Turn Back the Clock

Late Friday Afternoon in the Oval Office

The afternoon staff meeting was winding down and the President, seated in his favorite chair by the sofa, watched his staff talk and bicker, all of them more than ready for a little weekend relaxation.

Leo raised his voice to mention one last thing before the meeting ended. "Everybody remember the breakfast meeting at 7:00 AM sharp on Monday morning with Senators Cline, Davis, Farragut, Marshall, and Thompson. And," he waved his hand in Josh's direction, "that means you, Josh. You need to be on time."

"Okay," Josh responded, then turned to Donna. "You got that? Breakfast meeting with five senators at 7:00 AM, the only up side to be decent pastry."

Donna scribbled on her pad. "Yeah, Josh, got it, but you really need to remember to spring forward, fall back."

"Excuse me, Donna, is that some crack about my love of pastry and my glorious physique? What's with the 'spring forward, fall back' business? Is that some new exercise craze?"

The President had to choke back a laugh, but he couldn't erase his smile. This had every indication of being an interesting exchange. He had every confidence in Donna's ability to handle Josh.

Donna looked pointedly at Josh. "You really don't know what 'spring forward, fall back' means?"

"Yeah," Josh said. "It means you're making a snide reference to the fact that I eat too many Danish, which I do not, and that I am not fit and trim, which I am."

"Right, Josh, Charles Atlas should watch out," she shot back at him.

This time the President couldn't restrain his laughter and neither could Leo.

Leo regained control first. "Josh, what Donna meant when she said you needed to 'spring forward and fall back' was that you have to reset your watch for the end of Daylight Savings Time on Saturday night. You know, in the spring you move forward one hour, and in the fall you move back one hour."

"I knew that," Josh said, glaring at Donna.

Leo continued, "Well, make sure you do it before you go to bed."

Josh started to nod, but the President stopped him. "No, Leo, Josh has to change his watch at the appointed time, 2:00 AM Sunday morning."

Leo started to disagree, but he saw the gleam in Jed's eyes. "Yeah, that's right. Josh, that was my mistake. You have to change your watch at 2:00 AM exactly, because if you did it at, say, 11:00 PM, and I had to call you in for a thing between eleven and two, we wouldn't be on the same time and that could cause foul ups. So, 2:00 AM - set your watch back an hour."

Josh started to complain, "I have to get up at 2:00... That's crazy..."

Sam nudged him and said, "Why not? What else would you be doing?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday Night

The Residence

Abbey hated Daylight Savings Time. She regarded it as a ridiculous manipulation of the clock. Unlike putting money in the bank, there was no way to save daylight. Each day had only so many hours of light, and what sense did it make to try to reallocate them? Couldn't people just enjoy the sunshine whenever it fell? It seemed totally unnatural to her, plus it caused her to lose an hour's sleep every spring. And, with sleep at a premium in the White House, the hour was always sorely missed.

But in October, she always got her reward. On the last Saturday of the month, she got the magical gift of time, a special hour that was hers to do with as she wished. And she had it all planned for tonight. A warm bubble bath, a glass of wine, and a good book. She thought it highly unlikely that she would be able to stay awake in the warm, scented water for the entire hour, but if she fell asleep, so what? It was sleep that had been taken from her in the first place.

Abbey went into the sitting room to get her book and found Jed engrossed in the World Series.

"I'm going to take my bath now," she said.

"Okay," he replied, momentarily taking his eyes from the television screen to see her setting her watch. "What are you doing?"

"Setting my watch back an hour," she replied. "You know, for the end of Daylight Savings Time. I get an extra hour, and I'm using mine now for a bubble bath."

"It's only eleven o'clock. You can't change the time yet. You have to do it at two in the morning," Jed told her.

"And who made this rule?" she asked, incredulous that he would even think she would wake in the middle of the night just to reset her wristwatch.

"Well, not me, but that's what we're going to do. The time actually changes at 2:00 AM Sunday morning, and, as the leader of the country..."

Abbey ruthlessly interrupted, "Give it up, Jed. Nobody cares when we change our watches."

Jed was stubborn. "The media might ask me, and I want to be able to truthfully say I did it at the appointed time."

"Fine," she replied. "You get your bonus hour at two o'clock in the morning. What can you possibly do with it then?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The mattress was shaking slightly and there was a very annoying sound that just wouldn't go away.

"Abbey..."

There was a pause as the annoying sound stopped and silence once again filled the room. Abbey let herself sink back into the warm, enveloping darkness of sleep.

"Abbey...wake up. You've got to help me. It's not big enough and it's not sticking out far enough. I can't get it with my hand."

Somehow, Jed's plaintive voice reached through her sleep fogged mind. What on earth was he talking about? What wasn't big enough? And why did he want to put his hands on it?

Abbey turned over and opened one eye.

Jed was leaning over her, shoving his wristwatch in her face.

In that moment, she thought she could actually kill him.

"What time is it?" she asked, her voice groggy. This better not be what she thought it was.

Jed saw her open both eyes. Not a lot, just little slits, but he knew she was awake.

"It's two o'clock," he said. "And I can't pull the stem out to reset my watch."

Now both Abbey's eyes were wide open, directing a death glare at her unfortunate husband. She sat up in bed and grabbed the watch from his hand.

"Turn on the damn lamp and hand me my glasses," she ordered.

He complied and sat down on the side of the bed to watch her slide a fingernail underneath the stem of his watch and pull it out. She adjusted the time and clicked the stem back into place.

"Thanks," he said, as Abbey handed the watch back to him and threw her glasses on the bedside table.

"Yeah, Jed, no problem. I'm here to serve at your slightest whim. Now you won't have any trouble at all if the media asks if you reset your watch at the right time. You can say that you did, but that you were so fumble fingered that you had to wake your comatose wife to help you. That'll make it look like you're right on top of things."

Jed decided to ignore his wife's sarcasm. He glanced down at the watch face, which now indicated one o'clock.

He smiled. "Now, I get my bonus hour."

"Good for you, Jethro." Abbey plumped her pillow and rolled over, intent on recapturing the deep, warm slumber that Jed had so rudely interrupted.

Even sitting on the side of the bed, he could feel how warm and cuddly she was. He had the gift of an extra hour, and he most certainly did not want to spend it alone.

Jed got out of his clothes in very short order, about two minutes by his estimate. That meant he still had fifty-eight minutes of extra time. And he knew exactly what he wanted to do with those precious minutes.

Abbey lay on her side, slightly curled up and with her back to him. He slipped into his side of the bed and slid over to put his arm around her.

She grumbled softly, "Go away."

Jed burrowed his hand further around her, letting it rest on the warmth of her stomach before moving higher to cup one breast. His thumb moved gently and, even through the silk of her pajama top, he could feel her nipple tighten at his touch.

Abbey mumbled again and tried to push his hand away, but he was persistent. He figured he had fifty-three or fifty-four minutes left, and he was going to make the most of them. Jed let his hand travel over her, searching for, and finding, the other breast. This time he squeezed gently as he caressed her fullness, his thumb strumming the hardening nipple.

"Ummmmm..." she said, as she stretched back against him and thrust her breast against his hand. A totally inarticulate response, but, to Jed, it was as good as "take me, I'm yours". How nice...an open invitation, and he was certainly in the mood to accept. He pulled her closer and felt the silk of her pajamas slide over his lower body. It was almost like the gentle caress of a lover and he felt himself harden in response.

This was very nice indeed, but it could be even better. He shifted away and pulled Abbey with him, rolling her onto her back. He leaned over to undo the tiny buttons on her pajama top, but he found her fingers there first, unfastening the buttons far more quickly that his fingers could have. She pulled the edges of the top apart and uncovered her breasts, letting her fingers trail softly across them as she moved the garment away.

His hands replaced hers, cupping the rounded flesh and stroking the smooth skin, but leaving the rosy tips untouched. Jed knew that he was teasing her, that she wanted more, but she would have to ask.

"Jed..." Abbey's voice was soft.

He lowered his head and kissed her, gently at first, then with deepening intensity, his lips parting hers as his tongue slipped inside and twined with hers. Abbey made a soft sound in the back of her throat as his lips continued to ravish hers and his hands moved over her breasts.

Jed finally broke the kiss and lifted his head fractionally. "Yes, Abbey?" he whispered.

"Uh...," she seemed at a loss for words. Apparently his kisses were so potent that he had driven all coherent thought from her head. He decided to give her a reminder by running his thumb gently over the peak of one breast.

"Yes...," she sighed. "Could you...?"

Oh, yes...yes, indeed...he could and he would. Jed planted a trail of soft kisses down her throat to her collarbone, moving with tantalizing slowness. As he paused there, Abbey brought her hands up and ran her fingers up the back of his neck and into his hair. But this, he knew, was just a pretext for what she really intended. In just a few seconds, she began to push his head toward her left breast, and he smiled briefly before letting his lips descend on the waiting nipple. He ran his tongue over it, teasing it to taut arousal. Kissing and sucking gently, he focused almost all his attention on the perfect contours of her breast. However, a tiny part of his brain registered the fact that, as he leaned over her, his erection had found a warm nest between her silk pajama clad thighs and it was very, very happy there, twitching gently, as if looking for an even warmer place.

He bucked his hips a little bit, but was immediately distracted as Abbey's hand came up to his cheek, pressing insistently, mutely requesting him to move his attention to her right breast. He did so, teasing, nipping and sucking as he had done on the other side, but now a larger part of his brain was concerned with his southern hemisphere. And, when Abbey reached out and gripped him firmly, all of his attention went there.

"Move," she demanded quietly as she removed her fingers from him.

"What?" he groaned.

"Move. So I can take off my clothes."

Jed released her breast and shifted his position. Abbey reached down and slid off her pajama bottoms and panties in one smooth, fluid motion, tossing them to the floor. She quickly shrugged out of her pajama top and sent it to join the bottoms.

She lay back, parted her legs slightly, and smiled. "You can come back now," she said in a throaty, seductive voice. She closed her eyes and waited expectantly for his body to cover hers.

"You sure?" he asked, not moving from his position. "Cause, you know, I can..."

Her eyes flashed open and she fixed him with a glare. "Now!"

He'd forgotten how irritable she could be in the middle of the night. Well, even though this was his bonus hour, Jed didn't want to make her mad. He thought it best to humor her and give in to her demand. Also, the lower part of his body was making demands of its own that he simply could not ignore.

Jed poised his body over hers and slipped his erection between her thighs. Not quite where it wanted to be, but teasing her with gently pressure.

"God, Jed, don't you know what 'now' means?" Abbey asked. "This minute... Immediately..."

Jed silenced her the only way he knew how. He pushed inside her and almost groaned at how good it felt. Abbey arched her hips and he began to move with long, slow strokes, in and out. Deep and shallow. Slow and smooth.

"A little faster, please?" she whispered, as she tried to arch against him more quickly.

Jed didn't change his pace. "No...I don't think so. I figure I've still got thirty minutes or so left."

"What?" Abbey opened her eyes. She didn't want to be insensitive, but their lovemaking seldom lasted that long. She said gently, "Jed, I don't know, usually..."

"Thirty minutes of my bonus hour. I have about thirty minutes left. And, as for what you mean, if I think I can, I can." He continued stroking in and out, slowly.

She considered that for a moment. It seemed better not to mention that he sounded like 'The Little Engine That Could', so she just pulled his face to hers and kissed him. "Yeah, I know you can," she whispered.

Jed's ego aside, that still didn't change Abbey's perspective. She was ready for more and she was ready for it now. With intense concentration, she began to contract around him with sharp, quick bursts of energy, a move calculated to drive him to the pace she needed.

"Oh, Abbey, couldn't you just wait?" he groaned.

"No." She smiled and closed her eyes.

Her contractions were driving him close to the edge, the ache within him spreading with sudden fiery intensity. Jed tried to maintain his rhythm, but he was no match against her insistent movements and seductively arching body. And he didn't want to be. He began to thrust quickly and deeply, suddenly overwhelmed by pure physical need. He watched her face, waiting for the expression of sublime satisfaction to come over it. But her eyes remained closed in intense concentration, so he closed his own, trying to think of something else, anything other than the tremendous ache in his lower body. Abbey had to come first. He had to stay in control...

Abbey gasped and Jed opened his eyes to see utter contentment in her features. He hadn't really needed to look; he could feel her shuddering beneath him as the waves of pleasure shook her body. Now he could just let go...

He did. He gave up control completely and was quickly consumed by fiery bursts of pleasure. The sensations peaked, then slowly receded, leaving him feeling warm, satisfied, and drowsy.

Jed lowered his lips to Abbey's and kissed her softly.

She murmured against his mouth, "Nice bonus hour?"

"The best," he replied with a grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jed went into the bathroom and noticed that Abbey had not adjusted the time on the clock on the vanity. He picked it up and started to turn back the hands an hour, but then he changed his mind and set it back down next to the lavatory.

He would change it in the morning, at about eight o'clock, making sure to call his wife's attention to her oversight. Then he would just roll those hands back to seven and, magically, have another hour of bonus time.

Jed looked into the bedroom and let his eyes rest lovingly on Abbey's slumbering form. He wondered if she would be open to another 'bonus'.

He thought...no, he knew...that he would try. She just might let him get away with it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~