[War] US: Some utterly minor news

[pentaj2 at Scranton.edu]

"Some utterly minor news"
9 October 2006
Pres. John Williams
First Lady Mrs. Kayleigh Williams (written by Kay)
USA
=========
It's breakfast time in the White House; Kayleigh enters the private 
dining room, seeming quite calm indeed as she greets her husband with 
a kiss on the cheek. She smiles, taking a seat across from him.

"G'morning, sweetheart. Any news?"

It's obvious from the way she's playing with her eggs before eating 
them and the fidgety, un-First Lady-ish way she's shifting about in 
her chair that she has something to tell John, too, something she's 
excited about. Of course, not that it really mattered how she was 
sitting when they were alone, away from the press who would pick and 
poke at them, but she seems to be filled with an abnormal, almost 
child-like amount of energy for someone who only got up an hour ago 
and has yet to have breakfast.

John, by contrast, is calmer, smiling and kissing her back. 

"Besides Saudi and the crackdown in North Korea, nothing. Fortunately, 
the world remains mostly sane." He displays no emotion, as if brutal 
crackdowns and terrorist attacks are as normal as cherry blossom 
season, disgustingly-behaved Congressmen, and so forth.

He sets the folder (North Korea-related, by the markings) aside, 
closing it, whence the 'football carrier' military officer grabs it a 
few seconds later, before heading out into the hall again. 

"I could view the details of the crackdown, but nah," he 
comments. "Thank God I'm not in Congress still; Mark Foley is someone 
else's problem."

Then, a smile to Kay. "What has you so hyper, darling? You look like 
Robbie Anderson after we overheard him asking Cassia Smith out."

"Mostly," Kayleigh agrees, laughing lightly. "The sane have a slight 
majority, but it's enough to keep the world turning." 

Then, she solemns up for a moment. "Yes, thankfully he's someone 
else's problem, but he still makes the light shining on the government 
a little darker. Hopefully your talk with the kids and their families 
after mass will help brighten it some."

Once that's said, her face glows again. She has to bite back an overly 
large grin and struggle to keep her voice at a steady, serious level 
when she speaks next. 

"Well, I did a home test last night and..."

She trails off with another large grin, letting John finish her 
thought.

"And..." John begins speaking, but then trails off. "Oh...wow..." His 
eyes go wide with surprise. "A-Are you sure?" He manages to squeak out.

Kayleigh nods eagerly, her eyes shining. "Yes, but just to be safe, I 
made an appointment with the doctor." She glances at the clock. "It's 
in an hour."

She reaches across the table, taking her husband's hand and squeezing 
it tightly. "I didn't want to get too excited because anything could 
have gone wrong with the home test, but I did it several times 
and....but... oh, John, I feel so sure!"

John grins, squeezing Kay's hand back. "I could think of better places 
to be a baby than the White House, but...." His eyes are shining, and 
tears of joy are rolling down his face. Then, he crosses to Kay's side 
of the table, pulling her into a tight hug and a deep kiss. "I'll 
probably freak out, but we can leave that til later." Pause. "Now, the 
doc is just downstairs, so you have no excuse to be late," he notes 
with a grin. "I don't care *how* bad the traffic is."

Another pause. "Joey?" He calls to the Secret Service agent outside, 
and a red-haired woman pokes her head in. "Mr. President?" 

"Two things: One, this does -not- leak. We'll announce the happy news 
to the media, if it's confirmed...But only after we have time to let 
family and friends know. If Bobby is in yet," he referred here to 
Bobby Edwards, the new Press Secretary (Tony Snow had opted to leave 
with the change of Presidents), "ask him to inform the press corps 
that, on my orders, any leaks mean that the leaking media outlet will 
lose their accreditation to all Federal agencies, immediately, until I 
decide they may come back. Which may never happen. Two, if this is at 
all confirmed, please have tasers ready. I may be a biiiit hyper."

The Secret Service agent, and the other staffers nearby, laughed. "Yes 
sir!" She replied with a grin. "And, congratulations, sir."

"Thanks," POTUS replied, beaming.

Kayleigh laughs before she is kissed. She responds with a deep kiss in 
return, one that lasts much longer than necessary. She keeps her arms 
around John, holding him close as she talks, light and joy just 
radiating from her. "I almost can't keep myself from running down 
there right now and demanding he do the test this moment." 

She beams at Joey, at anyone around, but especially at John, laughing 
when they laugh. Her laughter lingers long after theirs does, but it 
doesn't sound out of place. Not at all.

<1 hour later>

"So, Doctor? What's the verdict?" Kayleigh sits on the bed, her legs 
crossed daintly. Even with this image, she keeps resting the hand 
that's not gripping John's against her stomach, as though expecting to 
feel some sign already. She knows she won't, but it was odd to think 
that there might be life within her. Odd and amazing at the same time.

John is just squeezing Kay's hand, a smile on his face. He's quiet. 

The doctor turns, his clipboard in one hand. His expression gives 
nothing away; he has a kind look to him, as he has had the entire 
appointment, so there's no clues to pick up on.

"The verdict is..." He smiles, and Kayleigh feels a surge of 
excitment, of unbelievable joy. She knows what's he's going to say. He 
nods to the President, still smiling. "You're pregnant. 
Congratulations, Mrs. and Mr. President. You're going to be a mother 
and father." 

John grins wide, giving Kay a quick kiss and a tight hug. "Thanks, 
Doctor...Wow..." He replies after pulling back from Kay.

His expression is one of surprise. Happy surprise, but still. 
Surprise. 

"Oh, wow. I'm going to be a dad. I'm going to be a daddy..." He 
thinks. Somehow, he doesn't faint.

Kayleigh squeaks in excitment as she's pulled into the tight hug. She 
hugs back, kissing back, before beaming at John. 

"I love you, sweetheart." She looks at the doctor. "Thank you, thank 
you so much for confirming it, for giving us this wonderful news."

She could babble and dance around the room forever with her husband, 
she's so happy. But for the sake and sanity of the doctor, she somehow 
keeps calm, except for the fact she's shaking at this news. Happily 
shaking.

John beams back. "I love you too."

Then, the doc just grins. "You're welcome." 

John grins at Kay, kisses her again, and just hugs her tight.

That is, until there's a knock on the door.

"Just wanted to make sure nobody's dead in here," spoke Daniel 
Roberts, the head of John's detail. 

"No, no, we're fine!" calls John. "The answer is a yes!"

"Congratulations! Now, c'mon out, so we can make sure it's really you 
talking!"

John grins, and squeezes Kay's hand again, tugging her lightly as he 
turns towards the door.

"We're coming!" Kayleigh says, opening the door. She leans happily 
against John, holding his hand with cheeks flushed from the 
excitement. Laughing, she says, "If we were dead, it'd be because the 
excitement was too much."

"I can imagine; I have 3 kids of my own," replies Roberts.

John was just grinning, happily holding Kay against him.

"Mr. President?" That from Bobby Edwards. At barely 40, he was the 
youngest Press Secretary in White House history. Unusually for a 
nominally Republican administration, he happened to be a Democrat.

At that, John's head turned as if on a swivel. "Yeah?"

"I assume the verdict is a yes?" 

John nodded, grinning.

At that, Edwards loped over, extending his hand. "Congratulations. I 
already have two; You're in for a hell of a ride, Mr. President."

As the PS shook hands with the First Couple, John just 
grinned. "Thanks."

Then, business. Without skipping a beat, Edwards asked, "What do I 
say...?"

"My orders from an hour ago stand. There's not even an *embargo* on 
this. Nobody says a *word* until we announce it from the podium." 

"Yes sir."

John then looks at Kay and grins. "With that said...Kay, will you make 
sure to call both sides of the family, let everybody know? I wager we 
have...what, 2 hours til people notice something's up?" 

"Give or take." Kayleigh nods, a smile never leaving her face. "I'll 
start calling up the family and friends as soon as we get upstairs. 
With earplugs, to protect myself from any screaming." 

Again, the realization washes over her. There's a baby growing inside 
her, and it's all theirs. Their baby. Due in almost nine months. Nine 
months! How could she wait that long?

John smiles back. "Good idea." 

<A while later>

Kayleigh enters the Oval Office study, unable to stifle a yawn as she 
steps inside. Today has been a long, but exciting day; regardless, 
she's a little on the tired side, if happily so. She waits, in case 
John is busy.

Long? It's barely even noon! Nonetheless, nothing was happening at the 
moment, so John was idly tapping at his laptop. At Kay's entry (and 
yawn), he looks up, then gets up with a smile to wrap his wife in a 
tight hug and a quick kiss.

"So, anybody faint or have a heart attack?" He asks, grinning.
 
Kayleigh hugs her husband back, kissing him before replying, "No, but 
I wish I had been serious about the earplugs. My ears are still 
ringing from the screams."
 
She laughs lightly, hugging John with a squeeze added in. "They all 
want to know when the baby shower is, and what the nursery will look 
like. I told them to give us time; we're still getting over the shock 
of finding out!"

John laughs heartily at that. "Besides, we still have to convince 
Congress to *fund* the nursery!" Pause. "Of course, I doubt it'll be 
hard, but still." He beams at her.

Then, a glance at the clock.

"Press briefing in 20 minutes. How do you want to handle them?" He 
asks, grinning.

"It'll be a drop in the bucket for them," Kayleigh agrees, looking at 
the clock as John does. 
 
"Mmm, that's a good question. What have the press hounds been told so 
far?"

"Absolutely nothing," John replies. "They're totally clueless."

"Then that leaves our options wide open," Kayleigh responds 
thoughtfully. "We could feed it to them slowly. They always seem to 
enjoy a bit of drama, so we drop a few hints and then the whole 
thing." Pause. "Or we could just tell them straight out."

"Remember, it'll be live on TV," POTUS notes.

"We tell them that there's a new member of the White House who's due 
to arrive in around ninth months," Kayleigh replies, sobering up 
slightly.

Sober? Mmm. In theory, John is. The grin on his face indicates...Maybe 
not.

"On second thought, let's ad-lib it," he notes.

At that, a knock on the door from Bobby Edwards.

"5 minutes til we go on."

John nods. "We're going to ad-lib it," he replies.

A raised eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You have any staff changes to announce?"

"No..."

John beamed. "Now you do."

That got a grin. "Alright. Follow me, and wait for your cue."

Soon enough, they were waiting, carefully hidden where nobody could 
see them, looking out onto the Press Briefing Room.

"And now, some unexpected breaking news to inform you of..." Edwards 
noted. This, of course, got everybody's attention, and a sea of red 
lights indicated camera feeds were live.

With a quick kiss to Kay, John moved rapidly out and onto the stage, 
his unexpected arrival catching everybody by surprise.

"I'm going to be a DAAAAAAADDDDYYYYYYY!" He exclaimed into the 
microphones.

The room went deathly silent for half a second. Then, it exploded, as 
the White House press corps figured it out and lost their objectivity, 
breaking into a standing ovation.

Perhaps at any other time, Kayleigh might be able to keep her 
composure, but not now. She bites back laughter and fails, before 
following John out, albeit at a slower pace. A few polite waves and 
smiles to the cameras later, she's standing next to John, slipping an 
arm around him. 
 
She leans forward into the microphones, pausing, ready to speak. A 
hush descends over the press corps, looking at her expectantly.
 
"He's not excited at all," she comments, joking, obviously. Laughter 
ripples through the crowd of reporters. "Honestly, though, we're -both-
 -very- excited, in ways that cannot be put into words."

"To answer the obvious question: Yes, we're sure, the Medical Office 
confirmed it this morning. Other than that, we have no real 
information to give you."

"Do you know if it will be a boy or a girl?" One reporter raises a 
notepad to show where he is at.
 
"No," Kayleigh replies. "We only just found out today. When we have 
more information, we will share it with you all."
 
She smiles, squeezing John's hand as she slips hers into his.

Helen Thomas, the doyenne of the White House press corps, stood up 
then. "Thank you, Mr. President, and congratulations."

Whatever other questions they had planned apparently died on the vine. 
With that mostly traditional end, the press briefing ended, and the 
President tugged his wife off, stage left.
---
Actions:
1. POTUS is gonna be a DADDDYYYYYYY!
2. Major character development.:)
---
OOC:

This was started this morning after I got the WR out. Ergo, no posts 
since the WR and the flash reports have been taken into consideration, 
to explain the dissonance.