"Daddy, what is it?" Abbey's tone was urgent as she watched her father age 10 years right in front of her.

"Abigail, go get your agents. NOW!"

"Daddy" Abbey said, setting Aislinn down on the quilt next to her brother, "what is it?" She moved to his side, taking the envelope from his hand and glanced down.

"Oh God...oh my God," her fingers flew to her lips on a sharp, panicked, intake of breath. She began to sift through picture after picture of she and Jed having sex in the barn loft. The photos were black and white and they were incredibly graphic. Picture after picture of she and Jed undressing each other, kissing and embracing while half clothed, naked and straining as they made love. Nothing had been left out. In some of the pictures, there were big black X's crossed over Jed. At the bottom were the pictures her father had tried to hide from her when she approached. Abbey's eyes widened and her heart lurched as she saw the words 'Did you know your daughter is a WHORE?' slashed in red marker across a photo of her sliding Jed's jeans down while she kissed along the edge of his boxer shorts.

Abbey felt her legs weaken and the bile rise in her throat. She collapsed onto the chair trying to keep from throwing up or fainting, or, worse yet, going into a full-blown panic attack.

"Abbey, honey, are you OK?" Michael placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Dad, oh God," she groaned, bringing her hands to her face with embarrassment. Her FATHER had seen those pictures of her. Her FATHER had just seen her naked and having sex.

"Abbey," Michael said, pushing his own embarrassment to the back burner. Yes, it had been a hell of a shock to actually see his daughter and son-in-law that way. Obviously intellectually he knew they had sex, these two babies sitting here were proof enough of that, and he was happy his daughter was in such a loving marriage, but seeing it in black and white was a whole other story. However, right now his concern was more important than his embarrassment. "Are these recent?" He asked.

"Yes," Abbey choked, "just this past Thanksgiving. You know I felt something wasn't right while I was out riding. He must have been watching me the whole time. Dad, he was up in that loft the whole time Jed and I were...God, I think I'm going to be sick." her arms clutched around her middle and she rocked back and forth.

"Take deep long breaths, Abbey," Michael counseled, "don't start to hyperventilate."

"Daddy, what if it's paparazzi? What if he puts those pictures on the Internet or sells them to some porno magazine or..." A sharp pain filled cry from Nicholas stopped Abbey's panicked litany. She jumped to her feet and raced to where her son was sitting bleeding and screaming. While she had been looking at the photos, Nicky had been holding onto the coffee table trying pull himself up to stand and had fallen forward cutting his lip on the edge of the table.

"Oh Nicky, I'm so sorry," Abbey picked him up and held him to her chest. "Mummy should have been paying more attention to you. I'm so sorry." Nicky's screams of pain and indignation rose once he was in his mother's arms and, stressed to the breaking point, Abbey's eyes filled with tears. Michael could see how close his daughter was to losing it completely.

"It's just a little cut," he said examining his grandson's mouth while Nicholas fought his prying hands and tried to hide his face against his mother's neck. "You take care of Nicky and I'll take Aislinn to go get your agents. They need to see these and figure out who the hell this person is and how he got into that loft." Abbey wanted to protest. She didn't want anyone else seeing those pictures, but she knew better. She knew that the agents had to be told about this kind of security breach, so she simply nodded and headed toward the kitchen to get some ice for her son's lip.

Michael picked up his granddaughter and headed for the door. His initial embarrassment had faded into anger. Anger with the Secret Service for not protecting his family better. If that guy had wanted to kill his daughter or son-in-law there would have been nothing stopping him. Jed's being shot last year had scared the hell out of him and made him increasingly concerned for his family's safety. Now this was actually worse. This was not somebody shooting from a distance. This person had been right in that loft with them.

++++

It was late in the evening when Jed returned to the Oval Office after a speaking engagement at American University. Leo and Josh were with him discussing the itinerary of his upcoming quick trip to India.

"We need to cut back on a couple events if you want to make this a three day trip rather than a four," Josh stated.

"I do," Jed said firmly, "Zoey is dancing in 'The Nutcracker' and, with Abbey gone, I want one of us to be there. But, I don't want you to cut out the Calcutta orphanage," he warned, "I really want to go there."

"OK, we'll cut something else," Josh peered back down at the schedule.

"Your coffee, sir," Sammi said entering the room with the mug Jed had requested.

"Thanks," Jed said, barely glancing up from his copy of the schedule.

Instead of setting the mug on the edge of the desk, Sammi made it a point to lean down over Jed's shoulder to place the mug at his hand. Jed gazed up from his paper and his eyes were on level with Sammi's ample breasts. Josh raised an eyebrow at Leo who raised one right back.

"Will there be anything else, sir?" There was a hint of the seductive in Sammi's soft voice.

"Not right now," Jed said, completely oblivious to the young woman. Josh and Leo were staring at him with expectation as Sammi departed.

'What?" Jed asked. But before they could reply, Sammi poked her head back in.

"Sir, Ron Butterfield is here to see you."

"Send him in."

"I'll see what we can do about the schedule," Josh said. He collected his papers and prepared to leave the office. Just outside the Oval Office he approached Sammi, who was seated at her computer. He rested his rear on the edge of her desk and crossed his arms.

"I hope you know it isn't going to work," he said almost with amusement.

"What?" Sammi asked innocently.

"Coming on to the President like that."

"I wasn't coming on to him," she said with shock. Josh had to give her credit. She was a pretty good little actress. "I am doing this job just the way Charlie does."

"What planet are you on?" Josh burst into laughter. "Charlie doesn't swish around in short skirts and drop a pencil in front of the President so he can bend down and give him a good look up his skirt. Charlie doesn't press his boobs into the President's face. I can assure you when the President realizes what you are up to, you won't want to face his wrath."

"I don't know wh..."

"Just some friendly advice," Josh interrupted, "the President is a very happily married man. I've watched many women, especially on the campaign trail, come on to him and I can honestly say that he is completely immune to someone like you." The last word was said with obvious disdain as Josh stood and began to head back to his office. Sammi glowered at his departing back.

"We'll just see about that, Mr. Lyman," she seethed, "we'll just see about that."

Inside the Oval Office, Ron approached Jed with a grim face. "Sir," he began, "while you were gone this evening there was an incident concerning your wife."

"Abbey?" Jed's voice held an edge of panic that Leo felt as well. "What happened? Is she..."

"It's OK," Ron said, holding his hand up to ward off further questioning. "She's fine, just a little shaken up. Evidently your father-in-law received a package from Federal Express that held some photos."

"What kind of photos?" Jed asked. Ron handed him a folder. Leo watched with concern as Jed's face first paled then began to redden as his anger rose. He peered over his Jed's shoulder giving a small gasp at seeing two of his best friends having intercourse. He immediately averted his eyes when he realized what he was looking at.

"Mrs. Bartlet said these were taken quite recently," Ron said with unshakable professionalism.

"The day after Thanksgiving," Jed said tightly. "What the HELL is going on, Ron? To get these photos, the son of a bitch had to be right there in the loft with us. How the hell did he get past your people?"

"I don't know sir. Believe me I am trying to get to the bottom of this."

"What if he sells these photos to Penthouse or something?"

"We've had the Psych guys look at them and they don't think that he will. If he were paparazzi, he wouldn't have sent the pictures in the mail to your wife's father, he'd have just sold them to the highest bidder. This is definitely someone who has a grudge against you two."

"You keep referring to this person as him. How do you know it isn't a female?" Leo asked.

Ron grabbed the folder and flipped forward to the photo that called Abbey a whore. Anger and fear warred within Jed at the hatred expressed for his wife in the blood red marker, and Leo was shocked into silence. "This is quite obviously a male who is fixated on your wife, sir. He took these pictures to shock her, to scare her, to show that he has power over her and from the statement on this photo and the ones where you are X'ed out, we'd have to say that he is consumed by jealousy. We are going to put this up against all the other threats and letters of a sexual nature that we have received about your wife and see if we can come up with a match."

"ALL the others, Ron. Do you receive a lot about Abbey?"

"She gets her fair share. Your wife is a beautiful woman, sir, and there are a lot of disturbed people out there." Ron didn't tell him that he received more letters written to Abbey from men professing their love and desire for her than any other First Lady he had ever worked for. At times, it seemed more like Abbey Bartlet was a movie star rather than a First Lady. Most of these were completely harmless love letters, but others were violent and pornographic. Those were the ones he would be looking into.

"I don't want Abbey knowing this, Ron. I don't want to scare her any more than she is." Then, speaking of Abbey being scared caused Jed to give a start as he remembered their conversation on the phone just the other day.

"Ron, a few days ago Abbey thought she saw someone standing on the patio looking in through the doors and watching her sleep. YOUR agents said there wasn't anybody there. JESUS, he was there, Ron. He was right there watching her. Dammit, I'm going up to Salem. I don't want Abbey there alone."

"You can't," Leo said quietly. "You have to leave for India."

"Then I'll cancel the damn trip, I'll..."

"Sir, don't cancel your trip," Ron said. "Your wife is not alone. The agents are aware of what has happened. Mrs. Bartlet will not be left alone. I assure you sir that you wife and children are safe."

"He got by your agents once."

"Well, he won't do it again," Ron said confidently.

"Ron, I am putting my wife and children's lives in your hands. I am trusting you and your people to take care of them."

"And we will sir. I will personally see to it that Mrs. Barlet is well guarded."

"OK then," Jed said, still not convinced that anyone could protect Abbey and the babies better than he could. Yes, they were trained better than him, and yes, they were supposed to be willing to lay down their lives for them, but he knew for damn sure that if it came down to it, HE would fight until the death to protect Abbey and the kids. He didn't want to go to India now. He hated the idea of leaving the country while his wife was being threatened. He wanted to go to Abbey, reassure her, take care of her, and make her feel safe. He wanted...

"FUCK!" He swore, picking up a glass paperweight and throwing it across the room. Leo jumped as it shattered against the wall, realizing that Jed was filled with impotent, frustrated, fury. "I'm going back to the residence, Leo. I'm going to call Abbey."

+++

"Why didn't you call me?" Jed said switching the phone to speaker so he could yank his tie off angrily and still talk. "I had to find out from Ron about this guy."

"I did try to call you Jed but you were speaking at AU. Don't you think I wanted to talk to you? I'm scared Jed..." her voice trembled.

"Ahh, Abbey, don't cry. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"I'm not crying," she insisted, however the suspicious sniffling gave her away. "Did you see the pictures?"

"Yeah, Ron showed them to me."

"He was right there. Right up with us in the loft, and he was watching us while we made love. It makes me sick to think of him being right there, hearing us and seeing us like that. I just feel...I feel violated somehow. Like he took something beautiful and loving and just made it tawdry."

"It wasn't tawdry, Abbey. We are a married couple and we were making love. There is nothing tawdry about the way I love you," Jed heard the suspicious sniffles again.

"My FATHER saw those pictures, Jed. Do you know how absolutely mortifying that was?"

"I'm sure your father didn't think twice about it."

"Sure," Abbey said sarcastically. "What if it were Elizabeth and Jay and those photos were sent to you. I think you'd think a little more than twice about it."

"Yes, but I don't have to worry about that."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Because Lizzie and Jay don't have sex," he deadpanned.

There was a pause on the other end and then Abbey gave a small burst of laughter, smiling through her tears.

"I don't know how you do that, Jed. I've never known how you can do that so easy."

"What?"

"Make me laugh even when I'm hurting."

"God, you don't know how much I wish I was there. I want to hold you my arms tonight and take care of you."

"And you don't know how much I wish I could curl up in your arms tonight. Does Ron have any leads as to who this might be?"

"Not yet," Jed said evasively, "he's looking into it. Oh, by the way, remember those Faberge paper weights we got from the Russian ambassador?"

"Yes. Don't even tell me," she sighed, knowing what he was about to say, "did you have some kind of temper tantrum?"

"I did not have a temper tantrum," he said indignantly. "You've been around Ash and Nicky too much. However, I did let my temper get the better of me after Leo reminded me that I couldn't fly up to Salem tonight because I'm leaving for India in the morning. I don't want to leave the country with this looming over our heads. I guess I got a little pissed and I broke it."

"You threw it, didn't you?"

"Right against the wall," he admitted. "It shattered on contact."

"A temper tantrum."

+++++

Usually Ron headed Jed's personal detail when he went on trips, but this time he stayed behind to investigate the picture situation and to make sure that Abbey Bartlet was being well protected. He received two, sometimes three, phone calls a day from the President and was thankful to be able to tell him, that while he hadn't made any headway into finding a suspect, there had not been any contact or anything suspicious around the First Lady.

Jed returned to the White House after a three-day trip that had affected him incredibly strongly. He had been to India once before and on that trip, he had seen only the beauty. He had visited the Taj Mahal with Abbey, had a romantic dinner in an elegant restaurant, made love to her in a five star hotel, and created the babies that he was missing so badly right now. On this trip, he had seen the abject poverty and suffering of a third world country. He had seen the children of Mother Theresa's orphanage and held starving young children and dying babies in his arms. He would like to have come home to a warm hug from his wife and to hold his healthy babies in his arms, but it was a silent return he was given. The residence was too quiet and too lonely without Abbey and the kids and, after pacing a bit, he made a phone call and went down to the Oval Office.

"Sammi."

"Yes, sir."

"I'd like you to come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Well, I can't tell you that just now. This going to be our little secret. I don't want you telling any of the senior staff, even Leo, and I absolutely do not want Abbey finding out."

"Yes, sir," Sammi smiled, licking her lips with anticipation.

++++

For the third time in one week the President and Sammi returned from an unscheduled trip outside the White House. Josh, Leo, and CJ eyed each other warily as the President came bounding inside with a big grin, obviously in a much better mood then when he had returned from India. He didn't even seem all that worried at the moment that the hearings were starting in a couple days. It was that buoyancy that made them nervous. This was the way he was when Abbey returned from a trip, but Abbey had been gone a long time, and it was Sammi that seemed to be putting him in such a good humor.

"You don't think they could be..." Josh trailed off as the President walked away from them to enter the Oval Office.

"No," Leo snorted.

"He wouldn't do that to Abbey," CJ said firmly. Still, the three glanced at the closed doors to the Oval Office all with varying degrees of suspicion. Only rarely did Leo and Jed interfere in each other's personal lives, but Leo felt he owed it to Abbey to find out exactly what her husband was up to. He entered the Oval Office, his blood running cold as he heard Jed lying to his wife.

"No Abbey, she must have made a mistake looking at the schedule. I didn't leave here unscheduled. I had a meeting on the Hill. Look, Honey, I've got to go. Leo is in here frowning at me. I'll talk to you tonight. I love you," he hung up the phone, surprised to look up and see Leo's eyes blazing with anger.

"You didn't have a meeting on the Hill today, Jed," he said, dispensing with formality. This was not a conversation between boss and employee, it was between two friends, one of whom was going to kick the other's ass if he was hurting the woman he loved. "You want to tell me why you're lying to Abbey?"

"You want to tell me how this is any of your business?"

"Goddammit Jed! Are you fucking Sammi?"

TBC...