Disclaimer: I don't own The West Wing, I wish I did, but I don't.
Late May 1987
Westport, Connecticut
Rachel Abravanel felt her bed dip beneath her and she groaned.
"Buenos dias, Rahelica," said someone with a distinctly deep voice.
"Dad," she moaned without making a move to free herself from her cocoon of blankets.
Rachel's father responded with a low chuckle.
"Rahelica, you've been back for almost a week now, don't you think it's time you join the land of the living?" he asked in his slightly accented voice.
"I'm quite comfortable being in the land of the sleeping, Daddy."
"So, you will be sleeping the rest of the day away and won't be joining your mother and I for the party tonight?"
Rachel really wasn't in the mood for parties or even discussions of parties but she decided to humor her father. Rachel rolled over to face him but her eyes remained closed.
"What party?" she mumbled.
"The Lymans are throwing a party, it's Ada's birthday."
Rachel slowly opened her eyes.
"It's Mrs. Lyman's birthday?"
Rachel's father nodded.
"Oh."
"When Ada found out you were back she asked us to bring you along, in fact she insisted, she said it's been far too long since she's seen you."
Rachel liked the Lymans very much, she couldn't help but enjoy Mr. Lyman's sense of humor and Mrs. Lyman's warmth and wit, Rachel loved watching them interact with each other.
Rachel and their son Josh had never been close friends, they could be accurately described as friendly acquaintances, greeting each other when they crossed paths and exchanging pleasantries before drifting off to their own set of friends. It had been about seven years since Rachel had seen Josh Lyman and she had never really spent that much time with him when they had been in high school, it hadn't helped that Josh had been a year ahead of her in school and she hadn't started attending Green Farms Academy until her sophomore year when her family moved from New York to Westport. Apart from bumping into each other on occasion at school Rachel had of course seen Josh a few times at Temple accompanying his Grandfather, Mr. Strauss.
Rachel was fond of Jacob Strauss, it was difficult not to be especially when Mrs. Lyman's father reminded Rachel of her own maternal grandfather, another survivor of the camps with an indomitable spirit. Like their son, Mr. and Mrs. Lyman didn't go to Temple often but Jacob Strauss could always be counted on to be there.
"I guess I should probably get out of bed then and maybe find Mrs. Lyman a gift."
"I think that would be a good idea, Rahelica," Rachel's father said before bending over and giving his daughter a peck on the forehead.
"Dad, I'm getting too old for that," she whined softly, only half meaning it.
An amused smile spread across her father's face.
"You'll never be too old for that, Chiquita," he said as he rose from Rachel's bed and headed out of her room.
A/N: sorry about this being so short but I'm dealing with writers block and I figured I'd give you a bit of something I HAVE finished while I continue working on this part of the story. I'll be adding additional notes and things for this chapter later this week/early next week so if you'd like extra tidbits and things for this story you can find them at "severan dynasty . live journal . com" (remove the spaces ^_~). Also, thanks to everyone that has either read, reviewed, followed, or any combination of the three, it really means a lot to me and I hope to see/hear more from you!