I don't own them - the Evil Geniuses do. Oh well.
For Ginny, just 'cause.
"Letters on a Page"
by Rebecca A. Anderson
beckyannea@twilightmail.com
March 2001
Dear Katie,
I know it's been a long time since I've written, and I know I promised every week, but it's been really hard to sit down and do anything for myself for a long time.
I never did tell you about the results of the election, did I? Well, little sister of mine, I won. Your big brother is the President of the United States. And that is good... or so I thought. I knew it was going to be long hard days, and short nights, but I never really expected the full weight of everything to come crashing down on me like it has.
I know you know about a lot of what I'm talking about, but even to you, there is a lot I can't say. The wrong information in the wrong hands...
Remember when we went squirrel-hunting when we were kids with the bee-bee guns? And we'd hit the trees instead, because we were just too nice to actually hit the squirrels? Kat, why can't kids today do the same thing? No, they just have to take their parents' guns to school and shoot the place up. Or they have to join a gang and shoot people because their gang says so. Or they just hate people enough to try to kill them.
We were victims of a hate crime. All of us - my staff, my friends, me... Abbey wasn't there, thank God. But Zoey was. They could have hurt my baby girl, Katie, and God knows I wouldn't have been very Presidential them - I would have killed the bastards with my own two hands if they had hurt her. But instead, I ended up being not so Presidential on a gurney, getting stripped down to my birthday suit to be prepped for surgery, because some bastard of a kid who hates your niece's boyfriend because he's black shot me in the gut.
I can't say I'm not glad that the surviving Gunman is in prison, rotting away. Hmph. Rotting away indeed - he has a God damn television and cable! If that isn't justice, what is? Note the dripping sarcasm, Katie.
He almost killed Josh Lyman, my Deputy Chief of Staff, and he sits there, watching OPRAH, for Christ's sake! Yes, I know it's not a very Presidential or Catholic thing to say, but Kat, I want to hurt him with my own hands. How Presidential is that?
I haven't been myself since Rosslyn. I feel like I lost something there that I'll never get back. I can't figure out what, but I think it might have been a piece of my soul - either that or I lost the rest of my naiveté that night. Maybe both.
Why do people hate, anyway? Isn't it just a waste of time that could be better spent if put to good use? Like Leo's big block of cheese days? No, I'm so not going there. I'll tell you about those some other time, okay?
Senator Stackhouse pulled a fillibuster a few days ago. My staff didn't listen to him about re-opening an appropriations bill, and he stood there for hours upon hours, reading, talking, doing whatever he could to keep stalling. It was all because we didn't appropriate money for autism research. His grandson is autistic. Now, how many times have I told people never to mess with grandparents?
I told you that often enough until Meggie was born, now didn't I?
But, like usual, they just write me off as an over-zealous, boring old crank who has his head in the encyclopaedia. Why would I say something like that if it wasn't true, Kat? You know how sincere a man I am when it comes to family. Family is everything. Even after you lose everything life has to offer, you still have your family.
Unfortunately.
Just kidding, sweetie. You know how much I love you and the others.
Anyway, Abbey and I made a deal that I'm dangerously close to breaking. That's another one of those things I can't talk about, but let me tell you, if I wanted to do it... and I do... nothing is going to stop me from getting it.
Nothing.
Abbey and I have been fighting more lately. I think we're both just tired and pissed off. Obviously, neither one of us is willing to compromise on anything, just the way it's always been. Until the world comes crashing down around us and we admit, finally, that we're just stupid mortals who don't know shit.
Stop laughing, Katherine. I can hear you all the way over here. Just stop it.
Liz and Annie are doing well. Annie is as precocious as ever, and Liz is finding it hard - even for her - to keep up with the squirt. Ellie is another subject altogether... She actually accused me of loving her less than Elizabeth and Zoey, if you can believe that! As if I could actually love any one of my children less than the others!
Okay, I admit it - it's harder for me to understand Eleanor and deal with her, because she's so much more Abbey's girl than mine. But that doesn't mean I don't love her less. If anything, I'm more proud of her because she is doing something wonderful in her life. She's going to be a doctor, Kat, just like her mother. And that's nothing to sneeze at, believe you me! But she never comes to see us anymore, and she says I don't love her.
I don't know how I'm going to mend this bridge. I don't know how to heal this hurt that we've inflicted on each other. Maybe, just one day at a time, we can fix it. Ellie's coming up for dinner tomorrow. Maybe we can try to work this out a little at a time - starting tomorrow.
Zoey is... Zoey is... Zoey. She's a little more subdued since Rosslyn, but she's decided that she isn't going to let anything come between her and Charlie. Not even two dead Gunmen, and a Signalman rotting in prison with Oprah on the TV and a VCR ready to tape news about us. Yes, I am touchy about this! OF COURSE I'M TOUCHY ABOUT THIS!
Okay, back to Zoey. She still hasn't decided what she's going to do with herself, but when she decides, I'll be sure to drop everything and tell you, Katie.
Damn... I have a meeting with Leo in a minute, so I'm going to have to go. I will write again, sister mine. I promise. It might take a while, but I will write.
Love forever,
Jed
"Sir?" Leo said. "Are you listening to me?"
"No, not really, but since when has that ever stopped you from talking?" Jed asked, licking the seal of the envelope and pressing it shut.
"Very funny - want me to mail that for you?"
Jed shook his head. "No, Leo. It's for Katie."
"You're going over there later?"
"Yeah. I've already cleared it with Ron, so..."
"It's been a while since you've written," Leo pointed out.
"Shut up - you think I don't know that?"
"I was just saying..."
"You want to come?"
"Sir?"
"I said, do you want to come? I think I'm gonna need a hand with planting the new flowers for her," Jed said with a sigh.
"Abbey's not going?"
"Abbey's got a presentation to make in Concord, remember?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah."
"So you gonna come?"
"Sure."
Ten minutes later, they were driving down the country roads to an out of the way cemetery, where the Suburban motorcade came to a stop outside the gates. The President got out of his car and headed for the far corner of the cemetery, passing his ancestors as he went, pausing to pay each regards borne of reverence. He stopped, finally, in front of a small headstone, which read "Katherine Marie Bartlet Harrison. 1951 - 1996. Beloved wife, mother, daughter, and sister."
Jed reached out and touched the marble slab, closing his eyes. "Hi, Katie," he whispered. "I'm sorry I haven't been here in so long, but I've been kinda busy running the free world. But I'm going to plant some new flowers for you today, and I brought you a letter."
Leo stood back and watched his friend as he spoke to his sister. He knew that Katherine had been important to Jed, and that it had devastated him when his little sister had died. And he knew that Jed had to have this time with her.
An hour later, the flowers were planted, and Jed was solemnly gazing at his sister's grave. "I miss you, kid," he said, his voice soft and full of emotion. "We all do."
He turned away and headed back to the car.
There would be other letters for Katherine.
And other times to mourn.
FINIS
For Ginny, just 'cause.
"Letters on a Page"
by Rebecca A. Anderson
beckyannea@twilightmail.com
March 2001
Dear Katie,
I know it's been a long time since I've written, and I know I promised every week, but it's been really hard to sit down and do anything for myself for a long time.
I never did tell you about the results of the election, did I? Well, little sister of mine, I won. Your big brother is the President of the United States. And that is good... or so I thought. I knew it was going to be long hard days, and short nights, but I never really expected the full weight of everything to come crashing down on me like it has.
I know you know about a lot of what I'm talking about, but even to you, there is a lot I can't say. The wrong information in the wrong hands...
Remember when we went squirrel-hunting when we were kids with the bee-bee guns? And we'd hit the trees instead, because we were just too nice to actually hit the squirrels? Kat, why can't kids today do the same thing? No, they just have to take their parents' guns to school and shoot the place up. Or they have to join a gang and shoot people because their gang says so. Or they just hate people enough to try to kill them.
We were victims of a hate crime. All of us - my staff, my friends, me... Abbey wasn't there, thank God. But Zoey was. They could have hurt my baby girl, Katie, and God knows I wouldn't have been very Presidential them - I would have killed the bastards with my own two hands if they had hurt her. But instead, I ended up being not so Presidential on a gurney, getting stripped down to my birthday suit to be prepped for surgery, because some bastard of a kid who hates your niece's boyfriend because he's black shot me in the gut.
I can't say I'm not glad that the surviving Gunman is in prison, rotting away. Hmph. Rotting away indeed - he has a God damn television and cable! If that isn't justice, what is? Note the dripping sarcasm, Katie.
He almost killed Josh Lyman, my Deputy Chief of Staff, and he sits there, watching OPRAH, for Christ's sake! Yes, I know it's not a very Presidential or Catholic thing to say, but Kat, I want to hurt him with my own hands. How Presidential is that?
I haven't been myself since Rosslyn. I feel like I lost something there that I'll never get back. I can't figure out what, but I think it might have been a piece of my soul - either that or I lost the rest of my naiveté that night. Maybe both.
Why do people hate, anyway? Isn't it just a waste of time that could be better spent if put to good use? Like Leo's big block of cheese days? No, I'm so not going there. I'll tell you about those some other time, okay?
Senator Stackhouse pulled a fillibuster a few days ago. My staff didn't listen to him about re-opening an appropriations bill, and he stood there for hours upon hours, reading, talking, doing whatever he could to keep stalling. It was all because we didn't appropriate money for autism research. His grandson is autistic. Now, how many times have I told people never to mess with grandparents?
I told you that often enough until Meggie was born, now didn't I?
But, like usual, they just write me off as an over-zealous, boring old crank who has his head in the encyclopaedia. Why would I say something like that if it wasn't true, Kat? You know how sincere a man I am when it comes to family. Family is everything. Even after you lose everything life has to offer, you still have your family.
Unfortunately.
Just kidding, sweetie. You know how much I love you and the others.
Anyway, Abbey and I made a deal that I'm dangerously close to breaking. That's another one of those things I can't talk about, but let me tell you, if I wanted to do it... and I do... nothing is going to stop me from getting it.
Nothing.
Abbey and I have been fighting more lately. I think we're both just tired and pissed off. Obviously, neither one of us is willing to compromise on anything, just the way it's always been. Until the world comes crashing down around us and we admit, finally, that we're just stupid mortals who don't know shit.
Stop laughing, Katherine. I can hear you all the way over here. Just stop it.
Liz and Annie are doing well. Annie is as precocious as ever, and Liz is finding it hard - even for her - to keep up with the squirt. Ellie is another subject altogether... She actually accused me of loving her less than Elizabeth and Zoey, if you can believe that! As if I could actually love any one of my children less than the others!
Okay, I admit it - it's harder for me to understand Eleanor and deal with her, because she's so much more Abbey's girl than mine. But that doesn't mean I don't love her less. If anything, I'm more proud of her because she is doing something wonderful in her life. She's going to be a doctor, Kat, just like her mother. And that's nothing to sneeze at, believe you me! But she never comes to see us anymore, and she says I don't love her.
I don't know how I'm going to mend this bridge. I don't know how to heal this hurt that we've inflicted on each other. Maybe, just one day at a time, we can fix it. Ellie's coming up for dinner tomorrow. Maybe we can try to work this out a little at a time - starting tomorrow.
Zoey is... Zoey is... Zoey. She's a little more subdued since Rosslyn, but she's decided that she isn't going to let anything come between her and Charlie. Not even two dead Gunmen, and a Signalman rotting in prison with Oprah on the TV and a VCR ready to tape news about us. Yes, I am touchy about this! OF COURSE I'M TOUCHY ABOUT THIS!
Okay, back to Zoey. She still hasn't decided what she's going to do with herself, but when she decides, I'll be sure to drop everything and tell you, Katie.
Damn... I have a meeting with Leo in a minute, so I'm going to have to go. I will write again, sister mine. I promise. It might take a while, but I will write.
Love forever,
Jed
"Sir?" Leo said. "Are you listening to me?"
"No, not really, but since when has that ever stopped you from talking?" Jed asked, licking the seal of the envelope and pressing it shut.
"Very funny - want me to mail that for you?"
Jed shook his head. "No, Leo. It's for Katie."
"You're going over there later?"
"Yeah. I've already cleared it with Ron, so..."
"It's been a while since you've written," Leo pointed out.
"Shut up - you think I don't know that?"
"I was just saying..."
"You want to come?"
"Sir?"
"I said, do you want to come? I think I'm gonna need a hand with planting the new flowers for her," Jed said with a sigh.
"Abbey's not going?"
"Abbey's got a presentation to make in Concord, remember?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah."
"So you gonna come?"
"Sure."
Ten minutes later, they were driving down the country roads to an out of the way cemetery, where the Suburban motorcade came to a stop outside the gates. The President got out of his car and headed for the far corner of the cemetery, passing his ancestors as he went, pausing to pay each regards borne of reverence. He stopped, finally, in front of a small headstone, which read "Katherine Marie Bartlet Harrison. 1951 - 1996. Beloved wife, mother, daughter, and sister."
Jed reached out and touched the marble slab, closing his eyes. "Hi, Katie," he whispered. "I'm sorry I haven't been here in so long, but I've been kinda busy running the free world. But I'm going to plant some new flowers for you today, and I brought you a letter."
Leo stood back and watched his friend as he spoke to his sister. He knew that Katherine had been important to Jed, and that it had devastated him when his little sister had died. And he knew that Jed had to have this time with her.
An hour later, the flowers were planted, and Jed was solemnly gazing at his sister's grave. "I miss you, kid," he said, his voice soft and full of emotion. "We all do."
He turned away and headed back to the car.
There would be other letters for Katherine.
And other times to mourn.
FINIS