E is for Eggs (Abbey / Josh)

The Hangover

Josh was dying. He was sure of it. Actually dying. As he dragged himself from his bedroom to the kitchen his head churned and his stomach throbbed, although the more he thought about it he was convinced he'd got the two the wrong way round. He just couldn't think straight, or swallow, or…

… anything.

He reached the kitchen and stumbled to the sink, grabbing a glass and leaning against the kitchen unit as he turned on the faucet to fill it. That was when he heard the chuckle from behind him.

"My God, I've seen critical care patients who look better than you do this morning."

He turned, unsteadily, and found Abbey sat at the kitchen table, an amused expression on her face. Given the fact that she was his boss's wife he thought he ought to explain himself, but his mind was so addled that what came next wasn't so much an explanation as just a couple of words stating the obvious.

"I'm sick."

She got to her feet, moving over to the fridge and started removing things from it, "I'm not surprised. Trying to match the others measure for measure of Havana Club was never going to end well for you Joshua."

The shear mention of Havana Club made him want to heave and so he distracted himself by asking a question, "Where are the others?"

She finished at the fridge and took her haul over to the counter, "Jed, Toby, Sam and Leo went to play a round of golf."

"Golf?" he looked at her incredulously. Leo he could understand, he'd not touched a drop, but the others? Golfing? After the night they'd had. She had to be kidding, although from the way she nodded he presumed probably not. Still trying to comprehend this fact he turned his attention to the final member of their happy little crew, "And CJ?"

Abbey smiled, "She was on my treadmill by 6, and in Jed's study by 7. Prep for next week."

"She's not human. She can't be." He threw himself down into a chair at the kitchen table and watched Abbey as she started putting items of food stuffs into a blender, "What are you doing?"

Her smile widened, "Hangover cure. Not my favourite one I grant you, but I don't have the facilities in house to hook you up to a saline drip."

"A saline drip?"

She nodded, "It's an old med school trick; two Panadol, an espresso and intravenous saline; the result? Instant recovery. " She explained, "I've spent countless hours with an IV in my hand hiding from my superiors in linen cupboards."

Josh laughed at her confession although it hurt his head to do so, "You might want to keep that to yourself though." He said, as she started whizzing the contents of the blender, the sound of which hurt his head even more, "Not sure that the American people need to know that about their First Lady."

"I'm not their First Lady yet." She pointed out, and of course she was right, but even his hangover couldn't keep Josh's cocky sense of confidence away.

"You will be."

"You'll jinx us." She put a glass of god knows what down in front of him, "Get that down you. The others will be back soon and Leo's scheduled debate prep; Jed's going to need you."

With a more than a hint of trepidation he picked up the glass and sipped it dubiously, and to his surprise, it not only tasted OK but, when he took a less delicate gulp it went down easily. He glanced at Abbey, "This is good. What's in it?"

"Strawberries, honey, the juice of a lemon, chocolate syrup for energy, green tea for detoxification." She ticked off the ingredients on her fingers as she said them, "Oh, and the special ingredient."

"Special ingredient?" he asked, before knocking back the rest of it and draining the glass.

"2 raw eggs."

At her words he felt the bile rise in his throat, and he dashed from the room, in search of the nearest bathroom, wanting to purge himself of 'the secret ingredient' just because of the mere thought of it.

Meanwhile, Abbey watched him flee, smiling knowingly. The truth was, that with no saline drip on offer, throwing up was the only hangover cure she knew, and past experience taught her that those eggs did it every time…