With Determination and Honor

by: Ginny

Pairing(s):Jed/Abbey
Category(s):General
Rating: YTEEN
Disclaimer: The usual.
Summary: Something is wrong with Gov. Jed Bartlet.
Feedback: Feedback is greatly appreciated.
Author's Note:Thanks to Becky who boosted my self esteem more than once and to Janie, our medical advisor.

Manchester, NH
1993

Part 1

Friday late afternoon

Abbey Bartlet sat at her desk in her downtown Manchester medical office looking at the notes she had just written. She pulled off her glasses and rubbed her eyes wearily. She glanced behind her to look at her husband sleeping on the leather couch. Gov. Josiah Bartlet looked peaceful and calm in his sleep. But Abbey knew better.

To the public the Governor of New Hampshire was fine. He was energetic, lively and in complete control. But Abbey knew that behind that stoic exterior something was wrong, very wrong.

She couldn't quite remember when the symptoms had started. A stumble here, a dropped glass there. Nothing terrible, especially given the fact that Jed's clumsiness, something he had apparently been born with, was part of his charm. But lately things were different. Symptoms would come and go, often without warning. About a year ago Abbey had started to try and keep track of them, to make some sense of what was happening to her normally healthy husband. She mentioned her concerns to Jed a few times but he just blew things off, often blaming his accidents on his lack of sleep and his own inborn clumsy tendencies.

She put her glasses back on and reread the notes in her lap. The page was filled with her observations over the last week. Jed had been fine for a few months. He'd had a nasty case of the flu a little over a week ago, complete with a pretty high fever. In the past week he had been clumsier than usual and he complained about dizziness. She could tell he was having trouble with his eyes too. When she called him on it he blamed it on the fact he had been doing more reading than usual.

Jed's health was the reason they had decided to spend the weekend in Manchester. Abbey wanted him to relax and catch up on his sleep. Somehow they had even managed to leave by 11:00 that morning. But the time away hadn't started off well.

She flipped back a few pages to some notes she had made 5 months ago. The symptoms were similar but there hadn't been anything preceding them, no fever or illness of any kind. She tried to think back about what was going on in the state at the time. Then she remembered the scandal which had rocked the statehouse about the same time. So while Jed hadn't had a physical illness he had been under a great deal of stress at the time the symptoms had last appeared.

Something just wasn't making sense. She threw the notepad on the desk and closed her eyes and sighed. She heard Jed roll over on the couch behind her.

She rose from her chair and knelt down next to him. She reached over to caress his cheek, carefully avoiding the cut under his eye and the bruise that had begun to show. She took a piece of gauze and dabbed lightly at the cut, the one that had taken her 5 stitches to close. She still couldn't believe he had let her stitch him up. As she brushed his hair back his eyes fluttered open and he smiled at her.

"Hey, honey, how's your head?" she asked as she helped him sit up.

"It hurts, how long have I been asleep?" asked Jed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"About an hour. Can we talk about what happened?" asked Abbey as she put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a quick hug.

"Now? Can't we go home. I'm really wiped out, all I want to do is go home" pleaded Jed in a voice that was very close to whining.

"OK, if you promise me we'll talk later." He gave her a slight nod.

Abbey stood up and held out her hand to Jed. He took it and stood up slowly. He waved Abbey away and she went into an exam room to get something.

He just stood for a moment, his legs felt unsteady and wooden under him. Abbey silently watched him from the doorway. He walked across the room slowly, grabbed his coat from the chair and threw it on over his head. Abbey grabbed her notepad, a few medical books and her own coat.

"What's with the medical texts?" inquired Jed, already knowing the answer before Abbey had a chance to open her mouth.

"Jed, something is wrong and I am trying to find out what that might be" said
Abbey sounding more weary by the minute.

"Abigail, I'm fine. I just tripped, please stop making a big deal out of this. You knew I was clumsy when you married me over 30 years ago. You were never worried before"

Abbey wisely decided to drop the subject for now. She took Jed by the hand and they walked to the car. The driver opened the door for them and they climbed in silently. They stayed that way the 20 minute trip back to the farmhouse. Abbey stared out the window and Jed sat back in the seat with his eyes closed, trying to ignore the throbbing in his cheek and the general fatigue that had overtaken his body.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

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