Two Legs To Stand On...

The phone rings...once, twice, three times. Abbey looks around for Jed, but he’s still washing dishes in the kitchen and can’t hear the phone. If she leans over a bit, she can just reach it, but should she? The phone continues to ring, then it stops. Abbey stares at it for a moment longer before going back to the markers Jed left for her to practice her letters with. She takes a breath and concentrates, taking the thick blue marker into her right hand and putting it to the paper. They’ve made it to ‘G’ and Abbey is proud that she’s made it this far. Jed’s been gentle and patient with her from day one. He steadies her hands as she tries to write when they tremble from lack of coordination.

He’s told her about them, showed her pictures, home movies, press clippings. She can hardly believe that the woman with him is her, was her. He gets this soft, sad smile on his face when he talks about ‘before.’ It makes her look away quietly, trying to disappear. She wishes she were the woman he loved. She wishes she could be the Abbey he’d pledged himself to, but she can’t be. It gives her nightmares, because she’s afraid that one day he’ll realize that he can’t have his Abigail back and he’ll get sick of taking care an invalid and he’ll leave her alone in a world that she doesn’t understand. He always knows when she starts to feel that way, since that’s when her performance is at its worse. He’ll stop whatever they’re doing and kneel in front of her, taking her hands in his and telling her that he is “unequivocally” in love with her. That his love will never fade. He’ll be with her until the day he dies, just like he promised. And in that moment, she wants to believe him so badly, but his soft, sad smiles always give her doubts. He is her husband and she is his wife. There are no two ways about it. They are forever...’til death should they part. God, she hopes not.

The phone rings again, distracting her from writing the ‘G’ that she’s been having so much trouble with. It looks too much like a ‘C’. She huffs and glares at the phone. Jed’s drying the dishes and making preparations for making lunch in a few hours. It rings again. Her eyes flit to the kitchen and she leans out of her chair to pick up the phone. She puts it to her ear and listens. At first, there’s silence on the other end. Then, a voice.

“Hello,” it says. She feels a familiar tickle in her mind, but before she can catch it, it slips away into the shadows. “Hello. Is anyone there?”

“Hel-lo.” This is one of the new words that Jed has taught her. It wasn’t really a part of the lesson plan, but it came up while they were watching TV and he thought the impromptu lesson would be good. She uses it every chance she gets.

“Abbey.” She smiles. She likes it when people say her name. It makes her feel like herself, even if she isn’t.

“Hi.” She says it again, because she can’t think of anything else to say.

“Abbey, it’s Leo.” Her face brightens when she connects that name with a face from some of their pictures and home movies. He was in their wedding party. She remembers Leo. Leo’s a friend.

“Leo.” He’s learned from talking to Jed that you have to be patient with her. It takes her longer than it once did to pick up on things.

“Yeah.”

“Hi, Leo.” He smiles. She sounds so young.

“Hello, Abigail. What are you doing?” She looks down at her papers and her multi-colored marking and remembers what Jed called it.

“Writing letters.” He nods. She reminds him of Mallory when she was small. She sounded just like this.

“That’s wonderful, honey. Are you having fun?” Abbey draws a little crooked heart on the corner of her paper for Jed.

“Yes.”

“Good. Abbey, is Jed there?” She looks around again. The water isn’t running anymore. He must be done with the dishes.

“I don’t know.” At that moment, Jed walks in, still drying his hands. He sees Abbey with the phone and nods towards it, asking who’s on. She holds it out to him. “Leo’s on.” He gives an approving nod that she’s gotten the name so quickly. He takes the phone from her and winks before going back into the kitchen to talk.

She turns over her paper and gets an idea. She’s been doing some studying behind Jed’s back and wants to surprise him. When her social worker came to check on her, Jed had to print his name on a paper. She memorized the letters as best she could and when Jed left the room for a moment, she asked the woman to write down his name for her. She did and Abbey tucked it in one of her pockets. She’d already learned ‘E’ and ‘D,’ but she’d needed a little help with the first letter. When Zoey had called, once the ever-ensuing confusion had passed., Abbey asked her daughter for help. Zoey had happily agreed. It had taken a few visits and some doing, but eventually her mother was a pro with J’s. It gave Zoey joy to see her mother’s happiness. They had shared a long hug before Zoey left for DC, where most of the former Bartlet staff still worked. Her mother had stopped her before she left, telling her to be safe and sweet. She’d seen her mother in Abbey then. And Abbey had seen Abigail in herself. Both of their hearts were lighter that night.

She, keeping an ear out for Jed, begins to write his name in all caps, each letter a different color. Finally, she sits back and views her work. J-E-D. She smiles in satisfaction. Now, for the final, but major touch. She presses her left hand flat on the paper and begins the slow process of tracing. Soon, she finishes and is quite happy with the work she’s done. She hears Jed saying goodbye to Leo and looks about frantically for something to do with the piece of art. It isn’t done yet. At a loss for options, she folds it haphazardly and sticks it in her sweat suit jacket. She’ll give it to him later. Now isn’t the perfect time.

Jed walks back in with the cordless in hand and hangs it back up. Abbey pretends to be writing and peeks at him as he walks back to his seat. She doesn’t think he suspects a thing. He knows that she doesn’t suspect what’s about to happen. She works diligently with her ‘G’s again and he watches her and waits for the right moment. Silence spreads between them and it doesn’t seem to be coming. He finally sighs and rests his hand on top of hers.

“Abbey, sweetheart, I have as surprise for you.” She looks up at him and reads his lips for better understanding. He tips her chin up so that their eyes meet. “Don’t you think it’s about time you got out of that chair?” Her brow furrows in confusion. “I’m gonna teach you how to walk again. Are you ready?” She points to herself, her eyes saying Me? He only nods.

He comes around the table and takes hold of her wheelchair. “Yes, you and yes, today. Walk with me, girlfriend.” She twists around to give him a puzzled look and he shrugs. “Hey, I saw it on TV.” He pushes her down the hall the a room she can’t remember being in.

He nudges the door open in front of her and wheels her into a converted guest bedroom. There are gym mats on the floor and arm braces resting against the wall. She looks back at Jed and waits. He’d brought her there. He was so explaining this to her. He braked her chair near the wall and proceeded to show her the works.

He stands between the metal bars and holds onto both. “You are going to use these to hold you up. And with me behind you, we will walk one step at a time.” She looks at him with a worried expression. He walks back over to her and kneels in front of her, taking her hands in his. “Hey, I’ll be there every step of the way. I’ll never leave you alone.” He takes her face in his hands presses a soft kiss to the corner of her lips. “Come on, trust me.” She nods hesitantly.

He pushes her to the end of the bars and gives her the chance to look them over. She puts a hand on each bar and pushes at them to test their stability. They don’t budge and she seems somewhat convinced.

“Don’t worry, you have a while before you get here. We want to build your muscular endurance up before we do anything. All right, we’re going to be working with these mats over here for the time being, then we’ll work with the bars.” He slides his arms under her and lifts her out of the chair. Instinctively, she wraps her arms around his neck as he transports her to the edge of the mat. He stretches his arms and his back after he puts her down. She’s not as small as she was before.

He crouches down beside her and, instructing her all the way, lays her back down on the mat. “It’s okay. I know it seems a little strange, but you’ll get used to it.” Her expression says that she begs to differ. “Yes, you will. Stop being so disagreeable.” She sticks her tongue out at her and he returns the favor. “Ah, you did it again. You will not distract me. I am on a mission and I will succeed.” She wrinkles up her nose to let him know that it will be a very difficult task to accomplish without her cooperation. “Oh, I see. So, you never want to walk again. I guess that means that I can never show you the barn or take you to the pond behind the house.” She sets her face in a frown, but grudgingly agrees to go along with this. “Good. I knew you’d see it my way.” She only glares and sulks some more. “Oh, stop it.” He unties her shoes and pulls them off with her socks and tosses them aside.

Finally, he centers himself and rests his hands on each side of her breasts. He pulls them down all the way to her feet to cup her heels. He presses the pads of his thumbs into the instep of each of her feet. He looks up at her to see if she’s reacting so far. Nothing at first. Then, he presses down in a circular motion to the ball of her feet. Just like he expected, they jerk in his hands. She seems just as surprised as he. Good, well until they really wake up. She won’t enjoy that. Pins and needles.

“Now this may not feel very good. Okay? If it hurts, hit the mat. It should stop in a little bit. If it doesn’t stop after a while, let me know. Okay, sweetie?” She nods, still looking so pensive. He reaches up and takes her hand. “Hey, just trust me.” She nods. “All right, here goes.” He pulls her leg into his lap and starts to rub her calf. She groans uncomfortably. “Yeah, I know, pins and needles. It’ll pass.” He rubs his hands up and down as she bangs her hands on the mat. She whimpers and exhales. He lightens his touch ever so slightly. “A little bit better.” She shrugs but calms down and quiets herself.

“I’m going to do the other one, now. You ready?” She shrugs again, saving her strength. He sets her first leg down and picks up the next one. “This is gonna feel just like that one. I’m starting.” She closes her eyes with clenched fists. He hates to see her in so much discomfort but knows that she’ll appreciate the effort later on. Her toes curl as he massages this calf. She breathes through gritted teeth and the muscles tense beneath his fingers. Her knees jerk as they start to wake up a bit.

He rubs his knuckles behind her knees and up past her thighs, one at a time. She knocks her hands on her thighs trying to force the tingling to cease, but to no avail. He catches her hands and sets them firmly down at her sides. She “harrumphs” at him for old time’s sake. He rolls his eyes and returns to his task. To soothe the stinging, he kneads the tops and sides of her thighs until she looks at him with approval again.

“You happy, brat?” She narrows her very green eyes at him and socks him in the arm. She shows off her feral grin and he leans back. “Well, excuse me, Miss Thing.” She rolls her eyes. “For the next step.” Her eyes widen in alarm.

“No!”

“Abbey.” She shakes her head and tries to push herself away from him.

“No.”

“Yes.” Her bottom lips wobbles and his heart melts. “Come on, for me. Let’s just finish this and we can take a little nap in my bed.” She perks up a little. “For me, babe?” She peers into his eyes skeptically, but concedes. He shares a little Eskimo kiss with her pouty self and kisses her lightly. The smile finally comes back...for a second.

Jackass.

He looks up at her as if he can hear what she’s thinking and she snickers naughtily because she knows that he can’t. He pinches her bottom and she jumps, looking quite offended.

He’d show her Jackass.

The look in his eyes told her that she was in for quite the afternoon.

The look in her eyes told him to bring it on.

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