Abbey stopped and turned to the girl standing in the doorway. "Oh God, this can't be real," she whispered, reaching out to touch her. Liz and Ellie stood frozen, their eyes fixed on Zoey.
"Mom, I'm sorry I didn't mean," she started to say, but was stopped when her mother grabbed her, holding her close while she wept.
"What? How? Oh Zoey," Abbey said, pulling away to look at her. "Are you alright?" She began to look her over carefully, pulling her back in for a hug.
"I'm fine," Zoey insisted.
"Can we move this into her room," Jed asked. Abbey nodded, guiding her daughter into her bedroom.
"Mom, Dad, there's something I need to tell you," Zoey started to say.
"What is it baby," Abbey asked, brushing the hair out of her daughter's eyes. She couldn't stop touching her, trying to make herself believe that her daughter was really there, unharmed.
"I wasn't the one that was kidnapped," she pushed herself away from her mother and began to pace. She needed to separate herself from her parents if she was going to get through it.
"What do you mean? Of course it was you," Abbey said. "Jed? It was her, wasn't it? I wasn't hallucinating." She looked back to her daughter, who wore an oversized Dartmouth t-shirt and jeans, her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail.
"Just listen," he said.
"The girl that was taken…that wasn't me," Zoey said, "She was a girl who looked like me. I met her at the homeless shelter I've been volunteering at. Her name was Alex."
"What," Abbey said, "But she was identical to you. Down to the…" She froze, all color draining from her face. She ran the name through her head over and over again. To her left, Ellie and Liz exchanged stunned looks.
"Mom? Are you okay," Zoey asked, walking over to her mother.
"Abbey," Jed asked, reaching out for his wife.
"Oh God," she whispered, standing up. She wavered, but steadied herself without Jed's help. "It can't be. Jed, tell me she is."
"There's no other explanation," he said, taking her hand in his.
"But, after all of these years," she asked. Tears filled her eyes again as she thought of the baby she had lost so long ago. The same baby that she had held close and loved, then lost at such a young age.
"Mom? Dad?" They looked up to see Zoey looking at them with wide eyes.
"Baby, when you were born, you were born with a twin sister," Abbey began to explain. "She was named Alexandra Grace. She died of SIDS two days after you were born."
"What," Zoey shouted. "And you never told me?"
"We were told that telling you might be traumatizing," Jed explained, "The other twin would wonder why it hadn't been them, why they were the one to survive." Zoey sat down on the bed, looking over at her mother. "Was this the first time she had pretended to be you," he continued.
"No," Zoey slowly replied, "The first was about a month ago, when you fixed chili. The second was during your birthday dinner and the third was last night."
"Was she with us when we went to Nantucket," Abbey asked softly. She couldn't believe that she had held the daughter that she had thought to be dead for so long.
"Yeah," Zoey said softly, "That was her."
Abbey muffled a sob as she remembered running her hands through her daughter's hair, lulling her to sleep. She couldn't believe that it was Alexandra she had kissed on the forehead and admonished her to be alright the night she disappeared.
"Jed, we have to get her back," Abbey said, "I want my baby back." He saw the anguish in her green eyes as tears welled up.
"We'll get her back," he promised.
Abbey and Jed left the room after Zoey had fallen asleep. Ellie and Liz had wandered down the stairs to the kitchen to find something to eat.
She sat down on the bed wringing her hands together as she thought. "Jed, if we let it out to the media that we have Zoey back, would the kidnappers release Alexandra," Abbey asked.
"I don't know," he said, "I haven't told the Leo or anyone about this."
"Call them up," Abbey said, "I want my daughter back. Now." She went into the bathroom to clean up while her husband called his senior advisors.
Five minutes later, Toby, Leo and Josh stood in the Residence, sitting across from the president and the First Lady. "I need your opinion on something and I need you to be honest with it. My daughter's life depends on this decision," Jed said, meeting the eyes of the men in front of him.
"Sir, we can't go to the press with news of Zoey's disappearance," Toby said, "It would look desperate and give them more reason to kill her."
"This isn't about Zoey anymore," Jed said, "Zoey's back here, at the White House."
"W..what," Josh asked, "But when did that happen?"
"About a hour ago. It wasn't her that was missing," he said. He saw the looks of confusion on his senior advisors faces. He looked at Leo, his best friend, who had been there with him since before Elizabeth had been born. Leo met his eyes and Jed saw the moment realization dawned on him.
"Oh God," Leo said, "It can't be…can it?"
"She and Zoey have been trading places," Jed explained, "The weekend I cooked chili, for my birthday and this weekend."
"She was at your party," Leo asked in astonishment.
"Would someone care to share who we're talking about," Josh asked, his eyes bouncing from the president to Leo.
"Her name's Alexandria," Jed finally explained," She was Zoey's twin. We were told that she had died of SIDS two days after her birth."
"Didn't you see the body," Toby asked.
"Yes," Abbey said, "We held a small funeral for her and buried her. The body we saw, though, looked so much like Zoey's that webelieved that it was Alexandria."
"We were grieving parents," Jed said, "Any baby's body would have looked like ours."
"And now, Zoey's back here, at the White House and her twin sister, Alexandria was the one that was kidnapped," Toby said. "This sounds like a bad soap opera."
"This is our daughter's life we're talking about. Not a soap opera. A real, live person," Abbey hissed. Her voice was full of emotion as she spoke, her hands shaking. Jed took her hand in his and squeezed it. She calmed down at his touch, interlacing their fingers.
"We still can't tell the media that it's not Zoey that was taken," Toby said.
"I agree," Leo said, "It'd put her life in even more danger." The pain he felt at learning about the disappearance of the child they thought they had lost so many years ago struck him deep as he met their eyes. "Jed, we can't," he said. "If you and Abbey couldn't tell the difference between Zoey and Alexandria, whose to say that the terrorists will be able to. They wouldn't believe us if we said that we had Zoey back. You put her picture on TV and her ransom will go up, or they'll kill her." At his words, Abbey stood up and walked over to the window, her back to the men in the room.
"I agree with Leo, Mr. President," Toby said. Josh nodded his head, still not sure of what to make of the situation.
"We'll get her back, Jed," Leo said. "Somehow, we'll get her back."Jed nodded, looking to his wife. He could tell she was crying and trying to hold back the sobs.
"We'll be in the West Wing," Leo said. He nodded to Josh and Toby, who followed him out of the room.
Jed walked over to Abbey, who turned and put her arms around him, pulling him close. He rubbed her back, kissing her hair gently. He helped her walk over to the bed, reaching for the phone to call Dr. Hackett.