Chapter Twelve

A/N: Hi. For the next week, I'm going to publish one chapter per day. Happy Holidays!

Harm checked his watch again, silently cursing. He only had a few minutes before he was too late. While this occasion wouldn't be the first and probably not the last time he'd be late to a meeting, being late for a meeting with the President would be bad. It was even worse when the President and his entourage were waiting for him to join them to take Air Force One. He had called C.J. before he started to drive. She told him they would wait only five minutes, then he would either have to make his way to North Carolina or cancel the trip.

While the latter option sounded all right with him, C.J. would certainly be disappointed. And probably angry. She had worked hard to not only convince her colleagues but also her superiors that having Harm could be helpful. He still didn't know why he had agreed to the trip at all. While he was looking forward to spending time with C.J., having her colleagues and bosses around, especially when one of them was the President, wasn't his idea of a good time.

After his confrontation with Singer, he had contemplated canceling the trip, but he had given C.J. his word to only cancel when he had to leave town. But surprisingly, there had been no new case for him. He had chuckled when he thought about telling the White House Press Secretary and her colleagues that he didn't want to join them because he had a bad week at work. So, here he was, on his way to meet his girlfriend and her boss. Ugh…

When Harm reached the White House, they immediately directed him to his car. He knew he had made the right decision when C.J. relaxed when she saw him. Her bright smile told him it was even more important to her than he had guessed.

Even though he wasn't keen on being flown by Air Force pilots, he was looking forward to flying with Air Force One. Harm listened to C.J. and her colleagues on their way to Andrews Air Force Base, only speaking up a few times when he was asked a question.

Most of the time, he was looking out of the window, deep in thoughts about Singer and her baby. He knew that his behavior towards her hadn't been right. He made a mental note to apologize to her after he'd come back from the trip.

C.J. had been thrilled to see Harm arrive on time. When she had spoken with Toby and the others about her idea, they had thought her crazy. More than usual. It had taken all her powers of persuasion and solid arguments until they reluctantly agreed. Then she had gone to Leo to pitch her idea. She planned to talk to him first, but the President had overheard them and joined the conversation.

It was obvious what he thought about her idea. While he had listened to her and advised her after she disagreed with Harm and her actions about Mac, he still was reserved towards Harm after their confrontation at their first meeting. It hadn't been a problem at the medal ceremony, as there had been so many people around that the President and Harm didn't have to spend too much time together. But this weekend would be different. In the end, she had convinced the President and Leo with help from Toby.

During their flight to Andrews, she kept looking at Harm, who looked troubled and deep in thought. Even her sometimes absentminded and socially awkward colleagues had noticed it. But to her surprise, they remained silent and let him be.

She wondered whether something had happened at his work. They had spoken shortly late one evening when he had told her about Lindsey's report to the SecNav and the combined efforts of the senior officers to refute the claims. He hadn't gone into details, but she knew that the report bothered him. She hoped they would find some time on Air Force One to talk to him more privately.

After they had boarded and taken off, C.J. showed Harm around the plane, introducing him to the security detail aboard Air Force One, William Baer, Caitlin Todd, and their colleagues. Then they found a quiet place to talk.

She didn't know what she should be more surprised about: that Chegwidden planned to resign or that SecNav had planted a spy at JAG HG?

While Harm was furious with Manetti, he was also thankful that she had given a report of her own that refuted most of Lindsey's claims and accusations against the JAG.

Despite the drama at work, she got the impression that something else was bothering him and asked him about it. He told C.J. about his conversation with Lt. Singer. While he told her that he was trying to protect Sergei and the baby, he was ashamed about the way he had confronted her.

"Do you think your brother is the father?"

"I do."

"Even though she denied it?"

"C.J., I barely believe anything that woman tells me. Besides, I don't want to think even less about her than I already do."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know for a fact that she slept with Sergei. He admitted it when I told him about the pregnancy and asked him whether he could be the father. Believing that he is the father helps me not accuse her of two-timing him."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"Yeah, anyway, tell me a little more about the plans for this weekend. Then you have to show me a quiet place where I can go through my notes. I didn't have as much time to prepare as I hoped. If I'm to play my role, I should work on that for a little."

"Alright, here is the current plan…."

Saybrook Institute for Public Policy

Faith, North Carolina

Harm and President Bartlet were each standing behind a podium. The rest of the White House senior staff, Congresswoman Andy Wyatt, Joey Lucas, and her interpreter Kenny, were sitting in the audience, listening—or in Kenny's case, listening and signing for Joey.

"Affirmative action and quotas are about two different things. Affirmative action is about providing people an opportunity they might not otherwise get," Bartlet said.

"I don't know how you can talk about providing opportunity, Mr. President, while at the same time supporting racial profiling," Harm replied in his role as Governor Ritchie.

"What the hell is...? I don't support racial profiling," Bartlet exclaimed heatedly.

"Your nominee for Attorney General did. Can you tell us why you nominated him?" Harm kept going.

"Why?"

"Yes."

"'Cause bite me, that's 'why'!" Bartlet exclaimed furiously at Harm.

Not for the first time, Harm was wondering what he was doing here. In his wildest dreams, he had never thought he would do something like this. Normally, he'd shy away from politics and politicians as much as possible. But here he was now, standing behind a podium in a mock debate with the President of the United States, helping said man prepare for the only presidential debate he would have with Florida's Governor Robert Ritchie.

Harm hadn't even decided whom he'll vote for. However, when C.J. had used her powers of persuasion to convince him.

He had prepared as much as he could with his schedule. The prep material C.J. had provided him had been a boon. To his surprise, he had enjoyed the prep work. While he disliked politics, he loved debating, the battle of wits with an opponent. He always did. That's one thing that made him the exceptional lawyer he was. That's why he had added some of his own points to the briefing C.J. had given him.

He had known that this would probably be the only chance he ever got to ask the President some questions he always wanted to ask but thought would never get the chance to do so.

That's why he didn't mind the President's attitude. He had known from the beginning that Bartlet wasn't fond of him or keen on him joining the debate preparation. Their relationship had not improved since their first meeting in the Oval Office, despite the brief reprieve at the medal ceremony. Knowing that Harm remained calm, unlike the others in the room, who looked shocked.

"Sir, it's a legitimate question," C.J. pointed out. While she was calm on the outside, she was getting desperate on the inside. For the first time, she wondered whether she had made a mistake in asking Harm to stand in for Ritchie instead of Sam. She had thought that the President's attitude towards Harm would help set the stage. She also wanted to show her colleagues that Harm could hold his own against them-though she never hinted about it in any way or form.

The President's remarks made her wonder whether she'd be able to salvage her relationship with Harm.

"Of course, you'd say that," Bartlet said and C.J. looked at him, surprised. That remark stung.

"Mr. President, Harm made a good point," Sam said.

"It's been almost four years, Sam. How long do you want to say, 'I told you so'?" Bartlet asked, frustrated.

"He wasn't saying. 'I told you so,' sir. Either way, we need an answer on Rooker," Josh added.

"What is wrong with 'bite me?'"? Bartlet asked sarcastically.

"I think we'd lose," Josh replied.

"Not in New Jersey," Toby commented, and Josh nodded, smiling.

"How about, 'It's never been shown that racial profiling works, and I'm against it'?" C.J. asked to get them all back to the problem at hand.

"That answer's pretty simple, isn't it?" Josh asked.

"We can make it more complicated," C.J. replied.

"Mr. President, do you mind if I...?" Harm said, but Josh interrupted him.

"No..."

"I think he was talking to me there, Dexter. What?"

"My experience is that many people in law enforcement believe profiling helps them do their job better. Not everyone's against it," Harm said with his arms wide open. "Obviously, I can only speculate, but I think that is what Mr. Rooker meant when he said that there was no question in his mind that in certain situations, racial profiling could be helpful to law enforcement."

"I'm against it," Bartlet simply stated.

"And so are the voters, but I think what...," Kenny said for Joey.

"How you doing there, Joey? Kippy?" Bartlet asked.

"Kenny," Josh replied.

"Okay."

"I think, Mr. President, that what Commander Rabb was saying is that if we can figure out a way to make this answer about the drug war, then we can talk about successes," Kenny said for Joey.

"Is that what you were saying, Commander?"

"Well, not exactly, sir. I just wanted to point out that there are many people who believe in profiling. However, coming back to your potential answer, I think that Ms. Lucas' suggestion has merit."

"Yeah, but Richie will bring it back to Rooker and the fact that you don't know what your position on racial profiling..." C.J. said.

"I do know what my position is," Bartlet interrupted.

"We're losing the question. Fundamentally, it's 'What was the story with Rooker?'" Toby intervened.

"We gave him our full support until it became clear that an increasingly divided Congress was going to shoot down our nominee," C.J. said.

"We didn't give him our full support. We withdrew the nomination," Toby replied.

"Why not blow past the nomination fight and give a strong..." Josh suggested.

"'Blow past the nomination fight'?" C.J. threw in, but Josh didn't seem to care.

"...and give a strong, unambiguous statement in support of law enforcement?"

"'Cause that's not going to be the vote," Toby said.

"Nobody's for stronger, fairer law enforcement," Josh said.

"That's not going to be the question," Toby said.

"Why not just say we screwed up?" Sam suggested. "Why don't say something like, "'Cornell Rooker is a devoted crime fighter. We had our differences, but on this, all Americans can agree...'"

Sam imitated the President.

At this point, Leo entered the room. He walked towards the President with a note in his hand.

"Excuse me, Sam?" Bartlet said.

"Yes, sir?"

"Were you doing me just then?"

Sam looked sheepishly. "I was offering an answer..."

"You were doing me."

"I may have slipped into it, yes."

"Anybody else do a pretty good Bartlet? It's talent night here at Debate Camp. Anybody want to do a little skit?" Bartlet said sarcastically.

Leo handed Bartlet the note and bowed forward to whisper in one of his ears.

Bartlet read the note, then turned to his staff. "Apparently, eight Israeli Thunder fighters," he told them, but stopped and turned to Harm. "Commander, do you know what kind of airplanes that are?"

"Yes, sir. The Israeli Thunder fighters are known as American-made Boeing F15E Strike Eagles."

"Thank you, Commander. Anyway, these fighters have just hit two terrorist bases in the north and south of Qumar. And while no Qumari government personnel or institutions were destroyed, Qumar, of course, considers an attack on its soil to be an act of war. So we are, as always, one bad bottle of Tequila away from an all-out war in West Asia."

He turned to Sam. "Would you like to take this one, or shall I?"

"Why don't you get this one. I'll get... the next one."

"Okay."

"We've got a secure link," Leo said.

Bartlet walked out of the room. "I agreed to be locked up with you people for 48 hours. How much time do I have left?"

"47 hours, 41 minutes," Leo stated drily.

Inside Saybrook Institute for Public Policy

Joey Lucas and her interpreter Kenny left to prepare for a presentation of the electoral math. That left only Harm and C.J. inside.

"You know, C.J., now, I'm even more convinced than before that coming here with you all was a mistake."

C.J. sighed. She knew that Harm had strong reservations against accompanying them. She had a hard time convincing him of doing it. She understood his misgivings, even more so after the first session.

"Harm, don't take it personally. The President is stressed for obvious reasons, the daily work, the campaign," His MS, she thought but didn't say. "And the simple fact is that he doesn't like those debate preps."

"I understand that, C.J. I really do. But I don't think my being here helps him or our relationship. It's already strained since the first meeting in the Oval, and you can't say that it has got better since then."

C.J. knew that he was right. For all the encouragement the President had given her in pursuing the relationship with Harm, he remained cold towards Harm the few times they had met since.

"Harm, I don't know why he behaves to you as he does."

"Well, it could be my disrespectful behavior in the Oval when I challenged his authority as my Commander-in-Chief."

C.J. cringed. "You could be right there."

"Yeah, it surprised me that I didn't face repercussions for that."

"Really?" C.J. asked, surprised. "You have said nothing about that before."

"Yes, really. I may have been factually right, but the way it happened… C.J., I disrespected my Commander-in-Chief while standing in uniform in the Oval Office."

"Yeah. But look at the bright sight. Nothing happened. And he knew you were coming, and he didn't protest."

Harm gave her a look.

"Well, he didn't protest too much. It was the idea of this debate camp that vexed him more than anything. So, as I said before, don't take it personally. I know that the first session didn't go well. But you have to stay in his face."

"That's easy to say for you. I did as you asked me to do. And he seems to take it personally."

"I know, but I'm going to talk to him when we're done here."

"No, don't do that, C.J. As we will see each other regularly, he and I will have to find a way to co-exist. Especially since you're going to continue to work for him for a few years."

C.J. didn't know what she should comment on first. That Harm, for the first time, said something along the lines that the President would be reelected or that he saw their relationship going on for years. Before she could reply, Josh walked into the room and asked them to follow him.

A few minutes later, the group was looking at an interactive map of the U.S. hanging on the wall.

"When do you suppose Georgia got so far out of reach? Was it 'cause, you know, we burned it down?" Josh asked.

"I was going to say that," Sam replied.

"Okay, let's start," Joey said and turned nodded to Kenny. As she spoke, Kenny interpreted for her.

"I'm taking Ohio out of the red and putting it back in play." Joey touched the screen and changed Ohio from red back to gray.

"How much money is it going to take to win there?" Toby asked.

"A lot more than we have there. We're on the air in 18 of the top 25. There's no additional money to spend on this. We're going to have to move it..."

"I'm going to stop you there. Joey, I-I can't go to him with it."

"Let me go to him with it. Let Bruno," Kenny said for Joey.

"No, I'm with Toby," C.J. said. "I don't think you understand how the President feels about his home state. He's a New Hampshire Bartlet. It's been home for centuries. He's a Democrat elected to the Statehouse with close to 60% and the fact that the state's in play is a real embarrassment for him. He doesn't want to campaign there because that would be even more embarrassing, but we really can't..."

"C.J., I'm trying to tell you it's not in play anymore," Kenny interpreted. "They all understood what they meant.

"Joey, no kidding," Josh said. "If you asked the President which he'd rather win, New Hampshire or the general election, he'd have to think before he answered. Put a pin in it, we'll come back after prep. Thanks."

As the staffers and Harm got up and walked to the prep room, Joey touched the screen, changing New Hampshire from undecided to Republican.

Saybrook Institute for Public Policy

Debate Prep Room

"President Bartlet, the next questions to you. Governor Ritchie contends there's a crisis in the American family, that parents aren't spending enough time with their kids," Sam began, but Josh interrupted him.

"We're trying this again. Sorry."

"Yeah. And that your solution is essentially to have government raise children," Sam said in his role as moderator.

"Well, that's an extraordinary and unsurprisingly dumb interpretation of what it is my administration's trying to accomplish," Bartlet said, and the staffers applauded.

"It's hard enough to raise kids today even with help from family leave, subsidized daycare, and preschool. We need more of it, not less!"

"The government can't raise kids, Mr. President - parents have to," Harm replied in his role as Ritchie.

"I have three grown daughters, Governor. You want to tell me how I should raise my family? You're really comfortable with that? You want to tell other American fathers and mothers what they're doing is wrong?"

"Sir, I did not say..." Harm began, but Bartlet interrupted him.

"I didn't think you did. So, why don't we stick to what government can do - which is to collect money and distribute it - and stop wasting time by sentimentalizing family," Bartlet said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the staffers reacted.

"That's... not good, sir," Sam said. "We just lost the vote of every stay-at-home mom and their husbands who are henpecked."

"I like the aggressive answer. It's just right," Toby said.

"We're letting Ritchie put him on the opposite side of values. Lead with 'I'm the proud father of...'" Sam said.

"That wasn't the question, Sam," Bartlet said. "The question was, 'What do I have against families?' and the answer is I have nothing against them at all. They simply aren't mentioned in the Executive Powers section."

"Mr. President, Sam is right. We have to put you on the right side of this. I think that you're on the right side of this, but we need a better answer."

"May I make a suggestion?" Harm asked and everybody turned to him.

"You want to make a suggestion on this?" Bartlet asked, surprised.
"Yes, sir."

"Well, let's hear it."

"Yes, sir. You could start with Sam's suggestion and say something along the lines of, 'I'm the proud father of three daughters. We were lucky enough to have resources to raise them to strong, independent women. But not all families have that luck. That is where the government can and should come in. I want those women to have help from the government. I want women to be able to earn what men earn. In fact, I want everyone to earn enough so that everyone can make the right choice for their own family. And after that, it should be none of the government's business to decide who stays home and who goes to work. It should be the families' decision, and only theirs'," Harm stated.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Josh said.

"Sam, polish it and get that in the form of an answer," Toby ordered.

"Okay."

"Let's continue…"

"Mr. President…"