Tess looked back between her parents and her fiancé. She clutched on to Evan's hand and it was his arm that supported her as they stood in Arlington Cemetery, watching the burial of a military hero. Tess hadn't known that Leo was in Vietnam, none of the kids did, not even Andrew or Paige until the burial that day. They all stood where they were told and did as they were supposed to. Tess hated to watch her adoptive grandfather and her dad's hearts break as they watched the man they both respected lowered into the ground. Josh stood with Margaret and Donna stood with their children, understanding that Leo had acted as Josh's father since his own father died during the first campaign. Donna stood between Noah and Chris, leaning on them to get her through this. CJ had turned into Toby's shoulder and had been sobbing. Tess stood with Carley and Evan as they lowered the casket. They all they could do was stare at the empty space. How could Leo be gone?

Later they all stood at the White House. The black of their clothing added to the quiet desperation of the group. Tess sat by a window staring out into the quiet white of another D.C. winter curled up in a chair and Evan sat on the arm. Josh came over and looked at her for a long moment.

"Daddy?" she said her voice breaking. She had given up on make-up this week, every time she wore it she ended up destroying it by crying. Looking up at her father she looked like a baby to him.

"Tinkerbelle?" he whispered kneeling in front of her taking her hands in his.

She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and started crying, and he did the same. It was the first time all week he had let himself breakdown in front of someone other then Donna.

"I miss him," he cried.

"I do too," she said back.

Evan began rubbing her back to calm her down. She hadn't eaten in a week and he knew that if she didn't calm down she wouldn't be eating anything today either. As Donna approached the group she sat on the floor next to Josh and let her head rest on his shoulder as she did the same for him as Evan did for Tess, rubbing his back. Her eyes connected with Evan's and he nodded, knowing that no words needed to be exchanged between the two of them. If God was testing him then he was passing, Donna thought. When Josh and Tess had calmed down she stood up and Evan stood with her. She cocked her head towards the buffet and he followed her. When they arrived she handed him a plate and began, "She's stubborn and likes getting what she wants she got that from her father and Jed. She loves you and that's good enough for me but the rest of them… they thought that you needed to be tested and couldn't figure out a good enough plan. This was not what they wanted." She paused as she filled her plate and looked at the young man standing with her thunderstruck. "You passed. It was a crappy test but you have stood by her and done what was needed of you for the past week. She is a tough one to crack and the fact that Toby said she went into your arms that night means a lot to him. They are all over protective of her." She paused again. She put down her plate and took his out of his hands and leaned to him and engulfed him in a hug, "What I mean is welcome to the family."