Abbey awoke as she felt Aislinn begin to stir in her arms. She could tell by the slight lightening of the room that after a night of only intermittent dozing, thanks to Hassan's midnight visit, it was finally morning. Her finger still ached with a dull throb and she could see that it had turned a sickening shade of purplish black.

"Mumma." Aislinn wiped her eyes sleepily, rubbing her cheek against Abbey's breasts as she woke up. "I gots to pee pee."

Without her diaper bag, Abbey had been forced to leave Aislinn in the diaper she had been wearing when she changed her in the bathroom at the Olympics. She could feel how heavy and sodden it now was and Abbey knew that it had to be uncomfortable for the toddler, no wonder her nearly toilet trained little girl wanted it off. Still, she dreaded bringing unwanted attention back to them.

"I have to go, too, mom." Zoey added her request. Abbey turned to look at Toby and the man nodded that it was time to ask for a bathroom break for all.

"I'll ask," Toby said. He had just gotten to his feet when the door opened. Instinctively they all flinched back against the wall. But, this time it was not Hassan or Azim, or even the elusive Habib. It was the woman Abbey had seen last night and she carried a bottle of water. She was still covered head to toe in black; they couldn't even see her face. Abbey didn't know how she could stand it. It was still early morning but in spite of the fact that she was wearing a sleeveless top, she was breaking out in a sweat in the hot room. It had to be stifling to be covered up like that.

"Good morning." The woman's accent was strong but she evidently spoke English.

"For some of you maybe," Toby quipped bitterly.

"I bring you water. Make it last. Azim say it's all you get today.

Abbey eyed the water longingly but opened it and pressed the bottle to Aislinn's lips. When Aislinn had taken a few gulps, Abbey had her pass it to Zoey who took a couple of sips.

"Now you, mom." Zoey passed it back to Abbey.

"No, save it. I'm fine."

"Mom, you have to drink something, you'll dehydrate."

"Zoey�"

"Mom, if you don't drink any, I'm not going to drink any more."

"Oh, fine." Abbey took the bottle and pressed it to her lips. Both Fayih and Toby noticed that she didn't allow any of the water to pass her lips. She was saving it all for her daughters. The move put Fayih to shame.

"We need to use the bathroom." Abbey eyed the woman coldly.

"Yes, yes, of course, follow me.

Under the watchful eyes of the men, the captives were taken to the small bathroom off the living room. Abbey did the best she could to deal with Aislinn's diaper rash and much to the little girls chagrin and surprise her overalls were re-hooked without her having any "undies" on. As Fayih led them back to their cave, which was how Abbey had begun to think of the room where they were being kept, she could see that the terrorists were angry. They were arguing in Arabic. She felt a small stab of pleasure that something was not going their way. She had no way of knowing it was that her husband had abdicated his power. That Jed Bartlet was no longer President of the United States.

"You're a woman," Abbey said, as Fayih moved to shut the door. "How can you be a part of something like this?"

"I must do as my husband Azim tells me."

"How can you stay married to an animal like that?"

"You don't know me. You don't know what my life is like. Do you think I chose to be married to a man like this? My father chose Azim for me. I am the fourth wife. I have no power."

Abbey knew that it was a common practice for Qumari men to take more than one wife but it was different to actually meet someone who lived that kind of lifestyle. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to share her husband with his other families, for him to rotate in and out of her bed knowing that the previous night he had been in another woman's arms, another woman's body. But, she also knew that most of these marriages were arranged so she supposed if you didn't really love someone the jealousy could not be that great, in fact she supposed many of these women relished the nights that they were left alone.

"Do you have any children?'

"I have a son and a daughter."

"And yet it doesn't bother you to watch them scare MY children? You're a MOTHER for godssake."

"Of course it bothers me. I don't like seeing any of you, especially your baby girl treated this way."

"Then why don't you help us. Defy them."

"As I said, you know nothing of my life. You think it's so easy. You American women have no idea of just how lucky you are. In my country wives and children survive only if a man desires it to be so. The men are taught from the moment that they are little boys that their word is LAW. I have read articles in the newspapers where men are PRAISED for executing their wives or daughters for a minor transgression like TALKING to a western man. I have known women who have been drowned because they did not bleed their first night in the marriage bed."

"Their husbands killed them because they weren't virgins?" Abbey was appalled.

"No, their husbands merely returned them to their fathers. It was their fathers who drowned them. My own sister was gang raped by friends of our brother and left for dead, but do you think that gained her sympathy or medical care?"

"No." Abbey whispered. She knew what happened to women who were raped in that country, it had long been a bone of contention between she and Jed when it came to the policy of the United States giving weapons to Qumar.

"No, you're right. Our father, the man who should have comforted her, the man who should have wanted to see the men who did that to her DEAD, turned her in to the religious police and she was stoned to death. Do you understand what it is to be STONED to death? It is not a pretty way to die." Fayih turned away, her voice the only indication that she was overwhelmed by emotion.

"We are not allowed to drive cars, or to go out in public without a male chaperone, or to show a speck of flesh. We are not allowed to choose whom we marry or when we bear children. Our freedom is over the day that we start our menses, so don't tell me to DEFY the men. You would be better off understanding that you mean nothing to them. They will use your body and they will kill you and it will mean absolutely nothing to them."

****

Unable to sleep and not knowing what else to do, Jed went to the nursery. He pulled the rocking chair over to the crib and sat for well over an hour quietly watching his son sleep, listening to the soft sighs and sucking noises that Nicholas made in his sleep and intently watching the rise and fall of his belly as he breathed. Nicky was the only one that he could protect right now and he'd be damned if he were going to allow something to happen to him. . It was terrifying for him to think about how close his son had come to being taken as well. If it hadn't been for his cold Nicholas would right now be with his mother and sisters, God only knew where.

Jed stretched out in the chair as he watched his son start to awaken; it was not something he often had the time to watch. Waking up was a slow process for Nicholas Bartlet. First came the squirming and the soft whimpers then came the stretching and yawning, and finally his big blue eyes opened and he smiled sleepily when he saw his father sitting beside his crib.

"Morning, buddy." Jed ruffled his hair. Nicky sat up rubbing at his eyes, then looked with confusion toward Aislinn's crib.

"Azlin?" He asked.

A lump filled Jed's throat. "I told you, Nicky. Mommy and Aislinn had to go on a trip. They'll be back soon."

Tired and a bit grumpy from his cold, Nicky's lip began to tremble. " Wan my mumma"

"Of course you do." Jed sympathized, thinking that the boy had no idea how much he would give for Abbey to come walking through that door right now.

"Pay sun, daddy."

"What?"

"Pay sun." Nicky pointed to the stereo system on the shelf. Jed nodded realizing what his son wanted. That Nicholas needed his usual morning routine. He found the CD and placed it in. Tears burned in Jed's eyes at the first familiar guitar strains. Was it only just yesterday morning that he'd come in here to find Abbey, Aislinn, and Nicholas singing and dancing to their favorite wake up song?

"Here comes the sun do do do do�" Jed lifted Nicholas out of the crib and held his warm body tightly to his chest, the pain so strong it nearly brought him to his knees. He closed his eyes and buried his face into the boy's hair stifling the sob that threatened to burst forth. He couldn't, however, control the tear that leaked from behind his closed eyelid. He could still feel Aislinn in his arms as he'd danced her across the room, still see Abbey swinging her saucy little rear and singing as she changed Nicky's diaper. Jed's sniffle drew Nicky's attention. The little boy pulled back from his father's tight embrace.

"Daddy cwy?" He frowned.

"Daddy's a little sad, Nicky, but it's okay." Jed wiped at his eyes, determined not to show his fear or grief to the child." You want to go have some breakfast?" They had decided that it would be best for Nicholas not to know what was going on with his mother and sisters. Still, it broke his heart to think that the little boy didn't know how terribly his world had just changed, that he might never see his mother or his sisters again.

" Ucky Chahms?" Nicky asked hopefully.

Jed smiled through his tears. Lucky Charms were a treat the kids got when daddy had them since mommy didn't like all the sugar in the marshmallows. "Lucky Charms it is."

****

Needing to keep busy to keep from thinking about her mother, Ellie had begun preparing breakfast in the residence kitchen with her grandmothers, her Aunt Sally and Millie, who had arrived at the break of dawn. CJ had stopped in wanting to keep the President�well�former President, briefed on what she would be saying to the press, and was seated at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee and listening to Ellie talk about being raised by Abbey Bartlet.

"I think the earliest memory that I have of my mother is feeling her cool hand on my forehead when I had a fever and her dabbing me all over with Calamine lotion when I had the chicken pox. She's convinced that I can't remember that because I was only around 2 at the time, but I do. When I was a little girl I would sit in her lap and she would sing to me and read to me just like she does with the twins now. I loved it when she would sing me to sleep, I felt so safe. She was a really good mom and I don't just mean taking care of us. I mean that she really seemed to enjoy doing stuff with us, even if it was just silly stuff like cooking a meal. Friday nights were family night. Mom had surgeries Friday mornings so she was rarely on call Friday nights. She loved to cook but during the week she was too busy with work and us kids so either the housekeeper made something, or mom or dad would warm up a casserole. But, Friday nights her creativity would take over. Each week we picked a different culture and we would make a whole meal representing that culture. We did Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Moroccan, French, Indian, Japanese, Italian, you name it, and while we ate mom would play music from whatever country we were dining in that night. I remember one night I had a friend sleep over and she thought we were a little nuts listening to sitar music and eating spicy curry food from India."

With a sly inner smile CJ had to wonder if the Indian theme had carried back into the bedroom that evening for she'd seen those books on Kama Sutra on the Bartlet's bedroom shelf.

"She really would have hated eating those snails from France that we had the following week. " Ellie chuckled at the memory.

"You're mother really did enjoy those nights," Millie smiled sadly. "She would talk about it all week pumping us all for ideas and then she would sit in the doctors lounge and write up menus."

"How did your dad enjoy them?" CJ asked. As President, Jed Bartlet was pretty adamant in his food choices.

"Well, I remember him grumbling once about having to take off his shoes and sit on the floor the night that we did a Japanese meal and that he wasn't eating anything that wasn't COOKED. He told mom that if he did acquiesce then she had to be his little geisha all night."

"That sounds like Jed," Millie gave a soft laugh.

"I do think that he had as much fun with it as the rest of us. You know dad he just likes to needle mom. I know my sisters and me looked forward to it all week, even after we were too "grown up" to get into a "family night". After supper we would watch a movie, mom's favorite was Casablanca, dad's was High Noon, or if we didn't watch a movie we'd play a game. Mom loved to play charades. She and daddy were so competitive about it."

CJ could see the tears starting to well in Ellie's eyes and she turned to face Beth. "You must have instilled that love of cooking in your daughter."

"Not me," Beth admitted. "I'm a passable cook, Abbey's gourmet."

"No, it wasn't Gramma who taught mom to cook. It was Gerard." Ellie smiled. " He and Colin had the apartment next door to mom and dad in London. Gerard was French and he was a Cordon Bleu chef in a restaurant in Chelsea so he was around during the day. Mom was pregnant with Liz and only working part time at the bookstore so Gerard spent his afternoons teaching her the art of culinary cuisine."

"It didn't bother your father that she spent so much time with another man?"

Ellie looked up from the blueberry muffin batter and smiled. CJ did know her father well. "No. Gerard was gay. He and Colin were a couple. Colin was a musician and they all became friends."

"I bet you girls didn't even know you were learning anything with those dinners. It's nice that you had a tradition like that."

"No, for us it was just fun. But, mom was big on tradition, you know like all that DAR stuff. When I turned 16 she bought me season's tickets to the Boston Ballet, just like she had for Liz on her 16th. We would go to Sunday afternoon matinees like she did when she was my age, and we'd have lunch at the Ritz with my great grandmother Anne and sometimes Grandma Beth." Ellie smiled at her grandmother. "It was fun to just be with her, you know, one on one. Now that I'm older I see that it was her chance to stay in touch with me, to keep the lines of communication open because, I mean we would talk about EVERYTHING. That's one of the best things about mom, you could talk to her about stuff and she didn't get all prudy and freaked out like my friends moms. I knew the REAL way babies were born LONG before a lot of my friends and I still remember her explaining to me how to "French kiss". God, I thought that was so GROSS, I couldn't nderstand why anyone would want a boys TONGUE in their mouth!" With her grandparents standing beside her Ellie did not release any of her mothers more intimate secrets, that she'd tried marijuana in college and that she'd slept with her father before they got married.

"Of course it wasn't all fun, mom and dad were both big into "social responsibility" and even when I was a little kid I was expected to help out with one or both of them at the Manchester soup kitchen. Even when dad was governor they kept their night. That surprised a lot of people. But, they didn't do it for votes; they'd been doing it way before dad was involved in national politics. It was just part of who they were. Mom was on the board of a local battered woman's shelter and there were some nights when the shelter was full that she brought these women home to our farm and hid them out until room could be found for them. She really was�.

"ENOUGH!" Jed stood in the doorway with Nicholas in his arms unable to take anymore. The entire room went silent at his outburst. "Stop talking about your mother like she's DEAD. Your mother is not DEAD." Jed handed Nicky to Millie and turned to leave the room.

Ellie stared as his departing form with a look of shock and pain. She started to go to him but her grandfather gently stopped her.

"Let me."

Michael left the kitchen and found Jed in the living room staring out the window that faced the Washington Monument.

"Son." He placed a hand on Jed's shoulder.

Jed drew in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, dad. I shouldn't have snapped at Ellie like that. I should be grateful that she has such happy memories of her mother. It's just�dammit everyone acts like they're already dead and I can't help thinking, "What if that's all I have left? What if all I have left of Abbey and Zoey and Aislinn are�memories." The final word was choked out and Jed had to clear his throat to keep his composure.

"Jed. I need you to come with me."

Jed looked at his father in law with confusion. "Where are we going? I can't leave."

"We aren't going far but there's something that you need to see. Ellie!"

Ellie entered the room warily and eyed her father checking out his mood.

"I'm sorry, baby." Jed opened his arms. Ellie slowly moved to him and into his embrace.

"Come on," Michael urged everyone. "I was watching the news this morning and I think there is something that we all need to see."

Perplexed Jed followed his father in law out of the residence and out of the White House his hand linked tightly with Ellies. He felt closer to his middle daughter now than he ever had before. He wasn't sure if it was because she was the daughter who most closely resembled her mother in temperament or because she was the daughter who had been closest to Abbey, but, whatever the reason, Jed was grateful that she was with him.

As they made their way to the front gate of the White House Jed heard the crowd before he saw it. He heard the soulful mourning hum of thousands that filled the afternoon air with "Amazing Grace". Then, as they made the corner his eyes widened. Thousands of people stood before the gate that was now piled high with flowers, stuffed animals, pictures, and notes. It was a crowd that went back further than the eye could see. Some of the members of the vigil held lit candles while some held pictures of Abbey, Zoey and Aislinn, and others held signs proclaiming their love for the first family. Many of the people humming did so with tears streaming down their cheeks. It was the tears that moved Jed deeply in his heart, the tears of strangers who were praying with him for the safe return of his family. America truly was mourning with him. This outpouring of love and grief was one of the most amazing things that Jed had ever experienced. And, when a lone voice filled the silence that had taken over the group at the sight of the President with a hauntingly beautiful rendition of "Ave Maria", he moved forward from behind the bushes, closer to the crowd but still on the other side of the fence. The service was not about to let him out there to mingle and show his gratitude as he would have liked, but he was able to convey his deep appreciation with a heartfelt tap to his chest with his fist. A gesture all American's had come to know as the President's way of signing his love.

As he stood facing the crowd he felt arms close around him from behind. For a moment his heart nearly stopped. Only Abbey wrapped her arms around him from behind like that. He turned around quickly and looked down, not at Abbey, but into Abbey's eyes that were shining in the tears of his granddaughter.

"Annie" Jed tilted her chin to look into those lovely green eyes and Annie burst into tears wrapping her arms around his middle and sobbing against his chest. Jed held her tightly to his body and held his other arm out to Elizabeth who had allowed her daughter the comfort of her father's arms before she herself took it. Ellie quickly joined them.

Standing just to the side Beth wrapped her own arms around her husband's waist and watched Jed comfort his daughters, and take comfort from them. "You did a good thing bringing them out here. They needed to see this. To see that they aren't alone."

Michael nodded too choked up to speak and Millie touched him on his arm.

"Abbey would be so proud�" Millie nodded toward Jed and the girls. "So proud to see them helping each other this way."

Flashbulbs began to pop as the press got wind that former President Bartlet and his daughters had come down to view the vigil. Jed glared toward the gate with disgust.

"Come on girls let's get out of here."

****

"Mumma hungwy." Aislinn lay listlessly in Abbey's arms sweat beading her forehead.

"I know, baby." Abbey had been feeling sick and a bit headachy herself from the lack of food and water. None of them had eaten since lunch the previous day.

"Do you think they're going to give us something to eat?" Zoey was propped back against the wall rolling her Capri's up over her knees. It had to be well over 100 degrees in the stuffy little room and the only air circulation they got was when the door opened.

"I think that depends on how long they plan to have us. I have the distinct impression that things are not going as they'd planned." Abbey felt the sweat trickling down her back and between her breasts. Having Aislinn curled up in a fetal position on her lap didn't help matters but she wasn't going to put the little girl down. Aislinn needed as much reassurance as she could give her. Abbey didn't even want to think about the psychological damage that was being done to her youngest daughter.

"The longer it takes them to fix whatever problem they're having the better chance we have of the FBI finding us." Toby's voice was so matter of fact that it caused hope to flutter in the hearts of the two Bartlet women.

"Do you really think the FBI is going to find us?" Zoey turned her hopeful eyes toward Toby. It was easy for Abbey to see that her daughter was clinging to the older male for reassurance. Toby had become her father figure and to Zoey, her father was all knowing and all-powerful. She was too young to understand that no one, not even her father, the most powerful man in the world, could do anything to save them right now.

She saw the uncertainty that flickered in Toby's eyes and knew that he didn't have any idea of whether the FBI would find them or not.

"They're going to find us. The entire world has to be tuning into this, there had to be witnesses. I bet they're hot on our trail right now as we speak." Again, Toby's monotone voice was a direct link to the world that they had been taken from.

"That's what I thought." Zoey smiled and returned to rolling her pants up over her knees.

Abbey pressed her lips into Aislinn's hair and gave Toby a thankful little half smile. She knew as well as he did that the chances of getting out of this mess alive were about slim to none, but Zoey didn't need to know that. As long as they were still alive there was hope.

The door to the room jerked open, startling Abbey so much she banged her head against the wall. She watched with trepidation as the three men approached them. She held Aislinn tighter to her body and reached a hand out to take Zoey's. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Toby tighten up as if getting ready to do battle.

"So, you think you are so smart, you stupid American WHORE." Azim paced in front of Abbey. "You still refuse to write a letter to your husband, your President."

Abbey stared straight ahead, silent, unbreakable.

"Take the little one."

TBC...