Fandom: Honor Harrington
Rating: G
Summary: At All Costs AU with POW!Javier Giscard instead of his death at Lovat.
Author’s notes: This is set in roseandheather and aoife’s POW!Javier verse. Because I want Eloise/Javier, here we are. Also, I may have shrunk the time between a few events, to make sense for this one-shot.
“What happened at Lovat, Tom?” I ask my CNO, not sure if I want to hear his response, for some weird reason. I’d had those feelings as an Aprilist, and they were often correct. Most of us did. At least the ones who lived long enough to gain that sense. And being in a relationship with Javier for all those years, only meant I had to get sharper.

“Would you mind sitting down, Madame President?” He never says that to me. Is Javier alive? He can’t be dead. Or is he? I run though a few ideas in my mind, while I sit down gracefully on the sofa.

He becomes less formal, for some reason, while still trying to stay composed for some reason, “Good news or bad news first, Eloise?”

“Bad.” I say unthinkingly. “Eighth Fleet hit Lovat, and they used another piece of that dammed Mantie supertech. More like two. First, they used these recon drones attached to nukes to wipe out our Moriarty installations. Next, when Javier used First Fleet to mousetrap Harrington,” I notice his tone becoming more monotone, and he forces himself to continue, “Sovereign of Space was lost, among with the rest of Javier’s force. The Manties made a sweep for life pods, but we haven’t heard anything yet. The closest thing to good news is that the sensors in-system reported seeing life pods from Sovereign of Space. There weren’t many, but there were some.”

So, now Javier’s dead. And Harrington’s hit another system. If I could, I’d have a few drinks with Tom. But that wouldn’t look right, if the Senate found out, and given that Harrington could be hitting Haven at any time, I have to always look perfect. I know there’s the chance he could be alive, but I can’t afford to watch false hopes be pulled from under my feet.
—
One Week Later…
Thomas Theisman forces himself to scroll through the POW lists himself, as he sips on his T-Whiskey (real, this time, and not obtained through black market connections of staff officers). He knows he’s going to need a drink either way. Especially as he will have to explain things to his president. He knows, legally, he could have dumped the job off on someone else, unless she ordered him to do it himself, but he knows better than to do that.

He eventually finds the name he’s looking for. Javier Giscard is alive and unhurt, and there’s a short note from him. Part of him feels bad to ignore the rest of the names, but luckily, he only has to explain to one person the news. He presses the speed dial combo for Eloise Pritchart.

“Madame President, is now a good time to meet with you?” he asks formally.

“Is this–” she corrects herself, though he has an idea of what she was going to say, “Yes, it is.” she replies.

He grabs the datapad, another bottle of T-Whiskey, and a copy of the note he hasn’t read (he suspects it’s for Eloise), before heading to Eloise’s formal office.

“Would you mind sitting down, Madame President?” he asks formally. She looks at him, and he realizes, Oh, no, she must think Javier’s dead. What would he tell me to do? She sits down with a pained look on her face before trying to bite her lips to hide it.

He forces the words out of his mouth, “I just checked the recent POW list. Javier’s alive.”

He sees some of the tension fade out of her face, and puts a purely platonic arm around her (he may think she's pretty, but of all the people and times, right now with Eloise isn't a good one). She taps something into a communicator on her wrist, before he sees a tear roll down her cheek.

"He's alive." she replies, after a pause.

Tom nods.