Walking along the edge of the sea, Abbey felt the contrast of Jed’s warm body against her, while the cold ocean licked at their toes. The glittering full moon leant everything a magical glow of light and shadow. They spoke softly, reminiscing about all the feelings that hearing those songs tonight had created within them. Before long they had reached the end of the sandy beach and were confronted by a wall of huge rocks. Abbey stopped and started to turn back but Jed continued to propel her forward.

"Aren’t we going back?" she asked.

"Nope." He lead her through a break in the rocks that lead to the sheltered cove. As she came around the corner of the wall, Abbey’s breath caught in her throat. There laying on the sand was an elegantly laid out picnic blanket. On the blanket was a wicker picnic hamper with two champagne flutes sitting on top and a bottle of champagne on ice. Next to the blanket was a small campfire waiting to be lit.

"Jed, what is all this?"

"Our own private, romantic anniversary party."

Abbey eyed the picnic basket while Jed squatted to light the small fire. "Jed, I could not eat another bite of food, I’m stuffed."

"Don’t worry about it." He stood and placed his hands on her hips. I’ve planned an evening of rigorous physical exertion. I’ll help you work up an appetite." He bent to press a kiss to her collarbone.

"I’m not going to mess around with you HERE. We aren’t going to do this OUTSIDE."

"Wanna bet?"

Abbey shivered at the devilish glint in his eye. Jed leaned back to hit the play button on the boom box that sat on a rock near the picnic blanket, then straightened back up to keep Abbey from fleeing from his arms.

"We’re just going to dance, right?" She eyed the rolled up sleeping bag apprehensively.

"For now." His lips began to trail along her neck.

"Jed, I mean it. I’m not going to be on exhibition again. I…"

"Abbey, ssh…just dance with me, sweetheart." He pulled her in close, tucking her head under his chin and singing along with Elton John.

"There was a time. I was everything and nothing all in one.

When you found me. I was feeling like a cloud across the sun.
I need to tell you, how you light up every second of the day.
But in the moonlight, you just shine like a beacon on the bay.

And I can’t explain. But there’s something about the way you look tonight,
Takes my breath away----It’s that feeling I get about you deep inside.
And I can’t describe. But there’s something about the way you look tonight.
Takes my breath away.
The way you look tonight.

His breath was warm against her ear and his hands began to trace patterns up her bare spine. Abbey could feel herself yielding to the power of her attraction for him. Her cheek lay against the strength and warmth of his chest and she swayed gently in his arms, bathed in the glow of the moon, with the music and the soothing surf playing in the background. The soft sand was cool between the toes of her bare feet and the heavy scent of the ocean surrounded them. Her senses overwhelmed, she had to wonder if they’d ever shared a more perfectly romantic moment. They had, but it didn’t make this one any less special.

"Abbey?" He whispered the plea for invitation into her hair. She pulled back from him slightly to gaze up into his face, smiling as she saw the lock of bronze hair that now fell across his forehead and the flames of desire that burned in his sapphire eyes.

God, that smile Jed thought, as he stared intently down into her upturned face. How he loved her smile. He loved the cute little wrinkle in her nose, and the dimple in cheek, but more than that, he loved that when she smiled it went all the way to her gorgeous moss green eyes alighting them with warmth. He’d fallen in love with that smile when he was 21 years old, and despite the tiny little laugh lines at the corners of her eyes that hadn’t been there when they’d first met, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world to him and she always would be. He felt her hand reach out behind his neck to pull his head down to her, accepting his invitation. He leaned forward and met her mouth with his, brushing his lips softly over hers back and forth again and again. When Abbey did finally capture his lips for deep, tongue tangling, toe curling kiss, she tasted champagne and coconut and Jed. A taste more tantalizing than anything she’d experienced that night.

Abbey was lost, lost in the intoxicating romance of the night, lost in the flame’s of desire that Jed was creating with his lips and his hands that were now gently caressing her bare back. She felt those hands move from her spine to her rear, cupping her and pulling her up against the hard proof of his desire. The wave of hunger for him that caused her legs to weaken was like a splash of cold water on her face. She wasn’t going to do this again, not this year. She reluctantly pulled back and looked up at him, her green eyes slumberous with desire, her mouth swollen from his kisses. It was all Jed could do not to pull her down onto the blanket and make love to her right then and there.

"Let’s go back to the cottage, Jed. " Her voice was breathless, urgent. "I can’t do this here, not outside, not again. We can‘t put on another free show."

Jed was amused by the fluster in his usually unflappable wife. "Yes we can." He began to trace his thumb over her full bottom lip. "Trust me, Abbey. You trusted me when you were only 19. You can trust me now."

"Jed…"She trailed off as his lips began to move along her jaw to her throat.

He finally relented in his teasing. "I talked to Ron. Nobody is going to be behind those rocks watching us. I have his word. We have complete privacy."

"He agreed to that?" Abbey groaned as she felt him begin to suck on the skin of her collarbone.

"As long as I have my panic button within reach and we don’t go in the water. No skinny dipping, my little mermaid."

"I can live with that." She cast her eyes over Jed’s shoulder to the mound of rocks that surrounded them, hoping that the agents would heed Ron’s orders, hoping that she wasn’t going to be the adult entertainment of the evening for a second year running. But, in the next moment she was beyond caring anymore. Jed’s lips had made their way back up to hers again, this time more fiercely, the only kisses that had ever turned her inside out, and, if there were agents lurking in the rocks, she simply did not want to know.

Abbey made a soft sound low in her throat and Jed felt her legs part slightly as she tried to line herself up with the bulge in his pants. It was his cue to move forward. His hand moved up over her ribcage and cupped gently over her breast. Abbey leaned into him with a sigh and he began to stroke her nipple over the gauzy fabric of her dress. He still remembered the first time she had allowed him to touch her there. How nervous he had been, how clumsy, how lacking in the finesse that he now had. By now he knew her breasts as well as, if not better than, she did. He knew when to be gentle, when to be fierce. He knew exactly how she liked to be touched and just how long. He knew that when her breath began to catch in her throat and she was pressing hard against him that it was time for the next step in this, their dance of love. He bent his head and took her nipple into his mouth, fabric and all. The erotic sensation of the heat of his mouth and the roughness of the wet fabric over her taut nipple nearly did Abbey in. The stab of desire moved right to that pulsing spot between her thighs and her legs began to weaken. Jed felt her weaken and they both began to slide down to their knees. Abbey started to lay back in the sand but he stopped her.

"No, wait…that’s why I brought…the blanket. "

A knowing, sexy smile crossed her lips as she scooted back onto the blanket. They had learned the hard way, a long time ago, that having sex in the sand was more messy and painful than it was romantic. It didn’t take long for them to divest of each other’s clothing. They lay on the blanket kissing, feeling the night air caressing their naked bodies, just as they caressed each other. Abbey’s hand was circled around Jed’s penis stroking up and down, squeezing gently, her thumb running over the wet, glistening tip of him. She knew this part of his anatomy just as well as he knew her breasts, knew just how he liked to be touched and just how far she could push him. Jed’s hand was laying warm over the mound between her thighs, his fingers making forays into her slick heat that caused her to whimper and moan. Before either of them was even aware of making the decision to take the next step, Abbey lifted her thigh over Jed’s hip and took him deeply within her, giving a loud strangled moan at the tight fullness his penetration always gave her. Jed rolled over on top of her and began to move within her, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he fought to keep from losing control. Their lovemaking this evening was gentle, it was tender, it was loving. They made love along with the rhythm of the sea, their bodies coming together like the waves that crashed loudly onto the beach, then retreated in near silence. They continued on that way until Jed’s relentless thrusts had Abbey whimpering and begging and crying out his name as every muscle in her body began to grow taut with the frantic need for release. She continued to absorb his thrusts until he finally sent them both spiraling over the edge of that wonderful, almost painful precipice, and he threw his head back toward the darkened sky to give out a deep, primal cry of her name as he exploded within her over and over.

When he was completely spent, Jed fell heavy on top of her burying his face in her hair. He inhaled deeply enjoying the fresh, entirely feminine scent of her. The honeysuckle of her hair, the lily of the valley that was her perfume, and the faintest hint of roses left on her skin from her earlier milk bath. Now those scents were combined with the muskiness of sex that lay pooling between them. Reveling in his masculine addition to the scents that adorned his wife’s body, Jed’s hands continued to caress up and down Abbey’s hips and thighs enjoying the silky smoothness of her skin, the soft curves of her body, the sheer womanliness of her.

As her breathing returned to normal, Abbey realized that, except where Jed’s body covered hers, she was getting cold. Jed felt her shiver.

"You cold, babe?"

"A little."

He withdrew from her body and rolled to his side. Bereft of his body, the night air covered Abbey with goose bumps.

"That didn’t help," she complained, closing her arms across her chest and lifting her knees to her belly in an effort to keep warm.

"No, but this might." He tossed her his shirt and began to open out the two person sleeping bag they had used when they camped in the national parks. Abbey quickly slipped into his shirt. After getting the sleeping bag opened Jed turned to see that she had moved to stand by the campfire. He smiled broadly, loving how she looked when she wore his clothes. The shirt overwhelmed her tiny frame, coming almost to her knees, the arms dangling past her fingertips.

"What are you giving me that goofy grin for?" She asked.

"I’m just wondering how somebody can look so incredibly cute and so incredibly sexy at the same time."

"It’s a gift." She scooted by his outstretched hands and slid into the sleeping bag.

Jed found his discarded boxers and pulled them on before joining her in the sleeping bag and pulling it up around them like a cocoon. Abbey snuggled back into his chest, feeling his arms close tightly around her.

"That was really good tonight, Abbey."

"It’s always really good, Jed.," she yawned.

"No, I mean making love outside. It’s been so long. I miss it. Maybe I ought to make deals with Ron more often."

"I don’t think so."

"Why not, you used to love having sex outside."

"Still do, I just don’t like having an audience."

"We didn’t have an audience. I told you, I talked to Ron and he…"

"Jed, whether the agents watched us or not is pretty irrelevant. I imagine they got a pretty good audio version of what they saw in video last year. That howl to the moon that you made when you came was hardly something they would have missed. "

"Well, you weren’t so quiet yourself, sugar pie. I seem to remember a lot of begging and pleading."

"That’s what I’m saying. You just made my point."

"You should have been a lawyer."

"I’d have been a great lawyer."

"I see you as more of the prosecutor type."

"Really, why do you…Oh, Jed, look, a shooting star. Make a wish."

"I thought you could only wish on the first star."

"Nope, you can wish on a shooting star too."

"Who say’s?"

"I do, now, shut up and make a wish."

Jed closed his eyes and Abbey waited impatiently until she thought he was finished making his wish. "What did you wish for?"

"Can’t tell you, it won’t come true."

"That’s only for the first star wishes. You can tell people all about shooting star wishes."

"I don’t know…."

"Come on----" She cajoled , caressing the rough hair on his thigh.

"You tell me first."

"Oh, fine. I wished that we would always be as happy as we are right now."

"Oh, that‘s a good one. Now I feel kind of bad."

"Why, did you wish to be re-elected or something?"

"No, I wished that you’d continue to let me have sex with you outdoors whenever the mood strikes. "

Abbey gave a soft snort of laughter. "Oh, Jed, you are so damn predictable."

"There’s that word again. You know you better stop blaming me every time one of our kids curse. You’re not as blameless as you seem to think you are. "

"I control myself better."

"Really?" His hand slid up under her shirt, palm resting on her belly, toying with the ring in her navel. A sly grin crossed his lips as he realized she hadn’t put her panties back on.

"Around the kids, Jed. I control myself better around the kids."

"I’m glad you clarified that, because I seem to remember a complete loss of control not 15 minutes ago on this very spot."

"Smartass." Abbey laid her head on his shoulder, staring up into the dark sky and the thousands of twinkling stars as she played with the hair on his chest, her fingers tickling and teasing. "By the way, why did you get called out tonight?" Her voice was getting husky as she got sleepy.

"Oh, they just wanted to alert me about a hurricane that’s headed toward the east coast."

"What!" She sat up abruptly and gasped in pain. "Ow! That hurts, let go of my hair."

"I’m trying to, you shouldn’t have jumped up like that." He began to unravel the strands of hair he’d been twirling around his index finger."

“I’m sorry." She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes at him. " I was just a little startled to think that you seduced me on a beach when a hurricane is about to blow in."

"Not THIS part of the east coast," he chuckled. They’re thinking it will either hit the Carolina coast or it may veer northeast out to sea. You’re not in any danger of being swept out to sea, my love."

"You better be right about that." She snuggled back up into him.

"Are you getting hungry?" He asked. "I brought a veritable feast of decadent delights."

"Maybe later. I think I may need a little more physical exertion to build up my appetite." She rubbed her index finger over his nipple and began to run her toes against the hair on his calf.

"Really? You’re in better shape than I thought, Mrs. Bartlet." He ran his hand down her smooth thigh to hitch behind her knee and lift her leg up and over his hip, pulling her warm damp groin against him.

"Think you can keep up with me?" Already he could feel her pulse starting to race as she felt his body responding to her invitation, felt him hardening against her, searching for the way home.

"Or die trying, hot stuff." He grinned at her, "Or die trying."

****

Abbey shivered and tucked her arm back under the sleeping bag as she nuzzled in closer to Jed. She was disoriented for a moment. The surf was incredibly loud and it was very chilly in the bedroom. She thought for a moment that Jed must have left their bedroom window wide open. She opened her eyes sleepily and realized that they had fallen asleep on the beach. From the gray quality of the sky she figured that it was somewhere close to dawn. She noticed that the campfire had burned out and beside it lay the bottle of champagne they had polished off after making love a second time. She had no idea what time they’d finally fallen asleep, except that it was very late. They’d lain under the blanket of stars and the glow of the moon, talking softly, reminiscing, and listening to the romantic crooning of Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Dean Martin, and Nora Jones, and had, at some point, both fallen asleep.

Jed was still sleeping soundly, snoring softly. She smiled down on him pushing his thick unruly hair back off his forehead. The lines were relaxed on his face and he looked much younger and somehow boyishly vulnerable while he slept. She felt a surge of protective love rise within her, the same surge she felt when she watched her babies sleep. She wanted to keep him this way; safe, stress free, unburdened by the incredible weight of his job. She knew that was impossible and that Jed never wanted to play it "safe". She also had to admit that she found bossy, commandeering, powerful, Jed, as exciting as she found sweet, kind, boyish, Jed, heartrendingly tender. Still, it was times like these that she cherished. Time when it was just the two of them in each other’s arms and he was completely and totally hers. None of his staff, no matter how close they were to him, would ever know this Jed. No historian or biographer would ever be able to convey to the insatiably curious public, the intimate side to their life as husband and wife. Nobody, but her, would ever know what an incredible kisser that he was, nobody, but her, would ever know how he liked it when she sank her teeth into his shoulder when he made love to her, or just where and how to touch him to make him groan as if he were in agony. Nobody, but her, would ever know just what a romantic, passionate and creative lover that he was. There were parts of Jed that the entire world was privy to, but not that. That part of him was hers and hers alone and that was powerfully satisfying to her.

She stretched out beside him feeling like the proverbial cat that got the canary. She was exhausted from only having gotten only a couple of hours of sleep and her muscles and back ached, not only from their physical athletics the night before, but also from sleeping on the beach. Sand might seem soft, but it was not something she would ever recommend as good bedding. The soft skin of her breasts and face felt chafed with whisker burn, and her nipples were very tender, but she felt good. DAMN good, she thought with a smile. She stared out across the ocean watching a thin line of gold form on the horizon. The sun was about to rise.

"Jed," She pushed at his shoulder.

"Mmmm…" he groaned sleepily and instinctively moved to cup his hand over her breast. "Just give me a minute."

"Not THAT." She pushed his hand off her breast. "Come on, wake up. The sun is about to rise."

Jed yawned, stretched, squinted at the horizon, and finally sat up. Abbey scooted between his outstretched legs so that she could stay wrapped in both his arms and the sleeping bag. She leaned back against his chest and he rested his chin on top of her head. Inch by inch they watched the huge orange ball that was the sun rise up in the east, creating streaks of gold and pink in the sky and glittering over the dark ocean. In a matter of only minutes it had risen high enough on the horizon to kiss them with the first licks of warmth for the day. Both sat silently, basking in the beauty of the moment, feeling the gentle warmth of the sun bathing their faces and watching the world suddenly come back to life.

It was Abbey who broke the awed silence. "That was the perfect end to a perfect night. I still can’t believe that we spent the whole night out here."

"So, you’re not worried anymore about the noise we might have made."

"Nope. Last night was too perfect. I have no regrets. If any of the agents were hiding back behind those rocks getting off on listening to us, than so be it. I can’t control what they see and what they hear and I wouldn’t trade last night for anything."

"I couldn’t have put it better myself."

"But, facing the agents and facing our families are two entirely different things. I think we better pack up and get home before Nicky and Aislinn wake up and alert the whole house that we’re not there. After all, my father still thinks I’m a good girl."

"Really?" Jed lifted an eyebrow, as they both began to dress. "Where exactly does he think those five kids we have come from?"

"Oh, them?’ Didn’t you know? They were all immaculate conceptions." She batted her eyelashes at him.

"Immaculate conceptions, my ass. I’ll show you how those kids came to be." He pulled her toward him, his lips going right for the sensitive spot at the base of her ear.

"As much as I’d like to take you up on your offer, and as much as I would love to see that "oh Abigail, how COULD you?" look on your mother’s face, we do have to get back.

****

If possible, Leo slept worse when he was on vacation than when he was working. He didn’t like having days off. Didn’t really know what to do with himself. Unlike Jed, he could never make himself kick back and relax. He always felt that there was something that he should be doing , even if everything was taken care of. He knew that he had been driving Bruno nuts with phone calls to San Francisco every hour. Truth was he wished he were flying back out with Bruno today to help with setting up the convention. But, Jed was spending another week here at the beach so he would be flying between Maine and DC for the next week. Sam and CJ were the only staffers remaining behind for the entire week. Sam, because he needed to be with the President should the need for any comments arise, and CJ because she was the voice of the White House and even when the President was on vacation she gave briefings every morning from the garden of the guest house.

Leo sat at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee and a stack of papers. He wanted the convention to be perfect, needed it to be perfect, everything had to run smoothly. They were running neck and neck with Rob Ritchie, something that made him thoroughly queasy. The man was a good old boy, a dim bulb, so to speak, and the fact that he was running almost even with a brilliant man like Jed was a testament to the public’s sense of betrayal in their leader. People liked Jed Bartlet, even when his numbers were down his likeability scores had always been high. They had trusted him. MS had destroyed that. It had taken people a long time to work past both of the Bartlet’s eastern intelligentsia image, but they had. Having the babies had helped, but even before Abbey had gotten pregnant people had come to truly like the couple. Not since Jack and Jackie had a couple been so revered. Then came the MS and all the suspicions that people had about them had come to the forefront. Maybe Jed Bartlet was a liar just like every other politician, maybe they were too big for their britches and thought they were above the law. Maybe Abbey Bartlet was just another ambitious political wife out to do whatever it took to get her husband elected. Their job was to show people that their initial thoughts about the Bartlet’s had been right. That the MS had been an aberration, a misjudgment, and nothing more. People loved to knock down their heroes only to lift them up again, well they’d been knocked down and they needed to be lifted back up if they were going to win this election.

As he sipped his coffee thoughtfully, he heard soft laughter, feminine and masculine, come through the open window with the breeze. He made his way over to that window, stopping when he saw the President and First Lady making their way up the trail from the beach. Abbey wore her dress from the night before, only now it was quite wrinkled and her hair was rumpled and sexy. Jed’s khaki’s were rolled up his calves and he was barefoot. He carried a picnic basket in one arm, his other arm was wrapped around Abbey’s waist. It was barely the break of dawn, and evidently they had spent the entire night on the beach, probably in each other’s arms. The pang was still there, not quite so sharp, not quite as deep, but still there. However, along with the pang of unrequited love, came the relief in knowing, really knowing, that if things did not go their way, if Jed did not win re-election, that he would be okay. It would hurt, no doubt about it, and it would be a major blow to his ego, but he would survive. He would still have Abbey, still have the kids and the farm, and summers here at the beach. He would still have a fulfilling and rich life. They would all be okay. CJ would be in big demand back in Hollywood or in DC if she chose to stay in politics. Toby would find another candidate, maybe not one that he believed in as strongly as he did Jed Bartlet, but he too would survive. Josh and Sam would look for an open district to run for congress. It hit him then that they would all be okay except for him. He had given everything he had to running Jed Bartlet’s White House, everything, including his marriage. He would never have another job so frustrating, challenging or powerful. He could never run for office, there was too much baggage in his past. If Jed lost the election, he, Leo, would lose absolutely everything and unless he got his act together there wouldn’t be anyone there to help him pick up the pieces.

He watched Jed and Abbey climb the stairs to the cottage, saw Izzy open the screen door and the two faired haired toddlers scamper toward them to be picked up into their parents arms. Yes, as long as Jed Bartlet had Abbey and his family he would be absolutely fine.

TBC...