Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: Father of Daughters

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: While camping in Yosemite, Abbey and Zoey clashed when Zoey felt Abbey was too strict with her; Jed received a trip for five to Egypt for his birthday

Summary: It's a day full of adventures in Yosemite for the Bartlets!

Rated NC-17


Overnight, a light sprinkle of rain showered the Upper Pines at Yosemite National Park where the Bartlets made camp. The rhythm of the water drizzling over their tent had lulled Jed and Abbey to sleep in each others arms, zipped up together in their couple's sleeping bag. The park had large canvas tents pitched on wooden plateaus so that campers wouldn't be sleeping on the bare ground. It wasn't quite as comfortable as the rustic cabins at other sites, but the Bartlets agreed that camping outside would give them a chance to see Yosemite the way it was meant to be seen.

The Upper Pines wasn't the quietest campground either. It was crowded with visitors, mostly families enjoying the last month of a hot summer in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Every site had its own picnic table and fire ring, food lockers were close by to keep the edibles out of the hands of the hungry bears that roamed the outlying woods looking for leftovers, and every morning, at about a quarter to five, a parade of hikers boarded the shuttle to head off to an all-day hike at Half Dome.

Jed woke up to the sound of their laughter, stirred from a dream about making love to Abbey, and disappointed that it wasn't real. Though they had their own tent - separate from the one their daughters shared - snuggling up together had been their only form of physical intimacy on this trip thanks to the crowd factor. They tried to make love their first night there, but the risk of interruption, both from the girls and from the hundreds of other campers talking, laughing, and joking just a few feet away, ruined the mood and they hadn't yet been able to recapture it.

It was day four now and husband and wife were reluctantly approaching acceptance that their sexual cravings would have to wait until they returned to New Hampshire and in the meantime, snuggling up would have to do. So when Jed woke up alone, he was surprised. A quick scan of tent and the open duffle bag that stored her towel, robe, and shampoo, told him exactly where Abbey was - the shower house. Liz and Ellie liked to shower at night so they could sleep in and Zoey followed their lead, but Abbey preferred to head to the public stalls at daybreak, a time when most campers were still asleep and she could have some semblance of privacy.

She had left earlier than usual on that morning, which made Jed suspicious. The sun was still hovering below the horizon and it was too dark to navigate the grounds safely. After stretching for a second or two, he unzipped his side of the sleeping bag, slipped into his shoes, and grabbed his flashlight to trek to the showers to find her.

When he got there, he found the women's stalls closed for overnight cleaning with a note that read that the men's stalls were coed until daybreak. In the changing area, he saw Abbey's brush and hair clip and he heard her humming a tune he didn't recognize. A foxy grin plastered across his face, he stripped out of his clothes, opened the door to the stall she was using, and stepped in, scaring her out of her wits until she turned to see his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked in a high-pitched voice still reeling from the momentary panic.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said, a tad amused that she looked so flushed.

"You're lucky I didn't hit the security alarm."

"Why are you up so early?"

"I wanted to get a jump-start."

"A jump start would be 5 a.m. Why did you leave camp before light?"

"I had a dream, okay?" Her twinkling eyes convinced him it was a sex dream.

"Yeah?" he replied, smugly.

"What are you doing?"

"Showering."

"I'm already here."

"Excuse me, what does the door say? That's right, this is the men's shower so technically..."

"The women's stall is closed."

"Guess we'll have to share." Once more with the foxy grin.

"I get the feeling you're not the least bit upset about that." Abbey arched her brow. "Did you have something to do with this?"

"The cleaning? No, I'm not part of the janitorial staff at the park."

"You know what I mean. Did you plan it?"

"Yes, Abigail, I planned it. In my infinite wisdom, I predicted you'd get up in the middle of the night to take a shower so I paid off the cleaning crew to close the women's stalls and force you into the men's so that I could show up and scare you. Are you impressed?"

"It's never good when you start the day with sarcasm." She moved closer to him, turning her head to kiss him under the spray of the shower.

Her touch made Jed weak in the knees. He had stolen several kisses over the past few days, but none as steamy as the one she planted on his mouth in that shower. Her hands roamed his backside, from his spine, over the swell of his rear, to his thighs. His heart was racing.

The feeling was mutual. The real reason Abbey was up so early was because she knew he was dreaming about her, she felt it in his swelling erection when their bodies were cuddled together. She thought about making love to him right there in the tent to relieve the sexual frustration they were both feeling, but it was almost time for the hikers to leave for Half Dome and she decided to wait until the crowds passed in order to protect what little privacy they had. It was clear now that the shower house was the answer to their problem and they both wondered why they hadn't thought of it before.

Hesitantly, Jed broke his lips from hers so he could turn her around. It was the only way he could push himself against her body and massage her breasts at the same time. His mouth moved to her ears and he lifted her damp ringlets to kiss the side of her neck, sucking lightly the way she liked it, but careful not to leave a mark - this time. His palms molded to her breasts, squeezing them until she moaned in pleasure.

His hands, delicate yet strong, traced a path down her naval to the top of her thighs. She had shaved there in preparation for their day at the river so instead of stopping to twirl his fingers around her hair, he continued further until he reached the sensitive little nub that threatened to unhinge her from stem to stern. He stroked her there, over and over again while she wriggled in his hold, so strongly that her rear rubbed up against his erection as if torridly teasing it.

He let out a gasp and she turned towards him.

"I want you inside me just as badly as you do," she breathed.

There were two shower benches - a lower one for sitting and a higher one for toiletries. Perfect, Jed thought as he backed her up against the second one. "I want to see your face."

"And here I thought you just wanted me to bend over," she kidded. Down and dirty sex was certainly fun, but knowing that Jed took so much pleasure in watching her hit her climax made their lovemaking even more erotic.

She took his straining shaft in her hands. He was just as ready as she was. More even. That's what she did to him by squirming in his arms moments earlier and when her fingers glided down his swollen appendage, it took an unbelievable amount of self control to contain himself.

"Sweetheart, if you don't let go, this is going to be over before we get to the good stuff," he warned.

Abbey's arms circled his neck. Jed bent his knees slightly and as Abbey lifted herself up, he penetrated her. With the steam rising around them, she leaned back against the tile, using the bench to prop herself up so she could stand on one leg and wrap the other one around Jed. He braced his hand under her thigh to keep it at waist-level, allowing himself to push further into her feminine depths. He kissed her on her mouth and her chin and her neck, rocking her back and forth as he thrust in and out of her.

His movements sent Abbey over the edge. Digging her nails into his shoulder, she arched her back and raced towards a shattering climax, cheering Jed on to a faster rhythm until he poured every last bit of momentum into one final thrust, looked deep into her eyes, and exploded inside her. Abbey kept the position until he slipped out of her, spent and exhausted.

"God, I love you," she said, stroking his damp hair off his forehead.

"Was it worth the wait?" he asked, out of breath.

"And then some."


Later that morning, Abbey, Liz, and Ellie hopped on a shuttle into Curry Village to buy some more sunblock and some lunch meat for their visit to Mirror Lake. It was late summer, the time of year when tens of thousands of tourists flocked to the park, sometimes luring wildlife out of the shadows.

Yosemite law required campers to store all food in a food locker or special bear-resistant bags or canisters when walking the grounds outside designated picnic areas to keep those famous black bears from invading campsites and pedestrian trails. Jed and Abbey warned their daughters about this before they ever set foot on the plane to California, but on that particular day, the safeguards they had been taught slipped Elizabeth's mind and she stuffed an open bag of peanuts into her purse, occasionally snacking on them.

"Mom, can we stay at the lake until after sunset?" Ellie asked on the way back to camp. "I wanna get some pictures of the sun going down behind Half Dome."

"We'll see."

"What does that mean?"

"It means she and Dad had other plans for us and she's going to talk to him about it first," Liz surmised, looking to her mother for confirmation.

"You know, Lizzie, if you eavesdrop on a conversation, you should at least admit it."

"That wasn't from eavesdropping. That was just intuition."

"Intuition?"

"Yup! I know how you and Dad operate. These trips are always loaded with surprises."

The women crested a hill minutes from camp and passed a maze of trees that hid a 300-pound bear behind its dense timber. The scent of Liz's peanuts enticed him and he lunged from the forest, growling at the trio from behind. They all turned, startled.

"Girls," Abbey called quietly, her hands instinctively jutting out to the sides to shove her daughters behind her.

"Is that what I think it is?" It was a wave of disbelief and shock that caused Ellie to ask the obvious question, her voice small with fear.

"It's a black bear," Abbey answered. They had seen many bears over the years during their travels to the national parks, but they had never before been cornered by one. Slowly, they started to back up, but the bear huffed at them, forcing them to stop where they were.

"We can't leave. He'll chase after us if we do."

"It's all right, Ellie. We'll get out of this. On the count of three, I want us all to scream. Make as much noise as possible, okay?"

"Yeah," both girls replied.

"Here we go. One...two...three."

A chorus of screams pierced the air, but those screams died pretty quickly, drowned out by the bear's thunderous growl, the strength of which overpowered them into submission. He growled once more for good measure. He didn't take a step towards them though, which gave Abbey some relief. Showing his dominance, that's all he was doing, she told her girls. Ellie's hands clutched her mother's, trembling. Liz was breathing so hard, Abbey had to stroke her fingers to calm her before she started to hyperventilate.

"Mom," Lizzie quietly muttered once she got control of herself. "I forgot...I'm sorry."

"What is it?"

"I didn't put the peanuts in the bear bag. I put them in my purse. I was hungry and wanted a snack on the way back."

Abbey restrained her irritation with her daughter's irresponsibility, saying only, "Give them to me."

She held out her hand for the peanuts and when she had them, she took a step forward and set them on the ground in front of the bear, cautiously watching him the whole time. He busied himself for a moment and Abbey crept back to her girls, hoping to make a careful escape, but the bear growled louder this time, stopping them once again.

Frightened, Ellie's eyes pooled with tears. "What are we gonna do?"

"He's not going to hurt us," Abbey said. "If he wanted to hurt us, he would have done it already."

"But he won't let us go."

One of the things Jed always carried with him when hiking in the woods with his children was a flare gun. It was a precaution in case they got lost and needed to notify someone, and as he frequently pointed out, nothing scared off wild animals more affectively than hearing the echo of a flare being shot into the sky. Bears were especially receptive, he said.

Oh, how Abbey wished she had Jed's flare gun now.

"Do either of you have any more food? In your purses, in your pockets, anywhere?"

"Just the groceries in the bag," Liz told her.

"He can't smell that. It's bear-proof. If you don't have any more food that he can see or smell, then I want you to back up very, very slowly and follow the trail back to camp. It's only a few minutes from here. When you get there, tell your father to call a ranger."

Liz looked over to Ellie. "You know the way, right?"

"What about you?"

"I'm staying."

"Elizabeth, I want you to go!" Abbey demanded.

"I'm NOT leaving you, Mom!"

Her declaration was so strong that it agitated the bear. Abbey pushed both girls further behind her.

"I don't wanna leave either," Ellie said.

"Don't be scared, Ellie." Abbey tried to remain calm for her daughter's sake. "Once you get to that bend a few feet away, it's a straight line back to the campground. People will see you. Just tell them where we are and ask someone - anyone - to call for a ranger."

With encouragement from both Abbey and Liz, Ellie timidly let go of her mother's arm and started to back up. The older women spread their stance slightly to try to shield her departure and when they did, they noticed the bear backing down.

Suddenly, Liz had an idea. "Mom, remember all those times you and Dad went over what we should do if we were cornered by a bear? One of the things you said was that if we weren't alone, we should spread out. Remember?"

"Yes, but we also said that you should make noise and you saw where that got us."

"But we have to do something."

Liz was right. Jed and Abbey had schooled their children on bears before every camping trip and now that it came time to put their words to the test, Abbey was afraid, not for herself, but for her teenage daughter. It was the only chance they had, she began to convince herself. Though she was terrified of putting her Elizabeth's life at risk, they had to find a way out of the situation before the bear attacked them both.

With a prayer for their safety, Abbey reached out her hand. "Liz?" Their palms touched. "If he makes a move, I want you to go, you hear me? Duck behind the trees until you can get away."

Liz ignored the idea. If the bear made a move, the last thing she wanted to do was abandon Abbey. She summoned the courage to stand beside her mom and in that moment, she made the decision that she wouldn't leave without her, no matter what. Stretching their arms to hold each others hand from a couple of feet away, both women brazenly stared down the bear in an intimidating yet non-threatening way. They hid their fear and stood their ground. And it worked. It took several minutes, but the bear hunched over. Mother and daughter held their stance and waited even longer for the bear to eventually take the peanuts and vanish into the forest behind him.

Sweating profusely, Abbey heaved a sigh of relief, throwing one arm around Liz and taking the back of her other hand to her forehead. "It turns out you were listening to all those camp safety lectures after all."

"I listen to you more often than you give me credit for," Liz replied, elated. "I can't believe he went away just like that."

"He wasn't out to hurt anyone. He just wanted food."

"That was my fault for having those stupid peanuts. Sorry."

"I'll forgive you this time, but if you EVER pull a stunt like that again, I'm gonna feed YOU to the bear!"

The duo was well on their way back to the campground, laughing and teasing each other, when Jed came charging towards them, his adrenaline on fire. The second Ellie told him what happened, he had bolted towards the trail.

"We're okay," Abbey shouted to him as he raced down the dirt path.

"We scared him off," Liz added proudly.

Jed hugged both his girls. "What happened?"

"Lizzie beat him up."

Liz chuckled. "Nah, I just roughed him up a little. You should have seen Mom, though, with her karate chop. I don't think that bear will be bothering anyone for quite some time."

"And once he tells all his little bear friends, I bet they'll all return for early hibernation."

With one arm around Lizzie and one around Abbey as they headed to camp, Jed showed his skepticism. "I'm being bamboozled."

"It's true, Dad."

"It sure is," Abbey agreed. "Just rent us some Bear Buster capes and let us free in the woods. Right, Lizzie?"

Liz nodded. "Next year, we'll take on the grizzlies!"


In the Tenaya Creek Valley, the glassy waters of Mirror Lake made it one of the most popular mountain lakes in country in the 1980s. So named because of its amazing reflective powers, everything from Half Dome to the walls of Tenaya Canyon could be seen on the water's surface, shaded only by the pine trees that lined the shore.

This was where Ellie went on a photography blitz, snapping away on her camera while Liz, Zoey, and Jed dipped their feet into the calm and clear water. Because it had been such a hot summer, the lake had dried up too much to swim so Jed and Abbey allowed Ellie enough time to take her pictures and Liz and Zoey time to splash around in the shallow pool, then they were off on the trail towards the adjacent meadow where they stopped for a picnic on the lush field of grass dotted by wildflowers.

"You promised we'd get to swim today!" Zoey complained as Jed handed her her favorite lunchtime meal - a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Today's not over."

"But the lake's dry."

"Mom and Dad have other plans, Zo," Liz assured her.

"Be quiet and eat," Abbey ordered. She had packed plenty of food for the day's activities. Zoey got her PB and J while the rest of the family lunched on cold-cuts and fruit.

"I'll eat but why do I have to be quiet?"

"Because I said so."

Liz laughed. "You want me quiet because you think I'm going to give away the surprise."

"There is no surprise." Abbey looked to her husband. "Jed, don't you have some completely useless trivia stored away for a moment just like this?"

"When you put it like that, babe..." Jed never needed a reason to engage his daughters in trivia. "There's one place technically within Yosemite that's so spectacular yet so seeped in its independent history that it's part of its own national park. It was particularly well-known in the 1800s when horsedrawn carriages used to stop to rest there while crossing the Sierra Nevada. Anyone know where it is?"

"Um, is it Half Dome?" Ellie guessed.

"Yeah, Ellie, they forced the horses up the cable to get to the top of Half Dome," Liz sniped playfully before taking a sip of apple juice.

Ellie stuck her tongue out at her sister. "I meant the base!"

"It wasn't Half Dome. It was Yosemite Falls," the teen rebutted.

"Nope. Yosemite Falls isn't part of another park."

"So there, Lizzie! You're not so smart after all."

"Was it Mirror Lake, Daddy?" That was Zoey using a curious tone.

"No, it wasn't."

"At the base of El Capitan," Abbey offered, knowing full and well her answer was wrong. It was fun for the girls when she played Jed's trivia games.

"That's not even close." It gave Jed special pleasure to zap his wife. "This is easier than you think, gang. Think back to where you all wanted to go after the sequoia grove."

It suddenly hit Ellie. "King's River!"

"Absolutely right! Someone give the girl a gold star."

Ellie smiled as Jed treated them to the story of King's River, the place they were headed to next.


The Yosemite portion of the King's River was embedded in a deep canyon narrowly lined by a forest of trees. The Bartlets made their way to the calmer end, where the water was clear and the canyon wall was low enough that it was open and accessible to the public, a popular place for swimming or tubing.

While Liz drenched herself with suntan lotion, put on her sunglasses and a pair of headphones, and laid back on a towel on the riverbank to catch a little sun, Ellie and Zoey ran towards the water with their rented inner-tubes.

"Watch, Daddy! Watch!"

"I'm watching, Zoey."

Abbey had just taught her how to twirl herself around inside the tube and Zoey couldn't have been prouder - at first. She glanced at Ellie turning faster and stronger and with furrowed brows, she dropped down until the tips of her fingers could barely hang on, mustered as much power as she could, and popped back up.

Still, she came up short. "How come Ellie can do it better?"

"Ellie's had plenty of practice," Abbey told her. "You will too in a couple more years."

"I think you're doing great, Zoey." Jed gave her a nod of reassurance. "How about a race?"

Abbey bowed out. "Not me."

"Yes you. We need you or else we can't do teams."

"Get Lizzie," she said with her first stroke towards shore.

Jed's eyes wandered over to where Liz was lounging. "She's pretending she doesn't know us again."

"Not such a bad idea," Abbey smirked as she climbed out of the water.

"Chicken!"

"Be careful, Jed. They're little girls."

"You think I'd risk their safety?" He flicked water at her.

"I'm not worried about them, I'm worried about you." She chuckled when Ellie and Zoey dunked him right on cue. "Have fun!"

"You're gonna get it now, you scheming little hooligans!" Jed barked when he rose to the surface and clawed his arms at Zoey and Ellie.

That roaring grumble almost lured Abbey back to the fun of the river, but feeling a kink in her neck, she opted for a few minutes on dry land, so she tossed out her own towel on the riverbank and joined Liz.

"Too much sun is bad for you."

"Leave me alone." Liz had heard her mother's lectures about the dangers of tanning many times before.

"At least put on some more sunblock."

"Mom, I've got so much sunblock on, I'm as shiny as a glazed donut. I want a tan."

"Tanning now means wrinkles later."

Liz turned onto her stomach while Abbey tucked her hand under her neck to massage her muscles.

"You okay?" Jed called from the water.

"Yeah, just a little sore."

Like her prince charming always eager to help, he hopped out of the water. "Here, let me see."

Abbey rolled over, sweeping her damp hair over her shoulder to allow Jed room to put his magic fingers to work. "Give me one of your famous rubdowns."

"I wish I could, but we're in public."

"Jackass," she mumbled as she untied her halter. "That feels so good."

"It'd feel better if you took your top off."

"Jed, I'm wearing a one-piece."

"That you are." Jed's stare followed the curves of her figure in that black-haltered one-piece swimsuit. It was no longer tied around her neck and with the low scoop back that left most of her skin uncovered, his fingers gave in to temptation and trailed the small of her back towards the bottom of her spine.

"Easy, buddy. You go any further and I won't let you stop."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Did you come here just to flirt with me?"

"Made you forget all about your neck, didn't it?"

"Not yet. I think I need more."

"More rubbing?"

"More dirty talk."

Liz turned up her music.

"Hey!" Jed shouted at her. "You're gonna bust an eardrum."

"If you guys insist on making out, I'm not going to listen!"

"We're not making out, we're talking. What are you listening to anyway? What are those lyrics?"

"You don't want to know," Abbey told him. She didn't care for her daughter's taste in music either, but she recognized the song when she heard the tune vibrating from Liz's headphones.

"Sure I do. What is it?"

Elizabeth flipped her sunglasses and said, "Like a Virgin. It's Madonna's new hit."

"That's the name of a song? What the hell kind of song is that?"

"It's number one on the charts, Dad."

Rolling to her side, Abbey propped herself up on her elbow. "Let's just ponder that silently, shall we?"

"For the sake of my blood pressure, I'll agree to that," Jed replied as he stood and started toward the river. "All right, girls, one-on-one to the pedestrian bridge and back."

"Jed?"

"Yeah?" He stopped where he was to answer Abbey.

"The weather's not looking so good." The sky was starting to turn and the darker clouds concerned her.

"It's not so bad. I promised the girls a quick race and then we'll leave."

Liz turned onto her back and took off her shades. "No wonder I'm feeling chilly. Where's the sun?"

"Clouds are rolling in. I think we should go." Abbey sat up.

"Please, Mom!" Ellie begged. "Just one race!"

When the wind started to pick up, Jed realized Abbey was right. They had read so many stories about summer thunderstorms in the valley, the sudden onslaught of ominous clouds followed by powerful downpours that often passed just as quickly as they came.

"Your mom's right," he said as he dashed to the river to get Ellie and Zoey.

A few feet away, Abbey started to gather her things. She reached for her sarong, her hand barely touching it when a gust of wind blew it out of her hold. She remained calm, picking up the belongings she could and looking to Liz for help with the rest.

"Why do we have to get out? It's not raining yet!" Zoey was only familiar with New Hampshire storms. She had no idea how much energy a Yosemite storm could pack.

"Both of you, out now." Jed, on the other hand, knew. A month earlier, hikers ascending up Half Dome were killed by the violent lightning in similar weather.

Ellie did as he said. Zoey tried to as well and if not for another gust of wind that spurred surface waves on the river, pushing her inner tube - and her tiny body floating on top - further away, she would have made it. The tube began to turn, riding the swells in the river and scaring her into holding on tight.

"MOMMY!" she cried when she sped towards another wave. Her legs were dangling over the edge and her fingers were gripping the tube out of fear of the turbulent water below.

Jed and Abbey both ran in after her. They swam as fast as they could, but the weather got worse and the tube picked up speed and since Zoey wasn't that strong a swimmer, jumping off might have proved to be even more dangerous. There wasn't much time for thinking so Jed followed his instincts and dove under the rapids to the calmer water beneath. He managed to overshoot his target and grab the tube so Zoey could jump into the safety of her mother's arms.

"I got you!" Abbey said, squeezing her tight, then handing her off to Jed to carry her to shore while she tried to retrieve the tube.

"Let it go," he said as it slipped out of Abbey's hold and churned from side to side, hitting some rocks on its way downstream. "Come on."

He reached for her hand then. Husband and wife limped back to shore, their youngest daughter beside them, with the first rumble of thunder. Liz and Ellie, who had huddled together while they watched, rushed to help their parents and together, the five of them ran towards the overhead shelter a few feet away.

Once they were safe, Abbey ran her hand over Zoey's head. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

"Yeah. It was sorta fun." She wasn't quite so scared now that she was on land.

"Maybe for you. You just about gave your mom a heart attack." Jed turned towards Abbey. "It's been two years in a row these girls have gotten themselves into trouble. What do you say next time, we go some place without any water?"

TBC