Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: Checkmate

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this story belong to NBC, WB, and Aaron Sorkin. We're just borrowing them for some fun :)

Previously: Jed informed his colleagues of Abbey's actions and they asked him to keep an eye on voter reaction to her efforts; Abbey juggled family and work responsibilities in addition to scripting the petition; Liz and Abbey argued when the teenager found her mother's stand confusing and hypocritical; Jed and Abbey made up

Summary: It's morning at the Bartlet's; Jed mediates a squabble that gets Zoey in trouble; Abbey wants to help Liz understand; Jed is intrigued by Abbey's campaign strategy

The warm spring night passed quickly and at the first hint of sunrise, Abbey's lashes began to flutter. Her head was resting comfortably on Jed's chest, her left palm in his right one. His other arm cradled her, holding her so close that it was the rhythm of his heartbeat that had lulled her to sleep.

She sat up quietly, careful not to disturb him as she slipped her fingers from his and smiled when he stirred slightly. There was something serene in that smile, in the genuine emotions that it provoked when she saw it.

She instantly remembered the feel of his masculine hands caressing her as she dozed off hours earlier. She could still sense the way the bed was perfectly balanced with his weight on the other side. It reminded her of all those nights she'd snuggle up to him, reeling from a nightmare, and the way he'd naturally move, even in his sleep, to accommodate her, giving her a whiff of his manly scent and tickling her skin with his warm breath as he did.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but whatever it was in that smile, it made her feel safe. It drew her mind, body, and soul to this man and, without a doubt, she knew there was something inherently flawed about sleeping in a bed away from him, something that always haunted her when she was forced to work an overnight shift or stay in Hanover instead of driving to the Manchester. The past week, it had been even worse, for marital tension had stolen from her seven nights of restful sleep, and it was only now that things were starting to return to normal.

On this morning, she woke up refreshed and eager to start the day.

Birds were chirping outside and the gauzy gold and ivory curtains that flowed aimlessly from the open window created a breach large enough to allow a spark of light to violate the darkened room. She traced imaginary lines over Jed's sleeping form, still naked after their lovemaking the night before. When her hand tipped his chin, she held her hair behind her neck and lowered her mouth to press a soft kiss into his. When she attempted to get up, he grabbed a hold of her head and kept her in place to steal another.

A lighthearted scream escaped Abbey's lungs just before their lips met a second time and afterwards, she stared down at him, grinning. "You were supposed to be asleep."

He only slept when she slept. "I felt you moving beside me. I knew it must be time to get up."

"It's never that easy to wake you." Propped up by the pillow below her arm, she stroked his cheek.

"Today it is. Why are you up so early anyway?"

"I'm dropping off the petition in Concord this morning, remember?"

"Yeah."

"You know I didn't think to ask you. You realize that I didn't change my mind after last night, right?"

"Give me some credit," he answered firmly.

"I'm just saying you were upset when I first told you and I hope everything's okay now."

"It is, Abbey. I'm okay with what you're doing. No, actually, I'm thrilled with what you're doing. I don't agree with you, but I love that you're getting involved in the process."

She smiled again. "I had to make sure."

"But just so we're clear - you're not going to expect any help from me, are you?" he asked with a smile of his own, one reflective of the good-natured teasing that was legendary between them.

"You're saying you wouldn't help me if I asked you nicely?" Abbey moved closer, snuggling up to nibble on his ear.

"Help you hijack my own party's political agenda?" His eyes closed as he succumbed to her kisses. "Not...a...chance."

"Well then. No more of that." She stopped then and moved back, laughing at his subsequent groan. She leaned her head against her hand, supported by the elbow that held her up. "Seriously, I'm fine. In fact, if I get home early enough tonight, I'm going to tour the neighborhood."

"To get signatures? You won't get the paperwork back from the AG today, will you?"

"No, but I'm picking up issue cards at the printer's on my way home from work. I'll leave them on doors so they can read the facts and information about medicinal marijuana and I'll come back in a few days to talk face-to-face."

It was a pretty good plan, Jed had to admit. He took a moment to admire the tone of her voice. It was energetic. Excited. He set out to match it. "Sounds like a great idea, provided no one follows you on your route to collect the abandoned cards before they can be read."

"No one would dare torpedo my campaign," she teased, her fingers tweaking the tip of his nose. "If they did, I would unleash the merciless wrath of a woman scorned."

"No one wants that."

"I wouldn't think so," she said, chuckling.

"I usually do everything in my power to avoid your wrath." He pulled the arm that elevated her head, his warm and eager arms ready to embrace her when she dropped.

"Jed." Abbey giggled as his hands wandered down her back and over the curve of her rear while she laid directly on top of him. "I have to hit the shower."

"You have time."

"Not really. I have to get ready." She betrayed the sentiment with another kiss. "But just for the record, this is my favorite part of making up."

"The sex?"

"The cuddling," she replied.

His gaze twinkled with interest. He raised his head, watching her as she slipped out of bed, nude, and turned to head into the bathroom. When she eventually disappeared behind the beige door, he said softly, "Me too."

Within seconds, the sound of running water penetrated the walls. Jed tugged on the sheets, closed his eyes, and once again, laid back against his pillow, hoping to continue his peaceful slumber.

And he did. At least for a while.

High-pitched wailing jolted him from sleep an hour later. There was only one explanation for the unforgiving screams that echoed from downstairs. He guessed it before he even tore off the covers, and as he sluggishly made his way downstairs, he realized he was right.

Abbey had banished Zoey to her time-out chair.

"I'm sorry she woke you," Abbey said as Jed turned the corner to the kitchen.

"It's okay. What did she do?" He locked into Zoey's depressing stare. Her head was slanted in such a way that he knew she was silently begging him to reason with Abbey. Her feet kicked against the wall in front of her repeatedly as she fidgeted in her seat.

"I told her several times to get her race cars out of the kitchen so I could make breakfast. She refused and when Lizzie bent down to pick up the cars, Zoey hit her in the head."

"You okay, Sweetheart?" Jed asked Liz.

She nodded. "Yeah. She didn't hit me hard."

"DADDY!" Zoey screamed.

Jed approached the little girl, his arms folded in front of his chest as he contemplated her plea. Abbey observed suspiciously. Hoodwinked by each of his daughters from the day they were born, Jed was much more willing to negotiate with them, to bend the rules and spare the punishment if it meant he could dry their tears and make them smile.

Fearing he was ready to surrender to Zoey's whimpering, Abbey warned him. "Don't you dare."

He spun around to face his wife. "I was just going to tell her that she's going to have to stay there until you say she can get up."

"Okay. Go ahead."

He looked back at Zoey, immediately saddened by her scrunched features. "You shouldn't have hit your sister, Zo. I'm afraid I can't get you out of it this time. But I do think you need to say you're sorry to Lizzie."

"I did!"

"You never said you were sorry," Abbey reminded her youngest daughter. "Once you do, you can get up, but not before."

As the two-year-old cried harder, Jed kneeled in front of her. "Hey, calm down. You're not supposed to hit. You wouldn't want someone to hit you, would you?"

Zoey shook her head. "No."

"You could have hurt Lizzie. You wouldn't want to do that, would you?"

"No."

"Then you have to say you're sorry so she knows that you didn't mean it."

With the back of her hands wiping away the moisture on her face, Zoey climbed onto her knees and glanced over the back of the chair at her sister. "I sowwy, Izzie. I didn't mean it."

"Okay, Zo," Liz replied.

"I've been trying to get her to do that for 15 minutes," Abbey whispered to Jed.

"Guess you weren't as charming as I." Jed beamed with the confidence that came from winning this battle as Zoey leapt from her seat and into his arms.

Abbey smirked at father and daughter. "Remember that the next time she sticks her fingers in the outlets."

"Can I help, Mommy?" Tired of waiting for breakfast, Ellie approached the stove.

"Everything's just about done. You and Lizzie can put the toast in the toaster if you want." Abbey watched Liz hovering above Ellie to help her reach the bread and once she did, the seven-year-old extended her hands towards the toaster.

"I can't get it," Ellie complained.

"Here, El." Liz slid the toaster towards her sister.

Abbey gave her a look of appreciation, but Lizzie returned the gesture with only a weak smile. Though they had talked after the disagreement the night before, Liz still didn't grasp her mother's position on medicinal marijuana. She had gone to bed confused and unsure of that ambiguous line which, according to Abbey, made pot dangerous for some, yet beneficial for others.

"Liz, you wanna go to the hospital with me on Tuesday evening?" Abbey asked.

"Why?"

"It'll be girls night out. I have to drop off some files for Dr. Ryder, then I'll take you out to dinner so we can continue our conversation from last night."

Though she acknowledged it was probably a futile attempt to sway her opinion, Liz was open to learning more about a cause that was so important to Abbey. She paused for a second, then asked, "Can we go to Friendly's?"

"We can go to Friendly's. And you can even have a Swiss Chocolate Almond Sundae for dessert, as long as you give me a bite or two. Deal?"

Her eyes lit up and she agreed without hesitation. "Deal!"

"Now that that's settled..." Jed intervened from the kitchen table where he sat with a copy of the Union Leader.

"Yes?" Abbey scooped a dozen scrambled eggs onto a large plate."

"Where are my reading glasses? I can't read my paper."

"Don't we go through this every morning?"

"Spare me the commentary, Hon." He appealed to her maternal side with a subtle tilt of his head, just the way the girls always did when they needed something. "Help me find them please?"

"They were in the study last night, right next to the papers you were grading. If they're not there, check on the floor under your desk." She jumped when she felt the feather-light touch of his hand across her rear as he snuck up behind her.

"I knew you'd know," he mumbled in her ear.

"I know all, Love." And with a saucy grin, she returned her attention to breakfast. "Everything's ready so wash up on your way back."

Jed swaggered down the hall that led to the study. Just as she had said, his glasses were folded beside a red pen and the stack of final exams he had been grading. But as he retrieved them, another pile of papers caught his eye, papers he didn't recognize. They were color-coded and labeled according to county and voting district.

His eyes glossed over the charted streets of Manchester, some of them outlined with neon highlighters and numbered with a black marker. Others left blank or simply marked with three initials - "NRF." He tucked a few of the pages under his arms as he left the room.

"Abbey?" His call bellowed in the kitchen before he even appeared. "What's this?"

Abbey glanced up quickly and answered, "That's what we call a map."

"I know what it is. I mean, WHAT is it?"

"I made a map of every district in the state. I have to distribute them to my district leaders."

"Your what?"

"The person who's responsible for collecting signatures in a particular district. I have several already." She stood to take the maps out of his hands.

"District leaders. How many do you have exactly?"

"Well, I'm handling most of the districts in Hillsborough County. I need someone for districts two and three in Sullivan County, districts four, seven, and eight in Grafton County, districts six and seven in Cheshire County, and district five in Belknap County."

"You know that from memory?"

"I've been staring at the maps for three days, Jed. I know exactly what's covered and what isn't."

"Aside from those districts, you have everything else covered?"

"Yeah."

He nodded as he absorbed the information. "And what does 'NRF' mean?"

"That's the home of a non-registered family. Instead of getting call sheets of just the voters, I cross-referenced the stats I got from the Secretary of State's Elections Division and each county's Supervisor of Elections with the community guides at the library so I could identify homes that don't have a single voter inside."

"To avoid them?"

"To get them registered. I'll sit down with them and help them figure out the registration forms."

"Abbey." Jed shook his head. "I'm really impressed with all the work you've done, but this is a state election with a lot of small districts. Doing what you want to do in Manchester alone will take you months. The state parties handle the local GOTV rallies. Leave it to them. If you spend your time going door-to-door to fill out voter registration forms..."

"GOTV?" It was her turn to be confused.

"Get Out The Vote campaigns."

"Oh, right."

"Anyway, what you need to do is just hit the sidewalk. Go to each house, introduce yourself, tell them what you're doing. If they're not registered, give them the paperwork. But you can't spend the precious time you have filling it out for them."

"Well, I think I can."

"Abbey, you really can't."

"We'll see. In the meantime, you do it your way, Jed. I'll do it mine." She was well aware that her political naivete was likely to cause problems, but she wanted to learn on her own.

"Fine. I just wanted to throw that out there."

"And I appreciate it." She began to fold the maps until he took one of them from her. "Jed? Are you surprised that I did it this way?"

'Surprised' was an understatement. Jed never doubted Abbey's ability, but he hadn't expected such a detailed strategy this early in the game. He had been focusing entirely on his intimate knowledge of the district, his broad economic expansion ideas, and his extraordinary communication skills to convey his message to the voters.

The fact that Abbey had devised a plan focused more on the data and statistics that would help her get the votes he hadn't counted, as well as the votes he already expected, muddied his original predictions. He realized for the first time, she had a different formula, one that could easily spell success.

"Jed?" she repeated as he examined the map.

"No, not at all. I'm not surprised. I'm just looking at this thing. This is our district."

"Yeah."

"It's interesting the way you have some of it labeled, not just by registered party but by profession and likelihood of a vote in your favor."

"Like you said, the time I have is precious. I don't want to waste it and I don't want to be caught off-guard."

He nodded again. "You know, pretty soon, I'm going to have to actually challenge you on this and make my position known to the constituents. This would really come in handy."

"Yeah, I bet it would."

"We could canvass together. You could take one side of the street, I could take the other. Then we could switch. Maybe even visit some homes together. I bet it would even be fun if we..."

"Get your own map, Babe." Abbey snatched it from his grasp and threw him a smile as she cocked her head to the side.

TBC