Elaine Hammond (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} elaine_hammond) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} omega_reality, |
"Come on, let's sit down. I'm getting old." Elaine smiled, but this discussion wasn't an easy one. She walked to the nearest empty couch and waited for TJ to sit down with her. "I always knew that we had screwed up with you. No matter how much we tried, we never seemed to know what the right thing to say and do was, but I was so sure we'd done everything right with Doug. Just look at him. Harvard, youngest Chief at State, youngest campaign manager of a successful presidential run, he would have been youngest Chief of Staff. What was that your father said? The perfect child."
She looked at Doug again and sighed. "He leaked about my campaign run while I was still serving under Garcetti. When he told me about it, I was so angry with him. I did treat him like I'd treat any other employee. I told him to leave, that he was done." She looked at TJ, trying to smile, but failing. "He told me that his biggest fear was to disappoint me. That's where we're different. Your father and I worry about not disappointing ourselves. Doug was worrying about me. I didn't have to judge him, because he did it himself, and he was probably even harsher than I'd have been."
Elaine covered TJ's hand. "Oh baby, you don't know how difficult that decision was. We didn't want to, but most of the schools around DC are so conservative, but worse, you'd have had the press always around. You were too much of a story for them to let you go. Boarding school put a distance. Anything you experienced would have been a thousand times worse in DC."
Considering how badly they had failed, she couldn't ask for more than that. "As long as you try. If anyone has a chance to get through to him is you." She chuckled. "Heart-stoppingly crazy? And he is good to you?" She knew what he'd said, but then TJ had claimed to be in love with Sean Reeves, so she felt justified in double checking. "Having dinner with us means that you spend less time cooking and cleaning. You can leave after dinner, and it's only two days a week. You get the pleasure of eating with everyone every other day.