Series: Snapshots of the Past
Story: Crossroads
Chapter 6
Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this story belong to NBC, WB, Aaron Sorkin, and John Wells. We're just borrowing them for some fun :)
Previously: The Bartlets enjoyed Easter as a family; Abbey found out that Alex had filed his own charges against her
Summary: Abbey learns the extent of Alex's accusations; Jed promises to stand by Abbey; Ellie decides to tell her parents about Zoey's deception and the consequences are beyond what she ever expected
Author's Note: Thank you for continuing to read this seemingly never-ending saga. Happy New Year to all!
Sleepless nights in the Bartlet house were usually cured with a hot and steamy mug of warm milk mixed with vanilla and honey. It was Mary Barrington's secret remedy to tackle her daughters' insomnia when they were growing up. When she had her own children, Abbey claimed the recipe and added a sprinkle of cinnamon to make it her own. She'd lost count of how many times she'd made it for the girls. It was the perfect mixture of flavors to comfort them after bad dreams in the middle of the night or heal broken hearts and wipe away tears before bed.
Standing at the stove now, Abbey poured herself a generous portion. She'd been tossing and turning in bed for hours, her muscles cramped from the tension every time she rolled over. She caught a glimpse of the clock on the nightstand and at 2 a.m., she finally crawled out from under the covers and quietly tiptoed out of the bedroom. She didn't intend to wake Jed; little did she know he hadn't slept a wink either.
It took him several minutes to get himself up and follow her downstairs. Framed in the entryway to the kitchen, Jed watched her sip her mug and take a seat at the table.
"Got any more of that?"
"You're up?" she asked, surprised. "Did I wake you?"
"No," he said, pouring himself some milk and taking the seat directly across from her. "I'm thinking about tomorrow too."
Tomorrow. The day that Abbey would face accusations from Alex that her claims weren't true, that she'd made them up, the voice of a scorned lover lashing out in revenge after their secret love affair fell apart.
Jed raged inside. The idea of another man making such vile and indecent claims about his wife made him crazy. But the last time he took matters into his own hands, it ended in him physically assaulting Alex and Abbey pissed at him for making a scene. He wouldn't let that happen again. She needed him now and he was determined to make this a battle they fought together, even if he had to follow her lead.
"You think I'm making a mistake not talking to Pat." It wasn't a question. Abbey knew very well where Jed stood on the idea of consulting their family attorney.
"I just want you protected legally that's all."
"If I get a lawyer, he's going to do the same."
"How do you know he hasn't?"
"I don't want this to become a legal battle."
"It already is, Abbey; he's making serious charges."
"As am I."
"Yes, but yours are true," he said with a conviction that touched her. "I don't know what's waiting for us tomorrow, but what I do know is that in the course of defending yourself, he's going to tarnish a reputation you worked hard to build. Yes, you'll deny everything and yes, in the end, this will likely go away, but the memory lingers. And that may not mean much now, but in the future, it will. What if you want to be department chair someday? What if you decide to get into resident training? Be director of the program? Don't you think there's a possibility these charges will be resurrected?"
"The allegations are already out there."
"For about a day. If we get Pat onboard, he'll know what to do, whether it's sending a cease-and-desist or filing a countersuit."
"Alex hasn't filed a suit yet."
"It's only a matter of time," he warned. "Look, sweetheart, whatever you want to do, I'll support you. I just want you to consider your options. ALL your options."
Abbey took a beat as she wrapped her hands around her mug. After a brief break in the conversation, she looked over at him. "Jed?"
"Yeah?"
"It's not true."
Seeing her nervous about his response, Jed looked her in the eye and said, "I know."
Those two words, while ridiculously simple, brought Abbey the reassurance she craved. In her worst nightmares, she imagined Jed doubting her, thinking that she'd betrayed him and not believing her when she insisted she didn't. She'd snap herself out of it and remind herself that he'd never do such a thing - that he knew her too well, believed in her and loved her too much to turn his back on her. Still, the confirmation of his trust gave her a measure of relief that she desperately needed.
She nodded and took a sip of her milk as they sat at the table in silence for the next half hour.
Ellie Bartlet was supposed to be asleep. She tried. Desperately. But her mind raced with the secret she had to tell, the secret she'd kept to protect her sister. Thinking about the consequences made her anxious. After Easter dinner the night before, her grandmother had pulled her aside and asked if she'd told her parents that she'd been doing Zoey's homework for the past five months. Ellie had wanted to, but she didn't want to ruin the holiday, so she kept quiet with plans to tell her parents some other time. Mary encouraged her to do it soon, even told her that if she didn't come forward, Mary would have to. Ellie took those words to heart.
She didn't complete the worksheet Zoey wanted her to that night. She took a stand and refused and even the tears of her baby sister didn't force her to surrender. When everyone left, she made an excuse to go to bed early. She buried herself under a layer of satin sheets and a large, cozy quilt her grandmother gave her for Christmas, where she tossed and turned for hours, feigning sleep when Jed and Abbey came in to kiss her goodnight. If she slept for more than an hour that night, it wasn't a restful slumber.
Cocooned in the mound of pillows leaning against her headboard, she saw the darkness give way to what she assumed was a beautiful April sunrise by the amber hues that filtered through the blinds. Her stomach rumbled with anxiety. She felt sick. Why was it so hard to tell the truth? It used to come so naturally to her. What had happened to her honesty? Her integrity and pride in herself? What was she afraid of? Her parents were fair and loving. They'd be upset, but they'd understand the predicament she was in and they'd thank her for coming to them to let them know what Zoey had done, she tried to convince herself.
Finally, she stopped debating her own demons. With determination, she shoved the covers aside, rose to her feet, and headed to the door. She opened it a crack to see her parents already up and in the middle of what sounded like a serious discussion about the hospital and lawyers. Her mother was clearly upset and her father sounded protective and angry about whatever was happening. Ellie closed the door then, annoyed yet also relieved as she decided her secret could wait until later.
Abbey cleared her morning schedule in the clinic to free herself up to visit the Human Resources office at the hospital. She'd been summoned there to address the complaint Alex had made about her and until she arrived, she had no idea what to expect.
It was a small room. Cold and cramped. She walked in to see Rob Nolan sitting in the chair beside the one he gestured as hers. Abbey gave him a quizzical look until it sunk in that whatever was happening was important enough that the Chief of Surgery needed to be present for at least her portion of it. She took a seat in the wooden chair beside him and stared at the stern-faced woman in front of her. Maria, she'd introduced herself as she adjusted her metal-framed glasses on the tip of her nose.
"I canceled patients for this, so if we could cut to the chase..." Abbey began.
"Certainly," Maria replied. "Dr. Foster is accusing you of a number of charges, including slander, sexual harassment, and stalking."
"Stalking? You can't be serious." Abbey chuckled and turned to Rob. "Rob?"
"Abbey, we are serious. THIS is serious."
"Fine, it's serious. Being serious doesn't make it true. If anyone was the harasser, it was him. And slander and stalking? Give me a break!"
"He's on the record as saying that you two had an affair and when he called it off and threatened to tell Jed, you became enraged and made up this whole story."
"It's not true."
"We'll need an official statement from you."
"So that's what this is about? You're questioning me?"
"We need to get your side of the story."
"My side of the story is that it's a lie. Every word."
Rob added, "It's not as easy as that. You have to address it, point by point, detail by detail."
"I have to address what? An alleged affair? I can't prove a negative." She became more and more agitated as Rob and Maria exchanged a glance. "The burden of proof is on him."
"Abbey..." Rob started, hesitating and avoiding her stare. "We need to investigate. But in the meantime, you've been relieved of all teaching duties."
"What?"
"He says that you've been overly friendly with some of the male residents."
"You have got to be kidding me! Rob!"
"It sounds crazy, I agree. It doesn't sound like you at all, but you have to understand the position I'm in. I can't rely on what I know about you. I have to take these accusations seriously."
"What does that mean?"
"Any student, intern, or resident on your service will be transferred, effective immediately."
"This is absurd, Rob. It's absolute nonsense!"
"I agree with you, but my hands are tied."
"Tied by whom?" she prodded. "No one treats trainees better than I do."
"Abbey, the seriousness of the allegations makes it mandatory for us to protect..."
"Protect them from me? How can you say that with a straight face?" She took a breath to calm herself down. "Did to talk to them?"
"Who?"
"The residents? Did you ask them?"
"Not yet," he told her. "These kinds of charges can cost you hospital privileges."
"Not just hospital privileges," Maria informed her. "These charges are serious enough that if there's any reason to believe they're true, they will likely have to be reported to the state medical board. You could lose your license."
Like Jed said, Abbey needed a lawyer. She started to come to terms with that.
The rest of the day was a blur. Abbey canceled her clinic schedule and had gone straight to Jed's office, where they called Pat to set up a meeting for the following morning. They then drove back to the farm. Abbey soaked in a hot bath while Jed greeted their daughters at the bus stop and made them an afternoon snack. Ellie had wondered why her parents were home in the middle of the day, but Zoey didn't care. She jogged alongside her father back to the house and enjoyed the jokes he told to keep her entertained.
Abbey tried to hide her distraction. She said she had a headache and sometime after dinner, when Jed sent their girls upstairs to finish their homework, she stepped out on the deck for some much-needed fresh air. She gazed at the fields and pastures of the farm, remembering fondly the first summer they moved in and all the nights she spent relaxing - and often falling asleep - curled up with Jed on the porch swing after a hard day at the hospital. It seemed comical, the struggles of the past. They were nothing compared to what she was facing now.
It was dark and a cold breeze prompted her to pull on her long sweater to cover the tee she wore underneath. Jed watched her from the sidelight before he grabbed his jacket and joined her. She heard the door open, but didn't turn around. From behind, he circled his arms around her waist and she cuddled up against his chest, taking in the warmth of his body.
"Say the word and I'll have a talk with him man-to-man," he whispered in her ear.
"You mean fist-to-face."
"Yes, I do."
"Don't even joke about it."
"Who said I'm joking? I think I've been pretty damn good at exercising restraint thus far, but enough is enough. Any other man would have beaten him to a pulp by now."
"I didn't marry any other man. I married you, and your ability to handle conflict with a measure of restraint is one reason why."
A moment of silence passed before he joked, "And here I thought it was my talents in the bedroom."
She turned to face him, still engulfed in his embrace. "Your restraint drew me in. It was your bedroom talents that got me to the altar."
He felt her hands slip to his rear. "Speaking of restraint."
Abbey chuckled, then placed a kiss on his lips. "Promise me something?"
"Anything."
"No matter what happens, you won't lose faith in me?"
He tilted his head, compassion in his eyes. He wasn't used to seeing her so vulnerable and insecure. "Honey, I love you more than anything in the world and nothing - absolutely nothing - is going to change that."
Abbey felt like she was on the edge of a meltdown. The reassurance that Jed brought her the night before had vanished and she was back to feeling a mix of anxiety and fear. Deep down, she knew she had done nothing wrong, but with the accusations hanging over her, she didn't know if she'd be able to convince others of that. More importantly, she still feared that as she moved forward with her charges against Alex, he'd push back harder and harder and that in the end, it would be Jed who would ultimately carry the scars of this fight.
Inside, there was a different battle brewing.
Zoey marched to her sister's room with a purpose. She opened the door without knocking to find the older girl at her desk. "Ellie, you didn't help me with my worksheet."
"You mean I didn't do it for you. I'm not doing it anymore, Zo. I told you that last night."
"But this is a take-home quiz."
"So do it."
"I don't know how."
"And you won't for as long as I do it for you."
"Ellie, it's a quiz," Zoey said again.
"So use your book."
"Elllllliiiieee," she whined.
"I said no. Leave me alone about it."
"But it's due tomorrow. What am I supposed to do?"
"Learn it on your own, like the rest of the world."
"Please..."
"Zoey, I said no! Now get out of my room!"
"Why are you being so mean?" She waited for a response, but Ellie ignored her. "Fine, but when I fail it'll be all your fault!"
Ellie stared at her for a solid minute. She hated herself for the situation she had unintentionally created. She'd enabled Zoey for so long that now, she really was in a position to fail without her interference. She wanted to help her, wanted to teach her so that Zoey would learn all the things she was supposed to already know, but the bigger issue was Zoey's reluctance and the entitlement that convinced her cheating was okay.
"No, it'll be your fault for refusing to let me teach me how to do it. You always want to take the easy way out. You're so spoiled."
"I am not!"
"How many times have I told you that I'll teach you how to do it yourself? You always say no because you know I'll bail you out at the last minute."
"You're my sister. You're supposed to help me."
"Yeah, and I'm going to help you by letting you figure it out for yourself this time."
"That's not helping."
"Yes, Zoey, it is. When you get older, you'll realize that."
Zoey panicked. "Ellie, please. I'll fail if you don't help. PLEASE? Just this one time and then I'll let you teach me, I promise. PLEASE?"
Ellie took a sharp breath. "Give it to me!"
"Thank you!" Zoey jumped with a smile as she left her worksheet on Ellie's desk and skipped back to her own room.
Ellie looked it over, closed her book, and marched downstairs. She'd had enough. She had no intention of letting this continue and the only way to stop it was to tell her parents what they'd done. She glanced around the house, then spotted her mother's shadow on the porch. She stormed outside before she lost her nerve.
"I have to talk to you!"
"Ellie, we're in the middle of something," Jed told her. "Can it wait?"
"No, it can't." And without another second of hesitation, she blurted out, "Zoey's been cheating on her math homework for months and I've been helping her."
"What?" Abbey narrowed her eyes in confusion.
"I've been doing her homework for her."
"What are you talking about? I check her homework every night."
"I do the work on notebook paper and then she copies it over on her worksheet or in her notebook. When you check it, it's in her handwriting because she copied my work."
Stunned by the confession, Jed led the way back into the house. His eyes never left Ellie as he called upstairs for his youngest daughter. "Zoey, get down here!"
Zoey emerged seconds later, jovial and oblivious. She bounded down the steps and joined her family. It was only when she reached the bottom landing that she realized something had happened. "What's wrong?"
"Ellie says you've been cheating on your math homework."
Whether it was childhood naivete, entitlement, or both, Zoey never expected that Ellie would tell on her. Slapped with a betrayal she couldn't even comprehend, her stomach did flip-flops as she fidgeted in place. Impulsively, she replied, "No I haven't! Ellie's lying!"
"No, I'm not!" Ellie pulled out the take-home quiz. "Here's the quiz she was supposed to do tonight. Ask her to do it."
Abbey took the worksheet and gave it to her youngest daughter. "Go ahead, Zoey."
Zoey thought she was going to vomit. Her eyes welled with tears. She felt manipulated and tricked. She looked at her mother and with a soft, pleading voice, she said, "It's open book. I need my book."
"You do?" Abbey immediately grew suspicious. "These questions are pretty easy, Zoey. You've been doing them for homework all year. In fact, you had a very similar question to number 3 on your homework just the other night. You should be able to do it without your book."
"I need my book," Zoey insisted, tears now rolling down her cheeks.
"How would you go about answering question 3? You don't have to give me the right answer; just tell me how you would start the problem."
"I don't remember."
Abbey took the worksheet from her, disappointed.
"She's can't subtract either," Ellie said. "Ask her."
Never in her life had Zoey felt so alone and vulnerable. She worshiped both her sisters, but it was Ellie she idolized. Ellie was the one who taught her how to blow bubbles, taught her how to play kickball and jump rope. It was Ellie who spent hours teaching her to ice skate and helping her ride a two-wheeler for the first time, even tending to her bloody knee when she fell on the sidewalk, cleaning it up, bandaging it, and sealing it with a kiss until Abbey returned from work. Ellie protected her in the schoolyard, stood up for her if other kids gave her a tough time, and often dried her tears if they made her cry.
Zoey thought that Ellie would always protect her, but what she felt in that moment was the intensity of a betrayal she didn't expect. She was cornered and she had to fight back.
Exposed and humiliated, Zoey yelled, "I HATE YOU, ELLIE!"
And with that declaration, Zoey shoved Ellie so hard the older girl fell against the console in the foyer, knocking over a glass vase that shattered into a million pieces. Abbey reached for her middle daughter as Zoey ran up the steps, Jed fast on her heels. He was beside himself, shocked by what he witnessed and determined not to miss a beat. Zoey had always been more aggressive than her sisters, but he never thought, in his wildest dreams, that she'd intentionally hurt Ellie. He grabbed Zoey by her arm and forcefully hustled her back downstairs.
"Apologize to your sister right now," he demanded.
Sobbing, Zoey practically squeaked her words. "I'm sorry."
Jed kneeled down to her level and looked her in the eye, his hands firmly on her shoulders. "I don't ever want to see what I just saw ever again. Do you understand?"
Zoey nodded.
Abbey caught her breath, but it wasn't enough to quell the anger. She and Jed needed a few minutes to process the scene. She stared at her youngest daughter and in an unforgiving tone, she said, "Go to your room."
Zoey took off as fast as she could. They heard the taps of her feet on the stairs and then the slam of her bedroom door before Jed turned his attention to Ellie.
"Are you okay?" he asked as Abbey grabbed the broom and dustpan to begin cleaning up the glass.
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry she pushed you. That was totally unacceptable and she'll be punished for it."
"I'm fine."
Husband and wife worked together to clean up the mess and Ellie stood by uncomfortably waiting for the inevitable.
"How long has this been going on?" Jed finally asked her.
"Since November," Ellie admitted with no small amount of shame. She shrugged as both her parents sighed. "I tried to tell you earlier, but I couldn't."
"Why not?"
"She asked me not to. She begged me. I didn't want to snitch."
"Sometimes you have to snitch," Jed said.
"You're older," Abbey added. "You know better."
And there it was, the same line she'd heard spoken to Elizabeth countless times over the years. She used to think nothing of it, but Ellie now knew exactly how Liz must have felt every time she and Zoey got into mischief when Liz babysat them. She stared down at the hardwood floor where she shuffled her feet in silence; anything to avoid eye contact and see the disappointment she imagined in her parents' eyes.
"So I get in trouble and she gets off scot-free," she mumbled.
"What was that?" Abbey questioned her.
"I said I get in trouble and Zoey gets off scot-free."
"No, she's not going to get off scot-free. We'll deal with her, believe me. But that doesn't mean you weren't also wrong to keep silent and help her do what she did."
"She couldn't wrap her mind around word problems, even the simple ones. The first time I did it for her, she copied my answers and I thought she'd let me teach her, but she kept making excuses. She was always too busy or too uninterested to learn. Then, she came to me again for help and I did it again. And then again and then again. She never wanted to learn how to do it herself."
"So you just kept doing it for her." Abbey shook her head.
"She kept saying she was stupid."
"She's not."
"I know she's not! But she thinks she is!" Ellie lowered her voice then. "I felt bad. She guilted me into it. I had no choice."
"There are always choices, Ellie. You could have come to us. That's what we're here for."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too," Abbey replied harshly.
"I knew this would happen."
"What?"
"I'm coming to you now and I'm the one getting yelled at."
"No one's yelling at you."
"You're blaming me."
"The only thing we're blaming you for is not telling us. How many times have we told you that you don't have to have all the answers? You're a kid. Your only job is to know when to ask for help. You never do that. You try to handle everything on your own instead of telling us when you're in over your head."
"I was trying to protect my sister."
"By lying to us."
Ellie realized she was getting nowhere. In her view, her parents weren't even trying to understand her position and her mother's stance made her bitter and resentful. "You always do this. Whenever Zoey does something wrong, you think it's someone else's fault. You baby and coddle her. That's why she's so spoiled."
Abbey was genuinely surprised by that accusation. "What?"
"It's true, Mom. You're so protective of her. Zoey can do no wrong in your eyes. No one says it out loud, but it's completely true. You think she's perfect."
"That's not even a little bit true, Ellie," Jed intervened.
"You defend her too," she accused her father. "She's your favorite and everyone knows it. You baby her as much as Mom does. Of course you're not going to see my side. Neither of you are."
"Wait a minute, am I hearing this right? After everything that's happened over the past 5 months and everything that just happened in the last 5 minutes, you're pissed at US?"
"You don't know what it was like keeping this secret for her! You don't even care!"
"It's not our fault you didn't come to us sooner."
"Maybe if you weren't in Washington all the time, I wouldn't have to come to you at all. Maybe you would have known what was happening in your own house!"
"That's enough, Ellie." Abbey shot her an angry glare. "Go to your room."
Ellie looked at her parents. They were furious, that was obvious. But it was more than that. So hurt by Zoey's outburst and then the blame she felt from her mother, she'd lashed out and hurt them deeply. She was remorseful, but still reeling and overwhelmed by the flood of emotions inside, she walked away silently without the apology they deserved.
She disappeared upstairs as Abbey gently took Jed's hand. Of all the things said and done that night, that last remark from Ellie was the most cutting and while it stung them both, it was Jed who was visibly shaken by it.
"She didn't mean it," Abbey said.
"The few times in my life I talked to my father that way, he washed my mouth out with soap."
"Thank God you're not your father."
He heaved a sigh at that dose of reality. He loved his girls and wanted them to respect him, not fear him. "Yeah."
"Jed..."
"I'm okay."
"She was upset."
"I know," he said softly. "I do."
And he did. Still, Ellie's words wounded him. In the back of his mind, Jed always had doubts about the political life he'd chosen. He was honored to serve his district, his state, and his country, but it came at a cost, as he'd just been reminded. His family took top priority and he wondered how much longer he - or they - could excuse his absence.
Abbey wrapped her arms around him and together, they started upstairs to their bedroom to begin yet another sleepless night.
TBC