NOTE: Many lines from the first scene belong to Sorkin and TBTB at NBC, taken from the season two episode, "Ellie."

Chapter Three

February, 2001 Washington, D.C.

Jed Bartlet strolled into the Oval Office, wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, and approached Dr. Millicent Griffith.

"Good evening."

"Good evening, sir," she said, a bit too calmly for a woman who was about to forfeit her job. "I apologize for being late, but I was attacked by your daughter outside your office."

Jed raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Ellie attacked you?"

"Lane, sir. She's been learning about the digestive system in science and she tried to bribe me into doing her homework for her."

"What'd she offer you?" Jed asked, with amusement.

"Secret Service protection for a whole week. She said she'd lend me some of her guys."

"I take it you declined her proposal."

"I was going to say yes until she brought up all that Secret Service business. I'd have been happy with a dollar."

Jed laughed.

"Listen, I'm sorry about this," the President said, honestly.

"Yes, sir."

He gestured toward the paper in her hand.

"Is that your resignation?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you."

"On thinking about it," Millie said. "I thought your firing me would send a dangerous signal to whomever had my job next."

"Did you not think that playing down the dangers of drug use sent a dangerous signal as well?"

"I do not believe that is what I did, sir. I was asked, by and large, if marijuana holds the same addictive properties as heroin or LSD; it does not. I was asked if marijuana poses a greater health risk than nicotine and alcohol, and in my opinion, it does not. And I believe if you look at the transcript..."

"Millie, did you put her up to it?" Jed asked, suddenly.

Millie looked up, startled by the interruption.

"Sir?"

"My father wouldn't fire the Surgeon General, he would never do that," Jed quoted.

"No, sir."

"You didn't pick up the phone after Josh came to see you and say 'Ellie, it's your godmother. Let's stick it to your old man and paint him into a corner'?"

"No, sir."

Jed paced the office, distracted and distraught, searching for answers.

"Why haven't I ever been able to get her to like me?"

"Sir, I'm not sure it's appropriate…"

"I'm asking you," Jed said, clearly desperate.

"Well, I think you're wrong!"

"I'm not."

"She worships you, Mr. President."

Jed shook his head fervently.

"She's mad at me."

"Well, you're mad at her!"

"Yes, I am!"

"Sir…" Millie trailed off.

"I was running for president, where the hell she she?" Jed questioned, angrily.

"She was with us!"

"Not like Liz, Zoey, and Lane."

Millie laughed.

"Well, Lane and Zoey had no choice. They were minors. Where you and Abbey went, they followed…"

"I'm not kidding around here, Millie. Why not Ellie?"

"Sir…"

"She's always belonged to Abbey," Jed said.

"You frightened her!"

Apalled by the preposterous suggestion, Jed's jaw dropped in shock.

"No, I didn't!"

"Sir…"

"How did I frighten her?"

"The same way Abbey frightened Lane."

Jed's eyebrow furrowed in confusion.

"What?"

"When Lane was a baby, all Abbey had to do was go near her and she would cry," Millie explained.

"That's different."

"Why?"

"Because it is and you know it."

"Oh, please. Jed, look where you're standing!"

"I was elected two years ago, she's twenty-four years old!"

"You've been the king of whatever room you walked into her entire life."

"Never seemed to intimidate the other girls," Jed replied.

"Yeah, the same way Lane was only intimidated by Abbey. Kids are different; they're not the same! Lane latched onto you and Ellie latched onto Abbey. You'd be surprised at how soon they understand they're not their parent's favorite."

"That's not true!"

"Sir…"

"That's not true," Jed insisted.

"Mr. President…"

"No, no, no. I will bear with the nonsense of the Christian right and the Hollywood left and the AFL-CIO and the AARP and the Canubus society and Japan, but I will not stand and allow someone to tell me that I love one of my children less than the others. And the same goes for Abbey."

"The difference, sir, is that you never realized how Ellie felt. You never saw how frightened she was of you, and I'm not sure you do now. Abbey recognized it in Lane from the very beginning."

"The thing with Abbey and Lane is completely different," Jed said.

"How!"

Jed sighed and sat down on the couch, as a sign of defeat. Millie walked over and observed him silently, waiting for him to speak.

"I don't know," he whispered. "But it is."

Washington, D.C December, 1987

The morning of the trip to New England, Jed Bartlet and Leo McGarry decided to escape from their hectic homes and went for a walk along the Potomac River. Both families were frantically trying to pack and prepare for their temporary return to New England for the holidays. It was a scene neither Jed nor Leo could stand for very long while keeping their sanity intact.

"Jenny's packed four suitcases so far. Last I heard, Mallory's up to six," Leo said.

"That's nothing. Abbey surpassed that hours ago," Jed replied, digging his hands into his pockets.

"I'm telling you, man. These women."

Jed nodded, pensively.

"These women."

"So, what's going on? You seem a little…down," Leo observed.

"Nah, I'm fine."

"How are the babies?"

"They're great. Wonderful, even. It's my wife I'm worried about," Jed answered.

"Abbey?"

"No, Oprah."

"Point taken. What's up with Abbey?" Leo asked.

"I don't know," Jed said, quietly. "She's been acting so…touchy lately."

"Like tempermental?"

"Yeah. I can't seem to get in her head."

"Welcome to my world, buddy," Leo said.

"It's not my world, Leo. I always know what she's thinking."

"No, you don't. You know how she's feeling, but you'll never know what she's thinking."

"Same thing," Jed said.

"No, it isn't."

"Yeah, well. Either way, it's sure as hell pissing me off."

"Have you tried…I don't know, talking to her?" Leo questioned. "I hear that works from time to time, but I've never actually experienced success with it so…"

"We haven't had a chance to. It's an absolute madhouse in there right now. And when we get to New England, I doubt it'll be any better.

"You'll find time. Meanwhile, I think we may have a bigger crisis on our hands. And by we, I mean me."

"Oh, Lord. What's up?"

"Jenny says her biological clock is ticking," Leo stated.

"What! Jenny's forty-two, I think her alarm went off already."

"Well, this is the part where I blame you, because Jenny's been inspired by Abbey. And seeing as how you're the one who knocked Abbey up, I find you fully responsible for my current predicament."

"Funny how that works, isn't it?" Jed said. "And anyway, we didn't plan for her to get pregnant. It just happened. Tell Jenny to put that in her pipe and smoke it."

"Yeah, 'cause that's not going to land me on the couch for the next three months."

"It's the truth."

"I know it's the truth," Leo replied. "But that doesn't mean a thing to Jenny."

"I can see where you'd run into a problem there."

"Listen, all I'm saying is, maybe you could talk to Jenny while we're up north and convince her otherwise. She'll listen to you."

"Why me?"

"Well, you were both elected into the United States government by the good people of New Hampshire…"

"The good people of Illinois who elected you aren't good enough for her?" Jed asked.

"Apparently not."

"All right, I'll see what I can do. But I'm not promising anything. And if you end up on the couch despite my best efforts, don't come crying to me."

Though her closet was almost completely empty, Abbey Bartlet still managed to find things to stuff into her many suitcases. After clearing out the closet, she staged her attack on the bureau, tearing through the drawers frantically. From the next room over, Abbey could hear her infant daughter begin to whimper again, for the tenth time that moring. Realizing that her husband wasn't home, she immediately went into a panic.

"Uh…Catherine!" Abbey shouted.

"Downstairs!" Catherine matched her volume.

"Could you get Lane, please? I'm in the middle of something!"

"No can do. Liz is in the shower, I'm watching Annie!"

Abbey's eyes widened in horror. This meant that….no. She couldn't. She couldn't go through that humiliation any longer. Nor could she allow her daughter to scream at the top of her weak little lungs until Jed got home. She took a moment to brace herself, then walked into Lane's room with a clearcut determination. She walked over to her crib, reached in, and pulled her daughter up into her arms. Lane began to wail much louder than before, to the point where her little face turned red and her cheeks were soaked with tears. Abbey did her very best not to let it get to her, her determination remaining steadfast and intact. She moved over to the rocking chair in the corner of the room and stand down, slowly rocking back and forth. But the supposedly soothing movement did nothing to deter Lane Bartlet's piercing cries. After a few moments, Abbey's wall of strength came crumbling down and soon, she matched Lane's tears with a few of her own.