Ghosts in the Smoke Part 28

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 28

Leo's Office

"Leo what in the hell was he thinking? Is he really involved?" C.J. demanded as she burst into Leo's office.

“Good morning to you too, C.J.” Leo answered as he looked up from the file he was reading.

“Why the hell did Senator Herman get involved in a plot to try and kill Josh and Sam? Besides Sam’s mouth running afoul yesterday what have they done to deserve this? I mean yeah Josh can get a little arrogant sometimes and Sam can be a klutz but are those really reasons to kill someone?” C.J. demanded.

"I guess Senator Herman has been under surveillance by the CIA for a couple of months now. Details are very sketchy right now but it appears that he has been working with a group of terrorists. How and why he got involved with the terrorists are still unknown." Leo said with a heavy sigh.

“Terrorists? How does a Senator from Wisconsin get involved with a group of terrorists?” C.J. asked.

“I don’t know. All I know was that the auction announcement was a cover.” Leo replied.

"Leo, why would they want to fake a charity auction? What kind of person does something like that? If he were under surveillance how did we not know about it? How were we not told. Leo, Josh and..." C.J. asked but was cut off.

"C.J. I don't know. I wish I did know, but all I know is that I sent two of my people into an ambush. Believe me if I would’ve had had knowledge in advance there is no way that I would’ve sent them. But I didn’t know and now Josh is fighting for his life and Sam is fighting to stay sane. I should've done some research into this first. I never should have just agreed to make them do it, because that was a stupid mistake and unfortunately they will never be the same because of it." Leo interrupted as he rubbed his temples.

"Leo you couldn't have known." C.J. whispered softly.

"Oh but I should have. I let my anger get the best of me and I did something very careless, I gave in to political blackmail. I should've known better. C.J. I am the Chief of Staff, it is my job to look after the people that serve under me. It is my job to make sure that no one tries to blackmail the President. But I guess I forgot that it is also my job to make sure that no one blackmails me." Leo said as he slammed his fist down on the desk.

"What does the President have to say about this?" C.J. asked.

"Oh he was mad that I sent them in the first place, so now he's pissed as hell. He wants Senator Herman's head on a silver platter. The only problem with that is that I think that the next head he'll want is mine. And rightly so, I screwed up big time. I should resign before the press finds out and forces me to. ” Leo replied as he looked down at his desk.

“This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have any way of knowing that this would happen just like we didn’t know that we were going to get shot at after the Town Meeting speech. The press is not going to call for your firing. And even if they do, they wanted you fired before, yet here you still are.” C.J. pointed out.

“It doesn’t make it any easier, C.J. if I had just walked away when the rehab stuff came out, my life would be a lot simpler. I would have a lot less of a reason to reach for the bottle right now. And on that depressing note you heard the latest about Sam right?” Leo asked.

“Yeah, I ran in the room to try and stop him from pounding Josh and he knocked me down.” C.J. replied.

“Are you okay?” Leo’s voice rang with concern.

“Believe me, me being knocked on my ass is the least of our problems. What am I supposed to tell the press about Senator Herman? I mean we can’t tell them what they already know because they’ll wonder why we even called the briefing in the first place.” C.J. stated.

“I’m hoping that Josh’s friend at the CIA will help me out with what they have on him.” Leo replied.

“I thought that Josh’s guy was in the FBI but that’s not really all that important. I just need someone to help me prepare the statement because I doubt most of the things I want to say aren’t suitable for late night television let alone news print.” C.J. lamented.

“Well, I wanted Toby to help you on this and Ginger said that they just got a hold of him. He swore that he would be in by eleven.” Leo sighed angrily.

C.J. glanced down at the clock and it read 10:50. Toby still had ten more minutes. She knew that Leo was probably still mad at Toby from the night before. She also knew that everyone had been trying to call him all morning. Toby deserved a good ass-chewing and she knew that Leo was in the kind of mood where that ass-chewing could last the rest of the day.

“Leo, can you let him help me with the statement before you lay into him?” C.J. begged.

“Yeah, there is too much going on right now to do that to him, as much I would like to.” Leo replied.

“Has there been any news on Josh?” C.J. asked.

“No, I guess his condition hasn’t changed. The last time he made any type of movement or sound was when he had a nightmare right after he got out of surgery. After the pounding that Sam gave him and his lack of response, the doctors doubt that he’ll wake up anytime time soon.” Leo replied.

“Can Sam handle that?” C.J. asked.

“C.J. I don’t know if I can handle that and I am relatively sane.” Leo pointed out.

Georgetown Hospital-Dr. Bleuer’s office

“Patient S seems to have strong attachment to the other person he was trapped in a fire with. Patient S seems to need Patient J to be okay so that everything in his world is okay. Has been having violent mood swings that friends and co-workers say are very uncharacteristic. Has also admitted to talking to a ghost of a former best friend. The ghost voice that he thinks he hears has been very negative and he seems to be believing every word.” Dr. Bleuer said into her tape recorder, as there was a knock on her door.

“Dr. Bleuer can I speak with you for a moment?” Abbey said after Dr. Bleuer told her to come in.

“Ma’am.” Dr. Bleuer said as she rose to her feet.

“You don’t have to stand up for me, only my husband commands that kind of respect. I’m not even a peon on the political ladder.” Abbey joked.

“Very well then. What can I help you with?” Dr. Bleuer asked knowing full well what Abbey wanted to talk to her about.

“I need to talk to you about Sam.” Abbey said slowly.

“What aren’t the restraints good enough for you now? Because I gotta tell you I’m not budging on that. You’re lucky that I agreed to keeping him in the room he’s in now.” Dr. Bleuer replied.

“I wasn’t going to talk to you about the restraints, I saw his attack on Josh remember?” Abbey replied.

“A visit which was ill-advised in the first place.” Dr. Bleuer muttered.

“I didn’t come here to talk to you about whether or not Sam should have visited Josh.” Abbey stated her voice showing a trace of anger.

“Then you want me to speak to you about his case. Look I know that you are the First Lady, but I am not going to speak to you about his case. I’m sorry but I just don’t do those kinds of things.” Dr. Bleuer replied.

“Dr. Bleuer, I don’t mean to step on your toes but Sam isn’t your normal patient. He works for the President of the United States. He has knowledge of very sensitive topics that aren’t to be repeated. I’m sorry but I need to know about his condition. I promise you that you won’t hear about it on the news tomorrow morning. I wouldn’t be asking you if I weren’t a doctor.” Abbey stated.

“But being a doctor you should know better than to ask me.” Dr. Bleuer retorted.

“Listen, I understand that I have probably given you every reason to hate me, but I need to know. I need to know why he just snapped earlier. I need to know why it looked like he was going to kill Josh if Josh didn’t wake up.” Abbey replied.

“And you know I can’t answer any of those questions yet. All I can think of is some kind of post traumatic disorder mixing with the infection that they just got under control. I honestly don’t know. Maybe it’s survivor’s guilt or maybe it’s smoke created dementia. I just have no idea right now. He seems to be so fiercely protective of Josh. From what I’m told he didn’t want to even be taken to the hospital until he knew that they had gotten Josh out too. But what it doesn’t explain is why he reacted so violently when Josh wouldn’t wake up. Many psychologists wait years for a case this complex and here it was just dropped into my lap.” Dr. Bleuer said excitedly.

“You consider Sam to just be a case that other psychologists would love to get their hands on?” Abbey exclaimed, her voice definitely rising a few notches.

“You see I think that he still has some unresolved issues with his friend Matt that died a long time ago. And I think that he was negatively affected by the shooting last summer, and add the fire and the fact that he works for the President to that mix and you’ve got one hell of an interesting case.” Dr. Bleuer replied.

“I can’t believe you are more worried about how interesting the case is. Isn’t the fact that he needs your help enough?” Abbey asked.

“Normally it would be, but he’s my meal ticket to bigger and better things.” Dr. Bleuer replied.

“I can’t believe what I am hearing. I will fight to have him placed under another’s doctor’s care, mark my words.” Abbey fumed.

“Why would you ever want to do a thing like that?” Dr. Bleuer replied with a cocky smile.

“I will make sure that you never treat another patient in this town again.” Abbey said as she stomped out of the room.

“Hey Mike, yeah I know the police are on to you, but don’t worry I got the First Lady hook line and sinker. We may go down in flames but the Bartlet Administration is going down with us.” Dr. Bleuer cackled into the phone.

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