A/N: Special thanks to Raquel aka LemonyLyman, for the Josh Lyman backstory :)

Part 7

"Emily, would you stop fussing, please?" Richard chided under his breath, taking his wife's hands off his bowtie as they rode up in the elevator. "It's fine."

"I'm just making sure. It's not every day we're invited for dinner in the White House Residence!" she replied, trying to hide her excitement.

Richard just smiled at her. He, too, was quite pleased at the invitation. He had enjoyed his short conversation with President Bartlet immensely, and he was flattered it had such an effect. Though, of course, it was all thanks to Rory's exemplary work with the speechwriting team that had won them this evening with the Bartlets.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened to reveal a lovely but rather plain hallway. The steward led the Gilmores through to the living room. The perfectly upholstered sofas were arranged around a stately coffee table in front of a large half-circle window what looked out over the White House lawn.

Emily gushed over the furniture. "Richard, look at this table! I've been looking for something like this for ages! You cannot find things like this in Connecticut."

"I should hope not. That came from James Madison's personal collection."

The Gilmores turned to see President Bartlet coming over to greet them. Richard stepped forward to shake his hand. "Mr. President, it is a pleasure to see you again."

Jed smiled brightly and shook his hand. "The pleasure is mine, Richard. I'm glad you could come."

"May I present my wife, Emily?" Richard introduced.

"Ah, yes. President of the Connecticut DAR. My wife mentioned that she'd met you already at one of those DAR functions she hosts here all the time."

"Yes, Mr. President. The First Lady was incredibly gracious and it was a lovely event," Emily said politely, shaking the President's hand.

A loud cacophony of laughter came from the kitchen. The door opened and three women all walked into the living room. The loudest laugh came from Abbey's joyful cackle. Rory put her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. Lorelai was right behind with a big smile on her face.

Abbey caught her breath and came to greet her guests. "Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore, your daughter is the most delightful woman!" she praised.

Lorelai caught her mother's eye and could have skinned a cat with the daggers Emily was glaring at her.

But ever Miss Manners, Emily pasted on a smile to greet the First Lady. "Dr. Bartlet, it's so nice to see you again. Thank you so much for having us. This is my husband, Richard Gilmore."

"Nice to meet you, Richard. My husband tells me that you teach Economics?"

"Yes, that's correct," Richard replied, shaking Abbey's hand.

"I hope you don't mind if I don't ask you anything about it. I've been married to an Economics professor for thirty years and the job title might be different, but he never seems to give it up."

Richard chuckled heartily. "You and Emily can commiserate, I'm sure."

The door opened once more and a tall man in a wrinkled suit came rushing in. "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"Joshbear!" Lorelai greeted, coming over to give her old friend a hug. She clung onto him with a grin.

"Glad you could join us, Josh," Jed said pointedly.

"I was just finishing up the thing for the Black Caucus tomorrow," Josh explained.

Jed nodded. "Everything taken care of?"

"Yeah, Leo's looking it over in the morning."

Richard stared at the man standing in front of him with his daughter's arm around his waist. The scene looked oddly familiar. "Joshua Lyman? Is that really you?"

"Uh, yeah. Nice to see you again Mr. Gilmore," Josh said nervously.

Richard looked him up and down. "You're tall."

Jed burst out laughing. "Well, you're all tall to me." He turned to find his wife. "Abbey, come here."

"What?" she asked with feigned annoyance, walking away from Rory and Emily and over to Jed.

"There, that's better," he announced, putting his arm around her.

"What are you doing?" She was genuinely confused now.

"I get to be taller than someone!"

Abbey rolled her eyes.

"Though she be but little, she is fierce," Richard recited.

"Shakespeare." Jed attributed the quote with an approving nod.

Abbey's nose wrinkled as she smiled, enjoying the attention she was getting. "Alright, we invited you all here for Friday Night Dinner. We should actually eat something, I think." She led everyone into the dining room, which had been set by the stewards earlier that day.

Emily looked at the centerpiece and place settings with satisfaction. Everything was beautiful. Not that she expected anything less in the White House. But this was home to the Bartlets for the time being, and they were farm people up in New Hampshire. One never knew what to expect from farm people, no matter how illustrious their history or their accomplishments.

While waiting for the chattier of the group to join them in the dining room, something the First Lady had said jumped out to Emily. "Friday Night Dinner?" she said with an implied question.

"Yes," Abbey replied with a soft smile. "Rory and I were talking a few weeks ago and she told me about how she and Lorelai would go to your home for the infamous Friday Night Dinners all through her time in high school and college, and I thought that was a lovely idea."

"Oh yes, it's lovely to have to bribe your daughter to see you or tell you anything about her life," Emily grumbled to herself.

Abbey sighed knowingly, "I've got three daughters, and not one of them ever calls without some kind of incentive. Though I can't help but think that mine might have turned out better if they'd had you to make ladies out of them. Hell, I could probably use some debutante lessons from Emily Gilmore," Abbey joked.

Emily pursed her lips, trying not to smile. It would be rude to show too much enthusiastic agreement with the First Lady's statement.

Everyone sat around the table. Jed and Abbey were at each end. Richard sat next to the President, and Emily sat beside him, next to the First Lady. Rory sat on Jed's other side with Josh next to him and Lorelai on his other side, to Abbey's left.

"I'm sorry for the odd-numbered table. But when Rory reminded me that Josh grew up with Lorelai, I wanted to watch that dynamic for myself," Abbey confessed.

"I already told Donna and CJ a lot of stories, but I'll give you anything you want, Dr. Bartlet," Lorelai promised.

"Such as?" Abbey prompted.

"Oh god," Josh groaned.

Lorelai bounced excitedly in her seat. "Okay, how about the time, when we were really little, that Josh came over to our house in Hartford and we were playing tag and running around inside because Mom was out shopping, and I dodged and Josh ran right into one of the end tables and this big ugly fell right onto his head and onto the hardwood floor and shattered? Remember, Josh?"

"Oh my god, Josh, were you hurt?" Rory asked with concern.

"Nah, look at his fluffy hair. It just bounced right off and crashed to the ground," Lorelai responded.

Emily's eyes went wide. "Lorelai! What vase was that?"

"It was green and purple and had some gold trim, I think."

Now it was Richard's turn to be outraged. "You told me the maid broke it! I had your mother fire her for that!"

"To be fair, Dad, she would have fired that maid anyway," Lorelai pointed out.

Josh started to snigger. Richard immediately scolded him. "It isn't funny! My mother gave us that vase! Emily, did you know about this?"

"All I know is that a vase your mother gave us was there one day and then it was broken and I never had to look at the horrid thing again," Emily replied flippantly.

Abbey watched this scene with amusement and awe. Rory hadn't been kidding about the Gilmores.

Lorelai broke the tension. She poked Josh in the arm. "Hey, remember when I taught you how to climb out a bathroom window so you could escape Hebrew school and go read comic books with Mike and Matt?"

Josh turned a violent shade of red and mumbled something unintelligible.

Jed laughed, "Josh, did you cut Hebrew school?"

"He did it even more, the older he got."

"Hang on, Lorelai, you know how to climb out a bathroom window?" Abbey asked, interrupting Josh's shame.

"Oh yes. She's an expert at escaping through windows. So be aware that if she's ever in a situation that makes her even the slightest bit uncomfortable, she might go to the bathroom and never come back," Emily told them bitterly.

"Well, none of the windows here open. Safety hazard," Jed informed them all.

Rory then engaged the President and her grandfather in a discussion about a book she knew they had all read, about ancient Greece.

That left Josh with Lorelai, Mrs. Bartlet and Mrs. Gilmore. If he had to list them, these three would be at the top of the list of women who scared him to death. "So, um, Mrs. Gilmore, you look really nice tonight. I like that, uh, necklace."

Emily's hand moved to touch the diamond choker she was wearing. "Thank you. It was a gift from Richard on our last anniversary."

"That is absolutely beautiful!" Abbey complimented. "Jed doesn't get me jewelry very often, but when he does, it's always really beautiful. Most of the things I wear now are loaned from designers. Sometimes I really hate to give it back."

"I can imagine," Emily replied with a smile. Her eyes darted back over to Josh. "Sit up straight, Joshua. I know you work in this building, but you are not picking at takeout in the middle of the night in your office with your assistant."

He immediately straightened. He waited a moment for Mrs. Bartlet to continue talking to Mrs. Bartlet about jewelry. Leaning to Lorelai, he whispered, "How does she know I eat takeout in the middle of the night in my office with my assistant?"

"Oh I told her all about Donna."

"Why would you do that?"

"They asked about you. And I'd rather gossip about you than talk about me with my parents. Duh."

Josh sighed, "Of course. I forgot who I was talking to."

Lorelai smiled. "Look at Rory. She's going toe to toe with the President of the United States. And I don't think I've ever seen my dad talk to someone with so much in common with him."

"Your Mom seems to be getting along with Mrs. Bartlet," Josh added.

She narrowed her eyes. "We'll see. I don't think they got a good first impression of each other. Which is to say that the First Lady got an accurate impression of my mother and Emily figured out that Dr. Bartlet is not one of her typical simpering DAR ladies."

"I wouldn't peg them as friends. But they're both really good at making me uncomfortable."

Lorelai smirked. "Good. You need that. You get a little too big for your britches sometimes, Joshbear."

Josh just groaned and resumed eating his meal as the Bartlets and Gilmores bonded around him.