“Josh, tell me about Joanie.” Sam said as he took a sip of his beer.

Josh took a sip of his own beer and turned to his friend. “Joanie was a
caring and fun person. She and I used to play and fight, like all
brothers and Sisters do. She liked classical music, Ave Maria was her
favorite."

“She sound like she was a great person, Josh.”

“She was and, I miss her. I still blame myself for her death, but deep
down I know she was looking out for me. That’s what big sisters do, right?" Josh look down at his empty
glass and then back at his best friend.

Sam padded his friend on the shoulder and said, “That’s sounds about
right to me.” Sam then hailed a bartender and asked for another round
of drinks. Sam and Josh continued there conversation while
unbeknown to them, across the room two people they knew were also
drowning old sorrows.

“Toby, I am serious.” CJ said as she tried to convince the
Communications Director she was telling the truth.

“I don’t believe you,CJ.”

“I swear that’s how it happened. Suz liked this guy, so I said that I
would help her ask him out. We both walked up to him and introduced
ourselves. She seemed to be doing fine, so I turned around and started
talking to another friend about a class assignment. All of the sudden,
I hear all this commotion. When I turned around, there was Suz, slapping
this guy that she just had to meet, across the face. They both had
tomato scues all over them and she just stormed out of the cafeteria.
After that fiasco, she met Eddie and it got even worse. It was all downhill from there.” When CJ finished her
story, she looked down at her empty glass.

“Hey CJ, it’s okay.” Toby said as he placed his hand over hers and
hailed the waiter. “Can we have another round, please?” he asked.

“Certainly sir. A Grasshopper for the Lady, and a beer for you. Is that correct?

“Yes it is.”

“I will bring them right away sir.” the waiter replied and went towards
the bar.

Leo and Liz walked into the upscale Georgetown bar, found a corner table
and took a seat. Leo didn’t even notice the members of the White House
Senior Staff scattered around the room. He focused all of his
attention on Elisabeth.

“You look a lot better then you did an hour ago.” He said cheerfully.”

“I feel a lot better than I did an hour ago.” She replied as a waiter
came to take their order.

“What can I get for you folks?”

Leo looked at his sister, she ordered first. “I’ll have a whisky Sour.”

“Okay, and for you Sir?”

“Club soda will be fine.”

“Very well I’ll bring those right over.”

Toby and CJ’s conversation had hit almost every topic imaginable. CJ
finally looked away from Toby, and towards the bar, and said “I wonder what’s taking so long.”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll go find out.” she said getting up from the table. She headed to
the bar.

“So, Jason is doing well I take it.” Leo said to his sister as they
waited for the drinks to come.

“He is. He is a great student and seems to have a well balanced life. I
hope.” She said with some uncertainty.

“I know he does. He has a great mother.” Leo replied with a smile.

“Thanks Leo. Hey, when are you coming to visit?” She asked.

“I’m not sure. Why?”

“I want to tell Jason about his father, and I was kinda hoping you could
help me out. Ya know, in the shoulder department.” she said with a
laugh.

Leo laughed at the inside joke. He put a comforting hand on Liz’s arm
and with a smile replied “Sure thing,Lizzy.”

“Thanks again. Hey, what happened to those drinks?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go see.” Leo got up from the table and headed to the
bar.

Jed and Abbey were surrounded by Secret Service Agents as they entered
the bar hand in hand. The agents quickly lead them to a secluded table in the corner of the room and
surrounded the area.

“Well Zoey certainly had a good idea.” Jed said to his wife as they sat
down.

“Yes, she did. Kids are amazing. They can read their parents like
books.”

“Yes, and they do, and as I remember Michael had a talent for it”
Jed and Abbey reminisced about their son and the family for a few
moments, then an agent on the Presidential detail approached them.

“Excuse me Mr. President, would you and the First Lady like anything?”

Jed looked at his wife, and then back at the agent “Yes. I’ll have a
scotch.”

“And I’ll have white wine.” The First Lady replied.

“Yes Ma’am, Sir.” The agent walked away to place the order at the bar.

CJ walked up to the bar and spoke with one of the bartenders. While she
was waiting for the drinks, she saw Sam and Josh out of the corner of
her eye. She walked over to them, they hadn’t seen her yet.

“Excuse me, rumor has it that you two work for the President,may I have
your autographs?” CJ did all she could not to crack up as she asked the question.

Sam and Josh both turned and looked at CJ. Surprise written all over
there faces.

“What you doing here?” They each asked the other, at the same time.

“Well,” CJ began, “Today’s sortta tough for me so Toby offered to get a
drink with me after work to get my mind off it.”

“Toby is here?” Sam said with notable surprise.

“Yes he is.”

“Funny thought, the reason Sam and I are here is because Today’s tough
for me too. We decided that it was best to do something to get my mind off it.” Josh said.

CJ, Sam and Josh spoke for a couple of minutes.

The bartender brought the drinks that CJ ordered for she
and Toby before she left the bar, she said

“Why don’t you guys come join us? It will be fun.”

“Okay.” Sam and Josh said almost on cue.

As they walked back to the table they ran into Leo who was coming back
with drinks for he and his sister.

“Small world.” CJ commented as she ran into him.

“Yeah.” Josh said.

“I’ll say.” Sam said.

“Hey, what are you all doing here?” Leo asked.

“I should ask you the same thing.” Josh said with a laugh.

“Not funny, Josh” Leo said sternly.

“Sorry, I guess you could say we are drowning our sorrows.”

"Yeah, we are doing the same. Mine in soda of course.” Leo added with a
laugh “I brought Liz here to get her mind off the day. It is so hard for her.”

“Hey Leo, why don’t you two come over and sit with us?” CJ asked.

“Or you could all come over here, bring your friends and sit with us.”
a familiar voice said from behind them.

They all turned to the voice in unison with drink in hand.

“Mr. President, Mrs. Bartlet.” the staff all said in a chorus.

“What are you doing here, sir?” Leo asked.

“My daughter suggested that Abbey and I have some time to ourselves, to
reflect on the day as it is, to unwind. So, are you going to come join
us or are you all just gonna stand there?” Bartlet asked.

“Sir we wouldn’t want to intrude.” Leo answered the rest of the staff
agreed.

“You aren’t. We think of all of you as family.” He said looking over at
Abbey.

“Okay then we’ll come over.” Josh said.

“Yeah, let me get Toby.” CJ said.

“Here.” Sam said turning to CJ. “I’ll take the drinks.

“Okay, thanks Sam.”

Leo handed his drinks to one of the Secret Service agents and asked him
to take them to the table, while he went to get his sister.

Sam and Josh followed the President and the agents to the corner table,
drinks in hand.

“Toby” CJ said as she came over to the table.

“You were gone an awfully long time. Where are the drinks?”

“Yeah, I know. The President and First Lady are here.”

“What? How the hell did they get the service to go along with that?”

“I don’t know, but they invited us over to the table, with the rest of
the White House Senior Staff.”

“What? We’re all here?”

“Yeah” CJ said with surprise.

“Why?” he asked as he got up from the table and followed CJ to the
President’s table.

“Lizzy, come with me” Leo said as he came up to the table.

“Where are we going?”

“To sit with some friends.”

“Really? Who?” she asked.

“The President, First Lady, and the rest of the staff.”

“Great! I haven’t seen them in ages.”

“Yeah, I know.” He said as he pulled her up to a standing position and
lead her over to the corner table.

“Well this is nice.” Abbey said as the staff sat around the table.
“Elisabeth you look wonderful. How are you this year?”

“I’m going better each year, I guess. Thanks for asking, and may I say
you too look wonderful.”

“Thank you, Liz.”

“Wait a second,” CJ said a moment of confusion coming over her.
“I know about Michael, but why is this day hard for the rest of you? I know why it’s hard for me, but what
about everybody else?”

The President looked over at CJ “Today is hard for you all too. Why?”

“I asked I guess I’ll start.” CJ said. Today is kinda a double whammy
for me My best friend’s husband beat her and her kids up, shot and
killed a cop, and was convicted of murder, among other things, and was
sentenced to death all on the someday. Okay so maybe it’s a triple
whammy. But at any rate, it’s a day I would rather forget.

The entire table had looks of shock across their faces. Leo put a hand
on CJ’s arm and said “CJ, I had know idea.”

“We didn’t either” everybody at the table answered.

“Okay.” Leo said taking his sister’s hand “We’ll go next.”
Elisabeth began to speak “Today is the anniversary of my husband’s
death.” Tears fell from her eyes again as the words came out of her
mouth. Leo quickly gathered her up into a hug.

Leo continued, “I was one of the Air Force officers that came to tell
her, so this day has always been tough. He said solemnly.

He turned his attention back to his sister and then Josh spoke up.
“Today’s my sister, Joanie’s Birthday. CJ looked sympathetically at
Josh. She remembered all of the stuff Josh had told her about his
sister. She knew it wasn’t an easy subject for him.

Toby looked around the table, Leo’s sister had calmed down. She was
wiping the last fresh tear away with a tissue Abbey had given to her brother. “I’m just here to support CJ.” he said solemnly.

“And I’m here to help Josh.” Sam added.

The President looked around at his staff, took his wife’s hand, and
began to speak. “Most of you know that this is the anniversary of our
son Michael’s death. “It is still hard for me to believe that he is
gone.it’s even harder still after hearing all of your heartbreaking
stories, for me to comprehend that a group of loving and caring people
so close to one another, should have to deal with so much pain. Be that
as it may, we all seem to have found ways to deal with it, and I am grateful that you all helped each other deal with it.”

The President raised his glass “Here is to present and absent friends
and loved ones, who have changed our lives and opened our hearts. They
shall never be forgotten.” Everyone raised there glass in tribute to
those who they lost, loved, still love will never forget.

The End