As the evening began to wind down and many of the guests started to leave, Jed watched the graceful sway of his wife's hips as she crossed the dance floor on his brother's arm to join the crowd around the champagne fountain. He watched with purely wicked intent as she placed her stiletto heeled foot forward causing the silky fabric of her dress to part at the slit to reveal a sleek expanse of shapely leg and thigh. He watched her tilt her head back to laugh at something Danny Concannon said and all he could think about was running his lips and tongue over the soft column of her throat. He took a step forward and seemed puzzled when his body didn't move exactly the way he wanted it to. He felt a bit like he was on his way to being drunk, but that couldn't be. There was no way he could have gotten drunk on champagne, of all things.

Abbey watched with an amused smile as Jed approached the group. He had removed his tuxedo jacket, his bow tie was askew, a lock of his bronze hair lay over his forehead and his eyes held that glazed sleepy look. He was Jed Bartlet the way she loved him most, rumpled and sexy as hell. He was also, she suspected, drunk.

"Dance with me," he insisted when he stopped to stand in front of her.

"In case you haven't noticed darling, the orchestra isn't playing at the moment."

"We can take care of that," he pulled her into his arms and his deep baritone voice carried over the night air as he began to serenade his wife with a verse from the last song they had danced to.

"And the way your smile, wrinkles your nose, touches my foolish heart. Lovely, don't you ever change, keep that breathless charm, Won't you please arrange it, cause I love you. Just the way you look tonight."

He finished the song with a flourish, expertly spinning Abbey, then pulling her into his arms, to the enthusiastic clapping of all those present.

"C'n you believe this gorgeous woman actually agreed to be my wife"?" He asked, his words slightly slurred from alcohol.

"There's no accounting for taste, I guess," Toby deadpanned.

"Women are fickle creatures," Leo added.

"They sure are," Jed agreed, nodding his head. "And thank God they are. I mean here was this brilliant, fascinating young woman and I was actually planning to become a priest. What a pair we must have made."

"Indeed, sir," Sam tried to stifle his smile.

"Abbey was very pretty then, boys," he slipped his arm around his wife's waist.

"Jed," Abbey protested, "I'm standing right here."

"As I was saying," Jed ignored her, "she was very pretty back then, but she didn't have anything on the way she looks today. Isn't she just a knock out?" He squeezed Abbey closer to his side.

"Jed, stop," Abbey protested. "You're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," he insisted. "I've only been drinking champagne. A man doesn't get inebriated on champagne. I was simply stating a fact, Abigail. YOU," he pointed a finger into her face with a serious look, "are a stunningly attractive woman. I especially like this cut in the side," he said, running his hand up the bare expanse of her leg."

"It's called a slit Jed, and stop it." She began to fight off his wandering hands.

"My wife has great legs, boys. Dancers legs. It's cause she likes to do a lot of hiking. You boys find yourselves women who like to hike. You won't be sorry."

"We will, sir," Josh bit back his laughter.

"Cause you know there is nothing like a pair of gorgeous legs like these wrapped around your..."

"Jed!" Abbey gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth before he could finish his statement.

"Oh come on, Mrs. B, let him finish," Danny grinned as he pretended to take notes.

"Yeah, come on," Josh and Sam added, "we'd like to hear where this was going."

"Not on your life," she glared at them. Toby glanced at Leo who was being surprisingly quiet on the subject. Leo didn't need to hear the details. He'd imagined those sexy legs around his own waist many a night.

"Earth to Leo," Josh was saying.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Don't you think Mrs. Bartlet should let the President finish?"

"Nah, leave her alone guys."

"Abbey, let go," Jed's voice was muffled against her palm.

"Only if you promise to be a good boy."

"I promise," he said but couldn't resist the urge to flick his tongue out to wet her palm. Abbey felt a quick stab of desire warm from her belly to her groin and she quickly pulled her palm away.

"That was a cheap shot," she murmured.

"You know I like to play dirty," he gave her a leering smile and winced at the stinging sensation on his lip. "You cut my lip when you hit me," he accused her with a little boy pout.

"Where?" Abbey asked, moving closer to examine the tiny cut. Jed seized the moment and captured her lips with his, kissing her so thoroughly Abbey tasted the blood from his cut.

Toby cleared his throat, uncomfortable with this display of affection, while the others simply smiled with amusement. "Uh, would you like us all to leave you two alone?" He asked.

"Would you?" Jed asked.

"Jed, stop it," Abbey admonished him, slapping him lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey listen," Jed said, his attention moving to the small stage. "The orchestra is playing again. Let's dance." He took Abbey's hand and pulled her out on to the dance floor.

"Have they always been like this?" Danny asked with a laugh.

"For as long as they've been together," Jon smiled affectionately. It was not anybody's business to know that Jed had not always been this way. That the serious, earnest, wary boy his brother had been had blossomed under Abbey's love into the teasing, confident, openly affectionate man that he was today. Oh, there were still hints of that boy at times, neither of them would ever completely overcome their cold and sometimes harsh childhood. But, he honestly believed that growing up the way he had, had taught Jed to appreciate the warmth and loving nature of his wife, and the laughter of his own children in ways he might never had if he had been raised differently.

Abbey's hips swayed against Jed's to the beat of the music, her head tucked under his chin. She felt her nipples harden as he pulled her tighter against his chest and she noticed that he had maneuvered her outside where they could dance like pagan lovers under the moon and stars.

Abbey nuzzled her nose into the hollow of Jed's throat where he had unbuttoned his collar, savoring this moment. She knew it would all be over too soon. They were leaving for Washington in two days and this blissful interlude would be over and only a distant memory as the realities of the world would come crashing over them the instant they were back on Air Force One. She didn't resent that. She was ready. Ready for the upcoming battles, but for tonight she simply wanted to feel safe and cherished in the arms of the man she had loved for so long she couldn't remember a time when she hadn't loved been in love with him. The man who had seen her at her best and her worst, who knew her fears and her secrets and who could still make her body hum with the anticipation of his touch.

Jed inhaled deeply the scent of Abbey's hair, his hands moving over her bare back unable to get enough of her soft warm skin. She smelled of apricots and lilac, a purely feminine scent that set his masculine hormones raging. It wasn't long before his hands slid lower to grasp her rear and pull her hips into his.

"You think you're going to get fresh with me out here?" Abbey asked, pulling his hands back up to the small of her back.

"I thought I'd give it the old college try," he nipped her earlobe as he ran his fingers up her spine. Abbey felt herself weakening, her heart beginning to race. "You want to get out of here as much as I do, don't deny it."

"I won't deny it. Let's see if we can't sneak out." There were only a few guests left at this hour but two of them were Michael and Beth O'Neill who were still wrapped in each other's arms on the dance floor. Jed and Abbey stopped briefly to watch them.

"I want to be dancing like that in 25 years," Abbey said wistfully.

"We will," Jed promised, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "We'll be out here dancing, surrounded by our children and dozens of grandchildren, all of whom will be used to the fact that their old grandpa still has the hots for their sexy grandma." Abbey took his hand in hers, lifting it to her lips.

"Promise me you still won't be able to keep your hands to yourself," she said kissing the back of his hand.

"Oh, I can promise you that, sweetheart. As long as you promise that you'll still want my hands all over you."

"I'll always want your hands all over me," she grinned. "Just not always in public."

"Tough," he pinched her rear. "Cause I'm gonna keep doing that till the day I die."

****

Jed and Abbey found that it was not so easy to sneak off when you were the First Couple and the party was in your honor. So, it was almost an hour later, with the orchestra and guests gone, that Abbey walked down the hall of the cottage barefoot, her heels dangling from her fingertips and Jed's arm around her waist. He was singing some foolish song while she tried to hush him so he wouldn't wake the twins.

"Josiah," Emily called out sternly from her bedroom. "Some of us are trying to sleep. Do be quiet." Abbey looked at Jed and covered her mouth to muffle her giggles.

"That was not the voice I wanted to hear right before I make bone melting love to my wife," he stated sarcastically as they entered the bedroom.

"Bone melting eh?" She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know Jed, you have had an awful lot to drink tonight."

"Is that a challenge I hear?" He asked, pinning her up against the wall.

"Merely an observation," Abbey's lips parted as his descended on her but when his hand slide up to cup her breast, she pushed lightly against him.

"Hold on Casanova, don't get too carried away yet. I'll be right back."

"Don't take too long," he warned.

"I won't," she looked back over her shoulder as she entered the bathroom. "Just don't go starting without me." She gave that impish smile that never failed to warm his heart and shut the door behind her.

When Abbey re-entered the room wearing a short silk maroon bathrobe, she found Jed laying stretched out on the bed wearing only a pair of silk boxers she had purchased for him. His arms were crossed behind his head and the sweeping look of desire he gave her made her long to lay flat on top of him her length pressed in to his. But, as she placed a knee on the bed, she noticed a small black velvet box on her pillow.

"What's this?" She asked.

"Open it."

"Jed, you already gave me my present."

"Just open it." Abbey did so and inside found a gleaming pair of emerald earrings.

"Jed, they're beautiful," she sighed.

"Those earrings are to remind you of our honeymoon on the Emerald Isle and to show you that I desire you as much now as I did then, when we were so young and foolish we thought sex was all we would need to get us through the hard spots."

"It still works pretty damn good." Abbey gave him a sultry smile as she began to replace the earrings she had on with the emeralds. She moved forward to stand in front of the full-length oval mirror, lifting her hair to examine the earrings. She watched in the mirror as Jed approached her from behind, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"They're beautiful," he said, kissing the nape of her neck while his hand moved to trace her collarbone where the diamonds rested.

"Yes, they are," she moved her head from side to side.

"You're beautiful," his hands slid to part her robe and revealed her full naked breasts and scanty peach lace string bikini panties. Abbey watched in the mirror as he continued to nuzzle along her shoulder while his hand moved over her belly. He ran a finger lightly over her lace-covered warmth sending a throbbing tingle all the way down her thighs.

"Open your eyes babe," Jed whispered, sucking harder on the flesh of her neck. Abbey opened her eyes in time to see Jed's hand disappear into her panties to begin to stroke her. She leaned back heavily against his chest, soft sighs emanating from her throat. She did her best to keep her eyes open to the incredibly erotic vision of Jed's hand moving inside her panties.

"Do you remember the first time I touched you here?" he asked, pressing his hips into her rear so she could feel how hard he was.

"Mmmm..." she gave a soft moan.

"You came within seconds."

"Mmmhmmm..." she agreed with another moan as she threw her head back against his shoulder, her legs weak and feeling like jelly as he continued to pleasure her. "The bed Jed...the bed," she whispered urgently.

Jed removed his hand and Abbey yanked him towards the bed, needing the friction to continue to completion. She crawled onto the bed, pulling him down with her but froze at the loud squeak the bed made.

"What?" Jed asked, feeling her pull away.

"We can't do it here."

"What am I missing, Abbey?"

"Listen to the bed. It squeaks when we just kneel on it, never mind more vigorous activity."

"That hasn't seemed to bother you before."

"Your mother wasn't sleeping next door before."

"So what?" His frustration was apparent.

""So she'll know we're having sex."

"I repeat, so what?"

"I'm not having sex with you on this bed," she said, and he knew that tone of finality very well.

"Oh hell's bells Abigail," he groaned with exasperation. He pulled her off the bed and began yanking hard at the mattress.

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm not fucking you on the floor tonight. I'm making love to you on a bed. He pulled the mattress off the box spring and onto the floor. "There," he said with a satisfied grin. "No more squeaking. Now where was I?" Abbey kneeled on the mattress, wearing only the tiny scrap of panties and her diamond necklace and earrings, her long curling auburn hair spilled over her shoulders. She gave him a coy smile and beckoned him with a crooked finger. Jed knelt in front of her and she took his hand pressing it back just where he had been.

"Oh yeah, now I remember." But instead of picking up where he had left off, Jed slid the panties down over her hips then allowed her to do away with his boxers. When they finished they were kneeling, pressed together as they kissed deeply and lingeringly, thigh to thigh, hip to hip, chest to breast. Abbey pressed her nipples into Jed's rough chest hair as their hands trailed gently over each other's bodies.

"You smell so good," Jed murmured. "You feel so soft."

"Mallory said we were like harem girls being prepared today," she said, her lips moving along his jaw.

"Did SVEN help to prepare you?" He growled. "I thought I told you no big Swedes."

"You are not the boss of me," she sassed. "And yes, Sven does give a divine massage."

"Enough about that damn Swede. I'm going to make you forget all about his hands."

That's just what I was hoping for darling Abbey thought, pleased that her plan seemed to be working. Jed began to lay her back on the mattress, his eyes drinking her nude body in. It wasn't the same body as the girl he had married all those years ago. That girlish thin figure had blossomed into the incredibly lush female form that lay before him. He ran his fingers over the fuller breasts that had nourished and continued to nourish his children, down over her still flat but softer belly to the hips that had widened just slightly to cradle his babies while they grew inside her and now formed the soft feminine curves he loved to stroke. This was a woman's body. A soft, curvy, incredibly luscious woman's body.

As Jed stretched out beside her, Abbey slid a leg over his hip so she could roll on top of him to straddle his waist. She ran her fingertips through his chest hair and stroked his flat hard nipples with her thumb before bending down to do the same with her tongue and lips. Jed's hand moved back between her thighs stroking her with the circular motions that he knew would send her over the edge.

"You aren't fantasizing about Sven, are you?" He asked, his fingers pausing.

"Oh Jed, shut up about Sven," she wiggled her hips against his still fingers.

"No. I want to know if his hands turned you on."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Jed, there was no Sven. My masseuse was an old Chinese man, you jackass."

"Mr. Woo?" Jed grinned.

"You bastard. You already knew," she bit her lip her lip against the pleasure that was growing more urgent between her thighs.

"Yup. You owe me an apology for lying to me, gumdrop."

"Like hell," she sighed.

"I'm sorry to hear you say that," he said sadly, and removed his fingers with a lingering passage over that sensitized bundle of nerves.

"Don't stop," she nearly gasped as she reached out for his hand.

"Two words, Abigail," his grin was wickedly boyish now.

"Jed...," she whimpered.

"Abbey..." he ran his tongue over her nipple causing the ache between her legs to intensify. Abbey knew it was either scream with frustration or cave in.

"Oh all right. I'm sorry dammit. Now, PLEASE, Jed."

"Well, since you asked so nicely," he picked up the tempo right where he had left off and almost instantly felt her begin to tighten around him. He stroked her back as she muffled the cries of her climax into his chest. She lay still for a few long moments her breath coming in short ragged gasps, before she finally lay her elbow on his chest to look up at him.

"You do fight dirty," she stated. "But two can play at that game." She sat back up and he could feel her wetness against his thigh, which almost did him in there and then. But, Abbey began to slide her tongue down his abdomen hearing the breath slide through his teeth as she slipped just the tip of him into her mouth. She had every intention of torturing him the way he had her. That is until she heard his voice.

"Take me inside you, Abigail." That voice was deep and husky with need, more a plea than a command, and she was overwhelmed by the need to feel him deep and full inside her. She moved up his body to straddle his hips and slowly lowered herself onto him, reveling in the tight fullness of him as he filled her. Jed thought for sure that he would climax just looking at. His jewels shined on her throat and ears as the moonlight spilled over her creamy skin and fiery hair. Her back was arched, her head thrown back with pleasure as she moved her hips up and down, taking him deeply inside her.

As the urgency of their mating gained momentum, so did Jed's need to feel all of her against him. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her down so that she lay on his chest and he kissed her deeply taking into his mouth the moan of pleasure that escaped her at the change of his angle inside her body. Jed's hands gripped her hips and he helped guide her into the rhythm of his upward thrusts. Abbey felt it all starting again deep inside her, only this time she knew was going to cry out when she came. She reached frantically for a pillow and buried her face into it as she cried out with release. Jed had no time to revel in the pleasure he had just given his wife. Everything inside him was filling and tightening and her name was coming from his throat in soft gasps of need. Abbey covered Jed's mouth with her palm but his moans were getting deeper and louder so she did the only thing she could think of, since she had thrown the pillow aside. She covered his lips with hers so that he gave the deep-agonized groan of her name into her mouth at the same moment he ejaculated so that Abbey felt completely filled with him.

Abbey lay on his torso for a long while feeling Jed's fingers stroking her hair which fanned over his chest as he struggled to regain a normal breathing pattern. Abbey wished for a moment that she could keep him buried safely inside her like this forever. She had no way of knowing that Jed was having a similar wish, that he could keep her safe in his arms like this forever. But, that was not to be. There would be hell to pay when they returned to Washington. Both had to face up to their mistakes and the only question was who would be flayed the worst for it.

However, none of that seemed to matter so much anymore. This little interlude had helped them to reconnect on every level and together they could do anything, bear anything. Together they would emerge from the fallout, perhaps worn, perhaps dusty, perhaps hurting, but never defeated. As long as they were united in the fight, they could never truly be beaten.

THE END!!