On Friday morning, James Anderson was awakened by his cell phone. Damn his head hurt. Why was the phone turned up so fucking loud?

It was James's colleague, Senator Tom Daniels. Tom's public relations guy was leaving to take a corporate job and a resume from Meghan had landed on his desk. He was surprised James was letting Meghan go considering the great job she had done handling all of the situations his campaign had run into this year, but if James was indeed getting rid of her, could he let Tom know why? Had she done something wrong or was she just looking for a new opportunity? Tom would love to hire her.

Shit.

His staff was starting to jump ship. If Meghan left, the rest would soon follow right after her.

James told Tom he wasn't letting Meghan go and was sure her resume landing on his desk was a mistake. He hung up and stumbled out of bed. He looked at himself in the mirror.

He looked like hell.

He had lost weight, he needed a shave and a haircut. James needed to get his act together. He was about to lose his staff and the election.

And then there was Elaine.

He couldn't remember the last time he and Elaine had slept together, much less had sex. Suddenly, she had started spending all her time at her sister's house. They had barely spoken since Phil's death and even before, things had been strained. Elaine was still mad at him for attacking Blaine after the article had come out. She had also interrogated him about Blaine's claim that James had beaten him twice. When was the first time? James had never admitted anything. Instead, he said Blaine was lying.

James stared at himself hard in the mirror. He was a fucking mess. He had to get it together. He would start with a shower, a shave and a haircut. Then he would call a campaign team meeting. It was time to regroup and figure out the plan forward. He would promote Meghan to campaign manager. That would keep her on board plus, she deserved it.

And, he would get some closure around Phil's death. It was time to go to the condo. Maybe Elaine would go with him. Perhaps they could...bond over it and find their way back to each other.

As for Blaine...he would deal with Blaine later. There was plenty of time. James had to get himself together first.

X-X-X-X-X

James spent the day executing his plan. He called Meghan and apologized for his behavior over the past two weeks. She was flattered by the promotion and the raise in salary. She would make sure everyone was ready to regroup on Monday.

The phone call to Elaine was a bit harder. She sounded sad and weary. James was scared. He didn't want to lose his wife. Elaine took care of him. He didn't want to be alone. She agreed to come home and together, they would go to the condo Saturday morning.

When Elaine arrived home that evening, James had dinner waiting. Granted, it was Chinese takeout, but she appreciated the gesture. James even took out a bottle of wine. Elaine went upstairs to freshen up and came back downstairs looking beautiful. James was reminded of why he had wanted Elaine in the first place. She was gorgeous.

That night, they didn't have sex, but they did sleep in the same bed and James was happy to hold his wife. He had really missed her. Maybe tomorrow night, he would take her out to dinner and then maybe, just maybe they would come home and make love.