A/N: A little later than I would've liked, but here's the new chapter. As always, thanks a bunch for your reviews! I noticed that a couple of you have stories up of their own, I wish I had time to read them and return the feedback - I will at some point for sure :) Happy reading!

Tempus plus nine hours and fifty-four minutes

There had been many days that went down as the worst day of her life. The reality of being a Doctor wasn't saving lives. You thought it was; you had to. The idea that you'd remember saving lives and helping people was what got you through medical school, residency and sleepless nights. Now, sitting in a bulletproof limousine accompanied by three Secret Service agents and one lucky survivor, she didn't remember the smiling faces of healed patients.

Instead, she recalled the people she'd lost, the many times her soul had been crushed after she'd worked days or weeks to save someone only to lose them in the end. Some died because of mistakes she made and as heart wrenching as that was, doing everything right and still lose was even worse. She'd been able to do something for Claudia, but would it be enough?

Next to her, Josh turned paler the closer they got to the hospital. She didn't ask if he was alright, knowing that he wasn't. This whole ordeal undoubtedly reminded him of his own hospital stay and recovery and she made a mental note to contact his therapist, Doctor Keyworth. "I can't see her, can I?" He asked timidly when they turned into 23rd street. Anger momentarily paralyzed her at the sight of a few dozen reporters snapping shots of their limo. Couldn't they leave them alone for once? This wouldn't help CJ and only interfere with the rest of the work done in the GW. "No, she's still in surgery."

"But they're almost done, right?"

God, she hated these talks. They never got any easier and yet she kept hoping they would. "I don't know Josh, it could last well into the night." He nodded curtly and reverted to silence as they pulled up to the back entrance.

The agents quickly ushered them away from prying eyes and up to the emptied floor. Surprisingly, there was no one else there. Shouldn't her family have arrived by now? "When do her brothers get here?"

"Her oldest brother should be here soon," Josh said hesitantly, "he lives pretty close by."

"And her other brother?" They made themselves comfortable – for as far as possible in the basic chairs.

"He's stationed near the Qumar border in Saudi Arabia."

Caught by surprise she turned to face him. "I had no idea."

Josh snorted darkly, "neither did I, she doesn't talk much about her family."

"That she doesn't," Abbey agreed. Claudia hadn't even spoken of her father's condition until just a few weeks ago and she suspected Toby was the only one who'd known all along.

The silence that settled back over them didn't bother her, there wasn't really much to say and she hated small-talk, reserved her limited amount of patience for it for the fake, political slime-fests that had become a large – and useless – part of her life. When her companion pulled a stack of White House memos from his bag, she kept her comments to herself. She'd often escaped into medical journals and lexicons back when her knowledge of new technologies, treatments and drugs could save lives. Now that knowledge served no purpose other than to maintain a small semblance of a career she'd given up years ago.

When the door opened an undetermined amount of time later, her heart jumped into her throat and she barely had time to stand up before her youngest daughter threw herself into her arms. There were few sights more precious to a mother than the sight of her children in one piece. Since Zoey's kidnapping six months ago, being able to close her arms around her little girl was a gift she'd never again take for granted. "I wanted to come sooner," Zoey apologized quickly and needlessly.

"It's okay, I'm glad you're here now." Reluctantly she let go as Zoey pulled away to greet Josh.

His "hey kiddo" brought a smile to her lips. Her husband was incredibly lucky to have found a staff that had become such a part of their family. Josh and Zoey could fight like brother and sister during chili nights and while Claudia Jean had always provided a shoulder and listening ear for the Bartlet girls, Zoey had grown close to the tall woman in the aftermath of her ordeal.

"How's school?"

"Oh, it's fine, but they lumped all the boring classes together."

Josh smirked, "don't they always?"

"Is that why we haven't seen you for a while?" Her attempt not to sound too slighted failed. Of course it'd be unrealistic to expect Zoey home every weekend, but she hadn't seen her daughter since they returned from Manchester. Wanting to keep Zoey with her twenty-four/seven didn't change reality; her children needed to build lives of their own, but she'd prefer it if they waited until the White House had new inhabitants.

Zoey smiled and with a soft-spoken "mom", managed to convey that she understood. That was their Zoey, always so attuned to her parents, always aiming to please. Resisting another overprotective hug, she settled for taking her daughter's hand in hers and holding on tightly. "How's dad?"

"You know him, he's looking to call down fire and brimstone on anyone who comes near his family." Realizing her answer was a little snappy, she quickly amended it. "He's okay, munchkin."

"Mom! Do we really need to reinstate that nickname just because I got kidnapped?"

It amazed her how quickly Zoey was able to joke about what happened to her, for Abbey it was still too close to her heart, but she admired her daughter's resilience. Unable to reply with the same lightness, she was grateful when Josh stepped in. "I dunno, kid, I kind of like it. First Daughter Munchkin."

"Do you really want to go there, Mister Barf?"

"That's not fair. We all agreed that anything that happened during the victory party would never be brought up again."

Abbey slowly stood up and wandered to the window, keeping half an ear on the kids' bickering.

"Tough luck for you."

"I liked you better five years ago."

She had to agree with Josh on that one, even though she could tell by the affection in his voice he didn't mean it. Zoey was growing up way to fast. Whatever happened to kissing skinned elbows and watching Sesame Street together? Now her kid was already working on a post-graduate.

There was barely time to take in the Washington skyline before a hand on her forearm pulled her away. "Ma'am, those windows aren't bulletproof." Obeying – what other choice was there? – she followed Janet's lead and instead slouched against the wall, catching her daughter's concerned eyes. When had her little girl matured so much?

The stress of the last twelve hours suddenly caught her by the throat and the walls closed in on her. She never wanted to make these sacrifices!

"Mom?"

"I'm gonna go for a walk."

"I'll come with you."

"No," she just needed to clear her head, banish the images of CJ covered in blood, Zoey with a black eye and her husband's scar. "Stay here with Josh. I'm okay." As soon as she stepped out with her two agents in tow, two agents assigned to Zoey slipped inside. It was just the reality of being part of the First Family. Alone was never alone, a full night's sleep amounted to five hours at most and an afternoon of shopping meant that agents cleared out entire malls. At first, it'd been exciting, almost romantic, not so anymore.

The empty corridor was an image from the nightmares she had as a resident, where she was the only Doctor in a hospital filled with screaming patients suffering the most horrific injuries. This corridor was nothing like the ones he used to travel, running to assist with CPR or perform emergency surgery. There were no nurses hurrying between rooms, no family members holding back tears before stepping inside to visit a dying loved one. The corridor was devoid of all familiar sounds and rather than calm her, the silence vibrated off her nerves.

It was only when she became aware of a commotion in the adjoining wing, that she realized her agents had given up on pacing along with her. Janet put herself between her and the two large doors while Mark spoke quietly into his earpiece.

"What's going on?"

The blonde agent just motioned her to be quiet and herded her back towards the waiting room. This couldn't be an actual threat, could it? They were in a damn hospital surrounded by agents. It had be a misunderstanding.

The agents whispered to each other and being left in the dark once again irked her enough to halt and cross her arms. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on."

"Ma'am, we're just doing our jobs, we need you to return to the waiting room."

If the situation really was dangerous, she had little doubt her stubbornness would get her anywhere. She'd attended the initial briefings and knew these agents would protect her no matter what, even if she didn't want to be protected. In all truth, she held deep respect for these people who were willing to risk their lives without question or hesitation to protect her family, but at the same time she didn't appreciate being kept out of the loop.

Janet and Mark exchanged a look and feeling rather childish, she had to swallow a grin. She'd won. "There's a girl outside claiming to be Miss Cregg's niece, but she can't identify herself and she's alone."

"I'll vouch for her."

Apparently her word didn't mean much; the agents easily cut her off from the doors. "Ma'am, protocol—"

"Good god Mark, you really think a teenager whose aunt is in critical condition poses a threat? I'll take a look, ID her and bring her in. Don't you think the commotion might attract unwanted attention?"

This time, victory didn't come easily. "How well do you know her, ma'am?"

"I've seen her." Once, and that'd been four or so years ago, but she was sure she'd recognize the girl. There was no question CJ and Hogan were related and she doubted that resemblance had faded.

Sure enough, when they allowed her a peek after more whispered words into the hidden microphone and reluctant gestures, she recognized Hogan Cregg immediately. The young adult possessed the same lanky frame her aunt did, her hair a few shades closer to fire and unlike CJ's, naturally straight. The eyes, more than anything, were a dead give-away. Watery blue laced with cool intellect. Not that Hogan appeared very cool at the moment; she gestured wildly at the agents blocking her path, a note of hysteria in her voice as she demanded to see her aunt.

"That's her, let her through." But as she moved closer to the doors to open them, Mark stopped her.

Midway through her objection, she caught Janet nodding to her colleague and hold up one of those Secret gadgets, displaying a picture of Hogan. "It's her."

Mark stepped aside, leaving her torn between getting Hogan, or ripping into her agents. She was so tired of being ignored and caged. Despite the frustration roaring in her chest, she took the high ground and opened the doors. "Hogan?"

The girl's eyes shot instantly in her direction. "Mrs. First Lady, ma'am!"

Smiling, she reached out to grab the distraught teenager by her arm and pulled her into the relative privacy of the emptied wing. "Where are your parents?"

Hogan's pretty face clouded over. With heels, she could just look her in the eye. "Dad's been on the phone with grandpa. Where's my aunt?"

"Let's sit down first," she suggested when they entered the waiting room.

The girl clearly recognized Josh, but didn't greet him and only spared Zoey a cursory glance. "Where's CJ?"

As she sat, so did Hogan, though her shoulders stayed squared and defensive. Her instinct was to reach out and provide physical comfort, but she recognized the body language and kept her distance. "They're still operating on her."

"She'll be okay?"

The hope in those blue and grey eyes constricted her throat. "I…" God, how she hated that question. As a Doctor, sugarcoated honesty was the only accepted option – even if everyone deviated from that once in a while. As a mother and friend, she had another option – to offer hope, but lies in situations like this never sat well with her and she still hadn't been able to shake her own fears. "I don't know."

"Oh."

Josh and Zoey talked in hushed tones, breaking the stretch of silence that followed her answer. Abbey used it to study the new girl. This girl was younger than her daughters, not even eighteen yet, while Zoey'd turned twenty-two just a few weeks ago. She always forgot CJ was so much younger than herself, her sixtieth birthday quickly approaching, ugh.

"He didn't even tell me."

It didn't sound like Hogan meant the comment for anyone other than herself, but she couldn't just let it slide. "What?"

"Dad didn't even tell me she was in the hospital, I saw it on the news." The bitterness in her young voice came out with such force, Josh briefly glanced in their direction.

CJ only ever spoke freely about her niece, only rarely mentioned her brothers, parents or step-mother and while she rarely had time for decent dinners, dates or anything resembling free time, she frequently went shopping with her niece. They were obviously close, which caused Abbey to put more question marks behind her brother's behavior; where was he? "Why?"

"He never liked me hanging out with aunt CJ. Did you see her, before?"

She'd expected the question and already decided not to answer, but Hogan sounded so fragile and finally dared to raise her eyes from the floor to meet Abbey's. She couldn't lie. "Yeah."

"How bad was it?"

Under the scrutiny of a set of eyes oddly familiar, the First Lady sighed, feeling less like Doctor Bartlet than she would've liked. "It was pretty bad, but your aunt's a fighter, she'll be okay." Whether the young girl didn't respond because she recognized false optimism when she heard it, or simply because the situation didn't allow for much trivial talk, she wasn't sure, but the brooding quietness unsettled her. "How did you get here?"

"I took the car."

It took a lot of restraint not to launch into a lecture about the risks of driving while upset, but she managed to tone it down to a brisk, "why didn't your parents come with you?"

"Mom's still at work and dad's been talking to grandpa, he was very upset."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon." She expected him hours ago really, Josh called him in the middle of the night and Hogan's family didn't live that far away.

Hogan shrugged, "he doesn't like aunt CJ much."

She wanted to ask why that was, no yet having met anyone who didn't like CJ. Except for the vice-President, but that appeared to be mutual. No, CJ typically got along with everyone – as useful trait for a press secretary. Why would she be at odds with her own brother? Curiosity didn't overrule common sense however; it wouldn't help Hogan to dwell on strained family relations.

"When can I see her?" Her voice broke.

"Oh honey," she wrapped her arm around Hogan's shoulders and pulled her close, "I wish I knew."