A/N: Updates are going to slow down a bit, since real life has gotten in the way a bit. Also, my Gaelic comes from various websites & translations that I had to cobble together, since I don't speak it, unfortunately, so I apologize for my atrocious grammar and incorrect word usage in advance.

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Kate followed the agent up to the Residence and waited quietly while he got the First Lady. She came running up to the door when the agent had told her who it was. She looked Kate up and down and studied the look on her face. She looked lost, confused and upset. Just as Abbey opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, she beat her to it.

"Aintín Abbey…cabhraím."

In an instant, Abbey pulled her into an embrace and guided her inside. If she was using Gaelic, then there was definitely something wrong. She only spoke it if she was very upset or angry. She settled her on the couch in the sitting room and sat in an armchair diagonally across from where Kate was sitting. Abbey saw the tears in her eyes and asked softly, "Katie, sweetheart, what's wrong?"

She dropped her head and said something that Abbey couldn't understand.

"Sweetie, I couldn't understand you. What'd you say?"

Kate raised her head, tears running down her face. "Sam," she whispered.

Abbey studied her face before saying anything. She looked upset and heartbroken, and she was clenching her hands. She crossed over to the couch and laid a hand over one of Kate's and said softly, "What happened?"

She dropped her head again and Abbey noticed that she was blushing furiously. "Katie, I can't help you unless you tell me what happened. It's OK to be embarrassed, but I need to know what happened between the two of you."

Kate raised her head and began to tell Abbey what had happened. She found herself smiling as she told her that Sam had made sure Kate wasn't alone while she slept and how safe and loved she felt when he held her. He was just the type of man to do that, Abbey thought. Kate began to tell her about the incident that led to her running from the townhouse.

"…and he was only running his fingertips along the sides of my neck while we kissed, but I was so confused. I didn't understand what I was feeling and I got scared. I pushed myself away from him so hard that I pretty much rolled out of his lap. He tried to calm me, but I was so startled that I just ran. Once I got to the Metro, I realized that I left my meds there; my original scripts. I was still so wound up and knew I couldn't go back there."

"What were you feeling, honey?"

"My chest felt hot and tight, like a wildfire. I had goose bumps all over and I was tingling. I didn't know what any of it meant. That's why I ran. I was so confused about what was going on inside me that I couldn't think straight. I just knew I had to run."

At that moment, she knew what her adopted niece was feeling. After her assault, she changed from a quiet, relatively happy child to one that was extremely withdrawn and painfully shy. The treatment that she'd received at Jenny's hands and from classmates at school didn't really help, either. In the 2 ½ months that she and Sam had been dating, she'd watched her confidence levels shoot up. Sam was good for her. She'd noticed that he complimented her every chance he got, and he always told Kate that he loved her. Whenever they were together in public or with friends, they were always in close proximity to each other, holding hands or doing something else discreetly tactile.

Abbey knew why she ran. She didn't understand what her body was doing and got scared. She didn't want her to be scared of a perfectly natural reaction and lose a wonderful thing. She knew what she had to do.

"Did you like the way that those things felt?"

"Yeah, I did. What do those things mean, Aunt Abbey? Is there something wrong with me?" Abbey smiled to herself. She would say something like that. She, as much as anyone, valued a good Catholic school education, but now she was seeing the damage that could be inflicted by one that was too strictly governed by the Catechism and not by solid education principles.

"Honey, I need you to listen to me as a doctor, OK? I want to make sure that you understand what's going on with you."

"OK." Kate had no idea what she meant by that. Would what her aunt tell her help her understand why she'd felt the way she did?

"Neither of you did anything wrong. What you were feeling was just part of your body's sexual response. The way that Sam ran his fingers along the sides of your neck, along with other factors, hit an 'on' switch inside you and that's what triggered the responses you had. It's entirely natural and nothing to be frightened of."

She answered haltingly. "So…it's OK for me to feel like that? I-I won't get in trouble?"

Abbey smiled at her gently. "Not only is it OK, sweetheart, it's expected. It's going to take you a while for you to know what your reactions are, but I have a feeling," Abbey's smile grew as she continued, "that Sam would love the chance to help you with this."

She shook her head. "I don't think that Sam really wants to see me right now. I think I upset him very badly with the way I ran out."

"I don't think that that's the case, hon. If I know Sam as well as I think I do, He's probably more worried than anything. He loves you so much. Jed's told me that if he even mentions you in passing at Senior Staff, he gets this faraway look on his face. It's obvious to everyone around him that he's entirely in love with you."

She put her arm around the young woman's shoulders. "Why don't we do this? Stay here tonight and go to see Sam in the morning. You'll be fine without 1 dose of your meds, and it'll give you time to get your head around this before you see him. There is one thing that you'll need to do that's going to be quite hard for you, but it has to be done, if for nothing else than to make sure that Sam knows where you're coming from."

"What's…oh. I have to do that? Why?"

"He needs to know what happened to you in Ireland before you came here. This way he'll know why you react to certain things the way you do. If for nothing else, he'll know where your limits are. Come on, sweetie. Let's go see what the staff's making for dinner."

She followed her aunt toward the kitchen, her mind spinning the whole time. How would she tell him about this? More importantly, how would he react? Her old fears and insecurities began to slowly make their way to the surface. It was going to be a very long night for her, only to be followed by an even longer day.

Sam sat back on his couch and rubbed his eyes as he tried to wrap up the first draft of the position paper that he'd held meetings on during the past week, but his mind wasn't really on the paper. He closed his eyes as he thought about what happened that afternoon. What had he done to cause her to run?

She'd seemed so receptive to his advances, which he'd made sure were slow and gentle so he wouldn't frighten her. He kept going over the sequence of events in his head, but couldn't figure out why she'd run. All he really wanted was just a bit more tactile contact, the chance to feel more of her skin under his fingertips. Kate was like a drug for him; mind-altering, overpowering and addictive. He couldn't help but want more and more of her. Suddenly, the answer hit him over the head like Tribbey going after him with a cricket bat.

She'd been raped and assaulted when she was 13.

He felt horrible. How could he have forgotten? He remembered when he and the First Lady'd had their discussion not too long after he'd started dating Kate and she'd told him about her life. Why couldn't he remember that? Why had he been so selfish and not even considered what she might be feeling? He began to smack his head into the back of the couch as he mentally berated himself for scaring her off. Suddenly, he stopped himself in mid-arc, thinking he'd heard something. He listened very carefully and heard a soft tapping on the front door.

He looked at the clock. 2:15AM, and it was raining hard outside. 'Probably a branch caught in the fixture outside that keeps smacking into the door,' he thought. He got up to go to the front door so he could dislodge it and go to sleep.