Mind Games 2

Jed staggered back from Abbey. Her voice was low and rasp but he had heard what she had said. His mind was going a mile a minute. "I did that?"

His face had gone completely pale. She could see he was shivering as she nodded.

"I..I would never..."

Leo saw Jed loosing his balance and hurried up to him. He guided Jed to a chair.

Jed fell into the chair. His couldn't make any sense of this. He never took his eyes of Abbey. "I..I don't.... I wouldn't.." His throat felt thick and he started gasping.

Abbey put her fear aside as she walked over to her husband and kneeled in front of him. "I know." She took one of his hands in hers and rubbed it gently.

Leo once again moved into the background.

Tears were burning in Jed's eyes. "I did that?" Again, he needed to know. He did not doubt Abbey. If he for one moment thought she had lied then her movements and her fear showed him she was not making this up. There would be no reason for her to make this up. This was Abbey after all.

Abbey continued rubbing his hand. "Yes."

He continued feeling sick. "When?"

"Last night." Abbey took a deep breath before she continued. "Then three days before that."

Jed withdrew his hand from her in an instant. "This has happened before?" The fact that she looked away not really wanting to answer her was his answer. "God." He got up and hurried over to the closet.

"Sir?" Leo inched closer to Abbey.

"I need to get out of here." He threw a suitcase on the bed and headed to the drawers. All kinds of images flew through his mind. Images of his hands around Abbey's neck. Images that made his very being quiver. "Jed?"

When he heard Abbey's voice call him in a pleading voice he turned to her. "I'm sorry Abbey. God, I am so sorry." He felt tears threatening to break out again as he continued tp pack.

Abbey walked over to the bed and took one of his hands. "You don't have to do this."

He stopped and looked at her. "I have to. What if..." What he was about to say made caused chills through his entire body. "What if this happens again? What if...?" He looked away from her and continued packing.

"Jed, something is wrong with you and we need to find out what. You can't run from this." Abbey coughed at the strain from her when she talked.

Once again he stopped when he heard her coughing. He could not believe that he was responsible for what she was going through. "I'm not trying to run from this I just want you to be safe. For god's sake, why didn't they react?" He gestured for the agents outside the door.

"I didn't have a chance to say anything." Abbey walked away and drank some water.

Jed simply followed her movements with his eyes. What had he done and why couldn't he remember? What if someone else got hurt or worse? What if, something was happening to him and he could not do anything to stop it. He looked over at Abbey as she drank her water. What if, this meant the end of his marriage to Abbey?

Leo moved in closer to Jed. "Sir, why don't you use one of the guestrooms?"

Jed turned to face him. "I'd still be to close."

"I'm not afraid of you."

Jed turned back to look at Abbey. "Why not?"

She put the glass down and walked over to him. "I'm afraid of what's causing this to you." She started coughing again and when she saw both men tense up she shook her head. "I'm ok."

"What could be causing this?" Leo's head was full of questions. "Medications, mind control of some sort..?"

"I don't know." Abbey sighed. "I just don't know." She didn't even want to guess what could be happening to Jed.

Jed started to pack some clothes in the suitcase and closed it. He headed for the door. Before walking out he turned to face Abbey. The sight of her with the scarf around her neck and knowing what was hiding underneath it. Knowing he caused it was too much. "I...I'm sorry." He stammered as he left.

Leo turned to Abbey. "You think I should..?"

"Go." Was her brief reply.

He hurried out of the room and saw Jed right away. He was leaning against the wall with one hand. "Sir?" As he got closer he saw that Jed was shaking slightly. The other hand covered his eyes. "Jed?" He tried more softly.

"How could...? I can't...." He straightened up and wiped the tears away from his eyes. "God, what's wrong with me?"

Leo had no answer. Jed was standing right next to a door that led to one of the guest bedrooms so Leo opened it and gestured to Jed to walk inside. As Jed reluctantly did so Leo took his suitcase and followed.

In a daze Jed went over to the bed and sat down. "Leo?"

"Yeah."

"You have to do something for me?"

Leo turned to him after placing the suitcase on the floor. "Anything."

Jed looked up at him. He swallowed hard. He never once, in his life thought he would ask this of Leo. He never once thought that Abbey would be threatened by him. Her own husband. "You have to keep me away from Abbey. You have too. I'll never forgive myself if I hurt her in anyway and what if, God forbid I should kill her."

Surprising even himself Leo did not hesitate to answer right away. "You won't kill her."

Jed blinked. "How can you be sure of that? I never thought I would but now, I don't even know anymore."

He took a seat next to Jed. "I know because you love her. Whatever is going on we will find out what it is and fix it."

"What if,....what if it can't be fixed?"

Leo could se the terror in his best friend's eyes. He did not have an answer so he did the next best thing, he lied. "We will fix it. We will."

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"Sir? Mr. President?"

Jed looked up from his papers. "What?"

Leo didn't need to ask to see everyone in the room were a little concerned with Jed's behaviour. "Ok, why don't we end it here."

Normally no one said or did anything when Leo or the President ended a meeting but something was amiss here. CJ, Toby, Josh, and Will looked at each other wondering who was going to take the first step. Toby sighed as he got up and approached the President. "Sir, are you feeling alright?"

Jed smiled briefly. He could not fault them for being concerned. "I just have some things on my mind. Things I need to sort out."

Toby nodded. "Can we help?"

"No, this is..." The last word came out as a small whisper. "..private."

"Ok."

They all knew that meant him and Abbey. They also knew they probably wouldn't find out anything unless Leo thought they had to know. They all got up, thanked The President as the usually did and started to leave.

As everyone, except Leo, made their way put of the office Jed looked out the window. "this whole day has gone by in slow motion."

"Why don't you call it a day and get some rest. It's getting late." Of course late in this case was fairly early considering they usually had longer days.

"I don't think I could."

"Call it a day?"

"Get some rest."

"Right."

"You know,..." Jed kept looking out the window. "..when I was running for President and before that, I carefully considered any threats there could be against any of my family and how I could prevent them." He sighed deeply as he turned to Leo. "I never once imagined, even in my wildest dreams that the threat would come from me." Jed did not give Leo a chance to answer. There was nothing Leo could say that would make him feel any better. "I'll try and get some rest. See you tomorrow."

The pain in Jed's voice had been evident. "Yeah." As he watched Jed walk away it occurred to him that Jed did not walk in the way he used to. The steps were slower .......

"Charlie?" Jed stopped and waited for Charlie to face him.

Charlie stood as soon as he had heard the call him. "Yes, sir?"

"Go home."

He noted that the President did not look quite himself but did not say it out loud. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Good night." With that Jed Patted Charlie's shoulder, gave him a small smile and left.

As he started gathering his things he noticed Leo come up to him. "Leo, is he ok?"

"He..he's not in the best shape." That was all Leo said as he made his way back to his office. His own steps a little heavier then usual.

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Jed halted and realized he was outside his bedroom. The bedroom he would usually sleep in. He couldn't help wondering what Abbey was doing right now. What she was thinking. Was she afraid he would come in and try to hurt her again? He wanted so much to go to her but that might do more harm then good. It was with a heavy heart he decided she'd be better of alone.

Then again, he had to see her. Would that do any good? Before he changed his mind he knocked on the door while silently hoping she wouldn't hold it against him.

When Abbey heard the knock she knew immediately who it was but she did not hesitate to open the door. There he was, looking as nervous as he did on their first date. "Hi."

She was wearing sweats and still had the scarf around her neck. "Hi." He stammered nervously. "I...I just wanted you know....to say good night."

Abbey checked her watch. "It's early."

"Yeah, well it's been a bad day and I can't really concentrate on anything so...." He didn't need to finish as he saw Abbey nod to him.

"You're taking care of yourself?" She could see that was the last thing he had expected to hear from her.

"Are you kidding? Am I taking care of myself? Abbey....." As she folded her arms he knew what she was doing. "Yeah, I'm taking care of myself."

Abbey saw the agent's glancing around. They seemed to do that whenever she and Jed had personal moments. They probably thought they had another fight. They could go on thinking that. "Good."

"So you've been in all day?" There weren't many times in his life with Abbey that he had been nervous talking to her but this was definitely one of them.

"Yeah." She noticed he wringed his hands. A trait he had when he was uncomfortable. "Resting my voice."

He nodded. "It does sound better."

She was now leaning against the door frame. How she hated when they were like this but this situation was new to them. Nothing like this had ever happened before and she was determined not to let it destroy them. "You want to come in?"

He was surprised at her question but when he saw her smile it made him warm to know he had not scared her away from him. At least not yet. "No, that's ok. I think I should go." He bent forward to kiss her cheek but stopped and withdrew. He was about to leave when he felt a hand on one of his arms and he turned towards her again.

Abbey leaned forward and kissed him.

Jed felt her lips meet his and it was heaven. It was brief but none the less filled with love and care as he had always felt from her. As she drew back he could not help to give her a small smile himself. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She watched as he walked away from her. Once he was out of sight she retreated into the bedroom knowing it would be hard to sleep tonight.

Once the door was closed behind him the tears broke out again. This time he did not care to even try to stop them. Why should he? It was as if his whole life was falling apart. If he lost Abbey then he lost his reason to live. And if he was the cause to loosing her then his girls wouldn't want to have anything to do with him and then he really would have nothing left.

TBC....