Isn't she lovely (Vickson)

Subject: Isn't she lovely (Vickson) Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:49 pm

A normal October of any year was crazy, Jackson Blake firmly believed. The October of an election year, was the motherload of all nutso. And this October did not disappoint.

Jackson's re-election campaign had kicked off shortly after the Senate's summer break, the campaigning period growing longer and longer with each term that passed. The good will he and his team had managed to garner over the new policies were received with mixed interests. The right people were condemning him as a traitor while the wrong people were hailing him as a patriot.

And then there was Judith.

Michael Bloomberg's threat of a year ago about republicans pulling support for him had unfounded slowly, almost too casually. At first it had been notable members of the party who had become too busy to attend events he was hosting, chairing or speaking at. Their cancellations coming in last minute, making Maggie and Mac scramble to find worthy seat fillers. Then someone had timidly suggested Jackson skip out on his speech at the RNC, infuriating the man but not leaving him much choice and now.

Now Jackson stood in his office, a frown on his face as he read an email printed out for him by Victoria fifteen minutes ago., The email was addressed to his office, not himself and bore the FOX letterhead in ominous script.

"They're pulling funding?" he asked unnecessarily, skipping straight to the third paragraph that explained reallocation of funds and restructuring of company finances.

"Not until after the election," Victoria pointed out softly, making him read all the way to the bottom where indeed, FOX was graciously affording him three months to set his affairs in order. "Maybe we can reach out-"

"Don't bother," the wizard replied, exasperated. Running a hand through his jet black hair, the man tried to not show how much this affected him. "We knew this was coming," he added, not unkindly as he looked towards his legal council. "I'm surprised we lasted this long, but I guess it's happening, the party is distancing itself from us."

A soft knock on the door made both of them turn towards it. "Come in," Jackson called out and not a moment later, Sloan Sabbith's dark head poked in.

"I have polling data."

"Good or bad?" Jackson asked, trying to gauge if the day was about to get better or worse. His simple question made the statistical analyst stop in her tracks. Jackson could almost see the confusion play out on her face in real time as she tried to work out how to attach a connotation to cold hard numbers.

Then, Sloan being Sloan, rebooted. "I have polling data," she announced once again.

"Yeah sure, lay it on us."

And the three moved to his large desk where papers and graphs were spread out showing different trends from polls across Wisconsin. It was nothing new. they were polling higher with independents than ever before but lower than they ever had with the solid red base, the people Jackson used to call his. There was a slight increase in his favor in the purple areas, and an even smaller one in solidly blue counties, but not enough to offset the red they were bleeding out.

"And what about the general election?" the senator asked when his personal campaign had been picked apart,. "Any hope of us getting back the House or Senate, or God forbid the White House?"

"My numbers say President Warren has it in the bag, she has solid support and good policies."

"But does she have the will of the people by her side."

"He thinks he's being funny," Sloan spoke to Victoria, for once recognizing sarcasm for what it was. Then, turning to him again, she stated matter of factly. "Numbers say Warren's a shoe in."

"And far be it for us to disagree with your numbers, Miss Sabbith."

"See, isn't it nice when we all get along?" Sloan responded, making him grin despite the situation.

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Come Plot With Me <3

Subject: Re: Isn't she lovely (Vickson) Sun Feb 14, 2021 1:53 pm

Christmas had been perfect, in Victoria's mind, but oh such a distant memory now. Jackson and she had managed to tell both their parents of this arrangement with the understanding that it was to be kept quiet for now because Jackson had a busy re-election campaign to work through, and distractions of his love life were not necessary. Not this time, at least, Victoria had quietly added to herself. They had played that song much too hard in the last few attempts at winning Jackson votes, and unlike his previous girlfriends, Victoria was not okay with being put in such a situation.

Not unless it became necessary.

Through the remaining part of the winter, they had all worked tirelessly on their policies, Victoria aiding the effort to reunite families across borders where she could, Jackson continuing on with all of the policies he'd promised the constituents when he had been re-elected to his office. Spring had brought with it a new spirit for the whole office as it did each year, and every section of the office was working flat out to get the results needed.

By the time they had gotten to the break over the summer, they had all needed it.

Jackson and Victoria had spent the warm summer months with a short break in Green Lake and Jackson's mom. The break had been good, the familiar setting giving Jackson the break he needed and for the first time in a long while ensuring his shoulders were not quite so tense as when he was in the office. The break didn't last long enough, though, and the duo had headed back to the office ahead of everyone else in order to prepare for the re-election campaign that was coming.

The earliness had been agreed upon to try to get an early start. The numbers before the summer break were already looking lower than they had that time they had been running for re-election which was not sitting well with Jackson. Victoria had done her best to remind him that they were early polls, and everything could shift in their favour, but even with her hopeful nature, she could see the uncertainty in her boyfriend's eyes each time. The work would bring them away from worrying, and that much was welcome from Victoria. Anything that meant Jackson would be kept busy would aid in keeping him from dwelling on ifs and maybes.

It was never an easy time for them, but this time, Victoria felt she had a little bit more of a hand in aiding Jackson, in every way possible, to get through to November.

The summer months dimmed in to a campaign that was ferociously contested in the autumn. The trees aptly changing from green to orange, and then to red to show the ramped up necessity of getting through the next few weeks. Polls were coming in from Sloan thick and fast, the marketing team were trying to get Jackson out and in public view as much as possible. But the Republican party were slowly closing door after door in their face.

Victoria had done her best to get replacements for those who let them down, but the list of Republicans who would still liaise with them was dwindling fast. They had had to change tactics in places, or else cancel an event in more than too many important moments of the election, but Victoria still remained optimistic for them. For Jackson. They needed to believe in what they still had going for them, reminders that although Sloan's numbers were more than airtight normally, the people could change their minds if they could find something that would hold with them.

What that would be, though, Victoria had not yet found the answer to.

The kicked had come that morning via email.

Fox News had cut them off, with three months notice.

The witch had stared at the computer screen for ten minutes after she had finished reading, trying to find something in the words that could be found to be breaching the contract that they had made with the News giant, but Victoria knew better than most that what was written on the page would have been checked by a whole team of legal advisors, counter checked to the existing contract, and then ensured that any potential breach another legal adviser could find would be covered by a clause in the original document. Another blow to their campaign that they couldn't afford.

The witch had hit control and p harder than she meant to as her eyes refocused. The document had spewed out from the machine beside her desk and the witch had claimed it as she moved out through her office door and across to Jackson's. The man had been stooped over his computer looking at something else as she entered. The smile on his lips that had started had died the moment he saw her features, already drawn in to the picture of worry.

"Fox have emailed..." Victoria stated gently as she laid down the piece of paper which effectively condemned their entire office to bankruptcy if they couldn't find a replacement in very short notice.

"They're pulling funding?"

"Not until after the election," Victoria had supplied almost too hopeful in her tone in that moment. A small bit of good news, to keep them on track. And, if she could do something more... "Maybe we can reach out-"

The reply she had known would come left the man's lips in the next moment. The witch couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty in that moment. The funding would be leaving them because of her, because of the relationship she and Jackson had fallen in to after the news Tessa had not been pregnant with Jackson's child. Even if she knew the man had never been truly happy with the older woman, Victoria couldn't help but feel this was the not so subtle sign of a woman taking her revenge on the man who'd left her for another woman.

The knock on the door behind them made Victoria jump slightly, caught in her own mind whilst Jackson contemplated the information before him.

Sloan had appeared with her file of numbers at the ready. Victoria was almost too grateful for the reprieve as they moved across to the table to look them over. Another blow came from them as Victoria looked over the numbers quickly. The old numbers compared to the new showed the contrast in thoughts of their team. The large gap between last election's support from Republicans and this election's prediction was troubling. The gains in the other sectors were simply not going to make up for it.

Sloan had pointed it all out in her matter of fact manner, hardly noting the emotional toil she was putting the Senator through as she spoke more and more of how the campaign was not achieving what they had hoped it would.

News that the White House was unlikely to change was not a good sign for their campaign either. As a swing state, it didn't bode well for them if people were gearing up for a Democratic president again, but the witch didn't say that aloud. Jackson would know that, they would just have to work out how to combat against it, together.

"Have you found anything within your polling that might help us to claw back some of the losses in the Republican fields?" Victoria asked, knowing that it was a shot in the dark at this stage, but she couldn't let this slide away from them.

Sloan shook her head. "Nothing conclusive yet. The Republican voters just seem to find more appeal in Judith's messaging at the moment."

The conclusion was not new. Everyone was getting behind the other Republican candidate because her line of election was much more true Red than there's.

"Thank you, Sloan." Victoria replied, and the analyst wrapped up her findings with the point that she'd get the data sent across to their emails to look over more when they were ready. With a thank you, the duo had been left on their own.

"We'll work this out. We've got time." Victoria told Jackson softly, the smile on her face genuine because she believed in that much. She'd always believed in Jackson, and just because Sloan's numbers were not currently favouring them, it didn't mean they were out of the game just yet.

"How about we review the policies once more, and see if we can find something to offer the voters to bring them back on side?" Victoria suggested, taking up the chair on the other side of Jackson's desk and pulling the piece of paper with Fox's announcement away from him. Turning it over, the witch started a mind map, not dissimilar to one they had both poured over before.

Their key policies were the starting point, and the duo talked through each of them as they had a hundred times before.

There had to be a way through.

Victoria would find it, no matter what.

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Subject: Re: Isn't she lovely (Vickson) Fri Feb 19, 2021 6:12 am

As they discussed and re-discussed what they could do to win back the red base, the sun slowly sank over the Milwaukee sky, for once not attracting the attention of the people in the floor to ceiling window-ed office. The occupants of the Blake offices too engrossed in attempting to forge a win from sheer willpower alone. One by one, the girls poked in their head, saying they were leaving and still, Jackson and Victoria remained where they were, poring over various documents and pulling up electoral maps of the various counties they could and could not rely on.

"I don't get it" Jackson finally let out a growl of frustration he had been keeping in for too long. Maggie Harper was the last to leave and that had been a good twenty minutes ago. Now, he and Victoria were the only ones left,. "We had this entire belt last election, what happened?"

The lawyer remained quiet, meaning she knew exactly what happened but she didn't think saying it out loud would make him any happier. Jackson too knew what happened, if he really thought about it.

For once in his life, he had tried to do something good.

And it was now going to cost him an election.

Back in the summer, Mac and Victoria had devised a campaign based on policy and healthy discourse. They had made it obvious that Jackson was not to take cheap potshots at democrats or belittle Judith on the grounds of her age, gender, appearance or her previous loss two years ago. Unfortunately, this was not sitting well with the voter base.

"I'm sorry," how senator murmured, walking over to her and drawing the tiny witch close. "It's not your fault... It's no one's fault," he managed, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. A kiss that lingered slightly before moving to the side.

"Is it too late to call Judith a flurge and make a blanket statement about women not being made for politics?" he only half joked as he nuzzled the witch lightly, feeling the tension drain from his body with the amount of closeness between them.

This was what made it all worth it, he refected as he held on to the one person who understood what he was going through. Fighting every day at the office would drain anybody and break their spirit.

But at the end of each day, he got to go home with Victoria Newbury, and that made all of it worthwhile.

***

"Pizza night?" he whispered against her ear before kissing it softly. The shudder that ran through her body made the smirk on his lips grow. "Definitely pizza night."

It was only when they were halfway to the car that Victoria reminded him she had to stop at the drug store first. Jackson pretended to groan but it was too late now. He had a small, lasting smile on his face that just would not leave.

________________________________________________

Come Plot With Me <3

Subject: Re: Isn't she lovely (Vickson) Sun Feb 21, 2021 12:23 pm

"I don't get it"

The growl of frustration that left Jackson's lips was the tell tale sign that he had had enough, for today, of going over the files. He'd had enough of not making enough progress to turn the election up on it's head, and Victoria couldn't blame him. Even a witch as diligent and unrelenting in her work as she was had a point where it became too much, and they had been over the information so many times now that making notes on paper had just became a formality rather than a necessity.

"We had this entire belt last election, what happened?"

The question was not meant to sting, and yet it did. They both knew exactly what had happened. She was sat in the room, making up half of the occupants. She had single-handedly unwound the support Jackson had from Fox News, and then the other Republicans because Victoria Newbury had brought out the side in Jackson that wanted to do good for the world at large. A ploy that never would sit well in a Republican Senator's lap. Her lack of reply was because Victoria already knew that the man before her knew why they were struggling this year, and she didn't need to voice that aloud.

If Victoria reminded him that it was her doing, Jackson would simply wave it away as if it wasn't the stark truth they both knew it to be.

It was one of his best traits, but one that she didn't deserve in this situation.

The apology came from his lips unnecessarily as he moved around the table and drew her in to his arms. The words that were meant to be comforting didn't sit as such, but Victoria let him believe he was alleviating the worry from inside her. "We're not out yet," Victoria reminded Jackson as his lips touched her forehead, making her eyes flutter closed in that moment, hiding the shimmer of doubt that would be there if they'd remained open.

"Is it too late to call Judith a flurge and make a blanket statement about women not being made for politics?"

Despite herself, a smile touched the witch's lips. Perhaps it was the closeness of the man before her, perhaps it was the way his lips danced close to her ear, tickling her neck with each word spoken... Perhaps it was the idea of doing a complete one eighty that would look so ludicrous on their campaign that it was almost amusing. "You could, if you really wanted to, but I won't hold the others back when you undo all their hard and numerous months of work in seconds." Victoria replied, the answer probably not the one that Jackson wanted to hear at all.

His lips descended upon her throat, though, denoting that work was most definitely finished that day. Victoria relented, allowing him exactly what they both needed in that moment as he lifted her effortlessly on to his desk, it was only the soft growl of frustration that came from Jackson as took a step back to free her from her suit pants that parted the Senator and his legal aid.

***

"Pizza night?"

The electric bliss ran down the witch's spine anew as he kissed Victoria's ear. Her head had rested on the man's shoulder in her final release, and she hadn't moved since, much too comfortable despite her near naked form. Only the blouse remained from her attire, Jackson had somehow managed to free her of her bra, and her trousers had been discarded early on. The Senator hadn't faired much better, though, his own shirt had been undone from top to bottom but never pressed from his shoulders, and his own trousers had pooled by his feet. His tie had been somewhere, but for the life of her, Victoria could not remember where it had been last. The witch's breath caught anew as the man insisted it was a pizza night, her body all too sensitive after everything they'd just done.

Neither one of them moved, though, Victoria still coming down from the high, and Jackson all too comfortable as he held her close. They would move eventually, but just a couple more moments wouldn't hurt.

By the time they had cleaned themselves up -- Victoria using her wand to push all the crease marks from Jackson's shirt -- and his office, Victoria had put their notes back in her office and collected her coat before she was ready to leave. Jackson had been waiting by her office, as always, the smile on his lips making him look much more smug than was necessary.

Moving to the car, Victoria had remembered she needed to go to the drug store, and after asking Jackson to please stop on the way, she had set her mind back to what they had planned for that evening. Jackson had reminded her of the pizza, and then it was up to her. Once again the smile on his lips showed his own ideas, and the witch could only playfully roll her eyes, trying to ignore how her body was much too happy with that idea, but not wanting to admit that.

The drug store wasn't too far, which the witch was grateful for. After getting out of the SUV, Victoria had quickly moved in through the front door, greeting the woman behind the counter. Finding out her prescription, Victoria had handed it over to the staff member who said it would just be a couple of minutes whilst they finalised the order. Thanking the witch, and paying the amount due for the next six month's worth of the tablets, Victoria had moved aside for the next customer who was waiting.

Five minutes later, and her order was ready.

"Here you go, Miss Newbury. Three months worth of the prescription. The next time you require these, you'll need to see your doctor first to ensure you're still okay to use this method of contraception."

"Thank you," Victoria replied, knowing the protocol quite well by now, but appreciating the reminder no less. It was as the witch was taking up the small prescription bag that the lady caught her again.

"You received the letter about the last batch, I assume? About the recall?"

Victoria paused, looking quizzically back at the woman. "I... don't believe I did..." The witch replied uncertainly.

"Oh." The assistant replied. "Well, the production of the batch was found to be faulty. There was a batch that had two correctly labelled tablets, and one wrongly labelled packet, in which the placebo tablets were placed in the first row, and not the last. We advised all of our customers to bin them and get new ones."

The colour must have drained from the witch's features in that moment.

"It's okay, Miss Newbury. If your periods have still been coming correctly, then there shouldn't be anything to worry about." The assistant continued, as if that would make it all go away, and the worry would just disappear in an instant.

Except, that wasn't the case.

Victoria's tablet packet only had two days left on it.

Two 'placebo' tablets.

Which meant she really should have been on her period by now.

The witch reached out for the counter to steady herself. The realisation dawning on her. What she'd written off as a stress related delay... "C-could I have a pregnancy test, please?" She asked, opening her purse once more, this time on auto-pilot because her body was slowing numbing with dread. The assistant moved to collect one of the pregnancy tests from behind her -- whether she'd asked Victoria a question of preference the witch couldn't have told anyone.

It would have been ten minutes before Victoria emerged from the store.

Her mind running a million miles a minute as she tried to logically reason that perhaps she would be okay because she had still taken the tablets. Perhaps... they would just get lucky and it was a false call, and it was a stress induced lateness? Jackson had been sure that he couldn't have children...

The smile on the witch's lips had been false throughout the ride home, she engaged in every topic of conversation Jackson provided without hesitation, and not for the first time in her life, Victoria Newbury had pretended absolutely everything was okay as they tucked in to a monstrous amount of pizza that night.

There was no way Victoria could broach the topic before she knew.

And there was absolutely no way she was going to find out tonight, either.

It could wait one more day.

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