Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: Stealing Cinderella

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed's sister-in-law, Kellie, asked Jed to intervene when Jack decided to sue for sole custody of their son, Brad; out for a midnight ride, the girls felt they were being watched by a stranger in the shadows, causing Zoey to fall off her pony, Ruby

Summary: When the girls rush home to their parents, Jed investigates what happened; the Bartlets get a new houseguest

Author's Note: And another year goes by. Thank you to all who are still reading. Happy 2015!

December 1986

There were few things in life that Abbey Bartlet loved more than snuggling in her husband's embrace while they slept. She was never more rested and refreshed than after a night like this. She felt content in their bed, sheltered from the chaos of the outside world with Jed's big, masculine arms locked around her petite frame, the warmth of his breath against her neck and shoulder. Cuddled up like this, nothing could disturb her peaceful sleep.

Well, almost nothing.

It was just after midnight when the front door of the farmhouse swung open and their older daughters charged the stairs, screaming for their parents. Jed and Abbey awoke with a start. They leapt out of bed and Jed raced toward the bedroom door, flinging it open to find Liz carrying Zoey in her arms, a scared Ellie right on her heels. The oldest girl carefully laid her crying baby sister on the bed, then looked up at her mother for help.

"She fell...hard." Liz was out of breath, nearly hyperventilating.

"Where?" Jed questioned while Abbey examined the sniffling seven-year-old.

"Outside."

"Yeah, I got that," he said. All three girls were wearing their winter coats, making it obvious they had been outside. "WHERE did she fall?"

"We went riding. She fell off Ruby," Ellie answered, her eyes locked on her mother as Abbey briefly glanced up from caring for Zoey.

"Riding?" Jed asked with a disapproving glare. "In the middle of the night?"

Abbey returned her attention to Zoey. "Did you hit your head, sweetheart?"

"No," the little girl cried.

"Show me where it hurts."

"All over."

Abbey slipped her fingers under Zoey's back and ran them up and down her spine, from her neck to her tail bone. "Does that hurt at all?"

"Noooo."

She then slowly moved Zoey's neck from side to side. "Does that hurt?"

"Nooo," Zoey moaned, frustrated that her mother couldn't read her mind. She pointed to her left side. "Here. It hurts the most right here."

Abbey lifted her shirt to examine her torso. No cuts, just a nasty bruise across her ribcage, tender to the touch. "Can you sit up for me?"

Zoey struggled to sit up with her mother's help. She grabbed her left side and immediately slouched. "Owww!"

Abbey addressed Jed, "I want an x-ray."

"You think she has a broken rib?"

"Most likely just bruised, but I want to be sure. Stay here and get Ellie to bed?"

"Okay," Jed agreed.

Liz reached for her sister's hand to help her to her feet. "I'll go to the hospital with you."

Abbey nudged her aside and in the process, dismissed her offer. "You can stay with your father."

It wasn't a suggestion. It was a firm rejection and Liz felt the sting. Abbey loved all her girls equally, but it was no secret that she was most protective of Zoey. She was the daughter she almost lost, the one who spent her first few months in this world in the neonatal ICU, fighting for her life. Abbey never got over it. She blamed herself for everything Zoey went through back then, and even now, seven years later, her anxiety resurfaced whenever her baby got hurt.

"Mom..." It sounded like a plea. Liz couldn't stand the thought of being blamed for this.

"They look up to you," Abbey interrupted her. "They do whatever you tell them to because you are their world. Instead of teaching them to follow the rules, you're teaching them how to sneak out of the house?"

"It wasn't like that. They wanted to go riding. We were just having fun."

"Well, as long as it was fun," Abbey scoffed. "You're about to become a mother, Elizabeth. When are you going to grow up?"

And with that harsh shot of reality, Abbey helped Zoey to her feet and took her out of the room, leaving Jed to tease out the details of what happened outside. He took a seat as he waited for Liz and Ellie to fill in the gaps. How did Zoey fall? Was it simply an accident, he questioned. The duo hesitated to tell him the truth, afraid of actually saying the words, afraid of re-living those terrifying few minutes when they felt someone's presence on the property, watching and stalking them.

Finally, Liz unloaded the truth.

"Something startled Ruby," she said before correcting herself, "someone, I mean."

"What are you talking about?" Jed asked.

"There was someone else out there."

"Who?"

"I don't know. But we were definitely not alone."

"It was probably an animal."

"No, Dad." Liz was adamant. She stared her father in the eyes and didn't bother to hide her fear. "It was a person. I know it."

"How? Did you see someone?"

"No, we felt it. I mean, we felt someone there. A person."

"What do you mean you felt it?"

"I can't explain it. It was just...weird." She looked to her little sister. "Right?"

Ellie nodded. "Someone was there, Daddy. It was a person, just like Lizzie said. It spooked Ruby. She jumped and tried to run away. That's why Zoey fell."

After Zoey tumbled off Ruby, they told him, Liz screamed her name, a scream that they insisted must have scared off whoever was there because they heard footsteps running away. Ellie jumped off her own horse and rushed to her sister's side. Liz scooped an injured Zoey up in her arms and yanked on Ellie's arm to get them all out of there as fast as she could. It all happened in a matter of seconds. There was no time to think, no time to accurately assess Zoey's injuries to make sure she could be moved. The thought of a stranger behind them, watching them with a malicious purpose triggered a panic so great that Liz knew they couldn't waste a single minute. With a spike of adrenaline, she ran faster than she ever thought possible. It wasn't just herself she was protecting; it was her sisters as well. She shoved Ellie toward the house as she kept her other arm wrapped tightly around Zoey until they finally reached the porch.

Jed listened to their story, but he was skeptical. The farm was secluded, tucked away on the outermost edge of Manchester, along a winding country road that led to the more rural villages in the state. It was surrounded by woods and pastures and acres of land, and while there was no actual gate walling it off from the public, no one had ever penetrated the perimeter before. The thought of someone doing it now, in the pitch-black darkness of the midnight sky, only a few feet away from his daughters sent a chill up his spine. But Liz and Ellie adamantly repeated their story. It happened, they claimed. They felt it, they said, all three of them at the exact same time. They couldn't have telepathically imagined it, Liz argued.

Jed did his best to calm their nerves and assure them that they were safe. He tried to send them to bed, promising a thorough search in the morning, but it nagged at him. How could he sleep with the possibility of someone lurking in the shadows so close to his girls? He lifted the window of the master bedroom to stick his head outside. A dim light shone outside the barn and along the paddocks, but it wasn't enough to see someone not in plain sight. He grabbed a pair of binoculars, then asked Liz to hit the flood lights so he could properly scan the grounds. At least the part he could see. From this room, only a third of the paddock and half of the barn was within his view. Unsatisfied with the look he got, he grabbed his coat and a handheld flashlight to head outside.

By the time Abbey returned from the emergency room with Zoey, Jed's hunt for the phantom intruder had turned up nothing. He and Liz had returned the horses to their stalls. He then persuaded Liz to go back to the house while he checked the rest of the property. He inspected the grounds like a roving detective at a crime scene and still, he had no explanation for what the girls experienced. His suspicion that they let their imaginations get the best of them escalated by the second, but he kept going, determined to cover every nook and cranny so that he could look them in the eye and definitively deliver the news that there was no trace of strangers wandering onto the farm.

He scoured the pastures, trekked down the hill to the orchard, surveyed the ponds and the surrounding trees before he finally made his way back to the barn for the second time. The loft was the only place that escaped his initial search. It was cold, dark, and wet outside. If someone wanted shelter from the weather, the barn would have been ideal. Before he climbed the ladder to the loft, he checked the tack room one more time. Because it was the room where they stored medicine for the horses, it was warmer in the tack room and certainly more of a lure than the dreary loft that provided minimal protection from the cold. He had dedicated quite a bit of energy to searching it his first time through, but he still felt a second look was in order.

He gave it a quick scan and then headed for the loft when he heard the sound of someone approaching outside the barn. His muscles tensed and he prepared to move, until the door swung open and he saw her.

"ABBEY!" He shouted her name with part relief and part fury. "You scared the hell out of me! What the hell are you doing?"

"The girls told me you were here."

"Did they tell you why?"

"Of course."

"And you decided to follow me? Are you crazy? What if someone had really been out here?"

"Good thing they weren't or they would have gotten you first." She smiled at him.

"You're not funny." He took a deep breath. "How's Zoey?"

"She has a few bruised ribs."

"No fractures?"

"No. She'll be fine."

"Good," he said, less cranky about the whole thing. "So why are the girls still up?"

"Is that a serious question?" Abbey challenged. "Why do you think they're up? I doubt any of us will be getting much sleep tonight."

"There's no one out here, Abbey."

"Okay."

"I'm serious."

"I said okay," she repeated. "Are you trying to convince yourself?"

"I don't need to convince myself. I checked, thoroughly. There's no one out here."

"Then what scared them?"

"Who knows? It was probably an animal. A fox or a coyote, maybe a bear. Or, maybe it was nothing at all. Maybe they just imagined it."

"Is that what you think?"

"I think we have three little girls with very vivid imaginations. They feed off each other. Lizzie probably said something and Ellie was convinced she felt it too. And who knows what Zoey even saw or felt or whatever the hell the story is. Did you ask her?"

Abbey shook her head. "I didn't find out until we got back from the hospital and by then, Zoey was asleep. I didn't want to wake her."

"We'll ask her in the morning, before she talks to her sisters."

"And what if she backs up their story? What if it wasn't their imagination, what if it wasn't a wild animal, what if it was a person?"

"If there was someone here, they're gone now. I came out here as soon as I heard. Lizzie followed me. We put the horses back in their stalls, I searched the barn, the orchard, the ponds, and the woods. I'll look again when the sun comes up, but for now, I don't know what more I can do."

"I know there's nothing you can do. It's just creepy."

"Yeah, it is," he agreed. "Come here." He folded her up in his arms, holding her tight against his chest. "We're all safe. There's no danger. I'd stake my life on it."

"Don't say that."

"That's how sure I am." With a finger tucked under her chin, he lifted her head to look her in the eye. "I'd never let anything happen to you or to our girls."

Abbey closed her eyes and tilted her head to kiss him. Here she was again, wrapped in her husband's gentle arms, the same way she'd fallen asleep hours earlier and once again, she felt safe and content, despite the drama of the night. Jed had that affect on her. He always had. It was hard to believe that in just a few short weeks, he would leave for Washington again, inaugurated for his second term as a U.S. Congressman. If this had happened while he was away, she had no idea what she would have done. It was hard enough managing day-to-day without him; a scare like the one they had tonight would only underline his absence and make her miss him that much more.

Her hands tracing his back, Abbey buried her head into his shoulder. Jed's back was to the ladder that led to the loft and he was so focused on Abbey that he never even noticed someone climbing down until he heard the thud of the person's feet crashing onto the ground.

He turned quickly, just in time to see the back of a head running away from him. The fear might have grounded him to his spot if rage hadn't taken over first. This was HIS home, HIS barn. The fact that someone so brazenly invaded the sanctity of his farm, spying on his daughters, hiding just steps away from where he was standing with his wife enraged him. He gave chase, out the barn and toward the paddocks. Abbey followed, stepping out of the barn just in time to see Jed claw the faceless stranger's shoulder and tackle him to the ground.

"Uncle Jed, stop!" a soft, feeble voice pleaded.

Jed spun him around, stunned by the face he saw staring back at him. It was the face of his nephew. "Brad?!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Is Zoey okay?"

Jed struggled to catch his breath. The sudden jolt of terror had given him such an emotional and physical rise that it took him several seconds to recover before he and Abbey brought Brad back to the house.

"BRAD?" Elizabeth shrieked when she saw her cousin mounting the porch steps and walking in the front door with her parents. "You were the creep who was watching us?"

"I wasn't watching you! I just happened to be out there when you were!"

Jed slipped off his coat, then reached his hand out to ask for Abbey's. "Girls, go to bed. We'll talk about it in the morning."

Liz squinted her eyes at Brad as she circled in front of him on her way to the stairs. "You are such a little punk."

"Better than being a slut," he spat back at her.

"BRAD!" Abbey was already annoyed by the trouble Brad had caused. He wasn't going to win any brownie points by going after Liz.

"This is why no one likes you," Ellie growled at him. Ordinarily shy and well-behaved, Ellie was also fiercely loyal, especially to her sisters. No one got away with talking to Liz that way when she was around.

"That's enough, all of you! Liz and Ellie, upstairs now," Jed ordered firmly. "Brad, you're coming with me."

Abbey followed the girls upstairs as Jed ushered Brad into the kitchen.

His hands on the 14-year-old's shoulders, he walked him to a chair at the table and sat him down, then took the seat directly across from him.

"First things first," he started. "That little interaction between you and Liz? That kind of thing is never going to happen again. We don't use that kind of language here. If I hear you say it again, especially directed at anyone related to me, you're going to have ME to deal with. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Brad replied, his head hanging low as he avoided eye contact with his uncle.

"Brad?" Jed waited for Brad to look up at him. When he didn't, he called him again. "Brad, look at me. A gentleman never uses that word toward a woman. Ever. It's wrong."

"Then you should talk to my dad since he used it on my mom this morning," he said.

"Your dad's a jackass," Jed shot off impulsively. He acknowledged Jack's anger over Kellie's one-night-stand, but there was no excuse for using such a derogatory term toward the mother of his child, and even worse, he allowed Brad to hear it. Still, his own response was inappropriate, he realized. Caught in the middle of the battle between his mother and father was bad enough; the last thing Brad needed was for his uncle to criticize his father as well. Jed paused for a beat, then said, "I didn't mean that."

"Why not?" Brad asked. "It's true."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is. He's trying to take me away from my mom. I hate him."

"Don't say that."

"I do! You have no idea!"

"You hate him because you want to stay with your mom?"

"No! I don't want to stay with either one of them, not when they're fighting all the time."

"Is that why you came here?"

Brad shrugged, looking down again. "I dunno."

He did know. He couldn't stand it at home anymore. He needed to get away and he had nowhere else to turn.

"Do you want to stay with us for a while?" Another shrug, but Jed saw through the hesitation. "You can, you know. You can stay here as long as you want."

He could only imagine what Brad was going through. It had been two weeks since Kellie's transgression had come to light and already, this was proving to be too messy a divorce for any kid to witness. His heart broke for Brad. He stood up then and walked over to the other side of the table. He took the seat beside Brad and pulled him around to hug him.

The teenager welcomed and returned the embrace, allowing himself to let go of all the emotions he'd kept bottled up. It was safe here at the farm. There was no vicious yelling, no hurtful barbs exchanged, no threats or tears. It was warm and inviting, loving and stable. For the first time in weeks, he felt at peace.

"Give him a break. He's going through a rough time." Abbey turned down the covers as she helped Ellie get ready for bed upstairs.

"But he's always been like this, even when we were kids."

She smiled at Ellie's implication that they were no longer kids. "Be that as it may, at the moment, he has a reason to be upset."

"Because of the divorce?"

"That's right."

"Why are they getting divorced anyway? Why can't they work it out?" She had only heard bits and pieces of the conflict between her Uncle Jack and her Aunt Kellie. What she did know, she didn't quite comprehend.

"You can't always work it out, sweetheart."

"You and Daddy always work it out."

Ellie was too young and too romantically naive to understand that Jack and Kellie were facing a challenge her parents had never confronted - infidelity. Abbey hoped that she and Jed were a strong enough couple to get through and forgive anything, but she had to admit the ramifications of infidelity pushed the envelope. It wasn't the time or the place to get into that discussion though.

"It's different," she simply said.

"Why?" the inquisitive pre-teen prodded further.

"What is with the 20 questions?"

"I'm curious."

"Yeah, I notice your curiosity piqued every night around bedtime."

Ellie was always a night owl. She giggled as she crawled into bed and slid her legs under the covers. "I'm sorry Zoey got hurt."

"So am I."

"We shouldn't have gone riding so late without permission. I know you think it was Lizzie's fault, but it wasn't. It was Zoey's idea and I wanted to go too, so we begged Lizzie to take us."

"We'll talk about it in the morning."

"Can't we talk about it now?" Anything to get out of going to bed.

"Nice try." Abbey leaned down to drop a kiss to her forehead.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Goldilocks."

After leaving Ellie's room, Abbey peeked in on Zoey to make sure she was still sleeping, then poked her head into Liz's room. She hadn't forgotten how she snapped at Liz earlier when she offered to come to the hospital. It seemed that Liz always carried the blame when her younger sisters got hurt, one of the curses of being the oldest. As an older sister herself, Abbey could relate. She remembered many incidents when she and Kate were growing up where she was in Liz's shoes. When Ellie was born, she promised herself she would never do that to Liz, but she had gone back on that promise time and time again and each time, she regretted it.

Tonight, regret wasn't on her mind. Zoey and Ellie might have begged her to take them out, but Liz should have known better, Abbey thought. She was 18 now, nearly a wife and soon to be a mother herself. She should have stood firm, respected her parents' rules, and convinced her little sisters to go to bed instead of engaging in their rebellion. Abbey was angry, and even knowing that Zoey was going to be just fine didn't completely abolish Liz of the burden of responsibility.

Abbey knocked lightly, then opened the door to Liz's room. Liz was on her side, so Abbey couldn't tell if she was sleeping. She took a few delicate steps toward her and whispered her name. No response. She took a few steps more and looked down to see her daughter's eyes closed. She reached for the blanket at the foot of the bed, and tugged on the hem to cover Liz up, then leaned forward to press a kiss to her cheek.

As Abbey walked away and slipped out of the room just as quietly as she came in, Liz opened her eyes and wiped a tear from her face. Her mother's words had affected her more than she wanted to admit.

In the hall outside Liz's bedroom, Abbey turned to find Jed approaching.

"Hey," he greeted her. "Brad's sleeping in the guestroom."

"Did you get him an extra blanket?"

"Yeah, he's fine. Can we talk?"

Abbey followed him into the master suite and took a seat on the edge of the bed, watching as Jed paced in front of her. "What's wrong?"

"Jack and Kellie have totally screwed this whole thing up. They're fighting like cats and dogs with no care or worry about what they're putting their son through."

"They've had a rough time."

"That's putting it mildly. I want Brad to live with us for a while, at least through the holidays."

"Okay."

"I know it'll be an adjustment for all of us, particularly between him and the girls - and by the way, I talked to him about what he said to Liz. He's going to apologize."

"Jed, I said okay. You don't have to convince me."

Jed thought she'd come around, but he was surprised that she agreed so quickly. "Yeah?"

"Honey, he's our nephew. He's caught up in this hellish tug-of-war between his parents and he's clearly struggling. Of course he should stay here if that's what he wants. What's the alternative, we turn our backs on him?"

"How do you think the girls are going to take it?"

"They'll complain at first, but in spite of their arguments with Brad, they really do love him. They'll understand."

"You think?"

Abbey shrugged. "It'll take some getting used to. They've never had a brother. I can only imagine Lizzie's face when she learns there's another person to share the bathroom with in the mornings and that person happens to be a male."

Jed grinned mischievously. "That's going to be fun to watch."

"I'm going to tell her you said that." Abbey chuckled.

"Hey," he said, taking her hand as she rose to her feet. "You were a little hard on her before."

"I was angry."

"Who wouldn't be? I'm saying you were short with her. She's so sensitive about the baby, scared she's not going to be a good mom. I think it really rattled her."

"Did she say something?"

Jed shook his head. "Not specifically about tonight, but when she and I were in the barn, she asked me if I thought she made a mistake in deciding to keep the baby. It came out of nowhere."

"All right, I'll talk to her in the morning," Abbey promised. She wrapped her arms around Jed's waist then and gave him a kiss to the lips. "Ready for bed?"

"Again? I was ready hours ago!"

"Uninterrupted this time."

"Hopefully. Don't forget there are four kids in the house now. Any one of them could wake up at any time and barge into our room."

"Bite your tongue!"

Their bed sheets and comforter were a crumpled mess. Jed straightened out his side while Abbey smoothed down the other and they both climbed in, easily conforming to their usual spooning position. A few deep breaths and they drifted off - just minutes before the alarm clock buzzed.

TBC