"Mr. President, Agent Peterson is here." Bridget said, entering the Oval Office. Sam nodded as he read a file and put it down as Peterson entered the room.
"Good afternoon sir."
"Sit down Jon." Sam pointed to a chair and he sat down. "What was so urgent?"
"Greene has supposedly been spotted near your home in North Carolina."
"So he is still out there then."
"Yes sir." Peterson nodded. "We have agents staking out the area but he hasn't been seen since. It may have been a fluke."
"Yeah. Has anything else come up on the case?" Sam asked, making Peterson shake his head. "Okay. Bridget!"
She entered the room and looked at Sam.
"Get Jack Rowland in here now." he said. "Oh and my wife too."
"Yes sir." Bridget left the room and Peterson looked at Sam.
"Do you think it's wise to tell your wife?" he asked.
"You've met my wife. You know how bad her temper is." Sam replied. "I'd rather tell her now instead of later and she yell at me for not telling her when I found out. You can go. I can handle telling them. Thank you."
"Yeah. Have a good day Mr. President."
Sam nodded and sat at his desk in silence while he waited for Ainsley and Jack. Bridget poked her head around the door.
"The First Lady is here sir."
"Send her in."
Ainsley walked in, a worried look on her face.
"What happened?" she asked, sitting down on the couch. Sam moved and sat next to her.
"I just talked with Peterson. The FBI got a tip-off that Ryan had been seen at the house down in North Carolina."
"Okay..."
"I don't want you going down there. I don't want Gracie going down there. Nothing. I want you guys to stay here. Jack Rowland is coming up here now."
"Why? Sam..."
"I'm upping her protection."
"Stop."
"No. I'm not having a repeat of June."
"He won't come after her again."
"I'm not taking any chances." Sam said.
"Sam, we don't know if he was really seen." Ainsley said. "It could've been fake. Don't go through all this trouble."
"Keeping our daughter is safe is not going through all this trouble."
Bridget entered the room again, Jack Rowland at her heels. Jack was the head of the Secret Service and Sam had relied on him for some time now.
"Jack, thanks for coming up here."
"It's not a problem Mr. President. Good afternoon Mrs. Seaborn."
Ainsley just smiled and looked at Sam.
"Well?"
"Jack, Ryan Greene was spotted outside my home down in North Carolina. I don't want to take a chance of him coming up here and trying to... to abduct my daughter again."
"I understand sir."
"I want Grace's protection upped."
-----------------------TWW------------------
"Gracie!"
She turned and saw Amanda rushing towards her.
"What's going on?"
"I have a press briefing in five minutes and your father's meeting ran late. He's supposed to be meeting with those kids from that school that got chosen to meet him for the holidays or something like that. I was ordered to watch them but I have a press briefing. Can you please entertain these kids?"
"How old?"
"Six/seven."
"No."
"No?"
"Amanda, why do you think I don't have siblings?"
"Because your parents only wanted one child."
"No. I'm not good around little kids. I tend to scare them."
"Just watch them. You don't have to talk to them."
"Apparently looking at them does a lot of damage."
"Gracie..." Amanda had a pleading tone in her voice.
"Fine. How late is he going to be?"
"Five, ten minutes at the most."
"Ten minutes of my life I'll never get back." Gracie muttered as Amanda dragged her into the lobby of the West Wing.
"Hi boys and girls!" Amanda smiled cheerfully. "I have to go do my job now but in my place will be Gracie!"
She gave a small wave and forced a smile on her face.
"She's going to sit with you for a few minutes." Amanda went on. "It's been nice seeing all of you but Gracie is a lot better and much more fun so you'll have a great time!"
She rushed off and Gracie stared at the group of twenty or so first graders.
"Well... like Amanda said I'm Gracie and I'm gonna wait here until my dad comes." Gracie said. "How many of you know who my dad is?"
The kids glanced at each other and one girl raised her hand timidly.
"You do? Great!"
"No... I was wondering if he was mean." the girl said. Gracie squatted down in front of the girl.
"What's your name?"
"Katie."
"Katie. Well hi Katie. Hey that rhymes with Gracie... kinda. No my dad isn't mean. He's very sweet. Well... if he hasn't had coffee then he's mean cause he's grumpy. But it's almost noon so I'm sure he's had coffee. Any other questions?"
The kids shook their head, praying Sam had some coffee that morning.
"How many of you know who the President is?" Gracie asked. A few kids raised their hand. "You! Who is the President?"
"Me?" a boy asked. Gracie nodded. "President... President Seaborn."
"Right! Well Amanda did not tell you my full name. I'm Gracie Seaborn and I'm the President's daughter. I am an only child and am fifteen years old. I've lived in the White House for four years and will be here another four years. How many of you want a history lesson?"
The kids just looked at each other.
"Okay! Well there have been forty-five presidents. How many of you know who the 43th president was? He may have been before your time."
"Josiah Bartlet." a boy in the front said. Gracie smiled and looked at him.
"Well aren't you a little smarty pants. Yes. Josiah Bartlet was the 43th president and I know him personally."
"Do you know a lot of presidents?"
"No... just President Bartlet and my dad. How many of you know about the White House?"
"It's white."
"Very good!" Gracie smirked. "How many of you know that the White House was burnt down? How about you Einstein? Didja know that?"
The boy in the front shook his head.
"Well it was burned down during 1812 then rebuilt during... oh geez... John Adams term? I don't know. It was either John Adams or Thomas Jefferson. Anyway... it was nearly burned down again in 2001."
"How?" Katie asked.
"Glad you asked Katie! See before he was President, Governor of California, and a Congressman, my dad was the Deputy Communications Director for President Bartlet. How many of you know what a Deputy Communications Director is?"
No one raised their hands.
"Okay... Well mostly what he or she does is work with the Communications Director and the Press Secretary. They are a counselor to the President on domestic matters and craft the messages needed to get across to the public. That was my dad's job for... for five years before he ran for Congress. But anywho... my dad and the Deputy Chief of Staff, who is now our Vice President Josh Lyman decided to build a fire in the Mural Room. The fireplace was welded shut and smoke began to fill the building." Gracie said. "And these two are now running our country but no worries, they're good men and... are better at politics than building fires."
"Excuse me..." CJ walked up and Gracie smiled,
"Kids this is CJ Cregg, my father's Chief of Staff. She'll be taking o—"
"No. I have to get down to the Situation Room with your dad. Something's come up. Take them to the Roosevelt Room and keep them occupied for about fifteen more minutes."
"CJ!"
"You're not doing anything Gracie. So take them in there."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"What you're doing now I suppose." CJ said and Gracie grabbed her arm.
"What about the Vice President?"
"He's in Connecticut."
"Toby?"
"In a meeting about some bill."
"Will?"
"Vacation."
"Staffers don't take vacation!" Gracie hissed. CJ shrugged. "Isn't there any Senior Staffer that can take over for me?"
"No. Gracie, look. You're the President's daughter."
"I've realized CJ. I've realized for the past stupid four years."
"I know this sounds stupid, but it's good for you to be involved with things that help your father out. It's only been a month since he got reelected and it's not going so well. We haven't even gotten to Inauguration Day yet! Just take these kids too the Roosevelt Room and keep them happy."
"What about one of the secretaries?"
"Gracie, this will give you good people skills. Just hang in for a couple more minutes."
"Fine."
"Thank you." CJ walked away and Gracie turned back to the kids.
"We're going for a walk." she said. "We will head down to the Roosevelt Room, where my dad will meet us."