Ghosts in the Smoke Part 25

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 25

The Oval Office

"Yes, I understand. Let me know the minute that he is taken into custody. Violence against my staff is not taken lightly. Please keep me informed." Jed said into the telephone, right before he hung it up.

"Mr. President, Leo's here to see you now." Charlie said once he noticed the president was off the phone.

"By all means show him in Charlie. Oh and has anyone seen Toby yet this morning?" Jed asked.

"Not that I know of sir. Would you like me to track him down?" Charlie asked.

"That's okay, just let Leo in." Jed urged.

"Good morning Mr. President what was so urgent that you had to pull me away from the hospital?" Leo asked once he entered the room.

"This." Jed said tossing a folder at him.

Leo looked at him strangely but decided to read what was in the folder before he said anything else. The folder contained the initial reports of the fire. It turned out that it wasn't a faulty wire after all. Leo threw the folder down in disgust.

"Is this for real? Please tell that this is some kind of joke. Tell me that a small bomb didn't go off last night, with the intention of Josh and Sam getting killed." Leo asked angrily.

"Apparently, after the press briefing announcing that Josh and Sam were going to attend the auction a small bomb was strategically placed by the wires. The bomb exploded and then the wires caught on fire. And the building burned just like it was supposed to. The only flaw in the plan was that the bomb was placed on the seventh floor and not on the sixth like it was supposed to." Jed replied.

"Who could've done such a thing? I mean who would want to kill Sam and Josh?" Leo asked in a quiet voice.

"They don't know yet. But they are pretty sure that Senator Michael Herman had a hand in it. I guess it turns out that there was no charity event going on last night." Jed replied.

"What the hell? What has this world come to when senators are trying to knock off Senior Staff members? If I ever see Mike again…" Leo threatened.

"Lets move this conversation outside." Jed stated, realizing the last thing they needed was for Leo to be plotting someone's murder in the Oval Office.

"I really don't understand why he would do something like that. What the hell happened to make Senator Herman hate us so much that he would want to get rid of Josh and Sam? I mean he was adamant that they both be there, so I just assumed that they had both just pissed him off." Leo replied once they got outside.

"I don't know. We are going to have to call C.J. back because when the press gets a hold of this information…" Jed began.

"I know. I know. I'm sure the news of the fake charity event has already spread like wildfire. I guess that is why there weren't more injuries, because that event was never planned in the first place. C.J.'s going to be ambushed." Leo said rubbing his temples.

"And you are going to have to let Toby out of the doghouse so that he can help her with a statement." Jed stated.

"Toby has been banned from the hospital not from his job." Leo replied crossly.

"Well, whatever just get him in on this." Jed stated.

"If I could find him I would. I've tried to call him but I haven't been able to reach him." Leo sighed.

"Maybe he's using the time to cool off." Jed suggested.

"He had better be doing that." Leo replied.

They both were quiet for a moment. Jed knew that Leo had every reason to be pissed at Toby; hell he was even a little mad at him, himself. But he also knew that this was something Leo wanted to deal with on his own, so he decided to just leave it be.

"How are Josh and Sam doing?" Jed asked, just as Charlie came out and handed him a note. "Thank you Charlie."

"What does it say?" Leo asked, holding his breath.

"It says that there was an incident with Sam when he was in Josh's room." Jed replied quietly.

"Well, what kind of incident?" Leo demanded.
"Sam's gone off the deep end. He's even worse than he was last night. They have to place him in the 72-hour Psych hold." Jed replied as he shook his head sadly and crumpled up the note.

"Something really bad must have happened for them to take that drastic of a measure." Leo mumbled.

"The note didn't say what exactly happened it just said that Abbey would give me more details later." Jed replied.

"We definitely have to keep that away from the press. They can't know that Sam is psychotic. They'll urge that you fire him." Leo stated.

"Nobody's gonna tell the press anything. And besides I'm not going to fire Sam. He is too valuable to this administration to fire. It already appears that we have lost Josh's services for awhile, we can't afford to lose another man." Jed replied.

Georgetown Hospital-A secluded waiting room

"Mrs. Bartlet, I know that Mr. Seaborn is an important member of your husband's staff but he needs help." Dr. Allie Bleuer said.

"I'm not debating you on that fact. I'm just saying that he needs to be kept off the psych floor. Can't you just treat him in the room he is in, the same way that you would treat him if he were upstairs?" Abbey asked.

"Ma'am the staff on the fifth floor is really better trained at handling situations like this. It would be too easy for a similar incident to occur if he were left down here. Someone could get hurt." Dr. Bleuer stated.

"Dr. Bleuer I don't mean to be difficult but is there anyway that you could arrange for few member staff to monitor him down here? He has already been traumatized enough and I don't think placing him in a padded room with a door that locks from the nurses station is really going to help him." Abbey stated.

"I will see what I can do, but you must first agree to a few conditions for the safety of the hospital staff and the other patients on the floor." Dr. Bleuer relented.

"What would those conditions be?" Abbey asked with slight annoyance.

"That for one he is to be in some sort of restraints at all time. I understand that his leg is badly injured but…" Dr. Bleuer began but was cut off.

"Okay, he can be restrained. Can we please speed this up a little, not to be rude but I am a very busy lady." Abbey said.

"Alright, all visitors must be cleared with me first until we figure out what exactly happened to him in Mr. Lyman's room. And the list of people allowed to see him should be kept to three or four. The people on the list must agree to try not to just simply appease him but tell him the truth." Dr. Bleuer stated.

"I think that can be arranged." Abbey replied.

"I also reserve the right to move him to the fifth floor if I deem him too dangerous to be left down here. I'm not saying he's too dangerous right now, I'm saying that if any one gets hurt while he's down here, I will not hesitate to move him." Dr. Bleuer stated.

"I guess you have to look out for the welfare of others." Abbey sighed.

"Mrs. Bartlet, I know that you think I am being harsh and you may even think I am a bitch. But I am trained especially to deal with situations like this. A comatose patient was attacked today; I know that the patient was the best friend of Mr. Seaborn, but regardless of who it was I can't let it happen at this hospital. I understand that you have been placed in a very tough position, which is why you have been forced to ask for special care for Mr. Seaborn. But I will not treat him any differently than I would any other patient." Dr. Bleuer warned.

"I'm not asking you to treat him any differently. I know that he needs help. The Sam that I saw this afternoon is not the same Sam that I have known for the best four years. There was definitely something wrong with the way that he was acting. When Josh didn't wake up he only got more and more violent. Sam has never been that violent of a person before. C.J. was scared of him, and C.J. isn't afraid of anything. All I really want is for you to help him, but I am trying to get him help in a way that doesn't cost him his career. If the press finds out about what happened earlier it will be disastrous and I highly doubt that will help Sam any." Abbey replied.

"I understand that Mr. Seaborn's condition has been placed under wraps already, with the White House being the only people to decide what to give out and I will do my best to try and make sure that it stays that way. If we do have to move him I will make sure that he is given a different name and that he will remain in the hospital computer as having this room. Does that make you feel any better?" Dr. Bleuer replied.

"Yes, thank you. Just please get him the help that he needs." Abbey replied.

"I understand that his condition is somehow closely related to Mr. Lyman's, so is there any tidbits of information that I might find useful in helping to treat Mr. Seaborn?" Dr. Bleuer asked.

"Josh is his best friend and they were both trapped in a fire to which the flames got dangerously close to them. I know that Sam feels guilty about them being there in the first place and that while treating an injury that Josh received he got some blood on his hands. That was one of the things that he was screaming out. So I think he feels that Josh's pain is completely his fault." Abbey replied.

"Thank you. I will try and help him." Dr. Bleuer assured him.

"Please do before more members of my husband's staff end up under your care." Abbey murmured softly as she turned and walked away.

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