Let The Turmoil Begin Part 5Disclaimer
- same as parts 1-4 - the ideas are still all mine…. e-mail
me with responses - natalya92@hotmail.com The past few weeks had been successful at bringing
some sense of normalcy back to the west wing, whatever normal was for that
matter, in the west wing. The lives
of the first family had apparently returned to normal; Zoey was back happily
living the dorm life and there had been no more phone calls yet President Josiah
Bartlet sat at his desk with a great number of unanswered questions.
Today he would get answers to those questions.
He had never told Abby about the calls the others had received.
He felt she had been upset enough between the accident and the phone
calls both she and Zoey had received. With
any luck she would never have to know. Ron
Butterfield knocked lightly on the door and Jed swung around in his chair,
"Ron, Come in, come in - have a seat please."
"Thank You Sir" was Ron’s only response. "Excuse me just one second," said the president as he
walked over and knocked on Leo’s office door before opening, "Leo, would you
mind joining us in here?" "On my ways Sir" Leo called from inside the next
room. Moments later Leo stepped
into the oval office and could feel the room instantly. The President was standing behind a chair across from the
head of the Secret Service with his hand tightly gripping the back of it saying,
"After 2 weeks, you’re going to sit there and tell me you’ve got
NOTHING!" "Actually sir, we have several working scenarios
that…" but the president cut him off. "Scenarios, Scenarios - you mean theories -
ideas, which all boils down to NOTHING!" "Sir, we’ve tapped all the lines, we’ve
monitored them…there’s been nothing, we have nothing to work with sir.
We are following procedures which is all we can do." Everyone was so involved in the conversation that
they hadn’t noticed the First Lady enter the office; Leo was the first to spot
her saying, "Abby?" Without looking up from Ron’s eyes Jed managed to
say, "Abby, would you mind terribly if I asked you to wait in Leo’s office
until we’re don here?" After a moment of silence he looked up at his wife,
"Abby, I asked - " As soon as he saw her he knew something was wrong.
She hadn’t spoken a word and she had barely come into the room.
She was pressed up against the wall using the doorknob to help steady
herself, and although no one else noticed, Jed could see her body shaking.
Apparently 30 years together had managed to breed some sort of
familiarity. Her knees had finally
given out and she was beginning to fall to the floor just as her husband reached
her side. A: "Jed?"
she reached out and grabbed the lapel of his jacket. J: "I’m here sweetheart, I’ve got you." A: "Why
does this keep happening" was all she could get out before she couldn’t hold
back the tears anymore. Jed picked her up in his arms and carried her to the
couch. Her arms were wrapped
tightly around him as he sat down with her on his lap.
"Apparently we need a few minutes gentlemen, if you’ll excuse us." Abby regained a little of her composure just as they
were reaching the door; realizing they were about to leave she managed to speak
the words, "Wait - you should hear this." Ron stopped dead in his tracks
because somewhere in his gut at the pit of his stomach he knew what was to
follow. The first lady spoke in a
whisper; "He called again." Ron
kicked into alert mode - "Ma’am, I know this is going to be difficult but
I need you to come with me so we can listen to the play-" Abby cut him off shaking her head; "There is no
playback." R: "Of course there is ma’am, we’re still
monitoring all lines." A: "No, Ron, you don’t understand" anger was
beginning to surface through the fear and with that her right arm dropped from
around her husband and in her hand was her cellular phone.
"This line isn’t tapped." R: "How is that possibly, no one but the family and
us have that number." A: "Well Gee, Ron, I’m sorry, I must have
forgotten to ask that question. I was too busy listening to some psycho on the
other end of the line telling me that he knew the lines were tapped, that he was
so proud that you were following procedures and that yes, he knew my cell phone
couldn’t be traced." Abby was
now angry enough that her fear had brought her to her feet and ready to fight
toe to toe with Ron Butterfield. Jed gently took his wife’s hand and pulled her back
down onto the couch. "Abby, can
you tell us what he said?" Abby
took a deep breath before beginning - A: "It was a brief call, he said he missed hearing
the sound of my voice and that he was sorry it ha been so long since his last
call." Jed’s stomach twisted as
his wife continued. "He said he
still hadn’t decided who he….her voice began to crack…who he wanted more.
He said we each had our own unique qualities and that perhaps he would
have to try each of us out before deciding.
Then he made some rather blatant comments about me modeling some of his
favorite pieces of my "lingerie collection.""
Ron had to ask the question that everyone wanted to know, "I’m sorry
Mrs. Bartlet but who is he deciding between?"
Abby looked up at him and then at her husband and then closed her eyes as
she said, "Zoey, C.J., or me. Umm…"
she swallowed hard, "he also said to make sure to tell the service to keep up
the good work and to tell the rest of the men that they need to remember to keep
their tempers under control or someone would end up permanently hurt during
Phase 2. And then he hung up…Jed, what going on…am I missing
something, when did C.J. get involved in these or the rest of the guys for that
matter?" She looked at her
husband waiting for an answer but none came he could only look at the floor in
front of him. She continued around
the room "Leo? Ron? Anyone? Would anyone like to tell me hat I don’t
know?" She got nothing but blank averted eyes and then a
voice spoke up from behind Ron - again no one had noticed someone else had
entered the room. "I believed it
was best when we all decided not to tell you about this but apparently the
silence had done nothing but leave room for opportunity for this nut case to
catch you off guard and unaware. For
the part I played in that I would like to apologize." Their eyes were locked as Abby took her friend’s
hand and said, "Thank You C.J." C.J.: "I’m sorry Mr. President I didn’t want to
or rather I wasn’t going to do this but Mrs. Bartlet wasn’t the only one to
get another call - he called me too." J: "When?"
The president’s anger quickly subsided and turned to concern for a woman he
often looked at as another of his own daughters. C.J.: "Just now sir" R: "What line did he call on?" - he was hoping
for a window of opportunity here but didn’t get one as C.J. held up her cell
phone. C.J.: "To answer the next question, he said almost
verbatim what he said to the Mrs. Bartlet…" her voice trailed off and Leo
picked up on it. "But what?" Leo asked, "What did he say that you don’t want to tell us because
I’m definitely hearing a silent "But" at the end of your sentence." C.J. "Nothing Sir." L: "C.J." C.J: "Yes Sir" L: "Don’t’
lie to me" C.J.: "No sir, I’m not sir" Jed couldn’t take it any more…"C.J." C.J. turned now to the president, "Yes sir" J: "Spill
it" C.J. "I don’t know what you mean sir" J: "C.J" C.J.: "Yes sir" J: "Do you know how I know that you’re hiding
something from me?" C.J. "How sir" as if she didn’t already know
the answer J: "You won’t look at me" C.J. "I am looking at you sir" J: "No, you’re not" J: "No, you’re not, you are looking at that
little statue over my left shoulder which makes it appear that you’re looking
at me when you really aren’t, Now let’s try this again. C.J." C.J. "Yes Sir" J: "What did he say?" Could she even say the words to her boss, this was
kind of personal - as if he could read her thoughts Leo spoke up. "C.J.,
forget the fact that you’re dealing with people you work with and remember
that we’re your friends and we’re here for you. C.J. let go of Abby’s hand and moved to sit on the
couch. "He said he could get to
us - to any of us at any time, anywhere - that at the time he was calling me
he was in.." she sighed loudly
trying to retain her composure. Abby
sat down on one side of her, Jed on the other.
Abby spoke softly, "It’s okay, we’re here, take your time."
C.J. began again, "He said he was in my bedroom, that he liked my taste
in lingerie and that if I didn’t believe him I could check when I got home.
He said I would find certain items in certain placed they don’t belong
in and that he couldn’t wait for me to model them for him. Jed was the first to break the silence, "Well, that
settles it, you’re staying here for the night." Before C.J. could protest, Ron Butterfield's hand flew to his
earpiece and he spoke into the mic, "Report!"
Jed was on his feet waiting to hear something. R: "Sir it’s…." but the First Lady cut him
off A: "Zoey" R: "Yes ma’am.
Agent Toscano answered the phone, her cell phone - as soon as she
realized the voice was being disguised she pretended to be your daughter.
Ms. Bartlet still doesn’t know of the call.
I’ll have a full report written by the end of the day sir.
If you’ll excuse us, it seems we have a lot of work to do." Jed turned back to his wife after the service left. J: "Abby,
how did you know he’d call her?" A: "It
made sense - first me, then C.J. - why not Zoey too. He’s threatened all three of us Jed - I just had a
feeling."
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