Ghosts in the Smoke Part 14
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 14
Georgetown Hospital Waiting Room
The room had gone deathly silent once they saw the doctor. And like Toby everybody else noticed the smudges of blood on his scrubs. But then they weren’t thinking about it in terms of blood, they were thinking about it as being Sam. The scrubs were splattered with a piece of Sam.
“How is he?” Toby asked once he found his voice again.
“Mr. Seaborn is in the Recovery Room right now. We were able to repair the bone in his leg. But it is possible that an infection has set in. We are taking every possible precaution but right now it’s hard to say.” Dr. Andrews said slowly.
“So basically you’re saying that Sam could still lose his leg right?” Jed asked in a voice that caused Dr. Andrews to startle.
“Mr. President, I did all that I could. We just have to wait and see.” Dr. Andrews said quietly.
“Doctor assuming that Sam is able to keep his leg is there going to be any permanent negative effects?” C.J. asked.
“He will need to go through some extensive rehabilitation on it, but I think his leg will eventually be as good as new.” Dr. Andrews answered.
“What about the crazy stuff he was saying?” Donna asked.
“He was starting to go into shock, it was from his leg and from the smoke. I think some of it can be equated to Survivor’s Guilt, but I am no psychiatrist. “ Dr. Andrews replied sadly.
“Survivors Guilt?” C.J. asked.
“It’s when…” Dr. Andrews began but was cut off.
“I’ll explain it to her later. When can we see Sam?” Toby asked.
“In a little while after we have moved him to a normal room.” Dr. Andrews replied.
“And how long will that be?” Toby asked.
“Toby! Enough let the poor man do his job.” Leo said in a warning tone.
“I just need to be the first one to see Sam when he wakes up.” Toby protested.
“It will probably take a little time for the anesthetic to wear off.” Dr. Andrews said.
“Thank you, Doctor.” Jed said as the doctor turned to leave.
“Thank you, sir. I only wish that I could say that I met you under better circumstances.” Dr. Andrews said as he left the room.
“Yeah me too.” Jed called after him.
“Toby why are you so anxious to see Sam first anyway?” Donna asked after the room had gotten deathly quiet.
“I just need to tell him a few things.” Toby replied.
“Yeah like telling him that you have decided to kick Josh out of his position as Sam’s best friend.” C.J. muttered.
“Toby.” Leo warned.
“I didn’t mean it, I swear. Besides, Josh is on his way to the hospital as we speak so he will probably be able to keep his best friend spot.” Toby remarked somewhat bitterly.
“What?” C.J. asked.
“Which part are we unsure of?” Toby asked.
“The part where Josh is coming to the hospital.” C.J. stated.
“You didn’t know? I thought that’s why the three of you came together.” Toby said absently.
“You guys didn’t know? I mean it happened right after I got to the hospital. We both watched him being taken out live a couple of minutes ago.” Jed stated.
“No we came together to keep a low profile like Ron wanted. I guess we didn’t have the radio on or anything.” Leo said.
“How did he look?” Donna asked in an unsteady voice.
“Not very good. But then again neither did Sam and he’s going to be okay.” Toby said trying to make up for his insensitiveness earlier.
“Okay.” Donna managed to say without breaking down.
“Is someone going to tell me about survivor’s guilt or not?” C.J. demanded.
“Survivors guilt is like this, you know earlier when you found out that Josh’s sister died in the fire?” Leo began.
“Yeah.” C.J. nodded.
“The fact that he lived and she died that’s called survivors guilt.” Toby broke in.
“So just because he lived he automatically got survivor’s guilt?” C.J. asked.
“No, the fact that she died and Josh felt that there was some way that he should have been able to save her.” Leo replied.
“Or the fact that he wanted to have died with her.” Jed replied quietly.
“Oh.” C.J. replied.
“I think I should go downstairs and see if Josh has been brought in yet.” Jed stated softly.
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Leo asked.
“Yeah, they already kicked out all the psycho-killers, I’ll be fine.” Jed replied.
“I’m going with him.” Donna said softly.
“Me too.” Leo conceded.
“I’d better go as well. You coming Toby?” C.J. asked.
“No, I need to be here so I can talk to Sam.” Toby replied.
“Okay.” C.J. said.
Toby watched them all leave. He figured that maybe he should go down and check it out, so that he would have something to tell Sam if Sam asked. But he figured that not knowing for sure would be easier on Sam. Easier to say that everything is okay if you don’t know exactly what is wrong, Toby rationalized.
A few minutes later a nurse came in and said that he could see Sam. Toby had only nodded and had started to follow her down the hallway. He suddenly got this uneasy feeling. He remembered that before Sam went into surgery had he hadn’t been any comfort to him at all. Why was he so stupid to think that right now would be any different?
The nurse noticed his hesitation and she nudged him into Sam’s room. Toby stood in the doorway and drew a deep breath. He could do this. All he had to do was sit by the bed and tell reassuring lies to Sam. It shouldn’t be that hard, he had seen it down in a lot of movies.
“Pretty pathetic if I’m looking to movies for guidance.” Toby muttered to himself as he finally entered the room.
Toby went and sat down in the chair next to Sam’s bed. He contemplated holding Sam’s hand but then he thought against it. No he was definitely not going to hold Sam’s hand. He had a gruff image to uphold after all.
He had been sitting there for a few minutes when Sam opened his eyes. Sam looked at him weirdly as he tried to get his eye to focus. For a moment neither one of them said anything. Sam’s gaze was unnerving so Toby began to stare down at the blanket instead.
“Toby?” Sam asked with a touch of uncertainty in his voice.
“Yeah Sam, it’s me.” Toby said as he looked back up from the blanket.
“How’s Josh?” Sam asked in a very soft voice, so soft that Toby had to strain to hear it.
“Um…they got him out, if that’s what’s you’re asking.” Toby hedged.
“That’s not what I asked.” Sam replied.
“They are working on him right now. I came to see you instead.” Toby replied.
“Why?” Sam asked in a harsh voice.
“You didn’t want me to visit you?” Toby replied a little upset.
“It’s not that…I just didn’t expect it to be you.” Sam said quietly.
“Well you had better get used to it. Because someone has got to keep you in line.” Toby replied.
“Yeah, sure.” Sam said not appreciating Toby’s lame attempt at a joke.
“Besides if I don’t have you to yell at then what am I supposed to do?” Toby asked.
“There is the Toby we all know and love.” Sam muttered sleepily.
“What?” Toby asked with mock-hurt.
“I’ll tell you later. I need to sleep.” Sam murmured.
“Okay Sam. I’ll be right here.” Toby assured him.
“Thanks, I’d appreciate that.” Sam mumbled as he drifted back to sleep.
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