"Hey Charlie," Abbey said, entering her husband's outer office.

"Hi Mrs. Bartlet," Charlie grinned seeing the President's wife with a costumed baby on each hip. "Are you three going trick or treating or something?"

"Not exactly," Abbey smiled. "They're still a little young for candy. I'm supposed to speak at a local daycare to promote federal aid for childcare and, since they are having a Halloween party, they invited Aislinn and Nicholas to come along and have fun with the other babies. They don't get the chance to see many other kids often."

"I guess not," Charlie agreed.

"I think I need to work on that a little harder. Get some of my husband's staff married off and making babies for my kids to play with." She realized what she had said when she saw Charlie's broad grin. "Oh, not you Charlie. You're MUCH too young to be thinking about marriage and babies."

"You mean Zoey is too young to be thinking about marriage and babies. But didn't I hear that you were right around Zoey's age when you married the President and had..."

"Why do my daughters and their boyfriends persist on reminding me of that?" Abbey sighed.

"Maybe because your marriage worked out so well and they want to emulate that," Charlie smiled fondly.

"A very diplomatic answer. You're becoming a bit of a politician, Charlie. Jed did want to see the kids before they left. Is he busy? Strike that, he's always busy, is anyone in with him?"

"No," Charlie chuckled. "You can go in." Since Abbey's hands were full, Charlie opened the door for her. Jed was on the phone as they entered.

"I assume we're coming home for Thanksgiving, Jon, but let me talk to Abbey and get back to you..." he glanced up, his face breaking into a grin as he saw his wife and children in the doorway. "I gotta go, Jon, it looks like some trick or treaters have invaded the Oval Office...No, they don't just let any kids wander in," Jed rolled his eyes, "it's Aislinn and Nicky. I'll call you later. Bye." He hung up the phone and approached the trio feigning a studious look.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here? A little bunny rabbit," he tickled his daughter under the chin, eliciting a gurgling smile. "And who are you supposed to be, young man?" This time he tickled his son under the arm causing the baby to giggle. "Looks to me like you're a little lion cub."

"Tell Daddy he needs to be more up on his Disney movies," Abbey said, kissing the silky blond fine hair on her son's head. "Aislinn is Thumper from Bambi and Nicholas here is Simba from the Lion King."

"I thought Nicky was going to wear the devil costume?"

"Bruno thought it might look like we approve of satanic worship."

"You're kidding, right?" Jed raised a brow.

"Nope. Serious as a heart attack," she handed him the now squirming Nicholas who was reaching out to his father for more tickles. "Remember this is an election year. Anything we say or do can change the ebb and flow of this campaign," Abbey mimicked the nasal voiced Bruno. Jed chuckled. His wife had always been a dead on mimic.

"Good Lord. I always wonder how much lower campaigning can go, but do you really think people would question our nine month old son's costume?"

"Think of the Christian right, darlin'. According to Leo, they already think you are performing abortions in the Rose Garden."

"The lunatic fringe, DARLIN'. Besides, if I remember my Disney movies, wasn't Thumper a male? Aren't they going to think you're trying to turn Aislinn into a lesbian?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Shut up, Jed," she rolled her eyes.

"Actually, most of the Christian right..."

"Jed," she stopped him by placing her fingertips over his lips, "I didn't come here for a lecture on the Christian right. I just stopped by so you could see the kids before we left."

"OK, OK," he said and surprised her by sucking one of her fingers into his mouth, a move that sent tingles through her forearms and tightened her nipples.

"Jed," she gasped, her head quickly turning to see if the door was shut.

"Yes, Abbey?" His smile turned lascivious. "What I want to know is why Mommy isn't in costume?"

"Really," she ran her wet finger over his rough jaw. "You were hoping for a wide eyed Alice in Wonderland?"

"Nope. I actually was thinking more along the lines of the not-so-little Mermaid."

"Did you just call me FAT?"

"You...fat?" Jed burst into laughter. "Hardly. I guess I should have phrased that better. I was referring to these," he cupped his warm hand over her breast, smiling to find that she wasn't as immune to him as she liked to pretend, for her nipple was definitely hard against his palm "and the sexy not-so-little Mermaid."

"Jed, I swear, sometimes you are like a hormonal teenage boy," her tone held exasperation but her eyes sparkled with laughter and the very feminine satisfaction she took in being able to turn on her man.

"I have to take what I can get. You are going away next week to Vienna for 7 days." Their intimate moment was interrupted by a knock on the door as CJ entered. Whatever she had been about to say was lost in a gasp of delight upon seeing the twins.

"Oh my God, they are just too adorable for words," she laughed as she strode toward Abbey. "Can I hold her?" She put her arms out and Abbey handed her daughter into her godmother's arms. "Gosh, I wish..."

"The press could see them," Abbey finished the sentence for her friend with a smirk. CJ was first and foremost a press secretary and Abbey knew one picture of her with the twins in their costumes was worth its weight in gold as far as the campaign was concerned. "Don't worry, they will. We're going to a Halloween party at a local daycare and the press is invited."

"Then you have that layout for Vogue this afternoon, don't you?"

"What layout for Vogue?" Jed asked.

"The one I told you about at dinner last night," Abbey shook her head. "You know, the one to show that a woman can have a career and be a wife and mother and part of Washington power politics and still be sexy. Of course the spin is that I am doing this to promote American designers." Jed thought about some of the female senators and congresswomen and other women in Washington power politics, and felt they could definitely take some lessons from his wife. He had never understood why women in politics felt they had to cut their hair, wear severe suits, and sensible shoes all in a way to appear almost asexual. His wife was a very powerful and respected woman and she had never felt the need to hide that very feminine side of herself. A woman was a woman, she was different from a man. Not better, not worse, just different, and it was shame that some felt they had to hide that in order to play with the big boys.

"Jed, are you there?" Abbey asked, fanning her hand in front of the blank look on his face.

"Yeah. I was just remembering that conversation now."

"Nice try Skippy," Abbey tossed her head, throwing out one of her husband's favorite terms.

"Mrs. Bartlet," Lily stood in the doorway, "we really have to go."

"OK Lily," Abbey turned to take her daughter and son back into her arms. Jed moved to kiss his kids and then, while it looked like he was kissing Abbey's forehead, he was actually murmuring against her skin. "Will you be my mermaid tonight at the costume ball?"

"I told you, our costumes are a secret. But I can assure you that you won't be disappointed." She turned to leave the room and Jed admired the swaying curves of her body. Even with a baby on each hip, and wearing those three-inch heels she insisted on that made her legs look a mile long, his wife still managed to walk with a graceful sexuality.

"I bet I won't be," he muttered under his breath.

+++++

Abbey couldn't believe how much fun she was having at the Vogue photo session. Having sent the twins back to the White House with Isabelle, she had arrived at the studio a harried mother with baby spit up on her shoulder and her hair sticky from the applesauce her babies had consumed at the party and then squeezed into her long hair with clutching hands. She had kicked herself for not wearing her hair tied back like she did most of the time now at home, thanks to the intrigue her children seemed to have with her long strands. She was forever stopping them from tugging at her and pulling her hair into their mouths. Looking as she did, she had reacted with a chuckle when Harry Nilson, the photographer who was to photograph her, had approached her with what he had in mind for the layout.

"Mrs. Bartlet," he had said, "what I am looking to do here is something totally different. You are unlike any First Lady we have ever had and I want to exploit that. You are a beautiful, vibrant woman and you have this aura of sexuality about you that is almost palpable. I want these photos to say look at me, I'm a successful doctor, the wife for many years of an extremely powerful man, the mother of five, and yet I am still sexy."

"I don't know what you mean by sexy," Abbey said with slight apprehension. "I don't think it's a good idea for me..."

"I assure you, ma'am," he interrupted, "the photos will be completely tasteful and everything will be very subtle."

"And I have the final say in what gets printed?"

"Yes, I agreed to that."

"OK then, let's roll."

Abbey had her hair shampooed and dried, changed into the designer clothes laid out for her, and had her make up done. It was more make up than she was used to wearing she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror, but it worked for her. It made her look glamorous not slutty.

Now she stood in front of a backdrop in a gold lame strapless, slim fitting gown that had a long slit up to her thigh. Her gleaming russet hair was pulled back from her face and held at the nape of her neck by a gold satin hair tie that allowed it to fall down her back in a straight ponytail. Her hazel eyes were lined with more black eyeliner than she normally wore, soft rose blush sharpened her cheekbones and her lips were made lush and full with raspberry lipstick and gloss. The only jewelry she wore was a pair of small gold and diamond hoops in her ears and her engagement and wedding rings, along with her mother's ring. Harry was urging her to allow one slender leg to slip through the slit and reveal her strappy gold stilettos and to drop the gold satin matching cape from her shoulders to rest on her forearms and then give him a sultry side gaze.

Lily had always known her boss was a beautiful woman but, out there following Harry's instructions while sexy pop music blared from the boom box, she looked like a genuine model or glamorous movie star.

Listening to Harry's urging appreciative excitement and the pulsing music had made Abbey feel sexy and desirable. And while at first she had been inhibited, never having done anything quite like this before, she soon lost those inhibitions and began to enjoy herself. She also got the wicked gleam of an idea.

"Harry," she approached him while he was changing his film. "I was thinking that with Christmas coming I might have some pictures taken just for my husband. You know, not naked or anything, but maybe a little more risqué than these."

"I can do that," Harry grinned. The First Lady had not been what he had expected at all. She had been a really great sport about everything. She was also incredibly photogenic and had just the type of glamour that was going to look marvelous on the glossy pages of Vogue.

"I would have to insist that the negatives are destroyed after they are developed. I couldn't take a chance that they could get into the wrong hands."

"I understand. These will be for your husband's eyes only. I'll even develop them on my own so nobody else sees."

"Thank you," she felt a shiver of excitement knowing just how well this gift was going to go over with her husband. Like most men, her husband was turned on visually and this would certainly be an eyeful.

+++++

"Don't yell at me, I know I'm late," Jed called out as he entered his bedroom in the residence. He was stripping his clothes as he walked. "Do you have my costume?"

"It's laid out on the bed," Abbey called out from the bathroom.

"I'm not going if you got the Robin Hood, Maid Marian stuff. I told you I wouldn't be caught dead in tights."

"Why don't you just go look instead of blathering on about it?"

Jed stuck his tongue out childishly at the closed bathroom door and moved to the bed. A pirate. Now that was a good choice, he thought with enthusiasm. He could be manly and...His thoughts came to a halt as Abbey entered the room in costume. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he beheld his buxom wife in her 18th century pirates serving wench costume. The flowing red skirt fell to her ankles which was a hell of a lot longer than her usual skirts and certainly not as tight, but it was the low cut white peasant blouse with puffy sleeves that drew his attention. The scooped neck of the blouse revealed a generous amount of her cleavage. It was nipped in at her tiny waist with a wide black belt, and black laces tied the fabric up from waist to chest, which only served to enhance the busty look. Her hair was pulled back by a braided red satin hair band and allowed to fall in curls down her back.

"Holy shit," Jed breathed.

"You like it?" She purred with a seductive smile. "You did want the not-so-little mermaid after all."

"This will do just fine," his finger tugged at the laces that almost seemed ready to burst at her breasts. "But Christ, Abbey, I'm gonna have to add more men to your detail."

"What?"

"I'm gonna need help keeping all the men off you in this get up."

"Everyone will be in costume, Jed."

"Well, I can assure you EVERYONE is not going to look like this. Do you have something you can cover up with?"

"I have a red satin cape."

"Good."

"But that's only to cover up for the press on the way in. Inside it comes off."

"Well then I better make sure to bring my sword. You did get me a sword, didn't you wench?"

+++++

The Halloween costume party at the Romanian embassy was a Washington tradition and completely bi-partisan. The President's senior staff was mingling with members of their own party, and feeling out members of the opposition, for even though this was a party, the staff was always on duty.

"I think the President is here," Josh told Leo and Bruno as the Secret Service began to swarm the room. They all looked up as the President entered the room looking very dashing in his swashbuckling pirate costume. Tan britches, black boots, a red sash and sword around the waist, and the ubiquitous black patch over one eye made more than one woman in the room openly stare. But, for the men, it was Abbey taking off the red cape that covered her from neck to ankle and revealing the costume beneath that caused the stares.

"Get a look at that," Josh's eyes widened.

"Oh my God," Bruno breathed.

"She's gorgeous," the words slipped out of Leo's mouth on a sigh.

"Good for her," said a grinning CJ dressed as Cleopatra. She had been in on the conversation when Leo, Bruno, and Josh had given her a hard time over her costume choices.

Leo couldn't take his eyes off Abbey as she approached the group. My God, that tiny waist, those full breasts, those swaying hips, how the hell could any man resist that?

"Hello Bruno, Leo, Josh," Abbey smiled sweetly knowing they wouldn't be all that approving of her costume choice.

"You never ran this one by us," Bruno said.

"Well, I wanted to be a famous couple from history but you nixed all my ideas. Napoleon and Josephine were out because you, Bruno, didn't want people to think Jed wanted to conquer the world."

"Hey, I brought up you guys being King Arthur and Guinevere and all of us being the knights of the round table," Josh stated.

"Leo nixed that as too Kennedy," Abbey said. Leo nearly blushed. That was the excuse he had given Abbey, but really, him dressed as Lancelot pining after her Guinevere had just hit way too close to home.

"Then, of course, Jed refused to wear the tights for Robin Hood and Maid Marian," she grinned.

"Well, robbing from the rich to give to the poor might be good for the left but it isn't going to win us the independents," Bruno stated. "I did give you a good non-controversial historical couple."

"Yeah. George and Martha Washington," Abbey laughed. Jed nearly spit out the scotch and soda he had just sipped.

"He wanted you to be Martha Washington?" Jed choked. "Does she look anything like Martha Washington?" He asked as he ran his hand in front of her from the neck down.

"Not in that outfit," Bruno acknowledged with definite appreciation of the sight Abbey made. "I guess in retrospect that wasn't such a good idea."

"You think," Josh laughed.

+++++

Later as Abbey mingled among the crowd, she moved toward the bar to refill her martini. As she rounded the corner, she heard the voices loud and clear.

"Can you believe the nerve of her showing up in that costume? My God, she is supposed to be the First Lady. The First Lady does NOT reveal her breasts like that."

"This one does," sniffed another. "She is always showing cleavage and wearing those short tight skirts. And of course those ridiculously high heels."

"Now ladies, let's not be catty," said a man's voice. "Abbey Bartlet is a fine looking woman and she has great legs. I say if you got, it flaunt it."

"Hugh!" His wife Minnie gasped. "You've had too much to drink."

"Even if I were stone cold sober, I would still think Abbey Bartlet was one hot woman. I may not agree with her husband politically but he is one lucky son of a bitch to have a woman like that in his bed."

"Hugh!" The woman nearly squeaked her outrage and dragged her husband away leaving only two. Abbey recognized the voices of Clarissa Anders and Beatrice Virgil, two tight faced gray haired biddies, married to very conservative Republican senators.

"When Janet Ritchie is in the White House, we won't have to deal with this kind of disgrace anymore," Clarissa stated.

"It's not just the clothes. Did you hear that Secret Service rumor about what she did on board their boat this summer? Now that was disgraceful."

Abbey's blood began to boil and she rounded the corner.

"Hello ladies," she smiled. Clarissa and Beatrice nearly froze as they saw the object of their derision upon them. "I couldn't help but hear you gossiping about my sex life. Since you obviously want to spread this gossip, would you like me to give you all the facts?" She said this matter of factly, however had they known her, they would have been wary of the fire in her green eyes.

"Wh...at?" Beatrice stuttered.

"All the real facts and the techniques that I used on the President. I mean really, it isn't such a disgrace and, maybe if you learned a few things from me, you could keep your husbands in your own bed instead of slinking away to visit their mistresses in the middle of the night."

"Well, I never," Clarissa gasped haughtily.

"Maybe you should try," Abbey stated just as haughty and turned to leave.

"AMEN," stated the male voice.

"Shut up, Hugh," the three women snapped.

As Abbey rounded back around the corner, obviously in a snit, she nearly bumped into Jed who stood clapping his hands lightly.

"You heard?" She asked wryly.

"You're really good at giving the what-for, Mrs. Bartlet."

"I know I should have kept my mouth shut but..."

"Abbey, when have you ever kept your mouth shut?"

"BUT," she glared at him, "I hate self important priggish women like those three. I mean, my God, the way they were talking you'd think I was a whore for doing those things on the boat that night. And really you don't think their husbands' mistresses aren't doing that for them?"

"Do they really have mistresses?"

"Do you not listen to any Washington gossip?"

"Obviously not as much as you. Would you really have told them all about your techniques?"

"Are you kidding? And give away my secrets? Never."

++++

In the limo on the way home that night Abbey noticed the hooded, desire filled sidelong glances her husband kept giving her.

"Are we going to make it back to the White House?" She asked with a shiver of excitement. She wouldn't put it past him to take her right here in the limo.

"Not if you don't shut that damn cape," he nearly growled his frustration. He couldn't believe that the less than 10-minute drive from embassy row seemed to be taking as long as it was. Instead of pulling the cape closer together, Abbey let it fall completely open. She had untied the laces across her breasts and her blouse gaped open.

"You're playing with fire, wench," he nearly groaned the words.

"I like to play with fire," she ran her tongue over her bottom lip. Jed clenched his fists. He had two choices. One, to try to make it back to the White House without his frustrated desire giving him a damned stroke, or two, since they were only about 4 minutes from the White House, risk getting caught ravishing his gorgeous wife in the back seat of the limo. He was so randy he actually considered number two for a moment. Instead, he gritted his teeth and nearly yanked Abbey out of the limo and down the hall to the residence. Abbey knew she had teased Jed to the breaking point and the thought that she would deliciously pay for that in a few moments made her blood race with excitement. There was a male and a female Secret Service agent standing outside the bedroom door ready to take command for the night. Jed swore he saw the usually taciturn male agent's eyes open wider at the sight of Abbey's costume, even if she had re-laced the blouse over her breasts. He nodded solemnly at the agents forgoing his usual "no interruptions" as that was quite obvious tonight. He slammed the door shut behind him and, before Abbey knew what had happened, she was in her husband's arms and he was kissing her hard and demanding, just as she had known he would. Sooner than she thought however, he was tearing at the laces on her blouse.

"What is this?" She murmured against his lips.

"I am the ruthless, vicious pirate, am I not? And now it's my chance to ravish you, beautiful wench." Abbey almost chuckled at the idea of Jed as ruthless and vicious but let that go at the sparkling desire in his blue eyes. She realized that while he might not be ruthless and vicious, he was going to ravish her and the anticipation of that was nearly killing her. She began to pull his shirt out of his trousers but he stopped her.

"Hey, who's ravishing whom here?" He asked.

"How about a joint effort?" She gasped as Jed cupped her face in his palms and began to kiss her with a fierce desire that left her breathless. She could feel that he was already hard as he ground himself into her belly for relief that only caused him more agony. His hands moved back to her blouse and, grabbing both sides, he tore it apart, exposing her breasts and startling Abbey with his forcefulness.

"That's what all those men wanted to do tonight," he said, his mouth moving down her neck to the slope of one breast. "They all wanted you. But you are all mine. Only mine."

"Yes, all yours, Jed," she sighed. "Only yours." She felt him fumbling with his trousers and in the next instant he was lifting up her skirts and tearing down the lacy scrap of material that she wore as panties. He dangled them on his finger for moment, smiling wickedly down at her, then flung them into the corner. In the next moment he lifted her into his arms only to take a few steps and drop her unceremoniously on the bed. He lifted her skirts even higher parting her legs with his hands. And, with both of them still pretty much dressed, in one fluid moment he thrust into her and kissed her savagely. Their foreplay had been going on all night and with a few pounding thrusts it was all over for both of them. Over almost as soon as it had started leaving them both breathless and shaking with the intensity of it all.

Their cries of pleasure had not gone unnoticed outside the door.

"Looks like the pirate had his way with the serving wench," the male agent deadpanned, receiving only a stony glare in response from his female partner.

++++

A few days later Abbey stood staring out the window overlooking Washington. It was a city of incredible beauty and paradoxically one of intense ugly hatred. A city full of men and women who wanted to do nothing more than tear down the opponent. It was cold and it was ruthless and sometimes she wondered how she and Jed had ever ended up here. She thought she had been prepared for all his. However, being the First Lady of a tiny state like New Hampshire had in no way prepared her for being the First Lady of the United States. It had not prepared her for the fact that her husband's enemies would do anything to destroy him. Absolutely anything. And today she had learned that anything might include using her as a weapon in that fight to destroy.

Sitting in Oliver's office earlier in the day, the realization of that had almost taken her breath away, had caused her chest to tighten and a lump to form in her throat making it difficult to swallow. She had wanted to cry, but would not cry. Not in front of him. Not in front of any of them. For the first time since all of this had started she had felt real fear. Part of that fear had been realizing the wolves had turned their frenzied yellow eyes on her and were circling in closer and closer to tear her apart. The majority of her fear though, was for her husband, for those wolves ultimate goal had nothing to do with her at all. They were going to destroy her but that was only a bonus in the fight to ruin him. To destroy him, and all she knew was that she couldn't allow that to happen to Jed. She had begun to panic, grasping at a way out, some sort of deal to keep them from being able to use her to hurt her husband. Oliver had forced her to re-think that position, but it was still there lurking in her head. She would not be used as a weapon against her targeted husband. She would never allow that to happen. Never.

"Abbey," Jed said, placing his hands on her shoulders causing her to jump.

"Jed, you startled me."

"You were a million miles away." He turned her around and saw the tears pooling in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Abbey said, stepping away from him to look back out the window.

"Abbey, don't turn away from me. Tell me what's wrong." Then it dawned on him. "You had your meeting with Babish today, didn't you? Dammit, I told him to lay off you." Abbey could see he was well on his way to losing his notoriously short temper.

"It wasn't Oliver," Abbey said quietly. "I can handle Oliver, he's actually becoming quite human."

"Then what is it, baby?" It was the endearment that was her undoing and she turned to face Jed, a single tear trailing down her cheek.

"They're going to use me, Jed."

"Who?"

"The Republicans on the committee. They're coming after me. They don't have a legal case against you and, according to Oliver, they may have one against me."

"I won't allow that to happen, Abbey," Jed said firmly.

"You may not have a choice this time. Remember that you aren't God, Jed. You can't always make things better. Not this time anyway."

"Yes, I can. There are ways to stop them from tearing into you. I can..."

"Don't you see? I don't care if they want to tear into me. I can stand that, Jed. What I can't stand is that it's you they are really after. How can they use me to hurt you?"

"Oh Abbey," Jed sighed. "I don't see it that way at all. You are the one who is being hurt because of me. You were innocent, it was me."

"No, I wasn't innocent, Jed. My motives may have been pure but I made mistakes. Oliver says there may be a way out of this. The Republicans may go for a deal."

"No," the word came filled with Jed's pain over what was happening to his wife. "No deal on my behalf, Abbey," he insisted. "You've already paid a high enough price for me to be President. You need to do what is best for you, what Oliver feels is best for you. Fight the bastards, Abbey, and I'll be right there by your side. Just like you've been by mine time and time again." Abbey looked up into his eyes seeing the genuine honesty in their depths.

"OK," she smiled. "But when you're by my side, my advisors get to pick over your clothes and tell you if your pants are too tight or your shirt is revealing too much chest."

"Flirt," he smiled.

"Jackass," she wrinkled her nose at him. ++++

The man in the downtown DC bar could not believe his good luck. Here he was seated behind a table that held three off duty Secret Service agents. Two men and a woman, a woman that was obviously irate.

"I can't believe the First Lady screwed me over again," Lori was complaining to her colleagues, "I was supposed to be on her detail to go to Vienna next week but instead I'm back home on baby duty," she fumed.

"She isn't taking the babies with her?" asked one of the men with surprise. It was a well-known fact that where Mrs. Bartlet went, so did the Bartlet twins.

"No, I guess she's been having some trouble weaning them and she feels it will be easier for the President and the nanny to accomplish this if she is gone and completely unavailable to them. So, just because the First Lady can't get her kid off her breast, I have to pay for it."

"Why do you think YOU are being singled out?"

"I have been ever since the incident in the bunker. Up until then I was on daytime First Lady detail. Then, while Air Force One was missing and the First Lady is crying that she should have been with the President, I make one comment that if she'd been on the plane her kids would be orphans and suddenly I'm persona non grata and stuck on the damn night duty. She's like that though. My mother was the twins' first nanny and the First Lady fired her on a whim this summer."

"Don't you think you're taking this a little too personally?"

"No," Lori stated with exasperation. "Do you know what night detail entails? It's standing outside the President and First Lady's bedroom and listening to them fuck."

The man at the other table felt his blood begin to boil at these words but took deep breaths to calm himself. He couldn't allow himself to lose control. He was too close to a possible link to Abbey Bartlet and he couldn't blow it. Instead, he opened a newspaper, ignoring the printed word to continue to eavesdrop on the conversation behind him.

"Well, I can't say that I'd mind that," one of them men grinned. "That Abbey Bartlet is a babe. I wouldn't mind getting a little free porn by listening to her getting it on."

"God, you guys are all alike," Lori stated with disgust remembering Jim's comments from a few nights back. "You know, I wouldn't mind having a go at the President myself but what I'm referring to is this demotion for no valid reason."

"Hold that thought," one of the men stood. "I'll go get us some more drinks."

After he left, the other man excused himself to go to the bathroom. This was it, the man behind the newspaper thought. His heart began to race, his palms grew sweaty and he felt his groin tighten at the thought of getting close to Abbey Bartlet again. This was his chance and he couldn't blow it. He got to his feet and approached the table where the Secret Service woman sat. Everything about the woman spoke of average and plain. She would never turn heads the way Abbey did. No wonder she hated her.

"Hello," he gave her his best smile. "I couldn't help but overhear that you seem to have some anger towards the First Lady."

Lori looked fearful now. Her big mouth could have just gotten her into a lot of trouble, especially if this guy was a reporter. She could have just lost her job.

"Wh...well, not really...I"

"Hey, it's OK. I have a little anger towards the First Lady myself. Why don't you come sit with me and we can discuss this?"

"OK," the woman got her feet suspiciously, still afraid she might be getting herself into trouble, "I'm Lori."

"Nice to meet you, Lori. I'm Marcus Hughes."

TBC...