"Look," Sarah declared, slapping her article down on the desk in front of her editor, "here's your story. I got it just like any other reporter. Just because I know these people doesn't make them any more likely to give me the stories."

"Sarah, calm down. I just thought that it would be good to move you away from politics for a while," he told her. "There's an opening in foreign affairs if you're interested."

"For the past month I've been sent on trivial errands that the greenest recruit could have taken care of," Sarah protested. "I've got almost seven years of White House experience with this paper, plus the background I built up while I was with Inside Politics. Could you please explain why I'm being pulled out?"

"You're a good reporter, Sarah, probably one of our best. But the rumours going around are that one of your friends is probably going to run for something bigger sooner or later and I don't want to lose our most experienced political reporter if that happens."

"What makes you think that you would lose me when that happens?" she demanded, unaware of the language that she had used.

But the choice of words wasn't lost on him. "Because you know who it is and probably when it'll be. If they don't give you a spot on their campaign staff, it'd be a conflict of interest to have you reporting on it. If you start now, you can get foreign affairs experience or editorial experience and stay on at the Post. But unless you give me more details, I've got to start preparing for the eventualities."

"So," Mark started, taking a sip of coffee from his cup and lowering his newspaper so that he could look at Jack, "I got a call from the GOP yesterday."

"They actually managed to dig someone up who has enough experience to make a phone call?" Jack asked bitterly, evaluating the level in his own cup and trying to decide if he needed another. "Or did their staff fare better than ours?"

"Nope," Mark answered, "they're pretty much purged, just like you guys."

"I'm guessing that they were calling to offer you a job."

"Senior legislative counsel and policy advisor," Mark supplied.

"They're not worried about your association with the dreaded Democrats?" Jack questioned, motioning for a refill.

"Everyone likes bipartisanship when there's scandal on both sides of the aisle. They were more concerned with the book than they were with the fact that I rub shoulders with the Democratic ruling elite."

"The ruling elite?" Jack repeated.

Mark sighed. "Donna and Josh have the Senate sewn up; it sort of comes with being the leader of the caucus. Ted and Alex are more or less running the show down in the House. And you guys don't really have anyone up at the White House, so you don't have to worry about that one," Mark commented. "I'm surprised that no one has forced LeClerc or Clift to step down from their positions as respective leaders yet."

Jack shook his head. "There isn't really a precedent for it and unfortunately an official verdict hasn't come down from anywhere convicting anyone of anything yet."

"Give it time. They fast-tracked the beginning stages of the investigation to get things set up, but you can't really rush gathering testimony," Mark noted. "This may be the biggest expulsion of Congressmen since the Civil War."

"This is going to be the biggest expulsion ever," Jack amended. "There were originally almost sixty representatives being investigated and most of those are probably completely innocent, but if a third of them is convicted and a third of those are expelled, that's still more Congressmen than have been expelled in the history of this country."

"How exactly would you go about expelling six point six people?" Mark inquired innocently.

Jack just looked at Mark. "Very funny," he deadpanned. "You're not mixed up in it yet."

"Well, you've got front row seats and I don't envy you that. Although I am going to be up to my ears in it come Monday morning."

"You're starting that soon?" Jack asked in surprise.

"They wanted me to hit the ground running," Mark told him. "Why?"

"We were going to wait for a couple of weeks before we told anyone, but I don't know if that's going to work anymore. I mean, we wouldn't want you or Sarah stumbling across it without being told. We knew that Sarah might find out, but we didn't figure that the GOP would call you in," Jack said, well aware that he was rambling.

"Before you told who what?" Mark queried curiously. "You're not plotting to overthrow the government or anything, are you?" he joked.

Jack turned to look over one shoulder and then back to look over the other shoulder. In confusion, Mark did the same. "What are we looking for, Jack?"

"I just wanted to see if there were any reporters around," Jack admitted. "We really don't want this leaking to anyone yet, understand?"

"Jack, I'm your friend. We established these rules a long time ago," Mark pointed out. "Now you're starting to freak me out a little here."

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"Alex is pregnant."

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Ted sighed and lowered his sandwich. "I know that you don't want to hear it, but talk about bad timing."

"Trust me," Jack told him, "that's what I said too. And no, she didn't want to hear it."

"What does this mean?"

"Politically?" Jack sighed. "Hopefully not all that much; it's been done before, the whole pregnancy in office thing. It'll make things more difficult for the two of you, and she'll miss the first couple of months after Christmas. But hopefully it won't hurt her chances for re-election."

Ted nodded, pointing at Jack's plate. "Can I have your pickle?"

"No, you cannot have my pickle."

"I'll swap you half of my cookie."

"Didn't you get your own pickle?"

Ted shook his head. "That lunch lady doesn't like me because I accidentally spilled chocolate milk on her last year."

Jack rolled his eyes. "What is this? I tell you that I'm going to be a father, you ask about the political ramifications, and then you try to take my pickle? Don't I even get congratulations or anything?"

"Oh," Ted answered, nodding as though he had finally clued in, "it's your kid." He couldn't resist the urge to stick his tongue out at Jack. "Well, congratulations. Now can I have your pickle?"

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"After a comment like that?"

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"You've got to finish with the big news otherwise no one is going to care about the little stuff that comes after it," CJ advised. "No matter what happens, the focus is still going to be on the big news, but at least they've bothered to write the little stuff down."

"Okay," Alex said, making a few notes in the margin of the page. "So if we're declaring three more Congressmen cleared of any wrongdoing, a new education initiative, the latest round of subpoenas, and the fact that I'm pregnant, which of those things comes first?"

"You don't have so many small news items there, do you?"

"Not so many," Alex concurred.

"How many more subpoenas do you think they're going to issue? They've been hearing testimony for more than a month now."

"It's hard to tell. It seems like every person they clear ends up adding more names or more documents to the list. But we're down to thirty-seven under direct investigation and four of those thirty-seven have already been passed along to Justice for criminal trials."

"When do you think you'll be starting expulsion proceedings?" CJ asked, unsure of the House rules.

"Not until the Committee has finished their investigation or until they've been legally convicted of a crime." Alex shook her head. "It's the same sort of bureaucratic stuff that keeps LeClerc and Clift as leaders."

"And that, quite frankly, is absolutely ridiculous," CJ declared. "Do they even bother to show up anymore?"

"Not really. They put in the odd appearance or two, but they're pretty busy trying to figure out how to stay out of jail at the moment." Alex tapped her pen on her page for a minute, and then asked, "So, what order do we bring this stuff up in?"

"Update people on the hearings because that's what they're expecting to hear. Then assure them that progress is being made and let them know about the education initiative. On your way out, happen to casually mention that come January there's going to be an addition to the McCosham family."

"Two," Alex amended quietly.

"Did I hear you correctly?" CJ asked. "Did I just hear you say two?"

Alex nodded. "I haven't told Jack yet."

"You probably don't want to mention it at the press conference then," CJ recommended. "Unless you feel like telling him at the same time as you tell the nation."

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"Somehow I think that might not be a very good idea."

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"No, probably not."

"Fred," Alex called, pointing to the reporter.

"Are you expecting Republican support on this education initiative?"

"We drafted this initiative in concert with Representatives Morano and Burris on behalf of the Republican convention. As always, we're not expecting full support, but we all feel that we have to move past the investigation and get on with what we were elected to do."

"There will be a Republican press conference probably some time tomorrow," Ted mentioned, stepping up to the microphone. "Are there any more questions on the education initiative?"

"How is this different from the previous initiatives?"

"The focus is on inner-city and rural schools, the places that need the most funding," he answered with a smile. "In the spirit of bipartisan co-operation and in an effort to keep this press conference as short as possible, Representatives Morano and Burris will be releasing further details at their press conference tomorrow. Anything else?"

"This question's for Congresswoman McCosham," one of the reporters started. "Do you have a comment to make about the rumours floating around that you're pregnant?"

Alex and Ted switched places at the microphone again. "The rumours are correct. My husband and I are expecting twins in the first part of January."

Hands shot up. "How will this affect the tenuous working relationship you have with the Republicans?"

"We're not anticipating any rifts to grow out of the fact, if that's what you mean," Alex responded. "Representative Keegan and I will continue to co-operate fully with the Committee's investigation and together with the Republicans and the other members of our caucus we're going to continue to move forward from this scandal."

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"Are you intending to step down from your position as acting party leader?"

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Alex repeated the question, shaking her head in disbelief. "Because suddenly I just got less qualified, right?" she asked. "Thanks for stepping in and answering that one, Ted."

"No problem," he replied. "You'd have done it for me."

She looked at him strangely. "I'd have answered questions about you being pregnant and that affecting your ability to carry out your responsibilities?" she inquired. "Because, you know, that's likely to happen."

"Okay, that's not what I meant, and you know it," Ted retorted. "I meant that you'd step in to back me up if you needed to."

"So, I needed to be defended back there?" She put her hands on her hips and stared at him, daring him to pick the wrong answer.

"Um," he began, "no?"

"I'm just teasing you," she laughed. "But you picked the right answer. We're meeting with Morano and Burris to go over the wording of that last section, right?"

"They're probably going to try and fiddle with the wording on the school vouchers section, but we agreed to move past that last week."