PRESENT-JONATHAN AND JENNIFER

Jonathan had been asleep when He was woken up and taken to the situation room, Where Leo and the rest of the Joint Chiefs informed him of his wife's escapades earlier with an unnamed girl. That Jennifer had made an attempt rescue her but also injured a person with a pipe, knowing his wife, she was probably put into an impossible situation but the part that angered him the most was the fact she'd ditched her Service Detail to help this girl.

"Where is she?" Jonathan sat at the head of the long table, monitors in front of him, he was President, he was supposed to be monitoring potential terroristic crisis not his wife beating the hell outside of some guy in a bar.

"Secret Service is bringing her and the girl to the Oval in 20 after she checks on the Girls," Sam said checking his texts.

"Nice to see her main concern, I would have liked to have seen that concern before she decided to become Xena, Warrior Princess," Jonathan commented, normally he would never speak ill of his beloved but this was so out of character, She knew that it would make him crazy if she went out fighting.

The Joint Chiefs went silent; they knew how much President Hart and the First Lady were crazy about each other and for President Hart to comment on her behavior, he must have been furious.

"Mr. President, This has the potential to be a Public Relations nightmare," Cyrus had fallen asleep at his desk when his phone started ringing about the First Lady. "We need to get control of this story now and I think by having the First Lady have a Press Conference to set the record straight, is the first step"

"The problem is, she'll never do it because she would want to protect the girl and to have press conference would the Ultimate Betrayal."

"Mr. President, we need to figure out how to manage the story" Cyrus pressed

"I'll send her down to you and you both can figure it out,"

Cyrus nodded

"Have you spoken to Sophia" Jonathan asked Leo, he'd forgotten about his mother-in-law returning from the grave

"Stubborn, just like Jennifer, she refuses to leave the hospital until she's positive she won't be prosecuted for Stephen's murder and she also refuses to see Jennifer until we can provide her with information about the baby." Leo said

"Well, I found some information, not a lot, there's really nothing stopping Jennifer from seeing her mother"

"That's really up to Jennifer but I think she's got too much on her plate right now to deal with the whole thing. " Leo didn't want to push because he knew that Sophia would run if she ever thought she was putting Jennifer in danger.

"Mr. President, I hate to interrupt this family meeting but we really need to make a decision on reelection," Josh looked nervous, "It's getting closer to the deadline and if we're going to kick off a reelection campaign, we need to get things in motion now."

"For now and before we announce to the press anything, I'm still undecided," Jonathan was mixed up, he felt a duty to his country but also his family, he knew that Jennifer didn't want the girls being raised in D.C., She wanted them back in California, to grow up in the home that they'd lovingly created, where Max had lived and taken such great care of them. He remembered the conversation in a Hotel Room outside of Seattle.

They'd been on the campaign trail for weeks, visiting various cities and making important contacts, Jennifer couldn't believe that they might actually be on the road to the White House, When Jonathan had said he'd been approached as a frontrunner, she figured it would be a brief exploration and he'd resume his life as a CEO but the days went on and he began to create his team, first up the Public Relations team with CJ Craig, who insisted on going over how they were supposed to behave in public, apparently forgotten that she'd been a socialite before being a candidate's wife. They went over how she was respond to interviews especially the babies, which Jonathan had been adamant that they were off limits.

Sitting in a Hotel room, getting ready for a rally, They'd had been getting dressed after an impulse shower together, it was getting harder and harder to get a moment alone together, She'd been in the shower first while he was picking out his suit to wear, She'd playfully stuck her head out of the shower curtain and asked him where the soap was, he brought her a new bar and asked if she thought he needed a better shave, she rubbed his face and said no, he never needed a shave because he rarely let a day go by without shaving, sometimes she wished he'd grow a beard like when they went camping, it had been intriguing to make love to a mountain man. That time in the Mountains of Peru, she was pretty sure they heard her for miles screaming Jonathan's name. Normally when they made love and Jonathan was making her crazy, she would put a pillow over her face because sometimes she would be afraid Max would think she was being killed. Back in the Hotel, She shyly asked him if he wanted to soap up her back and when he walked into the shower and dropped his robe, she giggled and called him a Sailor. He laughed and kissed her, saying he wasn't sure that making love in the shower would work because her belly was so big and he didn't want her to fall, but he couldn't resist, she looked so beautiful and he was never one to turn down a moment to be with her.

They made love, not as frenetically as usual but enough to take the itch out, She was nearly close to finishing when a knock was heard.

"Mr. Hart?" Charlie called from the other side of the door, "We need you for debate prep"

Jonathan put his hand over Jennifer's mouth "I'll be right there, just to mess with him, she reached behind him and turned on the cold water, jumping back he let out a scream and Charlie began banging on the door

"Sir, are you alright?" Charlie was frantic

"I'm fine!" Jonathan yelled through the curtain, goose bumps all over his body "I'll get you for that"

"Be pushy and prove it" She whispered

"Wait" Jonathan waited for Charlie's footsteps to fade. "Now where were we?"

"Right about here" She pulled his neck down to kiss her and when he pushed her against the shower wall, she giggled.

"What's so funny" Usually at this point, she was begging for more

"I'm sorry I just keep waiting for Charlie to burst in"

"Why?"

"Darling, you have to admit, we haven't had much alone time in the past few weeks, I miss us" She wiped the soap trickling into her eyes

"Well, Darling that's what happens when we are thrust into the public spot light," Jonathan pulled her close

"We were thrust into the spotlight in California but even then we were able to make love without interruptions," She stepped back a bit and looked into his deep blue eyes "Promise me that this is a one term thing, you can make the changes you want and then we'll bring our daughters to the place they belong"

"I promise" He held up two fingers "Scouts honor"

"I'm holding you to that promise" She narrowed her eyes

He couldn't wait any longer and pressed her against the cold shower wall and made love to her.

"Mr. President?" Leo shook him out of his day dream "Are you all right"

"I'm fine, Josh I'll give you my answer in a few days"

"Yes Sir, "Josh nodded, after knowing President Hart for so many months; he knew that this was not something he could be pressured into.

The truth was, Jonathan knew he could accomplish so much more with more time but he knew that Jennifer would be furious he'd gone ahead and just decided to run for reelection without consulting her, knowing that she was absolutely adamant against it. It would break her heart.

A secret service agent suddenly whispered into Jonathan's ear and he stood up, "Gentleman, Excuse me, the prodigal wife has returned"

The Joint Chiefs, Leo, Sam and Josh all stood up as a sign of respect.

Jonathan walked with two guards to the residence and heard Jennifer talking to someone.

"Guys, who's she in there with?" Jonathan had assumed that whoever the woman Jennifer had "rescued" had been dropped off.

"Miss Matthews," One of the guards said hesitantly

"Who?", Jonathan wasn't sure why the guard wasn't being forthcoming, "Never mind, It's really important, whatever happens in the next few minutes, that you don't burst in okay guys"

The Secret Service knew from past presidents that when it came to the First Lady, there were certain boundaries that they never crossed unless absolutely necessary; more than often when the First couple would get into some argument, the President would sleep down in the Oval and only twice did they have to make sure to warn the President that the first lady was on her way down to continue their argument.

And to hide the decades old China and Antiques, just in case.

Jonathan opened the door to find his wife in a heavy conversation with a young girl, who had dark black hair and familiar eyes.

"Hello Darling," She said when she looked and noticed him, "I'd like you to meet Annabelle Matthews"

Annabelle nodded, in awe of the President, who nodded at her but didn't acknowledge her, "Jennifer, can I see you in the next room, please"

Jennifer knew that he would be angry over what she'd down but to not acknowledge the young girl who might be her sister was so uncharacteristically like him, normally he would stop, extend his hand and then ask her how she felt about being in the White House.

"Of course, would excuse us for a moment" Jennifer stood up and smiled, she saw a bit of a resemblance to herself in Annabelle, they had similar smiles and hand movements, she hadn't told her yet that Jennifer was her sister but she figured as she got to know Annabelle, she would tell her in time.

To tell her now would probably enrage her or make her run as fast and as far as possible.

Annabelle nodded, just as Jonathan pulled Jennifer into the next room.

He'd barely closed the door behind them when he exploded, "Are you insane?! What were you thinking?!"

Jennifer had never heard him so angry before, nothing had ever caused him to get so angry even he was running Hart Industries would he get so angry.

"You ditched your detail and decided to play Batgirl on the streets of D.C.?!"

"Jonathan, if you just wait a second" She tried to get a word in but he wasn't having it.

"This isn't California, the people are different and we are public figures now! Why would you willingly put yourself into danger? I know you think this girl is your sister but what kind of lengths are you willing to go through to get to know this girl? Are you willing to get yourself killed?!"

"Jonathan!" She couldn't take it anymore, "I admit, I shouldn't have left my detail but I helped my sister! Was I supposed to just sit there and allow her to be sexually assaulted?! You don't know what it's like! Jonathan, I love you but this doesn't concern you."

"Doesn't concern me? You are my wife!" Jonathan began silently counting because he was dangerously close to the edge.

"No Jonathan, for once this doesn't anything to do with you being President or my being First Lady, this is about something close to my heart, this about finding out who I really am. My entire Live I've been living under a lie and this is my chance to get to know who I really am."

Jonathan got in her face, "You want to know who you are? You are Jennifer Hart, wife to Jonathan, Mother to Tess and Sophie, that's all you need to know"

Jennifer became furious "Maybe I want to be seen as more; Maybe I'm tired of this whole thing, this wasn't what I wanted, this was all you and that's all our marriage has ever been about is you. It's never been equal and this whole Presidency has been a joke, you knew going into this that everything would be different and you knew how much I didn't want to be here!- She was interrupted when he suddenly kissed her.

Turned on by her intensity and anger, he suddenly found him tearing off her blouse and as furious as she was with him, she caved in and began to rip off his tie and reached for his pants when he pulled back

"Are you sure about this?"

"Are we going to talk or make love?" She said unbuckling his pants

He didn't answer.

It wasn't their typical love-making, there were no champagne or slow kisses, this was intense and passionate, like in the early days when they would make love in the oddest places, a few times in the pool and one time on the tennis courts where Jonathan got an unfortunate burn and she lost a 200 dollar bra that Max said the Gardener found months later in a rose bush.

An hour later, laying down next to each other on the floor, Jonathan kissed her head, "You know, we should fight like that more often,"

"I know this is our way of making up but I don't want you to think I've forgotten our argument, I still think we have a lot to discuss especially with Annabelle, Oh my god Annabelle" Jennifer jumped up and quickly dressed and pulled open the door to apologize to Annabelle.

But she was gone.