Please see Chapter 1 for general info and disclaimers.

*~*

"Well, that could have a gone a lot worse," Jed declared as he pushed open a door and passed through the threshold into a walkway.

"Yes, sir, I'd say we got lucky," Leo replied, following closely behind the President.

"Yeah, I don't think luck has much to do with it." Jed paused to say hello to several aides who passed him in the hall. "So, Leo, what do you think about what we were discussing before?"

"Before, sir?" Leo asked, obviously stalling.

"You know what I'm talking about. Now out with it. I wanna know what you think."

"I think the decision's not up to me."

"Well, thank you for that lesson on protocol, but I'm not asking you to make a decision; I'm asking you for your opinion on the decision I want to make."

"Mr. President, I think you're a very wise man who'll make the best decision possible."

"You're skirting the issue on purpose, aren't you?"

"Under the circumstances, sir, I felt that was the wisest path to take."

"Wimp."

"Not very presidential to engage in name calling, sir."

"Oh, bite me, Leo." Jed waved hello to Charlie, who stood upon the President's arrival into the room, and breezed into his office announcing, "And thus begins another week of murder and mayhem."

"Good morning, Mr. President," the senior staff greeted in unison as they rose to their feet.

"Is everything all right, sir?" Josh asked with a look of worry.

"Yeah, I suppose so. They've decided to wait until tomorrow to kill each other," Jed replied glibly.

"The peace accord held then?"

"Yes. For another day, at least. Although I must say, that accord we brokered is like trying to hold back the banks of a flooded river with spitballs and sticks."

"We're doing the best we can, sir," Sam stated soberly.

"I know," Jed sighed. "That's what's most disheartening about all this." He moved behind his desk and flipped through the messages Charlie had left for him before looking back up to address the senior staff. "And speaking of murder and mayhem, it seemed like the briefing went pretty well this morning, C.J."

"Yes, sir. The press was… uncharacteristically restrained."

"Thank God for small favors," Jed muttered under his breath as he rolled his eyes. "Listen, everyone, Jenn's going to be joining us soon, and I want all of you to take it easy on her. She had a rough night yesterday."

"Of course, sir."

"And there's something I'd like to discuss before she gets here." He shot a quick look at Leo in order to gauge his reaction, but Leo deftly shifted his gaze to his feet before Jed had a chance to lock eyes with him. Wimp. "I'm thinking about hiring a new member for this administration and I'd like to hear your thoughts on this."

"Anyone we know, sir?" C.J. asked, her interest noticeably piqued.

"Uh, yes, actually. I'd like to bring on Jenn." Everyone's smiles and pleasant expressions faded as Leo cringed and awaited the onslaught of criticism he was sure would be coming. Jed, however, appeared not to notice his staff's darkened faces and continued on with his announcement. "I think she'd make an excellent Deputy Director of Speechwriting."

Josh leaned to his right and whispered into Sam's ear, "Do we have a Director of Speechwriting that I don't know about?"

"Mr. President, may I speak freely?" Toby asked in a strained voice.

"Yes, of course. Please do."

"With all due respect, sir…are you out of your mind?"

Jed raised his eyebrows in surprise, but remained unperturbed. "No, Toby, I can assure you that my mind is all still there. But you, clearly, don't seem to think hiring Jenn would be such a good idea. Care to elaborate?"

"Sir, it'd be complicated enough if you wanted to hire one of your other daughters, but with Jenn, everything becomes fifty times worse. I'm sorry to have to be the one to burst your bubble, but hiring Jenn is a ludicrous idea."

"So you think it's a ludicrous idea for me to augment my staff with an intelligent and talented individual? I know this suggestion seems like it's coming out of nowhere. Why bring on someone new when we're doing just fine the way we are now? Well, I don't think we are doing fine anymore. We're gearing up for reelection and there are a lot of people who would like to do nothing more than scuttle my bid for another term. And with some many things going on, other things are falling through cracks…mainly because you, Sam and Toby, are overloaded. Sam, when we brought you on board, you were only supposed to be our main speechwriter. Toby would craft the message and you would give the words flight. But, in the past couple years, you've developed into so much more than that. You're fielding meetings now and you've taken on issues the rest of us would have overlooked in our haste. But while you've been doing all that, we've still expected you to do everything you did before, and that's unfair. If we hire Jenn, she could help lighten the writing load as well as take over supervision of the other writers."

"Mr. President," Toby growled, his exasperation growing apparent, "I have no objections to you wanting to bring in another body because I do think you're right about that: we can use the help. But Jenn?! Aside from the fact she has no prior experience with speechwriting or politics, she's younger than three-quarters of the writing team, senior and junior staffs combined. I highly doubt many of them are going to like the idea of being bossed around by a kid."

"Watch your tone, Toby," Jed warned. "I may have said you could speak freely, but don't push it. Look, I know Jenn's young, but seeing as how I'm standing in a room full of overachievers who, I'm sure, are all personally well acquainted with the 'you're too young' argument, I'm not going to waste my breath disagreeing with that point. And as far as her inexperience goes, the improvements she made to the teacher union speech did more than an adequate job convincing me that she can handle this position. If she could do all of that in a matter of minutes, then just imagine what she could accomplish if we gave her an adequate amount of time."

"But what about the press, sir?" Toby continued quarrelling. "The minute they hear you want to bring her on staff, there'll be a feeding frenzy. They'll accuse you of nepotism."

Knowing his Communication Director's words were true, Jed attempted to deflect the question by playfully asking, "Toby, has it occurred to you that the more you keep arguing with me about this, the more convinced I become that I should hire Jenn?"

Both Josh and Sam grimaced as Toby's face clouded over. "Sir, it might just behoove you to take me seriously."

"Oh, Toby, if you only knew how hard I'm trying not to take you seriously."

"Fine," Toby responded stiffly. "If you don't want to listen to me, then hopefully you'll listen to C.J. Ask her what she thinks the press's reaction will be if we announce Jenn's employment here."

"All right then. C.J., tell me, what do you think the odds will be that the press will accuse me of favoritism if we hire Jenn?"

C.J. appeared pensive as she took off her glasses. "Ballpark figure, sir?"

"That's fine."

"Well, then, I'd have to say there's a…100% chance they'll accuse you of favoritism."

Toby smirked triumphantly as Jed stared at C.J. in astonishment. "So you believe they'll definitely jump all over this?"

"Yes, sir," C.J. confirmed flatly. "And that's not a guess. I'm positive that's how they'll react." Jed opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by C.J. asking, "But…may I speak freely as well, sir?"

"Oh, sure, why not," Jed huffed as he sat behind his desk. "There used to be a time when this office was viewed as a place of reverence, but apparently that's all gone out the window now."

"Mr. President, I can guarantee you that the press will cry nepotism if we bring Jenn on board," C.J. stated decisively, "but…who cares?" Toby's smile vanished and was replaced with a scowl as he glared at his friend. Choosing to ignore him, C.J. plowed onward. "Why should we care what the press – or anyone else – will think? The truth of the matter is that if Jenn gets a job bagging groceries in Enid, Oklahoma, the press will say she wouldn't have been able to land that job without the President's help. So I say, to hell with it all. People are automatically going to doubt Jenn and her abilities until she proves them otherwise, so why shouldn't we give her the chance to do that? If it turns out she can't handle the job and its responsibilities, then we'll let her go. This is the way hirings and firings occur all over the country, so why should we be any different?"

Jed grinned at his Press Secretary with pride. "When did you become our voice of reason?"

"When we so badly needed one," she responded seriously.

Toby appeared ready to argue some more when Charlie poked his head into the room and announced, "Excuse me, sir. Jenn's here. Should I show her in?"

Jed conducted a quick scan of his staff before landing on Leo, who smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah, Charlie, let's bring her in."