Hannah is woken Christmas morning by the phone ringing. She growls into her pillow before reaching for the phone on her nightstand.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Seaborn, it's Jed Bartlet again. Merry Christmas." The President is ridiculously cheery for the early hour- the sun isn't even up yet. Hannah wipes sleep and grit from her eyes.
"Merry Christmas, sir. Are the roads clears?"
"Yes, they are. I'm calling to see if you have everything prepared for this morning's event," the President says. Hannah sits up.
"Everything but myself, sir, and that'll take just a little while," she says.
"Excellent. I'll have a car sent over to pick you up. Guy driving it is named- Charlie, what's the tall guy's name?" the President says. "Name of Jim McHugh. He'll help you get everything over here. I'll see you soon."
"I'll see you soon, Mr. President." Hannah hangs up and puts the phone down. She shoves her face back into the pillow, sighing. Then she pulls her head back up.
"It's for Cerulean and Sam," she tells herself. "It's for Sam and Cerulean."
Josh wakes to the sound of a door opening. He's mildly confused when he doesn't recognize the room or the bed he's sleeping in, but then he remembers the blizzard last night. He sits up, borrowed pajamas feeling strange on his skin.
"Uncle Josh?" Josh blinks a few times and turns to the door. Cerulean, clad in an old Notre Dame shirt that drags on the floor, peers in. She looks more confused than Josh felt a second ago.
"Hey…kiddo…" he says. This whole waking-up thing is not good for brain function. "Do you know what time it is?" Cerulean rubs her face, brow furrowing.
"I don't know. I was looking for Daddy. He's sposed to be here." Cerulean rubs her forehead as if trying to erase something off it.
"He's in the next room over. Hang on, I'll go with you." Josh stands and comes over to the door. He takes Cerulean's hand away from her face. She latches onto his hand like she's afraid to lose him. Josh supposes waking up in a weird place is scarier for her than it is for him.
"Which room's Daddy in? I thought it was this one," Cerulean says as they go back into the hall.
"Right next door. The one right across from you," Josh says.
"No, this one is right across from me. I was in that room." Cerulean points with her other hand to the door opposite Josh's door.
"Huh." Josh takes a moment to look at the doors on either side of the hall. "You know, all these doors look exactly alike."
"Are you sure you know where Daddy is?" Cerulean asks.
"Yes. You, Little Miss Doubtfire, have been spending too much time with your Aunt Donna," Josh says, going to the door to the left of the one they've just come out of.
"Who's Miss Doubtfire?" Cerulean says.
"Um. I don't know. I didn't watch that movie. But it has doubt in the name, which is what you are doing right now. You are doubting me and you shouldn't." Josh knocks on the door. He hears a grunt that could possibly be Sam's or possibly be Toby's. Maybe he did get the room wrong. Josh looks down at Cerulean, who is watching him. 'I got the door right,' Josh tells himself.
The door opens to prove Josh right. Sam is behind it, blinking groggily. Like Josh, he is wearing pajamas that were given to them by the White House staff, which are blue and covered with the seal of the President.
"Hi," he says.
"Hi. Your kid wants you," Josh says. Sam blinks again before looking down at Cerulean.
"Hey, Cerulean. You sleep okay?" She lets go of Josh to grab onto Sam's leg.
"Yeah. I went to the wrong door," Cerulean says. Sam nods.
"Ah. That would explain Josh."
"You say that like I need explanation," Josh says. Sam and Cerulean roll their eyes in nearly simultaneous motion. It's one of the coolest things Josh has seen in a while.
The door across from Sam's opens. Toby scowls at them from it.
"It is five-thirty a.m. Why are you all up and making noise?" he says.
"Cerulean couldn't find Sam," Josh says.
"Not my fault he was in the wrong room," Cerulean adds. "He was sposed to be across from me."
"Yeah, how did I end up across from Toby?" Sam asks, looking at the doors in the hall.
"These doors all look exactly alike. We must have gotten confused last night and taken the wrong rooms," Josh says. "There should be numbers on them or something." The door on the other side of Toby's opens and C.J. steps out. Unlike the rest of them, she is fully dressed and looks actually awake.
"Merry Christmas, boys and girl," she says.
"Why on earth are you up and functioning?" Toby says. C.J. shrugs.
"I heard doors opening and rightly assumed Cerulean was up, so I decided to be ready for whatever Christmas magic is," she says. "I see no one else thought of that."
"Christmas magic?" Cerulean repeats.
"Do not get her started," Josh says.
"But I want to be ready for Christmas magic too!" Cerulean says.
"Come on over here, kiddo, I'll give you fancy braids. Then you'll be ready," C.J. says. She holds her hand out and Cerulean gleefully abandons Sam to run over.
"I suppose we should all get dressed then," Sam says.
"I want to go back to bed," Toby growls.
"How much do you wanna bet the President will have you dragged out to his Christmas thing?" C.J. says. Toby scowls.
"I'll get dressed."
Leo's not big on holidays. Sure, he liked watching Mallory celebrate when she was little, and Jed is good entertainment this time of year, but Christmas cheer is not really Leo's thing.
He is, however, not above making a little girl's morning on Christmas day.
Leo meets the car at the Portico. The woman who gets out is Sam's mother, despite the impeccably styled blonde hair. Leo approaches the car as she stands and takes her bag out of the car. He extends a hand to her from the top step.
"Mrs. Seaborn, I'm Leo McGarry. I hope the President hasn't driven you too crazy this morning," Leo says. She smiles and Leo is struck by the resemblance to Sam. You wouldn't mark them as related by features alone, but the smile does it.
"It's good to meet you, Mr. McGarry," she says. "It's never too much trouble for Cerulean." She joins him on the top step.
"I know the feeling. Did you bring everything you wanted to?" Leo asks. Mrs. Seaborn nods.
"I brought everything the Senior Staff and their assistants gave her. I don't have anything from the President-"
"He's still got those. He and the First Lady were going to give those to her last night until he got this idea. Excuse me for a second, ma'am." Leo turns to the door. "Fellas!" The door opens and the porters come out. They swarm the car and begin taking out presents.
"That's impressive," Mrs. Seaborn says.
"Yeah, one of the perks of this gig," Leo says. "Let's go meet the President." He leads her to the door.
"Is it odd that I'm still nervous about this after talking to him on the phone?" Mrs. Seaborn asks as they enter the building. Leo smiles.
"Nah. It's daunting the first time, what with the Secret Service and the White House and all the trappings, but he's really a very friendly man," Leo says. "And a tad overexcited at times."
"I gathered that from our conversations," Mrs. Seaborn says, voice dry. Leo chuckles.
"He has no sense of time. I apologize for that," he says. "Did he really call you at five a.m.?"
"Yes, but I probably would have been up at this hour anyway. It is Christmas morning," Mrs. Seaborn says. "I have to say, Mr. McGarry-"
"Leo, please."
"Leo, then. I'm a little surprised you came to get me instead of Sam," Mrs. Seaborn says.
"Sam doesn't know you're here. This is as much of a surprise for him as it is for Cerulean," Leo says. "We didn't tell any of the Staff either, coz last time someone told him about the card."
"I heard that was you," Mrs. Seaborn replies. Leo nods.
"Yeah, I got caught. But this time we are not spoiling it," he says. Mrs. Seaborn smiles.
"I see." They come to the parlor, where Jed and Abbey are setting up their gifts under a large, luminously blue tree.
"Sir, ma'am," Leo says. They look up. "This is Hannah Seaborn." He gestures to Mrs. Seaborn. Jed stands and reaches for her hand.
"Mrs. Seaborn, I'm Jed Bartlet. It's nice to meet you," he says. They shake hands.
"And you, sir," Mrs. Seaborn says. "Thank you for setting this up."
"Oh, no, no. It's my absolute pleasure," Jed says. The First Lady comes over. "This is my wife, Abbey."
"So nice to meet you," Abbey says, shaking hands with Mrs. Seaborn.
"A pleasure to meet you, ma'am."
"How was the drive?" Abbey asks.
"Fine. Fine. Your driver was very polite, we had a nice conversation," Mrs. Seaborn says.
"Yeah, that's Jeff," Jed says.
"Jim. His name's Jim, dear," Abbey says.
"Whatever his name is, he's a good man," Jed replies. "Now I've sent Charlie to get everybody over here. The porters are-" The doors open and the porters enter with large gift bags. "They're here! Excellent. Now if I could just convince Abbey to-"
"I am not dressing as Mrs. Claus," Abbey interrupts. "And I had that awful beard of yours thrown out." Jed throws his hands in the air.
"Now how am I supposed to be Santa without a beard?" he says.
"I think the hat will suffice, sir," Leo says.
"Maybe. You know, I've got an elf hat you can wear somewhere-"
"No!" Leo exclaims. Mrs. Seaborn and Abbey laugh as the President smiles.
"Leo-"
"I'm not putting an elf hat on, Mr. President, and that's that," Leo says. Jed shakes his head.
"I'll just have to get Charlie to wear it when he comes back."
Sam and Josh head over to C.J.'s room when they are dressed. Cerulean and C.J. are sitting on the bed while C.J. finishes tying the end of a braid. Sam envies the neat braids C.J.'s made on each side of Cerulean's head. His efforts are not nearly as nice-looking. C.J. told him he would get better in time, but Cerulean's not impressed by his braids.
"So any idea what's going on with Christmas magic yet?" C.J. asks.
"Why are you still going on about that?" Josh says.
"I'm still worried about that. The President's got something planned for this morning."
"With magic? Is the President magic?" Cerulean says.
"I doubt it," Josh mutters. Sam elbows him. "I mean, the President was using magic as a metaphor. There's probably no literal magic involved."
"Uncle Toby only uses probably when he can't be sure," Cerulean says. "Are you not sure there's not literal magic?"
"I'm pretty sure," Josh says.
"But not a hundred percent?"
"Like 99.9% sure."
"That's not a hundred," Cerulean says. C.J. smirks as Josh turns to Sam, who shrugs.
"She knows her math."
"Does she argue like this with you? Ever?" Josh asks.
"Only when she's really annoyed. Otherwise, she saves it for you. Right, Cerulean?" Sam says.
"Right. It's more fun to do it to Uncle Josh," Cerulean answers. There's a glimmer of mischief in her eyes that Sam hasn't seen since the car crash. That is the best Christmas gift he could have asked for.
"Hey, guys." Charlie appears in the doorway. "The President sent me to make sure everyone's awake and ready."
"For Christmas magic?" C.J. says. Charlie nods.
"I'm supposed to bring you all to the parlor. Where's Toby?"
"Next door. He'll be out shortly," C.J. says.
"I thought we were doing a breakfast thing," Josh says. Charlie shrugs.
"When he gets into the spirit of Christmas, I try not to ask too many questions. Otherwise I end up standing there for an hour hearing about the history of the Christmas tree," he says. C.J., Josh, and Sam nod. "But we'd better get going before the President gets impatient. He's threatening to put elf hats on people."
"Well, we can't have that," C.J. says. "Scoot, sweetie." She pats the bed and Cerulean slides off the bed. She goes to Sam, neat braids swinging like they did the day he met her. He puts his hand out to her. She can hold more fingers now than she could then. Has it really been so long? Has she grown that much?
They head out into the hall. Toby has just come out into the hall, fixing his tie.
"Can we get this over with?" he grumbles.
"It's Christmas magic, Uncle Toby. It'll be fun!" Cerulean says. Toby scowls.
"I hate fun. I've told you this."
"Yeah, but you don't mean it."
"Do I say things I don't mean?" Toby says.
"When you think it's gonna make me laugh," Cerulean replies. Toby looks up at Sam.
"She's getting too smart for us," he says. Sam nods.
"We're gonna have to up our game."
"Guys, we gotta get moving. I couldn't get Zoey to come with us, so we can't make him wait too long," Charlie says.
"Lead the way, Chuckles," C.J. says. They all follow Charlie down the hallway.
"Why couldn't you get Zoey?" Sam asks.
"She reserved her right as an adult to not get up before seven a.m. when she doesn't have to," Charlie replies. "Then she threw a pillow at me."
"Why didn't I think of that?" Toby says. As they turn a corner and make their way down a new hall, the faint sounds of Christmas music grow louder. The Senior Staff exchange looks. Cerulean starts humming.
"I'm starting to get concerned," Josh says softly.
"Now you realize I'm right," C.J. replies.
"I didn't say that. I said I'm concerned."
"So am I."
"Do you think there'll be a pretty tree, Daddy?" Cerulean asks.
"I don't know." Charlie reaches the door first. He opens it and the Christmas music is readily audible now, as is the President's enthusiastic voice.
"-simply hav-ing a wonderful Christmas time!"
"After you, Cerulean," Charlie says, gesturing to the room. Cerulean looks up at Sam, who nods. She lets go of his hand to walk ahead. Sam and the others are a step behind her.
In the room, the President, Leo, the First Lady, and Hannah are waiting beside a tree decked out entirely in blue lights and blue ornaments, with a pile of presents underneath. The President is wearing a Santa hat with a matching sweater.
"Merry Christmas!" he exclaims, delight etched in every corner of his face. Sam cannot help the smile that spreads over his face. C.J. lets out a shocked laugh. Cerulean has stopped in her tracks, trying to take it all in.
"Whoa," she says.
"I think you broke her," Leo says.
"What do you think, Cerulean?" Abbey says, ignoring Leo. "Do you like it?"
"The tree is all blue. Like me!" Cerulean exclaims.
"Yes, we know how much you like the lights, so we made them blue to match your name," Abbey says. "Only the best for you."
"But how did Nana get here? I thought the roads were closed," Cerulean says.
"Well, darling, we can say it's Christmas magic," Hannah says.
"I told you so," C.J. mutters to Josh.
"Yeah, yeah. You win," he murmurs back.
"Cerulean, most of us are here, so do you want to open some presents before we go for breakfast?" the President asks. "Gives Zoey some time to join the land of the waking people."
"Okay. Which ones are mine?"
"The ones under the tree are for you. We've got some presents for the Staff on the couch, though I imagine they're not as excited are you-"
"But those can't all be for me!" Cerulean interrupts.
"Of course they are," Abbey says. "We got them for you."
"And Santa helped," Jed adds. Cerulean looks up at Sam, who nods.
"Go for it."
"There's a nice blue one in the front here, darling, you can start with this one," Hannah says, getting down by the presents. Cerulean goes over beside her, picking up the light blue box from last night. Sam winces.
"Who gave her that one?" Leo asks as Hannah helps Cerulean tear the paper.
"Anna Barber," Toby answers quietly.
"How the hell did that get here?" Jed mutters.
"I saw it when I kicked them out of the West Wing last night and I brought it in," Charlie says. "Was I not supposed to do that?"
"Well-"
"It's the angels!" Cerulean announces. She turns to Sam, face beaming. "It's the angel ornaments! But how did they get out of the old house?" All eyes are on Sam. He shrugs.
"Let's call it Christmas magic." Cerulean squeals and begins taking out the ornaments.
"This one looks like you, Nana, and this one looks like Aunt C.J., see, it's got the reddish hair…"