Series: Snapshots of the Past
Story: The Nobel Laureate
Chapter 15
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: Abbey told Jed about the job offer to stay on as an attending after her fellowship; Liz apoogized to Abbey; Abbey surprised Jed and the girls at the airport after they thought she would have to work all night; the Bartlets left for Washington, D.C. for the traditional Nobel laureate trip to the Swedish Embassy
Summary: Ellie and Lizzie begin planning the itinerary when the Bartlets arrive in Washington; Jed and Abbey have a late-night encounter; Jed is surprised with an unexpected question
Author's Note: Other items mentioned in this chapter: the Boston bussing storyline is from an earlier story in this series - Endings and Beginnings; the reference to the AIDS legislation is from Chapter 16 of On My Honor. Both stories can be found on this site.
"When can we go to the Smithsonian?"
Before the seventeenth-floor elevator doors opened, Liz and Ellie began scheduling the activities. The Bartlets had been to Washington, D.C. in the past, but it had been at least five years since the last time they stopped there for a weekend detour during a trip to Shenandoah National Park. Ellie was too young to remember and by now, Liz had practically forgotten.
"Can we go to the Smithsonian tomorrow, Dad?" Liz asked.
"My teacher said the top of the Washington Monument is made out of aluminum and if you go all the way up there, you can see the whole city!" Ellie added.
"I also want to walk around the National Mall if we have time," Liz interjected. "Do you think we'll have time?"
Carrying his suitcase in one hand and Abbey's bag in the other, Jed led the pack, walking briskly down the narrow hall until he arrived at their hotel room. "If you guys get to bed and wake up bright and early, we may have time to do all the things you want to do and still get to some of the places I'm actually required to go."
"Can we also visit the Air and Space Museum, Daddy?"
He stared into his eight-year-old daughter's curious eyes and said, "Of course we can, if we have time."
"And even if we don't have time, you won't be the one to say no to her, will you?" Abbey muttered as she pushed Zoey in her stroller and crossed in front of him to enter their room.
"Nope," Jed unapologetically admitted.
Liz and Ellie dropped their coats during the race towards the windows in the spacious suite. They pulled the blinds to see the glittering city below. A restless Zoey squirmed until Abbey lifted her out of her stroller and allowed her to see the spectacle that had clearly dominated the attention of her sisters.
Jed stood behind the foursome. His arm was draped over Abbey's shoulder and he listened attentively as she pointed out the twinkling lights that marked a path down the length of the National Mall to the dome of the U.S. Capitol.
From their vantage point, it was only a speck in the night, but like a little girl on Christmas morning, Ellie was impressed nonetheless. "Where does the President live?"
"In the White House," Lizzie answered.
"I know that, Lizzie! Duh! Where's the White House?"
"You can't see the White House from here, Sweetheart," Jed replied.
"I bet we could see a lot more if we went outside!"
Her hand grabbing her middle daughter's wrist, Abbey stopped her from opening the balcony's sliding glass door. "Don't you dare! It's way too cold out there!"
"But I wanna see if I can see Washington Monument from here!"
"Not without your coat. Besides, it's late. You can see everything you want to see in the morning."
The girls reluctantly went to bed that night, grumbling that they'd have to wait until morning to explore the sights that had mesmerized them from their perch high above Capital City.
When the girls were snuggled in their beds in the main room, Abbey headed to the bedroom where she and Jed would sleep. She slipped out of her jeans and sweatshirt and pulled a black satin nightgown over her head. The fabric fell loosely around her figure, held in place by thin spaghetti straps that kept the top of her low-cut neckline dangling just above the slope of her breasts.
Jed laid on his side in bed, his hand tucked under his cheek as he watched her in the mirror while she brushed her dark auburn locks. "Is your hair wavier than usual?"
Abbey turned to face him. "No."
"I like it when you wear it wavy."
"It's not all that wavy."
"It's beautiful tonight."
With a smile, she threw the brush on the dresser and sauntered over to the mattress. "You like it?"
"I always like it, but tonight...I don't know, tonight, you just look so alluring."
Jed held out a hand to her and pulled her into bed. She cuddled up to him in a way that allowed her to feel his masculine muscles pushing up against her until she fell flat on her back. He crawled on top of her, his legs now straddling her hips.
"You didn't tell me you were in the mood for some fun tonight," she teased him.
"I'm always in the mood." He ran his fingers across her rosy cheeks, the tips outlining her lips when he approached them. "I'm just so happy you're with me tonight."
"You hated the idea of me arriving to meet you tomorrow."
"I really did."
"You could have complained."
He shook his head. "Making you feel guilty wouldn't have done either one of us any good."
Her eyes, trapped in a smoldering haze of desire, sparkled brighter tonight. They were overflowing with love as they scanned his handsome features. "You really are a prince, Jed Bartlet."
His hands played with her hair as he leaned forward. His toes rubbed the smooth skin of her legs. Abbey unlocked the fingers clasped behind his neck to allow them to thread his thick brown hair, curling over every strand, tugging gently in response to the sweet touch of his lips on her shoulder.
He was so heavy on top of her petite form that she could hear his heart beat against her chest, could feel the rapid breaths that expanded his lungs between the kisses he dropped on her body. She was wiggling now, unable to hide the feelings that fired pulsating shockwaves throughout her most delicate areas. When his hands wandered between her legs, Abbey's head tipped back against her pillow and she succumbed to a moan so deep that Jed knew he hit the right spot.
Refusing to stop, he stretched his head so he could reach her before she uttered another sound and whispered softly, "I love you," then covered her mouth with his.
It was a romantic move, one that she would never resist even though she knew there was an ulterior motive behind the gesture. Jed usually loved to listen to her while he drove her out of her mind, but to avoid waking the girls, they had to be quiet, so if a marathon of endless kisses would intercept the natural moans that escaped their bodies while they made love, she'd gladly go along.
Without ever breaking contact with her husband's lips, Abbey's hands fell to his pants. She untied the drawstring in one swift motion, then pushed them to the bottom of her feet where her toes wriggled to free his ankles of the twisted fabric. Jed lifted the bottom of her nightgown to her belly. His tongue trailed just behind those magical fingers and she squirmed in anticipation as his warm breath traced the sexy lace at the top of her panties.
She arched her back to raise her hips so he could hook his fingers to the sides of the undergarment and slide them down her legs. She wanted more, so much more, but Jed had paused to explore the soft skin of her inner thighs.
Abbey sat up far enough to lift his chin. "None of the other stuff tonight. I just want you. I need you."
Jed smiled as he laid her back down and pushed her legs further apart to probe the area first. Just as she said, she was ready. And now, so was he. He didn't hesitate a moment longer. Tearing himself free of his silky boxers, he guided himself to her entrance and penetrated her. Slowly. Diligently. Abbey wrapped herself so tightly around him that he could feel her heels digging into his rear. Her legs crossed at the ankles and she repeatedly raised them higher to encourage him to penetrate deeper.
At first, she defined his pace, but Jed soon took charge. He surrendered their kisses to sit up and place his hand across her stomach, stilling her for just one moment. He abruptly withdrew, then pushed inside her much faster than Abbey expected. She gasped as his hands untangled her ankles from where they had landed on his lower back. His nails dug into the skin under her knees where he was gripping her legs, holding them firmly in the air so he could push them up towards her chest while he buried himself between her thighs. His body moved directly above her to give her the friction she so desperately wanted.
He grinded into her with such force that the headboard rattled behind her. Neither of them noticed. The possibility of waking the girls had suddenly been forgotten and the only thing that mattered now was finding the fastest route towards a gratifying completion.
Tiny beads of sweat dampened Abbey's forehead, trickling down into her eyebrows or falling to the side to disappear into her auburn waves. Her legs were trembling. Twitching really. From her curling toes to the muscles of her inner thighs, she spasmed as she called out his name.
Jed lowered his mouth to her exposed neck while he continued to hold her legs, not to keep them in place, for he knew she was enjoying this far too much to relinquish the position. His stationary hands served a much greater purpose now - they gave him the leverage he needed to move inside her with the meticulous control necessary to poke at the spot that rendered her breathless.
Abbey clawed at his back. Jed's top absorbed the scratches, but she clutched to the material so strongly that it only made him thrust harder, and with each impassioned thrust came a new wave of sensations that tingled the sensitive flesh between her legs.
Her muscles contracted and her feminine walls kept tightening around him, bringing him to the verge of ecstasy over and over and over and over again until the twisting and writhing that came from her climax shattered his restraint and he exploded inside her.
He laid there, his head buried in Abbey's shoulder to muffle the frantic panting that followed. Abbey stroked his back while she struggled to regain her composure. After several minutes, Jed lifted himself up, lowered her nightgown over her hips, and swept her face free of the intruding strands of hair that clung to her skin.
"I love you," she said as he rolled to her side, slipping his arm under her head to cradle her in a warm embrace.
"I love you too." Jed kissed her forehead, holding her closer as they drifted off to sleep.
By 7 a.m., sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains that secured the blinds. Still enveloped in Jed's arms, Abbey stirred and slowly opened her eyes to see him snoring gingerly beside her. He was so cute when he was sound asleep. He looked so innocently adorable that It almost made her feel guilty for waking him. Almost.
She sprinkled his face with featherlight kisses. When he began to move, she greeted him. "Good morning."
Jed let out a grouchy yawn as he stretched his arms over his head. "Why is it that, lately, when you're up, I have to be up too?"
"Just one of the perks of being married to me, Gumdrop."
"I don't like this new habit of yours. We're going to have to snap you out of it. What time is it?"
"It's just after seven. If we want to take the girls sight-seeing before we leave for the Embassy, we need to get moving."
"Is it too much to hope for a day of sleeping in while on vacation?"
"I feel completely safe in saying yes. Besides, this is a working vacation, Babe. We have places to go and people to see. Do me a favor and wake the girls? I'm going to jump in the shower."
Jed couldn't deny that a few lost hours of sleep were worth it to follow the itinerary of the day - breakfast and a little sight-seeing with his daughters, followed by a trip to the Swedish Embassy, a press conference shortly after, and an afternoon visit to the White House. Tomorrow, he was to be honored at a banquet for the American laureates and their spouses and the day after that, the family would return to Manchester for Thanksgiving at the farm and a special celebration for Zoey's third birthday before leaving for Stockholm.
It was going to be a good week.
He rose cheerfully from his bed, sliding his feet into a pair of slippers as he reached for his robe. The ringing phone stopped his progress immediately.
"Hello?" He answered, his voice still groggy. "Yes, this is he." His brows furrowed while listening to the voice on the other end. "When?" He glanced down at his watch. "That doesn't give me much time." His mind racing with possibilities, he ran his hand through his hair. "No, it's fine. I'll be there. Do I just go to...yeah, okay. I got it."
Curiously rubbing his forehead, he rushed to the bathroom. "Abbey!"
"What?" she replied from behind the shower curtain.
"Make room. I'm coming in." Jed stripped himself of his robe and kicked off his slippers. "You'll have to take the girls out to breakfast. Maybe take them for a walk around the National Mall like Lizzie wanted to do."
"Why are you talking like you won't be joining us?"
"I can't. I have to leave in a few minutes."
Abbey held back the curtain to help him step into the tub. "Where are you going?
"I've been summoned to the Capitol."
"Summoned? Who summoned you?"
"The Majority Leader. His assistant just called."
"Majority Leader of the Senate?"
"No, actually, the House."
"What for?" She poured shampoo into her palm, then massaged it through his hair.
"Probably political strategizing for the upcoming State House session. Congressman Bradley's been leaning on state legislators for the past two years to get us ready for the next wave of Head Start budget cuts, so it's possible they're introducing national legislation or something...I don't know. I don't know what it's about. But I have to go, which means you'll be on your own this morning. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Just remember we have to be at the Embassy by noon."
"I know."
Jed arrived at the Capitol full of questions that morning. Though he had visited this building unofficially in the past, this time was different. Call it instinct. Call it intuition. Whatever it was lurking inside told him from the second he passed those stone pillars that this time, he was there for something important.
He couldn't stop the chill that ran up his spine as he waited to be called into Congressman Floyd's office. Among other framed photographs that adorned the wall of the Congressman's waiting area, was one of Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. If ever there was a man who knew the secret to political strategy, it was Speaker O'Neill. He could fight for what he wanted, relentlessly arguing the points, devoid of anger or bitterness.
He'd win in the press and that, as Jed had already learned, was half the battle.
"Dr. Bartlet, the Congressman will see you now."
The voice was almost jarring, snapping Jed out of a daydream even he didn't understand. For a split second, he wondered how it would feel to be working in this building, to be affecting change just as he did in his home state, but on a broader scale. Side by side with Speaker O'Neill, he'd be exposed to the ins and outs of professional politics on the road to becoming a recognizable figure in public service.
It was a nice vision, but an unrealistic one, he thought as he walked in to meet Congressman Floyd.
"Dr. Bartlet, thanks for coming. Have a seat," the older man instructed. "I assume you'll be going to the Embassy later this morning?"
"Yes, Sir."
"And the White House after that?" Jed nodded. "Probably a photo-op with President Reagan?"
"They didn't mention that."
"It's tradition. Every year, the Nobel Laureates are paraded through the White House and every year, they get their pictures taken with the sitting President, so get ready to meet a political nemesis."
Jed chuckled lightheartedly. "Yours or mine?"
"Both of ours. It's not like he won't know you're a democrat. You're pretty popular in New Hampshire."
"That's New Hampshire, not Washington."
"Believe me, Jed..." he took a sip of his water and continued, "May I call you Jed?"
"Of course."
"Believe me, Jed, there's not a soul in the political game who won't know you as a Democrat the second you open your mouth. Your opinions are pretty strong, your command of the language is impeccable. When you speak, I'm captivated by what you have to say."
"You've heard me speak?"
"I've read the transcripts of a few of your speeches on the floor of the New Hampshire State House. I was particularly impressed by the one you gave when you opposed a proposal to restrict homosexual doctors from invasively treating patients. It was about a year ago."
"That was a ridiculous notion."
"Yes, it was, but it was introduced before AIDS had a name. People were panicking and believe it or not, there was a lot of pretty ridiculous legislation making its way through the system at that time. Hell, there still is. Many people still don't believe AIDS isn't a gay disease."
"Ignorance only breeds fear."
"Yes, it does. And because you fought against it, you caught our attention back then. You didn't know that?"
"No, I didn't."
The Congressman pulled out a binder and began flipping through the pages. "I had a few assistants collect these old newspaper clippings. You were working at Northeastern University in the early 70s?"
"Yeah. My wife was in medical school at Harvard."
"You were in Boston during the mandatory bussing debacle. Your daughter got hurt in a school bus accident related to the riots that broke out all over the city. Is that right?"
"Yes. My oldest, Elizabeth. She was six years old at the time. She was hurt when protesters caused her bus to crash." Even after all these years, Jed still got a bit teary remembering Lizzie's wounds.
"Hurt badly?"
"She broke her nose, she was cut by shattering glass, and she ended up with a few scrapes and bruises from falling out of her seat, but overall, we were lucky, thank God." Jed returned the Congressman's smile. "She's pretty resilient though. To be honest, I think her mother and I were more of a mess than she was throughout the whole incident."
"That accident really motivated you. Afterwards, you began a movement overturn mandatory bussing because of the dangers these protesters posed to the children. You went against the recommendations - and the orders - of the school board."
"I understood why it was necessary to desegregate the public schools, but the way the community responded...I just didn't feel the kids should have to pay the price for the bigotry of the adults."
"You set up makeshift elementary school classes at Northeastern and you and your colleagues taught the kids there at night?"
"It wasn't just elementary school. We taught junior high and some high school classes as well. We had a different professor teaching each grade. The longer it went on, the more students and professors we recruited until the school board and the city council finally agreed to drop the policy." Jed took a breath and asked, "I'm sorry, I don't understand why we're talking about this."
"It's part of your history. You took matters into your own hands and advocated for change. You won that fight. The situation in Boston is the first time, to my knowledge, you made national news. It led to your job at Dartmouth and to the New Hampshire Democratic Party recruiting you to run for state office, didn't it?"
"Yeah."
"And at the State House, you established a voting record that I think you could sell anywhere in this country. That, along with your PhD. from the London School of Economics, your career as a professor, your surgeon wife and three young daughters, and now, your Nobel Prize for research on international economic expansion, makes you a pretty attractive choice."
Jed looked on as Floyd turned the page to an article that showed Jed and Abbey walking hand-in-hand out of a Boston City Council and School Committee meeting. "Choice for what?"
"I realize we just had an election a few weeks ago, but it's never too soon to plan for the next one. So, we've been pondering this for weeks and we want to know what would you say if I asked you to consider running for office. I'm not talking about state legislator."
"What exactly are you talking about?"
"Bradley's retiring in 1984. If we want to keep the majority in the House of Representatives, we need that district in New Hampshire. We need a strong candidate, a leader with the experience, the resume, the charm, the people skills, and the all-American family, to run for his seat."
"And you want me to do it?"
"Not just me. I'm just the guy they sent in here. I'm asking on behalf of the New Hampshire DNC, the D-triple-C - that's the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in case you don't know all the lingo yet - the Speaker of the House, and Congressman Bradley himself. We want you."
"For the U.S. House of Representatives?"
"That's right. What do you say? You up for it?"
TBC