Just over two hours later, Jed was connected via the secure line to the White House. "Josh Lyman's office, please," he said to the operator. "I think he's probably waiting for my call – it's Jed Bartlet here."

"Oh!" said the startled operator's voice. "Oh – yes, sir. I'm putting you through right now, sir."

A click, one short ring, then "Josh Lyman," said the familiar voice.

"Good morning, Josh."

"Mr President."

"Josh, I told you last night, it's Jed now."

"Yes, sir."

Jed grinned to himself at Josh's automatic response. "How's the President?"

"Still pretty sick, sir."

"Give him my best wishes – and tell him not to scratch the spots!"

"I'll do that, sir. Er – is it still okay then? You said you had to discuss it with Mrs Bartlet."

"Abbey talked me into it," Jed said with a smile.

"Scuse me?"

"Never mind – just organise two plane tickets to Brussels for us tomorrow, will you?"

A momentary silence, and Jed suppressed a chuckle. He could picture Josh raising his clenched fist in satisfaction. "That's great, sir. And we can divert Air Force One to New Hampshire for you."

"Well, that's okay – except that we're not in New Hampshire."

"You're not? I thought–"

"You and hopefully the rest of the world too, with just a few exceptions."

"So where are you?"

"Ireland."

"Ireland?" Josh echoed incredulously. His voice rose almost an octave "You're in Ireland?"

"You make it sound like we've gone to the moon, Josh!" Jed said with a laugh. "Yes, Ireland – so forget Air Force One, a scheduled flight from Shannon or Dublin to Brussels will be fine."

"Yeah, right."

"Also I'll need to talk to the Secretary of Energy and the Chair of the CEQ sometime today – and I need copies of–"

"I've got all the policy documents here – and all the stuff that's come through so far from Brussels. I was gonna send them express to Manchester – but that's no use now, is it? So I'll get them all scanned and then email them to you – er, I can email them to you over there, can I?"

Jed grinned. "Yes, Josh, we do actually have internet connection here in Ireland! But you'd better talk to Charlie Tynan about that – he's the one with the computer here. Hang on a minute – Charlie!" he called.

Charlie appeared from the kitchen. "Sir?"

"Talk to Josh about him sending some documents here by email, will you please? And then would you let me know when the calls from the Energy Secretary and the CEQ Chair come through?"

"Yes, sir."

"Josh, here's Charlie – he's head of our detail over here. You can talk to him about all the computer stuff – and I'll speak to you again later when I've had time to look through all the documents."

Jed winked at Charlie as he handed the phone to him. "See you later, Charlie."

"All organised?" Abbey asked as he went back into the cottage again.

"Yep, you got yourself a shopping trip to Brussels! And I suppose I've got myself about an hour before Charlie comes across here with a five inch wedge of papers – so in the meantime I need to start getting some thoughts down on paper. Come to think of it, do we have any paper here?"

"There are a few empty pages at the back of my diary," Abbey offered with a grin.

"Yeah, thanks, but I think I might need more than that. I'll just go back and get some from Charlie."

As he reached the door, Abbey said suddenly, "Jed, can I ask you something?"

Jed turned back. "Sure – what?"

"I know you're gonna be busy this afternoon – and I know you said last night that we ought to keep away from towns and villages today – but, since this will be our last night here in Ireland, can we maybe go out together this evening – just to a pub somewhere?"

Jed looked at her, sudden concern crossing his face. "Abbey, are you having second thoughts about all this?"

"No – no, it's not that. I'm fine with it."

"Honestly?"

"Yes, honestly. I want you to do this Brussels meeting, Jed."

"So what is it?"

Abbey stood up and took the few steps towards him. "I'd really like one more night of being just Jed and Abbey Bartlet, doing ordinary things like going out to a pub, before we go back into the goldfish bowl of being former President and First Lady."

Jed caught hold of her hands and grinned. "We've got a lot more nights of being just Jed and Abbey Bartlet, I promise you!"

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah," he said softly. "I know what you mean – and I guess we owe ourselves that, don't we? You got yourself a deal, Abigail Ann." He leant forward to kiss her gently, then began to kiss her harder until Abbey pushed him away gently.

"Jed, you have to go and get some paper."

"Yeah, right – dammit, why didn't I just say no to Josh?"

When he'd gone, Abbey stood there for a few moments. She smiled and shook her head slightly, remembering how many times the same sort of scenario had been replayed in their White House days, when Jed had started coming on to her and she'd had to push him away and remind him that he had to go to some meeting or press conference. But it was still good, knowing that he still wanted her as much as she still wanted him.

That afternoon she curled up on the couch, reading some more of the Ballykane book. But every so often she glanced across at Jed. He was sitting at the table, totally engrossed as he worked his way through the pile of papers that had come through from the computer. There was so much that Charlie had had to make a quick trip into Galway to buy another pack of printer paper. Every so often, Jed scribbled notes down, crossed something out, read some more, thought for a few moments, then wrote again.

"You writing your own speech?" she asked him at one point.

He turned and looked at her over his glasses. "Sorry?"

"I asked if you were writing your own speech."

"Yeah. Well, a draft anyway – and some notes for the morning discussions and press conference too." He leaned back and stretched his shoulders, then took off his glasses. "And I guess I need a break. Is there any coffee?"

"Yeah, there's a full jug in the kitchen."

She made to stand up but he stopped her. "It's okay, I'll get it. Do you want one?"

"Please." When he brought the mugs of coffee back into the lounge, she looked up at him. "Is someone from the White House gonna have to vet your speech then?"

Jed laughed as he sat down beside her. "You think they don't trust me?"

"No, I just meant that if you are representing the administration, then obviously you have to reflect their views."

"That's why I've got all that paperwork over there!"

"Isn't all that from your own team?"

"A lot of it, yes, but I've got some new stuff from Peter Rosen, the new Secretary of Energy – and I talked with him this morning. He'll be in Brussels too. And in case you're worried about my speech, we'll be seeing Sam Seaborn again tomorrow, so he can work on it for me."

"Sam?" Abbey's eyes lit up. "Oh, it'll be good to see him again – I only managed a short chat with him after the Inauguration." She paused, reflecting back. "He had an amazing way with words, I loved some of the speeches he did for you."

"Yeah. I still remember his very best – 'We did not seek nor did we provoke an assault on our freedom and our way of life. We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil.' Beautiful cadence. It was after the Kennison State bombings. He said he wrote that in the car on the way to the DNC fundraiser."

"If he ever gets to be President, he'll be able to write his own speeches."

"I already told him I'll be there campaigning for him when he runs for President. And he will – because he has that idealism, Abbey – the belief in doing the right thing simply because it's right, even when the consequences might be politically disastrous."

"The same idealism as yours – and maybe Eddy's too." Jed inclined his head in the gesture that meant agreement and Abbey, seizing the moment, went on: "The same determination, the same passion, the same idealism? The things that John Bartlet saw in you and resented so much."

"Abbey, don't go there," Jed warned quietly.

Abbey knew it was probably the wrong time, but decided to go for it anyway. "Why not, Jed? Why not face it? You've had it staring at you in the face these last few days, you finally know just why he didn't like you, why can't you face it?"

"Because–" Jed set down his coffee mug on the table then sighed. "I don't know."

Abbey drew in a deep breath, then spoke softly. "Because all you can remember is the confused little boy who didn't know why his father hit him?"

Jed flinched visibly and then leaned back against the couch.

Abbey turned towards him. "Jed, listen to me. You know now why he did it – but you still need to sort out your feelings about John Bartlet."

There was silence for a few minutes. Abbey waited, watching as Jed's face showed the conflicting thoughts that were churning around in his mind. Then he said, almost in a whisper, "I started hating him."

TBC