1.
“Do you remember when we used to go out for New Year’s Eve?” Josh asks me.
“Vaguely,” I reply. “Wasn’t that before the children?”
“Definitely BEFORE the children,” Josh agrees. “We should try that again sometime.”
“Quit the complaining. All your buddies will be here tomorrow for the New Year’s game.”
“Not ALL my buddies.”
“Most of your buddies. Even Mike and Ellie are coming; on their first day back from their honeymoon,” I
remind him. “Chris will come around.”
“I thought he was already. At the wedding…” Josh trails off.
“I know. I thought so too and I think we were right. Remember that he made plans for him and Amy to
spend New Year’s Eve with John and Suzanne Hoynes a couple months ago. This may be the last
hurrah.”
“Maybe.”
“Yeah, maybe. So enjoy the day with the rest of your friends tomorrow and invite Chris again another
day.”
“I just…miss my friend and we had so much fun at the wedding.”
“We did. He was so cute with Briana and Ginger. He’s coming around, Josh, I’m sure of it. Just give it a
little more time,” I suggest. “Go tuck the kids in while I finish getting things ready for tomorrow. Then we
can ‘celebrate’ the New Year privately.”
“Deal,” he agrees immediately and calls for the children who understand what their father is calling
them for and run away in two separate directions. Noah is better at hiding than Briana, but all you have
to do is say something to make him laugh and he gives himself away. I understand what Josh was
saying about going out tonight, but truthfully I don’t miss those days. Spending a quiet evening home
alone with my husband and our children is the only way to go for me.
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“Why are they going over to Josh’s right away?” Jed asks me.
“They’re having lunch and watching the game together. Mike and Ellie will stop over around dinner,” I
explain…again.
“Why can’t they all come over here and watch the game. I have the big screen TV now and a full time
chef. Let’s invite them all here,” he suggests.
“No. They’re having some time with their friends and then they’ll come over for family time.”
“But Ellie’s pregnant and the guys will probably be drinking over there,” he tries again.
“Yes, the guys may be drinking, but I’m relatively certain that nobody will be pouring alcohol down Ellie’s
throat.” I roll my eyes. “Is that what all this fuss is about? Ellie being pregnant?”
“You didn’t even tell me until after they left,” Jed pouts.
“Because Ellie asked me not to. She didn’t want you making a fuss in front of everyone. I can’t IMAGINE
where she’d get that idea.”
“I can be subtle,” he insists.
“No, you can’t,” I refute. “You’ll see your middle daughter tomorrow evening Jed. Deal with it.”
“I could have her detail bring her here first,” he points out.
“I don’t think you want to do anything like that,” I whisper close to his ear. “Know why?”
“I’ll get a little punishment?”
“That’s right,” I nod approvingly. “Now how do you want to spend the last hour of the year?”
“With you in my arms,” Jed answers, as he pulls me toward him on the couch until we’re nestled
together.
There’s a quick knock on the door followed by a very agitated Ron Butterfield entering our sitting room.
“Mr. President, there’s a situation,” he tells Jed in a voice that’s out of breath. This can’t be good.
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“The last night of our honeymoon,” I moan as Mike pulled me closer to him. We’re both naked, a state
we’ve found ourselves in for most of this trip, and I can feel the entire length of his body pressing
against mine. The trip has been perfectly wonderful, but I’m anxious to get home and start our life
together there. Mike is thrilled about the baby. He’s even been talking to my stomach; he’s so adorable.
If any of his FBI buddies could see him like this, Mike would get endless shit. Lucky for him, I can keep a
secret…when I’m offered the right incentive.
“I can’t believe how fast the time has gone.” His hand strokes through my hair, down my neck and
shoulders until he reaches my stomach. His hand rests there protectively. “Listen, if you’d rather not go
over to Josh and Donna’s, I can call them and explain. I’m sure they’d understand.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing our news,” I assure him. “But no telling the names
under consideration, understand Agent Casper?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He grins. I love it when he goes all FBI Agent with me. “I keep secrets better than
anybody. All part of the service, Mrs. Casper.”
“Remind me again about the other parts of the service?” I prompt him.
“I’m thinking that once we hit midnight here, I may need to do a full body search to make sure you’re not
sneaking any contraband into bed with us…just for everyone’s safety, you understand.”
“But that’s not for another 45 minutes.” I pout.
“I know, but we just concluded our last…body search ten minutes ago. Give me a break, Eleanor.”
“Sex. We had sex, Michael,” I tease and watch his face turn red.
“You can’t say that stuff out loud now!” He predictably freaks out. Ever since he found out about the
baby, he has insisted we watch our ‘language’ around our child.
“Even if the baby could hear what we are saying right now, it would have no idea what we were talking
about.”
“Okay, if you truly want a repeat performance, you need to stop talking about the baby ‘cause it’s a
mood killer.”
“Mood killer?!” I ask with raised eyebrows. “Now you’ve hurt the baby’s feelings.”
Mike instantly leans over so his mouth is next to my belly button. “I’m sorry, baby, Daddy didn’t mean it.
It’s all your mother’s fault.”
“Mike!”
“It is,” he teases some more and we start wrestling until a knock at the door breaks the action.
“Mrs. Casper? It’s Agent Rowland. I need to speak to you immediately, ma’am.”
Mike and I exchange puzzled glances. This is the first time in the whole trip that my detail has
interrupted us.
“Just one minute, please,” I request and search out both our robes. We hurriedly tie the belts and open
the door.
“We need to do a room to room search, ma’am,” Rowland advises us.
“Why? You did one before we came in this afternoon and nobody else has come inside since then.”
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience ma’am, but it’s standard procedure.”
“Mike?” I turn to my husband for interpretation.
“Something’s happened. Hold tight.” Mike fishes his cell out of his pants pocket on the floor and opens
it to dial.
“No phone calls unless they’re on a secured line, Agent Casper,” Rowland orders and Mike snaps it
shut right away.
“Something really bad has happened,” he whispers in my ear and holds me tightly to him. What. The.
Hell?
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“It’s great that you both could join us.” John Hoynes raises his glass in a toast.
“It’s an honor to be asked,” Amy replies and I keep a neutral smile on my face. If it was possible to
cancel plans with a sitting Vice President without committing career suicide as a politician, I would have
done it already. As it stands, I’m stuck here for the next 17 hours or so. I fill up Amy’s glass again
hoping I can get her plenty drunk before the clock strikes midnight in 40 minutes or so. I’m in no mood
to placate Amy in bed this evening.
“Mr. Vice President, we located your briefcase.” An Agent tells him as he enters and hands it to Hoynes.
“It’s about damn time,” Hoynes grouses and snatches it from the Agent who leaves us again. Hoynes
adjusts the combination on the briefcase and takes out a couple different file folders before placing
them in a drawer of his desk in the corner of the room. Once he has them put away he lets out a deep
breath, like he’s relieved. It makes me wonder what’s in the folders. John Hoynes has been on edge
about the brief case most of the night.
I’m able to fill Amy’s glass two more times before the Secret Service Agents abruptly interrupt us once
more. Without a word of explanation, Hoynes is whisked away with them. Shit. Has something happened
to the President?
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“Will you PLEASE answer that?” Donna requests.
“Ummm…yeah.” I’m a little disoriented since we only went to sleep about an hour ago. “Josh
Lyman…what? I’m sorry, can you repeat that please? It’s confirmed? But…” I start to object, but then
they tell me the proof they have; there’s an Agent down. “I’ll…I’ll be right in.”
“Josh?” Donna queries. “What is it?”
“I have to go in. I’ll call you once I have some details,” I promise, hoping she’s disoriented enough not to
notice I didn’t give her a direct answer. No such luck.
“Josh…what IS it?”
“Zoey Bartlet has been kidnapped.”
“Are they sure that…”
“There’s an agent down.” I say quickly and kiss her forehead as a goodbye.
“Oh, God! Liz? Ellie?!” She demands.
“I don’t know anything about them. They only mentioned Zoey. I’ll call when I can,” I promise again as I
leave the room, still buttoning my shirt.
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2.
“Do you know anything?” Matt demands entering my bedroom.
“What the hell am I going to know?” I counter. I’m rushing around the bedroom throwing anything I can
into a bag for Josh. The next to enter is Chris. Both are out of breath and both are thankfully without
their significant others. Not that I don’t adore Scott, but I can’t stand Amy.
“I don’t know; did Josh tell you anything?” Matt counters.
“Yeah, he broke it down for me step by step and he gave me launch codes too, all in the ten seconds it
took him to get the call and leave.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just…”
“I know,” I say. “We know Zoey Bartlet’s missing and there’s a secret service agent dead. We don’t
know anything about anyone else.”
“We can’t get Mike on his cell,” Chris replies.
“Yeah, I tried him too,” I say. “He probably had to shut it off.”
“Where are you going?” Matt asks with a sweeping gesture of his hand.
“I’m packing stuff up to take to Josh. He’ll probably be there for a while.”
“You think they’re just going to let you walk in the White House?” Matt laughs.
“My husband is there.”
“Donna, the President’s daughter is MISSING. NO ONE is getting into the White House until she is
found who is not an essential person. It’s going to be in lockdown. The airports are closed, the city
borders are closed, the train stations are closed, the Metro is closed, cabs have been pulled over. The
city is in lockdown.”
“Well, I have to do SOMETHING!” I shout.
“You can start by not waking up your kids,” Chris says quietly.
This is a nightmare. If it’s a nightmare for me, I can’t imagine what it’s like for the Bartlets.
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“Dad!” Ellie cries out as she tears across the Oval Office to where her father is standing. He embraces
her desperately and Abbey immediately moves over to us. “Do we know anything?” she asks.
“We know some stuff,” the President replies.
“Do we know who has her? Where she is?”
“We don’t know that stuff.”
The President looks like he’s aged decades since I saw him a short week ago. I imagine he didn’t look
like this yesterday.
“Eleanor, why don’t you head upstairs with your mother? Liz is on her way. Mike, you stay here for a
while.”
“Okay,” Ellie nods. She squeezes my hand as she goes by. Once she’s out of the room and the doors
are closed again, it’s just me, the President, Leo McGarry and Ron Butterfield.
“How was your honeymoon, Mike?” the President asks.
Is he kidding me?
“Um, it was great, sir until about 15 minutes ago.”
“I had high hopes for the New Year.”
“Me too.”
“I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Sir, I don’t really…”
“I’m getting more grandchildren, Mike; it’s still a good thing.”
“Yes, sir. We’re very excited.”
He pauses a minute before he speaks again. “Agent Casper…” Okay, THAT’S not a good sign.
“…things are going to get very ugly for me. This is not a typical kidnapping. There’s national security to
think about here. We don’t know what this is and I don’t know the decisions I’m going to have to make.
No matter what happens; no matter WHO is Commander in Chief, I want you in the Situation Room. Do
you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I nod immediately. He wants to make sure there’s someone that’s going to give it to him
straight. He wants to make sure that there’s someone in there representing the Bartlet family.
“The Director is going to try to make you stand down.”
“I imagine he will, yes, sir.”
“Leo is going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And then when the time comes, I want you in the field.”
I was hoping he wouldn’t say that.
“I understand, sir.”
“Good.”
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“Do you know anything more?” Donna asks me and I sigh into the phone.
“No.”
“They’ll find her though, right?”
“Yeah,” I say with no confidence. Oh sure, they’ll find her…eventually.
“I wish I could be there with you,” she whispers. Me too. Donna has always had a way of calming me
down in every situation. Just her presence is soothing. She doesn’t even have to be DOING anything. “I
have a bag of stuff here for you, but I don’t know how to get it to you.”
“Yeah, you can’t bring it,” I say with another tired sigh and run my hand down my face.
“Maybe Jackie?”
“No, she’s stuck here.”
“Should I swing by her place too?” she offers. Donna’s just so generous, and feeling so helpless right
now I’m sure.
“No, she’s fine.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I asked her,” I reply. “Baby, don’t worry about us. We’re used to this kind of stuff.” Well, we’re
used to being here for interminable amounts of time anyway, if not this exact situation.
“How’s everybody else?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen anyone. I know everyone is here upstairs, but we can’t go up there and
they’re not coming down here.”
“I can’t get anyone on their cells.”
“The Secret Service has ordered anyone without a secured line to shut their phones off.”
I hear her let out a shuddering breath and I wish I could be in the same room with her to comfort her.
And I could use the comfort too.
My eyes snap up to the doorway when Mike appears in it. “Donna, Mike’s here. I’ll call you back.”
“Tell him I’m thinking about all of them,” she says.
“Kay.” I snap my phone shut and look up at my friend. “Donna said to tell you she’s thinking of
everyone.”
“She’s probably going out of her mind right now,” he smirks.
“She’s not the only one.”
“Everyone feels helpless right now,” he replies.
“How’s everyone holding up?” I ask cautiously.
He blows out a long breath. “Not well.”
“How are YOU holding up?”
“The President wants me in the Situation Room come hell or high water, and then he wants me in the
field…when the time comes.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“He’s got a lot of trust in you, Mike. Even if you weren’t his son in law, he’d want it to be you.”
“That’s probably because of you.”
“Who cares? You’re his guy.”
The room falls silent for a few moments. “Poor kid,” Mike says. “I REALLY hope I get a crack at these
guys.”
“We all do,” I agree. “At least you’ve got an actual decent shot.”
“Well, I can’t make any guarantees, but if I’m in a room with them, I think a lot of people are going to
have to look the other way for a bit.”
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“Wow. You look…not good.”
I lift my head off my desk at the sound of Chris’s voice in my office.
“How did you get in here?” I ask surprised. He drops a duffle bag on my chair and drapes some clean
suits over top.
“The Vice President,” he replies. “He’s asked some people to come and…well, witness. He wants to
send a strong message, I guess, that someone is in charge and working with everyone, considering all
the options, blah, blah, blah.”
He sits down in the other chair and leans forward with his elbows on his knees. He studies me very
closely. “You really don’t look good, Josh.”
“It’s because I’m tired.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Cuz if Donna saw you right now…”
“Really, I’m just tired,” I assure him. Then I look at him for a long moment. “Thanks though.”
“I don’t want to ever go through that again.”
“You and me both,” I say with a dry chuckle, but his words and his concern give me pause. After
everything we’ve been through with him the last year, he’s still so concerned about me. He was there
for me in the darkest time of my life, yet here I’ve been not returning the favor…okay, well, Matt’s been
the same; it hasn’t just been me.
But all he cared about was that I was going through a rough time and might be now, never caring about
the political ramifications. Yet that’s ALL Matt and I have cared about.
Don’t I feel like shit?
“Doesn’t the Vice President need you?”
“I’ll make it there eventually.” Chris shrugs. “Have you seen Mike?”
“Briefly.”
“I couldn’t get him on his cell.”
“He’s on a different one right now. It’s frustrating the hell out of him because the Secret Service said no
one can use unsecured phones and Mike’s teams are not always able to get in touch with him. He’s
going to start cracking heads together I think.”
“And Ellie?”
“I haven’t seen her, but Mike said they’re not doing well up there.”
“I bet.”
“How are you doing?”
“Me?” He looks genuinely surprised I asked. Now I feel even worse. “I’m fine.”
“Things are going to be turned upside down here for a while,” I say. My voice sounds hollow.
“At least it’s a Democrat,” he sighs. “Can you imagine if it was Walken?”
“That’s not even funny as a joke.”
“I didn’t mean it as one.”
“I know; I’m just saying,” I say. “You don’t sound too enamored now.”
“Eating crow is never a good diet, Josh.” He holds my gaze for a while and I know there’s a bigger
conversation looming for us when all this blows over.
If it ever blows over.
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3.
Chapter 3
“Ainsley?” I hear my name called from the doorway and look up to see Chris Wick.
“Hi Chris.”
“You look busy. You MUST be busy considering the circumstances. I’ll talk to you some other time.”
“Actually, I’m only here because we’re in lockdown. There isn’t a lot for the counsel’s office to do at this
point. What’s up?”
“Nothing. Probably nothing. It’s just…never mind.” Chris starts to back out of my office, stammering.
“Chris, why don’t you come in, sit down, and we’ll open a couple of beers. We can chat about the
weather while you decide whether or not you trust me with whatever it is that brought you here in the
first place.” I open the mini-fridge and toss him a bottle of beer before opening one for myself. I was
hoping to share this with Sam, but I haven’t seen him in a couple hours now. The tension is so thick
around here you could cut it with a knife.
I pretend to pay Chris no mind as I sit back down at my desk and put my feet up. “Sam and Toby are
busy writing two speeches,” I share. Chris’s eyebrows draw together in puzzlement until understanding
dawns.
“That must be the worst job in the world right now.”
“That or the person who has to report no progress to the President every fifteen minutes,” I muse.
“Has there been…I mean, can you tell me if there’s been any talk of the President stepping aside for
Hoynes until this is all resolved?” he asks cautiously.
“Nothing that I’ve heard, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” I tell him. “Why? Thinking you
might be tapped to assist if that happens?” I say cattily and almost apologize, but his instantaneous
response strikes me as honest and miserable.
“More like praying I’m not,” he mutters. “I’m not sure that would be good for anyone. The problem is in
the House.” Now it’s my turn to look puzzled. “We don’t control the House, and Speaker Walken is next
in the line of succession.”
Why the hell is he talking about the line of succession when Hoynes is the next in line…unless…
“Chris…do you have some reason to believe the Vice President could not or should not fulfill his duties
to replace the President should it become necessary in the course of the events that are unfolding?”
“That sounded very lawyerlike,” he replies.
“I’m a lawyer. What’s your answer?” I press.
“There have been some…developments that have led me to…suspect…that perhaps…there may be
some activities going on in respect to the Vice President…the legality of which are of concern to me.”
“That sounded very carefully constructed.”
“I’m a politician.”
“Chris…”
“Do you understand that if I bring something up right now, when there’s a decent chance that President
Bartlet may want or need to step down, that disqualifies the Vice President from assuming the President’
s duties, I will be putting the Presidency in the hands of Glen Walken?!”
I pause to think those consequences through as well as carefully frame my response.
“Do you understand the ramifications of having information about the Vice President and potentially
illegal activities that you fail to disclose if he then becomes President…?”
He pales.
“Chris, tell me what this is about.”
“I wanted to go to Mike about this, but I can’t get in touch with him.”
I nod my understanding.
“There have been some suspicious things I’ve noticed lately and it’s weighing on me. I don’t think John
Hoynes is the man I thought he was.”
“Give me a ‘for instance’.”
“For instance…I was going to join him in his home office when I heard him discussing a classified NASA
report so I decided to wait outside the door. At the end of the conversation, he told the person at the
other end that he loved them too.”
“Perhaps his wife…”
“His wife was down the hall in the kitchen right where I’d left her minutes earlier. He’s also made
some…strange comments about the President’s MS. Now when I look at the fact that these
circumstances might elevate him to the Oval…”
“Chris, you aren’t suggesting that he had ANYTHING to do with Zoey…”
“No! God, no!” He nearly stands up in his urgency. “Nothing like that! I simply meant that if he’s leaking
classified information as Vice President, he SHOULDN’T be elevated to President even though the next
person in line is a Republican.”
“Okay,” I nod. “Let me dig into this a bit with my new associate counsel. We’ll just keep it between us
until and unless we uncover some clear evidence.”
“Thanks Ainsley.” He breathes a sigh of relief while I take in a breath of tension. I’ve got the hot potato.
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Can I just say the situation room sucks? It sucks under any circumstances. But when your father-in-law
is the President and your sister-in-law has been abducted at a New Year’s Eve party…
“Mr. President, as I told you earlier, the city is completely shut down. Nobody is getting out,” Ron
Butterfield reiterates slowly. All of us are sharing looks of concern over the President’s apparent trouble
with short term memory. Is it an effect of the M.S. or an effect of a father whose daughter has been
abducted? It’s a tough call and we’re relying on the Surgeon General to make that call. She’s been at
the President’s side for the last two hours.
“Okay, but if they got her out of the city BEFORE your teams dropped the net…” President Bartlet
notes.
“We’re following every avenue of investigation sir,” Ron assures him.
“Agent Casper?” The President turns to me. We’ve developed a short hand over the past couple
hours. When he calls me Mike, he wants a personal conversation. When he refers to me by my title, he
wants only professional interaction. It’s working for us.
“It’s a good news/bad news situation, sir,” I begin. “The good news is that no group is claiming
responsibility for the abduction. That means our high profile enemies aren’t involved and you’re not
going to be asked to remove troops from someplace or have to send troops somewhere to fight this
out. The bad news is that whoever has your daughter isn’t on our radar which says this has been
organized by a person or persons who are not ‘professionals’.” I look to Ron who nods in agreement.
“Which tells us they may not act or react as predictably as we’d like.”
“So we just…wait?!” President Bartlet nearly explodes with a frustrated boom out of helplessness.
“Sir…we believe we’re going to be contacted very soon by whoever is holding her and that they have
some kind of very personal agenda. They’ll want to ransom your daughter for whatever personal favor
they’re going to demand. In the meantime, they’re going to take very good care of her because they
know we’ll demand proof of life before we do anything for them,” I explain.
“Proof of…life?” President Bartlet chokes on the last word.
“Yes, sir,” Ron takes over. “A picture of her holding today’s newspaper, speaking to her on the phone,
something that will convince us that she’s alive and unharmed would all be considered proof of life.”
The President sits down wearily. “So…we wait.”
“I’m afraid so, sir.” I agree and sit next to him.
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“Josh? I’m sorry to bother you but I need a minute,” Ainsley tells me. I look up in surprise to see she’s
already in my office.
“Come on in. There’s not a lot for me to do at this point.”
“I have a problem.”
“A Republican with a problem; alert AP.” I suggest.
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t comment on my snarkiness. “I got a tip earlier…about the Vice President
and I thought since you know him so well…”
“You’re going to turn one of the worst days of my life into THE worst day of my life aren’t you?”
“You’ve been through much worse days,” she reminds me, and I suppose she’s right.
“What’s the problem with Hoynes? Another woman?” I guess and she shuts the doors of my office
before she responds.
“Yes, but it’s more complicated than that,” she tells me and sighs. “We believe he’s sharing classified
information with this woman. And the woman? She’s writing a book.”
“Dear. God.” My head falls back to hit the headrest on my chair. “What if the President has to…” I
break off thinking I shouldn’t share that option just yet, but Ainsley is sharp.
“If he invokes the 25th and the Vice President is unable to assume the office, we’d be looking at a
Walken Presidency.”
“Shoot me now,” I beg.
“Don’t even TEASE about that, Josh Lyman. Donna would kick your ass for even thinking it.”
“Yes. Yes, sorry,” I apologize and actually smile a little at the ferocity of Ainsley’s response to my
unthinking utterance. “I’m assuming you wouldn’t be bringing this to me if you hadn’t gotten some kind
of confirmation, but how confident are you in your sources?”
“Completely confident. Oliver Babish is on it now,” she says sadly and starts spreading out papers on
my desk. I connect the dots pretty quickly. “Where’d your tip come from? One of your Republican
friends?”
“One of your Democratic friends, actually,” she smirks. “Chris Wick brought it to me.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No.”
“You are freaking kidding me.”
“No.”
“He called you?”
“He’s in the building. He had some suspicions about this issue as well as another that we’re still looking
into. He wanted to give it to Mike, but couldn’t get in touch with him, so…”
“Wow.” I think about what it must have taken for him to basically rat out the man who has been dangling
the Vice Presidency in front of Chris; a lot. He’s coming over from the dark side! I quickly call his cell
and find out he’s in the mess downstairs. I thank Ainsley for the head’s up and leave her sitting in my
office while I take the stairs two at a time in an attempt to find Chris. He’s seated in the back corner
playing with the straw sticking out of his soft drink.
“Any word?” he asks when I get closer to him.
“No. At least not about Zoey. Lots of words on the subject you discussed with Ainsley.” I’m not stupid
enough to discuss it openly here. “Babish is on it. Thanks.”
“Boy, that’s really not the response I was thinking you’d have,” he chuckles humorlessly.
“Are you kidding me? If something…changed here and this was disclosed after things…changed, we’d
be in such deep…” I trail off. “Besides, I know what that must have cost you to bring that to Ainsley in
the first place. Once Hoynes finds out the two of you will be done.”
“I’m ready for us to be done,” he says confidently and I can see that he means it. I can also see that he’
s waiting to see if I pick up the implications of his remark. I can’t let him down.
“We’re all ready for you to be done. I’ve given President Bartlet my notice. I’ll be done here the last day
in February. We sure could use some help with Matt’s campaign.”
His lips twitch. “You expect me to go from the Democratic front runner to the Independent no chance in
hell campaign?”
“Why not? You’ve got something better to do?” I tease. “And don’t knock the ‘no chance in hell’
campaign. There’s something freeing about people having no expectations about your campaign
whatsoever. Matt might actually get to say whatever the hell he wants. How many times have you
wished you could do that while you were campaigning?”
“Too many to count,” he admits.
“Why don’t you come upstairs with me to my office? We can wait for word there.”
He accepts my olive branch and we walk back upstairs in companionable silence.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
4.
When we get into my office Mike’s standing there looking a little…grave. I don’t like that look at all.
“Should I…leave?” Chris asks apprehensively.
“I don’t think so,” Mike says. He sounds so official.
“So you have nothing for me?” I ask.
“No, I just don’t think it’s something a U.S. Congressman can’t hear,” he shrugs. “We were contacted a
little while ago by people claiming to have Zoey Bartlet. They’ve made certain demands…” he drifts off
and looks at Chris and then back at me. “…and we demanded proof of life. The call got cut off then.”
Chris blows out a breath and I run a hand down my face and sigh deeply. “And what do *we* think of
that?” I demand.
“They either don’t have her, can’t prove that she’s alive, or she was…indisposed at the moment.”
“Indisposed?” Chris asks.
“Unconscious,” I answer.
“Or just not in the room with the caller,” Mike finishes.
“So really, all we’ve got is a phone call,” I conclude.
“Yes,” Mike says tight lipped.
“We know nothing more than we did.”
“That’s not entirely true.”
“All right.”
“Do you have to get back?” Chris asks.
“I’ve got my pager, and multiple cell phones.”
“We’ve tried to get you on your cell.”
“Well, I had to shut my private line off, but now that number’s being routed to a secured number too.”
Chris’s eyes widen and he pales a bit. No doubt he’s having a moment much like myself…wondering
how in the world guys like us got into positions like these.
“So listen, we’ve got a whole other problem,” I say to Mike, leaning up against my desk and crossing my
arms.
“The *only* problem I have right now is that the daughter of the President of the United States, my
sister in law, is missing and quite possibly dead,” Mike insists.
“Well no,” I say. “That’s actually not the only problem you have right now.”
“Is it a threat to national security? Because I don’t think I can handle another threat to national
security.”
I look pointedly over at Chris and Mike follows my gaze. “Shit. What?”
But before we can explain, Mike’s cell phone rings. He frowns when he looks at the I.D. “I don’t
recognize the number.” And he answers it on speaker phone. “Agent Casper.”
At first there’s no noise on the other end. He looks like he’s about to hang up when we’re all floored by
the first sound that comes through the phone. “Mike?” It’s so quiet and so shaky that every drop of
blood slides from my head to my toes. We all reach the same horrifying, yet exhilarating moment at the
same time.
Zoey.
And she’s alive.
“Zo?” Mike asks frantically.
“Yeah.”
“Prove it.” He’s all business and yet not at the same time. He’s looking for the code word that we’re all
assigned in the event something like this happens so we can identify ourselves.
“Hummingbird.”
I can feel the tears start to sting my eyes.
“How are you?” Mike asks.
“I’m…okay…”
“How okay?”
There’s mumbling in the background that sounds very angry and threatening. And she pauses before
she answers, “Mostly okay.”
“Can you describe where you are?”
“No.”
“At all?” I jump in.
“Josh?”
“Yeah, we’re in my office now.”
Mike takes a deep breath and chokes it back out. “I know you’re scared, Zo,” he says quietly, but firmly.
“But I’m going to bring you home. I promise.”
She sobs into the phone and not a single one of us isn’t affected by the sound of it. “It’s just…I can’t get
The First Noel out of my head.”
The three of us exchange confused looks. There’s the sound of fumbling on the other end of the phone
and I tense. “There’s your proof.” The words are cold, chilling, and line goes dead.
“Zoey?!” Mike calls, but silence answers him. “God damnit!”
“She’s alive,” Chris says. “It’s good. We know she’s alive.”
“But I didn’t get enough time to try to trace the call.”
“You’ve got the number,” I say.
“Yeah. I need to bring this downstairs and see if they’re able to play back the call,” he says. “I’ll be
back.”
He leaves the office. The tension in the air is thick. It hangs like fog. It feels like it’s pushing against
every square inch of my skin and if it doesn’t break soon, I’ll implode.
“I can’t believe we just heard her,” Chris says. “What do you suppose it means?”
“What?” I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone. I feel very much alone.
“The First Noel,” he says. “She said she can’t get The First Noel out of her head.”
“I didn’t…” I say and then shake my head. “She sounds scared.”
“Are you okay?” he asks after a beat.
“I’m not…yeah.” But I feel a little dazed, a little lightheaded maybe. I haven’t been getting all that much
sleep the last few days.
“Josh?” Chris asks again, but he sounds a little more concerned. I sit down in my office chair and look
up at him.
“Yeah?”
“You got a little distracted there,” he says.
“Oh, I was thinking about the call. She sounded off.”
“Maybe she’s tired,” he suggests. He moves to my mini-fridge, removes a bottle of water, unscrews the
cap and hands it to me. I gulp down half of it before I think that gesture seemed a bit odd.
“And scared,” I say softly. “She’s probably terrified. She’s alone.”
“I can’t begin to imagine.” He sits down across from me. I’m still trying to clear my head. I feel like I’m on
the cusp of figuring something out. It’s just out of my reach, but at the same time, I feel off. It’s been a
few years actually since I felt like this. I recognize the look in Chris’s eyes.
“I’m not going to wig,” I say after a beat.
“I don’t think you’re going to *wig*,” he chuckles.
“Don’t you?”
“No. I just want to make sure you’re okay. You spaced out a bit there and you need to be on your game
now.”
“Thanks for being on the lookout.”
“Josh, that was the worst…” he begins and trails off. He cocks his head to the side and looks like he
either lost his thought or something just occurred to him.
“What?”
“The First Noel.”
“What about it?”
“It was a clue.”
“What?”
“What if she was trying to tell us something?” he asks. “Don’t you think that’s kind of an odd thing for
her to say? Mike asks her how she is and she says she can’t get a song out of her head?”
“She could be out of it; she could not know what she’s talking about. If they drugged her…”
“Or she’s trying to tell us something,” he says, shaking his head.
“Well, Mike’s on that,” I dismiss. “I have to figure out the Vice President thing.”
“Walken can’t step up.”
“I know.”
“No, I’m saying this as a member of Congress. Walken *can’t* step up.”
“And I’m aware of that,” I counter a little more testily than I had intended. “You think I want *him* of all
people sitting in the Oval Office. NOW?”
“But if the Vice President’s mess comes out after…”
“I know, I know,” I sigh.
“Josh,” Jackie says coming into the office. “Leo’s looking for you.”
“Should I stick around?” Chris asks as we stand up.
“As long as they let you stay in the building,” I reply walking towards the door. I need my friends around
me. I can’t get my wife or Matt in the building, but I’ve got Chris and Mike, even though Mike is totally
preoccupied at the moment.
I cross the threshold and Chris’s voice stops me.
“Josh.”
“Yeah.” I turn back around.
“The First Noel.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“No, it IS a clue. Zoey was trying to tell us something in a way that they wouldn’t understand but we
would.”
“She was talking in code? Like a clue to where she was?”
“No, I think it was about who’s got her.”
“Who?”
“West Virginia White Pride.”
The force of his words hit me unexpectedly like a tidal wave. I can feel the blood fall from my face and
my chest start to tingle anxiously. Of course I’ve heard those words many times over the years, but they
take on a new meaning when he puts them in this context.
This is not political.
This is personal.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
5.
I can barely hold my head up. Abbey is in here taking my blood pressure every half hour. I think she
just wants to feel like she’s doing SOMETHING. We’re both exhausted and we have no better idea now
than we did a few hours ago about where and how our youngest daughter is. I should try to get some
sleep, but every time I close my eyes I see Zoey’s frightened face behind my eyelids.
Mike comes barreling into the study talking a mile a minute to Ron. Suddenly he turns his attention to
me. Abbey, sensing something has changed, stands up and walks over to join us.
“We’ve had a communication from Zoey,” he tells us.
“From Zoey or from whoever has her right now?” I ask for clarification.
“From Zoey. I spoke to her personally, sir.” Abbey’s hand flies to her mouth and the tears start pouring
down her face. “She told me she’s okay and she sounded tired, but otherwise fine. We have a copy of
the call if you’d like to hear it.”
I nod my agreement to the plan and Mike places a recording device on the table in front of us and
presses the play button. Soon I hear Zoey’s voice drifting up to us and Mike is right; she sounds tired
but like herself. I try to hold my tears back.
“We’re running a trace on the call and the cell phone number the call was made from,” he assures me.
Just then the door opens again and Josh nearly trips in his urgency to get to us.
“Chris Wick and I…” He’s out of breath. “We were talking. Chris figured it out. It was a clue.”
“What was a clue?” I ask.
“The First Noel reference. I told her that story. I told her that story in front of Mike, Chris, and Matt. I told
her that thanks to the West Virginia White Pride, I would forever hear the First Noel in my head. That’s
what she said she heard when she was on the phone with us; “The First Noel”. She was telling us who
had her; the West Virginia White Pride.”
Mike and Ron share a look. “Who’ve we got on WVWP?” Ron asks Mike.
“Grey and his team are on surveillance at their headquarters. Jeffers is under.”
“Under?” I repeat.
“Undercover, Mr. President. Agent Jeffers is in deep undercover with one of their locations. We’re going
to need to talk to him,” Ron states.
“I’ll do my best,” Mike promises.
“Within the next 15 minutes, Agent Casper.”
“I will get my man out of there as quickly as is possible considering the situation,” Mike shoots back.
“There’s a drag net out and everyone is searching for Zoey Bartlet, if Jeffers just disappears…”
“His safety is secondary to the information he might be able to get us, Agent Casper,” the FBI Director,
Bob Wilson, chimes in. “I want him in here within a half hour. Understood?”
“Yes. Sir,” Mike snaps off and hurries off the way he came in.
“Mr. President, I have to bring up, again, my hesitation in having Agent Casper handle this op,” Bob
says quietly to me.
“I appreciate your candor, Bob, but I want Mike.”
“He’s in too deep here on too many levels,” Bob explains. “His sister-in-law is the subject of an
abduction that has already resulted in a Secret Service agent death. Agent Jeffers was once his
partner and now trying to extricate him from his deep cover assignment is going to put him in grave
danger. I don’t know that Mike can be objective right now.”
“I don’t want him to be objective. That’s what I have you and Agent Butterfield for. Mike knows the
players and is highly personally motivated to solve this without any further injury to anybody.” I pause. “I
trust the man.”
“As do I, sir, he’s one of our very best,” Bob agrees. “I just…”
“Josh? Thank you for your speed in getting that clue up here to us. You tell Chris Wick there’ll be a
round on me when this is all over.”
“I will, Mr. President,” Josh replies.
“You look like you could use some rest. Go home. See your wife. Hold your children very close, and
come back in a few hours.”
“Mr. President…” He starts to object.
“I mean it, Josh. Get some rest. I’m going to need you running on full cylinders in a few hours.” I give
him a meaningful look and his eyes widen. He knows what I’m hinting at. Hoynes is going to need Josh
Lyman at his best if he has to take over for me.
“You’ll let me know before anything executive is decided, sir?”
I nod. “Go home.”
“Yes, Mr. President. I’ll see you in a few hours,” he assures me and heads out as well.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
“Daddy!” My son greets me in his usual fashion; by flinging himself into my arms. I hold him so tight he
complains. “Ouch!”
“Sorry, buddy. I’m just so glad to see you. Where’s Mommy and Bri?” Donna told me she was not going
in to work today. Nothing is happening on the Hill anyway. Noah points up the stairs toward the
bedroom, but when we get there I hear the undeniable sound of splashing in the bathroom. Bri must be
taking a bath. I push the door open a bit and just watch. Bri is having fun with her usual game of ‘bath
the bather’. Donna and I usually resort to rock, paper, scissors, to decide who gets the unenviable job
of bathing our daughter since whoever gets the job, might as well get in the tub themselves.
“Mommy, look!” Noah shouts and inadvertently ruins my moment of observation.
“Josh!” The joy that comes over my wife’s face at seeing me home does wonderful things for my heart.
She is torn, I can see between wanting to come to me, and not wanting to leave our daughter
unattended in the tub, so I make it easy for her and go to her; still holding Noah in my arms. “How are
you?”
“Tired…sad…stressed. But very happy to be home with my family,” I share and she holds me tighter.
“Daddy!” Brianna climbs out of the tub and joins the family hug which gets everyone sopping wet.
Would it surprise you to know I just don’t give a damn? My family is here and safe.
“Why don’t we all get changed into some dry things and we can have lunch together?” Donna
suggests. “When do you have to be back?”
“A few hours.”
“You should take a nap.”
“No naps,” Noah keys into the word immediately.
“No naps,” I repeat. “Family movie time.” I decree to the cheers of my children.
The next hour is completely normal. There are no fevered phone calls or tension filled meetings. Donna
studiously avoids the TV and we have lunch like it’s any other day. After lunch we gather on our bed
and turn on the latest Disney flick. I doze on and off as Donna’s hand makes lazy circles on my back.
Both kids are out like lights. I wish I could just stay cocooned here but inevitably, the phone call comes.
“I’ve got to go back,” I tell my wife as I kiss her forehead. I’ve brought her up to speed on what we know
so far so she looks alarmed at my announcement.
“They’ve got a list of ransom demands.” I get up from the bed and kiss each of the kids. “I’ll call when I
can.”
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Pull Jeffers from the field. Just pull him! Like he hasn’t spent almost a year in deep cover trying to shut
down these loonies. Like he hasn’t risked his life every day to try to complete this op. Now I’m supposed
to just pull him? Without any regard to HIS safety? Yes of course I want Zoey back! Safe and
unharmed. I also want Jeffers back safe and unharmed. Why is one life given more priority than
another? Jesus, I need some sleep!
I put things in motion that will get Jeffers out of his current location as safely as possible. It’s all I can do.
I have to put him in the room with the President, the Director, and Ron Butterfield within the half hour. I
want to check on Ellie. This stress can’t be good for the baby. I decide to take a quick run through the
residence to do just that. That’s when I run into Doug Westin; prick.
“Hey, what do you know?” he asks like he gives a shit. That’s probably not fair. I’m sure he gives a shit.
In fact, it’s touching how he’s given up his ‘alone time’ with the nanny to be involved in the family crisis.
Yes, I know all about the affair. It’s not hard to spot. Liz deserves better.
“We heard from Zoey. She sounds okay. We’ve got some solid leads. Where’s Ellie?”
“She and Liz are holed up with Abbey,” Doug reports. “They’re in the solarium.”
I hurry over and see all three women sober and red eyed. Abbey stands up when she sees me.
“We’ve heard from her. I spoke to her personally. She’s okay,” I tell her quickly.
She sinks back into her chair. “Thank God. Now what?”
“Now they’re going to make some demands and we’re going to do whatever it takes to bring her back
safely. Zoey was able to give us some hints during her call, so thanks to your very brilliant daughter we
have new leads to pursue.”
“What kind of leads?” Ellie asks.
“I can’t go into those right now.” My eyes beg her to understand. “I just wanted to give you the latest
news and see how you were doing.”
“I’ll be better when my sister is home,” Ellie tells me. I kiss her briefly.
“I’m working on it, believe me,” I assure her. “But it will be easier to concentrate on that job if I don’t
have to worry about you and the baby. You’ll rest and eat, right?”
“I’m just so scared.”
“I know. We all are. Trust me?”
“I do trust you. You’ll bring her back safely.” She speaks with such authority that a lump forms in my
throat, making it difficult to speak.
“And you’ll eat and rest as much as you can?” I ask again.
“We’ll take good care of Ellie, Mike,” Abbey promises. “You take care of Zoey.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
6.
“Hey.”
I look up from my secret spot and see a face that I don’t see nearly enough of. Okay, it’s not that
secret. I’m currently hanging out in the Map Room. It’s strange seeing this place with such a decreased
level of activity. For the moment, everything that’s not completely essential is halted. But Toby’s here
writing and so Ginger’s here, too.
“Hey,” I smile back at her.
“You’re still here?”
“Yeah. I’m trying to fly under the radar, so to speak.”
“Trying not to give them a reason to kick you out?” she smirks, sitting down with me at the table I’m
currently parked at.
“Yeah.”
“Does the Vice President need you or something?”
“Um, no. Well, I don’t really know. I’m a little concerned about Josh.” I give her a long look until I see the
recognition in her eyes. Josh’s PTSD is not common knowledge around here, but since Ginger and I
were together for so long, she knows about it.
“Is he all right?” she whispers.
“He says he is,” I reply with a shrug. “But he also asked me to try and stick around, so… I mean, Donna
and Matt can’t get into the building and Mike’s pretty busy, so I guess he’s just stuck with me.”
“He’s not stuck with you; you’re a good friend.”
“I don’t know if I have been lately,” I say softly. I’m desperate to talk to her again. She understands me. I
used to be able to talk to her about anything. She’d listen to me prattle on about anything.
“Don’t you guys always say that politics isn’t personal? You’re here aren’t you?”
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes lately,” I find myself saying and I don’t miss her quick intake of breath and
how she’s started to look both wary and hopeful at the same time. God, did I put this stricken look on
her face? Did I make her afraid to hope?
“You haven’t done anything unforgiveable.”
“Haven’t I?” I smile ruefully. “I felt like they don’t ever listen to me.”
“They do.”
“Personally, sure; but professionally? It’s like I have to scream to get them to hear anything I say, to
remind them that I can make an important contribution too. I got tunnel-visioned trying to show them
that I’m an asset; that there are people, important people, that will listen to what I have to say and treat
my words as valuable advice; in trying to make all this *real* for me. I sold my soul to the Devil, Ginger.”
She smiles lightly and places a gentle hand on my cheek. “No, you didn’t; not yet.”
“You shouldn’t even be talking to me after what I…” I break off and pull back. Her hand falls away.
“…after the way I…”
“You might have some groveling to do there.”
“Really?” That didn’t sound so bad; I can grovel.
“Actually, some might be an understatement. You have a lot of groveling to do there.”
“I’m a member of Congress, Ginger, I can grovel with the best of them.”
“I have no doubt that you can, but I also don’t believe you’re free to grovel.”
“I am,” I nod quickly. “Well, not technically yet, but I will be just as soon as I can. Maybe not until all this
is over, but if there’s any chance at all of getting you back…”
She looks down and wipes at her eyes. I can’t believe how much I’ve hurt her. If I never disappoint her
again, it won’t make up for what I did. Of course, I’m probably too late. I really can’t expect that she sat
around waiting for me to take my head out of my ass. But what I want so much right now is for her to be
happy, so if I have to walk away to do it, I guess I can muster the strength from somewhere.
She looks back up at me and gives me a look that seems almost playful. “Even if it’s public groveling?”
“If it’s public groveling, can I at least do it in my district?”
“Politicians,” She mutters standing up, but she smiles down at me before leaving the room. She walks
right past Josh, who’s leaning in the doorway.
“It’s not you so much that’s been the crappy friend,” he says by way of greeting walking in.
I scoff a bit and he sits down in Ginger’s chair. “Well, this I’ve *got* to hear.”
“You were there every step of the way after the shooting, when I was recovering, when I met Donna,
when I didn’t know what was going on and it seemed like everything was falling down around me. None
of you bailed and you were ready to put yourself on the line for me. Then when *you* were going
through something *I* didn’t understand, I didn’t show you the same courtesy. It’s me that was the
crappy friend and I’m sorry about that.”
Well, then. I certainly wasn’t expecting that.
“Well, as much as I’d like to just go ahead and blame you, well and Matt, I do think I’ve got a chunk of
the blame myself.” He blows out a long breath, leans his elbows on his knees and looks down. “Do you
know anything new?”
“We’ve got demands.”
“Money and guns?”
“Lots of money and lots of guns,” he confirms.
“And it’s West Virginia White Pride?”
“We don’t know that for sure, but they’re pursuing that lead. The President says there’s a round on him
when it’s over.”
“He won’t think that when he gets to the Second Act of the Congressman Wick Show,” I say dryly.
“Maybe not.”
“He can’t step down.”
“I know,” he says. “I just don’t know how to stop him if it comes to that.”
“You’ll figure out something,” I smile. “You always do.”
“Stop, you’re making me blush,” he smirks and stands back up. “You forget, I usually always have help.”
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
My brief stint at home did little to lift the heaviness that’s been surrounding me. It served its purpose at
the time, to see for myself that my family was safe and well, to touch them for myself. I can’t imagine the
sheer terror the President and First Lady are feeling right now. To have one of my children out there
somewhere, not knowing where they are, how they are, if I’ll ever see them again, if they’re hurt, if they’
re scared, if they’re crying, it’s a wonder, quite frankly that the President and First Lady can even
breathe right now.
The mess is deserted. It usually is at 3 a.m. Of course, ever since Mike’s wedding I get freaked out by
going down here late and alone. Who knows where I’ll get stuck next?
I hear some noise in the back and know I’m not alone.
“Hello?” I call back and head back to the refrigerators.
I’m a little surprised when I see Liz Bartlet emerge. I didn’t think they were leaving the residence.
“Hey,” she says. “I thought I’d be safe wandering around at this hour.”
“You’re pretty safe in this building.”
“I mean, I didn’t think I’d run into anyone.”
“Well, I’m not a reporter, so you’re safe from being bugged too much,” I say. She cringes a bit and I try
to think of something to change the subject. I smirk when I see my opportunity. “Of course, that is
unless you’ve finished the beer.” I gesture at the bottle in her hand and she smiles down at it.
“Is it actually possible to finish *anything* in this building?” she smiles.
“Legislation goes unfinished all the time,” I shrug.
She laughs, but not surprisingly, it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “He’s talking about stepping aside,
Josh.” She says quietly as she slides a beer across the counter to me.
“He absolutely can’t, Liz,” I reply firmly.
“His mind is a little preoccupied. He’s making decisions as a father. Surely you can understand the kind
of position he’s in right now.”
“I do and I appreciate that, I swear I do,” I say earnestly. “But John Hoynes has been having an affair
and leaking classified information to his mistress who is now writing a tell all book. Counsel’s office is
investigating right now. He’s going to have to resign as soon as they have the proof. Once he does,
there will be no Vice President.”
“There’s a line of succession,” she says rolling her eyes.
“President Walken?” I reply.
She holds my gaze for a long moment as the power of my words sink in. “My sister’s kidnapping shouldn’
t be political.”
“It shouldn’t be, but it is. It’s why she was kidnapped. No one would ever let your father do something
drastic, but elevating the Speaker of the House will have a ripple effect that it might take years to
recover from. He can legislate; he can appoint a new Vice President. He can undo everything your
father has worked for.”
“How are we going to avoid it?”
I startle slightly at her use of the word ‘we.’ Liz, while not quite as spotlight shy as Ellie, has been the
second most low key Bartlet daughter since she has kids and isn’t as available as Zoey.
“Figure out a way to stall.”
“Without it looking like a screwball comedy?”
“No, I’m sure it’s going to look like a screwball comedy,” I chuckle.
“Well, move over Laurel and Hardy; here comes Bartlet and Lyman.”
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
7.
“Agent Jeffers, President Bartlet,” I introduce them.
“I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances, Mr. President.” Jeffers takes the hand that’s
stretched out to him.
“I’m sorry to pull you out of your undercover operation so abruptly, Agent Jeffers, but as you can
imagine, we’re desperate for any kind of clue you can give us as to the operation of West Virginia
White Pride,” the President replies, as he motions for everyone to sit; it’s me, my Director, Ron
Butterfield, the President and Tom Jeffers, the star of the show.
“What can you tell us, Tom?” I ask quietly.
“The talk is all about money,” Tom replies. “They’re going broke. The strangle hold various county
attorneys have been able to put on their finances have backed them into a felonious corner. They’ve
been reduced to stealing and distributing goods as well as drugs.”
“And these people aren’t in prison because…” The President asks.
“They’re the little fish, sir. We’re after the big fish,” Tom Jeffers explains.
“Fish so big they might get it into their head to abduct the President’s daughter and kill a US Secret
Service Agent,” I add.
“Then we can pull them in now?” the President prodded. “Question them?”
“We could, but it’s unlikely we’d get actionable information in the time period we’re looking at,” Ron
responds this time. “We’re going to get all the information we can from Agent Jeffers and try to work it
that way. We’re going to want to start with any new property the group or its leaders have acquired in
the last six months.”
Tom starts pulling up data on his laptop and going through the information he has and the rumors he
has heard. It looks like this will be another long night…for all of us.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
“Bartlet and Lyman?” He repeats.
“You’re damn right,” I reply.
“First of all, why do you get top billing? And secondly, since when are you a Bartlet? What happened to
Westin?”
“I get top billing because it’s my father in the Oval office and it’s been Bartlet-Westin but it won’t be for
much longer. I’m ditching him. If he thinks he can bang the nanny and then come back to me…”
“Jeez Liz! Cut that out! I don’t want to know that kind of stuff. I certainly don’t want to discuss it with
YOU. I can get Donna on the phone, but leave me out of it,” he begs. Men are so squeamish.
“You asked,” I point out while I smile innocently at him. “If I’ve learned anything through this tortuous
experience it’s that life is too short to spend it being so unhappy. Doug’s days are numbered.”
“Ah-kay,” he sighs. “Right now we need to concentrate on how to keep him from invoking the 25th.”
“Where do we start?”
“You need to reassure him that he’s making good solid decisions as the President while I stall
constitutionally.”
“How do you stall constitutionally?” I ask skeptically.
“I have no idea, but you and I are about to find out,” he tells me. Josh Lyman is a brilliant, if annoying,
strategist. He’ll come up with something. Just then Charlie approaches us.
“The President wants you, Josh,” he reports.
“Here we go…” he mutters to me. “Sound, objective decisions,” he repeats to me and I nod. Once he’s
gone I notice Charlie. The man is clearly distraught.
“Sit down, Charlie. Take a load off,” I suggest.
“I should be upstairs in case there’s word,” he objects. I lift my pager so he can see it.
“I guarantee I’ll get a page if we learn anything new. Sit down. You look awful.”
“Gee, thanks,” he replies but takes a seat next to me.
“Does she know you’re still in love with her?” I ask and he lowers his eyes. “She still loves you too, you
know.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Liz.”
“I know that love is rare and precious and you shouldn’t waste your time denying you feel it. When she
comes back, you need to tell her,” I advise him and I can see he’s at least considering it.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
“Mr. President, you asked for me?” I say through the partially open door of the Oval. He waves me in
and motions for me to close the door behind me. I know what he’s going to say before the words come
out of his mouth.
“I need you to prepare whatever needs to be prepared in order for me to step down until this is all over.”
“I can begin the process of invoking the 25th but there are some constitutional issues that I’ll need to
be briefed on. I’ve got a call into the Attorney General.”
“It has to be fast, son. They’ve made demands now.”
“I understand sir, but we can’t substitute fast for correct or there’s going to be hell to pay later. If there’s
any question at any time about who is in charge throughout this…event…we’ll be in the middle of a
constitutional crisis, Mr. President,” I explain.
He heaves a great sigh. “Josh…you know now what it is to be father. Can you tell me you could make
any kind of rational decisions if it were Noah…or Brianna?”
“No, sir,” I shake my head sadly, getting shivers at just the thought. “But I’m not the President.”
“And the 25th will ensure someone else will be until this event is over.”
“Sir, I’m begging you. Let me take this through channels. Mike and his team have solid leads now. This
may be over before we can even draw up the papers.”
“From your lips to God’s ears, son, The President mutters. “Okay, take it through the Attorney General’
s office, but I want it done right away…and get John in here.”
“He’s being briefed at another location, sir,” lie unabashedly…well, Hoynes IS at another location.
“Make sure he’s kept up to speed in case I…well, just in case,” he finishes lamely.
“I’ll make sure everything is in order, Mr. President,” I promise avoiding the promise to update the Vice
President.
“Thank you, Josh,” He nods again. “How was your down time at home?”
“Precious, Mr. President; positively precious.”
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
“Have some chicken, Ellie. We promised Mike you would eat.”
“I can’t, Mom.” I shake my head. “I feel sick.”
“Okay, then some saltines and sprite,” Mom decides and finds the appropriate foods.
“I don’t think it’s morning sickness at this hour, Mom.”
“’Morning sickness’ is a misnomer. It can hit you anytime,” Mom insists.
“Like when your sister is abducted?” I snap and see my mother’s face pale. “I’m sorry, Mom; really. I’m
so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she tells me and rubs my cheek with her palm. “We’re all on edge and pregnancy really puts
you over it. I’m so happy for you and Mike, Ellie.” Mom’s tears seem to belie her words to me.
“Mike’s going to bring her home, Mom. Nobody is better than Mike and he won’t rest until Zoey is back
here safe with us again, I know it.” Now I’m crying too. “Believe me.”
“I’m trying Ellie, I’m trying. It’s just that…she’s MY baby.” The sobbing should have scared anyone off,
but instead, Liz joins us.
“You two sound like you’re having quite the party over here. You didn’t even think to invite me?” She
teases and gets a watery laugh from me.
“We’re just sharing the joys of pregnancy,” Mom shares.
“I remember it well,” Liz nods. “The next few months will be so much fun; nausea, bloated legs and feet,
peeing every 10 minutes…”
“Stop, you’re making me all excited,” I deadpan.
“Excited about what?” Dad asks as he too joins us.
“The joys of pregnancy,” I tell him and hold out a hand to bring him into our family circle; the circle
missing one important piece.
“At least here we can quench any cravings you might have.” Dad kisses my head and sighs. “Nothing
new to report. Things are going ‘through channels’.”
“That’s how it should be Dad,” Liz responds. “You’re doing exactly what you should be doing. Mike and
Ron will bring Zoey back to us.”
“I pray you’re right, Liz. Dear God, I pray you’re right.” Dad pulls us all closer to him.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
“Can you tell me anything?” I ask. The kids are sleeping and I’m desperate for some news. I mean
actual news not the repetitious bullshit they’re playing on all the cable news networks. I have all the TV’
s on in the house; each one set to a different station but all they can do is show stock footage of Zoey
over and over.
“Nothing new,” Josh tells me. “I’ve got to go. I have to meet with the Attorney General and come up with
a game plan to keep the President of the United States from invoking the 25th amendment and putting
John Hoynes in charge of the country.”
“Well…don’t you have a nice lazy day there?” I drawl. “Good luck, Joshua,” I say sincerely. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he tells me before he hangs up.
“Any word?” Matt asks me. We’ve been hanging out together this afternoon. He figures when any word
comes down I’ll get it pretty damn quick.
“Nothing new,” I sigh. “I feel so helpless.”
“Donna, the President of the United States feels helpless,” Matt reminds me.
“I guess. I just keep imagining if it were one of my children…and then I have to go upstairs and check
on them.” I admit. Matt puts an arm around me.
“Being a parent is a constant lesson in helplessness, I imagine, but President Bartlet has the best
trained operatives in the world searching for Zoey. They’re going to find her. And your children are safe
and sound upstairs where they will remain.”
“You’re a good guy, Matt. We need more good guys like you in office,” I tell him quietly and rest my
head on his shoulder.
“Thanks, Donna.”
“But mostly, you’re a good friend. I’m very lucky I ended up in your office that day so long ago.”
“Ever wonder what might have happened if Ainsley hadn’t sent you my way?” He asks curiously.
“I can’t even begin to imagine.” I shake my head and hug Matt.