines at the local Walmart, Hillary was looking forward to a nice long bath.
Hillary, one of the premiere legal minds in the country, was no stranger to the New York jungle. After graduating at Harvard in '73, she went home to Chicago and married her childhood sweetheart, Ethan Peterson. Their marriage seemed to lifted directly from a fairy tale. And a mythical one too. The fiercest US attorney in the country married to the most distinguished female lawyer. They were the power couple in the legal circles. She and Ethan thought they could shoot for the stars until one day, the news broke about Ethan's years of womanizing. She filed for divorce and represented herself in the court proceedings. She won the custody of their daughter, Chelsea and moved to New York. She had been living in there since.
Exhausted from carrying her groceries, she was about to press the up button near the elevators when Sandy Keane, her neighbor at the 23rd floor, called her from behind.
Hillary managed to roll her eyes before turning around and plastering a falsely sweet smile to greet her incredibly obnoxious neighbor.
April 6, 1992
En route to 37th St. Towers
8:09 PM
Bill Clinton, fresh from a rally in a school in Buffalo, felt giddy. The latest polls showed him leading against his rivals, Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Paul Tsongas. If he managed to win New York tomorrow, the delegate math would be impossible for Brown and Tsongas and he would be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. He had come a long way since he placed third in New Hampshire. He had never been this close, and he could almost taste victory.
Being youngest governor in the country, Bill Clinton was a trailbazer. He was the only governor to be elected, lost and be elected governor again. He was also the youngest chairman of the National Governor's Association and if the voters would allow, he could be the youngest president since John F. Kennedy.
Another record that Bill was on the verge of breaking was that he would be the first unmarried president in the history of the United States. A serial dater and a ladies man, Bill was being clobbered by the media for his inability to find a long-time partner despite his oozing charm and handsome face. Like any other candidate, the most intimate details of his personal life were scrutinized, and for a while, he was under fire for dating multiple women at the same time. But the so-called Slick Willie was slippery. He managed to avoid being murdered by the controveries and snatched victories come Super Tuesday.
After his final rally before the New York primary, he left the venue immediately and went straight to 37th St. Towers where his friend Jimmy lived. Jimmy, a longtime buddy of his who he had never see for a long time, invited him to dinner in his condo unit. Bill was so excited to see Jimmy that he immediately left his event without even a proper goodbye to his aides.
Bill pushed his thoughts of the primaries out of his mind. He needed to relax and enjoy his time with Jimmy. He was looking forward to the food, the wine and the surely pleasant chatter with him. Until the polls open at 7am tomorrow, Bill Clinton would not give a fuck about the election.
April 6, 1992
37th Street Towers, Manhattan
8:23 PM
Hillary sighed, trying hard not to sound bored or annoyed. For fifteen minutes, she had been standing in the lobby, carrying heavy bags of groceries on both of her arms and listening to Sandy's incessant chatter, which Hillary gave zero fucks about. Whenever she was about to cut in and make an excuse to finally go up to her condo unit, Sandy would divert the conversation (which wasn't exactly a conversation because it was completely one-sided, she thought) to another topic and she would speak again and again and again...
But finally, Hillary caught her break when sirens from a motorcade caught Sandy's attention, and she used that momentary lapse to escape. To her relief, no one was waiting for the elevator. She pressed the up button, and one of the elevators opened its doors for her. She happily hopped inside, relief rushing through her.
Several moments inside the elevator had passed but nobody was coming in, but the doors weren't closing either. Suddenly, a group of men, all wearing suits and earpieces, entered the elevator and began scanning the surroundings. They introduced themselves as Secret Service. Hillary's eyes widened. A VIP must be going inside the building.
Without another word, the men left the elevator, and the tall, handsome form of Bill Clinton came into view as he got inside the elevator and stood next to her.
A starstruck Hillary looked up at the presidential candidate, not realizing that she was holding her breath the entire time.