TITLE: 'In the Hands of a Stranger' (8/8)
AUTHOR: Cindy ()
RATING: R
CHARACTERS: Toby and the gang
SUMMARY: The West Wing's past comes back to haunt them.
POV: Toby Ziegler and then the rest of the characters in 3rd view.
DISCLAIMER: The characters used from the West Wing do not belong to me; they are the property of Aaron Sorkin.
TIMEFRAME: After "I Used to Know Everything, Now I Know Nothing."
***16***
I felt the beads of sweat begin to roll down from my forehead. I was so anxious to learn who had been behind this for so long and now the time we had all waited for was finally here.
"Maybe we should have Piper out of the room while we discuss this," The President suggested to us all. Immediately I started to object but I was prevented from doing so. "Toby, she's going to be fine. I promise you."
I didn't want to have her leave my sight ever, never mind ten minutes after I was reunited with her. Piper noticed my fear and she became frightened. Bartlet was right. She didn't need to witness my reaction to the upcoming news I was about to receive.
"Hey Piper, how about you and I go and get some ice-cream? Would you like that?" Sam asked.
Piper didn't take her scared little eyes off of me. Look what my paranoia was doing to this poor child. "It's alright baby, you can go with Uncle Sam."
"What kind of ice-cream do you got?" She inquired first before giving her response.
Sam laughed and said, "Any kind you want."
"Do you guys mind if I tag along?" Josh asked Piper with a big smile.
Piper debated and then said, "Okay. But you have to behave." Josh laughed and promised he would be on his best behaviour.
"After the ice-cream do you want to play a game of checkers with Uncle Sam? I hear you are a pretty good player?"
"It all depends?" she cautiously answered Sam. "Do you see fake Santa Clauses in the window?" What a smart little girl.
All eyes roamed to Josh who started laughing. "Look what you did to my kid Josh. You made her skeptical of checkers," I joked.
Sam resumed his concentration on Piper and pledged his honesty to the game of checkers. Josh jumped in with the offer of playing the winner.
"That will be ten dollars for you if you lose," Piper warned Josh who was stunned at the idea of ten dollars to play a game of checkers.
"For what?" he inquired.
Piper looked over at me and said, "For pain and angishadament." CJ broke out laughing and soon everyone else had joined in at Josh's expense.
"What?" he looked at me for help. "What did she say and why?"
Trying to get a hold of my laughter I explained what she was trying to say. "For pain and 'anguishment.' I taught her that," I winked at Piper who started giggling.
"It's pretty bad Mr. Lyman when a three-year old knows what you're about," Bartlet teased Josh.
Piper spun around to the President, a.k.a . Papa Jed and corrected him. "I'm not three anymore I am three and three quarters. I am almost going to be this many," she displayed four fingers for Bartlet to admire.
"Well I am so sorry Miss Ziegler. I didn't realize you were that OLD?" he kidded her. "You're right you are almost four, that means you're going to have to get a job now."
"No I'm not," Piper laughed. Then she looked at me with a serious look and asked, "Am I Daddy?"
Laughter again filled the room and it went right to my heart. I bent down to my daughter and asked her for another hug. If you had told me that this is how I would bond with a little girl a year ago I would have told you that you were insane. I like how I don't even know myself at times.
"Okay Pipe, let's go get that ice-cream before Uncle Josh goes and eats it all," Sam called out.
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Stop him before he gets all the ice-cream," she grabbed Sam's hand and told him "Hold on to me cuz we're going to run really really fast." Sam glanced back at the rest of us and then complied with Piper's wishes.
"You have a gem there Toby but I guess you don't need me to tell you that," Bartlet addressed to me.
"It's always nice to hear though Sir," I confessed.
"I bet it is," he paused and then got serious. "However this won't be." CJ walked over to me and took my hand and we looked at one another to prepare for what was going to happen next.
"Before I tell you who it was let me give you some background first. The other children were found and are all fine." The other children, I didn't even think about them. I was selfishly only concerned with the importance of my own child. Guilt ran through me and I felt terrible. I think CJ knew this of me because she gave my hand a squeeze and a smile when I looked at her.
"They were in a playroom and they were fed and well taken care of believe it or not."
"Pardon?" I asked dumbfounded.
"I know it sounds odd. Why would you go through the lengths of kidnapping a child only to treat them like gold. But that is exactly what was done." That was reassuring for Piper and the others, that they weren't mistreated. Relief I felt for that much.
"Sir I need to know who took my daughter?" I couldn't wait any longer.
"I am getting to that Toby. She wasn't taken for revenge against you. It was against me and the secret service organization."
"Secret Service? What do they have to do with this?" CJ asked the President.
"I don't hire them and I don't hand out their assignments. I want you to understand that first." CJ and I nodded our understanding of what he was telling us. "It was Ron Butterfield," he finally admitted.
***17***
I was stunned. I found that I was having troubles finding my voice. CJ however, didn't have that problem.
"Ron Butterfield? No way?" she cried out. "His son was one of the kids taken," she was struggling to recall the boy's name. "Ethan!" It came to her.
"I know what you're thinking CJ, but it was Ron Butterfield who was behind this whole thing. I'm sorry for both of you," Bartlet replied with a heavy heart.
"He took his own son so that he would never be suspected of any wrong doing. Which worked because no one thought to imagine he would be involved," Abbey explained.
"But-" CJ didn't say anything more. She turned her back and put her hands on her head letting this all sink in.
"Why?" I finally managed to ask. "Why would he do this to children? He loves kids."
It was Leo who took over. "Ron Butterfield took great pleasure in serving the President and when he was removed from the duty as front man he took it personal. He didn't want to hurt the President or you or Nancy Toby. He did it to prove that this administration wasn't invincible."
"Who the hell cares about that? You don't prove that by ripping the hearts out of parents?" CJ screamed. I tried to calm her down by putting my arms around her but she shrugged me off.
Jed stepped in once more, "That's why he took great care of them. His intentions were never to hurt them but to use them to get his point across."
I shook my head four of five times. "No, that's not the way he sounded when he called me," I argued.
"You pissed him off Toby. Piper never would have been next had it not been in the papers what you had said about him," Leo said.
"So what I'm to blame for what happened to Piper?" I was outraged at what I was hearing.
"Of course not Toby. Nobody holds you responsible for what happened. You are a victim just like the rest. Do you think Nancy should be blamed? Or Carol for that matter? Bartlet asked of me.
"But it was just insinuated that if I had kept my bloody mouth shut she never would have been placed in the hands of a stranger," I was losing it. Emotionally and mentally.
"What they said was wrong Toby," Abbey spoke up and came before me. She took my hand and held it with both of hers. My other hand was trying to prevent the tears from rolling down my face.
"Nobody knows if Piper was a target originally," she looked behind her at her husband to warn him to dare not speak.
As she was turning back to me she continued, "The statement from the paper may or may not have played a part. But look at it this way, had he not taken her we never would have gotten those children back safely tonight. Piper helped rescue those kids Toby."
"If you're asking me to be grateful that my child was chosen it's not going to happen Abbey," I told her.
"Of course I'm not Toby. We all are sharing your pain because each and everyone of us all love that little girl. And we were devastated with what this bastard did. And he will pay for it Toby. Believe me he will pay for it." Abbey promised.
"She's right Toby. He'll never see daylight again I will make sure of it," came from Bartlet's mouth to my ears. "He did send his apologies directly to you."
"Fuck his apologies I don't want them. What I would like is a few minutes alone in a room with him though,"
"No you don't Toby. You're upset and that is understandable but you don't want to throw your life away because of him."
I glared up at President Bartlet, "That asshole took MY child. I'm just supposed to let that go and forget about it?"
"Listen to yourself Toby. You're speaking out of anger and I empathize with you, I do. But you have Piper back and you need to be there for her. She needs you and CJ to be strong for her. Let justice take care of Butterfield."
"Jed's right Toby," Abbey agreed. "He's not worth it."
I was so angry I felt as if I had the ability to spit out nails. "This is the third time I almost lost her," I didn't realize until it was too late that I had spoken out loud and not just in my head like I had thought I was doing.
"Oh honey," Abbey pulled me into her arms and held me until I gained my composure back. Leo was sitting on the sofa with CJ leaning on his shoulder for comfort. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when Abbey and I parted. She laughed as she noticed that we had all just let out a good cry.
"Great, I'm the only one with nobody to hug," the President complained from his desk where he was standing alone.
"I'll hug you Sir," I said with my arms open for the invitation.
The President of United States came from behind his desk and took the few steps to come to me with his arms open as well and said, "I will take you up on that invite Toby." We gave each other a long hard hug and a few pats on each others backs for our manhood. (It's a male thing).
"Toby I have to ask you something about what you said regarding losing Piper for the third time. When did it happen three times?" Leo asked confused.
"When I brought her to the White House to work with me." The President let out a laugh.
"That was the very first time I met her. She damn near knocked herself out when she came running in here," he laughed again at the memory of that day.
That was also the day that I realized that I never wanted to let her go. I knew that day without a doubt that I wanted to keep that little girl because I had fallen so deeply in love with her. I wasn't even aware that she was my daughter at the time either. That beautiful moment came later.
"The second time was when, ugh Social Services took her away from me," I said.
"Ah, okay. I'm sorry to bring up a bad moment Toby. I just couldn't figure it out in my head," Leo apologized.
"Third time's the charm," Jed joked giving me a wink.
"I won't lose her again Sir. I can guarantee that because she will never be allowed to leave the house for as long as I live."
Abbey, Jed and Leo started laughing. CJ sat up and said, "Then you obviously don't plan to live long. That child has so much of your personality and stubbornness in her that she'd drive you to your death after a week of captivity."
"Excuse me?" I said to my wife. "For your information I am not stubborn. And neither is our daughter."
"FYI Toby, yes you are and yes she is," CJ argued back getting ready to fight to the core if she had to.
"Just because we have an opinion on certain matters-"
"Opinion Toby? The kid plays checkers for money."
"So? She's an advanced adult. What's wrong with that?"
"She's only three!" CJ pointed out.
"Uh uh, she's almost this many," Bartlet said raising four fingers.
***The End***