With everyone, including Leo and CJ, finally in the helicopter they set off toward Portland. Jed sat in the back holding Abbey's hand, assuring her that it was only a matter of minutes before they would be at the hospital

"Would you look at that." Leo gave a low whistle.

Jed looked out the window his stomach roiling. They were out over the dark, churning violent sea. The waves were huge and white capped, the spray flying everywhere. The ocean had been whipped into such a frenzy it was impossible to see the troughs in between the giant waves. It was hard to believe that was the same friendly sea that he and Abbey had been sailing on just a day ago. Then, in the blink of an eye he was unable to see anything as they hit a vicious squall of rain that turned the visibility to zero. He felt the helicopter lurch against the wind and almost come to a stand still before careening crazily side to side.

"The pilot's lost control of this thing" Leo gasped. Jed anxiously looked from Leo to where Abbey lay strapped on the gurney, remembering those horrifically violent seas. She'd drown belted onto that thing. He began frantically removing the restraints from her, wondering how on earth any of them would survive in that sea. Once she was no longer restrained he held her tightly in his arms unwilling to lose her, aware that in a few moments their lives might be over. It was the way they'd always wanted to go out, together, but not now, not so soon, not when there was so much still to live for.

Suddenly, sickeningly, the helicopter began to drop straight down to the churning abyss.

"Oh God, we're going DOWN!" CJ screamed as they plummeted faster and faster toward certain death.

Jed grabbed the rosary he always kept in his pocket and linked it around the hand he held clasped tightly with Abbey's. He knew that he should be praying, he could hear CJ's terrified "Hail Mary" over the general pandemonium, but all that came to his mind were faces; images of his children. Elizabeth wagging a bossy finger in his face. Ellie favoring him with one of her pure, sweet smiles. Zoey riding over the green fields gazing back over her shoulder at him beaming with his approval. Aislinn squealing and running naked down the hall. Nicholas with a mischievous glint in his blue eyes, throwing stuffed animals to gain Abbey's attention. He couldn't believe that he would never see any of those beautiful, precious faces again, couldn't believe that he was never going to walk Ellie or Zoey down the aisle at their weddings or even see Nicky and Aislinn's first day of school. And yet, in spite of what was happening, a part of him did thank God. He thanked God that he hadn't had to bring the children on the helicopter and that they were going to have the chance to live their lives. He thanked God that Abbey was unconscious and would never know what hit her when they crashed, that there would be no pain for her. And, most of all, he thanked God that if it was Abbey's time to go that he was being allowed to go with her; that they would make this final journey of their lives together.

"Hold on, we're about to hit!"

Jed heard Leo's shouted warning and flung himself over Abbey, shielding her body with his just as Ron did the same to him. For one crazy moment he thought it was like playing a game of pig pile and in the next instant they were making a shocking, jarring impact with the earth that sent him head first into the helicopters back windows, shattering glass and nearly knocking him out with the violent force of the collision.

It seemed to take forever for Marine One to stop rolling from side to side and for the engine to finally sputter out. It was eerily silent on board the helicopter as shock and disorientation had replaced the shouts of terror.

Jed shook his head to rid himself of the stars he was seeing and, slightly dazed, he wondered how it came to be raining inside the helicopter. He had to keep blinking the rain out of his eyes. It amazed him that somehow, miraculously, he was still alive and so was his wife. He could feel her heartbeat against his chest where he lay on top of her. He ran his hands over her face and arms thankful that because he had borne the brunt at impact, she hadn't been hurt or cut by the flying shards of glass. Once he had assured himself that his wife was all right he started to lift himself from her but was stopped by Ron, who was cradling an injured arm.

"Mr. President, you hit your head pretty hard on that window. Please, just sit still"

"I'm fine, Ron. We have to get off this thing before it sinks. Are there any kind of lifeboats on board?"

"Sir, we aren't going to need lifeboats." Leo was gazing out his window, and, where all Jed could see out the back window was angry surf, out Leo's window was a small expanse of beach. The pilot had to have been able to see that they were fairly close to shore when they were going down and had thus aimed for the tiny beach that represented safety. They couldn't know for sure because the pilot was unconscious at the moment.

"Well, let's get everyone out of here before we end up getting dragged out to sea…What?" Jed frowned at the wide-eyed, alarmed looks on Ron, Leo and CJ's faces.

"Mr. President, you're hurt." Ron took a step toward him.

"I'm fine. I banged my head; it's just a little bump. Come on let's…"

"It's not just a little bump, you're bleeding everywhere."

Jed placed his fingers against his temple feeling the sticky wetness there. So that was what he'd been blinking away, not rain. "It's just a stupid little cut, now forget about it, we have to get Abbey out of here and to a hospital. I don't know how much more time she has, or what that crash might have done to her."

"Sir, it's bleeding pretty profusely. Let's at least apply some pressure." CJ dug into her purse for her emergency stash of tissues and handed a wad to him. Jed dutifully smacked the compress against his temple and they started to prepare Abbey for departure. Once she was strapped back on the stretcher, Jed began taking off his rain slicker to place over her but before he got it completely off Ron stopped him.

"Ron, she needs it worse than I do, she doesn't need pneumonia on top of whatever else is wrong with her."

"We have something better. Solar blankets. They're sort of like survival suits." Ron drew out one of the bright orange blankets and handed it to him so that Jed, Leo and CJ could wrap it tightly over Abbey while he moved to do the same to the pilot.

"There you go, sweetheart," Jed kissed Abbey's forehead as he secured the blanket up under her neck. "All snug as a bug in a rug." Her face was so pale it was almost bloodless and there were dark smudges under her eyes. If he'd thought he was scared before it was nothing compared to how he was feeling now. Abbey wasn't

even moaning anymore, she was deeply unconscious and completely unaware of anything. It filled him with a numbing sort of terror to think that they might not make it to the hospital in time.

Ron was on his radio the entire time they carried Abbey's stretcher, battling through the tidal surge and across the wind whipped beach, to a small outcropping of rocks that afforded them some shelter.

"We can't stop here." Jed hadn't let go of his side of the stretcher. "We have to get her up over those dunes where someone will see us, where we can get her help." There was an urgency to his voice now; a determination to do whatever it took to get his wife the help she needed.

"No, we just have to sit tight," Ron shouted over the roar of the wind and pounding surf. "The National Guard is sending us a Humvee. We'll have Mrs. Bartlet at the hospital in no time. In the meantime let's try to keep her comfortable and out of the elements."

Jed set the stretcher down and moved to unbuckle her restraints with a little help from Leo and CJ. He then lifted her into his arms, gratified and yet terribly alarmed that she no longer cried out in pain at being moved, and carried her deep into the rock outcrop where the rain couldn't pelt her and where the wind wasn't quite so bad. He sank down in the sand with her on his lap. He gently wiped the rain from her face then pulled her up against his chest. Her head was tucked under his chin and it was so easy to feel how hot she still was.

Tears filled CJ's eyes, and a lump formed in Leo's throat as they watched the President, his head bleeding, holding his wife tightly to him and rocking her back and forth, whispering against her hair and pressing soothing little kisses into her forehead. Neither could remember the last time they'd seen a more loving or tender display.

"What do you think he's saying to her?" CJ asked, unaware that she'd spoken aloud.

Leo answered her. "If I know Jed he's promising her. Promising her that she's going to be all right, promising her they'll be at the hospital soon, promising her that when this is all over he's going to kill her for scaring him so badly, promising…" He broke off, his voice choked with emotion.

"Leo?" CJ gently held his arm. "What is it?"

"I just don't know what's going to happen to him if he can't come through with those promises. Losing her would kill him, CJ."

"I know." She closed her eyes against what Leo's words had suggested. She'd never known a couple like Jed and Abbey Bartlet. Her own parents had divorced when she was young and as a child most of her friends had come from broken homes. As an adult many of her friends who had married had also been divorced. She had lived in Hollywood, where love was one big illusion; matches made for publicity. She had become cynical and jaded, believing that soul mates were merely a myth and true love something one only read about in a sappy romance novel.

Then she had met the Barlet's, soul mates in every sense of the word. A couple who supported and reveled in each other's accomplishments and didn't run away from each other when the going got tough. They were not an illusion, they were two halves of a whole and they had given her hope. Hope that her own soul mate was still out there and she simply had to find him. But, there was danger in loving somebody that much because when one of those halves was ripped away all that was left behind was half a person and she wasn't even sure that Jed Bartlet could be half the man that he was if he lost Abbey.

****

The staff at Maine Medical Center had been on stand- by ever since they'd gotten the call that the First Lady of the United States was being emergency airlifted their way. So, when the blue lights of the police cruisers that preceded the Humvee pulled up in front of the ambulance doors, everyone went into action. The First Lady, still wrapped in the orange solar blanket, was wheeled in unconscious. The President, soaking wet and with his head bleeding and hair dripping followed closely behind, unable to let her out of his sight. They quickly wheeled Abbey behind closed doors that read "Emergency Personnel Only" and Jed continued to follow.

"Sorry, Sir, this is where your journey ends." A large, silver- haired doctor, already in scrubs, grabbed Jed's arm to stop his progression into where they would be examining his wife.

"But I want to be with her."

"I'm Dr. Stewart, I'll be assisting on Mrs. Bartlet's case. We're going to do everything we can for her. You have to let us do our job. Can you give me a little history? When did Mrs. Bartlet get sick?"

"She had a pain in her stomach last night. She said it was just a stitch in her side. After that she seemed fine. She was up with the kids in the night and was okay. This morning she was complaining about cramps. I thought that it was just menstrual cramps."

"Did she take any medication?"

"Just Midol, as far as I know, but it didn't work. The cramps got worse. Then, she went in to check on the kids and she fainted. I found her on the floor, burning up with fever. She was thirsty but when I gave her water she vomited and she was complaining of really bad pain low in her stomach. It seemed to get worse when I moved her or touched her there. She's been in and out of consciousness ever since."

The doctor paused in what he was writing on his chart. "Okay, we're going to go ahead and run some tests but first I need to ask you, is it possible that Mrs. Bartlet could be pregnant?"

"I don't know." Jed ran his fingers through his hair with frustration. "I mean, we use birth control, but I suppose that it could be possible. "

"Do you know when her last menstrual period was?"

"Just a few weeks ago, so if she is pregnant it would be a fairly recent thing."

"Okay, we'll go run those tests and I'll have someone come out to look at your head. You're going to need some stitches there."

"It's fine," Jed dismissed the doctor's concern. He'd forgotten about the wound that was now crusting with dried blood. "Just take care of my wife."

The doctor turned to leave and Jed sank bank against the wall emotionally and physically exhausted. Leo had been maintaining a discreet distance while Jed spoke with the doctor but now he stepped forward to take Jed's arm.

"Sir?"

"She said it was her period, Leo." Jed pressed his fingers into forehead, his voice flat and tired. "I thought it was menstrual cramps. Why didn't I question it?"

"Because she said it was her period. She knows her body, why would you question her?"

"Because it wasn't her time of the month. Because she doesn't lose her appetite when she gets her period. Because the cramps were way more severe than she usually gets. I think I WANTED to believe it was just her period, but I knew something else was going on."

"A miscarriage?"

"I don't know. When I followed her symptoms there were only two things that fit all the criteria, ectopic pregnancy and appendicitis. I hit on the first one because Abbey's pain seemed more over her uterus than on the side where her appendix would be."

"But how could she…I mean you guys use…. Did she forget again?" Leo stammered on his face turning red with embarrassment. This would have been a hard conversation before but given what they had gone through over the past few months it was almost impossible.

"Yes, we use birth control and no I'm not aware of Abbey forgetting her pills, but nothing is 100% effective."

"Except abstinence." The words came out before Leo realized that he had said them and he could have bit his tongue. They had come out too much like jealousy.

"Which is totally unacceptable." Jed's eyes burned into Leo's.

"Or a vasectomy." The twinkle came back in Leo's eyes.

"Also unacceptable," Jed winced. "Abbey should go through the change soon and then we won't have to worry about it anymore. Although, she says her mother was in her late 50's when she went through it so we may still have a way to go."

"What if it is an ectopic pregnancy?"

"There won't be a baby. There can't be. The baby can't grow and be nurtured anywhere but the uterus. If she hasn't already miscarried they'll have to do it surgically."

"An abortion?"

"Sort of."

"That'll be hard on Abbey," Leo sighed. "And I know it will be hard on you. I'm sorry."

"We don't want another child. We have all that we can do to keep up with Nicholas and Aislinn. As much as Abbey will tell you that she loves being pregnant and making babies, I can't imagine her wanting to chase two active toddlers and care for another newborn, not at this stage of our lives. But, you know, none of that will matter. If Abbey finds out that she was carrying a child and lost it, she's going to mourn, Leo. It's going to hurt her very deeply. She took the other two miscarriages as some sort of personal failure. I can't imagine this would be any different."

"What about you?"

"It's gonna be hard. I've been trying so hard to make time to be there for the twins. I adore them, I thank God every day that he blessed me with them, they bring me more joy than I can express, but I don't think I could find the time or the energy for yet another child."

"But… it sounds like there's a 'but' in there."

"But it still hurts to think about it. It hurt to watch her, knowing that our child could be dying inside her, a part of her and a part of me, something WE created out of our love for each other. It's a profound thing, Leo, very profound, and, if she was pregnant, I'll spend the rest of my life wondering if it would have been a son or a daughter. If she might have been a President or he might have found the cure for cancer. To this day I still wonder about the two children we lost, who they would have looked like, what they would be like. Peter would be starting college this year." His eyes grew suspiciously shiny and he had to clear his throat. " It's the death of possibility."

"Sir," a doctor approached them. "I'm Dr. Hathaway. I'm going to take a look at your head."

"But…" Jed looked helplessly toward the emergency doors…"my wife…"

"We'll make sure you know what's going on just as soon as we do. Come with me please."

****

"No, the helicopter did not crash, the pilot was able to make a crash landing on the beach." CJ stood before the gathered throngs in a special briefing room set up in the hospital.

"The President was spotted entering the hospital bleeding from the head, was he injured in the crash?"

"Crash LANDING, " CJ stressed. "Yes, he was injured. His head hit the back window of Marine One and he suffered a laceration to the forehead. He's being treated right now."

"Was he unconscious?"

"No, he was always conscious."

"CJ, why wasn't he in his seatbelt? There are no seats that face the back of Marine One." CJ looked over at the concerned face of Danny Concannon."

"The President was not in his seatbelt because when the helicopter began to go down he was sitting by the gurney that held Mrs. Bartlet."

"He didn't have time to move to a seat?"

CJ turned a sharp eye on the skeptical tone the reporter had taken; wondering if he had been insinuating that his MS might have affected the President.

"Yes, he had time to get to a seat, STAN, but instead he chose stay with his wife and try to keep her from being injured any further in the crash."

"I thought you said it was a crash landing, not a crash."

Leave it to Danny to be a smartass, CJ almost smiled. "We didn't know it was a crash landing at the time, we just knew we were going down. Okay, that's all I have for you right now, as I said as soon as we have reports from the First Lady and the President's physician's I'll have them speak to you directly about their conditions. Thank you…" She stepped away from the microphone and started to make her way back to the emergency room.

"CJ" Danny gripped her arm.

"Danny, I don't have any more information for you. I'm not hiding anything. The President really did just get a bump on the head and a cut and I still don't know what's wrong with the First Lady so…"

"CJ" He shook her gently. "I didn't follow you out here for a LEAD." There was hurt in his green eyes.

"I'm sorry" she softened contritely. "I guess I'm still a little shaken."

"That's why I came out here. I just wanted to see if you were okay. I was worried about you. You didn't get hurt in the crash?"

"Land…"

"…ING" He finished for her with a grin. "The crash landing."

"No, I didn't get hurt. Just as I said, a little shaken up. I'm just really worried about the First Lady. It isn't good, Danny. I didn't play it up in there but she is really sick, VERY sick."

"I'm sorry to hear that. She's an extraordinary person." Danny swallowed tightly. He wasn't just saying that to be polite. He truly liked and admired Abbey Bartlet. She was unlike anyone in politics that he'd ever covered before, stunningly naïve and trusting at times, sharp witted and politically astute at others and she played a cutthroat game of "Hearts" on the campaign trail.

"Yes, she is. Well, I have to go check on the President's condition."

Danny nodded and turned to head back into the tiny room the press was being kept in.

"Danny"

He turned back expectantly to see CJ; her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Worrying about me."

"I always do."

****

"There you go, Mr. President, you're very lucky you didn't lose your eye. But you'll be as good as new in no time."

Jed looked in the small mirror he'd been handed to see the stitched wound that ran from the edge of his eye, over his temple, to his hairline. "Will there be a scar?"

"Nope. Maybe a small one at first but it will fade."

"Damn."

"You WANTED a scar?" Leo asked.

"I thought it might make me look sort of rakish, and sexy."

"You're already rakish and sexy, Mr. President." CJ assured him as she entered the room.

As Jed turned to look at CJ his face tightened. Coming through the door right behind her were two doctors, one of them the doctor he had spoken too earlier. Both were grim faced and Jed felt his heart begin to race.

"Abbey?"

The doctors gave each other sidelong glances as if neither wanted to be the one to pass on bad news. Finally Dr. Stewart, who had spoken to him earlier, bit the bullet and stepped forward. Jed felt Leo and CJ move in close on each side, as if to bolster him.

"Sir, I'm afraid the news is not good. …

TBC...