Chapter 3.2 - Serendipity, I Suppose

Alaric’s first day of work as a campaign intern at City Hall was… interesting, to say the least.

The moment he walked in, he knew he was missing something. Whispers abounded as he walked through the hallways. Stone-faced sims in dark clothing spoke in hushed voices. Employees huddled in clumps around couches, and nobody seemed to be getting any work done. Alaric kept walking, even as he strained his ears to pick up the whispers.

“I can't believe she would…”

“There's no way…”

“I mean, think of her kids!”

“How did they…”

Alaric wasn't sure who they were talking about or what she had done, but something told him he would find out soon enough.

He finally reached the door of the room he'd been instructed to report to. As he opened the door, it became clear that the sims in this room were less contained in their discussion than the employees outside.

“Do I even want to know what you were thinking?”

“I had to… who are you?”

They had finally noticed Alaric standing in the doorway, so he flashed his most charming smile at them. “I'm Alaric Doe. I believe I was supposed to report here for my first day. I'm the new campaign intern.”

“Ohhh. Well, we could certainly use some more help… and a new candidate.” She sent a glare at the other woman in the room, who looked small and scared. “I’m your boss, Tori Kimura-Alvi. This is our former candidate, Tamara Donner. She was just leaving.”

“But Tori, you have to let me explain-”

“How many times do I have to tell you! Your reasoning doesn’t matter to the voters, so it doesn’t matter to me. Now you need to get out before the cops decide to escort you out.”

Tamara slunk out of the room, looking defeated.

“What did she do?”

Tori sighed. “She was caught siphoning money out of her campaign funds to use on personal expenses. She’s now being investigated for embezzlement, and we’ll have to issue a statement today to say that she’s dropping out of the race.”

Alaric nodded, processing that information.

Tori spoke again. “Let that be a lesson to you. There are lots of scandals a politician can recover from, if you spin it well enough. The minute they catch you doing something illegal, though… you’re out, even if you’re never charged. You’ve lost any hope at a future in politics, and your name taints everyone you were ever connected to.” Her sigh was smaller this time. “That’s the problem with finding a new candidate for this election. Every local sim in our party endorsed her run, so they’ve all been tarnished by association. Even if they withdraw their statements, none of them will be able to run in this election.”

Alaric frowned. “She was running for mayor, correct?”

“Yes. It might not have been as much of a problem if she was running for a larger office, but this is a small town. Word gets around. By now, everyone who works in the building knows, as does everyone at the police station. They’ll tell their families, who’ll tell their coworkers, who’ll tell their families, and so it continues. By tomorrow, everyone in town will know the whole story.”

Alaric nodded slowly. “So… you need a candidate who is a complete non-entity. Someone who just walked onto the local political arena. Someone no sim in town will associate with Tamara.”

Tori’s eyes narrowed. “Someone like you.”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t really like this… but I suppose we don’t have a lot of options. Alright. You will be our new candidate. But if you step even a foot out of line, you will never work in this state again.”

Alaric smiled. “Trust me, there won’t be any problems.”

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And after two years, there hadn’t been any problems. Alaric had won his first election by the skin of his teeth, then gone on to ingratiate himself with the sims of Sunset Valley. He was currently poised to win the next mayoral election by a landslide, but he was thinking about running for state legislature. After all, if he stayed at his current position for too long, he would get stuck in a rut. He wanted to capitalize on his upward trajectory and keep moving. He wouldn’t become Leader of the Free World by being complacent. Yes, everything was going smoothly for Alaric…

Which was why it was a nasty shock when he walked into his office one day and saw a very familiar face standing near his desk.

“Mayor Doe.” He hadn’t even noticed Tori until she spoke. He’d been completely laser-focused on Madeline. “You know Madeline, don’t you?”

He spoke through a haze. “Of course. She’s married to my brother.” He couldn’t bring himself to say the word ‘sister-in-law’. It made him uncomfortable.

“Yes, that’s what I thought. When she came to me for a job, I immediately thought of you.”

“Thought what of me?”

Tori looked slightly confused. “You need a new assistant since Monica quit, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So I thought Madeline could do that, since you two are family.”

“I…” Alaric tried to think of a good reason to say no. He certainly couldn’t tell Tori the truth, not with Madeline standing right there, not when Tori could ruin his career if she caught a hint of scandal about him. “Alright.” Practically speaking, there was no reason why this couldn’t work.

“Great!” Tori beamed and walked out, shutting the door behind her.

Of course, practicality didn’t take into account how much it burned to be alone with his first and only failure… and the woman he couldn’t help but love.

Author's Note: Ok, so I may have lied when I said Madeline was going to take a backseat for a while. She wasn't really supposed to come in until next chapter, but Alaric's really kind of boring on his own. Without Madeline, he doesn't have any personal conflict. But bring her in, and voila! Instant angst and melodrama. Next chapter (which should be out tomorrow): the tension builds.