Holding Aislinn tightly to her chest Zoey ran across the field away from the trailer. She had no destination in mind, no plan except to get to the safety and darkness of the woods. With every terrified breath that she took she expected to be grabbed from behind, to feel a bullet slam into her back. She didn't lose that fear even as she made her way into the dense forest. The running was more difficult once within the hidden confines of the woods. She stumbled over roots and rocks, branches ripped across her face and arms cutting her flesh and still she ran on, never looking back. She was literally running for her life and for that of her baby sister. She continued to run until her burning lungs gave out and would allow her to continue no further. Only then did she stop, leaning against a big tree to catch her breath while listening intently for the sound of followers. She pulled Aislinn back briefly from where the little girls face was buried into her neck to make sure that she was all right. Her baby sister had not uttered a peep other than a few whimpers when branches lashed at her bare legs and now she gazed up at Zoey with solemn green eyes.

"She needs me," Zoey thought to herself. "She's counting on me to get her home to dad. I'm all she has." It was the first time another human being had ever truly needed her and with the weight of that responsibility resting heavily on her shoulders Zoey forced her burning legs and strained lungs to carry on, this time not in an all out sprint but a more enduring jog. Thunder clapped in the distance, and Zoey swallowed her panic at the flash of lightening that lit the woods. She felt Aislinn clutch her more tightly around the neck. Aislinn hated thunderstorms and Zoey knew that lightening could help the terrorists to find them. As she pushed her way through a thicket she prayed the storm would pass them by.

"ZOEY! ZOEY BARTLET WE KNOW YOU'RE OUT HERE!"

Ice ran through Zoey's veins at the familiar Arabic voice, and with a rush of adrenaline she began sprinting again, sprinting to save her life.

****

Dr. Millicent Griffith sat in the pew behind the Bartlet family. She was present, not as the Surgeon General but as the First Lady's best friend, one of the few non-family members invited to the private service. Having met Abigail O'Neill when she was 10 years old at her first day at the "Sacred Heart", Millie was the person other than Abbey's family who had known her longest. While Father Hugh stood before them reading a sermon of hope and faith Millie's mind began to wander back to the first time that she'd met Abbey. She had just moved to Salem and was so nervous about her first day in a new school. As she hung back against the brick wall of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic school for girls, a pretty girl with long red hair and serious green eyes had come up and introduced herself as Abigail O'Neill. Abbey had befriended her, showed her the ropes and gave her the scoop on each of the nuns who taught them. She soon found out that Abbey was a dead on mimic and Millie could still picture her that first day of school, her green eyes dancing with mirth as she impersonated the severity of Sister Mary Agnes and the airheaded loopiness of Sister Lucille. That day they bonded as kindred spirits often did, and they remained the best of friends through thick and thin sharing all the emotional ups and downs of adolescence and puberty. All those teenage firsts that were so desperately important at that age.

They bought their first bras together, got their ears pierced together, went running to each other when they got their first periods and admired the smoothness of each others legs the first time they were allowed to shave them. They talked on the phone for hours dissecting the cute boys at St. Marks, as well as their first dates, their first kisses, their first broken hearts and later the first time they had sex.

Millie had been the first in that department and she still remembered crying on Abbey's shoulder a few days after giving her virginity to Adam Burton the night of their senior prom only to have him spread the word around that she had done so. Abbey had been furious on her behalf and had gone to St. Marks, their brother school and ripped him a new one in front of everyone, making sure that they all noted that he'd been a HUGE disappointment. Adam had been mortified and Millie had been able to laugh through her tears. That was the way that Abbey had always been and still was. She always fought for the ones that she loved.

And, never had she loved anyone more than she loved Jed Bartlet. It had been Millie who had convinced Abbey to go the party where she ended up meeting Jed. In seeing them together and talking to Abbey afterwards it was absolutely plain to see that the girl had fallen head over heels in love for the first time in her life. It had actually been quite humorous to watch her practical, controlling, my life is all mapped out, best friend lose complete control over her emotions and her feelings for Jed, even if she had in the beginning been jealous of the power that he had over Abbey.

Millie knew she had been the first one that Abbey had told when she lost her virginity to Jed over Easter break. She still remembered the breathless awe with which she spoke of it and her squealing excitement when she relayed the news that Jed had asked her to marry him. Back at school Millie had teased her mercilessly over the way that she would hold her engagement ring up to the light to watch the diamond glitter. Not long after, she was one the first to know when Abbey suspected she might be pregnant.

Later they had shared the joy of each other's weddings and pregnancies and the sorrows of miscarriages. They had seen each other through the pain of divorce, hers, and the devastation of rape, Abbey's. They had worked together and raised their children together. Abbey was Brynn's godmother and she was Ellie's.

Millie's eyes fell to Ellie, seated at the right hand of her father. Her head was tilted to the side resting on Jed's shoulder. Millie had been there the night that Ellie was born, had braved a blizzard and made it to the farm just as Abbey was starting to push her out. The relief on Jed's face at her arrival was almost comical. The man had been pale as a ghost and sweating with fear. And yet, when the time came, when Ellie was about to crown, Millie had given up her spot between Abbey's thighs and asked Jed to deliver his child. The look of terror had been replaced on his face with one of stunned joy and awe as his warm wet daughter had slid from Abbey's tired body directly into his waiting hands. It was a look Millie knew she'd never forget. And now here they were father and daughter, holding hands, comforting each other and praying for the safe return of the woman who had truly given them both life.

****

Zoey ran blindly through the pouring rain, her only goal to put as much distance between herself and the men calling her name as possible. As she pushed through the thick underbrush she found herself on the bluff of a small creek. She remembered her father's words from when she was little girl and they used to camp out at the national parks. She could hear his deep commanding voice as if he were standing right beside her. "If you get lost girls find a stream and follow the water downstream, most waterways will lead you to civilization." She grasped on to those words and climbed down the muddy hill to the water. She heard Aislinn whimper and knew all this jostling was not good for the baby's arm even with the make shift sling her mother had made. She felt terrible for causing Aislinn pain but she felt they would be less likely to be spotted in a flash of lightening down by the water than they would up on the bluff.

"ZOEY! ZOEY BARTLET! COME OUT NOW OR WHEN WE FIND YOU YOU'RE DEAD!"

Zoey shrank back against the embankment terror lancing through her. As her back hit the earth she could feel a small indentation in the hill made by the roots of a large tree. If she continued to run out in the open they were going to catch her. She didn't have any stamina left. She couldn't run. They were going to find her and when they did they were going to cut off her head. She wasn't stupid, she watched the news, she knew what these terrorists did to hostages and SHE had pissed them off. This was her chance to hide from them. She climbed into the small hole in the hill and held Aislinn tightly to her chest. They were soaking wet and shivering with the cold.

"You have to stay quiet, Ash," Zoey whispered. "You can't say a word or the bad men will find us." Even at her tender age, Aislinn knew all about the bad men. She buried her face into Zoey's chest and the little fingers of her good hand clutched at her big sister's neck.

"ZOEY�ZOEY BARTLET�"

They were right overhead now; Zoey could hear the branches cracking not ten feet from where they were hidden. She held her breath and bit her bottom lip hard to keep the terrified sob from bursting forth from her throat. Tears streamed down her muddy cheeks as she waited tensely for the moment one of the men would find their hiding spot.

"ZOEY�DON'T MAKE US FIND YOU�YOU WON'T LIKE YOUR PUNISHMENT�ZOEY�"

Zoey only allowed herself to breathe once she heard the men work their way further downstream, but still she didn't move not even when they doubled back and she could hear them making their way back to the trailer. She stayed hidden for almost another hour after they had past her by too terrified to leave her safe haven. In that hour an exhausted Aislinn had fallen asleep against her and she hated to wake her up. Before falling asleep the poor thing had been shivering so terribly with the cold that her teeth had been chattering. Zoey had been shivering as well but she wasn't sure if it was the fear or the cold. It was amazing for her to think of how oppressively hot it had been in that trailer during the day and how cold it was now outside in the rain at night.

She tried unsuccessfully not to think about what had happened to her mother in that trailer after she and Aislinn had run away and the others had discovered that they were missing. She couldn't get the image of her mother with Hassan Al Khaleel groping at her like some kind of sex maniac out of her head and she could only imagine what was going to happen to her now that the terrorists had doubled back for the trailer. Zoey was just as scared for her mother as she had been for herself and for Aislinn. It terrified her and filled her with guilt to think how her mother might be punished for her actions.

****

"Leo?"

Leo looked up with surprise to see Jordan standing in his doorway.

"You haven't returned any of my phone calls."

"Jordan, I've been a little busy you know."

"Of course I know. Why do you think that I've been calling you all day? I wanted to be here for you, to support you."

"I don't need support."

"Oh, that's right. Leo McGarry doesn't need anyone."

"Do you have any idea of what I'm dealing with? Do you have any idea of what Abbey and her daughters could be going through right now? I'm trying to help my best friend get his family back. I'm the ONLY one in that room who cares what happens to Abbey, Zoey and Aislinn Bartlet. The only one who doesn't see them as political pawns."

"Do you honestly believe that, Leo?" Jordan was shocked.

Leo thought long and hard for a moment. Thought about the concern on Fitz and Nancy's faces. "Well..." He rescinded. "Maybe not the only one, but I'm the only one in there who l�"

"Loves her?" Jordan supplied sadly. "You're still hung up on Abbey Bartlet."

Leo sat back in his chair defeated. He'd long ago come to terms with his feelings for Abbey but it was obvious that Jordan had not.

"I can't play second fiddle forever, Leo."

"What we have is different." Leo protested.

"Yes, it is. But I can't be the physical woman in your life anymore knowing that you are still worshipping Abbey from afar. I knew that if I got involved with you it meant I was always going to come in second to your job, I was prepared for that. But, coming in third behind a woman who is happily married to your best friend is a little more than I am capable of dealing with. I thought I could be the woman to make you forget your feelings for her but evidently that isn't the case. Don't worry about returning my calls, Leo. We're done."

"Jordan, Jesus, don't do this to me right now."

"I'm sorry. I know this is bad timing, but I need to get out now, Leo before you really break my heart. I hope you do find someone who can make you forget Abbey. In three more years your work here will be finished, Jed and Abbey Bartlet will take their family home to New Hampshire and you are going to be one lonely man. Good bye, Leo."

****

"You think you're so smart? You think you've won?" Hassan paced at Abbey's bedside. He was soaking wet and taking long furious drags off his cigarette. With the rage and furor she had heard outside the bedroom door she could only surmise with relief that her daughter's had not been found.

It infuriated him, the way she looked at him still with that hint of disdain, as if she were BETTER than he was as if she, a small weak WOMAN, had beaten him. It infuriated him even more that she HAD beaten him, but she was not going to come through this unscathed. She might have helped her daughters to escape but she wasn't going to get away with it.

"You stupid American bitch, you just signed your death warrant."

Abbey's eyes widened with horror as Hassan drew his cigarette from his lips and dangled the red tip in front of her chest enjoying the look of fear in her eyes and the way she struggled against the tape that bound her wrists to the bedposts

"N�noooo�" Her frantic moans were muffled against the tape.

"That's more like it." He flashed her a grin, ripped the tape from her lips and touched the tip of his cigarette to the creamy swell of her breast enjoying her shriek of pain and the way she thrashed to get away from the burning agony.

"Hassan, enough. She's all we have left. We're going to need her for the feed."

"The feed, the FEED. That IDIOT," he cast a disgusted look at Habib. "Has fucked things up so badly. It's been over 24 hours since we took them and we STILL don't have the feed up."

"Do not question me." Azim reached into a bag and pulled out a syringe. "I don't trust her, use this and put her back."

Hassan took the needle and approached the bed. Abbey tried to pull back from the syringe not knowing what kind of drug they were giving her, but it was no use. She couldn't fight the damn tape that held her immobile. She felt the prick of the needle in her arm and a quick burning sensation. She tried to control her panic by telling herself that they weren't killing her that they needed her for the feed and within moments she was unconscious.

****

Toby sat back against the wall panting heavily. He had spent all his time since Hassan had taken Abbey from the room working frantically at getting the tape on his wrists to loosen. Abbey's tortured cries from the other room had spurred him on almost as much as her silence now did. Finally he had to stop and admit defeat; he wasn't going to get the tape off. He wasn't going to be able stop the assault on the First Lady. He wasn't going to be a hero and whisk her away to safety. He was stuck right there in the same darkened room until, God willing help came for them. He couldn't stop himself from wondering if the help was going to be too late for Abbey.

The woman had courage; he had to give her credit for that. The way she'd stood up to the terrorists refusing to do their bidding, the way she'd fought for her children and the way she had given up her body, her soul, for her daughters to escape showed him for the first time in his life the absolute true meaning of love.

Sitting there alone, Toby finally had the chance to contemplate his own future. He'd been so worried for Mrs. Bartlet and her daughters he hadn't really allowed himself to dwell on his own predicament. He knew he was an afterthought. There had been no plan to kidnap him, and thus he had been spared the fear tactics that had been let loose on Abbey and the girls. Still, he knew that unless the cavalry came riding in soon he was going to die, just as Abbey was.

With the thought of his own death came the thoughts of his children. Of Molly and of Huck, just a few months old now. He had never really wanted children. Andy had been the one to push for kids and when it didn't happen he was more relieved than not. That is, until he saw the toll that it was taking on his wife. Andy desperately wanted a child and not being able to conceive had torn her apart. Finally, it had torn THEM apart.

Years later, when Andy had come to him and admitted she had continued have herself inseminated with his sperm and had finally conceived a child he had wanted to be furious with her. Instead, the sheer joy in her eyes at their miracle was enough to convince him that it might be all right. He wanted so badly to believe that he might be an okay father. God knew he'd had a shitty role model but he now knew he didn't have to follow in his father's footsteps. Jed Bartlet hadn't.

It was the President that gave him hope. He didn't know the details of Jed Bartlet's childhood but he did know that it included some type of physical abuse and that the abuse had partially shaped the man that he had become. However, in some ways that wasn't such a bad thing. Because of his relationship with his own father Jed had been determined to have a great relationship with his kids. The man was devoted to his children. The easy teasing affection that he shared with Zoey was something Toby had often been witness to since she had spent so much time at the White House while in school. Later, after the twins had been born he'd seen up close just what kind of a hands on dad that Jed was. He'd had a front row seat to the most powerful man in the world changing his kids' diapers in the oval office. He had gone to the residence when the First Lady was away for the weekend and watched the frazzled President try to wean his babies from the breast to the bottle. It still made him chuckle to remember Josh's exasperation with the screaming infant and how he'd asked the President just WHAT the baby wanted since he was having no part in the bottle Jed was placing between his lips. The President had calmly looked him in the eye and told him, "He wants me to breast feed him." Sam had felt the need to inform them all that he believed that to be physically impossible.

Still, in spite of the hope that watching the President had given him, Toby knew that his situation was entirely different. He didn't feel connected to Andy's pregnancy the way that the President had with Abbey's. He didn't live with Andy; he hadn't held her hair back while she threw up with morning sickness the way the President had with Abbey. He hadn't been there to rub Andy's back or her feet or get her a throw pillow for the small of her back like the President had for Abbey. He hadn't slept with his arms wrapped around Andy to feel his babies kicking and punching at him the way the President had with Abbey. He hadn't been kept up all night with Andy's uncomfortable tossing and turning giving her back rubs to try to help as the President had with Abbey. He hadn't snuck down to the kitchen in the middle of the night to bring Andy whatever bizarre snack she was craving as the President had with Abbey. He hadn't read books on birthing positions and attended Lamaze classes with Andy the way the President had with Abbey.

But, in a surprising turn of events he had been there to witness his children's birth just as the President had with Abbey, the difference being that when the President and Abbey left the hospital with THEIR twins they went together to the same home. In his case, Andy went back to her apartment and after a couple of hours of visiting he went home to his. He did not get up in the night with a crying newborn. He did not change diapers, give bottles or get spit up on like the President did but he did love his children. He might not see them very often but he did look forward to the time when they were older and could spend a night or a weekend with him. He looked forward to their first words, their first day of school and their bar and bat mitzvahs. He wanted to take his son to Yankee Stadium and walk his daughter down the aisle. He wanted the chance to watch them grow up and it deeply saddened him to think that it might not happen. That his children might never know their father.

Toby was still deep in thought when Hassan entered the room carrying Abbey in his arms. Horror filled his eyes as he realized that his worst fears about what had been happening to Abbey were materializing before his very eyes. A man's shirt that had been thrown over her nude body was all that covered Abbey and her head lolled unconsciously against Hassan's shoulder. A blind fury overtook Toby as he saw before him evidence of the unspeakable horrors they had put the First Lady through.

"YOU SON OF BITCH WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Enraged, Toby tried to jump to his feet but the tape pinning his wrists and his ankles kept him immobile.

"Relax, infidel. She is not dead, maybe she just wishes that she was."

****

Nicholas was heavy in Jed's arms as he carried the sleeping toddler into the nursery. He had fallen asleep almost as soon as they got to the car. Isabelle entered the nursery just behind him but he shook her off. He didn't want the nanny taking care of his son, not tonight. Somehow that just didn't seem right, not with his mother missing. Jed carefully slipped off the boy's pants and shirt. Nicholas twisted and sighed but did not awaken until Jed began changing his diaper.

"Daddy?" He blinked sleepily and stuck his thumb in his mouth.

"I'm right here, buddy. You just go to sleep."

"Where Mumma?"

"Mommy will be back soon." Jed tried to sound definite.

Nicholas twisted on the changing table quickly noting that his sister's crib was still empty.

"Where Azlin?"

"Aislinn is with mommy just like you're with me. They'll be home soon."

"Wan my mumma," Nicky's lower lip began to tremble. Jed knew it was a response to being overtired but he couldn't help but wonder if the boy had any inkling that his mother and sister were in danger.

"I know you do, but daddy's here and I'm going to tuck you in."

"No seep�no seep�wan Mumma�wan seepy my mumma!" Nicholas began to cry.

Jed could see the boy was working his way into a full-fledged tantrum.

"Okay, okay, calm down Nick. Mommy isn't here to sleep with you but I'll lay down with you. Okay? "

" 'Kay," he sniffed. "Bubba."

"Nicholas." Jed ran a weary hand through his hair not sure if he was up for this fight.

"Wan BUBBA." Nicholas demanded.

It was on the tip of Jed's tongue to remind the boy that his mother had been weaning him off his night time bottle but as he fixed the tabs on the diaper and looked into the innocent eyes of his son it seemed like such a small thing. If drinking from a bottle comforted him than he wasn't going to deprive him of that luxury.

Fifteen minutes later Jed lay back in his bed wearing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. Nicholas lay beside him sucking sleepily on his bottle as he valiantly fought closing those heartbreaking baby blues. Jed propped his cheek on his hand and tenderly watched his son fall asleep. He rubbed the little boy's belly, tried to sing to him the lullabies that Abbey sang and prayed as he had prayed earlier in church for God not to leave this poor child motherless. Thinking he was asleep Jed started to pull the dangling bottle from his lips only to have Nicholas start to suckle fiercely again. Jed gave a little half smile. He used to do the same thing as a newborn at Abbey's breast. Jed had loved to just sit back and watch his son nurse in his wife's arms and when he was sure the boy had fallen asleep against her breast he would move to take him away from her. Unwilling to be parted Nicholas would latch on again to her nipple, suckling away even more fiercely.

Jed swallowed tightly and brushed the fair hair back off Nicky's forehead. He didn't know how the little boy was going to take it if he were parted forever not only from his mother but also from his sister, his twin. No matter what happened with Abbey, Zoey and Aislinn, Jed knew the ramifications to his family were going to be devastating.

Finally, with Nicholas sound asleep his bottle thrown on the floor where Panda immediately chewed up the nipple, Jed carried him back to his crib waiting for a few minutes to make sure he wasn't going to wake up. When he returned to his bedroom, Admiral Hackett was waiting.

"You again," Jed grumbled.

"I want to check your vitals again before you go to bed."

Jed stuck his arm out automatically and Hackett wrapped on a blood pressure cuff.

"Still high, but I guess that's to be expected."

"Yeah."

"You look exhausted. Are you getting any sleep at all?"

"I've taken a couple of cat naps."

"You need more than a cat nap, sir. You're wife and daughters are going to need your strength and you're going to be too wiped out to give it to them."

"I can't sleep." Jed admitted. "Every time I close my eyes the images are there dancing away, my family screaming for me to help them and us not able to find them."

"That's understandable. Why don't you let me give you a sleeping pill."

"No, if there's any word on the girls I want to be able to hear it. I'll try to get some sleep, I promise.

"I'm going to hold you to that." Hackett packed up his supplies and left.

Jed eyed the bed longingly. He was exhausted and it would be nice just to close his eyes for a few minutes. But, he couldn't do it. Not in that bed. That bed held too many Abbey ghosts. He grabbed his pillow and a blanket and turned to where Max was pacing from the door to Abbey's side of the bed, sniffing at where she usually slept and whining. The big dog often reacted that way when he was waiting for his mistress to return but tonight it was too sad, too poignant for Jed to deal with.

"You miss her too, eh buddy?" Jed gave him a scratch behind the ear and Max turned his soulful brown eyes Jed's way. "Yeah, I know just how you feel."

He opened the door and headed towards the living room. "I'm sleeping out here tonight, boys."

If the agents were surprised by the President's decision to sleep on the couch even when his wife wasn't around to be pissed at him, they didn't let on. They nodded stoically and stared straight ahead.

Jed had just finished making his bed on the couch when Ellie came in wearing her bathrobe and carrying a steaming mug and a bowl in her hands.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked. " I was just coming to your room."

"Can't sleep in there." He shrugged attempting a nonchalance that just didn't quite make it across and sat slumped on the couch. Ellie's heart ached for him. All her life her father had been a bigger than life presence, strong, self confident, powerful, the king of any room that he walked into. She had never seen him looking so defeated, so sad, so boyishly lost. Never had she felt the maternal urge to take care of him before.

"That's okay. But you need to eat something, Dad. I made some tea and chicken soup." Ellie sat beside him placing the bowl and mug on the coffee table.

"I don't have a cold, Eleanor." Jed turned a half smile her way.

"The tea is herbal, it will help you sleep. And, you said you said the idea of food makes you nauseous so the soup and oyster crackers should settle well in your stomach. You need to keep your strength up, Dad. You don't know when mom and the girls will need it."

Jed turned to his daughter with sad blue eyes. His hand reached out to gently caress her cheek. "You are so much like your mother, Ellie."

"That's the best compliment you've ever given me, Daddy." Tears filled Ellie's eyes. Then just like her mother would have done, Ellie cleared her throat of the strangled emotions and handed Jed a spoon. "Now EAT."

"Yes, ma'am. I know better than to fight a Bartlet woman with an agenda."

Ellie smiled and leaned back watching her father eat his soup and sip and grimace at the tea he had never liked. He didn't eat it all Ellie noted, but some was better than nothing.

"You gonna try and get some sleep now?" She asked, pulling the covers back on the couch.

"Yeah." Jed slid underneath them.

"Okay, then goodnight." She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

Eyes blurry Ellie made her way to the kitchen where she found Elizabeth warming milk.

"Can't sleep?" Ellie asked.

"Not me, Annie. She's been having nightmares. Did Dad eat anything?"

"Half a bowl of soup, some tea."

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to help you more with him. I feel like you're shouldering a lot more of this than me."

"It's okay, Liz. You have Annie and Gus to worry about, and you've been doing wonders keeping Nicky preoccupied. We're all doing what we need to do. I like helping daddy. I don't like the circumstances but I feel closer to him than I ever have before. I like being able to help him." Ellie set the dishes in the sink and turned to her older sister. "Liz, do you really think they would let Mom, and the girls go even if daddy made Walken do what they want?"

Elizabeth was quiet for a long moment and she took a deep breath. " I think Mom and the girl's only hope is that the FBI finds them and finds them soon."

"That's what I thought." Ellie nodded, then turned her head toward the doorway to the room where her father was attempting to sleep. "I just don't know how he's going to make it if something happens to them."

Elizabeth's shiny eyes followed her sisters. "I know."

****

The gray light of dawn brought renewed hope for Zoey as she stumbled exhaustedly down the edge of the creek. Her feet were numb from the icy creekwater which was probably a good thing because the last time she looked at them they were horribly cut, bruised and blistered, her twisted ankle swollen. Her arms throbbed and burned with an intensity she had never felt before. Aislinn was a dead weight in her arms. About a half-hour earlier she had tripped and fallen landing hard on the forest floor which was when she had twisted her ankle. Aislinn had cried out with the pain and had then ecome silent. Zoey wasn't sure if she should be thankful or terrified that the little girl was unconscious. Right now she was thankful because she was completely exhausted. She wasn't sure how she was keeping her feet moving and she was sure her lurching stumbles would have been excruciating for Aislinn had she been awake.

With the rising of the sun Zoey hoped the going would become easier and that the heat would warm their wet frozen bodies. She was so tired, so afraid of falling that she watched the ground rather than where she was going so she didn't notice the overpass until she was close enough to hear a car go by. She looked up, eyes blurry with fatigue and her relief was so great she nearly fell to her knees. She had made it to a highway. Quickly she scrambled up the embankment and over to the edge of the road. Still, the fear of being captured was all encompassing and she hid with her sister in the bushes waiting until she was sure of the vehicle before stepping out to stop it.

Skip MacKenzie almost missed the young woman holding the little girl on the side of the road. Having the whole highway to himself at this hour of the morning he was going a bit faster than he normally did. At first he thought the movement was a deer but when he caught a glimpse of them as he passed them by he realized it was a girl and a child and he pressed on his breaks and pulled over to the shoulder. He got out of his cab and approached them warily. He had done two tours in Vietnam and he knew you couldn't always trust the innocence of women and children. The young woman in her torn dirty clothes stumbled toward him and Skip could see that she was crying. Could see that the child was not moving. As she got closer Skip's eyes widened.

"My God, you're Zoey Bartlet."

Zoey nodded tears making muddy tracks down her cheeks. "Please�please you have to help us. My father�He's�"

"I know who your father is, sweetheart." Skip spoke to her soothingly as he had his troops in 'Nam. This girl had the same wild-eyed look of the men who had seen battle. He didn't know what kind of horrors Zoey Bartlet had escaped from.

"My sister�She needs help."

Skip looked down at the baby girl in Zoey's arms. Her face was so pale he could see the tiny blue veins in her closed eyelids and her lips had a bluish tinge to them. "Yeah, she certainly does." Skip hoped with all his heart that she wasn't beyond help.

****

In spite of his promises to his doctor and his daughter Jed did not sleep. Could not sleep. Every time he closed his eyes guilt would start to eat away at him. He couldn't lie comfortably sleeping when he didn't know how his wife and daughter's were sleeping. Were they hurt? Were they scared? Were they wondering why they hadn't been found yet? Were they wondering what he was doing to get them back?

Jed heard the door click shut, heard Max's low growl.

"Sssh�Ssh�it's just me." The man tried to calm the dog.

"Leo, I'm awake." Jed sat up, hair sticking up in all directions attesting to his tossing and turning.

"I have news." Leo turned on the light and Jed could see that he was grinning. "The girls have been found."

TBC...