It took an hour after the vote for the Speaker of the House of Representatives to convene a joint session of Congress for the validation of the votes and the swearing in ceremony.

“Congratulations,” President Nelson said as they waited for the signal to take the stage.

Nick shook the president’s hand. “Thank you, sir, for your faith in me and for going to bat on my behalf these last few weeks. I appreciate it.”

“What’s a little political warfare between friends?” Nelson said with a lighthearted smile that belied the ground war he’d waged to get the vice president he wanted. “I hope you know the reason the GOP leadership fought this as hard as they did is because they know their job four years from now just got a lot more complicated. You shouldn’t take it personally.”

“I understand. Even though I’ve only held office for a year, I’ve been in this business a long time, so I know it’s not personal. Well, most of the time it isn’t. I heard from a friend who works for Stenhouse that the RNC went into full meltdown mode when they heard you’d chosen me.”

“I bet they did,” Nelson said with a laugh. “And that’s why we fought so hard to make it happen. They’re petrified of you. You’re that rare politician who comes to the game with a clean slate. No baggage of any kind, and believe me, they looked for it in the last four weeks. You scare the living hell out of them, and that’s why we love you so much.”

When Speaker of the House Richard Claiborne convened the joint session, Nick, Sam and Scotty joined the president on the stage below the speaker’s seat. Claiborne went through the motions of announcing the vote taken under the auspices of the twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution. He noted that under the law of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Nick had offered his resignation from the Senate to Governor Zorn.

“The chair requests that the chief justice of the United States administer the oath of office to the vice president,” Claiborne concluded.

With Sam and Scotty holding the O’Connor family Bible and President Nelson standing next to Nick, Chief Justice Byron Riley said, “Raise your right hand, Mr. Cappuano, place your left hand on the Bible and repeat after me. I, Nicholas Cappuano, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”