"I'm glad things are working between you and Jenny again." Abbey said
softly before finishing the glass. Leo nodded, looking down at his friend who
was leaning into his side. As it grew later, they grew more comfortable, and
he knew it made him less comfortable. He had his arm around her now as she
was snuggled into his side, but they both knew nothing could happen. They
both knew they wouldn't let anything happen.

"And how are things between you and Jed?" He asked. Abbey shrugged.

"We're doing well. We love each other endlessly. He always wants to 'jump
me' or something like that. He's wonderful." She replied honestly. She missed
him very much. "Nothing has changed."

"You mean nothing has changed since KD came along, don't you?" Leo asked
with a weak smile.

"Maybe, maybe a little." She admitted. "But not mostly. Nothing has
changed much since he came into office, I guess. Since KD came along, he's
not changed at all that I can see. If anyone's changed, I guess I have."

"I don't think you'd ever have anything to worry about. Jed loves you and
the only time he's ever done anything questionable was when you two were
separated and he was drunk." Leo assured her.

"Luckily KD has more sense than he did at the time." Abbey replied
thoughtfully.

"She just wasn't drunk, or at least not nearly as drunk as he was.
Besides, we know why he got drunk in the first place. He was broken-hearted
about his situation with you." Leo reminded.

"And if she had been drunk, where would we be now? God, lately I've been
wondering how things would be different if she'd said yes." The First lady
admitted.

"I don't know. It's one of those things that we'll never know. How would
things be different if you and I had made a different decision." Leo replied
softly as he looked at his friend again. Abbey looked up at him and then away
again. She knew he was right.

"You were right then. Decisions like that can't be made out of anger, or
revenge." She replied. Leo smiled.

"I'm always right. Why can't everyone remember that?" He retorted. Abbey
laughed and then glanced at the clock. Leo followed her gaze and came to the
same conclusion she did.

"Got to be ready for them tomorrow." She said.

"Yeah, their plane takes off nine pacific." He added as she stood up and
stretched a little. He watched her a second, gazing over her figure and then
looked away. They'd made the right choice years ago.

"So that mean's they'll land, what, six tomorrow?" She asked turning to
see him stand up. She admired his wiry frame for a moment, and then looked
away again. He chuckled.

"If they take off on time, which they won't. They'll probably take off at
around eleven, get in around eight or nine." He replied. She laughed, knowing
he was right.

"Thanks for coming, Leo. I'm glad we had a chance to do this." She said
softly, looking at him again. He looked at her and then took her into a
heartfelt hug. She hugged him back. They stood there a moment, in each
other's arms, and then they broke apart and Leo moved for his jacket.

"I'm glad we did too. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" He said as he turned
to face her while he slid the jacket on. She smiled and nodded. "You want to
come to the airport with us?" He asked.

"Sure. Let me know and I'll be in the car." She replied.

"I'll have someone call you when it's time." He assured her. He hugged
her again, gave her a kiss on the cheek and then left. As she watched the
door close, Abbey sighed and looked around the room. Silently, she moved to
the light switch, turned out the dim lights and moved into the bedroom where
she got ready for bed with a clear conscience. She felt like she'd gotten her
friend back, and she was happy.

"Is that going to be it?" Danny asked sharply. CJ sighed and looked at
the window, tears forming at her eyes.

"I don't even know." CJ replied. Danny sighed and looked at his feet.

"CJ, why do I get the feeling that you don't even care about KD at this
point? This is about us, I know, but could it be that you're just trying to
find a reason why we can't work?" He asked.

"Since when are you a psychologist, Danny?" CJ retorted sharply. Danny
winced and sighed, moving for his jacket.

"Whatever you say. Maybe I'll see you on the plane tomorrow." He snapped
angrily as he grabbed the jacket and moved for the door. CJ sighed.

"I just don't understand why you can't tell me why you and KD broke up."
She admitted. Danny stopped at the doorknob and looked at her.

"I told you. We promised each other we wouldn't tell anyone without
talking about it first. I keep my promises, and I know she does too." He
retorted and moved out of the room, closing the door behind him with a brisk
slam.

"I wish you'd told me you were sick, damn it." Jed exclaimed as he drank
some water down. KD coughed and shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like it's pneumonia or something. If it
was anything truly serious, I would have told you, or I would have stayed
home." She retorted. He laughed.

"No, not you. You've never been one to stay home. What happened anyway?"
He asked. KD popped the painkillers into her mouth and drank the rest of his
water.

"I hit my head. I had a little jaunt to the emergency room. No big deal."
She replied quickly as she struggled to move out of the wrath of the
Uninformed President.

"The emergency room???" He repeated loudly. "What in blazes happened?"

"I was rollerblading and I fell and I sort of . . . lost consciousness.
Say, did we order breakfast?" She said, trying to change the subject. Jed
moved over to her quickly and took her face in his hands, pulling her gaze on
to him. She looked up at him as he inspected the wound that had been
previously hidden by her hair. She'd gone to great lengths to hide the small
wound, but in the course of the night, her hair had fallen out of place and
Jed had noticed. He'd also seen her painkillers and heard her coughing, two
more clues that didn't help her attempt at secrecy.

"How bad is it?" He asked as he let his hand drop. She moved away from
him and began flipping through the breakfast menu.

"Slight concussion, but not a serious one. Nowhere near serious." She
replied honestly. "I'm fine. I take the painkillers, I drink regularly. I
watch my sleep. I'm fine. It happened days ago anyway. The wound is almost
gone." She insisted before tossing him the menu. He caught in and started
flipping through the pages.

"Why weren't you wearing a helmet?" He asked sharply as he glanced at the
items on the menu. KD rolled her eyes.

"I've been blading for nearly seven years. I wore a helmet when I was
six. I don't need one anymore." She retorted.

"Then why do you have a concussion?" He returned. She opened her mouth to
reply, but couldn't come up with a witty enough response. A soft knock came
at the door, grabbing both their attentions and saving KD from a lecture.

"Come in, providing you're not some insane homicidal assassin." Jed
announced.

"Come in if you are." KD added. Josh leaned in the door with a nervous
grin on his face.

"Goddamn it, I'm doomed." Jed exclaimed as he fell back into the couch.
KD laughed.

"Hey, Jolly. How you doing this morning?" She asked as she moved towards
the phone.

"I'm curious, actually. Matt says you've been here all night, Katy?" Josh
asked darkly. KD glanced at him, then at Jed and then back at Josh.

"Yeah, I have. You have a problem with that, Josh?" She retorted,
noticing his lack of using her nickname.

"Well, I was just wondering . . . Is everything okay? I mean, what did
you guys do?" The deputy chief of staff asked seriously.

"I slept. What did you do, kid?" Jed asked.

"I climbed out the window, set fire to Arlington National Cemetery, went
fishing for oysters in the East bay, drove to Arkansas to shoot some rabbits,
and hopped on a helicopter back so I could get drunk and pass out on the
President's couch." She retorted with a serious expression.

"So that's what that racket was." Jed retorted.

"Oh, yeah, and I sacrificed a goat. I thought its blood could help me
deal with my head, ya know?" KD added.

"Okay, I get the idea." Josh replied softly.

"And if you must know, we talked until midnight, he went to bed and I
slept on the couch out of pure laziness." She exclaimed. "Is that quite
satisfactory?" She asked softly, suddenly realizing she might have been
overreacting. She glanced over at Josh who stared at her like she'd just
killed his hamster or something. She sighed.

"Sorry. I didn't get a lot of sleep and I have a big nasty headache." She
told him. He smiled weakly and nodded.

"It's all right, Kody. Who's ready to hightail it to the airport, eh?"
Josh replied with a fake chipper grin. KD laughed and playfully slapped his
shoulder. Jed groaned.

"But I haven't even had breakfast yet. I get on that plane and
Landingham's henchmen are going to try and stuff me full of bran and hay. I
feel like a horse." He murmured.

"Least you're not being put out to pasture." Josh retorted.

"Are you kidding? Stick him out to pasture with Abbey and you'd never see
him again." KD said with a chuckle.

"You better believe it." Jed assured them as he rose to his feet. "My
stuff is packed. Let's get out of here."

"It was a dangerous day we gave him control of the world." KD mused.

"The plane doesn't take off for another hour. I'm going back to my room for a
shower and a change of clothes." She added and moved out of the room. Josh
watched her go and then looked at the president.

"She slept on the couch, Josh." The President insisted.

"I understand that, sir." Josh replied softly.

"You play chess recently?"

"Uh, no, sir."

"Perfect. Have a seat."

To Be Continued . . . .