V
Abbey waited in the Residence for her husband to come and join her. He walked in - and abruptly stopped dead as he saw what was on the couch.
"What's that?" he demanded, in tones of utter bafflement. She gave him a wry look.
"Don't be shy, honey, I'm sure your powers of deductive reasoning are up to the task."
He stared at her, blue eyes confused. "It's a kitten!"
"Well done, babe," she said dryly.
"You got a kitten?" he asked incredulously.
Abbey smiled and leaned towards him. "No. You just got yourself a kitten," she corrected.
"You think I have time to look after a kitten?"
"Other people live in this house, Jed," she pointed out wryly. "Pets are good for your stress levels."
"Yeah, 'cause that's exactly how it worked when the kids got kittens," he noted sarcastically.
"Stroking an animal is very therapeutic." She smiled. "Besides - don't you think it's about time we had a First Pet around the place?"
"I don't want a kitten," he pouted. "A kitten is not good for my image. If we were going to get a First Pet - which I don't recall ever being invited to discuss, let alone agreeing to - it should be a big bouncy dog. It's more presidential."
"Yeah, right up until the press gets the first pictures of said big bouncy dog knocking you on your ass," she smirked. "We can't look after a dog, Jed."
"We can't look after a cat!" he protested.
"Oh, I'm sure you two will do just fine together."
"Oh, no." He narrowed his eyes at her. "We are not keeping the kitten! No! I don't know where you got it from, but-"
"Don't shout, babe, you'll frighten him." Their feline guest had got to his feet, and was negotiating his way somewhat unsteadily across the couch cushions towards her husband. Upon reaching the obstacle of the arm of the chair, he sniffed it and mewed plaintively.
Jed looked down at the kitten. The kitten looked back at him. Both looked equally befuddled. Abbey smirked and stood up. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted. I've got to get changed."
Her husband was a soft touch when it came to animals; she'd learned that soon enough when the children were still small. Present the mere idea of getting a pet, and he'd argue against it with every trick at his disposal, but dump something small and fluffy into his lap, and he was utterly defenceless against it. Protest though he might, it had been too late for him to give up the kitten the minute he'd clapped eyes on it.
She hadn't been able to resist it when she'd learned that Donna's friend had a cat needing a home. It seemed like just what her husband needed; a little unconditional love from a pet would surely help to ease the heavy burden he was currently carrying. And besides - though he wouldn't be comfortable to admit it - Jed was a man who was never happy unless he had something to cuddle. He got desperately lonely when she and the girls were away from him, and he thrived on physical contact; no doubt, she thought darkly, all thanks to that godawful loveless home he'd grown up in.
Jed had always had an affinity for animals, just as he did with small children. Perhaps there was something in that kind of uncomplicated, unconditional affection he was still aching for after growing up without it.
She was sure this was going to turn out to have been one of her better ideas.
Abbey shrugged on a fresh blouse, and walked back into the next room. Jed was lying stretched out on the couch, with the kitten happily curled up on his stomach.
He shot her a baleful look. "All right - but it's your kitten," he glowered. She just smirked knowingly.
"Whatever you say, babe."
"...And we're very optimistic about Congressman Daltrey's new pilot scheme. Any questions?"
Chris cautiously raised a hand. "CJ... any comment on reports that the president was... a little drunk... after the dinner party on Tuesday?"
The press all pricked their ears up with interest. Thank God she was good at keeping a straight face - and that the press pool hadn't been invited. The only one there had been Danny, and he'd been too busy following her around and bugging her for a dance to notice the president's mild inebriation.
She pasted on a smoothly amused smile. "Well, Chris, I think you might want to check if your source on that was knocking back a few himself; no, the president was not drunk. He does, however, have a slight cold, which is why the dinner party was drawn to an early conclusion. If anybody thinks he was looking a trifle glassy-eyed, it was probably more to do with trying not to sneeze than the effect of how much champagne he'd ingested."
Or a combination of both. The president had indeed not been drinking very much at the dinner party, but what he had taken in hadn't reacted well with his cold medication. Of course, he didn't have the greatest track record with medication in the first place... She thought back to the time in their first year when he'd wandered in to a meeting completely off his head on back pills.
Funny how hindsight leeched much of the humour out if it when you realised it could well have been the weakening effect of his MS that made his system so susceptible to them.
Katie raised a hand, looking vaguely apologetic even as she did it.
"Katie."
"Any worries about-?"
"None at all." She cut that off before it started, having anticipated the question the moment she mentioned the president's health. "He's been seen by several doctors, and they're happy to vouch that this is nothing more than a common cold. He has no fever, and aside from a little good old-fashioned coughing and sneezing, his health is not unduly impaired." She smiled slightly to herself. "He will, however, be refraining from any comments about the weather being 'crisp' for the foreseeable future."
That got a ripple of good-natured laughter, and she relaxed as the risk of yet more MS column inches was swept away. If the president's dip in health merited a mention - and such meaningless minutiae of their leader's existence usually did - she'd given them the lightly teasing angle to render it harmless.
A familiar smirk was attached to one of the newly raised hands. "Danny."
"CJ... I'm hearing that the Swedish ambassador's missing an engraved gold watch of great sentimental value."
Damn the man! How did he always find these things? She kept her tone coolly professional.
"Yes, he called the White House early this morning, and naturally we're doing everything within our power to make sure it's returned to him. If there's any possibility it was misplaced while he was still in the building, our staff will be turning the place upside-down to make sure it's found and restored to its owner as quickly as possible."
Time to cut it off, before the inevitable questions about whether it could have been a theft and what they'd do if it had been.
"Okay, that's it for now, folks, see you all this evening."
She left the podium. On her way past Danny, she stopped to glower at him. "I'm remembering now exactly why I find you so annoying."
"Thank you!" he said cheerfully. She swept on past him and out into the corridor.
"Carol, find Sam, and find out what he's doing about this watch?" she requested. "If we don't find it soon, it's going to be a major issue."
"Thanks, Donna." Josh took the latest batch of files without looking up, sipping from his coffee as he added them to the already towering stack at his side. Donna leaned against the doorway and watched him for a moment as he worked.
He made several scrawled notes and turned pages, then seemed to register her continuing presence. He looked up, and gave her a small smile.
Taking that as confirmation he didn't object to her lingering, she pulled the door closed and moved over to the desk. "Can I help?"
Josh sighed, and brushed a hand back through his tousled hair. "I don't know," he said wearily. "I should probably look this stuff over myself."
She sat on the corner of his desk. "Ash told you McGann's the leak?"
"Yeah." He sighed heavily. Donna was puzzled.
"Why would she do that?" Selena McGann was no wide-eyed idealist, that was true, but it still didn't make sense for her to sabotage her own carefully shepherded bill.
Josh grimaced. "It seems that Joe Bridges has been doing a little insider vote trading."
"Blackmail?"
He nodded. "He wanted McGann to drop us in it after it was all signed and sealed, so she leaked the details of the deal before it could happen. I don't know if Bridges knows it was her, but he got most of what he wanted anyway, so he's still laughing."
She frowned. "What was he blackmailing her with?"
Josh sighed. After a moment, he picked up one of the file folders at his sideand removed a photograph. He slid it across the desk to her. "What do you see?"
Donna leaned in curiously. At first it seemed like your average photo-op at some meet and greet or other, nothing remotely unusual. Then she paid closer attention to who Selena McGann was standing next to... and just the slightest hint of something more than friendly in the body language. She gasped, and looked up at Josh.
"They're not-?"
"They are," he answered flatly.
"Oh." Suddenly, she understood why Josh had been in a sombre mood all morning. And why he seemed to be taking this so personally. "Oh. Then this is going to be-"
"Yeah," he said softly.
This was going to be big. Very big.