III

You're a fool, Abigail Bartlet. A fool and twice a fool if you even think for a minute-

She was well aware of her own foolishness. And yet she felt powerless to stop it.

She wanted to be angry. She was angry, blazing with a white hot fury at the people who dared to do this to them, to a family who had committed no crime but to live in the public eye. And yet underneath all the anger was a single tiny kernel of fear.

And that made her even angrier. But only at herself.

You know, you know-

You think you know.

She thought she knew her husband. Thought she knew every beat of his heart as intimately as her own, knew his every mood and every moment of weakness. She knew all his secrets.

Do you know all his secrets?

Jed would never - her husband would never-

But what if he did?

Abbey knew it wasn't true; knew it in her bones, in her spirit, in the heart that had been twinned with Jed Bartlet's so long that they were almost one. Every part of her screamed that it was a trick, a slander, a vicious lie.

But one little voice whispered otherwise. It was a dark thought, a wrong thought, a nasty little whisper of insiduous suspicion that she couldn't quite lock down no matter how she tried. It ate away at her, and she couldn't make herself ignore it.

Jed Bartlet would never betray her. And yet she needed to feel the reinforcement of that, feel the affirmation that would make her believe what she should already trust. It wasn't enough to know it in her bones, she had to see it proved.

Jed had been in no mood for company after he'd told her what news Leo had brought - the dark voice whispered troubling possibilities, but really she knew it was just anger and frustration speaking. Regardless, that had given her the chance she needed to sneak away... and look for the answers that she should already know.

"CJ."

CJ jumped guiltily at the sound of the First Lady's voice from behind her. "Oh! Ma'am, uh, Abbey-"

"I heard about the story, CJ," she said brusquely.

CJ vacillated awkwardly, obviously undecided about who she should be protecting, and from what. Abbey made the decision simpler. "I want to read it. Now."

Her husband's press secretary knew better than to argue with that tone of voice. In fact, most people did. CJ handed her a typed sheet, and she read it, her lips compressing into a tight thin line. It was a simple 'factual' piece, deliberately non-sensational - which would only serve to make it that much easier to believe.

Still, even so, she doubted that Leo and her husband would be so worked up over a vaguely stated smear story. Unless there was...

"There was a photograph, wasn't there?" she demanded. "Show me."

Abbey couldn't miss the anxious grimace CJ wore as she handed it over. Was she about to see a photograph of her husband in another woman's arms? If so, would he have an explanation? Could she believe it if he gave one?

It wasn't her husband in the photograph. But the brief second it took to realise as much had the force of a kick in the teeth.

The young man in the picture wasn't her Jed. But the family resemblance was so strong their relationship seemed unquestionable.


They gathered in Leo's office. The question was on everybody's lips, but Josh spoke it aloud. "Did you speak to the president?"

"Yeah."

"And?" Josh demanded.

"And he assures me that the story is a complete fabrication." Nobody missed Leo's distasteful grimace. That was one conversation that hadn't gone well.

Nobody let out a breath - because none of them would have admitted to holding one. Josiah Bartlet unknowingly fathering an illegitimate child was a stretch to believe - the idea of him deliberately concealing such a child unthinkable.

Wasn't it?

Leo surveyed his troops, jaw set. "What's our next move?"

"Tell them it's slander, and they can't print it!" Sam burst angrily. Josh shook his head.

"Too late. It's got juice."

CJ nodded and gave Sam a sympathetic smile. "It's out of the bag, Sam. Start issuing denials before the story hits the shelves, and every columnist in country and his brother'll start screaming 'cover up'."

"It's that picture that'll kill us with the public," Leo nodded. "Not to mention any chance we have of an easy fix. Look at the boy - there's a family connection there somewhere. We can't pull out a paternity test if there's gonna be the tiniest possibility of uncertainty."

He looked at the rest of them. "We need to track the mother, we need to track the aunt, and we need the full story so we can start cutting holes in it. You three, get on it. CJ, go home and get some sleep."

"Leo-" she protested.

"You're the face of this administration, CJ, we can't afford to have you looking like you've been up all night."

"I have been up all night!"

Leo stood firm. "This is a make or break scandal, people. We're gonna be denying it right out of the box, and we can't afford to show the slightest hint of spin. CJ, go home and get some sleep. And come back tomorrow ready to hit this thing head on. We don't play this right, it's not gonna matter how many holes we can poke in the story further down the line. We can't stop ourselves from looking bad - we just have to make sure we don't look worried."