Lunch Break

Mac urgently walked through the west wing. She was fed up with the ranting she was enduring and was determined to put an end to it. She had taken the earpiece out mid-way home, but she wished that her husband would stop lecturing her. She had tried to interject a few times, but Rod would simply not listen.

Finally she sighed and walked away from him.

"I'm not done with you young lady."

She stopped short and dropped her head. "Dad... Mom is waiting for me, and I only have so much time for lunch."

"Fine… but we're going to have a serious conversation this evening."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Mac said walking through her outer office. "Hi, Vince."

"Hi Becca, she's..." Vince trailed off as Mac continued to walk into the office, "waiting for you."

Becca sat on one of the couches with a magazine and a lunch cart next to her.

Mac walked in and her eyes widened at the sight. "What did you do to my hair?"

Becca startled and turned to her mother. "What? You look hot."

Mac reached out and ran her fingers through it. "It's gone."

"Dad likes it..."

"I'm sure he does..." Mac was stunned—this was not a presidential hair style. "Becca, I can't go out looking like this."

"Mom, it's just hair, it will grow back." Becca stood up and headed towards the desk.

"What's with the skirt?" Mac asked taking in the much shorter length of her skirt.

"What? You look great." Becca folded her arms self-consciously in front of herself.

Mac laughed a frustrated laugh. "I can't eat lunch with the prime minister in that... We have a few minutes, where's the suit you were dressed in this morning?"

"Laundry."

"Get upstairs and change quickly."

"Mom, no. You look great." Becca insisted sitting behind the big oak desk.

"I can't wait until I get my body back... being in this one is nothing but trouble," Mac said standing on the other side of the desk.

"What do you mean get your body back?"

Both Mac and Rebecca turned to face the door. Rod was standing there looking from his wife to his daughter with a confused glance.

Mac and Becca looked at each other, then at him. "I ah..."

"Mom, we could seriously use his help," Becca whispered.

Mac turned back to her and whispered back, "He'll think I'm crazy."

"What are you two whispering about?" Rod asked closing the door behind him.

Both women turned to him. Mac then walked to him and pulled him down onto the couch. Holding his hand she sat next to him. Becca sat across from him and they both just stared at him. Rod started to get nervous, and Mac could tell so she, in her own way began to explain what had been happening to them. "So I've been the one getting Becca into trouble all day, just because I didn't understand what it was like for her."

Rod looked from his wife/daughter, to his daughter/wife. "You're joking, right? I mean, it's a great practical joke, but…" He looked around. "Am I being punked?"

Mac moved closer to him and whispered something in his ear.

Becca watched her father's eyes open wide and then move from her face down to her legs. She felt totally uncomfortable as his face reddened and he looked away.

Mac moved away from her very flustered husband.

He jumped off the couch as if it were on fire. "I ah... I told Nora that I'd listen to her plan for the press conference in the East Garden this afternoon."

He was going to kiss his wife's cheek, but remembered just in time who she actually was, so he shook Becca's hand instead. He then stared at his daughter who was really his wife. Completely uncomfortable with the situation, he shook her hand, too.

The two women watched as their husband and father rushed out of the room. "That went well," Mac said folding her arms in front of her.

"Ooh… gross. I'm washing my mouth out with Lysol as soon as I get my body back," Becca said with a shudder.

"Don't be so melodramatic," Mac said as Vince peeked in.

"The Prime Minister is here."

"Oh good, send him in," Mac said forgetting who she was.

Vince blinked and looked at Becca. She nodded and headed back towards the lunch cart.

"So you see, we need to know how to switch back," Mac stated leaning forward.

"There is nothing we can do..." The Prime Minister said.

"The medallions are supposed to signify harmony, that is all... If it is as you say, you must find harmony, or at least understanding of each other," his wife continued.

Mac and Becca looked at each other, then back at their guests. "How long do we have?" Mac asked finally.

"Twenty-four hours. If harmony is not reached, you will be forced to live this way for ever."

Mac and Becca decided to try for harmony that very afternoon--before Mac returned to school for the AP qualifiers.