Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: Crossroads

Chapter 7

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: Jed continued to talk Abbey into seeking legal counsel as Alex smears her name and reputation; Jed promised to stand by Abbey; Ellie told her parents about helping Zoey cheat on her math assignments; Zoey pushed Ellie

Summary: Jed and Abbey lay down the law with Zoey; a meeting with Pat Carr, their attorney, proves to be overwhelming for husband and wife

Ellie wished it would stay dark forever. She lay on her side under a sky blue comforter she'd fished out of the chest at the foot of her bed. It was her winter comforter. Big and bulky, she only used it on the coldest of nights. But tonight, she didn't care about the temperature outside. She had run up to her room after the fight with Zoey and her parents, and headed immediately for the chest to pull it out and curl up under it, like a shelter that hid her from the world. There, her tears fell silently and she lay motionless as her mind refused to let her forget.

"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!" she'd screamed at her father.

She remembered his expression. His forehead crinkled, his lips parted, his eyes widened then narrowed in a mix of shock and hurt. She'd never forget that look. She'd never forgive herself for causing it. He wasn't even the one that she was mad at. Sure, Jed favored Zoey, Ellie always believed, so his defense of her wasn't surprising. But it was her mother who let her down. Abbey protected Zoey. It was a fact the whole family knew and understood. She blamed herself still for Zoey's premature birth and her rough start to life, alone and isolated in an incubator in that NICU. It didn't matter that Zoey was now healthy and not at all the fragile little girl their mother considered her to be; all Abbey cared about was protecting her from anything that would hurt her ever again. Zoey was coddled and Ellie was certain that was the basis for her entitled and spoiled behavior. Still, Abbey was reasonable and Ellie expected that when it came down to it, she'd understand that Zoey was wrong and that she was simply the victim in all of this. But that didn't happen and all she could do was sigh in exasperation at the feeling of helplessness that consumed her.

She glanced at the clock and kicked the covers aside to get up and shower before her parents began to stir.

A half hour later, she was back in her room, her hair damp with curls as she stuffed folders and binders into her backpack. She grabbed a sweater to pack on top for her History class, which was held in a lecture hall that was notorious for a cold draft that leaked through the windows. Her bedroom door was wide open, but she didn't hear the footsteps that approached closer and closer and stopped in her doorway.

"Going to school or running away?"

Ellie turned to see her father staring back at her. "It's a busy day."

"Must be," he agreed. "This is the first time you've been up, showered, and ready for school before the first round of the obnoxious buzz of your alarm clock."

Ellie was the snooze-button queen. She ignored his jab and instead, threw her backpack over her shoulder and passed directly by him on her way downstairs. "See you tonight."

"I remember a time when you used to ask permission before leaving the house."

"I want to get there early."

"Before the sun comes up?"

"I like the dark."

"Ellie, come on." Jed turned her around. They each took a deep breath as Ellie looked away.

"What if I lied?" she asked softly.

"What?"

"What if I lied about Zoey? About what she did? About the cheating? What if I made it all up?" She was desperate to end the conflict. All she wanted was for it all to go away and everyone to be happy again.

"Why would you do something like that?"

"Because I was sick of her. You guys favor her and it made me mad. So I lied to get her in trouble."

Jed took a deep breath. "If you lied, you'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble." He looked her in the eye. "But I don't think that's what happened."

"It is what happened. Ground me, take away my allowance, punish me however you want."

"You're doing a pretty good job of punishing yourself."

"No, I'm not."

"You didn't make it up, Ellie. I know you didn't. You wouldn't do a thing like that." He put his arms around her. Her face buried against his shirt, Ellie let go and allowed her tears to fall. "This really sucks, I know."

Abbey watched from down the hall, framed in the doorway of the master bedroom. She approached softly, wanting to offer Ellie some comfort, but unwilling to interrupt the touching scene between father and daughter. She stood at the side until Jed acknowledged her with a nod. Ellie pulled out of her father's embrace then and with her tear-stained face and wet dark lashes, she glanced up at her mother.

"I want to go to school," she told her.

"Your hair's still wet." Abbey ran a finger over her damp locks.

"That's okay."

"We're going to have a family breakfast this morning."

Ellie shook her head. "No, I don't want to."

"I think we should."

"I don't."

"Ellie."

"You never listen to me. You think that because I'm a kid, I can't make my own decisions."

"What decisions?"

Jed and Abbey followed her into her room.

"I'm telling you I don't want breakfast. I don't want to talk to Zoey. I just want to go to school."

"It's too early for school," Abbey returned. "And as for Zoey, she's your sister. You can't just ignore her. We have to talk about this."

"Why, so you can take her side? That's what you're going to do, I know it."

"This isn't about sides."

"Yes, it is. To me, it is. You always stand up for her, no matter what she does. That's why she gets away with this stuff."

"She got away with it for as long as she did because neither of you told us what was going on."

"Of course you're going to blame me for that."

Confused by her daughter's reaction, Abbey looked at Jed, then back at Ellie. "I don't understand all this anger toward us."

"Then we're even because I don't understand why you got mad at me last night."

"Because of the way you spoke to us and the fact that you've been lying to us for months."

"I didn't lie."

"A lie of omission is still a lie. Your father and I will never excuse nor condone being lied to and there are consequences for that."

"Zoey caused all of this."

"Her behavior was deplorable, I'll give you that. But there's such a thing as personal responsibility, Ellie. No one can make you do something you know is wrong." Abbey softened her tone then. "Zoey's going to be held accountable. I'm about to say the same thing to her, if that makes you feel any better."

"It doesn't."

Nothing Abbey said would have changed how Ellie felt in that moment. She had that same Bartlet stubborn streak her mother and father shared and she wasn't about to be swayed into seeing things from their point of view.

Acknowledging it was better to discuss the situation later, Jed and Abbey backed away and stepped out of the room. They regrouped with a quick embrace and mutual reassurance about how they'd chosen to handle things. Jed ran his hands up and down Abbey's arms and planted a kiss on her lips. Abbey smiled at him. Her eyes then wandered across the hall to Zoey's room. Jed shook his head. He was too angry to calmly discuss this with Zoey. He gestured downstairs and Abbey nodded in response. She wanted to do this together, but she wouldn't force him. She sighed as he walked away, then swallowed hard and knocked on Zoey's door.

Like Ellie, Zoey didn't respond. Abbey knocked a second time and when she heard nothing, she turned the knob to find her youngest daughter lying on her bed, face down and turned to the side, motionless. Abbey approached and kneeled down, where she saw Zoey's red, puffy eyes staring back at her.

The seven-year-old asked in a small, feeble voice, "Do you hate me?"

Abbey ran a hand over her strawberry locks. "No, sweetheart, I could never, ever hate you."

"Does Daddy hate me?"

"No, he doesn't. We love you, Zo," she told her. "We will always love you. We are concerned about you though."

"And you're mad?"

"Yes, we're mad. You deceived us for months." She rose to her feet and took a seat at the foot of the bed as she took Zoey's hand to encourage her to sit up.

"I'm sorry."

"Are you, Zoey? Or are you just sorry for getting caught?"

Zoey pondered that for a moment. "Both."

"You caused a lot of trouble. You hurt Ellie very deeply and I'm not even talking about when you pushed her, which you had no right to do."

"I know."

"You never lay a hand on anyone. It's wrong. You know that, don't you?" Zoey nodded. "Do you know how much she loves you? How protective she is of you? She's a person who will always be in your corner. And you took her for granted. You really damaged your relationship with her."

"I love Ellie. I didn't mean to hurt her."

"I understand, but you did. It's going to take a lot of work for you to make it up to her...to all of us, including yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're going to prove to yourself that you can do your own work. Starting tonight, we're going to go over every single math lesson since the beginning of the school year and you are going to do every homework assignment and every problem in every chapter of your textbook, even the problems that weren't assigned."

"That's going to take a long time."

"Yes, it is, most likely the rest of the school year, maybe even into summer break. But friends, slumber parties, pool parties, and everything else will come second to studying until your dad and I are satisfied you've learned your lesson, academically and otherwise."

"But I don't understand math."

"That's what I'm here for. I'll help you understand it."

"What if I can't?"

"You can...and in the meantime, you're going to work on repairing your relationship with your sister and rebuilding your trust with me and Dad."

"You don't trust me anymore?"

"I want to. You have to prove to me that I can."

"I don't know how to prove it."

"Don't lie to us. Always tell us the truth, even if it's something you don't think we want to hear." Zoey bowed her head until Abbey cupped her chin to lift it up. "It's going to be okay. It's just going to take some work. Okay?"

"Okay."

"I meant what I said, Zoey. We will always love you, no matter what. You believe me?"

Zoey nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. Now, let's go wash your face and get ready for breakfast."

Abbey helped her up and as Zoey headed to the bathroom, Abbey headed downstairs to start breakfast, a pang of guilt still gnawing at her. To the world, she came across as a no-nonsense mother who understood her job to be raising her young daughters to be model citizens who were strong, confident, and self-sufficient women. But inside, she struggled with self-doubt, especially on days like today.

Was she doing the right thing with Ellie, she wondered. Her conversation with Zoey had certainly gone a lot better. Was it because Ellie was right when she said that Abbey always protected her youngest daughter? She rejected the notion immediately because she knew, without a doubt, that she loved all three of her girls equally, but had she been subconsciously favoring Zoey? Were her rules and standards objective, her consequences fair? She liked to think so, but being a mother wasn't easy and she sometimes second-guessed herself.

With another sigh, her third of the morning, she poured a cup of coffee and took a sip as she and Jed prepared to make banana pancakes and pack brown-bag lunches for the girls.

Breakfast hadn't gone exactly as Abbey had planned. Instead of eating pancakes, which she ordinarily loved, Ellie opted for a bowl of cereal that she barely even ate. Abbey watched her make trails in the milk with her spoon until she finally pushed it aside and asked to leave for school. She wanted her to stay, but this was what Ellie hated most: silent tension.

Across from her, Zoey settled in quietly. She also preferred cereal, but unlike every other Tuesday when she'd energetically dig through the box of Lucky Charms for all the marshmallows she could get, she sat in her chair and calmy poured milk over whatever came out of the box. She didn't make eye contact. She didn't even fidget.

"Can I go?" Ellie asked again, her soft voice breaking the silence.

"Yes," Abbey relented. It broke her heart to see her girls hurting. But she wasn't going to force Ellie to stay and endure an interaction that was strained from the start. "Straight home from school, okay?"

"Fine." Ellie grabbed the jacket she'd hung on the back of her chair, hoisted her backpack over her shoulder, and practically ran out of the house.

"Bye, Ellie," Zoey mumbled weakly. She knew this was all her fault. She knew it even before her conversation with Abbey. But she was at a loss for what to do now. "She's still mad at me."

"Yes, she is." Jed pushed out his chair and picked up the bowl abandoned by Ellie and his own dish to transfer to the sink. "You have a lot of work to do to make it up to her. To everyone."

Zoey lowered her gaze in response to her father's stern response. "I don't know how to fix it."

"It starts with taking responsibility. Mom and I are meeting with your teacher later this week. You're coming with us."

"I am?"

"You're going to tell her what you did." Jed was firm about that as he rinsed the dishes.

"WHAT?!"

That's right."

"NO! Mommy?" Zoey looked to Abbey for help, but there was no response. Panicked, she pleaded with her parents, "Please don't make me! She'll hate me!"

"She won't hate you," Abbey assured her. "But she will likely give you more work to do and put some sort of remediation or disciplinary plan into action."

"What does that mean?"

"It means there will be consequences at school, just like at home."

Zoey's eyes filled with tears and she began to cry. "Why are you making me do this?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"I don't want to tell her. I don't. I can't."

"Yes, you can, Zoey. What you did was wrong - it was wrong on so many levels - and you need to own up to it." Jed dried his hands on a towel.

"I'm telling you I can't..."

"And I'm telling you that you can, and you will, " he said without wavering. He walked up behind her then and dropped a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you and I'll be right there with you. I'll even hold your hand if you want, but you are going to do this."

And with that, he left as Zoey angrily pushed her bowl across the table with such force, Abbey had to catch it before it fell off the other side and crashed to the floor.

A light rain started to fall later that morning. Fog lingered over the road as Jed and Abbey headed to their attorney's office on a quiet drive over the hills on the outskirts of Manchester. Abbey stared out the passenger's seat window, distracted in her own little world, reflecting on what her dispute with Alex had become. His allegations were more serious than she first thought and she'd finally realized that Jed was right about seeking legal advice to minimize the damage to her reputation and her career. She just hoped it wasn't too late.

Jed glanced over at her. Once, then a second time.

"You think Ellie was right?" he asked. "Do you think we baby Zoey?"

Abbey snapped out of her daze and looked at him. "By 'we' do you mean me?"

"No, I mean us."

"Zoey isn't as independent as Ellie and Liz."

"Or is she?" Jed pondered. "She certainly ran the show when it came to this stunt."

"She asked me if you hated her."

With that, he softened his approach. "I don't."

"I told her that," she replied almost as quickly.

A brief silence passed between them before he spoke again. "I still can't believe it, Abbey. How could she...they...do something like this? We taught them right from wrong."

"And the billion shades of gray in between."

"There is no gray here," he insisted. "We're on the same page, aren't we?"

"Yes, of course we are. I was just finishing your sentence, that's all." It started to rain harder and Abbey took that opportunity to change the subject. "Don't forget that Liz and Doug are coming over for dinner, if they don't cancel because of the weather."

"That would be such a Doug move, to cower in the house because of a little bit of rain."

"A little bit of rain?" She faced him. "Do you hear that wind?"

"So it's a little windy. He's still a wuss."

She chuckled. "So you've said."

"Are you going back to work after this?"

"No, I cleared my schedule. I didn't know what was waiting for me today."

Jed nodded in acknowledgment of the stress and anxiety she felt. He lowered one hand from the steering wheel and slipped it under hers. Palms touching and fingers laced, they exchanged one final glance as Jed pulled in to the circular drive of the old colonial building.

"And then, I slapped him and I left the room." It seemed like the thousandth time that Abbey had to retell the story. She wondered if she'd ever stop retelling it or would this drag on until she was so sick of feeling humiliated that she'd surrender and drop the allegations.

"Did he follow you out?" Pat Carr didn't sit behind his desk. For this conversation with the Bartlets, a couple he'd known and counseled for years, he sat in a large leather armchair, a legal pad in his lap, glasses on the tip of his nose, scribbling notes under the dim light from floor lamp above.

"No," she said. "That was the last time I saw him until the night of the hospital gala, which I've already told you about."

"I need you to be honest with me, Abbey," Pat started. He was an older gentlemen, blunt without apology. "Were you having a sexual affair with this man?"

Jed grimaced. He understood the necessity of the question, but he hated hearing it.

"No," Abbey answered. Her tone strong and forceful, but devoid of emotion.

"So there's no truth in his allegation that he ended the relationship and the only reason you're accusing him of this is because you're afraid Jed will find out about your affair?"

"As I said, there was no affair."

"He says it started with an emotional affair."

"That's not true either."

"He says you talked to him about the conflicts at home."

"There were no conflicts at home," Jed interrupted.

"He says there were, revolving around Elizabeth and her pregnancy."

Husband and wife both shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Jed looked at Abbey. She didn't return his stare and for one solid, tortuous minute, he wondered why. Was she ashamed? Was it true? He looked back at Pat, the anger of the question now replaced by defeat and frustration in the lack of answer. Pat kept his eyes on Abbey and the two men awaited her response in silence.

"Elizabeth's pregnancy was in the paper," Abbey finally said. "Did it come up between me and Alex once or twice? Maybe, I don't remember to be perfectly honest. We talked about our days, about things that came up. There was never an agenda. I NEVER sought him out to lean on him or cry on his shoulder. It wasn't like that."

"What was it like?"

"Lizzie came to the hospital once to see me and he met her, so..." She lost her train of thought with a flash of memories. "Yeah, he may have asked how I was holding up after she left. I can't remember."

"Why can't you remember?"

"Because I can't," she snapped at him. "We were friends. That's all. Anything I said to him, I would have said to Millie."

"Did you talk to Millie about Liz?" Pat asked.

"Yes, I did. We're both mothers and she understood how worried I was about Liz marrying Doug."

"But Alex isn't a mother...or a father for that matter."

"No, he's not."

"So your motives in confiding in him..."

"Are you trying to make this dirtier than it was?"

"No, I'm asking you the same questions his attorney will. I want you prepared for what comes next."

"I may have mentioned my concern about Liz. I may have said something about her wedding, about my objection..." her eyes landed on Jed. "...OUR objection to her getting married so young, dropping out of school without any kind of plan..." She trailed off to regain a stronger voice. "Regardless, it does not mean we had an emotional OR physical affair. I never told him anything private. I never betrayed Jed."

Jed remained quiet as Pat continued.

"Did he ever believe that you were more interested in him than you were? Did he make comments, maybe inappropriate innuendos?"

"No."

The conversation ended there for Jed. The voices faded, the words blurred. He thought about the friendship between Abbey and Alex and how many times he warned her about Alex's attraction, how many times he asked her to be careful, how many times he tried to express himself to her before she cut him off and threw accusations of jealousy at him. Yes, he was jealous, but he had every reason to be. He predicted Alex's lecherous advances would eventually catapult her into a compromising situation. If she'd listened, he thought, they wouldn't be here now, divulging the intimate details of their family to third parties who get paid to ask the intrusive questions.

Jed cleared his throat, then interrupted. "Excuse me."

Abbey watched as he stood and walked out the door. "Jed."

"I just need some air."

And with that, he was gone. The door closed behind him as Abbey's heart sunk. She'd already been annoyed that he didn't speak up when Pat interrogated her about the alleged emotional affair. She understood that only she had the answers, but part of her wanted Jed to intervene, to stand up for her and tell Pat that there was no way she had done such a thing. She wanted him so secure in his conviction that he'd shout it from the rooftops. The Jed she knew and loved would have done just that. But the Jed she saw today sunk into his seat and deferred to her.

Did he think she was lying? That she was misleading him? Did he believe Alex? She conjured up a multitude of scenarios in her mind, from Jed pacing outside, hurt and devastated by what he'd learned to him punching a wall to release all the pent-up frustration and anger toward Alex. She feared what was waiting outside the door and for a second, she feared that Jed wasn't. However improbable, she imagined him getting in the car and driving off without her, without even giving her a chance to explain.

That's what scared her most.

"Abbey?" Pat waved her back to reality and she shook her head to rid herself of the images. "Should we go on?"

She nodded.

TBC