John's Quest

Title: John's Quest

By: Abra de Winter

Pairing: John Hoynes/Ellie Bartlet - Romance

Rating: PG

Beta By: dot

Spoilers: season 5 episodes 15 – "Full Disclosure" and 16 – "E pur si muove"

Disclaimer: The characters are from the NBC, WB, Bravo, A John Wells Prod., TV show, 'The West Wing'. They are the creation of Aaron Sorkin.

Feedback: yes, please!

Chapter III

1. Later that night – thinking about it…

Night was falling over Baltimore.

In her office, Ellie closed her eyes.

'Just for a minute,' she thought. The minute passed, and she found it difficult to open them again. 'One more minute,' she told herself, unwilling to stare at the words and numbers dancing in front of her eyes, and at the same time not wanting to leave before she had made some sense of the research work she had done that day.

The enormity of Hoynes's visit had shocked her profoundly, as well as puzzled her. So now she had two things she couldn't understand. The report didn't have to be ready for another couple of weeks, so the appearance of the former Vice President of the United States could not be ignored in favor of her work. Was it exactly what it seemed? Or was it part of some political maneuver against her father?

She thought about Hoynes's visit all the way to her apartment, she thought about it while she waited for the takeaway Chinese food to arrive, she thought about it while she brushed her teeth, and she could not stop thinking about it, even when she was in bed trying to get to sleep.

Why the hell had he come to her?

It didn't make any sense.

Why had he gotten into a fight?

She thought regretfully that she couldn't call Josh Lyman. When Ellie had met Josh, he was in Hoynes's team and he was her only acquaintance who could possibly know what was going on with Hoynes at the moment. If she called Josh, setting aside it was too late for such a call, there was no way she could steer the conversation to find out anything without Josh getting very suspicious.

She tried to analyze his visit. Maybe there wasn't anything more to it than met the eye. Maybe he didn't have a sinister ulterior motive. Maybe he was just paranoid about the press.

He would have made a spectacular President. If he had run against anyone except her father, Ellie would have supported him. However, the cards had been dealt differently. She remembered the first time she saw Hoynes on TV after her father had told the family he was going to run for President against the Texan senator. At that time John Hoynes was the favorite for the Democrat nomination, and Ellie couldn't help resenting this man she hardly knew, this man who had everything and was about to thrash her father in the race. The resentment started to fade when "Bartlet for America" proved a success and it had lessened to the point of pure indifference by the time Hoynes had been forced to resign.

The John Hoynes who had been in her office earlier that day was quite different from the arrogant Hoynes she had met before. It was the first time she had seen him as a person, not an icon of the Democratic Party.

He was still in great shape; the doctor in her admitted this in spite of the re-emerging daughterly resentment. When she had tapped his ribs, she couldn't help noticing that he did not have the flabby torso of a man in his late forties, but the firm muscles of a man in his prime.

She must be falling asleep. There was no other reason for her to be remembering her fingers combing his hair in search of hidden injuries. He had very little gray in his hair and no bald spots. At least life had not been overly generous with him, she grinned a little mischievously, thinking of his unaccountable failures. Ellie was not the type to enjoy another's misfortunes, but her father's opinion about Hoynes had predisposed her to dislike him even when she barely knew him. The man had had every advantage and yet he had lost it all.

________________________________________

2. The "thank you" call


"Good morning, Dr. Bartlet."

"No, this is Ellie," she began, but she bit her lip as she realized who was calling. "Good morning, Mr. Hoynes. Is there anything wrong?" she asked quickly to cover up her initial blunder.

"Nothing at all." His voice concealed the grin. He had understood that for Ellie the designation "Dr. Bartlet" meant her mother. "I just called to thank you again. You were very kind to help me yesterday."

"Oh, well, you know…" she babbled, hating herself for not being able to deal properly even with the mildest compliments. "Thanks for the flowers. They are beautiful."

"Did they have the desired effect?" John asked, as he signed the papers his assistant kept putting in front of him.

"Yes. I like them very much," she said, not really understanding.

"I'm glad. I specifically asked for a very decorative arrangement to be brought for you to reception, where everyone could see it." He stressed the last words obviously referring to something that had passed between them.

Ellie analyzed the words, trying to understand what he meant. She wished she were a morning person. It took her several seconds to remember the conversation in Mark's office, and she realized that John had been trying to help her attract Mark's attention, knowing all too well the way gossip spread. She rolled her eyes. Like Mark would ever care about something like that!

"How did you get my number?" Ellie realized belatedly he had called on her cell phone.

"Oh, well, you know…" he copied her vague tone, waiting for his assistant to leave the room. "I hacked into the hospital's database," he confided as soon as he was alone in his office.

"I'm not an expert, but that borders on psychotic behavior," she said, impressed against her will.

"What else was I supposed to do?" he asked, walking towards the stack of volumes piled in front of the bookcase.

"You could have asked me," she suggested.

"Somehow I didn't manage to work the question into our conversation yesterday."

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you got into a fight, are you?" she asked, trying to regain some control over the conversation.

"It's not an interesting story, I can assure you," he said, underlining a paragraph on the book he was browsing.

"So I shan't read about it in the Washington Post?"

"I'm hoping you won't." Hoynes lifted his gaze from the book.

"You didn't really hack into the hospital's database, did you?"

"No," he admitted. "I made a few calls."

"Take care, Mr. Hoynes."

"You too, Dr. Bartlet."

________________________________________


3. Days pass…


John Hoynes looked at his watch and ordered another coffee. He was early. He was supposed to meet his new best friend, Oliver Babish, in half an hour.

He had decided not to contest the divorce, and he had come to terms with its social implications. He was out of politics, so there was little to worry about in that department. He just needed to talk to someone. The psychological impact of the impending divorce was far worse than he had imagined.

Oliver Babish was a respected figure in the legal community, but, for John Hoynes, had a different usefulness. A story Leo McGarry had told once in an AA meeting had stuck with him, a story about a guy who fell in a hole and was helped not by a doctor, or a priest, but a friend who had been down there before and knew the way out. Babish had been divorced four times. If anyone had gotten the hang of this ordeal, he was the man.
So in his deep misery, Hoynes decided not to go to a doctor or a priest. He needed a man who had fallen in that hole before and knew the way out. Babish had been divorced four times. If anyone had gotten the hang of this ordeal, he was the man.

He was thinking about Leo's story when he realized how similar his own experience had been to the guy in the story. The very day he had fallen in the hole, he had seen a doctor, and all she had done was tell him to take it easy. She hadn't even thrown him a prescription.

What else could he have expected from a Bartlet?

Thinking about it, he realized she had reacted better than he might have expected. She probably wouldn't have refused to see him, being the goody-two-shoes Bartlet that she was, but she could have sent him to another department. She could have called the Washington Post. After all, even the mousiest of the Bartlet girls had called Danny Conncanon to defend her godmother.

He was too tired to hate the Bartlets anymore. Well, maybe he still had energy enough left to hate one or two.

Oliver's arrival put a stop to his Bartlet ponderings.

________________________________________

4. A few months later


"Good afternoon, Dr. Bartlet. It's John Hoynes."

Ellie nearly dropped her phone in astonishment.

"Oh, how are you, Mr. Hoynes?" she replied, expectantly.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you. I can call later if it's inconvenient," he offered.

"No, it's fine," she replied, looking around at the mess in her kitchen.

Ellie resembled her father the most when she was in the kitchen. She obsessed over details, but had little time to become proficient in the actual cooking. At the moment she was surrounded by dirty dishes and an assortment of specialised utensils, and her T-shirt had suffered several stains.

"I was signing some papers and I saw your research is one of the projects we finance. Why didn't you call me when you applied for funds?" John said.

"I didn't know you were on the board of directors," she lied, then bit her tongue realizing she had mentioned his specific position in the firm.

"Oh, really?"

"OK, so I knew. I didn't want to use my name to get funds." She licked her index finger to remove a stain of tomato sauce.

"Not your name, Doctor, just your title. I owe you, remember?"

Ellie didn't know what to make of his tone. Was there some gratitude in the persistent bitterness?

"I don't cash in my good deeds." She shrugged her shoulders.

"No good deed goes unpunished," he threatened her playfully. "You'll have to convince me your project is worthy of my money, though. The specialists are going to need the technical presentation as well."

"We sent you so much material you could almost do the rest of the research yourself. You're joking, right?"

"No."

Ellie sighed. That was going to mean another few hours of compiling research data.

"All right then. Better get to work." She wanted to end the conversation before her Bartlet temper got the better of her.

"I'll be waiting."

"Good bye, Mr. Hoynes."

"Good bye, Dr. Bartlet."

Long after he hung up the phone, John Hoynes was still wondering why had he done it. He had called her to assure her she had gotten the funds and ended up asking her to beg for them.

'God, I can be such an idiot!' he thought, getting dressed. He hoped that his date with Connie Tate that night would erase all thoughts of his strange behavior.

________________________________________


5. "You have mail!"


It took Ellie most of her evening to put together another presentation. She was so used to the dreary fundraising process that she wasn't even angry about Hoynes's behavior. It was not unusual to be asked for detailed explanations of her work. She had more than a faint suspicion that John Hoynes couldn't care less what she was doing, but his interest surely could not be of a personal nature. He was probably considering the public implications of his endorsement of a research deemed questionable by an influential demographic segment.

Ellie called her dweeby best friend, who found John's e-mail address in less than ten minutes.

She looked at her watch, and sighed, realizing Hoynes had wasted her Friday evening with an unnecessary report.

'What an idiot!' she complimented him, and she sent the e-mail.

The next morning, John Hoynes was somewhat surprised to discover an e-mail from Dr. E. Bartlet. He skimmed through the highly technical content of the letter without much interest. The postscript made him smile.

"P.S. Some people can actually hack into databases.
E. B."

'So that's how she wants to play?' he thought, amused. He wrote her e-mail address on a piece of paper and made a mental note to visit a computer geek.

Ellie's day had been so hectic that by the time she got home she had completely forgotten about the e-mail she had sent to Hoynes. She turned on her computer out of habit.

At that moment, Hoynes's messenger informed him that "BlueOrchid" was on line. He typed "hello", grinning, and waited. He had been waiting for her to log on for a few hours. He had cancelled a date and made his way through most of the week's workload just for the fun of shocking Ellie Bartlet.

The chat request blinked at her on the screen.

JonnyQuest: Hello!

She stared at the message for a while.

JonnyQuest: It's not polite to stare,

She smiled and started typing.

BlueOrchid: Who are you, JonnyQuest?

JonnyQuest: I wanted to tell you that you got the funds.

A mischievous smirk crossed her face.

BlueOrchid: Mother, is that you?

JonnyQuest: Not funny, Doc!

BlueOrchid: I'm not a funny person, Mr. Hoynes. So, we got the funds. Thanks.

JonnyQuest: It's what I do, Dr. Bartlet.

BlueOrchid: Was that supposed to be funny?

JonnyQuest: You should be here. It's all in the delivery.

He was funny, he was friendly, he was flirtatious. He made her forget she was tired.

The fifteen minutes he had allocated for the chat turned into almost two hours.

The accidental two hours of instant messaging became a weekly event. John tried not to compare the pleasure of talking to her with his constant need to talk to Helen during their doomed affair.

For the following months, Ellie and John talked regularly, both online and on the phone. They discussed their current relationships, the dating rules and the deal breakers for each of them. In a purely theoretical sense, of course.

________________________________________


A/N

Tim Matheson was the voice of the cartoon character Jonny Quest.

Nina Siemaszko played a character called Blue in Wild Orchid 2.