Story: The Nobel Laureate
Chapter 19
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: Jed went through trade magazines to find the announcement about Yosh Takahashi's Nobel Prize; The Bartlets met with President Reagan in the Oval Office; Jed was surprised at Abbey's reaction to the news that the democrats want him to run for Congress
Summary: Jed and Abbey discuss their options
Jed came out of the bathroom dressed only in a towel that hung low around his waist. His skin was still damp from his shower and his hair was a tousled mess from the moisture. He locked eyes with Abbey, giving her an appreciative stare framed with a subtle smile when he found his pajamas laid out on the bed.
"Thanks."
She held out another towel and a comb as he approached her to sit down on the edge of the mattress. "It's been a long day."
"Yeah. Are the girls asleep?"
"They're tucked in, but Ellie was so excited, I don't think she'll be able to sleep tonight."
"About tomorrow?"
"She can't wait. She's been wanting to go to the The National Air and Space Museum since we got here. Lizzie too, but she's looking forward to Arlington Cemetery a bit more. She's been reading the literature all night."
"The Air and Space Museum, Arlington, the Washington Monument, Ford's Theater. We'll hardly have time to breathe. Oh, by the way, there's a chic outdoor cafe just a few blocks away from the Monument. I thought maybe we could grab some lunch there."
"I think I know the place. It's conveniently located right next to the DAR museum."
"It is not," Jed replied, momentarily confused until he saw the glint in her eye. "Is that your way of pushing us towards a visit to the DAR museum?"
"What a fabulous idea!" Her mischievous grin gave her away.
He laughed. "Add it to the list."
"I'm not keeping a list, Hon. It's not like we're going to suddenly forget where we're going. And if we do, we have three daughters to remind us."
"Good point."
"An outdoor cafe? Jed, it's 30 degrees outside."
"We'll wear our coats."
"You just want to soak up all our time so we don't have to shop for patent leather shoes."
"Damn right. I'm not in a shoe-shopping kind of mood. Besides, we have the embassy banquet tomorrow night. Tomorrow's going to be an even longer day than today without us having to race around town so I can try on footwear more appropriately suited for Zoey."
"You'll have to buy them eventually, you know."
"I know," he grumbled with an obvious sigh. "I can be a master procrastinator when I want to be."
Abbey chuckled. "Tired?"
"Exhausted."
"You have to stay up long enough to talk about the bombshell you dropped earlier."
He turned to face her. "I was waiting for one of us to bring it up."
Abbey handed him the comb after she worked the towel through his thick brown strands. She stood then. Dressed in a sheer pink nightgown, she paced in front of him, talking as if she had rehearsed this speech a thousand times.
"You caught me by surprise when you told me the news earlier. I know that you're a dedicated politician, but that's always been a part-time job. You represent the people of our district in Concord and you do it well. So well. I probably shouldn't have been blown away when you told me that your commitment hasn't gone unnoticed by the party, but what can I say? I was."
"Abbey..."
"Let me finish." He nodded for her to continue. "My gut reaction was a combination of pride and shock. Congressman Floyd telling you that you're the man they want to fill Bradley's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives...I can't even describe what I felt when I heard you say that. And right away, I thought, 'well, of course he's going to do it! He can't possibly refuse to run after he's been courted by the House Majority Leader.' And so, I thought about you running. I thought about you winning. I even thought about you living in Washington. But I never REALLY thought about it, you know? My mind was racing and my words could barely keep up."
"Okay, but now that the shock has hopefully worn off, how do you feel about it? Is it something we can at least explore?"
"In theory, I think that you running for Congress is a wonderful idea. I think there's no one more qualified for the job and with you in charge, I have no doubt the people in our district will be well represented in Washington."
"You mean that?"
"Of course I do."
"I'd do my best to represent them!" His eyes lit up as he scrambled to his feet and dropped his towel to slip into his boxers. "I feel like I could do this, like I could do it well."
"I know you would," she assured him. "Last summer, when I was campaigning for the public policy initiative, everywhere I went people raved about you, Jed. They knew you were in Concord fighting for them every single day of the legislative session. I can't begin to tell you how much trust our neighbors have in you."
"Hey." He reached for her hands, stroking them as he covered them with his own. "Thank you for telling me that. My father used to say that a person can't complain about the problems in the world unless he's part of the solution. I see so many problems, Abbey. I have ideas I want to share. There are so many things I want to do."
"And I want you to do them."
"So you support me running." Jed exhaled a breath of relief. "Thank God. You scared me back at the Smithsonian. I thought for a minute that you were going to be against this."
"Well, I still have a lot of questions. I said earlier that 'in theory,' it's a good idea. Logistically, I don't know how to make it work."
"We'll have people to help us with that. We'll have to hire a campaign staff, which starts with a campaign director. Apparently, the DCCC already has resumes and suggestions. I know the next election is two years away, but it'll take several months to get everyone in place. We'll want to establish a finance team as soon as possible..."
"Whoa, Jed." Abbey shook her head. "I wasn't talking about that. I meant us. Logistically, I don't know how to make it work between us." She dropped her gaze to the floor for a moment, then looked at him again. "I don't want to move to Washington and I really don't want to live five hundred miles away from you."
Her words clouded the fantasy that was playing out in his mind. His features sagged slightly in disappointment and he waited several seconds to respond. "Maybe you should have said that first."
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't do this. It just means I'm conflicted."
"First of all, living five hundred miles apart? To me, that's not even an option, Abbey. I can't imagine it and, to tell you the truth, I'm a little surprised that you can."
"I don't even know if I can. The more I thought about it after you told me, I realized just how hard it's going to be. But if that's our only choice..."
"It's not our only choice."
"No, it's not. You can decide not to run." She surprised him with that one. "But you and I both know that it's probably too late to forget about this. We'll always wonder what would have happened"
He waited for her to suggest an alternative. But she never did. "There is another choice. If I win - and that's a pretty big if - but if I win, you can put your reservations aside and move with me to Washington."
"I can't move to Washington." Abbey walked away from him.
"Why not?" He followed.
She whirled around to ask, "How long is Congress in session during the year?"
"That's not the point, Abbey."
"Of course it's the point! When we're living in Washington and Congress isn't in session, you're going to be expected to do district work. Where? In Manchester. So the girls and I will be in Washington and you'll be back here for weeks or months at a time."
"We'll figure out a way for me to spend most of that time with you."
"How can you? You'll have the first few months to adjust, but after that, you'll have to go back to Manchester. You know that."
"We're talking about two years, Abbey. TWO YEARS."
"Two years, then what? Then you run for reelection and campaign in Manchester while the girls and I live in Washington?"
"Who's talking about reelection? I haven't even won the first primary yet."
"Fine, say you win the primary - if you're even opposed - then you win the general."
"You have a lot more faith in me than I do."
"I always have," she said.
"You're getting way ahead of yourself."
"Hear me out. Say after two years, you decide you don't want to run for another term. Then we pull the girls out of school again and move back to Manchester? Ellie will be in the middle of junior high at the end of your first term. As shy as she is, she'll hate switching schools."
"You never know. She may be eager to move back to a smaller school."
"She'll be as upset as Lizzie was when we moved from Hanover to Manchester. And speaking of Lizzie, she'll be 16 at the time of your first election. You want us to pull her out of high school during her junior year?"
"She'll be fine. She's outgoing and she loves Washington. Besides, I won't take office until January. She'll complete her first semester in Manchester and we can move before second semester begins in Washington. She'll be okay with that."
"I'm sorry, but have you met Lizzie?"
"Our daughters love this place."
"To visit, Jed. Not to live here. They have friends in New Hampshire. They have a life in New Hampshire." Abbey took a breath, then said softly, "I have a job in New Hampshire."
"You can work anywhere you want."
"I want to work at Dartmouth-Hitchock."
"Why?"
"I've already told you why."
His erratic hand gestures a clear sign of his annoyance, Jed shot back at her, "Well maybe you could tell me again because I still don't get it."
"Jed," Abbey said calmly, trying to dull his sharp tone.
"No, Abbey, I'm trying, but for the past decade, we've built our lives around med school and residency to get you to where you want to be! I dealt with the 36-hour shifts, the ridiculous on-call schedule, the canceled plans and missed appointments. I covered for you with the girls, I took care of the house, I paid all the bills on time and I did it all to make life easier for you so that you had nothing to worry about but school. I don't think it's unreasonable for me to suggest that now that your fellowship is almost over, other things take precedence for a while!"
His voice was laced with a certain amount of frustration that sounded, to her, like anger. Abbey was stunned. Husband and wife stared at each other for two whole minutes before she dared to utter a sound. Finally, she opened her mouth, but a struggle to find an appropriate response led to a simple, "Wow."
Jed bit down on his lower lip. He hadn't meant to raise his voice. "That came out stronger than I intended." She watched as he stepped back and leaned against the dresser, his arms folded over his chest.
"You don't think I know everything you've done for me and the girls while I've been in school?"
"I wasn't throwing that back in your face."
"Could have fooled me. I heard an awful lot of bitterness in that statement."
"I'm not bitter," Jed insisted.
"There's no earthly reason I should believe that." Abbey avoided eye contact as she walked past him to turn down the bed. Jed hovered a few inches behind.
"How about because I'm telling you? Are you going to do this? Now of all times, you're going to psychoanalyze me? Don't we have enough problems tonight?"
"We have problems?" she asked, fluffing her pillow.
"You know what I mean. Right now. This...this is a problem."
"I don't know how to fix it!" she shouted.
Jed stood directly behind her. He softened his voice when she rubbed her temples. "I'm not expecting you to. All I'm saying is it's been a while since we've been able to do something without thinking about what it would mean to your career."
"And you resent me for that."
"Don't put words in my mouth!" He grabbed her upper arms and spun her around to face him. "I have never resented you, Abbey. I knew before I married you that you wanted to go to med school and I promised you that I would do whatever it took to help you become the doctor you wanted to become. If there's one thing in my life I will never regret, it's that I kept that promise. I don't resent you. That's not even possible."
"I'm grateful for everything you did, Jed..."
His hands slid up her arms to rest firmly on her shoulders. "You did it for me too. You went to London with me for four years. You delayed your education so that I could get my doctorate. That's what I'm getting at, Abbey. We've both sacrificed things. We've both compromised now and then in order to help each other. Why can't we compromise this time"
She shrugged out of his grasp. "What would be a fair compromise? You running for office and me and the girls moving to DC with you for two years while you travel back and forth from Manchester during every congressional recess? How is that a compromise?"
"The compromise would be considering our options instead of just putting your foot down. Allow for the possibility of a move to Washington. Think about it. That's all I'm asking."
"And if I say no, you're going to turn down an offer to run for Congress? How can you do that?"
"What do you expect me to do? It's not just about me and you. There are other considerations. I know Congress takes a lot of breaks and I'll be home for holidays and three-day weekends. But what if that's not enough? What if I miss out on the important things? I want to be there when Zoey loses her first tooth, when Lizzie is getting ready for the prom. I want to help Ellie with her long division and show Zoey how to ride a bike without training wheels as soon as she's ready. I want to teach Liz how to drive and I want to be there to lecture her the first time we take her car keys away for a speeding ticket. I don't want to miss my little girls growing up. I don't want to go to Washington without them."
It took him a while to get there, but he had made an argument Abbey couldn't fight. Liz, Ellie, and Zoey were just as devoted to Jed as he was to them and there wasn't a day that went by that Abbey didn't thank God for blessing her children with such an extraordinary father.
Her own wants were secondary now. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"I'm convinced. I think you should run. And if you win, we'll move to Washington."
He questioned her change of heart, remorseful now about his earlier outburst. "Look, regardless of how it sounded, I wasn't trying to back you into a corner, Abbey. I don't want to guilt you into this."
"You didn't. It wasn't what you said before that persuaded me. It was the last part, about the girls. They deserve to have their father around just as much as you deserve to be with them."
"They just grow up so fast already. I want to cherish the time we have with them." He took a step towards her and said, "I want to cherish the time I have with you too."
"I know. You were right. I can work wherever I want and it's more important that I'm with you."
If he looked closely, he could see the shadow of a smile as she wrapped her arms around his waist and stared up at him through her pretty green eyes. He loved that about her. She had an uncanny ability to recover from a heated disagreement and break the tension with a simple smile that always melted his heart.
Jed kissed her lips, but Abbey could feel him pulling away. "What's the matter?"
"I don't feel good about it."
"You got what you wanted."
"I don't feel like I got it for the right reasons."
"You're impossible, you know that?" Abbey tightened her grip on his waist as she teased him. "Are you going to change sides now and tell me why we should stay in Manchester?"
"I didn't say that." He grinned. "I just don't like thinking I bullied you into this. I don't want you to impulsively agree to move because you feel pressured. And you have to admit, you do feel pressured, don't you?"
"Well, it was kind of hasty. I've only had a few hours to process all this."
"I know. I was just so excited about the opportunity that I jumped the gun."
"Can we have some time? Can we just sleep on it for a little while before we make concrete plans?"
"Yes. Of course we can."
"When do you have to let them know?"
"Not until Christmas. Let's get through this next week and when we get back from Sweden, we'll talk about it. All of us. With the girls and everything."
"Be prepared because I don't think the girls will be happy about moving. In fact, they may try to talk you into not running so no one has to leave."
"Yeah, I know. But they should have a say, right?"
"Well, if you truly want to work in a democracy, then maybe we should start at home. Let's give them a vote."
Jed pointed his suspicious glare directly at her. "Don't think I'm not on to you, Cupcake. You're trying to stack the votes in your favor so you don't have to honor your promise to move."
"Promise? Who made a promise? I simply said I'd do it." She gave him a coy smirk as she stepped out of the embrace, took his hand and led him to their bed. "Semantics will get you every time, Babe."
"Apparently."
"We'll tell the girls after Sweden. And who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they'll be thrilled."
"I have faith." He reclined against his pillow, rolling to his side to drape his arm over Abbey. She raised her head to give him a kiss goodnight before turning off her light.
"Jed?"
"Yeah?"
"Just so you know, I hate it when you call me cupcake."
"It's a term of affection."
"Can't you show your affection in a different way?"
Facing away from him, Abbey let out a delightful squeal as Jed pulled her close against his body so he could finger with her voluptuous breasts. "You bet, Hot Pants."
TBC