Abbey stood on the deck of the yacht with Jed's arms wrapped around her from behind. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and watched the glittering lights of the castle fade as they progressed through the night to the far shore.

"So, did you really plan all this by yourself?" She asked him.

"I'm good, but I'm not that good. I had a little help." He nudged his head over to where Pentti and Tarja sat at the table nursing their nightcaps and picking at the Finnish pastries that had been laid out for their arrival. "You were really down about leaving the kids behind and I wanted to do something to cheer you up so I asked Tarja for a little help in planning a romantic getaway once all the official stuff was finished."

"Well, it worked. Consider me cheered."

"Of course that was before I realized that you weren't going to need me to cheer you, that you were going to walk off that plane and steal the show from start to finish." He kissed the top of her head.

"Jed, I'd rather have one hug from Nicky or Aislinn than even 100,000 people cheering for me."

"I know, and that's just one of the reasons that I love you so much."

She turned in his arms to face him and lifted a hand to run her fingers gently over his brow. The worry lines had been deeply grooved for the past few days and it was only tonight that they had seemed to soften just a bit. "I just hope that now that this summit is over you will be able to relax, at least for a couple of days before we go home." She knew what awaited him at home. Some type of major confrontation over Leo that would decide his chief of staffs fate, the Democratic Convention, a summer and fall of whirlwind campaigning culminating with the debates and the election. It would be up to her to make the most of the free days given to see to it that he did get in some real R&R.

"Well now, honey, a lot of that is up to you. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to help me relax?"

"The sacrifices that I make for my country," she gave a weary sigh that earned her a pinch on the rear.

"Sacrifices, my ass," he whispered throatily into her ear. "I'm gonna remind you that you said that later tonight when you're begging me for it."

"Jed!" she covered his mouth with her palm and turned her head to see if the other couple had overheard her husband. It was on the tip of her sharp little tongue to inform him that she didn't beg but she knew very well that he would prove her wrong on that front. When it came to what Jed could do to her in bed she had no shame whatsoever and begging was the easiest way to get what she wanted.

* * * *

The flickering of lights through the trees in the distance finally broke up the darkness of the lake and the woods that surrounded it. Not knowing where they were going, Abbey watched with interest to see the yacht head toward the lights and finally dock on the shore of what she could see was hidden lakeside villa. If the Olavinlinna castle had been imposing in its romance, the lace- like wooden filigree of the villa held a more intimate romantic setting. Nestled on the edge of the water and deep in the woods, there was a cozy privacy to it that the castle had lacked.

The two couples and their agents made their way through the still of the night guided by the moon and the small ground lights that marked the trail.

"Is this where we're spending the night?" Abbey asked Jed.

"This is it. Rauhanlinna. It was built by Nils Weckman, head of fortification in the czar's army as a silver wedding present for his wife in 1900. What do you think?"

"I think you did real good." She lifted the hand that held hers to kiss the back of his knuckles. "I feel like nobody can find us here."

Jed heard the wistful note in her voice. He knew how hard it was for Abbey to live in the goldfish bowl that their lives had become. He had been teasing her throughout the trip about her cheering admirers but admiration came at a cost, and part of that cost had been giving up her privacy. Every time she left the White House she had to be perfectly dressed and coifed as her every move was carefully monitored. Because of that, moments of sheer privacy such as what was being afforded them now at the villa were cherished and treasured.

"Don't worry about rushing to get up in the morning," Tarja told them as she and Pentti stopped in front of the Bartlet's suite to say good night. "Whenever you're ready to go just stop at our room and I'll give you the key."

"Tarja, thank you, both of you, this place is great. It's just what we need." Jed squeezed the Finnish's President's hand lightly.

"You're very welcome. I'm just hoping you will leave my country with fond memories."

"I'm sure it will be a trip that we won't forget," Abbey assured her.

Inside their elegantly rustic room their bed had been turned down and a fire had been laid. While Jed slipped off his coat and bent to start the fire, Abbey stepped out onto the small balcony that faced the trail to the dock and the lake. The full moon cast a bright swath across the blackness of the water and although she knew that there were other people in the villa it felt very much like she and Jed had the place to themselves.

"Ok, fire's lit," Jed said, as he joined her on the balcony. "Now I believe that we have some unfinished business to take care of." He took her hand and pulled her up against him. The soft glow of the moon caressed her lovely face and Jed felt the overpowering need to touch that beauty. He pushed a curling tendril of hair back behind her ear then let his index finger trace the delicate lines of her cheekbone and jaw. It was Abbey who made the first move, unable to wait any longer for what he had denied her earlier. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist and her lips touched his in a kiss that told him that she really meant business. At the feel of her tongue stroking the roof of his mouth Jed lost all sense of reason. His hands pulled her sweater out from where it had been tucked into her pants and began to run up and down the smooth expanse of her back, pressing her closely into him. Abbey grabbed his butt and pulled his hips up hard against hers so she could feel what this kiss was doing to him. The pulsing between her thighs began to quicken as the hard bulge of him rubbed against her.

Jed wanted her closer, pressed harder against the ache that was heavy and throbbing at his groin, but just as his hands began to disappear into the back of her pants to cup her soft rear there was a loud clearing of a throat from the next balcony.

"Good NIGHT Mr. President," called out one of their agents. It was warning call meant to let them know that they could be seen before they got too carried away.

Abbey let her breath out on a soft sigh. Evidently the illusion of privacy was just that, an illusion. Then the ridiculousness of the situation struck her and she gave a quiet giggle into Jed's chest.

"Thanks guys," Jed called back, then whispered gruffly to Abbey, "I don't know what's so funny. I'm so damn hard I can barely walk."

"Then wait out here a few minutes. I'll make it worth your while." She left him out on the balcony and it was all Jed could do to keep himself from peeking to see what the little minx was up to. After a few minutes, despite the fact that his ardor had not cooled one iota thanks to the tantalizing images of what Abbey was up to that filled his imagination, he re-entered the suite. The lights were all off.

"Abbey," he called out puzzled.

"I'm over here, Jed," she answered throatily.

Jed turned and felt all the saliva dry in his mouth. There in front of the flickering fire, Abbey lay on her side on the bearskin rug completely naked. The paleness of her skin was enhanced by the darkness of the fur. Her tousled reddish curls tumbled over her shoulder and the firelight cast tantalizing shadows over the rosy tips of her nipples and the dark triangle between her thighs. She looked wanton, erotic, and totally fuckable.

"Jed, it's getting a little cold over here," she ran her hand sensuously over the fur. "Are you planning to join me?"

"As soon as I can breathe again." Jed discarded his pants easily enough but his anxious fingers were clumsy when it came to unbuttoning his shirt.

"Here, let me." Abbey got up on her knees and pulled him down so they were face to face. Staring deeply into his intense eyes, she began to unbutton his shirt for him. When she had finally pushed it off his shoulders her lips began to press little kisses over his chest. Jed gave a deep groan of pleasure as her tongue found and began to tease his flat nipple just as her hand slipped inside the slit in his boxers to close over him.

"Abbey…" he moaned, needing her to stroke him.

"You like that?" she whispered huskily, as she gave one caress up his length, her thumb rubbing softly around his sensitive rim.

"God, yes. Please, more." He grabbed her wrist to get her to stroke in the rhythm that he ached for.

"Jed, there was a conversation that you wanted to remind me of from earlier tonight."

"Was there?" His mind fuddled with desire, he couldn't for the life of him think what they had been discussing earlier and at this point he could care less. Right now all he wanted was to keep feeling her stroking him and to take that sweet rosy nipple into his mouth.

Abbey sighed as his hot, wet mouth closed over the tip of her breast. The pulsing between her legs became more intense and began to throb in time to the squeezing suction of his mouth. "Yes," she tried not to groan. "But I think that it's you who is doing all the begging right now."

"Right now being the operative words." He laid her back on the incredible silky softness of the fur rug, his fingers running over her belly down to the soft damp curls between her legs in a repetition of what he had done earlier at the opera. However, without any clothes to impede the sensations it was so much more intense and when Jed slid his fingers into her depths and over the soft little nub of sensitized flesh she gave an abandoned cry of pleasure. When his fingers stopped, she whimpered with frustration.

"Jed…"

"Ask me nicely."

”What?"

"Ask me nicely to continue."

She knew that he wanted her to beg and while at other times she enjoyed a battle of the wills with her husband to do so tonight would just be cutting off her nose to spite her face. "Please continue," she urged him.

"That's more like it."

He settled in between her open thighs and slid deeply inside knowing that within moments both would be begging the other for that ultimate release.

* * * *

On the other side of the Bartlets from the agents, Tarja and Pentti lay in bed talking softly. The noises from the room next door caused a smile to cross Pentti's face.

"You didn't happen leave them a copy of 'When Harry Met Sally'" by any chance, did you?" Pentti asked with amusement, knowing darn well that while it sounded like it, it was not the famous sandwich shop scene from the movie playing in the next room.

"No." Tarja told him.

"I take it then that you neglected to tell the President that this place hasn't been renovated in over a hundred years and the wood walls are paper thin."

"Oh God, I forgot." She buried her face in Pentti's arm. "They'll be so embarrassed."

"They never have to know. The only other people in this part of the villa are you and me and their agents and somehow I assume their agents have heard this all before."

"Somehow I think you're right."

* * * *

Later the next morning after a leisurely breakfast on their balcony they found Tarja and Pentti having brunch in the dining area.

"Ready to head off?" Tarja asked. She whispered something into the waiter's ear then dug into her pocket and took out a key, which she handed to Jed.

"What is that for?" Abbey asked. "Where are we going?"

"You couldn't make a visit to Finland without experiencing a real Finnish sauna. The key is to our private lakeside sauna. I assure you, you will have complete privacy both at the sauna and in the lake."

The waiter returned and handed Tarja a small cooler and a picnic basket.

"Now you're all set," Pentti grinned and pulled out a six pack of Lapin Kulta beer. "You can't sauna without an ice cold beer. The best way to experience the health benefits to the sauna is to remove all your clothes and keep throwing water on the stones. You must sweat profusely to rid the body of all its unhealthy toxins. Then, when you can no longer bear the heat any longer you must run straight into the ice cold lake."

"Run naked down to the lake?" Abbey cast a skeptical look over to Tarja. "Did my husband put you up to saying that?"

"Afraid not," Tarja laughed. "It's true. It is the way we do it. At least when we have the privacy to do so."

"Well it's not the way I'm doing it," Abbey grumbled. "I have enough of a reputation with the secret service. I certainly don't need to put on another free show."

"But Abbey, that's the way they do it here," Jed protested. "You know, when in Rome and all that."

"If you want to run bare- assed down to the lake you just feel free to do so, but count me out."

"Well, whatever you decide to do, after your sauna you can dress and have lunch by the lake. I've had the kitchen prepare you a picnic as you asked, Mr. President."

"OK then, we're off." Jed grabbed the picnic basket with one hand and Abbey's hand with the other. She grabbed the cooler and they were off.

"Hey Romeo," Abbey said pulling back on the hand that Jed was tugging. He was yanking her down the trail with boyish enthusiasm. "Not so fast."

"This is going to be fun, come on."

"I know exactly what's going through that devious little mind of yours. You think that once you have me naked in that sauna I'll give in and go skinny dipping with you."

"Abigail, you wound me. How could you believe that I would have ulterior motives? You heard Arajarvi; this is all done for the health benefits. I'm only thinking about your health, sweetheart."

"My health," Abbey laughed sarcastically. "That's rich, Jed, really rich. Got any swampland in Florida you want to sell me along with those health benefits?"

* * * *

It hadn't taken Abbey long to find out what she had known all along. Her husband truly did have ulterior motives when it came to that sauna. As soon as their clothes had come off and they had entered the small, humid room, he had insisted upon making love to her as the more that they sweated the more they would release those unhealthy toxins. After all they were here for the health benefits, weren't they? OK, she hadn't been hard to persuade when it came to that part of his argument, but now she was naked and laying back languidly on the aspen wood bench drenched in sweat. Jed lay next to her his breathing still erratic from their healthy workout. Abbey watched the sweat trickle down his masculine chest and drew a finger through his chest hair to release the droplets. The salty taste of him was still erotic on her tongue and despite being completely satiated she still felt a tingling awareness deep inside where Jed had just been. A primal response to his maleness and the reaction of his body.

"You're hot, baby, admit it." He pushed her sweat-dampened curls back off her face.

"I'm fine, Jed. Very comfortable." But she wasn't. She was hot and sticky and sweaty and the idea of plunging into that cold lake was looking better and better. She took a sip from the beer bottle that lay beside her hoping it might give her a little relief from the heat.

"No you're not. You're really, really hot, and right outside that door is relief." He trailed a finger down over her flat belly to follow where the sweat trickled down over her hipbones and into the soft nest of curls he would never tire of exploring. "Just think how refreshing it would be slide your body into that icy cold water. Think of how clean and rejuvenated you would be."

It took every bit of Abbey's willpower not to run out that door and down to the lake. The only thing keeping her on the bench were the looks that she had received after her little encounter with Jed on the deck of the boat last summer and knowing how the gossip traveled. She had discovered the hard way that the SECRET service was not nearly as secret as she had thought it would be.

"Well, I can't stand it anymore. I'm not as selective about who I'll flash in front of as you. I'm taking the plunge." He turned reluctantly to leave without her. Good lord that woman could be stubborn.

Abbey stood in the doorway of the sauna and grinned as she watched her husband run bare- assed down the 50 yards of beach to the lake, then bellow with shock as he threw himself off the end of the dock into the frigid water. God how she longed to join him. She turned from the door and that's when she saw it. The small towel that Jed had placed under hips to soften the hard bench when he had made love to her. It wouldn't cover much, but it would hide the strategic stuff. She placed the towel across the front of her body.

Jed was just starting to walk out of the lake when he saw his wife come streaking down the beach with a small towel that barely covered her from breast to hips held tightly against her chest. He laughed as he watched the towel sail back on the dock at the last second and he got a glorious flash of her nude body in the sunlight before she plunged off the end of the dock. She immediately surfaced with a high pitched shriek. This water was as cold at the North Atlantic in May. She stood, pushing the hair back from her face her nipples puckered and distended from the icy water, her teeth chattering.

"I think standing up kind of defeated the purpose of the towel." He was grinning broadly at her and Abbey glanced down to see that she was exposed from the hips up. The shock of the water had startled her so much she had become disoriented. She immediately slipped back under the water up to her and neck began to curse like a sailor.

"Jed, get my towel," she demanded "QUICKLY!"

"Well, I don't know Abbey, I had to run down here completely naked I think the least that you could do…"

"Josiah Bartlet you get me that fucking towel right this INSTANT or as God is my witness this is the LAST day that you will have sex with me until the election."

Jed couldn't take the off chance that she might be serious. He was not a Nobel Laureate for nothing. He raced over toward the dock and hand delivered the towel.

* * * *

Cleaned and refreshed and back in jeans and sweatshirts, Abbey with her wet hair pulled back into a ponytail, the two sat on the edge of Lake Haapavesi and dined on the delicacies that had been packed for them. Both had to agree that the shock of sweaty heat to frigid cold had rejuvenated them and relaxed them in ways neither had thought possible.

"This has been wonderful, Jed. Thank you for last night and today."

"You're very welcome." He opened his mouth to accept the smoked salmon pastie Abbey was offering him. "I bet the press corps is going nuts right about now."

"They don't know we're here?"

"No, I told you. I wanted us to have privacy. Hell, if the press corps knew where we were this lake would be littered with boats."

Abbey gazed out over the pristine blue water thankful to see nary a boat in sight.

"I didn't even tell the staff. I just whisked you off to the yacht instead of going to the motorcade. I didn't want them to try to convince me of the folly of 'disappearing' for 24 hours or the photo ops of you and I relaxing by the lake that we were missing out on. I just wanted some time for US. Ron knows where I am in case of an emergency."

Abbey smiled tenderly and kissed him lightly on the lips just a little sadly. She knew what he had left unsaid. In the past he would have at least been able to tell Leo of his plans. That he hadn't been able to showed just how great the rift was between the former best friends. "I hate to bring this up, but I think that we should talk about it before we get on Air Force One tonight."

"Leo," he sighed, knowing right away what she would want to talk about.

"Yes, Leo. You have to make a decision about what you're going to do about him. Watching the two of you on this trip has been awful. You're treating him like persona non grata."

"As far as I'm concerned he IS persona non grata."

"That's fine for your friendship if that's the way that you want it to be, but you can't continue to work that way together. If you can't get passed this than I think that you need to find a new chief of staff."

"Do you think that I should find a new chief of staff?"

"No, I think that you need to work through this. I don't think that you will be happy until you can resolve things with Leo. But, I also know that you need a chief of staff that you can work with and trust and if that means letting Leo go, then you do what you have to do. I want what is best for you, Jed."

"I don't even know what is best for me."

"Care for a little free advice from someone who knows you inside and out?"

"Since when do you ask?"

"Since I'm skating on thin ice here. I know that I'm part of this whole blow up between you and Leo. I know that I should have told you what he did to me right when he did it, but I honestly can't say that I'm SORRY that I didn't. If I had told you then it would have been the end of your friendship with Leo. Look at where we're sitting Jed. You are the most powerful man in the world, I got drunk with the President of Russia, and we spent last night as guests of honor in a castle in Finland. None of this would be possible if it hadn't been for Leo making you believe that it WAS possible."

"I've forgiven you for your part in this, Abbey," he scowled, knowing that she was right.

"And I think that you need to somehow find it in your heart to forgive Leo. When I watch you with him it's like watching a person that I don't really know. The Jed that I know believes in love and redemption and forgiveness." She pushed a lock of hair back off his forehead.

" I think I might have had a chance at forgiving him if it had just been that one incident, if he weren't still in love with you. I just can't get past that."

"And maybe you won't. I can't tell you how to feel, Jed. But just hear me out, please. Leo loves you. Yes, he made a mistake. He shouldn't have done what he did to me; he shouldn't have said those things that he said to me. He KNOWS that, Jed. As for what he feels for me I don't really understand it myself since I haven't spoken with him. But all I know is that there have been PLENTY of opportunities for him to make another pass at me. How many times have I danced with him since that night? How many times has he slept at our home and been alone with me when I wore nothing but a bathrobe? It happened just a couple weeks ago when I bumped into him in the hall at night on my way to comfort Aislinn. The point is, that he has never made ANY kind of advance on me like that since that night at the fundraiser."

"That doesn't mean that he won't. Dammit he admitted to me that if you had responded to him he would have fucked you."

"Jed, it's been 12 years, if he was going to make another pass at me he would have done it by now. He KNOWS how I feel. He knows that I don't think of him that way. He knows how much I love you and he knows that I'd slap him again if he touched me. What would be the point of trying? Not to mention that, as much as you don't believe this, he would never do that to you. Not again. He really does love you. When we told him about the MS, did he castigate us or turn on us for deceiving him? No, he supported us and kept his mouth shut when doing so could have cost him everything. Then, that night that you got shot."

"Rosslyn," Jed growled, thinking about how he had accused Leo of hoping he'd die so he could put the moves on his Abbey, the grieving widow.

"Yes, Rosslyn." She tilted his chin to look into his eyes. "I know what you said to Leo but that couldn't have been further from the truth. He was devastated, Jed, and scared, but I don't know how I could have made it through that night without him. I was pregnant, you were dying, and I've never been so scared in my life. I really believed that I was going to lose you, but every time that I broke down and lost hope Leo was right there assuring me that you were a fighter, that you had beaten worse odds, that you were going to make it. I needed his optimism that night, Jed, without it I don't know what might have happened to me." Her hand moved unconsciously to cover her belly and Jed knew what she was leaving unsaid. If she had lost control, become too completely emotionally overwrought she could very well have lost their babies. It was a scary, humbling thought and his hand moved to cover hers.

"Well, maybe I was off base with that one," he admitted. "But I trusted him to take care of you and the girls, and my unborn children. I TRUSTED him, Abbey, and as sure as I am sitting here holding your hand, I am sure that if I had died it wouldn't have been long before he was trying to become your second husband."

"Let's be thankful that we never had to cross that path." A shiver ran up Abbey's spine and she crossed herself to ward off the thoughts of death. "Now, back to what I was saying. When the shit hit the fan and the MS became public knowledge who was the ONE person who always went to bat for us? Who tried to defuse the senior staffs anger? Who defended what we had done at every turn? That's right, it was Leo. He didn't do it because he thought what we did was right or justified, he did it because he loves us. He could have sold you out, Jed. He could have saved his skin and sold you out. They offered him that deal; they threatened to ruin his reputation and his career if he didn't deliver you to them. He told them to go to hell." Tears filled Abbey's eyes now. "He risked losing everything because he is supposed to take a bullet for you not the other way around and I don't doubt that he would."

"So you really do think that I should keep him on?"

" I really think that you will regret it if you don't keep him on. Like I said I can't tell you how to feel and I'll back you whatever your decision is, I just hope that you talk to Leo and listen to him with an open heart and an open mind."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For supporting me and listening to me and not trying to pressure me like everyone else. Most of all for letting me make my own decision."

"I trust you. Now don't screw it up."

TBC...