Fall 1997:

Toby stood on the expansive back deck just off the family room at Jed and Abbey's farm. He watched off in the distance as 10-year-old twins Zoey and Alex ran down a lighted path at dusk. One of them, he wasn't sure who started doing backflips on the grass by the pond. 19-year-old Liz emerged onto the deck.

"Go easy, Lex!" Liz called down to her sisters. It was only then that she noticed Toby standing there. "Sorry about that," She apologized. "I have to keep my sisters out of trouble."

"Must be hard, having three younger sisters."

"Yeah, no kidding. Especially that one."

"Who, Alex? She's got spunk."

"Okay, Lou Grant, you've made your point." She turned to Toby. "I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Liz Bartlet."

"Toby Ziegler. I'm your father's main speechwriter."

"It's nice to meet you, Toby. You have your work cut out for you with my father."

"Oh, why is that?"

"Because as fair and compassionate as Jed Bartlet can be, he can be a very hard sell sometimes."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"You gotta make him sound presidential without making him sound like…well, like an economics professor."

"When did you get into politics?" Toby asked.

"My whole life," Liz answered. "I'm the ancestor of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Politics is in my blood."

"Your father said you go to Dartmouth?"

"Yes, I'm just finishing off some of my second-year classes this term. I'll start my junior term this winter. I'm majoring in Political Science."

"Any plans to continue the family legacy in office?"

"No…no. I'm more of a behind-the-scenes person myself. Leo's given me some food for thought."

"You want to be the guy the guy counts on."

"Right. Exactly."

Toby looked at her. "You have a daughter, right?"

"I do. Annie. She's two."

Just then, a little girl with dark brown curls toddled out the door. She immediately ran to Liz and wrapped herself around her legs.

"Hi, mommy."

"Hi baby," Liz said and scooped her up. "Toby, this is my daughter, Annie. Annie, this is Toby. Can you say hi?"

"Hi," Annie said shyly.

"Hello," Toby said formally. "And how old are you?"

Annie held up two fingers. "Two."

"Uh-huh. You like baseball?"

"What's baseball?" Annie was starting to come out of her shell.

"You don't know what baseball is? Well, I'll have to teach you. Josh'll try to tell you that the Mets are the best, but the Yankees have them beat."

"I think Annie would like that very much. Her father was a baseball player. But he hasn't gotten around to actually teaching her yet."

"Oh," Toby said with a little smile. "I'll help. What do you say, Annie?"

"Yeah!" The little girl said enthusiastically.

"Mom? Is that you?" Liz called as Abbey came in from the Residence elevator the following Friday night. Liz, Alex, and Ellie usually came down from Manchester every other weekend in an effort to keep the family together.

"Yes." Abbey came into the living room to find her oldest daughter reading something, "It's awfully quiet."

"Annie's already asleep and Lex and Zo are in the den watching a movie. Ellie's studying in her room."

"It sounds like you all had an uneventful night."

"If you don't count dad being called to the Situation Room in the middle of dinner. Are you hungry? We have plenty of leftovers."

"I'll be sure to grab some. How was your day?"

"It was fine. Toby and I had a late lunch."

"Are you going to tell your father any time soon or is Sam going to go up to the farm with Toby next weekend?"

"Funny you should ask about that," Liz sighed. "He took me to lunch to tell me that CJ was informed about a piece coming out about us."

Abbey let out a soft gasp of surprise. But she recovered, "Elizabeth, you need to tell your father. The only reason I haven't mentioned the two of you to him is the upheaval it would have caused everyone professionally and personally."

"I know. To be honest, I'm surprised Annie hasn't let it slip."

"Have you talked to her about what spending time with Toby means yet?"

"Well, we've spent nearly every second together whenever we're in the same city, so I think she has some clue."

"Will you help me with dad?"

"I will do my best to smooth it over with him after you tell him. You have to rip off the bandage so to speak."


Liz wandered down to the West Wing the next morning to go see Toby. Even though it was quieter on Saturdays, Toby was working on the President's remarks, bouncing his little pink ball on his desk.

Liz knocked on the door. "Toby?"

Toby looked up. His eyebrows creased up as he genuinely smiled. "Hi, Lizzie."

"Annie was asking when you would play baseball with her again."

"I'd love to play with her anytime she's up for it. The kid has quite an arm."

Liz smiled back, "I'll be sure to tell her that."

"Is that all you came to ask me?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you want to go over to the Oval with me to talk to my dad."

"I suppose we should," Toby said. "Before the press beats us to it."

Liz nodded, "I don't know that he'll be okay with it."

"Only one way to find out."

Toby and Liz headed over to the Oval. Jed just finished a meeting and had a rare moment alone.

"Hey, dad."

"Hey, sweetheart."

"What can I do for you?"

"Toby and I were hoping to talk to you."

"Oh? What's up?"

"Well, Toby and I…we're going out."

Jed took off his glasses. "What?"

Toby sighed. "Mr. President, I would like your permission to date your daughter."

"You're aware that she's 20 years old?"

"Dad, I'm 22 and perfectly capable of deciding who to date," Liz interjected.

"Not my staff, you don't."

"Mr. President, we've got a lot in common."

"Including 20 years between you!"

"24," Toby mumbled.

"I beg your pardon?"

"24…years."

"And anyway, that shouldn't matter!" Liz said, throwing her hands up. "I'm trying to have my own life."

"Sir, if I may…"

"I'll deal with you in a minute." Jed turned to Liz. "I realize that. But you've got a four-year-old to think about."

"I am thinking about my daughter, dad. She deserves to have a stable life with two people who love her. I wouldn't have introduced Annie and Toby if I didn't take this seriously."

"Annie already has a father she barely sees, Elizabeth. She deserves more than that."

"I agree, dad. She loves Toby."

"That's very nice. But what happens if the two of you call it quits?"

Liz looked at Toby.

"That's not going to happen, sir," Toby said.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because…because I think your daughter and granddaughter are the best things that ever happened to me."

Jed sighed, "Fine. If you two want to see each other, there's nothing I can do to stop you. Even if I disagree with it."

"Thank you, dad," Liz said, smiling with relief.

"Thank you, sir," Toby said.


February 1998:

Donna was walking onto Main Street, on an errand for Josh. It was only her second day of work, but after all, she had left behind, she was determined to make this work.

She was just passing an ice cream shop when two girls ran out, giggling and nearly running into her.

"Oh, sorry!" Donna said automatically. "I didn't see you there."

"That's okay."

"Are you here by yourselves?"

"Well," the preteen with auburn hair started, "we were supposed to go right to Dad's office after school, but Alex wanted some ice cream."

"So did you!" Alex exclaimed. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes in contrast to the other girl's blue ones.

"It was your idea!"

"Maybe," Donna said interrupting the bickering that was about to start. "I should walk you to the office. Where is it?"

"It's over on Jefferson. The Bartlet for America office."

Donna did a double-take. "What are your names?"

Zoey hesitated. "I'm Zoey Bartlet. She's Alex."

"You're Governor Bartlet's daughters?"

"Yeah," Alex said and then looked at her suspiciously, "Are you a reporter?"

"No, I'm Josh Lyman's assistant, Donna."

"Oh," said Zoey. "He's the guy who went to law school with Amy."

"It's nice to meet you," Alex said politely.

"It's nice to meet you too. But we have to get back."

"Why?"

"Well, for one thing, your father's going to be worried about you when you're not there after school."

Zoey sighed. "She's right, Alex."

Alex nodded. "Yeah, yeah."

"We'll go with you." Zoey finally said.

"Good," Donna said and led them back to the campaign office.

Donna had only been gone for about an hour. In that short span of time, New Hampshire State Troopers had assembled in front of the office. Their vehicles were parked at the curb with their lights flashing. Voices could be heard on the radios inside the vehicles and on the belts of the troopers, repeating descriptions of Zoey and Alex.

Zoey looked guiltily at her sister. "Oh, we're gonna get it."

"We brought ice cream, though," Alex replied.

Donna shook her head as they walked inside, and Abbey and Jed whirled around in relief.

"Oh, my god," Abbey said, rushing toward them with Jed not far behind. "Where were you!?"

Abbey embraced Zoey in a tight hug just as Jed pulled Alex into his arms.

"You had us scared to death. I came to get you from school and you weren't there."

"I'm sorry, daddy. We went the long way round so we could go get ice cream on the way." Alex held up her cone. "Want some?"

Jed eyed her. "That's what you say right now?"

Alex smiled. "It's good!"

Abbey rolled her eyes. "You two are in so much trouble."

"It's her fault," Zoey said, clearly not used to being the twin in trouble.

"Fine," Alex sighed, "It's all my fault. Donna said we should come back so we did."

"Donna?" Abbey repeated. "Who's Donna?"

At this, Donna stepped forward. "I'm Donna Moss. I'm Josh Lyman's new assistant. I ran into the girls when I was walking back to the office."

"Oh," Abbey replied. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Donna said, shaking her hand.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Jed said, approaching them.

"No, I'm from Wisconsin," Donna replied. "I went to a campaign stop you had in Madison and I knew I had to come help with the campaign."

Jed grinned, "Well I'm happy to have you onboard, Donna."

"Yes, thank you for helping to keep these two troublemakers in line," Abbey said, looking at both of her children sternly.

"You're welcome. I did a lot of babysitting back home, so I'm well-equipped to handle almost-teenagers," Donna told her with a grin.

"Who, us?" Alex asked innocently.

"Yes, you," Jed and Abbey responded in unison.

"We'll keep that in mind," Abbey said, already filing that information away in her mind. "There will never be enough people to keep an eye on these two."

"I'm good most of the time," Zoey protested. "Alex is the crazy one."

"I am not," Alex replied.

"Zoey Patricia…what did I say about using that word?" Jed reprimanded. "It's not nice and you're just as responsible as your sister is for this mess. Now, say thank you to Donna, and then we're going out to apologize to the State Troopers."

"Yes, Dad," Both Zoey and Alex said immediately. "Thank you, Donna."

"You're welcome," Donna smiled.

Donna excused herself to go organize some files for Josh, and Alex and Zoey went to put their backpacks down. As soon as all three were out of earshot, Jed turned to Abbey.

"Oh, my God, that's her."

"Who is it?"

"Donna Moss."

"Donna as in Julia's Donna?"

"Yes. Josh told me this morning that the girl he hired this morning is from Wisconsin. Julia moved there with Daniel after she got into that fight with my father."

"What a small world," Abbey said in amazement.

"Tell me about it."

"You know, she could do more than just be an assistant with that Bachelor's I know she has from UW."

"Be my guest," Jed commented. "It'll be nice to have her near the family again."

"I wonder how much she knows?"

"I doubt very much. Julia was adamant about keeping her separate from the family."

"It's a shame. Perhaps we should take her up on the offer to watch the twins and keep them in line."

"Abbey, you are a genius!" Jed exclaimed. "That's a perfect idea!"

"Daddy?" Alex said, approaching her parents.

Jed turned around to see Alex holding a to-go cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream complete with a pink plastic spoon. She held it out to him.

"You got me ice cream," He said, taking it from her.

"Yep. You said you wanted some last night."

"So I did."

"Ice cream isn't going to get you out of an apology, Alexandra Grace," Abbey said wrapping an arm around her daughter as they went to go get Zoey.

Jed watched them for a moment before his eyes flicked to Donna, who was now on the phone. The Lord certainly did work in mysterious ways.


Donna stood outside a restaurant in downtown Washington DC, pulling her winter coat tight against her in the February chill on Monday night. Just then, she saw Josh step out of his car, and she felt warm inside.

"Hi." Donna greeted brightly.

Josh closed the gap between them quickly, pulling her in for a passionate kiss. "Hey, baby."

They broke apart, and Josh took her hand. "You're freezing, Donna."

"What can I say? It's the middle of February."

"Let's get inside where it's warm then."

Josh opened the door and they went inside the restaurant. He made reservations while up in Manchester with Toby and the family so they were seated right away.

"I know you're sworn to secrecy about the family stuff. But the President told me that he and Dr. Bartlet decided to bring Alex to DC at the end of the school year. This means we won't have to go to Manchester twice a month anymore."

"That would be nice," Donna replied. "The family will be together again."

"Yeah, I know Zoey's missed her sisters."

Donna hesitated. "Speaking of family…"

Josh raised his head in anticipation. "What about it?"

"Well, we've been married almost two years. When are we having the kid talk?"

"We could have it now," Josh said. "I know we've talked about it a little bit but between our jobs, it's always gone on the back burner."

"Now that things are changing a little bit in terms of travel, I thought it might be time to think about a baby. "

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I've gone through most of Dr. Bartlet's schedule for the year and she's only got a couple of international trips planned so far. If there's more I'm sure Amy will help me out."

"So…what are you thinking?"

"Well, I go off the pill, and we just…start trying."

Josh swallowed, then smiled. "Okay."

"Okay?" Donna repeated, surprised. "You're okay with this?"

"Donna, of course, I'm okay with this. I want to have a baby with you. The only reason I haven't pushed for it is that I know you've been just as busy as I am. But I've imagined it a million times every time we're up in Manchester together. If the President and Dr. Bartlet did it with surprise twins, why can't we?"

Donna smiled, feeling the warmth spread through her chest with love for her husband, "That's very true. I can see how they ended up with four."

"Maybe that'll be us someday."

"You want four?"

"Or two. Or three. I definitely want more than one. And if it's in the cards, I want a big family."

"Slow down," Donna laughed. "I think we can start with one. But..I'm definitely ready for the first one."

Josh smiled. "Me too."

"Well, at least we're on the same page," She smiled back.

"Yes we are," Josh said, taking her hand.


The next morning Liz dropped Annie and Alex off at school in Manchester as was usually her routine before heading off to the organization she interned at. Reporters were waiting for them when the cars pulled up to the school.

"Liz! Liz!" Reporters shouted as they swarmed the vehicles, prompting the Secret Service to close ranks around Liz, Alex, and Annie. "How long have you been dating Toby Ziegler?"

Liz tried to shepherd her daughter through the crowd. "Just keep walking, baby. Don't say anything."

"Liz, what do you have to say about the fact that Toby's 24 years older than you?"

"Leave him alone!" Annie called out, frustrated.

"That's enough," Liz said, quickly scooping her up. Alex stayed close to Liz's side.

Cameras flashed and more questions were being thrown out left and right.

"Liz, are you and Toby planning to be married?"

"What does the President think?"

Annie was in tears by the time they reached her classroom.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart," Liz said, holding her sobbing daughter.

"It's okay Annie. It's over and I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Alex said, kissing her cheek.

"God damn it!" Jed swore as he watched TV cameras on CNN capture his crushed granddaughter through a glass door leading to the classroom. It was being broadcast live.

"Mr. President," Leo said, calmly as they stood in his office watching this unfold on his TV.

"I knew this was going to happen!" Jed raged.

"Mr. President, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I didn't think about the tabloid pressure."

Mrs. Landingham knocked on the door. "Mr. President, Toby Ziegler would like a minute."

"I'll just bet he would. Send him in."

Jed walked back into the Oval from the door connecting his office to Leo's, just as Toby came in.

"Mr. President, Is there anything we can do about the press?" He asked. "I don't want them near Annie."

"Neither do I. I'll ask the Secret Service to increase their presence around Liz and Annie."

"I'm sorry this is happening. I wouldn't want to hurt either one of them."

"I know, Toby. I don't blame you. This was going to happen regardless."

CJ entered. "Mr. President, I-"

"CJ, I want their credentials pulled, you understand?"

"All due respect, sir, you can't do that."

"The hell I can't!" Jed exclaimed. "My granddaughter is in tears as we speak in front of the whole country."

"I know that sir. But if you pull them, it will make this even worse and start a battle you can't win."

"CJ…"

"Mr. President, if I thought it would help, I would have already done it."

Jed sighed. "Yeah."

In Manchester, Annie was guided into her classroom by her teacher. Alex turned to walk down the hall to go to the next building.

"Alex," Liz said.

Alex turned back unaware that they were being recorded through the glass door they were standing in front of.

"What?"

"I'm sorry about this."

"You should have thought about that a long time ago. How was I supposed to know Logan's dad was going to get pictures of you and Toby in Hanover?"

"You knew who the Huntzbergers were?"

"It's the National Enquirer! It doesn't mean anything!"

"Yeah, neither does the Atlantic Media Group, right?"

"You're the one who decided to date Toby, not me. Everyone has been covering for you for nearly two years."

"That's not fair."

"Neither is that!" Alex said, indicating the mess that was waiting outside.

"I don't know why I expected you to understand. Wait until you have a boyfriend and you will."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Maybe I do."

"You and Logan aren't that serious?"

No. But it could be. And when it is, I'll never be sneaking around like this!"

"Mark the exact date and time you said that, Alexandra."

Oh, I will, Elizabeth!" Alex replied, her eyes blazing. "I already know everything not to do thanks to you. God, it was already bad enough when Doug decided that Annie wasn't good enough. You're lucky dad didn't have him arrested."

"It's easy for you to say, Miss Perfect. Mom and dad have spent the equivalent of college tuition on your gymnastics. I could have told them that you failed your last math test. But I didn't. So quit ragging on me."

"Yeah, you try doing what I do and see how easy it is to balance everything."

"I know, Alex," Liz sighed. "But you are not the only one with problems in this family."

"Let's just forget about it," Alex replied.

They walked out of the door to find cameras and lights flashing in their faces.

"Tell me you're not going to use that," Liz said.

"I'm going to class," Alex said and plastered a fake smile on her face, "Have fun at work." She stalked off to the building next store that held the upper grades and went to class.

Liz sighed and walked back toward the waiting SUV. She knew that she was going to be hearing about this from all sides for quite a while.