"I, Sam Seaborn, take thee Mallory O'Brien as my lawful wedded wife to have and to hold til death due us part." Sam repeated after the priest beside them. His hands trembled as they slid the small gold ring on her left finger.

A tear dripped down Mallory's cheek as she stared deeply into Sam's eyes, his hand darted up to her cheek and wiped away the errant tear.

"I, Mallory O'Brien, take thee Sam Seaborn as my lawful wedded husband to have and to hold til death due us part." Mallory's hands were steady as they slid a thicker band on his finger.

Around the couple people stopped to watch the simple wedding. The two people so obviously in love and one vaguely familiar. Mallory didn't see the handholding, the points, and the murmured whispers. She saw Sam; his eyes wide open and focused on her. She saw love and fear, she saw more emotion than a thousand words contained. She saw the connection the two rings gave them. She could see herself being sixty, relaxing in his arms as they watched another president being inaugurate, Josh somewhere behind the man.

Sam's hair would have grayed. His face would be lined, crisscrossed with laughter and sorrow. His hands would tremble, his eyes unfocused with happiness and jubilation for his friend and his country. And their children would gather around them to support their father and their favorite "uncle."

Mallory smiled at the picture, hearing the words, "I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Sam was her husband.

Wow.

Mallory reached up to kiss Sam as he bent to do the honors. In the background they could hear a smattering of applause, but nothing of the thunderous roar had they told anyone in Washington they were getting married this weekend.

"We are so busted." Mallory murmured to Sam as he pulled back.

"I don't really care right now." Sam smiled at her as they both turned to thank the priest beside them, and the wedding coordinator who had put this small ceremony together for them in Vegas. Mallory slid under Sam's arm and put her own behind his back. Turning towards the hotel and their room, Mallory sighed in contentment.

"Well Mrs. whatever-last-name-you're-going-to-choose, what do you want to do now?" Sam squeezed Mallory's shoulder, bringing her closer to him.

"Mrs. Seaborn would very much like to enjoy her husband's body until they have to get on a plane tomorrow to head back to Washington."

"Okay."

@@

Sam couldn't believe that someone was knocking on the honeymoon suite at four in the morning. They had done everything but rented a deserted island to guarantee that they wouldn't be bothered for these two days.

"Mr. Seaborn?" A voice called through the door.

"One second." Sam called, sliding out from under Mallory and pulling on his discarded pants. Some one was going to die. Sam didn't know whether it was the man outside the door, or maybe the desk clerk downstairs or even possibly the manager. He'd even be willing to kill the President if he was the one calling. Sam opened the door and glared out.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Mr. Seaborn. My name is Mr. Thompson, night manager for the hotel. Ms. Cregg called and said it was urgent that I give you this message." The man handed over a sheet of paper. Sam took it sighing.

"What did she threaten you with?" Sam asked conversationally as he scanned the message.

"A number of things, sir."

"Don't worry, I won't let her follow through. Thank you, Mr. Thompson." Sam smiled and closed the door on the man's face. He read the message again.

"Spanky, you better not have done what I think you did. Call in five or I'll send someone after you. CJ."

"Sam?" Mallory called from the bed, sitting up.

"We've been discovered." Sam told her, sliding into bed. He rested his upper torso against the headboard and situated a pillow behind him.

"Damn. Who?" Mallory asked as Sam picked up the phone.

"CJ apparently." Sam punched in the numbers to get the White House and sat back.

"Could be worse." Mallory laid back down, her head on his chest, listening to the breaths he took and the loud hallow thumping of his heart.

"I swear to god Sam, that better be you." CJ screeched over the phone so that even Mallory winced.

"Hello, CJ and good morning to you too." Sam said pleasantly.

"Tell me you didn't. Please."

"Didn't do what?" Sam asked innocently.

"Tell me you and Mallory didn't just get married."

"Okay, then I'll talk to you when we get back." Sam moved to hang up the phone.

"SAMUEL!" CJ screamed. Sam put the phone to his ear.

"Yes?"

In the background, Sam could hear a door thump open and shut with Josh calling out, "What? What about Sam?"

He rolled his eyes. "What?" Mallory asked quietly.

"Josh just came into the office and now CJ's trying to get out of telling him."

"Why doesn't she just tell him?"

"Cause Josh likes to tell Donna everything, but Donna has a big mouth."

"Thanks Sam. It's not like CJ didn't just stick you on speaker phone." Josh comment dryly.

"Hi, Josh." Beside him, Mallory smiled mouthing the words, 'busted.'

"I'd just like to tell you right now, Samuel, that you are a big idiot that likes to make my life a living hell, is that clear?" CJ took a deep breath and started again. "What happened to me being your first call?"

"Well now, see here's the thing. I know what I'm getting into here. Mallory and I decided that we wanted a small wedding, without all the Washington stuff. Just us, so we did it."

"Sam, what if the papers hear about it."

"Wait Sam got married?" Josh asked dumbly.

"Way to catch up, Josh."

Sam could hear CJ thunk him upside the head as she walked passed him.

"The President has already sent out invitations to your wedding. They were couriered to all the important people. We have ambassadors, Congressmen, Senators, Justices. Everyone, you and Mallory have ever worked with has been invited. This is going to be bigger than the inauguration."

Sam turned to look at Mallory. "Did you know the President was throwing us a wedding?" Sam asked her puzzled.

"No." Mallory paused. "Wait, the President?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise." CJ told them.

"A surprise wedding? People don't actually do that, do they?" Sam asked her.

"The President thought it would be romantic. Abbey canceled all her trips so that she could help the social director and Jenny make the arrangements."

"Well see then it's good that we got married, cause I'm not going to participate in any wedding where Mallory's mother made a large number of the choices. Cause, see if I did, I wouldn't be the groom; I'd be the ass you kick as you come in the door. OW!" Sam looked at Mallory, who was glaring at him with her hand balled into a fist.

"My mother's not that bad." She glared at him.

"Yes, she is. You do remember Midnight Mass?" Sam asked her.

"What happened at Midnight Mass?" CJ asked over the phone.

"Nothing, never mind."

"The point is, Samuel, that you are going to come home, stick you wedding photographs and wedding certificate away in a drawer somewhere, you're not going to wear your rings, and you're going to live in two separate places until June at which time you will be married in a lovely ceremony in the rose garden."

"CJ!"

"What?" Mallory asked.

Sam turned to her. "She wants us to pretend we aren't married, so that we can be married in June."

"What!" Mallory sat up.

"See Mallory agrees with me." Sam told CJ.

"Yeah well Mallory also agreed that Vegas would be great in March." CJ said snidely.

"CJ." Sam's tone lowered to a growl.

"Sam, I'm in charge of appearances around here. And from the minute you step out of your hotel room, you aren't married. You're just having a weekend away."

"No, CJ."

"When does your flight get in?" Josh asked suddenly.

"Noon on Sunday." Sam responded.

"We'll talk then, enjoy the rest of your day, Sam." Someone on the other side hung up the phone and left Sam holding a dead handset.

"I really don't like the way that ended." Sam told Mallory as he set the phone back on the hook.

"They ganged up on you, didn't they?"

"Josh said, enjoy the rest of your weekend. That's never a good sign."

"They're picking us up at the Airport, aren't they?"

"Probably." Sam sighed dramatically, pulling Mallory closer to him. "I'm not going to pretend I'm not married to you, Mal."

"You won't have to. They'll just have to deal with it." Mallory reached up and pulled Sam's head to meet her own. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Sam kissed her softly.

@@

".And that's final, Sam." CJ stood staring down at Mallory and Sam, her hands on her hips and her glasses perched on her nose.

"We've been over this, CJ. We aren't going to preten-" Sam started.

"Do you want me to go to Leo?" Josh asked quietly.

"Yes!" Sam yelled back, standing up only to be pulled back onto the couch by Mallory.

"No." Mallory put in quietly.

"Mallory." Sam looked at her.

"Sam, please. If this will make my mother happy, let her have this wedding. It'll keep her off of dad's back."

CJ and Josh turned away as Sam's hand came up to touch Mallory's cheek.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Mallory looked down, not wanting to break her promise to him. "But I want to move in." She looked up at Sam fierce determination kindled in her eyes. She turned to CJ and Josh. "My apartment's lease comes up in two weeks. I'm moving in with Sam, and I don't care what it looks like because technically we are married."

Josh looked at CJ and then Sam. "Fine, but no wedding bands, no 'call me Mrs. Seaborn.'"

"Fine." Mallory looked at Josh hard.

"Kathy knows." Sam told them.

"First thing in the morning, Sam." CJ put in. "You bribe her with whatever it is you bribe her with and you tell her, no one is to know. NO ONE! Not the President, not Leo not Margaret." She glared at him some more. "I should have been your call before you left, Sam. And I'm pretty pissed I wasn't, so don't be expecting any favors." CJ turned away from him and faced the window.

Josh cleared his throat to catch her attention, when she turned towards him; he made a gun with his hand and aimed it at CJ. "Bang bang."

CJ looked from Josh to Sam and then back, throwing up her arms. "Fine, I still owe you into the next millennium. But I'm still pissed at you."

"CJ, you don't owe me." Sam put in softly. "You never have."

Mallory looked on with a puzzled look on her face.

"I'll tell you later."

@@

Sam and Mallory stared at the closed door with consternation.

"Well that went according to expectations." Sam said good-humouredly.

"You expected me to fold?" Mallory looked at him annoyed.

"No, I expected to fold on all three issues, so we came out ahead I guess."

"So I'm moving in."

"Yeah, but the rings have to stay here." Sam grabbed Mallory and pulled her into his arms.

"Yeah, but I'm going to be living here, with my husband." Mallory smiled savoring the words.

"And I'll get to sleep next to my wife, every night." Sam smiled softly.

"Every night you come home." Mallory poked Sam in the ribs.

"Every night." Sam assured her.

Mallory took his hand and started to lead him up the staircase to their bedroom. "Are you ready, Sam?"

Sam stopped and stared at Mallory. "Am I ready for what?" He asked suspiciously.

"Sam, honey, you really need to put your head in the gutter."

Sam thought for a minute. "Okay." He grinned and picked Mallory up, carting her up the stairs to the bedroom.

"Sam, as much as I liked Rhett Butler, you are wearing a condom, cause there is no way I'm birthing no babies."

Sam stopped and put Mallory down. "You don't want children?" He asked quietly.

She stopped smiling and looked at him carefully. "Not right away, Sam. I want to wait a year or two."

"After re-election is good for me." Sam told her.

"Mid August is good for me." She smiled at him.

"Why mid August?"

"Cause then our baby will be born in mid April and then I have six week maternity leave and the summer to spend with him or her."

"Okay, after the Democratic Convention next year."

"Sam, this isn't something you put on your calendar."

"Sure it is, I'll just tell Kathy-" Sam smiled as Mallory's face turned redder with each word.

"Kathy will not know our procreation activities."

"Okay."

"So, Mr. Seaborn. Are you going to have your wicked way with your virginal wife?" Mallory asked sweetly.

Sam looked at her dumbly. "No." Mallory hit his arm. "She's going to have her wicked way with me." Sam smiled as they finished the stairs and walked into the bedroom, closing the door behind them.