Author's Note: Welcome, dear readers! Here's the next installment of my Bartlet History. It takes place a few weeks after Shut Up and Take Me. It's short, but I hope you'll enjoy. Important things for the future of our beloved Jed and Abbey.
Not For Me But For Us
When Abbey received the application a week before Thanksgiving, she spend two days straight working on it, locked in her bedroom. She sent it in right away. She had wanted to be able to surprise everyone with an acceptance. But then at Christmas, everything changed. Jed had applied to the London School of Economics. And then he had proposed. So when Abbey returned back to Notre Dame and found a thick envelope from Harvard Medical School waiting for her, she wasn't as excited as she had originally anticipated.
But Abbey knew what she was going to do. She opened the letter and mailed back the required form, along with a letter of her own. When she got a response, then she'd tell everybody.
So when the letter back from Harvard did arrive, Abbey opened it excitedly.
Dear Miss Barrington,
We regret to inform you that your acceptance to our institution cannot be deferred for more than one year. If this is not feasible, we suggest you decline the acceptance at this time and reapply when it would be more convenient for you to attend. Be advised that your MCAT scores will only remain effective for five years after the date the exam was administered. We look forward to hearing from you.
Abbey read those words over and over, feeling everything she had ever worked for slip between her fingers. But then she looked at her finger with its beautiful antique diamond ring. The Bartlet family engagement ring. It was beautiful and perfect. Just like Jed, and just like their life was going to be. Abbey smiled, confident in her decision.
Later that night, she and Jed were lying in her bed, her finger tracing patterns on his chest. One of his hands propped up his head while the other hand ghosted on her bare back.
"Jed?"
"Yeah, honey?"
"I was wondering if you could look into something for me."
He shifted positions to better pay attention to her. "Sure, what do you need?"
Abbey sat up, wrapping the sheet around her. "I want to know if I can get my passport changed before we leave, or if I have to wait until we're actually married before my passport can say Bartlet. Same thing for the visa and whatever other lease paperwork we'll need. Though I suppose those will depend on the name in my passport."
Jed frowned. "What do you mean? Where are we going?"
Abbey suppressed the big grin that was threatening to erupt on her face and continued on. "Well I know we haven't talked about the honeymoon yet, but I'm assuming we'll go abroad. Europe would make the most sense so we don't have travel across as many time zones in such a short period."
"Huh?"
Now she was really getting on a roll, leaving him to catch up. "And we'll have to figure out how much we'll want to ship. Or should we just buy everything once we get there? It depends on the housing that's available, I suppose. Whether or not it comes furnished."
Jed sat up and took her hands in his to stop her. "Abbey, what are you talking about?"
"When we move to London," she replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. And really, it was. What else were they going to do?
"We're moving to London?"
Abbey smiled. "You know, for someone who got accepted into the London School of Economics, you aren't as quick as one might expect."
"Abbey, we haven't talked about this. We didn't decide on London."
"But that's where you want to go, right? You got accepted. Of course you have to go," she insisted.
He countered, "But I also got accepted at Harvard and Princeton. What about you? What about Harvard Med?"
She reached up to rest her hand on his cheek, stroking his jawline. "Harvard will still be there after you get your Masters. My MCATs will still be applicable for five years. I'll apply when we come back to the U.S."
Jed furrowed his brow. "Are you sure?"
Abbey's memory drifted to the time Jed had told Mrs. Landingham that she was the reason he had changed majors and left behind ambitions of becoming a priest. He changed his whole life, his whole future, because he loved her. She could put off medical school for two years. "I'm sure, Jed."
A huge smile broke out on his face. He hugged her tight and kissed her soundly. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll send in my acceptance tomorrow and we can start making plans. This is gonna be great, Abb. We're gonna love London. And we'll be married and together." He enthusiastically kissed her a few more times. "I love you so much."
She laughed. "I should hope so! In five months, I'll be your wife. And you'll be stuck with me. And in a foreign country, no less!"
They spent the next few hours fluctuating between giddy kissing and animated planning of their future together. Jed would speak to his parents about getting some help with housing in London, as a wedding present to them. They had decided on Italy for the honeymoon so they could have exciting days touring the greatest churches and museums in the world, and they could have romantic nights in intimate restaurants and rustic hotel rooms.
The next morning, Jed went to enroll at LSE and Abbey called her mother with their news. As soon as she got off the phone, she ripped the Harvard letter into a hundred tiny pieces. She would get her chance. She had no doubt. But these next couple of years were for Jed and for their marriage. Whether or not is was the best thing for Abbey remained to be seen. But this was the choice she made. Not for me, Abbey reminded herself, smiling at her ring finger, but for us.