The wails of a crying infant emanated from the baby monitor for the third time that night. Abbey lay back, waiting for Jed to awaken. She had purposefully put the monitor on the table by his head so he could take his turn getting up. Unfortunately, her husband was oblivious to the move and continued to snore away. Abbey began to prod his shoulder, as their son's cries became more insistent. It never ceased to amaze her that he could sleep through such a racket.

"Jed," she urged him with her foot, "come on Jed." He merely grunted and rolled away from that offending foot. Obviously bullying him was not going to work and she would have to resort to another tactic. She began to run her fingers softly over his bare butt. He sighed and began to push back against her hand, causing Abbey to smile at his predictability, then give him a sharp little pinch.

"Hey, what? What the hell?" He jumped up his eyes blinking, his hair standing on end.

"Your son is calling for you," she sank back down against the pillows.

"Well, if he's hungry..."

"Nice try Daddy. Already took care of that. Either his gums are bothering him or he needs a diaper change."

"You're the doctor, Abigail, maybe you should check him over," he mumbled, trying to sink back against the pillows with her.

"You are pathetic. I have been up with him twice already and there is nothing physically wrong with him that a little baby ambusol won't cure. It's your turn. GO."

"Fine," he sighed in defeat, and moved from the bed naked to grab his bathrobe off the chair. His wife was one of the few people who could get away with bossing the President of the United States around.

"Hey sport, what is all this carrying on about?" Jed asked, lifting his son into his arms and laying him on the changing table. Jed wiped the tears and perspiration from Nicky's face and his screams began to fade to a more manageable crying. He looked up at his father with watery blue eyes as Jed began to change his diaper. "Well, you weren't really wet, is it your teeth, buddy? Mommy said she's already been in here twice tonight, so now you're stuck with me." Jed rubbed the ambusol on his gums, feeling the tiny sharpness of a tooth coming in, then lifted him back up against his shoulder to sit in the rocking chair and rock him. His hand moved soothingly up and down Nicky's back to comfort him and soon he had calmed him to hiccuping sniffles.

****

"Why don't you just call?" Sam asked. "It wouldn't be so bad to wake him up on the phone."

"I'm not going to call and wake up that whole house at five in the morning," Leo said. "Waking the babies up will only make him more mad."

"You're probably the only one here he won't fire for going over there," Josh said.

"I wouldn't be the farm on that," Leo said, and took a deep breath as he headed out the door toward the Bartlet cottage.

Leo entered the cottage quietly, trying not to wake any of the family members who were peacefully sleeping. None, that is, except the one he was here to rouse.

"Mr. President," he tapped on the bedroom door lightly. "Mr. President...Abbey." There was a complete lack of movement on the other side of the door. Leo cracked the door open. "Jed...Abbey?" he whispered loudly, but still no movement came from the bed.

Then, knowing he was taking his life into his hands, Leo entered the bedroom. It couldn't get any worse than this, he thought with a sigh. Well, he amended, remembering the shower stall, not much worse anyway. While both were mostly under the covers, it was very obvious that neither was wearing any nightclothes. Jed was sleeping curled up to Abbey's side, his hand cupped over the sheet that covered her breast. One of Abbey's arms was thrown back over her head, while her other cuddled Jed's head to her chest. One bare, shapely leg lay on top of the sheets between Jed's legs. In the tangle of limbs it was hard to see where one started and the other ended.

"Mr. President," Leo prodded at his arm, "Jed..."

"Took my turn," Jed mumbled, "you get him."

"What?" Leo frowned. "Jed...Jed, wake up," Abbey's eyes fluttered open. She blinked, thinking she saw Leo over Jed's shoulder. Then, her eyes widened with shock, and she pushed Jed's hand off her breast as she jumped up, clutching the rumpled sheet to her chest. She stared at Leo with astonishment, her auburn curls cascading down over her bare shoulders.

"Leo," she gasped, "what the hell are you doing in here, it's five a.m.!"

"I'm trying to wake up your husband," he said, but all thoughts of that had been vanquished as he looked at the lovely, disheveled vision she made.

"That won't be easy, we were up all night."

"I can see that," he said tongue in cheek.

"With Nicky," Abbey insisted.

"God, he sleeps like the dead."

"Let me try. Jed," Abbey poked at his shoulder "Jed...Wake up."

"Give me a minute, baby," he murmured sleepily, his hand beginning to run lazily up her bare thigh. "It's early for a continuation of last night but I'm game if..." The rest of his sentence was cut off as Abbey slapped a hand over his mouth with embarrassment.

"Jed! Leo's here," she hissed. Jed immediately opened his eyes and turned to see Leo at his bedside.

"That woke him up," Leo grinned.

"What in the hell are you doing in my bedroom?" Jed's voice was decidedly grumpy. "My wife and I happen to be naked. This is our private domain...our"

"Sir, I wouldn't have come in here without a good reason. Senator Philbrick had a heart attack last night."

"How is he?" he asked, the anger being replaced by concern.

"Critical condition. Now, I know he's been a prick to you and to us in the past but..."

"I know, Leo. What do you want me to do?"

"Just give a brief statement to the press. CJ has them all rounded up and Sam has already written it."

"Ok then, let's go," he started to get out of bed.

"Jed," Abbey stopped him, grabbing his forearm.

"What?" He asked impatiently. Abbey lifted the sheets so Jed could glance under. "Oh yeah," he grinned sheepishly, "uh Leo, could you turn around for a moment? It appears that I'd forgotten that I am as naked as a jaybird under here."

"Yes, sir," Leo smirked, turning around. Just a few more days, he thought. Just a few more days and they would be back in the White House and back to normal. Back to where he would not have to view these intimate situations on quite the daily basis it was becoming on this vacation. Back to when he could get his emotions and his libido under control.

"Leo," Jed said, while slipping his robe on, "does Philbrick have any immediate family?"

"A wife and two grown sons."

"I'd like to get a call to Mrs. Philbrick to let her know our prayers are with her."

"Yes, sir." Leave it to Jed to go the extra mile, Leo thought. This was a Senator who had called Jed a weak liberal and told voters to run for their pocketbooks when Jed Bartlet came to town. He had called for the President's resignation soon after the MS disclosure and, yet, here was Jed offering prayers.

"Try to get a few more winks," Jed said, kissing his wife lightly on the lips before leaving the room.

"I will," Abbey said. But, just as she snuggled back under the covers, soft whimpers began to fill the room.

"What was that?" Leo asked, looking around.

"That would be Aislinn and Nicholas letting me know that they are waking up," Abbey sighed, showing him the baby monitor. There was not going to be anymore sleeping this morning. She knew exactly what was coming, and sure enough, just a few seconds later the whimpers had turned to all out crying. So much for a few more winks. "Leo, turn around," she ordered. Leo did so, his body tingling with the notion that Abbey was standing behind him completely naked. Unaware of the control it took him not to turn around, she slipped on her red silk robe and began to leave the bedroom. Leo followed Abbey down the hall to wait while Jed showered. Both babies were crying in full force when they entered the nursery.

"Sssh...guys, it's ok, let's not wake up the whole house. Momma's here now," Abbey said, while entering the room. She lifted Nicholas up and handed him to a surprised Leo. "If you're going to wait in here, you're going to help me out," she informed him, then turned to pick up Aislinn to hold her gently to her chest.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Change his diaper. All the stuff is on the changing table."

"Abbey, I don't know. It's been 27 years since I've even held a baby, never mind changed one."

"It hasn't changed, Leo."

"But...well...I never really...you know...Jenny wasn't working and I was, so I never..."

"Leo McGarry, are you telling me you never changed Mallory's diaper?" Abbey was obviously shocked.

"Maybe once or twice," Leo admitted, wondering how Abbey could shame him with this when Jenny had never been able to.

"I can't believe Jenny let you get away with that." You'd be surprised what Jenny let me get away with Abbey darling, he thought, while watching her begin the process of changing her daughter. "Just lay him on the changing table and do what I do."

Leo gingerly laid Nicholas on the changing table and began to follow Abbey's lead albeit with less finesse and speed. So far, so good. He had the baby cleaned and his diaper off. As he slid a new clean diaper under Nicky's bottom, he stopped to sneak a peek at the way Abbey's robe separated, offering him a revealing view of the swell of one creamy breast. He knew that Abbey didn't have any idea of how he felt. This was just a normal morning for her, although it was one she usually shared with her husband. But, for one moment, he was being permitted to feel what it would be like to be married to her and share a family with her. As his mind wandered, a thin stream of urine arched over Nicholas's small body to splatter on Leo's tie.

"Oh shit," he exclaimed. "Nicholas just peed on me. How'd that happen?"

"He's a boy," Abbey laughed. "You have to hold the edge of the diaper over him while you change him."

"You didn't."

"I was changing a GIRL. You don't have to worry about that piece of anatomy on a girl."

"You ready?" Jed asked, entering the baby's room while snapping on his wristwatch.

"Yeah, let's go." Leo handed Nicholas to Abbey.

"Why is your tie all wet?" Jed asked.

"Your son peed on me, Mr. President."

Jed's booming laugh filled the room. "Abbey got you changing diapers, did she? Don't feel bad, he did that to me too a few times in the beginning, before I got used to changing a boy," Jed admitted. "Having a boy is a whole new ball game."

By the time Jed returned from giving his statement to the press, his brood had awakened. He stood for a moment in the doorway and watched the chaos that was his family. The TV blared music videos from VH1 and Annie was arguing with Liz over the volume. Zoey and Ellie were singing to the music while they flipped blueberry pancakes and fried bacon. Abbey walked around the kitchen supervising the cooking of breakfast with a crying Aislinn on her hip. Beth was seated in front of the high chair trying to coax Nicholas to eat his baby cereal while Emily simply sat next to her at a loss for words. It wasn't long before Abbey's sharp eyes spotted him.

"Thank God you're back," she said, moving quickly toward him to hand off his crying daughter to him. "I want to cut up some melon."

"Don't you think it's a little early to be making this much noise?" he asked, while trying to get Aislinn to accept the pacifier that she kept spitting out angrily into his hand so she could cry louder. "Come on sunshine, stop crying and give Daddy a smile." Aislinn stopped for a moment at the sound of her father's voice, then continued to wail away.

"This is exactly what you wanted," Abbey informed him as she pulled cantaloupe from the refrigerator.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Don't you remember when we were dating and I asked you about your dreams for the future? You didn't say you wanted to be a professor or a President. You said you wanted to have a big, noisy, loving family. Well, look around, Daddy. You got it."

Jed smiled looking around at all these vocal, uninhibited, mostly female people who shared he and Abbey's blood.

"We did good, Abs," he said, squeezing her hand while he kissed the top of Aislinn's blond head.

"Yeah, we did," she said, grabbing Aislinn's little hand which was reaching out for her favorite pastime, yanking Mommy's hair out, and kissed her tiny little fingers.

****

Because they felt it wouldn't look proper to be off having fun fishing after their somber morning statement, the fishing trip was put off until the following day. Instead, the guys all stopped in to see if Jed wanted to go golfing with them.

"He's down on the beach looking for sand dollars with Annie," Abbey told them without looking up from spooning cereal into her daughters mouth. "But, you know, he probably won't go."

"Why does he dislike golfing so much?" Sam asked. "He likes pretty much every other sport known to man."

Abbey's glance fell on the picture of her father-in-law that graced the wall. John Bartlet had loved to golf and had often brought young Jed with him to the course, where he proceeded to berate and belittle him, until Jed had grown to despise the game.

"He has his reasons," she said softly, "but he'll have to explain those to you." The men accepted her response and turned to go look for their boss. Abbey's gaze fell back on the picture and she had to swallow past the anger she often felt when it came to that man.

"John, you really were a son of a bitch at times," she said sadly, as always, aching for the boy who had later become her husband. Although John had always treated her fairly, if not warmly, she had never really been able to forgive him for what he had done to Jed as a child and as a teenager.

Abbey entered the nursery to dress Aislinn and saw Elizabeth sitting rocking Nicholas with a look of pure longing on her face.

"Liz?"

"He's all dressed, Mom," she said, her gaze moving from her baby brother to her mother.

"You know," Abbey said gently, "Annie keeps telling me how much she wants a baby brother or sister. Have you and Doug thought about having another child?" Abbey watched her daughter's eyes fill with tears.

"We've been trying, but so far, no luck."

"Oh honey, don't worry. It takes time. It doesn't always happen when you want it to."

"I thought for sure once we started trying, it would happen right away."

"You've been on the Pill for awhile, haven't you?"

"Yes, since we got married."

"Well, sometimes it takes a little longer to conceive after you go off the Pill."

"You were on the Pill when you got pregnant with Ash and Nicky. I mean one week without them and bam, you were knocked up. I mean, if I have your genes, I should be pretty fertile."

"Why would you say that? I don't have an excessive amount of children."

"Yes, but exactly how many of your pregnancies have been planned?"

"Elizabeth Bartlet, I'll have you know that all my pregnancies except for you and the twins were planned."

"And how long did it take you to get pregnant once you started trying?"

"A couple months with Ellie and a couple more than that for Zoey. I think it was almost 7 or 8 months for Peter. I remember tracking your Dad down at the Statehouse to let know my temperature was up and I was ovulating." Liz smiled at the image of her mother racing down the halls of the Statehouse with a thermometer in hand, then her face crumpled.

"It's been almost TWO years, Mom," she began to cry.

"Oh honey," Abbey moved forward to wrap Elizabeth in her arms, "Sssh...don't cry. Have you seen a doctor? It sounds like this might be something medical."

"I've been to see one, but since I had Annie, I had a feeling it wasn't me. Dr. Walsh gave me a clean bill of health, but Jay refuses to go. I think he's afraid to be told he has a low sperm count because that will reflect badly on his virility."

"That's absurd," Abbey exclaimed, "Sperm count or mobility has nothing to do with virility. Would you like me talk to him about it?"

"Somehow I don't think Jay would appreciate discussing his sperm count with his mother-in-law."

"Would you like me to ask your Dad to talk to him?"

"No!" Liz said aghast. "That's an awful choice Mom. Mr. Cock of the walk Bartlet thinks it is his virility alone that got you pregnant with twins at his age."

"I suppose you're right," Abbey sighed. She remembered back to the months after Peter's miscarriage when Jed had informed her that there wouldn't be anymore babies, for fear of what she had gone through. She was sick of the hassle of taking the Pill and a diaphragm was an even bigger hassle, so she had suggested Jed have a vasectomy. She almost laughed aloud remembering the look of shock and panic he had given her. Nobody was messing with Jed Bartlet 'down there'. She had toyed with the idea of having her tubes tied, but that was too final, too permanent. Although she had agreed to no more babies, in the back of her mind, there was still a chance if they changed their minds. Now, she was glad she had gone back to the hassle of the Pill, as she had two more beautiful children to show for it. Not a great advertisement for what it was supposed to prevent, but, well, accidents happen.

"How is Doug dealing with all this?" Abbey asked, her mind now on the fragility of the male psyche.

"By ignoring that there is a problem. I know he loves Annie with all his heart, but she isn't of his blood. I know he wants to have a child of his blood and I want to give him that child. I see him looking at Daddy with Aislinn and Nicky and it just breaks my heart."

"Honey, you have to stop worrying," she pushed Elizabeth's hair back from her tear stained face to look into her eyes. "Sometimes you just need to relax and it will happen. I've heard several stories of women who can't get pregnant so they adopt and then when the pressure is off they end up conceiving."

"I'll try. But it's so hard month after month to look at that evidence that there won't be a baby." The pain in Elizabeth's voice caused a lump to form in Abbey's throat. There was nothing worse than when your child was in pain and there was nothing you could do to help but be there.

"Try to get Doug to open up. If you can at least determine what the problem is, there are some wonderful fertility clinics that could help you."

"You mean like in vitro?"

"There have been huge advances made in this field."

"But, that's against the Church."

"So is birth control and you don't see me with 15 kids," she smiled ruefully, "which, you know, is damn well what would have happened without using birth control. Seriously though, if you really want to have another baby, you do everything you can to accomplish that. Don't let the Church or the press or anything get in your way. Nothing can be more precious than holding the child of the man you love in your arms," she glanced down tenderly at Nicholas. "I want that for you sweetie," she ran her hand over Elizabeth's cheek and both their eyes filled again with tears at what had been left unsaid. That Liz had not even experienced that with Annie due to the circumstances of her conception. "And, if it doesn't happen, well, at least you are blessed with Annie."

"Thank God for Annie," Elizabeth's face softened into a smile at the thought of her beautiful, precocious daughter. "When I think about how I almost aborted her, it makes me physically ill."

"Don't think like that, Liz. You were so young and something horrible had happened to you. You were weighing an option, that's all. But, I'm glad you chose to have her, too. She's been a blessing to all of us."

"Gram!! Mom!!! Come quick!" yelled the subject of their conversation as she came racing up the stairs. "Gramps got stung by a jellyfish."

"Never a dull moment," Abbey sighed to herself, then called out to Annie, "Get my medical bag!"

TBC...