A little while later, the two Bartlet women were in a car being taken to
the airport. The Secret Service appeared fairly apprehensive-taking the
First Lady and her daughter into a busy public place was never something
particularly wanted to do. However, these two women were fairly adamant in
their ways, and insisted on going to pick up their sister and daughter, and
her two daughters.

The plane had landed by the time Abbey and Zoey's entire entourage had made
it through security. Becca was waiting for them in some chairs when Zoey
spotted her. "Becca!" Zoey called, over the heads of the crowd.

Becca Bartlet, 31 and widowed, glanced up. When she saw her baby sister, a
smile sprung to her face. She readied her two girls, Maddie and Christie,
and her family and the Secret Service approached. When Zoey finally got to
her, they hugged. "Zoey, I think you look five years older than the last
time I saw you," Becca said, looking her sister over.

Abbey had reached for her granddaughters. "Madeline, is that really you?"
she asked the eight year old child. Maddie, as she was called, had dark
hair, like her mother's, that was kept short for the purpose of less
complications. Her eyes were also dark, so when the little girl's face was
drawn in an unhappy frown, it was deeply accentuated by her features. "Come
to Grandma," Abbey said, reaching down to hug the girl.

Maddie gave a half-hearted hug. Her little sister Christie, was full of
energy and bounced near her grandma. "Grandma, Grandma, can I hug you?" the
five your old asked.

Gazing down at Christie's light brown curls drawn up into pigtails, Abbey
smiled. "Of course," she said scooping Christie into her arms. She hugged
the little girl tightly, wondering how she could live without this kind of
affection on a daily basis. "You're getting so big!"

Once she was on the ground again, Christie beamed upwards. "I'm in school
this year, Grandma!"

"I know," Abbey said. "I can't believe it."

"Mommy says that I get to go to a new school starting next week. First
we've got to get moved into our new house. And Mommy says I get my own room
and everything!" Christie rambled.

"Come on, Christina," Becca said, corralling her two children towards the
exit. Maddie shuffled her feet demonstratively, and Christie bounded ahead,
under the watchful eyes of their mother and the Secret Service. Becca
sighed and fell in step beside her mother. "I never thought we'd end up
like this," she said.

Abbey looked sympathetically at Becca. "Things don't always work out as
planned, dear."

"I know. But all those dreams I had when I got married about raising the
girls in a small neighborhood in that house with the little picket fence…,"
Becca said wistfully.

"Well, I had all these dreams for my life too. I didn't get a picket fence
either."

"No, you just got the White House."

"This will be a good chance for you and the girls to start over," Abbey
explained. "It's been six months since Jake died. I know you miss him, but
he wouldn't want you dwelling in that moment of loss all your life."

Becca inhaled sharply, trying not to cry. "I know, Mom," Becca said
softly. "But that doesn't stop me from wanting to go back."

The corners of Abbey's mouth came up in a tight smile. She said, "It's
going to be fine. Just wait and see."

****************************

Charlie was having a busy morning, but all his mornings seemed to busy ever
since he was hired as the President's personal. Part of him enjoyed the
business-it made him feel involved and kept his energy going. But other
times, he wanted to step away from the hectic schedule he was kept on. And
then keeping track of the President's busy schedule was no small
undertaking.

Waiting outside the oval office for the President's meeting to end, Charlie
sat tiredly in a chair. Mrs. Landingham noticed his lax positioning, and
studied him closer. "Charlie, are you feeling well?" she asked, slightly
worried.

"I'm fine," Charlie assured her. "Just a little tired."

Upon closer inspection, Mrs. Landingham picked up on something else. "You
know, if you're going to wear the same suit two days in a row, you might
want to hang it up after you take it off for the night."

Embarrassed, Charlie straightened in his seat. "How do you mean, Mrs.
Landingham?"

She shook her head. "I can tell these things. Young men who come in tired
wearing the same suit only rumpled is a dead give away. I would offer you a
cookie, but it's fairly apparent that you don't need one."

Meanwhile, inside the Oval Office, Toby was curiously dreading what the
President's newest agenda would be for him. Usually jobs were distributed
to the staff by Leo, but the President had asked him in here personally, and
Toby knew that he was in for something that he probably would rather avoid.

"You know my wife's focus, don't you?" the President asked, trying to stay
fairly casual.

"Yes," Toby said. "Child labor has been her issue for awhile now."

"Yes. Child labor. She has a fair amount of support in Congress. There's
a bill drafted by Becky Reisman trying to be voted on in a few days."

"It won't pass," Toby stated.

"I know. That's what I need to talk to you about. I want it to pass."

"Does that mean that you're taking an active position on the bill?"

"Not directly. I would just like to help out my wife a little bit. Let
her win won."

"If we help out, it really won't be her winning it," Toby pointed out.

"Toby, they're going to pass the House. They did that on their own. But
they're never going to pass the Senate. I would hate to think of all that
wasted work, and it would crush my wife's spirit as well as her staff's."

"So you want me to get votes on the bill," Toby deduced.

"Yes. Work with my wife's office. Lilly Mays is heading it up. Talk to
her, let her do the take the lead, but if you tag along with your status,
they're much more apt to sway votes."

"Yes sir," Toby said.

"Very good," the President said. "Thank you, Toby."

Forcing a slight smile, Toby said. "No problem."

******************************

Josh sat at his desk, fighting within himself. Part of him told him to go
over to Joey Lucas' desk (while she was still there) and ask her if she was
going to watch the inauguration. The other half told him it was stupid,
since she already knew about it and would go if she wanted to.

Finally, in a burst of courage, Josh got up and went to Joey's desk. Joey
and Kenny were signing to each other, apparently in a conversation. Trying
too hard not to interrupt, he waited until Kenny and Joey looked at him.

Joey signed something, and Kenny said, "Hello, Josh."

"Hi," Josh said.

When Josh said nothing else, Joey signed, "Is there something I can do for
you?"

"Oh!" Josh said, realizing that he wasn't doing anything. "Yes. Well,
kind of. I mean, I just wanted to know if you were or if you wanted to-What
I'm trying to ask is if you are planning on going to watch the inauguration
of General Markov tonight."

Joey's eyes were on Kenny as he finished signed. "I don't know," she
signed.

"Well, I just thought you might like to come. I'm going to be there, Sam's
going to be there. You know, just a small group of us who were involved in
getting Markov to be the Vice President of Russia."

"Okay. Sounds like fun," Joey signed.

A relieved smile spread across Josh's face. "Okay, great. I'll see you
then."

"Okay," Joey said. Josh turned to leave, obviously excited, and Joey shook
her head at Kenny, who just shrugged in return.

TBC