Ghosts in the Smoke Part 13

Disclaimer: I don't own these lovely characters, Aaron Sorkin and his friends do.

Sam and Josh are caught in a hotel fire.

Spoilers: Everything up through The Leadership Breakfast (set two days later)

Archive: Anywhere you want, just please e-mail me Partnrpal@aol.com

Ghosts in the Smoke

By Mer

Part 13

D.C. Hilton

“Okay there has just got to be a way to get him out of here. We have to think for a moment.” Kenny said as he began to pace around the still unconscious Josh.

“I’ve never had this happen to me before.” Jason said quietly.

“Me neither.” Jimmy admitted.

“I’ve never been trapped in a fire like this, but I just think that there is some obvious way out that we are missing. I mean we can’t just throw him out the window because his body will never survive the impact because he’s in shock.” Kenny stated.

“What about this? Okay I know this might sound like a dumb idea, but what if I jump out the window and then grab a backboard and come back up on the ladder? Do you think that will work?” Jason asked.

“It might but does the ladder reach up five floors?” Jimmy asked.

“I think it does but the fire might be too hot for it to get so close.” Kenny replied.

“Well do you guys have any other ideas?” Jason asked.

“No.” Jimmy said shaking his head.

“I guess we can try it.” Kenny consented, looking down at Josh.

“This will work.” Jason said as he placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Just hurry. He doesn’t have much time left.” Kenny replied without looking away from Josh.

Jason went to the window and radioed that he was jumping out. Jimmy got up to watch and make sure that Jason got down okay but Kenny did not. He’s gaze was glued to Josh and the lack of movements Josh was making.

Kenny went to sit down and he accidentally bumped Josh’s arm. Josh’s eyes slowly opened. Kenny noticed the terrified look on Josh’s face. He could tell that Josh was looking for Sam. He placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Your friend is safe. They took him to the hospital. He’s going to be okay.” Kenny soothed.

Josh relaxed a little bit. He couldn’t quite make out what the firefighter was saying but he knew that Sam had at least made it out. Josh tried to open his mouth to speak, but it was hard enough to breath so he thought against it. Sam was safe so that was all that mattered. He had let Joanie die all of those years ago and this seemed like she was finally paying him back.

Pain consumed his body much like it had after he had been shot. It really hurt to breath and he just felt so tired and weak. He had a feeling that if he closed his eyes again that he would never wake back up. And that thought seemed like a good idea. But he wasn’t sure whether he really should give in to it.

His head began to fill with flashbacks again and he didn’t really care anymore. He figured that it was deserved. Josh couldn’t even remember where he was at or why he could smell that horrid smoke smell. Part of him wasn’t sure what was real and what was a flashback. He did know that one way or the other he wanted it to end.

The firefighter had continued to talk to him and though he was in too much pain to understand a word of it, he could tell that the voice was calm and soothing. Again that was much like his friend’s voices after he had been shot. Their voices are what kept him hanging on. And while this firefighter might not have been a friend he was trying to fill that void.

Before he could really put much more thought into the idea of just falling back asleep he saw the face of two other firefighters. Then he felt himself being slid on to something hard. The one with the reassuring voice was talking a little more excitedly and Josh knew that he was finally going to get out of the hotel.

Georgetown Hospital-Waiting Room

Toby went back to pacing around the room. This waiting for Sam to get out of surgery was agonizing. At least he knew that Sam was going to be okay. There still wasn’t any word on Josh. Toby kind of preferred it that way. As long as there wasn’t any news than there wasn’t any bad news to have to report to Sam.

Toby had realized sometime earlier in his pacing that he envied the friendship that Josh and Sam had. Sure it annoyed the hell out of him sometime when Josh would distract Sam as Sam was supposed to be writing a speech. But they had a real friendship and that bothered him.

He tried to remember when he actually stopped having friends. He couldn’t really think of when that was. They had just drifted out of his life one by one. Hell his own marriage didn’t even last, because he and Andi had slowly drifted apart. He guessed that he could blame it on his job, but he loved what he did. And more importantly he loved that he didn’t have any friends or any worries like that.

Or at least he used to think he loved that. Things had changed after the shooting in August. Or they had for a while anyway. He and C.J. used to talk to each other about their fears, but they hadn’t done that in a long time. He equated that to his plain stubbornness. Easier to stay in a little shell if no one bothers you with friendship stuff.

But he had realized that he needed friends. Sam would be the perfect candidate to be his friend, though he hadn’t seriously meant replacing Josh as Sam’s best friend. At least when Sam was out of surgery, he would be the one to be able to comfort Sam. That was a job he was willing to take. After all, it was pretty easy to say that there hasn’t been any news.

Toby stopped in mid-pace as his attention turned to the television just as the firefighters were trying to carry Josh down a ladder on a backboard. Even from the crappy camera angle it was easy for Toby to see that Josh was barely alive.

“Damn, now what am I going to tell Sam?” Toby muttered.

“Tell Sam about what?” Jed Bartlet asked as he came into the room.

“Sir, I didn’t realize you were in the doorway.” Toby apologized as he turned around to face him.

“No need to apologize. Why are you blocking the television?” Jed asked and for the first time Toby realized that he was.

“Sorry.” Toby said as he moved so that the screen was unblocked.

The room was filled with an uneasy quiet as the two of them watched what was unfolding on the television. The only noise was from the sirens that could be heard from the scene of the fire. Not even the reporters were speaking. Even they didn’t know what to say.

“Have you heard any word on Sam?” Jed said once he turned his attention back from the screen.

“No he’s still in surgery.” Toby replied.

“It’s a damn shame. None of this should ever have happened! And now look Sam could lose his leg and Josh looks like he might not even survive a trip to the hospital.” Jed replied angrily, gesturing at the screen.

“I should have tried to convince Leo not to make them go.” Toby stated quietly.

“This isn’t your fault Toby. Leo was mad at them and I guess he had his reasons but this is the last time that we are going to allow him to give in to blackmail.” Jed replied.

“Where’s C.J?” Toby asked trying to change the subject.

“She was on her way in but now she will probably have to give a press briefing about Josh’s rescue so she might be a while.” Jed replied.

“And everybody else?” Toby asked remembering that last time the waiting room had been swarmed with people.

“On their way I guess. Ron wanted to sneak me in with as low of a profile as he could which is why I came alone. Toby, there are days when I hate being president. And then there are days when I wish I had more power than I do.” Jed commented.

“And today would be which of those two days, sir?” Toby asked.

“The second option, definitely the second option.” Jed replied as he looked at the screen again.

“Good you did make it.” Leo said as he entered the room followed by Donna and C.J.

“Don’t you have a press briefing to give?” Toby asked C.J. a little more harshly than he had intended.

“No need to right now, all of the press deadlines have passed so they can’t really send anything out until later anyway. They told me to come to the hospital.” C.J. replied.

“They told you to come?” Toby asked.

“Yes.” C.J. replied not realizing what the big deal was.

“I think that it’s high time this administration stopped listening to what others tell us to do and to start doing things on our own.” Jed stated.

“Yes but then we would lose the voice of the people if we followed that logic.” Leo replied.

“Is it too late to become a dictatorship?” Jed joked lightly.

“Yeah do you know what a bitch that would be to get it past the house and the senate?” Leo replied.

“I doubt that they would pass it, sir.” Donna replied softly.

“I know I was just kidding.” Jed replied seeing the pain that everyone was trying to hide.

After his last statement the door creaked open and a scrub-clad doctor appeared. Toby recognized him as Dr. Andrews. He couldn’t help but notice the patches of blood on the doctor’s scrubs.

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