Please see Chapter 1 for general info and disclaimers.

*~*

Jenn sat in the empty conference room with her elbows propped up on the mahogany table and her head resting in her hands. She knew her Uncle Leo and the formidable 'senior staff' would be joining her soon, but she didn't really know what else to expect. All she knew for sure was that she was tired. Extremely tired. And she hadn't even been in Washington, D.C. for twenty-four hours yet.

Just as her exhaustion overtook her and she closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep, Jenn heard the door hinges squeak. Her eyes flew open and she could feel her heart begin to beat rapidly. She removed her elbows from the table, sat up straight in her chair, and crossed her ankles.

As Leo held the door open for C.J., Toby, and Josh to pass through, he immediately noticed that Jenn had changed when she'd gone to check out of the Washington Inn. In place of the cream blouse and long black skirt she'd worn earlier in the day, she now wore a faded red T-shirt and blue jeans. She'd traded in black sandals for a pair of battered blue canvas sneakers, and had pulled her shoulder length auburn hair into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. Void of any make-up or jewelry except for a thin silver band on her right middle finger, Leo felt she looked more like an eighteen year old co-ed waiting for a lecture to begin than a twenty-five year old young woman who was about to undergo an inquisition of sorts.

Jenn's appearance also caught C.J., Toby, and Josh by surprise. Just as Leo had, C.J. and Toby marveled at how young Jenn appeared to be. Josh, however, had a slightly different reaction. His eyes widened in surprise when he caught sight of the President's new daughter. Moving closer to C.J., Josh whispered, "C.J., that's not a kid sitting over there."

C.J. turned towards Josh and looked at him as if he was insane. "No, Joshua, that's not a kid over there."

"Why did I think we were coming down here to talk to a teenager?"

"Because someone's an idiot and obviously wasn't paying much attention when we were going through the FBI file," C.J. said in disgust. To get away from him, she moved forward, pulled out the chair closest to her, and sat down. The chair happened to be situated right across from Jenn.

Still in a fog of confusion, Josh sat down in the chair next to C.J.'s. Toby moved over to the other side of C.J. and chose a seat two chairs down from her but still on the same side of the table.

Jenn breathed a sigh of relief when Leo walked over and sat beside her. As he lowered himself into the chair, he gave her shoulder a slight squeeze and asked, "Things go okay at the motel?"

"Yeah," she replied, nodding.

"Good, good." Sensing Jenn's anxiety, he patted her left hand comfortingly before saying, "We're still waiting for a couple of people, but why don't we start with the introductions anyway. Across from you is C.J. Cregg, our Press Secretary…that's Josh Lyman, the Deputy Chief of Staff…and over there is Toby Ziegler, Director of Communications."

Both Josh and Toby stood and extended their hands toward Jenn. After everyone was reseated, C.J. looked across the table and said, "We're all really sorry about your mother."

"Thank you," Jenn replied stiffly. Before saying any more, she gazed into the older woman's eyes to see if the statement had been heartfelt or had just been said out of a sense of duty. But the brown eyes that looked back at her revealed nothing but sincerity. "Thank you," Jenn repeated, this time sounding like she actually meant it. "That means a lot to me. My mom's probably rolling over in her grave right now knowing that I'm here." A small smile played on her lips as she continued to say, "But that's what she gets for not letting me cremate her." The smile faded as she saw three shocked faces on the other side of the table. "Oh, God," Jenn gasped, her cheeks burning red, "I'm sorry. I develop a really bad sense of humor when I'm nervous."

"Well, there's nothing to be nervous about, right?" Leo pointedly asked the senior staffers.

Before anyone could respond, the door opened and Sam and Ainsley rushed into the room.

"Great, everyone's here now. Jenn, this is Sam Seaborn, the Deputy Director of Communications, and that's Ainsley Hayes, an Associate White House Counsel."

"Counsel?" Jenn asked as she shook Sam's hand. "As in lawyer? We really need a lawyer in here?"

"Actually, there're three lawyers in here. I'm a lawyer and Sam's a lawyer," Josh clarified.

"But he's not a real lawyer," Sam quickly added.

"Okay…" Jenn muttered. Josh and Sam's banter had unnerved her. She turned towards Leo, waiting for him to dictate what would happen next.

When that didn't happen, C.J. leaned forward and said, "I think that what we'd like to do tonight is learn a little bit more about who you are."

"Who I am? But I'm sure Uncle Leo's already told you all about me." Jenn once again turned towards Leo.

"I think they want to hear it from you," Leo explained, ignoring the little smiles that were on the faces of the room's other occupants. It wasn't every day they got to hear someone refer to their boss with such a term of endearment.

"Oh, okay. Um, where should I begin?" Jenn asked.

"How about wherever you feel comfortable?" Josh suggested. "I'm sure one of us will stop you if we have any questions."

"Okay, well, my name's Jennifer Erickson, but I go by Jenn. That's spelled with two 'n's, and please try to remember that because I do get pissed if people spell it wrong after I've told them how it's spelled."

At this declaration, Josh scribbled '2 Ns' on his pad of paper and underlined it twice for added effect.

"I was born on February 22, 1976," Jenn continued, "so that makes me twenty-five. I was born and raised in Berkeley, California. Um, let's see. What else? For the past three years, I've been the Director of this program that works with kids who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We work with these kids, their families, and their schools to help provide them with the kind of support they need to succeed in life. We also conduct various types of research that looks at the effects that medicinal and behavioral therapy has on ADHD kids. Before that, I went to college at the University of California at Berkeley, and graduated from there in…1998 with BAs in English and Psychology." Jenn paused as she caught Sam shoot C.J. a look. "An alum?"

C.J. nodded. "MA in Communications, Class of '88."

"Go Bears," Jenn cheered emotionlessly, but the twinkle in her eyes revealed the large amounts of school pride she wasn't revealing.

"What did you do at Berkeley?" Toby asked gruffly.

"Excuse me?" Jenn sat up even straighter in her chair and narrowed her eyes. She had a feeling Toby wanted to know whether she'd used any drugs while in college, and, for some reason, she found herself quite offended at the prospect of that question. Perhaps because she didn't feel like it was any of their business.

"What did you do while at Berkeley?" Toby repeated.

"You means besides going to college?"

"I just want to know what—"

"Oh!" Jenn exclaimed, feigning ignorance. "You want to know what I did during those rare moments when I wasn't hung over or in a drug-induced haze!"

"Jenn," Leo began as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "I don't think that's what Toby was trying to—"

"Like hell it wasn't, Uncle Leo," Jenn interrupted, shrugging off his hand. To Toby, she coldly said, "I went to Berkeley for an education. I chose to major in two subjects that required enormous amounts of reading. You wanna know what I did in college? I read, I wrote, and then I read some more. Oh, and if I had the time, I slept a little, too. That okay with you?"

C.J. lowered her head and covered her face with her hands. There was no doubt Jenn was the President's daughter. They both shared the same quick temper that flared up the minute they heard something they didn't like. It was definitely going to be a long night.