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Shout-out to maki.
Slow-mo flashbacks of a little girl riding a horse. Now it's grown-up Zoey. Little girl. Grown-up. Little girl. Jed calling Zoey. Horse falters. Child starts to fall. Bartlet wakes up from his nightmare.
Cut to Abby dozing on a couch, and a wide-eyed Zoey lying with her head on her mother's lap. Isn't that the side where her clavicle's broken or whatever? Bartlet walks up behind the couch. Zoey rouses herself from a glassy stare, turns to her father, and smiles: "Dad." Bartlet's expression is equal parts relief and concern.
As Leo arrives for work, Josh is impressing his boss by telling him a story about blowing about some toilets at a ballpark when he was younger. Leo: "Mm-hmm." Josh: "Cute girls were there...in shorts." Margaret sticks her head in to ask if Berryhill's supposed to be there. We know she doesn't like it when Leo makes his own appointments, but she doesn't say anything; she just has a mildly disapproving look. Leo says he made the appointment last night: "I put it on your...where you said." Is it just me, or have they been styling Margaret to be dowdier than usual this season? Leo calls Berryhill in; Berryhill asks if they read Berardi's resignation letter in the Post. Leo calls it "eloquent." Berryhill says it was a little old-fashioned. Josh: "'A little'? Aaron Burr's call to the interview at Weehawken was less stilted." Berryhill: "Berardi blunted his protest by making it a laundry list -- the bombings, the assassination...I thought he was going to go after our neckties." Leo asks about the Syrians. Berryhill says they're better, but probably afraid they're next. He adds that there are regards to the First Family from Saudi Arabia and Cairo. Leo says that Berryhill's UN address went a long way. Josh tells Berryhill he's polling in the high sixties. Berryhill seems amused that they're polling on him: "You guys must be desperate for good news." Josh and Leo tell them that their first priority is to name a VPOTUS. Berryhill agrees. Leo: "So if your President asks, you'll serve?" Credits.
Bartlet's in the First Kitchen making some coffee or espresso or one of those complicated caffeine drinks that requires a $950 machine, but it sounds more like he's flushing an industrial toilet. Zoey commends him on having joined the twenty-first century. Jed: "Can we keep this between us?" Zoey: "In the office..." Jed: "I still take a plain, all-American cuppa joe." She asks if he's doing okay. He claims to be. Abby wanders in. Zoey: "I just wondered, because it is the fourth of July, and we've been up for twenty minutes..." Jed: "I'm saving the Founding Fathers 'til lunch." Hold up one damn second. It's the fourth of July? Zoey was abducted the night of her commencement, which was "5/7" as we were told in "Commencement." Even if you tried to spin that as "July 5" instead of May 7, it doesn't work. It was clearly early May when Zoey was abducted...and when Andi had her twins. This episode clearly takes place within a few days of Zoey's return, which is supported by the fact that they are still searching for a VPOTUS, and the fact that Huck Wyatt-Ziegler has his bris, traditionally observed on a baby boy's eighth day, during this episode. Yeah, I know they need to get the show back on track so that things like Christmas, winter, and elections will fall at the right times. But the time to catch up is after they've picked a VPOTUS and Zoey's recovered. It shouldn't be the Fourth of July now, and viewers shouldn't be expected not to notice the seven-week gaffe, and the only reason I can think of for it is so that they have an excuse for the anvilly fireworks at the end. Anyway, Zoey asks if lunch is still on, and he says it is, only if she's up to it. She knows. Abby says a groggy "Morning." Jed says the same back. There's no warmth there. Zoey asks if Abby smelled the coffee. Abby gripes, "I could hear it. Could that thing be any louder?" Then Ross gets married again...no, wait. Wrong show. Zoey leaves, saying she'll be right back to make Abby's drink. As she goes, Abby tells her to keep the ice on her arm, which is in a sling. Jed notes that Abby's not in a talkative mood, so he doesn't even try to initiate conversation. He just leaves. Maybe she's just upset that a small marsupial died where her hair used to be.