Abbey had been delving in and out of consciousness for the last twenty minutes. Her eyelids were heavy and she was now completely numb from the waist down. She opened her eyes and glanced around the quiet room. Her eyes fell upon Josh Lyman, sitting in a chair beside the bed, looking awkward and mildly uncomfortable. When he saw that she was awake, he immediately sat up straight.
"You're up. How do you feel?"
"Okay. How long have we…?"
"We've been here for about half an hour," Josh replied.
"What happened?"
"I don't think I should…"
Thankfully, Josh was spared that exceedingly awkward moment when Dr. David Wright opened the door and walked into the room.
"I see you're awake."
Abbey propped herself up against her pillows to get a better look at him.
"Dave."
"Lie back down, Abbey. You don't want to strain yourself," Dr. Wright said as he moved to stand beside the bed.
"What's going on?" She asked groggily.
"Mr. Lyman didn't tell you?"
"No. What?"
Dr. Wright smiled sadly at her and gently placed his hand on top of hers.
"Abbey, did you have any idea you were pregnant?"
Were. Abbey swallowed hard and blinked back her tears.
"I had suspected it," she whispered. "I was only six or seven day late, so I didn't…"
"Okay. There were a number of chromosomal abnormalities in the fertilized egg. It couldn't develop normally."
Josh looked down at his shoes and frowned when a thought occurred to him. He had been zoning out a little, but hadn't she been discussing chromosomal abnormalities in class earlier? Of all the ironic things, this had to be the cruelest.
"How far along?" Abbey asked, quietly.
"Looks like you were about five weeks pregnant. That sound about right?"
Abbey nodded.
"I've called virtually everyone," Dr. Wright said. "Julia's still in France, Dr. Griffith is in Michigan visiting her brother, Dr. Nolan is driving down from New Hampshire as soon as he can get someone to cover his shift, and I couldn't reach your in-laws. Your father and your sister are driving up to Manchester now to pick up the kids, but it'll likely take them quite awhile to get here."
"What about Jed?"
"He's on his way."
"Does he know…what happened?" She asked softly.
"No. He hung up on me after I said 'Abbey's in the hospital.' He called me back from Dulles and said he was about to jump on the next flight to Logan. He didn't ask why and I didn't tell him. He should be here in less than two hours sans delays."
"He knows."
"What?" Dr. Wright questioned.
"He knows. Or he would have asked. I told him I was a few days late, he must have put two and two together."
"Ah. Either way, he should be here soon."
"Thanks, Dave."
"Of course," he replied. "You'll let me know if you need anything?"
"I will."
"Okay. Keep an eye on her, Josh," Dr. Wright told him. "Normally, this room would be family only, but I'm making an exception."
"Yes. Thank you, Dr."
"I'll be back to check on you a little while, Abbey."
Abbey smiled, and Dr. Wright exited the room.
"I'm sorry to had to witness this," Abbey said to her student.
"It's okay. I just didn't want to leave you here by yourself."
"I appreciate that. Listen, Josh, I know you're still mad at me about the paper, so it means a lot that you stayed anyway. I won't forget that."
"Despite appearances, Dr. Bartlet, I'm not actually a bad guy," Josh said.
"I know you're not. You're just not so good at Genetics."
Josh laughed.
"You could say that."
"And, you've had a lot of things handed to you in your life. I'm hoping that D I gave you will be your motivation to work harder from now on, because it's not so easy getting what you want in the real world. If we all succeeded based on looks and charm, the world would be a pretty scary place, don't you think?"
"Yeah. But if we all succeeded based on looks and charm, you and I would have taken over the world by now."
Abbey chuckled.
"Then I guess it's a good thing that's not the case."
"I don't know. I think we'd make a pretty good team. You know, like Hitler and Goebbels," Josh joked. "Stalin and…whoever his guy was."
Abbey smiled and shook her head.
"You still need to crack open your Genetics book now and then, Misogynist Boy."
"You did talk to Amy!" Josh exclaimed.
"Yes, I did. But make no mistake, that had nothing to do with the way I graded your paper. You didn't need any help screwing yourself over, Josh."
"Yeah, that's the part that bothers me."
A couple hours went by quickly. Abbey slept for most of that time, and Josh had utilized it to read his Genetics book, or at least pretend to. He skimmed over a section on structural genomics and groaned in frustration when almost every concept went right over his head. When Dr. Wright popped his head into the room again, he slammed the book shut. Abbey stirred slightly and opened her eyes.
"How're you feeling?" He asked.
"Fine, thanks," Abbey answered.
"I just got word that Jed's downstairs. He's on his way up."
"Okay. Thanks, Dave."
"Sure thing," Dr. Wright replied, departing from the room.
Josh quickly stood up, Genetics book in hand.
"I should go."
"You don't have to," Abbey insisted.
"No, I should really go."
"All right. Thank you for everything, Josh. Really."
"No problem, Dr. Bartlet. I'll see you in class on Monday?"
"I'll be there," Abbey assured him.
He smiled and left the room as swiftly as possible. As he walked through the hallway, he glanced down at his Genetics book and shook his head. He told himself he wouldn't be needing it anymore. After all of this, he certain he would have a guaranteed B, at the very least. When he looked up, he was passed by a frenetic man jogging in the opposite direction. Although neither of them knew it then, in ten years, they would be working together in the White House, trying, to the best of their extensive abilities, to improve the country.