She was still smiling and chatting as she reached her hand out to the next person in line. She felt the person's firm rough grip and knew right away that it was a man. While she said good-bye to Elizabeth’s mother the man released his strong hold and she felt his middle finger caress the palm of her hand. Startled, Abbey tugged her hand away and turned abruptly. When she did so she came eye to eye with the man who had for years played such an integral part in her nightmares. Marcus Hughes. In an instant it all came back to her. The slaps, the hands and mouth tearing at her flesh, the smell of his fetid breath as he tried to kiss her, the ripping of her clothes, and the stunning pain and degradation she had felt when he pushed his body into her unwilling one and raped her.

"Hello Abbey" He said with an insolent smile. "Remember me? Cause I sure do remember you. ALL of you" His eyes moved with lascivious intent over her body and came to rest on her breasts.

Abbey couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. The noise of the crowd sounded muffled as if it was coming down a tunnel and she was quite sure that she was just about to faint. Just as her knees began to buckle she felt someone grip her arm.

"Abbey are you all right?" It was Lily. From a few steps back she had seen the smiling animation of the First Lady's face taken over by a look of shocked fear. Abbey's eyes focused on her chief of staff. She tried to speak, to warn her about Hughes, but nothing would come out. By the time she had had regained her equilibrium she turned back to face the one person in the world she truly wanted to see dead. However, the person standing in front her now was a middle-aged woman wanting an autograph. Hughes had disappeared into the crowd at Lily's approach.

"Abbey…God, you look like you just saw a ghost."

"I…I need to get to the limo" the softness of her tone belied the frantic undertones.

"OK" Lily frowned and fell in step beside her.

Abbey walked as if in a daze. She felt weak and shaky, as if she were recovering from having the wind knocked out of her. All she wanted to do was make it to the limo without falling apart.

As Lily made her excuses to the press Abbey sank into her seat locking the door the agent had shut behind her. She was finally alone, no longer having to try to keep a steel hold on her emotions, but still unable to completely let them go. She closed her eyes, leaned back into her seat, and pressed a balled up fist into her forehead tapping lightly as if she could stamp out those insidious flashes of memory that were bursting non-stop in her head. Home…All she wanted to do was get home, take a shower and get clean. Just his hand on hers had made her feel dirty again. Had caused her to relive how used and filthy she had felt when he was done with her. The feeling of his saliva on her skin, the smell of his perspiration on her body, the sickening stickiness of him between her thighs. She swallowed convulsively trying to keep down the bile that rose in her throat.

That was how Lily found her when she opened the door to the limo. Abbey's eyes were closed, she was shaking like a leaf and her skin had a decidedly green tinge to it. Something was definitely wrong here.

"Abbey, what is it? What's wrong?"

Abbey opened her eyes as she turned her head toward her chief of staff. Opening her eyes had not been a good idea.

Lily watched with astonishment as Abbey leaned forward frantically pushing her door open and vomited half in and half out of the limo.

"Oh shit" Abbey moaned when she realized she hadn't quite gotten the door open in time."

"It's OK" Lily said handing her a handkerchief. Just lean back and relax. Would you like a breath mint?

"Please" Abbey said leaning her head back against the seat. All she could think about was home. Getting home and scrubbing his disgusting touch from her skin. Getting home and being safe. It was the first time she had ever referred to the White House as home. But then again, home was wherever Jed was and she wanted Jed. Nobody could understand this but Jed.

Lily handed her the wintergreen Altoid and looked at Abbey suspiciously. "You're not pregnant again, are you?" Her tone was teasing as she tried to lighten Abbey's obvious tension. However, when Abbey didn't respond Lily's eyes widened, "ARE YOU?" this time it was a true question.

"Don't even joke" Abbey sighed. "No Lily, I'm not pregnant again. I must just be coming down with a stomach virus. I really just want to get home. Please tell Anita to make the driver hurry.

* * * *

"Mr. President, I had to make a little change in your schedule today" Leo said upon entering the Oval Office. I squeezed in 15 minutes with Congresswoman Wyatt."

"I thought Abbey had a meeting with Andi today?"

"She did" Andi said entering the room behind Leo, "but evidently she's sick or something.”

Jed nodded making a mental note to call his wife after the meeting. Abbey was just as stubborn as he was in working through illness so he knew she must have been feeling really bad if she cancelled her afternoon meetings.

* * * *

The phone rang in the First Lady's office. Lucy Stuart, one of Abbey's secretaries directed the call to Lily Mays.

"It's the President" she mouthed to Lily.

"Hello Mr. President"

"Hi, Lily. I just met with Congresswoman Wyatt because I'm told that my wife is ill."

"Yes sir"

"You're sure she went back to the residence? Because I'm not getting any answer over there."

"I'm sure sir. She might be lying down. I doubt she would have gone anywhere. She was pretty sick."

Jed frowned. Abbey had seemed fine this morning, no sign of an impending cold or flu. Migraine? He asked.

"Stomach bug" Lily stated. "It was the strangest thing. She was perfectly fine and then it just hit her bad on the rope line. We made it back to the limo just in time for her to be sick."

"Inside or out?"

"A little of both"

Jed sighed deeply. Just what was it with his women puking in limos?

"Well, thanks Lily. I guess I'll go on up and check on her."

"Check on who?" Leo asked as he strode through the door.

"Abbey's sick" Jed hung up the phone. "I need a half hour to go and check on her."

Leo looked at his watch and the schedule in his hand.

"OK, you've got it" he told him.

*.* * *

"Abbey!" Jed called out as he flung open the doors to their bedroom. He had expected to find her lying in their bed with a good book or curled up in her silky bathrobe on the couch in front of the fireplace. She was in neither spot. The room was empty.

"Abbey?" he called out again. He realized why he wasn't getting an answer as he approached the bathroom and heard the shower running. He stepped into the steamy cauldron shutting the door behind him. A puzzled look crossed his face as he saw Abbey's clothes thrown haphazardly on the bathroom floor. That wasn't like her at all. His wife was a bit of a neat freak and she always took good care of her clothes.

"Abbey, did you have to puke in the limo?" He teased as he stood by the closed shower door, "you know they're gonna charge us for that clean up."

Jed frowned when he didn't receive the sarcastic response he had expected. In fact he didn't get any response.

"Abbey" he pushed open the shower door. What he saw inside caused a stab of fear to course through him.

Abbey sat naked on the tub floor her knees tucked up under her chin and her arms drawn around them. She was rocking herself back and forth as the water from the shower rained down upon her.

"Abbey. Honey, what's wrong?" he asked. Abbey ignored him still staring vacantly ahead.

She was numb, completely numb. How could she tell Jed that he was back? That the man in both their nightmares had returned. More than anything she wanted Jed not to remember or dwell on what he had seen that night when he arrived at Jane's brownstone. She felt the tears of humiliation fill her eyes when she thought about her husband seeing her so vilely and violently used.

"Abbey, baby you're scaring the shit out of me." He turned off the water and squatted so he was on eye level with her. "Do you need a doctor?" he reached out a hand to touch her bare knee and Abbey flinched in response. "OK babe, I'm going to call Admiral Hackett. I'll be right ba…"

"It was him" Abbey choked. She looked up at Jed with anguished eyes framed by spiky wet lashes. "It was him”

"Abbey, I don't know what you're talking about. " He began to run a towel over her before holding out his hand to lift her to her feet and wrap her in a warm white terry cloth robe. His arms encircled her as he helped her out of the tub and at his touch Abbey felt herself losing the precarious hold she'd had on her emotions. She pressed her face into Jed's chest and simply let go of it all. Her body began to shake with strangled sobs.

"Abbey, why are you crying?" he stroked her back. "For Gods sake tell me what's wrong. Lily said you got sick on the rope line today."

"I got sick when I saw HIM Jed."

"Who? Who are you talking about?"

Abbey pulled back and looked up into his face.

"Marcus Hughes" she stated softly and watched while all the color drained from her husband's face. "He was standing there on the rope line. He…He took my hand…He touched me Jed."

Before Jed could explode with the anger that raged through his veins, Abbey raced from his arms to the toilet where she proceeded to be plagued by dry heaves.

Jed was shaken and stunned. He hadn't seen this side of his usually calm, strong and confident wife since…well since the aftermath of the last time that son of a bitch had touched her.

"It's OK Abbey" he swallowed his anger and began to rub her back in a circular motion while she retched. When she was finished Abbey sat weakly on the bathroom floor, her back against the wall.

"Is he in custody now?" Jed asked gently. "Did your agents bring him in?"

"No" Abbey said quietly. Her gaze fell to the floor. She couldn't look Jed in the eye when she told him that she had allowed Hughes to get away. "When he took my hand and I heard his voice I just froze" Her voice was flat, detached, completely devoid of emotion except for a small quivering hitch." I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I didn't scream. I didn't tell anyone. I didn't do anything. I just STOOD there Jed"

"Abbey don't" Jed felt tears sting his eyes as he reached for his wife. "It's OK, just don't"

"I thought I was going to faint right there on the street. Lily grabbed me before I did and got me to the limo. I'm so stupid Jed. How could I have been so stupid? They might have caught him if I had said something."

"It's all right sweetheart, they'll catch him. You did just fine."

"I FROZE Jed. When he touched me…" Abbey's eyes closed against the sensation, "…I felt it all again. Everything I'd felt after he raped me"

"Hon, most people in your situation would have frozen. You were shocked and overwhelmed and…What are you doing?" he asked as she rose to her feet heading back toward the shower.

"I need to get clean Jed. " She reached over to turn the water back on. But, as she began to slide the robe off her shoulders strong hands on her arms stopped her.

"Don't Abbey." The pain in Jed's voice stopped her and she felt him begin to pull her robe back up. He remembered vividly the sometimes five or six showers a day Abbey had taken for weeks after she was violated. "Don't do this" he pleaded, "You're clean baby, you're clean."

"I don't feel clean. I feel sick and dirty" she choked.

"You have nothing to feel dirty about." He turned her around and pulled her back into his arms. "Don't let him do this to you. " He ran his hand over the back of her head stroking her wet hair. He could feel her small form shaking in his arms. This had been one of the hardest parts of the rape. Watching Abbey afterwards. The way it had made her feel helpless, used and dirty. As if somehow she were to blame. Because that was what the system did. It tried to make a blameless victim feel some type of responsibility for his or her own attack.

It was all he could do to stay calm and comforting when what he really wanted to do was smash his fist through the wall.

* * * *

Jed stayed quite a bit longer than his allotted half-hour. He had helped his wife into one of his Notre Dame T-shirts and tucked her under the covers of their bed with 2 Advil to relieve the stress headache that was building in her head. She had tried to push him off back to work but he had held her hand and promised to stay until she fell asleep. She was sleeping now, the tightness and pain gone from her lovely face. He stroked the hair back gently off her forehead trying to keep his own memories of her vulnerability that day at bay. He couldn't afford to think about that now. Rage was not what Abbey needed at the moment. She needed love and comfort and understanding. He hated to leave her like this, but he couldn't stay, he knew it was imperative he get this information to Ron Butterfield. The sooner Ron knew who they were after, the sooner Marcus Hughes would be brought in and Abbey could feel safe again.

He ran his lips gently over her cheek and forehead and reluctantly made his way to the door. As he pulled it open he was surprised to come face to face with Lily Mays.

"If you're here to check on Abbey, she's sleeping" he informed her.

"Actually, I'm here to see you sir. Leo told me you were here. I just found this in Abbey's office on her desk." She handed Jed a plain white envelope.

Jed swallowed and opened it carefully in case it was needed for evidence or something.

"Dearest Abigail,

My body still tingles from your touch this afternoon. Your skin is every bit as soft as I remembered it. You were so soft and I was so hard. Do you remember how hard I was? Do you remember how you screamed? Just thinking about the way you screamed fills me with anticipation for our next meeting. And this time Abigail, I can promise you, you will beg.

Your lover,
MH”

"Sir, are you all right?" Lily asked with concern. Jed's face had flushed a deep red and his hand was actually shaking with anger.

"The Service let this letter get passed them?" His eyes were flashing now and Lily actually felt a twinge of fear in her belly. She had never seen her boss's husband like this. There was actually something almost… well… deadly about him.

"No, that's the strange thing sir" her voice trembled as she spoke. The service checks all the letters, then they come to us and we check them. We only pass on personal correspondents or items we feel the First Lady should see. Nobody on staff saw or read this letter. It was sealed and had never been opened. Somehow that letter ended up on the First Lady's desk without going through any of us"

"Did you see anyone strange going into her office?"

"No sir"

"Don't let any of your staff leave. Ron Butterfield is going to want to speak with them. And DON'T tell Abbey about this."

"Yes sir"

* * * *

Jed began to barrel his way down to the West Wing. With every footstep his anger rose until he was in a veritable fury upon his arrival to his office.

The first person to feel his fury was Ron Butterfield who had been summoned the moment Jed arrived. The veteran Service agent received a stinging tongue lashing from the enraged President.

Jed knew this wasn't all Ron's fault. He knew that he was taking out his anger and frustration on this stoic man because he wouldn't fight back. Because he could vent until his heart was content the way he couldn't in Abbey's presence.

In the face of the Presidents rage Ron stayed calm as he was trained to do. The man did have a valid point. That letter never should have made its way to the First Lady's desk. Security had been breached. And what if the First Lady had been sitting at the desk? Neither man wanted to contemplate what might have happened then. But, the main reason Ron let the President rant and rave was because he knew that under all that blustery anger, Jed Bartlet was scared. He was simply a man scared that his wife might be hurt.

While he presented a stoic exterior emotions did churn inside Ron. He thought about how small Abbey Bartlet was. He thought about the bright smile that she would give him as a greeting and the way she would get down on her hands and knees to play with her babies. But mostly he thought about those nights that she would remove her high heels to walk barefoot down the hall and just how tiny she actually was. With her killer heels and those stunning long slender legs it wasn't so noticeable, but barefoot it was apparent how vulnerable she could be. It angered him that someone had taken advantage of that vulnerability and overpowered her in a vicious attack and he vowed never to let it happen again.

Finally, his anger mostly spent, Jed faced Ron with a rational concern. "Is he a threat to Abbey, Ron?"

"Sir we are doing everything we can to keep the situation under control. We will find him.”

"Ron I asked you a direct question" the anger seeped back into his voice. "Is this piece of human waste a threat to my wife? Because if he is I’ll keep her under lock and key here in the White House and go after him myself."

"That won’t be necessary Mr. President. We'll take care of it."

"See that you do Ron"

* * * *

Keeping his wife under lock and key when she was the First Lady of the United States was hardly feasible. Jed found this out quite soon, when barely two days after Hughes had approached Abbey; the two of them were to attend a fund-raiser for childhood Diabetes. Abbey had refused to even consider not attending for something this close to her heart. After her initial panic, she had become more rational about everything, and was even slightly embarrassed at how poorly she had reacted to the situation. She refused to be reduced to that mass of fear and pain she had been all those years ago. She had survived the attack, had dealt with it's aftermath and it was in the past now. Yes, a part of it would always live inside her, but it didn't have to cloud her judgment now. She had the best-trained agents in the world protecting her. She had a husband who would never let anyone hurt her. None of them would let Marcus Hughes near her again. At least that was what she told herself in the daylight when the demons weren't quite so terrifying.

Jed felt as if he were walking on a tightrope. On the one hand he wanted to reassure Abbey that she was safe, that nothing could happen to her and nobody could hurt her. But on the other hand he wanted to protect her and keep her safely in a cocoon where no hurt could befall her.

* * * *

Jed watched his wife shaking hands and mingling with the crowd that surrounded her after they both had given their speeches. He had watched her onstage so poised and confident and impassioned. He knew she used to hate these political speeches and had felt out of her element when not lecturing about medicine. But, after doing it time and time again, she had really become a remarkable speaker. Watching her now, nobody would know what she was actually feeling inside, or what she had been through these past few days. He watched for a few moments longer and she seemed to be doing fine so Jed turned to do his own mingling.

He'd been at it for a while when CJ caught his attention. She tapped on her watch to show him it was time to leave. He scanned the crowd for his wife, but didn't see her.

"Have you seen Abbey?" he asked her.

"Not for a little while" CJ said. She was puzzled by the look of concern on the President's face. He wasn't usually one to keep his wife on a short leash.

Jed made his way through the crowd until he got to Leo. "Have you seen Abbey?" he asked.

"Not since I told her we needed to wrap up and sent CJ off for you. Last I saw her she was heading for the stairwell. Wait a minute, now that I think of it, she went to the wrong one."

"Which one did she go to?" Jed asked tightly.

"That one" he pointed in the opposite direction of the stairwell they had come in though.

"Was she alone?" there was a touch of fear now in his voice.

"As far as I remember. Why are you getting so up…" Leo never got to finish his sentence as the President turned from him and began to plow through the crowd.

Jed tried to keep his panic down but wasn't succeeding very well. Abbey was alone in an empty stairwell and the thought of who might be with her created a sickening pit in his stomach that spurred him on to get to her even faster.

"Abbey!" he called out as he flung the door open.

TBC...