CHAPTER FOURTEEN #2
As Dana, yes. The detail will need to know the location, not the reason.
I understand.
Dana contacted the detail leader through official channels and requested a private visit to an undisclosed personal contact. She did not name Brynn in the first message. The security process identified the address immediately.
The detail leader's expression revealed nothing when he entered the study.
"Agent Shaw's residence has been screened previously as part of her employment file," he said. "A current advance can be completed within two hours. She cannot participate in the movement or protective planning."
"Agreed."
"The visit will be logged as personal."
"Agreed."
"Will you remain overnight?"
Dana considered the question.
"No."
The answer was not chosen to avoid suspicion. Brynn had asked for a visit, not an overnight stay.
"Departure at ten thirty," the detail leader said.
Dana nodded.
The Service would know the president visited the home of the agent who had saved her life after a difficult return to the attack site. That could be interpreted as concern, gratitude, or friendship.
It would not know what passed between them.
* * *
Brynn's apartment was smaller than Dana expected and more revealing than the residence rooms where they usually met.
Books filled two walls. A worn leather chair sat near the window with a folded blanket over one arm.
A framed photograph showed Brynn and Paige standing beside a lake, both laughing at something outside the frame.
The kitchen counters held a coffee grinder, a bowl of fruit, and a stack of unopened mail.
No part of the space had been arranged for the president.
Dana loved it immediately.
The active detail occupied positions outside the apartment and near the building entrances. They could not hear ordinary conversation unless called.
Brynn closed the door.
She wore soft trousers and a long-sleeved shirt. Her face was tired.
Dana did not remove the presidential pin. They had not come for a scene.
"Tell me what happened yesterday," Dana said.
Brynn looked toward the leather chair. "Will you sit?"
"Yes."
Dana took the chair. Brynn sat on the floor beside it, back against the sofa, knees drawn up slightly.
The position was not submission. It was simply where Brynn chose to be.
"The plaza was worse than I expected," she said.
Dana waited.
"I remembered the first shot, but not the way memory usually comes. I heard it as though it happened again. I knew where every agent was, knew the plaza was empty, and still believed for several seconds that I had already failed to reach you."
Dana kept her hands folded rather than reaching before permission.
"When the door slammed, I almost put you on the ground," Brynn continued. "Lacey moved correctly. The detail was already responding. I was about to act because I needed my hands on you, not because the movement required it."
"You stopped."
"Yes."
"Did anyone notice?"
"Lacey did."
Dana's chest tightened.
"What did she say?"
"She asked whether I needed relief."
"What did you tell her?"
"That I could finish the movement."
"Were you right?"
Brynn considered it. "Yes, for the movement. Not for the rest of the shift."
"Which is why you left today."
"Yes."
Dana looked around the apartment. "Does Lacey believe your reaction was personal?"
"It was personal. She believes I was affected because I was shot at that site while protecting you. That is true."
"She does not know about us."
"No."
Relief came, followed by shame for feeling it while Brynn was hurting.
Brynn noticed both.
"The Service can know the attack affected me," she said. "They cannot know the nature of our private relationship unless we choose disclosure or an official obligation requires it. Those are different concerns."
Dana nodded.
"Do you want to remain assigned to the memorial?" she asked.
Brynn looked down at her hands.
"Yes."
Dana waited for more.
"I also know wanting it is not enough," Brynn said. "The assignment must be safe for you and the detail. I have the consultation tomorrow. If the recommendation is that I step out, I will."
Dana's first reaction rose again.
No.
This time she let the feeling exist without obeying it.
"I will accept the recommendation," she said.
Brynn looked up.
"Even if you are not beside me," Dana continued. "I will not change the event or your assignment to manage my fear."
Brynn's eyes softened.
"Thank you."
Dana extended one hand. "May I touch you?"
Brynn nodded.
Dana moved from the chair to the floor and sat beside her. She drew Brynn into her arms slowly enough to give her time to refuse.
Brynn came willingly.
For several minutes, Dana held her in the home Brynn had built before the presidency entered her life. She felt the tension in Brynn's shoulders loosen by degrees.
"I was afraid to come to the residence," Brynn said.
"Why?"
"Because every room there makes it easy for me to become the person who cares for you. I needed you to enter my space and see me before I had recovered enough to lead anything."
Dana pressed a kiss to her hair.
"You did not need to lead tonight."
"I know."
"You do not need to make your fear useful before I am allowed to see it."
Brynn's breath caught.
Dana tightened her arms.
"I love you when you are capable," she said. "I love you when you are frightened. I love you when you need to leave a shift because staying would be dishonest."
Brynn closed her eyes.
"That is difficult to receive," she admitted.
"I know."
They remained on the floor until the detail sent a discreet five-minute warning through Dana's phone.
At the door, Brynn touched Dana's cheek.
"The memorial cannot be a test," she said.
"No."
"Not of your courage. Not of my control."
"Agreed."
"We attend if the detail approves and if we can both accept whatever happens emotionally."
Dana nodded.
"And if either of us struggles?" Brynn asked.
"We use the people whose job is to help."
The answer mattered.
Brynn kissed her once.
Dana left without asking her to come along.