#jay whitman

[inc-madam-secretary]

Elizabeth: How do you plan on explaining your way out of this one?

Jay: Verbally, because judging from the look on Nadine’s face, the musical number we prepared isn’t going to work.

[bursting-at-the-seems]

Who/what are your top 5 current or recent hyperfixation

[pillar--of--salt]

Prompt #51 with Nadine and Jay

51. “Those things you said yesterday... did you really mean them?”

/

“Nadine? It’s three in the morning, what’s wrong?” Jay held the phone to his ear as he rolled over in bed.

There was a crackle of white noise, as if she was breathing directly into the speaker. “Those things you said yesterday... did you really mean them?”

Oh, he didn’t have the cognitive function for this. Not at this hour. “What... what did I say yesterday?” He scrubbed a hand over his face.

There was another shaky breath. “That I could call you day or night. If I... if I ever needed anything.”

“Well, yeah.” He furrowed his brow. “What—“

“Well good, because I think I need that.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need you to come get me. I... I need to go to the hospital.”

That got him wide awake instantly. “Are you all right? Where are you? What happened?”

“I’m in the parking garage at Truman.” Why was she still at the office at this hour? “H-He was waiting for me by my car.” She sounded tearful.

Jay swore under his breath even as he kicked the covers off and swung out of bed, grabbing the first pair of pants he could reach. “Are you okay?” He fumbled with the phone as he put it on speaker, tossing it on the bed and then pulling a sweatshirt over his head. He grabbed his phone and pocketed the keys that were sitting on the dresser. “Nadine, what happened?”

Now that he was paying attention, he could hear the way she was breathing, deep and rattling and unstable, and it was making his blood curdle in his veins.

In his foyer, he stepped into his shoes and then practically flew out the door, barely remembering to lock it behind him.

“Nadine, talk to me.”

There was a small hitch in her voice. “You were right all along, Jay, I should have listened to you...”

“Don’t worry about that now.”

“I thought it was harmless.”

“I’m on my way, okay? Stay on the line with me.” He lived so close to work that he could walk if he wanted; it was something the others always teased him about, how he was so married to the job that he couldn’t bear to be away from it for longer than he had to. In a crisis, he was always the first one to arrive. Tonight, in the middle of the night without any traffic to stop him from tearing through the streets like a madman, he could probably get there in under six minutes.

He started his car and tried not to think about what he would find when he got there.

“Nadine, you still there?” Inwardly, he cursed at himself. He knew he should have made her call the FBI, he knew the emails and calls and threats had to be worse than she was letting on, but he let it go because he didn’t want to push her, none of them ever pushed her; they were in the habit of doing that, no one ever made Nadine do anything she didn’t want to do, but still, he should have insisted, he should have called them himself, he should have—

“Mhmm,” she said faintly. He didn’t like the way she sounded.

“I’ll be there in two minutes. Stay with me.”

When he glanced down at his phone, he did a double take at the new message notification: Blake, one minute ago. Jay tapped it open and held it up so he could read it as he drove.

Gunshots reported in Truman parking garage per DS. Ted and Carl headed over now.

Jay’s heart dropped like a stone.

“Hey, Nadine?” he said.

He was met with silence.

“Nadine, talk to me, please.”

He could see the building coming up. The light in front of him changed from yellow to red; he blew right threw it.

“Nadine?”

[superwhumpage]

Fic Rec Help?

I’m on a Madame Secretary kick right now and I am looking for literally any Jay-centric fanfiction because there doesn’t seem to be any? Angst or whump preferred, but honestly I’m desperate for anything. Anyone got any recs?

[not-all-the-prayers]

[yesmadamepresident]

Elizabeth finally reads in her staff, and prepares for the trip to Iran.

Also on AO3

[iworldlywriter]

Season 6 of Madam Secretary is coming to Netflix May 15th!!!

[morethanwords229]

Drabble challenge #16

Prompt #16 from this list - “You’re getting crumbs all over my bed.” Requested by @laineyvb131. Set a bit before Elizabeth tells her staff she’s running for President, and before she fires Blake.

Deep into his task of reworking the Secretary’s schedule after recent events had conspired to crap all over its former order, Blake only realised the time when he thought about getting another coffee – only to figure that after midnight was probably not the best time to be chugging more caffeine.

Instead, he bit into a whole-wheat muffin as he powered down his computer and packed his bag up for the night. Although really, what was the point? He’d only be back in six or seven hours anyway.

He made his way towards the elevators but was pulled from his path when he noticed the light was on in Jay’s office. He stuck his head around the door to see the chief of staff slumped down in his chair, squinting at whatever report he was reading. “I thought you left to get Chloe,” Blake said.

Jay hardly looked up. “I did. Then I came back.”

Blake pushed through the door as he swallowed some more of his muffin. “You know the Secretary isn’t even in the country right now? This is a prime opportunity for you to take advantage of that fact and go home.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jay was still reading even as he spoke to Blake. “But she wants to get onto that water stress project just as soon as she’s back, so…” He finally looked up as Blake stood directly in front of his desk and stared pointedly at the muffin, which was threatening to disintegrate all over his in-tray. “You’re getting crumbs all over my bed.”

Blake solved that problem by eating it. “Jay,” he said around his – rather dry – mouthful, “I can’t believe that I of all people am about to say this to you.” He swallowed and fixed Jay with his best hard stare. “You need to take a step back, man.”

“Global crises don’t wait.”

Aware that he was very likely taking his life into his hands, Blake reached over the desk and plucked the report from in front of Jay and tossed it onto the sofa behind him. “They don’t, but… Jay. The chances are fairly high that you’re going to be chief of staff to the President of the United States one day pretty soon.”

That got Jay’s attention. It was the first time any of them had voiced the possibility with such certainty. Elizabeth McCord had yet to officially tell her staff whether or not she was going to make a run for the presidency, but the signs lately… everything had been lining up. Blake was sure it was only a matter of time before she declared. “You think?” Jay said, like he hadn’t already been thinking about it daily himself.

He nodded. “And that means a long campaign plus maybe another eight years of projects and crises worth staying at work all night for. Do you really want to burn out now before she even gets to the White House? See someone else in the job that should be yours?”

Blake avoided thinking about the topic of his own potential place in a future McCord administration. He was still freaking out about the fact she was due to fire him from his current job before long. It didn’t do to dwell on it too heavily.

Jay sighed. “The work doesn’t start in the White House, Blake. The prep work happens now.” He gestured wearily at his full in-tray. “This.”

Blake shook his head and rounded the desk to pick up Jay’s jacket and hold it out for him, the way he did for the Secretary when he was pointedly trying to hurry her along for one reason or another. It worked a treat on Jay, too. “No, man, this is when you go home and see your daughter. It’s what MSec would tell you to do. The work will still be here in the morning.”

And no doubt in the morning he would have to re-do the Secretary’s schedule again.

Jay shrugged into the jacket and picked up his briefcase, complying with minimal fuss even as he fixed Blake with a sly sideways glare. “Note that I’m not commenting on the fact that you’re still at work, too.”

Blake turned and headed for the door, pausing at the threshold until he was sure that Jay was following behind him. He sighed, and thought about everything that was still left to do, the work that would be waiting for him in the morning – hopefully every morning for the next ten or so years. “This is when the prep work happens.”