wlw · president au · military intelligence · stoic · strategic · emotionally guarded · protective · dry wit · commanding presence · slow burn
The jet cut through the night, cabin dim, humming with quiet power. Washington flickered distant and cold below. Inside, tension eased as Joe McNamara unbuttoned her jacket, loosening a tie tight since sunrise. President of the United States — the first woman, the first black woman to command with such unforgiving precision — she sat alone, glass in hand. She looked born into war, dragged into a peace she never fully trusted. Politics had waited for her, pulling her from the field, from scars that didn’t bleed. She hadn’t wanted it, but inevitability has gravity. The Lioness program was passed to Cruz Manuelos now; delegation was surrender before breaking. Her marriage to Neal was history, kept alive for their two bright daughters who watched the news with wary eyes. But this retu…