Chapter Text
Andrew looked at his watch. It was almost midnight. They had been working solid since 07:30 that morning, breaking only for sustenance. He heard Jessica attempt to stifle a deep yawn, failing miserably. He looked at her and gestured his head at his watch and then to their boss who was sitting across from them at a large oak desk, every bit of surface covered with files and paperwork.
Jessica widened her eyes and shrugged. What did he expect her to do? Eventually, after ping-ponging nonverbal exchanges for a few minutes, she cleared her throat.
No reaction from their boss.
Jessica cleared her throat louder, throwing in a slight cough for emphasis.
This time, she looked up.
Jessica’s eyes met with her boss’ brilliant blues and she smiled tentatively.
“Mrs Clinton, I think we’ve researched this education reform bill to death tonight” she joked lightly, “in fact, we think this revision may be ready to be presented to the House again”.
Andrew then chimed in, “Obviously, we’ll re-send it to the rest of the committee to vote on but…we might need to wait till the morning….”
Hillary blinked and looked at the two young interns. She looked down to her watch and sighed. Where had the time gone? It was only 6 o’clock a couple of hours ago!
She rubbed her tired face and ran her fingers through her shoulder length blonde hair. Defeated, she smiled, and nodded.
“You two go on home and get a good rest. I’ll see you in the morning”.
Andrew and Jessica did not need told twice. They hurriedly gathered their belongings and made their way out the door. Jessica stopped,
“Are you not coming?” she turned to Hillary.
Hillary looked up from the report she was examining “I’m just leaving, I’ll give the boys a call to meet me outside. Now you go on”. She shooed them out the door with a wave of her hand. Jessica hesitated, but knew that the Secret Service – ‘the boys’, would be there in minutes once she made the call.
“Alright, goodnight”, both Jessica and Andrew waved.
Hillary sat back in her seat and closed her eyes. Her head was throbbing. She enjoyed very much her new role as ‘Senator Clinton’ and whilst she loved probing through every single piece of legislation that landed on her desk, she did admit to getting so involved that she would lose track of the hours.
She decided she had to quell this headache before it turned into a full-blown migraine. That was the last thing she needed. She took a couple of painkillers hoping they would take effect quickly.
Hillary picked up her phone and absentmindedly scrolled through her messages. She smiled as she saw a message alert from a very welcome name.
Bill: Don’t work too hard… or too late! Going to bed. Love you darling.xx
She snorted lightly. He knew her too well. She was going to give him a quick call but noticed the time of the message --- 10:09pm. He’d be asleep by now.
Instead, Hillary tapped out a quick message.
‘I love you too babe. See you soon.xxx’
The painkillers began to do their job and Hillary soon felt the throbbing in her temple ebb away.
Looking down at the paperwork in front of her, the temptation was too much… she’ll just go through one more report as evidence to support the education bill. She couldn’t help being a self-professed wonk. Studying everything in minute detail was how she got her kicks.
Hillary studied the report in front of her. However, the more she read, the less focused she felt. Her eyes would skim over the words and the charts but found that she could not retain the information. The words eventually blurred into black scribbles and she found her eyes feeling heavier and heavier. She tried to shake herself awake, but she had been working almost 19 hours at this point.
Try as she might to fight it, Hillary found herself nodding off and slumping awkwardly over her desk.
~~~~
Hillary awoke with a start, completely disorientated. Her office was in pitch black. She didn’t remember switching her lights off. She tried to shake herself awake.
Something felt off. Her hears perked up. What was that sound? Breathing??
Her eyes, still groggy from sleep would not adjust to the darkness. She didn’t know why but her senses were on high alert.
Thud!
There, she heard it again. The noise came from within her office.
Her body froze. It was late, there would be minimal janitorial staff in the building, however they would certainly not be in her office with the lights off.
“Who’s there?” she spoke out. Her voice was confident. She daren’t let on that she was apprehensive.
Silence.
Finally, her eyes adjusted and she saw the outline of a dark figure standing by the leather sofa in her office. The figure was less than 6 feet away.
Hillary gasped and pushed her seat away from her desk.
“Leave now!” she spoke authoritatively, “My agents are expecting me outside in the next few minutes and if I’m not there, they will be making their way in here!”
The figure did not move.
Hillary’s heart started beating faster. What on earth was going on??
She had to think fast. Her door was at the other end of the office. How could she maneuver through without being caught?
Her eyes darted around in the darkness and to her dismay, she realised that she would have to physically pass the figure to get to her door.
‘It’s now or never Hills’ she thought to herself.
She stood up painstakingly slowly, hoping against all hope that it was too dark for the intruder to trace her movement.
Her heart was pounding so hard and fast now, she was almost sure the sound was reverberating around the room.
Steeling up all her courage, she sprinted past her desk. Just a few feet and she’d be at her door.
The dark figure, oddly enough, still did not make a move. She brushed past it, bracing herself for hands grabbing out her. Nothing.
She didn’t dwell on that too long though, her focus, her goal was getting ever so closer.
Hillary reached out her hand and brushed her fingers across the door knob. Relief washed over her. She didn’t understand what sick joke was being played but she had no desire to wait and find out.
Grasping the door knob fully with both hands, she twisted and knob and yanked the door open.
~~~~
Hillary yelled out in surprise as she felt herself fall backwards. The door hadn’t even budged an inch.
Quickly scrambling to her feet, she tried again.
In her panic, she did not hear the intruder approach her until she heard a deep voice chuckling in her ear. She felt her blood freeze and the hairs on her body stood on end. Her breathing was shallow and ragged.
“Wh-what do you want? I have money. T-take my jewelry, take everything”.
A gloved hand run through her hair and she and she attempted to yank her head away. Suddenly the intruder grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head back painfully.
“Why you, of course”.