At 5:30pm, Ellie Bartlet and Becky Wright sat on the bench outside the library waiting for Ellie's father to arrive. He was late, but that was expected, and neither of them minded.
"So when does your husband graduate med school?" Ellie asked.
"Next year. We can't wait."
"That's cool. What's he studying?"
"Well, I know he's doing a lot with thoracic surgery right now."
Ellie paused-she'd heard that term before.
"Oh! My mother's a thoracic surgeon!"
"Your mother's a doctor!" Becky said.
"Yep, she works at George Washington General"
"That's very exciting, Ellie. You should be very proud of your mother."
"I am."
"What does your father do?" Becky asked.
"He's…"
Ellie stopped when she saw Jed's car pull up.
"He's here."
They both stood as Jed got out of the car and moseyed towards them.
"Hi, Dad."
"Hey there, El."
Becky held her hand out.
"I'm Rebecca Wright."
"Jed Bartlet," Jed replied, shaking her hand.
"Jed Bartlet? The Jed Bartlet?"Unless there's more than one," he answered with a grin.
"Wow, it's really an honor to meet you, Congressman."
"Oh, Jed's fine."
"Jed," she repeated. "Ellie, you didn't tell me your father was a Congressman!"
"I was about to…"
"Gosh, I'm really so excited to meet you, Jed. I've been following the work you're doing with the public school and library funding closely. You should be very proud of the things you're accomplishing," Becky stated.
"Thank you very much, Rebecca! Nice to know these things don't go unnoticed."
"Oh, they certainly do not. We all appreciate it so much, you don't even know."
"Good to hear, thanks. Now, how do you know my daughter here?" Jed asked, congenially.
"She's a librarian, Dad. Duh," Ellie said.
"I've been helping Ellie understand some…"
Ellie cleared her throat. Becky looked at her with confusion.
"I've, uh, just been helping Ellie find some things," Becky rephrased.
"Yeah, and we got to talking about stuff. She's really cool, Dad. Her husband's studying thoracic surgery."
"Really! You know, my wife's a thoracic surgeon," Jed said.
"Ellie was telling me. I'm sure my husband would like get together and talk with her some time."
"I bet she'd like that too. My wife loves any excuse to talk about medicine. Or anything, really."
Becky laughed.
"So does my husband."
"Dad, can we go now?" Ellie begged.
"Yeah, sure, El. Well, it was nice meeting you, Rebecca."
"Likewise. Bye, Ellie!"
"Bye, Becky."
That evening, after she returned home from her shift at the hospital, Abbey knocked on Liz's bedroom door.
"Come in."
Abbey walked in and found Liz sitting on her bed reading Tender is the Night. Abbey came over and sat beside her.
"Fitzgerald, huh?"
Liz put the book down.
"Ellie recommended it."
"Oh yes, I remember she was reading that. Eleven years old. She kills me."
"Yeah." Liz smiled. "So what's up?"
"Nothing, just wanted to talk. See what's going on with you."
"Not a whole lot, Mom."
"Have you been thinking at all about the baby?" Abbey asked.
"Well, yeah. All the time."
"Have you made any plans yet?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Do you have a name picked out yet?"
"No!" Liz answered, quickly.
"Why not?"
"Actually, I've been wanting to talk to you about that."
"About what, hon?"
"Names. How to go about the naming process."
Abbey laughed.
"Well, there's not really much of a process, Liz."
"How did you go about chosing names for all of us though?" Elizabeth asked.
"You're named after your great-grandmothers. You know that, Liz."
"Yeah, but I want you to walk me through the naming process for all of us."
"Well, okay, if that's what you want. You were named after my grandmother, Elizabeth Bennett, everyone called her Eliza though, and your father's grandmother, Adelaide Bartlet"
"And everyone called her Adele, and that's where my middle name comes from?" Liz said.
"That's right."
"What about Ellie?"
"Ellie…Ellie actually was named after Eleanor Roosevelt," Abbey said.
"Really? I didn't know that."
"Oh, yes. Eleanor Roosevelt. One of my idols."
"What about Emily? Where did that come from?" Liz asked.
"That's a longer story. In the mid-60's, a film came out that your father and I were crazy about, but at the time we hadn't met yet. So when I was pregnant with Ellie, it was rereleased to the theaters, you know, for a limited time, and we went to see it together. The film was called 'The Americanization of Emily.' We fell in love with the name," Abbey explained.
"Okay, I really didn't see that coming."
"We're just full of surprises, hmm?"
"Sure, Mom," Liz laughed. "What about Zoey?"
"Oh, Zoey was just a name we heard on the street and loved. We loved that it was unique, but not so unique that she would get made fun of. And Patricia, well, that's a longer story."
"We got time."
"Well, when we lived in London, your father and I had a friend named Patricia Wendice. She was a very good friend to us, when we were so unfamiliar with British traditions and lifestyles. Anyway, she had ovarian cancer and had…died shortly before Zoey was born. We felt we had to do something in her honor, so we made her one of Zoey's namesakes."
"Wow. That's really sad."
"Yes, it is."
"Mom?"
"Yeah."
"What about Jillian and Gracelynne?" Liz asked.
"What!"
"Jillian and Gracelynne. Where did their names come from?"
"Uh. Jillian was your father's aunt, she died when you were a baby. And we just sort of…created Gracelynne ourselves." Abbey looked away.
"Mom? Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Fine."
When the doorbell rang around 7pm, Jed opened the front door to find Leo standing, sheepishly, bags in tow.
"Leo."
"Jed."
Jed looked down at the bags by his side, then back at Leo.
"Jenny kicked me out," Leo explained.
"Apparently!"
"Can I stay with you?"
"Come on in."
"Thanks."
"You can stay in the guest room," Jed said.
"Okay"
"Wait, no. We don't have a guest room anymore."
"Your guest room disappeared?"
Jed rolled his eyes at him and changed directions, now heading toward the basement.
"Abbey and I are re-doing it for Chelsea."
"Chelsea?" Leo asked, following him.
"The baby. You can stay in the basement."
"Sure Abbey won't mind?"
"Why should she mind?"
"Because Jenny's her best friend?"
"Well, you're my best friend."
"Oookay."
Once in the basement, the two men pulled out the couch and found some blankets and pillows.
"So. Why'd Jen kick you out?"
At first, Leo didn't reply.
"Good God, Leo. Don't tell me you…"
"No! No. God, no."
"Thank the Lord." Jed breathed a sigh of relief.
"I may be a drunk, but I'm not stupid."
Jed laughed.
"Well then, what did you do?"
"Uh, well…I stopped going to the meetings. The AA meetings."
"What the hell! Why? Why would you stop going!" Jed exclaimed.
"They make me feel weak, Jed!"
"Leo, you're an alcoholic. You ARE weak!"
"It's not for me," Leo said, quietly.
"On the contrary, my friend, AA was made exactly for you. That's it's purpose, remember?"
"You don't understand."
"Then explain it to me."
"I can't do it. I can't. I want to, but I can't. I don't wanna hurt Jen, I don't wanna hurt Mal…"
"But you are, Leo. Can't you see that? Every time you take a drink, you're hurting them. You have to go back if you don't want to lose your family. Do you hear me? You have to," Jed said.
They heard the basement door creak open and then heard Abbey's voice as she descended the stairs.
"Jed! I just hung up with Jenny; she kicked Leo out of the house. Have you heard from…" She reached the bottom of the stairs and saw them both.
"Oh. You're here."
"Yeah, he's gonna stay with us until things blow over," Jed explained.
Abbey frowned.
"Abbey, if you want me to leave…"
"No, I don't care. It's just a little uncomfortable. My best friend kicks her husband out and I take him in."
"I'm taking him in," Jed said, firmly.
"Yes, and I just happen to live here too. But, fine. I don't care. Do what you want."
With that, she ran up the stairs. Leo sighed and sunk down into a chair.
"Looks like I'm not the only one with trouble in paradise."
"What? Abbey and me? No, we're fine."
"Doesn't look that way to me."
"It's you she's pissed at, not me. For once," Jed said.
"Why the hell is SHE pissed at me?"
"Probably the same reason Jenny's pissed at you."
"Damnit."
"Ya see, Leo? This is hurting everyone around you."
"Could we just talk about something else please?"
Jed threw him the remote instead.
"I gotta go talk to Abbey. 'Do what you want' is code for 'get your ass upstairs, we need to talk, pronto.'"
"You two have a language all your own."
"Scary, isn't it?"
"Very."
"I think so too."
"Abbey!" He caught her on her way upstairs. She stopped short on the middle of the stairway and whipped around.
"He's my best friend, Abbey. We can't just kick him to the curb."
"Then maybe you should kick me to the curb instead," she suggested.
"Honey, please."
"Did he tell you why she kicked him out? Hmm?"
"Yes, he did."
"And?"
"I think he's making a huge mistake, but this isn't my kingdom to rule, Abbey," Jed replied.
"Do you see what this is doing to them, Jed? When we went out to dinner last week, did you notice how Jenny had to close her eyes every time Leo took a drink? Did you see that!"
"No," he said, quietly.
"When we were in New York last month, she was in tears. Tears! Broke down right in front of me. And you know why? Because she's scared! She's scared for her marriage, she's scared for her family, she's scared for their future. She is SCARED, Jed! Just like I would be. Except I wouldn't handle it quite as well. I swear to God, Jed, if this was you instead of Leo…I'd have kicked your ass so fast you wouldn't know what hit you!"
"I know."
"We need to get him help, Jed. He's your best friend, like you said. Help him."
"Okay. I will. All right?"
"Did you lock the liquor cabinet?" Abbey asked.
"It's always locked, Abbey."
"Right. I'm sorry. I'm just…"
"I know you're worried"
He walked up the stairs until he was only a step below her. Her eyes were tearing and, though it was probably just hormones, he sensed she needed to be comforted.
"Come here."
He pulled her to him. As she was still a whole step above him, his head was against her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her waist.
"I'm never going to do that to you, Abbey. Never. Do you believe me?"
She nodded.
"You don't have to worry."
They broke apart, and he found himself eye level with her chest.
"Well this is a nice view."
She laughed, wiping away her tears.
"Jed."
He grinned, then pulled her chin down to him and kissed her.
"I love you," she said.
"And I love you," he replied, matter-of-factly.
TBC.