Ghosts in the Smoke part 16

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 16

Georgetown Hospital-Sam's Hospital Room

Toby had gone back and sat down by Sam's bedside. He had lost track of how long he had been sitting there. He also was totally unaware that Leo had been watching him closely from the doorway for a few minutes. Toby thought that he had been doing a good job of keeping his emotions in check, but Leo could see the strain in his posture and he knew that Toby was just as much of a wreck as everyone else was.

"How is he?" Leo asked once he entered Sam's room.

"There really hasn't been any change in his condition. He's battling an infection." Toby said with a heavy sigh.

"Toby why don't you go and get some coffee or something?" Leo suggested.

"I need to be here for when Sam wakes up again." Toby protested.

"What are you like two years old? I've never heard you whine like that." Leo scolded lightly.

"I would rather not leave him if that's okay with you." Toby replied without looking Leo in the eye.

"Toby, you need to take a break from this." Leo stated.

"Leo, I'm okay so can we just leave it at that?" Toby asked hoping that Leo would just leave.

"Toby…" Leo warned.

"Leo, I swear that I am fine. I swear that I can handle my emotions. I'm not going to let them bottle up and spill over. I know what I am doing." Toby replied, coming dangerously close to snapping at him.

"I'm glad that you have such a handle on your emotions. I feel sorry for all of those around you who aren't as fortunate as you." Leo muttered, and Toby could hear the pain in his voice.

Toby caught the reference in Leo's words; he meant that while Toby might be okay none of the rest of them were. He wondered about C.J. and Donna and how they were coping. Then it dawned on him that the reason that they had all left him was to go and check on Josh.

"God, Leo I forgot to ask, what ever happened with Josh? He's going to be alright isn't he?" Toby asked as he turned to look at Leo.

"His prognosis isn't very good." Leo replied averting his eyes from Toby's sudden intense stare.

"Leo…" Toby's voice trailed, not really knowing how to express his feelings of sympathy.

"All I'm saying is that you look as bad as the rest of us do, and we all need to deal with this." Leo replied.

Toby caught the unspoken meaning in Leo's words; Leo was trying to prevent him from bottling up all of his emotions inside. They had all seen what that had done to Josh just a few weeks earlier. Toby sighed deeply before replying.

"How is everyone else?" He finally asked.

"C.J. and Donna are both a bit dazed to say the least. The President is holding up pretty well though he's pissed as hell." Leo replied.

"And how are you?" Toby asked as gently as he could.

"I'd feel a whole lot better if I had a bottle of Jack in my hand." Leo replied, but then he waved off Toby's concern. "Don't worry I'm not going to drink, but there are times when I wish I could just get drunk one more time."

"Is there anything that I can do to help?" Toby asked.

"Yeah, take it easy okay. Let yourself deal with this before it's too late. I don't need any more of my staff members punching holes in their windows." Leo replied.

"I thought he broke a glass." Toby questioned slowly. "No, it wasn't a glass. But I wish that was the only injury I had to deal with. Life was so much simpler when I only had to deal with that. But now I instead of having to deal with Josh lying about a cut hand, I have to deal with Josh maybe not making it through surgery and Sam lying in that bed with the possibility of losing his leg." Leo replied his voice a little shaky.

Georgetown Surgical Observation Room

"Has it really only been six months since the last time I was here?" Jed asked softly, his gaze focused on the surgeons operating on Josh.

"Yeah." C.J. replied slowly.

"You know it's times like these when we realize how important the people that we love are to us. I mean you think that we would've learned after the shooting but I guess not. You think that we would've learned to tell them that we care. But we haven't yet so here we are again hoping that he survives this surgery so we get another chance to make things right." Jed stated quietly.

"He was getting better you know? For the first time since Christmas the light was starting to come back in his eyes, and he was starting to laugh again." Donna stated nearly in tears.

"Yeah what's this about an underwear incident?" Jed asked with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I'm sure that's still something that Donna wants to throttle Josh over, sir." C.J. replied.

"Nah we made up this afternoon." Donna replied her voice catching a little.

"Donna do you remember the day that Josh got that special card? You know the one that said he could go to safety in case of a nuclear attack?" Jed asked slowly.

"Vaguely. I remember that he turned it back in." Donna replied.

"He turned it back in because he wanted to be there with us in our time of need." C.J. recalled.

"I mean do you know what happened before that?" Jed asked.

"No." They both replied.

"He first asked what would happen to his staff. He wanted to make sure that you could come with him." Jed stated gently.

"I don't remember him saying that." C.J. replied.

"Leo told me that was his first question after he was told about the card, and that's why he was acting weird for the rest of the day. He felt bad because he was getting a card that would ensure his safety but you guys weren't." Jed recalled with a smile.

"That's why he turned his card in? I mean, Mr. President, he turned his card in because of that?" Donna asked.

"Yeah. I was never prouder than I was that day. What I'm trying to say is don't give out on the boy yet. I don't think he wants to move on to safety with everyone he cares about still caught in the storm." Jed said turning his attention back out to the operation.

"I always knew he could be really sweet." C.J. murmured.

"But who can forget some of his finer moments in this administration?" Jed asked with a smile.

"You mean like his secret plan to fight inflation?" C.J. suggested.

"Or his comments on Capital Beat?" Jed asked.

"Sam told me this one, the day that he was vetting Charlie he actually tried to make sure that Charlie wasn't gay." Donna replied.

"Seriously?" C.J. asked.

"What did Charlie say?" Jed asked with a curious expression plastered on his face.

"Sam told Charlie not to answer." Donna replied.

"Now if we want to talk about some of Sam's finer moments, there is a bunch to choose from." C.J. suggested.

"How about giving Mallory's class a talk about the White House which he knows nothing about?" Jed offered.

"Yeah can you believe that he actually tried to give her a tour and then couldn't even name the right Roosevelt the room was named for, the whole time staring at a huge painting of him?" C.J. asked.

"That would have to be pretty bad but my favorite would be his sleeping with the call girl." Donna laughed.

"My all-time favorite stunt that both of them pulled would have to have been that fire they started the other night. Not only was I impressed that they could start an actual fire but I was impressed that they both tried to play it off as no big deal when the smoke was filling the hallways. I have to give them some credit for being able to put it out before too much damage was done. That room though is probably always going to smell like smoke." Jed replied.

C.J. tried to dismiss his comments about the fire, but Donna wasn't quite as lucky. She bolted from the room before her tears could become visible. Jed's heart sunk as he watched her scurry out of the room.

"I didn't mean…" He stuttered.

"I know, sir." C.J. replied looking out the observation window. "I know."

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