CJ abandoned her shrimp fried rice and sat up straight, her eyes wide and curious.
"What's going on, Josh?"
Josh sat down on the couch beside Toby and prepared himself to inform his collegues of the information he had just learned.
"His name is Max Bennett and he used to work for Congressman Fields' office before the voters replaced him with Woodward. His mother, Patti Curtis, died a few months ago and his father, Michael Bennett…well, you know the rest."
"Oh, wow," CJ whispered.
"What's he doing crawling out of the woodwork now, after we've been in office four years?" Toby questioned, unaffected by sentiment.
"Now that Fields is out…"
"He needs a job," Toby concluded.
"Yeah."
"How do we know this guy is for real?" Will asked skeptically.
"He's got a photograph of the First Couple, clearly addressed to his father in Mrs. Bartlet's handwriting. And, not for nothing, but he does seem pretty sincere to me."
"So what do we do now?" CJ inquired.
"We have to tell the President."
CJ nodded sadly.
"The First Lady's not gonna take this well. Michael's been dead thirty years and it's still an open wound for her."
Josh and Toby looked at her incredulously.
"You've talked to the First Lady about her brother's death?" Josh asked in disbelief.
"In passing," CJ answered unconvincingly.
"CJ."
"What do you want me to say? We're friends. She tells me things. Sometimes I need someone to talk to about my dad, and she's there. In return, she shares things with me too. It's just…you know…"
"Okay." Toby stopped her before things got any more awkward than they already were. "Josh, you want to do the honors?"
"CJ," Josh said. "Dial me the president."
CJ picked up the phone from her desk and handed it to him, then dialed the number.
As Dean Martin's "You Belong to Me" graced the background, Abbey Bartlet reached over to turn off the lamp on the nightstand, her fingers barely touching the switch. Jed slowly pulled off her shoes and tossed them onto the floor without a care. He crawled closer until he was lying beside her and began undoing the buttons of her light blue sweater. She ran her fingers through his hair and pressed her lips to his softly. Having succeeded in his task, Jed pushed the sweater off her shoulders and watched as she discarded it, leaving it to land on the floor alongside her forgotten shoes. Her fingers toyed with the buttons of his crisp white shirt while he nibbled on her earlobe gently. She closed her eyes at the sensation, losing all functional ability in her hands. He chuckled quietly and took over, finishing off the last two buttons and flinging the shirt on top of the sweater and the shoes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he lowered himself on top of her, capturing her lips with his.
That, of course, was when the phone rang. Her lips still occupied, Abbey's arm reached out to the phone only to be pushed away by Jed's.
"Don't answer it," he whispered against her lips.
"We have to answer it," she replied. "Finland might've invaded Denmark or something."
"Yeah, 'cause that's not completely ludicrious."
He suppressed her laughter by kissing her once more, a kiss so intense that it caused her physical pain to break away and answer the phone. She picked it up, noting his audible groan, and pressed it against her ear.
"Hello?" She said, breathlessly.
"Mrs. Bartlet?" Abbey heard Josh's nervous voice, obviously assuming he had just interrupted something he shouldn't have. "It's…it's Josh, ma'am."
"Hold on."
She held out the phone to her husband. He rolled off of her and took it out of her hands.
"Yeah," the President said, just as breathlessly.
Now absolutely certain he had interrupted something he shouldn't have, Josh's voice grew more nervous and uncomfortable.
"It's Josh, sir."
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"Mr. President, I have someone down here I think you ought to come see," Josh explained.
"Whoever it is can wait until morning," Jed said dismissively.
"I think if I let you postpone this, you're gonna be firing me in the morning as well."
Jed groaned and sat up against the headboard. Sighing, Abbey twiddled her thumbs anxiously and stared straight ahead.
"Who is it?"
"It's…your nephew, sir."
Jed frowned.
"It's my nephew? At nine o'clock at nine, one of my nephews is up here all the way from New England with some urgent business that requires speaking to me in person rather than calling?" He asked doubtfully. "Which one is it? Jake, Ryan, or Jason?"
"None of the above, sir."
"I beg your pardon?"
"His name is Max Bennett and I think…I think you're gonna want to just trust me on this, sir."
"Okay," Jed said, quietly, as the realization set in. "We'll be down in ten minutes."
He leaned over Abbey and replaced the phone on the receiver.
"What do you mean, 'we'll be down'?" Abbey questioned pointedly.
Lying back down beside her, Jed propped his elbow on the mattress and dropped his head in his hand, gazing at her sympathetically.
"What? What's going on?"
"Honey…is it possible that, before he died, Michael may have…fathered a child?"
Abbey's breath caught in her throat as her hand involuntarily rose to cover her mouth. Taking that as a yes, Jed leaned down and kissed her forehead reassuringly. He looked down plaintively at the heap of clothes on the floor.
"Come on, let's get dressed."