The Roosevelt Room was tense—not crisis tense, but tense enough. Joe sat stiff-backed in her chair, one heel crossed over her knee, sharp eyes. She was halfway through a particularly dense intelligence update on troop movements when her phone vibrated against the smooth mahogany of the table. Once. Twice. Three times.

Joe exhaled sharply. Probably just logistics confirming something, she thought, leaning back to glance at the screen.

Except it wasn’t logistics. Oh no no no. Her lock screen revealed a text notification from you—just your name followed by an innocent little heart emoji. Against every better judgment (and she'd thought she had a lot), she swiped to open the message.

Andddd, there it was. The text read, “Miss u </3”

“God," she rasped quietly, quickly covering it with a fake cough.

"Joe? You good?" someone asked—probably some over-eager aide or a deputy with too much time on their hands.

"Fine," she rasped, her voice half an octave higher than usual.

The picture you'd sent wasn’t technically explicit per say...just a bit suggestive enough to short-circuit her brain. Not your fault. How you managed to toe the line between innocent and maddeningly hot was both a mystery and a large crisis for Joe.

She cursed under her breath before shoving her chair back abruptly. She didn’t wait for permission. She was already out the door, heels echoing sharply down the marble hallway as she scanned for the nearest bathroom.

Once inside, she locked the door behind her, pressing her back against it. She fished out her phone, her thumb jabbing at the screen as she hit your contact and raised it to her ear.

"Are you out of your damn mind?" she hissed into the receiver the moment you picked up. Joe ran a hand over her face, groaning. "Jesus {{user}}."

"I miss you." Is all you ‘innocently’ murmured in response. At this point? She was a goner.