The Human Side of Batman

Sometime around 11:30 Will reread the last sentence he had written, tossed off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He looked across the table, expecting Toby to be eager to hear what he'd written. Far from it; the Communications Director was sound asleep with his head on his legal pad. His pen was still in his hand and his cigar was still smoldering in the ashtray by his hand.

Will stifled a laugh, pried the pen from Toby's grasp and snuffed out the cigar. He was about to decide if he should wake him or leave him be when he heard the door to the Mess open. He turned to see a tall red-haired woman enter the room.

"And he finally sleeps," muttered Andi as she walked towards the table.

"Hi, Will Bailey," said Will as he stood up and held his hand out to Andi. "You must be Andi."

"That would be me," said Andi warmly as she shook Will's hand.

"Congratulations," he said gesturing to her expanding middle.

"Thanks. He been asleep long?"

"Ten minutes or so. Look, I'm going to get out of here for the night. Tell him I'll be back in the morning," said Will as he gathered up his papers.

"I will, have a nice night," said Andi as Will left quietly.

Andi looked at her ex-husband with a combination of love and just a touch of pity. She knew he'd had a rough couple of days. He was upset about Sam leaving, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even her. Toby had confessed to having trouble writing over that past week or so. Andi knew it was just a rough patch. He, like the rest of the staff, was burned out from the election and of course hadn't taken any time to regroup. She knew he'd be working late so she didn't even bother to try him at home after she got out of her own dinner meeting that had dragged on for hours and hours. She just came over to the White House to drag him home and force him to sleep for more than 4 hours at a time.

"Toby, come on, let's go," she muttered as she shook his shoulder with one hand and started to gather up his papers with the other.

"Just one more paragraph," he muttered under his breath.

Andi just laughed. "No more paragraphs. Toby Ziegler, wake up," she said leaning over closer to his ear.

Toby woke up with a start, clearly expecting to see Will standing over him. "Huh, what are you doing here? What time it it? Where's Will?" he muttered still half asleep.

"I came to drag your sorry ass home, it's close to midnight and Will left a minute ago. He'll see you in the morning." said Andi as she motioned for him to stand up.

"Oh, ok," mumbled Toby as he placed a loving hand on her stomach, "How are Boris and Natasha?"

"Bluto and Beatrice," said Andi with a smile. "They're tired and so's their Mom, let's get out of here."

"Let me stop by my office and grab my briefcase." said Toby as he placed his hand on the small of Andi's back and steered her out of the Mess.

"You don't need it. You're not going to be working when we get home,"

Toby stopped short and looked at her with a broad grin.

"Oh, forget it. It's midnight, we're going to sleep," said Andi with a smirk. "Your place or mine?" she asked as she pushed open the door with one hand and pulled her coat more tightly around her.

"Well, let's see, your place is in Maryland and mine is 8 blocks away...mine." snorted Toby as he took her hand and lead her to his car.

Toby suprised Andi by not putting up a fight when she held her hand out for the car keys. He knew he was really in no shape to be walking, let alone driving. By some miracle he managed to stay awake during the drive. He grabbed Andi's bag and her hand before staggering up the steps to his townhouse.

"You hungry?" he asked Andi once they were inside.

"Toby, I'm pregnant with twins, what do you think?" she said with a smile. "I'll get myself something to eat. You go change and find somewhere to crash before you fall over. You want some tea?"

"Yeah. Hey Andi?" he called over his shoulder as he headed down the hall.

"What?"

"Marry me?"

"Not a chance Ziegler," she yelled down the hall.

Toby mumbled something she couldn't hear as he closed the door to the bedroom. Andi smiled to herself as she started to raid the refrigerator.

Ten minutes later Toby came out in a Yankees t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He collapsed on the couch and flicked on the TV to CNN.

"Toby, please, anything but CNN," Andi called from the kitchen.

He mumbled a little more before turning the channel to ESPN. Andi came out with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for herself and a cup of tea for Toby.

"Here, careful, it's hot," she said as she put down her sandwich and headed to change.

She came out a minute later in a t-shirt of Toby's and a pair of his pajama pants. "Sorry, I didn't have anymore pajamas here," she said as she sat down next to him.

"Well, that's easily solved Andi. Move in, marry me and you'll have all your stuff here."

"Toby, I'm a congresswoman from Maryland. I need to live there," she smirked, pointing out the obvious.

"Fine, marry me and I'll move in with you."

"Toby are you ever going to give up?"

"Nope."

"Good, cause I think I'd miss this," she teased as she reached for her snack.

Toby rolled his eyes. He settled down on the couch to catch the scores on ESPN while Andi ate her snack and read a magazine. It was clear to Andi that Toby had a lot on his mind and needed to talk. A couple of times he looked like he was about to say something, but suddenly he would change his mind and his attention would go back to the television.

"Toby, come on. Turn off the TV," Andi gently prodded as she reached over to rub his shoulder. He reluctantly did so and turned on the couch and stretched out, putting his feet in Andi's lap

"Soooooooooo..." said Toby, drawing out the syllable just to annoy her.

"Sooooooo, what is your problem," she asked, doing a dead on imitation of her ex-husband.

"My writing is crap and you won't marry me."

Andi shook her head. She was trying to look annoyed but knew she was failing. "We are not talking about us, at least not right now. We're talking about you and your writing and the fact that you look downright miserable. Come on talk to me," she pleaded as she put her plate on the coffee table and started to rub Toby's feet.

"The President is delivering the Inauguration speech in less than 2 months and I have nothing. Well, I take that back, I have 498 words."

"Well, that's a start," said Andi, trying to be helpful.

"They're not my words."

"Oh, Will wrote them?"

"Yeah."

"So, he seems nice. I mean, I only talked to him for a minute."

"He's fine. He's good, he's just not..."

"Sam." whispered Andi as she reached to squeeze Toby's hand.

"You know Toby, it's perfectly fine for you to be upset that Sam left."

"I'm not upset." he said, just a little too quickly.

Andi was silent for a few minutes, waiting for Toby to say something else. She had a knack of staring until Toby spoke that usually worked pretty quickly.

"For crying out loud Andi, I am the voice of the President. And I can't think of anything to say! I don't have time to be upset that Sam deserted us for some race he has no chance in hell of winning," Toby all but yelled. He got up from the couch and started to pace around the room. He rubbed his hand over his head as he often did when he was upset or frustrated.

Andi let him be for a few minutes, she drank her tea and put the dishes in the kitchen. When she got back in the living room Toby was staring out the window. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder. "You're afraid he's going to win, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

"A democrat hasn't won in Orange county in about a million years," explained Toby.

"That wasn't what I asked," she said as she took his hand and led him back to the couch.

They sat down together. Andi gave him a sad smile and tossed a pillow in her lap. She motioned for Toby to put his head down. Toby settled down and she caressed his cheek

"Yes, I'm afraid he's going to win," Toby admitted softly. "But I don't have time to worry about that," he argued, "I have a million things to do and now I have to break in Will. I just need to do my job, I don't have to time be...."

"Human?" said Andi, completing his sentence.

"Well, that wasn't the way I would have put it, but yes, I suppose that's right."

"Toby like it or not, you are human," she said, gesturing to her stomach.

Toby grinned broadly and turned his head to kiss her stomach.

"Did you have a chance to talk to Sam before he left yesterday?"

"You mean did we have this big emotional scene in my office, no. Did I tell him good luck and don't forget about us, yes."

Andi laughed, "Would it have killed you to tell Sam what he means to you, would it have killed you to shed a tear?" she asked, not really joking.

"Yes, it would have killed me to shed a tear."

"Why?"

"Cause once I started, I don't know if I could have stopped."

His honest answer caught Andi by surprise. The vulnerable side of Toby was something he kept well-hidden. She could feel her own eyes tear up.

"See now, you're going to cry," he muttered as he reached up to wipe the corners of her eyes.

"Is crying so bad? I seem to recall you went through half a box of tissues when we found out I was pregnant."

"That different," he said, as if that explanation made any sense.

"Toby, you need to take a little time to relax. You are running on empty and you are going to crash, sooner rather than later. I'm willing to bet you haven't slept more than 4 hours a night in months."

"Probably not," said Toby wearily as he yawned. "But 5 straight hours of sleep isn't going to make my problems go away."

"Toby, I know that," said Andi with a sympathetic tone in her voice. "But some sleep couldn't hurt. And neither would talking to the President."

"And say what? I'm sorry Mr. President, I can't write worth a damn anymore cause I'm Batman and Robin just left town." Toby snorted bitterly.

Andi really did try not to laugh, but failed. "Batman and Robin? OK, that's cute," she said with a laugh.

"This is what I do and if I can't do it, I might as well give up." said Toby with a hint of resignation in his voice that scared Andi.

"Toby Ziegler, you are having a rough time right now. You are over worked, over tired and overwhelmed. Things will get better, they always do. Remember you have people you can turn to. Hell, you can even call Sam on the Bat Phone," said Andi with a grin.

"Andrea, I love you dearly, but you're not helping," moaned Toby.

"I know. I'm sorry. It's late why don't we get some sleep and you can take me out to breakfast and we can talk some more in the morning?"

Toby nodded in agreement, suddenly too tired to even talk anymore. He hauled himself off the couch, stumbled to his room and crawled in to bed. Andi turned out the lights and locked the doors before joining him in bed.

As soon as Andi settled down on her back Toby rested his head on her stomach. She could hear him whispering to the babies but couldn't quite make out what he was saying. Andi ran her fingers through the curls on the back of his head as he continued his one sided chat. With his head pressed to her belly Toby's breathing evened out and he fell asleep. Andi lay awake for a little while longer, considering changing her answer to the question she'd been asked a hundred times in the past few months.

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