The shouting was giving him a headache. All the shouting he and Toby were doing at Doug and Connie, and it was making him wonder why it had to be that way.

Oh yeah - because they were the new people and they didn't know the first damn thing about what they were doing. The same reason he and Toby had gotten yelled at a lot on the first campaign - they didn't know what the hell they were doing yet.

And Doug didn't write well.

Connie's interruption had been a not-so-pleasant surprise. Of course he wanted an apology. He just didn't give a damn whether the President apologized to the public.

He wanted to hear the words "I'm sorry" come out of the man's mouth. He wanted the President to admit wrong-doing because he thought that maybe, if he heard those words, he would feel better. He wouldn't feel so wrong for being upset if the President apologized.

Connie had been gone for maybe ten minutes when another voice startled him.

"Hey, Sam."

He jumped, nearly tripping over the fence as he turned around to see her walking over to him.

"M-Mallory."

"Yes indeed."

"What are you doing here?"

"Walking."

"It's cold."

"Yeah, I was noticing that." She pulled her jacket tighter around her. "But it's a clear night and pretty quiet. Used to be better for walking at night back when there were no floodlights or agents."

"I would think, it's a...it's a nice place."

"It really is." She leaned on the fence beside where he was standing and stared out at the pasture. "I haven't been up here in quite awhile."

"I didn't realize you were up here, actually, I hadn't-"

"Yes you did."

"I'm sorry?"

"You knew I was here, I saw you looking at me yesterday when I was over in the apple orchard talking to Abby."

"I did," he admitted quietly, staring out into space. There was a silence, a pause. "When did you get here?"

"About the same time Liz and Annie did."

"I didn't know you were gonna be here."

She shrugged. "They consider me as much family as the rest of their daughters, Dad told me I should come." Sam nodded and leaned against the railing as well. "What's on your mind?"

"What? Nothing."

"Sam, I've been around the house, you've been doing nothing but shouting."

"The new guy brought in to write speeches doesn't write well, the new girl just stays quiet until he leaves the room then explains what he meant, like we can't figure it out for ourselves..." He sighed. "It's amateur hour."

"And everyone's edgy 'cause the numbers aren't going up like they should?" He gave her a questioning look. "Plus you're still mad about the fact that this is gonna be a hideously bad election because of the MS when if you would've known about it in the first place you could've fixed it."

"How do you know these things?"

"Sam, I've been around politics my entire life, you think I wouldn't be able to figure it out? Especially not when Zoey and Ellie and Liz and I are always talking about it?" She raised an eyebrow and Sam shrugged again. "And, if it's anything like I think, you're mad 'cause he had to tell the public at all."

"No." He stood up straighter at that. "We're not mad he had to tell the public. It was the right thing to do...the honest thing," he finished in a quiet voice.

"I've been hearing the conversations all weekend...I think you're not telling the truth yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"I know Bruno and Doug want an apology and Connie keeps sticking up for those two. And I know you and Toby keep saying it's the wrong thing to do and I thing you're right from a political standpoint, because to apologize is to admit wrongdoing and wrongdoing is the LAST thing you want around your neck in an election year."

"No kidding."

"But I think you want an apology anyway."

"Y'know, you are the second person tonight - the second person in the past ten minutes - who has tried to convince me of that and I think you're both nuts-"

"You don't want a public one. You want him to look you in the eye and tell you he's sorry you lied."

"He-...He doesn't have to do that," Sam stuttered.

"But you want him to. Because he lied to you guys for so long and you want to hear him say he's sorry for keeping it a secret and for telling you last of all."

"He didn't tell me," he muttered. "Your father told me."

"Same here only in that case it was probably a good thing-"

"Mallory-"

"You're still angry at the President. You have been since he told you. And I'm not 100% sure I blame you. But I do know this. You've gotta let it go."

"I'm sorry?"

"You've gotta concentrate on getting him re-elected, you can't stay pissed at him forever."

"I've been acting in a manner that's nothing if not professional."

"Yeah, but you're screaming at all the new people."

"They don't know anything-"

"Sure they do. I'm sure that, somewhere, they know something, otherwise my father wouldn't have hired Bruno. And if they didn't know anything, Bruno wouldn't have hired them. But you're mad because they didn't get hurt by this like you guys did. They're too objective." She had been staring toward the opposite fence throughout the conversation, but she turned to look at Sam and saw he was staring with such ferocity that he was probably almost losing it. "You can't hold it against 'em, Sam. You can't hold it against HIM."

"I don't."

"Yeah ya do." She nodded a little. "So do I, I guess. I found out the day he went public, that morning...Dad called me." She directed her stare back out to the empty pasture - made it easy to concentrate, the emptiness. "I was so mad because I didn't know beforehand...and I used to be practicallyfamily...the other girls had known for the whole time he was sick and Dad had known for over a year and I never did...But y'know what happened?"

"What?"

"I realized it wasn't Dad's fault, nor was it the President's fault. He didn't mean to be sick."

"Yeah, but he-..." he paused a moment, swallowed. "He lied to the public."

"That's never happened before - a politician lying to the public."

"Mallory-"

"If it wouldn't have been for the huge announcement, it could've gotten buried at some point in some news cycle during the first campaign, but he didn't tell you and that's part of why you're mad, because this could've been a lot easier."

"Listen-"

"Plus he lied to you personally and he didn't have the guts to tell you about it himself." She didn't mention that she knew about his father - Josh had mentioned something and she, being Mallory, had drug it out of him. But that was unchartered territory she felt she shouldn't get into.

But the fact that the announcement came right after his father's announcement of indiscretion was one of the big things on his mind.

"You shouldn't stay mad at him, Sam. Go ahead and blame the new people all you want - they don't write well, I've heard snippets of it. Plus the fact that Bruno's trying to act like he has my father's job doesn't sit well with me. But don't be mad at the President."

She was answered with silence and maybe - just maybe - a faint smile. She couldn't quite tell in the darkness.

She stood up straight. "I'm going inside - you should go get some sleep." He nodded faintly and she turned and started back to the house, arms folded across her chest in hopes of staying a little warmer.

"Mallory." She turned back. "Thanks. I just-...I thought maybe this was gonna be-...Anyway. Thanks."

She smiled. "No problem. G'night, Skipper."

"G'night, Mallory," he said quietly into the wind that was gaining speed and losing temperature. He really was cold, he realized, as he wandered to his car to go back to the hotel.