(no subject)

[helsinkibaby]

Very quick update, since I was away for the weekend (sidebar - SG7 - wooo! Great time!) However, have had 13 hours sleep total since Friday morning and therefore can barely see. Am going to look as CSI (Lady Heather's Box) and then go to sleep. Ah, sleep.

However, maggis ordered me to post this; agitated it for the whole weekend and will kill me if I don't post it, so ergo, honey, this one is for you! A return to the CSI/West Wing crossover thing I have going (anyone other than Mags reading this?) and following closely on from the last one.

The first Abbey knows that her middle daughter has a boyfriend is when she sees them kissing in broad daylight on the middle of the Stanford campus.

Not that she's spying on Ellie, far from it, even if Jed would have her do so. No, her business here is legitimate; she's in San Francisco for a medical conference, and if she chooses to take advantage of the close proximity to surprise her daughter, well, she's perfectly within her rights to do so, isn't she?

The first place she tries is Ellie's dorm, but there is no answer at her room, and someone suggests that she might be in one of the labs, or the library, studying for the upcoming examinations. It makes sense to Abbey; after all, Ellie was always their little bookworm, and it being a nice summer's day, she decides to take a stroll across the campus, seeking out each place, perhaps being lucky enough to run into Ellie either in one, or on the way. She's enjoying the walk, the balmy weather, something they rarely get in New Hampshire, and hardly ever got in Notre Dame back in the day, when, for no reason that she can articulate, a girl standing on the middle of the green catches her attention. She has long dark hair flowing down past her shoulders, just like Ellie does, but this girl is standing in the middle of a group of people, two girls and a guy, and they are all laughing and smiling as she gestures, evidently in the throes of a long story. She stands straight and tall, looks like the kind of girl any mother would be proud of, but Abbey doesn't know why she's captured her attention so, until, that is, the girl reaches up, brushes her hair back behind her ears, and Abbey finally sees her profile.

And that's when she knows why she looked, because her mother's heart could see what her eyes could not; this girl doesn't just look like Ellie.

This girl is Ellie.

But she's not her Ellie, not the shy, timid creature that she and Jed sent off to California last fall, nor even the girl who came home for Christmas and spent much of the holidays in her room, avoiding the family, especially her father. This girl looks strong, confident, happy, and a lump rises in Abbey's throat as she realises that she's never seen Ellie fit in quite so well anywhere.

As she stands rooted to the spot, the two girls move off somewhere, leaving Ellie standing with the young man at her side, and Abbey, looking at her daughter talk to him, wonders if there's something going on between them, because she's never seen Ellie smile that much at a guy, has never seen her with that air of easy friendship surrounding her before. She considers him carefully, decides that he meets with her approval, on looks certainly; he's tall and well-built, neatly pressed jeans and a white polo shirt, his dark hair cropped short. Looks-wise, he's a lot like Liz's Doug, just the kind of guy that Jed would approve of, and Abbey's just imagining Ellie bringing this one home when a voice coming from somewhere to her left interrupts her thoughts.

The voice is calling her daughter's name, and Abbey would look to see who is doing the calling were she not so transfixed on Ellie's face. If she'd thought that she was smiling at the clean-cut young man before her, it's nothing to what she does when she looks over his shoulder, sees the owner of the voice heading towards her. Her face lights up like a beacon, a wide smile breaking over it, and she moves away from the first boy without a word, heading to the stranger coming towards her, the guy who's asking her, "Well? How did you do?"

Abbey chances a quick glance at the speaker, her jaw dropping slightly at what she sees. If the first young man was clean-cut and well turned out, this one might charitably be described as scruffy; well-worn running shoes under threadbare jeans, a brightly coloured, wildly patterned shirt completing the ensemble. His hair sticks up in wild spikes all over the place, and Abbey knows that if Jed could see him, he would be appalled. She's slightly appalled, but is mollified somewhat by the look that's on the boy's face as Ellie moves towards him, the wide grin, the sparkling eyes.

Once upon a time, Jed used to look at her like that, and there are plenty of times when he still does.

"An A," Ellie tells him, and he grins even wider, throwing back his head and laughing.

"I knew it!" he crows, and then Ellie is in front of him, and his arms are around her waist, and he is lifting her off the ground and spinning her around crazily. Ellie's delighted laughter reaches Abbey's ears, and she looks over at the other young man, wondering how he's taking this. To her surprise, he's just standing there, arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head with a look on his face that tells her loud and clear that he's seen this before, that this is in no way a one time thing.

"Didn't I tell you?" When she hears the second guy speak, Abbey looks over to see that he's set Ellie down, but that his arms are still around her waist, and that Ellie's hands are on his shoulders. "Didn't I?" He sounds immensely cocky, and Ellie gives him what can only be described as a long-suffering smile.

"Yes you told me," she tells him, in a long-suffering voice to go with the look, one that Abbey is most familiar with; she's had to use it on Jed more times than she cares to remember. "Am I going to be listening to that forever?"

"Well…" He smirks, looks as if he's considering it, until, and this is the part that really stuns Abbey, Ellie shuts him up by standing up on her toes, bringing her lips to his and kissing him hard. He responds, pulling her closer to him, once more lifting her off the ground, and the first young man, who Abbey had almost forgotten, gives them a long moment before making his presence known.

"Get a room you two will you?" he asks in mock-disgust, and the couple draw apart, the guy giving him a narrow-eyed stare, Ellie turning around to look at him, her cheeks pink but her eyes dancing with wickedness.

"That an offer John?" she wonders, and John's mouth drops open, along with Abbey's, and, surprisingly enough, the guy in whose arms Ellie is currently residing.

"Eleanor Bartlet!" he says, sounding scandalised, and Ellie turns back to him, blinking innocently. "I'm shocked."

"So am I."

The words are out of Abbey's mouth before she can stop them, and she regrets them when she sees the effect that they have on Ellie. The girl jumps a mile, putting distance between herself and her boyfriend, something that has him looking at her strangely. Then he looks in Abbey's direction, and his eyes flare wide in what looks very like panic. He obviously knows who she is, which John doesn't, if his look of mystification is anything to go by. It doesn't last long though, not when Ellie's squeak of "Mom," clears up the mystery of who she is, and Abbey decides that she'd better move to smooth the waters, lest she irreparably set back any social progress that Ellie has made.

"Hello Ellie," she says, going to her daughter and pulling her into a hug, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She takes that split-second to hold her daughter close, to whisper in her ear, "Don't look so scared," before pulling back, exaggeratedly looking her up and down. "You look wonderful," she declares with a big smile, and Ellie smiles back, a smaller smile, more uncertain, reaching up to tuck her hair back behind her ear.

"So do you," she says, and Abbey takes her hand, squeezes it, hoping that Ellie can read the unspoken message, that she's not angry at her, that she's happy for her.

That much said, Abbey looks beyond her daughter, to the two young men eyeing them warily. "Hello," she says, smiling warmly at them. "I'm Abbey Bartlet, Ellie's mom."

They nod, say their hellos, and Ellie lets go of her hand, steps towards them. "Mom, this is John…"

"Nice to meet you Ma'am," he says politely, extending a hand, which Abbey takes. When she's doing that, she looks at him, loses sight of Ellie, and when she looks back to her daughter, she finds that Ellie has taken the other boy's left hand in her right, has folded her left hand around that, and he's standing as close to her as humanly possible.

"And this is Greg," Ellie says, as Greg takes a step towards Abbey, holding his hand out towards her, grinning, a touch nervously Abbey thinks.

"Mrs Bartlet," he says, pumping her hand, stopping only when Ellie's left hand moves up, squeezing his forearm. "Sorry," he says, and all Abbey can do is laugh.

"It's nice to meet you both," she says, and indeed it is, because Ellie's mentioned both names to her. She's just never said that there was anything else between her and Greg, which means that it's either a recent development, or she's been keeping secrets. Either way, Abbey resolves to find out which it is, hopefully without sending Ellie off the deep end.

"I didn't know you were coming Mom," Ellie says, a question with a hint of an edge behind it, and Abbey waves her hand dismissively, with what she hopes comes across as a genuinely apologetic smile.

"Medical conference in San Francisco," she explains. "I thought it might be nice to surprise you."

Ellie nods, but there's a flicker of something in her eyes, and when she looks down, her hair falling across her face, Abbey knows what's coming next. "Is Daddy-" Ellie begins, and Abbey interrupts her before she can get any further.

"Your father," she says, interjecting just the right amount of scorn into the second word, "Has to pass some kind of act about the protection of historic barns and bridges." Under normal circumstances, Abbey would launch into a fond diatribe about that, but right now, she's more interested in how, when Ellie ducked her head and asked about her father, Greg stepped closer to her, his hip hitting hers, and Abbey would bet every last dollar in her pocket that that was no accident. That, small an event as it is, speaks volumes to her about how close Greg and Ellie are. "Don't ask me about it," she says, "Or I'm likely to give you chapter and verse on it." Greg looks like he's going to ask her something, and she holds up a hand. "No, it's not one of my interests, but my husband tends to be quite verbose about his."

"So I've heard." Greg's looking at Ellie as he speaks, a gentle smile on his face, and she glances up at him, a brilliant one lighting hers.

"If you say something about it running in the family…" she threatens, and Greg holds up a hand, chuckling.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Ellie snorts, and Abbey gets the feeling that they've forgotten that she and John are standing here looking at them, a feeling that's confirmed when Ellie's head snaps around to her, and she smiles, her cheeks flushing pink.

Greg's eyes follow hers, and Abbey sees him swallow hard. "Look," he says, "I'm sure you two have lots of catching up to do… we'll leave you to it." John is moving away as Greg talks, telling them that he'll see them later, telling Abbey that it was nice to meet her, but Greg lingers at Ellie's side, saying nothing, but holding her gaze for a long moment. Then he leans down, brushes his lips across her cheek and tells her, "I'll come by later."

Ellie nods, squeezes his hand once more before letting it go, and when Greg leaves her side, Abbey takes his place, standing beside her. She doesn't miss the fact that Ellie's eyes follow Greg as he walks away; nor does she miss the fact that Ellie's face lights up when Greg turns around, calls back to her, "I told you so, by the way!"

Ellie throws her head back and laughs, even as she throws her hands up in the air in what's an unmistakable gesture of frustration. "I know!" she calls back to him, laughing, looking after him for another few moments before turning back to Abbey. Seeing what must be a questioning expression on her face, she explains, "I had a test last week that I was freaking out over… Greg kept telling me that I was going to ace it, but of course, I didn't believe him…"

"And you got an A," Abbey concludes, adding at the look on Ellie's face, "I heard you earlier. Congratulations."

Ellie shrugs and looks down, but Abbey can tell that she's pleased. "Why don't," she suggests, tucking her arm through her daughter's, "You let me take you out for lunch? I bet you haven't had a good meal in way too long."

"Mom!" Ellie laughs, shakes her head. "I eat fine."

"Well then let me take you out anyway," Abbey says, already beginning to walk, Ellie falling into step beside her. "Something tells me we have a lot of catching up to do."

Ellie blushes scarlet, but she's smiling the whole way to the car.

They go to a small little restaurant in town, the same one that they ate at when she and Jed brought Ellie to check out Stanford over a year ago now. The three of them had enjoyed their meal then, and the cuisine hasn't changed in a year, though Abbey notes that the vigour with which Ellie attacks her meal slightly belies her assertion that she's eating well at college. They talk throughout the meal, and Abbey tells her all about the family, catches her up on the latest happenings in New Hampshire, and Ellie tells her all about her friends and her classes and what she's been getting up to, but they're on dessert, chocolate cake and ice cream, before Abbey finally broaches the subject of Greg.

When she does it, it's with no subtlety whatsoever. "So," she says, and when Ellie glances up at her, she sees the flicker of knowledge in her daughter's eyes. "Tell me about Greg."

Ellie shrugs, but her cheeks flush pink. "I've told you about Greg," she says.

Abbey chuckles, knowing a feint when she hears one, and not intending to let Ellie away with it. "Oh, you've mentioned him plenty," she allows. "But you never told me that it was anything more than just friendship between the two of you." Ellie looks down at her words, which Abbey takes as a direct hit. "So are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to shine a flashlight in your eyes?"

The joke has the desired effect, Ellie shaking her head, a small giggle escaping her lips. "We were friends Mom… I wasn't making that up. We only got together over Spring Break."

Abbey lifts one eyebrow, doing the maths in her head; a little over a month then. "You two look very serious for people who have only been together a month," she points out, because she would have sworn that the two of them had the kind of easy camaraderie that only came with a relationship of far longer standing.

She would be worried about that, but Ellie's always been the most level-headed of her daughters, and she's nodding. "He's my best friend Mom," she says simply. "He has been, ever since I first met him. And I mean… I guess I always had a thing for him…" That much isn't news to Abbey, who had read as much between the lines of her letters. "I just didn't think that he felt the same." She shrugs again, grins an embarrassed little grin. "Then he just kissed me… and we've been together ever since."

Abbey meets her daughter's gaze, then feels a smile breaking out over her own face. "You're in love with him," she says, and it's not a question, nor is there any doubt as to Ellie's answer when her cheeks flush scarlet and she suddenly becomes very interested in pushing a piece of cake around her plate.

"He's really great Mom," she says quietly. "He's funny, and he's smart, and he makes me laugh… you're really going to like him, I know you are."

She stops talking, looks up when Abbey's hand closes over hers, squeezes it hard. "I think I already do," she says. Mother and daughter share a smile, a moment of bonding, then the great tradition of baiting the kid must be upheld. Thus Abbey follows up with, "You do know, don't you, that I'm going to have to meet him properly, maybe take the two of you out for dinner… question him as to his intentions…"

"Mom!" Ellie sounds mortified, but she is laughing, and Abbey is keeping a straight face with considerable effort.

"Don't worry, I won't ask any hard questions," she promises, adding after a beat, "Just a three page questionnaire and written references from two people I know and trust, he'll be fine…"

Ellie narrows her eyes, which are dancing with mirth, throwing a pointed look at Abbey's mostly uneaten dessert. "Are you going to eat that or are you just going to tease me all day?" she wonders, and Abbey doesn't miss a beat in her reply.

"I'm your mother," she says archly. "I can do both."