Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: Man of the House

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed returned for his first weekend home from Washington; Liz wanted Jed to meet her new boyfriend over dinner

Summary: Jed buys the girls a pet; the family has dinner with Liz's date; Abbey tries to reassure Jed

Rating: NC-17


Jed stirred from a deep, restful sleep early on Sunday morning, a peaceful grin on his face as he woke up next to Abbey for the first time in more than a week. After a quick tug on the sheets, he rolled onto his right side so that he could press himself up to her warm body.

Abbey had fallen asleep nude the night before and the second his thigh rubbed her satiny smooth skin, she felt the affect she had on him. She didn't move though. It was more fun to just lay still and allow him the opportunity to sweep her hair aside and kiss the back of her neck.

Her ruse didn't last long, for Jed heard her sharp breath when he nibbled on her ear. He felt her wiggle her hips to push herself against him and without hesitation, he welcomed the intrusion, lifting his arm and grabbing her waist to help her along.

She moaned when she felt his swollen shaft against her rear. "You're going to get me all randy before breakfast."

"I can't help myself." He raised the covers that sheltered her back, the target for his mouth's loving assault. "You are so beautiful."

Abbey squirmed in response to the feel of his tongue working it's way down her spine. She reached behind her and squeezed his thigh to let him know what she wanted. Once he gave her the room to roll onto her back, she curled her hand around his neck to pull his lips down to hers.

Unlike the romantic interludes of the day before, this time, husband and wife moved more leisurely, enjoying each other and savoring every moment, every look, every touch as if they could make it last forever. It wasn't a race to the finish line to satisfy sexual need. It was about nurturing the emotional connection between them with physical expressions of love.

Jed straddled his wife and as he stroked her face, brushing aside a few stray locks that shadowed her pretty green eyes, he penetrated her slowly. Abbey wrapped her ankles around his back to guide him deeper and hold him longer. He freely complied. Buried to the hilt inside her, Jed remained perfectly still while she held him in her arms, content in knowing that for that moment, they were bonded in every way possible.


Build a tee pee

Come inside

Close it tight so we can hide

Over the mountain

And around we go

Here's my arrow

And here's my bow!

Abbey recited the words of the poem in unison with Zoey as she sat with her and reviewed the steps to tie her shoelaces. Although mother and daughter had gone over this many times, Zoey still stalled, struggling to complete the chore by herself.

"There you go. You did a great job today. Just remember to follow each line of the poem, okay?" Abbey praised the five-year-old, regardless of the fact that she had hesitated more than normal today. It was because these were riding boots, she told the young girl to encourage her when she felt like quitting.

"I like these shoes." From her white turtleneck to her cream-colored jodhpurs to her black riding helmet, Zoey loved every piece of her wardrobe. "Can I wear them to school?"

"We already talked about that, remember? These are only for lessons." Abbey rose to her feet and held out her hand to her daughter. "Come on. Daddy's waiting."

"Mommy, can I go with Daddy when he goes back?"

Standing behind her, Abbey sighed sadly as she tucked Zoey's hair under her helmet. "I'm afraid not, sugar plum. He'll be back here before you know it though."

"Next week?"

"No, Sweetie. Next week is Inaugural weekend. That's that gigantic celebration I told you about, the one for President Reagan."

"And Daddy has to go."

"That's right. There are a lot of parties Daddy has to go to."

"Why can't I go?"

"Because these are adult parties. But you know what?"

"What?"

"We're planning a big trip to DC during spring break. We're going to get to do all kinds of fun things, just the five of us."

"We are?" Zoey turned to face her mother, her enthusiasm obvious in her wide smile.

"You bet we are! And in the meantime, Daddy will be home every weekend, except next and he'll be home for a whole week in February. So we're just going to have to settle for that, okay?"

"Okay."

Abbey was caught in a dilemma. Part of her hoped that as the weeks went by, the girls would become more comfortable with the new living arrangements, but the other part wondered if it was healthy or even fair to expect them to be. She speculated how the next two years were going to affect all of them and from time to time, she even feared the distance might just change their entire family.


As the afternoon sun shined high over New Hampshire, Jed chased Zoey down the hill towards the barn on a quaint pony farm in Candia, a few miles outside of Manchester. The little girl had already been there before and she knew her way around pretty well, so she raced her father just as fast as her feet could take her to Miss Grace, her riding instructor.

"I beat Daddy! I beat Daddy!"

"I think not, you little munchkin!" Jed grabbed her by the waist and tossed her into the air.

"You're going to wear her out before she even starts her lesson." Grace observed the interaction between father and daughter, affectionately shaking her head when Jed finally lowered Zoey down and straightened her helmet for her. "Congressman, it's nice to see you again."

Jed was caught off-guard. Though he was used to such formality on the Hill, he didn't expect it in his private life. "Please, call me Jed."

"Okay. Jed it is." Grace nodded, then looked to her pupil. "Ready, Zoey?"

"Yeah!"

"Uh oh, better fix that shoelace."

Jed immediately kneeled to the ground to do it for her, but before he could start, Zoey plopped herself down and reached for her laces herself. Though Jed allowed her the space to try, he stayed on his knees ready to help when she inevitably fumbled, as she had so many times in the past.

Only this time, Zoey didn't mess it up. She recited the poem Abbey had taught her and, after a second of the same hesitation that nearly foiled her attempt earlier that morning, tied her shoe like an expert.

Build a tee pee

Come inside

Close it tight so we can hide

Over the mountain

And around we go

Here's my arrow

And here's my bow!

"Zoey, that's great!" Jed cheered her when she finished. "You were barely able to hold the bunny ears last time we worked on it. How'd you learn to do it so well?"

"Mommy showed me."

"Mommy did a fantastic job. I'm impressed, Sweetheart."

Jed couldn't have been more proud of Zoey, which made it all the more confusing to him why he felt so left out of something so innocent and small. He had taught Liz how to tie her shoes using the bunny ears method. Ellie, on the other hand, had latched on to Abbey's loop, swoop, and pull rhymes. That didn't bother him. As long as Ellie learned, he was happy. But with Zoey, it was different.

It wasn't just that he wasn't around to watch her day after day as she came closer to mastering this particular task. It was bigger than that. Because of the developmental problems she faced, Zoey required more attention than her older sisters and on that day, standing out by the stables and watching her prepare for her riding lesson, it hit Jed harder than ever as he realized he wouldn't always be around to help her.


"Mommy, Mommy! We got a KITTY!" Zoey ran through the house with a little fury creature cuddled up in her arms.

"Cool!" An excited Ellie joined her sister as the preschooler set the kitten on the kitchen floor.

Just behind them, Abbey abandoned the pot where she was making a side dish of rice pilaf for dinner. She looked down at the cat, then looked up at her husband. "What did you do?"

"The kids have been asking for a cat for a while now. I figured it was about time."

"Just like that? I wish you'd checked with me first."

"What's the big deal?"

"Taking care of a kitten is a big responsibility, especially for Zoey. I think it's a decision we should have made together."

"It's just a kitten, Abbey. It's not like I bought a house."

"Still, you shouldn't have done it all on your own."

Irritated by her criticism, Jed snapped, "You want me to take it back?"

"That's not what I said."

He took her arm to lead her back to the stove where the girls couldn't hear them. "I'm leaving tomorrow and this time, they won't see me again for two weeks. I just wanted to do something special for them before I left."

That was a line of reasoning Abbey understood better than anyone. When she started her residency, she felt so guilty about working so much that for the first year, she, too, had showered her girls with presents on occasion. She couldn't very well blame Jed for doing the same. He would have to go through the same process she did. It would take time to get used to the changes and to rid himself of the lingering doubts he had about being apart from his family.

Meanwhile, any disapproval Abbey felt about the kitten was trampled when she turned around and saw the happy faces of her two youngest daughters. "And you did," she said to Jed. "You made their weekend."

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Ellie asked.

"A girl," Zoey answered.

"What should we name her?"

Jed spied on Zoey and Ellie for a few minutes, then addressed Abbey once again. "You're right, I should have checked with you first. I acted on impulse. We were driving back from the lesson and Zoey mentioned her classmate Julie just got a cat. I caved."

"Well...just for the record, you're the one who gets to teach them how to change the kitty litter." With a smile to assure him that she wasn't angry, Abbey returned to her rice.


That evening, Jed, Abbey, the girls, and Liz's boyfriend Scott, all adjourned to the formal dining room for a dinner of Italian-style broiled tilapia. Jed and Abbey sat at the head and foot of the table, Liz and Scott to Jed's left and Ellie and Zoey to his right.

Elizabeth expected Jed to quiz Scott on topics ranging from school to future ambitions, but that didn't happen during the first part of the meal because Scott, smart boy that he was, took Liz's advice and challenged Jed to a game of chess earlier. Those typical questions that confronted her other dates seemed to be forgotten, leaving the entire family free to engage in their usual dinner table repartee.

"Did you hear that NASA is going to put a teacher on board the space shuttle Challenger?"

Ellie turned a curious eye to her sister's boyfriend. "REALLY?"

When it was just the five of them, it was common practice for the Bartlets to discuss current events during dinner. With company, however, they allowed the guest to steer the topic of conversation. Fortunately for Ellie, Scott was just as big a science buff as she was.

"Yeah," he said. "They've already started collecting applications."

"That is so cool!"

"Ellie's very interested in the space program," Abbey informed Scott. "She's been pleading with us for years to let her go to space camp."

"She even made model rockets for her science project at school," Jed added just as he spotted Zoey lifting Ginger the cat up onto her lap. "Zoey, the kitty doesn't get to come to dinner."

"But she's hungry too."

"She can eat in the kitchen. That's where I left her food."

"But that's not fair." Zoey furrowed her brows, upset that the newest member of the family was being excluded from the gathering.

"Did you make the rockets by yourself?" Scott questioned Ellie.

"My mom and dad helped me."

"She did most of it herself though," Abbey interjected.

"I should introduce you to my parents. They're rocket scientists."

"By rocket scientists you mean..." Jed assumed that Scott was using the figurative meaning of the phrase.

"They just retired from NASA."

"You mean...seriously? They're literally rocket scientists?" He was visibly intrigued. As a successful man himself and the husband of a doctor, Jed was used to meeting accomplished people, but he had never met a rocket scientist before.

"Yeah, they are."

"And Scott wants to follow in their footsteps," Liz told her parents. "He's gonna study Aeronautical Science & Astronautical Engineering at MIT in the fall."

"You're going to MIT?"

"Yes, sir. I was recently accepted."

"So you're a senior then?" Abbey asked. "Liz forgot to mention that."

Liz shrugged. "He was home-schooled for a few years so he got to skip 8th grade. He's only a few months older than I am. It's no big deal, right?"

"No, it's not. I was just surprised, that's all."

Jed couldn't deny he was happy that Liz always seemed to fall for the brainy guys. To his delight, intellect and a penchant for advanced education were two qualities she actively searched for in a potential boyfriend.

"Daddy, I think Ginger should eat with us." Zoey tried to return everyone's attention to what she felt was the real discussion at-hand.

"I think Ginger needs to stay in the kitchen and eat her meal there."

"Mommy?"

"I agree with your dad. You can play with her after dinner."

"We're playing cards after dinner."

"Then you can play with her after that."

"But I wanna hold her now."

"Zoey." Abbey's stern voice was all it took to force Zoey to reluctantly do what she was told.

"Okay."

"You're playing cards after dinner?" That caught Scott's interest.

"Shang-hai Rummy," Ellie chimed in. "Zoey and I play on the same team because she can't really count yet."

"I can so! One, two, three, four..."

Abbey chuckled. "Zoey can count just fine."

"Anyway, she's always on my team," Ellie continued. "Mom usually wins though. I win more than Lizzie. Dad never wins. Dad's better at Monopoly."

Jed perked up at his name. "Hey, there's an idea. Maybe we'll play Monopoly later."

"Yeah!" That was Ellie's favorite game too. "Scott, do you wanna play? You and Lizzie can be on a team together."

Elizabeth raised a brow to her sister. "I already told you. It's Liz, Ellie."

"You're Lizzie around the house. Why can't you be Lizzie with company?"

"Because I'm not 10."

"There's nothing wrong with being 10." Insulted that Liz rolled her eyes, Ellie replied in a sharper tone. "There's not, LIZZIE!"

"Cool it, girls," Jed warned them both.

Ellie looked back at Scott. "Do you wanna play Monopoly? You can be on Liz's team."

"Thank you." Liz smiled forgivingly at the ten-year-old.

As an only child with two parents who were irrefutably workaholics, Scott wasn't accustomed to things like a good old-fashioned family game night. He assumed that his girlfriend wasn't either, given Jed and Abbey's chosen professions and Liz's fears about how different things were going to be once her father moved to Washington.

He was surprised to learn that not only were the Bartlets a cohesive family, they were closer than a lot of other families he had met and despite the recent changes in their lives, he admired and even envied the way they interacted with each other.

Scott looked to Liz before he answered. "We have a little while before the movie. Do you wanna hang out here?"

"Sure, if you want. It'll be fun to beat my dad at Monopoly."

Jed playfully snarked at his eldest daughter. "It's a pipe dream, Liz."


Jed relinquished his title as Monopoly champion that night - to Ellie. He claimed she just outsmarted him and in some ways, that was true. But the final play of the evening that led to Ellie's victory came from a strat uncharacteristic for Jed.

As he and Abbey took a long moonlit winter stroll through the orchard, she called him on it. "You threw that game."

"I resent the implication."

"It's not an implication. It's a straight-out accusation. You let Ellie win."

"It's her favorite game. She was bound to get too good for me."

"You didn't ask for rent."

"I told you, I forgot."

"If you say so," she snickered, convinced he was lying. Jed never forgot to collect a debt from the other players.

"You did a good job with Zoey."

"What?"

"Her shoelaces," he elaborated.

77t"Oh. She learned faster than I thought she would. I figured I'd have to work with her for months on that, but she picked it up in a week. It makes me doubt what the psychologist told us. I mean, I know she has some developmental delays, but I think, in the long run, she's going to be just fine."

"Yeah."

She slowed her pace as he slowed his and when he came to a sudden stop, she stopped with him. "Jed?"

"What the hell's the matter with us, Abbey?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm told my daughter has this problem...this learning disability that could shape her entire life. We have to work with her in order to get her ready for kindergarten in the fall, to help her self esteem, and give her confidence in her abilities. And what do I do? I fly off to Washington."

"You were weeks away from winning the campaign when we found out about Zoey."

"Yeah. WEEKS away."

"Jed, there was nothing you could have done. Say you dropped out. Then what?"

"I would be here to help her."

"You can help her when you're home. And when you're not, you'll have to trust me to help her. I can do it."

"Of course. I wasn't trying to say..."

"Honey..." Abbey rested her gloved hands on his shoulders. "You won the election. I know what you're going through. I know the doubts and the fear. I've had them too. But you can't keep second-guessing this. The less confident we are, the less confident the kids are going to be."

"She's five years old and she needs us and I'm not going to be there most of the time. What kind of father does that make me?"

"The fact that you're asking me that question makes you exactly the kind of father they need. It makes you the kind of father I'm proud to have as my husband."

"I'm not feeling too proud of myself right now."

"It'll get easier. You're a brand new congressman and you spend most of your time on the Hill wondering what your daughters are doing at home. The girls are lucky to have you." She pulled their joined hands up to her lips so she could place a single kiss on the back of his hand. "So am I."

TBC