Dating An Urban Legend
(The Tale of Jonathon and Danielle)
By Thomas Mc
Chapter 4 : Medals , Excitement. And Culture
Early Tuesday morning the promised invitations were delivered by special courier. Danielle and her grandparents spent the majority of the day touring the city and shopping for appropriate attire for the two big events. Her grandmother insisted on getting her two very nice semi-formal outfits for the occasions saying that it was a special birthday gift from them.
That evening the news was full of the Wells-Chandlers' tour of the city. The video showed an image of Jonathon and his family lined up and gazing up at Lincoln's statue. They all had looks of reverent respect on their faces. Danielle knew about how much Jonathon admired Lincoln and knew how much that visit meant to him.
The news was also full of the Great Race up the Washington monument between Jonathon and his father, William. They also talked about the fact that Alexander hadn't taken part because he was still not fully recovered from all of the bullet wounds he had received in the U.N. terrorists incident. Though he required a cane to get around, they pointed out that he was doing remarkably well considering he had been paralyzed from the waist down immediately after the attack.
~ ( BatB ) ~
The next day the media broadcast the President's address to the joint session of Congress on the current state of world wide war on terror. Danielle and her grandparents watched in fascination. They were all three impressed by Alexander's poise as he presented his short remarks at the end of the speech.
That afternoon a limousine showed up at Danielle's grandparent's house to take them to the Whitehouse where the medal presentation was to take place on the lawn. Her grandparents were flattered by this special treatment. Especially when they were shown where their seats would be on the front row.
Danielle and her grandparents were sitting there talking excitedly about the upcoming event when Jonathon's family showed up.
Jonathon came straight over and introduced himself and his sisters to Danielle's grandparents. Then he sat down next to her and they were soon talking about what they had been doing yesterday. Jonathon enthusiastically approved her new outfit for this event.
Karen was seated on Jonathon's other side. The media was all around them setting up their equipment for the broadcast. About half of the seats were already filled with the various dignitaries that had enough clout to get invited. After a while she noticed that Jonathon was glancing around at the crowd. She also noticed that Karen had started watching Jonathon and was beginning to wonder if something was wrong.
"Excuse me a moment, I need to go see my brother." Jonathon remarked. "I'll be right back." He jumped up.
"I'm coming, too." Karen asserted as she also jumped up. "I need to wish him good luck."
They headed back to the screened off area behind, and to the side of, the stage. A few minutes later Danielle saw Alexander and William appear at the edge of the screened area and stand there scanning the crowd. They both smiled at friends and family in the front row then disappeared behind the curtain. A few minutes after that William came out and walked over to one of the Secret Service agents that was standing at the edge of the crowd near the podium. They spoke together for a few seconds then the agent followed William to the screened off area. Danielle was beginning to wonder what was going on.
A few minutes later some man bumped into her nearly knocking her over then helped her steady herself before continuing into the crowd. She noticed a lot of jostling as more people made their way to their seats. After a while the agent came out and resumed his post. Jonathon and the rest of his family all came out and took their seats also.
Danielle thought that Jonathon seemed a bit tense and asked him. "Jonathon, is everything OK?"
Jonathon looked at her. "I'm not sure. There are some people here that don't like the President very much."
"Oh no, will there be trouble?" She asked now a bit worried.
"I don't know. I hope not." He replied.
President Carlton stepped up to the podium and she noticed Jonathon became very intense as he glanced around the crowd.
The appropriate moment arrived and Alexander, Alexandra and Clarissa stepped up onto the small stage. Danielle's feelings of anticipation increased. The President gave a short speech praising the heroes and recounting their parts in foiling the terrorist plot. Then he approached Alexander.
Alexander suddenly launched himself at the President catching both President Carlton and the Secret Service agent standing next to him, knocked them both down and landed on top of them both. At the same time Jonathon shot out of his seat and tackled one of the cameramen that was standing close by. Then Danielle realized that she had heard some pop sounds and noticed that William and the agents by the podium had knocked down a couple of cameramen. Some shots rang out and two more cameramen dropped to the ground.
Three Secret Service men came up and relieved Jonathon of the man he had tackled. He stood up and glanced anxiously up at the stage where a paramedic had just approached Alexandra. She had apparently been hit in the shoulder. Alexander was helping the President back to his feet. Jonathon then glanced over toward Danielle's left as he brushed himself off and she realized that William had also tackled someone.
Everyone was talking at once as Jonathon calmly made his way back to his seat. Danielle began shivering in reaction and Jonathon put his arms around her to comfort her. It worked. Soon she was feeling much calmer. Having his strong arms around her made her feel safe, protected. He had taken that assassin down so fast she was still trying to convince herself that she had seen it happen.
Twenty minutes later, after the assassins, alive and dead, were removed, the ceremony resumed. President Carlton insisted that both William and Jonathon come up to the podium so that they could also be recognized for their heroic actions today. After the three medals had been passed out, President Carlton gave a very short speech emphasizing that today's actions only proved that these three people deserved the medals they were receiving today. He also remarked that though William and Jonathon had not received metals today they had distinguished themselves and deserved equal praise. Then the presentation was done and they received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Danielle was so proud of Jonathon as she gazed at him standing up there next to the President being praised for his heroic actions today. When Jonathon returned to his seat Danielle presented him with her own award for heroism, a hug and a kiss on each cheek.
After the ceremony they were standing around talking when President Carlton came up to them. He glanced over at Danielle and addressed Jonathon. "And who is this young woman?"
"This is Danielle Duke Mr. President." Jonathon replied. "We met on the plane coming down here." He grinned. "Friday is her birthday and she's here spending it with her grandparents."
"So this is the one you lobbied so hard to get invited." He faced Danielle and her grandparents. "It is a pleasure to meet you and happy birthday to you young lady. I look forward to seeing you at lunch Friday."
"Ah, thank you, Sir." She barely managed to get out. While Danielle stood there stunned at this close encounter with the President of the United States, he exchanged greetings with her grandparents then moved on. Danielle continued to float in a daze all during the ride back home.
Danielle and her grandparents spent the rest of the evening relaxing back at their home and watching the news reports. Once again the media was full of news about the latest heroics of the Wells-Chandlers. There was also a lot of speculation about the latest assassination attempt and what the administration might do about it. Near the end there was also some mention of the unidentified young woman that had been seen with Alexander's younger brother Jonathon. As before there were no clear pictures of her and the few who might know were not talking.
~ ( BatB ) ~
Thursday Danielle's grandparents took her to the Smithsonian Museum. After a short while, her grandparents told her that she was young and so full of energy that she should go off on her own and enjoy herself. They would take it easy and she could call them and meet up where they started when she was ready to leave. Danielle hung around with them for a while longer before going off on her own. She crossed paths with them once in the natural history section and they rested for a short time in the museum's snack area.
Later, in the American culture section, Danielle noticed a large knot of people and wandered over to see what was going on. There was some kind of presentation of some items to the museum going on but she couldn't get close enough to find out what. Then the crowd began to break up and she spotted William, Alexander and Jonathon. Her heart did a little jump. Jonathon was suddenly looking intently in her direction. He quickly made his way over to her and asked her if she would like to join him.
The next stop was the Air and Space Museum. Danielle was amused at the way the boys were totally dazed by the exhibits. She was also very happy to be with Jonathon. Danielle laughed with delight when Jonathon tried to climb into the Mercury capsule and despite being the smallest of the three leonine males was way too big to fit. "Well it seems that the Wells-Chandlers are doomed to be a strictly earth bound phenomenon." She teased him. "The rest of the universe will just have to do without."
She hung with Jonathon until early in the afternoon. Alexandra's grandfather, who was pretty old and not in the best of health, got very tired. There was some discussion about who should go back to the hotel with him. Danielle knew that they all wanted to stay and this was not her first time in D.C., so she offered to go back to the hotel with him. She called her grandparents and told them that she had met a friend and, if they didn't mind, she would be spending the rest of the evening with her friend. Jonathon had told her that he would see that she got home OK.
They got a taxi and Danielle went back to the hotel with Alexandra's grandfather. Jonathon was going to go with her but she told him that She had seen the museum a couple of times before and he hadn't so she insisted that he stay with his family and enjoy himself. While she was back at the hotel with Norman he regaled her with the stories that his late wife, Beverly, used to tell about Vincent and his family. It turned out that Norman's late wife had been trapped underground with Jacob after the 9-11 attack and had become friends with them. He also told her about how he had first met Alexander and his family.
Later when the family got back to the hotel they invited her to have dinner with them in the hotel's restaurant. After dinner she and Jonathon spent some time with Alexander and Alexandra in the hotel pool area talking and enjoying the relaxing company.
Afterward Jonathon got one of the cars and drivers that had been assigned to the family. He went with her to her grandparents place. He told her that he enjoyed her company and thanked her for watching after Norman for them and kissed her goodnight.
She entered her grandparent's home, walking on a cloud. He had kissed her! Ever since her first good look at Jonathon she had wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. There had been such a unique feel to his kiss and it had sent tingles all the way down to her toes.
~ ( BatB ) ~
Late Friday morning a limousine pulled up outside of her grandparent's house. A man in a suit came up to the door. As soon as Danielle opened the door, he displayed Secret Service identification. "I have been authorized to extend the lunch invitation to your grandparents. That is why I arrived this early, to give them time to prepare." He handed her two hastily printed invitations. She ran excitedly into the breakfast room and showed her grandparents the two extra invitations.
Lunch at the Whitehouse turned out to be quite pleasant. Danielle really enjoyed the novelty of the experience as well as Jonathon's company. She had been seated between Jonathon and The First Lady. Her grandparents were seated cross from her and a couple of seats down. At one point near the end of the meal, Alexandra's father pronounced the food to be decent, which was pretty high praise from him since he was a five star chief.
The first Lady was very interested in how Jonathon and Danielle had met. Danielle remarked that Jonathon had picked her up on the airplane. Jonathon replied that it was the smartest thing he had done. Then talk shifted to the Medal presentation and the excitement that had erupted during it. Then they got into history and it turned out that the First Lady was as interested in American history as Jonathon and Danielle. For Danielle the highlight was when they brought out a birthday cake for her.
As the lunch party was breaking up Danielle's grandparents invited Jonathan over to have dinner with her at their place that evening and help celebrate her birthday. As the evening wore on Danielle's grandparents quickly became used to Jonathan's presence and were soon enjoying his company. He regaled them with tales of the family history including how his mother had hunted his father, with a trank gun no less, for two years until he had finally caught her.
Shortly after dinner Danielle's parents called to wish her a happy birthday. Her mother had insisted that the barely visible blonde that had gotten off the plane with Jonathon Chandler-Wells looked a lot like Danielle. She replied that it was her and told them all about the very unusual time she had been having while there. She told them that Jonathon was there right now helping celebrate her birthday then she put him on the phone to introduce him to her parents.
Her parents soon found themselves charmed by him, partially due to his naturally charming personality and partially due to some intense off camera coaching by Danielle during the conversation. Both her grandparents had a hard time keeping a straight face as they observed her attempts to coach him through the conversation. Both her parents told Jonathon that they were looking forward to meeting him when he got back to New York.
Almost immediately afterward Danielle got a call from her best friend, Shania Shaffer. Shania had seen the news reports about the arrival in Washington D.C. of the Wells-Chandlers so she knew that they had been on the same plane as Danielle and wanted to know all about what the Central Park Creatures were really like. Danielle replied that they all seemed to be very nice. Jonathon was becoming very amused as he listened to this conversation from off screen. Then Shania asked Danielle if she knew who that mysterious blonde was that had been seen with Jonathon.
Danielle got a wicked gleam in her eyes as she responded. "If you really want to know, why don't you ask him." Then she handed her phone to a very surprised Jonathon, which left her friend quite flustered, impressed and just a bit jealous. Jonathon recovered quickly and talked to Shania for a few minutes before handing the phone back to Danielle. She promised to fill her friend in on all the juicy details when she got back then hung up.
The evening ended with a quick kiss goodnight then Jonathon returned to the hotel. As she closed the door Danielle thought she was rapidly getting hooked on the unique feel of his kisses. She hoped that he would still be interested in her once they were back in New York.
On the ride back to the hotel, Jonathon was thinking a lot about the time he had spent with Danielle over the last few days. He decided that he definitely liked her a lot and planned to see more of her after they returned to New York. He had had a couple of girl friends down in the tunnels but none of them had drawn his interest like Danielle. The rest of Jonathon's family stayed near the hotel and enjoyed relaxing by the pool.
~ ( BatB ) ~
Saturday morning Danielle was scheduled to go back to New York. Jonathan showed up in one of the limos and took her and her grandparents to the airport where he saw her off. He even managed to get in and out of the terminal before the media was aware of it. On the ride back her grandparents thanked him for all he had done to make her birthday so memorable. He responded by telling them that he had really enjoyed her company and wanted to thank them for letting him share her birthday with them.
All the way home, all Danielle could think about was her incredible week with her grandparents and with Jonathon. With the exception of Shania, her friends at school would never believe everything that had happened to her. The media had never gotten a clear image of her or learned her name so there was no proof, like there was with Tracy. She decided that it didn't matter. She had a wonderful time and made some fascinating new friends.
When she was finally back home her parents wanted to know everything about her trip and the Wells-Chandlers that she had met. Knowing about her father's history she made a point of telling them everything she had learned about Charles and Elizabeth. She also told them the more interesting tales about William and Patricia. She exhibited typical teenager reticence when it came to talking about Jonathon.
Continued in Part 5
'Beauty and the Beast' and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.