Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Candidate's Daughter

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Zoey got her library card; Abbey convinced Rob Nolan to let her revamp the surgical residency at her hospital; Abbey and Jed disagreed over the danger of his Seabrook tour

Summary: On the night of Liz's return from Cancun, the Bartlets have a family dinner with Abbey's parents and Doug; Jed and Abbey reminisce about their own relationship while Liz makes an important decision about hers

Author's Note: Is this difficult to read with the ruler as the only line break?

Elizabeth looked up from the book she was reading as if jolted out of a daydream. A storm system racing across the United States caused turbulence on the flight back from Cancun and turbulence on a plane always got her attention. When she realized it was just a few bumps in the clouds, she went back to 'Pride and Prejudice,' wrapping herself up in the romance of the novel.

Five days in Mexico with the rest of her class had been just what she needed after graduation, but it had also been five days away from Doug. She caught herself thinking about him constantly during the trip and each time she did, she reminded herself how much pride she'd always taken in not being one of those clingy girls who couldn't take a step without her boyfriend glued to her side. She'd known girls like that throughout high school and she was never one of them - until now, it seemed.

Everything reminded her of Doug. Lying on the beach, she had thoughts about how he'd rub suntan lotion on her back and make her laugh if he was lying next to her; eating at restaurants with her friends, she'd imagined what he'd order if he was there; and dancing at the clubs was miserable because every time she caught the eye of another guy, she had wondered what Doug would say, if he'd be jealous if all she did was talk to them. Every night, she slept with her headphones on and one song played over and over again. It was 'Stand By Me,' the song they'd danced to at prom after he'd given her the promise ring, the song that now reminded her of him whenever she heard it.

The morning they left to fly back home, Liz had deliberately picked out the outfit she'd wear on the plane. Doug was going to be at the airport in Boston to greet her, so she slipped into a pair of white wash jeans and a forest-green top with ruffles. Green was his favorite color, she remembered. Then, she realized how cliché she'd become, bypassing her own tastes and dressing for her boyfriend, like the girls back in school that she never quite understood. So, she decided to change into something she liked instead. She exchanged the white wash jeans for her dark wash ones and paired them with a peach halter top, crimped her long brown hair and anchored it in a side ponytail, then pinned it with a peach bow. A coat of lip gloss, a silver bangle bracelet, and a pair of silver hoop earrings completed the look. She felt comfortable, relaxed, and most importantly, she felt like herself.

It was on the ride to the airport, when she reached into her tote for her ticket, that her fingers brushed past the box that held the green shamrock studs that Doug had given her on St. Patrick's Day. She'd taken them with her to Cancun, but never had the opportunity to wear them since they didn't go with anything. They didn't exactly match her peach halter now either, but she took them out of the box and switched her silver hoops for the shamrocks anyway, knowing that Doug would be happy when he saw them. No big deal, she had thought. She wasn't dressing for him. It was just an expression of love, something that she wanted to do.

As the flight began the final descent into Logan International, Liz tucked her book away and stared out the window. She was the first one up when they got to the gate. Passengers filed out of the plane and she rushed past them in the jetway, excited to see Doug and her family again. Nearing the terminal, she noticed them - her parents, her sisters, Doug, and her grandparents. Doug was moving toward her, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. She ran, dropped her tote, and jumped into his arms.

Doug spun around once and kissed her on the lips before he let her down. "You're so tan!"

"You like it?"

Abbey piped up beside them, "More like baked. Did you use sunscreen at all?"

Liz chuckled. Her mother was always in doctor mode. "Yes, Mom, I used sunscreen several times a day, every day. And..." She held up the sombrero she carried. "I used this on the beach the whole time, except when I was in the water."

Zoey reached up for the hat. "Neat, Lizzie, can I have that?"

"No way, you little vulture!" Liz snatched her hand back.

"I am NOT a vulture!" Zoey turned to Ellie, "What's a vulture?"

With a laugh, Liz set the sombrero down and opened her arms wide to hug her parents and sisters. "I missed you guys!"

"We missed you too!" Ellie assured her. "It was way too quiet without you in the house!"

"Yeah, and there was virtually no melodrama whatsoever," Jed tacked on with a wink.

"Ha ha, very funny." Liz rolled her eyes.

"With all this commotion, you'd think you went away for a year," James teased from behind Jed as he stepped forward to embrace his granddaughter. "It was only five days, right?"

"Only? I was so homesick, you wouldn't believe it!" Liz hugged her Grandma Mary next.

"Did you bring me stuff from Mexico?" As always, Zoey's face beamed at the possibility of presents.

"Zoey," Abbey admonished. "It's not nice to ask people that."

"She's not people; she's Lizzie!"

Liz was amused. "Yes, Zoey, I went souvenir shopping yesterday and I just happened to see something that reminded me of you. But you're gonna have to wait until I unpack, okay?"

Jed wrapped an arm around Liz and led the way toward baggage claim. "Let's go get your bags and go home. We're having dinner as a family tonight."

"Doug too?" Liz asked, her hand clasped in Doug's.

"Yes, Doug too. We already invited him."

Jed never hid the fact that he didn't think Doug was a good match for his eldest daughter, but he was grateful that he at least treated her well. He was respectful of her, nice to her, greeted her with flowers now and then, and as far as Jed knew, he'd been mindful of her feelings ever since that ill-fated dinner he spent with them back in November.

Tonight, Jed would see if all that was really true. He and Abbey had invited Doug to the farm to give Abbey's parents a chance to get to know him, something they knew would be important to Liz. For her sake, Jed was willing to give Doug another chance - a real one, without judgment or snark.

In the formal dining room of the farmhouse that evening, everyone dined on lamb served over saffron rice and garnished with lemon slices and steamed broccoli. In typical Bartlet fashion, the table buzzed with conversation. Liz told tales of Cancun, Zoey raved about her riding lessons and begged her grandfather to convince her parents she needed a horse instead of a pony, and Ellie was so riveted by her new book that her eyes twinkled with energy as she talked to Mary about the controversial undertones in it.

"It was banned last year in Bradford County, but the school board promised they'll have it on the library shelves in September," she said.

"I'm surprised they reversed the decision so quickly," Mary replied.

"They were right to, Grandma. No one can say it's not educational and it's so good, I can't put it down! It won a Pulitzer three years ago and last year, they made it into a movie..." Ellie turned a bitter eye to Abbey. "...which my mom wouldn't let me watch!"

Abbey returned the stare. "Don't push it, Goldilocks. You're lucky I'm letting you read it."

Ellie broke a smile at that. Abbey had said the adult themes were too old for her and it had taken 20 minutes of cajoling there at the library to get her to agree to let her check it out. The crafty preteen considered it a victory, given that it was universally known in the Bartlet house that once her mother made a decision, she was unlikely to change her mind. Her curiosity of the 'The Scarlet Letter' - the book she was determined to sweet-talk her way into reading before the end of summer - hadn't waned, but for now, she was satisfied with 'The Color Purple.'

At the other end of the table, Jed cut Zoey's meat for her and threw himself into a different topic of conversation. "Elizabeth, did you tell your grandfather about the scholarship?"

"To Wellesley?" James asked curiously.

"It's not a full ride," she told him. "It'll cover books and part of room and board."

"And the rest?" James looked over at Jed, suspecting he was the one who'd be making out the tuition checks.

"College fund," Jed replied. "Abbey and I started one when she was born."

It was like déjà vu for Doug. During the first dinner he spent with the Bartlets, academics played a prominent role in the conversation. He'd felt back then that he didn't fit in and that Jed didn't think he was good enough to date his daughter. Now, sitting at the table for a second time, he felt his insecurities rising once again and he was desperate to choke them back. He wouldn't make a fool of himself again, he vowed quietly as he listened to the family chatter around him.

Sensing his discomfort, Liz snuck her hand below the table and rested it on his thigh. "Doug chose a major. Did I tell you?"

"No, you didn't." Jed addressed the young man with genuine interest. "So Doug, what's it going to be?"

Doug shifted in his seat and said with little conviction, "Dairy Management. My parents own a working dairy farm. That's how they make their living, so it seemed like a good way to learn the family business."

"That's a great idea. Believe it or not, despite living on a farm myself, I know terrifyingly little about farming and agriculture. Maybe we could talk about it sometime."

"I'd like to," Doug agreed, letting down his guard just a little bit.

Jed remembered himself in Doug's position. When he met Abbey's family for the first time, James had asked him what he was studying in college. He tentatively said American Studies and added that he planned to get a graduate degree and join the ranks in academia. He reminded himself how good he felt when James praised his decision, and in an effort to overcome their past troubles for Liz's sake, Jed wanted Doug to feel the same.

Meanwhile, Zoey had managed to steal Mary's attention away from Ellie. "Daddy says I'll be reading just as good as Ellie when school starts."

"You won't be reading novels by then, Zo," Ellie informed her.

"I might be! You don't know!"

"I think Zoey's making remarkable progress with her reading," Abbey intervened. Zoey had been so discouraged about reading until recently that she took every opportunity she found to build her confidence.

"How old were you when you learned to read, Mommy?"

"Just about your age."

Mary added to that, "Do you know what motivated her to learn to read?"

"What?"

"The newspaper. Most children want to read Snow White or Peter Rabbit; your mother wanted to read the front page of the 'Montpelier Times.' When I explained to her that she'd have to start with picture books or Dr. Seuss, she gave in and then insisted we read every night until she could read the paper."

Ellie had never heard this story before. "Why?"

Mary explained, "Because it's what her father read. Grandpa had a routine. When he got home from work, we'd have dinner and then, he'd want to read his paper for a little while. Your mom hated the thought of not having his attention for even a minute, so once she got good at sounding out words, she'd come to me with the paper and I'd help her circle the stories we knew he'd like and then we'd go through them. I'd tell her what the words meant and summarize the articles so that she could talk to him about them when he got home."

"Really Mom? The paper?"

"I was mature for my age," Abbey pointed out.

"The paper's full of stuff like crime and violence." Ellie had a mischievous tone to her voice. "I'm surprised you weren't told 'these adult themes are too old for you.' "

Abbey knew where this was headed. "It was small-town Vermont. The biggest crime was pranks by local kids stealing hubcaps and dumping them in the fountain in town square."

"Are we talking about your past as a juvenile delinquent again?" Jed teased his wife from across the table, having heard the tail end of that particular exchange. "I'd like to contribute if we are."

"Careful, Jethro, or we'll have to delve into your childhood indiscretions."

"Yours are more colorful, especially with your parents here to tell us all the sordid tales."

James shook his head. "Abigail gets on our case when we share those anecdotes with the girls."

"That's because they use them against me, Dad." Abbey directed her stare right at her middle daughter, who giggled in response.

"How old was Daddy when he learned to read?" Zoey wanted to know.

"Daddy was born knowing how to read!" Ellie joked, thinking of her father's love of books on every topic imaginable.

"How I wish that was true," Jed laughed. "I wasn't much younger than you, Zoey. Neither were Liz and Ellie. Liz learned the sound of letters by helping me type things up on the typewriter."

Jed cherished the memory of little Lizzie in his lap pushing down on the keys he pointed to on the typewriter.

"And she began reading when I was studying for boards," Abbey went on. "I'd read my medical books and she'd sit beside me and read 'Green Eggs and Ham' or whatever she'd checked out of the library."

Doug smiled, imagining Liz as a child. "I bet you were adorable. Is it too soon to ask to see baby pictures?"

"I've got hundreds!" Jed announced proudly.

Liz's cheeks turned red. She was desperate to postpone the baby pictures for as long as humanly possible. "Can we talk about something else please?"

Lucky for her, Jed had another topic in mind. He addressed James and Mary. "Did Abbey tell you she's fighting residency work hours at the hospital?"

"No, that's wonderful! It's about time someone took on that cause!" James was bothered by the inhumane hours back when Abbey was in training.

"Jed, don't get excited," Abbey cautioned. "Nothing's been done yet."

"Rob Nolan gave you the green light to revamp the residency program, did he not? You'll turn things around in no time. I have faith."

"He put you in charge? Way to go, Mom!"

As Liz congratulated her mother and a roundtable discussion was launched, Doug tried to hide his ignorance by sinking slightly in his seat and hoping that no one looked to him for input. He knew nothing about residency or the grueling hours required of physicians and unlike the Bartlets and Barringtons, who all kept up with current events on a daily basis, he hadn't even heard of the Libby Zion case in New York.

"Mommy, does that mean you'll go to work less?" Zoey asked.

"No, sweetheart. If anything, I'll be working more for a little while to cover for the residents we're going to send home. But hopefully, that won't last too long. We'll expand the program and things will be back to normal in no time."

"Wait, you'll be working more? How much more?" Liz worried that Abbey's hours would suddenly go back to the standard of residency and fellowship.

"It's too early to tell."

"It's a good thing, Lizzie," Jed jumped in before Liz could express any doubts. "She'll be responsible for changing the face medical training as we know it, at least at her hospital. Besides, you'll be too busy to notice. You start your internship next week."

That got Mary's attention. "That's right, Lizzie. Are you excited to work on the campaign?"

Liz nodded. "I can't wait!"

"What will you be doing?"

Jed answered for her. "She'll start in the finance office."

That was news to Liz. "What? I thought I'd get to follow you around."

"Well, you'll get to come out with me in the field every now and then, but if you're going to learn the ins and outs of campaigning, you need to spend time getting to know all the departments. Uncle Jack will help you get familiar with the finance office."

"But..."

Abbey interjected, "Finance is crucial to campaigning and public policy, Liz. During your dad's first congressional campaign, we ran out of money after the primary and had to fundraise like crazy. This time, we recruited the entire finance committee early."

Jed liked that Abbey always included herself in his campaign decisions. He liked running things past her, hearing her input and ideas. "And we began stocking the war chest from the moment I took the oath."

"How's it looking this year?" James questioned his son-in-law.

"I don't know what's going to happen after September, but I feel good going into the primary."

"Dad's opponent is something like 20 points behind," Liz told him.

"He means well. He just doesn't know what he's doing."

"How can he mean well if he's trying to throw you out of office?"

"I didn't say he wasn't tragically misinformed." Jed could hold the toughest of grudges against some opponents, like Elliot Roush, but he had a soft-spot for politicians who were in it for the right reasons, even if he vehemently disagreed with them.

"He'll never win!" Liz turned to her grandfather. "He's on a mission to prove he's more liberal than Dad."

"Is he?" James considered Jed to be a strong liberal by New Hampshire standards, which translated into moderately liberal by Massachusetts and Vermont standards.

"Let's put it this way," Jed began. "If you look to his right, you'll see Castro."

Doug sat anxiously beside his girlfriend, wanting to contribute to the conversation with the only tidbit of political knowledge he had. "Mr. Bartlet, what's going on with the death threat? Have they found the guy?"

And the table went silent.

Liz, who was stunned by Doug's revelation, watched her father's expression change right before her eyes. "What death threat? What's going on?"

Ellie turned to her mother for answers. "Mom?"

Doug felt out of his element before, but now he just wanted to run out of the room. "I thought everyone knew."

Only Jed and Abbey had known about the threat. They hadn't even told Abbey's parents yet. They'd planned to tell Liz in the next few days, before she began her internship, but they thought it was too much for Zoey to understand and that it would scare Ellie to know that someone was targeting her father. They'd decided it was best to shield their younger daughters from the news until the FBI made an arrest.

So much for that.

"How did YOU know?" Jed couldn't believe that Doug, of all people, had this information.

"My roommate is a mass comm major. He's an intern at Channel 7."

"I haven't told the media about this."

"Someone in your campaign did." Doug shrugged. "That's how my roommate found out. He said they're holding the story because of the FBI."

"Excuse me." Jed threw his linen napkin on the table, pushed his chair out, and left the room with heavy strides.

Liz rested her eyes on Abbey. "Is it true?"

"Maybe now isn't the time to get into this," Mary offered, trying to give her daughter an out.

Ellie prodded anyway. "Mom?"

"It's nothing," Abbey finally said. "Someone sent a nasty letter to your dad."

"Was it a death threat, like Doug said?"

"What's a death threat?" Zoey furrowed her brows, confused.

"You guys, it really is no big deal. The FBI is looking into it because they always investigate this kind of thing."

"What kind of thing? Why would they threaten Dad?"

"He's a congressman, Ellie. Why do you think?"

"Liz, that's enough." Abbey spoke firmly yet frankly. "Yes, it was a death threat. No, it's not serious."

"How is a death threat not serious?" Liz demanded.

Zoey repeatedly banged her silverware against the table. "What...is...a...death...threat?"

Abbey angrily replied, "Zoey, you do that again and you're going to your room!" She took a breath and said with a calm inflection, "Can we please enjoy the rest of our dinner and talk about this later?"

Just as she made that request, Jed's voice boomed from the kitchen. "I TOLD EVERYONE I WANTED TO KEEP THIS QUIET! FIND OUT WHO LEAKED IT AND FIRE HIS ASS!"

He banged the phone down on the receiver, then stalked back into the dining room to reclaim his seat. The girls exchanged glances at each other over the table, but none of them said another word about the threat. The rest of the meal was shared over shallow exchanges and pleasantries with James and Mary doing their best to quell the awkwardness while Jed silently sulked about Doug's loose lips.

"He didn't do it on purpose. He was just trying to make conversation," Abbey reasoned with her husband as they rinsed the dishes alone in the kitchen that night.

"There was already a conversation going. The only reason he brought that up was because he had nothing else to contribute."

"So he's not well-informed about politics. There are worse things in the world."

Jed put the last of the glasses in the dishwasher. "I went into this evening open-minded, Abbey, you know I did. It didn't help in the slightest. I can't shake my dislike for him."

"His lack of discretion notwithstanding, he was perfectly pleasant tonight."

"There's something about him that makes me cringe, something more than what happened at dinner. I can't put my finger on it."

"Jed," Abbey sighed as she wiped down the counter.

"What?"

"I have to wonder if what makes you uncomfortable is that he's not a genius."

"What? No!"

"You've gotta admit, one of the reasons you got along so well with Sven was that he was a highly intelligent young man."

"He was a Rhodes Scholar who could talk about anything in the world, and yes, I liked that about him. But I don't judge people based on their intellect!" He was offended by the suggestion.

"Honey, I wasn't trying to say you're a snob. All I meant is that I think you want Liz to end up with someone who has a lot to talk about, someone who has ideas and doesn't have a problem expressing them, like Sven."

"Yes, I want her to be with someone as smart as she is. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, but that may not be what SHE wants."

"Not now maybe, but she's still young. She'll want that in the long run, just wait and see. She'll open her eyes and realize that Doug isn't the one for her."

"You sound sure about that."

"I am. When I think of Liz becoming an adult, I imagine her finding a good man, a partner for life, someone she has a lot in common with, like you and me. She'll finish grad school and start her career, she'll get married and come over with her husband every week and on holidays and all of us'll gather around for family dinners here at the farm, the way we do with your parents."

"That would be nice."

"Yeah, and it's a sure thing that it's not gonna happen with Doug. It's like Doug doesn't even like being around us. Did you see how quickly they left tonight? He couldn't wait to get out of here."

"Don't take it personally. He probably felt bad about bringing up the threat and I'm sure he and Liz just wanted to spend some time alone together."

"Doing what? Hanging out at his place and watching TV?" Jed scoffed.

"Your father hates me. He's always going to hate me."

In the passenger's seat of Doug's car, Liz held his hand as he drove. "He doesn't hate you. What happened at dinner wasn't your fault. How were you supposed to know he hadn't told us?"

"Did you see his face when he came back to the table? He wanted to throw me out of the house right then and there."

"No, he didn't. He was just upset. He always gets upset when he has to fire people."

Doug turned a quick glance her way. "And this time he had to fire someone because of me."

"Doug, I don't want to spend the whole night talking about my father."

"What do you want?"

Liz took out her cassette tape of 'Stand By Me' and slid it into Doug's player. "I want to go back to your place and hang out. I missed you so much when I was in Mexico."

"I missed you too."

"Then let's put all this aside and concentrate on us."

The wipers swept the rain from the windshield as Doug stepped on the gas.

Back in the kitchen of the farmhouse, Jed went on, "I remember when a date meant chocolates and flowers, taking a girl somewhere nice - a fancy restaurant, a movie, a walk in the park. When did it become romantic to sit in your boyfriend's apartment and eat popcorn in front of the television?"

Abbey's mind flashed back to 1966 and all the fun she and Jed had getting to know each other. "We did the courtship thing differently, didn't we?"

"We sure did. We did it the right way."

"It was a different time back then."

"A classier time. People got to know each other more formally. I used to take you out whenever I was home from school, remember? We'd spend the whole evening talking about each others dreams and aspirations, what we each wanted out of life."

"We did that in the letters too. I still have all of them, yours and mine."

"How did I know that?" He grinned. "I thought back then the most frustrating thing about our relationship was that you were in Boston and I was in Indiana. But now I think that might have been what helped us get so close so fast."

"I do too. We couldn't see each other, but we had so much to talk about. We used to fall asleep with the phone still attached to our ears some nights."

"Until your dad got the phone bill," he recalled. "Boy, was he mad. Mine too."

"They got over it."

"Eventually, after we promised we'd only write from then on."

The phone calls were important, but it was the letters that allowed Jed and Abbey to form their bond and discover what they had in common. They didn't just write about their experiences at college; they expressed their thoughts about the political atmosphere in the country, the escalation of the war in Vietnam and the protests against it, Indira Gandhi's election to Prime Minister of India and actor Ronald Reagan's rise to governor of California, the feminist movement and the inclusion of female runners in the Boston Marathon for the first time ever, and even the debut of a show Jed thought wouldn't last past a few episodes - 'Star Trek.'

Nothing was off-limits in those letters.

"It was a good decision we made when we started writing more regularly."

"Because it gave you a chance to chronicle our courtship and save it for eternity?"

"That, and because when you have to write to get close someone, you tend to bare your soul," Abbey said wistfully. "And the other person gets to dig far beneath the surface and learn who you really are. After a dozen of your letters, I knew exactly who Jed Bartlet was, better than I had ever known anyone else in my life."

Every letter Jed sent was an uninterrupted flow of thoughts and opinions on life, a monologue of ideas that gave Abbey priceless insight into his psyche; not just his likes and dislikes, but what he stood for and what he believed personally, politically, spiritually, and philosophically. He told her things that he had never shared with anyone before and in return, he got the same level of candor and honesty. It was intimate, in an innocent sort of way.

"I felt the same way about your letters," he told her. "I learned in weeks what it takes some men years to learn about the women they love. I don't know if it would have happened that quickly face-to-face."

"We were so open with each other in what we wrote."

"It's easier to be open on paper than it is in person with someone you barely know."

"By that summer, I felt like we were soulmates. And by that winter..." She got a sparkle in her eye at the memory of their first time making love, nearly a year after they began dating.

"I hadn't proposed yet, had I?"

"No, but I knew you would, or that I would pretty soon."

"That night we made love was so special. It's like it was a year in the making."

"It was."

"It was the build-up that made it like that. That's my problem with kids of the 80s. They move too fast. They don't understand how special it is when it's done properly."

"I assume we're not talking about Liz and Doug now?"

"No, kids in general." Jed stood facing her. "I might have to vote 'no' on this sex ed bill in the House when we go back."

"Oh, Jed."

"I know what you're going to say, Abbey, but reminiscing about our relationship only confirms what I believed all along."

"Which is?"

"It's too liberal a bill. I believe in birth control and STD prevention, I believe in giving teenagers access to protection. But it has to be balanced with proper education. This bill doesn't provide for that."

"What does it provide for?"

"Condoms on display in the nurse's office at schools across the country. Anyone who wants them, picks them up without a thought. I know you're thinking of AIDS and I am too, but I'm also thinking that kids should know how special sex really is, especially if you wait until you're older. You were 21 when we slept together. There's a world of difference in maturity between a young woman in her early 20s and one in her teens, don't you think?"

"I'll agree with that."

"There's so much peer pressure nowadays. Kids should be told over and over again that they have the option of waiting, that it's not something you do just because you think you're in love or because it's what everyone else is doing. This is something you want to share with only one person, your soulmate. They should know what it feels like to be that close to someone, the one person in the world you know inside and out, better than you know yourself even, and how amazing it is to give them that gift and experience it together for the first time."

The doctor in Abbey held a different position, but the wife in her understood exactly what Jed was saying. He was always a traditional romantic and so was she. In her mind, she could still relive that December night back in 1966 like magic. No fogginess. No distortion. It was extraordinary and part of what made it extraordinary was how well they had known each other before it happened. Jed wasn't just her boyfriend. He wasn't a teenage crush or a high school romance. Their bond was much stronger than that. He was the love of her life and even at the age of 21, she would have bet everything she had that he was the man who'd always be by her side, the one she'd have children with, the one with whom she'd someday grow old.

They had many of the same interests, both had lofty aspirations, cared about the world around them and wanted to serve others in their own fields - him as a professor and her as a doctor. They shared a lot of themselves and because of that, they learned what the rest of the universe didn't know, they learned what was in the others heart. There was no substitute for that type of connection. It helped them form a rock-solid relationship and after they slept together for the very first time, they realized their fate was already carved in stone.

It was raining harder now. A thunderstorm had moved in. Lightning lit up the neighborhood and claps of thunder reverberated through Doug's apartment. Although it was a quick sprint from the car to the front door, Liz was soaked. Doug led her to his bedroom, where he pulled out an oversized T-shirt for her to change into. He searched his drawers for a pair of old sweats that might fit her, and with his back to her, he was oblivious to Liz nervously rifling through her purse to pull out a condom. It was one of the ones that her friend Morgan had left in her room on the night of the prom. She threw it on the bed just as Doug turned around.

He looked at it, then looked up at her. "Are you serious?" Liz nodded. "If this is because you're trying to cheer me up..."

"Do you think a condom just appeared in my purse on the ride over? I had already planned this."

"A few months ago, you didn't want to." Doug understood that Liz had never been physically intimate with anyone before. He respected that and didn't pressure her.

"I changed my mind. It's a woman's prerogative, you know." Liz closed the space between them and tilted her head to kiss him. "I love you. I love you so much."

Doug had awakened something in her, temptations that she no longer wanted to resist. Her hands shaking, she reached down to unbuckle his belt.

TBC