welcome to congress

[imnotrobin]

California's 48th has been red for as long as most people can remember but Sam runs a good campaign on the issues and tries his best to deflect everything his opponent throws at him. There's the usual mud-slinging, most of which is fixated on the fact that Sam had once accidentally dated a call girl and then not-so-accidentally continued his friendship with her after he knew her chosen profession.

He thinks it helps that Ainsley's by his side. She makes an excellent candidate's partner and while she's still just his girlfriend, he has a ring in his pocket that's burning a hole and he thinks tonight is the best time to do it. He'll propose to her now, before they call it, and no matter what happens, hopefully she'll be with him through it all.

"Ainsley? Could I borrow you for a moment?" Sam pitches his voice a little lower, just enough to be audible above the excited din of the ballroom they've rented out to hold their party in. It's getting down to the wire, with the votes, and he's still deadlocked with the republican candidate. It might come down to the last few precincts before one or the other of them pulls away.

"Away from the cameras and the people? There's something I wanted to ask...talk to you about."

Comments

[theirlawyer]

While Ainsley doesn't think she'll ever be made for the campaign trail, there's something refreshing about doing this in a district that she genuinely feels at home in. True, she has to balance the line and defend her beliefs while insisting Sam is more than capable of representing everyone, but the good news is that she truly believes that and it helps convince other people that he's the right man for the job. She's wearing red tonight, a daring in-your-face move she hopes pays off. When Sam asks for her, she's in the middle of talking to a few lobbyists and staffers from the Governor's office, pulling apart a muffin in her hands.

She excuses herself and gives Sam a bright smile, setting down her untouched drink (she had learned during the State of the Union why it's a bad idea to mix adrenaline and liquor). "Sure, Sam," she agrees, taking his hand to squeeze. "What's up? Is is the results? Have they come in?"

[imnotrobin]

Sam makes sure the door is closed before pulling the ring out from his jacket pocket and bending down on one knee in front of Ainsley.

"Before the results came in, I wanted to ask if you'd honor me with being my wife. I didn't want you to think this was the reaction to a win or a loss...I just wanted to ask. For us."

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley's back is to him until they're well into the room, when she puts the muffin wrapper on the table. It's only then that she turns around in time to see Sam down on his knees in front of her and holding out a ring. Her eyes widen in shock because it's true they've always talked about this being permanent and forever, but things get a lot more serious when there's jewelry on the table. "Sam," she gets out, more of a breath than a word. "It's so beautiful."

She can understand what he's intending to do, but she wants to be at his side no matter what. Rather than saying yes, though, she's already on step number two. "You can't tell the press about this tonight, not with your win," she says stubbornly. "We don't want to co-opt the news cycle, it's important to focus on you winning the tight race."

[imnotrobin]

"Which is why I wanted to do this away from everyone and keep it to just us," Sam says. He's nervous because Ainsley hasn't exactly answered him yet even if she's talking about it in such a way that implies a yes is on the way.

A yes implied is better than a no explicit but he would much rather have Ainsley put him out of his misery. "Ainsley?"

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley stares at him for a long moment, wondering what she's being prompted for until it hits home and she realizes that she hasn't actually given him an answer so much as a strategy. Hand to her mouth, she tries to blink away the shock. "Sam, oh my god, yes," she's quick to insist this time. "Yes," she laughs brightly. "I can't believe you're actually proposing, but I'm thrilled you are!"

[imnotrobin]

"So that's a yes? A certain yes?" Sam wants to be sure before sliding this ring on her finger. He wants to win the election, sure, but he wants Ainsley by his side even more.

[theirlawyer]

"Sam, I am telling you that I one hundred percent, unequivocally, totally, absolutely want to marry you," Ainsley vows with a fond smile, cocking her head to the side as she reaches just that little bit down (she's a bit too short for him to be too far away), but she hesitates just before prying the ring from him. "I'm hyphenating," she warns, knowing he can't due to the race, otherwise she'd insist on it.

[imnotrobin]

"I didn't think you would even take my name," Sam says, laughing a little. The idea of Ainsley being anything but Ainsley Hayes is foreign to him even if he really, really likes the thought (and sound - he's said it out loud a few times) of Ainsley Seaborn.

"Ainsley Hayes-Seaborn. I think I'm a little in love with that. I don't want to announce until a little later, after we know the results and everything but I just couldn't go another second without asking you."

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley laughs, feeling completely light-headed and utterly disbelieving of what's happening. She genuinely doesn't know that she'd ever expected this, but there's a simple joy in it having happened. "Sam, oh my god," she gets out, beyond giddy. "What on earth are we gonna do when you win and have to hit the ground running? We'll need to plan our wedding!"

[imnotrobin]

"Well, I think we can figure it out. It's pretty safe to assume we're going to want to do it in DC, right?" Sam may be running for Congress in California and it's where his roots are (and a lovely residence, too) but there's no place he wants to get married other than DC with all his friends around.

Of course, if Ainsley wants to get married on the moon, he's going to agree to it.

[theirlawyer]

"I feel like if you do win, it might play well if we got married here," she says, ignoring the part of her that wants to do this back in North Carolina with her family, but that's why planes were invented and that's why she's grateful she can afford to fly them out to join her. "Where do you want to get married?" she asks, tugging at his hands to get him on his feet again.

[imnotrobin]

"You have a point about doing it in California," Sam says, contemplating that for a moment. "We could have the ceremony on the beach and go back to the country club for the reception - or something. But we could do it here, right here in the district. Not everyone would be invited, of course, but we could use local vendors and put money back into the community we represent."

This district is hardly hurting for money but Sam thinks it might play well that he's sticking to his roots. There's time to do things in DC later and there's always the option of flying out their loved ones.

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley's smile is starting to widen as she starts to think more about the wedding, their wedding, which is so new, but at the same time, it's so important to her even though it's a few hours old. "We'd want to make sure that everyone could get out here for the wedding," she says, her tears starting to cloud her eyes. "Sam, oh my god," she says, fanning her face to try and stop the tears. "Look what you did to me."

[imnotrobin]

"Hey, those are happy tears, right?" Sam likes to think that he can read Ainsley reasonably well after all these years but Ainsley is, well, Ainsley and a little unpredictable by default. He never would have guessed that the Republican lawyer who tore him apart on live television also nursed a healthy appreciation of 19th century opera and dancing in her bathrobe and in this, Ainsley has been full of surprises.

He hopes the tears are an outpouring of happiness and not fear or regret. "Come on, fiancee. We've got an election to win, don't we? Let's get it together and go back out there?"

[theirlawyer]

"They're ecstatic tears," she promises eagerly, trying to pull him closer. She keeps trying to get him in as close as she can, because now that they're engaged, she doesn't think she wants to ever stop touching him, not really. "Oh my god, you're going to win, Sam, I know it," she vows. "For all that it's a red district, people are more than happy to tell me that they like you, Sam. I mean, I'm thinking I have some influence on that," she boasts, teasingly.

[imnotrobin]

"I'm willing to be moderate to get votes," Sam says. "It's clear that I can be bipartisan when it really counts."

He thinks he can really do some good if the people give him a chance.

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley laughs as she tugs on Sam's hand to get him even closer to her, refusing to let him go because she loves having him so near. "And to think, before I got my clutches into you, you were a hopeless Democrat, never willing to see the light," she jokes, because she's had more than a few occasions in which she's been pulled onto his side of the carpet, though she doesn't love to admit it out loud.

[imnotrobin]

"I know, it's like you taught me how to listen or something." Softer now, he cups her cheek and kisses her lightly. "And I'm grateful you did. Come on. Let's go out there and see how I'm doing in the polls?"

Sam wants to win. He's always wanted to win this election, yes, but now that there's Ainsley by his side as his fiancee, he really wants to win it and see if the two of them can make some changes in the district. He hopes so. He's always been crippled with an extraordinary amount of hope and he hopes Ainsley's practicality will temper that into something useful.

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley follows along and holds a little tighter to Sam, brimming with excitement both for the night, now, and for what's happening in their personal lives. She leans against him a little harder, making sure the ring stays somewhat hidden because she knows all too well that it could take away from the news.

She leans up to kiss his cheek as she leads him to a couch. "Come on. And you can get one of the interns to give you an update on the polls."

[imnotrobin]

"Yeah, let me find one," Sam says, waving one over. "Go get me poll results, all right? I want votes cast, how many polls and the percentage. Can you do that for me?"

The intern bobs his head quickly and runs off, going to get the results that Sam so desperately needs. "So, you want to bet on whether or not we're staying in Washington?"

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley grins when Sam gets into boss mode, having found it just adorable when they started to work together. Now, she's in a different position, but still finds it just as adorable as before. She leans her chin on his shoulder, smiling fondly as she plays with Sam's hair. "I think with me helping to bridge you into that so coveted red, you're going to win, but it'll have been an extremely tight race and you'll have to perpetually convince your constituents that you're actually representing their interests."

[imnotrobin]

"I think you just might be right." The intern comes back with the results and it looks like with 99% of polls reporting, he has a two point lead. It's no landslide, but it's a comfortable place to be this late in the game. Sam isn't going to make an announcement until he receives a concession phone call from his opponent but he feels really good about this.

"I think I'm about to be a Congressman, Ainsley. Those numbers are going to be pretty solid in the next hour or so."

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley gives him a devious little smirk as she wiggles her way slightly closer to his lap, positioned so that whatever she whispers to him isn't bound to get picked up by any of the news outlets. "I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you about my sexual fantasies of being a sexy congressman's aide?"

[imnotrobin]

"Oh? That's interesting, tell me more? I'm always interested in hearing what makes my constituents tick," Sam teases. He whispers too because the last thing he wants is some reporter blabbing what he shares with his fiancee in their down time.

"I'm very invested in the district."

[theirlawyer]

"Well, there's always been a little inappropriate fantasy that involves me working late in a pencil skirt and you, the Congressman, overly concerned about the hours I've been putting in and clearly, it's going to take all your attention to make sure I'm not overworked," she drawls, giving him an amused smile.