1"Ainsley?"
She looked up and smiled, seeing Jenna there.
"Hi."
"You said you wanted to know when Sam was back."
"I did. Thank you." Ainsley stood up and headed up to the lobby. It was packed with people cheering Sam's name as he walked through the door. He said a few words and then his eyes landed on Ainsley, who gave him a smile.
"Excuse me guys, I got a beautiful woman eyeing me across the room." Sam grinned. He made his way through the crowd over to his wife, who flung her arms around him.
"Well for once I am married to the most popular guy in the room." Ainsley teased, kissing him softly. "It was wonderful."
"Now do you regret yelling at me for the past month to get my ass home at a decent time?"
"Oh definitely."
"You really liked it?"
"I loved it."
"Good." Sam leaned down, pressing his lips against Ainsley's. "You haven't drank anything have you?"
"Only a can of Fresca from my stash." she said.
"Okay."
"Do you think I'd have a drink?"
"I thought maybe you'd party hard tonight."
"Oh I'm gonna party hard tonight." Ainsley winked at Sam, who turned a bright red. "Congratulations honey."
"Thank you. Do you think we could—" Sam was cut off by a cough from behind him. He turned around and put a smile on. "Hi."
"You left me back there." a blonde woman said.
Ainsley raised an eyebrow and slid an arm around Sam's waist.
"Ainse, I don't believe you've—" Sam stopped when Lisa extended her hand.
"Lisa Sherborne."
"Ainsley Seaborn." Ainsley smiled, shaking Lisa's hand.
"You got married!" she exclaimed.
"It was all over the papers." Sam said. "Lisa's..."
"I know who she is." Ainsley said.
"I'm profiling Sam for Vanity Fair." Lisa explained. "I'm sorry if it seemed odd that I was following him."
"No. I didn't even notice you there."
"I could tell."
Ainsley smiled and rested a hand on Sam's chest.
"I just wanted to see you." she said.
"You're not staying up here?" Sam asked.
"I have some paperwork I need to finish. I'll be up in a little bit."
"Okay." Sam leaned down and kissed Ainsley quickly. "I'll see you later."
"I'll find you." she smiled. "It was nice meeting you Lisa."
"Yes it was." she said as Ainsley disappeared into the crowd. "She works here?"
"Yeah. Ainsley is the Associate White House Counsel." Sam said.
"That's great." Lisa muttered.
-----------------------TWW------------------
"So how long have you been married?" Lisa asked.
"It'll be seven months next week." Sam replied.
"Wow."
"Don't tell me this is the first you've heard about it. Cause it was all over the papers."
"I don't really scout out articles about you Sam."
"You wouldn't have to."
"Well aren't you a bit cocky tonight."
"I'm not being cocky. It honestly was in the papers." Sam said. Lisa nodded, staring down at the table. Sam turned his head, feeling a set of hands on his shoulders. "Hi sweetheart."
"Hey." Ainsley smiled, kissing his cheek. "Hi Lisa."
"Hello Ainsley." she said quietly.
"Sit down." Sam stood up but Ainsley pushed him back down, taking the seat next to him.
"Hello," Abbey smiled, walking over. Sam and Ainsley quickly stood up but Abbey waved her hand. "Stop it. Sam, wonderful job on the State of the Union."
"Thank you Mrs. Bartlet." he smiled.
"You should be proud of him Ainsley."
"I am ma'am."
"How are you feeling?"
"I feel just fine." Ainsley said.
"Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?" Abbey asked.
"Ainsley's always hungry." Sam smirked.
"I'm fine. I had something to eat before." she said.
"When's your next appointment?"
"Uh... the 25th."
"Are you going to find out what the baby is?"
"Yeah. If she can tell then we'll find out." Ainsley said. "If not, it'll be next month."
"What baby?" Lisa interrupted.
"God, I'm sorry." Sam turned to Abbey and pointed to Lisa. "This is Lisa Sherborne. Lisa, this is Abbey Bartlet."
"Yes we've met." Abbey said. "At the campaign headquarters back in Nashua."
"Oh yeah..."
"Well anyway, it's nice seeing you again." Abbey smiled. "What are you doing here?"
"She's profiling me for Vanity Fair." Sam explained.
"You still haven't answered my question. What baby?" Lisa asked.
"I'm pregnant." Ainsley said. "Four months."
"Wow! That's... amazing! Congratulations!"
"Thank you." Sam smiled, taking Ainsley's hand in his. Lisa kept a smile on her face but inside she felt like dying.
------------------------TWW--------------------
"I'm giving my notes to another reporter and they'll take over." Lisa said from the doorway. Sam looked up and just nodded, not knowing what to say. "Do you regre— of course you don't regret us breaking up. Look at you. You're Deputy Communications Director. You're married. You have a baby on the way. Why would you regret it?"
"I don't." Sam admitted. "I have everything I wanted and we couldn't have that together."
"Yeah. Look, I'm happy for you Sam."
"It could've been you."
"It would never have been me. We didn't fit like you and Ainsley do." Lisa said. "Anyway, a new reporter will be taking over the profiling."
"Okay."
"It was good seeing you, however awkward it was."
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
----------------------------TWW----------------------
"You know, we haven't really talked about last week." Ainsley said.
"The State of the Union?" Sam asked. They were sitting in one of the exam rooms of the doctor's office, waiting for Dr. Coleman to come in.
"Lisa."
"Oh God, don't bring her up."
"I'm gonna."
"Why?"
"Because..."
"It's not like I dragged her into my office and had sex with her."
"I know. I'm just... how did she get picked to be the one to profile you?"
"Vanity Fair asked to profile me and CJ said yes, after she heard Lisa would be the profiler." Sam explained. "End of discussion."
"I see." Ainsley hid a smile. "So CJ may have had something to do with it?"
"No... Lisa had been chosen before CJ had anything to do with it."
The door opened then and Dr. Coleman walked in, a smile on her face.
"Hey guys. Sam I saw the State of the Union. It was good."
"Thank you." he said. Ainsley smiled over at him, his hand grasping hers tightly. Dr. Coleman asked a couple of questions then did the sonogram.
"So you guys want to know right?" she asked, glancing at the couple. "I don't know about Sam though. He seems a little shaky there."
"I'm fine." he mumbled as Ainsley gave his hand a squeeze.
"You can tell us?" she asked. Her doctor nodded and looked at Ainsley, then at Sam, then back to Ainsley. "You want to?"
"I thought we went through this already." Sam said. "Yes."
Ainsley nodded and Dr. Coleman smiled, looking back at the screen in front of her.
"Well, it looks like a girl."
Sam felt his pulse begin to race. A girl? There was nothing wrong with that. It was just... girls were tougher to raise than boys. You had all those... girly things and then guys! And if their daughter was anything like Ainsley... Sam let out a groan and Ainsley looked at him.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What's wrong?"
Sam mumbled something about beating off guys, making the women laugh.
"Are you sure?" he asked. Dr. Coleman nodded. "Completely sure?"
"As sure as I can be."
-------------------------TWW---------------------
"I can't believe it!" Ainsley exclaimed. They were sitting in bed watching CNN as Sam went over a speech. "We're gonna have a girl."
She gave some sort of squeal and Sam nodded, a pencil between his teeth.
"Read this."
"Honey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just want to get this done by tomorrow morning. Can you read it?"
"Are you okay with the fact that you're going to have a daughter?"
"Can I lock her up till she's forty?"
"If she'll agree to it."
"Oh she's going to agree with it." Sam muttered. "See, I don't like this."
"Then cross it out."
"I am."
"Now we can come up with a name."
"Do we have to do it now?"
"No. I'm just saying. We can narrow it down now. And I don't think she'll agree with you."
"Why?"
"No girl wants to be protected by their father when they're a teenager."
"She will."
"She's not even here and you're bossing her around ready."
"She is going to be better protected than Fort Knox."
"That's a little extreme."
"I'll put the Secret Service on her if I have to."
"Honey, you need to be President to use the Secret Service." Ainsley said.
"I know." Sam mumbled.
"Hey," Ainsley reached over and took Sam's face in her hands, making him look at her. "President?"
"It was just a thought."
"You want to do that?"
"Maybe. It's just a thought."
"You know, if you wanted to... I'd stand by you right?"
"Yeah?" Sam looked over at Ainsley, who nodded.
"And maybe I'd even vote for you."
"Wow, I guess I'll run then. Just to have your vote." Sam smirked.
"I'm serious Sam."
"It was just a thought. It's not really going to happen."
"Why not?"
"You actually want me to run?"
"Why not? You'd be a good President."
"No." Sam shook his head and turned his attention back to the speech.
"Why not?" Ainsley repeated.
"Because I like the job I have now and I have no expertise in that area."
"That's why you run for Congress or Senate. Then Governor or something and then run for President."
"I don't know. It was just a thought."
"When did this thought come up?"
"I was brainstorming on what to do with the rest of my life." Sam replied.
"When?"
"A couple days ago. It was just a thought. Not a big deal. Don't worry about it."
"Sam, don't lie to me." Ainsley said softly.
"I was about six."
Ainsley bit back a smile as Sam ducked his head and tried to focus on his work.
"Really?"
"Be quiet."
"No. I think it's cute."
"I wasn't really going for 'cute.'"
"I know but it is." Ainsley said.
"Okay get past it then." Sam mumbled.
"You're adorable you know that?"
"Why? Because I wanted to be President at six?"
"Yes." Ainsley reached over and rubbed the back of Sam's neck.
"You do realize that was twenty seven years ago right?" he mumbled, letting out a groan at the feel of Ainsley's hand on his neck. She smiled and moved over so she was behind him and rubbed his shoulders. Sam let out a sigh and hung his head for a minute.
"You need to relax." Ainsley murmured. "You're too damn tense. State of the Union's over, you don't have to worry about that..."
"It's not the State of the Union. I finished worrying about that after the polling came in. It's the campaign."
"Sam, everything is gonna come together."
"How do you know that?"
"Because he's a wonderful President and people want him back."
"He lied to everyone."
"He's making it up though as he campaigns. You saw the polling after the State of the Union. 69 percent said they thought he was a strong leader." Ainsley said.
"They say it's gonna be Ritchie."
"He's a good man too."
"He's a—"
"Republican. I know. You know, not all Republicans are bad."
"I only know three I really like." Sam muttered.
"Yeah?"
"Robert Hayes."
"Uhuh."
"Alex Hayes." Sam said turning around.
"Uhuh." Ainsley smiled and Sam leaned over, kissing her lips softly.
"And his really hot sister." he finished, a husky tone in his voice.
"Well..." Ainsley trailed her fingers over Sam's chest lightly. "I'm flattered."
"This is where you say something nice about me."
Ainsley smiled and began moving Sam's folders, laptop, and notebooks off the bed.
"I'm waiting." Sam said, leaning back on his elbows.
"Out of all the Democrats I know, you're by far my favorite." Ainsley said, moving so she was straddling his lap. She leaned over, brushing her lips lightly over Sam's. He cupped the back of her head in his hand, holding her to him, making the kiss longer than Ainsley had intended. They pulled apart, both of them breathing heavily. "Night."
Sam's jaw dropped as Ainsley moved off him and crawled under the blankets, rolling onto her side so her back was facing him.
"You're mean." he pouted.
"I'm tired."
Sam sighed and turned the light off, then laid next to Ainsley, wrapping an arm around her waist. He kissed the back of her neck and held her tighter to him.
"I love you."
"I love you too."