It took over an hour, but finally Jed was able to gather his thoughts and his emotions enough to face the immediate future. The two friends opened the door and headed back down the hall toward Abbey's room.

They opened her door and found everyone gathered around the bed just looking at Abbey, obviously trying to burn her image in their own brain. Abbey looked like she was sleeping, but her hands were moving across the top of the sheet and her legs were moving underneath the sheet at the bottom of the bed.

"Ellie, is your mother okay?"

"Yes, Dad. I think she's having a dream."

"Oh, okay. Girls, can I talk to you over here?"

"Sure." They moved over to the door and huddled with their father. Leo moved away to give them some privacy. Immediately, they noticed his red, swollen eyes and surmised that the doctors had told him everything. "I have a question. Be very honest. Should I tell your mother what's going on? Zoey?"

The youngest Bartlet looked at her father, waited a second and then nodded yes.

"Ellie?"

"Yes. She would want to know."

"Liz?"

"Absolutely."

"Decision made. I want all of you here." Jed turned to Leo and CJ. "Would you please leave? We are going to talk with Abbey."

"Yes, Mr. President."

"Yes, Mr. President."

After they left, Jed and the girls walked over to the bed. Jed sat down and the girls gathered around the bed.

"Abbey, honey, wake up. We need to tell you something."

Opening her eyes, Jed noted that the fiery green eyes he normally saw and loved were pale and almost a gray color.

"Hi there. We're all here and we need to say something. You remember you had a second heart attack."

"Yes." Her voice was soft but clear.

He hated to continue, but he knew he had to. "Well, when the doctors were fixing that they found something else."

"What?"

"An abdominal aneurysm. A fairly large one. They think you've had it for a while and the wall of the aorta is very thin. Add that to all the damage from the two heart attacks, well, you're very sick."

She looked around the bed and saw the expressions on her daughters' faces. The deep sadness and the extreme worry. The tears pooling in their eyes. She looked back at Jed and saw the same.

"Jed, are you saying that I'm dying?"

Jed kept looking directly at her. He owed her that much. "Yes, Abbey. You're dying and there's no treatment."

She closed her eyes, trying to let her brain wrap around those words. She had to admire her husband for having the strength to tell her this. Weaker men could not have done this.

Opening her eyes again, she asked the only question she had. "How long?"

"They don't know."

"Jed, tell me. Please be honest."

Speaking very softly, he leaned in to her and spoke very distinctly. "A few hours. Maybe a few days at the most."

With that information, tears fell from her eyes onto her cheeks. Zoey wiped them off her mother's cheeks, her own heart breaking at her mother's anguish. "I'm sorry, Mom. I love you so much."

Abbey looked at her youngest. She would never see her get married or meet her children. In fact, she was going to miss a great deal. But then she, of all people, knew life wasn't fair. She looked then at her middle child. Ellie was always different. Shy, sensitive, reserved. Abbey had hoped she would see Ellie eventually break out of her shell and make her own way in life. And to heal the divide between her and her father. But now that was not to be. And then she looked at Elizabeth. She and Jed were not happy when Liz became pregnant as a teenager. They thought they had been failed as parents but then, eventually, it had worked out. Liz and Doug had what appeared to be, at least, a stable marriage and it had produced another grandchild. The first Bartlet boy in forty years. Well, Gus wasn't truly a Bartlet son but Jed sure did consider him one. Then she turned her attention to her husband. What would he do without her? They were one. And they both knew it. One soul. One person. Had always been since the first day they had met. Sure, she had given him a hard time at first. But she knew he was the one. She knew that he was going to be her husband from then until the end of time. But how would he go on without her? Leo would have his hands full. And she wished him well because both she and Leo knew that Jed Bartlet could be a handful.

"Abbey, do you want anything?"

"Yes, can you get Millie up here and Father Mike?" She saw the surprise on her husband's face. But he shouldn't have been surprised. If she was dying, she wanted to be right with God.

"Will do. Want to rest now?"

"Yeah. I'm tired and hurting."

Jed picked up the control and squeezed the button. "This should help."

He watched as an appearance of peace spread across her face and she drifted back to peaceful sleep. That's where he wanted her to stay. 'Please God, just let her drift out of here. No pain. That's what I ask of you.'

They all stood around the bed for a few more minutes staring at her face, knowing they didn't have too much more time to do that. Eventually, each went in a different direction. Liz went to call Doug to tell him to bring Annie and Gus over to say goodbye. Ellie went to call Millie and ask her to come up immediately from Boston. Zoey went to call Charlie for support. And Jed went to call Father Mike. Abbey had made a final request and he would see that it was carried out.

As he went out into the hall, Leo came over to him. "I told CJ everything. She's going to handle the press. And I've called the others. They, along with Charlie, will be here in a little while."

"Thanks, Leo. I need to call Father Mike. Abbey has requested Last Rites."

"I understand. We're here for you. All of us."

"I know. Thanks."