Series: Snapshots of the Past (part seven of this series)
Story: Say You Love Me Too
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this story belong to NBC, WB, and Aaron Sorkin. We're just borrowing them for some fun :)
Story Summary: When the aftermath of an attack threatens their life together, Jed must fight for Abbey's love
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Jed Bartlet was a man of many answers. His natural wit and intelligence predisposed him to a life of insatiable curiosity, only slightly satisfied by answers to minute trivia questions and historical facts others rarely found interesting.
He could add some flare to a dull dinner party by enlightening everyone about the history of the word "toast." Traditionally, he would share the history of yams at Thanksgiving and the history of pumpkins at Halloween. Hell, even when it was time to get all dolled up for a cocktail party, he couldn't help but share the history of the tuxedo with his adoring wife, who sat silently and listened with attentive ears each and every time.
He wondered if she was sitting there playing a couple of scenes from "Grease" in her mind while she pretended to be interested. But she wasn't. If her thoughts wandered, it was only to ask herself how such a smart, domineering Renaissance man could be wrapped up in a package as good-looking as him.
As far as she was concerned, he knew everything.
But tonight, he was at a loss. Tonight, he didn't have all the answers. In fact, he had none. On this night, Jed Bartlet was the one full of questions and the reasonable, logical brain of his couldn't conjure up satisfactory answers.
In hopes of finding a clue, his mind raced with memories of the past 24 hours. He recalled every spoken word. Perhaps there was something he hadn't thought of before. He remembered every look. Perhaps there was a stare he hadn't had time to analyze. Something. Anything. He wanted desperately to fit the pieces of the puzzle and find the answers that eluded him.
The night before, he and Abbey were both safe, nestled in each other's arms. After finally succumbing to three weeks of temptation, their lovemaking broke every boundary that had previously been set. Their eager bodies joined together in hot, steamy passion over and over again, reluctantly coming apart only when unmanageable exhaustion set in.
If only he had stayed in bed afterwards. If only he held her until she fell asleep. She always felt safer when he did that. And that's why he usually did it.
But that night, he didn't. Instead, he slipped out from under the warm covers and toddled to his desk in the corner of the small den he used as an office.
She begged him to stay, to turn in early and sleep with their bodies entangled until morning. But he insisted he had papers to grade and no amount of cajoling on her part would change his mind. It was well after 2 a.m. when she found him slumped over the mahogany wood, pen in hand.
"Jed," she called to him in a soft whisper.
He stirred slightly, confused by what was happening. "Mmm?"
"Wake up, Honey. Come to bed."
She supported him with her arms and practically lifted him out of his chair. Sleepy and sluggish, he allowed her to lead him into their bedroom and cooperated fully as she tucked him under the sheets before getting comfortable herself.
The sun barely peeked through the blinds when he awoke to the sound of sizzling bacon strips. His senses a little more alert, he could smell the homecooked breakfast Abbey was preparing in the kitchen. Moments later, while he was stretching the tension from his body, she surprised him with a bedroom tray stacked with eggs, bacon, toast, juice, and coffee. The Devil's food she called it. But if that's what he enjoyed having for breakfast, so be it.
She set the tray in front of him and brushed aside the small strand of hair that sometimes covered his forehead.
If only he had pulled her down beside him to hold her once more. But he didn't.
"Bacon?" he asked instead. "You never let me have bacon."
"I felt particularly sweet today."
"You smell particularly sweet today." Even after 12 years of wedded bliss, he enjoyed the flirting. "When will you be home?"
"7:30ish."
"I have a late meeting tonight, so I won't be home until after 9."
"That's okay. I have a date to play Candyland with Ellie anyway," she replied as she clipped her hair on top of her head and grabbed a light jacket.
"Get her ready. I'm playing with her tomorrow."
"Not to worry. She'll be all warmed up and ready to beat the pants off you." Raising his competitive hackles was always a fun move. She just wished she'd be there to see the fallout. "The girls should be up soon. Breakfast is on the stove. You may want to heat up the eggs a little." She bent forward to drop a kiss to his face, then gently wiped her lipstick before heading towards the door.
"Abbey?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too." And with a smile, she closed the bedroom door and left.
If only he had stopped her. If only he had come up with an excuse to force her to take the day off. If only he could have gone with her to work.
Questions weren't the only things dominating his mind tonight. Regrets took up most of the room.
He returned from work around 9:30 and was surprised to see Paige's car parked in the driveway. That should have been his first sign that something had happened, that something was amiss, that something was terribly wrong. Always the optimist, he called the hospital, expecting yet another excuse from his wife about the unexpected duties of a doctor.
Right now, he would have given anything to hear the excuse, to just hear her voice, regardless of what she said.
But when he called, he was told Abbey had left at seven, just as she was supposed to.
"Could you stay with the kids a little while longer?" he asked Paige. "I'm going to drive to the hospital."
"Of course. You don't think there's anything wrong?"
"No, I'm sure she's fine. She's probably just having car trouble. I just don't want her on the side of the road somewhere."
Was that an explanation for Paige's benefit, or his own, he wondered. He was fighting a feeling of uneasiness, brought on by anxiety. Something didn't feel right and if it didn't feel right, chances were it wasn't right. He and Abbey were connected in every way possible. Most of the time, they knew when the other was upset, if the other was sick or in danger. They just knew. It was like lovers ESP, they used to joke.
He could feel his nerves in the pit of his stomach. He held his breath as he pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and saw her car parked just a few feet away from the staff entrance. His eyes drawn to the shiny object on the ground, he rose to his feet and stared down at it, eventually kneeling to pick it up. It was her keyring. Abandoned and just a little bent, the golden loop held three keys along with a picture Lizzie and Ellie.
Abbey never would have dropped it, unless she had to.
There were visible scratches on the frame of her car, probably caused by one of her keys. They were zigzagged across the front door and even the hood. Unlikely that it could have happened unless she was struggling or fighting with someone, he deduced.
The brown clip she used to hold her hair had been broken. The spring and a few of the teeth were scattered on the pavement, a few locks of auburn tresses with them. He picked them up loosely and stretched them over his open palm. It was Abbey's hair. It was Abbey's clip and Abbey's car and Abbey's keyring. But there was no Abbey.
He ran through the double doors, interrupting the first nurse he saw. "My wife, Dr. Bartlet. Have you seen her?"
His frantic calls for help frightened the staff and within a few seconds, many other nurses gathered around. "Dr. Bartlet left a few hours ago. Is something wrong?"
"Yes, something's wrong! She never came home! I found these in the parking lot." He opened his hand and allowed the contents to fall onto the counter. "I don't know where she is."
The nursing supervisor and another resident, a friend of Abbey's, called the police. It took only minutes for two officers to arrive. They scoured the parking lot as another detective escorted a protesting Jed back home.
And that's where he was now. That's where he was forced to sit and wait. Abbey was out there somewhere in the world and he was safe and sound in the confines of their house. It wasn't fair. He wanted to let the police do their job without interference, but it just wasn't fair.
His eyes fixated on the small hand of the clock, he held his daughters tight in his arms, Lizzie to his right, and Ellie a little closer on his left. Dressed in their pajamas and ready for bed, the girls refused to be alone until their mother was home.
And so they waited. It was 4 a.m. and all they could do was wait.
Suddenly, a knock on the door presented some hope, just a tiny bit of the relief that he had been longing for. He sprang to his feet and ran to open it, immediately disappointed and sinking into an even deeper level of sadness.
"Where is she?" Mary asked curtly.
"Hi. I don't know where she is. How did you know?"
"No thanks to you!" James snapped.
"James, stop it. Elizabeth called."
All eyes turned to Lizzie. She shrugged her shoulders and donned the same sad expression as her father. "I'm sorry. I was just scared."
"It's okay, Sweetheart. You did the right thing," Jed assured her.
"Why didn't YOU call us?" James asked him.
Mary greeted both girls with a kiss, then turned a disgusted look towards her husband. "That doesn't matter right now. What's going on? Why aren't we all out there looking for her?"
"The police wanted me out of the way at the hospital. They wanted to ask me some questions and they wanted to do it here. They asked me to stay home with the girls until we hear from them." He approached his father-in-law, cautiously taking small steps towards the angry man. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't call you. We didn't know anything and I've barely had time to process this myself. I didn't want to worry you."
"We live two hours away, Jed. When something like this happens, you call."
The conversation came to a halt as Ellie and Jed raced towards the ringing phone. Ellie won.
"Mommy? Mommy?"
Her cheery voice brought tears to everyone's eyes, including Lizzie's. The four-year-old didn't understand much about what was going on, but she knew one thing. She wanted her mother.
"She's been doing that all night," Jed began, his voice catching in his throat. "Every time it rings..." It broke his heart to hear her soft cries as he removed the receiver from her tiny fingers and held her in his arms. "Hello?"
Everyone waited with bated breath hoping this was the call that would change the course of the evening. They realized it wasn't Abbey from Ellie's disappointed sobs, but hope was not lost. Not yet.
"What's happening?" James asked before Jed could hang up phone.
"They're sending another officer here to the house. They haven't found her."
Meanwhile, down a dark, deserted road only a block from the hospital, Abbey wobbled alongside the curb. She headed towards the lit building as if it was her guide out of the hell she had experienced. Her clothes were torn and her bra had been sliced, but she was still wearing her underwear and even in her bewildered state of mind, she knew that was a good sign.
She staggered through the double doors, drawing stares from others. Her hair was tousled and frizzy, her hands and clothes soaked with blood, most of it not her own.
"Dr. Bartlet?" one of the nurses called, shocked by the woman's appearance. "Dr. Bartlet?"
Confused and dazed, Abbey's knees suddenly gave out, causing her to crash to the ground.
TBC