Jed stood before the TV in Margaret's office. The networks had gotten wind of the shooting and some were even reporting that sources inside the White House were saying the First Lady had been shot and might even be dead. Jed stood transfixed by Sarah McLachlans sadly haunting "I Will Remember You" and by the images of his wife on the screen. The world was being given a glimpse into Abbey Bartlet's life but none of them knew just what each picture, every video clip meant to her husband.

There was Abbey as a freckle faced little girl in pigtails sitting on her father's lap playing scrabble and as an impishly smiling teenager in a Catholic school uniform posing with her class in front of the Sacred Heart.

But nobody but he knew just how much she'd despised her freckles, only coming to accept them when he taught her a new game of connect the dots with his tongue. And, nobody but he knew that she'd gotten her knuckles viciously rapped when Sister Mary Agnes caught her reading "Lady Chatterly's Lover" when she was supposed to be reading "Lives of the Saints"

There was Abbey as a serious faced freshman at Notre Dame filled with the great ambition of becoming a doctor. And, a couple years later a more hippie looking Abbey at a war protest wearing faded hip huggers, a tight white T-shirt with a peace symbol on it, sunglasses with blue lenses and long red hair that fell all the way to her waist.

But nobody but he knew that it was that Abbey that he had met and fallen in love with. The combination of her impish smile, serious ambition, and the convictions that she shared with him to make the world a better place had seriously done him in right on the spot. Nobody but he knew that he'd had the great fortune of falling in love with a young woman who was just as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside.

There was Abbey looking so breathtaking lovely in her wedding gown as she stood before him as his bride. And, there she was crying when he slid her gold wedding ring on her slender finger, laughing as he fed her a piece of cake, and kissing him while he danced with her. There was a heartbreakingly young Abbey pregnant and glowing with maternal pride in the growing swell of her belly and later rocking infants and playing with young toddlers. There was Abbey's face lit with joy as she sat next to the Christmas tree watching her children open their Christmas gifts in the winter and chasing waves at the beach in the summer.

But, nobody but he knew how his wife liked to come home from Midnight Mass and cuddle and neck under the lights of the Christmas tree before going up to bed and preparing for the early onslaught of their children. And, nobody but he knew how his wife liked to sunbathe topless in private and make love out of doors near the ocean enjoying the romance of the pounding surf and the scent of salt on the air

There was Abbey standing at soccer games, still in her scrubs since she'd rushed from the hospital to make it in time to one of their girls games and Abbey so elegant and beautiful at the Swedish palace standing by his side while he'd reached the pinnacle of his vocational success and been awarded the Nobel Prize. There was Abbey sunbathing in a bikini on the deck of the Abigail Anne and playing volleyball on the beach. There was Abbey tired and dirty her hair falling out of her haphazard ponytail while she worked on a young earthquake victim during the time she'd volunteered with the Red Cross one summer in Guatemala.

But, nobody but he knew what that had taken out of her. How devastating it had been for her to experience the horrors of triage for the first time and to know that there had been people she might have been able to save but who had to be overlooked while she worked on the less critical. Nobody but he knew how she'd cried in his arms night after night.

There was Abbey standing at the top of Mount Washington a backpack on her back, the wind whipping her hair and waterproof jacket and a bright smile on her face, and Abbey snowshoeing in the woods with their daughters pointing out deer tracks. There was Abbey elegant and sophisticated dancing with him at the Governors Balls and standing with her arm around his waist on a ski slope at Waterville Valley.

But, nobody but he knew about the time that she'd twisted her ankle and they'd sent the girls out on the slopes with a ski instructor then spent the day making love in front of the fireplace. Nobody but he knew that she was faking it and simply wanted a day alone in her husband's arms.

There was Abbey emceeing hospital auctions while the girls helped man the phones and Abbey on the presidential campaign trail with her short pencil slim skirts and high heels. There was Abbey holding the bible and dancing with him the night of his Inauguration and Abbey posing with him in front of the Taj Mahal.

But, nobody but he knew it was that night that Aislinn and Nicholas had been conceived. Most everyone had figured out that India had been when conception had occurred, but nobody except he and Abbey knew the exact moment that they had created a baby, two babies.

There was a frantic, terrified Abbey making her way into GW the night that he'd been shot, and Abbey leaving that same hospital with a baby in her arms only five months later. There were Annie Leibowitz's intimate mother/newborn photos; Abbey nose to nose with Nicholas, and beautiful footage in church of Aislinn in her long white satin baptismal gown being held in the arms of her elegant mother at her christening.

But, nobody but he knew what Abbey had gone through the night of the birth. Nobody but he knew the strength that she possessed to get through the agony while refusing the offers of Demerol and epidurals and instead toughing it out through blood, sweat and tears to give him two of the greatest gifts of his life. Nobody but he had seen the utter softness of love shining in her in her teary eyes as she'd counted their newborn babies fingers and toes and nobody but he knew just how close he'd come to losing her when she'd hemorrhaged after Nicky's breech birth.

There was Abbey riding her horse by the Chesapeake at their new getaway home by the bay and tantalizing him by rubbing her rear against him when they played mini golf in Maine over the summer.

But, nobody but he knew that he had just offered her his Presidency or that she had lovingly given it back to him, vowing to do everything she could to get him elected if that was what he wanted.

There was Abbey sitting by his side while they told the world of his MS and him sitting by hers when she told the world of what Marcus Hughes had done to her when he broke into their home. There was Abbey getting chocolate icing smashed into her face by Nicholas at the twins first birthday and getting a huge standing ovation when she spoke at the Democratic convention.

But, nobody but he knew that she had just found a lump in her breast and was dealing with the fact that she might have breast cancer. Nobody but he knew just how good she was at putting on a brave face for the world and nobody else knew how they'd cried together with relief in the shower when she had been informed that the lump was not cancer.

There was sexy Abbey dancing with him in New Orleans and posing for those erotic pictures she had given him as a gift and that had ended up on the Internet, and mother Abbey helping the twins feed animals at the petting zoo. There were state dinners and more inaugurations; on and on it went until it almost became a blur to him and the only thing he could still focus on were the words from the song.

"Where once there was a darkness A deep and endless night. You gave me everything you had Oh, you gave me light."

"You're not dead, Abbey�" Jed whispered to her image on the TV. "I know you're not dead."

"Sir�" Margaret didn't know how to deal with this Jed Bartlet. She was used to blustery Jed, teasing Jed, but she had never known broken Jed.

"Yes, Margaret." Jed turned his reddened eyes her way.

"There are some people here to see you."

Jed looked up to see Ron, Nancy and Fitz enter the room along with Leo.

"We think we know where Mrs. Bartlet is being held captive." It was Ron who first approached the President.

"Where is she?" Jed's voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Well, your daughter gave us very detailed directions of the way she came to be on route 76. We've run some reconnaissance over the area where we figure she started on the creek and we found an abandoned trailer. Zoey said they were kept in a trailer."

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for!" Jed exploded. "Get her the hell out of there."

"It's not that simple." Fitz stepped forward. "President Walken won't give us permission to go through with the given plan. He wants to go through with the plan to bomb Qumar in revenge for what they've done to your wife. He believes that Mrs. Bartlet is dead."

"REVENGE isn't going to help Abbey! Revenge comes AFTER. We have to get her out of there. Abbey is NOT dead. Deep in my heart I know that she is still alive but if we don't get her out of there soon it may be too late."

"We agree with you, sir." Nancy added. "We tried to convince him to halt the bombing plans and go with the rescue effort that Ron laid out."

"What's his fucking problem?"

"He's afraid of the political ramifications," Leo sneered. "He's afraid that if Abbey isn't dead and we go in there like gangbusters and she gets killed the world will blame him for her death."

"Jesus, he's thinking about RE-ELECTION at a time like this. Son of a BITCH. What was I thinking of stepping down? My wife is going to DIE because that bastard wants to cover his ASS. Dammit, I'll go there myself and get her out of there." Jed turned as if to leave the room.

"Sir, you can't do that." Ron grabbed his arm.

"WATCH ME!" Jed angrily shrugged him off. "I'm not just going to sit here while my wife is being raped and tortured and KILLED."

"There is another way." Leo's was the voice of reason. "Ron has a plan. The FBI is already on their way to the trailer location."

"I gave the men an option. The men going to Willow Creek know they are doing so against the President's orders. They also know that the orders they may be following will be yours."

"Mine? You want me to give the order to rescue my wife, against the orders of the President. I'm not a lawyer but isn't that treason or something?"

"I'm sure it's illegal," Ron deadpanned.

"I don't know." Jed hesitated. "I have no problem doing this myself but I don't know if I can ask all of you to go down with me."

"You haven't, sir. We're asking YOU." Fitz stood shoulder to shoulder with Ron.

"We're ready to accept the consequences, sir." Nancy added as she moved up next to Fitz. "What President Walken is doing is wrong. YOU are our true leader, sir."

"You're okay with this?" Jed turned to Leo.

"We're all behind you." Leo moved up next to the others. "I've been in those meetings, Jed. That man is more interested in revenge, more afraid of the political fallout than he is of getting Abbey back. He doesn't even really believe that she is alive so he doesn't understand how important time is. Remember when you stepped down you told me that I'd know what to do. I can't condone what he is doing. Abbey's life depends on what we do here and now. You give the order, sir and we're all behind you.

"I couldn't ask for a more noble group to have my back." Jed stood visibly moved and humbled by their belief in him as their true leader.

"It's a dangerous plan, sir. I can't guarantee that we are going to get Mrs. Bartlet and Mr. Ziegler out of this alive.

"But if we don't try they're dead anyway, aren't they?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Okay, then. You have my orders and Glen Allen Walken can go fuck himself."

****

Terror. It nipped and pinched and sent shafts deep into Abbey's heart. She was curled in the fetal position on the floor of the pitch-black closet, claustrophobia closing in all around her making it an effort just to continue breathing. Panic ate at her, clawed at her and was barely kept at bay. Her arms were pulled behind her back tightly, her wrists taped together. Her shoulders throbbed with the pain to the point that she was afraid she might lose consciousness. Sweat ran in rivulets down her face and her breasts, stinging her eyes and her burns and causing her shirt to stick to her skin. She almost wished the drugs they had given her would kick in so she could just fade away into oblivion.

She thought about that feed and hearing her husband's voice and wished she could have asked Jed if Zoey and Aislinn had made it. It terrified her to think of her daughters lost out in the woods. There were bears in the woods; they could die before they were found. "Oh God," she prayed. 'Please let them be all right. Please let them make it."

She tried not to think about herself, tried not to think about what was going to happen to her. She was so afraid, so damn afraid. A part of her knew that she was never going to make it out of this trailer. She was never going to feel raindrops on her face again, or let snow melt on her tongue. She was never going to hold her children in her arms again, never see her two youngest grow up. She was never going to nuzzle into her husband's neck again or feel his strong arms around her while she inhaled the special scent of his bay rum and the warmth of his skin. She was never going to feel the pressure of his lips on hers again, never taste the delight of his tongue. She was never going feel the exquisite sensation of his mouth suckling and teasing her nipples or his hot hard length surging between her thighs. Oh God, Jed. How could she bear the idea of never gazing into those beautiful baby blues again? 'Please�please, baby�Find me�Oh God, Jed, don't let me die here.'

****

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Glen Walken approached Jed just as he was leaving Leo's office.

Jed simply stared the bigger man down his eyes steely with determination.

"I know about your orders. I know you've gone behind my back to order the rescue attempt on your wife."

"I didn't butt in, Glen. They went to you first and you refused to try to save her."

"I'm not going to let you do this. I'M the President NOT YOU." Glen's finger jammed into Jed's chest.

"Get your fucking hands off of me." Jed yanked Walken's hand away from his chest. "I'M not going to let you put my wife's life at risk because you have some misguided macho need for revenge."

"You mean to tell me that you don't want revenge on the people who have done this to your family."

"Revenge? Glen, I want to break their FUCKING necks myself. BUT, more importantly, I want my wife back. Revenge can come later."

"You do know she's probably dead. That gunshot."

"I've learned not to deal in probabilities especially not when it comes to my family."

"Look, this is a dangerous plan. I want to get Ms.Bartlet back too but lets give it another day, make sure that we have a good plan in place and�"

"SHE DOESN'T HAVE ANOTHER DAY!" Jed exploded. "My GOD, Glen, you saw her! They're drugging her, they're torturing her and they're RAPING her. Do you mean to tell me that if it was Sue-Ann you'd let it go another day?"

"I understand why y'all are upset, but I wouldn't put my emotions before my job."

"Then Sue-Ann is damn lucky that it was Abbey that was kidnapped and not her. I can't put my emotions aside and I won't."

"Well, I can't let this plan continue on. As of this moment it's off."

"Glen, don't DO this. Don't make this a power struggle between you and me. Look this is a win/win situation for you. If the FBI gets Abbey out and she's okay then you can take all the credit for it. The country will love you. If things don't go as planned and she is�killed�Then you can blame it all on me. You didn't know a thing about the plan, I went behind your back."

"You could go to jail."

"I think it's worth the risk. I've got to get her out of there, Glen. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do everything in my power to get her back. She's everything to me. Let the plan go forward."

"You have two young children."

"Who I'd have to face one day and explain why I didn't do everything that I could to save their mother. I'd rather talk to them through prison bars and have them know that I did everything in my power to save her than try to explain why I didn't."

"You accept full responsibility if something goes wrong?"

"If something goes wrong I'm not going to give a damn what happens to me."

"The you do what you have to do. I won't interfere."

****

Abbey sat slumped forward weakly the drugs were starting to kick in. She was so tired, so tired and sore. It was so hard to breathe and the lack of oxygen was causing her to become lightheaded. Sweat and blood plastered her hair to her head and stung her cuts and the burns on her breasts. Horrible cramps gripped the muscles of her legs until she wanted to scream with the agony of it. She was so tired of fighting, so tired of hurting. It would be so easy just to give up. But, every time she would start to give up and start to allow herself to fade off to sleep she would see Jed's eyes, those beautiful baby blues burning into her very soul. She would hear his voice urging her to stay alive, his voice telling her that he loved her and she grit her teeth and steeled herself against the pain, forced herself to stay alive and conscious for the moment that she would be in her husband's arms again. She hummed softly against the duct tape the words of different hymns going through her mind as she fought to comfort herself and keep herself from going crazy with the claustrophobia.

�If you pass through raging waters in the sea, you shall not drown. If you walk amid the burning flames, you shall not be harmed. If you stand before the power of hell and death is at your side, know that I am with you through it all. Be not afraid. I go before you always. Come follow me, And I will give you rest.�

****

The trailer was surrounded by FBI agents and had been for hours now. They were just awaiting their orders to push forth and take it. Windows in the back were boarded up, probably where the First Lady and Toby Ziegler were being held. Snipers had been able to get glimpses of three men and a woman, just as Zoey Bartlet had reported. So far they had not been alerted to the FBI presence and they wanted to make sure that it stayed that way until President Bartlet gave the order to take the trailer.

Jed Bartlet sat in Marine Two with Leo and Ron.

"I wish you'd reconsider and let me go in after the agents." Jed was grumbling to Ron.

"You aren't going in there until we've made sure that it's secure."

"Are you going in?" Jed asked.

"I'll be there."

"You be the one, Ron."

"What?"

"You be the one to find her. If I can't be there I want you to be the one take her out of there."

Jed knew he could count on Ron to handle Abbey with care and consideration whether she was alive�or�or not.

"I'll take her out." Ron promised. He spoke quietly into his wrist for a moment. "Sir," he turned to Jed. "They've spotted the targets."

"Abbey?"

"Scarlet is not in the room with them. This is as safe as it's going to get."

Jed took a deep breath. Please, God. Please don't let this be the wrong thing to do. "Okay. Move in."

TBC...