Chapter 16

Jed jumped out of the limousine as it reached the Emergency Room entrance of GW. Ron had tried to get him to wait, but there was no stopping Jed Bartlet on a mission. And this one was personal.

"My wife, Ron, where is she?" Jed looked around for her agents.

"The doctors are working with her. Sir, you can't go in there. It's not allowed."

"Watch me. It's Abbey."

"NO SIR!" Ron's taller, more muscular body stood in Jed's way. No amount of ordering or pleading could make him move.

"No, sir." This time it was much softer, but just as firm. "The doctors will tell you something when they know it."

Ron had trouble not reacting to the pain in his protectee's eyes. But he had a job and a responsibility that couldn't be budged by pity.

Jed stopped where he was as Leo caught up to him. Leo gently grabbed him by his shoulders and turned him away from the treatment room where the doctors were frantically trying to save the First Lady's life.

"Sir, you need to wait. The doctors will tell you something as soon as they can." The look in Jed's eyes was difficult for Leo to ignore, but he knew he had to.

When he had arrived in the Residence, after he was notified of the call for an ambulance, the first sight he saw was Jed holding Abbey's unconscious body in his arms, rocking back and forth. The arriving paramedics had asked him for help so they could help their patient.

Leo had gently talked to Jed and pried his arms from Abbey's body. He had gently guided his best friend to the foot of the bed while the paramedics inserted an airway and IV as well as attached the heart monitor to her chest. The slow rhythm worried him, but right then Jed needed him more.

After the paramedics had placed Abbey's limp body on the stretcher, it was Leo who had held the President of the United States in his arms while his sobs echoed through the empty room. It had been Leo who guided Jed to the waiting limousine, asking the Service to clear any personnel in the halls between the elevator and the car. It had been Leo who had sat by Jed's side in the dash to the hospital and held his hand as only a friend could do.

Now it was Leo who guided Jed away from the trauma room which held the only thing Jed valued in life, the only thing he really, really cared about. It was Leo who listened when Jed wanted to talk.

"Leo, she didn't try to kill herself. I know it. She wouldn't. She loves life too much. This all just doesn't make sense."

"Yes, sir." What else could he say at the moment? Facts. He needed many more facts. He agreed Abbey was not the type to try suicide, but the facts right now were too strong to think anything else. He had asked Ron to take the pill bottle as evidence to see if anything could be gained from it. He doubted it, but was willing to try anything as a long shot.

'This whole business was getting too serious. Just because some rings were lost'. Leo thought, 'My God! What else could happen? And who the hell was doing this? Has to be some great political mind or at the very least some criminal who really has a problem with either Jed or Abbey or both.'

But the question remained who?