November 1997:

By some miracle, Liz persuaded her sister Ellie to watch Annie while her parents were at a campaign event. Now, she found herself seated across from Toby, who managed to duck out of the same event early to meet her for coffee in downtown Manchester.

"I can't believe we pulled this off."

"Neither can I," Toby agreed.

Liz smiled. "Annie seems to have taken to you."

"Good." Toby hesitated. "Liz, um…I don't want to step on her father's toes."

"You don't have to worry about Doug. He barely sees her anyway." Liz replied with only a hint of contempt in her voice.

"How come?"

"He wasn't ready to be a father," Liz said simply. "Doug was wonderful through my pregnancy. Very attentive, went to a lot of appointments with me. But as soon as Annie was born, everything changed. My parents invited him to stay with us so he could help with the baby. His parents did the same for me but I felt more comfortable at my house. He stopped coming over and got busy with school and baseball. It's a little better now. Doug takes her for a weekend every month. But if it wasn't for my parents and my sisters, I would have been alone."

"That would explain why your father dotes on Annie…"

Liz smiled, "Yeah, my dad loves her to pieces. My mom too. After my sisters were born, I thought this would be a burden to them. But after the dust settled, they've treated Annie like their own and I'm grateful for it."

"You know, I've only known the Governor for a few months, but the one thing I've noticed about him is how good of a father he is." Toby paused. "I only hope that I'm as good of a father as he is."

"That's really sweet, Toby."

"Thank you. You know, you have a really nice smile."

Liz looked bashful. "Thanks."

"So what do you like to do in your free time when you're not with Annie or your sisters?"

"I like photography. Alex got me into it, believe it or not. I started taking pictures of her at her meets for my parents. Then I started taking pictures of everything I could. I've gotten beautiful nature shots from around New Hampshire. What about you?"

"Baseball is my favorite pastime. Of course, I'm working nearly all the time."

"I'm sure Annie wouldn't mind going to a baseball game with you sometime."

"I'd like that. Maybe when the new season starts."

"Annie would love that."

"Good." Toby smiled. "Because I really like you guys."

Liz smiled. "Well, the feeling's mutual."

Liz came out of Annie's room to find Toby doing the dishes in the townhouse that they shared for the past month. "Honey, you didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to," Toby said, throwing the dish towel over his shoulder. "Is she finally asleep?"

"Yeah," Liz chuckled. "Only took three stories."

"Just three? Last night, it was five."

"Yeah, that's because she has a harder time wearing you down."

"I suppose so," Toby agreed. "Are you ready for her to start Kindergarten?"

"No," Liz said wistfully. "I can't believe it's already that time. Just another could of months."

"Well, at least she'll be close to Alex and Zoey if she needs anything."

"That's true enough." Liz agreed. She sat on the couch. "I'm still gonna miss her, though."

"I'm not surprised," Toby said as he came over to sit next to her. "You're basically all she has."

"That's not true."

"Okay. She's got you and your parents. But you were still raising her a majority of the time."

"I know. And I kind of feel like I missed it," She admitted.

"How so?"

"I got pregnant my senior year of high school. That whole entire year was spent preparing for a baby and then by the time my freshman year rolled around, I was too busy trying to raise Annie and take classes so I could go to Dartmouth."

"Lizzie?"

"Yeah?"

Toby took her hand. "You did the best you could with what you had. And I think for one that you are an amazing mother."

Liz smiled tearfully. "Thanks."

"And it's worth pointing out that we have each other now."

"Yes, we do," Liz agreed and kissed him. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Lizzie. Always."


April 1998:

Josh and Donna walked toward the restaurant.

"I can't wait to meet your sister," Donna said. "I can't believe I didn't know you had another sister."

"Yeah. My folks adopted her when I was 11. They wanted another kid but wanted to wait a while and make sure they didn't feel like they were just replacing Joanie. Then my dad heard at work about this deaf baby that had been abandoned at the Westport police station, and the rest is history."

"What's her name?"

"Josephine. We call her Joey."

They walked into the restaurant and saw Rachel and a younger woman sitting at a table together just beyond the host stand. Josh smiled and led Donna over to them.

"Hi mom. Hi Joey."

"Hey Josh," Joey said and smiled before hugging her brother.

"Hi Joshua. Hi Donna," Rachel said, hugging her.

"Hi," Donna replied. She looked over at Joey. "You must be Joey."

"And you're Donna," Joey smiled. "It's so nice to finally get to meet the woman my brother hooked."

Donna grinned. "It's nice to meet you, too." They shook hands.

"So," Donna asked as they sat down. "You're deaf?"

"Yes," Joey replied. "But Mom and Dad got me cochlear implants when I was three."

"It was actually Joshua's idea." Rachel supplied. "He read an article in the newspaper."

"Did he?" Donna asked, looking at her new husband. "That's sweet."

"I wanted to help," Josh said.

"So, how are the two of you enjoying married life so far?" Rachel asked.

"We're enjoying it a lot," Donna said. "We're really spending a lot of quality time together, which helps."

"So, how'd you two meet anyway?" Joey wanted to know. "I leave on a work trip after Dad's funeral and a couple of days of shiva, and suddenly you're getting married in New Hampshire." She looked at Donna apologetically. "I'm sorry I wasn't at the wedding, by the way."

"That's all right. It's a funny story, actually."

"Is it?"

"Oh yeah. Donna hired herself right onto the campaign by pretending to work for me," Josh grinned.

"You ended up getting more than you bargained for."

"I did," Donna agreed. "The very next day, I met the Bartlet twins for the first time. Their father couldn't find them and almost sent state troopers out to find them."

Joey laughed. "How old are they?"

"They turned 11 a few months ago."

"You'd be interested in this, Jo," Josh spoke up. "Alex is a budding elite gymnast."

"Is she really?" Joey asked. She turned to Donna and explained. "I was an elite gymnast for most of my life."

"Really?"

"My Olympic champion," Rachel spoke up.

Donna almost choked on her water. "You're Joey Lyman?"

Joey smiled, "I've never had quite that reaction before. But yes, I am."

"Alex talks about you a lot," Donna said. "She says she wants to win the Olympics just like you did."

"I'm honored. I'd love to meet her sometime."

"No you wouldn't," Josh said and received a look of surprise in return from Donna. "Alex is sweet but she's a handful."

Joey laughed. "I'm sure I could handle her, big brother."

"Alex isn't that bad," Donna said.

"You literally met her when she ran off from her parents! And you had to take her to urgent care because she sprained her wrist trying to swing off the tree branch like it was the uneven bars!"

"What?" Joey repeated in surprise.

Josh and Donna repeated the story, and Joey could tell that this little girl had spunk, but she also had passion. Josh was wrong. She did want to meet Alex.

"What are you doing again?" Donna asked as she followed Amy up the stairs to Joey's apartment.

"I'm showing Joey and Ainsley Alex's performance at worlds," Amy explained. "They were both asking to see it. "

"I thought we're supposed to be making Joey feel better. Her partner quit the business after four months."

"Trust me," Amy said with a little smile. "This will do it."

They rang the doorbell. Inside, a light flashed so that Joey could see. The door opened a second later.

"Hi, Donna!" She greeted. "Amy, right?"

"Right," Amy said, speaking slowly and carefully. "Nice to meet you."

"I can hear you fine, you know," Joey quipped.

"Sorry," Amy apologized.

Joey embraced Donna, then smiled at her expanded belly. "How's my niece or nephew doing?"

Good. The doctor says he or she is doing just fine."

"I'm glad to hear it," She said. "Come in."

Ainsley was sitting on the couch and stood up as Donna and Amy entered the room.

"Hey Amy," She said, embracing her former teammate.

"Hey Ainsley," Amy said. "I don't know if you've met. But this is Donna Lyman."

"Hi Donna," Ainsley said warmly. "It's nice to officially meet you. Sam's mentioned you."

"It's nice to meet you, too. You work in private practice, right?"

"Right."

"I brought the tape," Amy said, holding it up.

"Oh, good!" Joey and Ainsley replied.

The four women made popcorn and drinks in anticipation of watching the tape. While they were waiting for the popcorn to be done, they chatted.

"I'm sorry about your partner, Joey," Donna said. "I know opening a gym was your dream."

"Thanks, Donna. But I'll figure it out. I got a new student this week. You might recognize the name."

"Really? Who is it?"

"Logan Huntzberger."

"Alex's friend?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, that'll be wonderful. Alex needs a friend, after all, she's been through."

"Is it true she quit gym?" Ainsley asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Donna confirmed.

Amy sighed, "I shouldn't be surprised. The poor kid looked miserable when she moved down here."

"What happened?" Ainsley asked.

"Alex almost flunked out of school," Donna said. "She couldn't keep up with the demands of gym and school."

"Not shocked. School isn't the highest priority in elite," Ainsley replied.

"Nope. My parents kept me at level 10 because they wanted me to stay in regular school."

"It was a fight, even at UNC," Ainsley reminded her.

"Ain't that the truth," Joey said.

Just then, Amy walked over with the popcorn. "Who's ready to watch?"

"I am." They all said.

Amy turned on the tape, and they watched as Alex prepared to compete in the vault.

"Next up we have the American Alexandra Bartlet up on vault," The announcer said. "She fell on her vault in the team competition at Jesolo. Let's see how she does here."

Alex ran down the runway and did her first vault, the double-twisting Yurchenko before landing on the other side.

"Her form is good," Joey said.

"For her weakest event, it's not bad," Ainsley concurred. "I know a dozen colleges who would want that on their roster."

"So how come she quit?" Joey wondered.

They all looked at Joey. Though they knew the reasoning behind Alex quitting, they all couldn't help but wonder.

Was there more going on than they were led to believe?


On a warm and sunny Monday afternoon the day before the Fourth of July, Donna walked onto the Truman Balcony searching for Alex to find out how her day in summer school went. There on the outdoor couches, Donna found Alex making out with Logan. The glasses of lemonade in front of them seemed to be long forgotten.

"You are so lucky your father didn't come up to ask you how school was today."

The two teenagers jumped apart and they smiled sheepishly.

"Hi Donna," Alex said, slightly out of breath. "Logan surprised me and picked me up from school."

"I decided to come down for the Fourth," Logan said.

"I can see that," Donna said and bit back a smile. This wasn't the first time she'd caught them making out and couldn't really fault them. It was Logan's first visit here since Alex moved and she knew the distance was hard on them. "So how is training going Logan?"

"It's good. I'm actually training with Joey Lyman this week. She asked me to come train with her. So I'll be moving down here once I figure out where to live."

"That's great! You know she's my sister-in-law, right?"

"No, I didn't," Logan replied.

"I'm married to her brother."

"Oh, right. Deputy Chief of Staff?"

"Mm-hmm," Donna said. She looked at Alex and Logan's hands touching.

"I'll let you two get back to what you were doing. Just don't get too carried away. Photographers love to take pictures of people out here."

"Right," Alex said, blushing ever so slightly.

"Thanks for the heads up," Logan said.

Donna turned back and went to the First Lady's Office where Abbey was already back from her meeting.

"Dr. Bartlet, can I talk to you for a moment in private?"

Abbey turned to her, "Of course, Donna." They walked into her office and Abbey shut the door behind them. "What is it?"

"Did you know Logan was coming down for a visit?"

"Yes, Alex asked me on Friday and I said it was okay."

"Did you also know Logan is going to train with my sister-in-law?"

"No. That means he'll move to Virginia. I can imagine his parents are going to be okay with it. Assuming they even care."

"What makes you think they won't?"

"Logan's parents aren't…the most loving parents, to say the least."

"That's too bad. Logan seems like a nice kid all things considered."

"He is. Thanks for telling me, Donna. Would you mind working in the Residence for a little while? I need to talk to the President."

She smiled, "Not at all. I was planning on it just to make sure there's no funny business happening on the Truman Balcony."

"Thank you," Abbey said gratefully.

Jed was in a debate with Sam, Josh, and Toby when she slipped into the Oval Office through the side door.

"Guys…" Jed sighed. "I need a better reason to say no to this bill other than it's not going to work."

"Yes, sir." All three of them replied. Then Jed looked over.

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Guys? May I have a few minutes alone with my husband?"

"Yes, ma'am." They slipped out, leaving Jed and Abbey in the Oval.

Abbey sat down in the chair beside his desk, "Donna just told me Logan's upstairs."

"Logan and Alex are behaving themselves, I hope?"

"As well as can be expected. But apparently, Logan is going to train at the gym Josh's sister owns in Virginia."

"I'm sure his parents are thrilled about it," Jed said, taking his glasses off.

"We might need to rethink things."

"Abigail, I've accepted that our daughter has Logan in her life. Why can't we just leave it at that?"

"Jed, you know what Mitchum and Shira are like. Logan has no supervision."

"I'm aware," He sighed. "What do you propose we do?"

"I think we should offer to move him in with us."

"Really?"

"At least then we can keep an eye on them."

Jed sighed. "Fine. That boy really means a lot to her, doesn't he?"

"Logan is Alex's love," Abbey said, squeezing his hand.

"Abbey, she's too young to have a first love, let alone a love at all."

"Shakespeare would beg to differ."

Jed looked at her, "You know Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, right?"

"It is also a great love story," Abbey pointed out. "And Alex is the product of one herself."

At this, Jed couldn't help but smile. He leaned in and kissed his wife.

"Touche, Abigail, Touche."


On Thursday afternoon, Jed invited the senior staff up to a private lunch in the family dining room with him and Abbey. After everyone had gotten to eat a little bit, Jed cleared his throat.

"I called all of you up here because Abbey and I have a family development we need to discuss. It's normally something we would keep private. But there are extenuating circumstances involved."

"Logan will be training at Joey Lyman's gym in Virginia," Abbey said. "Jed and I have decided to invite him to live here with us."

Everyone was quiet for a second. Then, Leo spoke up.

"Is this going to create security concerns?"

"Forget security. What about PR?" Toby asked.

"It's good human interest," CJ spoke up. "The First Family taking in a troubled teenager. A friend of Alex's."

"Except he's her boyfriend," Josh added, taking a bite of his pickle, only to be ribbed by Donna "Ow!"

"We don't use that word, Josh," Jed said, staring daggers at him.

"Mr. President, you can't move your daughter's boyfriend into the White House. She's 13," He replied.

"He's right," Leo agreed. "The Christian Right will be all over us the minute they do anything."

"This is a family decision, Leo," Abbey pointed out. "We're doing this because Logan needs a family and supervision."

Leo was quiet. "All right. But we leave the boyfriend part out of it."

"Yes."

"I'll write a statement for you." Sam offered.

"Thank you, Sam," Abbey replied.

The First Couple continued to debate concerns over Logan moving in with the senior staff throughout the rest of lunch. Jed was glad when it was finally over.

"All right, get outta here," He said from his position at the head of the table.

Josh stayed in the room for a second.

"Yes, Josh?"

"I just want to say my kid's not dating 'til they're 30."

Jed smiled, "I tried that. Kids have this funny way of being their own people. I've been waiting for Alex to change her mind about this boy but it's been two years and it hasn't happened yet."

"You sure you can't twist her arm a little bit?"

"Not a chance."

"Well, good luck, sir. I hope it works out."

"Thank you, Josh."


Six weeks later, Charlie joined the family for dinner at the Residence. He was also spending the night since Michelle had a late shift.

"So, Logan, what's your best event?" Charlie asked with interest.

Logan took a swallow and replied, "The parallel bars."

"Wow, that must be tough!"

"Yeah, it can be. But it's fun too. My second favorite is high bar. When you get your releases right, you can fly through the air."

"Now I understand why you and Alex are together," He replied. "You both like to do crazy stuff."

Logan grinned, "Something like that. Are you into sports?"

"I play baseball and basketball when it's in season. But my mom got me hooked on reading when I was little. She used to bring me to work when she had desk shifts and it made the time go by really fast."

"What's your favorite book?"

"Treasure Island."

"That's a good one," Jed spoke up. "What about you, Logan?"

"The Count of Monte Cristo," Logan said without hesitation.

"It's one of my favorites too," Ellie said.

"How do you like GDS so far, Logan?" Abbey asked.

"I like it a lot better than my other school. Everyone has been really welcoming so far, Dr. Bartlet," He replied before shooting a glance at Alex across the kitchen table.

Alex suddenly became very invested in the salad on her plate.

"Alex?" Jed asked. "Something you want to share with the rest of the class?"

"Nothing," Alex mumbled.

"It's just that Alex has been particularly welcoming to me."

"Well, of course, she has," Abbey said.

"They haven't been as nice to Alex," Zoey said.

Alex glared at her sister, "Zoey, they have too."

"Yeah, that's why people have stuck notes in your locker saying you're a quitter."

Alex shrugged, "They're not me so they wouldn't understand."

"Have you said anything?" Zoey asked. "To anyone?"

Alex turned to Zoey. "Just lay off!" She snapped.

She threw her napkin on the table and stormed out.

"I'll go," Logan said.

"Go ahead," Abbey said quietly.

Logan left the table and Jed turned to Zoey, "How long has this been going on?"

"Since summer school started. Since I didn't go, I only found out about it after classes began. "

"Why didn't Alex say anything?"

"Dad, the whole school knows you and mom had to go home to get Alex. Everyone thinks she quit and couldn't handle it. That she just…choked."

"I just wonder if…" Abbey trailed off. "Never mind."

"What is it?" Jed asked.

"What if the pressure wasn't all it was?"


Logan was wide awake around midnight, waiting. Just as he promised Alex's father, he was in his own bed, in his room. But that didn't mean he would sleep. The sound of his door opening made Logan sit up. Alex slipped into the room and shut the door. She padded across the room.

"Hi," She said quietly.

"Hey," Logan said and pulled back the covers.

Alex got into bed beside him and Logan wrapped his arms around her. They settled back into the pillows, both feeling more at ease now that they were together.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"Don't be sorry," He said. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Ok," Alex sighed and nuzzled his neck affectionately. "I promise I'll be gone before it gets light."

"I know you will. I love you, Lex. Go to sleep."

"I love you too, Logan," She said and yawned.

Alex closed her eyes and fell asleep. Logan waited until her breathing slowed and evened out and only then did he allow himself to fall fast asleep.