Deep into the night as Air Force One flew over the dark expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, Leo made his way toward the presidential suite. He knew what was coming, knew what he had to do, but that didn't make it any easier. Back when Charlie had been in training he remembered hearing Jed tell the young man that there were only two people allowed unlimited access to him and those two people were his wife and his chief of staff. Things had certainly changed on that front. Jed had all but ignored him on this trip. Oh during the summit meetings he had been professional, had consulted with him, however, it was as if he were working with a stranger. When the meetings were over it was the other senior staff members that he hashed things out with, the other senior staff members he joked around with. Hell, he still didn't even know where Abbey and Jed had snuck off to after leaving the opera. No matter how much this job meant to him, he knew deep down inside that he couldn't be Jed's chief of staff without that unlimited access or without that trust. He remembered overhearing Jed before his first state of the union telling Roger Tribby that he needed to make his best friend, the man he would trust his life with, his chief of staff. Every President needed that one man he could rely on to tell him when he was wrong, or being an ass, or even just to look out for his best interests. JFK had had Bobby, and Jed had had him. Had being the operative word. They HAD been as close as two brothers, but Jed had made it very clear that he no longer felt that way. Leo could tell that Jed could barely stomach the sight of him anymore and that was not good for the country or for Jed. He needed to find that right hand man again. Taking a deep breath, he knocked lightly on the door of the suite.

Thinking it was the nachos he had ordered; Jed called out for the steward to come in.

Leo entered the room. Abbey and Jed were relaxing back on the couch together, their jean clad legs propped up on the coffee table. They were watching a videotape of a Red Sox game that had been played while they had been at the summit. Just about to take a pull from his bottle of beer, Jed's hand paused mid-air when he saw Leo.

"Leo?" It was Abbey who breathed his name out with surprise.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'd like to speak with the President before we land."

"It's late, Leo" Jed scowled. "Can't it wait?"

"No sir, this is important."

"Talk to him, Jed" Abbey hissed into his ear. She slapped his thigh lightly and got to her feet padding over to the edge of the couch to slide on her discarded loafers.

"Where the hell are you going?" Jed asked.

"I'm going to see if CJ wants to play a game of cribbage. You two need to work this out on your own. You know where to find me if you need me." She leaned down ostensibly to kiss Jed's cheek, but she also whispered sternly into his ear, "No more hitting."

Jed gave her a dark look, but Abbey merely turned to grab the cribbage board and deck of cards. "Good luck" she mouthed as she walked past Leo on her way to the door, then thought to herself, you're gonna need it.

There was a long silence in the room after Abbey's departure with neither man knowing quite what to say. Finally Jed turned the volume to the TV down and turned to Leo.

"It appears that my wife would like you and I to duke this out once in for all."

"Let's not use the word 'duke'." Leo's fingers moved to his eye where the blackness had faded into a yellowing bruise with purple streaks. Jed's handiwork from their previous talk about Abbey was a not so pretty reminder of how volatile the situation could get between the two of them.

"I'm not going to apologize for that," Jed told him coldly.

"Didn't expect you to."

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea but Abbey seems to think that it needs to be done sooner rather than later."

"She's a tough cookie." Leo smiled fondly.

A smile of acknowledgment crossed Jed's lips briefly. Tough cookie was a good word to describe his wife. Abbey had always been one to meet problems head on and directly while he tended to push things into the background hoping to avoid a confrontation. It wasn't a difference in temperament; it was a difference in how they had been raised. Abbey had been raised in a loving environment where her opinions were weighed and valued, where she was encouraged to speak her mind as long as it was done in a polite and rational manner. He, on the other hand, had been raised to believe that the only valid opinion was that of his father. John Bartlet's word had been law and it didn't take Jed long to learn what happened in his house when you questioned his father's opinions, beliefs, or his rules. He had spent his life trying to avoid those confrontations but in the end they had become unavoidable because there was something in his make up that made him believe that if he could just explain things properly he could make his father see the light. He hadn't realized that he would never be able to make John Bartlet see things his way until he met Abbey. It was Abbey who convinced him that he would never be able to change his father and that if he wanted any type of relationship with him he was just going to have to accept him the way that he was. Not that SHE hadn't given it a try a time or two. It still made him smile to think of his little spitfire of a wife going toe to toe with the stern, uncompromising John Bartlet. From the beginning, his father had not known what to make of Abbey. He hadn't known how to deal with the pretty, strong-minded redhead his son later married. Jed remembered the night that Abbey found out just what kind of man his father was as if it happened only yesterday. They had been dating for about 10 months and she was visiting him over Christmas break when she had witnessed a confrontation between he and John. It had been nothing compared to what he had gone through when he was younger, the physical abuse had tapered off as he had gotten old enough to fight back, but it was enough to arouse suspicions she had already had. That night, while his parents were at a faculty party he had sat in front of the fireplace with her and finally come clean about everything. Never in his life had he spoken of what had gone on between he and his father, even he and Jon didn't talk about it. But that night he had held nothing back with Abbey and when he was finished she had held him in his arms and wept. He had been dry-eyed, it was she who cried for him when he could not cry for himself. He had been stunned by her reaction. Nobody had ever cried for him and if he hadn't known it before, he knew in then, that he HAD to spend the rest of his life with this woman. Later, after Elizabeth was born, Abbey had stared his father down in a head to head confrontation letting him know that she knew of the abuse his son had suffered at his hands and the two of them were not going to allow that kind of emotional or physical violence to touch their new little family. He had known in that moment that Abbey would always be there for him, always be there fighting for him, covering his back, fighting his battles with him side by side, or on her own if need be.

"Mr. President?" Leo shuffled uncomfortably.

Jed snapped back to the present with a shake of his head. "I don't know where to go here, Leo. I've known you longer than I've known Abbey. You're a member of my family. I've talked to Abbey, I've prayed for guidance, I've wrestled with my feelings until I'm so twisted up inside I don't know which way is up."

"You don't have to tell me, I know. I guess I've always known what your reaction would be, which is why I never wanted you to find out. I've seen the way that you are when it comes to Abbey. I've watched you protect and defend her and I've seen you go after the people who have harmed her. I saw what you did to Marcus Hughes, I've watched you single mindedly destroy every campaign that Eliot Rhoush has been in, and I watched you accept a congressional censure so that she wouldn't have to go before that panel and have her reputation torn to shreds."

Jed nodded; he at least had that right. "She means everything to me, Leo. It's been that way ever since I met her at that frat party and I fell so fast and so hard for her that it was like getting knocked over by a freight train. I never knew what hit me. One day I was walking along minding my own business, thinking about becoming a priest, and the next day I bumped into her, stared into those beautiful eyes and all thoughts of a celibate lifestyle went right out the window. Seeing her again, being with her again suddenly took precedence over every thing. She was the first person who ever really loved me just for being me. My mother loved me because I was her child, to this day I don't really know how my father felt about me, and my grandparents loved me because I was a Bartlet grandchild. I was the future, the one they were handing the family name over to and they were expecting great things. Townie girls wanted to date me because I was a preppie, a Bartlet, a way to a better life. None of that mattered to Abbey. She was the first person to love Jed, not Josiah Bartlet. I could have grown up in a slum and been as poor as a church mouse and Abbey still would have loved me. She loved who I was, she shared my dreams, and, other than my love, she never asked for anything in return. That's been the basis of our relationship throughout all these years. She means everything to me, and that's why I react the way that I do to anyone hurting her or trying to take her from me."

"I know. Believe me I've envied you that for as long as I can remember. My relationship with Jenny was so different."

"Jenny loved you, " Jed stated sharply.

"I know she loved me but there is a difference between loving someone and being IN love with someone. Abbey's always been 'in love' with you. I remember back when we were campaigning hearing Abbey telling some reporter that the two of you were soulmates. I had always thought that word was a bunch of crap, that there was no such thing as a soulmate, but then I started thinking about it and I realized that you guys really are two people who were meant to be together. Hell, I don't know too many guys who mope around until all hours of the night simply because their wife is away on a trip. I don't know of too many couples who speak 3 to 4 times a day when they're apart. In fact Jenny used to give me hell all the time about that. She was always telling me that you were the PRESIDENT and you were able to take the time to call Abbey every night before bed, what the hell was wrong with me? I don't know of too many guys who have been married for 30 years who still get little love notes sent with them in their suitcases when they go away on a trip. Do you remember that fact finding tour of El Salvador that we went on in the early 80's?"

"Of course."

"We were gone for two weeks. We got home just in time for Thanksgiving which Jenny and I planned to spend with you and Abbey in New Hampshire. Jenny picked us up at Logan airport."

"And? What was so unusual about that?"

"Nothing. That's what I'm saying. Jenny gave us each a peck on the cheek, we got our luggage and we drove north."

"Are you going somewhere with this, Leo?"

"Yes, I am. When we pulled up the driveway of the farm Abbey was on the porch playing with Zoey. When she saw you get out of the car she came rushing down the lawn and threw herself into your arms wrapping her legs around your waist and kissing you as if she thought she'd never see you again. Jed, you'd be married over 10 years at that point and you had three kids and you were still getting that kind of reception. Jenny never loved me the way that Abbey loves you."

"Maybe you never gave her the chance. Maybe she sensed that you never loved her the way that I love Abbey."

"Or maybe she was too hung up on turning me into you----" Leo's hand slapped over his mouth as if to stop the rest of the words from coming forth.

"Turning you into me? What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's not important. I shouldn't have…"

"Leo, I think there have been enough lies and enough secrets. What exactly did you mean by that?"

"I mean that my marriage was a sham pretty much from the start. Jenny was in love with YOU, she wanted YOU but she settled for me."

"You don't know what you're talking about. Jenny was my friend. She was my best friend at Notre Dame until Abbey came along. Don't project the way that you feel on to Jenny."

"Yes, she was your best friend at school and she was pining away for you. As long as you were thinking about becoming a priest she was content with being your friend, but, that isn't to say that she didn't dream of the day that you would tell her that you were giving up any idea of becoming a priest because you were falling in love with her."

Jed stared at him stunned. "It wasn't that way, Leo. I never felt like that about Jenny."

"I know, and you damn near broke her heart when you came to her all breathless and excited to tell her that you had met the most incredible woman and as amazing as it must sound you knew that you were falling in love with her. You knew that meeting her was a sign from God telling you that the priesthood was not your chosen path. Those were the words Jenny had been waiting for you to say about HER, and instead it was some girl named Abigail O'Neill that you had fallen head over heels for."

"You knew all that and you still married her?"

"I didn't find out until after we got married which was something that we did that much too fast. We never really had the chance to get to know each other. I was off to 'Nam and all her friends were getting married, so we just did it. When I got back we realized that we both had different ideas about marriage. She wanted to move to the suburbs and start having babies, I wanted to live in the city and start making money. Since I was your best friend she expected me to be more like you, at least that's what she said. I think secretly, deep inside; she wanted me to BE you. By the time you got elected to Congress our marriage was a mess, we were basically co-habitating."

Jed remembered that very well. He had been so lonely during the week without Abbey that Jenny had taken pity on him and had him over to supper at least once a week. He could sense the tension between the couple, and while they didn't argue or fight, they also didn't have much to say to each other. Supper had not been anything like the chatty free for all that went on between he, Abbey and the girl's back home. Suppers at the McGarry's had been a quiet affair, the conversation usually between he and Jenny or he and Leo, rarely between Jenny and Leo. Mallory was fighting her own secret battles with her father's alcoholism and despite Jed's best efforts she was quiet and withdrawn at the table.

"I was drinking like a fish, " Leo continued. "And you were right there to pick up the pieces."

"Saint Jed," he said coolly. "I remember that quite well. I never understood why you were so bitter towards me."

"Because you were so goddamn perfect!" Leo spat out. "Here I was either working 16 hours a day or coming home falling down drunk and there you were calling Abbey from the house to tell her how much you missed her. There you were getting all teared up as you talked to your girls about their schoolwork and the sports they were involved in and there you were rushing home every weekend to be with your family. I couldn't compete with that. I never could."

"It was never a competition. I wasn't perfect, Leo, but I did the best that I could."

"It was never a competition for you because you never had to compete. You already had a beautiful, sexy, loving wife and a great marriage and you also had MY wife thinking that you were God's gift to husbandom. I knew she envied Abbey but I just didn't have it in me to be the husband and father that she wanted me to be. My work was my life and my family always came second. I'm certainly not proud of that but it's just the way that it was."

"Is that what this was all about, a competition? You wanted to see if you could get Abbey into bed because your wife was in love with me?"

"No. Well, maybe it was in a way. You sure you want to hear this."

"I'm listening, aren't I?"

"Well, don't hit me again."

"I'm not making any promises."

"As you know I'd been drinking. I'd pretty much bottomed out. I knew that my life was a disaster, I'd even thought about doing everyone a favor and killing myself. Then, suddenly Abbey was standing there. I don't know what happened, I saw her there and she was so beautiful and I'd wanted to know for so long what it would be like to touch her. I was sinking fast and I think a part of me thought that if I could just cling to her she could keep me from falling. She was so worried about me and I took advantage of that. The next thing I knew I was kissing her. I swear to you, Jed, I never meant for it to happen. I never meant to betray our friendship and I certainly never meant to scare her."

Leo chanced a glance at Jed who was pacing back and forth across the room, probably to keep from exploding with anger, he thought. His face was flushed red with bottled up emotion but so far he had kept himself under control.

"I've never been more ashamed of myself in my life. Until the day I die I will never forget the look of hurt, betrayal and fury on Abbey's face. I'm sorry, Jed. I can apologize until I am blue in the face but that isn't going to change what I did or how you feel about that. I can only say that it never happened again and it never will happen again. On the other hand, I can't apologize for how I feel about Abbey."

Jed's gaze snapped with surprise over to Leo. He hadn't expected that. "You're not sorry that you want to screw my wife?"

"More than you will ever know, but I can't apologize for it because I can't help how I feel. I've tried to stop feeling this way. I've tried to stay away, I've tried going to confession, I've talked to Stanley, I've tried everything that I can think of but ever since Jenny divorced me the feelings have been even stronger. Stanley thinks that my envy of your relationship has a lot to do with my loneliness since the divorce. He thinks that I am projecting a lot of 'what ifs' into my feelings for Abbey. I mean logically I KNOW that Abbey is not the perfect woman for me. I know that despite how much I idealize what it would be like with her I could never be married to her or a woman like her. I've said this before; Abbey is a high maintenance wife. She would expect much more out of me than a low maintenance wife like Jenny ever did and I just don't have it to give. I guess I've always wanted to believe that I would be a better husband and father if I had a woman like Abbey who loved me. I've probably projected those feelings on to Abbey because it was easier than facing the truth, which is that I was a big failure in that department. The truth of the matter is Jed, that I would give my right arm to have a woman love me the way that Abbey loves you. You're a very lucky man."

"I count my blessings everyday." Jed's anger had abated and had been replaced very quickly with pity. He felt for Leo's pain and wondered just how awful it must be to have such strong feelings for someone for so long and to know that those feelings were not returned.

"But you can't forgive me."

"I just don't know, Leo."

"How is what I feel for Abbey any different from any of the men on our staff commenting on her sexiness, or John Marbury rhapsodizing about her breasts, or Senator Smithers telling the press that the First Lady has world class legs?"

"Words, Leo, those are just words. Senator Smithers didn't lift up my wife's skirt to try to see those legs, John didn't grab those breasts he was admiring so freely…" Jed didn't miss the skeptical look Leo flashed his way. "Ok, Ok, so he might have if Abbey hadn't diffused the situation, but that's just John, he's like that with ALL women. And the male members of my staff may find my wife attractive but they DON'T fantasize about her and as far as I know none of them has ever urged her to betray me with them. But do you know what the worst part is?"

"What?"

"None of them was my best friend," he said sadly. " None of them is the man I would have trusted my life with."

"You still can," Leo stated fervantly.

"I'd like to believe that, Leo. I really would."

* * * *

"How do you expect me to get into Danny's day planner?" CJ asked.

"You said he doesn't keep it on the computer, he has an actual book."

"Yes?" CJ asked expectantly.

"Well, when you bring him over for the interview tell him that I'm ready to set up a date and time for the Convention interview. That way he'll bring the book. Then, while we're doing the interview you come in and attract his attention and I'll look through the book to find out when he's meeting to return the photo."

"And just how do you expect me to divert his attention?"

"Use your feminine wiles."

"My feminine WILES" CJ's eyes widened. "That sounds more like it would be up your alley. Maybe YOU better divert his attention."

"I'm not the one that he's got a thing for, you are."

"I don't know this is all a little too…Jessica Fletcher----"

"James Bond?" Abbey suggested at the same time that CJ made her observation and they both laughed. "I don't know about you CJ, but I think I'd rather think of myself as a Bond girl than Jessica Fletcher."

"That's cause you look like a Bond girl," CJ grumbled.

"Come on, CJ, this will be fun."

"I don't know how I let you talk me into this." CJ turned to leave.

"CJ," Abbey called out. "Don't wear a bra, that drives guys nuts."

CJ cast a long look at the First Lady but couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at Abbey's girlish excitement over their plan. "Yes ma'am."

* * * *

Abbey had just finished giving Danny her impressions of Finland and the summit and CJ was nowhere to be seen. Abbey hoped that she hadn't chickened out.

"Ok, so now that we're done with this you want to tell me where you and the President disappeared to the last night you were there." A mischievous smile crossed his face.

"Disappear? We didn't disappear," Abbey said innocently. "We were with the President of Finland and her husband the whole time."

"That's not what I heard. Rumor has it that you and the President were missing from the time you left the castle until you boarded Air Force One. Anything the American people need to know?" His grin was wider now. Abbey couldn't help but smile back. God did she like Danny Concannon, now if she could just get he and CJ to hook up her mission would be completed.

"Just that their President is coming home refreshed and invigorated." The little wink at the end told Danny all that he needed to know.

When CJ entered the room Danny and the First Lady were laughing companionably together.

"Oh, Danny…good…you're still here." Abbey could see that CJ was flustered and she also noted that she had taken a page from the Abbey Bartlet book of fashion and had unbuttoned her blouse to reveal a little more bust than she normally did.

"What can I do for you, CJ?" Danny asked.

"Uh, I have the President's itinerary for the next three days."

When she didn't move forward to hand it to him he gave Abbey a puzzled look and got to his feet to approach her in the doorway.

"CJ, are you all right?" He frowned.

CJ glanced over his shoulder to see Abbey frantically searching through his little black day planner, urging her with her free hand to continue to keep him occupied.

"I'm fine." She placed a hip against the door and looked up at him from under her lashes in what she hoped was a sexy look. She felt awkward and foolish and she knew that flirtatious Abbey would be much better at doing this than she was.

Danny glanced from the piece of paper back up to CJ wondering why she was acting so weird.

"OK, well thanks." He turned to go back to Abbey and CJ panicked. She grabbed his arm harder than she meant to."

"CJ?"

"Uh, did you see where we're going on Tuesday? Clarksville Ironworks." She arched her back thrusting her breasts forward.

Danny lost all interest in the itinerary. He leaned forward and whispered softly, "You're not wearing a bra, are you?"

Abbey was right on the money with that one, CJ thought. Danny's attention was now fully on her. "Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Depends on my mood."

Danny gave her an odd look. He'd never seen CJ braless before.

Over Danny's back CJ saw Abbey giving her a big grin and a thumbs up. "Well I guess you don't really care about Clarksville Ironworks, you have to go with us anyway." She turned abruptly and left the room.

Danny shook his head at a complete loss as to what just had gone on. He turned to face Abbey with suspicion but she gave him a lovely, innocent smile and a shrug to say she didn't know why CJ was acting so strangely.

"Are we finished?" She asked sweetly.

"Yeah, uh, I guess so." Danny watched her departing form unable to shake the feeling that somehow he had just been had.

* * * *

"Clarksville Ironworks!" Abbey exclaimed when they were back in the privacy of CJ's small office.

"I'm sorry. He started to turn around and I panicked. I didn't know what to say. I told you I wasn't made out to be a James Bond girl."

"You did fine. It was not wearing the bra that got his attention, wasn't it?"

"It certainly helped, " CJ agreed.

"I knew it. Men are such suckers for a little boob."

"No pun intended?" CJ lifted an eyebrow.

Abbey laughed at the unintended sexual innuendo. "Freudian slip I guess. Well, the important thing is that I got the date, the time and the place. Have you ever heard of a place called, 'Shenanigans'?"

"Yeah, it's a nightclub in Georgetown."

"Well that's where the exchange will take place. Next Thursday."

"So, now what?"

"So now we have to come up with a plan to sneak me out of the White House without the service so that we can find out who it is."

"Why did I have the feeling that you were going to say that?" CJ sighed.

Abbey ignored her friend's trepidation and continued on, "I've already come up with some idea's."

CJ looked at the dangerous gleam of excitement in Abbey's eyes. "Lucy, I have the sneaking suspicion that we are going to have a lot of 'splainin to do about this one."

"Oh Ethel, don't be such a worrywart. If we do this right nobody except the ass responsible for this mess will ever know what we did."

"Yeah, that's what Lucy always said."

"And?"

"And it always came back to bite her on the butt."

TBC...