I don't think I've ever been as happy as I am right this moment in my life. The paperwork just came through that gave me legal custody of Casey, Davis is in jail, I have a steady income, and I'm dating one of the most amazing human beings on the planet. The night that I met Micah, everything started going right.

On Tuesday, I'm writing about Micah in my book of poetry because there's a lull in the day. Harrison is working in his office but the door is shut between us and there's nobody coming in or out. Most of the time, when he's in his office, there are people walking through here the entire time. Whether it be his wife (Micah's mother), journalists, or other people from his team. Right now, I guess he's putting his head down and doing some work because he told me this morning that he is on 'do not disturb'.

Just before lunch time, Harrison's door opens and he walks out into the lobby area where my desk is.

"No Micah yet?" He wonders, noticing the absence of his son on the couch. I love that he doesn't mind that Micah hangs out here after his classes are over. I think that Harrison sees that it doesn't impede on my work, so that's why he's okay with it. And maybe he likes spending time with his son during the day; they seem like a close family.

"He has a constitutional law class until one, so he'll be here after that," I answer him. "And he had an exam today that he's been stressing about, so during lunch, I'm running over to the bakery across the street to grab some brownies to cheer him up. I could grab something for you, if you'd like."

"Oh, no, it's too much sugar for me. He likes the ones with M&Ms on top though," He informs me.

"Yeah, I know. He ate almost my entire brownie last week when I ordered one," I say, leaning back in my chair and laughing at the memory of how funny Micah looked with the chocolate frosting covering his face like a child. He really loves those brownies.

"Well, anyway, I have these documents that need distributed to the entire environmental committee," Harrison hands me the stack of folders that he'd been holding in his hand as we've been talking about his son and his love for M&M brownies. "It's urgent, so you'll have to take them to the offices. I'm sorry, I know that's annoying."

"No problem," I choke out, trying to remain calm but I immediately realize that means that I'll have to go to my father's office. My hope is that he won't be in his office but I'm sure that it's a strong possibility that I'll have to face him again. I knew that it was a risk when I took this job, so I just have to deal with it.

I stand up from the desk with the folders. "Thank you, Eleanor. Oh, and Micah told me about your brother. Congratulations on getting custody."

I smile politely at him. "Thank you, we're all really excited about it."

I then head out the door and down the hallway. I go to every office on the list, procrastinating my father's office until the very end because I really don't want to do this. Maybe, if I wait long enough, he'll be on his lunch break when I get there. I'll just talk to a secretary or something. A lot of people that need to get something to Harrison will just leave it with me and then I give it to him.

With just the last folder in my hand for Silas Barkley, I meander over to his office. When I peek through the door to his lobby area, I'm relieved when I see a secretary sitting at the desk. He looks just as bored as I always feel at my desk but when he sees me walk in, he perks up and pretends to look busy.

"Hi," I smile at him. The door to Silas's office is closed so I can't tell if he's in there or not. "I have a document from Harrison Williams's office. I'll just leave it with you, if that's okay?"

"Oh, actually, he's in his office," The secretary tells me. "And I know that he's been waiting on that document, so he will want it right away."

"Okay but can you give it to him?" I ask the guy hopefully. I understand how childish and ridiculous I sound, but it's my last ditch effort to not have to go into that office.

"I'm sorry?" He frowns in confusion from his desk.

"Nothing," I sigh. I knew that it was useless but I had to try. "Thank you."

I take one large, deep breath and then I walk into the office. Silas is sitting at his desk, typing something on his computer. When he hears the door open, he looks over at me and immediately stiffens in his chair.

"Documents from Senator Williams's office," I explain to him, quickly dropping the folder onto his desk as if they were poisonous in my hands. I've said and done all that I've needed to say and do, so I quickly start to leave the office thinking that this wasn't so bad.

"Wait," He stops me from leaving. I should have just ignored him and left anyway but I don't. I stop walking and turn back around to look at him. I hate how similar his eyes look to mine and Casey's. "Are you working here now?"

"My boyfriend got me a job," I answer him, still inching toward the door. I know that he probably has more to say though. He probably thinks that I'm stalking him or something, to blackmail him for money or whatever it is that people blackmail for. He seems very paranoid about that sort of thing.

"Does that mean that you stopped working your other job?" He asks me, keeping his voice quiet so that his secretary can't hear what he's saying. I think that it seems more suspicious if he talks quietly because then his secretary knows that something secretive is going on.

"On what planet is that any of your business?" I challenge him with raised eyebrows.

"Do you understand what kind of mess you could cause right now?" He sounds frustrated now by my sass. "Dating a senator's son, doing what you do, working around here. If just one thing goes wrong, you do realize that this will all come crashing down, right? And you're going to take him, and all of us, down with you."

"And by 'all of us', you mean you," I say. "I know that you are trying to make me think that you're concerned about me but it's such a thinly veiled attempt to cover your own ass."

"What do you think would happen to Senator Williams's reputation when the media finds out that his son is dating a hooker?" Silas asks me. "I'm sure that he won't appreciate it when you've started to drag his father's name through the mud. Look, Eleanor, I'm just trying to give you some perspective here. I get that you're in love but you have to think reasonably about this."

"I'm thinking just fine," I assure him smoothly. "Maybe if I had some guidance growing up, I would have some better judgment. You chose not to be a part of my life, that was your decision. So stay the fuck out of my business because I don't care what happens to you. If somehow, I fuck things up and it ends up hurting you, I do not care. That is not my problem."

He tries to say something else but this time, I really do just leave. I head back to Harrison's office and when I get back, I'm surprised to see Micah in the office already.

"Hey," I greet him with a surprised smile. "I thought that you had an exam."

"I did," He nods. "But it was way easier than I thought that it would be, so I finished quicker than I thought that I would."

"Oh. I was going to go over to the bakery and get you some stress relieving brownies. I guess we can go together, and they can be happy brownies," I suggest, trying to sound okay and not frazzled at all by the run in I just had with my father.

When I grab my black purse to dig through to find my wallet though, my hands are noticeably shaking. Micha easily notices and he reaches out to wrap his long fingers around my wrist. "You're shaking. What's going on?"

"Um, nothing," I say just on instinct. That's just what you say when somebody asks you if something is wrong, just deny it. But it's stupid to even try, I know that, because Micah can sense my bullshit from a mile away. "Just had to drop something off in Silas's office and it always frazzles me to see him, or talk to him. But I'm fine, really."

"Shit, I'm sorry, El. I really didn't think that you'd have to talk to him. I specifically promised you that you wouldn't have to see him," He suddenly looks very apologetic. "I can talk to my dad, if you want. I can tell him that-"

"No," I interrupt him. "Really, it's okay. It shakes me up but it's okay. Just give me a second to calm down."

He goes along with my plan and he also kisses me, very softly, on the lips. It's like he knows exactly what to do to calm me down because that short kiss soothes me very quickly. "If you want me to punch him in the face, just say the word and I'll do it."

"Really?" I can't help but laugh at that. "You'd punch a senator? In the face? What would the press say about that?"

"Oh, they'd eat that up. I might even make SNL, which is a personal dream of mine," Micah jokes. It's raining outside, so I put on my khaki colored rain coat, which is also pretty warm in this cool fall weather. "What did you talk to Silas about?"

"Nothing important," I promise Micah. "He's just an asshole and seeing his face pisses me off."

"I can understand that," He assures me. "After all of the pain that he's caused you, I kind of what to just punch him in the face without you even asking me to."

"My knight in shining armor," I say sarcastically but I still can't help but smile at how adorable Micah is. He's so great.

I know that Silas had a point about this going badly. I know that if my secret gets out, bad things might just start to spiral, but I think that claiming that I'll 'drag Harrison's name through the mud' is incredibly drastic. He's just trying to scare me to save his reputation if it would get out. Even if I did get caught, it's not like it would be so easy to connect me to either Silas or Micah.

Micah tells his dad that we're leaving for lunch and then we head out of the building together to go over to the bakery. I buy Micah his celebratory brownie along with a piece of pie for me.

"So is your brother coming back this weekend?" Micah asks me.

"Yeah. He thought that he walked in on us doing it so he was really grossed out, which is why he left so quickly. But he's going to come back this weekend and we'll really hang out. You can come if you want."

"Even after he walked in on us doing it?" He looks skeptical.

"He's over that now, it's fine. He likes you," I assure Micah. "I'm not sure what we'll do though. I might invite Josie too since I haven't seen her in a while either. It can be a big group trip to... I don't know. We could go to Six Flags or something."

"That could be fun," Micah decides. "The weather is supposed to be nice too."

"And it'll be pretty hilarious to hear you scream like a little girl on the roller coasters," I tease him before I get my phone out to text Casey to see if he would want to go to Six Flags because now that I thought of the idea, I think that it's a pretty great idea and I'm getting excited about it. I haven't taken Casey to the amusement park since he's been tall enough to ride the big rides, so it should be interesting for him too.

"What makes you think that I can't handle roller coasters?" Micah asks me.

"I don't know," I admit. "But there's just something about you that says that you scream on roller coasters, like a little girl."

"Okay, well then we'll go to the amusement park and you'll be the one screaming," He challenges me and then a troublesome smirk starts to appear on his lips. Even before he says whatever perverted thing he's thinking, I start to blush a little bit. "Only, it won't be because of the roller coasters. I know that was inappropriate, I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist and you set me up."

"Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking," I say with a small laugh. "That was a bad move on my part."

"There's a gala coming up," Micah tells me. "It's a big thing for the Washington bigwigs, to raise money for a children's hunger foundation. Would you want to go with me? It's next weekend, you'll have to find something really dressy to wear."

"I've heard about it," I remember seeing it on Harrison's schedule a few times. "Are you asking me to prom?"

"I am," He confirms with a little laugh. "I'll be wearing a tux and there will be music. But I'll look way more handsome than I did when I went to my actual prom. I was a little crater-faced asshole back then."

"Okay, well sure, I'll go. I never went to my prom so it'll be interesting," I decide. I'm not sure if I have a dress that's elegant enough for a gala but I'm sure that Ashe or Gina have something that I could borrow for the night.

"Prom sucks anyway," He assures me. "You didn't miss out on anything. And this thing will have an open bar, so maybe not exactly like prom but I promise that it'll be a good time. Silas will be there but it'll be a huge event, bigger than that dinner that I took you too. So, you most likely won't run into him at all."

"That's good. I'll have to start trying to find something to wear."

"Might I suggest something super-sexy," Micah jokes.

"You might, but it won't work. If I'm going to a gala, with your parents, my objective is not going to be to seduce you. You are so obsessed with me that I could seduce you in sweat pants and a hoodie if I wanted to," I say teasingly and it makes him laugh. I don't think I'd go so far as to say that he's obsessed with me, but I tease him like that because I feel like I'm obsessed with him. So yeah, I probably could seduce him wearing sweats but I also know that he could do the same to me. Micah could be wearing Crocs and cowboy chaps and he'd still be able to get under my skin.

"It's just a thought that I think that you should seriously consider," He shrugs at me. When we're headed back to the senate building, Micah starts walking toward the parking garage.

"Where are we going?" I ask him curiously. "I have to get back to work."

"We took a short lunch," He points out. "So, we have enough time for a quickie in your car. It's not classy but you are looking very beautiful today and you were right—I might be kind of obsessed with you but you're obsessed with me too. You're not fooling anybody."

For a moment, I'm excited about the idea. As long as we're careful and quick, I can make it back to my office on time without getting caught. My dress is fairly tight but modestly covers my body so I didn't think that it was too 'sexy' but Micah seems to appreciate it, even though I'm wearing a coat right now too to avoid getting wet by the rain.

However, before I can go along with his plan, I realize that there's one thing wrong with this plan. "Wait, do you have a condom?"

Micah takes his wallet out of his pocket and opens it up. "Crap. No, I don't. Are you out?"

"We used the one that I had in my purse last week," I remind him with a disappointed sigh. "That's alright, I'll restock tonight and we can try again tomorrow."

"You're not on birth control?" He looks at me with slightly raised eyebrows. When we get into the parking garage, we make sure that we're in an empty corner so that nobody around can hear what we're talking about. I'm surprised that we haven't talked about this yet; it's definitely a conversation that needs to be had right when two people start having sex, but we've never really discussed it.

"Well, I have an IUD but I haven't gotten tested in a while," I answer him. I know that the escort company that I work for is very careful with making sure that the clients are clean and that we're clean as well. I actually have gotten tested recently but I've also had a few clients between then and now. I know that the chances of me having an STD are very slim but I don't want to take that risk with Micah. "I just wouldn't feel comfortable with not using a condom until I get tested again."

"Okay," He takes my hand in his and kisses my cheek. "No big deal, I can wait until tomorrow to nail you in your car, I'm a patient man."

His sarcastic crass-ness makes me laugh as we start walking into the building so that I can get back to work. "And a man with class, apparently."