Spoilers:The term spoilers only apply to revelations about unaired episodes. All aired episodes become part of the canon, and thus I allude to them without warning. This piece begins at the end of the final episode of the sixth season.

Liaison de Congrès

Scene One

"Judge Gray!" "Ms. Gray?" "Judge Gray! Why did you veer from your script?" "Did you mean what you said about mandatory sentencing for juveniles?" "Ms. Gray, how has your mother's profession influenced your judgments?" "What's it like being a single mother and a judge?" "Judge Gray, will you be running for office?"

Reporters shot their questions at her, often not even waiting for a response before firing off another. Amy longed for her gavel to bring order to this ill-behaved mob. Then out of the din one question caught her attention. "Judge Gray, who is the man escorting you?"

It was quickly buried by other questions, but Amy—though she of course didn't answer it—found it difficult to ignore the implication that, if she pursued political office, her relationship with Bruce would be source of comments and questions, even more than it was during their six years in the Connecticut courthouse.

Finally the reporters had had enough. Amy sank exhausted onto a nearby bench, kicked off her pumps, and rubbed a tired foot. Though Marty seemed eager for yet another strategy session, one that would likely last late into the night, Amy was aware that Bruce had traveled hours to be with her, and thus far the two had exchanged little more than a few hurried words. She had to find out what he was thinking, what his plans were.

"No."

"No?" Marty asked, incredulous.

"No, I will not meet with you this evening. And I will not meet with you tomorrow. Not until an hour before I have to leave for Larry King. We spent most of the morning prepping for my testimony."

"Preparation which you ignored," he interrupted.

"And I see no need to go over it again," Amy continued as though Marty hadn't even spoken.

"Yeah. Okay. Looks like I've got some recalculating to do anyway. You've thrown a few surprises at me already today." Marty's gaze passed from Amy to Bruce and back again. "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't often get to D.C., so I'm going to spend some time seeing the sights and, um, thinking over my options." Having place her shoes back on her feet, she rose from the bench, glancing at Bruce to see whether he had recognized her words' significance. "Bruce, what do you say? Care to play hooky for a weekend?"

Bruce hefted an overnight bag he had picked up from security while Amy was busy with the reporters. "Sure, but I still have to find a room for tonight. I'd rather not carry this with me all over the city."

"I'm sure that Marty can find you something in our hotel, can't you Marty? Since you're going back there now, anyway. Perhaps you can even take Mr. Van Exel's bag for him and ask the bellhop to leave it in his room."

"What? No! Yeah…sure," Marty sighed, clearly not happy about this turn of events.

Bruce grinned and handed over his bag. "Thanks, man."

He then placed his hand under Amy's elbow to usher her down the stairs.

"Amy, just answer me this. Do you still plan to run?" Marty called to her retreating back.

"Watch the Sunday morning talk shows," Amy threw over her shoulder, and she and Bruce rounded the corner and disappeared.

To be continued…

Acknowledgements: Thanks as usual to Soylent Gringa, who reads everything I write and lots of stuff I don't. Special thanks to my husband, who watches Judging Amy with me every Tuesday; his ear has helped me improve the dialogue and excise the clichés. His patience is especially commendable as he thinks fanfic is rather silly.

Disclaimer: Judging Amy and it characters are the property of Barbara Hall/Joseph Stern Productions, in association with CBS Productions and Twentieth Century Fox Television. I wrote this story to explore a few possibilities and intend no copywrite infringement. only.