It was exciting to her just to be able to say she had a good day. It had been so long. And it was surprising to her, after last night's ordeal, that not a single person at school harassed her in the least bit. She finished her last final exams of the year- and she knew she had totally aced them! To top it off, she hadn't felt sick all day. Something told her it was too good to be true.
11:09pm.
Jed sat on the couch, wringing his hands, as his gaze alternated from the clock to the window. Five hours late. She was five hours late! So far. He had been shifting back and forth from worry to suspicion all evening as he waited for his wife to return home. She had promised to be home by 6pm, "come hell, high water, or unexpected heavy influx of patients." Jed knew he was going to be in a meeting with Speaker Loudon till after eight, and Abbey promised she would be home to take Ellie to her soccer game at 6:30. When he got home at 8:45, there was no sign of her. He'd found Ellie sitting, blotchy-eyed, indicating that she'd been crying, on the stairs waiting. Liz had already put Zoey to bed and then been on the phone all evening.
After finally settling Ellie down in her room, he had sat and talked with Leo on the phone for about an hour, while Elizabeth sat near him and read a book. Then even she went to bed. But there was no way in hell he was going to bed until Abbey came home. The mixture of anger and concern he felt prevented him for doing so. He had called the hospital twice since he'd come home, and both times he was told "Dr. Bartlet cannot be reached right now," and nothing more. That meant nothing to him. It meant she could have left already or she could be tied up in the OR or with a patient. She had been working much later than usual throughout the past week. At first, he figured she was just trying to make up for that night she had left early. But when it continued, he became frustrated.
Finally, at 11:25pm, Jed heard keys unlocking the front door. He immediately sat up, ready to pounce. Abbey walked in the door, her head turned to the floor, her dark hair covering her face, and she dropped her purse at her normal place beside the door. He stood up quickly.
"Where the HELL have you been!" He exclaimed, causing her to jump with alarm.
When he saw her face, he noticed it was all red and wet with tears. She didn't respond to him, she only exhaled deeply, then sniffled. His look of anger was instantly replaced by a look of fear as he walked toward her.
"Oh my God, what happened?"
One look at him and the tears began to stream down her face uncontrollably.
"Oh, Abbey," he said with concern as he pulled her into his arms. "Baby, what happened?"
She continued to cry copiously and he held her tighter. Still, she said nothing. He pulled away far enough just so he could guide her over to the couch. He sat down and she lay down beside him, resting her head in his lap.
"Shh, it's ok, honey, it's all right," he said, soothingly, rubbing her back as she carried on with her tears.
Clearly she wasn't ready to talk, so he took the initiative.
"I'm sorry I shouted at you. I've just been frustrated that you've been working so late recently. But that's no excuse for me to…"
"It's ok," she whispered, sniffling. "I have an explanation for that, I should have told you."
"No, it's all right, you don't have to…"
"Yes, I do."
"Ok, whatever you want to do."
"Do you remember the girl I treated a few weeks ago? Felicity Meecham. She'd been raped…brutally."
"Oh. I remember," he replied, softly.
"Well, a lot of her wounds she acquired from the attack had been acting up and bothering her, so she'd checked herself into GW for the last week. Which is why I've been getting home so late. I just…I couldn't leave her, Jed. She was so fragile and…tormented."
"I understand, Abbey. Is that what you're upset about? Felicity?"
"Oh, God. Jed, you can't imagine what this girl has been through. I was off at five, and I went to check on her before I left. We started talking and…god, the horrible things she told me."
"What, honey."
"I can't even…lord. Alcoholic mother, abusive father, her sister was killed a few months ago in a car accident…and then the rape…she's only seventeen years old!"
She started to cry again. He continued to rub her back as she mustered up the strength to continue.
"Finally she told me that real reason she wanted to check herself in. The wounds were hurting her, yes, but there was something else. And it had taken her the whole week to get the confidence to tell me. And I just felt so…angry at myself. And the others who worked on Felicity with me. I couldn't believe, I still can't believe, that we'd overlooked it. We hadn't even really done a proper test…"
"Calm down, sweetie, it's ok," Jed comforted her.
"She was pregnant, Jed. Pregnant! That goddamn rapist got her pregnant. And we didn't even catch it," she admitted, weeping profusely.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Was pregnant?"
She swallowed her tears then took a deep breath.
"That's where I was tonight."
"Where?" He was confused.
She sighed and reluctantly sat up so she could look at him.
"She was carrying the rapist's baby, Jed. More or less the spawn of evil. She…she said she couldn't trust anyone else, besides me. I had to do it."
He frowned.
"Had to do what, Abbey?"
She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.
"She couldn't let her parents know she was pregnant. So we didn't tell them. I feel now like I've broken some parental code of honor or something. I just…well, I'd want to know if my daughter had an…"
She stopped herself.
"Abbey, tell me you didn't," Jed pleaded with her, a desperate look in his eyes.
"I had to," she began tearing up again. "She said if I didn't do it, she wasn't going to let anyone. I couldn't…I couldn't let her have that baby."
"Good Lord, Abigail." He looked away from her.
"Jed." She turned his head to look into his eyes.
He saw the pain and agony plain on her face and immediately the wall he'd just built came crumbling down. She buried her head on his shoulder and cried, something she couldn't seem to stop herself from doing.
"It was horrible, Jed. I don't know how some other doctors can do it. There I was…taking the life away from this innocent, scarcely formed human being. There were points when I literally thought I was going to be sick. Right there in the operating room."
"Abbey, did anyone know you were doing this?"
"No," she replied, quietly.
"You did this without telling anyone at the hospital?"
Silence.
"She didn't want anyone to know. And…and I was too embarassed," she admitted.
"Oh, Abbey," he sighed, tightening his grip around her.
"I just kept thinking…that this life I'm aborting here with my own hands…that's what's inside me right now. And I felt like I was killing my own baby. It made me physically sick. And I…I…"
"Shh, it's all right, baby. Don't cry."
But hearing him say that only made her cry more. He held her close, and he looked up, blinking back tears. He wanted nothing more than to be there for her, but his mind kept wandering to the fact that his wife had just committed a mortal sin. Murder.
Ellie Bartlet had heard her mother come in and started downstairs to confront her about missing her soccer game. But when she saw her father guide her to the couch, as she cried, she stopped on the stairway and sat quietly, so as not to be noticed. And she'd heard everything.