By Karen T
© January 2002
Disclaimer: Except for Jenn, they're still not mine. I borrowed the title from the Otis Redding song, "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay."
Notes: This story begins on the day right after Jenn's arrival to DC.
Part I
Josh trudged through the lobby with bloodshot eyes and a headache that was threatening to incapacitate him. Slung over his right shoulder was his old beat-up leather backpack that dated back to his college days. He'd been meaning to replace it (with a newer backpack, that is; not something more 'professional'), but just never seemed to get around to it. He knew he could probably get Donna to pick him out a replacement from one of those Web sites she always denied surfing during work hours, but he just never seemed to get around to asking her to do that for him, either.
A pack rat. That's what his mother called him, and during their more cantankerous arguments, he became a sentimental pack rat in her eyes. He knew he wasn't a pack rat; he simply preferred to get full usage out of everything he owned. And who likes dealing with change? Now his father...there was someone who was a pack rat. If it weren't for his mother, he would've grown up buried under all the knick-knacks and gadgets his father had collected and then refused to discard. And sentimental?! How could anyone accuse him of being sentimental? It wasn't like he was the only one in the world who had his baby blanket carefully tucked away in a plastic storage container on the top shelf in his closet. And it wasn't like he was the only one who--
"Josh?"
"Wha?" Josh turned his head to the left and had to blink several times before his eyes were able to focus enough for him to recognize a slightly out of breath Sam walking beside him. "Hey, Sam," he greeted his friend distractedly. "When did you get here?"
"Didn't you hear me calling your name and asking you to wait up?" Sam demanded. "I practically had to sprint down the lobby to catch up with you."
"Oh, sorry. My mind was...somewhere else."
"On the Jenn thing, huh?" Sam sympathized with an understanding nod.
"Uh..." Josh furrowed his forehead and twitched his nose like a bunny as images of rats draped in baby blankets danced in his head, "sure. Let's go with that."
"You get any sleep?"
"I think I passed out between four and five this morning. You?"
"I wish I was that lucky. Toby had me on speed-dial all night. But I think I might have caught a small cat nap."
"You think?"
"Well, it's all kind of...confusing." Sam scratched the side of his head in perplexity. "I remember grinding some coffee beans in my grinder this morning, pouring the grounds and water into my coffee maker, and then turning it on. But then that's it. The next thing I remember is opening my eyes and finding myself still standing in front of my coffee maker. The only difference was that it now contained a full pot of coffee. I think I may have fallen asleep on my feet. Is that weird?"
Josh eyed Sam for a moment before mumbling, "Not any more than anything else that's gone on around here lately."
They continued walking side by side until Josh suddenly reached out and grasped Sam by the shoulders. "Did yesterday really happen?" he asked as a hint of desperation trickled into his voice. "Or was it all just a disturbingly realistic nightmare?"
Sam's eyebrows shot upwards and his mouth fell slightly open in surprise before he recovered enough to say, "Yesterday really happened, Josh."
"Damn." Josh removed his hands from Sam's shoulders and dropped them back down to his sides as he sighed loudly. "So the President really did have an affair and there really is a new Bartlet daughter running around out there?"
"Yeah."
"Damn."
"Yeah."
Josh and Sam resumed walking in silence until they reached the juncture in the lobby where they needed to go in opposite directions in order to get to their respective offices. "Did we even settle on a game plan?" Josh asked as he began to turn towards 'his' area of the West Wing.
"Yes, definitely," Sam responded, his head bobbing up and down fervently. But the nodding slowly dissipated until a look of doubt overtook his face. "Well...maybe not so definitely. Oh, I don't know. Toby really doesn't like the idea of going with the tried-and-true formula, but I think he's going to let us stick with it."
"Jenn really lit a fire under him, didn't she?" Josh asked with a smile.
"Yeah."
They shared a small laugh before Josh's face twisted up into another pained expression. "We'd probably find that a lot more humorous if our asses weren't also on the line, huh?"
"Yeah, probably. I'll see ya."
"Later." Josh watched Sam hurry off towards his office before he whirled around and almost collided into Donna.
"Donna," he gasped as his hand reflexively shot up to his chest. He could feel his heart quicken in pace underneath his now damp hand.
"Sorry," she said cheerily. "Good morning, though."
"Yeah, morning," he muttered. "What are you doing here?"
"I work here, Josh. Maybe if you paid me more, you'd remember that."
Her chipper tone was beginning to grate on his nerves, but he managed to swallow the nasty words that had originated in his head before they escaped through his mouth. "But it's only...seven. You don't usually get in until 7:45."
Donna broke out into a smile, pleased that he'd noticed what time she always came in to work every morning. "Well, since you let me go home early last night, I thought I'd return the favor by coming in early this morning."
"Donna, it was 8:15 when I told you to go home last night. Not many people would consider that early."
"Josh, believe me, getting home at any hour in which sitcoms are still showing on TV means I got to leave work early."
"Okay." Josh maneuvered around her to get into his office.
"Oh, Leo just called," Donna reported as she trailed behind him. "Senior staff's been moved up to 7:30."
Josh stopped mid-stride and grimaced at the news for he knew why the time of the meeting had been changed. "Okay. Thanks."
Donna stood in his doorway and watched him throw his backpack onto his cluttered desk. "Josh, is...is everything okay?" She internally cursed herself for allowing her concern to seep into the tone of her voice. "You just seem..."
Josh stared intently into her blue eyes as his desire to tell her everything that had transpired over the past fourteen hours almost cracked his chest open. He wanted to tell her, he really did. He was sick and tired of being one of only a handful of people who were supposed to keep the President's deep, dark secrets under lock and key. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to any of them. "Donna, I," he began to say before his loyalty to the President got the better of him, "I need some coffee. Be a dear, would you, and grab me a cup?"
Donna smirked. "Nice try, Lyman. Don't forget: you've got staff in thirty."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said as he waved her away dismissively and pretended to search through the papers on his desk so that she couldn't see how much it destroyed him to have lied to her once again.
Twenty minutes later, Toby made his way towards C.J.'s office to see if she had arrived yet. He found her at her desk, staring off into the distance. Her head was propped up on her right hand and her mind was drifting through a variety of disjointed thoughts. She was currently reflecting about the packet of 'Sugar in the Raw' she dumped into every cup of coffee she consumed. Should she be concerned about those 'empty calories'?
Toby observed her through her open door and could tell from the expression on her face that she was deep in thought. "Hey," he murmured as he leaned against her doorframe.
She shifted her gaze to her left and acknowledged Toby's presence with a curt nod of her head. From the look of his rumpled clothes, frazzled hair, and weary eyes, she had a feeling he hadn't gone home like the rest of them had at 2 am.
"When did you get in?" he asked quietly.
"Around six. I decided to skip going to the gym. I just wasn't in the mood to deal with people."
"I was in my office at six. Why didn't you stop by and let me know you were here?"
C.J. cocked an eyebrow and looked at him suspiciously. "Toby, when have I ever checked in with you?"
He appeared to consider the question for a second before conceding, "Yeah, good point."
They then stared at each other in silence until C.J. exhaled loudly, the bags underneath her eyes becoming more pronounced as she expelled the air from her lungs. "We have a plan, right, Toby?"
"Yeah," he said, trying hard to sound convincing. "It's not the most creative thing we've ever come up with and it's certainly not the plan to end all plans, but it'll get the job done."
C.J. absently began to nod her agreement, but then suddenly dropped her head on to her desk with a loud thump. Alarmed, Toby rushed to her desk and leaned over until his nose was only inches from her hair. "C.J., are you okay?" he whispered in the vicinity of her left ear.
She slowly raised her head, pinching the bridge of her nose on the way up. "Why is this happening to us again, Toby?" she questioned mournfully. "How is it possible that we're actually back to where we were only four short months ago?"
Toby opened his mouth to respond but quickly learned that C.J. wasn't finished.
"I thought he was supposed to be the one, Toby. The one who was going to make a difference. The one who wasn't supposed to make us ashamed to wake up and go to work every day. What happened to that? When did this administration go from bettering the world to covering his ass on these...these things?! How long are we expected to keep doing this?" C.J.'s eyes flashed with anger and her breathing grew shallow. "I know we serve at the pleasure of the President, but I swear, I don't know how much more of this pleasure I can take. I really don't."
To Toby's surprise and chagrin, he found himself defending the man he'd spent the past few hours loathing in private. "You don't mean that, C.J. You're just tired."
"Damn straight I'm tired," she snapped, "but that's only the tip of the iceberg of what I'm feeling right now."
Taken aback by the depth of C.J.'s fury, Toby realized that he didn't know what to say. He'd seen her upset before, but never to this degree. Within the West Wing, he was the one who was known as the staff member who held grudges and never overtly expressed any anger until he was on the brink of exploding. But with her hands balled up into fists and her jaw muscles twitching from the intensity with which she clenched her teeth, he recognized the signs of someone who had been stewing in ire for some time. Sighing dejectedly, he tucked his hands into his pants pockets and said, "C'mon, we've got staff."
C.J. glared at him, her anger at the President temporary misplaced on to Toby, before she closed her eyes and covered the right side of her face with her hand. "Yeah, okay," she eventually muttered with reluctance as she pushed her chair backwards and grabbed a notepad off her desk.
Josh and Sam were already seated and waiting in the Oval Office when Toby and C.J. made their entrance. They exchanged sympathetic glances with each other and Josh patted the seat cushion next to him on the couch when he caught C.J.'s eye. Once seated beside him, he reached out and rubbed her back in tiny circles with his knuckles. It was such a comforting gesture at such a stressful time that C.J. found herself on the verge of tears. "Did you sleep at all last night?" Josh asked her in a concerned whisper. "'Cause you look like hell."
C.J. shook her head and chuckled despite her foul mood. "You sure know how to woo the girls, Josh."
"Hey, that's why I'm known as a lady's man."
"Oh my God, don't even start with that," Toby growled menacingly, which elicited another chuckle from C.J.
"Good, you're all here." Leo hustled into the room from his office with a mug in one hand and a bundle of files in the other. "The President's running a little late, but he's on his way."
The senior staff nodded and each found something intriguing for them to stare at on the floor. Leo surreptitiously scrutinized them from behind his coffee mug and noticed that, even seated, they looked like they were about ready to fall. They'd all been put through the ringer during the MS hearings, especially C.J. Could he and the President really put them through it again and expect them to prevail unscathed?
Before Leo had a chance to ruminate on the question, Jed strode into the room with a bright smile on his face and a hearty "Good morning, everyone."
C.J., Josh, Toby, and Sam rose to their feet and mumbled "Morning" while averting their eyes from Jed's. It was the first time they were in the same room with the President since Leo had announced Jenn's arrival to them, and they all now found it difficult to look at the man they'd idolized for so long. Jed had wondered what his senior staff's reaction would be to seeing him, and as he took notice of their inability to establish eye contact with him, he realized that feigning contentment might not have been the wisest way for him to walk into the meeting. He shot a look of worry to Leo, who only made a face and shrugged his shoulders in response. Clearing his throat, Jed tried to sound nonchalant as he asked, "So, how did it go last night?" The resulting eye rolls and grimaces informed him that that might also have not been the wisest question with which to begin the meeting.
Luckily, Leo interceded by replying, "It went fine, sir. It proved to be very...informative."
"Good. I knew you'd all get along. Like all my other daughters, Jenn's got--" Jed cut himself off as he sensed the tension within his office triple at the mention of his 'new' daughter. "Look," he began, dropping his nothing-has-happened demeanor, "I realize that I've, once again, placed you all in a very difficult situation. But please believe me when I say that I never intended for this to happen. I would have told each of you about my past...transgression with Melanie Erickson if I had thought for a second that there was the slightest chance it would become public knowledge. I consider those within this room to be some of the finest people I've ever had the good fortune of working with and I really...I...I'm sorry. I really am."
He'd anticipated a variety of responses to his apology, but he failed to foresee the four stony-faced stares that greeted him when he looked up.
"Thank you, sir," Leo quickly said once he realized that none of the senior staffers were going to say anything. "I'm sure they appreciate the apology."
"Well, it'd be nice to hear them say that," Jed hissed, his blood beginning to boil from his staff's obvious disrespect.
"We appreciate the apology, sir," Toby stated in a flat monotone. After his earlier stint in the Bartlet-can-do-no-wrong world for C.J.'s benefit, he'd returned to his former state of antipathy.
Jed narrowed his eyes and frowned, but managed to restrain himself from verbally tearing his Communications Director into shreds by barking, "Okay, fine. So, what's next? Have you guys developed a plan?"
Sam and Josh looked over at Toby, who, in turn, looked at C.J. That's when it occurred to Sam that he apparently wasn't the only one Toby had had on speed-dial the night before. C.J. sighed as she adjusted the position of her glasses on her nose and flipped through a couple of pages on her notepad. With the calm and collected voice that only seasoned Press Secretaries possess, C.J. announced, "Yes, sir, we have a plan in place. We went through a variety of scenarios last night, but chose to settle on this particular one for its familiarity and simplicity." When she paused for a breath, the implications of her last comment hit her, causing her to add, "In execution. I meant that the simplicity can be found in the plan's execution, not its, you know, outcome."
Leo nodded and motioned with his hand for her to continue. "We know, C.J. Go on."
"Okay." She consulted her notes for a second before saying, "Mr. President, our suggestion for a course of action is as follows. Tomorrow night, on an as yet undecided news magazine show, you'll tell the nation about your past marital problems with the First Lady, your subsequent affair with Melanie Erickson, and how Jenn was the product of that affair."
"Will Jenn be appearing with me?" Jed interrupted.
"We don't think she should, sir. We have something else in mind for her."
"How about the First Lady?" Leo asked.
"I don't know," C.J. said with hesitation. "We never really resolved that issue last night because we weren't sure how the First Lady would feel about it."
Leo glanced questioningly over at the President, who looked down at his feet and gave a small shake of his head. "Why don't we table that question for now and come back to it later. What else have you got, C.J.?"
"Following the show, the President will participate in a press conference that will allow us to control the situation for as long as we possibly can."
"Gee, I wonder why all of this sounds so familiar," Toby mumbled under his breath as he slouched further down in his seat.
C.J. raised her head and shot Toby a look of astonishment and admonition before continuing on. "The next day, which is Saturday, Jenn will appear on an as yet undecided week-in-review talk show and describe her life and her current relationship with the President."
Making a mental note of Toby's comment, Jed moved from behind his desk and began to pace in front of it. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of letting the press at her like that."
"It wouldn't be the entire press, sir," C.J. assured him. "It would just be Jenn and the host of the show doing a live one-on-one interview for thirty minutes. If we don't give Jenn her own face time, then the press is going to accuse us of putting a muzzle on her because we're afraid of what she may say about you."
"And what if we are scared about what she may say?" Sam questioned.
"Doesn't matter," C.J. pronounced authoritatively. "The last thing we need is for even one person to accuse us of impinging on her freedom of speech."
"But we don't know what show this'll be yet, right?" Jed asked.
"No, sir, but we'll put together a list of some pro-Bartlet shows and pick one from there. We'll also create a list of questions for the show's host to use. Anything not on that list will be off-limits. If the host and the producer don't agree to that stipulation, then we'll go elsewhere."
"Good." Jed nodded his head with pleasure at the thoroughness of his staff. "Now, what about this show I'm supposed to go on? Are we thinking about going back to Dateline?"
"Oh, why don't we spread the wealth a little. Maybe 48 Hours would like to get in on the action," Toby muttered sarcastically. This time Sam was the one who shot him a look, while Josh kicked his foot.
Snatching his glasses off his face, Jed put his hands on hips and challenged, "Is there something you'd like to say, Toby?"
"Well, sir, since you asked," Toby began, rising to his feet.
Leo deftly maneuvered over to Toby and gave him a small yet effective shove downward before standing in front of him to block the President's view of him. "Toby has nothing to say, sir," Leo insisted. "He's fine."
"It certainly doesn't sound that way to me."
"Actually, I'm not fine," Toby declared as he began to stand up again.
Without missing a beat, Leo whipped around, glared at Toby, and mouthed "Shut up" before loudly asserting, "He's fine, Mr. President. Please go on, C.J."
At the mention of her name, C.J. fumbled with her notepad and stammered, "That's, um, that's actually all I had to say."
"But what about Dateline? Are we going to go with them?" Leo asked.
Josh shrugged. "I don't think it really matters. We could go with 48 Hours instead, if you'd prefer."
"48 Hours doesn't air on Fridays," Sam informed them knowledgeably. "We could try 20/20, but that doesn't come on until ten, so that would push the press conference until...midnight?"
"Okay, fine. Dateline it is then," Jed proclaimed. "You'll set it up, C.J.?"
"Yes, sir. I'll do it this afternoon. And then tomorrow afternoon, I'll leak the story to the usual suspects."
"That would be the AP, Reuters, and...?" Jed scratched his head as he tried to remember the name of the news organization currently alluding him.
"Agence France, sir," C.J. supplied.
"Right. And we'll shoot my interview with Marie Shriver or whoever it ends up being in here? Maybe with my wife, maybe not?"
"Well, not here in the Oval Office, but, yes, somewhere in the White House. We'll iron out the details and get back to you."
"Okay. And we're all fine with the timeline? If I appear on Dateline tomorrow night, then that leaves us with what? Thirty-six hours to prepare me, and about double that to prepare Jenn?"
Sam sighed and rolled his head around in an attempt to alleviate the tightness in his shoulder muscles. "It's certainly not ideal, Mr. President, but we don't really have a choice in the matter. We have to move on this."
"All right. Sam, you'll prepare a draft of what I should say on Dateline, as well as the list of permissible questions that may be asked of my daughter?"
"Yes, sir."
And, Leo, we're still going to keep a lid on this, right? Everyone goes about their regular duties without letting on that anything's amiss."
"That's correct, sir." Leo made eye contact with the senior staff as a means of emphasizing Jed's assumption.
"Okay, then. It sounds like we have a plan. Is there anything else?" Without waiting for a response, Jed began sorting through some papers on his desk to indicate that he was ready to move on.
"Actually, sir, there is." Standing up, Josh said, "We're going to have to tell some people -- like our assistants -- about Jenn. If I'm supposed to carry out all my duties on top of this...thing, then I'm going to have to tell Donna what's going on. There's no way I can do it all without her help. The same goes with everyone else here."
Jed considered Josh's plea for a moment before nodding his head in agreement. "Okay. It's actually not a bad idea for me to tell Charlie what's going on, either. You can tell your assistants, but do so without drawing any attention to yourselves. And before you tell anyone else, you have to clear it with either Leo or myself."
"Yes, sir," the staff chorused.
"All right, then. Thanks, everyone. I'm sure we'll talk again later today."
"Thank you, Mr. President."
They filed out of the Oval Office, with Leo bringing up the rear. After closing the door behind him, he spun around and scowled at Toby. "You. In my office. Now," he ordered.
"Can't," Toby chirped back. "Josh and I have a meeting with Congresswoman Delaney and Congressman Fellowes. You wouldn't want me skipping my regular duties, would you?"
"I swear to God, Toby, is it possible for you to be any more of an ass than you are right now?"
"Leo," Sam cautioned in a low voice as he gestured towards Charlie, who was trying his hardest not to notice the strife within the group huddled outside the President's door.
Leo took a deep breath and counted to twenty before looking back at Toby and saying, "You can be damn sure we'll continue this later."
"Are we still going to meet with Jenn at nine?" C.J. asked.
"Uh, no, that's okay. You guys have enough to deal with. The President and I will meet with her and let her in on what's happening."
"Okay." C.J. glanced down at her watch and frowned at the time. "I've got a briefing to prepare for."
"And Toby and I have that meeting," Josh added.
"Well, it sounds like we've got people to talk to and places to be, so let's get to it. I'll touch base with each of you throughout the day."
"Thanks, Leo."
They spilled out into the hallway and hurried off to various regions of the White House.
Warm-ups were now over.
Jenn sat in the empty basement conference room and drummed the fingers of her right hand along the top of the conference table. According to her watch, it was a quarter after nine, which meant that not one, but six people were late. She added the accompaniment of the tapping of her right foot on the floor to the noise she was already making with her fingers and glanced at the two Secret Service agents who were standing in front of the door. She knew they were there to protect her, but she also couldn't help feeling like they were there to prevent her from escaping. She wondered if she could get one of them to crack a smile if she started rattling off some 'naughty' limericks. A juvenile thought on her part? Definitely. But she was bored.
As she took another peek at her watch, she heard the door open and looked up to see Leo and Jed coming towards her.
"Sorry we're late," Jed apologized sincerely. "I couldn't seem to get my meeting to end. It's one of the disadvantages to being President; people never want to stop talking once they've got your ear."
"Hmm," Jenn murmured, trying to sound interested.
"How did you sleep last night? Was the room okay?" Jed's voice dripped of a desperate desire to please.
"Yeah, the room's fine. I slept fine, too," she assured him as she gave him a small smile.
Relieved, he pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. "Good. I'm glad. But we're going to move you to the room next door to Zoey's. It just makes more sense that way."
"Oh. Huh," Jenn muttered in a small voice. She attempted to refrain from visibly cringing as she thought to herself, That's great 'cause there's nothing I like more than re-packing and unpacking my things yet again.
Leo could tell that Jed's news had been unenthusiastically received, so he cleared his throat, thereby drawing their attention to him. "Morning, Jenn. You ready to get this meeting started?"
"We're not going to wait for the others?"
"No, they're not going to be joining us for this one."
"Oh." Jenn pondered this new development before looking up with concern and asking, "That isn't because of what happened at the end of yesterday's--"
"No," Leo quickly interjected, shooting a glance at Jed. "It has nothing to do with that."
"Did something happen last night that I don't know about?" Jed asked suspiciously.
"No," Jenn replied with an uneasy laugh. "Everything went great. I love your staff. They're a hoot and a half."
Unconvinced, Jed gazed at both Jenn and Leo before deciding not to push the issue. "Jenn, we've put together a plan on how we think we should proceed with your...unveiling of sorts, and we're ready to carry it out as long as you're okay with it."
"A plan, huh?" she asked tentatively. "That sounds very... I don't know, serious."
"It'll be okay," Leo assured her, locking his brown eyes on hers.
Jenn sighed and unconsciously started biting one of her fingernails. "So, what kind of plan are we talking about?"
"There are three parts to it," Jed began explaining as he turned his chair so that he could sit facing her. "Tomorrow night, I'm going to appear on Dateline for a live 30-minute interview. I'm sure you already know this, Jenn, but the interview's going to center mainly around you. After the show, there's going to be press conference. I'll go into a room packed to the gills with press from all over the world and they'll bombard me with questions. Hopefully I'll be able to b. s. my way through them with a minimal amount of damage," Jed joked. But his smile faded when he saw her eyes glazing over from fear and shock. "The next day, we'd like to have you go on one of those weekend talk shows that cover the past week's events."
"Me?"
"I know it sounds scary, Jenn, but we're sure you can handle it." Leo, who'd been standing, sat down in the chair across from her and reached across the table for her hand. "We wouldn't have suggested it if we didn't think you could."
"But, I- I don't know anything about public speaking."
"Don't think about it in those terms. Think of it more like having a friendly chat," Jed suggested.
"Yeah," Jenn scoffed. "A friendly chat with a complete stranger in front of rolling cameras. That puts me more at ease." She stared up at the ceiling in silence for a moment before asking, "Do you think it'd help? Putting me on TV?"
"Yeah, we do. It'd give the public a chance to put a face to your name. It'd humanize you a little in their eyes. Think you're up for it?" Leo queried, still holding on to her left hand.
"If you'd think it'd help, then yeah, definitely." She bit her lower lip as she tried to slow the pounding of her heart. "Do you have an idea what kind of questions they're going to ask me?"
"Actually, we know exactly what kind of questions they're going to ask because we're going to write them for them. We're going to hand them a list of the only questions they'll be allowed to ask you. This way, you'll know what questions to expect and you'll already have prepared answers for them. No chance of any curveballs."
"Why would anyone agree to that?"
"Because they know that if they don't, there'll definitely be someone down the street who will. Trust me, whichever show we end up choosing for you to go on will agree to this term."
"Okay."
"Jenn," Jed reached out and placed a comforting hand on her right forearm, every muscle in her body immediately tightening in response to his touch, "I know this is all pretty overwhelming and that a lot has happened to you recently, but I really want you to know that I--"
The door creaked opened at that point and Charlie stepped past the Secret Service agents into the room. "I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but the Russian President is waiting for you on the phone. You told me that you wanted me to come get you when he called."
Jenn studied the young man who stood near the door. He wore a crisply ironed white shirt, and his maroon-colored tie with the small white flowers was a nice complement to the shirt and his black slacks. His eyes, which were large and warm and completely lacking in deceit, almost immediately caught her attention. They were bright against his dark skin and sparkled with intelligence. She was also struck by his presence. She could tell he was younger than she was, but from his proper posture to the way he held his head up high, she knew he was someone who could hold his own against any President, King, Chairman, or Prime Minister in the world. She wished she was that fortunate.
Jed groaned at the message but earnestly replied, "Thanks, Charlie." Turning his attention to Leo, he said, almost apologetically, "I have to take this call."
"It's all right, Mr. President," Leo reassured him. "I'll answer any other questions Jenn may have, and then we'll touch base with you again later on today."
"Okay." Jed nodded and began to rise when he suddenly stooped back down and placed a hand on Jenn's shoulder. "Are you okay?" he whispered. For some reason, he just couldn't seem to stop asking her that question.
"Yes, I'm fine." Over Jed's shoulder, she saw Charlie sneaking a peek at her. She wasn't sure what to make of the gesture. Was he looking at her because he knew who she was, or was it because he had no clue who she was?
A relieved smile crept across Jed's face as he awkwardly patted her a couple times on the back and then beat a hasty retreat out of the room.
After his departure, Jenn and Leo found themselves staring at each other. Leo pushed his chair backwards and extended a hand out to Jenn as he stood. "What do you say to getting out of here and finishing this up in my office? It's less...sterile up there."
Jenn's eyes grew large with astonishment. "We're allowed to leave this room?"
"Yeah. What did you think? We were trying to keep you hidden down here?"
"Well..." Jenn cocked her head to a side and recalled the numerous times she had thought just that.
"You didn't."
She shrugged and left her response at that as she followed Leo out of the room and up the stairs to the main floor of the West Wing. They walked in silence down a variety of hallways and Jenn made note of the curious glances that came her way from several staffers.
Once in the safety of his office, Leo instinctually made a beeline for his desk and asked, "Do you have any more questions?"
"Uh, no, I don't think so." Jenn wearily rubbed her eyes as she felt the onset of a migraine coming on. "Everything's moving so quickly. I...I think I'm still adjusting. Are you sure we should move this fast? I mean, I hate to keep sounding like a broken record, but I'm still not absolutely I made the right decision by coming here. What if I decide in a few days that I'd rather go back to California or I'd rather just start over somewhere else, somewhere completely separate from the President? If that happens, then won't it seem like all the stress and machinations were all for not?"
"Jenn, regardless of whether you're here six days from now, six weeks from now, or even six months from now, the President wants the world to know you're his daughter. He's proud of you and everything you've accomplished. You're not some dirty, little secret he's been trying to keep hidden all these years and is now being forced to reveal. You do know that, don't you?"
Jenn sighed and looked out one of his windows. Her words were pregnant with sadness and doubt when she finally said, "I'm trying, Uncle Leo. I really am. But you have to understand, there's been a lot of years of second guessing on my part, and I'm just...I'm trying to reach that place where I believe he loves me. I'm just not sure how long it'll take me to get there."
Leo studied her and realized that she was right. Both he and Jed could repeatedly tell her that she was loved and wanted by the Bartlets, but they would just remain words to her until she believed in them.
Wanting to lighten the somber mood that had descended upon them, Jenn clapped her hands and asked, "So, if this is all going down in the next couple of days, is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I could start drafting some questions for that talk show host to ask me. I mean, who knows better than me, right, what I want to be asked?"
"That's okay. Sam's already working on them."
"Oh. Well, how about some help filing then? Every office has piles of stuff that needs to be filed. I could help with that."
"We have people whose job it is to file things in a timely manner."
"Then what do you expect me to do?" Jenn muttered in annoyance. "Sit here twiddling my thumbs until you shove me in front of some camera and tell me to talk? I'm not a puppet, you know."
Leo couldn't help but smile at her biting words for that was the Jenn he'd come to know and love. "Actually, I do have something you could do for me." He picked up his phone and dialed Ainsley's extension. Once he heard her Southern drawl on the line, he said, "Hi, Ainsley. This is Leo McGarry....What does your schedule look like today?...Well, if I clear it with McMichaels, would you be willing to take today off to do a favor for me?...Great. Come on up to my office and I'll fill you in on the details. Thanks. See you soon." He hung up and saw Jenn glowering at him.
"You want me to be baby-sat by a lawyer?" she demanded coldly.
"No, I want you to go shopping with a lawyer. Here." He reached into his inside jacket pocket for his wallet and plucked out a sparkly silver card, which he then handed to her.
"What's that?"
"It's called a credit card. This one happens to be what they've dubbed 'platinum.'"
"I know what it is," Jenn shot back in disgust. "But you want...you want me to go shopping?"
"Yes. I want you and Ainsley -- and those two agents waiting for you outside -- to go shopping. You're going to need something nice to wear when you appear on that talk show, so go buy a nice suit or something. And you couldn't have been able to squeeze a lot of clothes in that duffel bag of yours, so pick up a few more items for you to wear around here as well. Hit a few stores, see some sights, have a good lunch. You'll have fun."
Jenn stared at him dubiously. "You're being serious, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"Are you trying to get me out of your hair?"
"Oh, yeah."
Jenn narrowed her eyes menacingly before realizing that Leo was only kidding around with her. "Okay, fine, I'll go shopping," she finally relented as she rolled her eyes at the last word she'd uttered. "But for the record, I'd just like to say that this is turning out to be the strangest trip I've ever taken in my life."
"I have no doubt about that," Leo commented, drawing her into a stiff hug. "You'll have fun, I promise," he assured her as he stroked her hair.
"You're making a lot of promises, Uncle Leo. You sure you can make good on all of them?"
"Oh, God, I hope so," he muttered, which led Jenn to start giggling as she hugged him back.
"Blagghhh!"
Toby glanced up from his laptop and scanned his room for the source of the odd-sounding noise he'd just heard. With the exception of a teetering pile of books stacked haphazardly in one of his armchairs, his office was the exactly the way it had been since yesterday. He tilted his head to the right and checked to see if the sound had come from his bullpen. Even though it was eight o'clock at night, the Communications Bullpen was still a flurry of activity. He saw Ginger zoom past his door and Bonnie return from the mess precariously holding four cups of coffee with her two hands. Nope, everything looked normal enough to him. He'd just returned to reading the contents on his computer screen when his train of thought was interrupted once again, this time by a strangled cry of "Fuaiieghst!" He didn't have to seek out the source of the noise this time for the source came to him in the form of Sam...or what looked like Sam.
With his shirtsleeves rolled up, his tie hanging loosely around his unbuttoned collar, and his hands clenching an assortment of papers, Sam appeared in his doorway babbling what Toby at first thought was nonsense. "I can't do this, Toby. I just can't. I mean, I can multi-task with the best of them, but I don't think I can do this. I've got rebuttals to compose, position papers to read, lists of questions to put together, a statement to write -- and I don't even know if the First Lady's going to be there tomorrow night so that means I'm going to have to write two statements -- and I've lost the ability to form complete sentences. I just wrote down the phrase 'on the flip side.' On the flip side! Oh my God, Toby, I think I'm having a nervous breakdown."
Toby stared at his deputy in dumbfounded silence. He'd seen Sam act loopy before, especially when he'd had too much to drink, but the look of utter panic that currently filled Sam's eyes frightened Toby more than he wanted to admit. "First of all, Sam, breathe," Toby ordered with a strict voice in the hopes of snapping Sam out of whatever spell he was trapped in, "because if you faint in my office, I'm not gonna give you CPR."
The insult appeared to work as Sam blinked a few times before entering the room and collapsing onto Toby's couch. "Your concern's utterly overwhelming."
"What's going on, Sam?"
Sam exhaled loudly and smoothed back his hair. "There's not enough time, Toby," he announced somberly. "There's so much to do, and there's...there's just not enough time to do them in. I've been in meetings all day, trying to stay focused, trying not to reveal that things aren't okay, but all I could think about was how I had no idea how that statement was gonna get written and how that list of questions was gonna get put together. I've been in my office for the past hour trying to get started on that statement, but my mind's been all over the place. I thought, at first, it was because I was tired, but I now know that it's because the only thing I can think of for him to say when he goes on the air is, 'You know what? I'm a complete bastard, and that's why I shouldn't be the President of the United States any longer.'"
"Sam..."
"No, Toby, I'm serious. He screwed us over again. He stood there in the Oval Office and promised us that there were no more secrets, that his MS omission had just been a case of bad judgement on his part. He stood there and lied to us. It's like this whole summer meant nothing to him."
"Sam..."
"I'm just...I'm tired of it all. I don't think I can do this, Toby. I'm sorry." Sam looked up at his friend and mentor with large sorrowful eyes.
"Sam, it's okay." Toby strode over to his couch and crouched down in front of him. "I shouldn't have put all this on your shoulders. Why don't you handle the statement and I'll take the list? If you get stuck, let me know and we'll swap assignments. Everything'll be okay."
"Toby, that's not what I was--"
"Sam, take the statement." Toby's words were firm but also kind.
Sam hesitated for a moment before saying, "Okay."
"Good."
"But I still need to know if the First Lady's going to be there tomorrow. If she is, then that's one statement, but if she isn't, then that's an entirely different statement. I need to know."
"Okay. I'll try to find that out for you."
Sam sighed again, but rose to his feet and rubbed his exhausted eyes. "So, I'll work on the statement and you'll work on the list?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." As he started to exit the room, he turned back around to ask, "Toby?"
"Yeah?"
"I can usually handle the pressure, you know."
"I know." Toby gave Sam a small smile that was a combination of chagrin and encouragement. "Go on, get outta here. But don't hesitate to ask me for help if you get stuck. We're in this thing together."
"Okay. Thanks."
"No problem."
Toby waited until Sam had returned to his own office before he making his way across the West Wing to Leo's. When he arrived, Margaret's desk was vacant, so Toby walked over to Leo's door unannounced. Leo's head was stooped over his desk, his lips giving the slightest sign of movement every now and then as he perused a memo sent to him by the Department of Agriculture. The only light currently on in his office was that of his desk lamp, so it almost appeared as if Leo, shrouded in darkness, was emitting a yellowish glow.
"Got a minute?" Toby asked, standing uneasily in the doorway.
Startled, Leo jumped slightly in his chair before looking up and glaring at his 'intruder.'
"Sorry," Toby apologized. "Margaret wasn't at her desk, so I thought I'd just--"
"Come in for round two?" Leo offered with a surly tone of voice.
"Yeah, about that," Toby closed the door behind him and took a seat in front of Leo's desk, "I want to apologize for my behavior this morning. I was completely out of line."
"Gee, you think?"
"The thing is, I wasn't even angry when I said all those things."
"So you just decided to be an ass for the hell of it?"
"Okay, let me rephrase that. I was angry, but not because of the Jenn thing. I was angry because of how the President's actions have affected the others." Toby hesitated for a moment before adding, "We're falling apart internally, Leo."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the others. Have you noticed how quiet Josh has become? It started last night, after the meeting downstairs ended. We reconvened in my office, and that's when Josh turned mute. I didn't even notice or care at first because I was in full bitch-and-moan mode. But trust me, when you can go ten minutes without Josh interrupting with some inane comment, it becomes eerie. C.J. was pretty quiet herself, but I thought she was doing that on purpose so that she could digest all of our arguments and produce some words of wisdom. It turns out, though, that she was instead doing some internal raging of her own. And Sam...you should have seen Sam last night. You would've been so proud of him. He was the only one who was making any sense. He was levelheaded and coherent and kept us on task. But now, he's...he's coming apart at the seams. I don't know how much more he can take before we lose him."
"What are you getting at, Toby?"
Toby stared across the desk at Leo and realized that he didn't know what he was getting at. Leo was astute; he must have figured out by now that things were amiss with his senior staff. What had he expected Leo to do? What could Leo do? It wasn't like he could turn back time and erase the Bartlets' marriage woes or prevent Jed from meeting Melanie or stop Jed from 'forgetting' to mention Jenn to his staff. Toby closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his noise as he mumbled, "I don't know." Leo refocused his attention on the memo he'd been reading while Toby took a few seconds to collect his thoughts. "Do you know if Dr. Bartlet's going to be there tomorrow night?" Toby remembered to ask. "Sam's working on the statement and he needs to know."
Leo removed his reading glasses and studied Toby's face. "I don't know, but what's your opinion on the matter? If you were the President, would you want her there with you?"
"It's a tough call to make. I think it's a lose-lose situation for us. Let's say the First Lady appears with the President on Dateline tomorrow. Viewers will read that one of two ways. They'll either say, 'Hey, look at that. The woman who the President cheated on is standing by him and has accepted Jenn so we should accept her, too.' or they'll say, 'God, will you look at that? Does the man have no shame? He cheats on his wife and then drags her in front of the cameras with him.' If she doesn't go on the air with him, then viewers will either not notice her absence, or they'll think she's not there because she's too upset at the President. We run a risk of bad press no matter what."
"Hmm. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter what we think, anyway. Only the First Lady knows at this point whether she's planning on making an appearance tomorrow night."
"Sam needs to know tonight, though. The sooner the better."
"Okay. I'll speak with the President and see if he knows. I'll get back to you guys as soon as I know anything."
"Thanks, Leo." Toby rose to his feet and began making his way to the door. "Oh, and I am sorry about this morning."
"I appreciate that, but I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. You annoyed me, but you insulted the President."
Toby stroked his beard as he mulled over Leo's comment. "Yeah, okay. I'll go see him. Later."
As Toby placed his hand on the doorknob, Leo called out, "Hey, Toby. About Sam, do you think it would help if I--"
"I told him everything would be okay. That seemed to help."
"Good. Keep telling him that. And let me know if there's anything I could say or do for him that'd make things better."
"Okay." Toby turned his attention back to the door before being struck by a thought. "Leo, everything is going to be okay, isn't it?"
Leo sighed and looked thoughtfully at the rumpled man standing in his office. "I certainly hope so. Not so much for us, but for Jenn. She deserves this, Toby. I know you guys just see her as this...problem we have to fix. But she's more than that; she's a little girl who never got to know her father. If I hadn't pushed Jed Bartlet to run for President, then he'd be living up the retired life in New Hampshire right now, and Jenn wouldn't have had any problems reuniting with him. So, for her sake, I really do hope that everything turns out okay."
"Yeah." Toby's gaze fell to the floor and he watched himself scuff the carpeting with the toe of his right shoe. "Thanks, Leo."
"Sure."
Long after Toby had left his office, Leo remained staring at the spot where he had stood. His staff was falling apart. It wasn't new news to him. He'd seen the way Margaret had openly scowled at the President the first time they bumped into each other after she'd been told about Melanie and Jenn, so he even knew that anger towards the President extended beyond the senior staff. It was his responsibility to bring them all together again, but he was damned if he knew how he was going to accomplish that.
He groaned as he stood up, his knees popping and creaking their disapproval at being moved. As much as he hoped everything would work out in the end, he also hoped it would all be over soon. Very soon.
Due to the lateness in hour, Leo opened the door connecting his office to the Oval Office without bothering to knock first. Jed looked up at the sound of the doorknob turning and awaited Leo's face.
"What a day, huh, Mr. President?" Leo asked as he crossed into the Oval Office.
Jed moaned and tossed something he'd reading on to his coffee table. "Remind me again why I wanted this job, Leo."
"You're a glutton for punishment."
"No, if I remember correctly -- and I know that I do -- you forced me to."
"Whatever you say," Leo dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Sir, Sam needs an answer."
"Well, I'm often known as the man with the answers," Jed began jovially, "but why don't you give me a question to work with just to be sure I don't give you the wrong answer."
"Sam's working on the Dateline statement and needs to know if Abbey's going to appear on the show with you."
"I don't know," Jed responded curtly.
"Maybe you should make a quick trip to the Residence, sir, and find out. Sam really needs to know."
"She's not there," Jed mumbled quickly, covering his mouth with a hand.
"Excuse me? I'm afraid I didn't quite catch that."
"She's not at the Residence, Leo," Jed repeated, grimacing as the words left his mouth. "She's in New Hampshire...at Liz's."
Leo observed the President with wide eyes. "Does this mean she's--"
"It means she's pissed at me," Jed snapped in disgust. "That's what it means."
"So the girls know?" Leo asked quietly, ignoring his best friend's outburst.
"Yeah." Jed sighed and rested his head against the top of the couch. "Abbey and I called each of them last night. I would have preferred to talk to them in person, but time hasn't been on my side for quite awhile."
"How'd they take it?"
"Well, I never thought it was possible for Ellie to say less than she usually does, but she managed to surprise me last night. Zoey took it pretty well. She seemed more concerned about Jenn's mental well being than anything else. And Liz...well, all Liz wanted to know was how she was supposed to explain everything to Annie. Then she asked to speak to her mother alone. Abbey flew to Liz's this morning."
"Do you know when she's planning on coming back?"
"No."
"Have you talked to her at all today?"
"I've called every chance I've had, but she hasn't returned any of my calls."
"I'm sorry, sir."
Jed nodded his head absently. "I never told you how Abbey reacted when I first told her about Jenn, did I? She was devastated, Leo. It killed her to know I'd been with another woman, and then for me to have a...a souvenir -- I think she actually used that term once -- from that period, well, our marriage almost didn't survive it. She never let on to Jenn how she felt about her, but I'm fairly certain she was happy when Mel wouldn't let me see Jenn anymore. But now Jenn's back and I...I think my marriage may be in trouble again."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"I wish there was, Leo. Thanks for offering, though." He gave Leo a half-smile and asked, "So, what are we going to do about this Sam situation?"
"I'll get him to work around the issue of whether Abbey will be there."
"I know Sam's a talented writer, but isn't whether Abbey's going to be on Dateline with me crucial to the tone of the statement? I think we both know it's not something he can just 'work around.'"
"Don't worry about it, sir. I'll figure something out with Sam and Toby."
"Okay."
"Oh, before I forget, you're probably going to get paid a little visit by Toby later on tonight. He's sorry about his behavior at this morning's staff meeting."
"Oh, well, it's good to know that at least Toby's sorry."
"Sir?"
Jed rolled his eyes and shot Leo his do-you-think-I'm-an-idiot look. "Did you think I haven't noticed that my entire staff is angry with me, Leo? I just spent the past twelve hours conversing with the tops of their heads because none of them can bring themselves to look me in the eyes."
"They're just...it's... I wouldn't take it too personally, sir."
"My staff won't look me in the eyes. Is there any other way for me to take that except personally?"
"Okay, I'll give you that one. But..." Leo fell momentarily silent as he tried to figure out how to break some bad news to the President gently. "The staff's just feeling a little betrayed right now. When they think about you breaking your marriage vows to Abbey, they automatically replace Abbey with their mothers in their minds, and that leads them to start pondering the unthinkable about their own parents. It's an unfortunate situation, but?"
"Ohh," Jed moaned, burying his head in hands. "Sins of the father...we're always grappling with those, aren't we?"
"The sins of any parent tend to sting the most, sir."
Jed removed his hands from his face and Leo was taken aback to see how moist his eyes were. In all the years they'd been friends, Leo couldn't remember ever seeing Jed so close to crying in front of him, not even when he'd told him about Mrs. Landingham's car accident. "I never stopped loving Abbey, Leo," Jed declared haltingly. "During those months when we were separated, I prayed every night that she would never stop loving me. I also never intended to fall in love with Mel. If you'd asked me when I was twenty whether I thought I would ever love two women at the same time, I would have said you were crazy to think such a thing. But it happened. I didn't mean for it to, but it did. My heart belongs to Abbey, but a little part of it will always belong to Mel. I didn't sleep with her because I was some horny almost-divorcé. I loved her. I was ready to start a whole new life with her. Love...it's such a small word but the power it has...it's pretty amazing, isn't it?"
Examining Leo's face, Jed knew that his best friend understood exactly what he meant about the power of love, for it was love that prevented reasonable men like Leo and Toby from finding himself an apartment to live in or from removing his wedding band from his left hand. "Yes, it is, sir. But, really, try not to worry too much about the staff. Things with them will soon pass and then everything will go back to normal."
"Oh, who do you think you're kidding, Leo?" Jed asked dryly, recovering from his melancholy. "Right now, my wife hates me, my staff hates me, and my children probably hate me, too. And speaking of children, have you seen Jenn recently? I went looking for her around noon and was told she'd gone somewhere with Ainsley. Could that be right?"
"Oh, yeah. I sent her and Ainsley shopping."
"Shopping?"
"What? Women have been known to like shopping. And I figured it was better than having her sit around here doing nothing all day."
"Gee, Leo, if I had to say who I thought was Jenn's father, I know who I'd choose."
"I wasn't trying to step on your toes, sir," Leo replied seriously.
"Oh, I know. Don't mind me. I'm just in a mood."
"I should probably go speak to Sam about that statement."
"Okay. Thanks, Leo."
"Thank you, Mr. President."
Leaving Jed to ponder the future of his marriage and presidency in private, Leo exited the Oval Office through the door leading out into the hallway. He saw Josh depart from the Mural Room and immediately recollected Toby's comment about how his deputy had become uncommonly quiet. "Josh," Leo beckoned as he rushed down the hall to catch up with him.
Upon hearing his name, Josh turned to see Leo walking quickly towards him. "Hi, Leo," he welcomed with a solemn voice. "Did you need something?"
Leo immediately noticed how sad Josh sounded. "Josh, are you okay?"
That was apparently the wrong question to ask, for Josh's face clouded over almost immediately as he barked, "God, will you let up already? I've eaten today, really!"
Leo's concern only deepened with this non sequitur response. "What?"
Realizing his faux pas, Josh sheepishly looked away as his cheeks grew red. "Sorry. Donna's been asking me that all day as well as nagging me about how I haven't been eating enough, and then she keeps-- Oh, never mind. It's been a long day. Did you need something, Leo?"
"I need a favor."
"Okay. Shoot."
"I don't think Jenn's really dealt with her mother's death yet."
"Okay."
"And seeing as how your dad also died from cancer, I thought that you might be able to get her to open up about Mel's death."
"Me?" Josh's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"I know she won't talk about it with me or the President, but since you two share--"
"You think she's just going to spill her guts out to me 'cause we both happen to belong to the my-parent-died-from-cancer club?"
Leo realized how silly he was sounding, but he continued to stare at Josh beseechingly. "Please, Josh. I know it sounds crazy, but could you at least give it a try? For me? It's not healthy for her to keep all her grief bottled up. And she doesn't really have anyone around here her age who she could just talk to."
"I don't know, Leo."
"Please? I'd really appreciate it."
Josh pondered the request for a moment and decided to agree to it despite how asinine it sounded. "All right, fine. But I'm only promising to talk to her. I'm not guaranteeing any results."
"Thanks, Josh."
"Sure."
"So, where are you headed to now?"
"Uh, Toby mentioned to me that Sam could use some help with the Dateline statement, so I figured I'd go down there and offer my services."
"Well, what a coincidence. I'm headed there myself."
Both Leo and Josh heard the laughter wafting from Sam's office long before they came in view of it. As they huddled around Sam's doorway, they saw C.J. resting on a chair, doubled over from laughing, Toby standing off in a corner, his hand over his mouth to hide his smile, and Sam sitting behind his desk, not exactly smiling, but looking much less unhinged than he had earlier in the evening.
Upon seeing the two new arrivals, C.J. motioned for them to join them in the room as she wiped away some tears from her cheeks. "Come on in, guys. We've decided that we're going to kill ourselves at midnight by falling on our swords since the President won't fall on his. Wanna join us?"
Josh let loose a hearty laugh in response to the question and C.J. dissolved into another fit of giggles. Leo observed the senior staff with a smile of his own and was delighted to see they had recaptured their wicked -- albeit oftentimes inappropriate -- sense of humor.
Meanwhile, in the room next door to Zoey's, Jenn sat on the bed with her knees tucked under her chin and her arms hugging her bent legs. She found the room disturbingly silent and would have turned on the TV if she weren't afraid of disrupting the quiet. Her newly bought suit hung in the near-empty closet, and she stared impassively at it. Ainsley had advised her to look for something 'conservative' since she was to appear on TV in it, so they'd finally settled on a classic black pantsuit with just a subtle hint of pinstripes, courtesy of some fine silvery thread. When she'd seen the price, she'd balked at purchasing it -- it cost more than she usually spent on groceries for a whole month -- but Ainsley had assured her that, at a discount of 75% off, it truly was a steal.
Shopping with Ainsley had turned out to be surprisingly painless. Jenn had been afraid the lawyer would spend the day peppering her with questions about her past, but that never transpired. At some point in her life, Ainsley had perfected the talent of going on and on about absolutely nothing, which suited Jenn just fine since she hadn't been in a very talkative mood herself. With two Secret Service agents in tow, the two women had gone to several of Ainsley's favorite stores, visited the Smithsonian as well as all the presidential memorials, and had returned to the White House around five in the afternoon.
After ensuring that Jenn would be fine on her own, Ainsley had retreated to her office in order to check her messages and Jenn had gone in search for either Leo or her father (in that order). She received more curious looks from different staffers as she wandered through the West Wing, but no one questioned her right to be there (probably because there were already two agents stalking her every move). After awhile, she succeeded in locating an assistant who informed her, somewhat coldly, that both the President and Leo were participating in a very important meeting and could not be disturbed. With nothing left to do, she had allowed herself to be shown to the room where she currently sat.
At around six, she had received a rushed call from her father asking her to join him for dinner. But twenty minutes later, she received another call -- this time from Charlie -- notifying her that the President had to cancel because something bad had happened somewhere and the situation required his attention. So she ate her dinner in solitude and went back to the Residence without speaking to anyone or having anyone speak to her.
As Jenn pulled her legs closer to her chest and willed herself not to cry, she realized that, in retrospect, the sense of overwhelming loneliness she had thought she felt when she'd disembarked at the airport was actually only a shadow of the loneliness she was currently feeling.
(End of Part I)