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The new school year had begun for Chelsea, she was so excited to get back to her friends and tell them all about her summer and of course talk about her baby brother. Typically, Hillary would meet her when she arrived back at the White House after school but today Hillary was so caught up in another health care meeting she wasn't able to leave when her daughter arrived home from school. Chelsea actually didn't mind because even on her first day she had a ton of homework to do. She went into the private kitchen on the 2nd floor, took her books out from her book bag and got right to work.
The nanny that took care of Henry during the day while Bill and Hillary had to work had entered the kitchen to retrieve a bottle for a very cranky Henry noticed Chelsea sitting at the kitchen table doing her school work.
"Good afternoon Chelsea, how was school?"
"Great! I really like my new teachers a lot Claire."
"That is good to hear, did your friends all have nice summer vacations?"
"Yes they did, my one friend and her family went to Greece! She said it was so amazing."
"Wow, talk about an amazing vacation."
"Right! Is Henry alright?"
"Yes, he is just being a bit stubborn at the moment. The First Lady usually comes up around this time to feed him and she is running a bit behind schedule, her meeting is running a little longer than she had expected. I can't get him to nap at all."
"Here, I'll take him his bottle and see if I can get him to calm down a bit to take his nap."
"Oh no Chelsea you have homework and I am sure the First Lady will be up any moment."
"Claire, it's no biggie. You have been looking after him all day, take a little break and let me see if I can get him down."
"I don't want to upset the First Lady."
"She won't be upset trust me, plus I haven't seen him all day and I missed him. I would have gone to his room when I came home but I thought he might already be down for his nap."
Claire handed Chelsea his bottle and nodded, typically Henry didn't fuss this much but today was a different day.
"Claire I will be back in a bit, if I can't get him down, I'll just bring him back with me and he can sit and watch me do homework. If that doesn't bore him to sleep nothing will."
Chelsea and Claire both laughed, and off Chelsea went to her baby brother's room.
As she approached the door she could hear Henry being very cranky and fussy, she approached his crib.
"Hey little man."
His ears perked and his eyes grew big, he knew that voice. It was his big sister and he looked at Chelsea and he smiled and cooed. She reached into the crib and gently picked up her 3 month old brother.
"Now I hear you have been giving Claire a hard time Henry. That isn't very nice, she is just trying to put you down for your nap because mom can't be here to do it. She is in an important meeting, so you need to be a good boy and ya know help Claire out."
She positioned Henry in the position to feed him and she sat down in the rocking chair that Bill insisted they put in the room. He loved rocking chairs and it was a much gentler way to rock Henry to sleep when it was his turn for the bedtime ritual.
Henry took the bottle and began to eat and Chelsea slowly rocked in the chair. She began to explain to Henry why mommy and daddy were absent.
"Henry, mom and dad are working really hard to help lots and lots of people. I am sure you have heard it a thousands times already in the 3 months you have been here but dad... He's the President of the United States. It's a cool and very important job. Mom is the First Lady, she works on important things too. Like right now she is trying to make sure that millions of people have access to health care. But, seriously trust me there is nothing they want more than to be up here with us right now... it's just so many people need their help."
She and Henry talked about all kinds of things, her new curriculum for the school year, her favorite teachers so far and well of course the gossip.
Hillary made her way up to the Residence and assumed Henry was already napping so she went to find Chelsea. Usually Chelsea was in the kitchen so she went there first, as she walked into the room she saw Claire cleaning some of Henry's bottles in the sink.
"Hi Claire, I am so sorry I am late, the meeting went so much longer than all of us anticipated."
"It is quite alright ma'am."
"Have you seen Chelsea?"
"Yes ma'am, she took Henry his bottle to try and get him down for his nap. He was being a bit fussy with me and she wanted to see if she could try and get him down."
Hillary tilted her head and smiled wide, her beautiful daughter just like her in every way. Always willing to help, no matter what, she truly beamed with pride.
"Thank you Claire, all my meetings are done for the day. If you want you can head home, but if you would like to stay for dinner we would love to have you."
"Oh, thank you so much for the offer ma'am, but I should get going after I finish cleaning up. A friend of mine from school is in town and we are going to dinner and a movie."
"What are you going to see?"
"The Joy Luck Club, we heard it was good."
"Well I hope you have an enjoyable evening and I expect a full review tomorrow morning." Hillary smiled.
"Absolutely ma'am." Claire smiled back and she went back to finishing up the cleaning as Hillary left the kitchen and headed down to Henry's room.
"So I told Becky, well if you think he likes you then you need to write him a note and just find out once and for all. Because if Ryan does like you then you guys can go to the dance next Friday together. She was too nervous to do it, Ryan is cute and he is on the basketball team so I like she was super worried that if he didn't like her the same then he would you know be all boy and spread it around that she has a crush on him. Do me a favor Henry, if you ever have a girl come up to you or send you a note asking if you like them... don't do the typical boy thing and spread it around to your friends. It's just not cool at all."
Hillary was listening outside the door and watching her two beautiful children spend much needed quality time together. It warmed her heart. She slowly entered into the room. Chelsea noticed her and smiled at her mom, Henry was fast asleep in his sister's arms.
"How long ago did he fall asleep?" Hillary whispered, she knew if Henry heard her he'd be up in a second.
"About 5 minutes ago, I wasn't sure how to get him back into the crib without waking him." Chelsea whispered back.
"Just slowly stand up and gently place him down in the crib. As long as we are quiet he shouldn't wake up, he's like your father. The slightest noise and he's awake."
Chelsea got her brother back into his crib and without waking him up, she and Hillary looked down at him and Hillary placed her arm around Chelsea and they left the room. On their way back to the kitchen Hillary and Chelsea spoke about her first day at school. She sat with Chelsea as she did her home work, had got Henry after he woke from his nap and then dinner as a family once Bill came back to the Residence for the evening.
It was Bill's turn tonight to put Henry down and when he finally got him down Bill made his way back into their bedroom, he stopped by Chelsea's room to kiss her goodnight and remind her not to stay up to late.
Hillary was already changed into her nightie and robe when Bill entered their bedroom, she was sitting on the bench to her make up table applying lotion to her arms.
"You would have been so proud to see your daughter with your son this afternoon, she was telling him all about school gossip while she had rocked him to sleep."
"I wish I could have seen it, this damn budget is going to be more difficult to pass than I had originally thought. I love that she took the initiative to give Claire a hand with her brother, she amazes me everyday."
"Yeah, well fair warning... she was telling Henry about a boy Becky has a crush on and she wants to go to the dance with next week, and Bill it is only a matter of time before she is the one with a crush."
"Now honey why did you tell me that? I was in such a good mood too."
Bill is changing into his pajamas and brushing his teeth while he and Hillary discuss their days, Hillary has already climbed into bed with a folder of data she needs to read over before tomorrow. She has the baby monitor on her night stand and is glad her boy is still fast asleep. Bill climbs into bed next to her, kisses her on the temple.
"Sweetie, I am going to turn my light out now." Bill says to her knowing that when she is looking at data, she won't go to sleep for a bit.
"Okay honey, I am just going to finish reading these memos and then I will join you in dreamland." She kisses him on the lips.
"If you want to delay the dreaming part... you just let me know darlin'." Bill gave her a sinister smile.
She looked over the edge of her glasses and raised her eyebrows.
"Well, Mr. President I will give you a more thorough answer on that in about 5 minutes." She smiled down at him now resting on his elbow and kissed him. Bill smiled back at her, and he laid down flat on his back.
A big smile on his face... Admiring his beautiful boy, his incredible wife and his amazing daughter. His perfect family, and he loved every minute of this.