A/N: We're back with the first full-length story in our reimagined series The West Wing: Yours, Mine, and Ours. It picks up nearly two years after the events of Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc and finds our beloved cast of characters dealing with the demands of being in the public eye while trying to have a personal life and working in the White House. The universe combines elements from our individual and joint West Wing stories. Gymnastics references made in this story are not necessarily historically accurate. The scoring systems and competitions mentioned come from relatively recent changes or developments in the sport.

Happy Reading!


Chapter 1: Born to Fly

December 1986:

Abbey groaned as she let go of the push in the delivery room.

"That's it, Abbey." Jed soothed her. "You're doing great."

"I forgot how much this hurts."

"Well, sweet knees, it's only been four years. You've done it twice before, this should be a piece of cake."

"All right, Dr. Bartlet," The doctor announced. "One last push!"

Abbey bore down and Zoey Patricia Bartlet entered the world. She let out a loud wail. Jed smiled through tears of joy.

"You did it, babe," he said watching as Zoey was settled on her mother's chest. She was healthy and vibrant. A little small. But it didn't matter.

"Oh, Jed." Abbey sobbed. "She's beautiful."

"She's amazing," Jed replied. He leaned down to kiss his wife, then his baby daughter. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Abbey whispered.

Over the course of the next 45 minutes, Abbey delivered the placenta and the medical staff was getting ready to wheel her back to her room. Strong contractions like the ones that had brought Zoey into the world came on.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Jed asked, noticing the grimace on Abbey's face.

"I'm having contractions," She managed to say.

Jed went over to the delivering OB who was just about to leave. He came over and checked Abbey, expecting at first to find a complication. But instead, he saw something else entirely.

"Nurse!" The doctor yelled. "I need another baby warmer." He smiled at Jed and Abbey. "Well, kids, it looks like Zoey's going to be a big sister."

"WHAT?" Jed exclaimed.

"Twins?" Abbey breathed.

"Dr. Bartlet, I need you to push again."

Abbey bore down as Jed helped her sit up.

"Head's out!" The doctor announced. "One more, and this really is the last one, I promise!"

"How is this possible?" Jed grumbled.

"Sometimes the heartbeats mesh together." The doctor explained as he delivered the baby. "Here we go. Here it comes! And you have…another daughter!"

Abbey laughed in exhaustion and joy. "Another girl."

"Four girls," Jed said in wonder. "What do we name her? We only had one name."

In their moment of jubilation, Abbey realized that something was wrong. The nurses in the room moved the newest Bartlet baby to the warmer and were working on her.

"Why isn't she crying?" Abbey asked.

Jed went over to where the nurses were working on the baby. Her skin had a bluish tint.

"Come on, little one," He whispered. "Come back to us."

"Jed?" He heard Abbey call. "What's going on?"

Jed came back over and held her hand. "Everything's going to be fine."

Luckily, before Abbey could once again yell for the doctors to tell her something, anything, they heard their youngest daughter let out a strong wail.

Once they were satisfied that the newborn was breathing easily on her own, they wrapped her up and brought the baby over to Abbey, and placed her on her mother's chest beside her sister. She settled almost instantly.

Jed smiled, "Would you look at that?"

Abbey kissed her littlest baby and held her and Zoey close, "They're perfect," She whispered.

"You know…I think I just thought of the perfect name."

"What is it?"

"How about Alexandra, after your mom?"

Abbey's eyes lit up. "I like that. And you know what would be a good middle name?"

Jed nodded for her to continue.

"Grace. To carry on your sister's middle name."

Jed felt himself get a little choked up at that. He nodded, "Alexandra Grace Bartlet. It has a nice ring to it."

Abbey smiled. "Zoey Patricia and Alexandra Grace Bartlet, welcome to the world."


February 2000:

Abbey and Jed sat next to each other in plush chairs clustered around a large movie screen, holding hands. On either side sat 17-year-old Ellie who had Liz's four-year-old daughter Annie on her lap, and 13-year-old Zoey, who was mostly focused on reading Heart of Darkness. A close-up of Alex filled the screen as she stood at the end of the vault runway. She took after Abbey in her looks, having inherited the darker brown hair and warm brown eyes reminiscent of the Barrington side of the family. Zoey looked more like her father and had lighter brown hair with hints of auburn in it and striking blue eyes.

The fraternal twins were known for being the best and the worst parts of their parents at times. Zoey was the more studious of the pair and tended to inhale books with a ferocity like Jed. Unlike her sister, she had her eyes set on becoming a writer or a journalist and found most sports boring. She also shared her mother's more practical nature and her sense of humor. Alex shared her father's temper and his competitive drive but her fearlessness and her charm came from her mother.

Abbey and Jed encouraged their children to participate in activities that made them happy. Liz, Ellie, and Zoey all participated in sports when they were younger. Their parents spent many a day at soccer, basketball, and volleyball games. But it was Alex who threw them headlong into the world of artistic gymnastics. She qualified as an elite gymnast almost two years earlier after working her way through the JO levels. All of that hard work was on display today.

"Now on vault, representing Manchester Gymnastics Academy, Alexandra Hollister!" an announcer said through the loudspeakers in the TD Garden Arena in Boston, Massachusetts.

Butterflies flapped in Alex's stomach as she heard the announcer call her by her competition name. She used her paternal grandmother's maiden name to keep this part of her life private. Vault was her weakest event. She couldn't do any crazy vaults like a Produnova. But she could perform a clean Yurchenko double if she could just stick the landing. And she could. Alex had done it again and again in practice. Now, she had to do it in competition.

"Come on Alex!" Her teammates called from their place just off the raised platform she was standing on, called a podium.

To run as fast as possible toward the stationary object was already crazy enough. The round-off back handspring onto the board and then the two twists off the table were insane by normal human standards. But Alex tried not to think about what she was about to do and focused on what those precious few seconds in the air would feel like instead. In that short span of time, she would fly.

One judge raised the flag and Alex saluted. She took off, running toward the vault table shaped like a tongue. She mentally counted the steps left until she reached it in her head. She bent down quickly, hands reaching for, and making contact with the springboard as she did a back handspring onto the table. She pushed herself off of it and twisted in the air, once and then twice. She opened her body up and felt herself land on the other safely, absorbing the landing as she was taught to do and didn't move her feet. Alex saluted and grinned before walking off the mat and then down off the podium.

Everyone around the stadium erupted into cheers.

"What a landing! This is Alexandra's fourth competition as an elite, and her first competing at the Winter Cup. She is a rising star in the arena of gymnastics. Maybe Athens is next!"

Alex smiled as she ran off the floor and was embraced by her teammates. Her coach held her hand out for a high-five and Alex gave her one.

"Woah!" 13-year-old Charlie Young exclaimed from his seat beside his best friend, Zoey, back up in the SkyBox high above the arena floor. "How does she do that?"

"Because she's insane," Zoey supplied, looking up from her book. She wanted to support her twin sister. But these meets were so boring.

"Zoey," Jed said in a warning tone. "Be nice. Your sister has worked very hard for this."

"I know, Dad, but…do we have to come to every meet?"

"Yes. We support one another by showing up. Just like your sister has been at every one of your spelling bees. That is what family does."

Zoey sighed. "Okay."

Back on the floor, Alex put her warm-ups back on and packed up her backpack before sitting in a chair next to her teammates to await the final results.

"Way to go, Alex!" Someone said. She turned to see a taller boy with sandy blonde hair and dark brown eyes walking toward her.

"Thanks, Logan!" She grinned. He took the last seat on the end next to her. "Happy birthday by the way."

"Thanks, Lex," He smiled and pulled a small red box out of his pocket. "Happy belated Valentine's Day. I meant to give this to you yesterday."

Alex blushed a little but concealed it by hunting in her backpack for the present she bought for Logan's birthday a few days from now. They met not long before Donna and Josh's wedding in 1998 and became good friends by Nationals that year. Logan was a junior men's gymnast and he competed at this event the previous day. Their friendship had evolved into something more since the previous summer. But because Logan lived two hours away from Alex in Hartford, Connecticut, they mostly talked to each other on the phone and saw each other at competitions.

"This is for you," She said, pulling out a small red bag. They exchanged gifts. "It's a little bit for your birthday and Valentines."

"Thanks! What are the chances of me seeing you before you leave?"

"I think my parents are taking me and my sisters to dinner. Charlie came too so I don't think they'd mind if you tagged along."

"Good. It's a date."

Logan went back up to his seat a few minutes later after receiving a look from Coach Clare. A little while later, Alex found herself standing on the floor just below the floor exercise podium waiting for vault awards to be given out. She already had two little gold medals around her neck from uneven bars and floor. Vault would make it three. She fell short by placing 7th on beam and placing 4th in the all-around after she fell on her acrobatic series of elements.

"We're ready for the awards in the vault." The announcer announced those in fifth, fourth, third, and second place as those on the floor watched.

"And finally…with the highest score on the vault, we are pleased to award first place and this gold medal to…Alexandra Hollister!"

Alex proudly went up and stood on the medal stand as she was awarded her medal. But considering where she was after her first elite meet two years ago, Alex reminded herself to be grateful.

The three medals she wore, clinked gently as she said goodbye to her teammates and her coach after putting her jacket on and grabbing her backpack. Secret Service agents, dressed as event staff, led Alex out of the arena and through a series of back tunnels.

"Lynx is on the move," One of them said discreetly into their earpiece. They walked Alex up the stairs and to the Skybox where her family waited.

"Oh, Alex!" Abbey said as soon as she entered the room, embracing her daughter. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Mom!" Alex said, grinning.

"Three medals, huh?" Jed said. "You're beating the pants off the other Olympic hopefuls."

"Jed!"

She won three medals, Abbey," Jed pointed out. "I'm allowed to be proud."

"I had a pretty good meeting, dad, that's all. Besides, I'm not even in the senior division for another 2 years."

"You still did good, baby," He said, hugging her. "We're so proud of you."

"Thanks, dad."

Her coach, Clare Gibbons, came into the room. "Jed, Abbey! I think you should be very proud of your daughter."

"We are," Abbey said with her hands on Alex's shoulders.

"I want to introduce someone. This is Aaron Seaver from the US National Team."

"Mr. President," He said. "It's an honor."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Aaron," Jed replied.

"Nice to see you again," Abbey said, shaking his hand before turning to Jed. "Aaron was at MGA for a few years before becoming a coach for the US Women's Team Training Center last year.

"Oh?" Jed replied, looking at Aaron. "So you know Alex?"

"Yes, I helped coach when Alex was in Level 7 and we've gotten to know each other even better since she made the National Team. Which is why I'm here. He turned to Alex, "Alex, I'm here to ask you to join us at the National Team Camp to choose which juniors and seniors will compete in the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy next month."

Alex smiled, "I'll be there," She said looking over her shoulder at Clare. She held back a squeal.

Aaron smiled. "Wonderful! We'll be in touch."

He and Clare left the room, and Alex squealed as she hugged her parents.

"This could be my first international assignment for the National Team!" Alex exclaimed. "Can you believe it?"

"Oh, sweetheart!" Abbey said. "We're so proud of you!"

Jed and Abbey exchanged a smile. Their daughter was on her way up.


Donna was working in her office, making notes on the First Lady's agenda for the month. Her job as the First Lady's Chief of Staff kept her busy, but it was a rewarding job. Of course, it helped that Jed and Abbey were in New Hampshire for the weekend.

The phone rang on her desk, and she picked it up. "Donna Moss."

"Hey, honey."

Her husband Josh's voice put a smile on her face. "Hi."

"What are you up to?"

"Just going over the First Lady's schedule for the month."

"Sounds like fun."

"It kind of is. The office is quiet since POTUS went home with the family."

"You know, I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks." Donna grinned.

"No, I'm serious. It's not easy trying to be Chief of Staff to a woman whose family is half here and half in New Hampshire."

"More like three-quarters in New Hampshire."

"Trust me, I know.," Josh said as he looked out through the window at the patio of the Manchester Grand Hotel. "I will be looking forward to the day when we can all stop taking turns to come up here with Toby just so that he can spend time with Liz."

Donna smiled, "You're a good man, Josh. Where are Toby and Liz?"

"I think they went up to Hanover for a date since the President and Dr. Bartlet took Annie to Boston and Liz said she had to study."

"You know, I like them together. I think Liz is good for him. Just like Andrea Wyatt was good for Leo."

Leo had remarried to Congresswoman Andrea Wyatt after his divorce ten years earlier. They had two daughters: Riley and Maisey.

"That's true." Josh agreed. "Speaking of which, our second anniversary is coming up."

"It's in two months!"

"Still, never hurts to plan."

"No, it doesn't."

"Speaking of plans, are we still on for date night when I get back?"

"Yes, I have my dress all picked out and Amy promised to take over if any family stuff comes up, which it shouldn't. I already have Ellie, Annie, and Alex's schedules for the next week."

"Look at you go, Ms. Chief of Staff. Leo better watch out, you might have his job someday."

"This one is more than enough, Josh," Donna assured him. "I still have to meet with the President when he comes back on Sunday to work on his personal appointments."

"Sounds like a plan." Josh paused. "I miss you."

"I miss you too. I'll see you when you get back."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too."


Meanwhile, Toby and Liz were sitting in the corner booth of a small restaurant in Hanover enjoying a late lunch. Liz did have to study for a test. She was in her final semester at Dartmouth this year, majoring in Political Science. And Toby helped. Now that studying was done, they were officially on a date.

"It's nice to be here on our own," Toby said. "I miss Annie but you needed some study time."

"Mm, I know." Liz agreed. "I love my daughter, but it's a bit of a distraction to have her wanting to play Polly Pockets every time I turn a page."

Toby smiled. "And now that you're done studying, I love our adult time."

Liz smiled. "Got that right. God, I can't wait 'til we don't have to hide this anymore."

Toby looked up. "You…want to go public?"

"We can't hide forever Toby," Liz replied. "CJ, Josh, Donna, Sam, and Leo can only cover for you so much. We have to tell my dad at some point. Especially if I might move to Washington in the summer."

"I know. It's just a big step."

"It is. And I think we should treat it that way. We don't have to think about whether we want to move in together until after the dust settles."

"If I have a job," Toby pointed out.

"My father isn't going to fire you, Toby. If he didn't kill Doug for getting me pregnant at 17, this has to be better."

"I guess you're right," Toby said. "Although it gives me no great pleasure to face your father."

"Oh, it'll be fine," Liz said. "My dad loves you."


In Boston, Jed and Abbey sat together just inside the doors of a restaurant overlooking the Boston Harbor. The remains of their dinner sat on a large table with chairs that had been pushed haphazardly away. Through the window in front of them, Alex, Annie, Ellie, Zoey, Logan, and Charlie were out on the covered back patio looking out at the harbor. Of course, Alex couldn't just look. She had to use the time to do a few flips.

"It almost feels like we have four children instead of one," Abbey mused, squeezing her husband's hand.

"We do have four children."

"Really? Because it doesn't feel like it most of the time."

"We made this arrangement, Abigail. And it's not changing any time soon."

Abbey sighed. The "arrangement" was that Liz, Ellie, and Alex lived in Manchester. Alex wanted to stay with her gym and her friends, and Ellie wanted to stay at her high school until she graduated.

"We're going to have to revisit that arrangement if Ellie decides to go to school in Washington. Liz is also looking for work there."

"That's still an "if" for Ellie. She really liked Carnegie Mellon when she visited. But that's interesting about Liz. I thought she wanted to stay here and work in local politics."

"She still might. But Liz and Ellie are keeping their options open," Abbey replied, not adding that she knew that Liz and Toby were considering moving in together. One step at a time. Jed had to be told first.

"If Liz does decide to move, we'll have to put Alex in a gym near Washington," Jed concluded. "And at Georgetown Day with Zoey and Charlie."

"Potentially. Depending on how the season goes, it might be time to change coaches. I love Clare. But Alex is her first elite who has had this kind of success."

"You think she's inexperienced?"

"She just isn't equipped to teach a future Olympian."

"Fair enough. What do you think of Aaron Seaver?"

"I've heard he was good at MGA. Some of the other mothers didn't agree with his methods. But he doesn't coach girls personally now that he works for the National Team Training Center anyway."

"Didn't you tell me that Donna knows someone? Was it Jackie or Jane?"

"Joey Lyman," Abbey supplied. "You remember. She's Josh's sister."

"Right. They adopted her a few years after their daughter passed. Why didn't I meet her at the wedding?"

"Because she was traveling with one of the boys she was coaching at the time. Joey won the all-around in Atlanta in 1996. She's moving down here to open a gym with a fellow coach next month. Josh and Donna told Joey about Alex and she's willing to be one of her coaches if we move her."

"Rosslyn's about ten minutes away," Jed noted. "It would be nice to have Alex close again. Maybe we should bring her home. It would take the responsibility off Liz and Ellie. Her grades are slipping. Did she tell you that?"

"No. How long has that been going on?"

"About two months. Gymnastics is her whole life. Maybe it's time to shift her focus."

Abbey sighed, "I tried to tell Clare that before. Alex is in the gym from 6 to 8 and then has practice from 1-to 7. Most of the girls homeschool. We're the odd ones out making her attend regular school."

"We shouldn't be. School should be her number one priority. We told her that she would have to quit if she couldn't handle the demands of gymnastics and school."

"I know we did. But we can't make it feel like a punishment. Let me talk with Joey and see if she has any suggestions at least. It's too late to move Alex now. But we could do it once school is out."

"I think that's more than fair." Jed agreed. He set his eyes on Logan Huntzberger. "Our daughter's only other focus seems to be that boy."

"They share a love of gymnastics."

"Before we know it, it will be a love of a different kind," He groused. "And I'm not ready for that."

Abbey and Jed watched as Alex wobbled on her makeshift balance beam and nearly fell off. Logan instantly reached out and steadied her.

"They're not Daniel and Julia, Jed," She reminded him gently. "Alex seems to be less likely to hurt herself around him."

"I suppose that is a cold comfort," Jed admitted begrudgingly.

Thoughts of the near feature occupied Jed and Abbey's minds. The next few months were going to be difficult just getting all of their children through school. If only they knew just how much harder it was destined to become.