Manchester, New Hampshire
Elizabeth Bartlet Westin paced her kitchen floor angrily, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her husband, Doug, sat at the table, watching her sheepishly. Finally, her feet came to a halt in front of him and he glanced up as her eyes stared him back down.
"Come on, Liz…"
"Don't 'Come on, Liz' me, Douglas Westin!" Liz snapped back.
"It's not that big a deal," Doug insisted.
"It's a college party, Doug. Don't you get that? You let me fifteen-year-old daughter go to a college party!"
"Well, she…"
"Do you remember what those are like?" Liz inquired.
"I…"
"Alcohol. Drugs. Sex. And lots of it."
Doug chuckled.
"That part I remember."
"Wrong thing to say there, buddy," Elizabeth replied.
"What I want to know is, why you're just down here yelling at me instead of upstairs yelling at Annie."
"Because YOU told her she could…"
Her sentence was cut short by the sound of the telephone ringing. Liz groaned, and Doug grinned.
"Saved by the bell."
Liz marched over to the phone, not without shooting a challenging glare at her husband, and picked it up.
"Hello? Oh. Hey, Mom. Hold on a sec, will ya?" Liz put her head over the mouthpiece as she spoke in a whisper to her husband. "Out!"
Doug didn't hesitate in submitting to her order and quickly made his exit from the kitchen. On his way out, he ran into his five-year-old son, Gus, who was clad in pajamas and slippers.
"Hey there, bud. Shouldn't you be in bed?" Doug asked.
"I just want some water."
"Ok. Mom's in the kitchen, hon. She'll score you some."
"Kay," Gus replied, trudging into the kitchen quietly.
When he saw that his mother was on the phone, Gus instinctively knew not to disturb her. He sat in the corner, and waited for her to finish.
"Have I heard what? No, Ellie left me a voicemail earlier but I haven't been able to get back to her yet. Yeah, just a minor problem with Annie. Or Doug, as the case may be. What's going on? Mom, just say it. I'm a big girl. I can handle it. Mom! You're scaring me. What is it?"
Gus frowned at hearing this. It frightened him to see his mother nervous and frazzled.
"You're leaving Daddy? For good? No. Please tell me you're joking. Mom! Tell me you're joking! You can't…do this. I don't understand. I knew you two were having problems, but this…no! Just no. I am not acting like a child, Mother. I can't believe this! Separation papers, my ass!"
Gus' eyes widened at the swear word, but he remained perfectly silent.
"He's your husband! You can't just…Mom! I don't give a shit about goddamn Nobility Man, or whatever the hell his name is. How could you do this? There are things I don't understand? Yeah, well then, explain it to me. Uh huh. Mmm-hmm. No! Damnit, Mom! I am not being hostile. Fine, go. Go and food around with your British boy toy. Yeah. All right. Yeah, I love you too. Bye."
Liz slammed the phone down onto the cradle. She whipped around, her gaze falling to her youngest child, sitting alone in the corner with tear-stained cheeks. He locked eyes with her for a moment, then jumped up and scurried quickly out of the kitchen.
"Gus!"
Liz called after him, but it was too late. He had already retreated upstairs and she was far too aggravated to go after him.
Washington, D.C.
The senior staff had been called into Leo McGarry's office rather suddenly. They had put meetings and important phone calls on hold to gather in the middle of the day. However, just before they arrived, Leo had been called down to the Situation Room. Margaret insisted he wouldn't be long, but one never could really tell.
"Why do I feel like we're about to be bombed by the First Lady?" Josh said.
"We've been bombed by the First Lady about ten times in the last two weeks," Toby said. "I think she's moving in for nuclear warfare."
"So we should watch out for plutonium then," Sam said.
"Has she always been this much trouble?" Will asked.
"Yes," the senior staff answered at once.
"Nancy Reagan she is not," Josh stated.
"She's more…Jackie Kennedy meets Eleanor Roosevelt meets…Marie-Antoinette," Sam said.
"Let's be fair," CJ interjected. "She's not trouble all the time."
"Only every other day," Toby replied.
"Up until two weeks ago, the First Lady's approval rating surpassed the President's by twenty percent," Amy announced upon her entrance to the office. "And I intend to get it back up there by the end of the month, too."
"What are you doing here?" Josh asked.
"Margaret called, and said Leo wanted to see me."
"Well, that confirms my suspicions," Toby said.
"What?" CJ asked.
"This meeting's about the First Lady."
"Did you doubt it?" Sam asked.
"Only for one fleeting, joyous moment."
"What more could she possibly do?" Will wondered.
His question was met with dubious stares that implied that there was a great deal more that the First Lady could accomplish.
"Okay, I'd like to retract that statement from the record."
"Good call, Will," Sam said.
"I think we should remember the good times," CJ said.
"There have been good times?" Josh questioned, sardonically.
"Yes! With Mrs. Bartlet. It hasn't been all bad."
"Right, because the whole thing with the beta seron was really good for re-election," Toby replied.
"And the tie-cutting incident. Loved that," Josh agreed.
"I'm serious! There have been plenty of good times!" CJ said. "Remember the party she threw for Dr. Griffith's birthday three years ago?"
They all smiled at the memory.
"Yeah, okay, that was good," Josh said.
"And her interview with Diane Sawyer last year," Sam added. "That was brilliant."
"And as much as we hate to admit it, she handled the MS thing like a pro," CJ said.
"She was a pro," Toby pointed out.
"She IS a pro!" Amy exclaimed. "She's a damn good First Lady. And she's been nothing but wonderful and gracious to all of you since the campaign. She has taken you into her home and made you a part of her family. And I think she'd be pretty upset to know that you guys sat around gossiping about her like this. So knock it off!"
"All right. Amy's yelling and nobody's arguing with her. What's going on!"
Leo said, walking into his office.
"Everything's fine," Amy said. "I was just setting them straight on a few points."
"Good."
Leo walked around to his desk and dropped some papers down. He looked at each member of his staff carefully, as a form of procrastination.
"I'm sure you've all realized that I've called you here to discuss the First Lady."
"Yeah, we got that the moment Amy walked into the room," Josh answered.
"I know none of you are particularly thrilled with the events of late, or with the First Lady in general. But as of this moment, your jobs just got a little harder."
"Yeah, we figured there was a reason the London trip got canceled. And we figured we wouldn't like it quite so much," Sam said.
"Yesterday afternoon, some…papers were delivered to the President as per the First Lady's request," Leo began.
"What kind of papers?" CJ asked.
"Separation papers."
"You're kidding," Josh said.
"Is this…some kind of really bad joke?" Will questioned.
"You can't be serious, Leo," CJ said.
"If there ever was a moment I wanted to be hazed, this is it," Amy said.
"Yeah. Looks like Christmas came early this year," Leo answered, sarcastically.
"Leo…" Toby said.
"Look, I'd like to give you all raises, and I'm sure you'll deserve them after all of this is over, but that's just not gonna happen. I want you to keep in mind that while this is a pain in the ass for us, it's not exactly a walk in the park for the First Couple either."
"Leo, has the President signed the papers?" Sam asked.
"Not yet."
"Is he…okay?" CJ wondered.
"He's adjusting."
"Okay. How do we handle this?" Toby inquired.
"I don't know," Leo answered, quietly.
"Leo, we need to develop some kind of strategy to…" Josh trailed off.
"Josh, my best friend's wife just left him, officially. That's all I can comprehend right now. I don't want to develop a stragety, and I don't want to think about handling this just yet. We're gonna keep it quiet for awhile, until the President decides what he wants to do."
"You don't want me to tell the press?" CJ said.
"Not now."
"You don't think it's gonna get out on its own somehow?"
"Not unless the First Lady's out there advertising it," Leo replied.
"Wouldn't surprise me a bit," Toby said to himself.
Manchester, New Hampshire
Gus Westin creeped carefully on his tip toes through the hallway upstairs in the direction of his sister's bedroom. He approached the door and knocked on it lightly. When no one acknowledged him, he opened the door himself and walked in. He found Annie lying on her bed, reading a magazine with the radio on.
"Gus! How many times have I asked you to knock first?" Annie complained.
"I did!"
"Oh. Well, what do you want?"
"Mommy's mad."
Annie rolled her eyes.
"What'd you do now, Gus?"
"Nothing! She was on the phone with Grandma," Gus said.
"Did Grandma make her mad?"
Annie sat up. This was certainly getting interesting.
"I think."
"Well, what happened?"
"Mommy said…bad words."
"Really!"
Gus nodded.
"And she said, 'You're leaving Daddy?'"
Annie's eyes widened in shock.
"Oh, my God."
"What?" Gus asked.
"Grandpa, Gus! She means Grandpa. Grandma's leaving Grandpa."
Gus frowned, clearly confused.
"Where's she going?"
"No, she…she doesn't want to be married to him anymore."
"What?" Gus asked again.
"Um…" Annie tried to think of the best way to explain the situation to her little brother. "Grandma…doesn't want to live with Grandpa anymore."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. What else did you hear Mom say?"
"Um…separotin papers."
"Separation papers?"
"Yeah!"
"Oh, no."
"What's that?" Gus wondered.
"Um, they make it ok for Grandma to leave Grandpa, if he signs them."
"What if he doesn't sign them?"
"Then…I don't know," Annie replied.
As Gus tried to comprehend this, his eyes began to fill with tears.
"Doesn't Grandma love him anymore?"
"I don't know, Gus. I thought she did. But maybe…now she doesn't."
"What about us? Does she love us still?"
Annie nodded, fervently.
"Grandma will always love us. So will Grandpa."
"But if they love us, why can't they love each other too?"
"Maybe they do."
"Then why don't they wanna be together?" Gus asked.
Annie shrugged and flashed him a crooked smile.
"I wish I knew."
Washington, D.C.
Since getting word of the First Couple's separation, Amy Gardner had been hard at work. She was determined to keep her boss' head above water. She wasn't going to go down without a fight. Abbey Bartlet's numbers already were down to thirty-eight percent, and had dropped twenty points since she left for Europe. Directly following Zoey's kidnapping, her numbers had risen from their usual place in the mid-sixties to all the way to eighty-four percent, but had almost instantly dropped after her departure from Washington. Once the news of the separation was announced to the public, Amy knew it would only get worse, and possibly take her down into the teens. And Amy would have none of that.
President Bartlet had been wandering the halls aimlessly for awhile, trying to make sense of recent events. When he passed Amy Gardner's office and heard her typing away, he decided to pay her a little visit.
When Amy noticed him, she quickly stood and smoothed out her suit nervously.
"Mr…Mr. President."
Jed motioned for her to return to her seat, but Amy remained standing regardless.
"We're doing pretty well on violence prevention."
"Yes, sir."
"They were going to gut it. The First Lady really turned it around," Jed stated.
"Yes, sir, she did."
"You've done well cleaning up her mess and looking after her. I imagine it wasn't easy."
"Thank you, sir. But I know I can do more," Amy said.
"More?"
"I'm mulling over a few ideas to bring Mrs. Bartlet's numbers back up, especially after news of the separation breaks."
"Ideas?"
"Yes, sir."
"Nah, I'm not gonna have Abbey jump through hoops," Jed said.
"Sir, due respect, but I'm not going to sit idly by while my boss is trashed all over the news."
"It's not your job to help my wife save her face, Amy."
"I think it is, sir. In this case, I think it is."
"Well, I think you're wrong. And if you persue this, I think you're gonna find out that I'm right."
"It's what she'd want, sir."
"My wife is not a budget appropriation. She's not a line. Don't put words in her mouth. Don't treat her like she's your blank checkbook."
"That's not my intention, sir, and I apologize if that's the way it comes off."
"Amy, my wife and I are going to have enough going on without you…"
All at once, Jed lost his train of thought. He closed his eyes and tried to shake off the feeling of lightheadedness that had taken him over.
"Mr. President?"
"Uh…yeah."
"Are you all right, sir?" Amy asked.
Before Jed could answer and insist that he was fine, he was struck with an all too familiar feeling in his thigh. His heart began to race and his face turned bright red.
"Oh, my God," Amy whispered.
"No, no. Don't…worry. I'll be fine in just a second," Jed lied through clenched teeth.
Amy shook her head and flew over to her desk, practically pouncing on the phone.
"I'm calling the doctor."
She dialed the number and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for someone to pick up. When she glanced up for a moment, her eyes caught the sight of the President of the United States falling to the ground, unconscious.