A/N: Rating for this chapter is NC-17

Abbey was curled into her usual place in the curve of Jed's body when she surfaced from sleep. His arm was resting round her, his hand just below her breasts and she smiled drowsily, remembering the night before – remembering how he'd teased, tormented and aroused her with his hands and his mouth, bringing her right to the edge and then holding her there until she was helpless and aching for him – how she had felt so complete when he finally came into her and she'd heard the low groan that escaped from him – and how all the instincts that came from over thirty years of knowing each others' bodies took over as they'd moved together, slowly at first and then more urgently and frantically as they both spiralled out of control.

Even thinking about it now sent a quiver through her, remembering how his thrusts had become fiercer, harder, deeper – until his almost desperate gasp of "Abbey!" preceded his shuddering expulsions inside her. It was that gasp which, as happened so many times, had sent her right over the edge too into her own pulsating climax. And then they'd both collapsed breathlessly into an eventual haze of satisfaction and contentment until he'd drawn her into his arms and whispered 'I love you' as they both drifted into sleep.

She eased herself over and turned to look at him sleeping, enjoying the novelty of the experience. Usually she woke to an empty space in the bed beside her, with Jed long gone to yet another dawn meeting. So now her face softened into a smile as she watched him. His even breathing showed that he was nowhere near waking, and his face was totally relaxed. Even the harsh lines of fatigue that had etched his face during the last couple of years seemed to have been erased. He looked almost boyish – the young, handsome student she had fallen in love with so many years before – and Abbey felt the familiar stirring deep inside her.

Unable to stop herself, her hand went up to smooth back the hair that had fallen over his forehead – greying now, but she remembered when it had been so much darker, and longer too in the fashion of the late sixties. Slowly her fingers traced the line of his jaw and then moved down past his neck to his chest, stroking the hairs there before following the darker hairs down to his stomach. Unconsciously Jed brought his own hand up to cover hers and stirred a little. Even that was enough to set Abbey's pulse racing.

She felt guilty for waking him but couldn't ignore the growing need inside her. She leaned forward to kiss his mouth and sensed his response. As his eyes flickered half open and saw her, he said "Hey."

"Hey yourself."

He seemed to be about to drift back to sleep again, but then his eyes opened wider. Despite being still half asleep, he had recognised the naked desire in Abbey's eyes. "You want more?"

"I want you."

"You got me." The blue eyes sleepily met hers. "So what you gonna do with me?"

"Jed, just go back to sleep," she said softly.

"If you say so," he concurred, closing his eyes again. And then with one swift movement he rolled on to his back and pulled her on top of him, holding her hips firmly against his.

"Jed!" she gasped in surprise.

He looked up at her with mock reproach. "You've woken me up at some ungodly hour – so now you'd better make it worth it."

"Hey, you woke me up plenty of times at the White House at some ungodly hour – but you hardly ever made it worth it – 'cause then you were gone."

"You think I didn't have to take cold showers before I went down to the Oval then?"

"Yeah, I seem to remember you yelping when you turned on the shower."

"And then I was all cranky with Charlie and Leo – and they always knew why."

"I bet they did. A lot of eye-rolling, I imagine?"

Jed grinned. "Yeah, and I once overheard Leo saying to Charlie 'Fix it with Lilly!' in that grim voice he used – and then Charlie made a point of telling me when I had a gap in my schedule – for barbecuing."

Abbey smiled. "He and Lilly did work well together on the barbecuing schedule!"

"You know, I never did work out why they called it barbecuing."

Abbey thought for a moment. "It figures, I guess – smouldering coals – barbecues are hot."

"So are you – and your eyes smoulder too."

"Your eyes just used to say 'I want sex and I want it right now.'"

Jed looked up at her. "So what are they saying now?"

"I want sex and I want it right now?'

"Clever girl," he said with a smile, moving his hands down her hips.

"What are we waiting for then?"

Jed gazed up at her, his blue eyes soft with desire. "Why is it than I can never get enough of you, even after all this time?"

"Why is it that I feel exactly the same?"

"And I don't just want sex, you know – I want you, I've always wanted you. It's different."

"Yeah, I know." Then, "I love you, Jed."

"And I love you – let's just go along with that, shall we?"

He rolled her over on to her back and started kissing her everywhere until she was lost.

"Definitely not the weather for barbecuing," Jed said with a grin as he came into the kitchen. He stopped behind her to put his hands on her waist and kiss the back of her neck through her hair.

Abbey's lips twitched. "I think we sorted out the barbecue very successfully earlier!" She glanced through the kitchen window at the rain outside "Well, they do say that it's the rain here that makes this the Emerald Isle. Though at the moment it looks more like the Gray Isle. Can't even see the bay now."

It was true, the mist of rain had almost blotted out Galway Bay and it was a gray and featureless day.

"You want some yogurt, Jed?"

"Just toast will be fine." Jed put two slices of bread in the toaster and pressed the lever. "Guess I'm improving, I do know how to work the toaster! But why is that coffee machine dripping clear water into the jug?"

Abbey glanced round. "Damn, I forgot to put the coffee in the filter."

"Hah! So it's not just me who has problems with modern machines!"

"I know how to work the coffee machine, Jed – I just forgot to put the coffee in!"

"Hmm – er – a senior moment then maybe?"

"One more comment like that and I will beat you senseless with the coffee machine!"

Jed grinned and held up his hands. "Okay, okay!" He slid his hands round her waist again. "Did I ever tell you how sexy you are when you get snippy? Oww!" he finished as she dug her elbow into his ribs.

"Just go get the coffee from the cupboard, will you?" she said with a smirk.

Later, as they sipped their mugs of coffee at the table, Abbey looked across at him. "You gonna call Josh?"

Jed glanced at his watch. "Too early yet – it's only four in the morning in DC."

"So you have about two hours to make up your mind. What are you going to do?"

Jed leant back against his chair. "Half of me says 'Stay out of it, let them get on with it.' The other half says, 'Yeah, I don't have any problem with this, I've done this before, I can do it again'."

"Okay, so tell Josh that half of you will go – and the other half can stay here with me."

Jed raised his eyebrows. "You don't want to go with me?"

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"Do I want…?" He caught hold of her hand across the table. "Abbey, we've spent far too much time apart in the last eight years. Of course I want you to go with me. Besides," he added casually, "I've heard there are some very nice shops in Brussels – Armani, Versace, Dior–"

Abbey's eyes sparkled. "And now that I'm not First Lady, I can start wearing more French and Italian designer clothes instead of just American design. So when do we go?"

Jed laughed. "You want me to tell Josh that I'll do the Energy meeting because my wife would like a shopping trip in Brussels?"

"That sounds about right to me."

"Okay."

Alarm shot across Abbey's face. "Jed, I was only kidding. You've got to make your own decision about this."

"Yeah, I know." Jed stood up and walked across to the window, while Abbey watched him anxiously. "So do I go back on to the world political stage just a week after retiring as President? What's the Washington Post gonna say about that? That the old man can't let go?"

"That's ridiculous and you know it! Other former Presidents have stayed in the political arena. And anyway, when did you give a damn about what the Washington Post says?"

"True – on both counts."

"And it's a totally natural follow-up of everything you did as President – after the last Energy meeting, you got the ten percent reduction in fossil fuel emissions passed–"

"Should have been twenty," Jed shrugged, "but Congress wouldn't wear that one. And we got defeated on the Average Fuel Economy standards too. We didn't do nearly enough–"

"So here's your chance to do more."

Jed paused for a moment then, putting his hands in his pockets, he turned back to her and gave her a small smile.

She knew that smile. "You're going to do it, aren't you?"

He tilted his head slightly. "Yeah."

Abbey's eyes narrowed. "When did you decide?"

"Last night – when Josh asked me."

Abbey stood up, her eyes wide now. "So what's all this been about then? Why didn't you tell me last night?"

"I was testing the water."

"Testing the–?"

"Yeah. Think about it, toots. If I'd come back in here last night, and said I was going to an Energy meeting in Brussels on behalf of the President, what would you have said?"

"I–"Abbey started then stopped, suddenly realising what he had been doing.

Jed grinned. "Exactly!"

Abbey nodded slowly, then looked at him. "Okay – so you made me think that you weren't sure what to do – and then you got me to try and talk you into it? That's cheating, Jed!"

"I do that from time to time," Jed said lightly. "You know that. And it works most of the time." His blue eyes twinkled with amusement. "Er – recognise those words?"

"Oh!" Abbey sat down again quickly, and threw him a look of exasperation. "So how did I just know that was gonna rebound on me?"

Jed moved towards her. "Because you've known me for forty years?"

"Yeah," Abbey conceded, then "Jackass!"

He laughed. "I'm quite a lovable jackass though – right?"

Her expression softened. "Yeah – right."

Jed smiled and leant forward to kiss her forehead. "Good – and now I'm going for a shower and if I make it a cold one, maybe it'll psych me up for calling Josh and for all the documents that he's gonna send me."

When he'd gone, Abbey went into the kitchen and poured herself another mug of coffee, and then returned to the sitting room and sat down on the couch.

'He's come alive again,' she thought. The last few days he had been floundering, first with the emptiness after eight years of non-stop activity, and then with the shattering discovery about Eddy – a mind-numbing shock that had been partly softened by his mother's letter and by his meeting with Mary Cavanagh. But Josh's phone call had given him the boost that he had needed to get back on track again, to kick-start his brain – she'd seen it in his eyes, that eagerness to start thinking again, to get involved in something that was important to him.

At the same time, she knew that he still had not faced his feelings about John Bartlet, and that somehow she was going to have to find a way to persuade him to deal with it before he could really move on. But she knew too that she would have to choose the right moment.

TBC