'Are you sure about this, Sir?'

President Hobart adjusted his bow-tie in the long mirror. Lines of care and greyness of fatigue aged him in appearance. After six months on the job he barely recognised himself.

'You can ask me any number of times,' he told Felix, his pushy Press Secretary currently hovering over his shoulder with an armful of releases, 'the answer will still be the same. Yes, I am sure. It was my idea.'

Felix inclined his big bald head and made for the door, leaving Hobart alone in his office. Alone, but not lonely; he had, from the moment he set foot in there, felt crowded by the number of faces that never left. They never spoke, either, but remained in their oil and bust forms, watching him in silence. Nearest to him was a great leader of the civil rights movement. He paused and considered the bust for the hundredth time, wishing the impossible; that it could come to life somehow, that it could advise him. The questions he would ask that man were numberless.

There was a knock at the door. Hobart pulled himself upright and called in the Marine manning the entryway.

'Yes?'

'Your wife here to see you, Sir.'

'Thank-you.'

The Marine stepped aside and let a young woman walk into the Oval Office. She was wearing a dinner-gown that matched her long semi-curling black hair and pearls only a shade whiter than her soft skin. When she saw Hobart she ran to him with beaming eyes and threw her slender arms around his shoulders. He held her in turn, nodding to the guard as he closed the door.

The moment the door closed she released him, stepped back a few paces and placed her hands behind her back. Her brilliant eyes tilted toward the ground. Hobart took a seat on the couch while she stood to attention.

'You're doing an excellent job, Laura.'

She made no visible movement, but something in her body language relaxed.

'I didn't think it would work,' he admitted, 'this little deception of ours. Perhaps the people see a doting wife and First Lady because they expect to see it. You may speak.'

'Thank-you, Superior.'

Hobart had not thought twice before choosing Laura from among his slaves to play the part of his loving wife. She had needed almost no training when she first came to him. Her instincts were perfectly aligned with his own, not something he often found in women immediately, and most importantly, through a series of play-acts when he was a young man, he had seen her acting ability on display more than once. She was born for this role at this crucial moment. In some ways, he accepted, the deception was not all that far from the truth.

'How long have you been my property?'

'Six years, three months and fourteen days, Superior.' She recited immediately.

'Sometimes I wonder. You have done more than serve me, Laura. You brought in girls with barely a whimper of submission and turned them to my ideal. You have an amazing mind. If I ever were to take a real partner, in the traditional sense,' he smirked at the thought, 'I wouldn't have to look very far.'

'Thank-you, Superior. You are too kind to me.'

'I will announce it tonight. At the state dinner.'

'Yes, Superior.'

'I have invited all of the country's top female journalists to attend.'

'Yes, Superior. So I have heard.'

Hobart took his eyes off her magnificent legs for a moment and looked at her face. He may not have ever had the kind of gifts Wilkes did, but he could sense a small change.

'You disapprove?' He asked, and when she hesitated he followed up, 'Speak your mind.'

'I apologise, Superior. I only wonder if the timing is right.'

'Mmm,' he sniffed and fiddled with his cufflinks, 'you're not the first to wonder that.'

'You have said several times that this process will take time, it will be delicate and slow, Superior. I would think that you would not make this announcement until you were ready to...' she tailed off, choking a little on a lump in her throat.

'Ready to what?'

'I apologise, Superior. Until you were ready to send me to the compounds.'

Hobart got to his feet and stood before her. She trembled at his closeness, so fair and soft. He touched her arm.

'That does need to happen sooner or later, Laura.'

'I know, Superior.' A small tear trickled down her cheek. 'But if you are to do this, you have to send me as well. They cannot call you a hypocrite. I would not want them to.'

Hobart held her into his chest. His shirt dampened immediately.

'You don't want to leave me here.'

She nodded furiously, the tension building in her throat until she let out a gasping sob followed by a shuddering breath. Hobart brushed her hair gently and then stood her upright.

'You are my best,' he told her straight, watching her wipe away the tears with a creased face, 'nothing that is happening could have happened without you. When you go, I will not forget you. You think you will have a dirty little cage like the rest of them?'

'I don't care about that!'

Hobart held up a finger. She bowed her head.

'I'm sorry, Superior, but I don't. I don't care what happens to me when I'm there. All I want to know is you will be happy.'

They were interrupted as the Marine reopened the door. He hung awkwardly on the spot when he saw Laura's reddened face.

'I'm sorry, Sir... everything is ready.'

Hobart waved off the young man and then returned to Laura. She seemed to be steadying herself.

'After tonight, everything will change out there-' he pointed to the darkness outside the office's many windows, 'but nothing changes between us. Where you are or where I am remains the same. You are mine, and you will always be mine.'

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders again and bounced up to kiss him firmly on the mouth. He kissed her back, and when they broke apart he did not punish or reprimand her. Their fingers trailed into each other before Hobart led her out of the office. In the alcove beyond Felix reappeared, greeted Laura and then handed Hobart a document in a black binder.

'Here you are, Sir. Signed by all the Governors this morning. No changes. You will read to the room and bring it into law. Marines will be at every door and the female guests will be apprehended as soon as you put down your signature.'

Hobart nodded at Felix. He opened the document and read the headline one last time.