It began to rain lightly as Jed drove home. Abbey was right; he needed to blow off steam. And it was better he did it driving than taking it out on the kids at home. He could be very unpleasant in a bad mood. He could not believe the situation his daughter had gotten herself into. Elizabeth was always a little rebellious, but never to the point where her parents had to worry about her or be concerned about her future. She did well at school, seemed to have many friends (apparently one too many), and was a comparatively happy teenager. She never really had steady boyfriends, or at least none her parents knew of. They knew she went out with guys, and they didn't object because they trusted her. Apparently they were wrong to do so. Elizabeth Bartlet was not a religious fanatic. She attended church each Sunday with her parents, and on holidays, and she believed in most of the bible. She doubted a few of the lessons taught in it because they seemed unrealistic, but Jed always reminded her that God didn't teach them because they were realistic; God was an idealist, at least the way Jed saw it. Liz and Abbey had had "the talk" when she was thirteen and Liz told her mother that she had every intention of practicing abstinence, so they never worried. There was just something so…hurtful to him about what she did. As if she did it personally to hurt her parents. Something about their professions- Jed being a politician and almost-priest and Abbey being a doctor- made it seemed like she'd betrayed them on numerous levels, not just as her parents. Deep down, Jed knew she hadn't done it on purpose to shame them, or on purpose at all. Liz would never do a thing like that. But then, he never thought she would have sex before marriage either. Especially not sex at fifteen. He would have been upset, but not quit as outraged, if she'd been eighteen or nineteen. At least then she would have been a legal adult. Part of him wanted to track down this Ben Silverman and take him to court for sleeping with his underage daughter. However, Jed's rage didn't go so far as to ruin his life when he was certain Elizabeth had given her consent. Not only would that have ruined the boy's life, but his entire family's lives, including his father, Senator Evan Silverman. Jed felt vengeful, but he would never act upon it. Jed couldn't even think of the future of this whole situation. He was too upset to think that far ahead. He would deal with that another day, far from now, he hoped. Or he could just assign Abbey to think of the future, and he would deal with the present. Seemed easy enough. He pulled into his driveway just as the rain began to really come down on him. He grabbed an old copy of The Wall Street Journal that had been left in his car, held it over his head and ran into the house, preparing for a long and detailed conversation with his wife.

Once they got home, it hadn't taken long for Abbey to get Ellie and Zoey ready for bed. They were exhausted and had both fallen asleep on the car ride home. Thankfully, Julia had gotten Liz home before she and the girls arrived. Abbey had stood by the door to Liz's room, heard her music blasting, and knew she was in there safe and sound. Other than that, Abbey didn't think she could tolerate seeing her daughter at that moment. Not because she was angry, because she felt betrayed and embarassed by Liz's actions. Tomorrow she would be fine, but not tonight. Tonight, she had to prepare to have what would probably be all night conversation with her husband and that took skill and energy. Thank God the next day was Saturday and they had no set engagements. She was willing to be completely understanding with him tonight, not her normal argumentive self, because she knew how much harder this was on Jed than on herself. Jed was a very religious man, and quite the father figure at that. The combination of those two things was not going to be benevolent and Abbey realized that the moment Liz said she was pregnant. When Jed walked in the door, soaked from the rain, Abbey was sitting on the couch in the living room waiting for him.
"Hey," he said. "Raining pretty hard out there?" She asked.
"Yeah. I'm gonna run uptairs and change, then I'll be back down"
"Ok." He jogged up the stairs and, on the way to his room, passed by Liz's and heard her music. He stopped and listened for a moment, remembering the days when the only music heard from that room was Simon & Garfunkal, not all this Madonna stuff. For once, Jed actually recognized the song. It was "Papa Don't Preach" and he knew exactly why Liz was playing it. He knew she was hoping he would walk by and hear it. Once he'd change his clothes, Jed headed back down to the living room. He sat down on the couch next to his wife, who threw her legs over on top of his lap, inched closer, and then lay the side of her head against his shoulder and he put his arm around her.
"What are you thinking?" She asked, quietly. "My brain is swamped with a million different thoughts. I don't even know," he answered, with frustration. "Are you mad at Liz"
"Yeah, I'm mad at Liz"
"But are you mad in the sense that you're going to give her the silent treatment in the morning"
"Probably not," he answered, ruminating. "Which part of this is bothering you the most? Is it the priest inside you somewhere or the father"
"Both"
"Which one takes precedence"
"I think they're pretty much even, Abigail." "Well. I guess we should get right down to it. What are we gonna we do?" Abbey questioned, lifting her head to look him the eyes. "I don't know. Do we punish her? Do we support her"
"What are we gonna do, Jed, ground her until she has the baby?" Abbey asked, sarcastically.
The thought of his baby actually having a baby hit him hard. He didn't respond.
"Are you upset that her life is going to be changed forever when she has this baby so young, or are you upset that she had sex?" "Well, I'm disappointed about her future. I'm upset that she had sex. I can't believe she had sex. I can't even say she had sex," he answered, distraught. "It's not right, Abbey"
"I know it's not," she answered, sighing. "And you're not the best influence in the world!" He stated.
"Ok, I did not lose my virginity at fifteen. I was eighteen and officially an adult. Big difference," Abbey argued. "Well, I lost mine when I was twenty-two and married"
"Are you saying this is my fault?" Abbey questioned in disbelief.
"No," he said, quietly. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault." "Look, how about we"
She was cut off.
"How come you're not more upset about this!" Jed exclaimed. "I'm not sure," she answered, truthfully. "I'm thinking maybe it's a girl thing"
"You know what disturbs me? The fact that just three years ago, you were pregnant. And now our daughter is. There is just something off about that." Abbey had had a miscarriage three years earlier, a few years after Zoey was born. She nodded. "What happens if you get pregnant again? Then you'll both be pregnant"
Abbey laughed.
"I really don't think that's gonna happen, Jed"
"But it could. Biologically, it could. And I don't like it." "Apparently"
He tightened his arm around her and she knew he was really hurting. "So, how do you want handle this, Jed?" Abbey asked, softly.
"Well, I don't know how I feel about having another baby around this house"
"You were just talking about if I were to get pregnant again...we'd have a baby around the house then and you wouldn't complain. Well, at least this not this much." "Abbey, what about school!" He exclaimed, out of nowhere.
"I don't know"
"How is she going to go to school and raise a child at the same time"
"I don't know"
"We're sure as hell not taking care of that kid. We have very demanding jobs, Abbey"
"I know"
"What then"
"I wish I knew," she answered. "We could call in back-up"
"Meaning"
"I don't know, I thought you would know what that meant"
"I don't know what that means!" "Well, neither do I," he said.
"Ok then, always helpful. Wait a second. We could call in back-up"
"Do we really have to do this again"
"No, I'm serious. We could bring a relative in"
"Who? Where? To do what"
"Here, to take care of the baby, while Liz is at school," Abbey suggested. "I don't know, Abbey. That makes it seem like we're letting Liz off scot-free"
"Well, I'm not jeopardizing her education. That comes first. If she's going to ever be able to take care of that baby on her own, she needs an education. And there's no way you and I can do it. We've got two high-powered careers and three kids of our own"
"True. But…who would we get to move to DC? Wait, are we talking about having someone come live with us"
"Yeah! Why not"
"Abbey…" Jed protested.
"What"
"I like it with just us. You know how I feel about"
"Jed, what other choice do we have"
"I don't know. Let's sleep on it, ok?" He said.
"You really think you can sleep right now"
"No"
"I didn't think so." Abbey looked at him sympathetically.
"Honey, I know this is hard. And it's gonna require a lot of patience and support on our part. The fact is, she's our daughter and we have to be there, no matter what. We may not approve of what she's done, and God knows we don't condone this kind of thing from her. But what's done is done and there's nothing we can do about it"
He didn't reply, but she knew he'd been listening and taking heed to her every word. "If Liz can find strength in us, she'll find strength in herself. But if we can't bring ourselves to properly handle the situation, she won't be able to either. And that's not fair to that baby"
Jed nodded, finally acknowledging what she had been saying. "Ok," he agreed, gloomily.
She grinned at him. "See? That wasn't so hard"
"Abbey"
"What, hon"
"While I cannot fathom your strength and faith in this situation, I gotta say I'm grateful that at least one of us will be able to handle this well," Jed stated. "No. Not one of us. This is gonna be me and you, buddy. A partnership. An alliance. We're in this together." "If you say so"
"Jed." She looked at him sternly.
"All right, we're in this together." "That's right. Can we go to bed now?" She asked, swinging her legs off his lap and standing up. "Uh-uh." He shook his head, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back onto his lap. She laughed and threw her arms around his neck.
"Not through talking?" Abbey asked.
"Not in the slightest"
"Hmm. I thought the chances of us getting any sleep tonight were slim"
"I need to talk this through, Abbey," he admitted, seriously now. "I know, babe." And she did. She understood and was completely willing to surrender herself to this conversation all night long if that was what it took to make her husband more comfortable in their situation. "I'm all yours."