Title: 1072
Table: #5
Prompt: #1. Hide
Word Count: 500
Rating: PG
Summary: She can't remember the last time they took a moment just for themselves.
Author's Notes: So, about a month ago I signed up for the lj community "100situations" . And, because apparently that in itself isn't enough of a challenge, my goal is to write 500 words for each fic. And complete them in numerical order. (Because, yes, I am that crazy.)
A/N 2: Also, because I haven't actually heard back from the mods (though it's been over a month), I've decided to go ahead and start posting unofficially over here for now. (Before the inspiration runs dry.)
There are days when she hates the constant attention, days when she craves the anonymity of an earlier time, when she was just a girl and he was just a boy, and their lives stretched out before them like an endless sea.
She is never truly alone now; a Secret Service agent shadows her every step, even here in her own home.
Abbey loves her husband more than anything; she's proud of all he's accomplished, but she can't remember the last time they took a moment just for themselves. He is the President and she is the First Lady, and Jed and Abbey are fading somewhere into the background. Even now, on one of the rare occasions that they are both home at the same time, he is still working and she is lying awake in bed.
She sighs, then pulls the blanket up over her head, hiding under the covers the way she did when she was a child. This isn't really home either; home is in New Hampshire, in a house she hasn't seen in much too long. This is little more than a gilded cage, and their protectors are also their jailers.
Three more years, Abbey thinks, and wonders if this is how prisoners feel counting down the days to their release.
Three more years of watching the presidency take its toll on Jed's frail health, three more years of dreading another night like Rosslyn, three more years of living her life in the public eye . . .
Abbey sighs again, and fleetingly wishes that she could just stay here under her blanket.
She laughs then; she sounds like Ellie now. Liz and Zoey have always been confident and outgoing; Ellie is the shy child, though no less brilliant or talented than her sisters.
Abbey raises a corner of the blanket to let fresh air come in. Through the gap she sees the bedroom door open; Jed is here. Abbey smiles as he crosses the room; she watches him change into his pajamas, then the bed shifts as he sits on the mattress. Her hand steals out from beneath the blanket to rest at the small of his back.
"Hey, babe."
He lifts the blanket and slides underneath.
"You're up early tonight," she says.
He gives a half-shrug and smiles. "I missed you."
Abbey pulls the blanket up to cover his head as well, effectively shutting out the rest of the world. For now it is just the two of them. That's really all she wants; a moment where it is just Jed and Abbey.
And as Jed reaches for her, she knows she is not the only one looking forward to a time when they no longer have to steal moments together.
"I missed you, too," she says.
"One thousand and seventy-two days," Jed whispers.
"What?"
"Until I take you on our second honeymoon."
And Abbey remembers why she loves him so much. She smiles. "Well, until then, how about you take me right here?"