"Congresswoman, you discovered that you were pregnant in the middle of this term, during the biggest scandal that has come out of Congress since the Civil War. You gave birth to your twin daughters not quite seven months ago. How do you feel about your chances of being re-elected?" the host asked bluntly.
"Well, Gordon," Alex answered politely, hiding her annoyance at the track the interview was taking. "I'd say that they're as good as anyone else's and better than some. Throughout this term, I've been balancing my family responsibilities with my Congressional responsibilities. Not to mention the copious amounts of time I've spent testifying for the inquiry. This election is about the issues, not about whether I can balance being a mother and a member of Congress at the same time."
"Will it make any difference with your husband, Jack, preparing to start work as the chief of staff to the Senate Democratic Whip? He won't be able to devote as much time to your children as he does now in his position with the junior senator from North Dakota."
Alex stifled a sigh. She had hoped that they would move past the simple fact that she was now a mother of two and actually discus some politics. Obviously, that was not to be the case. "It makes no difference what position my husband takes," she replied. She took a deep breath, trying to rein in her temper. It wouldn't do to get angry with a nosy talk show host. "Frankly, I'm thrilled that Jack has gotten this opportunity. It's a big promotion for him. And we've had to make a lot of adjustments during the past year, this will just be one more. But it's the same for any other couple who's just had their first children.'
"Are you comparing yourself to an average American?" Gordon asked, smiling as though he were jumping in for the kill. Or, at least, he smiled that way when he finally lifted his eyes off of his teleprompter.
"I'm not comparing myself to an average American," Alex responded. "I am an average American. I don't believe that those who are elected to represent the people should be any different than the people themselves. You can't do a good job representing the interests of people that you don't identify with."
"Do you believe that career politicians elevating themselves about the level of their constituents was a major contributing factor to the scandal?" Gordon inquired, finally moving into the politics that Alex had come to discuss.
"I don't believe that was all of it," Alex began, finally relaxing into her chair, "but it definitely played a part."
"Jack, you have a minute?" Josh inquired, sticking his head into Jack's office.
"Can it wait until tomorrow?" Jack answered. "I was just on my way home. Alex's parents leave tonight and we're all going out for supper before their flight." He already had his overcoat on and was gathering up the papers that he wanted to take home with him for the night.
"Call Alex and tell her that you're going to be late," Josh advised. "This is an opportunity that you are not going to want to miss out on."
"I'm seriously intrigued, but I'm going to need a little more information if I'm calling Alex to tell her I'm going to be late getting home again. She's not going to be pleased." Jack sounded reluctant, but he was interested enough that he had abandoned his stack of papers and turned to face Josh.
"Ah, the joys of family life," Josh responded. "How's it going now that the girls are home?"
"You mean aside from the fact that neither of us has had any sleep for the two weeks that they've been home because when we finally get one kid to sleep the other one's awake?"
"Sounds exactly what I remember Noah and Joan being like," Josh told Jack. He paused for a second, then asked, "So, how do you think Alex would feel if you moved up in the ranks?"
"Move where exactly? Bob Zachowski isn't going anywhere."
"You know George Milbrandt, right?"
"Who doesn't? He's our Whip; of course I know him, Josh." Jack looked at his watch and added, "You've got me seriously intrigued, but you've only got another thirty seconds before I either have to leave or phone Alex and tell her I'll be a while."
"His chief of staff is retiring after the midterms, so Milbrandt's in the market," Josh explained briefly.
"What about his deputy chief?"
"Recently married and not interested in the extra responsibility right now. Milbrandt wants to sit down with you tonight and try to get a feel for things."
"With me?"
"With you," Josh affirmed.
"Tonight?" Jack questioned in surprise.
"He's leaving for California tomorrow morning. His daughter's getting married and he'll be gone for a few weeks. If you're not interested, he's going to start head-hunting while he's out there."
"How long do I have to think about this?"
"Call Alex and talk about it for a little while. Milbrandt's aide is expecting to hear one way or the other in about ten minutes." Josh paused for a second before continuing, "I know that the past year has been a series of good events with horrible timing, but this is an unbelievable opportunity for you."
"You don't need to tell me that," Jack replied, reaching for the phone.
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"Trust me, I know."
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"I know that you do," Alex responded. "I just don't want you to regret anything. I don't want you to regret missing out on the kids while they're young like this and I don't want you to regret passing up this opportunity. I know that you gave up a lot to marry me."
"Alex," Jack warned, "I didn't give up anything except a job with a convicted felon who's currently being expelled from Congress."
Alex laughed. "Well, if he hadn't turned out to be a felon, then you would have given up a good job just to marry me."
"Well, this one's up to you, Alli," Jack told her. "I know that you haven't had a lot of time to think this over, but I have to get back to Milbrandt's aide soon."
"There really isn't all that much to think about," she told him seriously. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime and you'd be crazy not to at least look at it. You've never asked me to give up my dreams; I'd never ask you to give up yours."
Jack grinned. He had already had a fairly good guess at what her answer would be, but it was nice to have it confirmed. "Gee," Jack complained happily, "election time is going to be chaotic in the McCosham household."
"Try to make it to the restaurant by seven," she directed. "Mom and Dad would like to see you again before they have to leave."
"I'll do my best," he responded. "What are the girls up to?"
"Rebecca's sleeping peacefully."
"And Abigail's awake and screaming to be fed?" Jack guessed.
"You got it. When you talk to Josh later will you ask him to have Donna give me a call when she has a chance?"
"And what makes you assume that I'm going to be talking Josh?"
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"Come on, Jack, I know you."
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"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Jack asked nervously, still unable to dislodge his grin.
"It means that I know you left it up to Alex fully confident that you knew what she'd say," Josh answered happily. "And she said it, didn't she?"
Jack nodded, reaching up to straighten his tie and brush some imaginary lint off the lapel of his jacket. "Almost word for word."
"Now settle down," Josh instructed. "This is just an informal sit-down so that Milbrandt can get a feel for you and you can get a feel for him. He understands that this is short notice for you and that you've got a new family at home."
"Thanks for giving him my name," Jack told Josh with a nod as he continued his pacing back and forth across the hall near Milbrandt's office.
"I think you're misunderstanding this. He called me and asked about you," Josh clarified. "I told him that if he wanted an objective opinion that he'd have to go somewhere else. You know what he said?"
"I said that you can get an objective opinion from anyone but you can only get the true measure of a man from his friends," Milbrandt interjected, striding down the hall toward them. "I'm sorry that I'm late. It took Adams ten minutes longer to tell me to go and screw myself than I thought it would."
"On the welfare bill?" Josh asked.
Milbrandt nodded. "We're still two votes down and if we don't sew it up fast then we're going to loose those six Republicans we're counting on."
"Excuse me, sir," Jack started awkwardly, "but are you talking about Bruce Adams from Michigan?"
Milbrandt nodded his head and sighed. "He was on board two weeks ago and then he changed his mind. It looks like there isn't anything that's going to bring him around now." He offered his hand to Jack. "It's nice to see you here, Jack. Congratulations on the birth of your daughters."
"Thank you, sir," Jack responded, returning Milbrandt's firm handshake.
"I know that your family is waiting on you, so if you just want to step into my office, we'll try to make this brief," Milbrandt offered, stepping over to open the door.
"If you can guarantee to revisit the last set of amendments on the emissions bill you might be able to swing Bruce back around," Jack noted. "He voted yes on the fuel tax for you guys and that made big business pretty irate. If he votes yes on welfare and the emissions thing he's going to have a tough time getting re-elected. The Republicans are already gearing up in that district so he can't vote no on both without seeming soft either."
"But if we tone down the emissions language, he might be able to help us out on this one," Milbrandt said, a broad smile spreading across his face. He turned to Josh. "You think that Donna would agree to water down emissions now and revisit after mid-terms?"
"It'd be a major coup to get that welfare bill passed now," Josh responded eagerly. "She should just be finishing with Harrington. I'll go run it past her." And without waiting for another word, Josh was hurrying off down the hall.
Jack stepped toward Milbrandt's office, inquiring, "Was there anything specific that you had wanted to ask, sir?"
"I think that you just answered them all," he replied. "And call me George. I've found that it doesn't make for an efficient office if everyone's calling me 'sir'. I assume that you'll want to talk this over with your wife a little more and give Herb Martin a heads up. I'll be back from California by the end of the month and I can give you some more information then."
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"That's it?"
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"That's it," Sam answered. "It's hard to believe that I've only got one more year and then I'm done with politics for good."
"You're still young, Sam," CJ told him. "You could run for the Senate again. Hell, you could probably still mount a campaign for the White House."
Sam sighed. "I probably could, but I don't know if I want to. Eight years ago I would have done the primaries without thinking about it, but now I don't know. Eight years ago I would have had a chance at winning too."
"You'd still have a chance at winning," CJ assured him, sipping her drink and reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "You might not have the same profile you had eight years ago, but you could still have a shot."
Sam shook his head. "I know, but I don't know if that's the place for me anymore. For the past eight years, when I've said Washington, eighty percent of the time I mean Washington state, not Washington DC. And this Congressional thing has just made me realize how completely out of touch I am with the federal political scene."
"Except for Donna and Josh, we're all pretty out of touch," CJ admitted. "Toby and I went in to help Alex and Ted Keegan out while they were scrambling for staff and it took us almost the whole time to figure out who half of the people we were talking about were."
"Did you ever think there would be a time when we weren't involved in this stuff?" Sam asked nostalgically.
"I maybe thought about it, but I couldn't imagine it. I was still right up on everything while I was editor, but once I passed that torch on it got harder. The two of us still watch CNN and CSPAN almost as religiously as ever, but it's not our whole life anymore."
"That's why I'm not running for anything else," Sam responded. "Since Josh showed up at with his horrible poker face, my life has been almost entirely politics. It's time for something else."
"Mallory?" CJ questioned. Their relationship had been on-again off-again since the Chinese opera that they had never attended during Jed's first term.
"Maybe," Sam said with a knowing grin. They had been on-again since his second inauguration.
"Buy that girl a ring already," CJ declared with a laugh.
Sam reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black velvet box. He put it on the table and pushed it toward CJ. "Already did."