Please see Chapter 1 for general info and disclaimers.

*~*

Long after Toby had left his office, Leo remained staring at the spot where he had stood. His staff was falling apart. It wasn't new news to him. He'd seen the way Margaret had openly scowled at the President the first time they bumped into each other after she'd been told about Melanie and Jenn, so he even knew that anger towards the President extended beyond the senior staff. It was his responsibility to bring them all together again, but he was damned if he knew how he was going to accomplish that.

He groaned as he stood up, his knees popping and creaking their disapproval at being moved. As much as he hoped everything would work out in the end, he also hoped it would all be over soon. Very soon.

Due to the lateness in hour, Leo opened the door connecting his office to the Oval Office without bothering to knock first. Jed looked up at the sound of the doorknob turning and awaited Leo's face.

"What a day, huh, Mr. President?" Leo asked as he crossed into the Oval Office.

Jed moaned and tossed something he'd reading on to his coffee table. "Remind me again why I wanted this job, Leo."

"You're a glutton for punishment."

"No, if I remember correctly – and I know that I do – you forced me to."

"Whatever you say," Leo dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Sir, Sam needs an answer."

"Well, I'm often known as the man with the answers," Jed began jovially, "but why don't you give me a question to work with just to be sure I don't give you the wrong answer."

"Sam's working on the Dateline statement and needs to know if Abbey's going to appear on the show with you."

"I don't know," Jed responded curtly.

"Maybe you should make a quick trip to the Residence, sir, and find out. Sam really needs to know."

"She's not there," Jed mumbled quickly, covering his mouth with a hand.

"Excuse me? I'm afraid I didn't quite catch that."

"She's not at the Residence, Leo," Jed repeated, grimacing as the words left his mouth. "She's in New Hampshire…at Liz's."

Leo observed the President with wide eyes. "Does this mean she's—"

"It means she's pissed at me," Jed snapped in disgust. "That's what it means."

"So the girls know?" Leo asked quietly, ignoring his best friend's outburst.

"Yeah." Jed sighed and rested his head against the top of the couch. "Abbey and I called each of them last night. I would have preferred to talk to them in person, but time hasn't been on my side for quite awhile."

"How'd they take it?"

"Well, I never thought it was possible for Ellie to say less than she usually does, but she managed to surprise me last night. Zoey took it pretty well. She seemed more concerned about Jenn's mental well being than anything else. And Liz…well, all Liz wanted to know was how she was supposed to explain everything to Annie. Then she asked to speak to her mother alone. Abbey flew to Liz's this morning."

"Do you know when she's planning on coming back?"

"No."

"Have you talked to her at all today?"

"I've called every chance I've had, but she hasn't returned any of my calls."

"I'm sorry, sir."

Jed nodded his head absently. "I never told you how Abbey reacted when I first told her about Jenn, did I? She was devastated, Leo. It killed her to know I'd been with another woman, and then for me to have a…a souvenir – I think she actually used that term once – from that period, well, our marriage almost didn't survive it. She never let on to Jenn how she felt about her, but I'm fairly certain she was happy when Mel wouldn't let me see Jenn anymore. But now Jenn's back and I…I think my marriage may be in trouble again."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I wish there was, Leo. Thanks for offering, though." He gave Leo a half-smile and asked, "So, what are we going to do about this Sam situation?"

"I'll get him to work around the issue of whether Abbey will be there."

"I know Sam's a talented writer, but isn't whether Abbey's going to be on Dateline with me crucial to the tone of the statement? I think we both know it's not something he can just 'work around.'"

"Don't worry about it, sir. I'll figure something out with Sam and Toby."

"Okay."

"Oh, before I forget, you're probably going to get paid a little visit by Toby later on tonight. He's sorry about his behavior at this morning's staff meeting."

"Oh, well, it's good to know that at least Toby's sorry."

"Sir?"

Jed rolled his eyes and shot Leo his do-you-think-I'm-an-idiot look. "Did you think I haven't noticed that my entire staff is angry with me, Leo? I just spent the past twelve hours conversing with the tops of their heads because none of them can bring themselves to look me in the eyes."

"They're just…it's... I wouldn't take it too personally, sir."

"My staff won't look me in the eyes. Is there any other way for me to take that except personally?"

"Okay, I'll give you that one. But…" Leo fell momentarily silent as he tried to figure out how to break some bad news to the President gently. "The staff's just feeling a little betrayed right now. When they think about you breaking your marriage vows to Abbey, they automatically replace Abbey with their mothers in their minds, and that leads them to start pondering the unthinkable about their own parents. It's an unfortunate situation, but- "

"Ohh," Jed moaned, burying his head in hands. "Sins of the father…we're always grappling with those, aren't we?"

"The sins of any parent tend to sting the most, sir."

Jed removed his hands from his face and Leo was taken aback to see how moist his eyes were. In all the years they'd been friends, Leo couldn't remember ever seeing Jed so close to crying in front of him, not even when he'd told him about Mrs. Landingham's car accident. "I never stopped loving Abbey, Leo," Jed declared haltingly. "During those months when we were separated, I prayed every night that she would never stop loving me. I also never intended to fall in love with Mel. If you'd asked me when I was twenty whether I thought I would ever love two women at the same time, I would have said you were crazy to think such a thing. But it happened. I didn't mean for it to, but it did. My heart belongs to Abbey, but a little part of it will always belong to Mel. I didn't sleep with her because I was some horny almost-divorcé. I loved her. I was ready to start a whole new life with her. Love…it's such a small word but the power it has…it's pretty amazing, isn't it?"

Examining Leo's face, Jed knew that his best friend understood exactly what he meant about the power of love, for it was love that prevented reasonable men like Leo and Toby from finding himself an apartment to live in or from removing his wedding band from his left hand. "Yes, it is, sir. But, really, try not to worry too much about the staff. Things with them will soon pass and then everything will go back to normal."

"Oh, who do you think you're kidding, Leo?" Jed asked dryly, recovering from his melancholy. "Right now, my wife hates me, my staff hates me, and my children probably hate me, too. And speaking of children, have you seen Jenn recently? I went looking for her around noon and was told she'd gone somewhere with Ainsley. Could that be right?"

"Oh, yeah. I sent her and Ainsley shopping."

"Shopping?"

"What? Women have been known to like shopping. And I figured it was better than having her sit around here doing nothing all day."

"Gee, Leo, if I had to say who I thought was Jenn's father, I know who I'd choose."

"I wasn't trying to step on your toes, sir," Leo replied seriously.

"Oh, I know. Don't mind me. I'm just in a mood."

"I should probably go speak to Sam about that statement."

"Okay. Thanks, Leo."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

Leaving Jed to ponder the future of his marriage and presidency in private, Leo exited the Oval Office through the door leading out into the hallway. He saw Josh depart from the Mural Room and immediately recollected Toby's comment about how his deputy had become uncommonly quiet. "Josh," Leo beckoned as he rushed down the hall to catch up with him.

Upon hearing his name, Josh turned to see Leo walking quickly towards him. "Hi, Leo," he welcomed with a solemn voice. "Did you need something?"

Leo immediately noticed how sad Josh sounded. "Josh, are you okay?"

That was apparently the wrong question to ask, for Josh's face clouded over almost immediately as he barked, "God, will you let up already? I've eaten today, really!"

Leo's concern only deepened with this non sequitur response. "What?"

Realizing his faux pas, Josh sheepishly looked away as his cheeks grew red. "Sorry. Donna's been asking me that all day as well as nagging me about how I haven't been eating enough, and then she keeps— Oh, never mind. It's been a long day. Did you need something, Leo?"

"I need a favor."

"Okay. Shoot."

"I don't think Jenn's really dealt with her mother's death yet."

"Okay."

"And seeing as how your dad also died from cancer, I thought that you might be able to get her to open up about Mel's death."

"Me?" Josh's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"I know she won't talk about it with me or the President, but since you two share—"

"You think she's just going to spill her guts out to me 'cause we both happen to belong to the my-parent-died-from-cancer club?"

Leo realized how silly he was sounding, but he continued to stare at Josh beseechingly. "Please, Josh. I know it sounds crazy, but could you at least give it a try? For me? It's not healthy for her to keep all her grief bottled up. And she doesn't really have anyone around here her age who she could just talk to."

"I don't know, Leo."

"Please? I'd really appreciate it."

Josh pondered the request for a moment and decided to agree to it despite how asinine it sounded. "All right, fine. But I'm only promising to talk to her. I'm not guaranteeing any results."

"Thanks, Josh."

"Sure."

"So, where are you headed to now?"

"Uh, Toby mentioned to me that Sam could use some help with the Dateline statement, so I figured I'd go down there and offer my services."

"Well, what a coincidence. I'm headed there myself."

Both Leo and Josh heard the laughter wafting from Sam's office long before they came in view of it. As they huddled around Sam's doorway, they saw C.J. resting on a chair, doubled over from laughing, Toby standing off in a corner, his hand over his mouth to hide his smile, and Sam sitting behind his desk, not exactly smiling, but looking much less unhinged than he had earlier in the evening.

Upon seeing the two new arrivals, C.J. motioned for them to join them in the room as she wiped away some tears from her cheeks. "Come on in, guys. We've decided that we're going to kill ourselves at midnight by falling on our swords since the President won't fall on his. Wanna join us?"

Josh let loose a hearty laugh in response to the question and C.J. dissolved into another fit of giggles. Leo observed the senior staff with a smile of his own and was delighted to see they had recaptured their wicked – albeit oftentimes inappropriate – sense of humor.