Chapter 9

It was three am before his girls arrived in Salt Lake City. After a joyous reunion and the relief of knowing that they were going to be okay, Jed's concern turned back to Abbey.

Although in intensive care, he had seen her a couple of times, for brief periods of time, but couldn't stand to stay very long. Memories would just overwhelm him and all he could do was to tear up.

Doug arrived later in the morning. Liz, Annie and Gus left the hospital with him and checked into a hotel. Rest was at the top of their list.

But Jed couldn't rest. He took naps, but they were restless, always full of dreams of him and Abbey, and of their life together.

Sitting by her side in the ICU, he just stared at his pale, unconscious wife. She was on a ventilator and the monitor above her head was quietly monitoring her heart beat. But Jed felt a different beat. The beat of her life. The beat of her very soul.

"Abbey, please. You have to wake up. You have to."

Jed continued to stare at her face, bruised and battered from the debris of the avalanche. He watched as her body shuddered once.

'Maybe this means she's waking up,' he thought hopefully. Turning around to see if he could get some help, he didn't see the beginning of the convulsions that raced through Abbey's body. As he turned back around, he cried out with alarm. "HELP! Help me somebody!"

Two nurses ran to the First Lady's bedside and pushed against her shaking body, preventing her from hurting herself during the seizures. "Sir. Please leave."

"Help her!"

"Yes, sir. Please leave."

Another nurse who had just entered the cubicle gently took the President of the United Sates by the shoulders and pulled him away from Abbey's bedside. 'Sir, you have to let us do our work. Come on."

Reluctantly Jed allowed himself to be pulled away and led to the waiting room, where Zoey and Ellie were waiting.

"Dad! What's wrong?"

"Your mother is having seizures. I had to leave. The staff is with her now." He turned his head as he saw Dr. Miller run down the hall and quickly disappear into the ICU.

Both girls grabbed a hand of their father and squeezed. "She'll be okay, Dad. Mom's strong."

Jed lowered his head. "I hope so, girls. I truly hope so."

Waiting on some news seemed to slow time but finally the doors to the ICU opened as a bed was pushed through and staff hurried down the hall with it. Jed immediately noted who the person in the bed was. It was Abbey. Staff surrounded her as they manually ventilated her non reactive body and quickly pushed her bed to a waiting elevator.

Jed made the motion to follow them when he felt the hand of someone stronger on his arm.

"Let me go! I'm going with her."

He turned around to fight the person but instantly stopped. It was Ellie holding him back. "Dad, let her go. She's being looked after as best they can. I'm sure we'll get news shortly."

Even as she finished the words, Dr. Miller came through the double doors of the ICU and approached the waiting family. "Sir, ma'am, let me tell you what's going on."

"Please do," Jed replied sharply, not caring at the moment how he sounded.

Dr. Miller sighed. This was never easy but this time the added factor of speaking to the President and his family added additional pressure to the conversation. "Mrs. Bartlet has had seizures due to increased intracranial pressure. The brain is swelling against the skull and therefore increasing the pressure inside her head. I'm doing an emergency scan to see what I'm dealing with and if it shows what I think it shows, I'll have to take her back to surgery to try and relieve the pressure. I don't…"

"Don't tell me you don't know ANYTHING!" Jed's voice echoed through the private waiting room.

Ellie gently took her father's hand and squeezed it. "Lower your voice Dad. The doctor is trying to explain what's…"

Turning his now flushed face to his daughter, he yelled, "I know what the doctor is trying to explain. He's trying to tell me in a nice way that my wife, your mother is dying. And that's there's nothing he can do." Turning quickly back to Dr. Miller he continued. "Isn't that what you're trying to tell me, Dr. Miller? You're trying to tell me that the other half of my soul is dying and there's not a damn thing you can do about it?"

Dr. Miller looked at his shoes and then looked back to the distraught face. "Yes, sir. That's what I'm telling you. But also know I won't give up without a fight. I'll do everything in my power to prevent that outcome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a patient to take care of."