Election Day
4am
Billy sat in the kitchen of the small apartment he shared with Karen. It was still inky black outside, the sky coated in the possibility of rain. It didn't seem right to have such an important and longed for day start out so ill tempered in terms of weather.
"Hey…"
A soft noise behind him, slippered feet slapping across the linolium, two warm arms around him and a lovely warm shape pressed up against his back.
"Hey you."
"Oooooh, you're frozen…"
Karen withdrew the hug and wrapped her dressing gown around her husband.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you rummaging for a gown."
"Silly bugger." Karen was direct and to the point as always. "You can't go getting sick today. Not of all days."
"Small chance of that."
"How're you feeling?"
Such a small question, with such a huge context, and such a tiny answer.
"I don't know. Everything just feels so...big. I just realised I have no idea what I have to do today."
"Really?"
"Yeah … it's been full pelt for weeks, with speeches, and events, and handshakes, and rallies, and registration drives, and now it's all here, and I don't know what to do."
"Other than vote."
"Well yes, obviously…" Billy turned to take Karen in his arms with a tickle for her impertinence and was rewarded with a giggle. "It would look pretty silly if I lost by one vote without having voted myself."
"My man is not a loser," Karen laid her hands on his chest, looked up into his face with that same steely determination she'd had the morning when he'd proposed. Now, all these months later, here they were, ready to see if his plans to become the youngest senator in almost two centuries was going to come to fruition.
"Joey says the numbers are tight."
"Tight, but not on the wrong side. You got this."
"Damn I hope so."
"You want to come back to bed?"
"I don't think I'll sleep…"
"Who said anything about sleep?" Karen answered with a wicked grin. "I'm wide awake now…"
Back to bed it was. And lovely it was too.
...
A few hours later, the sky was beginning to lighten. Billy and Karen laid in bed, warm, sated, lazy in unaccustomed luxury of not having to scramble off to a meeting on the wrong side of the state.
"I wish we'd had chance for a honeymoon…" Karen was wistful.
"We'll take one before I take office. If I win. Just you and me."
"You promise?"
"Mmmhmmm… you, me, a beach somewhere far FAR south of here, and lots and lots of cocktails. With fruit on little sticks."
"Will you buy me bikinis?"
"Will you wear bikinis?"
"A whole rainbow of them, different colours every day…"
"Awww, screw the election, let's go now…"
They laughed in each other's arms.
"You know, after Santos won, Sam made Josh take a vacation. He'd not had one in over ten years before that."
"10 years!"
"I know, right? He told me about it, suggested we should take a trip during the transition period."
Karen rolled onto her elbows, looking down at her husband.
"Josh talks a lot of sense, but that's the best thing he's said in weeks. I was worried he was working you too hard."
"Not too hard. Just … hard enough that I would know what I was getting into. Washington life isn't for the weak."
"Well, whatever we are honey, we ain't that…"
The phone rang. Josh's picture, dazed and confused, flashed up on the screen.
"Oh my God, who took that?" Karen was giggling to herself.
"Shhhh…" Billy scooped it up. "Hi Josh."
"Good morning. I'm glad you're awake."
"Have been for a little while."
"We're going down to open up the war room soon. You ready?"
"I'll meet you there."
"Good."
And just like that, he was gone.
Karen collapsed into giggles. "Oh God, I mean really, who took that photo for his phonecalls? He looks like a zombie."
"He was a zombie. I took it. When Leo was just a couple of weeks old. He hadn't slept in five days between the campaign and the newborn sleep cycle."
"Does he know?"
"He still doesn't really believe that phones take photos."
Billy was extricating himself, pulling on jeans and a t-shirt.
"You're going to wear that? Today?"
"Only until the polls open. My suit's been collected from the cleaners, it's in the war room. You weren't going to wear your fancy new dress all day were you?"
"When you put it like that, it makes sense…" Karen started opening cupboards and pulling out clothes. A thick sweater, a pair of jeans. "Go put on some coffee, would you?"
The morning was officially started. Election day was under way.
Election Day
7am
Charlie rolled over upon hearing the door open and turned to see Zoe bringing in two mugs of coffee.
"Oh my word… I always believed you were an angel, but now I know for sure…"
"Stop it…" Zoe was clearly delighted, with that expression of 'please continue to flatter me good sir'.
Charlie budged over and sat up, taking his coffee as Zoe put hers down and clambered back into bed.
"I have never been in bed so late on election day before."
"Yeah?"
"Oh yeah… or at least … not one I've really cared about."
"And you care about this one?" Charlie teased her.
"You know I do. This is the day you finally get started in the world you were meant to be part of. As a proper mover and shaker, head of your own team, leader of your own district."
"I feel bad not running for my own district."
Zoe turned to face Charlie quickly.
"Once you're in, you can do something about that. Make that all taxation, no representation thing a part of the past. It has to start somewhere."
"I know. I guess. I hope I am going to win."
"Joey's numbers don't lie. This was the biggest lesson I learned during Dad's time in the White House."
"How is your Dad? Did you talk last night?"
"He was asleep. I talked to Mom for a bit."
"Just a bit?"
Zoe's phonecalls to her mother usually took over an hour. Charlie was surprised.
"Well … yeah, you know, there wasn't much to talk about yet."
She looked shifty, uncomfortable all of a sudden. Then a sudden smile illuminated her face.
"Bartlet, what are you up to?"
"It's nothing." She had never looked less convincing.
"Zoe Bartlet-Young, what on earth are you hiding? Because it's pointless to try, I see straight through you."
"Oh alright, alright… Look, I wasn't going to say anything, not today, but I couldn't tell Mom last night, and it's not right that someone else might know before you if she guesse…" Zoe reached over and took Charlie's coffee away from him.
"Wait, what you doing with my coffee… stop, that's my wake up juice…"
"You can have it back in a minute. Just … just give it here… and now it's set down, listen to me."
Zoe finally deposited the mug and turned to take Charlie's hands.
"What is it? What's gotten into you… you bring me coffee, then take it away, and now you're hiding things from your Mom…"
"Charlie listen," her face was bright. "I, uh, you know I wasn't feeling too good last week, and I fainted at work?"
"That's what happens when you work eighteen hour days and forget to eat."
"Yeah but that's now what happened. I called my doctor, and went to get checked out, and that wasn't why I fainted."
"Are you alright, are you sick or something?" Charlie could absolutely understand why Zoe wouldn't tell her mother that. Other mothers descended with chicken soup and home made remedies. Dr Bartlet carried a full diagnostic kit complete with colonoscopy equipment…
"Well … I have this condition … and it's life changing…" Zoe looked up at Charlie who was blissfully clueless. She took a few seconds to savour the look on his face, to remember the moment when she changed their lives forever. "It's only going to affect me physically for about another seven months… but it will affect us both after that in other ways. Forever."
The moment dawned across Charlie's face.
"You mean… you're … we're… we're having a baby?"
"Yes…"
""I'm gonna be a father? You're gonna be a mother… Oh holy mother of God we're going to be parents!"
The hug was enormous, the whoops worthy of the Yankee's Stadium. Charlie was over the moon.
"Is this what you couldn't tell your mom?"
"I wanted you to know first. And I was going to wait until after the election, but I couldn't keep it in any more."
"Can we tell people?"
"Let's wait another month. Then everything will be more certain. I haven't told anyone else yet. There's just you, my doctor and me that know."
"OK, look… I know we're not to tell anyone until after three months, but you gotta tell your mother. Because she will be imagining far worse than me and digging out her medical text book. Do… do you think she'll be pleased? That he'll be pleased?"
"Dad looks on you as a son, Charlie. He'll be delighted for us."
"So come on… let's make that call…"
Zoe scooped up the mobile phone and set it to speaker phone. The young couple waited as a dial tone went on, holding each other tight, longing for the moment when they could change two more worlds and bring the Bartlets into their delicious secret.
Election Day
8am
In Bethesda, another family were waking up ready for election day. Toby had stayed the night at Andie's house and much of the morning getting the twins ready to go to school. Andie's mother had arrived to collect their bags, ready for them to spend the night with her later, as Toby and Andie would be up until the small hours waiting for the results to come in across the state.
Between the bathroom queues, and clothes, and breakfast, and packing, and doorbells, and school bags and coats, and sudden lack of hairbrushes and shoes, the whole house was in pandemonium. Toby had never in his life felt more domesticated, harangued and happy.
Finally, the twins were swept off to school by Andie's mother, and the door closed behind all three of them, and there was a few moments of blissful silence.
"Wow…"
"Yeah…" Andie was fixing her earrings and searching out her makeup bag from her purse.
"Is it like that every morning?"
"Something like that."
"Wow…"
Toby loaded the last plate and cup into the dishwasher, popped in the tablet and set it swishing away.
"So, how're you feeling?"
"If I give you an honest answer, do you promise not to ask me that for the rest of the day?"
"How about if I occasionally say, do you need anything? Is that an acceptable substitute."
"That's…. That's perfect. Where did you learn that?"
"It's what Leo used to say to President Bartlet, on election day. He hated being asked how he was too."
"Alright. Deal accepted."
"So … I don't want to ask again, but you promised an answer."
"I feel… exhausted. Overwhelmed. Anxious. Worried. A little bit scared."
"Scared of what?"
"Of what this world will look like if I am no longer Congresswoman Wyatt after tonight."
"Shall I tell you what will happen?"
"In small, baby steps."
"We'll come back here… in the small hours. And I'll make you something to eat. Which you won't want. But you will eat it, because you'll be starving. And we'll watch the results come in from the West Coast, and maybe call CJ. And when you're tired, you can go to sleep. And when you wake up, it will be tomorrow. And we'll get some breakfast, and maybe take a walk. And think about what you want to eat for lunch. Watch a movie, one of the ones you missed in the last three months. Maybe we'll take the kids out to Big Bubba Burgers for dinner after school, and let them have those big ice cream milkshakes they love so much. We'll play rock and roll on the jukebox, and we'll split a cheesecake. And then we'll come home, and read stories, and put them to bed. And I'll pour you a drink. And it'll be almost over. And if you're ready to talk about what's next, we'll talk. And if not? It will keep."
Andie was almost hypnotised by Toby's gentle and undemanding outline for the day to follow, so much so that she thought maybe losing wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Where… where did you learn to do that? Bring such order out of chaos? You never had that ability before."
"You forget… I lived through chaos. I lived through a dead brother, a divorce, through losing my position at the White House, through the threat of prosecution and jail… I lived through everything that was too big to cope with, and I channelled everything into trying to shepherd Josh through a campaign that he was in full control of, and eventually realised I had no power at all. Over anything. And it was … I don't know. It was the most disturbing and profound experience."
"Andie sat at the breakfast bad, watching Toby potter around the kitchen, tidying things up, wiping down surfaces. The whole conversation had taken on an air of confession.
"You know … I once asked Leo what it was like when he finally admitted he was an alcoholic, when he went to his first meeting. And he said that the first time he said those lines, the ones they say at meetings, about admitting you are powerless over alcohol, that your lives had become unmanageable, it felt like someone finally understood what it was like in his own head. And … I'm not an alcoholic. I like a drink, but I want one good drink, not ten drinks. But I finally got what he meant during those few weeks, before President Bartlet left office. I was powerless, and my life was unmanageable. And the only thing I was really in control of were the little things. What to eat. Where to walk. What movie to watch. Everything else was in someone's hands. And after the threat of prison, I realised I could lose those things too."
Toby shook out the tea towel and smoothed it over the rail in front of the oven to dry in the residual warmth.
"So … the little things became precious." Andie cupped her face in her hands.
"Almost unbearably so."
"So … this domesticity… this … normalcy?"
"It's not an act."
"Not even a little bit?"
"My keys to an ordered life are in all the little things. The … the...book bags, and the pancakes, and the, uh, sports shoes, and school books of the kids. The laundry, and chores, and housework. All my life someone else did that sort of thing for me. I never realised how powerful it was to run your own world at the most basic level."
"Tell that to the generations of women who have worked so hard to escape it."
"Maybe I speak from a place of privilege. I choose to do this. It's not foisted on me against my will. But … I can choose it. And I do choose it. And that's … well, it's just nice. To know that all the cogs of this little world turn because of me. And my actions."
"Well…" Andie got to her feet and stretched out her hand. "How do you feel about coming to exercise another small action, and voting?"
Toby smiled and took her hand.
"That's never lost its power. Let's go exercise our rights. I'll take my car though, I promised to go see Josh and make sure he's not climbing the walls."
"Come on then…"
"Andie?"
"Hmmm?"
"You know … whatever else happens today … you've got my vote."
"That's the only one that matters."