Where Nothing is Clear

By Ginny

Chapter 2

A little before 10 Abbey slid off the couch, pulled on her panties and slipped on Jed's plaid button front shirt. He was asleep on the couch, curled up naked under an afghan. Abbey sat on the coffee table and admired the view for a minute. The blue and white afghan was barely pulled up to his hips. With his hopelessly messy hair and a days worth of stubble on his chin Abbey found him as sexy as the day she married him. As the fire was beginning to die down Abbey took one last lingering glance at her husband before pulling the afghan up a little to keep him warm. She put the dishes in the dishwasher and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. She settled down with a book in the overstuffed chair by the waning fire. The book, a history of the Island of Nantucket was fascinating, but she found the sight of the sleeping man on the couch much more fascinating. Curled up on his side with his hair flopped over his forehead Jed looked years younger than he was. In sleep he looked peaceful and healthy.

Abbey watched for a few more minutes before turning her attention back to the book. She read for about an hour until Jed started to stir on the couch. "Hey," he whispered as he struggled to open his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Almost midnight," answered Abbey as she glanced at the clock on the mantle. She set down the book and walked over to the couch. Jed scooted over to give her room to sit on the couch. She brushed back the stray lock of hair and pressed a kiss to his forehead, not really surprised to find him running a nice fever. "Sweetie, you're warm, are you ok?"

"Abigail, I'm in front of the fire, under an afghan, of course I'm warm," he muttered as he pushed back the afghan and leaned over to find his boxers and his t-shirt. He slipped on the shirt and stood up to pull up his boxers. To his surprise and annoyance he wasn't exactly steady on his feet, something Abbey noticed in an instant. His blue eyes pleaded with her not to make a big deal out of it. She drew a deep breath and helped him pull up the boxers.

"Go up and get into bed, I'll be up in a minute." Jed turned to head up the stairs as she headed to the kitchen. Abbey glanced over her shoulder to watch him climb the stairs. He was taking it slow, leaning heavily on the dark wooden banister. She knew he was dizzy and she also knew he probably wouldn't admit it unless confronted. And she was thinking that confronting him wasn't really necessary. It would just get him upset and what he needed most was some rest.

By the time she got upstairs Jed had managed to pull on some pajamas and crawl into bed. Abbey grabbed the thermometer out of her black bag and handed it to him. Deciding that just sticking it in his mouth was his best course of action Jed did so while clicking on the television. With a healthy roll of her eyes Abbey watched as he flicked through the channels at lightning speed. She wasn't sure how he managed to see anything that was on. The thermometer beeped and without looking at it Jed handed it to his wife.

"100.3," announced Abbey as she handed him some Advil and a bottle of water. Jed took them without complaint. Deciding there was nothing worth watching anyway he clicked the television back off and curled up under the quilt.

"Aren't you going to grill me about my symptoms? Analyze my every ache and pain?" Jed asked, with a hint of teasing evident in his voice.

"Well, I was going to but I figured I'd give you a break. Besides, I'm kind of tired myself," Abbey said with a grin. "But if you're really in the mood for medical 20 questions I suppose I could do it." Jed laughed as he thumped Abbey on the head with his pillow. "Guess that's a NO," she smirked as she reached to turn out the light.

Jed curled up next to her, his head on her shoulder. "I'm a little dizzy too," he admitted softly.

His admission surprised Abbey. "I know," she whispered back. "Try and get some sleep. Wake me if you need anything." Jed nodded against her shoulder and closed his eyes.

A little after 3 in the morning Jed woke up feeling miserable. He was achy, dizzy and hot. He rolled onto his side, Abbey was sound asleep. He needed to use the bathroom and he knew if he tried to navigate his way across the strange room, in the dark, dizzy and on shaky legs he'd end up on the floor. "Abbey," he whispered as he struggled to sit up.

"What's wrong?" she asked, still half asleep. Before Jed could answer she reached out to touch his hand, pulling back quickly as she felt the heat radiating off of him. She was wide awake in an instant. She sat up and pressed her hand to his forehead. "Jed, you're burning up." He just nodded miserably. Abbey reached for the thermometer but Jed batted her hand away.

"I need to..." he said, motioning towards the bathroom. Abbey slid off the bed and walked around to his side to help him. She was worried but not at all surprised at how unsteady on his feet he was. She walked him as far as the bathroom door and he waved her off. She waited just outside the door in case he needed help. After 5 minutes she knocked gently. "Honey, you ok?"

"Yeah," came Jed's reply as he reached behind him and opened the door to let Abbey enter the room. He was leaning heavily against the sink washing his hands. As he turned to reach for the towel he stumbled, nearly taking a header into the antique footed tub. Abbey reached out to steady him with one hand and put the seat down on the toilet with the other. She steered him over to sit on the lid. He leaned over with his chin propped up on his clasped hands, trying to decide if he was going to be sick.

"Just sit for a minute. I'm not in the mood to be picking you up off the floor," she teased gently as she brushed back his hair. "I'll be back in a minute." She went out to get the thermometer, a dry shirt and a bottle of water while Jed concentrated on his breathing. When she returned a minute later Jed reached out to take the thermometer from her without bothering to look up. He stuck it under his tongue while Abbey wet a washcloth with cool water. "101.4," she announced as held the thermometer out at arms length and squinted at the numbers. She wiped his face and helped him change his shirt. "It's too soon for more Advil let me see if I have any Tylenol." While she was rooting through her black bag looking for Tylenol she heard him flip up the toilet set and start to retch. Tossing the bag aside she hurried back to the bathroom.

Abbey held his head and rubbed his back for what seemed like an eternity. He hadn't eaten all that much during the day so the dry heaves set in pretty quickly. She set the cool, damp cloth on the back of his neck and whispered words of reassurance, none of which seemed to be working very well. When Jed finally stopped heaving long enough to lift his head Abbey handed him the water. "Rinse and spit, don't swallow anything," she said as she reached for some tissues. "Here, blow your nose," she said, speaking to him as if he were a child. He dutifully followed her directions. Abbey helped him to his feet and handed him his toothbrush already loaded with toothpaste. Brushing his teeth without gagging again was no easy feat for him but he managed to do it. "Ready to go back to bed?" asked Abbey as she took the toothbrush from him and handed him a towel. He nodded as he wiped his face one last time before heading back to the bedroom.

"Guess I picked the wrong weekend to try and talk you into letting me run for President," muttered Jed with a smirk as he let Abbey tuck him in. Abbey's face broke out in a grin, happy to know that her husband's sense of humor hadn't disappeared.

"OK Gumdrop, now is not the time to talk about that. It's almost 4 in the morning," Abbey said as she leaned over to drop a kiss on his forehead. "We have all weekend to talk," she assured him. He took the Tylenol Abbey had found in her bag before curling up under the quilt.

Jed drifted back to sleep instantly but Abbey found sleep to be slow in returning. She tossed and turned for a while before climbing back out of bed. She pulled the quilt up around her sleeping husband and put a cool, damp cloth on his forehead before pulling on her robe and heading downstairs. She flicked through the channels twice before deciding there was nothing worth watching. She curled up on the loveseat under an afghan.

When they'd set out for Nantucket she had been sure in her decision to support Jed no matter what. But as the threat of a full-blown MS episode loomed she couldn't help but think that maybe they were making a mistake. The thing that made it worse was that she had very few people she could talk to about the situation. They'd kept his illness a secret from basically everyone but their immediate family. The girls knew and Jed's brother knew but even Abby's parents were kept in the dark about the health of their son-in-law. Jed's father was long gone and his mother was in a nursing home in Manchester. Due to her own failing health they had never told her either. The strain would have been too much on her.

Abbey didn't know what Jed had in mind when it came to disclosing his illness. So far it had been easy to conceal. His relapses were few and relatively far between. And when they did strike they tended to be mild and resolve themselves with little, if any real medical intervention. When the disease was in remission it wouldn't be detected during a normal physical examination. Every other day Abbey gave him a shot of Betaseron in an attempt to lengthen the time between attacks. Other than that there were no outward, everyday physical signs that would alert someone to his illness. In some ways it was almost "too" easy to keep it to themselves.

Deep down Abbey knew that keeping his illness to themselves was wrong, plain and simple. He was a public figure, a Governor harboring a secret that had the potential to all but ruin him.

A little before 6, curled up in the loveseat, Abbey fell back to sleep.

A little before 7 Jed started to get restless upstairs. Hovering in the place between sleep and awake he reached out for Abbey but came up with a handful of sheets instead. He cracked his eyes open, wincing as the brightness of the rising sun peeking through the blinds burned into his brain. Clamping his eyes shut again he rolled onto his back and took an inventory of how he was feeling. He knew he was still running a fever but thought maybe it had gone down a little. His eye was sore and he felt stuffy. As the call of nature got louder he needed to decide if he was steady enough on his feet to make it to the bathroom without stumbling. He sat up slowly and dangled his feet over the side of the bed, taking a few deep breaths to clear his head. Satisfied he could handle the 10 foot walk to the bathroom he slid off the bed.

Abbey jerked awake at the sound of his feet hitting the floor. She tossed off the quilt and went flying up the stairs in record speed. "Jed," she called as she hit the upstairs landing.

"In the bathroom," he called back, annoyed that he'd woken her up.

"Do you need any help?" she asked as she put her hand on the doorknob.

"Not since I was 3," he shot back. At the sound of his teasing Abbey relaxed a bit, took a deep breath and willed her heart to stop beating so quickly. She walked to the window to open the blinds to let in more of the early morning sun.

Jed came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. He walked across the length of the room trying to act as normal as possible knowing Abbey was scrutinizing his every move. She let out a laugh as he did everything in his power to act normal. "Sweetknees, it's not very nice to make fun of the ill," he smirked as he sat down in a chair by the window.

"Oh, so you're ready to admit you don't feel well," Abbey smirked right back as she reached for her bag and sat down on the ottoman in front of Jed.

"I think the puking kind of gave me away," he muttered.

"It did. So how're you feeling now? You sound stuffy," she remarked, switching seamlessly into her doctor persona.

"I'm ok. My eye's a little sore and yeah, I'm stuffy and a little unbalanced," he said as Abbey lifted his t-shirt to listen to his heart and lungs. "You think it's an episode?" he asked.

"Take a few deep breaths," she said, choosing to ignore his question for the moment. "Lungs sound fine," she muttered as she rooted in the bag for the ear thermometer, knowing that if he couldn't breathe through his nose she wasn't going to get a good reading with the oral one. Jed recognized the "doctor" mode and decided to just do as he was told. He turned his head a bit to let her get a temp. "100.2, came down a little. Ears hurt?" she asked. Jed just nodded as she picked the otoscope up. "Left one's infected, right one's not far behind," she sighed as she put the instrument back into the bag.

"You didn't answer my question Abigail," he said quietly as he slipped his arms into the robe she held out for him.

"I know," she whispered as she sat back down in front of him, gaze intently focused on her folded hands. Jed hesitated just a second before reaching out to tip her chin up so he could look in her eyes. "Yes, it could be an episode," she admitted quietly. "But it could also just be from the fever. We'll probably never know. So I'll call Tom to see what he thinks, call in a script for antibiotics and then we'll wait. There's not much more to do. We'll try to keep your fever under control and hope for the best."

"Doesn't sound like much of a plan," Jed muttered as he rubbed at his eye with one hand and took a couple of Advil from Abbey with the other.

"It's the only one we have," said Abbey as she patted his knee before standing up. "Are you hungry at all?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure," answered Jed as he held out his hand so Abbey could pull him to his feet.

TBC