One Day Earlier

There were advantages to having a secret service detail, Abbey thought to herself, as she struggled only momentarily with the corset of her dress before moving to the door of her room and poking her head out of it.

"Brianna," she motioned to her lead agent, a tall slender woman with a mass of pre-Raphaelite curls, who had, over time, become her friend, "could you?" she turned, indicating the loose ribbon work on the back of her gown. The other woman grinned, "Me thinks FLOTUS is abusing her power a little."

Abbey grinned, glancing along the hallway to where a handsome stranger was stood, watching the two of them with some interest, "And I think Brianna is being a little sassy to show off for the good looking man. Who is he anyway?" She asked, and then, spying a Secret Service pin on his jacket, added, "Do I have a new shadow?"

Brianna nodded, "That's Ed. He started today."

"Well clearly he started today otherwise I'd have seen him before." Abbey gave the new boy a perky little wave then turned her attention back to matters sartorial, "Are you going to do me up or am I going to have to dine with my husband half naked?"

The agent positioned the First Lady in front of her and then set to work on the ribbons, "I'm sure the President wouldn't complain."

Abbey sighed, suddenly a little downhearted, "I'm not so sure he'd even notice at the moment."

Brianna smiled a wry smile. As one of the First Lady's trusted confidantes she'd heard her complain about her husband so many times that it didn't phase her any more, and she'd become adept at coming up with the right response. In this case, it was clear what was needed.

"You look stunning." She tied a neat bow at the base of Abbey's back and then turned her round to look at her, "I fail to see how he could miss you tonight."

X X X

"Check."

"You're getting pretty good at this." Jed told CJ as he surveyed the board, looking for a way to save his King from her grasp, then smiling as he found it and slid one of his pieces deftly across the board, "But not good enough." He grinned, as he reversed the situation, "Check."

"Time 'check' perchance?" came a voice from behind them. The voice of an utterly pissed off sounding Abbey, who, having waited in the dining room in the residence for 15 minutes after the agreed time, had finally made the trip to The Oval Office in search of her husband, "I said dinner was at 8."

Jed, used to being in his wife's bad books, didn't even bother to look up from the game, "Yes darling, you said dinner was at 8. You always say dinner is at 8 and then when I don't show up dinner comes down to me on a little tray and I get on with running the country. I fail to see," he added, "why today should be any different?"

He failed to see of course because his focus was, in its entirety, completely on the chessboard, and so, it was CJ, glancing in Abbey's direction to see what her reaction might be that saw first why today was 'different'.

"Sir…" she said softly, indicating both with eyes and tone that he should turn his attention to his wife.

He did so, and for a moment his breath was taken away as he drank in the vision in front of him. Abbey's very sexy, scarlet colored dress revealed the figure of a woman half her age, although, when he finally lifted his eyes to meet hers he was greeted by nothing other than anger and contempt.

He looked at her sheepishly, "Did we have a date? I thought Valentines Day was tomorrow night?"

Abbey stalked into the room, her eyes flashing wildly, "Valentines Day IS tomorrow night. But since you're flying to the other side of the world tomorrow morning I thought I'd bring it forward. But," she glared at him, less angry wife, more petulant teenager, "if you'd rather be playing chess than wining and dining me then screw you." And with that, she turned on heel and stormed out of the room again in whirl of red chiffon and sequins.

As she left, Jed sighed, "In the dog house again."

"Maybe you should go and explain." CJ said hesitantly, still not entirely sure how appropriate it was to get involved where the First Marriage was concerned. She glanced at her watch, "We've got 10 minutes until we meet with the Joint Chiefs, that's time enough to explain the situation to her."

He laughed sardonically, "I wouldn't get a word in for the first twenty Claudia Jean, not when she's in a mood like this. I'll talk to her afterwards. We'll get this nailed and then she can have my ear to chew for the rest of the evening."

X X X

"Brianna!" Abbey barked as she emerged from The Oval Office, still incandescent, "I want 20 Lucky Strikes and a car out the front in the next 10 minutes. We're going out."

Ed, who was stood at Brianna's side, watched stunned as the First Lady stalked across the lawn back to the residence, but to his surprise his colleague seemed nonplussed.

"You'll get used to it." She said, by way of an explanation, "It happens a lot."

Ed looked at her questioningly, "But, she said she wanted cigarettes. Isn't she…"

"An MD?" Brianna finished for him, nodding her head, "Oh yes, but she tends to forget that on nights like these." She reached into her pocket, pulling out her wallet and rifling through it before handing him a twenty. "You organize the smokes, I'll sort the car. See you out front in 5."

With her junior colleague sent up on his way, Brianna headed back to the residence herself, tapping cautiously on the door to the presidential bedroom and waiting to be invited inside. When she did so, she found Abbey, still steaming and struggling with the dress that she'd helped her into such a short time before.

Wordlessly, she moved up behind her and undid the bow before heading over to Abbey's dressing room.

"Jeans?" She asked, already reaching for a low slung pair when Abbey appeared in the doorway and nodded. She tossed them in her direction, and then headed over to where the T-shirts were kept, selecting one at random and passing those to the other woman too. She watched silently as she changed and then handed over a leather jacket – some things just went without saying – and then asked one final question – because some things didn't, "What color hair?"

Abbey paused, breaking off from pulling the jacket on to think momentarily, because reaching her decision, "Dirty blonde." She murmured, "I'm feeling both blonde and dirty tonight, and if his nibs doesn't want to take advantage of that then we'll look elsewhere."

Had she thought for a second that her charge was serious, Brianna would have been having kittens – nothing spelt 'security breach' like the idea of the First Lady pulling a bit of rough in a bar – but as it stood, with her knowing that Abbey would never cheat on her President husband, her only reaction was to go over to a small collection of wigs that hung in one corner of the room and select one that best fitted the description.

As Abbey took it from her and sat down at her dressing table to put it on, their eyes met in the mirror and finally, her grimace turned into a wry smile, "Bri?" She said, fiddling with the wig as she did so, "Why on earth do you put up with me?"

Brianna smiled back at her, "Because this the best gig on the planet. I get to play dress up with the most famous woman in the world. Why on earth would I want to do anything else?"

X X X