Hi, so here it is THE FINAL CHAPTER!

I do have a squeal up in the works and it will cover Seasons 5-7. Some of those episodes like these will be glossed over but the main plots will be there.

Like I said I didn't intend for this story to take the turn that it has but it has and I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

Please Read and Reveiw.

And A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT THROUGHOUT THIS STORY! I WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR.

Perhaps Love

Chapter 28-Shooting Stars

THE FINAL CHAPTER OF PART ONE OF THIS STORY-Jake is sat watching the end of the world. Zoe has been kidnapped, the President has resigned. The Speaker is in the building...oh and he has a brother and a sister. So there's that as well.

It was the end of the world.

There was no other way to describe it Jake thought watching. He had been half glued to the couch in his Mom's office and he had wrapped himself in her blanket that she kept there for the late nights and he had sat there in silence and watched the end of the world.

It was like the shooting only worse. With the shooting there was something that could be done, the shooters had died in like zero point nine seconds and Jake had been able to process that because the threat was over as soon as it happened. This…this was different. This was a slower kind of torture and as he sat there and watched he could acknowledge that he was in the best position he could be because he was not the mother or the father or the brother or the sister of Zoe Bartlett and God only knows what the President was going through right now.

Jake had wanted to see him but he was not seeing anyone.

In hindsight that was probably a good thing. Jake wasn't naïve. He had no idea what he could do to help the most powerful man in the world stop feeling like the most helpless man in the world right about now.

He watched as his mother came into the room whenever she had few moments. She would look at him and then smile and then rush off again. Jake thought she was handling the press as best she could but he couldn't help but feel like there was something else beneath the surface, something big and ugly and throbbing and dangerous that kept growing and growing. There was something that everyone seemed to be hiding—at least at Senior Staff level anyway.

And then the President resigned.

It wasn't like it was unexpected. When he rang Harrison it was to tell him what was going on, or maybe it wasn't. Maybe at this point it was just to hear his voice. It felt like they had gone a long way since drunken fumbles in the hallway at the election party. It seemed like a lifetime ago since he had been here and the mood had been good. Ever since Christmas the mood had been bad.

But the big announcement was the President was resigning. Jake on caffeine at this point listened to the speech in shock. Leo to his credit came out and told all the staff what was going on before they'd had to hear about it on the news. Jake who like most people was good at American History but not that good had to remind himself—or had to get Ainsley to remind him—what the 25th Amendment actually was. Once he understood that he was actually in pretty good shape.

"President Bartlett is resigning temporarily and handing power over to the Republican Speaker who will lead the search for his daughter" he said to Carole who nodded her face white. She didn't have time to answer instead running off. His mother was already trying to soften up the ground but how the hell did you soften up the ground with this. Danny was back and he too was looking for her with that manic glint in his eye and Jake couldn't help but want to curl back into his bed and stay there. The White House was still on restrictive access and there was no guarantee that if he left he would get back in but seriously at this point his kingdom for a shower and a change of clothes and his bed.

"I don't know what that means" he said to Josh. "What if they never find her?"

Josh made a small noise and then shook his head. "It's better this way" he said and Jake could tell that he had been training himself to say that for hours now because he knew that even though half his mind was locked on Zoe, Josh was a political operative who had kept working through the death of his father and who had gone to school two days after the death of his sister. Quitting was not something that Josh Lyman knew how to do and no doubt he was looking at this from a polling perspective and even Jake with his limited political mind could see that that went fifty-fifty right about now.

"Then we have a Republican President" Will said bitterly. "Jesus this is…this is a love letter to the Constitution alright. They are going to be teaching this in colleges for eons to come. Do you wanna know how many political science majors are changing the title of their thesis right about now?"

Jake felt his head throb.

"Does anyone have a painkiller"

Donna ever the blessed saint passed him one with some water.

"Honey you look beat. Go lie down in your Mom's office and we can get you if something happens"

"Like what? What more can happen at this point?"

He meant it as a rhetorical question but he got a set of straight blank looks at him.

"Where's Dad?"

"He got back from the hospital an hour ago but then the President made his decision and your Dad had to go and lock himself in a room with Sam and Walken's press guy and they had to figure out a way to work together to write this speech. This is a one in a lifetime don't fuck it up moment and Toby doesn't play well with the Republicans at the best of times"

Jake opened his mouth to ask if Josh knew if his little brother or sister had names yet but then again Josh was glued to the TV and he needed to sleep.

He crawled almost back to his mother's office and lay down on her couch and wondered if it was wrong of him to call Harrison at three in the morning and ask him to talk him to sleep.

He must have fallen asleep because he awoke there was a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey"

"Dad?"

"Yeah bud it's me. You wanna go back to sleep?"

"No" he said sitting up and letting the blanket fall to the side, he scrubbed his face and got himself into something that might have been a comfortable position.

There was a pause and his Dad leaned against the couch.

"Zoe?"

"No news, President Bartlett is in the Residence, first daughters got there this morning, Mrs Bartlett wanted to go into the Press Briefing room she had to be restrained by Amy and your Mom is running on fumes…and…and you have a brother and a sister"

"I heard. I was here to tell Mom. I was gonna call but—"

"Nah" his Dad said waving his hand as if to tell him that it was all okay. "I get it, I do. I get what you were doing. I meant to come and find you. I went…I don't know…I walked and walked and walked and walked."

Jake said nothing to that. There was nothing to say really was there?

"Dad?"

"Yeah"

"Do they have names?"

"Yes. Both of them"

Jake blinked.

"Go on then"

"Huckleberry for your brother"

There was a pause and then.

"OH DEAR GOD MAN YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS?"

"Jake please! It was Andy's idea it was after her grandfather we are going with Huck for short"

"Huck? You know what that rhymes with right?"

"I am aware"

"Aha"

There was a pause as Jake took that in and then he decided to turn his attention to his sister.

"And the girl?"

"Molly"

"After—"

"Yeah"

"Molly O'Conner" Jake said quietly. Zoe's secret service agent who had been killed just doing her job. He didn't know what to say to that, he had been looking at the photos of her on CNN a few hours ago. She looked barely older than Anna did.

"Molly's nice"

"Huck's nice too"

"Aha, let's just say Jake is looking pretty good right now"

His Dad smiled but it didn't meet his eyes.

"You okay?"

"Not really"

"Yeah I guess working with the Republicans totally blows"

"Yeah well…that" his Dad said smiling. "But what blows is that I see Zoe and I keep seeing you in her place."

Jake stared at him.

"Dad—"

"Don't…I know it's dumb, but it could have been you. I don't know…there will be a lot of parents tonight who are looking at their child and seeing Zoe and vice versa. A lot of parents tonight will be sat up waiting until the wee hours of the morning waiting until their children come home"

Jake thought about it and then he ducked himself down into his father's side. Sometimes all you just needed was a hug from your Dad he thought. And that was that he was getting one way or the other.

"When all of this is over I have to sit you and Mom down and tell you something" he said quietly. "And I don't want you to be mad or for you—"

"Kid I don't know what you've got up your sleeve but I guarantee you that I am not going to hate you or be mad at you. Unless…Jake you haven't gone and made me a father and a grandfather in one day have you?"

"What? No!?"

"Oh thank God. Because that…that would really put stress on the old ticker"

Jake smothered a laugh with the back of his hand and then the door opened and his Mom came in.

She looked beat.

"He's gonna bomb something" she said sitting down and kicking off her shoes. "I can see it coming a mile off. And I can see the carnage. FBI wants to release the five names."

"Fuck"

"Abby wanted to go in the briefing room" his Mom said.

"I heard" Jake said softly. "Amy stop her"

"Yes. I like Amy and she's great at what she does but she has all the emotion of a shovel to the back of the head. I felt like snapping at her that Abby doesn't care about how she looks, she doesn't care about weather or not these bastards are getting there rocks off looking at her, she doesn't care about anything other than her daughter never mind pollical agendas. I mean…I know the woman is good at what she does but she's a stone through and through"

It was rare for his Mom to talk about someone that bitterly. Especially someone that Josh was seeing…or was he?

"Josh still seeing her?"

"God I hope not" his Mom muttered. "She is totally wrong for Josh. Sam wants the Doctor to have a look at Ainsley as well"

"Why?"

"Stress, baby, etc. Admiral Hackett has said that he will check her out just as soon as he checks out Abby again. She insists on being given the same drug that Zoe was and—" she stopped abruptly and ran a hand down her face. Jake looked away. He had never before seen his mother lose control like this before and it felt indecent to watch.

"She wants a date rape—shit—"

"Yeah"

Jake was silent for a second and then.

"Mom…"

"Yeah?"

"You think she's dead?"

It would have been the perfect time to tell them about Harrison he thought but he didn't know if he could put more on their shoulders right about now.

"No" his Dad said firmly. "We are not gonna think like that. This is what we are going to do. Jake the lockdown has been lifted, go home, shower, change of clothes and then if you can grab some stuff for your Mom and me that would be great. Make sure your fed and then if you want to come back…well…I think a lot of schools are staying shut right about now so that's fine—"

"Can I bring Harrison with me?"

"Not Anna?"

"Anna too if I can but I need Harrison here with me"

He saw his parents exchange a look but just as his mother was about to ask and Jake knew she was about to ask Josh appeared in the doorway.

"He's bombed Qumar"

And that was the end of that.

To be continued as they say.

And there you go, I hope that you enjoyed this story and I will see you next time-sometime soon-for the sequel.