Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: Crossroads

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this story belong to NBC, WB, Aaron Sorkin, and John Wells. We're just borrowing them for some fun :)

Previously: Annie was born; Ellie and Zoey were told about the accident; Liz woke up and visited Abbey in the ICU; Jed remained at Abbey's side and prayed for her to open her eyes

Summary: Jed and the family continue to deal with the aftermath of the accident

AN: If any of you are members of the Yahoo Groups, they no longer exist. Anyone know where TWW fandom has gone to? Let me know if there's a new platform. Otherwise, I'll continue uploading here.

"Who could do something like this? Just leave them there like that?" Millie had been shocked that the driver of the car that hit Abbey and Liz hadn't yet been found. She sipped on a cup of decaf coffee in the hospital cafeteria alongside the rest of the Bartlet clan. She'd been practicing in Boston for so long with a Dunkin' on every corner, she'd almost forgotten the taste of stale hospital coffee. Today, it seemed even worse than usual. She pushed it forward, toward the man sitting across from her.

Jed had never looked so defeated. His shoulders slumped, his face emotionless with every line and wrinkle so prominent. It was as if he'd aged 15 years overnight. On the other side of Jed was his brother Jack. He and Millie exchanged a glance.

"They'll find him," Jack said. "And when they do, they're going to throw the book at him. He's not going to get away with this."

Jed sat still, his eyes glazed, and staring out into space.

"Jed?" Abbey's sister, Kate, placed her hand on his arm. "Jed, what are you thinking?"

He shook his head. "Nothing...nothing matters. I don't care who did it anymore. I want them to find him so I know my family is safe, but I don't care about revenge. He could get away with it, go on to live a long and happy life. I don't care. I just want my wife back."

It had been three days in the ICU, three days of sitting by her side, three days of holding her hand and talking to her. Abbey had been extubated, but she still hadn't opened her eyes. An EEG showed brain activity, so they knew she wasn't brain dead, but why hadn't she woken up? She hadn't responded to her name or to touch, not even pain. Three days wasn't that long, compared to the average ICU stay, but it was a lifetime for Jed.

"She'll come out of this," Millie assured him.

"Yeah, and I don't believe that you don't care who did this. You want that bastard punished, just like the rest of us. And he will be, I'd stake my life on it." Jack promised with a clenched fist.

James noted the anger bubbling. Jack's temper wasn't exactly a secret. Jed was already emotional. The last thing he needed was someone to fan the flames.

The older man pushed his chair out from the table and stood. "I'm going for a walk. Jack, why don't you join me? Mary, do you need anything?"

"No thanks, I'm going to take this slice of cake up to Lizzie." Remembering that chocolate cake was her granddaughter's favorite, Mary took special care to insure the saran wrap was firmly sealed around the paper plate it came in.

"I'll come with you." Kate stood to join her mother.

Jed gave his mother-in-law a grateful smile. "Thank you. The doctor says she and Annie will be discharged tomorrow."

"That's fantastic!" Mary leaned over from behind him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she and Kate left the table and walked out of the cafeteria.

When she was sure everyone else was gone, Millie looked back at Jed. "Ok, I have to ask. Are we sure the driver wasn't that creep who attacked her?"

"Frank Crews? No, I checked. According to his parole office, he's in Ohio visiting his kid."

"I meant the creep she works with."

It dawned on Jed then. How did Millie know about Alex? "Alex?"

"Who else?"

"She told you about Alex?"

"She didn't have to. I saw it with my own eyes. After she ran out of there, she told me everything."

"Wait a minute, you saw it? You saw him grab her?"

"Yes, I walked in on them. Abbey said she told you."

"She told me what happened. She never said you saw it. You know she took a lot of flak for that from the hospital? Alex claimed they had an affair..."

"What? That's ridiculous. Abbey would never do that."

"I can't believe she didn't tell me you saw what he did."

Millie read the frustration in his face. She had to ask, "Would it have made a difference if she had?"

"Yes, of course. There's a witness, someone to corroborate her story with the hospital leadership."

"With you, Jed. Would it have made a difference with you?"

"What are you talking about? No," he said, too ashamed to admit he would have been reassured hearing that someone else witnessed what happened. But he didn't fool Millie.

"Jed, you know she didn't do anything with him, right?"

"Of course."

"It wasn't her fault."

"I know."

"Because if you think for one second..." she started. "He attacked her. What I saw was not a lover's spat. She reacted in disgust. She was never, ever romantically involved with that man. I promise you that."

"I really do know," he said. He hadn't even had a chance to think about this until now. From the moment he heard about the accident, his mind was on one thing and one thing only - getting Abbey back. Everything else was secondary. "I love her so much, Millie. What am I going to do?"

"You're going to pull yourself together and stay strong. You need to for Abbey and for the girls," she said without missing a beat. "How are the girls holding up anyway?"

"Not well," he told her. "Even before this, there were issues."

"What kinds of issues?"

"Zoey and Ellie are at each others throats."

Millie shrugged with a smile. "Sisters fight sometimes."

"Not like this, not my girls. Zoey shoved Ellie. Hard. And then she tried to apologize and Ellie kicked her out of her room so aggressively that Zoey fell down. They're not usually like that. They fight, but they never get physical, not with the intention of hurting each other."

"So what did you do?"

"The first night, we sent Zoey to her room and then the second night, it was Ellie. It was just a mess." He took a sip of his coffee. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure."

"I just wanted to get your insight, you know, as a pediatrician."

"Yeah?"

"Is it possible that a child who's bullied and beaten up...is it possible they could be traumatized by it and carry that with them, like even months later?"

"Yes." Again, Millie didn't miss a beat.

"Can it change them? Their personality? Make them more irritable or more withdrawn? I mean, I know it can, but is there actual scientific evidence backing that up?"

"Yes, there is. Jed, there are all kinds of consequences to bullying. Add in a physical assault and absolutely it changes a child's personality. They can become depressed, anxious, irritable, impulsive, defiant." She took a breath. "And on the other side of the coin, they can also become more concerned about pleasing others."

"What do you mean?"

"They want to be liked and loved because that's how they avoid getting hurt again. You know about fight-or-flight?"

"Yeah."

"Well, when it comes to childhood trauma, it's not just fight-or-flight. It's fight, flight, freeze, fawn or some combination of the four."

"Fawn?"

"It's a response, a coping mechanism. People who fall into this category have often been traumatized and learned that the only way to keep themselves safe is to give up their own needs and wants and boundaries to please others."

"Really?"

"Are we talking about Ellie here?"

Jed nodded. "She went through a lot at her old school and I just wonder. She's always been a people-pleaser, but recently, it's been overboard."

"How so?"

"It's a long story. Suffice it to say, her duty to please has gotten her into trouble recently. And then there's this other side of her like you said. Defiant. It's so out of character."

"I don't think I've ever seen Ellie defiant."

"Not usually, but recently..." he told her. Then, suddenly feeling the need to defend his daughter, he added, "I mean, she gets angry and she talks back sometimes, but what kid doesn't? She's a good kid."

"Of course she is. You don't have to convince me."

"She's been more moody lately and...sad."

"I hate to state the obvious, but she is 12 years old. There's hormonal changes..."

"No, this isn't that."

"How do you know?"

"A father knows. This isn't my Ellie. There's been a change since the incident at her old school."

"What does Abbey think?"

"I don't know. We didn't get a chance to talk about it and to tell you the truth, I didn't really put it all together until yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?"

"I saw her comforting Zoey and she was like the old Ellie again, compassionate, motherly. Then I started thinking about everything that's happened and, I don't know, something just hit me like a ton of bricks." He wasn't usually this forthcoming with others, but Millie was family. "That fight between them? It resulted directly from Ellie going to extremes to please her sister. Going way above and beyond and almost being scared of angering Zoey."

"Scared of Zoey?"

"Not in the literal sense. I think she was just scared of disappointing her. I don't know. There's just this...resentment there, toward Zoey. It's not like I can blame her for being angry. Zoey took advantage of her kindness."

"That sounds like the real problem."

"It is and believe me, I'm dealing with that. But as bothered as I am about Zoey's behavior, I'm more bothered by Ellie not standing up for herself."

"I hope you don't mind me saying so, but I don't believe Ellie's ever been good at standing up for herself."

"You're right. I should have taught her better."

"Let's not go down that road."

"What road?"

"Where you take on the responsibility for something you think you should have done better. That child couldn't have asked for better parents."

"No, I mean with the bullying. It happened and we pulled her out of school. We sent her to a different school..."

"Where she's thriving, right?"

"Yeah, but what did it teach her? She never really dealt with what happened. I'm no child psychologist, but I feel like that's a really important step in getting over it, getting her self-esteem back, and learning to like herself again. That's what hurts. I don't feel like she likes herself anymore and just the thought of that breaks my heart. She's so special."

"Yes, she is. She's an incredible kid, Jed. And yes, she's a people pleaser and yes, she may have trouble standing up for herself. It's just who she is. Doesn't mean that's a bad thing."

"Yes, it does. In this case, yes it does, because she sacrifices her own needs, what she knows is right to please other people. And there is something very wrong with that." To some degree, Jed was the same and that similarity wasn't lost on him. "What's going to happen when she grows up? When it isn't Zoey, someone who loves her and would go to the ends of the Earth for her? What happens when it's an abuser who couldn't care less about her, a boyfriend or...a husband who takes advantage of her?"

"Hang on. She's 12, Jed. Let's put this in context, ok?"

"I'm just saying..."

"Have you talked to her about this?"

"No. I'm afraid I'm just going to make her uncomfortable bringing it up. Abbey's the one who usually deals with these things."

"Why don't you let me talk to her?"

Jed had no intention of asking Millie to interfere, but when she offered, he realized it might be the best way to reach Ellie. Ellie adored Millie. "Would you?"

"Of course," she said. "I love that child and you and Abbey didn't make me godmother for nothing."

Jed nodded. "Thank you, Millie. That would really help a lot."

"Of course."

"Now if Abbey would just wake up..."

"She will."

"It's just us now, okay? You and me." He took a deep breath to steady himself. "Do you think she's going to make it?"

"Yes," Millie replied sincerely. "Abbey would never even allow for any other outcome. She'll come out of this just like she's come out of every other challenge in her life. Don't doubt her strength, Jed."

"I'm not," he said. "She's the strongest woman I've ever met."

"She knows the girls need her and now with a grandbaby? She'll fight like hell."

"I know she will. But you're a doctor, Millie. How many times have you seen the will to live be enough?"

"There is no reason to think it won't be enough for Abbey. Her labs and her vitals are good. She's off the vent."

"Why isn't she waking up then, I don't understand?"

"She will." Millie was so optimistic that it comforted Jed. "She'd never leave her girls and she'd never leave you either. You are her life, Jed."

Jed nodded as if in agreement, but it wasn't so easy to abandon his nagging doubts. He remembered his first term in congress. He'd gotten a death threat and Abbey was terrified. She'd told him that if anything ever happened to him, she'd go on for the girls, but that her life would essentially be over. She couldn't live without him. He now knew exactly how she felt.

"I'm sorry, sir, you're not on the visitor list," a nurse behind the ICU registration desk told the older man standing in front of her. He wore a three-piece suit, a pair of Italian leather shoes, and held a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"There's a visitor's list?"

"Yes, for security. Only family and a couple of close friends."

"I am a close friend."

The nurse looked at the list and shook her head. "You're not on the list. I can ask the Bartlet family..."

Jed overheard his family name as he made his way to the double doors into the ICU. He turned on his heels and headed back to the desk where he immediately recognized the back of the man's head.

"Leo?"

Leo turned toward his voice. "I just heard."

Without another word, the two men embraced. He may have already been surrounded by loved ones, but Leo's presence meant the world to Jed.

It was a much-needed visit with Leo. The two men sat at Abbey's bedside, initially somber. But as the night wore on, they began exchanging memories and before Jed knew it, he was laughing for the first time since the accident. The four of them - Jed and Abbey and Leo and Jenny - had had so many adventures together and Jed needed that lighthearted reminder of happier times.

He refused to let himself slip back into mourning mode after Leo left. He read to Abbey, spoke to her, prayed with her, and when there was nothing in response, he did it all over again. Cycle after cycle until the door to his wife's room opened and Jed turned to see Rob Nolan standing in the door frame.

"Have you been here this whole time?" Jed acknowledged the question, then went back to the book he was reading to Abbey. "Jed, you need to go home."

"I'm not leaving her."

"I'm here, okay? I have to be here. My shift ends at 8 am."

"They have the Chief of Surgery seeing patients, never mind on an overnight shift?"

"It's possible I volunteered for the shift." He paused as Jed looked at him. "She's my best surgeon, Jed. I wanted to make sure she's getting the care she gives her patients."

Jed's voice caught in his throat, but he mouthed two simple words. "Thank you."

"Go home. I'll check on her every half hour."

"Except when you're in surgery."

"I'm not operating tonight. I may have to do a few admits, but we've got several people here so I'm out of the OR."

"Who's the ICU attending tonight?" Jed asked.

"Dr. Ted Barkley."

"What's his background?"

Rob came prepared, predicting Jed would want the attending caring for his wife vetted to his standards. "Dartmouth undergrad, Yale Medical School, Columbia residency in internal medicine and fellowship in critical care also at Columbia. He's been faculty at both Harvard and Dartmouth. He's qualified."

"He knows she's a physician?"

"He knows her personally. And what's more, Abbey trusts his clinical judgment. She's consulted him on a number of her own patients in the past. Also, the ICU staff knows to page me along with Ted if anything happens. I promise, I will call you if there's any change."

"What if I go home and she crashes? What then?" Jed asked, his eyes now on Abbey and his back to Rob.

"I can't guarantee what will or won't happen. What I can do is tell you that it's very unlikely that Abbey's going to crash. Her vitals are good, she's off the vent, her labs are excellent, her brain imaging is reassuring. In fact, the second she wakes up, they'll be arranging for a discharge to the regular medical floor. She doesn't actually need intensive care and there is nothing to suggest she's going to deteriorate without warning." Rob walked around so he was facing Jed. "Hey. Barkley's been married for 30 years. Happily. He gets it. I do too."

"She's the most important thing in the world to me."

"I know. And what's more, she feels the same about you. She'd be so pissed that you're not taking care of yourself."

Jed had to admit he had a point. He could hear Abbey now, badgering him to go home. "Yeah."

"Go home, to your own bed, sleep a few hours, and come back."

"You'll call me?"

"I swear."

Jed leaned over Abbey, brushed his hand over her face, and bent down to press a kiss to her forehead. He whispered, "I'll be back really soon. I promise. I love you."

Rob watched quietly and exchanged one last glance with the younger man before Jed thanked him again and walked out of the room.

It was pitch black out, the middle of the night as Jed began another trip home without Abbey. Except for quick trips for a shower and change of clothes, he hadn't left her alone since she was admitted. He'd slept on that same ugly green recliner in her room, a hospital-issued throw blanket over him when he got cold. It was strange, he thought, returning home to sleep in their bed - alone. He dreaded it and part of him regretted giving in to Rob.

It was only a matter of time before she opened her eyes, Rob had told him. But it hadn't happened yet and no one could answer why. And so, he drove home, heartbroken.

His life wasn't supposed to be like this, he thought. He was supposed to be a priest. He'd made the decision long ago to dedicate his life to God and everything he did was in pursuit of that noble goal. And then he met Abbey. It scared him, his feelings for her, the feelings that she triggered, feelings he never knew existed. It wasn't just schoolboy lust; it was a deep connection he'd never had with anyone else and he found himself genuinely drawn to her; she provoked a curiosity that made him question his destiny.

He remembered their courtship like it was engraved in his mind. He cherished those sacred memories of falling in love with her and through a sequence of flashbacks, he remembered it all as he drove home from the hospital. He remembered their love story from its very beginning, that party when he'd first seen her, their wedding, the birth of each of their girls, Abbey cradling them in her arms, breastfeeding them when they were hungry, and rocking them to sleep at night.

He pulled up to the farmhouse and even that triggered another onslaught of memories from the past. He remembered when they moved there soon after Ellie's birth. The house was an old colonial, but it was Abbey who was responsible for all the updates. The interior French doors, the expanded kitchen, all the furnishings, the paintings and framed photographs of the girls on the walls, and that one majestic portrait of husband and wife on their wedding day that hung over the mantle.

He parked the car and went inside. He made his way upstairs, his limbs dragging with a heavy weight he'd never felt before. Was this grief? Had he resigned himself to losing Abbey? He couldn't the stand the thought and yet he was consumed by it to the point where he made a turn to the master bedroom without even checking on the girls. He always checked on the girls. But tonight, he headed straight to his own room. He paused outside in the hall, both anxious and eager at the same time. Climbing into his and Abbey's bed alone had the potential to break him. Or, he wondered, would it help him feel close to her? Could he roll over and smell the scent of her hair on her pillowcase, could he imagine her next to him, her body heat warming him up? With a trembling hand, he reached for the door knob and opened it slowly as it creaked until it swung open and he saw Ellie and Zoey lying side by side under the covers of their parents' king sized bed, Zoey holding Abbey's hairbrush in her hand.

He stood there, eyes shiny with tears observing his girls. Any other night he may have woken them up or carried them to their own beds, but tonight, he left them alone. They were suffering as much as he was and if lying in their parents' bed made them feel closer to their mother, he wasn't going to disturb them. Instead, he pulled the covers up on Ellie to properly tuck her in, then moved to the other side where he gently took the hairbrush from Zoey's hands and set it on the nightstand table. He kissed both girls on the tops of their head, grabbed a pair of pajamas from the dresser for himself, and quietly left the room.

The next morning, Zoey rubbed at her eyes. She looked around the room to reorient herself. She'd momentarily forgotten that she and Ellie had come into their parents' room the night before. They'd arrived to the room separately, spoken empty words to each other, and after a while, they sank under the covers, Ellie on Jed's side and Zoey on Abbey's. It wasn't planned; it was just what they did, and it comforted them enough that they fell into a restful sleep like that.

The master bedroom was known as a safe place in the Bartlet house. Zoey, like Ellie and Lizzie before her, often played in Abbey's closet, put on Abbey's heels and jewelry, even a swipe of lipstick now and then, and pretended to be her mother. She also loved sleeping in her parents' bed. She found herself there a lot when Jed was in Washington, tucked under the covers between Abbey and Ellie, and even Lizzie before she moved out.

Now, as the sun filtered through the curtains on that April morning, all the laughter and closeness of the past was gone. Her mom was in the hospital and Zoey didn't know when she'd be back. Feeling a surge of sadness, she grabbed Abbey's hairbrush from the nightstand and headed out of the room.

The door to Ellie's room was open and Zoey stopped at the doorway to see Jed slipping a sweatshirt over his head. She realized that he'd slept there and that immediately made her anxious. Why had he left her mother alone?

She said softly, "Hi."

"Hey peanut."

"Is Mommy ok?"

Jed nodded. "Yeah, yeah, she's fine. I just came home for a few hours, but I've got the best doc in the hospital looking after her."

"Are you going back?"

"After breakfast."

"Can I come?"

"No, sweetheart. I promise, as soon as she's out of the ICU, I'll take you."

"You keep saying that."

"I mean it. And today, I'm going to find out if maybe they can move her."

"Why? Is she better?"

"I'm not sure. But it's possible she may not need the ICU anymore. In the meantime, guess what?"

"What?"

"Lizzie's coming home today. How about tonight, we go visit?"

"I can play with Annie?"

"Well, she's a newborn, so she'll probably just lay there, but you can sing to her like Ellie used to do with you. And if Lizzie is okay with it, maybe she'll let her lie in your lap."

Zoey had other ideas. "Maybe she'll let me rock her!"

Jed chuckled. "One step at a time, okay?"

"Can I babysit Annie?"

"We'll get into that some other time. Right now, you need to get ready. You and Ellie have been out of school for a few days."

"We're going back?"

"Not yet." Jed paused. It broke his heart to keep his girls out of school, but until they knew who crashed into Abbey and Liz, that it was truly an accident and not some act of violence from one of his enemies, he didn't want to take any chances. "But I need you to get back to your studies. Grandma's going to pick up your homework assignments. You can go with her if you like."

Zoey nodded sadly. "Ok."

"Come here." Jed picked her up in his arms and hugged her tight. "I love you, you know that? And Mommy loves you too. What she needs right now is for us to take care of ourselves and each other so that when she wakes up, we'll be here, ready and healthy. Okay?"

She nodded as he set her down.

Zoey looked down at the hairbrush in her hands. "Mommy always does my hair."

Jed cleared his throat of his own tears to help his daughter. "What if I did your hair?"

"You don't know how to do hair."

"What? I'm absolutely insulted by that!" Hand on his chest, he feigned being offended, more cheerful now to lighten her mood.

"Do you?" Zoey raised her brows at him.

"Of course I know how to do hair! You act like I've never raised a girl. When your mom was in her first year of residency, I was the one who got Lizzie ready for school every morning and if you think that little girl ever left the house without her hair done..."

"Lizzie said you gave her crooked pigtails in second grade."

"Well, yes, that did happen. But in my defense, she never told me they had to be straight."

"Daddy!" Zoey giggled, the first laugh of the morning.

Jed took the brush from her and picked up a hair tie from Ellie's desk. "Go brush your teeth and I'll glam you up in no time."

"Okay." Smiling, Zoey agreed and rushed out of the room.

Ellie heard the clanking of pots and pans downstairs. And there was laughter. It roused her from sleep. For a fleeting moment, in her sleepy 12-year-old mind, she thought it was Abbey. But then she knew it couldn't be. Abbey was in the ICU; there was no way she had recovered enough overnight to be discharged and sent home.

She must have woken up, Ellie thought. She must be okay, even if she's still in the hospital. Why else would there be laughter in the house?

Her face lit up and she jumped out of bed and sprinted downstairs, nearly slipping on that sharp turn at the bottom landing before she headed to the kitchen. It didn't matter. Falling and getting hurt would have been worth it. This was an emergency. She arrived to the kitchen out of breath, still in her pajamas, her soft blonde hair cascading down into a nest of curls at her shoulders. Her face flushed, she scanned the faces in front of her, and she knew instantly she was wrong.

It was like a punch to the gut.

At the kitchen table, Jed sat beside Leo. Zoey was on his other side, sporting a braid that was so loose Ellie knew it must have been her father's work. Jack, Kate, and Millie sat directly across from them and James returned empty plates to the sink where Mary had already started washing the dishes.

The older woman turned from the sink and the look she saw in her granddaughter's young eyes broke her heart. It was a mix of disappointment and grief. "Oh, Ellie."

"I heard laughing. I thought something good happened."

Jed held out his hand and when she accepted, he pulled her toward the table. One arm around her, he explained, "I'm sorry, sweetheart. There's nothing new. We were just talking."

"Ellie, I saved you a seat!" Zoey offered.

Ellie shook her head and walked away. "I'm not sitting next to you."

"Hey, take it easy," Jed said as he stood up in an effort to calm the situation without provoking the curiosity of everyone else.

"The accident doesn't erase the past week," Ellie snapped at her father before she exchanged a glance with her grandmother. Mary's confused look prompted Ellie to go on. "I told them. And it was exactly the disaster I told you it would be!"

Ellie scanned the table once more, then stormed out of the room.

"Ellie, hang on," Jed called after her as he followed her out of the kitchen and through the living room. "I know you're upset, but you can't talk to your grandmother that way."

Ellie didn't make it to the stairs. Her intention was to run to her room, but she stopped dead in her tracks and spun around to confront her father.

"How can you laugh?" she asked. "She would never laugh if you were in the hospital!"

"I wasn't laughing."

"I heard you!"

"What did you hear?"

"You laughed! You all did! You were in there having a good time as if..."

"Stop it," he cut her off then. "Did you hear what came before the laughter?"

"Yes!"

"What did you hear?" he asked, his tone matching hers.

"When I came in, I heard..." she cried. "I heard someone else and I thought was Mom."

"It was grandma," he said, softer.

Ellie bowed her head. "I know that now."

"You really think I'd be having a good time when your mom is..." Jed took a beat and allowed them both a moment to breathe. She looked up at him through her wet lashes and all he wanted was to comfort her.

"I just want to see her."

"I know you do. That's what I want too. That's what we all want. No one was having a good time in there."

"Then why were you laughing? What could be so funny?"

Jed threw up his hands. "I did Zoey's hair."

Ellie stopped. Of all the things he could have said, that was last on her list and yet, it was the perfect explanation. "You did?"

"Yeah. That's what they were laughing at. Your grandma wanted to take a photo of it so she could show your Mom. That started a whole round robin about my mishaps when it comes to you girls and your hair."

"Like the crooked pigtail incident?"

"Yes," he said, taken aback not realizing it was classified as an 'incident' in Bartlet family lore. He was never going to live that down. "The point is, it was just banter. We weren't being disloyal."

"I'm sorry," she said, remorseful for turning on her father. Her emotions were all over the place and she felt so out of control.

"It's okay." He felt relieved that she believed him, but a silent tension settled over them nonetheless. "Why don't you go wash up and then join us for breakfast?"

She nodded uncomfortably. "Okay."

Jed watched as she walked away from him, ascended the stairs, and started down the hallway that led to her room. He then turned to head back into the kitchen to join the rest of the family. He didn't expect to see Mary standing there.

"Is she okay?" Mary looked concerned.

"Yeah."

"Should I talk to her?"

"No, she's going to join us in a few minutes."

"Okay, I'll wait for her to come back down then."

"Listen, did I hear right? Did you know about Ellie and Zoey?"

Mary sighed. This was awkward. "I knew that Ellie was helping her."

"Helping her cheat," Jed corrected.

"It didn't seem as simple as that to me."

"Abbey and I should have known. Why didn't you tell us?"

"I told Ellie that I would if she didn't," Mary replied. "Jed, she was torn up about it. She felt so guilty and at the same time, so loyal to Zoey. She really struggled with doing the right thing versus helping her sister."

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate you being there for her. I appreciate that they're close to you and that Ellie could open up to you."

"But?"

"I don't like being left out of things that involve my daughters, especially when it's something like this."

"I understand."

"Don't leave me in the dark again."

"I'm sorry Jed, I understand why you feel the way you do, but I can't apologize for being there for my grandkids."

"I'm not expecting you to."

"Children have all sorts of reasons for not telling their parents when they feel they're in over their heads. So what if she trusted another adult; one who has her best interest at heart?"

"I'm glad that she trusted you. But you kept it from me and Abbey, that's the point."

"I gave her advice and provided guidance..."

"It's a deal-breaker for me. I should be kept in the loop about everything having to do with my kids."

"And you would have been. But first, I gave her a chance to do the right thing on her own, which she did. I kept her confidence so that she'd know she can trust me."

"You're not her parent."

"No, I'm not, but I love those girls as if they were my own and I won't apologize for helping them when they're in trouble," she told him. "Would you rather she turn to me or a someone you don't know as well? This time it was this, but what about next time? What if it's about drugs or sex or what if someone is hurting her and she feels like she can't trust anyone in the family? What if she turns to the parent of a friend or some random adult she meets, someone who doesn't give a damn about her? I want her to trust me, Jed."

They stared at each other, not another word spoken, until Jed walked away. He acknowledged that Mary wasn't necessarily wrong. After all, Elizabeth was so scared of her parents' reaction to her pregnancy that she hid it from them for weeks. Of course he wanted his daughters to trust their grandparents and if they couldn't come to him and Abbey, James and Mary were the next best alternatives. They were good parents and they would never harm them. Still, he couldn't shake how he felt about Mary's deception. It was like a betrayal, even if it was for Ellie's sake.

Later that morning, Jed collapsed into that same olive green chair at Abbey's bedside and told her what happened.

"So she told me, in so many words, that she's not sorry for what she did. She said she won't apologize for it. Can you believe it?"

This was his habit now. Every day, he'd sit at her side and tell Abbey about his day, sometimes reading to her if he ran out of things to say. He still didn't know if she could hear anything, if there was enough brain activity that could process what he was saying or even recognize his voice; but if there was, if there was any shred of a chance that she was aware of her surroundings, of the noises and the incessant beeps of the machines in her room, he didn't want her to think that she was all alone.

"Now I know, when we got married, we said you handle your family and I will handle mine, but who are we kidding? That rule went out the window when my father - and I use that term loosely - manipulated Lizzie. Remember that? God, when I think about..."

He trailed off then and shook his head.

"I know what you're thinking. 'Don't dredge up the past; it'll just rile you up all over again.' And you're right, just thinking about that man..." He paused. "Actually, thinking about that man makes your mother a saint." He chuckled. "What do you think about that? Your mom, the saint? I'm sure you'd argue a litany of reasons she's not." He shook his head. "Mothers and daughters. May be even more complicated than fathers and daughters," he said. "You know I love your parents. I pretty much adopted them as my own parents. I'm just cranky."

He folded his hands and took a deep breath.

"The truth is, it stings. Our kids don't trust us. Or maybe they do and we've been too hard on them so they're afraid of us."

Another deep breath.

"I know, I know, you're thinking I'm analyzing it too much and this is just a case of a kid being a kid and means nothing about us as parents. Right? Ok, you're probably right, but I still don't like it."

He allowed a moment to pass.

"Okay, moving on. Our granddaughter can't wait to meet you. That's right, I'm still not telling you her name. You can seethe all you want that I know something that you don't, but I'm not budging. You'll have to wake up and hear it for yourself," he teased her. "She's the most beautiful baby, Abbey. And Lizzie's just fine. She has that new mom glow and something about childbirth has made her more of a smartass. Not sure I like that either, unless it's directed at Doug."

He chuckled, thinking of his eldest daughter turning her snark on Doug.

"And now you'd tell me to lay off Doug. He's a new father and I should call a truce. To which I say, no chance. And then you'd call me I'm a jackass and I think you should know in case you're wondering, I resent that."

He smiled, thinking her next question would be 'do you even need me for this conversation?' and how he'd give anything to hear her call him a jackass right now. Before he could say that, he saw something. It was just a glimmer, a small movement of her hand, brief enough that had he blinked at that moment, he wouldn't have even seen it.

But he did see it and his heart raced.

"Abbey?" He knelt to the ground, closer to her bed. Her hand cradled in his. "Sweetheart, can you hear me?" He looked at her face and saw her eyes, still closed, twitch ever so slightly and then, the faintest moan followed by the most fabulous sound he'd ever heard.

Soft and broken up with her eyes still closed, she whispered in a strained voice, "J...Je...Jed?"

TBC