CJ watched Zoey's black and blue face carefully as her father walked her around the garden, watching the brief ripple of fear cross her face as flashbulbs started going off before Zoey steeled herself and waved to the cameras, smiling. She could see Abbey watching too, for the telltale signs that would let her know what her daughter was really feeling. Abbey could see through her children better than her husband, CJ knew.

……

She couldn't bring herself to sleep with him, just as she couldn't bring herself to forgive him. The strong woman she Abbey Bartlet was was still present in full force, but so was her anger. And it was directed at Jed. She couldn't exist here, in his environment any longer. She needed, as Zoey did, to return to her own. To Manchester. She needed staff members out of her life. So she closed everyone out until she could leave. She simply dismissed them from the Residence. She didn't blame Leo, or CJ, or Josh, or Toby…she just couldn't help but direct her anger at them too, by virtue of their association with her husband. It was better to avoid them. So she left, taking Zoey with her.

……

CJ watched the motorcade depart under the first bursts of light from the fireworks. She had guessed Abbey was going to leave. She had seen the blame that lay in her eyes not only during Zoey's absence, but upon her return. The administration was falling out from under them, despite the move to a twenty-four hour day from the President down to the lowest assistant. Anyone with eyes could see that they were drowning.

……

Donna watched Josh and Amy surreptitiously from behind a curtain of hair. Something had happened, she knew. She had realised, when Amy asked, that she was in love with Josh, just as Amy was. But Donna was the best friend, the little sister, someone to joke with, drink a beer with, but not to be romantic with. Never to be touched. A china doll on a shelf that just begged to be loved by a child with huge eyes too short to reach it. She could remember the look that lit his eyes each time he saw her for what she could be to him. But he pushed the idea away as quickly as she did whenever it came up; dismissing it for gossip, or a misunderstanding of their relationship. They couldn't function without each other, but neither would they ever dare to take things a step further, to see if their relationship could survive as a romantic one, for fear of loss of ability to survive. They were symbiotes. But it killed them.