A/N: This idea came to me while I was watching The West Wing again. It's set in late season 3 and is partly inspired by Jed telling Abbey in 4x15 that he gave their kids candy behind her back.
Some of this story is pure fluffy fun and is a snapshot of life at the White House with Felicity. It also ties into the larger Felicity universe and highlights what Jed and Abbey start to encounter in raising their youngest as she gets older.
Happy Reading!
Peals of delighted laughter echoed through the West Wing on an early Saturday afternoon in early spring. Until ten minutes ago, White House staff working on the first floor were engaged in their work but enjoying a slightly less serious atmosphere. Now they were actively trying to dodge a red toy Jeep being driven around by none other than two and a half year-old Felicity Bartlet. It was the exact opposite of delightful.
"Felicity, get back here!" Josh exclaimed.
Felicity giggled and sped through the bullpen in a bubble gum pink dress with her light brown hair in two mini buns on her head. The toddler barely avoided running CJ over in the process. She stepped aside just in time to avoid getting hurt as Felicity turned in another direction, causing other staffers to do the same as CJ did.
"What's going on?" CJ asked alarmed.
"Felicity's running amok, that's what," Toby replied walking up to CJ. He sounded irritated.
"I can see that. Where did the toy car come from?"
"She stole it from Gus. It was a birthday present from his other grandparents.," Josh said joining them. "You should see what Felicity did to my office. It's a mess. There's paper everywhere."
"Mine isn't much better," Toby said grimly.
"Felicity, cars belong outside. Let's go out," Sam's voice could be heard saying, calming but firmly.
"I don't want to," Felicity yelled back. She giggled again.
"I'm calling Donna," CJ said and went over to a staffers desk to use the phone. Just as she started to dial, Donna came through the double doors of the West Wing.
"Where's Felicity?" She asked walking toward them.
"Felicity!" Charlie could be heard saying sternly. "You can't ride around in here."
Donna turned and sprinted towards the Oval Office. She entered the outer office just in time to see a a flash of red disappear into the Oval with Charlie right behind her.
"Oh no," Donna breathed, following behind them.
Felicity sped ahead just out of Charlie's reach as she passed the couch and attempted to turn in front of the Resolute Desk. The edge of the front bumper clipped the desk and gave Charlie just enough time to move in front of the car. Donna blocked the back. The motion caused one of the glass globes on the desk to roll. Charlie caught it and set it upright as Donna reached down and scooped up Felicity into her arms. The little girl giggled again.
"Hi Donna," She said sweetly and grinned at her with wide greenish blue eyes. She looked giddy and upon closer inspection, she had tiny brown crumbs on the corners of her lips.
With Felicity safely in Donna's arms, Charlie moved the car and saw that it left a noticeable scratch on the Resolute Desk. Not wanting to cause further harm, he walked over to the glass door and put the car outside under the Portico.
"Charlie, where's the President?"
"He left for the Situation Room twenty minutes ago," He said turning back to her. "I don't know how we're going to explain this. "
"You didn't give Felicity chocolate did you?"
"No way," Charlie said shaking his head and then looked at Felicity's face. "Oh, Felicity is definitely on a sugar high."
"Felicity," Donna said, calmly. "Did you get a treat today?"
"Yeah. Daddy got cupcakes for me and Gus," She whispered. "It's a secret."
Donna and Charlie groaned simultaneously at the explanation. Neither relished having to explain this to Abbey because they both knew how she felt about sugary treats. They weren't strictly prohibited. But she had strong feelings about people, the President, in particular going behind her back.
"The President knows better," Charlie grumbled.
"That's never stopped him before."
They left the car where it and went back to the West Wing so that Felicity could make the rounds and apologize to the staff for terrorizing the West Wing. To their credit, they were annoyed, but understanding, especially once they heard about the cupcake. Afterward, Donna and Charlie took Felicity out to the Rose Garden to run off the rest of the sugar high. Liz emerged from the door leading to the Residence and headed straight toward them.
"Felicity," She called sternly.
Felicity squirmed in Donna's arms, "Hi Lizzy," She said biting her lip.
"Did you take Gus' car without asking?"
"Yes."
"That wasn't nice."
"I just wanted to play with it," Felicity said, looking guilty.
Liz sighed, "I know you did. You're going to tell Gus you're sorry when he wakes up, okay?"
"Okay," She agreed.
Charlie took Felicity into the Rose Garden, happy to leave the two women to talk, and let the littler Bartlet expend the rest of her energy.
"Liz, what happened? I thought Felicity was with Gus. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone back to my office."
"She was. But so was my father. Apparently, he told the nanny she could take a break while I was on the phone. She told me he came back downstairs to finish up his work a little while ago and of course, he's nowhere to be found," She replied, frustration in her voice.
"He's in Situation Room," Donna said.
"I'm sorry, Donna. You deserve some time off, too. The last thing you should have to do is chase Felicity around when all you're trying to get home."
This was the first time in nearly a month that the staff and President were in DC on a weekend day and not out on the campaign trail. Donna had been looking forward to finishing her work and heading home a little early. Liz brought Gus down from Manchester to visit his grandparents and aunt Felicity. His birthday was two weeks earlier and Jed and Abbey missed most of his party so they wanted to make it up to him today,
"I don't mind, Liz. Really. You know Felicity is more than just work to me and to Charlie. The rest of the senior staff feels the same way."
"I know they do. Felicity also needs to spend time with kids her own age. She might be head and shoulders above her peers intellectually. But emotionally, she's like any other kid her age when it comes down to it. I've offered to take Felicity back to New Hampshire to let her have some time away. My parents have refused."
"Liz, this is a conversation you should have with them. For what it's worth, your parents would have let you take Felicity if they thought it would work. But being separated from both of them isn't going to fly. She's already away from your dad more than he likes, to say nothing of you and Ellie and Zoey. Amy and I are doing everything we can to support your mom and Felicity. Including making sure Felicity spends time with other children."
Liz nodded, "I suppose I wouldn't be as upset if my dad hadn't given Gus and Felicity secret cupcakes and then left. They were outside when Gus started to have a meltdown. Felicity slipped out while he was asking me for more of his cupcake. I found a box in the kitchen from the Georgetown Cupcakery with a sizable portion of a vanilla cupcake in it and chocolate crumbs."
Donna let out an involuntary gasp, "Alex sent over some of those cupcakes to celebrate your mom's birthday last month. They were great, but not exactly small. Felicity ate the whole thing?"
"Yep."
Both women looked over at Felicity who was delightedly being chased around by Charlie. When she crashed it was going to be bad. Very bad.
Unaware of Felicity's escapades, Abbey entered the West Wing a half hour later with a shopping bag in her hand. She had gone to pick up a belated birthday gift for her grandson among other things and ended up with several choices. Gus already received a gift from them but since they almost missed his birthday entirely, it only seemed fitting. Now she wanted Jed's opinion on which one he should have now and what could wait until Christmas. She walked to the Oval and ran into CJ on the way.
"Hi CJ," She said with a smile.
"Hello ma'am. I didn't know you were out."
"I had to pick up a gift for Gus and there were a few other things I needed to take care of before we travel again." As the two women walked down the corridor, Abbey noticed small track marks on the carpet. "CJ, do you know what these track marks are from?"
"I suspect they're from Gus' toy car," CJ said, realizing that she was going to have to tell Dr. Bartlet what happened.
"Gus was driving the car around the West Wing? I didn't think Jed would allow that. Much less my daughter."
"They didn't. Felicity did."
Abbey looked at CJ, "Felicity drove the car through the West Wing."
"And around Josh and Toby's desks," She added.
"I left Felicity with Liz and Gus. How did she end up down here?"
"From what I heard, Felicity snuck out of the Residence while Liz was with Gus and took the car. Donna and Charlie caught up with her in the Oval and Felicity did come back to apologize to all of us."
"I should hope so. Do you happen to know where the President is?"
"He's been in the situation room for about an hour now."
"Thank you."
Abbey continued onto the Oval. She walked into the room and found it empty. Just outside the door, she heard Felicity laughing. She was about to walk over to the door leading onto the Portico when the Resolute Desk caught her eye. There was a mark on it in the front, like something hit it. A toy car perhaps? What on Earth possessed Felicity to do this? It wasn't as if Abbey thought her baby was a complete angel. Despite being small for her age, Felicity had a penchant for climbing things and being stubborn. But she wasn't the type to disregard the rules, especially when Gus was told he couldn't bring the car down here this morning.
"Hello gorgeous."
Abbey turned to see Jed walk into the room.
"Hello pumpkin," Abbey replied giving him a deadly smile. "Is the world still in one piece?"
"Yeah, I was just getting an update related to yesterday," He said and then noticed Abbey's expression. "Is something wrong?"
"Did you happen to notice the tire marks on the carpet?"
Jed looked down and saw small tire marks indented in the carpet, "Don't tell me Gus was in here—"
"Not Gus. Felicity. Apparently, she terrorized the entire West Wing."
"Margaret!" Leo could be heard yelling from his office. "What the hell happened in here?"
"Oh for God's sake," Jed huffed as he crossed over to Leo's office. He walked through the connecting doors followed by Abbey. Tire marks were in Leo's office and there were scrape marks on the legs of the chairs at his conference table.
Margaret appeared at the other door, "Felicity was in here,"she said. "I tried to stop her but it was a little bit difficult."
Leo stared at her, "You couldn't stop her? She's a little girl, Margaret."
"Margaret's right, Leo," Jed piped up from behind him.
Leo turned, "Mr. President, I—"
"We're so sorry, Leo. I don't know what's gotten into Felicity. But I intend to get to the bottom of it," Abbey said.
"We'll replace or fix everything Felicity's damaged. I promise you." Jed assured him.
"I'm sure you will," Leo said and shook his head. "I can't believe Felicity was this destructive."
"Oh the Resolute Desk will give you all the proof you need," Abbey said.
Both men followed Abbey into the Oval and she indicated the noticeable mark on the front of the desk. Jed groaned in exasperation.
"Felicity, be careful!" Charlie warned from outside.
Jed moved over to the door leading out to the portico and opened it before stepping outside. In the Rose Garden beyond, a bubble gum pink blur zipped around. Donna stood at the bottom of the steps leading into the garden. She looked up when they came outside.
"Hello ma'am, Mr. President, Leo."
"Felicity!" Jed bellowed.
Felicity stopped running and looked in the direction of Jed's voice, "Hi daddy!"
"Come here!"
Felicity hesitated for a moment and then ran over in their direction.
"Mr. President, before you get mad at Felicity, you should know that she didn't act completely alone."
"Oh really? Are you telling me Gus was involved in this too?"
"More like she ate an entire chocolate cupcake from the Georgetown Cupcakery."
Jed's mouth formed an "O" of surprise and he turned to Abbey. Just as he was about to explain, Felicity's foot caught on an uneven piece of the path just a few feet from where Donna stood. She attempted to stop the fall but it was too late. Felicity flew forward and hit the path knees first, skinning them in the process.
Donna ran over to her as her parents winced. Felicity's little hands balled into fists and she whimpered. The whimper turned into a sob, which turned into a wail. Donna picked her up carefully and brought over to her parents who were there in an instant.
"It's okay," Jed soothed and took her from Donna, her knees cut up and palms stinging from the impact."
"Daddy…" She wailed distraught, starting to come down from her sugar high.
"I know, lovebug."
"We're going to make it better, baby," Abbey said as they hurried up the stairs out of the garden and up to the residence.
Abbey and Jed entered their bedroom together with Felicity still crying. Jed handed Felicity to her mother and they settled on the sofa while he went into the bathroom to get the first aid kit.
"I'm sorry, mommy," Felicity sobbed.
"I know you are. We're not going to think about right now though. Just breathe," Abbey said calmly.
When Jed came out of the bathroom, the bedroom was quiet save for a few sniffling sounds. Abbey sat feeding Felicity on the sofa, giving her comfort, something to lessen the pain, and her love in one gesture. Jed smiled to himself as he sat next to them and began to clean Felicity's skinned knees. By the time he was finished, Felicity's eyes were struggling to stay open.
"Go to sleep, lovebug," He said quietly. One of her hands curled around his fingers. They slackened when she released Abbey's breast and drifted off.
"I could kill you right now," Abbey hissed quietly. "I can't believe you let Felicity eat an entire cupcake."
"I didn't," Jed replied. "I gave her part of it. The same with Gus."
"Oh that makes me feel better."
Abbey refastened her top and stood up before bringing Felicity over to the bed. She laid the little girl in the center and put a throw over her.
"It was supposed to be a little treat, that's it."
"One that you were never going to tell me about. You know how I feel when you go behind my back and what happened today is exactly why! Felicity terrorized the senior staff and caused property damage."
"I'm well aware of what she did, Abigail. I can't wait to see the estimate for restoring the Resolute Desk is."
"I don't think you are, Jed. Felicity is a little girl. She wants to play and have fun. That would be fine except she sees the West Wing as her playground. And you were in the Situation Room so you had no idea what was going on."
"No, no I didn't because I was a little busy trying to avert a crisis," He hissed.
"Exactly my point. If you know you can't be here, don't load our kid up with sugar and leave."
"It's sugar, Abbey. Give it a rest. Felicity will be fine," He groused.
"Jed, this is about more than a damned cupcake and you know it. You got so angry at me last year for not supporting you when you decided to run again. Hell, you treated me like the bad guy for it. This is why," she said pointing to Felicity.
"Let's not bring that up."
"There is a cost to doing this work and you might not care what it's going to do to you. But we're paying it too and I don't know how I can reconcile it all. We were supposed to be done, Jed."
"I'm not done, Abbey. I have more to give."
"So you've said. But I'm scared that by the time this is all over, you'll have nothing left for her. It's already shaping up to be that way. I'm the one making all the decisions, giving the answers to Felicity's doctors and teachers, to the staff. It was one thing when Liz, Ellie, and Zoey were young. This is something else. I don't have a reference point for it."
Jed felt stung by her admission but couldn't deny the truth in it, "What do you want from me, Abbey? I'm trying to be here for you and Felicity. But you don't make it easy either. I was able to find a way to have a relationship with each of the girls. It's harder with Felicity. You have her all the time and I'm always playing catch up."
"I know it's hard. But I can't raise Felicity without you. I need you to make decisions with me, even if they're hard or seem trivial because I'm terrified of how these next years are going to be if you win. I need to know I'm alone."
He softened, "You're not alone, sweet knees. I'm in this with you, even if I screw it up. "
Abbey smiled, "You didn't screw it up. I believe you when you say you only gave Felicity part of the cupcake. You just forgot that she climbs things now and has no fear."
Jed slipped his arms around Abbey's waist, "That's got to be you, baby doll. I hate heights and I have a reasonable amount of fear."
"The desire to possess all the books she can get her hands on is most definitely you, handsome."
"Certainly," He said. "And I'm all for it. I just don't want Felicity to miss out on having fun. That's what today is supposed to be for."
"I agree. But from now on, let's make those decisions together. Not apart."
"I can live with that."
"Good answer, Mr. President."
Abbey turned in his arms and they leaned in for a kiss, relishing these quiet uninterrupted moments together. They seemed harder to come by with each passing day. But it wouldn't be forever. One day all of it would come to an end. Whether that was eight months or over four years off remained a guess. For the moment, they had each other and Felicity and that was all that mattered.
The End