Life in a Northern Town

A/N: Title belongs to Dream Acadmey. Story is an epilogue - takes place about 17 or so years after the last chapter, which was year two of the Santos Administration. Last chapter. Thanks to all who reviewed and enjoyed the story. It's been fun to write. All disclaimers in earlier chapters!

'Almost there, so far so good. Glad I dressed down this morning…'

"SENATOR!"

'Crap!'

"SENATOR! SENATOR LYMAN!"

I barely got turned around before she was on top of me.

"Senator, I'm glad I caught you. My name is Anna Keith and I'm with the Women's Leadership Council. I wanted to talk to you about…"

"I'm sorry Ms. Keith, but I am on my way back to Connecticut for the break. I have to make this train. I was supposed to leave last night but got stuck talking with your boss. I have a prior engagement and cannot be late. Whatever it is you need, please contact my office and I will get something set up with the WLC when I return from the break."

Glad I learned how to talk fast all those years ago. I'm out of her line of sight before she realizes that she just got blown off. Normally, I would never blow off someone from the WLC, but I would be more than dead if I were late for tonight.

The trains leaving DC on a Saturday morning are usually deserted, especially at 7 am, which I am more than glad for. Seems I've been on everyone's hit list over the last month, after I managed to successfully lobby the President to get my education bill on the agenda for the upcoming Senate session. Granted, the name helped, but once the story of the meeting hit the Hill, I became the most popular kid in the class. I was practically the only person on this part of the train, so I pulled out my book (granted, I should have been reading one of the 20 files Greta packed up for me last night, but whatever!) and had gotten through the first page when I was interrupted.

"Morning, Senator."

I looked up at George Williams, Chief of Staff for the Treasury Secretary.

"Morning, George."

"You spending the break at home?"

"Yeah."

"Getting an early start this morning, aren't you?"

"Well, see, there's a dance tonight and I was threatened within an inch of my life that if I wasn't there to help out…"

George laughed. "Say no more. I remember that speech well, from when the kids were in high school. Rita got very good at that trip."

I just laughed.

"Well, I'll let you get back to your…"

I looked down at the latest John Grisham in my hands and then back at him.

"Let's just say, education report, and leave it at that."

I liked George, always had. "Have a good break, George."

"You too, Senator."

With that, he was off. A former representative himself, he knew what it was like, especially to be the latest It kid on the Hill. I knew there was a reason I like him.

4 hours later, I'm opening the front door to the house in East Haven. Granted, it had only been a week and a half since I had been here, but staying in the old townhouse in Georgetown has nothing on this great house in East Haven.

"Honey, I'm home."

I heard the ruckus upstairs and knew that the twins were already at it this morning. I heard the TV in the den and knew that Rebecca was busy with her Saturday morning television. I was going to go check on her when I heard it.

"MOM!"

I sighed. No matter how demanding lobbyists got on the Hill, no one could match my daughter and her unending need for attention, much like her father. That apple sure didn't fall far from that tree.

I dropped my bags at the foot of the stairs and walked toward the noise. That's where I found Josh, leaning against the door of Noah's room, shaking his head. Julia, Noah's twin sister, was currently beating on the door.

"GET OUT OF THE DAMN BATHROOM NOW JACKASS!"

"Julia, language."

"MOM! He's been hogging the bathroom for the last 45 minutes. I don't even want to think about what he's doing in there…"

"JULIA!" Josh was always shocked when his baby girl said something to make him realize that she was 16, not 6, anymore.

"And I think he has yet to realize that HE'S NOT THE ONLY ONE GOING TO PROM TONIGHT!" She yelled the last part while banging on the door. Josh stared at her, mouth hanging open. I was about to mediate when the door was thrown open.

"OH MY GOD JULIA, WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!" Noah yelled as he walked out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. Josh barely got out of the way before he slammed the door. That noise was mirrored with the sound of Julia slamming the bathroom door shut. I looked at Josh, who was grinding the palms of his hands into his eyes. I knocked on the bathroom door.

"Jules, remember, don't wash your hair. The girl said it needs to be a little dirty for it to work right."

All I got was a grunt and the sound of the shower starting, so I took that as a yes and headed toward my husband. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into him as tightly as he could.

"Hello."

"Thank God you showed when you did – I was about to just let them go at it, may the best kid win!"

I kissed him while laughing. Josh was better than most at handling the kids, but sometimes he just let them go till they got tired of yelling at each other.

He returned the kiss and we stood like that until we heard Noah open the door.

"OH GOD! Could you all not do that in front of my room, please!"

Josh pulled back and looked at his son, noticing the keys in his hands.

"Where are you going?"

"To pick up Lauren's flowers and get the car washed."

"You aren't going with Julia in the limo?"

"Oh good God, no. You think I want to deal with the pep squad all night!"

That made Josh and Donna laugh. Even though they were twins, Julia and Noah were polar opposites, even in their looks. Noah was the spitting image of Josh, Julia the spitting of Donna. Noah was into school. He was, as a junior, captain of the debate team, Vice-President of the school's National Honor Society, and opinion editor of the school newspaper. He was also at the top of his class and everyone fully expected him to be valedictorian when they graduated next year. Julia was also smart, but she preferred to cheerlead during football season, dance during basketball season, and shop in-between. She did well enough in school, well enough to keep Josh and Donna pleased, but she didn't have the same aspirations as her brother.

Noah waved at his parents and shot down the steps. Josh gave her a light kiss on the cheek and released her.

"Where are your bags?"

"At the bottom of the steps."

"Ahkay. You want me too…."

"Nah, you better get going or you'll be late for your speech."

"I shouldn't be any later than 4."

Josh and Donna walked down the steps, arms around each other's waist. They hit the bottom of the steps and let go of each other. Josh gave her a quick peck on the cheek before shooting out the door. She was about to head back up the stairs when she heard a squeal from behind her. She turned to see Noah carrying Rebecca over his shoulder. As they approached her, Noah turned around so that Rebecca could look at her.

"Mom, can I go with Noah? He said he'd buy me lunch."

"Noah, you sure?"

Noah whipped around, which sent his younger sister into giggles. "Yeah, it's fine. Besides, I doubt she wants to go spend the afternoon sitting in the lobby of the salon."

"No kidding!" I heard from behind his back.

"Alright, fine, but take her to Subway. No junk food."

"Wendy's?" Rebecca had picked up her father's knack to bargain.

"Fine, but a chicken sandwich and lemonade – no soft drinks."

"Frosty?"

"No."

"Mom…"

"No."

"Fine!" At least Rebecca knew when to stop, something her father had yet to learn.

"Then off we go" Noah said as he walked out the front door, still carrying Rebecca over his shoulder.

I just shook my head at the sight of the two of them and headed back upstairs.

After checking in with Julia, who was currently on the phone helping her best friend Christy avert another high school crisis, I went to unpack. We had about 30 minutes before we had to leave for the salon, so I decided to take advantage.

I looked around the master bedroom and noticed how clean it had managed to stay since I was last here. 'Thank god for mom' I thought as I started to unpack.

You see, mom moved here at the beginning of the second year of the Santos Administration. Dad died of a heart attack about 6 months after the wedding and my sister had moved to Las Vegas to work at one of the hotels on the strip, so mom decided to leave Wisconsin. She lived in Arlington when she moved down here, and was a blessing to have around once I got pregnant. That happened during year 3 of the Santos Administration. I found out I was pregnant right after the first of the year, found out it was twins at the beginning of May and delivered Noah Alexander and Julia Abigail near the middle of October.

She was also a great help after Matt Santos lost his bid for re-election. Leo and Josh had spent the last 18 months of the Santos Presidency battling about foreign policy and how to handle the current situation in Qumar. Matt had followed Leo's advice instead of Josh's and ended up making decisions the majority of America disagreed with. Then Jeff Haffley threw his hat into the ring and that put the last nail in the coffin for the Santos Presidency. Donna remembers the night it all came to a head – Matt had started to take campaign advice from Leo instead of Josh. Josh stormed out of a meeting in the Roosevelt Room that afternoon and hired an outside consultant to run the campaign. By the time Election Day came around, Josh had about washed his hands of the whole thing. Donna couldn't be sure, but she thought there was a chance he may have voted for Haffley that year.

After they left the White House, Donna and Josh went on extended vacation with their 1 year old twins. They spent three weeks in Florida with Anna and another two weeks in California, visiting Sam and Ainsley. They had only been back in DC for two weeks before Josh made the announcement.

"Let's move."

Donna had just walked out of the nursery and found him waiting for her in the hallway.

"What?"

"Let's move. Seriously. We are going to have to anyway. Julia and Noah get much older and we are quickly going to run out of room here" he said, waving his hands around the townhouse.

Neither one of them had really been working. Donna wanted to stay home with the twins and Josh had been dodging job offers from every prominent Democrat on the hill who wanted to challenge Haffley in four years. The gossip mill had been in overtime during the last 6 months of the Santos Presidency, and everyone seemed to know that Matt had cut Josh out of the loop, for reasons passing anyone else's understanding. No one blamed him for the defeat. Leo, however, was not so lucky.

She looked him over and decided to jump on board. "OK, where?"

"Connecticut."

"Ah, your old stomping ground. Where in Connecticut?"

"New Haven."

Donna narrowed her eyes at him. "Josh… you took it didn't you."

"Yeah."

She smiled, hoping that he would make this decision. He had been offered the position of Resident Fellow at the Institution of Social and Policy Studies at Yale a few weeks before. Donna had been silently hoping that he would take this job instead of getting back into actual politics.

She leaned back against the closed door. "You give them your answer?"

"Yesterday."

"When do you need to be up there?"

"Well, the semester is almost half over, so I told them I didn't want to start till the summer. That gives us time to find a house and get moved and settled and all that."

"What about mom?"

"She's just renting. We'll find something for all of us."

Donna smiled. "You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"What changed your mind?"

"Them" he said pointing at the door I was leaning against. "Spending the last 7 weeks with them made me realize that I wanted a flexible schedule, more time available. I want to be able to watch them grow up in person, not through pictures sitting on my desk."

Donna threw herself at her husband, kissing him for all she was worth. As she backed him up into their bedroom, he laughed through his kiss.

"So, I take it your on board."

"I'm totally on board. Now, take off your clothes."

"My my my Miss Moss… you sure do know how to wow a guy" he said while stripping down.

The move went smoothly, well, smooth enough with 18 month old twins running around. They couldn't quite find exactly what they were looking for in New Haven, so they opted to buy some land in East Haven and build. They spent the summer living in university owned housing until the house was finished.

Donna got her dream house – a spacious two story, four bedroom, three full bath with a wrap around porch, study for Josh to work in, den for the kids to play in, enclosed sun porch off the back, and a large fenced in yard with a swing set and slide for the kids to use. They had bought about three acres of land, so they wrapped the driveway around the house and built a small house for Julianne to live in back from the house – she was still close enough to help out, but far enough to still have her privacy.

Rebecca was born two years after they moved to Connecticut, about 8 weeks early. Donna, at the age of 38, had been a concern of her doctors. They had taken all the precautions necessary, but Rebecca Joan still was born two months early. She spent the first three weeks of her life in the neonatal unit at the Yale Medical Center. Noah spent all of his time at the hospital watching her through the window, willing her on. Donna decided that's where the protective big brother act started – he was very protective of his younger sister and always made sure she was safe and sheltered.

"MOM! Mom, snap out of it!"

Donna looked up from the family picture that resided on the end table on her side of the bed to the waiting face of her eldest daughter.

"Mom, we need to go."

"Ok. Sorry, Jul, kind of spaced out there for a minute."

Julia came over and looked at the picture. "You miss Grandma Lyman, don't you?"

Donna just shook her head and looked back down at the picture. It was the 5 of them, with Julianne and Anna, taken on one of her last visits to Connecticut. Noah and Julia had been 8, Rebecca had been 5. She died from natural causes about a year later. It had been hard on both Josh and Julia – both were very attached to Anna. They spent a lot of time together, Julia listening to every story Josh told her about his mother.

"Ok, enough of that" Donna said as she put the picture back on the night stand "we've got a dance to get ready for!"

Julia smiled widely at her mother. "Oh my god, mom, it was about a disaster" Julia started in as they headed out of the house to the car.

"Why is that dear?" Donna and Josh were very used to the near disasters that seemed to occur on a daily basis in Julia Lyman's life.

"Well, you know how long we spent looking for my dress in DC that day."

"Yeah huh."

"Well, it turns out that Peggy Jones, who, by the way, I can't stand. Well, apparently she heard how we went shopping in DC and had to try to one up me, which she is always trying to do, so her and her mom went to New York to shop and she GOT MY DRESS! Can you believe it…?"

Donna looked over at her daughter, who was very busy recounting the events of the near dress disaster and laughed to herself. Donna Lyman may be a powerful Senator down in DC, but here, in this normal life, her kids are the ones with the power and drama, and Donna was fine with that.

Ding dong

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! MOM! We aren't ready. You've got to get Daddy to stall and help us. The hair just won't… and my makeup… MOM!"

Josh laughed as he watched his wife trudge up the steps. Julia was up there with her three friends – Lucy, Carmen, and Chloe. They had taken over the entire upstairs after Julia and Donna had returned from the salon. Josh had tried once to go retrieve a book from his room, only to be screamed at by Julia for getting in the way. He decided the book wasn't all that important.

Josh opened the door, expecting four boys in tuxedos, but instead found a couple of 13 year old girls looking up at him.

"Hi Mr. Lyman" they said in unison.

"Laurie, Jenny, hi. You want Rebecca, I assume."

"Is she ready?"

"BEC!" Josh yelled over his shoulder. His youngest rounded the corner, with a bag, pillow and sleeping bag in tow.

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head.

"You got the money for dinner and the movie?"

"Yeah."

"Show it to me." While she may have gotten Donna's knack for trivia, Rebecca had inherited Josh's knack for losing what was right in front of him. He watched as Rebecca pulled the money out of her back jean pocket.

"I'm impressed."

"Don't be. Mom put it there and threatened my life if I took it out."

"Figures."

"BYE MOM! SEE YOU TOMORROW!" Rebecca yelled up the stairs before joining her two friends at the door.

"Call me when you need me to come get you, Bec."

"Don't worry, Mr. Lyman, Mom said she would bring her back after lunch" Jenny yelled from the driveway.

"I'll call you, Dad." Rebecca yelled before waving and getting in the SUV parked in the driveway. Josh waved back and shut the door.

He turned and was faced with Julia, looking at him from the stairs.

"Where are they?"

"That was Laurie and Jenny for Rebecca. Your boys aren't here yet."

"WHAT! I swear to God, if they are late, I will…"

Josh missed the last part because Julia had stomped back up the stairs to her friends. Josh wandered into the den to flip on SportsCenter. He was about to sit down when the doorbell rang again. He heard four very loud squeals from upstairs and sighed as he went back out front to answer the door.

There stood four teenage boys, looking very nervous. Josh smirked at them.

"Not to worry, fellows. The missus said I wasn't allowed to get the gun out tonight."

They all looked at him with wide eyes and Josh was about to continue when he heard a horrified "DADDY!" from behind him.

He turned to see the four girls at the bottom of the steps, smiling at their respective dates. Donna made her way through the girls.

"Just ignore Mr. Lyman, guys, and come on in."

Slowly, the rest of the parents trickled into the house to take pictures and see the eight kids off. About an hour and a half later, Josh and Donna shut the door after they watched the limo pull away and all the parents had left.

"Listen" Josh whispered as he pulled Donna into him.

"What?"

Josh looked around. "Nothing. There is no noise."

Donna giggled and kissed her husband. After a good 10 minutes of making out like kids at the end of a date, they broke apart, both needing oxygen. No matter how many times she kissed him, she knew it was never going to get old.

He smiled at her, dimples and all, and finally spoke. "Dinner?"

"Yeah" she said, kissing along the side of his neck.

"You want to head into New Haven? All the places over here are going to be packed because of the East Haven Prom and…"

"I was thinking pizza in bed."

"I like your thinking, Lyman." Josh said as he grabbed her hand and dragged her up to their bedroom.

Two hours later, after three rounds of sex and one large pizza, Donna laid with her head resting on Josh's chest, watch the Mets play. Josh yelled at the TV as Donna reflected. Never had she imagined that driving from Wisconsin to Manchester all those years ago would have lead her life here. Most people think her life is so glamorous and interesting, and in part, it is, but not for the reasons everyone thinks. To most people, her life is very different, very exotic, but to Donna, her life was a normal life in a northern town. She was living a life just like she wanted, and that made her happy as she drifted off to sleep while Josh continued to yell at the Mets, who were currently losing their game.

THE END