Story: Phoenix
Chapter 26
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: Jed and Abbey gave Zoey a middle name; Zoey got to go home for the very first time; Abbey asked Father Cavanaugh to hear her confession
Summary: It's the day of Zoey's christening and Jed has an enlightening conversation with his father; Abbey defends Jed to John
AN: I can't believe how long this story has taken to tell (four months!). We enjoyed telling it and we especially enjoyed all the support and encouragement we've received from you guys. You keep us motivated and for that, I want to say thank you!
"Unforgettable, that's what you are..."
Jed Bartlet was a man of many talents. Aside from being a savvy local politician and brilliant economics professor, he was a world-class father who could transform himself into an enchanting vocalist at the drop of a hat if it meant he'd win his children's love. It was the way he bonded with one-week-old Lizzie. It was how he kept a newborn Ellie's attention. And on this day, hunched over his youngest daughter's crib in the master bedroom, it was how he mesmerized baby Zoey.
His knees bent repeatedly in a delicate bounce and his entire frame swayed to the tune of Nat King Cole's Unforgettable. Only half dressed, he stepped away from the crib and slipped into a white shirt, tucking the tails into his navy slacks without missing a single beat.
On the other side of the room, two pairs of eyes peeked through the small crack in the door. Giggles immediately followed as Ellie sat on the floor and looked on while Liz hovered above her and cupped her hands around her eyes for the best possible view.
Initially, Jed missed their girlish laughs, but seconds later when he paused during his song, he caught a second of the unmistakable sound. "I hear you, Girls."
Ellie stood up and Liz quickly closed the door. Her hands grabbed the knob with all her might as if that would keep him away.
"Your sisters think they're so smart," Jed told Zoey, loud enough to purposely penetrate the thin walls. "They think I don't know that they've made a regular habit out of eavesdropping, despite your mother's and my objection. Do me a favor, Zoey. When you're older, don't let them drag you into their shenanigans."
With one hand, he yanked on the knob forcefully enough to pull Liz into the room.
"Hi," she said sheepishly.
"Hi. You wanna join us?"
"Ellie was curious."
"No, I wasn't!"
Jed hid his amusement as Ellie stepped up next to her sister to dispute the accusation. He folded his arms in front of his chest and approached both girls. "What's so funny?"
"Mommy says you wiggle your eyebrows when you sing."
Lizzie nudged her little sister. "Ellie!"
"She did say it and she didn't say I can't tell Daddy." The five-year-old addressed Liz then turned back to her father. "And he does wiggle his eyebrows."
"Yeah, I do wiggle my eyebrows, but that isn't what you guys were laughing at. What else did your mother tell you?"
"Nothing," Liz answered before Ellie could say another word.
Unconvinced, Jed donned a gloomy expression and kneeled in front of his middle daughter. "Eleanor, don't you want to tell your dad what it is that Mommy said? Come on. It would make me so happy."
"Hey, that isn't fair!" Liz argued, knowing Ellie couldn't resist her father's sad face.
Jed silently agreed and stood to confront Liz. "Tell me."
"Uh uh." Liz adamantly shook her head.
"Okay." If they didn't want to tell, he wasn't going to force them. Or so he wanted them to believe. He turned away momentarily then fiercely whirled around. His hands gripped Lizzie's waist and he lifted her into the air, spinning her around three times before dropping her on the bed.
The eleven-year-old's screams were mixed with laughter as Jed began to tickle her unmercifully. "I'm not gonna tell!"
"Tell me!" he teased Lizzie as his right hand coiled around a giggly Ellie to drag her into the fray.
Within seconds, the situation that rapidly escalated into a rowdy three-way pillow fight between father and daughters was abruptly cut short by Zoey's fussy objection. Squirming around in her crib, the baby's hardened cries drowned out the laughter of her sisters and forced Jed to jump to his feet to tend to her.
"Did we scare you, Sunshine?" He reached under her fidgety form and pulled her out of the crib into a comforting embrace. "We're just playing. Everyone's okay. We're not the hooligans you must think we are."
"Sure we are!" Lizzie replied.
"What does that mean?" Ellie asked.
Jed opened his mouth to answer Ellie and simultaneously correct Liz, but the doorbell interrupted his thoughts. "Lizzie, go answer the door."
"Okay." She slid off the bed and mumbled as she brushed by her father on the way out. "She said your brows aren't the only things you wiggle."
Her triumphant snicker echoed through the room and she turned her head slightly to hear his reaction while she walked down the hallway.
"Do you have a problem with my dance moves?" he shouted.
"Not me. Mom," Lizzie shouted back just as she came face to face with her grandfather.
John stood in the doorway, a neatly wrapped present in his hand and a wide smile on his face. "Elizabeth?"
"Hi." She recognized the features. She knew the voice. She may not have seen him in more than six years, but she hadn't forgotten this man.
"May I come in?"
Lizzie nodded and cleared the way. "Daddy's getting ready for the christening."
John took a long look at his granddaughter. From head to toe, his eyes glanced over the preteen he had last seen as a little girl. "You've certainly grown up to be a beautiful young woman."
"Thanks." She smiled.
"May I have a hug?" He opened his arms to her and took a few steps to close the gap between them. Liz returned the hug without hesitation.
"Lizzie, who was at the d..." Jed cut himself off, startled at the sight of his father. "Dad?"
John pulled away from Liz. "Hi, Son."
"I thought you were meeting us at the church."
"I thought I could grab a ride with you. Maybe we could catch up before the ceremony." He handed him the gift he was still holding.
"Thanks."
"What is it?" Lizzie asked.
"It's a surprise," Jed answered.
"For Zoey. Why can't I know"
"Go get your coat." Jed used a serious tone now, proof that his jovial mood had instantaneously disappeared. Liz did as she was told, leaving the living room in favor of her bedroom. "Abbey's setting up at the reception hall and everyone else is meeting us at church."
"Where are Eleanor and Zoey?" John detected the tension that promptly stiffened his son's posture, but he continued. "I've never met either one of them."
Jed wasn't shocked by the implied request, but any time he was confronted with the thought of introducing his daughters to his father, his calm demeanor suddenly faded into an anxiety-ridden bundle of nerves. He did his best to disguise his trepidation and led the older man to the master bedroom without further comment.
"Ellie..."
"Oh my God. She's precious!" John interrupted his son, darting out from behind him and scooping Ellie up into his arms. "I'm your Grandpa Bartlet."
"Hi." Ellie greeted him quietly.
Noticing his daughter's discomfort, Jed intervened to take her out of John's hold. "Dad, she's shy."
John backed away.. "She's fine. Aren't you, Sweet Girl?" Ellie nodded. "See?"
Jed knew his daughter better than that. She would never hurt the man's feelings, but she certainly didn't look like she wanted to be held by a total stranger. He clutched her frame and took her out of his John's hands. "Ellie, do me a favor. Go get your coat and tell your sister we're going to leave in a few minutes. We're already late."
"Okay!" He lowered her to the ground and watched her skip out of the room.
"I wasn't going to hurt her."
"Ellie doesn't know you. She has to get to know you in order to feel comfortable with you. That's just how she is."
Shyness wasn't a foreign concept to John. Growing up, he was a lot like Ellie, shyer than his brothers, more reserved than his father. "Does that mean you're going to let me get to know her?"
"Maybe," Jed replied. "As long as, this time, you respect my wishes. If you pull what you pulled with Lizzie ever again, that's it. You're out of all our lives for good."
A tense moment passed between the two men as silence lingered in the air and they exchanged a menacing glance. Usually the first to back down and apologize any time he struck a nerve, Jed held his ground this time, refusing to surrender to his father's steely glare.
"And, of course, this is Zoey." John walked around Jed to get to the crib, ignoring the warning without anything more than a look of discontent.
"Please don't pick her up. She's sleeping. We want her to sleep now because it's going to be a long day."
"I won't pick her up," he promised, his hands raised to appease Jed. "She looks healthy. Is she?"
"She's okay right now. We have to keep a close eye on her for the next several years. Regular doctors visits to make sure she's growing and developing as she should be." Just when Jed and Abbey were comfortable with all the tricks of parenting, Zoey's birth had thrown them a curve ball.
"I spent a lot of time wishing nothing but good things for her, and for you and Abbey."
His numerous cards and phone calls had proclaimed his concern, but hearing John say the words in person filled Jed's heart with a warmth he didn't expect. It touched him in a way his father rarely had before. "That means a lot."
"I appreciate you inviting me to the christening. Really." John stared down adoringly at his youngest granddaughter, careful not to wake her as he gently pressed a finger to his lips then dropped it to Zoey's forehead.
"Abbey and I talked about it and we decided that you should be there if you wanted to be."
"It was nice of you to ask your brother to be her Godfather, especially since he was so hurt that you neglected to ask him to do that for Elizabeth and Eleanor."
Well, that didn't take long. No matter how insignificant it may have been, John's verbal jab provoked a rise in Jed's defensive hackles. "Abbey wanted her sister and brother-in-law for Lizzie, and for Ellie, we chose Millie and Leo. I spoke to Jack about it. He understood."
"He's your brother, Jed. Family should come first."
"I know what he is. I made the decision that was best for my girls."
"If you didn't think he was good enough then, why now?"
"Dad, do we have to do this? Today?" This was a no-win situation and with John Bartlet, any no-win situation could easily lead to an explosive argument.
"It was because he reminded you too much of me, wasn't it? It was because you feared if you let your brother get close, it would mean you'd have to let me get close too."
"I'm not going to discuss this with you."
John spoke louder, his head tilting with Jed's so his words couldn't be avoided. "And now, you've finally realized you can't shut us out. You invited me, you asked Jack to be Godfather."
"Yes."
"You're letting us back in, Jed," he said calmly.
Jed could have sworn he heard his father's voice tremble for the very first time, but before it could fully register, John paused and it was up to him to fill the silent void. "I don't think we should go down this road."
"Thank you. That's all I wanted to say. Thank you."
It had taken more than 30 years for Jed to feel a glimmer of hope in the tenuous relationship with his father. It wasn't what John said. It was the way he said it. Ten thousand apologies, ten thousand thank yous could never equal one gracious comment said with as much sincerity.
"I'm glad you came today," was all he could say.
"I'm glad I came too."
Jed lifted Zoey out of her crib and cradled the sleeping infant in his arms as he gestured to the white christening gown draped over the chest. "Can you..."
"Oh. Sure." The gown in his hand, John followed Jed out of the bedroom, called out for the girls, and helped get them settled in the car.
Just as he had hoped, the ride to the church provided John with an opportunity to get reacquainted with his son. Though his attempts at deeper conversation were skirted by Jed, he settled for a lighter exchange to learn about the legal side of the aftermath of Abbey's attack and the five-year prison sentence bestowed upon Frank Crews.
Jed was delighted to share the story, not because of the lackluster punishment Frank received, but because he was thrilled to emphasize the fact that he and Abbey were a united front now, both determined to show up at regular parole hearings to ensure the bastard served every single day of his sentence.
Usually responding with an air of indifference to Jed's political accomplishments, John compensated for past mistakes with an exaggerated show of pride at learning about the situation with Hashem and Manaz, the immigrant couple targeted by the INS in the midst of the Iran hostage crisis. He listened attentively as Jed explained the reason he encouraged them to seek legal counsel and even helped Hashem draft a letter to President Carter. It was that letter, sent during a Presidential election year and forwarded to INS headquarters in the nation's capital, that sparked another investigation and eventually, cleared Hashem to begin the Green Card process so he could discard his student visa status and the family could stay in the country.
As an impetuous token of support, John even agreed when Jed mapped out his legislative agenda. The Crimes Against Women's Bill had already been introduced and, in the coming weeks, state legislators would hear his proposal to mandate lower prices for dairy products. Nothing would come of it, of that he was sure. But if he could convince just a few colleagues, it would put a dent in a regional bill that was a shorter, simpler, much earlier version of what would someday be known as the New England Dairy Farmer's Compact, a bill that Jed would vote against as a state representative and later, as a United States Congressman.
Jed wasn't sure why his father was being conciliatory, but he didn't question it. Perhaps on any other day, he would have. But not today. On this day, a little miracle by the name of Zoey was being baptized. He wouldn't allow anything to ruin it.
Zoey whimpered as they slowed down to approach the steep driveway of the church. She was agitated and impatient, still tired and yet restless. Her whimpers soon turned to cries and Jed's feeble attempts to squash them went virtually unnoticed by the baby.
He lifted her out of the car and rubbed her back with soothing strokes, but she simply crinkled her nose and cried a little harder. "Look, Zoey. Mommy's coming. You're going to dry those tears for Mommy, aren't you?"
Her hands extended and reaching for Zoey, Abbey greeted her family. "I was wondering what was taking so long." She took Zoey into her arms. "Hi, Sweetheart."
"She's been a little fussy all day," Jed told her. "The only thing that seems to calm her is my singing."
"Then I guess you'll have to sing."
"I would, Babe, but I'm afraid all that 'wiggling' might scare the guests." He winked at her as her eyes widened with surprise and she looked over her shoulder to address her two daughters.
"The three of us are going to have a talk later."
"Ellie did it," Liz quickly replied.
"I just told him he wiggles his eyebrows. Lizzie said you made fun of his dancing!"
"Will you take her inside please? It's way too cold out here." Abbey leaned into Jed to hand him Zoey.
"Careful what you say about me, Sweet Knees," Jed whispered as he picked up the baby. "I now know how to break my spies." He cocked his head behind him with another wink just before he disappeared behind the double doors of the church entrance.
"Come here." Abbey kneeled to Ellie's level and twirled a finger around a few of her strawberry-blonde curls to clear her rosy cheeks. "That's much better."
"Are you mad that I told? I didn't know I wasn't supposed to. You never said it was a secret and you and Daddy don't like it when I keep secrets from you anyway."
"Of course I'm not mad. This wasn't a secret, Princess, and actually, I'm glad you told. He seemed to think it was funny."
"It was funny."
She kissed Ellie's forehead on her way back up to talk to Liz. "And for the record, I did not make fun of his dancing. Your father's a wonderful dancer. I just think it's slightly amusing to watch him sway and shake for Zoey when he thinks no one's watching."
"So do I," Lizzie agreed, chuckling as she remembered the way he twirled himself around the room to get dressed.
"Yeah, but I'm allowed to make fun. You..." She yanked Lizzie's arm to pull her into a hug. "...be nice."
"I wasn't mean. I like it when he dances."
"Good. Then you can dance with him at the party tonight."
"I will!" she enthusiastically declared.
"I love you, Baby Doll." Abbey ran her finger through a tangle in Liz's long, brown tresses. "Take your sister and go find your Uncle Leo. Mallory's been waiting for you two since their plane landed."
"Okay."
Liz didn't even have to reach for Ellie's hand. The mention of Mallory's name had kicked her excitement and energy into overdrive. "Let's go!"
Abbey waited until the door closed behind the girls before she turned around to face John. "Hi."
"Hi." He handed her the white dress he had been carrying for Zoey.
"Thanks." Her lips twitched as she fought the urge to say something more to make John realize how much it meant to Jed that he was able to put aside his own religious beliefs and attend the Catholic baptism of their youngest daughter. "I'm glad you came."
"Thank you for persuading Jed to invite me. I know that was your doing."
He obviously didn't understand his own son. If he had, he would have known this was never what Abbey would have suggested. Just the thought that Jed could be setting himself up for another disappointment made it too high a risk. "I didn't persuade him to do anything. Jed wanted you here. He invited you on his own. Does that surprise you?"
"A little, yes. I didn't think he had it in him to give me another chance. I didn't think he was that kind of man."
"The kind who forgives? don't know Jed very well, do you? It's a shame because he's the most forgiving person I've ever met. I'd expect his father to know something like that about him, but you don't give him enough credit and that's part of the problem."
"It's complicated."
"Isn't everything?" Abbey returned. "I don't want to see Jed hurt this time so please, if at any point you feel insulted by some random gesture that you consider to be an inconsiderate, surly, boorish affront aimed at you, come to me because chances are, I'm the one behind it. Not Jed."
The corner of John's lip curved crookedly as his eyes narrowed in Abbey's direction. "Well, I couldn't ask for a warmer welcome than that. I'm going to say hello to my other son. If you'll excuse me..."
Abbey stepped to the side and watched as John walked away and entered the building. She then turned around, shocked to find Jed standing directly behind her. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his posture was perfectly straight. His ambiguous stare challenged her suspicions. Because he wasn't confused or flustered, she was convinced he had been watching for quite a while.
"How much of that did you hear?"
"Most of it, I'd imagine."
"Please don't be upset."
"Why would I be upset?"
"I know he's your father and I should be nicer to him, but..." She trailed off as Jed's mouth touched hers and his hands grasped the back of her head, pushing her into his kiss.
When their lips parted several seconds later, his hands moved across her cheekbones and his right thumb traced the smooth skin just above her chin, below the swell of her bottom lip. "The ceremony's going to start soon."
He didn't tell her how much he appreciated her staunch defense of him. He didn't have to. His touch said it all. He gazed into her emerald orbs, expressing so much love and adoration that her knees suddenly weakened with the powerful emotions. She was just as protective of him as he had always been of her. It was that kind of loyalty that made each of them feel safe and secure, sheltered from the obstacles that occasionally rose between them, and ready to confront the barriers that would rise in the future.
"We should go in then."
Abbey raised her hand to her face. Her palm gliding over his, her fingers covered Jed's and she lowered both hands down to the side. While leading him towards the church, she rested her head on his shoulder and he separated a few strands of her dark auburn hair to drop another kiss as she wrapped her arm around his waist. He did the same, holding her closer to his chest and squeezing gently as they crossed the threshold.
The End
To be continued in On My Honor