Blood gushed out of a shallow cut on Felicity's scalp and into her light brown hair. Jed and Abbey rushed into the room to find Felicity curled up in a ball, holding her head and sobbing by the coffee table. A streak of blood was on the corner of it. Her lungs ached from the effort of crying as hard as she was.

Ellie was trying to pick Felicity up to stem the bleeding before it got any worse. But the little girl was inconsolable.

Abbey rushed forward. "Felicity!"

Ellie looked up. "It's OK, Mom. I think it's just a scalp wound. No skull fracture."

Abbey scooped up Felicity in her arm, the other hand pressing into Felicity's forehead. "It's okay, lovebug. It's all right."

"Milk, Mama?" Felicity cried.

Ellie grabbed a towel and pressed it to Felicity's scalp, "I can help with this," She offered.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Abbey replied as they sat on the sofa, soothing Felicity as she did so. She got comfortable and positioned Felicity gingerly so she could nurse. "Here lovebug." The little girl melted into her mother as she began to eat. Just like that, the crying stopped.

Ellie went into the bathroom and returned with a liquid bandage and gauze pads for the bleeding Just then, Liz walked into the room.

"Oh, peanut, what happened?!"

"She hit her head on the corner of the table," Jed replied darkly, glaring at his eldest daughter. "And where were you?"

"I was in the kitchen. I could hear them. Gus is fine playing on his own."

"But Felicity isn't," Abbey replied tersely.

Liz looked at Felicity and Abbey. "Mom, I've told you before. She should've grown out of that a long time ago."

"That's enough out of you, Elizabeth, Jed said sharply. "You have no right to judge your mother for a decision that we made together a long time ago."

"You cannot baby her forever, dad."

"For God's sake, Elizabeth!"

Felicity curled into her mother, apprehensive about all the loud voices.

"Elizabeth, please," Abbey said quietly. "You are scaring your sister."

Liz went over to Gus, who watched the whole scene play out with wide eyes. She picked him up and carried him into the kitchen.

Jed sat on the couch next to Abbey and stroked Felicity's foot while Ellie attended to her head.

"She's having trouble with Gus," Ellie said softly to her parents.

"Oh?" Jed asked.

"She had to stop nursing him before she was ready."

Jed looked at Abbey. "I better go talk to her."

He walked into the kitchen, where Liz was giving Gus some mashed bananas.

"Elizabeth, we need to talk about this."

"Talk about what, Dad? I know Felicity isn't like Gus. I thank God every day he isn't as sick as her. But sometimes I get worried that Felicity's falling behind."

"You have got to stop comparing Felicity to Gus."

"I'm not!"

"Really? Well, let's see, Elizabeth. You have spent the last week trying to get Felicity to play with Gus even though you know he's physically bigger than she is and could easily hurt her. You constantly belittle your mother's decision to continue to breastfeed her, even though I've explained to you time and time again that it's a coping mechanism. And I've listened to you complain time and again about how we baby her. Does that about cover it?"

"Fizzy has already been through enough. The cable news pundits haven't stopped talking about Felicity nursing during that interview. Do you want her to see that?"

"Of course, I don't. But it helps Felicity in a way that nothing else can and for that reason, I cannot help but support your mother and your sister."

Liz sighed. "Okay. I'm sorry. I'll stop talking about the breastfeeding. If it helps Fizzy, then…who am I to stop her?"

"Thank you," Jed replied. He embraced his daughter gently. "That's all I ask."

"Is everything all right?" Stanley asked when they walked back into the family room.

"Fine, just a minor accident," Jed said, taking his seat back on the sofa. Abbey joined him.

"You seem angry, Mr. President," He noted.

"I am. I don't quite understand why the press, the public, and even my own family are so keen to pretend that Felicity was never shot. She is still recovering and not one person is content to let her do it at her own pace without the world watching. No, instead, CNN just had to post that damned B-Roll footage and expose my daughter's most difficult moments. And on top of that, Abbey and I are being told that we're compromising our daughter's long-term well-being because we let her use a binkie or her swing, or heaven-forbid nurse. After all, it makes her happy. Felicity deserves whatever she wants after the hell she's been put through and the next person who tells her "no" is going to deal with me."

Stanley watched the couple closely. The tension that existed between them from the moment they stepped into session seemed to abate a little. Clearly, they shared the same viewpoint when it came to parenting Felicity. It wasn't worth pressing, especially if it meant common ground for them.

He nodded. "That makes perfect sense, Mr. President. Now, here's what I'd like to talk about next…"

Josh and Donna had found a little outdoor cafe in Nashua, near the sewing store where Alex shopped for her fabrics. Since the Bartlet girls had volunteered to take Felicity for the day, Donna had time off.

"This is nice," Josh said as they sat eating. "I don't remember the last time we did this."

"Neither can I," Donna admitted. "This might be the first time. Which makes it all the more special."

"I agree. I'm glad you were able to get away."

"Me too. Things seem to be slowly improving at the Farm. The President and the First Lady are going on an actual date later today. It's been ages since they've done it."

"That's good. Are they finally on the path of least resistance?"

"Seems like it."

"So, what about us?"

"What about us?"

"Well…we're engaged now, and we haven't told anyone."

"I think Dr. Bartlet suspects. She asked me about it."

"Same with my mom," Josh said. "Next thing you know, Dr. B's gonna be angling for a New Hampshire wedding."

"That would be nice. But I don't know if she can spare that right now, especially with the way things are with her and the President."

"I thought you said things were better between them?"

"They might get better, Josh. Things seemed less tense between them after they spoke to Stanley. But it's going to take time. I don't think they've had time to themselves since the campaign."

"You mean when they were having an affair with each other."

"Whatever you want to call it, it's been almost three years."

"Well, hopefully, it works out. The President has been off his game lately."

"Does it surprise you?" Donna replied.

"Of course not. But then again, maybe he knows something that we don't."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That a 34-year marriage takes work. And that a married couple doesn't keep secrets from one another."

"Was that meant for the President or me?"

Josh shrugged. "Both."

"Josh, let me ask you something. Does Leo tell you everything that's going on with the President?"

"Yes, he does."

"So he tells you about when the President is taking personal staff time, how long he slept, and how Felicity was overnight?"

"Well no," Josh admitted. "But that isn't relevant."

"It's no different than me not telling you anything about the President and Dr. Bartlet's personal information."

"Except the MS," Josh replied darkly.

"Josh, let's not go there."

"Why not?"

"Because you can't keep punishing me for something that isn't my fault!"

"You had an entire year to tell me and you didn't!"

"It wasn't my place to tell you!"

"Yes, it was!"

"Josh, if Leo were sitting here right now, instead of me, would you be telling him that?"

Josh was quiet. "No, I wouldn't."

"Exactly. So don't start with this going around in circles business. You know perfectly well why I didn't tell you."

Josh ran a hand through his hair. "God, Donna."

"What?"

"I don't know if I can trust you."

His words stung and Donna felt tears burn at the corner of her eyes, "You can't trust me?" She repeated. "You are the one who asked me to marry you, Joshua. So you must have trusted me enough at some point. But you know what? This isn't even about you not being able to trust me. It is about you not being able to handle that the President isn't all yours. He doesn't belong completely to you, or Toby, or Sam, or CJ, or even Leo. There is a part of him that is reserved for his wife and his family."

"I need to know things, Donna. For the sake of the office, he holds. Do you get that? By keeping things from me, you could be putting yourself and other people at risk."

"Risk? That's rich coming from you. You take gambles every day in your job and you're telling me that not knowing about the President's personal life gets in the way of that? Come on!"

"Well, it does!" Josh stood up. "I've got an airplane hangar full of people in the West Wing that I don't trust. I got a President who doesn't trust them either. And if you think I don't want to marry you-" He cut himself off. "I want to marry you more than anything in this world, Donna. But maybe this isn't working."

He saw the look on Donna's face and wished he could take it all back. But instead, he walked away.

Neither one noticed Alex at the store two doors down, her mouth open in shock. They were getting married? She had to make a dress!

But then, she stopped herself for a second. They had just had a pretty bad fight. Were they breaking up?

Date night for Jed and Abbey was a later afternoon date since they didn't want to miss bedtime for Felicity. The girls tried to assure them that they could handle their sister. But neither of them wanted to test that theory and get a call halfway through dinner. Years of previous experience with their older children taught them that. Today they went to Concord to go to several wineries for private tours and tastings followed by an early dinner. Meanwhile, Felicity was downstairs being distracted by Zoey and Ellie with Candyland.

"All right, I win that round!" Zoey said triumphantly. She had been beating her sisters at the game ever since she was little.

"Yay, Zoey!" Felicity cheered. But her little voice was subdued.

Ellie noticed right away. "Fizzy, what's wrong, little one?"

"Nothing," Felicity replied, biting her lip. She looked over to the kitchen counter where Liz had put her binkie in its case.

To wean her sister off of it, Liz promised Felicity a special treat if she could get all the way through dinner without it. But with her parents gone, it seemed like an awfully long time. And if she was being honest, a special treat didn't sound all that appealing.

"We can play again if you want to," Zoey offered, catching Ellie's eye.

"Yeah," Ellie agreed. "We can do anything you want."

Felicity looked up at the kitchen clock. She hadn't mastered telling time yet. But she knew enough that her parents weren't coming home soon.

She shrugged, "Like what?"

"Like…we could read you a story before dinner," Ellie said.

Felicity tried to smile. "Okay, I guess."

Ellie smiled. She picked up her sister and took her into the family room before sitting with her on the couch. She picked up Charlotte's Web from the coffee table.

"No, that's Daddy's book!" Felicity protested.

Ellie was surprised at her fervor but didn't react. "Okay." She went to the bookshelf and picked up one of her favorites from when she was a girl-Beezus and Ramona. "What about a new book?"

"I'll read that with you, Ellie," Felicity said, looking at the cover. "It could be our book," She said before snuggling with her sister and settling in to read.

Zoey sat down beside them, "Oh this is a good one, Fizzy."

Liz came in from outside. She had groceries in her hands "What, no Candyland?"

"Zoey won," Felicity said. "Now Ellie and I are going to read a book."

Liz smiled, seeing that Felicity had nearly forgotten about her binkie. Her plan was working. "What are you reading?"

"Beezus and Ramona," Ellie answered.

"Is that Beverly Cleary?" said a familiar voice from the doorway. "You and Liz both used to read those books."

They all turned to see Abbey leaning against the doorway in a casual but beautiful dress in a shade of wine red, and Felicity's face lit up.

"MAMA!" She said, scrambling off of Ellie's lap. She started to go to the edge of the couch to climb off it. But then she stopped, remembering what the clock showed her.

Felicity looked past Abbey through the doorway, "No daddy?" She asked in a small voice.

"No," Abbey answered, speaking to Felicity but making eye contact with the girls. "Daddy had to…had to leave."

"Dad left?" Liz asked.

"Why?" Zoey chimed in. "I thought things were going okay."

"Your father had to go back to Washington," Abbey said with a small sigh. "There was a crisis."

"Oh mom," Ellie said as Abbey took a seat next to her and Felicity on the couch, "I'm so sorry."

Felicity crawled onto Abbey's lap and hugged her, or tried to. "I love you, Mama," She whispered.

Abbey smiled weakly. "I love you, baby." She snuggled Felicity close and felt the little girl melt into her.

"So what happened?" Liz asked firmly.

"Well, everything seemed to be going great. We had a nice day at the wineries, and we were sitting down to a nice dinner…"

90 minutes earlier...

Cameras flashed behind them as the restaurant staff led Jed and Abbey from outside toward a private dining room.

"Mr. President, Dr. Bartlet, is Felicity suffering from PTSD? Is she being treated for it?"

"Dr. Bartlet, why did you leave Washington with your daughter?"

Jed put an arm around Abbey protectively. It took everything he had not to respond. Once they were in the dining room and sitting down, Jed set his menu aside, "I'm sorry about that. I wanted no press here."

"Jed, you can't promise that. Every excursion is a press event, you know that."

"I suppose you're right."

"Did you know CJ asked for a family photo of the six of us before you leave?"

"I heard about that," He sighed. "We don't have to. If Felicity's not up for it, we can skip it. The press has gotten their fill this week. Is it just me or did she sleep better last night?"

"After we got her down that second time, she woke up twice more. So I let her nurse and put the binkie away."

"I would have helped...you should have woken me."

"You needed to sleep. It didn't take long. All Felicity wanted was comfort and I gave it to her," Abbey said simply.

"Abbey, when are you going to trust me to take care of her again?"

Abbey was silent. "I don't know."

"You don't know? I'm her father!"

"Jed, you made a promise to me and you broke it. It's gonna be a long time before I trust you again."

"Is that why you're not wearing your ring?"

"I was wondering when you were going to notice," Abbey said quietly.

"For the record, I noticed the minute I walked through the door. So that's it? I back out of our deal and instead of talking about it, you want to throw our marriage out?"

"No, Jed I don't. But I also don't feel like I have a husband or a father for our baby. I used to. Somewhere along the way though, the office won out."

Jed sighed. "Well, that may be true. But this job…making a difference…it's too important."

"More important than your marriage?"

"No, of course not."

"Really, Jed? Why don't I believe you?"

"Abbey, I am trying to meet you halfway…"

Abbey closed her eyes and sighed before opening them again, "I know you are. But Jed, this isn't just about you deciding to run again." She paused, "It's about the life we're living. I don't know if I can be this public-facing person for another four years. Being here for the last month, I've been able to have space to just be. And so has your daughter."

"I miss you, Abbey," Jed said. His heart ached to hear her say that. "I need you and Felicity in our bed at night. It's supposed to be our sanctuary in all of this and now…it's just empty."

"I miss you, too. But you know just as well as I do that we have no sanctuary anymore. The senior staff is constantly in and out of our room. They wake you up at all hours….We used to have rules for all of that and they've been broken again."

"It's just how it is now."

"And now you have to make a choice."

"Are you giving me an ultimatum?" Jed's voice rose.

"I just told you that we have no privacy whatsoever and your response is that's just how it is? Listen to what you're saying, Jed! You say you're trying to meet me halfway and you're not even listening to me."

"This is the job, Abbey!"

Abbey paused, "You know, ever since I asked Stanley to come up, he's been convinced that if we would only cede some time with Felicity and take it for ourselves, maybe things would improve for her and us. But it's not Felicity who has repeatedly interrupted every attempt at intimacy we've had this last year or time with your family. No, the job has done that all on its own."

Right as things were getting to a boiling point, the worst thing that Jed knew could happen right now happened.

A maitre'd approached his table. "Sir, there's a Mr. McGarry on the telephone for you."

Jed nodded. He gave Abbey a withering look, then walked away. In a few minutes, he was back. Abbey knew before he said a word.

"You have to leave."

"Anti-democracy protests in Ecuador. They're taking a page right out of Haiti's book."

"Go," Abbey said softly. "The world needs you."

Jed softened then, "I'm sorry. I'll send a plane to pick up Alex and Zoey tomorrow."

He leaned over and kissed Abbey on the cheek, "I love you."

"I love you too," Abbey replied, her heart breaking as she said it.

"Mom, I'm so sorry," Liz said, after a moment when Abbey had finished.

"We tried, sweetheart. I'm sure we'll pick it up again at some point."

"When?" Zoey asked.

She had a good point, Abbey thought. Would Jed finally be forced to make a choice, or would she be forced to live with the choices Jed had already made?