I'm Fine
On an altogether typical Tuesday in the Oval Office, Charlie Young received an altogether atypical phone call. "Office of the President," he said in greeting.
"Is this the President's aide?" asked a man's voice on the other end. An ear-piercing scream echoed somewhere in the background.
Charlie frowned. "Yes it is. How can I help you?"
"This is Dr. Prescott at Manchester General Hospital in New Hampshire. I've just admitted Mrs. Bartlet, and seeing as she's the First Lady, I thought I should call personally."
"Oh my god, is she alright?" Charlie asked, his eyes growing wide at the thought.
"She'll be fine. She fell while hiking and has fractured two of the bones in her ankle," the doctor told him.
"I'll inform the President right away. Can I get your number? I'm sure he'll want to call himself as soon as he has a moment."
The doctor left his contact information with Charlie, who immediately wrote a short note to the President. He delivered it to the Oval Office, careful not to interrupt the meeting with the communications staff. Toby seemed to be talking about something very important. Sam was scribbling notes feverishly. CJ nodded and smiled to Charlie as he discretely entered and exited the office.
"SHE WHAT!?" the President shouted a moment later. President Bartlet threw open the door and came to Charlie's desk. "Charlie, what the hell happened to my wife?!"
Charlie calmly repeated exactly what he had written in the note. "The doctor just called from Manchester General. It seems that Mrs. Bartlet fell while hiking and broke her ankle. The doctor assured me she would be fine, but I got the contact information for you." Charlie gave the President the phone number for the hospital.
Jed kicked everyone out of his office as he dialed the number. "Hi, is this Dr. Prescott? What the hell happened to my wife?"
"She's going to be fine, Mr. President. She's in very good hands with the staff here, and as soon as the swelling goes down, I can set the ankle in a cast and discharge her." There was another scream somewhere. "Uh…the painkillers haven't kicked in yet," the doctor explained.
"Yeah, she's quite the screamer," Jed quipped, not fully realizing exactly what he was saying. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm his pounding heart. "You sure she's going to be okay?"
"Yes sir, Mr. President."
Abbey's voice sounded in the background. "You're talking to my husband? For the love of god, I told you not to call him, Jeff!" she shouted.
Jed chuckled. If Abbey was yelling at doctors, she was fine. "Don't you let my wife give you any trouble, Dr. Prescott. She'll try to trick you and scare you with her flashy skills and double board certifications, but she's your patient and if she was dumb enough to break her ankle, she'll have to put up with being under the care of a doctor other than herself or her close circles of geniuses. But if you need any assistance, the surgeon general was her roommate in college, and she can be up in Manchester in less than an hour."
"I believe we can handle everything here, sir. Mrs. Bartlet will be discharged tomorrow, barring any complications."
"Okay, great. Thank you, doc." Jed hung up the phone and paused for a moment. Abbey was going to be fine. He hated the idea of her being anything other than fine. But she would be again soon enough. Her screams of pain had chilled him to the bone. He had only ever seen her in that much pain when she had given birth to their girls, but that pain had been different. He had been with her for that. Right now, she was far away from him. Suffering all alone. He momentarily considered getting on Air Force One and going up to Manchester, but he decided against it. By the time he got there, she would be knocked out on painkillers, and if she was awake, she'd be pissed that he had wasted all that time and energy going to New Hampshire when she would be back at the White House in less than twenty-four hours.
Jed took a minute to check his schedule and make sure he wasn't supposed to be in an important meeting somewhere, then picked up the phone again. His first call was to Liz to make sure someone was with Abbey at the hospital. But Liz informed him that she was the one hiking with Abbey when she fell. Liz explained to her father that Abbey had been climbing down a steep hill, lost her footing, and rolled down, screaming the whole way. The picture Jed had in his head terrified him, but he couldn't help but want to laugh at the idea of his Abigail, usually so poised and elegant, rolling down a hill.
Once he was assured that Liz would take good care of her mother until she returned to DC, Jed then called the rest of his girls to tell them what had happened. Both Ellie and Zoey offered to go up to Manchester to be with their mom, but Jed promised them that Liz had everything under control and that they would do better to stay at their respective schools.
After those conversations, Jed was able to get back to his day with some semblance of normalcy. Liz called back late that night, letting him know that Abbey had a giant cast on her left foot. But she was sleeping comfortably and would be discharged in the morning. Jed was glad she was resting, but it was always strange to go to bed at night without saying goodnight to Abbey.
The next day, Jed went about his day as usual. He assumed someone would inform him when Abbey got back. But the hours wore on as he dealt with Hoynes and half his staff being called in front of Congress. It was dinnertime before he felt like he had a moment to breathe.
"Charlie, I'm going up to the Residence for dinner. Send up a roast beef sandwich, would you?" the President asked as he walked out the door.
"I think the First Lady has taken care of dinner, sir."
"My wife is back?"
"Yes, sir. She arrived a few hours ago."
Jed frowned. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You were with the Vice-President, sir, and I didn't think you wanted me to interrupt."
"Yeah, you're right. But in the future, if my wife comes back in anything less than good health, I want to know the second she gets here," he insisted, walking back upstairs quicker than he had before.
When he arrived at the Residence, he heard Abbey's voice barking orders to someone.
"No, put the flowers at the end. They're lovely, but they're in the way there, don't you think? Here, I'll do it. Argh!" she groaned.
Jed walked into the dining room to find one of the stewards rearranging the table as Abbey directed him from a wheelchair. Behind Abbey's back, Jed waved the steward away. The boy nodded and left. Abbey turned around as much as she could to see what had just happened behind her.
"There you are! Where have you been all day? I told Charlie when I got home hours ago that I wanted to see you when you were free."
He walked over to her and stood in front of the wheelchair. "I've been going all day. This is the first moment I've had. But I think you're the one who has some explaining to do," he said, raising his eyebrows and looking pointedly at her cast.
Abbey frowned. "Six weeks. Can you believe that? With everything modern medicine can do, it still takes six weeks for a broken ankle to heal. I can blow up a balloon inside an artery and prevent a heart attack. I can replace a valve in a human heart with one from a pig or a cow, and I can even replace the whole heart. But a broken ankle takes six weeks to set!"
Jed chuckled. "It's your own fault, you know."
"Because I'm the one who fell?"
"Well yes, but also because you decided to specialize in thoracic surgery and internal medicine instead of doing something with bones."
"Orthopedics is the word you're looking for there," she interjected.
"And if you, Dr. Bartlet, had specialized in orthopedics, I bet you could have figured out how to make an ankle mend faster than six weeks. But no, you wanted to operate on hearts. How useful is a pig valve now, honey?" he asked sarcastically.
"Oh shut up. Let's just eat dinner. The pot roast should be ready soon." She attempted to wheel herself to her place at the table, but one of the footrests caught on Jed's pants. He moved around behind her to maneuver her to where she wanted to go.
"You're useless with this thing, aren't you?" he teased.
"Just wheel me to the table so we can eat," she said with a sigh. The painkillers were starting to wear off and she could see now that he was going to spend the next few days making fun of her.
He pushed her wheelchair to her place at the table. But before he took his own seat, Jed took a moment to kiss his wife on the cheek. "Welcome home, honey."
She smiled softly. "Did you miss me?"
"I always miss you," he replied, surprising her somewhat with his sincerity.
Abbey grinned but didn't respond. They discussed what they had been up to in the past few days. Jed filled Abbey in about the ongoing Congressional hearings. Apparently Donna had been having some trouble. Hoynes was causing problems again. But that was nothing new.
Abbey told Jed all about how big Gus was getting. At three years old, their grandson had proved himself to be just as bright and sweet as the rest of the Bartlets. As Abbey said, he might look like a Westin, but he was all Bartlet inside. Jed was very pleased. He hadn't been able to spend as much time as he would have liked with his grandson. He was born just after Jed was elected president, but he and Abbey doted on their grandchildren as much as they could.
"So tell me, Dr. Bartlet, how exactly did you maim yourself?" Jed asked
Abbey frowned. "I thought Liz told you what happened."
"Liz told me you rolled down a hill, screaming. I just wanted to confirm that's what actually happened. I don't think I can picture you rolling down a hill." The twinkle in his eye betrayed his attempt at seriousness. He was teasing her again.
"I rolled down a hill. And broke my ankle. Stop being such an ass," she replied, glaring at him.
Jed just chuckled to himself and finished eating. After dinner, he wheeled Abbey into the sitting room so she could read for a while. He had to go back to the Oval and get some work done. It was very late by the time he came back up to the Residence. Abbey was right where he left her.
"Still reading?" he asked.
Abbey looked up, not bothering to take off her glasses. "Never underestimate my power to stave off boredom." She put marked her place in the book and tossed it over to the couch. "Not being able to walk is a pain. In more ways than one," she said, gesturing to the cast dominating her current appearance.
"Five weeks and six days more, and then it'll be gone," Jed said in an attempt to assuage her.
"Ready for bed?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's late. I've got an early day."
She nodded and unlocked the brakes on her wheelchair. "To the bedroom, Mr. President," she said with great flourish.
He smiled as he pushed her to their room. "I serve at the pleasure of the First Lady."
"Damn right, you do."
It took some trial and error, but eventually Abbey was able to get undressed and into her pajamas. She directed Jed around the room so he could gather the various things she needed. Then he held her up so she could stand and change her clothes. It was easier said than done. At one point, she accidentally kicked him in the shin with her cast. They both yelped in pain.
He rolled her into the bathroom so she could wash her face and brush her teeth and do whatever else she did to get ready for bed. Jed used that time to get himself changed. Abbey rolled herself out a few minutes later.
"Honey, could you help me get into bed, please?" she asked.
Jed agreed, pulling the covers back on the bed and wheeling her over to her side. "Alright, you stand up and I guess you can hop over to the bed?"
Abbey gave him a look that let him know that she was not about to hop over to the bed. "We'll see what we can do."
He helped her stand, but she nearly lost her balance as soon as she tried to move forward. Her clunky cast was dangerously close to hitting him again. He nearly tripped over the wheelchair trying to keep her from falling or maiming him. "Oh this is just stupid. Stop moving," he instructed.
She did as she was told. "What are you going to do?"
The answer came quick enough. He placed her arms around his neck and put one hand at her back and the other under her knees, scooping her up.
"Jed! You're going to hurt your back! Put me down!" she screeched.
"Shut up." He took two steps forward, leaned over, and dropped her on the bed.
She yelped at being deposited so roughly. "Well, I guess that's one way to do it," she conceded.
Jed ignored her comment. "You want to read some more?" he asked.
"No, I'll just go to sleep. I took a few more painkillers. They'll make me drowsy in a little bit."
"Okay. I have a brief to read before I turn out the light, if that's okay."
"Sure."
He got into bed beside her with the blue folder in his hand. "I'm glad you're home. Even if you are much more the worse for wear. You know, if it were the Seventeenth Century, your father would have to pay me another chicken if you got damaged. You're no use to me as a wife like this."
"You're making that up."
"You can't prove that."
Abbey sighed, pressing her pillow into a comfortable shape. "Shut up and read your file."
He smirked to himself and started to read about the current socioeconomic changes occurring in Croatia and why he should possibly care. It didn't take him too long to get through it. But Jed found his mind and his eyes wandering away from the pages in front of him. Abbey was lying on her back with her eyes closed beside him. She looked peaceful. And beautiful. But she always looked beautiful. As he stared at her sleeping form, he couldn't help but thank God above that she was alright. There had been very few times in their nearly forty years together that she had been sick or injured. And as much as he teased her, it nearly killed him each and every time. He needed her. She took care of him and their girls, kept him grounded and sane, checked his ego when he needed it, and by God did he love her. He knew that he had accomplished so much in his life on his own charisma, intellect, and determination. But he wouldn't have done any of it without her. He couldn't have done it without her. And he would continue to need her for the rest of his life.
"I'm fine," she mumbled, bringing him back to reality.
"What was that?"
Abbey's eyes blinked open. "I'm fine, Jed."
"I know you are."
"So stop staring at me like I'll drop dead if you blink."
"I thought you were asleep."
She turned her head to face him. "Not quite. And I can always tell when you're staring at me."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. You do it a lot."
Jed smiled. He put the folder on the nightstand and turned off the light. He got settled in bed, facing his wife. "You gave me quite a scare there, babe."
"Well it wasn't my intention, I promise."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you sure?" he asked sarcastically.
She laughed. "Oh sure because when I was rolling down that hill with a fractured ankle, the first thing on my mind was 'Oh yeah this is really gonna bug my husband.'"
Jed reached over to stroke her hair, his fingers tangling in her dark locks. "I'm just glad you're alright."
"I'm always alright," she insisted, snuggling into his embrace.
"I don't like the idea of you being otherwise." His tone suddenly turned very serious.
Abbey let out a slow, deep breath. "I know. And right back at you, boyfriend."
He kissed her, pressing his lips against her reverently. "Valde te amo," he whispered.
"I love you, too." Abbey fell asleep, somewhat uncomfortably due to the weight of the cast, in Jed's arms. His love for her was palpable in his embrace. And even with plaster pressed against his leg, Jed fell asleep, comfortable in the knowledge that his Abigail wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.