Leo McGarry entered the Oval Office. A look of puzzlement crossed his face as he saw President Jed Bartlet sitting at his desk frowning at the papers in front of him. Jed muttered a greeting but continued to look perplexed at the papers.

"May I ask what all this is?" Leo gestured to all the papers.

"Lists."

"I can see that. Lists for what?"

"The birthday party I'm planning for Abbey. I have guest lists, wine lists, food lists, music lists…"

"I get the idea. You are aware that you have a social secretary who can take care of all that for you?"

"Of course I am. If this were a party for a visiting ambassador or something that would be fine. This is my WIFE. It's my responsibility to take care of it all. Having the White House social secretary take care of it would be like allowing Charlie to get her gift."

"Isn't he getting it?"

"I picked it out. He just gets it for me." Jed was getting exasperated now.

Leo smiled with amusement. Jed was the only man he knew to whom planning a party like this would become like a major military operation, planned down to the very minute, with second and third back up plans. "This is quite a list. Do you think Abbey is really going to go for a big party?" He knew that Abbey didn't always enjoy the pomp and circumstance of White House life.

"Probably not." Jed admitted.

"So you're taking all this time to plan the perfect party for a woman who you know is probably not going to enjoy it?"

"That's about it." Jed looked up to see Leo looking at him as if he was insane and he sighed knowing he would have to come clean.

"OK. I know she is going to enjoy the party we have for her in New Hampshire over the weekend with just family and close friends a hell of a lot more than this one. But, I'm planning the party for the night before the medical review board will come down on her. I want to take her mind off it.

"So you're planning this huge black tie affair simply to take your wife's mind off her problems?"

"In a nutshell," Jed agreed.

Leo gave an affectionate shake of the head. He didn't know why he should be surprised that Jed would go to these lengths. The man was absolutely crazy about his wife.

"Speaking of the review board," Jed glanced down at his watch. "Abbey should be back from her meeting with them. Why don't we go over and see how it went so we can plan some strategy."

Leo nodded and fell in step behind his boss.

"Now about this guest list," Jed continued on as they walked toward the east wing. "Should I address your invitation to Mr. Leo McGarry and guest or…"He lifted a brow in anticipation.

"Just Mr. Leo McGarry will be fine."

"I've been so wrapped up over the past few months with the things Abbey and me were dealing with I never really had the chance to ask what ever happened to you and Jordan?"

"Nothing happened," Leo scowled. "We went on a couple of dates and I guess we just weren't right for each other." Leo's mind flashed back to New Years Eve when he had moaned Abbey's name and how much he wanted her to Jordan while they were necking on the couch. He had been too humiliated to call her back and try to start over but maybe now was not such a bad time to do that.

He was thinking on that when Jed opened the door to Abbey's office. The first thing they noticed was the playpen in the middle of the floor where the twins were playing quietly.

Aislinn pulled herself up by the netting until she stood for her father's attention. Jed grinned at how adorable she was. Abbey had pulled her short wispy curls into two ponytails that stuck up on top of her head.

"Hey pigtails," he said, as he bent over to kiss the top of her head. Then, as he stood back up, both he and Leo's eyes fell on the First Lady.

Abbey was sitting at her desk with her head back and her eyes closed. Her chair was turned to the side revealing shapely legs that were crossed at the knee. Leo tried to avert his eyes from those amazing legs but they were damn hard to ignore in that short wine colored skirt. His eyes lingered on the sexy stiletto slingbacks she was wearing then moved up to her delicate ankles and her slender calves, higher still…

"Abbey." Jed's voice broke him out of his reverie. Abbey opened her eyes and pressed two fingers against her temple.

"Tough day, babe?" He moved forward to kiss her forehead.

"You could say that."

"What are the kids doing here?"

"Izzy had a follow up exam at the hospital. She should be back in about an hour so I thought I'd keep them down here with me and get some paperwork done, but now I have this splitting headache."

"Why don't I take them back to the Oval Office with me and you go upstairs, lay down and take an aspirin."

"Are you sure? You don't have any meetings?"

Jed turned to look at Leo.

"None," the chief of staff concurred. "Just some boring paperwork."

"I'll finish my paperwork, then bring them home and if you're up to it we can discuss the review board over dinner."

"OK," Abbey agreed. She got to her feet and approached the playpen. As she leaned over to lift Aislinn out, the slim fitting skirt stretched taut across her inconceivably luscious rear then rose inches higher to reveal more of her incredible legs. Leo's heart began to pound with the first stirrings of excitement. To hide it from the couple he took Aislinn from her mother and turned to head for the Oval Office.

"Why is he in such a hurry?" Abbey asked.

"Got me." Jed shrugged. He took Nicholas, gave Abbey another light kiss, this time on the lips, and followed in Leo's wake.

* * * *

Toby decided to take advantage of the President's light schedule and brought him some proposals that he and Josh had been throwing around to go over. He had expected to walk into the Oval Office not daddy daycare, but daddy daycare seemed to be the case. The President sat on the couch with a pen clenched between his teeth as he went over some paperwork. His daughter sat beside him leaning against him sleepily while she half- heartedly drank from her bottle. His son sat in the middle of the seal of the President of the United States surrounded by plastic blocks and toys.

"What can I do for you, Toby," Jed asked.

"Josh and I were going over the budget for Health and Human…"

"Wait, hold that thought. Nicholas STOP right there." Jed put up his hand and turned to where his son was heading to unplug a lamp. He lifted the boy and settled him back among his blocks "Sorry, go ahead and continue."

"As I was saying. We found that if we add childhood inoculations for…"

"Aislinn, don't you dare put that in your mouth, sweetheart. Jesus, your mother will KILL me."

Toby sighed with irritation as the President leaned over to take away the broken cigarette she had snuck out of his pocket while she had been sitting with him.

"Sorry about that Toby," Jed apologized again. "I'm listening. I really am."

"Well, we think that if we changed some numbers around we can guarantee…"

Before Toby could continue on Nicholas Bartlet began to cry and tug at his fathers pant leg.

"I'm sorry Toby, really. I think he's wet. Can you just watch Aislinn here while I go change his diaper." It wasn't a question. "Just give her that pink bubba if she fusses."

This isn't happening to me Toby thought as he plopped down onto the couch next to Aislinn and gazed at her balefully. Aislinn stared back at him with big solemn gray eyes. Toby picked up a discarded newspaper and as he lifted it, he realized the baby girl was still regarding him somberly. She wasn't used to being ignored by the adults in her life and wasn't quite sure what to make of him.

"What are you looking at little lady?" he asked. "You want that bubba your dad was talking about? What the heck is a bubba anyway?"

"Bubba" Aislinn's face lit with a mischievous smile flashing the dimple in her right cheek that she had inherited from her beautiful mother. He had to admit that as far as kids went, this baby girl was a knockout in the cute department. He watched her squirm down off the couch and pick up the pink bottle of juice she had left on the floor. As she sat back and began to suck from it he began to read his paper in earnest.

He was deeply engrossed in an editorial against the White House when something slammed loudly into his paper startling him.

"What the HELL!" he shouted as he jumped up. He moved the paper and saw little Aislinn standing before him in her overalls and pink T-shirt. The little cherubs face was crumpling…she was just about to…"No!" Toby tried to stop her. Her bottom lip began to jut out and quiver…"Oh please don't…" But in the next instant Aislinn let out an ear splitting cry of fear.

"Jesus, what happened!" Jed ran out of the bathroom carrying Nicholas under one arm. The baby boy's diaper was dangling from his leg as his father had only gotten it half fastened. "What happened to my daughter, Toby?" he demanded.

"She scared me."

"She SCARED you? She is a year old and has the face of an angel. Just how did she scare you?"

"Dada," Aislinn wailed lifting her arms up for her daddy to pick her up. Jed set Nicholas down on the floor and lifted Aislinn into his arms.

"She startled me," Toby stated defensively. "I didn't expect her to hit my newspaper."

"Ssh Ashy… don't cry, sunshine." He bounced her in his arms. "I won't let the mean man get you." He turned and fixed Toby with piercing blue eyes. "I thought I asked you to WATCH her."

"I did… I was…"he stammered sheepishly. " I didn't think she could go anywhere."

"Do you even listen when I talk to you? I've only been bragging about the fact that they can walk for two weeks now. I know that…"

"Uh, sir" Toby lifted a brow.

"No, Toby I'm going to speak my mind about this. Aislinn is your…"

"Sir, I really think you better look at Nicholas."

"Why? What is he doing?"

"He's peeing on the eagles head."

Jed's head snapped and he turned to see that Nicholas had gotten out of his diaper completely and was sitting naked peeing on the Presidential Seal. He closed his eyes pressing two fingers to his temple before calling out. "ABBEY!"

* * * *

Leo sat at his desk in a complete loss as to what to do. In his hands he held his address book with Jordan's phone number. In front of him lay a picture of he, Jed and Abbey at one of the inaugural balls. It was Abbey that his eyes fixated on. Why, oh why couldn't he just let this attraction go? He had spent half his life being secretly in love with his best friend's wife and never, until Jed had gotten shot and Abbey had gotten pregnant, had it affected him this strongly. It had been so much easier when the Bartlet's were in New Hampshire and he and Jenny were in DC. He could go months without even thinking about her. Then he would see her again, see them together, and it all came back. It wasn't so hard to explain. Abbey was a beautiful, brilliant, sexually alluring woman. The things that he dreamed of doing with her were all things he had never dared to suggest with his straightlaced wife. There were a lot of things that he knew Jenny would never go for that he was pretty sure wouldn't even make Abbey Bartlet blink. After all, the first couple had scored four out of five stars on a "How Sexually Adventurous are You?" survey in Cosmopolitan magazine. He had seen books on Kama Sutra on their bedroom bookshelves and smelled massage oil on Jed when he had interrupted them one night.

Leo groaned and leaned back in his chair. That was half his problem. Before he became Jed Bartlet's chief of staff he hadn't really been on an intimate basis with their life. Things had certainly changed in that department. In the past 3-½ years he had interrupted them in more intimate moments than he cared to remember. He had heard them having sex in a shower stall, been privy to rumors of carnal acts on their boat and had seen Abbey naked in pictures Marcus Hughes had taken of she and Jed making love. But, it was more than that. He had watched Abbey come as close to losing herself as he had ever seen when Jed had been shot and nearly killed. He had watched her strength and resilience as she helped him fight for his life and nursed him back to health. He had watched her devour jars of crunchy peanut butter during her pregnancy. He had been filled with a nervous tenderness as he watched her tiny frame swell with Jed's twins fearing her safety in delivering them. He had sat anxiously outside that birthing room cringing every time the door opened and he heard her crying out in pain. He would never forget how Abbey had looked after the birth when they had all been allowed in to meet the two newest Bartlets. Her hair was still damp with the sweat of her exertion. She wore no make up and it was obvious that she was totally exhausted, yet never before had he seen a face so alight with complete and total joy and love. It was a look that she shared with her husband and when those gazes met you could almost palpably feel the happiness and love extending between the two.

Part of his attraction to Abbey was definitely that easy, affectionate relationship that she shared with Jed. He envied Jed an intelligent wife who matched him word for word, wit for wit. He envied him the teasing and the flirting. He envied him the touching; the little rub on the small of his back, the brush of a lock of hair off his forehead, the straightening of his tie and the way her hand would unconsciously give his chest an extra little caress. He envied him being able to DO the touching. The holding of her hand, the stroking of her knee in the limo, the hand on the small of her back as he led her into a room and The way he would drop it when he thought no one was looking to pat her rear. He envied the way Jed would mope around the late night halls of the west wing when Abbey was gone, simply because he missed her. He envied his enthusiasm at her return and the way he would wrap things up and bound for home just to be with her again. He envied them their little "barbecues". Not many people he knew that had been married as long as Jed and Abbey had still shared that kind of physical excitement in each other, nor that aching need to be together. They were truly two halves of a whole and he really hadn't realized how much he envied that until he had divorced Jenny and been made to face the fact that he had never been in a marriage like that. Never known that kind of love and connection.

He leaned back and sighed still eyeing Jordan's phone number. He remember her words New Years Eve when she had told him not to give her a call until he had sorted out his feelings for Abigail Bartlet. A part of him thought he could do that with everything that had happened with Marcus Hughes. It had seemed almost sacrilegious to think of Abbey sexually when she had almost been raped. Yet, here they were just a few weeks later and in Abbey's office he had felt that pull of sexual attraction. He shut the address book. No, he hadn't sorted his feelings for Abbey out yet, but he had a feeling he better do just that before Jed found out. Because if Jed EVER found out than all hell would break loose.

TBC...