John's Quest

Title: John's Quest

By: Abra de Winter

Beta By: dot - without her help the story would not be nearly as good as it is. Any mistakes left in the story - all mine

Pairing: John Hoynes/Ellie Bartlet - Romance

Rating: R (finally!)

Spoilers: season 5 episodes 15 – "Full Disclosure" and 16 – "Eppur 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 IX

“Mr. President, Ellie and I are engaged to be married.”

Jed thought he had heard wrongly.

“You what?”

Looking at their faces, he understood that it was not a bad joke. His conversation with Abbey started to make sense. His daughter’s fiancé was… he couldn’t bring himself to accept it.

“When? How did it happen? How long has this been going on?”

“We’ve been friends for about a year and a half, but we’ve started seeing each other a few months ago,” Ellie said.

Her father tried to ignore that Hoynes was holding her hand. He tried, but he failed. He had to do something to separate them.

“Ellie, your mother wanted to talk to you. She’s in the study. Go see her while I talk to John.”

John felt Ellie squeezing his hand, wishing him luck. He watched her leave with a feeling of relief. He knew he could take whatever Bartlet was going to tell him, but he was worried that Ellie might start having second thoughts if she heard her father denouncing him. There were some things about him that her father knew, and Ellie did not. His only fear that weekend was that he could lose her. Anything else, he could take. He was sure he deserved most of the insults the others could throw at him.

However, the first question came as a complete surprise.

“Is she pregnant?”

John stifled the smile before he answered.

“No, sir.”


~~~~


Ellie couldn’t remember walking all the way to the study. She had left John alone with her father. She was such a coward! She could have refused to leave. No. He was better than her at handling these things. All she had to do was watch out for landmines. One false step and the whole weekend could blow up.

She was about to knock when her mother opened the door.

“I heard the car. Did you tell him? How did it go?”

“We told him. It’s too early to say how it went. He asked me to leave so he could talk to John.”

Ellie noticed her mother’s almost imperceptible twitch when she heard her say his name, but was too numb to react. She hugged Abbey, looking for some comfort in the face of the next battle.

“Where is your luggage?”

“Still in the car. There was no point in getting it out before we knew if we were staying.”

“Oh, honey, of course you’re going to stay. You know your father won’t happy about it, but he loves you and he’ll try to understand.”

“Thanks, mom! I can’t believe you’re so cool about it.”

“This is going to be a test of our liberalism. Sort of a “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” in the White House.”

Ellie smiled at her mother’s attempt at a joke, but she was worried that it might be more of a “Meet the Parents” without the happy ending.

“Anyway, you’re staying in your old room. I’m going to interrupt Jed’s interrogation so that John can help you with the bags.”

“What room is he staying in?”

“Your room, honey. The whole family’s coming over this weekend and since you’re engaged I talked your father into it.”

Ellie’s mouth dropped opened slightly as she tried to assimilate this information.

“Is there anything wrong? I thought it would be easier for the two of you to have some time alone with everything that’s bound to happen here.”

“Yes. Right. You’re right. Thanks, mom.”


~~~~


John found Ellie waiting for him by the car. Abbey Bartlet’s timing had been perfect, ending the first embarrassing conversation he had with the President in the capacity of future father-in-law.

“It went well,” he said, before she even asked. “Better than I expected.”

“He’s still in shock. It could still get worse.”

“You’re not a very optimistic person, are you?”

He was smiling. He knew Ellie found it hard to believe he was so relaxed. She looked like she was ready to get back in the car and run away, and yet he could not share her anxiety. He took the bags out of the trunk, smiling, like everything was all right.

“Lead the way,” he said, once he had everything.

Ellie walked mechanically to her room, her heart beating insanely, afraid that her father was going to show up any second and yell at them to get out of the house.

John put her suitcase on the bed, and waited for her to show him to his room.

“We’re staying together.”

He dropped his luggage on the floor at hearing this.

“No?!”

“Yes. Mom’s idea.”

“I love the twenty-first century,” he said with a grin. “What did you say?”

“Nothing. What could I tell her? Like you said, everyone will think we… already.”

“I can sleep on the floor, if you want.”

“No.”

She had answered so quickly that John shuddered. She wanted him, too. She was thinking about it as much as he was. His beloved, patient Ellie was actually very eager to be close to him.

“This is killing me,” she said. “I can’t wait for this weekend to be over! I hope dad’s gonna behave when the others arrive.”

“Who else is coming?”

“Liz, Doug and the kids, Zoey. And I think they’ve invited Charlie, too. Mom said the house is going to be full.”

“It’s better that they all find out about us together.”

“You think?”

“I hope.”

“There’s no way to prepare for this, is there?” she asked.

“Not really.”

“Anyway, I’m sure that the juicy discussions are going to be behind closed doors.”

“Speaking of closed doors…” he turned the key into the lock.

“What do you have in mind?” she asked, hopefully.

“I haven’t kissed you in…” he checked his watch, “three hours.”

Ellie stepped eagerly into his embrace. He was still surprised sometimes at how well she fit in his arms. She suppressed a moan when his lips touched her neck gingerly.

“It feels more like three weeks. This situation simply can’t go on,” Ellie said.

“No, it certainly can’t.”

“I have never felt turned on in this house…”

John raised his head. His mouth was near her earlobe, not daring to touch her.

“…before.” She finished her sentence and was rewarded with the tip of his tongue tracing the rim of her ear.

“Maybe we should elope,” he suggested huskily.

“We don’t have to wait to be married…”

“This is torture,” he admitted, “but I’m kind of enjoying it.”

“Have I told you lately you’re an idiot?”

Her mouth was getting closer to his with every whispered word.

“Yes.” He leaned into the kiss. “It’s starting to corrode my self esteem.”

“Don’t joke about this. You need your self esteem for next year.”

“You mean you don’t want to be married to a mere lawyer, do you?”

“I’d love you even if you were the sheriff of Wolf Lake, Minnesota, but I don’t think you can stay out of politics. It’s who you are.”

He silenced his thoughts. He could not bring himself to tell her he was not like her father. He was old enough to be the paternal figure she needed, but he knew himself to be less than she expected from him. Less brave, less smart, less…

He swooped down and possessed her mouth with a ferocity that barely expressed his desire. He tried to control his passion, but rather than stroking her hair gently, he was clutching at it desperately. He couldn’t remember ever reacting this way to a woman. He wanted to please her, the way he had always striven to satisfy his partners, but unlike any time before, he wanted to possess her. He was sure of the depth of his feelings, and yet he wanted nothing more than take her violently, mark her as his own, make her forget anyone else who might have had a part of her soul.

He couldn’t be absolutely sure, but she seemed to enjoy this behavior. Ellie’s reactions were a delightful surprise. She had melted under his tenderness, like all the other women had before her, but she was burning brighter and more intensely the rougher his touches were.

He pushed her against a wall, and he felt a shiver running through his body when Ellie let out a moan while her arms tightened the embrace around him.

Her hands wandered over his body, bolder than ever before. His face was pressed against her neck when the realization hit him. She was counting on the fact that he would not dare to go all the way in her parents’ house. She wanted to take their game further than ever before, sure that she wouldn’t need a pretext to back off. He smiled. She was right, of course, but he was planning to take her way further than she was presuming.

He used his body to keep her pinned against the wall, while he began to unbutton her shirt. Ellie was clutching at his shoulders, writhing in pleasure as his mouth was going lower with every button he undid.

He had ended her lifetime addiction to sweaters the first time he undid a button of her shirt. He had taught her to adore the game of expectation.

She showed all the signs that she would welcome him tearing her clothes off there and then, but he decided to repay her teasing. This slow building of arousal was driving them both crazy. John had begun to develop self control in this area early in his marriage, when sex had to be scheduled in his wife’s agenda; practiced it steadily during his affairs, when the need for secrecy overpowered the intensity of his lust, and finally mastered it when he had met Ellie. In her case the truth was quite the opposite. She had been rather uninterested in boys during her teenage years, developed her first crush at fifteen on a man who would be her idol for many years, and reached a state of almost constant arousal upon meeting John.

“I want you so badly,” she whispered.

John stifled any other possible verbal encouragements with a kiss. It would’ve taken very little to forget he was in President Bartlet’s house and make love to her. He was still vaguely aware that he should not do it. That did not mean that he couldn’t keep torturing Ellie by increasing her desire and denying her relief. He spread her legs with his knee and slid his right hand between them. Ellie’s teeth sank into his lower lip and her nails dug into his shoulders almost painfully when his fingers started caressing her inner thigh. He watched Ellie shut her eyes tighter, and proceeded upwards with a renewed sense of control. It was the first time they had gone this far.

He felt the wetness on his fingertips and he made an effort to slow down again. He traced the edge of her panties, while Ellie trembled.

“John,” she moaned, faintly.

“Yes, Ellie?” he teased.

She did not answer coherently. A wordless moan escaped her lips, and he went on with his work. His partial detachment received a serious blow when his fingers wandered beneath the lace and reached the hottest part of her body. She was warm and wet and smooth and he had to step away before it was too late.

Ellie opened her eyes when she felt the sudden gust of cool air where his body had been.

“I think they’re expecting us downstairs,” he said, in a husky voice that Ellie knew and loved.

“They probably are.”

He noticed the hesitation in Ellie’s movements, but he was too preoccupied with getting his own body back under control to enjoy too much the effect he had had on hers. He was acting like a horny teenager, but he couldn’t help himself. Six months of abstinence were catching up with him.

“We should change for lunch. The bathroom is down the hall, third door to the right.”

John looked down at the bulge in his pants and decided he couldn’t risk meeting anyone in his condition.

“Maybe I should change here, and you go to the bathroom.”

Ellie followed his gaze and agreed. She took some clothes from her suitcase and headed for the door, but she stopped before unlocking it.

“John. You’re going to pay for that,” she said.

After she closed the door behind her, John started to undress. He looked at his lingering erection and told himself he was already paying.