Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Candidate's Daughter

Chapter 29

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed's staff pulled him out of the spin room before he answered the flurry of questions about Liz's pregnancy; Abbey had doubts about Jed running for re-election under the circumstances; Jed was ready to throw in the towel until a talk with Elizabeth convinced him not to; when Doug called during Ellie's birthday party, Abbey hung up on him (Chapter 25)

Summary: Jed continues his campaign; Doug returns to convince Liz he wasn't the one who sold her out to the press; Jed is furious when he hears that Liz is out with Doug and later, Liz and Doug's reconciliation leads to more problems between Liz and her family


Politics had played a prominent role in the Bartlet family for nearly four years. It all began when Jed was asked to run for the U.S. House of Representatives during a visit to D.C. to honor the Nobel Laureates in 1982. As a part-time legislator in the New Hampshire State House who never had his sights set on the Beltway, Jed struggled with the decision to run. It was in his genes, Abbey had told him. She could see the spark in his eyes, the light that shined at the thought of becoming a national voice for the people of his state. She made the pledge to support him on the endeavor, and so they spent many nights hammering out the logistics before and after his crowning moment.

It was difficult at first, the long distance phone calls, the nights spent alone in bed, the weekend visits that always ended too early. Then came the miscarriage and things just got harder. But eventually, the whole family adjusted and the idea of re-election wasn't as inconceivable as it once had been. It was a given that Jed would run again, and until this summer, Abbey looked forward to watching him win his second term.

It was the death threat that gave her doubts. She understood that politicians were often targeted by bullies who wanted to control them. She understood it came with the territory of public office. Other politicians had lived through it, Jed had told her. But the problem for her was that other politicians weren't her husband. They weren't the father of her children. Still, she never asked Jed to end his campaign. She couldn't do that to him, knowing how much he enjoyed his job. She buried her feelings and moved forward, determined to help him carve out a landslide victory.

It took one night, one incident, for things to change.

Still feeling the scorch of the burn from the spin-room press, Abbey expressed her concerns to Jed when he came home after the debate. And when they'd fallen asleep, she assumed the decision had been made - he wouldn't run for fear of shining a spotlight on their daughter at a time when all she wanted was her privacy.

The last thing Abbey expected to hear when she woke up the next morning was Jed's new strategy for the election. He spoke with an enthusiasm she hadn't heard in weeks, explaining that his twilight conversation with Liz had changed everything. Abbey was stunned to learn that he'd chosen to stick with the campaign, with Liz's blessing, and she listened as he planned out the next few days while they moved around the house gathering their belongings for work.

When they reached the kitchen, Jed headed directly for the phone and dialed Mrs. Wilburforce while Abbey grabbed a glass from the cupboard and waited for him to end the call.

"Okay, we'll see you then. Thanks again." Jed hung up the phone and turned to her, smiling. "Mrs. Wilburforce will be here in a few minutes to get the girls off to school."

"I'm sure she enjoyed being woken up at 5 a.m."

"I told you, I have to get to work early, and I don't want Liz out and about today in case that sleazy Channel 7 reporter is on the prowl."

Abbey shook the carton of orange juice she'd gotten out of the fridge. "It's going to be a long three weeks if your plan is to keep Liz prisoner in the house."

"It's for her own good. I don't want her confronted before I've had a chance to talk to my staff and figure out my next step."

"YOUR next step?"

"What? You think Liz should be part of that discussion?"

"I'm sure you'll tell her about it after the fact, like you always do with me."

"Where did that come from?" She raised her brow as she turned from him and returned the juice to the fridge. "Are you upset about this?"

"About what? I wake up to hear you're running again. No conversation, no nothing. Just 'guess what, I'm not dropping out of the race' and on with the morning as if nothing happened."

"Here we go." He hated passive aggressiveness this early in the morning. "Look Abbey..."

"You made the decision to run. I understood you the first time." She grabbed a grapefruit and a knife. "Just because you and I decided something completely different last night..."

"We didn't decide anything last night. We talked."

"More accurately, I talked...and you agreed. I said that Liz is too fragile right now, that she can't take this. You agreed with me."

"I agreed before I spoke to her," Jed replied. "She's not as fragile as you think. I know she's been depressed lately, but you should have seen her this morning. She was on fire! Toward the end there, I swear I saw shades of the old Lizzie!"

"That's great," Abbey said, unconvinced. "Meanwhile, she broke down at her doctor's appointment yesterday."

"She did?"

"Yeah, she did."

"You told me the baby's okay."

"The baby IS okay. That isn't why she fell apart. She started sobbing, saying she couldn't give her up. She wants to keep her."

Though he assumed Liz would eventually reach that decision, Jed was relieved. "You and I talked about it. We want her to keep it. You told her that, right?"

"Of course, but it still took me 10 minutes to calm her down."

"Hormones," he shrugged. "Don't make it more than it is."

"Me? You're the one overestimating one conversation."

"No, I'm not. I know our daughter."

"When she told us she was pregnant, you said she'd changed so much, you didn't even recognize her. Now you know her so well, you know she's not lying?" Abbey began to slice her grapefruit.

"Why would she lie about this?"

"Liz has always wanted to please you, Jed. She wants you to be proud of her. Two weeks ago, she broke your heart. She'd say and do anything right now to make you happy."

"That's not what's going on here."

Jed and Abbey turned to see Liz standing at the kitchen entryway.

"How long have you been there?" Jed asked.

"Long enough to hear you guys arguing about what I want." Liz addressed her mother. "I'm not just trying to please Dad. The ship's already sailed on that endeavor, don't you think?"

"We were having a private conversation," Abbey replied. She hated when the kids eavesdropped on her and Jed.

"A private conversation about me. Why can't I have a say?"

"Fine, have your say."

"I don't want Dad to drop out. It would be like admitting that what I did was so bad, that it was so wrong that he can't possibly be a leader in the community when he has a loser daughter like me."

"No one thinks you're a loser."

"That's the message he'll send," Liz insisted with more passion in her than she'd had in a long time. "I'm not proud of being unmarried and pregnant at my age, but I'm sick of everyone acting like I killed someone! People who barely know me judge me, like those witches at Wellesley. I'm just so sick of it!"

"Whoa, what are you talking about? Wellesley?" Jed hadn't heard the Wellesley story yet.

"The day I went back to school to pick up my financial aid papers, the girls in the dorm were there. They were gossiping about me...and all I did was walk away. I didn't confront them, I didn't tell them to get lost, I let them laugh at me because I was so ashamed. I'm sick of being ashamed."

"Sweetheart, that's the point," Abbey said sympathetically. "That's why this isn't a good idea. I don't want you to have to deal with another second of any of this."

"But I DO have to deal with it, don't you see? Dad dropping out just validates their opinion."

Jed stood by his daughter. "She's right, Abbey. They'll criticize her anyway and my silence is no better than my agreement."

"They'll criticize us no matter what we do," Liz added. "You can't protect either one of us, Mom. They know about it now. They won't stop. They'll bash me just for existing."

Abbey focused her attention on Liz. "I don't think you understand how bad it might get. Your dad's opponent isn't above using you to hurt him."

"So let him! That'll just prove to everyone what a slimeball he is. And give the voters some credit. They don't want a guy like that in Washington on their behalf."

"Right again." He could have made these arguments himself, Jed thought.

Abbey shifted her stare from her daughter to her husband and back again. Jed and Liz frequently settled on the same side of an argument, but rarely did Abbey feel outnumbered by them like she did today. Her pager went off then and she reached down to stop it.

"It's the hospital. I have to go." She packed her grapefruit and grabbed her tote from a chair at the kitchen table.

Jed followed her out of the kitchen and toward the front door.

"Hey." He waited until she stopped to face him. "I'm sorry."

An apology wasn't necessary. "I'm not angry, Jed. I'm concerned."

"I know. But you're the one always telling me not to run from a fight."

"Some fights are worse than others. Are you prepared for this one?"

"Yeah, as long as I have your support."

"You always have my support. Don't you know that by now?"

"It doesn't hurt to be reminded."

"Consider this your reminder." She approached and gave him a quick kiss to the lips.

The Bartlet marriage was a partnership. From the beginning, they each helped the other achieve their dreams. Politics was never supposed to be Jed's dream, but it was the life he'd found and for the time being, he felt his place was in Washington. Abbey had to accept that. Despite her worries about Liz, the campaign, and about Jed's safety on the campaign trail and in office, she didn't have the heart to stand his way.

"I have to go. We'll talk later."

And with that, she turned and walked out of the house.


Jed parked his car outside of campaign headquarters a short time later. He stalled, trying to get his thoughts together before facing the conversation that was sure to make his toes curl. He could no longer ignore Liz's pregnancy with those outside the family. He had to talk about it, he had to share private details of their lives with people who had no right to the information, and he resented that.
But instead of wallowing in that resentment, he was motivated by the task at hand - establishing boundaries with the press.

His campaign was different now. Liz had become a talking point and Jed was left to reflect on when and how that happened. He and Abbey had tried to keep the girls out of the limelight, but it was during his first campaign that his communications director persuaded him to let 16-year-old Liz lead a Get Out The Vote rally at the University of New Hampshire. She enjoyed it so much that Jed allowed her the chance to do it again during this year's campaign. But this time, she was 18, and Jed couldn't help but regret not taking her age into consideration. As an adult campaigning for him, he feared he'd unintentionally sent reporters a message by sending her out there, a message that she was fair game. That message was one he was desperate to reclaim.

He opened the car door and stepped out, determination in every breath. Things were going to change starting today. No matter what it took, he'd win this battle and never again would he allow one of his daughters to become a headline.


Back at the farm, Elizabeth blow-dried her hair and changed into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt after her shower. She could hear Mrs. Wilburforce rushing Zoey and Ellie out the door to school and watched from her bedroom window as they drove off. On her way downstairs, she heard the car again, followed by a knock at the front door. Ellie always forgot her key, she thought. She swung open the door, but instead of Ellie, she was shocked to see Doug standing there.

"WAIT!" he shouted, wedging his arm between the door and the frame as Liz tried to slam it in his face.

"GET OUT!" she screamed at him, putting all her weight on the door.

"Liz, please! It's not what you think!"

"I don't want to hear it! Just get out and leave me the hell alone!"

"Not until you listen!" He gave a harder shove, but Liz didn't back down. "I didn't tell the press!"

"Yeah, sure you didn't!"

"I DIDN'T!" Doug insisted forcefully, giving one final shove that overpowered Liz and caused her to stumble backwards. He walked in freely and ran toward her. "I'm sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Don't touch me!" She wasn't physically hurt, but she didn't want to see him.

"I didn't mean to push so hard. I just had to get you to listen."

"Listen to what, more lies?"

"I'm not lying to you. I swear on my life. It was Chad who told, not me."

He took a second to catch his breath as Liz digested the news. Chad, Doug's roommate. She hadn't even considered him. He was the intern at Channel 7, the one who told Doug about Jed's death threat before Jed revealed it to the public. He was a jerk, Liz had thought from the start. She had warned Doug in the past that Chad was one of those men who would run over his own family if it meant he'd clench his 15 minutes of fame. It all made sense that he'd be behind the leak.

But was he in on it alone, Liz had to wonder. That question only lingered for a second as she stared at her former lover. There was something about Doug. His eyes, his voice, his demeanor. He was trying with everything he had to get her to believe him. He seemed so sincere and there was a measure of comfort in the thought that she might have been wrong about his betrayal.

With the front door still open, it gave them both a view of Doug's car, parked parallel to the porch. He gestured to it and went on, "Everything I own is in my car. I moved out, but not before I gave him a black eye and a fat lip for blabbing about the pregnancy."

He showed off his knuckles to prove to her that he'd been in a fight.

"You shouldn't have told him in the first place."

"You didn't tell anyone besides your parents?"

She had, she had to admit. But the only person she'd trusted was Cassie. "I didn't tell someone with the loyalty of a rattle snake!"

"I didn't think it through. He was my friend, my roommate. I thought that meant something."

"You thought he gave a damn about you? The only thing Chad cares about is his own ambition. I told you that before, but you thought I was being hard on him."

"You were right, okay? I'm sorry, I really didn't think he'd tell." Doug closed the door. "Can we talk?"

"I wanted to talk weeks ago. You didn't want to have anything to do with me."

"You're the one who kicked me out. You're the one who broke up with me."

"I didn't want to break up with you! I just needed some space. I needed to figure out what to do about the baby without being pressured."

"I told you I'd stand by you if you wanted to have the baby. I told you that and your response was to ask me to leave, remember?"

"I felt like you only said that because you were afraid I'd make the decision without you."

"I wanted us to decide together, I won't lie about that. But more than anything, I wanted to be there with you. FOR you. I loved you, Liz. I still love you."

Liz let down her guard and instead of the steely eyes that had stared at Doug moments earlier, there was a touch of affection in them now. Affection, hurt, and vulnerability. "Why didn't you return my calls?"

"I did."

"When?"

"I called you over a week ago. Your mom hung up on me."

"She wouldn't do that."

"She did."

"You're wrong."

"Liz, I swear, that's what happened. I called, I asked for you, and she hung up on me."

"Maybe it was a bad connection. She probably didn't hear you."

"She heard me. It was a Saturday night. She picked up the phone and as soon as she heard my voice, she slammed the receiver down. When I heard it crash like that, I assumed you didn't want to talk to me."

"I DID want to talk to you. I just never knew you called." Liz felt a flash of anger at Abbey for her interference.

"Do you still want to talk to me?"

"Do you want to talk to me?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Relief was a feeling Liz wasn't used to these days, but she felt it at that moment. Her shoulders went lax as tension seeped out of every limb. There was no doubt in her mind now that Doug hadn't leaked the pregnancy. He hadn't forgotten about her either. He was there, wanting to work things out. How could she possibly refuse him when that was all she wanted too?


"Besides Doug and her college roommate, who else did she tell before she told you?"

Behind the drawn blinds of a darkened office at Bartlet for Congress headquarters, Jed and Mark sat one-on-one, discussing the details of the drama in the Bartlet house. 'Discussion' was the wrong word, Jed felt. It was more like an interview. An interrogation, he'd call it, if it was anyone other than Mark doing the questioning. But Mark had a talent for asking for answers without demanding them. It was a talent Jed appreciated in a situation that could have easily made him feel like he was back at his father's dinner table. It helped him open up, to share the truth about a private matter that still made him uncomfortable.

"I found out today that some of the girls in her dorm guessed what was going on."

"Do you think they called the press?"

"I doubt it. It was just teenage gossip. Liz never talked to them about it. She kept it pretty low-key. The only people who knew for sure were her and Doug...and Jack. Of course, Jack found out by accident."

"Your brother Jack?"

"Yeah."

"How long did he know?"

"He found out after the primary."

"And he never said a word?" Mark stood up and paced the floor, his voice rising for the first time. "He let you go out there and defend your vote on sex education in high schools? He let Abbey attend that breakfast with the Coalition of Women Voters, where she got slammed for her sex ed class, and he never said anything?"

"Elizabeth asked him not to."

"I don't give a damn! Look, I don't want to get into a family matter here, but he owed it to you and to the campaign to tell us what was happening!"

"He was protecting his niece, who happens to be my daughter!" Jed stood to meet his gaze, his tone now on the defensive.

Mark took a deep breath, then asked a question he dreaded asking.

"Are you sure he's not the one who leaked it to the press?"

Impossible, Jed thought. "Jack's been as committed to getting me elected as you have. I don't want to hear anyone doubting his loyalty."

Ground rules. Jed had a lot of them. He arrived that morning and made it clear that while he wouldn't lie about Liz's pregnancy, he wouldn't indulge the gossip-mongers either. His daughter's love life was no one's business, least of all a pack of hungry journalists eager to capitalize on the situation by printing salacious headlines sure to draw the public's attention to a race that, up until now, had been fairly predictable.

Mark supported his boss on that declaration. He was relieved that Jed had come around, that he had realized that screaming 'no comment' at the press and hiding from controversy was only going to make matters worse. Still, he was prepared for Jed's defensiveness when it came to Elizabeth. What he wasn't prepared for was the vehement defensiveness when it came to Jack.

He took his seat, picked up his pen, and jotted some notes down on the legal pad in his padfolio, all while avoiding eye contact with Jed.

"So Jack knew."

"Yes, okay?" Jed sat down across from him. "Why the hell are we going over this?"

"Because I need to find out who told the press."

"We know who told the press - my daughter's good-for-nothing ex-boyfriend. I guarantee you, he's the one who did this."

Mark dismissed Jed's suspicions as the words of an angry father and moved on. "The Washington office is fielding calls. When do you want to tell them what's on the record?"


It was another hazy day at Rock Rimmon Park, where Doug took Liz that afternoon. It was where they'd gone on their first date and more recently, it was where she had told him that she was pregnant. That's when it all went wrong, Doug remembered. The park was where he first brought up the possibility of abortion, the subject that eventually tore them apart. He would take it all back if he could, he now realized. He'd hold her in his arms, wipe her tears, calm her trembling shoulders, and promise her that he'd never leave her side, no matter what she chose to do. He wouldn't walk away, even when she asked him to. He'd be there for her and he'd reassure her again and again how much he loved her. But it was too late to do all that. His reaction at the time had been impulsive, born out of fear. His only option now was to hope that Liz would understand that.

She sat on the cliff as a gust of wind swept her long, dark hair off her face. An autumn chill made her zip her hoodie and pull her sleeves down to cover her hands until Doug removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She gave him a look of gratitude, the shadow of a smile he hadn't seen since their last visit to the park.

"I have something to show you," she said.

"What is it?"

Liz hesitated at first, knowing that his reaction to what she was about to give him would define their relationship forever. Slowly, she pulled it out of her purse and handed it over. "It's a sonogram."

He stared down at it, his eyes open wide.

"This is our baby," he said with conviction.

"Yeah, it is. You can't see much except for a blob, but we'll get a better one in a few weeks."

"Most women don't get their first one until the second trimester."

"How'd you know that?"

"I read it," he answered. "Why'd you get one early? Is something wrong?"

"No," she said.

"Then why?"

"I saw what my mom went through with her miscarriage. I just wanted to be sure that everything's happening the way it's supposed to."

"Is it?"

Liz smiled and touched her belly. "Yeah."

Doug continued to look down at the sonogram. "I got another job last week."

"You quit the bakery?"

"No, in addition to the bakery."

"Why?"

"Because of this." He held up the photo of their baby. "The bakery wasn't going to pay the bills, not with a kid on the way."

"What about school?"

"I'm still going. I had to drop a class this semester so I could find the time for work, but I met with my advisor the other day. I'm still on track to graduate in May, even with the reduced load."

"Wow."

"What?"

"It's just that I haven't planned anything out yet. I mean, I literally hadn't decided whether or not I was going to keep the baby until yesterday."

"Yes, you had. You may not have been ready to admit it, but you decided the moment you knew you were pregnant, Liz. I could see it in you. You want to be a mom, don't you?"

"It's weird. I never thought I did. I mean, I guess in some ways, I grew up wanting kids. What little girl doesn't? But when I hit my teens and started thinking about college and all, I figured that my career would be my first priority and there just wouldn't be time for children."

"Maybe this was God's way of showing you there is."

Liz saw a new side of Doug that day. She'd known him as a guy just barely out of his teens, but he sounded more mature suddenly. More reasonable. More responsible. Doug caught her looking at him and, for a minute, he wondered if it was a skeptical look, as if she thought he was manipulating her to get her back into bed. He looked back at those sparkling eyes he'd missed so much and he saw a wealth of sincerity looking back. They were so expressive, so bare. It made him feel warm inside.

"What?"

"You're full of surprises."

He shrugged. "I had to change some things."

"What else did you change?"

"My major. That's what I called to tell you that night."

"From Dairy Management?"

"Yeah."

"I bet your dad was thrilled about that."

"He doesn't know yet. He doesn't know about any of this."

"When do you plan to tell him?"

"When I work up the nerve." Doug and his father had a rocky relationship. "The school thing...it's not a radical change. My new major is Business. I can still manage my folks' dairy farm if I want, but a degree in Business will open more doors. Besides, Dairy Management isn't a major that travels well. My dad can't argue with me there."

Talk of travel alarmed Liz. "Are you going some place?"

"No, no, I'm not planning on it. I was just thinking that having a baby is a lifelong commitment. I want to be a part of this kid's life and if someday you move...I'll move with you."

"You do? Want to be a part of her life, I mean?"

"It's a girl?"

"We don't know for sure, but I think it is."

"You think it is or you want it to be?" he teased her.

"Answer my question. Do you want to be a part of her life?"

"Yeah, I really do...if you'll let me."

"Of course I'll let you. You're her father."

"I'm not asking for a commitment from you. We don't have to be a couple to raise a child, right?" He could see that upset her. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No." She gave a weak smile as she stared straight ahead. "You said everything right."

He knew her too well to believe her. "Don't get me wrong, Liz. I WANT to be with you..."

"Then why didn't you say that?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

"Because I didn't want to pressure you or make you feel uncomfortable. I don't know how you feel about me right now."

"I'm here with you, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that you still love me."

"I still love you, Doug. I never stopped."

"I never stopped loving you either." He leaned in to kiss her, but it was a short kiss and as she pulled away, he said, "I was a jerk about the pregnancy."

"We both were."

"I acted the way I did because I didn't want kids at this age. The thought of it scared me to death. I don't know how to be a father. My own father didn't set the world's best example. I just thought we were too young, too stupid to raise a child."

"We'll figure it out together. My parents said they'll help."

If there was one thing Doug knew about Jed and Abbey, it was that they were good parents. The thought of them helping out put a lot of his fears to rest. "I'm glad you didn't have that abortion."

Liz lowered her head as if to escape the memory of how close she came to terminating her pregnancy. "I couldn't do it."

"I know. I'm proud of you for not letting me talk you into it. I think we both would have regretted it."

"Doug?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to ask, what brought on this change of heart?"

"I can't pinpoint one exact reason. I started thinking about it all. When we broke up, I spent days trying to figure out what to do. Do I walk away...from you, from the baby? Do I leave town and run away, pretend I'm not a father? Do I stay here and face my responsibility, send you child support payments every month for 18 years? At first, I thought that was the way to go."

"I'd just get a check from you in the mail? That's what you wanted?"

"It sounded easy. Try to understand, when you told me you were pregnant, something inside me changed. I went into fight-or-flight mode. I can't explain it. I just know this terror came over me and it was like I wasn't in control of my life anymore. And when you decided not to have the abortion, I felt that loss of control even stronger. I freaked out. But then, you talked about taking a break from each other and I knew that's not what I wanted."

"Are you willing to raise this baby now just because you want to be with me?"

"No," he insisted. "That's why I initially warmed up to the idea, sure, but then I started doing some research about pregnancy and babies. I went to the library and I read so many articles on parenting...what kids want, what they need. It made me excited to raise one, like maybe I could do it right."

"These articles calmed your fears?"

"They helped. What really calmed me was knowing that I'd be doing it with you. I kept thinking about how scared you must be and how courageous you are for wanting to go through with this. Your strength inspired me, Liz."

She laughed. "That's the cheesiest thing you've ever said to me."

He laughed too. "Cheesy or not, it's true. You were terrified of telling your parents. But you did it. You always face your fears, you don't run away from them. How could I call myself a man if I didn't do the same?"

Liz thought she was dreaming. She took a minute to thank God for letting Doug find his way. "I knew you'd come around."

"No, you didn't!" he accused.

"Okay, maybe I just hoped...and prayed, really, really hard," she confessed. "My prayers came true."

"So did mine. The second we broke up, all I prayed for was that we'd get back together."

"I regretted breaking up with you as soon as I did it. My uncle drove me back to school and the first thing I did was reach for the phone to call you."

"I waited too long to call you back. I needed time to think."

"And when you did call back, I wasn't even told. I'm sorry. My mom had no right to hang up on you."

"It shouldn't have surprised me. It's no secret your parents hate me, probably a lot more now."

"They shouldn't. The pregnancy is just as much my responsibility. I made all my own choices when it came to sleeping with you, to quitting school, to..."

"You quit Wellesley?" Doug panicked at the thought of that.

"Yeah."

"Why would you do that?"

"I couldn't keep going, Doug. Not like this."

"Why not? You don't have to quit school just because you're pregnant."

"I felt like I did."

"Liz..."

"You don't understand. It was too hard to keep my mind on my studies, I couldn't stay organized, I couldn't focus. You have no idea how miserable I was."

"All right fine, you were miserable, but college is all you used to talk about. You had so many dreams."

"Dreams change," she said sadly. "Please don't lecture me. I get enough of that from my parents."

"I won't lecture you," he promised as he wrapped his arm around her and let her rest her head on his chest. "Are you going to go back after the baby's born?"

"We'll see."

"Whatever you decide, I'll support you. But I don't want to be responsible for you not doing what you always wanted to do."

"You're not. Like everything else, this is my choice. Right now, I just want to have this baby. I'll decide the future later."

Doug paused for a beat, then said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"That we weren't more careful."

Liz looked up at him, not a shred of blame in her heart.

"It's gonna be okay," she assured him.

She took the sonogram then and placed her hand over his. Their fingers overlapped, they traced the image of the child they'd created.

They were back together again and as a team, Liz knew they'd navigate the bumpy road ahead.


Nights like tonight, it was difficult for Abbey not to question her decision to become a surgeon. She loved her career, but surgery wasn't meant to be a nine-to-five job. It was eleven o'clock when she pulled into the gravel drive that night, too late to have dinner with the girls, too late to help them with their homework, or tuck them in. It had been report card day in the school district and she'd been in the operating room for nine hours straight without so much as a break to check in with Ellie and Zoey about their grades.

As she drove up to the house, she was surprised to see headlights behind her. She glanced up at her rearview mirror to see Jed on her tail. He swerved to her side when they reached the garage and parked beside her.

"Are you just getting home?" Abbey asked him the second her door flung open and she stepped out.

"Yeah, didn't you get my message?"

"I got a message that you called, but nothing more specific."

"I forgot I had a fundraiser tonight. Mrs. Wilburforce agreed to stay until one of us got home."

"That woman's an angel. I don't know how we ever got by without her."

Jed leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek as they neared the stairs. "How was your day?"

"Two lung cancers, an emphysema patient, hiatal hernia, and a CABG."

"All successes, I'm sure," he said, opening the front door.

"What did you do besides your fundraiser?"

"I told the rest of the staff about Liz, then spent most of the day in meetings."

"How did they take it?" She read his expression on that question. It didn't go well. "Have you talked to Jack yet?"

"I haven't had a chance."

"The sooner you clear the air with him..."

"I know, I know."

Abbey followed him into the kitchen, where Mrs. Wilburforce was putting away the leftover brownies she'd made for dessert. "Hi, Mrs. Wilburforce."

"Well hello."

"Thanks for staying so late."

"I'm glad I could help." She saw Abbey searching the counter for something and it occurred to her what it was. "They're over there."

Abbey reached for the two report cards on the table, handing one to Jed and keeping one for herself.

"Moment of truth." Jed feigned anxiety. He knew what he was going to see when he opened the card. This one was Ellie's, the star student in the family. "Terrific, as always!"

Abbey wasn't as happy. She shook her head at their youngest daughter's marks. "You need to lay down the law with Zoey."

"She in trouble?"

"For talking in class...again."

"We've talked to her about that several times."

"Well, it didn't sink in. Satisfactory in everything except behavior, thanks to her constant jabbering."

"Satisfactory?" Jed furrowed his brows. "What happened to excellent? Do they not still give those away?"

"See for yourself."

Husband and wife exchanged cards.

"You'll be pleased with Ellie's," he said as he scanned Zoey's marks.

And he was right. Abbey smiled proudly. "Straight A's."

"Look at the attendance record. Other than that day she skipped, perfect attendance."

"I see that."

"She was honest with us, Abbey. It was a one-time thing, just like she said." Jed had been lobbying for Abbey to ease up on Ellie ever since the day she'd grounded her for succumbing to peer pressure and cutting class to hang out with her friends. "Zoey, on the other hand..."

"We'll talk to them both tomorrow," Abbey vowed before addressing Mrs. Wilburforce. "Did they give you any trouble tonight?"

"Not at all. Perfect angels."

Jed nudged his wife. "Why are they never like that when we're around?"

"Is Liz upstairs?"

"She's out," Mrs. Wilburforce told her.

"Her car's in the drive."

"Doug picked her up."

"DOUG?" Jed felt his blood pressure rise by the mere mention of his name.

"How long have they been gone?" Abbey asked, concerned.

"All day."

"Did she say when she'd be home?"

"She said not to wait up."

Jed and Abbey stared at each other, her expression fraught with disappointment. His, anger. Jed's eyes betrayed his thoughts and Abbey knew the question weighing so boldly on his mind was why. Why would Elizabeth give Doug the time of day? Why would she leave home with him? Why would she take him back when less than 24 hours earlier, she was convinced he leaked her pregnancy to the world?

Only Liz could answer those questions, and Jed and Abbey couldn't get a wink of sleep until she did.


"It's two o'clock in the morning!" Jed fumed as he and Abbey waited in their bedroom for Liz to come home.

"I know."

"I don't care how old she is. To be out so late, without so much as a phone call, that's irresponsible. It's inconsiderate, it's rude...I won't tolerate it!"

"Calm down, Jed. The worst thing you can do is fight with her tonight when you're so upset about Doug."

"Damn right I'm upset about Doug! How could she be so stupid? How could we have raised a daughter who doesn't have a shred of self-respect?"

"She does have self-respect. She thinks she's in love and love makes people do strange things."

"We never did."

They heard a car pull up then. With Abbey on his heels, Jed dashed out of the room and down the stairs, tearing the door open as Liz made her way up the porch steps. She turned to wave to Doug, his cue to leave.

"Where have you been?" Abbey started.

"I don't care where she's been," Jed barked. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"We had a lot to talk about," Liz said, leading the way into the house.

"Oh really? Like what?"

"Mom should know."

"What does that mean?" Abbey wasn't expecting this tonight.

"Why didn't you tell me he called? You hung up on him and you never even told me."

"I asked her not to." Jed was quick to intervene, but Abbey put her hand on his shoulder before he went further.

"Jed, don't. It'll just make things worse."

"It's the truth. You wanted to tell her days ago. I said to forget about it."

"Why?" Liz demanded.

"Because we're your parents and it's our job to look out for you."

"What you're doing isn't looking out for me. You're interfering and you have no right..."

"Don't talk to me about rights! We have every right. You're 18 years old, you're not in school, you're not working, you're living here rent-free, and you're pregnant!"

"Thanks for the recap, Dad," Liz shot back, angrily. "Don't you think I know the mess I've made of things?"

Jed hadn't meant to be cruel, but to Liz, it didn't matter.

Abbey stepped in between them before things escalated even more. "Your father didn't mean to throw that in your face."

"Yes, he did."

"No, I didn't," Jed said in his own defense. "I'm sorry. I just love you so much and I don't want to see you hurt any more than you already have been."

"All we want is to help you," Abbey offered.

"Interfering in my relationship with Doug isn't helping."

"What relationship? He walked out on you." It pained Abbey to remind her of that.

"He DIDN'T walk out on me! I broke up with him!"

Jed took over then. "A man who loved you wouldn't have left. He wouldn't have left you or your baby. A real man would have stayed and fought to be with you both."

"He did fight! I threw him out! I wanted him gone!"

"Yeah, and what did he do? He rushed to the press! He betrayed you! He betrayed all of us!"

"No, he didn't! That wasn't Doug. It was his roommate who told the press. Doug moved out as soon as he found out about it."

"And you believe that?" Jed scoffed at the explanation. "Elizabeth, you're not this gullible. Don't let him fool you like this."

"He's not fooling me! Would you give me a little credit here? I wouldn't have taken him back if..."

"You took him back?" Abbey asked. "You're back together again?"

Liz answered unapologetically, "Yes."

Jed shook his head. "Unbelievable."

"It's my life, my choice."

"Code for 'go to hell, Mom and Dad.' "

"I never said that!"

"You might as well have."

Jed didn't want to be so angry. He didn't want to yell at her or push her away. But it was so hard to keep his emotions under control when she was breaking his heart in two.

"Doug is the father of my child! He's always going to be a part of my life! If you can't handle that..."

"What?" Jed prodded her, scared to death of what he was about to hear, but unwilling to let it go. "If I can't handle it, what?"

"Forget it."

She veered around her parents on her way to the stairs, but Jed grabbed her arm before she went up.

"I want you home by eleven o'clock from now on."

"A curfew? Really?"

"That's right. There are four other people in this house who don't need to be woken up by car doors slamming and people coming in and out at all hours of the night. It's called courtesy."

It's called control, Liz said to herself. Her father was clearly furious and had she expressed what she was really thinking, it would have led to the worst fight they'd ever had. She jerked her arm out of his grip and ran upstairs before either of them said something they could never take back.

TBC