Punched Ticket -- 2004

[Jennifer Moon]

"We've got plenty of time," Jen said, crunching her way through her ice cream. A mountain of sprinkles really was the way to go. The only thing that would have made it better, in Jen's mind, would be a cone. "I don't think she'll need her own room until she's about six months old, anyway. So there's definitely time to look around." She smiled and picked up her bowl of ice cream to go sit down at the kitchen table. "When we get to DC, do you want to look for another apartment, or are you thinking we should get a house?"

She shrugged, sinking down into the kitchen chair. "The doctor says that so long as I'm eating relatively healthy and taking the vitamins he gave me, it should be fine. We don't make a habit of eating badly every day, so I think one night of ice cream dinner isn't going to do any harm." She would just eat more vegetables tomorrow to make up for it, anyway. It was a good thing most vegetables were crunchy.

[Washington Kennedy Rockefeller]

"You know more than me." He hoped, because he didn't know much at all. "I don't know. We'll be spending a lot of time down there, and we'll have Ella." He was leaning toward a house. "But a house makes it seem so permanent." And he didn't want to desert Boston, even if really was permanent. "What do you think?"

He sat down across from her. "As long as the doctor says it's fine..." The doctor knew more than him. Lots of people did. "One night of ice cream dinner, fine. And pie tomorrow?" He wanted pie. Healthy and unhealthy didn't cancel out, so he just hoped two wrongs really would make a right.

[Jennifer Moon]

"I'm not an expert by any means," she said, continuing to eat her ice cream. It was running out quickly, but there weren't enough sprinkles left for her to have another bowl and be happy about it. "I just read the books." She had amassed a stack of baby books that were currently on her bedside table. And even then, she was afraid that the baby books weren't going to accurately prepare her to know what to do once Ella arrived. The only things she could really do now in preparation was eat healthy and be happy, both of which were easy to accomplish. She poked him in the shin with her foot. "We can have pie tomorrow after we eat real food. Pie, although delicious, has no real nutritional value."

She sighed again as she finished off her bowl, leaning back in the chair. "We could always rent a house... that way, we get the space without the commitment of buying it." She smiled across the table at him. "I think, unless you plan on only serving one term, that the whole DC thing is semi-permanent. We won't be there forever. Just until you decide you're over being in politics."

[Washington Kennedy Rockefeller]

"I just said you know more than I do." He smiled and took his last bite of ice cream. He had attempted to read the books, but they had been more boring than anything he had ever read, and he had read plenty. He didn't really see the point of reading them, anyway. Jen's experience was nothing like Ma's. "Real food isn't fun, though." He pretended to pout. "That's sort of the point of pie."

He put down his bowl on the table with a slight clatter. "We could do that." The idea of renting a house seemed slightly strange, but he knew that it was done. "I don't know how long I'll serve. Maybe I'll run for President Everett's place in Philly." There was no way he wanted to take the Oval Office. He would never be able to use his magic, and he liked his magic.

[Jennifer Moon]

"Real food is too fun," she countered, poking his leg again with her foot. "You just haven't been eating it correctly, clearly." She affected an overdramatic sigh and grinned, indicating she was teasing him. "We can have pie tomorrow for sure. You've got the whole weekend off, and it's only Saturday." They still had a whole day free. She still couldn't quite believe it, especially this close to the election. she knew there wasn't any harm in keeping the campaign efforts going, but she was convinced that Wash had basically won already.

She raised her eyebrows. "Really? That would be really cool. Oooh, if you win, that'll make me First Lady," she said. the thought hadn't ever occurred to her before, but it was the truth. It would be incredibly strange, but incredibly cool at the same time. "When did we get so old?" she asked. "I mean, we're married with a kid on the way and we're talking about houses and stuff. I still feel like I'm seventeen sometimes."

[Washington Kennedy Rockefeller]

"I eat the same thing you do." For the most part, anyway. "Pie tomorrow sounds fun." He liked having the weekend off. It meant they could go to a Red Sox game and do all sorts of fun things. "What are we doing tomorrow?" Besides pie. Pie did not take an entire day to eat. "We have a whole day." And they were home, which meant that there were things to do other than sitting in bed.

"We have six years to decide." Six years was a long time, though not as long as it would have seemed just a few years ago. "The election would be at the end of my term." It was still an exciting thing to think about. "Wow." He hadn't really thought about that. "That's an excellent question." He didn't know, but she was right. "I have no problem with any of these things." He loved her, he was excited about Ella, and, "Alright, the house is scary." He didn't feel seventeen, but he didn't always feel twenty five, either.

[Jennifer Moon]

"We can do anything you want," Jen said, a big grin crossing her face. "I'm just glad we can spend some time together. I know we've been in the same city, and I see you every day, but you've been so busy that it feels like the only time together we get is when we go to sleep." She stood up, gathering the empty ice cream bowls and heading to the sink to wash them out. "And even then, I spend half the night awake because your daughter has made it impossible for me to get comfortable."

She turned back to the table with a smile, leaning her lower back up against the counter. "I love you. And Ella. And I'm sure I'll love DC, too. It's a lot of changes all at once, and it's strange. Good strange, though."

[Washington Kennedy Rockefeller]

Wash stood up when Jen did, for no reason other than not wanting to sit there. "I know. Elections suck." He figured it was good practice for when he was at work all day. He also figured he didn't want to stay in all day, even if they hadn't spent nearly enough time at home recently. "Let's go out, then." Plenty of things to do in their hometown. "Or we can spend time with the families."

He leaned on the counter next to her. "We're entering the next phase." He would be going to work every day and coming home to her in a foreign land. They would be dealing with a little one, too. "Very good strange." That didn't make any sense at all, but it was true. Putting that out of mind, he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

[Jennifer Moon]

"They're not so bad." Jen smiled. "At least I know what to expect now. And maybe I won't be pregnant next time," she said, laughing. "Ella will be in school by the time the next election rolls around." She would be six, which was hard to believe especially because they hadn't even met her yet. Maybe they would have another baby before then. She shook her head. She was getting a little ahead of herself.

"I bet both sets of parents would be glad to see us." She slipped her arm behind him and leaned into him. "There is another Sox game at Fenway tomorrow..." she said, grinning, knowing that he wouldn't say no to another World Series game. "

[Washington Kennedy Rockefeller]

"I have to imagine that a national election," And a magical one, "Would be very different from a local," And muggle, "Affair. But we would be able to apparate. We wouldn't have to spend as much time in hotels and on the road." That sounded like the best idea ever. He loved their bed too much to never be in it. "That's a scary thought." He had done all sorts of things in school that he didn't want Ella to do (like getting attacked by evil wizards). That was Salem, but one thing led to another.

"Ma and Pop would love to see us." The Rockefellers had not seen their son and daughter in law since they had learned of the baby. "I'm sure your parents will be just as happy." He leaned back and wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders. "Yes. We're going. Absolutely. No question." They hadn't gone nearly enough over the season, probably because they were off making the state of Massachusetts love him. "Do you know what time the game is?"

[Jennifer Moon]

She smiled. "Yes, and I'd love to be able to do magic again regularly. Can you get worse at doing magic? Because I feel like essentially living as a Muggle for the past couple of years really put me out of practice." The extent of Jen's magic use nowadays was cleaning, cooking, and summoning things from other rooms when she felt too lazy to get up and get whatever it was she wanted. "Six years is a long time, but I guarantee we'll wonder how it flew by so quickly."

Jen rose up and kissed him softly. "Let's go see our parents, then. We can visit them in the morning and then go to the game tomorrow night." She was quite looking forward to seeing his mom and dad and her own parents. It had been awhile, and she knew her mother in particular would squeal with delight when she saw how big Jen had gotten already. "It's a night game, but I dunno the exact time."

[Washington Kennedy Rockefeller]

"Surely it hasn't been that long." Then again, she had been in school longer than him, having started a year after. He hadn't used magic much while at Dartmouth, outside of a few trips away from the muggle population. "I'd like to agree with you." He had a feeling that they were going to drag on, at least at first. Then again, "Mother knows best." He turned to kiss her back.

"Should we let them know, or should we just show up?" They had just shown up last time, but they were actually supposed to be in Boston this time, so things were different. He didn't much care either way, unless Pop wasn't going to be home. He wanted to see his father.

[Jennifer Moon]

"Oh, ugh," she said, giggling. "I'm going to be a mother, but I don't want to be called Mother. That makes me feel so old." She thought for a moment. "Let's just show up. They know we're in town, so I'm sure they wouldn't mind us dropping in for a little while. And I'm sure they'll understand if we keep the visits short because of the game." She grinned. If they told her dad that they were going to the game, he would probably ask to come along.

Her stomach growled, and she made a face. "I don't think the ice cream was enough," she said, pulling away from him to go look through the cabinets again. After she had gotten over the morning sickness a few weeks ago, she had been hungry almost the entire time. "We need chips," she said, turning back to Wash. "Or graham crackers."

[Washington Kennedy Rockefeller]

"Oh, but we're so old." He leaned into her again and laughed. "Soon my head will be all gray." He didn't much care, certain that he would look fine with gray hair. "We can do that." She was right, their being in Boston was known to all. "I just don't want to miss Pop." And Pop was spending more and more time at work, Wash didn't know how best to catch him. "Sounds like a plan."

He took his arm off her shoulders as she pulled away to look for food. "But it's," He checked his watch, then dropped his arm again. "Late." He didn't really want to go get more food. He was going to, he was pretty sure of that, but he didn't really want to. "Chips or graham crackers?" Not difficult.

[Jennifer Moon]

"Hmm," she said, grinning widely. "You would look good with gray hair. Me, on the other hand..." she laughed, reaching up to grab the end of her long, curly ponytail. It was a lot shorter than she'd had it while she was still in school, but it was still pretty long. "Well, let's call your parents in the morning, then, because I don't want to get over there and find out that your dad is working. Shouldn't he be thinking about retiring by now?" Jen's dad had retired awhile back, and he was a bit younger than Wash's dad.

She pouted and clasped her hands together in front of her, giving Wash the biggest, saddest puppy-dog eyes she could. "Both...?" she asked sheepishly.