"Give me the details, Leo." Jed had thrown on a pair of jeans and a dress shirt and was now flying on Marine Two over Washington DC on his way to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital to meet his family.

"I don't have many details. They were found on a deserted stretch of route 76 between Willow Creek and Harrisburg. A trucker found them on the side of the road."

"How did they get there? Were they okay?"

"Like I said, I don't have all the details. The trucker realized who they were and used his cell phone to call the 911, the dispatcher alerted the FBI. He said they were alive but pretty bedraggled from being out all night in the rain. He did say that it looked like Aislinn was going to need medical attention so the Service was meeting him in Harrisburg to take them to the hospital at Penn."

"Obviously they escaped. Don't we need to be worried that he was followed."

"The trucker assured us that no more harm was going to come to the girls."

Jed smiled. "I'm going to owe that man big time. I can't believe it, Leo. I can't believe that this nightmare is over and my girls are safe. I can't believe they managed to find a way to escape." Jed was still tense, he would be until he saw his girls, but his relief was incredibly apparent to all who saw him on the flight. His anticipation was so great that he started to descend from Marine Two before the stairs to the helicopter had been completely lowered. He ducked under the blades, a natural reflex, and raced into the emergency room that had been cleared out by the Secret Service.

"My wife, my daughters. Where are they?" Jed breathlessly leaned against the nurse's station.

The nurse frowned. Didn't the man know that Abigail Bartlet had not been found with her daughters? "Your daughters are being examined right now Mr. President, but�"

"Mr. President." A middle-aged woman in scrubs came forward with her hand extended. "I'm Dr. Stevenson, I've been examining your daughters."

"How are they?"

"Remarkably well in spite of everything. Both were suffering from exposure, it got pretty cold in the rain last night. Aislinn has a pretty severe diaper rash and they both have a lot of superficial cuts and bruises. Zoey has a badly sprained ankle, but it's Aislinn we're worried about. During her captivity her arm was broken."

Jed visibly paled and leaned against the wall. "They�they broke her arm." His voice was barely above a whisper. It was unbelievable to him that any person could be so cruel as to break the arm of a child, let alone the arm of his sweet precious little Aislinn.

"Yes, it looks like a fracture of the radial bone but we'll know more when we do x-rays. Dr. Bartlet tried to stabilize the limb but I'm afraid all the jostling through the woods created a lot of pain and between that and being exposed to the harsh elements last night it caused some problems. When Aislinn was brought in she was unconscious and shocky. We've given her some intravenous fluids but I'm afraid the trauma of the kidnapping has been too much for her.

"What do you mean? She isn't�."

"Oh, no, Sir. I'm sorry I didn't mean to give you that impression. It's just that your little girl is terrified. She doesn't want the x-ray technicians to touch her. I'm afraid she got quite hysterical. I was wondering if you would come with me. Maybe seeing you will calm her.

"Yes, of course." Jed followed the woman down the hall trying to prepare himself for seeing his little girl. He wasn't prepared for what he saw when he entered that room. Aislinn was in a childs hospital gown and even with an IV in her arm she was silently fighting the man who was trying to position her on the table for x-rays. Her fair hair was filthy, caked with mud but her face had been washed clean, exposing a large purple bruise on her jaw and on her forehead. Her pale skin was marred by quite a few little cuts from their wild run through the woods. Jed watched her struggle, her tiny thin limbs so vulnerable and yet so fierce. He was her father and he had never seen her that way. What had been done to her to cause her to fight as if her very survival depended on it? Watching her terrified pitiful struggles was more than his heart could bear and he stepped towards her.

"Aislinn." Jed moved to stand by the table.

Aislinn stopped struggling at the sound of his voice and her wide eyes moved to the man who now stood before her. The man who could make all the monsters go away. Her father. Without a word Aislinn threw herself into his arms and began to sob. Strangely enough her sobs were as silent as her fighting had been, her little body silently shaking.

"Ssh�ssh�it's okay, daddy's here now. It's okay, baby, daddy's got you." Unmindful of the dirt Jed nuzzled his lips into her hair. He closed his burning eyes and thanked God for her safe return. "Daddy's here now, sunshine. Nobody is going to hurt you." He continued to hold her, rocking her and comforting her his heart constricting with the idea that he might never have heard her giggle again, never seen her eyes light up when she called out "daddy!' never held her cradled in his arms again like he was now, holding her as he had from the moment of her birth. Dr. Stevenson allowed the reunion to go on for a few minutes and then she approached father and daughter laying a hand on Jed's shoulder.

"Aislinn," she peered down at the little girl whose face was still buried in her father's chest. "We need to take some pictures of the boo boo on your arm."

Aislinn shook her head negatively clutching onto her father even more tightly.

"How about if your daddy holds your hand while we do it?"

Aislinn looked up at Jed, her face red and blotchy, her eyes questioning.

"Do you want me to hold your hand?" He asked

Aislinn nodded. Her cold fingers felt so tiny and fragile in Jed's hand yet they were strong enough to refuse to release her hold on him even as the technicians tried to position her on the paper of the examination table. Her pinched little face focused on Jed and he could see her eyes water when they moved her arm and felt her body tense with the pain but she didn't utter so much as a whimper. It was as if she were simply resigned to the pain.

"You're such a brave, brave little girl, Ash. I'm so proud of you, sunshine�"

When they were finished Jed stayed with her while they gave her a sedative so they could set her arm. He sat by her bed stroking her cheek and singing "her" song to her. It was a song he often sang, a song that never failed to make her smile because she believed he had made it up just for her.

"You are my sunshine My only sunshine. You make me happy, When skies are gray. You'll never know dear, How much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

He continued to sing until he was sure that she was out and then he stood and approached her doctor. "Does she have any other injuries?" He asked. "You know anything internal."

"Not that we are aware of but that will be easier to determine now that she is sedated. She was so frightened and we didn't want to scare her anymore than she was. Also, while she is under sedation we're going to examine her for any evidence of a sexual assault."

"SEXUAL assault!" Jed was horrified. "She's TWO!" Nausea roiled in Jed's belly at the idea of one of those bastards molesting his baby girl. Of course he'd known the possibility had been out there for Abbey and for Zoey and the idea made him want to put his fist through a wall, but he'd never associated that kind of damage being done to his baby. Jed turned to the doctor with eyes gone icy cold with hatred and fury. "If they did that to her�if they molested my little girl, I swear to you right now that I will KILL them MYSELF."

Dr. Stevenson moved forward lying a comforting hand on Jed's shoulder. She'd been a pediatrician for 25 years, she'd seen the horrible acts that had been committed on innocent children and she had witnessed their parent's rage and grief more times than she cared to acknowledge. She was not shocked by the President's outburst.

"It's just a precaution, sir, it's not the typical MO in this type of kidnapping. Your older daughter said that neither of them was raped and she was with Aislinn the whole time. We just want to be sure that she isn't covering something up out of fear or shame."

Jed nodded; he knew only too well the shame of rape. As he left the room planning to visit Abbey and Zoey he turned back to Dr. Stevenson.

"Why isn't she speaking?" He asked.

"What?"

"My daughter is a little chatterbox. You can't shut her up. When she was fighting those technicians and when she saw me she didn't say a word. Even when she was crying the only noise she made was her sniffles."

"I'm sure it's just the trauma of everything. She's scared and she's confused. She'll come around. Now, this is Zoey's room." She moved to open the door.

Jed nodded. "Where is my wife?"

"Your wife?" The doctor swallowed. How had the President not been told that his wife had not bee brought in with his daughters?

"Yes, my wife and Toby Ziegler were with my daughters."

"Sir�" Dr. Stevenson laid a gentle hand on the man's forearm. "Why don't we go sit down."

At that moment a pale frantic Leo came around the corner. "Do you know?" The fear was dancing in his eyes.

"Know what?" Jed looked from the doctor to his best friend. "For chrissake don't just stand there tell me."

"She wasn't with them. Abbey wasn't with them. The terrorists still have she and Toby."

****

Abbey tried to dig her way out of the drug-induced haze that clouded her mind. Sweat trickled down hairline and her back and she found it increasingly hard to breathe. When she tried to move she realized that her wrists were taped up again. She blinked her eyes trying to clear them of the blackness and as she attempted to stretch her cramped legs she realized that she was not in the same room she had been in before. She was in a closet, a small, dark, airless closet. Fingers of fear moved their way up her spine and claustrophobia immediately set in. What if they'd gone away? What if they'd fled and left her here to die? Abbey's heart pounded erratically with her panic and she kicked frantically at the door. She was weak now, much too weak to kick for very long. Her body just did not have the fuel that it needed to function normally. She was severely dehydrated, hadn't eaten anything in two days and her body had been pumped full of sedatives.

Knowing she had to calm herself before she passed out, Abbey tried to control her breathing taking in long slow breaths of air and releasing them until her heart no longer raced with panic. She had to fight that panic, control it; the only other alternative was to go mad. She had to ignore where she was, forget that she was in this tiny closet. To that end she let her mind drift to happier days. She was back at the farm and it was Christmas. She was sitting on Jed's lap and they were smiling as they watched their children open their gifts. She was building a snowman, rolling the ball of snow with Nicky, throwing snowballs at Jed. She was rolling in the snow with Jed, the kids were laughing and he was kissing her. Jed, oh, God, Jed, please find me�Please.

"So, I see hear our little captive is awake."

Abbey blinked at the bright light that spilled into the dark closet when the door was opened. She didn't say a word, just blinked at Hassan owlishly. Rage coursed through his veins at her strength. Why wouldn't she beg? Why wouldn't she plead for her life? Now that her girls were gone Abigail Bartlet's spine had turned to steel. Her weakness had been her daughter's and they had let them get away.

Grateful for the fresh oxygen, Abbey took in deep breaths of air. She was still lightheaded as Hassan pulled her up to her feet.

"Let's go. You have a TV appearance to make."

****

Jed was pacing furiously. The utter devastation of finding out that his wife had not been rescued; that she was still at the mercy of her captors manifested itself in rage. Rage at the captors, rage at the FBI and rage at himself for allowing his guard down and allowing his hope to flourish. Leo was the man who took the brunt of his rage, allowing his friend to vent all the frustration of two days of impotence.

"Daddy?" Zoey stood in the doorway in her hospital gown; she had heard her father's angry voice from her hospital bed. Dark circles shadowed her hollow eyes, scratches stood out against her pale face and she looked about 13 years old again.

"Zoey," Jed's rage fizzled out as he took in the small waif like form of his daughter. Gently, so as not to hurt her if she were injured he pulled her into his arms. Zoey cried against his chest much as her baby sister had earlier.

"She didn't have to be captured." Her words were muffled against Jed's chest.

"What?" Jed pulled her back and lifted her chin to look into her tormented green eyes.

"Mom didn't have to captured. When they started shooting the agents and all hell broke loose mom's agent got her hidden. The kidnappers caught Aislinn and me but they didn't know where mom was. They were leaving without her."

"But, how�how�"

"She saw them taking Aislinn and me away and she came out of hiding. She told me she wasn't going to let them take us without her. She could have gotten away, daddy, but she gave herself up to try to save Aislinn and me!" Zoey began to sob harsh painful sobs of guilt. Tears pooled in Jed's eyes at his daughter's words. He'd always felt that his wife was courageous, but now he KNEW that she was. She'd given up her life for her daughters without so much as a blink of an eye. THAT was courage.

"She gave herself up to save us and I just LEFT her there. Oh, God, daddy, I just left her there�"

"Ssh�ssh�" Jed didn't know what had happened with their captors, but he knew that his daughter needed reassurance in the worst way and that he held her fragile psyche in the palm of his hand.

"I'm sure you did the right thing, Zoey. You got Aislinn to safety."

"Sir�" Ron stood back, not wanting to intrude but knowing that time was of the utmost importance.

"What is it, Ron?"

"I hate to do this right now. But we need to debrief Zoey."

"I don't think she's in any shape�"

"It's okay, daddy." Zoey pulled back, shades of her mother's strength in the set of her shoulders. "We have to get mom back and I'm the only one who knows where she is."

"Time is of the utmost importance." Ron lifted a questioning eye to Jed.

"Okay," Jed acquiesced. "Let's go." He started to lead Zoey into her room.

Zoey's mind lingered on the last sight she'd had of her mother kissing and being groped by Hassan Al Khaleel. "I'd like to do this alone, daddy. Please."

Jed looked stunned. He saw the worried look in Zoey's eyes and wondered just what it was that she didn't want him to know. He clamped down on his natural inclination to insist upon being present. "If that's what you want, sweetheart."

"It is."

****

Jed tried not to think about what his daughter was telling the FBI. He paced like a caged tiger in front of her door.

"Why don't you sit down," Leo suggested. "You're making me dizzy."

"I want to know what she's telling them, Leo. What is my daughter telling STRANGERS that she can't tell me?"

"I don't know, Jed. But sometimes it's easier that way. It's easier to talk to a stranger than someone who is too close to the situation."

"I'm her FATHER, Leo. Zoey knows she can tell my anything. You don't think�" Jed trailed off a lump forming in his throat.

"No, Dr. Stevenson said there was no evidence of sexual assault."

Jed nodded. "Then what could it be. What is my daughter trying to hide from me?"

"I'll be right back. My pager's going off. Walken probably wants an update." Leo walked away to find a private area to make his call.

Jed continued to pace. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop but when the nurse left his daughter's room leaving the door slightly ajar and he heard Zoey's voice breaking he stood there transfixed.

"Mom knew Aislinn needed to get to a hospital to get her arm fixed. She came up with a plan. One of the terrorists, the man who was touching her during the night---"

The agent looked down at his notes. "Hassan Al Khaleel?"

"Yes. She knew that he had an interest in�well�us. The others were always trying to keep him reined in. Anyway, she um�she�my mother's not a bad person�" Zoey's shoulders began to shake. Tears stung Jed's eyes and he longed to stride forward and pull his little girl into his arms.

"Your mother was in a very difficult situation, Zoey. I'm sure she only did what she had to do."

Jed was grateful for Ron Butterfield's gentle presence.

Zoey nodded through her tears. "It was a last resort."

"How did you get away, Zoey?"

Zoey's voice was barely a whisper, but the words screamed through Jed's head. "My mother offered him her body in exchange for him leaving us alone. She told him that she would let him have sex with her if he promised not to hurt Aislinn anymore. Then, while she distracted him we were supposed to make our get away."

"And did the plan work?"

Zoey nodded sadly. "The last thing I saw when we left was my mother kissing him. He had her pressed up against the wall and she made sure that his back was to us."

It was the involuntary soft moan that escaped Jed's lips that drew Zoey's attention.

"Daddy!" She was clearly horrified that he'd heard what she said.

Jed pulled himself together, swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat at the image of his wife being violated and cleared his throat.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, baby. I'm sorry."

Ron pitied the ashen-faced look on the President's face. Clearly the man was in a shocked kind of agony.

"She didn't want to do it, daddy. She HATED him. He was always pawing at her, always threatening us. He broke mom's finger and he broke Aislinn's arm. She HATED him, she only did it because she knew he was going to kill us and I only left her because Aislinn was hurt so bad and I had to get her to a hospital."

Jed did move forward then. He pulled Zoey back into his arms. "I'm not mad at your mother for what she did, Zoey. I want to kill the son of a bitch that forced her into that situation, but I could never hold it against her. Your mother did what she had to do to save you and to save Aislinn. I can't blame her for that."

The pain in Jed's heart was like a vice squeezing tighter and tighter. How desperate Abbey must have been to do something like that. He'd seen his wife in mama bear mode before and could see her being as fierce and courageous as a lioness protecting her cubs. But still, for her to allow herself to be violated by a man after all she had been through with Marcus Hughes was an act of strength and courage and selflessness that nearly caused him to break down and weep. The physical and psychological damage that Hughes rape had done to her had had far reaching impact on their lives and in spite of that, Abbey had been willing to go through it all again if it meant saving her daughters.

When she had stopped crying, Zoey stayed in Jed's arms and tried to give the cartologists her best description of how far she had come through the woods, relayed the lay of the creek, distinguishing landmarks, all the things she'd filed in her brain for future use. She was just finishing up when Leo entered the room.

"Sir?"

Jed looked up. He had been "Jed" to Leo over the past couple of days. Now it was back to "sir".

"What is it, Leo?"

"I just got a call from the White House. The kidnappers have made contact. In one hour Abbey is going to speak to us on a feed. They want you to be there."

"Do they know I'm not making the decisions?"

"Oh, yes, Walken let them know. In fact he doesn't want you to come."

"Fuck him." Jed ground out. "If they want to talk to me, I'll be there, whether Glen Allen Walken likes it or not. I want to see my wife."

****

Everyone paced quietly in the situation room waiting for the feed. It was different with President Bartlet in the room, quieter, more respectful of his grief. They hadn't seen him in two days. Two days in which he had seemed to age significantly. Gone was the boyish smile and the twinkle of humor in his eyes replaced by lines of fatigue and dark circles under those now pain filled eyes. They waited for what seemed like an eternity, Jed surrounded by Leo, Ron, Fitz and Nancy, and Walken with a few of his own advisors. Finally the room came to attention as the image of Abbey Bartlet filled the screen. A tall man with a ski mask on held her hair in his fist tipping her neck back. There was a moment of shocked dismay in the room. The First Lady wore only a mans shirt, the top buttons left open to reveal welts on her chest and bruises on her neck. Her jaw was bruised and slightly swollen, her lip cut with blood crusted in the corner. Her wrists were bound with duct tape and lay in her lap.

Jed stared at the feed his body tensed, his face flushed with rage.

Glen Walken turned to one of the FBI agents; a doctor brought in to assess Mrs. Bartlet's condition.

"She's been drugged," the agent said. "You can see it in her pupils."

Jed didn't have time to dwell on the fact that they'd been drugging his wife for the terrorist began to talk.

"I want to speak to President Bartlet."

"You understand that President Bartlet is no longer President." Glen spoke into the speakerphone.

Jed saw Abbey's head jerk at that statement. So, she didn't know. Didn't know he'd abdicated any way to save her.

"I said I want to speak with President Bartlet, is he there?"

"I'm here you rotten little son of bitch." Jed leaned forward glaring at the screen wishing the fucker could see HIM, see his rage.

Hassan grinned. It was grotesque to see the grin and not the face. "So, I take it you don't like me playing with your little toy, here." Hassan ran his knife over Abbey's cheek, down her neck, between her breasts.

The men in the room began to squirm with acute embarrassment and anger that he dared TOUCH their First Lady that way. To her credit Abbey didn't so much as flinch. She stared straight ahead into the camera as if nothing were being done to her. Nobody in that room wanted to think about what had been done to her to cause such stoicism.

"Such a beautiful face, Mr. President." Hassan continued to run the knife against Abbey's cheek. "You must love this face. It would be a shame to destroy such a lovely face."

"Listen to me, you slimy little shit. You touch a hair on my wife's head and I'll PERSONALLY put you 10 feet under."

"She is a feisty little thing, isn't she?" Hassan ran a hand familiarly over Abbey's shoulder and down over her breast in a way that made Jed and every person in that room sick to his stomach. Even Walken had to look down at the floor with discomfort and impotent rage.

Jed turned to the agent working on the voice text. "That's Khaleel, isn't it?"

The agent nodded and Jed's fingers curled into white knuckled angry fists. That was the man who had broken Aislinn's arm. The man Abbey had been forced to have sex with. Jed wanted to climb into the feed; he wanted to rip the little fucker apart limb by limb.

"You know, there is a way out of this mess," Khaleel continued. "Tell him Ahhbbey. Tell him what it will take to save your life." He pressed the large knife to her throat.

Abbey stared straight ahead, defiance still glimmering in her weary eyes until she closed them and began whispering the twenty- third psalm "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want�"

"TELL HIM!" Hassan tightened his grip in Abbey's hair and lifted his knife high over head then slashed it down with force. Abbey's scream reverberated off the walls.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!" Jed's anguished cry filled the room and he fell to his knees, his head dropping forward to his chest, unable to look at what they'd done to his wife.

"Next time it will be her HEAD." The malevolent words of Khaleel caused Jed to raise his head. Through eyes swimming with tears he saw the man holding a fistful of bright auburn hair. Her hair, all he'd done was cut off her hair, not her head.

"Do what they want, Glen," Jed hissed as he got back to his feet. "For chrissake DO what they want."

Abbey still stared straight-ahead tears now falling silently down her cheeks. She had never stopped praying. "Yeah, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me�" She was not going to plead with Jed to release the imprisoned terrorists. She was not going to do that to her husband, to her President. She knew he could see her, she just wished that she could see him one more time before she died. Her lip quivered almost imperceptibly but her eyes radiated bravery. "I love you, Jed."

"I love you, Abigail." Jed's voice was choked with emotion.

"TELL HIM" Hassan pressed the knife more tightly against her throat drawing a droplet of blood and she stiffened knowing she was about to die.

"Don't do it, Jed. You can't, not even for me. I'll always love you, remember that."

"SHUT HER UP!"

There was chaos in the room and the camera went wildly our of control as if it were falling. Everyone in the situation room stood anxiously but all they could hear were angry Arabic voices and then the finality of a loud BANG as a gun went off.

Jed's whole body jerked, as if the bullet had hit him. He stared straight ahead in shock. He'd heard that your life flashed before your eyes when you died, but at that moment it was Abbey's life that was flashing through his mind. Bright flashing moments that continued until he sank back to his knees with a moan of anguish.

Glen Walken, President of the United States, could only gape at the blank screen. "My God, the son of a bitch killed her."

TBC...