Far out at sea on the deck of the 'Abigail Anne', with the tinny sounds of the Red Sox baseball game on the radio for entertainment, Josh began to dig in the cooler.

"Anyone want another beer?" He asked.

"I'll take one," Jed called out. Josh looked up at the President in his shorts and t-shirt, his Sox baseball cap drawn down over his forehead, fishing pole in hand. He looked like any other average guy out fishing, but this was the President. Sometimes he found it hard to reconcile the two.

"Mr. President, can we switch stations and listen to the Mets for a while?" Toby asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"My boat, my team," Jed answered simply. He then turned to Leo who was sitting beside him. "Are you still sulking?" He asked.

"I am not sulking, I'm reflecting."

"You're sulking. You've been sulking ever since Jenny arrived with that guy."

"Jeffrey," Leo sneered, "What kind of a name is Jeffrey? Sounds a little effeminate to me."

"You're jealous," Jed grinned.

"I am not jealous. And what about you? You didn't exactly extend the welcome wagon to him. I saw the looks you were giving them, and the kicks Abbey was giving you."

"You know how I feel about Jenny. She is like a sister to me. If it wasn't for her, I might never have met Abbey," Jed gave an involuntary shudder at the thought.

"Mrs. McGarry introduced you?" Josh asked. "I thought you met her at a party?"

"I did, it was Jenny who dragged my ass to that party."

"Was it love at first sight?" Sam asked.

"More like lust, I bet," Josh grinned.

"Hey, you boys be careful what you say," Michael warned. "That's my little girl you're talking about."

"Actually," Jed said, "the first time I saw her was across a crowded room. She was standing with a group of friends wearing this really short mini skirt and leather boots and her hair was all the way down to her waist. She was gorgeous. Sexy as hell. Sorry Michael, but she was. Still, what really caught my eye was the way she was laughing and making everyone else around her laugh. I remember thinking, my God if I could meet someone who could laugh with me like that I would spend the rest of my life with her."

"Did you go talk to her?" Toby asked.

"Nah. I was too chicken. But later I bumped into her as she was coming back inside."

"Knowing you, I take it you mean literally 'bumped' into her?" Josh grinned.

"Yes, smart ass. I literally bumped into her. I reached my hands out to steady her and she looked up at me with those amazing sea colored eyes and it was all over for me. I mean it was crazy, one minute I was just walking along and in the next instant I had fallen into this infatuation so hard I couldn't see straight. She was just 20 years old, but brimming with ambition and idealism. Did you know she is so incredibly intelligent that she skipped a grade in junior high school?"

"I think I read that on a press release," Toby said, giving a half smile at Jed's boastful pride in his wife.

"She wanted to join the Peace Corps after medical school, so she could go make a difference in an impoverished country."

"Why didn't she?" Sam asked.

"Me," Jed said softly. "She fell in love with me and, by the time she got to medical school, we already had Elizabeth."

"She never regretted it," Michael said, patting his shoulder. Jed smiled up at his father-in-law. He knew exactly what Michael meant. That she hadn't regretted getting pregnant with Elizabeth before they were ready, but Jed already knew that. After her initial misgivings, Abbey had wanted the baby with all her heart.

****

"Ok, where were we?" Abbey asked passing out fresh piņa coladas all around.

"You were going to tell us what happened with Ron."

"Oh yeah. Well, like I said, Ron had been bugging me. Calling me up and bumping into me on campus. I really think he thought that I was just angry and once I got over it I would go back to him. I couldn't even get through to him by telling him that I was seeing someone else. But to tell you the truth, once I met Jed, I didn't even see Ron. I mean he could be standing right in front of me and I just honestly did not care what he had to say. His words meant nothing to me. I was completely caught up in the web of new love."

"So, what did he do when he found out about you and Jed?" Sally asked.

"I'm getting there, be patient. Jed and I were having dinner at a Chinese restaurant when Ron and some of his friends came in. Jed was in the restroom and Ron came swaggering over to my table."

(South Bend, Indiana)

"Hey sweetheart, you here all alone?" Ron asked with a smile.

"As a matter of fact, I'm not."

"Come on Abbey, when are you gonna get over this little tiff? I've been duly punished for pushing you. Come on baby, let's kiss and make up, you know you miss me," he grabbed her arm, pulling her to him for a kiss.

"Ron, stop," Abbey pushed against him. She then heard Jed's steely voice coming from beside her.

"If you don't want to lose that arm, you better let go of her right now." Ron let go of her arm in surprise and Abbey stepped close to Jed's side. Jed wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his body. Anger boiled in Ron as the movement spoke of intimacy and the fact that Abbey was choosing this guy over him. The two young men eyed each other with undisguised animosity.

"Who the hell are you?" Ron asked.

"I told you I was seeing somebody else, Ron. This is my boyfriend, Jed Bartlet."

"Your boyfriend?" Ron scoffed "I hope you know, buddy, that you are just some rebound guy. She was my girlfriend up until a few weeks ago. You're nothing to her."

"He is everything to me, Ron," Abbey snapped. "I am in love with Jed and the sooner you get that through your thick head, the better." Ron didn't know what to say to that. Abbey did not throw around words like love. In all the time they had dated, she had never told him she loved him.

"Well, you aren't getting much, she's nothing but a little cocktease," Ron said with disgust, but before he could turn away Jed's arm came out like a flash and he punched him in the face. Ron fell back on the floor, his hands pressed to his head.

"Don't you ever talk to Abigail with anything but respect from now on," Jed seethed. He acted nonchalant, but as soon as he and Abbey stepped outside into the night he began to shake his hand.

"Jed, let me see your hand," Abbey said with concern.

"I've never punched anyone before. It hurts."

"It looks like you got some teeth," she said, eyeing the raw patches on his knuckles. She surprised him by pressing her lips to his wounds. "Nobody has ever fought for my honor before. Thank you."

"Did you mean what you said inside?"

"Mean what?"

"You told Ron that you love me."

"I know it's awfully soon for feeling like that. But, I can't help it, Jed. I am falling in love with you." Abbey watched his eyes fill with tears. "What is it Jed?"

"It's just that, nobody's ever really told me that before."

"Not even your parents?" Abbey asked, astonished.

"Not even my parents. We never used that word in my house."

"It's ok, you don't have to say it just because I did. I don't want you to say it until you really mean it." She thought of all those nights when she and Ron were getting hot and heavy and he would tell her he loved her just to try to get into her pants. He never said it at any other time.

"Abigail O'Neill," Jed lifted her chin to look deep into her eyes, his thumb running tenderly over her jaw, "I am falling deeply and inexorably in love with you." Abbey's eyes filled with tears and she tilted her head back melting into his body as his lips covered hers.

(Maine)

"Wow, now that is an amazing story," CJ slurred.

"You're getting drunk, Claudia Jean," Abbey smiled.

"Guilty. I want to hear the rest now. You guys didn't get married until you graduated, so when did the President propose?"

"I'll tell you inside," Abbey said standing up and stretching. "The guys should be back in a little bit so we should get moving on the salads. After all, we promised that if they hunted, we would gather."

"Somehow it makes me nervous to think that we would have had to rely on that group to provide us with food in the caveman days."

"Why do you think I defrosted some steaks? "

TBC...