Author's Note: This story is really just an enormous brain dump of all my headcanon for all my favorite characters. I've conveniently made sure that Leo McGarry DID NOT die on election night, because it's fic and I can do that. I hope you all enjoy!

How Nicely Everything Turned Out

CJ stood on the porch of the plantation-style mansion in Virginia. She nervously rang the doorbell and felt her husband's hand at her back. She turned to Danny and smiled. It had been a long time since she had seen her dear friends in person. The last time they had been together was two years earlier at the grand opening of the Bartlet Presidential Library in New Hampshire. But now they were away from the public eye, and they could just enjoy their time with friends.

The door was flung open and a tiny blonde woman squealed in delight. "CJ! Danny! You guys made it!" Annabeth greeted joyfully. She pulled CJ into a big hug. Danny chuckled at the sight of Annabeth Schott only coming up to his tall wife's elbows. Annabeth then turned her attention to Danny, pulling him into a hug as well. She ushered them into the house.

Leo came downstairs to greet his guests. "CJ, Danny, welcome!"

CJ gave her former boss a big hug. "We're so happy to be here, finally!"

"Well, we had to get the house all ready after we left the administration before we could have people over," Leo explained. "I'm just glad you guys could finally take the time to come."

"And how's retirement treating you, Leo?" Danny asked.

Annabeth scowled. "What retirement? I swear, he's on the phone with Josh or President Santos or Sam or President Bartlet every day!"

"Well I've got six months in my advisory capacity before my lecture tour starts," the former Vice President informed them. "A lecture tour, I might add, that is going to have me almost as busy as I was during the campaign five years ago."

"Well, everyone wants you," Annabeth pointed out.

"Just keep in mind that I had a heart attack that almost killed me last time, alright?"

Annabeth frowned and said nothing. She was ever mindful of his health problems and did not like being reminded. "Well, giving lectures to universities is a little less strenuous than campaigning. Or so I'd imagine. I guess we'll find out once we get on the road," she said, forcing a smile.

She led their guests into the living room where she had already laid out a plate of cheeses and crackers. "So tell me, you two, where's that darling daughter of yours? We were expecting to see her."

"Evie is staying with her boyfriend tonight," Danny told them with a smile.

CJ laughed. "She's with Margaret. You know Thomas is a few years older than Evie, but she adores him. They are so cute together."

"Margaret? Our Margaret?" Leo asked.

"Yeah. She lives in Silver Spring. We visit her every time we're in town," CJ said.

"You know, I talk to her at least once a week?" Leo said with a grin.

CJ shared his smile. "Me too. God, I miss her. I have an assistant in LA, but it just isn't the same."

Leo nodded in agreement. "There is no one better. She was with me for ten years before you stole her away."

"Yeah, well Josh stole her from both of us. But I can't imagine anyone else sitting in front of that office. I'm pretty sure the nation would fall without Margaret Hooper."

Danny interrupted the love-fest of Margaret when he noticed something. "Annabeth, what's on your finger there?"

CJ's head whipped around to look. "Oh my god!"

Leo sighed. "We were going to tell you, but I've forgotten how good an investigator Danny is."

CJ nodded. "Yeah he's ridiculously observant. It's useful but annoying. But that's not the point! Leo! You're engaged!?"

He smiled. "I guess so. She did say yes."

Annabeth beamed radiantly, holding out her left hand for everyone to admire her engagement ring. It was rather large, but it fit her long, elegant finger very nicely.

"Well, CJ, I'm sorry I've failed you. I don't think I'll ever be able to give you a mansion or a giant diamond like Leo has given Annabeth."

CJ swatted his arm. "Oh stop. We have a condo and a daughter. And that's all I need."

Danny grinned proudly. He didn't really need the validation from his wife, but it was certainly nice to hear.

"So tell us how it happened!" CJ requested excitedly.

"It was our first night in the house," Annabeth said, setting the scene. "I'd seen it, of course. Leo took me out here when I asked him if we could live in Virginia, because my family is all down south, but we still wanted to be reasonably close to Washington and to New Hampshire. So after months of working with a decorator and all the movers and everything, we finally got to move in and have this giant place all to ourselves. And it really isn't as big as it seems. Not really. Just the master suite, two guest rooms, and an office for each of us, along with the huge kitchen, the living room here, a formal dining room, and the game room."

"Yeah. Just a quaint little place in Virginia. Sure," CJ quipped.

Leo continued, "So anyway, we were here all by ourselves and had sandwiches and ginger ale for dinner in the formal dining room in our pajamas, just for the fun of it. And I just looked at her and knew it was right. I went upstairs and got the ring that I bought a year ago out of the drawer in my desk, and I proposed."

"Wait…you bought the ring a year ago?" Annabeth asked, her brow furrowed.

"Yeah. But I didn't want to propose until after Santos's first term was over and the new VP was in place. For the first time in our life together, we're settled. And that's all I want." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. The look on Annabeth's face was one of pure bliss.

They all spent the rest of the evening talking about plans for the future, reminiscing on old times in the Bartlet White House, and sharing stories about all their friends. CJ hadn't heard yet that Donna Moss-Lyman was pregnant, and she was over the moon about it. Sam Seaborn had broken up with the fiancée he had been with when he became Deputy Chief of Staff two years earlier, but he and Ainsley Hayes had just moved in together. Will Bailey was campaigning to become a Senator from Oregon, though Leo knew he would one day be back in the White House one way or another. The Bartlets were busy travelling the world for various charity missions, though the former President had found the time to write two books after his departure from the White House. They had slowed recently, however, because Dr. Bartlet had become Dean of Harvard Medical School, and the family was busy planning a wedding for their last daughter to recent Georgetown Law grad Charlie Young.

Everything had worked out better than they had ever imagined. The eight years they had spent together in the trenches had been rough but rewarding, giving them all the future they never knew they wanted. And they were all living happily ever after.