The Phoenix Reborn Series. Book 1. The World Burns to Ashes

Task after task

Lincoln spent the next day rearranging the troops into distinct commands, and had re-established a more complex command structure so everyone knew what their responsibilities were, and who they were in command of. He watched the feed from the Senate Chamber, and was continually impressed with the job that Stacy Chalmers was doing as they assessed which of the amendments from the original Constitution would be kept, and changed the wording and clearly defined every term they used so that there would be no confusion in the future generations.

Before they had even recessed for lunch they had worked their way through the first dozen amendments, and he was very satisfied with the changes that had been made. He was just preparing to go have lunch when his Assistant entered his office.

"Sir, Ms. Chalmers is requesting a few moments of your time." she said formally and he knew she was here under the pretense of bringing things for his signature. Truth of the matter under the new system is his signature was moot. Most had passed Unanimously, and would automatically override a Veto because of the majority of which of had passed.

"Have the kitchen send up two servings of whatever was for lunch, and allow her in please." he said as he continued looking through the intelligence reports concerning the border with Mexico.

He heard the door close, and knew that only Emily would be able to interrupt them. "Good afternoon Ms. Chalmers, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked as he closed the laptop.

"Just bringing the results of the morning session, and seeing as I had the time, I decided to deliver these for your signature." she said smiling as she took a seat and laid the stack of papers on his desk. "This afternoon we should reach the end of the review of the old amendments, striking down several as the wording of others will make them obsolete and unnecessary. The Evening session should see us adding new amendments to the Constitution to further strengthen the Empire." She finished as a knock came in and a trolly with 2 cloches was delivered.

"Enjoy your lunch sir, ma'am." the porter said before bowing slightly and leaving the office.

"What's this?" she asked him.

"I figured if you were going to come here as soon as you called the lunch recess, you must want to have lunch with me. As I was about to have lunch when you arrived." he explained as he went to the small table where the porter had set the trolley next too.

"How do you know it is right after I called the break?" she asked as he pointed at the TV that was playing the recap.

"All sessions must be broadcast." he replied as he pulled both cloches off and revealed extravagant Reuben sandwiches that had been made for the staff.

Stacy smiled as she took a bite, and was surprised at the tastes as she had never had one before. At the moment everyone was learning that being picky would only lead to you starving unless you could find something to eat somewhere else. "This is amazing." she said as she took a drink of the strawberry lemonade.

"I wish I could take credit, maybe if I have time in a few days." he replied with a smile as he ate his own food.

Stacy did not speak while she ate, appreciative that he allowed her to eat without conversation until she was full. "So when do you plan on cooking for me?" she asked plainly while he looked at her.

"Day after tomorrow if you are available around 1900." he replied not in the form of a question.

"What if I want to have dinner with you before than?" she asked him raising her eyebrows.

"I'm not hiding, in fact I would likely find it extremely difficult to hide from all of my security forces if I were so inclined." he said with a wry smile letting her know he was joking with her a bit. His statement however was an ironic truth.

"Yes our security escorts do seem to be a little more enhanced than they were before. Shouldn't take long to get used to it." she said smiling as she slowly drank her lemonade. "How long before you decide if you sign those?"

He smiled as he opened the first one, flipped to the back and signed it before he opened the next one and did the same thing.

"Not going to read them?" she asked curiously amused.

"No need too when I listened to the final version before the vote. As well as these are unanimous, so wether I sign or not they are automatically law according to the new rules." Lincoln replied chuckling as she nodded knowing he was speaking the truth.

"Well, it seems it is time for me to return to my duties. I will await your return of those, and might come if you order something interesting for dinner." she said with a coy smile before she left the office leaving the door open.

Lincoln spent the afternoon down in the kitchens with the chefs, most of them surprised he actually knew how to cook. They made his extravagant meal, all of the ingredients amazingly on hand and it would be prepared by the chefs for the rest of his staff. He had the channel tuned to the Senate Hearing again, and just as she called the meeting to a close having covered all of the old amendments, they had passed the third of the new. 6 of the old Amendments had been made irrelevant or stripped by choice, and they had a total of 15 Amendments they would pass before they began the work of rebuilding the Nations that now made up the Empire.

He had just pulled the Beef Wellington out of the oven to rest when her driver reported that she had brought the files with her and ordered to be taken to the Executive Hotel as it was being called for now. He made sure the rest would be ready when she got there, and made sure it would be waiting when she got there.

He walked into his suite off of the office, and prepared their table inside as if it were simply a business dinner. He however knew that the way they talked always had hidden meanings.

"Sir, my reports say she will be here in a few minutes. They also say that her son was killed in the blasts that hit Chicago, along with her parents. She is the lone survivor of her family, and has not taken a personal residence beyond what was assigned to her here." Emily reported as she had decided to do.

"Why am I not surprised that you ran a check?" he asked her plainly as he always did when they were alone.

"My job sir, and I would be remiss if I did not inform you of the results." she answered quickly.

"It is your job to know, not mine. Unless you find something that would drastically threaten my safety, or that of the Empire, I do not need to know." Lincoln told her as he heard the elevator chime. "If you have found anything along those lines, I would love to listen. If not, I would like to get to know her at a natural pace set between her and I. Do you have an issue with that?" he asked her bluntly as they heard the secret service officer.

"No sir, no issues. Also nothing to report sir. Ms. Chalmers has arrived with the evening documents from the Senate Votes today." Emily replied knowing she would not make the mistake again.

"Send her in, and enjoy the rest of your evening." Lincoln said pointedly delivering the message that he was not completely pleased with what she had said.

When Stacy entered however, he smiled as she called from the office. "Mr. President?" she asked a little confused as she stepped into the open door.

"In here Ms. Chalmers, please come in. You will find all of the files there with my signature, and can leave the other files next to them. Would you care to join me for dinner?" he asked knowing they had the rest of the evening to enjoy. Congress was recessed until the morning.

Stacy set the files down, and traced her fingers over the files he had already signed. "What's for dinner?" she asked him.

"Beef Wellington with grilled Asparagus, and lobster risotto." he told her as he opened the cloche for her.

She looked at it, and was very surprised that it was her favorite dish. "I must admit, your check was much more thorough than mine." she commented a little wryly as she sat down across from him.

"No check, not by me atleast. I am glad it is your favorite, although mine is prepared significantly different than what most people are accustomed too." he said as he opened his own. "You could have asked you know?"

She blushed as she realized she had revealed that she had done a background check on him. "Is it true you were the youngest graduating Colonel from the Academy?" she asked him.

He nodded as he cut into his meat. "Hard to believe that was only 4 or 5 months ago." he said knowing she was atleast 5 years older than he was. "Held the rank for 2 months before the bombs fell, was promoted to General, and than made President when the previous administration was destroyed. Now I am supposed to be called Emperor?" he asked her as the Amendments had been changed for the Executive Branch.

"Not my idea, and we will be lucky to stop it from becoming a lifetime appointment if you continue to do a good job." Stacy replied as she saw that the filet mignon had been stuffed with mushrooms and herbs as well. Her moan as she ate the bite let him know that it was the best she had ever tasted. "You will have to tell the chef he did an excellent job."

Lincoln smiled as he ate his own, and swallowed before he looked at her. "Thank you, it took all afternoon to make." he said before taking another bite.

Stacy was a bit surprised that he had cooked it, and knew he was not joking the way he blushed. "Ever cooked for a woman before?" she asked blushing herself. She had been married and had a child, but she had not been exactly single in 8 years since her wedding.

"No, and that is all I will admit too." he said blushing more. She was scarlet as well as she took his meaning, he had never been with a woman before. He had never even kissed a girl, and he did not want to admit it.

"Well you are an excellent cook atleast, how did you learn?" she asked.

"Summers alone at West Point, and no one to cook for me but me. I was an Orphan, and the only place to go back to was an Orphanage that was far worse than the college ever thought of being." he told her honestly revealing parts of his past his background check did not contain. "The first summer a survivalist was assigned to be my summer instructor, and he taught me everything he knew of survival. Cooking, baking, and other skills were included in his course. He told me that even if I was cooking grubs, it could still be made to taste good if you spent a few minutes looking around you."

Stacy was truly surprised, as she knew he had spent 10 years at West Point on scholarships. "Well, I am glad you did not feed me those grubs, no matter how good they can be made to taste." she said laughing a little.

"What do you think the secret ingredient is?" he asked her laughing even harder than she had at her shocked look.

"You had best be joking." she said pointing her fork at him and he only smiled.

"Most definitely, I would not spoil this meal with grubs. Have never actually eaten grubs, I was always able to forage much better tasting goods. Iguanas however are delicious with some cactus and wild carrots." he said seriously making her laugh again.

Just as they were beginning to enjoy the meal both of their phones rang. He looked at the alert, and one of their border patrols had killed an attack squad of 20 Mexican Army personnel on American soil.

"It seems that my fears were accurate." he said as he sent a text message to his new Joint Chiefs. 'Command Meeting, 10 minutes. Send alert and increase all border patrols.' he ordered.

"Seems so, I have informed Congress about the development, and I can assure you that you will have an Emergency Declaration before the night is through." Stacy said as she looked at the last few bites of her dinner.

"Stay, we can finish dessert before the Joint Chiefs arrive. It will take an hour for the other Representatives to return, and you can be back in 10 minutes. This part of the meeting might surprise you, this will be the first session of the new Joint Chiefs." he told her as he put a big slice of pumpkin cheesecake in front of her.

Stacy took her clean fork, and moaned as soon as the flavors of pumpkin pie burst into her mouth. It was so much more though, as it was a cheesecake that imparted so many other flavors that melded perfectly as she got another bite and moaned again as she tried it with some of the whip cream that had been served with it.

Just as they finished eating 5 Officers walked into his office, and the two of them exited his suite. "Gentlemen, it seems as if we have found out next problem. How many patrols have been identified near the border?" he asked them.

"25 Patrols scouting ahead of 5 Battalions, it seems it is a credible threat sir. They will be at our borders in 2 days." General Lancaster reported.

"Prepare a proper response gentlemen. We will need to act quickly, and it will be the first test of how well we can coordinate the Armed Forces." Lincoln said as they all nodded.

"Sir, we can definitely ensure that they have a welcome party when they reach the border. The question will be do we engage before they arrive?" Admiral Jasper asked.

"No, unless they cross the border, we do not engage. Should these Battalions cross however, it will be an act of war. General Lancaster, transmit the messages to the Mexicans on all channels available to us. Jam the radios with it if you need too, that way they cannot say they were not warned about their actions. General Smith, begin combat patrols within 5 miles of our Southern Border. Let them know we have far more capability than they think they do." he told them as they all nodded and stood.

"We will have an attack strategy drawn up sir, and assure you we are up to this challenge." General Lancaster said as they saluted him and left.

Stacy looked at the clock and realized it hadn't even been ten minutes. He sent a text to the Congressional Delegates setting an address for the next morning. He also cancelled their assembly that night, knowing they would need time to decompress after the hard work they had been doing.

"Why does it seem our tasks are never ending?" Stacy asked him as her phone buzzed and she ignored it.

"There will always be another task when you are in the upper echelons of control." Lincoln told her as he poured a glass of wine for both of them.