Jed and Leo met CJ and Ron at the Residence Portico. Toby and Josh had also arrived to express their best wishes to the President. Jed was touched by their presence and said so. "Guys. I don't know what I'll find when I get to Manchester, but I appreciate you getting out of bed to see me off. If there's any way I can let Abbey know what you all have done, I will be sure to tell her. I know it means a lot to me and I'm sure it would mean a lot to her."
The traveling party then drove off and got on their way. By the time they got to Andrews, a small Air Force jet was waiting for them. The traveling party left the SUVs and climbed aboard. Once buckled in, the door was closed and the flight took off. Less than an hour later, the plane landed in New Hampshire.
Thirty minutes later the motorcade, with its New Hampshire State police escort, pulled up in front of Manchester General Hospital. Jed patiently waited for the agents to sweep the lobby and then entered the hospital. He went directly to the second floor and scanned the hallways for any sign of his wife's protection or any of his daughters. He saw Zoey coming up the hall just about the same time she saw him and they both ran into each other's arms.
"Oh Daddy! I'm so glad you're here." Her crying broke Jed's heart. She always was one of his most emotional daughters.
"It's okay, baby. I'm here. How's your mother?"
"No change. She just lays there."
In a weird way, Jed was relieved. Abbey was still alive. "Where are the others?"
"In her room. Let me take you there."
Jed and Zoey walked down the hall and paused in front of the closed door.
"Dad, do you want to go in alone?"
"Do you mind?
"No, I understand."
Zoey stepped back as Jed pushed the door open. Ellie and Liz turned in their chairs and stood as they realized it was their father coming in. They walked over to him, gave him a kiss and went out to the hall. They knew he needed time alone.
Jed stared at his once vibrant wife, lying unmoving in the hospital bed. Her hair strewn across the pillow, her pale face on the pillow with the oxygen tubing in her nose. His eyes proceeded down and only saw a white sheet pulled up around her chest. She had an IV inserted in her right forearm with tubing attached to a machine with a light flashing, but not making a sound.
He waked over the bedside and brushed her forehead. "Abbey," he whispered. "If you can hear me, I'm here with you. I came back just like I promised. I love you so much." He leaned down, gently kissed her forehead and raised back up.
Her eyelids fluttered and slightly opened. "Jed?"
"Yes, it's me."
"You came back."
"I told you that I would."
He could tell she was struggling to breathe. "Good…speech."
He smiled slightly. Always the politician's wife. "Shh, don't talk. Just lay here and be quiet."
"Okay. Hurt."
"Let me get the doctor."
Abbey nodded but didn't speak.
Jed turned and went outside. "Ellie, your mom said she was hurting. Can you get the Doctor?"
"She's on morphine, Dad. Let us go back in and I'll show you how to give her some."
"Okay."
They went back in and Ellie showed him how to press the button on the bedside machine in order to give Abbey a dose. "You can do it every five minutes if she needs it."
"Good. I don't want her hurting."
"Have you had a chance to talk to the doctors yet?"
"No, I just got here. I haven't talked with them since early this morning. Have there been some changes?"
"I think you need to talk with them. I'll call them."
"Okay. Have Leo and CJ made it up here?"
"Yeah, they're across the hall in the waiting room."
"Good. Give me a minute more and then tell them to come in while I talk to the doctors."
"Okay." Ellie left to call both doctors.
Jed continued to look at Abbey. She looked so different from yesterday when he left. But he had to have hope that she would beat this too.
In a few minutes, Jed left the room and motioned for everyone else, including Leo and CJ, to go back in. Dr. Noland and Dr. Scott were waiting on him and motioned him down the hall to the small conference room where they had met with his daughters a few hours ago.
Closing the door, with the agent standing guard outside, they sat down and began the same blunt discussion with Jed that they had had earlier with the girls. "Mr. President, I have described your wife's condition and have stated that there's no treatment available for her. According to her Living Will, she does not want life sustaining actions and, in fact, if the aneurysm ruptures, there's no action possible. Your daughter Ellie has gone ahead and signed a Do Not Resuscitate Order in case her heart stops. She said that both you and her hold Mrs. Bartlet's Health Power of Attorney."
Jed nodded.
"I have stopped the sedation and she has regained some level of consciousness so you and your family can communicate with her. We do not tell the patient that she is dying. We leave that decision up to the family. You and your daughters know Mrs. Bartlet the best and you know if she would prefer to know or not to know. So that choice we leave to you."
Jed's voice trembled. "How long?"
Dr. Nolan answered. "Mr. President, we don't know. It could occur in the next few minutes or hours or days. But with very little heart muscle left, I don't think it will be days. Our best guess is that your wife has hours."
All Jed could do was nod his head. His heart was breaking in half after being told that his precious wife, the love of his life, the other half of his very soul, only had hours to live.
Dr. Scott then spoke. "Do you have any more questions for us?"
"No."
"Is there anything we can do for you or your family?"
"No thank you. We'll handle this. Just have all inquiries routed through my Press Secretary."
"We certainly will. Mr. President, we are so sorry."
"Thank you."
The doctors got up and left the room. Jed stayed there and digested the information they had just presented. He laid his head down on the table and let his sobs echo against the tile covered walls.
The agent couldn't help but overhear the noise from inside the room and called for assistance. In a matter of seconds, the Chief of Staff walked quickly down the hall and knocked softly on the door. "Jed, it's me."
"Come in, Leo."