Chapter 12

"Jed, this is serious, isn't it?"

Jed and Abbey were alone in his office, sitting next to each other, and anticipating the emergency landing. Ron had gone to get CJ and Toby to sit with them. Once the plane landed, Ron's responsibility would be to get the President, Mrs. Bartlet and the members of the Senior Staff off the plane as quickly as possible.

"Yeah, Abbey. I don't know that much about airplanes, but many crashes are the result of no landing gears." He was trying to make a joke.

"Jed!" Abbey grabbed his hand and leaned forward to brush his wandering hair out of his eyes. "Are we going to make it? And don't lie to me. Not now. I need the truth."

Jed looked into the green eyes of his wife for thirty-seven years. They had gone through a lot together. But it had always been him or her being injured. Rosslyn. Traffic accidents.

Never the two of them together. At the same time. But now the odds of them traveling together seemed to finally catch up with them. All those trips through the various political offices he has held, through two campaigns, through seven years in the White House and only now they were facing the danger together.

"Abbey, we'll be fine. These pilots are trained for any emergency and I'm sure that all the equipment the Air Force has in Hawaii will be in place. Hell, we might have some good luck before we land. The landing gear might see fit to come down."

"Do you really think so?"

Jed answered softly, "No."

Abbey leaned into Jed's shoulder as her eyes filled with tears. "If we die, at least we go together. I couldn't be left alone. I would die without you. But I do have one regret."

"What's that?"

"That we couldn't say goodbye to the girls. They must be out of their mind with worry by now. I know they're old enough to manage on their own, but we won't live to see any future husbands or families."

Jed had to raise her spirits somehow, but he couldn't. His own fear prevented him from comforting his wife as he knew he should. And she would see right through any false statements.

"They know we love them. They know it."

"Yeah."

"I love you, Abbey." Jed's eyes began to mist, even as he fought the emotions boiling within.

"I love you too, Jed. Thanks for thirty-seven wonderful years." Abbey had already lost the battle of the tears as they were flowing freely down her face.

A kiss, hand in hand, and each was left alone with their thoughts and their prayers.