"Jed – Jed, wake up – Leo's on the phone."

"What?" Jed struggled awake and squinted at Abbey who was standing by the bed in her bathrobe, holding the phone.

"Leo's on the phone – something about a trade agreement with Brazil?"

"Yeah – okay."

He struggled to sit up in bed, pushed back the tousled hair that had fallen over his forehead and then took the phone from Abbey. "Yeah, Leo? What is it?"

As he listened, he picked up his watch from the nightstand and his eyes widened as he saw that it was almost eight o'clock. Jeez, how had he managed to sleep so late?

"Okay, Leo, I'll meet you up there in ten minutes."

As he put down the phone, he swung his legs out of bed. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" he called to Abbey who had gone back into the bathroom.

She appeared at the door, now with a toothbrush in her hand. "Jed, you came to bed late and then you were tossing and turning half the night – so when you finally settled into a proper sleep, I thought you needed to–"

"Yeah, okay." So she must have been still half awake when he'd come to bed, he thought, and then remembered how her hand had reached to cover his. And he knew why he'd been tossing and turning – because his mind wouldn't switch off, and kept bringing him back to an almost nightmare scenario where Abbey was leaving him, divorcing him. It had been half way through the night that he had made the decision – that if she really was totally against it, he really didn't have any option. If it came to a choice between Abbey and the Presidency, there was no contest. And that was when he'd finally fallen asleep. Now he looked across at her. "Abbey, we do need to talk–"

She returned his look. "Yeah," she said briefly and then looked away.

"Look, I know how you feel–"

Her eyes swung back to him. "No, Jed, you don't – you really don't."

It was his turn to look away. "No – I guess I don't." He drew in his breath. "But I do know how badly I've handled all this – and I do know how desperately sorry I am–"

He raised his eyes to meet hers and saw her swallow hard, "Jed, I understand why you feel you have to run again, but–," she began, then stopped and shook her head. "No, you have to meet with Leo – we can't start this now. There just isn't time."

Jed couldn't help but give a wry smile. "I thought that was my line?"

Despite herself, Abbey smiled too. "I just thought I'd get it in before you did."

"Okay." He stood up and started to unfasten his pajama top. Abbey watched him and, even with all the conflicting thoughts going round in her head, couldn't help but think how good it always felt to rest her head against that strong chest of his. Quickly she tried to shake the image out of her mind.

"I'll come back after I've met with Leo – maybe we can talk over breakfast?" he was saying.

"With the girls there, and Annie and Gus? Get real, Jed."

"Okay, okay." Jed held up his hands. "But tell me something – it was CJ who suggested the photo-op and you introducing me, right?"

Abbey nodded and then saw Jed's lips tighten. "Jed, she was doing her job–"

"As marriage counsellor? Damn it, Abbey, our marriage is off limits – to CJ – to everyone, for that matter."

"Yeah, well, I bit her head off when she first suggested it – but then I realised that she has a job to do." Abbey hesitated for a moment. "She's in a difficult place, Jed – they all are. They've only known us for four years, they know nothing about our marriage or how we work things through."

"I'm not sure that I do any more," Jed replied, carefully not looking at her as he pulled on his jeans.

Abbey looked at him for a moment. Why was it that she was wishing that he was pulling off his jeans, wishing that they could go back to bed, wishing that they could just wrap their arms around each other again? She gave a small sigh. "Jed, we really can't get into this right now. You have five minutes left to finish getting dressed and go up to Satellite City to meet with Leo–"

"Yeah, right."

After he'd gone, Abbey sat down slowly on the bed. When she'd woken that morning, she'd remembered how he'd put his arm around her when he had got into bed. It was the first time he'd done that in what seemed like forever. She'd been aware of him moving restlessly during the night but when she woke he was in a sound sleep and she'd turned over to look at him – and felt a sudden, almost overwhelming, physical longing for him. She'd been half-tempted to wake him – but knew that he needed to sleep, that he was exhausted after the stress of the last couple of days.

Besides which, they couldn't make everything right between them just by making love. They still had to talk – he needed to know that she was ready to support him, and she needed to know just what had made him change his mind before he'd gone to the Press Conference. But she doubted that they would get the chance to talk this morning. This wasn't a five minute thing. This whole thing needed time now – the time to try to understand each other and to come back together again, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too.

But he'd apologised – he had acknowledged that he had handled it all badly – and that had to be the first brick being pulled out of the wall that had been built between them. It was a start...

--WW--WW--

She was surprised when Jed reappeared just as they were all finishing breakfast. "You sorted out the trade agreement?" she asked.

"Storm in a teacup," Jed commented, as he picked up a piece of toast from basket on the table. "We just needed to change some of the wording – and everyone's happy. Hey, Gus," he said, ruffling the little boy's hair before turning to Annie, "You skipping school today?"

Annie grinned. "Yeah, I got special permission – how cool is that then?"

"So long as you get all your class notes from Holly this evening," Liz reminded her.

Jed looked across at his eldest daughter. "Thanks, Liz," he said with a smile. "It might be the only time Annie gets to see an event like this. Will Doug be there as well?"

Liz shook her head. "He was still tied up in New York last night – he said he'd try to get back here in time, but I don't know if he'll make it."

"Okay. What about Gus?"

"No, he wouldn't understand what it was all about – so Jake's Mom said she'd have him."

"I'm gonna play wif Jake," Gus said. "He's got a jumpy fing."

"Jumpy fing?" Jed queried.

"Trampoline," Liz translated.

"Okay – so you go enjoy the jumpy fing, young man!" Jed smiled at Gus then turned to Abbey. "I need to go for a shower and a shave then I just need some time to do a last run through of the speech." He glanced at his watch. "Charlie will be here soon – give him some coffee, would you?"

"Jed, you haven't had any breakfast."

"I've just had a piece of toast, I'm fine." For the first time he noticed that the newspaper was spread out on the table in front of her. "Photo shoot?" he asked. "What are they like?"

"Come and have a look."

He moved round so that he was standing looking over her shoulder at the full page of photos from the previous morning's breakfast. There were several close-ups and one long-shot of the whole family. As he leant forward slightly to read the caption, he put his hand automatically on Abbey's shoulder.

Abbey felt herself stilling inside. It was such a natural gesture – one he had done thousands of times before – and yet this morning, it was almost as if it was the very first time. "There – there's another photo," she said, almost hesitantly.

"Where?"

Abbey folded the paper back to the front page, with the large coloured photo above the fold – the two of them, looking at each other, as Abbey reached out to wipe a small drip of syrup from Jed's chin with her thumb. Jed looked at it for a long moment, and then his hand tightened on her shoulder. He remembered now how her green eyes had locked with his for an instant – an instant that had been caught for eternity by the camera, when they had reconnected, momentarily, despite everything that lay between them.

"I think I'd like a framed copy of that photo," he said quietly.

Abbey put her hand up to cover his, which was still on her shoulder. She looked round at him. "Yeah, so would I," she said with a smile.

It was another brick out of the wall.

--WW--WW--

The next two hours went by in a flash. Leo and then Bruno came to talk to Jed, there was another visit to Satellite City for an NSA conference call, and Abbey felt as if she was spending the whole time making coffee and answering the phone.

Finally, things quietened down. The house was empty, the girls had already gone to the school and only Charlie and the agent were standing outside waiting for the Presidential limousine to arrive. Abbey had no idea where Jed was.

When he eventually appeared, Abbey looked at him. "Where have you been?"

He shrugged. "I took myself off to the barn. It was the only place where I could have some peace and quiet to have a final look at the speech." He hesitated for a moment. "I just had a run-in with CJ."

Abbey's eyes widened. "Don't tell me that you–?"

"I blasted her."

"Oh, Jed–"

"No, it's okay. She hit back. Did you know she was gonna resign?"

"What?" Abbey gasped.

"I was so involved with the speech that I didn't realise what she was saying at first. But then–" Jed paused, remembering his own outburst and CJ's reaction, then sighed. "Anyway, it's okay, we sorted it." He raised his eyes to meet hers. "You told me to reach out to them, Abbey – and you were right. These last few weeks have just been so hard – and not just for the staff–" He hesitated then went on, "For you too. Don't think that I don't realise it – don't ever think that I don't appreciate how tough it has been for you – for us – when the Presidency took over."

Abbey nodded slowly. "You know, I sometimes wonder just how all those other First Ladies handled it – I started to think that maybe we ought to form a First Ladies' Club – me and Nancy and Rosalind and Betty – and get together for coffee every so often to discuss how our marriages survived the demands of the Presidency."

Jed looked at her for a long moment. "Will ours survive, Abbey?"

Her eyes met his. "I'm not planning to divorce you, Jed," she said quietly.

Jed felt as though a sudden weight had been lifted from him. "Abbey–"

They both looked round as a knock came at the door, and then Charlie came in. "The car's here, sir."

"Okay, thanks Charlie." He looked around. "Oh God – where the hell is my jacket?"

"I've got it here, sir – you left it in the barn." Charlie held out his jacket and Jed slipped it on.

"And the speech?" he asked.

"It's already gone, sir – and CJ is double-checking that it's on the podium."

"Okay." Jed looked round at Abbey. "Ready?"

For a moment or so she stood looking at him, with that inscrutable look on her face that he could hardly ever read. Finally she said, "Yeah – I'm ready."

TBC