[Jed looks around the room and sees some fish he is certain that he
hasn't seen before.]

JED
When'd you get these?

RONI
What? The fish?

JED
Yeah.

RONI
The movers got here earlier this morning with my stuff from
California. Apparently my mom, I mean Mary, didn't want to have to
keep my fish, so she sent them with the movers.

JED
What kind are these?

RONI
Those are beta fish. This one here is named Buster. And this one is
Stinker.

JED
Buster and Stinker. Did Andrew come up with those names?

RONI
No, I did.

JED
Oh. What about these ones? What are their names?

RONI
Well the white coy fish is Casper. And the strange looking gold fish
is French Fry.

JED
French Fry. And I suppose you came up with that one too.

RONI
What do you think, I'm crazy, my little brother, I mean Andrew named
that one French Fry.

JED
Buster, Stinker, Casper, and French Fry.

RONI
Too many fish?

[Jed and Abbey are in the presidential bedroom, sitting on the couch.]

ABBEY
She broke two of his ribs?!

JED
And his left wrist.

ABBEY
What happened?

JED
I don't know. She won't tell me.

ABBEY
So you want me to talk to her, don't you.

JED
The thought did cross my mind. Just don't approach her as I did,
cause I got no where fast.

ABBEY
How did you approach her?

JED
Well let's just say that it didn't exactly set the right kind of mood
in which she felt comfortable telling me what happened, actually,
telling me just about anything.

ABBEY
You walked in yelling at her, didn't you?

JED
Yes.

ABBEY
Jed, you gotta remember, it wasn't us that raised her. We don't know
what buttons to push yet, and how far to push. You shouldn't
have….

JED
Yes, I know, but the fact is that I did. I'm gonna go apologize
later.

ABBEY
How much later?

JED
I was thinking in a few years.

ABBEY
Seriously?

JED
I don't know, I have to go meet with CJ now. Then I have an idea of
one way to get the inside scoop, but I don't know if it's gonna work.
So I probably won't get around to it for a little bit.

ABBEY
If you want a moderator, I'm here.

JED
I don't think it got that bad.

ABBEY
Yeah, probably not, but I enjoy watching you try to apologize to
anyone, let alone your own family.

JED
I gotta go.

ABBEY
Okay, I'll go talk to her now. I'll call you if she tells me
anything.

JED
Okay. I love you.

ABBEY
I love you more.

[Jed and Abbey kiss, and then walk out of the bedroom, separating,
Jed going towards CJ's office, and Abbey going towards Roni's bedroom.
In CJ's office, CJ is frantically pacing the room, when Jed walks in.]

JED
CJ, calm down, stop pacing the room, before maintenance has to come
down here and replace the floor.

CJ
Sorry, sir.

JED
Listen, CJ. Roni won't tell me what happened last night, although
she has assured me that it had nothing to do with a joke of any kind.
She has agreed to apologize to President D'astier, but she refuses to do
anything else.

CJ
Sir….

JED
Yeah, I know CJ. I had this conversation with her. She won't talk,
and nothing I was saying seemed to matter. I'm sure you will do the
best you can with the press, even though you don't have much to go
on. Just out of curiosity, have you spoken to Phillipe D'astier about
any of this? Perhaps he can shed some light on it.

CJ
President D'astier is not letting anyone from the White House through
to his hotel suite. He is very upset about this sir, he said he's
not going to rest until your daughter pays for what she has done.

JED
Okay, I'm gonna call him, see if he will talk to me, father to
father, or at least President to President.

CJ
Good bye, Mr. President.

JED
Good bye, CJ.

[Jed turns around as to walk out of CJ's office, then stops, and
turns around.]

JED
Uh, CJ, I do have one question about this whole situation.

CJ
Yes, sir?

JED
Where the hell was the secret service, both Roni's detail, and
Phillipe's detail when this happened? Why didn't they stop whatever
was going on? And better yet, maybe they can clue us in on whatever
did happen.

CJ
Well sir, I haven't had time to go find them yet, but I was planning
on doing that here shortly. Although I don't expect to get very far,
secret service agents are not allowed to discuss whatever their
protectees do, with anyone. If they do, their protectees won't trust
them, and then their job is a whole lot harder.

JED
Okay, well I'm gonna go call the president, and then I'm gonna talk
to Butterfield, and order him to have the agents tell me what happened
if they won't on their own.

[Abbey knocks on Roni's door, Roni opens it and lets her in. They
sit down on Roni's bed.]

RONI
He asked you to come and talk to me didn't he?

ABBEY
Yes.

RONI
So what's he want, you to tell me how sorry he is, or you to get me
to tell you what happened?

ABBEY
The second one. He's gonna take care of the first one himself.

RONI
He's gonna apologize?

ABBEY
Yeah. Hey, you mind if I'm around when he does so?

RONI
You think it's funny too, don't you?

ABBEY
What?

RONI
The way he dances around when trying to apologize.

ABBEY
Yeah, it's funny, a cute funny, but funny. So do you want to tell me
about it?

RONI
Not really.

ABBEY
You know you can tell me anything. You can trust me, him, us.

RONI
Yeah, I know. It's just I don't know how either of you would react
to the news, and I don't really care to find out.

ABBEY
Is it that bad?

RONI
Yeah. Well, it definitely has the potential, which is why I just
can't…

ABBEY
It's okay. When you're ready, you'll come to us.

RONI
Thanks for understanding.

ABBEY
You think you can do me a favor?

RONI
I suppose, depending on what it is.

ABBEY
Can you cut him some slack? This is still very new to him, to me,
it's a very weird adjustment to have to make, and you should know
what I'm talking about. It's probably the weirdest for you.

RONI
Yeah, I understand. And I guess I can cut him some slack.

ABBEY
Thanks.

RONI
Abbey.

ABBEY
Yeah?

RONI
It's just that he showed a momentary, temporary, lack of
self-control, in which I felt it necessary to reward the way I did. That's all.
That's all I can tell you, if I say anything more, I will be giving
it away, and that's not what I want.

ABBEY
Okay.