The entire Bartlet clan gathered around the large hotel conference table a few hours later. The younger less recognizable Bartlets had volunteered to go out and bring back food and now the table was laden with everything from Chinese to Italian and burgers to pizza.
Abby Bartlet stood and cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Since I'm the oldest old fart in the room, I guess I'm the one that gets to say something," she began then paused as everyone laughed. "I think we should have a moment of silence before we eat. Our guardian angels worked overtime today protecting Sara and Charlie, and I don't think they're going to get much rest anytime soon." Around the room everyone bowed their heads in silence. "Amen," Abby murmured a minute later as others around the room echoed her. "Joe and Dee have something they'd like to say."
"You groveled enough to win her back, Joe?" Josh teased the younger man.
"Yeah," he admitted. "And we want to get married while the clan is gathered here. On Saturday." Joe waited for the congratulations to die down before he continued. "We also wanted to let everyone in on our other good news..."
"I'm pregnant," Dee admitted with a blush.
The congratulations were louder this time, and it was several minutes before the noise died down enough for anyone to be heard over everyone else.
"Let's eat," Abby ordered. "We'll worry about the heavy legal stuff on a full stomach."
As often happens at family gatherings the younger people formed their own little groups as they ate while the older generation spoke of things that happened before they were born.
"Has anyone heard from Leo?" Jodi asked as she loaded her plate.
"He called me. I let him know his dad would be ok. He said he'd call tomorrow to check on him," Sara replied.
"I got an e-mail from him," Joe informed them. "Said that Dad's little accident interrupted his poker game, and that now that everyone on the Nimitz knows who he is, he's been banned from the games."
"Do you remember when Grandpa Jed got corralled into playing in that celebrity poker tournament?" asked Noah after the laughter had died down. "He somehow convinced ..."
"...the rest of us to play in it too," remembered Sam as he sat eating at the other end of the room. The former Bartlet staffers laughed at the memory totally unaware that thirty feet away their children were reminiscing about the same incident.
Donna pointed at Sam as she also remembered the incident. "One of the commentators made some snarky remark about him being at a disadvantage because of the MS and the stroke," she said, "and he got that look. The one that..."
"...meant you were in trouble, and he sat down with those two actors, that rapper, and Dad," recalled Jodi. "I remember Mom let us watch on TV. Grandpa Jed was..."
"...playing like he usually did. Asking inane trivia questions as he went along. That rapper was so pissed at Jed," Abby remembered. "For a minute I thought someone in the detail was going to have to take another bullet for him."
"I, of course, lost my shirt pretty quickly," Josh admitted.
"He, Leo, and I were among the last five players," Toby proudly recalled. "Along with..."
"...two professional gamblers," Mike continued the story. "Toby and Dad kept up the banter with Grandpa. The gamblers did their best to keep their minds on the game, but Grandpa just kept throwing out these trivia questions and..."
"...Leo and I were teasing him and answering the questions. We were treating it as just another midnight game in Leo's office," Toby said. "Then..."
"Grandpa pushed everything into the pot then asked another trivia question," Noah added. "Uncle Toby and Grandpa Leo folded immediately, but the gamblers figured Grandpa Jed was bluffing."
"So they called it!" laughed Josh as he continued telling the story to Matthew and Nora at the other end of the room. "And Jed took the pot. After about five more hours of playing, they..."
"...finally just declared Grandpa Jed the winner cause he was ahead. Although your dad was pretty close to bust," Jodi said pointing to Mike and Dee. "He wasn't really into winning the money though. He was just having a good time with his friends."
"Dad's beard does give him an advantage," Nathan admitted. He'd more than once lost his allowance to his father in a weekend poker game with his uncles and cousins.
Sara asked, "Remember when Grandpa Jed bribed us to help him..."
"Wonder what they're laughing about?" Sam asked as they turned to look at their children gathered at the other end of the room.
"My guess would be about how they helped Jed get you all to stop calling him 'Mr. President'," Abby told them.
"He didn't!" Ainsley gasped.
"Of course he did!" CJ laughed. "Jed was a sneaky bastard when he wanted to get his own way. I always had a feeling he was behind the kids calling him 'Grandpa President' and all those other weird things that summer."
"He had you all convinced that you were going to warp your children's minds by calling him Mr. President," Toby laughed remembering the antics of his friend's children. "I bet he even got the twins in on it."
Zoey scoffed at the idea her children had been part of the scheme. "They could barely say 'Mama'," she said.
"You and Charlie left them with us while you were in classes, Honey. He had plenty of time to teach them to call him 'Pesden Papa'" Abby reminded her daughter. This time it was the older generation's turn to laugh as they remembered the family patriarch.
"To Jed Bartlet," Josh said raising his glass.
"And Leo McGarry," Abby added.
"The Real Thing, both of them" Sam said raising his glass as well.
Toby drained his glass then said as he stood up, "Okay its time to get to work."
