Peter's sitting on the couch across from me shifting nervously. I don't know why. A. I'm not Carly's Dad. And B. I've known the kid half his life. We've talked about everything from theoretical physics to video games to science fiction novels.

Yet, he's sitting across from me, wringing his hands, looking up at the ceiling for inspiration.

"It's a really nice day, isn't it."

"Yeah."

He puts his lips together in something between a grimace and a smirk while nodding his head awkwardly. We're saved from further conversation by Donna coming into the room holding a camera. She takes in the scene, her eyes shifting from me to Peter then back to me.

"Why are you glowering at Peter?" She demands, with a bit of a laugh.

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are. Stop it." Peter gives her a little grin.

Donna smiles back at him. "Carly will be down in a second. She's just finishing up her make-up. And I want to catch your expression when she makes her grand entrance." She holds up the camera as an exhibit.

Peter's little grin morphs into a full out smile of relief. Then Donna turns to me. "And you . . ." she starts, "do not freak out when you see her dress."

"I won't!" I insist, to which she just raises her eyebrows. "I didn't last year." I remind her a bit sullenly. I should get a lot of credit for that. That dress had no back, and it made her look 25 instead of 15. Oh my god, if Donna's worried I might freak out this year, after being so good last year, what is this dress going to be like?

I only have to worry about it for a few minutes while Donna and Peter chat, then I see his eyes get cartoonishly large, his mouth open slightly, then a ginormous smile overtake his whole face. I whip my head over to the doorway, where Carly guides through in a sparkly, golden sequined party dress.

I swear my heart stops a second. She's perfectly adorable. Even though the top doesn't have any straps and is hugging, her, well, I don't want to think about it. The poofy, shimmery gold tulle bottom of the dress is like a lot of Lulu's dresses. But this one stops well above her knees. Mid-thigh actually. It makes my chest clench a little.

Donna gives me a look so I give Carly a big smile and thumbs up when she looks at me for approval. I hope by the time Lulu is this age the grunge look makes a comeback. She can wear flannel and combat boots every day and it'll be alright with me.

After Donna takes about a million gajillion photos of Carly and Peter, they head back to the White House, where I'm sure Helen will take an equal number of photos. Then a fancy private dinner on the Truman balcony before heading to their party.

I'll say this for Peter. The kid has class.

Donna grins at me as she shuts the door behind them. "You did very well."

"Do I get a reward?" I ask, grabbing her hand and pulling her into my body. She tilts her head up a little and plants a long kiss on me.

"Will that do?" She asks, as she rubs her pelvis against mine, short circuiting my brain with her movement.

She laughs and starts to pull away, but her laughter gets the synapses firing again and I hold tight. "That plus a dance will do for now." I banter back, wrapping my arm around her waist and leading her in a little waltz.

"Josh, there's no music." She giggles, eyes sparkling.

"I don't need any when I'm with you." I insist, turning on all my charm, just to see if I can still make her swoon a little.

She sighs and lays her head on my shoulder and I give myself a little mental fist pump. I've totally still got it.

Unfortunately the dance is cut short by two little girls coming down the stairs. "Tia Donna! Jonah's awake!" Miranda shouts. At practically the same moment, the doorbell rings. This time when Donna pulls away I let her go.

"I'll get him. You get the door."

When I open the door, Toby is standing before me holding a white bakery box wrapped in string in one hand and a duffle bag in the other. Molly and Huck are wearing the little back-packs that Donna gave them last year for Hanukkah. They troop in silently until Molly notices Miranda half way up the stairs.

"Miranda!" She shouts excitedly.

"Molly!" Miranda turns and runs down the stairs. Lulu immediately copies her, also calling for Molly.

"Lulu! Be careful!" I shout even as I see her lose her footing and tumble down the last two steps in slow motion. It only takes me a half second to reach her but she's wailing by the time I scoop her up.

"Baby, are you okay? What hurts?" I'm frantically looking her over for injuries, when Toby slides up next to us.

"You're okay, Lulu." He tells her matter of factly. "It just started you, right?"

She stops sobbing and looks at him for a moment, while I replay the scene in my head. I think maybe he's right. She sort of just slid down, it's not like she hit her head or anything. I flip up her shirt and look at her back. It looks fine. I run my hand over it to see if she flinches or anything but she just sighs and lays her head on my shoulder, hiccupping slightly as she catches her breath. I think Toby was right. The fall just scared her. Me too.

Donna appears at the top of the stairs holding Jonah. "Everything okay down here?"

"Yep. Just a little slip." Toby tells her.

"Molly! Come see Lulu's room!" Miranda urges, having decided that Lulu is alright. Lulu's head pops up off my shoulder.

"Wait for me!" She insists.

"Molly. Coat and shoes." Toby reminds her, earning himself a mini-eye roll, but she obeys, quickly removing both, as Huck silently does the same.

"Here, I'll take them." Donna tells them, handing Jonah off to Toby, who accepts him with ease. What a difference nine years makes. Toby's the old pro parent among us. It's almost comical.

"What?" He asks as Donna takes the coats.

"Huck, do you want to go with the girls?" Donna inquires and is answered with a nod. "Okay, come with me. I'll take you upstairs."

As they leave something occurs to me. "No Andy?" I ask Toby as we head towards the kitchen.

"Um, no. Actually, she has a date."

That stops me. "A date? I thought you two were . . ." I don't know how to say it. When Toby's in town for the weekends he stays at Andy's place and I'm pretty sure they share a room. He called it friends with benefits one time, but we all just assumed they were getting back together.

"It's complicated." He interjects gruffly as I pull out a beer and hand it to him.

"Is that a good idea?" He just gives me a look. "Politically, I mean."

"I've never really been that good for her politically." He points out. "Plus, I thought you retired?"

That makes me raise an eyebrow at him. How'd he hear about that?

"Sam and I do talk, you know." He answers my unasked question. "So, are you really done? What are you going to do?"

"Well, as far as I can tell— mostly cut things into bite size pieces." I quip as I take Jonah from him and pop him into his high chair and pour some blueberry puffs onto the tray.

Toby guffaws at that, giving me his crooked half smile. And feeling a little bit of love from him spurts me to share my other news.

"I might write a book." I tell him as I grab a handful of puffs for myself, popping a few into my mouth.

"Yeah?" He responds, holding out his hand for some as well.

"Yeah. Simon and Schuster made me a pretty serious offer. Like with an advance and everything."

"Well, you know. You're not a completely hopeless writer." Toby harasses me a little, "and you do have quite a story to tell, wunderkind." But he's still smiling as he says it, and I feel relieved. Being around writers like Toby and Sam can really give a guy a complex.

"Yeah, they'll give me quite a bit of time on it, maybe release it around the election while there is still some interest in the Santos admin."

"You think it'll help Baker?" Toby wants to know.

"I don't know. But I doubt it will hurt him. He's fairly unremarkable. He's done everything we've asked, and he's clearly just biding his time, but he's going to have to start making a name for himself independently."

"Are you going to run him?" He asks in a shocked voice.

"Absolutely not."

"You think Bruno will come back?"

"I don't know, but it's not going to be me. I've passed the mantle. There are enough young guns."

"Donna?" Toby supposes.

I hope not. But that's not my decision. If she wants to do another campaign, I'll support her, but I think she's moved on as well. But Toby doesn't need to know that.

"That's completely up to her."

"What's up to me?" Donna asks, coming into the room. But before I can answer she notices what Toby and I are snacking on.

"REALLY, JOSH?! There's a whole tray of cookies, right there and the two of you are eating the baby's snack?"

I just shrug helplessly. There's really not much to say. She just doesn't get how good these are.