Later was turning out to be something painfully excruciating for Jed. Normally he loved a fancy meal with multiple courses of creative and varied plates but this evening he found himself wishing the 7 course meal was instead something closer to the fast food variety.
He was scheduled to speak last and was finding it nearly impossible to focus on anything the current speakers were sharing. He tried to make eye contact with Abbey but her attention was frustratingly dedicated to the podium. Jed supposed he too should be paying attention but he just couldn't dredge up the willpower to care about anything other than calculating the time it was going to take to get back to the residence.
Unable to resist any longer, his hand slipped off the table and found Abbey's knee. She gave no visible reaction to his touch so he began to make slow circles with his fingertips, slowly rotating so that soon his hand was making slow patterns on the inside of her knee rather than on top. She still didn't give anything away to the casual observer but Jed smirked in satisfaction at noticing she stopped eating although her fork stayed frozen in her hand.
Slowly, ever so slowly Jed continued his private game, moving his hand further up the inside of her leg. He was just getting to the point where he silently cursed the fabric of the dress she was wearing when Abbey put down her fork and reached under the table, stilling his hand against her leg. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching but all eyes seemed focused on the dais and Senator Whats-His-Name who was droning on about something.
Jed risked looking directly at his wife who was looking politely at the speaker and seemingly paying no attention to her husband.
She lightly stroked the top of his hand causing an involuntary shudder to run through him. She then firmly grasped his hand and pulled it from her thigh and back up on the table.
Jed fought the instinct to pout.
Still without looking away from the speaker and in a tone so quiet it would not be heard by anyone but him, "Later Jethro."
He squeezed her hand, "I want you now."
"I know."
He blew out a frustrated breath and took in a deep breath to steady himself. It would have worked too if he hadn't breathed in the scent of Abbey's perfume.
"It's torturous sitting this close to you." He whispered, subtly leaning closer.
"I can imagine." Her attention remained away from him but he heard the amusement in her voice.
"You mock my love." He accused. He tried to pull his hand from hers but she squeezed tighter, holding his hand respectably on the table top.
"Never." She deflected.
"Then let me touch you." He leaned as close as he could without being visibly inappropriate and when he spoke he focused his air so he knew she felt his breath on her neck.
"Later." She remained insistent but he watched as small goosebumps raised up and color flushed her skin.
"Abbey." That was a whine.
"Later." She repeated.
Jed was trying to think of ways he could get her to release his hand without causing a scene when she turned her face just enough so he could see her lips move and she spoke with a sly grin, "Mr. President, when we get out of here I'm going to let you touch me anywhere you want. What's more, I'm going to touch you where ever I want."
"Oh?" He smirked happily.
"Oh yeah. I've been doing a lot of planning while sitting here." Her eyes remained trained on the podium but Jed knew that was not where her attention was.
"Planning?" He squeezed her hand.
"I'm just a little stuck on how I'm going to start." A thoughtful look crossed her face and Jed grinned.
He looked around to make sure they weren't attracting attention and wouldn't be overheard before asking, "Can I help?"
Abbey sighed and tilted her head, obviously thinking while still avoiding looking at him. "Well a big part of me wants to start just by running my hands through your hair while I look into your eyes and then kiss you like crazy. But now I'm thinking that first I want to pull off your tie and slowly unbutton your shirt. That way when I do run my hands through your hair I can then slip them down and push your shirt off pretty easily."
She had kept her voice quiet which only increased the sultry tone in her voice and Jed had to swallow before he could comment, "That seems efficient."
She nodded slightly, "Hrm; efficient yes, but I'm not looking for speed. No I'm thinking I'm going to take my time. Run my hands over your strong arm and across your chest and back. Maybe I'll move on to drop small kisses on your chest while my hands stroke your shoulders or maybe I'll drop my hands to grab your butt or stroke you through your pants."
Jed shifted in his seat. He briefly wondered if his tie was slowly strangling him as he was barely able to get out the words, "Sounds like a good way to multi-task."
Abbey gave no indication she heard him. Keeping her eyes off of him she continued to muse in a soft whisper, "Yes, I think I'm probably going to end up pushing you back until you're backed against the bed and are forced to lie down. At that point this dress will probably get in the way so you'll have to watch me as I slowly take it off. Once it's gone I'll be free to climb on the bed next to you and slowly work my hand down your stomach to your waistband."
Jed swallowed, "You're going to take off my belt?"
"Oh yes I am going to have to." She responded matter of factly, "I can't have any obstacles, I want so badly to wrap my hand around you, to feel you respond to me."
Jed fought to keep the smug grin off his face but he knew it was a losing battle, "I'm going to have to take over at this point." He intoned.
"Oh no." Abbey gave an imperceptible shake of her head. "If you try to take control I will push you down. I may straddle you to keep you where I want you, I may get on my knees for you. Whatever it takes. You see, I missed you and I missed the way you look at me and I am going to make you look at me that way for a long time tonight. If you're good I may let you do a little touching but you're going to have to ask permission first. And I may be too busy to respond."
He closed his eyes and swallowed so deeply that he feared he stopped breathing.
"Abbey.."
Her hand released his and surreptitiously dropped under the table. She ran her hand up his leg and smiled as she felt his physical reaction to her words. Her fingers danced lightly across his tuxedo pants and Jed had to hold his breath to keep from revealing their game to the world.
He too pulled his hand off the table but as soon as he landed on her knee again she stopped what she was doing and grasped his hand and returned them both to the top of the table.
There was a very unpresidential whine next to her.
Turning her head for the first time and looking directly at him she asked at a normal volume, "What is your speech about?"
He blinked at her mutely.
She tilted her head, "Pumpkin, your speech in a couple of minutes? What's it going to be about? The CEQ, right? That will dovetail nicely with what Gillette just said."
He again just stared at her.
She kept speaking as if oblivious to the exchange of the past few minutes, "Unless you think there is too much overlap? I guess you'll have to do some editing on the fly then, hrm? Toby will love that."
Jed finally felt his brain lurch back into motion and he finally found his voice, "I'm speaking?"
"Well not so much right at the moment." Abbey quirked an eyebrow at him, her eyes twinkling in infinite amusement.
"When am I speaking?" Jed cast about his brain for any information other than his wife's anatomy and proximity; despairingly he was coming up with nothing.
Abbey answered patiently, "Right now dear. Well, I imagine 3 minutes from now-ish."
Jed's eyes got wide and he fidgeted in his seat suddenly realizing he had a predicament other than just remembering where he was and what the hell he was supposed to speak about.
Abbey smiled with sweet amusement. "What's wrong? Need some help?"
"No. Not from you thank you very much." He snapped.
In barely concealed desperation he rotated around looking for a distraction. Catching the eye of Toby and indicated the communications director to come over quickly.
"Sir?"
"Toby, give me those homeless figures you were trying to this afternoon." The President demanded.
Toby was flustered, "Sir...if you're thinking of adding a section to the speech I don't think..."
Jed cut him off, "Just give me the numbers Toby."
"Sir I don't think I have them." Toby shook his head.
Jed narrowed his eyes, "Of course you do."
Toby deflected, "Sir maybe you should be focused on the speech you're about to give?"
"How about I focus on what I want to focus on?" Jed snapped.
"Because you tend to shred my hard work to bits on your best days, but when you're not focused it gets considerably more painful for me. Sir." Toby tacked on the honorary clearly as an afterthought.
Jed set his jaw, annoyance flickering across his face as he glared at Toby. After a moment he realized that regardless of Toby's compliance his goal had been achieved and he smirked, "Thanks Toby."
"Sir...?" Toby was completely baffled.
"Go away Toby." The President dismissed with a wave of his hand.
Toby left, shaking his head in confusion.
Abbey leaned over barely suppressing a giggle, "You couldn't just think about baseball?"
"I don't know enough about it." He winked at her.
And then it was time to get up and make his way to the podium. He got CJ's attention before approaching the mic. She leaned over to him quietly "Yes Sir? Is everything alright? You look a little flushed."
He smiled, "I'm fine CJ but it is a little stuffy in here so do me a favor; when I'm done speaking I'm going to go back to that room across the hall for a spell. Can you clear the way on that?"
"Of course sir." She nodded.
He nodded his thanks and took the stage. He stayed pretty much on script, he didn't want to say anything to give away that he wasn't paying attention to the evening's other speakers although he did drop in a joke or two of his own just because he knew it would get Toby riled up.
He concluded to a standing ovation. He smiled and waved but instead of descending the stairs to return to his table he made a beeline back to the hallway.
From her seat Abbey watched her husband's movements and when she watched him leave alarm bells went off in her head. It was unlike Jed to skip out on dessert and Leo and the National Security Advisor were still in the crowded ballroom with her so that ruled out the possibility that Jed was called to deal with a domestic or international emergency.
Abbey stood and made her way out of the room. She caught CJ by the door.
"CJ, where's the President?" She asked, attempting to keep her confusion out of her voice.
"He said he needed a moment out of the room Ma'am. He's stepped across the hall for a few minutes." CJ locked eyes with Abbey conveying that she had no idea what was going on and the first lady should check into it.
Worriedly Abbey made her way to the room. She ran over the past hour in her mind; she thought they had been having some fun, but maybe she had read him wrong? It had been too long apart and perhaps there was something going on he hadn't had the chance to tell her yet.
She arrived at the room and stepped inside, unsure what she might find.
No sooner was she inside then Jed had pulled her to him by her wrist and slammed the door shut with her back against it and his lips crashing down upon hers.
"Oh!" she let out a startled gasp but got herself focused on the moment at hand as soon as Jed pushed up the hem of her dress and pushed himself against her.
Sometime later the senior staff was convened in a corner of the ballroom, worriedly trying to decipher the president's behavior. Only Leo seemed unconcerned and was insisting emphatically that noone should check in on the President. Sam was about to ask CJ to repeat exactly what the President said to her for the 5th time when the man in question returned to the ballroom with a jovial smile on his face.
He nodded to his staff but diverted his course from them when he noticed the desserts had been served.
The staff gravitated toward him and CJ caught his attention before he could sit down. "Sir, are you sure you're okay? You're still looking very flush."
He smirked. "I'm just fine CJ."
She bit her lip, "Sir, are you sure? Where's the First Lady?"
He smiled placatingly at his press secretary, "CJ, really, everything's fine. Abbey should be back any minute. She just needed to stop off to fix her hair."
CJ waited a beat, sensing the president was lying to her but not wanting to push the issue. She relented as she noticed Abbey returning from across the room. "Okay sir."
When CJ left Leo moved in to take her place next to the President. He just stared at his friend.
Jed looked up at him, "What?" he asked innocently.
Leo just shook his head, "You're unbelievable, you know that? I had less problems when I chaperoned Mallory's high school dance."
A sly smile settled on to Jed's face. "Well you're a pretty sucky chaperone."
By that time Abbey had reached the table and sat down next her husband.
"Hey there Buttercup. Leo here was just accusing me of acting like a teenager." Jed's smile turned devilish.
Abbey just rolled her eyes.
Leo just shook his head in amused exasperation, "Not just you sir. Abbey...I trust you to be the adult in this relationship."
Abbey put on her best innocent face, "I don't know what you're talking about Leo. I have been the consummate lady."
Leo snorted in disbelief. "Seriously, what are you trying to do to me? Make me lose what's left of my hair?"
Jed smiled, "Come on Leo! You said you didn't like it when I was tense. Now I'm not tense therefore you should loosen up. Besides, it's not like anyone knows anything."
Leo smirked. "Not yet they don't."
Jed narrowed his eyes. "Meaning...?"
Leo indicated Jed's chest with a tilt of his head. "You might want to clean that lipstick off your shirt before anyone with a camera sees you. We're leaving out front in 5 minutes and there's a rope line."
Leo smirked and turned to walk away. As he did he watched a flustered Abbey knock over a water glass as she attempted to help her husband clean away the evidence of their reunion.