"Boy, Leo was certainly in a hurry to get out of here this morning." Abbey yawned and rubbed at her sleepy eyes. It was barely seven a.m. and Leo was long gone.

"I don't know what got into him, " Jed said, as he poured them each a cup of coffee. "He said something about wanting to get some work done before I got back but I still think it had something to do with Jenny and Jeffery."

"Whatever happened between he and Jordan? I never even got a chance to meet her." She accepted the steaming mug from him and began to blow on it to cool it down.

"I have no idea. You know how close mouthed Leo is. It took him weeks to tell me that he and Jenny were getting a divorce."

"That was different." Abbey turned to place plastic bowls of oatmeal on the trays of the twin's high chairs and handed them each a small spoon. They were in the process of learning some table manners but neither had quite adjusted yet. "He didn't want to tell you because he knew that you would be disappointed in him and that you might even be angry given all that you had seen Jenny go through with him."

"I guess," Jed shrugged. "I did think Jordan might have a shot with him. She's just his type. She doesn't take any guff from him and her career is just as important to her as his is to him. Everything seemed to go fine until New Years Eve."

"Well, maybe he just wasn't quite ready." Abbey's head turned as she felt something hit her on the forehead. She looked down to see two round Cheerio's and turned to see a grinning Nicholas. He had thrown his spoon on the floor and was busy using his finger food to get his mother's attention.

"You do NOT throw food at your mother, young man," Jed informed him reproachfully. He bent down to pick up the spoon and handed it back to his son. "Eat your oatmeal with your spoon."

Nicholas eyed his father and the two battled wills for a long moment before the toddler caved and dipped his spoon into the oatmeal somewhat awkwardly. Abbey raised a surprised eyebrow at Jed and he smiled back at her as they prepared to watch their son feed himself. Instead, Nicholas pushed the half upside down spoon at his sister. Aislinn opened her mouth for the bite of oatmeal her brother was offering her but he didn't exactly have his parent's coordination when it came to feeding her. She ended up with oatmeal smeared on her nose and cheek. Aislinn giggled and wiped at the sticky food with her hand. She offered her chubby little finger to Nicholas who put it in his mouth to suck off the oatmeal.

Abbey gave a deep sigh and rose to her feet to get a wash cloth. "At this rate they will be eating like heathens until they are 10," she griped. Jed agreed but had to smile. They were so damn adorable. Having twins was so much different from having a single baby. The two children were attached to each other as closely as they were to he and Abbey. They babbled to each other in their own alien language, played together, and comforted each other. It was very sweet to watch at times, even if it did sometimes make things more difficult.

Jed heard a banging on the stairs and turned to see Annie bringing down her suitcase.

"Honey, let me help you with that." He got to his feet and approached the staircase. Annie regarded him with wide hurt, hazel eyes as he reached for her suitcase.

"What is it, Annie?" He asked with a frown.

"Nothing" she mumbled and continued down the stairs. Jed left the suitcase on the landing and followed her.

"It's not nothing. Something is bothering you. Can't you tell me what it is? Are you upset with me?"

"Yes."

"What have I done to make you angry?"

"THIS" she yanked up the arm of his T-shirt to reveal the long red scar. Seeing it only made her eyes grow wider. "I HEARD you last night. You lied to me. You told me that you were FINE."

Jed's eyes closed for a moment as he realized just what she had heard. "I didn't lie to you Annie. I am fine and you shouldn't have been eavesdropping."

"I wouldn't have to eavesdrop if everyone didn't treat me like a baby. I'm not a baby anymore. You don't have to keep hiding things from me."

"We didn't hide it from you because we thought that you were a baby. We didn't tell anyone, mainly because it was over and we didn't want you all to worry."

"I stuck up for you!" Annie's eyes blazed with anger and tears.

"What are you talking about?" Jed looked up as he saw Abbey enter the room and stand with a hip against the doorway.

"The kids at school. They all read that stuff in the "National Enquirer". They said that Gram had been…you know… that, that guy had raped her like he did in Boston and you guys just didn't want anyone to know. They said that she was too embarrassed to report it. I told them that wasn't true. When you decided to run for President Gram told me what happened to her so I wouldn't hear about it from somebody else. I thought that if it had happened to her this time she would have told me. Now I just don't know."

"You know I don't like to lie, Annie. And, I don't like it when people around me lie. No, I didn't tell you about my arm, but I had a good reason for that. A man that I respect very much did me a favor by letting me go to help your grandmother. He could lose his job for that and I didn't want that to happen. We did NOT lie to you about what happened to your grandmother. She was not raped again."

"But he tried to, didn't he?" The defiance was gone from Annie's voice and she sounded very young and scared.

"Yes he did" Jed nodded.

"And that's how you got stabbed, trying to stop him?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. Your grandmother got away from him and he tried to stab her. I got in the way."

"He could have killed you guys." Annie's eyes filled with tears and she pressed her face into Jed's chest. "I thought he loved Gram, that's why he wanted to…you know…have sex with her. Why did he try to kill her?"

"First of all, he didn't truly love your grandmother. He was mentally ill and obsessed with her. While rape IS a sexual act it is more one of violence. There is a need to dominate and possess. It has absolutely NOTHING to do what sex between two loving adults is like."

"And you were never mad at Gram because of it? I mean like that article said, because of how she dresses and looks."

Abbey's pleading, tormented words came rushing back to him then, "Tell me again that it doesn't matter, Jed…Please tell me it doesn't matter." For months after it had happened she would utter that same refrain over and over and he would have to reassure her every time he made love to her that it didn't matter to him, at least not in the way that she thought. Now he looked over Annie's head at Abbey leaning in the doorway and stared straight into her eyes. "No," it was a choked whisper. "I was never angry with her. None of it was her fault. Your grandmother is who she is, and I happen to love her just exactly the way that she is."

Abbey smiled tenderly at Jed's heartfelt words and moved forward to sit on the other side of Annie on the couch. "And if I had been attacked again you can be sure that I wouldn't have been too embarrassed to report it. Too many women feel that way, honey. They feel like their husbands or boyfriends might not love them anymore or that their parents or their co-workers will look at them differently. They are afraid that people won't believe them or that they will blame them. But, most of all they feel ashamed and dirty and yes, even embarrassed."

"Did you feel that way?"

"Yes, at first I did," Abbey admitted. Jed took her hand squeezing softly to strengthen her resolve. He knew how hard it was for Abbey to discuss this with anyone else, but he also knew how important it was for Annie as a teenage girl to understand all of it. " I felt all those things. At first I just wanted to hide under the covers and pretend it never happened to me but I knew that I couldn't do that. If I ignored what Hughes did to me he would just come after me again, or do it to another woman. Going through a rape exam is almost like being violated all over again, but it was really important to me that he NOT get away with it. I was very lucky. I had the support of my husband," she lifted Jed's hand to her lips and kissed his palm, " and I had the support of my family and my friends and that is what got me through everything. Never be too embarrassed to seek justice, baby." She kissed Annie's forehead.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you Gramps, " Annie turned to him. "That was a really brave thing to do. When I grow up I want a husband just like you." She threw her arms around and his neck and snuggled up to him.

"Of course you do, sweetheart" Jed's voice was husky with emotion. "They don't come any better."

Annie laughed and turned to Abbey. "Is that true, Gram?"

"We..eelll" Abbey drew out the word and looked down as if checking the manicure on her fingernails, "he is starting to prove that he is useful to have around sometimes."

"Starting! I'll show you starting." He began to tickle her and her shrieking laughter brought a sleepy Elizabeth down the hall through the kitchen.

"God, you two really aren't ever going to grow up, " she grumbled. Then her eyes widened with disbelief. "Mom, did you forget about something in the kitchen?"

Abbey jumped up with alarm. She had been standing in the doorway watching the twins breakfast shenanigans and listening to her husband's emotion wrought explanations to Annie, but had forgotten about the babies when she had moved to sit on the couch. She reached the doorway at the same time as Jed. Relief mingled with a resigned irritation as she saw that the two had smeared oatmeal into each other's hair and faces and were now laughingly dripping it down onto Max's head. The big dog was too busy licking what they had spilled on the floor to notice.

Both she and Jed shook half-amused heads and at the same time they muttered, "Heathens."

* * * *

There was only a skeleton staff on duty in the West Wing while the President was away, but all of his senior staffers were busy at work. CJ was on her way to Toby's office when she passed Leo in the hall. He was so lost in thought that he walked right by her without even a greeting.

"Leo?" CJ frowned. Leo stopped and turned.

"What?"

"Uh, what are you doing here?"

"I happen to work here, CJ" he muttered and turned to go into his office.

"No, why are you back? I thought you were coming back tomorrow with the President and his family."

"I don't need to explain myself to you," he snapped angrily. "There is work here to be done." He entered his office slamming the door behind him. He immediately felt bad for taking CJ's head off. He wasn't angry with her. Well, he was in a way. He was angry with all of them for they were all starting to see through him. First Toby, then CJ, and now even Abbey and Jed.

Abbey, Jesus, the ache to touch her last night had nearly burned his hand. All night he had pictured slipping her robe from her shoulders and running his hands all over that incredible body. He could actually hear her sighs and moans and soft whimpers. He could almost remember what it had felt like to feel her breast cupped in his hand. But then he would remember that look on her face, a lost sort of confusion, and he was snapped back to reality. If Aislinn hadn't cried out for her in that moment would she have caught on? Would she have questioned him? And more importantly, would he have caved in and told her exactly what he was feeling? He nearly groaned at the thought as he imagined how Jed would have responded to that.

Jed, good lord, the man had nearly seen through him. He knew that if Jed had seen his face while he was gazing at Abbey and Aislinn it would have been all over. He hadn't hidden anything in that moment and he was sure that Jed would have seen everything that he felt played out vividly across his face. And, if he had seen that, their friendship might be over right now. He knew Jed as well as he had known Jenny and Mallory. Abbey and the girls came first; they always had and always would. And, while he was not a domineering, possessive man he could be a jealous man and he did have a strain of possessiveness when it came to his beautiful wife. If he thought for a minute that his best friend was fantasizing about snuggling up to his wife's breasts the way her daughter was doing, there was no telling what kind of explosion would occur. He was very fortunate that he had gotten away with it this time. Next time he might not be so lucky. To that end, Leo decided to stay away from the temptation. Somehow he would have to keep his distance from Abbey. No more holiday visits to New Hampshire, or friendly dinners at Harmony Point. He had to keep everything professional. It was the only thing that he could think to do that would keep either of them from finding out how he felt.

* * * *

CJ stared down at the manila folder on her desk. The President was in the Oval Office. It was time to find out exactly what this picture meant. Yesterday she had almost shown it to Leo first. Had even thought of showing it to Abbey, anything to get out of being the one to show it to Jed Bartlet. But, in the end, she had stuck to her original decision. Her first loyalty had to be to the President. If Leo and Abbey had done anything inappropriate they might try to cover it up. The White House couldn't afford for that to happen, not with Danny Concannon on the case. She moved with a heavy heart and even heavier feet down the hall toward the Oval Office.

"Mr. President" she nodded as she entered the room.

"Hey CJ," he boomed, the way he did when he was in a buoyantly good mood. He was looking out one of the windows behind his desk. "Will you look at that. They got the swing set done. I can't wait to bring Nicky and Ash down to try it out."

"That will be fun, sir." She hated this. The President had become like an overprotective big brother to her and she would have given anything not to be the one to hurt him like this. "There's, uh, something that I need to show you, sir. Danny Concannon brought it to me. He's keeping a lid on it until we can give him an explanation. Please tell me that you have an explanation."

She handed him the folder and took an instinctive step back. Jed frowned at her completely lost as to what could have her reacting in such a serious, nervous manner. He opened the folder and his breath caught in his throat. He staggered back against his desk as if someone had shoved him. The lines on his face became more pronounced and his square jaw tightened convulsively. The shattered man standing before her looked as if his entire world had just come crashing in around him and CJ swore that she saw him age 10 years in that moment. She had known from the instant he opened the folder that Jed Bartlet knew absolutely nothing about what had taken place in that photo and her heart bled for him.

"Son of a BITCH," the painful words came out as a groan of despair. Then, after a deep shuddering breath he turned frosty blue eyes on CJ and demanded, "Where the FUCK is Leo?"

TBC...