i love me children

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: The West Wing Rating: Mature Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet, Sam Seaborn & Jed Bartlet, Sam Seaborn & Abbey Bartlet, Sam Seaborn & Elizabeth Bartlet & Ellie Bartlet & Zoey Bartlet, Sam Seaborn & Leo McGarry Characters: Sam Seaborn, Jed Bartlet, Abbey Bartlet, Elizabeth Bartlet Westin, Ellie Bartlet, Zoey Bartlet, Leo McGarry, Josh Lyman, Toby Ziegler, CJ Cregg, Donna Moss, Annie Westin, Original Characters Additional Tags: Pre-Season/Series 01, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Kidnapping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Family Drama, Sibling Bonding, Found Family, Angst, Hurt/Comfort. Family Feels, Therapy Summary: When everything Sam thinks he knows about himself comes undone, he’s forced to reckon with the childhood he lost, the man he's become, and the future still left to come. How do you learn to be true to who you are if the life you’ve lived is built on a foundation of lies?

// aka Sam is Jed and Abbey’s long lost son and discovers what it means to be a Bartlet with many bumps along the way, family shenanigans, a lot of tears, and a healthy dose of self reflection. Set during the transition pre s1. Title from 2x16 "Somebody's Going to Emergency... Somebody's Going to Jail."

Sam: "It’s just there are certain things you’re sure of… like longitude and latitude."

Sam’s determination to get a pardon for Stephanie’s grandfather was really sweet. The guy was accused of being a Soviet spy in WWII/The Cold War. I immediately felt for him because McCarthyism was so huge everyone was getting called a communist left and right it was like the Salem Witch Trials. Then Nancy from the NSA comes and tells Sam to drop it and even shows him a file—surprising for the government—that proves that he was a spy named Black Water after all. Sam realizes that not everybody is the way you thought them to be. The disillusionment in this episode goes absolutely crazy and I think it’s been one of the best episodes for Sam so far especially with how the story of this girl and her grandfather mirrors Sam’s own struggle with his father having had an affair for like 27-28 years. Except it doesn’t, because Sam doesn’t tell her the truth in order to prevent her own disillusionment and protect the idea that there are still good people in the world, which I don’t necessarily agree with, but it was impactful nonetheless. I also love his outburst at Donna in which she has to correct him in saying “grandfather” because he originally said “father,” a projection of his internal struggle throughout the episode. The episode also starts and ends with “New York Minute” by Don Henley showing that we’ve come full circle. Absolute cinema.

TOBY: Andy's pregnant.

Thanks @jessbakescakes for running this! I hope everyone likes it!