Now that the time was at hand and Abbey was ready to tell him what had happened between she and Leo, Jed wasn't sure he was ready to hear it. He didn't know if he could bear the excruciating pain of hearing his wife say that she had been sexually attracted to another man, especially Leo. Even if she hadn't slept with him, which he did believe was the truth, as he still trusted her not to lie to him, that erotic kiss was enough to justify an accusation of adultery. It was enough to tear the fabric of their marriage, enough to rip them apart, and he certainly knew that he would never be ready for that.

"Sit down, Jed" Abbey ordered him again. She tugged on his hand to pull him down beside her but he was still resisting. He jerked his hand away from her and tore it through his hair with frustration.

"I can't do this, Abbey," he ground out. "I need to get the hell out of here." He turned from her and began to stride for the door.

"Don't you walk away from me, Jed!" She called out with combination of anger, pain and fear. "You CAN'T walk away from this!"

Jed slowed at the pleading anguish in her voice but then continued to reach for the doorknob. Abbey watched him try to escape knowing what he was thinking and hating him for it, hating him for not believing in her. Somehow she knew that she had to get through to him and with eyes glistening with tears she ran to the door to catch him.

"He was DRUNK!" She cried. Jed stopped turning the knob and turned to face her with an incredulous look on his face.

"What are you saying, Abbey?" He asked tightly. He took in the pale quality of her skin and the tears shimmering in her lovely eyes. Deep in his heart he knew exactly what she was saying only he didn't want to hear this anymore than he had wanted to hear that she had feelings for Leo.

"I think you know." The words came out as a choked whisper.

"Oh God, I'm gonna KILL him!" He turned back to the doorknob but Abbey gripped his forearm tightly.

"Stop it, Jed. You need to hear the whole story. You've gotten yourself all tied up in knots inside because of those damned insecurities of yours. Of course your love is enough for me. It always has been and it always will be. Did you honestly think that I was attracted to Leo in any way, shape or form? My God just the thought gives me the willies. It's almost incestuous. I think of Leo as a brother in law, even more so most of the time than John and that is the way that I love him. I have never been physically attracted to him, ever."

"Well I can guarantee you that he doesn't think of you as a sister. Kissing you was not incestuous Abbey, adulterous maybe, but not incestuous. That was the kiss of a man who wanted to devour you. I've been there enough times to know."

"Jed, he was drunk. He…"

"Drunkenness is never an excuse, Abbey. I've seen the way he looks at you and he isn't drinking anymore."

"You don't think he still…" she trailed off.

"Yeah, I do think he still…I've seen the way he looks at you, but I figured that he just couldn't help it. You're a beautiful woman and he'd have to be blind not to see that. It never hit me until now that he might be lusting after you or that he might have acted on those feelings."

"He doesn't Jed, he was different then, " she said softly. "You remember what he was like when he drank."

"It's something I try to forget."

"Well, you can't. You have to remember what he was like. That picture was taken the night of the DNC fundraiser. The night after he called you from that seedy motel and you called me scared to death that he was going to kill himself with the booze."

"And I asked you to talk to him as a doctor and explain the damage that he was doing to his body." Slowly Abbey watched his face grow slack with understanding and a sickening dread filled his eyes. "Oh Jesus, I sent you outside to talk to him. That's when he made the play for you, isn't it?"

Abbey nodded painfully. "It's OK, Jed."

"Oh shit, Abbey, I'm so sorry," he groaned. Barely five years after she had been attacked he had sent her right into the lion's den, totally unaware that his own best friend might prey on her.

"It's all right, really. I mean it's not like he attacked me. He made a pass, I slapped his face, end of story."

"Somehow I doubt it was that cut and dried. You tell me, Abs. I need to know. You owe me the truth."

Abbey sighed knowing that it was time to get it all out in the open. She should never have promised Leo not to tell Jed. Nothing good ever came of keeping secrets in a relationship. This one was certainly blowing up in her face. "I'll tell you what happened, Jed, but you have to promise me to remember what Leo was like back then. He's not the same person that he is now."

"Oh, I remember exactly what Leo was like as a drunk," Jed stated darkly. And remember he did.

(Washington D.C. 12 years earlier)

Jed sat in the noisy bar watching with irritation as a blowsy bleached blond sat on Leo's lap pressing her half exposed breasts into his laughing face.

"Leo, don't you think it's about time we get going. Jenny is probably holding dinner. I agreed to come out with you for one drink." Jed lifted his glass to show him that it was empty.

"Leave it to you to be so literal," Leo slurred. He'd had at least five to Jed's one. What're you in such a rush for anyway? Abbey got the apron strings tied a little tight? You gotta go rushing home like you do every weekend?"

"I'm not going home this weekend," Jed scowled. "Abbey's coming down for the fundraiser tomorrow."

"Ah, so that's why you aren't scurrying off like a good boy."

" I don't scurry off, Leo. I have a family and they don't live down…." Jed's breath came out with a whoosh as another bleached blond plopped her butt down on his lap.

"You're Congressman Bartlet, aren't you?" The blond began to run her fingers through Jed's hair. "Leo here has told us all about you but he didn't tell us just how CUTE you are. Leo, how come you didn't tell me how good looking the Congressman is?

"You think he's good looking?" Leo grinned. "Guess that's a matter of opinion."

"Miss?" Jed tried to shove her off his lap but she wasn't budging. He'd been told about political groupies before moving to Washington but somehow he hadn't imagined that there would be as many as there were. As a young, handsome congressman, he'd been in hot demand. It had shocked him at first to have women that he didn't even know offer to have sex with him or at the very least give him a blowjob in the restroom. Now it had simply become routine to turn them down.

"Oh, he's good looking all right. And he's a good boy too, aren't you? Leo says you go home every weekend to your wife. She's a lucky lady."

"Mmm…" Jed murmured giving her another shove.

"But she's also a foolish one. I wouldn't let any man as good looking as you out of my sight for an entire week. Lord knows what kind of trouble you could get into." She twirled a finger around his earlobe. "It doesn't look like you're going home this weekend, though. We could have a lot of fun tonight. Why don't we go back to the motel with Leo and Angie? I'll bet your damn good in the sack, blue eyes." She pressed her lips to his at the same time that she ran a hand over his crotch. Jed jumped and shoved her harder, this time getting her off his lap. She had to grab the table to keep from tumbling over.

"Not interested," he said coldly. "Leo, can I talk to you?"

"Oh no, I feel a lecture coming on," Leo rolled his eyes, but he stumbled behind Jed to a relatively quiet corner of the room. Jed tried to think of a way to get through to his friend. Leo's drinking was becoming worse and he was getting completely out of control. He was going out drinking almost every night now, rather than going home and Jed had been aware for a while that he was sleeping with other women.

"What are you doing with that bimbo?" he asked. "Jenny is home waiting for you to join her for dinner and you're sitting here in this seedy bar drinking yourself into oblivion and flirting with some airheaded groupie who could give a shit about you. She just wants a lay Leo, anyone will do."

"Aw, come on, Jed," Leo laughed. "Loosen up. Let's have some fun. Lisa seems to be pretty hot for you, why don't you come get a room at the motel me and Angie are going to."

"Leo, I'm a married man. I'm not going to screw around on Abbey."

"Stop being so goddamned sanctimonious. Abbey would never have to know. You don't have to love someone to fuck em', Jed."

"You think I want to take a chance on losing what I have with Abbey for some cheap lay with a bimbo? Think again. At the risk of sounding SANCTIMONIOUS, marriage is a sacred bond, Leo and you're taking a hell of a chance with yours."

"Just what is it that she does for you?"

"What?" Jed looked at him puzzled.

"Abbey, what does she do for you in bed? She must be one hell of a tigress in the sack for you to always be rushing home for a little nooky."

Jed clenched his fist. It took all his willpower not to punch Leo in the face. Instead he grabbed the collar of his shirt and slammed him up against the wall. "You make me sick, Leo. You're a disgusting drunk. Don't ever talk about my wife like she is some cheap whore ever again." He let go of Leo with a look of sadness and disgust and turned to leave the bar.

"Yeah, well at least I'm not some pussy whipped choir boy," Leo called out after him. He stood watching Jed walk out of the bar and felt the sting of tears. Now he'd done it. He'd already lost many of his friends and now he'd alienated his best friend, just as he had his wife and his daughter. He couldn't get much lower. A feeling of self-loathing crawled up his spine and made him nauseous. He looked over at Angie. With a girl like her there were no expectations, no recriminations, no disgust, no pity, just a good time sort of gal. He wavered back toward her and downed the rest of his drink before grabbing her wrist.

"Let's get the hell out of here."

* * * *

The shrill ring of the phone jolted Jed out of a deep sleep. He squinted at the clock and saw that it was 4 a.m. Who the hell would be calling him this late? His heart gave a quick lurch as late night calls generally caused fear. Abbey? The girls? Were they all right?

"Hello" he answered anxiously. It wasn't Abbey, it was Leo and he was obviously VERY drunk.

"Jed, I'm in trouble, man." He was totally out of it, crying and slurring his words so badly Jed could barely understand him.

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

"That bitch…she screwed me over…I passed out after we had sex… I just woke up…She stole my wallet and my car…"

"Leo, calm down, I'll come and pick you up.

"I need clothes too…I puked all over myself…I'm such a worthless piece of shit, Jed…You tried to tell me that but I wouldn't listen…I wouldn't listen. My best friend in the world and I wouldn't listen."

"Leo, you're not worthless. You're a mess right now, but you aren't worthless."

"Jenny'd be better off if I were dead. I'm such a disappointment to her and to Mallory."

"Stop talking like that. That isn't true and you know it. Just hang tight and I'll be right there. Where are you?"

"I don't know," he cried…"Don't know where I am…I'm in hell Jed…I'm in hell."

"Leo, look on the table by the phone. There must be some motel stationary. Read me the address on it."

Jed wrote down what Leo told him, threw on jeans and a T-shirt, packed some clothes and was on the Capitol Beltway by 4:30. By 4:45 he was turning into the parking lot of a run down motel. The blinking neon sign cast shadows on the asphalt as Jed approached the room number Leo had given him. This was the world Leo now inhabited, a world of seedy bars and seedier motels, a world that was completely alien to Jed. He knocked on the door consumed by an aching sadness. Leo had become somebody that he no longer knew anymore and it was getting to the point where he no longer wanted to know him. Leo had been a drinker for almost as long as he had known him, but it was only after his return from Vietnam that Jed had really noticed it. It was only recently that Leo's drinking had begun to turn him into a bitter and even cruel person who seemed intent on turning everyone against him.

When his pounding knocks on the door were ignored, Jed was forced to find the manager to unlock the door for him. What he was confronted with made his stomach turn. The room stank of sex, sweat, alcohol, vomit and urine. Leo lay passed out naked on the bed. As Jed approached he realized the urine smell came from the fact that Leo had wet himself and was sleeping in it. There was a stain of vomit by his head. Tears filled Jed's eyes. How? He wondered. How the hell had this happened? This wasn't Leo. This wasn't the Secretary of Labor in his dapper Armani suits. Just who the hell was this broken man laying here in his own filth? He shook his head with pity and anger and tried to shake Leo awake.

"Jed," Leo slurred. "Jed…you're here…I knew you'd come."

"Yeah, you knew I'd come," Jed grumbled. "Come on let's get you on your feet." He tried lifting him but Leo was dead weight, which didn't make it easy.

"Saint Jed riding to the rescue." Leo slapped at his face affectionately.

"Leo, do me a favor. Shut up." Jed got him to his feet and tried to pull him toward the bathroom.

"Riding to the rescue on his white charger…" Leo's flaccid arms flailed dramatically.

"It's a silver Mercedes and would you please shut up."

"Jed I'm gonna…" Leo heaved and threw up on Jed's foot.

"Jesus Christ, Leo" Jed gasped angrily. "You're a fucking mess. Is this how you want to spend the rest of your life, puking and pissing yourself in flea-ridden motels? I've been picking you up over and over but now I see that Abbey was right. It was a mistake to help get you out of your messes. I've become an enabler. No more, Leo. You need to get help."

"You help me."

"I can't, Leo. You need professional help."

Jed got him into the bathroom and thrust him in the shower stall where icy water pelted his body. "Let me out!" Leo shrieked.

"I'm not taking you home to Jenny covered with your own filth."

Once Leo was relatively clean, Jed dressed him in the clothes he had brought with him and placed a cup of hot black coffee into his hand. "Let's get you home."

* * * *

Jenny stood in the doorway watching Jed practically carry Leo up the walkway to their suburban Virginia home. It wasn't the first time that he had come home like this. Thankfully Jed had called to tell her that he was at the bar so that she wouldn't worry when he didn't come home. There were nights that she didn't have any idea where or with whom her husband was spending the night. She was equally thankful that Mallory was sound asleep and wouldn't witness her father's ignominious return home. Sadly, Leo was so infrequently home for dinner these days Mallory had barely noted that he was missing.

"Where do you want him, Jenn?" Jed asked.

"We may as well put him in the bedroom. Looks like he'll be sleeping this one off for a while." She wrapped an arm around Leo's other side and began to help Jed pull him up the stairs. She looked down at the gray Notre Dame T-shirt her husband was wearing and did not own, and turned questioning eyes to Jed. "Where are his clothes?" she asked.

"They're in the back of my car in a plastic bag. They're pretty rank"

"Looks like he got you too." She sniffed and looked pointedly at his pant leg.

"Yeah, he nailed me all right."

"I'm sorry, Jed. I'm so sorry you keep getting dragged into this mess."

"Hey, it's just a little puke. I've got three kids and a wife who's been pregnant five times. I'm no stranger to puke." Jed grinned at her, trying to make her feel better.

Jenny nodded as tears of frustration filled her eyes. "He's killing himself, Jed and I don't know how to help him. I don't know how much more of this that I can take."

"Jenn, I know it's tough. But Abbey says that he needs to want to get help before…"

"I know about the other women, Jed." Jenny said flatly. Jed stopped at the top of the stairwell with Leo propped up against him and looked into Jenny's pain filled big brown eyes.

"They don't mean anything, Jenn."

"Is that what you tell Abbey?" She asked bitterly.

"What?" Jed flashed her a hurt look.

"I'm sorry, that was a bitchy thing to say. I know that you don't whore around. It's just…it hurts so much."

"He's all messed up inside. He doesn't mean to hurt you. He doesn't mean to hurt any of us. Or, maybe he does. Maybe he wants to hurt us so much we'll just give up on him."

"Uncle Jed?" The words were a sleepy whisper and Jed looked up to see Mallory in her bedroom doorway all big eyes and rumpled hair. "What's wrong with my dad?"

"Nothing honey. Go back to bed, it's all under control."

"He's drunk again, isn't he?" the teenager asked belligerently.

"Go back inside Mal and I'll come talk to you before I leave."

* * * *

Later, with Leo tucked in bed; Jenny stood in the doorway to her daughter's bedroom and watched Jed holding Mallory's hand as he talked to her. He was such a fine looking man. The early morning sun streamed through Mallory's window to streak his tawny hair with lighter bronze highlights and she yearned to run her fingers over the golden hair on his tanned forearm. Jed, her heart ached with all that she felt for him. He was her rock, her anchor in this storm that Leo had created. As Abbey had often said, he was as solid and dependable as New Hampshire granite. She didn't know how she would have dealt with all of this if he had not been down here. Leo's drinking had completely gotten out of hand, but Jed had been here to pick up the pieces. How different her life would have been if he had felt for her the way that she felt for him. If she had been the one to turn him away from any thoughts of the priesthood rather than Abbey. It was still so easy to remember the crushing pain that she had felt when he had come to her, his face alight with excitement, and told her that he had just met the woman of his dreams. It had been a bitter pill to swallow then, and at times it still was. It was hard not to envy Abbey this incredible man. A strong, handsome, compassionate and loving husband like Jed who was a true partner in every sense of the word.

* * * *

"Jed, you have to stop cleaning up Leo's messes." Abbey slipped the satin midnight blue strapless sheath over her head, and turned to her husband who was buttoning his dress shirt. "He's only going to continue making them until he realizes that nobody is going to be there to fix them."

"Intellectually I KNOW that Abbey. I've heard all about enablers and I've read all about them, not to mention all the lectures from you, but do you know how hard it would have been to leave him lying there in his own piss and puke."

"I know it's hard, baby." She stopped fixing his cufflinks for a moment and ran a comforting hand up his arm. "But if we all continue to pick him up out of the filth he may actually die that way."

"That's what scares me. And it's not just the idea of him choking on his own vomit, or pickling his organs, it's him having unprotected sex with all those women."

"You're worried about AIDS?" Abbey pushed, shoved, and shaped her breasts into the bodice of her dress and turned her slender back to Jed. Without her needing to ask he approached and began raise the zipper.

"Among other things." He pressed his lips to the base of her neck while his fingers brushed along her delicate spine. "Mmm…" he murmured darting his tongue out for a taste, "You smell so good." He felt her shiver at the sensation and watched her nipples harden against the satin of her low cut gown. He wished they'd had more time before the fundraiser. It was so frustrating being away from her all week but absence did have its advantages. One of those advantages was all their pent up libido, which would explode when they came together again in weekends of burning sexual combustion. "So you'll talk to him?"

"Of course." She kissed the tip of his nose and he placed an arm around her slim waist to lead her out the door.

* * * *

Leo leaned against the balustrade of the stone patio at the Hyatt Regency contemplating his schizophrenic lifestyle. Last night he'd been passed out drunk in a sleazy motel. Tonight he was standing in a tuxedo listening to an orchestra in one of the most elegant hotels in DC. He stared down into the glass of scotch in his hand swirling the amber liquid over the ice. It was not his first drink, far from it. Once, in the not so distant past, he would have been inside schmoozing with the movers and shakers of the Democratic Party pushing himself forward as a potential candidate. Once he'd had it all planned out. With his stint as Labor Secretary over and a couple terms as a Senator under his belt he would make a run for the Presidency. That had been his plan anyway, but he had certainly pissed all that away. He was barely into his forties and he was already a has-been.

"Leo?" The word was soft and throaty and his groin tightened in response. It was Abbey. He turned toward the doors and there she stood in her shimmering midnight blue sheath. The gown clung to her soft curves and seemed to be held up by her breasts alone. "Leo, can we talk?"

Leo's mouth went dry as Abbey approached him. The moonlight gleamed in her fiery copper hair and danced over the creamy exposed skin of her slender shoulders and chest. He found himself nearly holding his breath as she stood before him and he realized that if he pushed that fabric down just a measly quarter of an inch he could expose her nipples. He could picture them, rose tips on the creamy swells.

"Leo, are you all right?" Abbey frowned.

Leo mentally kicked himself in the ass. How long, he wondered. How long was he going to want her? How long was he going to ache with the curiosity of knowing what she would be like in bed? "Never better, " he grinned brightly.

Abbey could tell by the glassy look in his eyes that Leo had already had way too much to drink.

"Can we talk?"

"I'd rather dance." He grabbed her wrist. Abbey instinctively flinched at the move then willed herself to loosen up. Old habits died hard, but this was Leo, he was like a brother-in-law to her. She could trust him. "We can talk while we dance," he promised.

"OK" The wariness left Abbey's eyes and she gave him soft smile. She had danced with Leo dozens of times. Leo pulled her into his arms nearly groaning as he felt the softness of her breasts press into his chest.

"I'm worried about you, Leo," Abbey began. "Jed and I both are."

"He ratted me out about last night, didn't he?" Leo grumbled. Abbey could smell the strong scent of alcohol on his breath.

"It wasn't the first time something like that happened. You're an alcoholic, Leo. You need help."

"So I like to have a few drinks after work. That doesn't make me an alcoholic."

"Leo, you drink every day. You pass out and have blackouts. You are no longer functioning as a husband and father and pretty soon it is going to effect your work. Please Leo, get help. If you won't do it for Jenny and for Mallory, do it for yourself. You're destroying your health. The alcohol is poisoning your system. You've probably already done some irreparable damage to your liver."

"Abbey, don't go getting all doctor on me." He pulled her tighter against him.

"I am a doctor and I'm worried about you. What you are doing is scary, Leo. You don't know anything about those women you're sleeping with. STD's, and especially AIDS, are nothing to mess with."

"I'm not one of your daughters, Abbey. I don't need a motherly lecture." He stumbled slightly as he tried to move her to the music.

"Well, you're certainly behaving like an irresponsible child," Abbey snapped as her tone changed from concern to anger. "I swear to God Leo, if you bring a disease home to Jenny, you're gonna pay for it."

"I use condoms."

"Leo, I've seen you drunk. Somehow I highly doubt that you remember to use a condom."

"Doesn't matter, anyhow," he slurred. "Jenny won't sleep with me anymore. She put me in the guestroom. Not that I'm missing much. She doesn't even really enjoy sex all that much. Not like you, huh?"

"What?" Abbey tried to step back with surprise but Leo still held her tightly.

"Ah, come on. You love to get down and dirty with Jed. I've watched you guys for years now. What do you do, Abbey? What do you do to him in bed that keeps him running home to you?" He gazed down past her shocked green eyes to settle on her soft, luscious lips. He could only imagine the pleasure that sexy little mouth of hers could give a man."I bet you like to go down on him, don't you?" Leo traced his thumb over her full lower lip and Abbey began to struggle against him. "Jenny would never do that for me." He shook his head sadly.

"Leo, stop it." Abbey pushed at his chest.

"I want you, Abbey. I want you so much." Abbey felt his lips on her neck, felt his arousal against her belly.

"Leo, what are you doing?" she gasped. "Stop it… oh God… stop it. " She was pleading and squirming now as she tried to fight off his roaming hands. "Please Leo…don't do this…"

"Just give me a taste, Abbey. Please, just one little taste. I've wanted you for as long as I can remember. Jed doesn't have to know." His mouth slammed onto hers scraping her lips against her teeth. She tasted the alcohol as he slid his tongue into her mouth and in that moment her past came back to haunt her. She felt him grabbing at her breast and her rear and she simply froze with fear. She knew that it was Leo and that he was not a rapist. She also knew that her husband was just a scream away but in her panic-stricken mind none of that mattered. Her lack of any strong resistance spurred Leo on and he began to grind himself into her belly. The feeling of that hardness rubbing against her dragged Abbey from her stunned stupor. Anger coursed through her veins at Leo's manhandling and she shoved hard against him.

"Leo, STOP IT!" She cried.

Leo's head jerked back as Abbey struck him hard across the face. The slap sobered him up immediately. He felt lower than a slug as he took in the deer in the headlights look on Abbey's face and he knew it was something that he would never forget. She stood in front of him, her fingers trembling over her bruised lips, her breasts heaving with residual fear and exertion.

"Abbey," his eyes widened with horror over what he had done. "I'm so sorry."

"You bastard," she seethed. How could you do that to me?" Her luminous green eyes flashed with anger and hurt and she began to adjust her dress where he had pulled at it.

"Abbey…I…I didn't mean to…Please, please don't tell Jed. He'll never forgive me."

"Go to hell, Leo."

(Present)

"I can't believe you kept this from me!" Jed exploded. Abbey flinched as he slammed his fist down on the table. "All these years you kept this from me!"

"Jed, what was the point. He…"

"The POINT is that you should have TOLD me!"

"Look at you, Jed." She took in his furious red face and blazing blue eyes. "This all happened a long time ago."

"It may have happened to YOU a long time ago. But it JUST happened to me. That son of a bitch had no RIGHT to do that to you. He had no RIGHT to talk to you like that. Christ I had just picked his sorry ass up out of that squalid mess in the motel and he paid my friendship back by mauling my WIFE! I'm not going to let him get away with it!" He turned to storm off toward the door.

"Jed, wait. Don't go off in a fury like this. Please sit and calm down a little before you confront him."

Jed shook his head negatively and reached a hand out to cup her cheek. "I'm gonna go settle a score, something that I should have done 12 years ago."

TBC...