Please see Chapter 1 for general info and disclaimers.
*~*
Josh and Sam were already seated and waiting in the Oval Office when Toby and C.J. made their entrance. They exchanged sympathetic glances with each other and Josh patted the seat cushion next to him on the couch when he caught C.J.'s eye. Once seated beside him, he reached out and rubbed her back in tiny circles with his knuckles. It was such a comforting gesture at such a stressful time that C.J. found herself on the verge of tears. "Did you sleep at all last night?" Josh asked her in a concerned whisper. "'Cause you look like hell."
C.J. shook her head and chuckled despite her foul mood. "You sure know how to woo the girls, Josh."
"Hey, that's why I'm known as a lady's man."
"Oh my God, don't even start with that," Toby growled menacingly, which elicited another chuckle from C.J.
"Good, you're all here." Leo hustled into the room from his office with a mug in one hand and a bundle of files in the other. "The President's running a little late, but he's on his way."
The senior staff nodded and each found something intriguing for them to stare at on the floor. Leo surreptitiously scrutinized them from behind his coffee mug and noticed that, even seated, they looked like they were about ready to fall. They'd all been put through the ringer during the MS hearings, especially C.J. Could he and the President really put them through it again and expect them to prevail unscathed?
Before Leo had a chance to ruminate on the question, Jed strode into the room with a bright smile on his face and a hearty "Good morning, everyone."
C.J., Josh, Toby, and Sam rose to their feet and mumbled "Morning" while averting their eyes from Jed's. It was the first time they were in the same room with the President since Leo had announced Jenn's arrival to them, and they all now found it difficult to look at the man they'd idolized for so long. Jed had wondered what his senior staff's reaction would be to seeing him, and as he took notice of their inability to establish eye contact with him, he realized that feigning contentment might not have been the wisest way for him to walk into the meeting. He shot a look of worry to Leo, who only made a face and shrugged his shoulders in response. Clearing his throat, Jed tried to sound nonchalant as he asked, "So, how did it go last night?" The resulting eye rolls and grimaces informed him that that might also have not been the wisest question with which to begin the meeting.
Luckily, Leo interceded by replying, "It went fine, sir. It proved to be very…informative."
"Good. I knew you'd all get along. Like all my other daughters, Jenn's got—" Jed cut himself off as he sensed the tension within his office triple at the mention of his 'new' daughter. "Look," he began, dropping his nothing-has-happened demeanor, "I realize that I've, once again, placed you all in a very difficult situation. But please believe me when I say that I never intended for this to happen. I would have told each of you about my past…transgression with Melanie Erickson if I had thought for a second that there was the slightest chance it would become public knowledge. I consider those within this room to be some of the finest people I've ever had the good fortune of working with and I really…I…I'm sorry. I really am."
He'd anticipated a variety of responses to his apology, but he failed to foresee the four stony-faced stares that greeted him when he looked up.
"Thank you, sir," Leo quickly said once he realized that none of the senior staffers were going to say anything. "I'm sure they appreciate the apology."
"Well, it'd be nice to hear them say that," Jed hissed, his blood beginning to boil from his staff's obvious disrespect.
"We appreciate the apology, sir," Toby stated in a flat monotone. After his earlier stint in the Bartlet-can-do-no-wrong world for C.J.'s benefit, he'd returned to his former state of antipathy.
Jed narrowed his eyes and frowned, but managed to restrain himself from verbally tearing his Communications Director into shreds by barking, "Okay, fine. So, what's next? Have you guys developed a plan?"
Sam and Josh looked over at Toby, who, in turn, looked at C.J. That's when it occurred to Sam that he apparently wasn't the only one Toby had had on speed-dial the night before. C.J. sighed as she adjusted the position of her glasses on her nose and flipped through a couple of pages on her notepad. With the calm and collected voice that only seasoned Press Secretaries possess, C.J. announced, "Yes, sir, we have a plan in place. We went through a variety of scenarios last night, but chose to settle on this particular one for its familiarity and simplicity." When she paused for a breath, the implications of her last comment hit her, causing her to add, "In execution. I meant that the simplicity can be found in the plan's execution, not its, you know, outcome."
Leo nodded and motioned with his hand for her to continue. "We know, C.J. Go on."
"Okay." She consulted her notes for a second before saying, "Mr. President, our suggestion for a course of action is as follows. Tomorrow night, on an as yet undecided news magazine show, you'll tell the nation about your past marital problems with the First Lady, your subsequent affair with Melanie Erickson, and how Jenn was the product of that affair."
"Will Jenn be appearing with me?" Jed interrupted.
"We don't think she should, sir. We have something else in mind for her."
"How about the First Lady?" Leo asked.
"I don't know," C.J. said with hesitation. "We never really resolved that issue last night because we weren't sure how the First Lady would feel about it."
Leo glanced questioningly over at the President, who looked down at his feet and gave a small shake of his head. "Why don't we table that question for now and come back to it later. What else have you got, C.J.?"
"Following the show, the President will participate in a press conference that will allow us to control the situation for as long as we possibly can."
"Gee, I wonder why all of this sounds so familiar," Toby mumbled under his breath as he slouched further down in his seat.
C.J. raised her head and shot Toby a look of astonishment and admonition before continuing on. "The next day, which is Saturday, Jenn will appear on an as yet undecided week-in-review talk show and describe her life and her current relationship with the President."
Making a mental note of Toby's comment, Jed moved from behind his desk and began to pace in front of it. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of letting the press at her like that."
"It wouldn't be the entire press, sir," C.J. assured him. "It would just be Jenn and the host of the show doing a live one-on-one interview for thirty minutes. If we don't give Jenn her own face time, then the press is going to accuse us of putting a muzzle on her because we're afraid of what she may say about you."
"And what if we are scared about what she may say?" Sam questioned.
"Doesn't matter," C.J. pronounced authoritatively. "The last thing we need is for even one person to accuse us of impinging on her freedom of speech."
"But we don't know what show this'll be yet, right?" Jed asked.
"No, sir, but we'll put together a list of some pro-Bartlet shows and pick one from there. We'll also create a list of questions for the show's host to use. Anything not on that list will be off-limits. If the host and the producer don't agree to that stipulation, then we'll go elsewhere."
"Good." Jed nodded his head with pleasure at the thoroughness of his staff. "Now, what about this show I'm supposed to go on? Are we thinking about going back to Dateline?"
"Oh, why don't we spread the wealth a little. Maybe 48 Hours would like to get in on the action," Toby muttered sarcastically. This time Sam was the one who shot him a look, while Josh kicked his foot.
Snatching his glasses off his face, Jed put his hands on hips and challenged, "Is there something you'd like to say, Toby?"
"Well, sir, since you asked," Toby began, rising to his feet.
Leo deftly maneuvered over to Toby and gave him a small yet effective shove downward before standing in front of him to block the President's view of him. "Toby has nothing to say, sir," Leo insisted. "He's fine."
"It certainly doesn't sound that way to me."
"Actually, I'm not fine," Toby declared as he began to stand up again.
Without missing a beat, Leo whipped around, glared at Toby, and mouthed "Shut up" before loudly asserting, "He's fine, Mr. President. Please go on, C.J."
At the mention of her name, C.J. fumbled with her notepad and stammered, "That's, um, that's actually all I had to say."
"But what about Dateline? Are we going to go with them?" Leo asked.
Josh shrugged. "I don't think it really matters. We could go with 48 Hours instead, if you'd prefer."
"48 Hours doesn't air on Fridays," Sam informed them knowledgeably. "We could try 20/20, but that doesn't come on until ten, so that would push the press conference until…midnight?"
"Okay, fine. Dateline it is then," Jed proclaimed. "You'll set it up, C.J.?"
"Yes, sir. I'll do it this afternoon. And then tomorrow afternoon, I'll leak the story to the usual suspects."
"That would be the AP, Reuters, and…?" Jed scratched his head as he tried to remember the name of the news organization currently alluding him.
"Agence France, sir," C.J. supplied.
"Right. And we'll shoot my interview with Marie Shriver or whoever it ends up being in here? Maybe with my wife, maybe not?"
"Well, not here in the Oval Office, but, yes, somewhere in the White House. We'll iron out the details and get back to you."
"Okay. And we're all fine with the timeline? If I appear on Dateline tomorrow night, then that leaves us with what? Thirty-six hours to prepare me, and about double that to prepare Jenn?"
Sam sighed and rolled his head around in an attempt to alleviate the tightness in his shoulder muscles. "It's certainly not ideal, Mr. President, but we don't really have a choice in the matter. We have to move on this."
"All right. Sam, you'll prepare a draft of what I should say on Dateline, as well as the list of permissible questions that may be asked of my daughter?"
"Yes, sir."
And, Leo, we're still going to keep a lid on this, right? Everyone goes about their regular duties without letting on that anything's amiss."
"That's correct, sir." Leo made eye contact with the senior staff as a means of emphasizing Jed's assumption.
"Okay, then. It sounds like we have a plan. Is there anything else?" Without waiting for a response, Jed began sorting through some papers on his desk to indicate that he was ready to move on.
"Actually, sir, there is." Standing up, Josh said, "We're going to have to tell some people – like our assistants – about Jenn. If I'm supposed to carry out all my duties on top of this…thing, then I'm going to have to tell Donna what's going on. There's no way I can do it all without her help. The same goes with everyone else here."
Jed considered Josh's plea for a moment before nodding his head in agreement. "Okay. It's actually not a bad idea for me to tell Charlie what's going on, either. You can tell your assistants, but do so without drawing any attention to yourselves. And before you tell anyone else, you have to clear it with either Leo or myself."
"Yes, sir," the staff chorused.
"All right, then. Thanks, everyone. I'm sure we'll talk again later today."
"Thank you, Mr. President."
They filed out of the Oval Office, with Leo bringing up the rear. After closing the door behind him, he spun around and scowled at Toby. "You. In my office. Now," he ordered.
"Can't," Toby chirped back. "Josh and I have a meeting with Congresswoman Delaney and Congressman Fellowes. You wouldn't want me skipping my regular duties, would you?"
"I swear to God, Toby, is it possible for you to be any more of an ass than you are right now?"
"Leo," Sam cautioned in a low voice as he gestured towards Charlie, who was trying his hardest not to notice the strife within the group huddled outside the President's door.
Leo took a deep breath and counted to twenty before looking back at Toby and saying, "You can be damn sure we'll continue this later."
"Are we still going to meet with Jenn at nine?" C.J. asked.
"Uh, no, that's okay. You guys have enough to deal with. The President and I will meet with her and let her in on what's happening."
"Okay." C.J. glanced down at her watch and frowned at the time. "I've got a briefing to prepare for."
"And Toby and I have that meeting," Josh added.
"Well, it sounds like we've got people to talk to and places to be, so let's get to it. I'll touch base with each of you throughout the day."
"Thanks, Leo."
They spilled out into the hallway and hurried off to various regions of the White House.
Warm-ups were now over.