Jennifer McGarry burst through the Bartlets' front door without knocking. Mallory entered slowly after her.
"Abbey!" She shouted up the staircase, to no avail.
Jed rushed in from the kitchen, with Zoey, Liz, and Ellie trailing behind, to see what was going on.
"Jenny? What's going on?" He questioned with concern.
Mallory moved to the other side of the room to stand next to Liz.
"You're asking ME?"
"You're the one who just burst into my house shouting like a maniac, Jen," Jed pointed out, laughing slightly.
"Where is she?" Jenny asked.
"Abbey?"
"No, Jane Fonda. What do you think?"
"She's upstairs. What are you…"
"ABBEY!" Jenny shouted, quickly ascending the stairs.
Jed ran after her.
"Jenny, what is going…"
"Jenny?" Abbey called, softly, from her bedroom.
"I'm coming, honey!" Jenny called back, racing to the room.
Jed put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her.
"Tell me what's going on."
"I cannot believe you let this happen," Jenny accused.
"What are you talking about?"
"You're supposed to know her better than anybody. And then what happens? I get a call from your teenage daughter begging me to come over and save her mother."
Jed glanced down at Liz, who was standing at the foot of the stairs watching with the rest of the girls.
"Look, Jen, Abbey's just not feeling well so she…"
"Don't bullshit me, Jed Bartlet. She's got junk food in there, dammit," Jenny argued.
"She's pregnant…"
"Pregnant or not, Abbey Bartlet does not go on junk food binges. How could you not have recognized the severity of this situation?"
Jed was speechless. How could he argue with a statement that sounded so ridiculous? To someone else, it would have sounded ridiculous at least. But suddenly he realized that Jenny was right. Abbey Bartlet does not go on junk food binges, period. He should have realized it right from the beginning. She was wallowing her own self-pity. And her concern about health was the first casualty of war. It was only going to get worse.
Jenny shook her head with disdain and headed into Abbey's room and subsequently shut the door before Jed could follow her in.
"What went on out there?" Abbey asked, confused.
Jenny came and sat down on the bed next to Abbey.
"Abbey, your husband's a jackass."
Abbey laughed.
"Tell me something I don't know."
"I'm serious."
"Why is he a jackass this time?" Abbey questioned.
"For letting you lay in here stuffing your face, watching television. My God, look at this place. Food everywhere. Not just food…sugar. Candy. More caffeine than should ever be consumed by a single human being! I can't believe you, Abbey."
"You don't know, Jenny. You don't know what happened."
"I'll be damned if I don't!" Jenny exclaimed.
"Who told you!" Abbey demanded.
"Your lovely daughter, that's who."
"Liz," Abbey muttered, under her breath.
"Why didn't you call me?"
"I was going to eventually. When I felt better."
"If you waited until you felt better to call me, then what good would I have been to you? I'm your best friend. It's moments like these when I come in handy," Jenny said.
"I can't believe Liz had the nerve to call you."
"Be grateful."
"Why?" Abbey asked.
"Because I'm getting you the hell out of here."
"What!"
"I've already rounded up the gang. Red alert. They'll be here tomorrow morning and then we're gone," Jenny announced.
"You're kidding."
"I most certainy am not. They're taking an overnight train to DC. We all leave for New York City tomorrow morning."
"But, Jen, I…"
"…better start packing," Jenny finished for her.
"Jen, I can't just up and leave. Neither can you, for that matter."
"Oh, yes, we can! And we will. Don't worry. I've taken the liberty of calling the hospital for you already."
"You what!"
"You're not feeling well. Constant morning sickness. If anyone asks." Jenny winked.
"Jenny…" Abbey started to protest in a whining voice.
Jenny hopped up and opened Abbey's closet.
"Now. Do you want to bring your black leather skirt or the denim one?"
All Abbey could do was laugh incredulously at her best friend's audacity.
"All right. Both then," Jenny decided, pulling them both off the hanger.
By this time, Jed had already returned downstairs. He knew better than to go into his bedroom at that given moment. Jenny and Abbey were two very obstinate women and there was no way in hell he was going to get in their line of fire. He sat with the girls in the living room while they watched TV.
"Jenny!" They all heard Leo shout as he unexpectedly burst into the Bartlet household, something which seemed to be the trend that day.
"Don't bother, Leo. She's upstairs with Abbey," Jed said, blandly, not even looking behind him at Leo.
Leo walked over to him.
"What's going on?"
"Don't know."
Leo looked at Mallory.
"Mal, what's going on?"
"If he doesn't know, I don't know!" Mallory said.
"My wife left me a note saying 'Meet me at Jed & Abbey's ASAP. Something's happened.' What the hell does that mean?"
"Hey!" Zoey cried out, at the mentioning of hell.
"Sorry, Zoey," Leo replied. "What the heck does that mean?"
"Well, Jenny is apparently under the impression that my wife needs some sort of saving. Abbey is Snow White, Jenny's the prince, and apparently our daughters are the dwarves."
"What are you, the Brothers Grimm? That tells me absolutely nothing!"
Jed sighed and said, "Have a seat. We're watching The Cosby Show. The Huxtables are at it again."
Leo reluctantly sat down next to Jed on the couch. Then Ellie came waltzing back into the living room.
"Hey! Dad, that was my seat!" She cried, referring to where Leo was now sitting.
"Then sit on the floor, Bashful."
"Bashful!" Ellie exclaimed, offensively.
"All right then. Sneezy."
"No, Ellie's Grumpy!" Zoey added, sticking her tongue out at her older sister.
"Then what am I?" Liz asked.
"You're Sleepy."
"And what are you?"
"I'm Happy!" Zoey exclaimed, letting out a little giggle.
Liz rolled her eyes.
"Dork," she muttered under her breath, laughing.
"Dad! Lizzie called me a dork!"
"Elizabeth, your sister is not a dork. She's Dopey," Jed said.
"Yeah, ok, Doc."
"I feel left out," Mallory complained.
"This is a ridiculous conversation," Leo mumbled. He was still frustrated about the whole situation.
"Hey, Elizabeth," Ellie said. "Remember when Zoey used to call you Lizzlebit?"
Everyone started laughing. Zoey pouted.
"I did not!"
"Yes, you did! You called her Lizzlebit!"
"No! Dad!"
"Sorry, honey, but your sisters are right for once," Jed replied. "You did call her Lizzlebit."
Zoey continued pouting.
"Cheer up, Zo," Liz said. "It was cute. Embarassing around other people, but cute."
Just then, Jenny came bounding down the stairs. Leo immediately stood and walked over to her.
"Well?"
"Well, let's go," Jenny said.
Mallory stood up as well.
"What do you mean 'let's go'? You're not even gonna tell me what happened?" Leo said.
"In the car, Leo. Come on, Mallory."
"Jenny…" Jed began.
"Jed, don't worry about it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you," Jenny admitted.
"Ok, but I…"
"We'll be back first thing tomorrow morning."
"What? Why?"
"I'm picking up Abbey and dropping off Leo and Mallory."
"Excuse me!" Leo exclaimed.
"Abbey and I are going to New York City. You and Leo are taking care of the kids while we're gone."
"And just who decided this?" Leo demanded.
"I did!"
"And what about Abbey?" Jed inquired.
"She's on board."
"And just who are you going to New York with, may I ask!" Jed was almost shouting now.
"Millie, Julia, and Michelle. They're coming down from New England."
Jed and Leo didn't know what to say. They both knew that any arguments or protests they might have would be completely wasted on Jenny. There was nothing they could do but go along with it.
That night, Jed and Abbey had retreated to their bedroom much earlier than usual. Liz assumed it was because he was trying to talk Abbey out of going to New York. She knew the reason couldn't be "that other thing" (which she preferred not to think about…ever) because she didn't hear a single noise come from the room all night long. Thus, after Ellie and Zoey had gone to bed, Liz was on her own. It was her first official night of summer. And she was spending it at home watching TV while the rest of her house was silent. This depressed her greatly. When the phone rang at 9:35pm, she was grateful for the disturbed silence.
"Hello?"
"Liz?"
"Yeah?"
"It's Ben."
"Oh." Well, that had certainly taken her by surprise. "Hi."
"Um. How are you?"
"I'm…good. How are you?" She asked.
"Fine, fine. I'm calling because…well, we never really…you know, talked about this."
That's right. They had hardly considered their situation at all. She'd told him she was pregnant, he nearly fainted, she went home. And that was that.
"I guess we didn't."
"So you wanna get together soon and talk about it? Maybe tomorrow?
She hesitated, before realizing there was no getting out of this one. It was an inevitable conversation.
"Uh, sure. Tomorrow's good."
"Ok. I'll swing by and pick you up around six, all right?"
"Yeah, fine. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye, Liz."
"Bye."
Elizabeth suddenly regretted instigating the New York plan. Tomorrow night was going to be hell, and she knew she would be looking to Abbey for support. But she wouldn't be there. It was going to be one helluva weekend.