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Under Siege
Chapter 12

"Abbey, what is it?" His daughter's scream of sheer terror had caused Michael to race into the library with his heart in his throat. Abbey's face was as white as a sheet and she looked scared to death. He moved to her quickly and took her shaking form into his arms.

"Daddy," Abbey cried, "there's somebody out there on the patio looking in. I saw him in a flash of lightening." Michael stood and moved forward toward the French doors. "Dad, wait. Go get one of the agents."

"I'm sure it was nothing, sweetheart, just a play of the light." Michael turned the patio light on and stepped outside looking from side to side.

"It was a man, Dad. I know it was."

"Well, there's nobody here now. I'll go ask the agents to look around. Who knows, maybe it was one of them?"

"They don't skulk around and peek in on me like that," Abbey said firmly. As Michael left the room, Abbey wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to stop her shaking. The ringing of the phone caused her to jump and her heart to race again.

"Hello," her voice was almost breathless.

"Hey muffin, how's it going up there?" Tears stung Abbey's eyes at the sound of her husband's familiar voice.

"Oh Jed. I wish you were here," the words came out before she could temper them with caution. She certainly did not want Jed worrying about her. He had enough on his plate.

"What's wrong? You sound funny."

"Oh, it's nothing," she lied. "I just fell asleep and had a nightmare. I'm a little shaky."

"I wish I was there to hold you," he said wistfully.

"Me too."

"Everything is all clear," Michael said, entering the room. "Your agent Lori did a sweep around the house and there isn't anybody here. It must have been just your imagination."

"What is he talking about?" Jed said, having overheard some of Michael's reassuring words.

"Oh nothing. We're in the middle of a thunderstorm and, when I woke up, I thought I saw someone out on the patio."

"Abbey," Jed said with concern.

"It's OK, Hon, Dad just had the agents check it out and it was nothing. Just my mind playing tricks on me."

Later, after Jed had hung up, he frowned at the phone. Something had not seemed right. It was not like Abbey to get so upset over a nightmare and certainly not like her to see things.

Michael had left to get Abbey some coffee and she stared uneasily at the French doors. She wasn't crazy, she knew she wasn't. It was not a figment of her imagination. She had seen a man on the patio and he had been watching her sleep.

++++

A few days later Abbey was back on the phone with Washington Dc. She had been in the middle of an occupational therapy exercise with her mother when Zoey called with a case of the jitters over helping host the State Dinner.

"I just went through my wardrobe and I don't have anything to wear, Mom."

"Zoey, you have a few evening gowns."

"Two that fit, Mom, and I already wore those in public. I can't wear an old gown, you know how the press is. Can I raid your closet?"

"You can but you'd probably be better off going shopping and picking out something a little...well..."

"Less sophisticated," Zoey supplied.

"Yes. More suitable to your age."

"I will if I can't find anything, but I really don't have time to shop."

"You sound nervous, Zo. Are you sure you want to do this? You know you don't have to."

"I can do it," Zoey said contritely. She didn't want her mother rushing back thinking she couldn't handle this. "Besides, Aunt Jenny will be there too."

"You should go back," Beth said, dropping the block that was in her hand.

"I'm not going anywhere, Mama," Abbey said, placing her hand over the mouth of the phone. "Keep working," Abbey urged her to continue placing different shaped blocks into their corresponding hole. Beth stuck her tongue out at her daughter. Abbey eyed her sternly and Beth continued her exercise. She might be able to get around Michael but Abbey was another story altogether. She realized, with some pride in her daughter's strength, that she had raised a real hard ass.

"Well, I have to go, Mom," Zoey said

"Ok. Just remember to check your Dad's bow tie and straighten it. It's always tilted to the right, and when he starts talking too long to one of the guests in the receiving line, which he will do frequently, just touch his elbow lightly."

"He'll know what that means?"

"Oh, he'll know," Abbey smiled into the phone.

++++

"Mr. President, you look exhausted," Sammi said watching Jed Bartlet sitting at his desk rubbing his eyes. Startled, Jed sat up straight. He still hadn't gotten used to Charlie's temporary replacement.

"It's been a long day, Sammi," he admitted. "I'm going to head back to the residence now. I won't be back down so you can go home."

"Would you like me to bring you up a sandwich? You haven't eaten anything since before noon," Jed looked up sharply. It was strange to have this young woman worried about his eating habits. Charlie rarely worried himself over it, it had been Mrs. Landingham and Abbey who worried over his diet.

"No, I'm just going to order something up from the kitchen. Go home. Take this early night while you can. They don't come along too often."

"OK," Sammi turned to leave. Just her luck. Her first day here and she was being sent home early. Oh well, there was plenty of time. Standing and watching Jed rubbing his eyes, it was all she had been able to do to stop herself from rubbing and massaging his tense neck muscles, especially given the fact that he didn't have a wife at home to do it for him. But, she would wait a little longer to make her move. She would gain his interest, and then when his loneliness was at its peak, she would move in and comfort him until he forgot that there was an Abbey Bartlet.

Jed walked back to the residence, his footsteps weary with a fatigue that was mostly emotional. The day had started with a meeting with Oliver, which in itself was enough to start the day on the wrong foot. Oliver had been concerned with his testimony and what he was going to say to Congress, but he had been more interested in peppering him with questions about what was going to happen to his wife, his daughters, and his colleagues when they had to speak at the hearing. Finding out how they would try to destroy the people he cared about, if not through their testimony, than through whatever dirt they could collect on them, had filled Jed with an impotent rage and a frantic need to protect. One way or another these congressmen wanted a "win" and they wouldn't care who had to be sacrificed along the way.

Then, after that cheery news, he had spent the day trying to woo Democratic senators to stick by his administration. He could read the censure in their eyes. He had lied to them. He was a liability to the Democratic Party now. They didn't want him to run again. They wanted him to bow out gracefully and quietly and throw his support behind John Hoynes. It was the only way they felt they could keep the White House. They were angry that he was not doing that, felt he was putting his own ego in front what was best for the party. Maybe he was, because he honestly believed that he still made a better President than John Hoynes ever would. If he hadn't believed that with all his heart, he never would have decided to run again. As he sat there listening to their litany of grievances, his anger and stubbornness rose. It had never been in Jed Bartlet to kiss anyone's ass and he was not going to start now. Leo wanted him to make nicey nicey but Jed wasn't about to cave into their demands and crawl begging for forgiveness on his hands and knees. It would be a damn cold day in hell before he would ever do that. Instead, he had closed in on himself and remained polite yet cold and unreadable. Leo watched him go to that place inside where no one could reach him and by the end of the day it was obvious that he was mentally exhausted. It was early for Jed to be going home, especially with Abbey gone, but he just wanted to have a quick sandwich and go to bed.

He opened the door to his bedroom, his eyes widening. There before him, but facing away, stood a woman in a ball gown with shoulder length red gold hair. She turned at the sound of the door and Jed smiled upon seeing it was his youngest daughter. The smile left his face when he saw the despair on her face.

"What's wrong, munchkin?" He asked.

"I've tried five gowns on," she gestured to the pile of designer evening wear laying on he and Abbey's bed. Jed couldn't help but notice they were five of Abbey's most risqué gowns, "And I can't wear one."

"Why not, you and your mother are almost the same size."

"Not quite," Zoey said ruefully. "Mom is bigger on top. Look at this," she held the bagging material over her chest, "I can't hold up the neckline."

"Ah, yes...well," Jed stuttered at his usual loss when it came to conversations like these with his daughters. "What about one of those...you know those things...you know that your Mom wears to...Oh never mind," Jed was red in the face by now and Zoey was trying not to laugh at his discomfort.

"You mean a bustier?" She asked. Ah, is that's what it was called, Jed thought while thinking about the sexy undergarment Abbey wore to display her figure to its best advantage.

"I guess so."

"Well, you've actually got to have something to push up in order to use a bustier. I don't know what I am going to wear."

"Why don't you wear the dress that you wore to the Inaugural Balls?"

"Daddy," Zoey rolled her eyes with exasperation. "I was only 17 then. I think I have matured a bit since then."

"Oh yes of course, how foolish of me. I mean you were SO young," he said with mock horror, "the dress must have been all lace and ruffles."

"Very funny," Zoey smacked his arm.

"You know, Zo, we're hardly destitute. Why don't you go out with some friends and buy yourself a new gown?" He dug into the drawer of his dresser where he kept his personal effects. All the stuff he didn't use anymore. Things like his checkbook, his passport, the keys to the Ford Explorer and Abbey's BMW and his credit cards. He grabbed one of the credit cards and handed it to her. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing a frown mar her face.

"I can't go shopping with my friends for a gown like this. I always shop with Mom for these events. I don't want to buy something inappropriate or that would cause you any embarrassment."

"Zoey, that's about the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," Jed smiled kissing the top of her head.

"Hey, I can do sweet."

"Well, I may have a solution to your problem. Go get changed and put your mother's gowns away nicely. By the way, did you have her permission to go through her wardrobe, you know how she is about her clothes."

"Yes, I did," Zoey smirked. "I talked to her today."

"How did she sound to you?"

"A little tired, but OK. Why?"

"No reason. Go change." When Zoey disappeared into the bathroom, Jed picked up the phone.

"Are you busy tomorrow, CJ?" Zoey heard him ask. "Zoey needs someone to take her shopping for an appropriate State Dinner wardrobe...Yes, of course I thought of you...No, not because Abbey is always harping at you to show more décolletage...OK, I'll let her know...thanks, CJ."

"Uh, Dad," Zoey said, peering out of the bathroom door. "I don't need a whole wardrobe. I did find something in Mom's closet. Look at these kick ass shoes." She dangled a pair of strappy black Ferragamo stiletto's on one finger. Abbey had passed her penchant for wickedly high heels on to all of her daughters.

"I hope you can walk on those as well as your mother does," Jed warned.

+++++

Standing on one side of Jed, Jenny smiled as she watched Zoey reach up with one hand to straighten her father's bow tie.

Jed smiled down at his daughter, wondering just when his smart mouthed little tomboy had turned into such a lovely, poised, young woman. "You remind more of your mother every day," he ran a finger over her cheek.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Zoey grinned.

"As well you should," Jed said slightly indignant at the idea that being compared to his wife could be anything but a compliment.

The three stood along with the President of Ecuador and his wife shaking hands for what seemed like hours. There was a funny warmth inside Jenny that she hadn't felt in a long time. Standing beside Jed in the role that she would love to have fulfilled had brought that back. The role she had desired was not that of First Lady, but that of Jed Bartlet's wife. Maybe if she had not coveted that role so completely, her marriage to Leo might have been different. As she stood, brushing arms with Jed and listening to him charm the guests that moved through the receiving line she was reminded of the good looking, kind, young man she had fallen in love with at the Notre Dame seminary. Working together for Father Flynn had thrown them together and created a friendship that might not have existed in any other way. To him, she was just a confidant, a close friend, but she was attracted to him a way that was not merely friendly, in a way that was completely inappropriate considering he was planning on becoming a priest. So, she had been content to be his friend and listen to his conflicts trying not to push things up a notch. However, in her dreams and her fantasies, Jed would come to her and tell her that he couldn't stand it anymore, that his feelings for her were so strong that he couldn't continue in the seminary and he was giving up any idea of becoming a priest. She really believed that if she just stuck it out Jed would come to her and utter those very words. And, he had. Just not in the way she had planned. She would never forget the day he came to her wearing his heart on his sleeve, his blue eyes filled with excitement, and told her he was definitely done with the seminary. That he had met a young woman named Abigail O'Neill and she was beautiful and smart and committed to making the world a better place, and he was falling in love with her. She had feigned excitement for him, when inside she simply wanted to die.

Jed had never known how she felt. He still saw her as his old buddy Jenny and it was certainly better that way. But Leo knew. She had met Leo at Abbey and Jed's wedding, at a time when all her friends were starting to marry and have babies. Shy, socially inept Leo McGarry did not have Jed's composure, or his passionate desire to save the world. He did not have Jed's wiry, narrow hipped build, or all that thick tawny hair, or even those bluer than blue eyes that made her melt. But, he was kind and sweet in his own way, and more importantly, he was wounded. He had a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas and some real grievances with the world. He needed her in a way that Jed never had and that drew her to him. They had only been dating a couple of months, in fact were just getting to know each other, when Leo's number was called in the draft. Leo didn't have much of a family to come back to and she had thought it would be romantic to marry him before he went so he would have someone to come home to. It had been a mistake to marry him so quickly and on the rebound. When he returned from Vietnam, they had had a difficult time adjusting to each other. They had fought terribly. Jenny had pictured Jed's best friend to be just like him, but Leo wasn't like Jed. She couldn't have long heart to heart talks about the world with Leo as she had Jed, for while Jed was an idealist, Leo was a cynic, even more so since he had returned home. He had come home with one goal and one goal only. To make enough money to be able to tell all those rich kids that had put him down to screw off. He wanted his place in the upper echelon of society.

Leo didn't remember birthdays or make a big deal over the holidays or even want a family. After Jed and Abbey had returned home from London with little toddler Elizabeth, Jenny ached to have a baby. Leo was adamantly against it. At that time she was just a hurt young woman whose husband didn't want to have a baby with her, now she knew it was fear. Fear that he would pass on the gene that had made his grandfather, his father, and now unbenounced to her, him, an alcoholic. He feared passing on that crazy family gene that caused his father to commit suicide. But back then she had lashed out shouting at him that if only she had married Jed like she had wanted, she would have everything she desired, including as many babies as she wanted. She had watched her husband's face pale and his eyes fill with pain and she had wanted so badly to take those words back. She knew that he had never forgotten those words thrown at him in anger, forgiven maybe, but not forgotten. It had clouded their marriage even after he had given in and allowed her their one beautiful child, Mallory. A child whose birth he had missed, because he was in New York City on business. To his credit, he had flown right home. But, Mallory was almost a day old before he saw her. She knew that he was aware of her disappointment in him. He had in fact heard her on the phone with Abbey saying that he and Jed would not be able to share birth stories since he wasn't even in the same city when Mallory was born, never mind the same room. It was just one more way he had not lived up to the ideal of Jed Bartlet. And that was what it was. She did not live with Jed and thus had an idealized vision of him, however that vision was not that far off the mark.

That had never become clearer to her than when Leo's drinking had become completely out of hand. Jed was in DC in Congress and Abbey had stayed home with their family of now three young girls. It was Jed who brought Leo home, stinking of alcohol, vomit, and sometimes even other women. Together, they would sober him up and try to keep his condition from touching Mallory. Jed was her rock during this time and she didn't know what she would have done without him. It was at this time that she realized just what kind of man that kind college boy she had fallen in love with had become. A man of strength and conviction and one with a strong moral core. Despite being away from Abbey all week, Jed never came to her home reeking of other women's perfume. She knew the temptation was out there, especially for men in his position, but it just would not occur to Jed to be untrue to Abbey. Instead he made the effort to go home every weekend, or she would fly down to spend a weekend with him. Despite how Jenny had felt at first about their marriage, she was able to see what a strong, unshakable union these two had. She envied Abbey Jed's love and more importantly, his attention. When he was drunk, or angry and hung over, Leo often threw her early love for Jed out at her, asking if she still wanted him. But it wasn't long before she found out that she wasn't the only McGarry in love with a member of the Bartlet family. Evidently her husband had been quietly lusting over pretty Abbey Bartlet for quite a long time. And when, at the DNC fund-raiser 10 years ago, she had heard what he said to Abbey and saw what he did, it had almost been the end of her marriage.

++++

Jed was chatting away with the head of a movie studio when he felt the slight pressure on his elbow. For a moment he was startled and glanced down expecting to see Abbey, but it was not Abbey, it was a smiling Zoey.

"I see your mother is teaching you some tricks," Jed said softly as the last of the guests passed.

"Well, somebody has to be here to keep you from backing the line up for miles," she teased. Jed chuckled and turned to Jenny.

"Time to go to dinner, Jenn," he said taking her elbow. Jenny came out of her walk down memory lane and smiled up into those beautiful blue eyes, still wondering what might have been.

+++++

With dinner over, the evening moved into mingling and dancing. Jenny watched Jed dance with the First Lady of Ecuador, then Zoey, and now it was her turn.

She felt Jed's arms go around her and stepped closer into his embrace. He had always been incredibly dashing in a tuxedo and tonight was no exception. She closed her eyes, inhaling the scent of his aftershave and cologne, and simply for one moment in time reveled in what it was like to be in Jed Bartlet's arms. Although she had danced with Jed many times over the years, it never failed to give her a slight thrill. It was, however, evident that Jed did not share in that thrill. He was polite and charming as ever but his mind was obviously elsewhere.

"You miss Abbey," she said.

"Yeah," he admitted on a sigh. Yes, he missed his wife like hell. He missed catching her eye across the crowded room and getting that smile that belonged to him only. He missed the warm feeling that would spread from his chest, to his belly, to his groin, at the possession and promise of that smile. He missed the way she would teasingly brush up against him, only to walk away and mingle with other guests. He missed the way she would tease him with a flash of her stocking clad leg and the way she would allow his fingers to work their way up that leg, under the table, to feel the garters he knew would be holding those stockings up. He missed they way she felt in his arms, all soft skin and womanly curves. The way her breasts would press just under his chest and her cheek would lie against his shoulder. The way he could rest his chin on top of her head and inhale the sweet fragrance of her hair and feel her breath against his ear. He missed the way they would be so hot for each other by the end of the evening they could barely make it back to the residence before tearing each other's clothes off.

"Jed," Jenny prodded his arm.

"What?" Jed was startled back to the present.

"I asked if you think she'll be back before Christmas?"

"I hope so," Jed said with feeling. "But it will depend on how Beth is doing. It just won't seem like the Christmas season without Abbey and the babies. It's funny Jenn, last year Ash and Nicky didn't even exist yet, except in our hopes and prayers, and now I can't imagine what my life would be like without them."

Jenny gazed up at him, grinning fondly.

"What are you smiling about?" He asked.

"You. Look how far you've come from that unsure seminary student I first met. A wife, five kids, and President of the United States."

"Yeah, that wasn't exactly my ambition in the beginning."

"Not exactly," she agreed, "but more importantly is the man that you have become. Strong, confident, loving, you should be proud of the man that you have become. Don't let the next few weeks take any of that away from you."

"I'll try not to," he said, his eyes clouding over at the thought of the upcoming hearings. "But what about you, Jenny? Are you happy with your new life, with Jeffery?"

"I'm content."

"That is not what I asked, Jennifer," he said, looking down into her eyes.

"Well, it's the only answer I can give you. Everything about who I am changed when I divorced Leo and I had to start all over. Am I in love with Jeffery? I'm really not sure. I care about him very much. He puts me first in a way Leo never did. Is he my soulmate? No."

"That was Leo," Jed said softly with a pang in his heart for her.

"No, Jed. It wasn't Leo. I loved Leo, but we were not soulmates the way you and Abbey are." It took a moment for Jed to digest that statement. He knew Jenny and Leo had had their problems, mainly with his drinking, but had assumed that they had always felt as connected as he and Abbey did.

"Don't settle Jenny," he said.

"What?"

"If Leo wasn't your soulmate and Jeffery isn't, then he must still be out there. Don't give up on finding him."

"I think it's getting a little late for that," Jenny gave a harsh laugh. "Being content is fine for me at this time in my life."

"It's never too late, Jenn. Being with the one person that you know you are meant to be with is the most incredible experience you will ever have. Yes, I found that person when I was only 21, but that doesn't mean it still can't happen for you. Don't give up on that chance."

++++

"Dad, there's someone at the door and I'm giving Aislinn a bottle. Can you answer it?" Abbey called out.

"Sure, honey." Michael came out of the kitchen where he was helping Beth re-learn to use her utensils in her left hand. He strode down the hall and opened the door to see a Federal Express man holding a thin package marked 'Do Not Bend'.

"Dr. Michael O'Neill?" The man asked.

"Yes."

"I have a package for you. Can you sign here?"

"OK," Michael said. Although he was retired, he still did a lot of consulting for other doctors who would send him their patients' cases, so he assumed that was what this was. He signed for the package and shut the door. He began to tear the tab as he entered the living room where his daughter was seated feeding his granddaughter. His grandson was sitting on a quilt on the floor playing with blocks and began to crawl toward him with a smile as he walked in. Michael grinned at the scene before him. In spite of the circumstances, he had enjoyed having Abbey and the twins here these past couple of weeks. It was nice to be able to spend time with her and get to know these two newest grandchildren. With the tab opened, Michael slid the contents of the package out and glanced down at them. The smile left his lips and his face turned ashen.

"Oh my God," he choked.

TBC...

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