"Noah," Toby greeted him as he followed Kate into her parent's home for dinner.
"Hi, Noah" Nathan, the youngest Ziegler child, greeted him.
"What are you doing here, kiddo?" he asked as he hugged the young man.
"School doesn't start until August, Noah" Nate reminded him.
"Purdue, right?" Noah asked.
Nate nodded. He and his older sister Penny had been very traumatized when they'd been brought into CJ and Toby's home. Their father in a drunken rage had shot their mother then turned the gun on himself in full view of Nate and Penny. After their success with Kate, the social worker had hoped they'd be able to work a similar miracle with Penny. Their social worker hadn't wanted to separate Nate from his sister so the Zieglers took both children. CJ and Toby were already old hands at dealing with loud smart-mouthed children, but they had no idea how to help Nate who hadn't spoken a word since his parents' death. The social worker and psychologist could only tell them to give it time. Seven weeks after Nate and Penny came to them, Toby found the little boy watching the Discovery channel.
"Whatcha watching there sport?" Toby had asked though he didn't expect a response.
Nate had turned his solemn little face to look at Toby for several seconds, but as soon as the commercial had ended his attention had zeroed back in on the television. It took Toby only a few minutes to realize the program that so entranced the little boy was about NASA and the space shuttle. He'd sat down next to Nate and tugged the little boy into his lap. They had watched the entire program together without saying a word. After the program was over, Toby had reached across the arm of the sofa to grab the phone.
"Dr. Ziegler," the voice at the other end had answered after several rings.
"David, it's Toby. How'd you feel about me coming out to visit for a few days? I'll be bringing a young gentleman named Nate with me," Toby had explained causing Nate's head to turn upwards to watch Toby.
"You know you're always welcome. Nate one of your foster kids?" David asked.
"Yeah, listen" Toby asked, "are there any launches coming up?" Toby watched as Nate's eyes grew wide.
"Got a little astronaut on your hands?" David guessed.
"I think so," Toby agreed. "But he won't talk to us so I can't be sure. Nate, how'd you like to go see a shuttle launch?" Toby hadn't thought it possible, but Nate's eyes had gotten even bigger in his serious little face. "I'll take that for a yes," Toby decided.
"There's a launch in nine days," David had informed him. "We want this to be special, don't we?"
"Yeah," Toby admitted. Arrangements had been made. Neither Kate nor Penny had been happy at the idea of going to the Cape. So CJ had decided to take the girls on a 'girls trip' at the same time. CJ decided that the safest bet to give two teenage girls a special trip would be Hollywood. So she'd broken out her old address book and made arrangements. Both trips had been more successful that either Toby or CJ could have believed. Nate had returned from Cape Canaveral chattering like a magpie about observing a space shuttle launch from inside Mission Control. Penny had returned with a goal for her future after a visit to a recording studio.
Now Nate was taking the next step to following his uncle David into NASA.
"So why'd you decide to leave DC?" CJ asked getting right to the heart of the matter. "Enquiring minds want to know."
"Mom's going to run."
"You mean?" CJ asked.
"Yeah. She can't have two of her kids working in the administration when she wins. It would be a PR debacle, and Jodi will be of more use to her than I will," Noah explained as he followed the others into the dining room.
"So what's the plan?" Toby asked taking his seat at the head of the table.
"Tom Buckley isn't running again," Noah told them. "Mom's already been approached."
"Senate Majority Leader?" Kate asked.
"If the Democrats keep the majority," CJ agreed.
Throughout dinner they discussed campaigns past and future. CJ and Toby told stories of the Bartlet campaigns, and Noah regaled them with stories of the year when he was four when both Josh and Donna had been campaigning. Josh had been running to keep his seat in the Senate, and Donna had been running for the first time for the House seat in their home district. Representative Scott Cabel had died in office the previous year, and the governor had appointed his mother to finish out the term. It had been an astute move on the governor's part that made no waves within the state. Donna was well known from campaigning for Josh while he was still busy as part of the Bartlet administration. The people of Connecticut had loved Donna Lyman and still remembered her five years later when the governor had made the appointment. With a year of service under her belt she'd had little trouble winning the seat on her own merit. The logistics of running two simultaneous campaigns had given his parents countless headaches though.
Toby and CJ speculated about who Donna would be facing in the race, both Democrat and Republican, and the challenges she'd be facing to get herself on the ticket. She was going to have to get her face out there in front of the voters. Josh's plan was to make her so familiar with the voters before even announcing her candidacy that her qualifications wouldn't even be questioned. After dinner CJ excused herself to call Donna, and Nathan left to go out with friends leaving Toby and Kate to speak to Noah alone.
"Did Kate explain about the suit?" Toby asked in the carefully controlled whisper he used when something was important to him.
"Yeah," Noah replied in an equally quiet tone.
"How do you feel about being part of it?"
"Do you know what my earliest memory is, Uncle Toby?" Noah asked looking first at the older man and then at Kate.
"Tell me," Toby commanded not knowing what path Noah's thoughts were taking him, but willing to follow.
"I was maybe three years old," Noah said. "I remember sitting on Dad's lap, and for some reason he had his shirt off. Dad never takes his shirt off, so I guess it was a big thing to me. I sat there tracing the scar on his chest and asked him how he'd gotten it." Noah's voice faded a bit and his eyes got a far away look. Toby and Kate didn't move. They did nothing to disturb Noah's thoughts. They just waited. "He told me about it then. Told me about how before I was born three teenagers opened fire on a crowd including the President of the United States because they hated the fact that a black man was dating a white woman. He described being shot and told me about the months after during his recovery. He told me about the PTSD. He must have sat there for hours answering my questions...trying to help me understand why someone would do something like that. Hate that much. It was pretty hard for a three year old to understand," Noah remembered. His eyes snapped back into focus and came to rest on the two people in front of him.
"My first memory is learning about one of the worst kind of hate and bigotry and intolerance I can imagine. Last night after Kate told me, all I could think about were the Genaro kids. My dad survived the hate, but their parents didn't. I thought about baby Jed," Noah told them. "Three or four years from now when he's sitting on his grandpa's lap and sees the scars, will Dad be able to say things are different now?"
"I don't know," Toby admitted. "But even if they're not different. If we do this at least we can say we tried to make it different. Your Grandpa Leo told us once that sometimes we were going to walk into walls, but we were going to do it running!"
"Toby, it's not exactly a secret that I keep track of this particular group," Noah told him. "It's the same group, Toby. The same people who were the foot soldiers when Dad was shot are the leaders of this group now."
"I know," Toby told him. "You think you're the only one who's kept track of them? Did your dad tell you that Sam and I tried to get him to sue them after it happened? Sam, Charlie, and I have tracked this group together since your dad was shot. Over thirty years. I know your mom keeps track of them too 'cause she passes information on to us sometimes. Josh doesn't. Its his way of coping with it, I guess, but he's never wanted to know."
Noah nodded. "It might hurt the case if I'm a part of it," he said.
"I don't think so," Kate disagreed. "If anything, the lead attorney will cause the biggest stir."
"Charlie took the case didn't he?" Noah guessed.
"You surprised?" Toby asked in return. "Charlie's been wanting a chance to sue their asses since he passed the bar, and now we've got it. He's kept his bar membership in Virginia current even though he's lived in New Hampshire for twenty five years. Charlie brought the case to us to begin with. He doesn't have the resources to do it justice by himself."
"I guess I'm not really surprised." Noah told them, "Bring it on."
"Good," Toby said. "We have a lot of work to do. You and Charlie are going to be attorney of record 'cause you're licensed in Virginia and the rest of us aren't."
"Rest of us?" Noah asked. "How many people are you bringing in on this?"
"We're going to bury them this time, Noah" Toby told him with fire in his eyes and steel in his voice. "We're pulling out all the stops. We're going to subpoena everything. Every piece of paper, every e-mail, every piece of data on their computers. Everything. West Virginia White Pride isn't going to know what hit them."
