Abbey took a deep breath of contentment as the small motorcade that included the car holding her, Zoey, and the babies began down the long private lane to the cottage. Windy Point sat nestled in the pines, at the very tip of a rocky peninsula jutting out into the sea. She had been vacationing in this wild place on the Maine coast since she had married Jed. It was a completely different experience from her childhood summers on the sandy beaches of Nantucket, but she had grown to think of this tempestuous peninsula as hers. Oh, there were other vacations, Nantucket, Europe, all those national parks, but always, always, they returned to Windy Point. Technically it still belonged to Jed's mother, but as she aged, she was spending less and less time there. At the moment she was visiting Jon and Sally at their retreat in Wolfeboro, on Lake Winnepesauke. In a couple of weeks all of them would return for the big anniversary party, but until then, she was on her own with the kids.

"It's killing you, isn't it?" Zoey smiled.

"What?" Abbey asked.

"The service not letting you open your window." Abbey smiled back at her daughter. It was a running joke in the Bartlet family that as soon as they went over the bridge that spanned Great Bay, just outside Portsmouth, on their way to Maine, they all had to open their windows so Abbey could smell her beloved sea. Jed would pretend to be disgusted and wrinkle his nose saying, "Abigail, I don't know how the perfume of your soul could be mud flats and decaying seaweed. It is just beyond me." Then, the girls would all giggle, knowing that their Dad loved the beach just as much as their Mom. He just enjoyed teasing her.

Once they unloaded everything from the car, Abbey settled the babies into their cribs, and made her way upstairs to unpack in hers and Jed's bedroom. She loved this room with it's sweeping views of the ocean. Zoey had been conceived in this room on one socked in foggy day. She went straight to the windows, opening them, to allow the salty breeze to play with the sheer white curtains. Perfume of the soul, she thought sadly and realized that as nice as it was to be back at the rambling gray shingled cottage, she keenly missed Jed's presence.

***

None of the White House staffers would forget the week that the First Lady packed her bags and headed for the beach house, rather than the White House. The President had returned to Washington in a black mood. Nobody was spared the lashing of his tongue and they had all begun to enter the Oval Office as if walking on eggshells, never quite sure what would set him off. He was more bad tempered than they had ever seen him before. Even worse then when Morris Tolliver's plane had been shot down and he had wanted to bomb the whole country of Syria, to hell with a proportional response!

Nobody dared bring up the First Lady's absence with him, for fear of having their head ripped off. Even Leo had remained silent on the subject. But, they did talk among themselves, wondering just what was going on between the couple.

"Have you asked him?" Josh asked Leo, who was sitting at his desk looking over the schedule Josh had just handed him.

"Asked him what?" Leo asked, eyeing his deputy over his glasses.

"You know," Josh said uncomfortably, "why the First Lady left him?"

"The First Lady did NOT leave me," Jed snapped from the doorway. "I will be joining her next week."

"I'm sorry sir. I..."

"Josh, my marriage is NOT the subject for water cooler gossip. Not now, NOT EVER. You'll do well to remember that."

"Yes sir," Josh said contritely and Jed turned to leave, slamming the door behind him.

"That," Leo said, pointing at the door, "is why I haven't asked."

****

Abbey wasn't sleeping well, despite the soothing sound of the surf that usually lulled her to sleep. Most mornings she rose at dawn, a little before her young infants and well before her teenage daughter. She spent those cool Maine mornings in a heavy fisherman's sweater, sipping coffee on the porch, looking out to sea, and listening to the gulls cry. The air here was crisp and clear, a combination of pine and briny sea and the mildest hint of the beach roses that grew in profusion near the path that led to their private beach. It was the scent of her childhood, only now it was failing to comfort her as it usually did.

The morning Jane was to arrive for a short visit on her way to do some painting in Boothbay, Abbey stood on that porch, her arms wrapped around her waist, as if comforting herself. Even with Zoey and the twins with her, she had never felt quite so alone in her life. So unsure of what the next step was.

This heavy feeling of loneliness was not because she had never been to the beach house alone with the kids before. There had been plenty of times that she had come early with the children and Jed had joined them later. But never had she run away to this place. Abbey Bartlet did not run away. She stood her ground and fought. Only, this time, she had run away from her problems, and that did not sit well with her. It made her feel weak, it made her feel like a coward. What she should have done was to lock Jed in a room with her and not let him leave until they had it out. They might have left the room emotionally bruised and battered, but they might also be on the road to healing right now instead of separated by hundreds of miles. Now all she could do was to trust her Jed. Trust that he truly did love her and that he would come to his senses if she just gave him time to reflect. And, if her mind was tortured with the reminder that Jed had broken that trust she had in him, her heart urged her to have faith in the man she loved. Faith that the bond they shared was stronger than anything else in his life.

****

When Jane arrived at the cottage, Abbey was on the big wrap around porch settling Nicholas and Aislinn into their stroller. Jane noticed the changes in Abbey right away. Her vibrant, animated sister was pale and drawn. Too many worries and sleepless nights were starting to take their toll on her. There was a tightness around her eyes and a sadness that had not been there just 5 months ago. Five short months ago, when Jane had stood in that birthing room and witnessed the love and joy that Jed and Abbey had shared at the birth of their babies. Abbey asked her if she wanted to join her for a walk down the beach, but Jane had peered in through the window and saw a sleepy Zoey sitting at the kitchen table in the long t-shirt she had slept in, and chose to join her instead.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jane asked her niece. "It's like someone died around here."

"Mom and Daddy haven't been getting along well at all lately. They had a big fight at the farm about her coming here early, but she came anyway. She's been moping around here all week and I don't think she is sleeping very much. Last night I went out with some friends and got back late. I could hear her crying in her bedroom. When I knocked on her door and asked if she was ok, she told me she was fine and to just go to bed.

"Your father needs a good swift kick in the ass," Jane said grabbing a handful of cereal and moving back out to the porch. She saw the photo album Abbey had been looking at before she left and opened to the first page. It was a picture of Jed laying on the couch wearing a Notre Dame t-shirt, with both Aislinn and Nicholas, just days old, asleep on his chest. He too was sound asleep, his hair tousled, his glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a hand on each of his baby's backs. It was such a sweet, loving picture. One that Jane was sure Abbey had been torturing herself with. "Jackass," she muttered at her brother-in-law and moved to go sit on the rail. She caught sight of Abbey far down the beach, a solitary figure pushing the carriage on the hard packed sand of low tide. At a discreet distance behind her followed the dark clothed agents whose job it was to protect the President's wife and children. She realized then what she had seen in her sister this morning. It was defeat. No wonder she hadn't recognized it at first. She had never seen Abbey defeated and lost before. Oh Jed, you damned idiot, she thought, you should have come with her or carried her kicking and screaming back to the White House. Then, at least, she would know you care.

****

"You need to pull yourself together," Leo said to Jed, behind the closed doors of the Oval Office.

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me. You're behaving like a lion with a thorn stuck in his paw."

"I take it you think Abbey is the thorn?"

"I think she is the only one who can remove it."

"I can't deal with her anger right now. Not on top of everyone else's."

"It wasn't anger that I saw on her face at the press conference. It was..."

"Whoa...Wait a minute, back up. What do you mean at the press conference? Abbey wasn't there."

"Yes she was, at the beginning anyway."

"Until she heard me say I was running again. Right?"

"Yeah," Leo nodded. "The look I saw on her face was not anger. To be honest, she looked like a puppy that had been kicked for no apparent reason."

"And I was the one who did the kicking," Jed said, a lump forming in his throat at the image. "Did you talk to her?"

"I tried," Leo grinned wryly.

"And?"

"And she told me fuck off and left."

Jed nodded, realizing just how upset his wife had been. "I've handled this so badly, Leo."

"It's not too late to fix it. Go to the residence, get some sleep, and call Abbey in the morning. You'll feel better."

"I'll think about it," Jed said and made his way to the residence.

****

"Have you talked to Daddy at all?" Zoey asked Abbey as the two of them laid stretched out on beach chairs, sunbathing.

"A couple times," Abbey said, smoothing more sunblock on her shoulders. She didn't let on to her daughter just how brief their stilted conversation had been. "Now put on some more sunblock, you just got out of the water."

"Mom," Zoey complained.

"Do it. Your skin is as fair as mine and you know too much sun isn't good for you." Abbey stared at her daughter until Zoey reluctantly began to apply the lotion.

"I don't like it when you and Daddy argue. I've never seen you guys have a fight like this one. You're not getting a divorce, are you?"

"Zoey," Abbey turned to look into the tear filled eyes of her daughter, "Oh honey, your Dad and I aren't getting a divorce. We've been angry with each other before."

"Not like this," Zoey insisted, "nobody ever left before."

"I didn't leave your father. I just needed some space to think about a lot of things. Space away from the White House."

"Well, I hope you make up soon. I don't like seeing you so sad and Daddy so mad."

"I don't particularly enjoy it myself."

"I do hope you have it all worked out in time for your big party."

"Me too," Abbey sighed. "But, speaking of the party, have you talked to Ellie? Is she coming up early or just for the party?"

"I'm not sure," Zoey said, wrinkling her nose.

"What was that face for?"

"I don't think she and Davis are getting along well at all."

"Really? Did she say something?" Abbey asked, remembering Jed's feelings about the boy.

"No, but last week Charlie and I went up to visit and go out to movie with them. I asked Ellie when she was planning on coming up. She said she wanted to come up the week before the party and she and Davis had a big argument about it, right in front of me and Charlie. I know Ellie was embarrassed. I don't like him and I don't like the way he talks to her."

"You are your father's daughter," Abbey said, trying to smile reassuringly. But, Zoey's statement caused an involuntary shiver of apprehension to run down her spine.

****

Jed was pacing around his bedroom, his demons eating away at him. He missed Abbey, he missed his babies. He missed talking to his wife over dinner and feeling her at his side in bed. He missed holding his son and daughter and trying to make them smile. He missed waking up to find Abbey nursing them in bed and the warm milky smell they had when they were finished and he would hold them until they fell asleep. He even missed being awakened by a screaming infant at 3 a.m. It was much too quiet here without his family. It scared him to think that this could become a permanent situation. He had not felt this kind of loneliness since he was a child. It was not just the loneliness of physical absence, it was sheer, utter emotional loneliness. The longing for love, the needing of a connection. That was how he had felt growing up, until he met Abbey, and she had shown him how easy it was to love and to laugh, and what a joy it could be to share your most private dreams and your most horrible demons. That was also how he had felt these past couple of months, especially this past week, since Abbey had packed up his family and gone. What had Leo said to him about a marriage dissolving? First it bothers you and then you begin not to care. Well, he knew damn well he would never make it to the part about not caring.

When he thought about Abbey going to the press conference to support him, only to be kicked in the teeth, his heart ached. He thought of how bleak and empty his life was without her around. He picked up a silver framed picture off his bureau. It was one of his new favorites of Abbey. It was one of the pictures taken by Annie Leibovitz, just days after Abbey and the twins came home from the hospital. In it, she sat on the rocking chair with her white silk bathrobe opened, baring one creamy shoulder, and their tiny infant nursing at her breast. Her head was tilted to one side, her coppery hair spilling over her bare shoulder, as she gazed down at the baby with such a serene look of tender motherly love it made his breath catch in his throat.

"You're more important to me than the Presidency, Abbey," he said, running a thumb over the cool glass of the picture. "You always have been."

****

"What's wrong with him? Why is he crying so hard?" Jane asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she entered the living room, where Abbey was walking with her screaming son on her shoulder.

"He's been cutting a tooth and I think he had a earache. He's been tugging at his ear a little. I just gave him some amoxicillin, so hopefully he'll calm down soon."

"Poor little guy. It sounds like he is in a lot of pain."

"He is," Abbey said running her hand soothingly over the baby's back. "Ssh...it's ok Nicky, Mommy's got you."

"You're so calm. I'd be a nervous wreck, not knowing what was wrong and why they were crying."

"That comes with experience. You should have seen me when Elizabeth was a newborn. God, when I think back to that time, it's a wonder we survived it. 22 years old, a new wife and mother, and in a foreign country. I was on the phone every day with Mom. Jed used to have a fit when he got the phone bill. But I'll tell you, this doesn't get any easier. It just breaks my heart when they cry like this and I can't do much of anything but hold them and comfort them."

"You're a good mom, Abbey. You were right from the start, even when you didn't know what you were doing," Jane laughed. "But why did you bring Nicky down here?"

"I didn't want him waking up Aislinn or Tom."

"Did you get a chance to talk to Tom?"

"Yeah, we had a really nice evening together. It really cleared my head about a lot of things."

****

Jed awoke the next morning to a dark, gloomy room and the sound of rain pattering against the windows. He groaned and nestled deeper under the covers. Dark, rainy mornings like these were meant to be spent in snuggling under the covers with his sexy little wife. Speaking of his sexy little wife, he owed her a phone call. He reached for the phone, wanting to pour everything from his heart, but knowing he would wait until he could see her in person before letting everything go. Right now, he just wanted her to know he was thinking about her.

"Hello," said the voice on the other end.

"Hello, is this Hattie?"

"Yes, sir." Jed could hear a baby crying in the background.

"Is my wife busy?"

"At the moment she is changing your daughter's diaper. Would you like me to have her call you back?"

"Well..." Jed paused, he could hear a masculine voice in the background saying, "Abbey, why don't you give him to me? You were up all night with him."

"Thank you," his wife responded, "you're a godsend."

"Is that my brother's voice I hear?" he asked.

"No, sir. That is a friend of Mrs. Bartlet's. He's been visiting. Oh, she's free now, would you like to speak with her?"

"Uh, no, thank you. It's not important," Jed said and hung up. Right away his mind began to race with possibilities as to what man would be visiting his wife. This man who had stayed overnight and obviously knew his son very well. He picked up the phone again.

"Leo," he said firmly, "I'm just calling to let you know I'm going to Maine."

****

Jed let his mind wander in the car on the way from the airport in Portland to Windy Point. Images of his wife twisted in another man's embrace had been sent packing. His anger had been replaced by rational thought. This was his Abbey. The woman he loved and trusted before anyone else. The woman he trusted with his life. Abbey would never do anything tawdry in front of Zoey. Hell, there was no way she would ever cheat on him, period. Of that he was sure. And so, he entered the cottage much calmer. The house was quiet, the rooms empty. He made his way upstairs and, as he walked down the hall, he heard voices coming from the half closed doors of the bathroom. It was Abbey's voice and a man's.

"Wait," he heard Abbey say softly, "don't do it like that. It hurts when you do it like that. Here, let me show you."

"Is this better?" came the response and Jed felt a red haze of rage fill him so quickly it made him lightheaded.

"Oh yes, much better. Now squeeze right..."

"ABIGAIL!!!" Jed shoved the bathroom door open.

TBC...