Story: Phoenix
Chapter 7
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: Jed and Abbey were horrified to see press coverage of the start of the Iran hostage crisis; when Lizzie's Persian friend, Sara, missed school, Lizzie went to her house without telling her parents; Abbey feared the worst when Liz didn't come home on the school bus
Summary: Jed gets insight into Sara's family; Abbey is angry at Lizzie; Jed tries to ease Abbey's stress
As soon as Jed drove through the ragged fence of the complex, he began scanning the numbers on the pillars outside the buildings. It was a circular drive through the worn-down parking lot before he finally located the paint-chipped unit that belonged to Sara's family. He stopped his car next to a yellow taxicab which sat isolated from the other spots as if deserted on that stretch of pavement.
He stepped out slowly, squinting to read the scripted addresses as he headed up the stairway to the apartment on the left, his eyes caught on the domed light that kept flickering every few seconds.
"Hi," Hashem greeted him as he opened the door.
"Hi." Jed extended his hand. "Jed Bartlet."
"Hashem. It's nice to meet you. Come in." He spoke with a deep Middle Eastern accent and paused between his words, obviously struggling with his English.
"I'm sorry about this. Lizzie knows better than to just drop in on people." With a few steps inside, Jed glanced at his surroundings. The white walls were bare except for a portrait of a young girl designed solely from an authentic Persian rug that was molded to an antique frame.
"Sara was very upset today. I'm happy her friends came." He followed Jed's gaze to the portrait. "My mother made that when Sara was born."
"I'm sorry for staring. It's just so beautiful." He followed the red, brown, and purple lines with the tips of his fingers. "It's a rug. It's made out of carpet?"
"Yes, Sir. The image is sculpted...cut, really, into the shape you see there."
Jed chuckled at the formality. "Please, call me Jed."
"Can I get you tea? Hot tea?"
"No, thanks. I'm fine."
He nodded as he called for his daughter. "Sara, Lizzie's father is here!"
Amy, Sara, and Lizzie walked down the short hallway that separated the two bedrooms from the combination living room/dining room. Lizzie hid a few steps behind her two friends, an attempt to avoid the inevitable look of anger she was certain was plastered on her father's face.
"Hi, Mr. Bartlet." Amy was the first to speak.
"Hi," Sara added.
"Hi there," Jed replied, smiling at all three girls.
Lizzie nudged Sara to continue. "Mr. Bartlet, can Lizzie stay just a few more minutes? We're in the middle of a game."
"I think Lizzie's mother wants her home." Jed couldn't deny Sara's sparkling brown eyes that fell in disappointment from his answer. He looked to his daughter standing just behind her, then addressed Sara once again. "I'll tell you what. You guys have five minutes to finish your game. Okay?"
"Thank you!" Sara and Amy both exclaimed as Lizzie flashed a grateful smile.
"Thanks, Dad."
He watched them disappear down the same hallway to Sara's room before turning to Hashem. "You said Sara's been upset?"
He didn't need to be told. He could see that the Sara he had met twice before wasn't the same girl he was seeing now. She was sad and subdued, her energetic spirit broken by the fear that touched her with every prank phone call.
"Yes," Hashem answered. "She stayed home from school today. I was worried."
"Why?"
"People...been calling ever since..."
"Have they been threatening you?" Hashem shook his head slightly, reluctant to admit the true nature of the troubling calls. "Hashem, if they have been, we can do something. We can..."
He shook his head again, this time a little more forcefully. "I don't want to. I understand."
"Understand what?"
"The anger. My country...the people in my country are doing terrible things."
"But you didn't," Jed said without a hint of doubt. "And it's not right for anyone to blame you. In fact, it's illegal for them to harass you."
"That's what my wife, Manaz, said too. She is proud of her heritage, of where she comes from." His voice broke for a second before he began again. "I'm not."
It was an incomprehensible thought to Jed, a man who took pride in revealing the contributions of his ancestor, his namesake. He was caught visibly off-guard. "What?"
"Do you know what it's like to be ashamed of your own country? Ashamed to say where you're from?"
He saw the anguish in Hashem's face at having to ask such a question. He nodded in a forced gesture of understanding as he changed the subject. "Do you have other kids?"
Hashem led the way to a small sofa in the corner of the room, allowing Jed to sit down before he sat beside him. "Yes. We have Yasmin. She's two. And my wife...she is pregnant."
"Congratulations! So is mine."
"And you have another daughter, no? Sara went to her birthday party."
"Yes, she did. Ellie turned five last month."
"I didn't know how expensive children were," Hashem said with a light laugh. "Especially in America."
"Why did you make the move?"
"I want to go to American university. I'm at community college now."
"What are you studying?"
"I want to be a civil engineer. But it isn't easy. I can't afford to go to school only so I drive a cab also."
"Oh. Was that your taxi out front?"
Hashem nodded. "I'm here on student visa so I have to go to school full-time. This session, I don't have the money and Manaz is pregnant again." He took a breath and crinkled his brows enough to bring out the lines on his face. "We didn't want another baby. We tried to use..."
He paused to find the word as Jed finished for him. "...birth control."
"Yes."
"It doesn't always work," Jed said with a grin. "Believe me, I know."
Hashem responded with a grin of his own. "Thank you for wanting to help us with the people who call."
"That's a standing offer." Jed shifted his body to confront him directly. "I mean it. If you want to, we can talk to the police, maybe have a tracer put on your phone. If they're making threats..."
Hashem raised his hand to stop him. "Like I said, I understand. They're mad now. I'll give them time."
Two months ago, Jed couldn't wait to get a glimpse into the lives of this family. But every attempt to meet Sara's parents was met with trepidation from Lizzie. He had assumed, at first, that perhaps the hesitation was with his own daughter. But now, he realized the reluctance was grounded in such uneasiness on Hashem's part.
The two men sat side by side as Jed averted his prying eyes, unwilling to show his curiosity in the face of such sadness and unwarranted shame. It was something he couldn't even begin to understand.
Meanwhile, Abbey waited by the window, anxiously gripping the light cream underlay of the gauzy white curtains. Her temples were throbbing from her earlier panic. The momentary prick of pain in her stomach quickly subsided when Jed and Lizzie pulled into the driveway.
Jed opened the door for Liz to walk ahead of him. Mother and daughter locked eyes, Abbey breaking the stare by pulling her into a fierce embrace.
"Lizzie!" Ellie called as she ran to her sister and wrapped her hands around both of them.
"Hey, El."
"I thought you got lost."
"No, I just went to a friend's house." Lizzie pulled away from the three-way hug and looked at her mother. "But I called. I did call."
"The phone never even rang," Abbey replied in a calm, unemotional tone.
"That's because it was busy."
"Then you didn't get permission, did you?" Abbey watched as Lizzie shrugged her backpack off her shoulders and slammed it onto the sofa with a sigh of exasperation. It was obvious she had already been through this with Jed. "Did you?" she asked again, this time a little louder.
Lizzie shook her head. "No. But I did call."
"That's not how things work and you know it. You get permission BEFORE you go somewhere and if you don't have permission, then you come home. We've told you that over and over again."
"I just went to Sara's."
Abbey nodded dismissively. "Well, that's the last time you'll be doing that for a while."
"Daddy already told me."
Jed stepped beside Abbey. "I grounded her for the rest of this week and all of next."
"You got off easy," Abbey said to Lizzie, her anger more apparent now. "I would have said till Christmas."
"It's not even Thanksgiving!"
"How about that?" she snapped.
"That isn't fair! You can't do that! Daddy already told me the rest of the week and next and you can't take that back!"
Silently, Jed sided with Liz, but he refused to undermine Abbey in front of her. "Lizzie, go get out of your school clothes. We'll talk about this later."
"It's not fair," Lizzie muttered again as she pouted on the way to her bedroom, Ellie trailing a few feet behind.
Abbey waited for the inevitable slam of the door before speaking to Jed. "You shouldn't have grounded her without talking to me. We should have made that decision together."
"She actually did try to call," Jed firmly announced. "I believe her."
"Don't defend what she did. She knows the rules and she doesn't care. She always does whatever the hell she wants to do!" Abbey turned her back to him.
"Always?" he questioned.
"It's not the first time she's pulled something like this. She's gotten away with it since she was a little girl."
"So we're taking past behavior into consideration?"
Abbey walked further away from him, retreating to the small corner on the side of the window. "Do you remember how much it scared you when she ran off to your father's?"
"That was six years ago."
"Yes it was. And nothing's changed."
Jed approached her as she continued to gaze out into the front yard. "A lot has changed. She's changed, Abbey. She understood why what she did was wrong. She gets that."
"It doesn't stop her from doing it."
"She thought Sara needed her. And, actually, I think she was right about that."
"How is Sara?" she asked, softening her language as she looked at Jed.
"I don't know. The whole family is just shaken up. That's why Lizzie went over."
"I'm proud of her for wanting to help, but she doesn't get to decide what's a good enough reason to break the rules, and that's what this is about - her blatant disregard for OUR rules."
When she turned again, Jed caressed her upper arms, causing her to lean her body into his. With his hands clasped across her chest from behind, he could feel her trembling form pressed up against him. "You're not just mad at her for not coming home."
She spun into his embrace, their bodies now facing each other. "Of course I am."
"She scared you today as much as she scared me six years ago, but it's different," he countered. "You're mad because you're still scared." Abbey lowered her eyes in silent confirmation. "You're shaking. I can feel you shaking."
His index finger balanced under her chin, Jed lifted her head. Her beautiful features were marked with droopy skin, her lines deeper thanks to a sad frown and exaggerated expressions. He pulled on her shoulders until she was snuggled back in his strong, protective arms where he held her, stroking her back continually until her muscles eventually relaxed.
"Come with me," he instructed as he took her hand.
"I need to start dinner," Abbey protested, her attempt to turn to the kitchen impeded by him.
"Don't worry about dinner. We'll order Chinese. Just come with me."
She followed him into the master bedroom. He sat her on the edge of the bed and wandered into the bathroom, leaving her to hear the water rushing out of the faucet, splashing on the bottom of the porcelain tub.
"Jed?" She stood to poke her head around the corner. "I don't have time for a bath."
"Sure you do." Jed walked behind her. His fingers grasped the silver zipper of her rosy sweater dress and slowly followed the seamed pathway down to her hips.
He curled his hands on either shoulder, gliding them across her silky smooth skin until they pushed the fabric off the top of her arms. It fell down her body and pooled around her ankles, her panties following the same track. He unhooked the clasp on her bra, letting it drop down on top, then took her hand as she stepped out of the puddle of clothing.
"This isn't necessary," Abbey insisted.
Jed picked up a bottle of strawberry bubble bath and mixed it with a capful of vanilla bath oil then held it under the running water. He returned behind Abbey, his fingertips gripping her hips then following the trail up her spine to her neck. He gently rubbed the skin as his hands penetrated the tense muscles.
"You really did a number on yourself today," he whispered.
"I guess I did."
"You're right, I shouldn't have grounded Lizzie without talking to you."
"Thank you." She relaxed her neck against his touch while he inhaled the lavender scent of her hair.
"I explained to her that while we appreciate her trying to help her friend, she worried both of us very much. She agreed it was inconsiderate and promised me it would never, ever happen again."
"I've heard those promises before. We both have." She succumbed to the physical release, rubbing her backside against him as his fingers continued the kneading.
"I tried to handle it in a calm way so she understood WHY this was such a big deal, that we weren't just punishing her for going to Sara's, that it was important that we know where she is at all times."
With a look of panic, Abbey turned sharply. "You didn't remind her about him, did you?" For months, she had tried to ensure the scary aftermath of her attack vanished from her daughter's memory.
"I didn't have to. She's not a baby. She understands."
"I don't want to reinforce it." It was that little side of her that wanted to shelter Lizzie and Ellie from the venom of the world's evil.
"I know. I didn't say a word you wouldn't have wanted me to."
Abbey nodded her approval. "I admit your punishment was fair. But if she breaks her promise, if there's a next time..."
"We ground her for a year. I warned her."
"Okay."
She let out a faint gasp, opening her eyes when he stopped massaging her shoulders only to see him kneeled down beside the tub. As his fingers sprinkled a few drops of the bathwater, Abbey took a step in his direction.
"Give it a minute. It's too warm," he told her, blocking her way as he turned the faucet.
She smiled sweetly at his concern. It wasn't unexpected. This was Jed. This is who he is. Caring. Considerate. Protective. Every morning, he'd take a small sip of her tea before bringing it to her, his way of ensuring she didn't burn her lips.
"You always take care of me."
"We take care of each other," Jed informed her, testing the temperature one more time after a splash of cold water. "Okay, I think we're good to go."
He rested a hand on the small of her back as he helped her climb into the sweet-smelling bubbles. Abbey sank down to her knees and leaned against the tiled wall. "There's plenty of room if you want to join me."
"I'm right here." Fully clothed, he sat beside her and dipped a wash cloth into the tub, lightly sliding the soaked tip up the length of her arms. "I just want you to relax."
"I'm finding that a lot easier to do now."
"Good." What a relief. "Still having morning sickness?"
She shook her head. "I'm fine."
"You always say that and I always worry about you."
She melted the tepid stream of floating bubbles, her limbs gradually loosening with the release of tension. "I know I say it a lot, but this time I mean it." She put her hand over his wrist, forcing him to stop and simply look at her. "I'm really okay now."
Those emerald orbs always held such trust and honesty. She was being truthful. For the moment, she was okay. And for the moment, to Jed, that was all that mattered.
TBC