"God, Donna. Were any of our kids ever that small?" Josh asked later that night after bringing Nora and Matthew back to their brownstone and showing them to one of the guest rooms.
"No, Jodi weighed 9 pounds when she was born. Sara was smaller at 8 pounds and change. Noah was always a bruiser though. Eleven pounds on that boy. Babies gain a lot of their weight in the last couple weeks before birth, Josh. Jed's a good size for being pre-mature. Anything over 5 pounds is good."
"I guess..."
"Call Abbey or Ellie if you want to, Josh."
"Can I?" he asked in the voice that still reminded her of a kindergartener.
"In the morning, Josh. It's very late. They'll be asleep by now. We're going to have some long days ahead of us if we're going to make time to help Jodi and Matt when they get home from the hospital."
"Donnnnnaaa...." he whined.
"Joshuaaa...." she whined back before turning serious. "Listen Secretary Lyman. You serve at the pleasure of the President, and he serves at the pleasure of the people. We can't just decide to take a few days off. You have meetings in the morning including one with the Ambassador from Japan that you can not blow off. Call Deena and get her to start shuffling your schedule around to get you next week off."
"Yes, Senator. How come I can call Deena and not Abbey?"
"Abbey is eighty-seven years old for God's sake. Deena is forty-three. Not to mention she works for you."
"Ok. You going to call Noah?" Josh asked.
"I called Noah and Sara from the hospital while you were talking to that guy about security for Jodi and Jed. Noah's already working on rescheduling me. I gave him a few hours off in the morning so he could go meet his new nephew."
"And Sara?"
"Our wild child is on her way back from Hong Kong."
"Do I even wanna know?" Josh asked apprehensively.
"Probably not. Should I tell you anyway?"
Josh sighed and nodded.
"She's covering that new round of student protests."
"I didn't need to know that. 'Student protests' what a wonderful euphemism for the opening salvos of a revolution. She's going to get herself killed, Donna! I'll bet she requested the assignment. I should have killed Danny when he let her transfer out of the Washington bureau."
"Lower your voice! Nora and Matthew are just down the hall. She's always been a risk taker, Josh, and don't blame Danny! She's a grown woman. Danny tried to talk her out of it. You know he did, but there was no legitimate reason for him to refuse the transfer. She wanted out of Washington, Josh. She doesn't like all the crap that comes with being the youngest daughter of the Senior Senator from Connecticut and the Secretary of State."
"I know. She wants to make it on her own. I still wish she'd ask for a safer assignment," Josh admitted before dialing the number for his assistant.
"Come to bed," Donna ordered after he'd finished his conversation before climbing into the comfort of their bed. The same bed they'd slept in since their wedding. They'd brought it with them when they'd returned to the DC brownstone Josh had bought when he first came to DC to work in the Majority Whip's office. This house had been rented out for years when the children were growing up when it was just too small for their family. Now that the children were grown though, they'd returned to this place, their first home together. They kept a home in Connecticut now as well, of course, and had since before the end of Bartlet's second term. That last year in office had been hectic for them. Jodi, their eldest, had just been born. Josh was still busy with the Administration, so much of Candidate Lyman's campaigning had actually fallen to Candidate Lyman's beautiful young wife. When the election was over and the new crop of Senators and Representatives had been sworn in that cold winter day, Josh had been sworn into office as the junior Senator from Connecticut as he stood next to the new junior Senator from South Carolina, Ainsley Seaborn.
None of them had really been surprised when the Republican party had shunned her. It had still hurt her though, but her friends had rallied around her. The same group who'd gotten a dark horse Democratic candidate elected President of the United States not once but twice. Sam had convinced Ainsley that they could get her elected without party support. So she'd resigned her position in the White House Counsel's office and declared herself an Independent candidate. Sam had stayed in the Administration, but spent as much time as he could on the campaign trail with his fiancée. The fairy tale wedding in the White House Rose Garden had been a tailor-made photo opportunity. 'DC's Romeo and Juliet' the press had dubbed them. The public had still been in love with the Bartlet administration, and Jed Bartlet had happily lent his coattails to the gutsy young woman who'd met him in her bathrobe. Sam became her chief of staff as well as her husband that year.
Josh thought about Jed Bartlet and those years of struggle in the White House. He thought of all they'd tried to accomplish during the Bartlet Administration, and how much of it was still left undone over twenty five years later. Josh remembered Donna bringing Jodi into the Oval Office while she was still on maternity leave because the President wanted to see 'the youngest member of the Bartlet Administration'. The White House photographer had been there and taken pictures of President Bartlet holding their daughter. One of those photos hung on the wall in the hallway. While others had been carefully preserved in Jodi's baby book and other photo albums Donna had kept over the years. Josh remembered what President Bartlet had said to him as he'd held the baby he proudly proclaimed as his new granddaughter. "We're doing this for her, Josh. For our children and our children's children. We're doing this...all the long hours, the struggle, the pain. We're doing it to make a better world for them. The good fight....not a bad thing to fight for. Huh, Joshua?" Bartlet had asked as he'd contentedly rocked the baby in his arms.
"Donna?" Josh asked as they lay in the quiet darkness.
"What Joshua?"
"I think it's time we fought the good fight from a different address," he told her.
Donna moved out of the circle of his arms, and the light beside their bed snapped on.
"What address were you thinking of Joshua?" she asked him cautiously. There was a spark in her eyes though that told him she knew exactly what he was talking about, but she wanted to hear him say it out loud.
"The one on Pennsylvania Avenue," he replied.
