TITLE: 'Love in an Empty Field' (12/12)
RATING: A
POV: President Josiah Bartlet and Dr. Abigail Bartlet
SUMMARY: President Bartlet has to replace Mrs. Landingham
DISCLAIMER: The characters used from the West Wing do not belong to me; they are the property of Aaron Sorkin.
I had just finished organizing the toys that I picked out for Tyler in the living room area of our residence when Abbey came in. She spotted all the toys and gasped, "Good God Jed, what did you do buy out the toy store?"
I laughed and stood back to admire of all the items that were waiting for Tyler to come and play with. There were stuffed animals, toy guns, colouring books and crayons, paints, lego, talking robots and everything I could get my hands on that revolved around Shrek.
"Do you think he will like it?" I asked my wife.
"Jed he is going to love all of this stuff, but I can't say the same for Meadow and Toby. There are a lot of toys here and a child can get spoiled over stuff like this. Don't you remember?"
"Boy do I ever remember our girls and all their damn Barbie crap. I never knew little girls could be such spoiled competitive little-"
"Watch it Jed. I was once a little girl too." Abbey warned.
"You still are my love, you still are." I stepped closer to Abbey and we held each other closely, something that we really needed right about now. I stood back a bit to look into her eyes; she was tearing up just as I had expected she would.
"Jed, what if this doesn't work out? What if Toby changes Meadow's mind about us? What if she realizes that we are not what she wants in Tyler's life?"
"Why Abbey? Why would Toby change her mind, he knows we are good people. He may have forgotten that this past week but we can't blame him for that. He isn't going to hold anything over our heads; he is a good man. And why wouldn't she want us to be in Tyler's life. We are full of love that immediately includes both Meadow and Tyler. You are worrying too much my dear, and I understand. But you have just got to try and calm down, relax and have a drink."
The words sounding comforting as they came out of my mouth and my only hope is that she would believe them, and that they would be true. I have known Toby for some time and he isn't the harmful type. Well he is if you get all up in his face, but not in situations like this. Usually he needs to be in the West Wing wearing a suit before he becomes a man worth reckoning with. I sure hope he doesn't wear a suit here.
"What time did you say they were coming again?" I asked Abbey who had taken my advice and was mixing herself a scotch and soda.
"They should be here within the next-" The doorbell to the residence rang. "Ten seconds." Abbey completed.
I gave my wife the biggest smile I could get my face to create and she gave me a thumbs up as I headed towards the door. With my hand on the doorknob I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This was it, the moment we had been waiting for. I opened the door to find Toby standing beside Meadow and a small boy in his arms who must be Tyler. My eyes quickly scanned Toby and Tyler but they automatically went back to Meadow. I took her in slowly and my hands began to shake.
Meadow took a few steps inside the residence and without any warning she threw her arms around me and squeezed me tight. Slowly I put my arms around her as well not sure what to do at this precise moment. I have never been caught off guard like this before and the feeling was over whelming. I could hear her sobbing softly and I didn't feel as bad as I too was now crying into her hair. As I tried to regain my composure I could hear Meadow softly whisper, "Sorry."
We both stood back and laughed as we noticed the stains of tears on our face. Using the back of our hands we tried the best job we could to wipe the water away. Standing straight again I spoke to Meadow, "You don't have anything to be sorry about kiddo."
"I behaved badly towards you Sir and for that I am ashamed of myself and I do apologize for my actions." This was a new one, Abbey and I didn't have such a polite child out of the three we raised, I was proud of her already.
"I didn't make it easy for you Meadow. I can't imagine the shock it must have been for you to realize that your whole life was a lie. That doesn't make it a bad life, from the looks of you I would say you had a beautiful family life. But it isn't the easiest thing to hear that the people you were raised with were not your biological family, and it turns out that your employer is."
Meadow didn't respond she just listened whole heartedly to what I was saying. Taking my eyes off of her for a second I looked up to where Toby stood still holding Tyler who had his arms wrapped around him safely. Obviously Toby made this little boy feel secure and that wasn't always an easy achievement with children. Toby was looking at his shoes and when he finally did glance up, the water works too had hit him.
"It is nice to see you Toby, and this must be Tyler." Tyler acknowledged his name and looked over at me and then back at Toby not sure what to do.
"Tyler, do you remember what we talked about? About your having a grandma and a grandpa?" Toby asked the boy.
Tyler nodded his head and again looked in my direction. When he noticed that I was watching him he tried to hide his face in Toby's shoulders.
"I am going to put you down now okay Tyler, so that your grandparents can say hello to you. Is that alright?" Toby asked Tyler who nodded in agreement. Toby bent down and placed Tyler before me. Abbey came out from behind me finally and right away Meadow was welcomed into Abbey's arms.
I offered my hand out to Toby who shook it. I pulled him closer to me and gave him a hug that he willingly accepted. Slapping him on the back I apologized to him for keeping him in the dark and asked that he try to forgive me one day.
"Sir, I was a fool and I should have shown you more respect. For that I am sorry. I didn't know."
"I understand Toby and as much as we wanted to tell you, it just wasn't the right time."
"I guess I didn't make things any easier for you, and for Abbey as well."
"How about we start over then. From this moment on we forget about the last little while and we start fresh. No hard feelings."
Toby looked surprised at my offer and agreed repeating, "No hard feelings."
I bent down so that I could talk to Tyler who was watching my every move. "Hi there, my name is Josiah Bartlet. How are you young man?"
Tyler's eyes widened and his mouth was wide open in surprise. "Your name is Josiah too? That is me too right mommy?" Tyler looked up at Meadow who was standing on my left side holding Abbey's hand.
"Yes sweetie that is your name too."
"We must be special peoples to have the same name. 'Cause mommy says I am a special boy." Tyler said softly to me. I could faintly hear Meadow, Abbey and Toby laughing but they were not as important at that moment to me as this little boy was.
"Your mommy is right Tyler Josiah. You are a VERY special little boy. And you are a handsome one too. That trait comes from sharing the same name as well, did you know that?"
"It does?" Tyler gasped.
"Yes it sure does. I also have a few things for you, would you like to see them?"
Tyler adamantly began to nod his hand, "I'd love too, yes yes I would." I held out my hand, which seemed so large in comparison to his tiny one and together we walked hand in hand to where I had the toys displayed. Tyler immediately began to jump up and down with excitement as he wondered from one of the pile to the other side. In the hallway Abbey was taking Meadow and Toby's coats and they had just entered the room.
"Oh my goodness," Meadow exclaimed. "You didn't have to do this."
Abbey entered the room as Meadow finished speaking. Leo had just come in and joined her and the rest of us. "It was our pleasure Meadow. It isn't everyday that we get a grandson to spoil." Abbey said. Tyler noticed Abbey for the first time and pointed her out to me saying, "She is my grand-mudder. She came to my house."
Everyone laughed at this cute little boy. I was on all fours pushing a big dump truck around when he told me this. "She's your grandmother, wow you are a very special boy indeed." Tyler was nodding his little head so fast I thought it was going to fall off. He came over to me and bent down to whisper into my ear, "Can I give her a hug?"
I whispered back into Tyler's ear but loud enough for everyone to hear, "I think she would love a hug from you. That is a great idea." Tyler beamed and ran over to Abbey who had already positioned herself at his level. With tears falling from her sparkling beautiful eyes she swooped Tyler into her arms and began kissing him all over his tiny face. Toby put his arm around Meadow who laid her head against his chest. I got off of my knees and sat on my behind so that I could push the dump truck a little better.
Leo looked around the room with a big smile across his face and then he too sat down on the floor where I was and grabbed a large ambulance. "If you can play, I can play too. I don't have a grandson, so I am going to be borrowing yours."
I stared at my best friend who had already started to make siren noises. Toby got down in front of us and pointed to a red firetruck that was half hidden behind Leo. With surprised looks on our faces Leo handed over the firetruck to Toby. "What?" Toby asked.
"Toby, I wouldn't have taken you for a firetruck kind of guy?" Leo said astonished that Toby had actually gotten down on the floor to play with us.
"Yeah, well for your information I am a big lover of the firetruck. Only my brothers usually got it first and I was always stuck with the ugly broken army tank."
Tyler ran back to us and picked out the police car and right away he was pushing it all over the floor, twice smashing into my dump truck. It seems that the boy had Abbey's inability to drive straight already.
Abbey and Meadow had taken a seat on the couch and were in a hearted conversation that had them giggling and hugging over and over while us boys, us men I should say played with out prospective vehicles.
Toby stopped his firetruck and a serious look came upon his face. "Sir, may I ask you a question?"
"Of course Toby. And you don't have to address me as Sir when you are in my home, and especially since you are my son-in-law."
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Are you alright with my being married to Meadow, I mean because I work for you and I want to continue to do so and-"
"Toby, your job is not in jeopardy and I am not mad at you for falling in love with someone who happens to be my daughter. If you two honestly love one another then what you two did was the smartest thing you could have done."
"Really?"
"Yes Toby really. You know there are many people who are blessed with the chance to fall in love and stay in love, and then there are many that don't ever get that opportunity. If it takes someone six times to meet the right person, I say fall in love six times until you get it right."
"I never would have guessed that this was how you would have felt towards love. I mean you are a very skeptical person. And with my being married prior to Meadow I though-"
I cut Toby off and elevated my hand. "Toby I think of my family as a field. And in order to keep my field alive, happy and well is to keep my crops nourished and always full of love. Because love is the most important ingredient in a family. Now if I should happen to start neglecting my crops on a regular basis, then one day they will wither away. Then all I would have left is love, in an empty field. Do you understand what I am trying to say?"
"I think so. Abbey and your girls symbolize the field. Food, shelter, clothing, money, communication etc. represent the crops. If you take away the things that make your family work, then all you have left is people, but nothing binding you together making you a happy family."
"Exactly." I said, satisfied that someone understood me for once.
"But what about the love part?" Leo asked.
"That's easy Leo, love is always there. You never run out of love, you might not let it out like you sometimes should, but it is always there for you to give." Toby explained.
"I had love in an empty field once." Leo said talking about Jenny, his ex-wife.
Toby looked at Leo and said, "I had love in an empty field too Leo with Andi. But you know what, at this moment in my life do you know what I have?" Leo shrugged his shoulders.
"I have Love, in a very full field." I looked at Toby, then Abbey and my daughter Meadow. "So do I Toby, so do I."
***The End***