Matt opened the door to Jodi's hospital room quietly. His parents stood on one side of the hallway and Jodi's parents surrounded by their bodyguards stood on the opposite side. Both sets of parents looked uncomfortable. He knew his parents had never gotten used to the fact that he'd married into a political dynasty in the making. Well, his dad was uncomfortable with the dynasty aspect of his marriage. His mother still hadn't gotten past the fact that his wife was half Jewish. "Come in and get to know your grandson before that Marine Corp reject comes back to take him back to the nursery," Matt whispered to them. "He's finished his dinner."
All four grandparents entered the room leaving the bodyguards standing sentry in the hallway. His mother was predictably the first one to speak. "So I don't suppose you've decided on a name for my grandson have you? Had some sort of epiphany?" she asked sarcastically causing his father to wince and Jodi's parents to glare.
"Yes, we did decide on a name," Matt informed his mother ignoring the barb. "His name is Jed."
"Jed? What kind of hillbilly name is that?" Nora huffed.
Jodi's parents smiled though. "It's short for Josiah, Nora" Donna informed her. "It was the name of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and more recently the President of the United States," she explained as she came forward to take little Jed from his mother's arms. "What's his middle name?" she asked as she slowly rocked the baby in her arms.
"Leopold," Jodi told them through her tears.
"Josiah Leopold Gaerte," Josh whispered as he gazed at the baby over his wife's shoulder. He reached out to let his first grandchild take hold of his finger with one tiny fist. "They'd be honored, Jodi. Thank you, Matt."
"I don't understand," admitted Matt Sr.
"Mom and Dad were part of President Josiah Bartlet's administration, Matthew," Jodi explained.
"President Bartlet and his Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, were like surrogate fathers to us. Jodi grew up calling them Grandpa Jed and Grandpa Leo," explained Josh but his eyes never left the baby in his wife's arms.
"Noah, Sara, and I used to spend a couple weeks each summer with the Bartlet's at their Manchester house."
"I thought you said..." Nora began to complain.
"Living people, Mom" Matt interrupted. "President Bartlet and Leo McGarry both died several years ago."
"I don't see why..."
"Shut up, Nora" Matt Sr. told his wife. "It's a fine name."
Donna had been gazing at her grandson during their exchange.
"He's got their spirit," she decided.
"That's what Jodi said," Matt informed her with a smile. "I think she's right."
"I suppose this means you'll be pushing him to follow in your footsteps....become a politician," Nora complained.
"Butcher, baker, candlestick maker..." Donna murmured. "It makes no difference to us. As long as he's happy and makes a difference in this world."
"Doctor, lawyer, cabinet member," Josh whispered in his wife's ear earning himself an elbow in the ribs. "Let me hold him for a minute, then we're going to go and let you get some sleep, Jodi."
"Pictures first, Joshua. We have a lot of family to e-mail when we get back home," Donna told him taking the video camera from its case. The baby was passed around from adult to adult to have his picture taken with each of them.
"Nora. Matthew, where are you staying? Matt and Jodi really don't have a lot of room at their place," Josh asked as he handed little Jed to his wife for her turn in front of the lens.
"We're fine on the couch, Josh," Matthew Sr. told him.
"You know there are two empty guest rooms at our place. You're welcome to stay with us."
"No, we want to be there to help when the baby gets home."
"Josh and I want to be there as well, Nora. We'll take it in shifts. There's no reason for you to be suffering with the couch when you don't have to. Besides they're not going to release Jodi and Jed for a couple more days."
"Mom, they don't keep new mothers in the hospital more than 24 hours anymore..."
Donna cut her daughter off, "True, if the delivery is without complications. You had complications. I talked to the doctor on the way in. They're keeping you here for a couple days until your blood pressure evens out."
"Thank you, Donna," Matthew said deciding the issue of where they'd sleep before his wife could refuse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*DING*
"Sam, Honey," he heard his wife call him in her slow sweet Southern drawl. "It's a message from Josh and Donna."
"What's it say?" he asked as he returned to her from the master bathroom off their bedroom.
"Hi, everybody," Jodi greeted them from the computer screen. "Matt and I....and Mom and Dad of course, would like you to meet someone." The camera angled down from her face to the bundle in her arms.
"Damn! Josh won the bet. I owe him a bottle of fifty year old scotch," Sam moaned.
"You bet Josh what exactly?" Ainsley asked her husband. The glint in her eye told Sam that he was most likely in serious trouble here.
"Ahh...that Billy would make us grandparents before Jodi made them grandparents."
"You and Josh are in so much trouble, Samuel."
"This is Josiah Leopold Gaerte. He weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces yesterday when he was born. He's 19 inches long."
"Well he doesn't get his height from Josh. Must be from Donna's genes," CJ commented as she and Toby watched the message in their shared office at home.
"Matt's pretty tall too."
"Are you sorry I never gave you a son?" CJ asked quietly. "Sorry that we waited until it was too late."
"Claudia Jean..." Toby whispered. "It wasn't too late....don't say that...don't even think that. We have three wonderful children, and I couldn't love them more if they'd come from our bodies. God chose not to give us children of our own flesh and blood. We chose to bring our children into our family. That makes them children of our hearts. I don't regret choosing adoption, and neither should you."
CJ wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. "You have the soul and heart of a poet, Tobias. I think your words were the first thing I fell in love with."
"I had some problems with my blood pressure so he was born five weeks early, but everything is fine. They're keeping us in the hospital for a couple days until my blood pressure evens out some more."
"That is going to be the most spoiled baby in Washington," Zoey Bartlet-Young commented as she watched the message with her family in the living room of their home.
"Yeah, and that's before the rest of us descend."
"Charlie!" Abby Bartlet chided her son-in-law from her seat on the couch. She had come to live with her youngest daughter a year ago when they had first moved here, leaving the house in Manchester to Ellie. "Your father would have been honored, and so would Leo. Can you sneak away for a bit tomorrow Zoey? We need to get something for little Jed."
"I've got that stupid luncheon for DAR, but then I'm free. Charlie, what do you think we should get the baby?"
"A Notre Dame outfit," Charlie told her with a smile for his mother-in-law.
"Toby will get him something from the Yankee's just to annoy Josh," Zoey remarked. "What do you think Sam and Ainsley will get him?"
Charlie looked at Abbey and together they said, "Gilbert & Sullivan."
Zoey nodded through her laughter.
