"Ow! Zoey!" She looked up. "Dad!"
"Hello, oh wonderfully behaved daughters of mine."
"Yeah, right, Dad," Ellie rolled her eyes and sat on the couch.
Zoey gave her father a hug first, then did the same.
"Where's your sister?" Jed asked, on his way to the kitchen.
"Upstairs, hurling," Ellie replied, nonchalantly.
"Hurling!" Jed said, opening the refridgerator and taking out a can of soda.
Ellie leaned back from the couch and, through the arched doorway that separated the kitchen and living room, shouted, "You better not let Mom catch you with that soda!"
"Unless you tell her, Mom will never know," he said, taking a swig.
"I don't need to tell her. She's just upstairs."
"What? She's home?"
"Yeah, I told you. She's upstairs," Ellie answered.
"She specifically told me she was not gonna be eating with us tonight," Jed argued.
"Dad, she's upstairs. Get over it. And she's probably not gonna be eating with us tonight. Her and Liz are upstairs, like, dead or something."
"Yeah, I don't think they want any Chinese," Zoey added, with a grin that plainly said 'more for us.'
"What Chinese?" Jed asked, walking back into the living room.
"The Chinese Mom told us to order," Ellie replied.
"She told you to order Chinese food?"
"Yeah! You're really slow tonight, ya know that?"
"That's unlike her," Jed said, suspiciously.
"Yeah, isn't it cool?"
"Uh huh," he said, throwing his empty soda can in the wastebasket and powerwalking up the stairs.
On his way to the master bedroom, he passed the bathroom and peaked in. No one. Then, he changed his course of direction and went to Liz's room. Surprisingly, the door was open and he walked in.
Elizabeth was laying on her bed with one hand over her forehand and one hand over her stomach.
"Elizabeth?"
"Yeah."
"How ya feeling? Ellie said you were, uh, throwing up."
"I feel like running a marathon, swimming a hundred laps, entering myself in the Tour de France and then, if I've still got it, discovering a cure for cancer."
"Well then. Not feeling so hot I take it?"
"No, Dad."
"That's all you had to say. But then again, you're pregnant…and you're a Bartlet, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
She let out a fake laugh.
"You're witty, Dad."
"Ok, I'm gonna go say hello to your mother. And pray to God she's in a better mood than you are."
"Do that."
Jed walked into his bedroom and heard the shower running from the master bathroom.
"Abbey?" He called, while loosening his tie and throwing it onto the bed.
"Hey!" She called back, from in the shower.
The door to the bathroom was open and he could feel the steam from where he stood. After taking off his shoes, he walked over and stood in the doorway of the bathroom.
"What are you doing home? You told me nine."
"Oh. Well, I wasn't feeling that well. I was just weak and exhausted. And you know me, I have to be at my absolute best around patients or I feel I'm not giving them everything they deserve."
"How did you manage to escape?" He asked.
"Eh, slow day."
"Slow day at Washington General? Please."
"And I called someone in to cover for me," she replied.
"I see. Are you feeling any better now?"
"Little bit. But I always feel better when I'm in the shower, so we'll see how I feel when I get out."
"Yeah."
"But how was your day?" Abbey asked.
"Eh, all right."
"How'd it go with those environmental lobbyists?"
"As good as we could expect. Hey. What's up with Liz?"
"Liz? Oh. Morning sickness," she replied.
"Already?"
"It would certainly seem that way. I feel awful though. She doesn't seem to be taking it well."
"Well, if I recall, you didn't take it that well the first time you were pregnant either," Jed pointed out.
"True. But then, I was older."
"Yeah. Did she, uh, talk to you at all about school today?" Jed asked, curiously.
"Not really, why?" She asked, turning the water off. "Hand me my bathrobe, will ya?"
He grabbed her terrycloth bathrobe, handed it to her through the shower curtain, then moved back to his original position by the door.
"I just…well, I heard it through the grapevine that the kids weren't exactly warm and welcoming to her today," Jed said.
"What? What grapevine would this be?"
"The McGarry grapevine. Mallory told Jenny who told Leo…"
"Who told you," Abbey finished, stepping out in the shower, now in her bathrobe.
"Right."
"Well, she didn't mention it to me so it couldn't have been too traumatic."
"That, or it was so traumatic she couldn't bring herself to mention it to you."
"Jed, if she wants to talk about it, she'll bring it up herself. Right now I think she's a little distracted," Abbey said, drying her hair off with a towel.
Jed nodded, pensively. She laughed at him.
"Babe, don't worry about Liz. She's a fighter."
"I know that. I just don't trust those kids at that school."
"I love how you're not concerned about me at all," Abbey said, smiling.
"Well I'm hardly worried about all those MDs at the hospital giving you a hard time about being pregnant."
"Hey, I'm the best thoracic surgeon in that whole damn place. Maybe they're scared of me leaving."
"Ha! I'd like to see them try and keep you away."
She grinned, then walked over and kissed him, quick on the lips.
"What was that for?" He asked.
"That was your hello kiss," she answered, kissing him again.
"And what was that for?"
"That was for being so concerned about Liz." She kissed him again, lingering a little longer this time.
"And that one?"
"Awe, that was just for fun."