A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I've been moving across the country (again). So, to make up for it, here's two chapters. And don't worry….there's a lot more of this coming.
Alex walked down the stairs of American University, relieved that the SAT was over. She clutched the preliminary test results in her hand as she walked up to the waiting limo. The door opened as she approached and Zoey stepped out, grinning at her. "What're you doing here," Alex asked, hugging her. Her sister hadn't told her she was coming.
"Celebration lunch. Mom's meeting us at Andre's," Zoey replied. "So, how'd you do?" She reached for the paper clutched in Alex's hand, but Alex snapped it away.
"1490," Alex said with a shrug.
"Alex, that's great," Zoey said, genuinely happy, "You'll get in anywhere you want."
"I guess," Alex said. She grinned, feeling better.
"So, how'd you do," Abbey asked as the girls walked into the resturaunt.
"Wow. No hello first," Alex asked as they walked up to the table.
"Alexandria Grace," Abbey warned.
"1490," Alex said with a soft smile.
"Honey, that's great," Abbey said, hugging her. "I'm so proud of you."
"Really," Alex asked, sitting down.
"Of course," Abbey said. She could tell that Alex wasn't thrilled with her score, even though it was ahigh score for the SATs.
"You apply to Harvard," Zoey asked, flipping from a magazine as she laid on Alex's bed.
"Yeah," Alex replied, "And American, Georgetown, Stanford, Yale and Columbia."
"What do you want to major in?" She reached for a cookie from the plate they had brought up from the kitchen.
"Pre-law," Alex said, stuffing a cookie in her mouth. She looked back over the essay, clicking the send button.
"That'll make Dad happy," Zoey said with a smirk.
"It's what I'm interested in," Alex said, opening the Harvard application.
"Sure it's not to make them happy," Zoey asked, an eyebrow raised.
"No," Alex said, turning around to face her. "Why do you say that?"
"Georgetown, American. They're awfully close to the House," Zoey said, pushing herself up. "You don't have to try so hard for them to love you."
"I'm not trying," Alex insisted. "I'm interested in that area because I help create laws to save kids like me from the hell I went through." She pushed her chair back, packing up the laptop her parents have given her. "I'm going to work downstairs, if you care to argue some more."
"Whatever," Zoey said, picking up the magazine and returning to her room.
Alex set her computer on the table of the Roosevelt room, pulling the chair out. She could hear the buzz of the Communications room behind her. She opened the screen and pulled up the application, continuing the essay she had been working on. "What're you doing down here," she heard a familiar voice ask.
She looked up and saw Sam leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed. "Hey," she said, "Working on an app for Harvard. What's going on around here?"
"Writing a speech for your dad," he said, "Mind if I join you?"
"Sure," Alex said, organizing her pile of materials.
"How has everything been going," Sam asked.
"Alright, I guess," Alex said, "I made a 1490 on my SATs."
"That's great," he said, leaning back. "You'll get into Harvard for sure."
"Yeah, but-," she was cut off as the room was flooded with agents, surrounding them. "Sam, what's going on?" Her eyes grew wide and her face paled.
"Miss Bartlet, Mr. Seaborn, we need you to remain where you are," one of the agents said.
"Sam? What's going on," Alex demanded.
"We're crashing the West Wing," the agent replied.
"Crashing the West Wing? What the hell does that mean," Alex exclaimed.
"It means there's a security threat," Sam explained, "It happens all the time. There's really no need to worry."
"Where's my dad? Is he okay," Alex asked, sitting back down in the chair.
"The eagle's in the office. He's fine," the agent responded.
"Eagle? What's that? Some sort of code name," Alex asked, crossing her arms. Her eyes watched as agents stormed through the West Wing, stopping employees in their steps. The ongoing buzz of the White House seemed to have come to a stand still.
"Yeah," Sam said, "Mine's Yale. Zoey's is Bookbag."
"What's mine," Alex asked.
"You're Gemini," the agent responded.
"Oh," Alex said, "At least it's not something stupid. How long do these crashes last?"
"Depends," Sam told her. Alex nodded, leaning back in her chair.
Down in the bunker, Abbey was pacing like a caged cat. "Abbey, for the love of God, sit down," Jed commanded from the table.
"Jed, she hasn't been through a crash before. God knows what's going through her mind right now," Abbey said, turning to face him.
"She's in the Roosevelt room with Sam. She's fine," he reassured her. "She has five agents with her."
"Have they said what the problem was," she asked, finally sitting down.
"It was a security breach, m'am," Agent James said.
"Apparently, I pissed off someone else," Jed said.
"Well I'm sure it wasn't intentional," Abbey said, resuming her pacing. "It's been half an hour. How long does it take?"
"We're all clear m'am," the agent said. "Alexandria's still in the Roosevelt Room."
"Thank you," Abbey said, "Jed, I'll see you upstairs."
"We're all clear," the agent said, "Miss Bartlet, Mr. Seaborn, you're free to go."
"Well that's a relief," Alex muttered under her breath. She turned back to her computer, but commotion down the hall caught her attention. "Here we go again." She watched, half amused as her mother stormed into the room. "Sam, you better escape while you can." Sam nodded, then left the room before Abbey could rampage in.
"I'm fine," Alex said before her mother could get out a word.
"Are you sure," Abbey asked, looking her daughter up and down.
"Sam was here with me the entire time. I was fine," Alex said. "A little startled, but managed to finish my Harvard app."
"That's good," Abbey said, "What were you doing down here anyways?"
"Zoey and I had a fight," Alex shrugged.
"About what," Abbey asked. It was the first disagreement between the twins. With the other girls, it'd been about age differences. There'd never been any major disagreements between them.
"It was nothing," Alex said, packing up her computer. "Just something stupid." But Abbey could tell that something had upset the girl.
"Alexandria," Abbey said, an edge of warning to her voice.
"She said I shouldn't try to make you and dad happy, or proud of me. That I shouldn't suck up to Dad because I want to go into politics. She thinks I want to go to American to be closer, that it would make you happy to stay close," Alex said, emotion in her voice. "But, you know what made me mad? The fact that I want to study law because I want to keep kids from having to experience what I've been through and she thinks I want to study it to suck up to you and dad. So yeah, I think I have the right to be a little pissed right now." She hefted her backpack over her shoulder and left, leaving Abbey behind.