Ghosts in the Smoke Part 34

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 34

Georgetown Hospital Elevator

Abbey left the hospital Chief of Staff’s office feeling confident that things would start to look up for Sam once Dr. Bleuer was taken off as his doctor. She still had an uneasy feeling that she hadn’t gotten Dr. Bleuer removed soon enough. But she wondered if that was in part to do with Senator Herman’s plan.

Abbey sighed deeply. She wasn’t quite sure why Dr. Bleuer gave her such an uneasy feeling. There was just something about her attitude that rubbed Abbey the wrong way. Abbey hoped that she was overreacting. She hoped it was nothing. She wondered if being the first lady wasn’t part of the reason that she was so worried.

Before the elevator reached the floor that Sam’s room was on, a thought crossed Abbey’s mind and it made her shudder. She wondered if Dr. Bleuer was purposely mistreating Sam. Ever since Leo had quietly told her about the new theory regarding the fire, Abbey was beginning to wonder if that didn’t stretch to the hospital as well. She hated how cynical she had become and she hoped with all the hope she had that she was wrong.

She reached Sam’s floor and before she even exited the elevator her heart sank. She could hear the flurry of activity going on and she knew that it was in Sam’s room. Abbey knew without a doubt that Dr. Bleuer was behind it. She cursed softly before throwing up a quick prayer that Sam would be all right. Then with a heavy heart she began to walk down the hallway to Sam’s room.

Georgetown Hospital-Just outside of Josh’s room

Leo had tried to prepare Sarah for what she was about to see but then he paused at the doorway of Josh’s room. He wondered how much Sarah could take. She was already feeling guilty about not being a good enough mom and he knew that she had be reliving the few anxious hours in the hospital just before Joanie died. Sarah looked at Leo and she nodded, so he slowly moved away from the door.

“You know how you wanted to see Sam but then they wouldn’t let us?” Leo asked slowly.

“Yes.” Sarah replied.

“Before you go in to see Josh I guess that I should explain why. Sam is taking this really hard; in fact he’s gone a bit nuts. When he visited Josh, he attacked him and among other things Josh ended up with a black eye.” Leo stated slowly.

“He was attacked by his best friend? How much more punishment can my poor boy take?” Sarah asked in a very concerned voice.

“He’s stronger than he looks, honestly.” Leo assured her.

Before she could respond Josh’s doctor appeared. Leo breathed a small sigh of relief. Sarah had gotten a small reprieve from the horror that had become her son. Leo knew that despite her assurances that she wasn’t totally ready to see Josh. Hell he could barely stand to see Josh like that himself, and he saw Josh every day. He knew that there wasn’t any way that Sarah was truly prepared.

“I have the latest test results back on Josh.” The doctor said, looking straight at Leo and totally ignoring Sarah.

“Doctor this is Mrs. Sarah Lyman. She is Josh’s mother. I think that she deserves to be included in this conversation as well.” Leo interrupted.

“Pardon my rudeness ma’am. I am Josh’s head doctor. Mrs. Lyman why don’t we have a seat over here and I will answer any questions that you have about your son.” The doctor stated as he gestured over to a bank of chairs.

“Doctor before you begin I think you should know that I haven’t yet had a chance to see my son. Could you please just give me an overview of his injuries and his condition before you tell Leo what you originally intended to tell him?” Sarah asked softly.

“In the fire Josh was hit with some large debris. He received a nasty gash on his shoulder, which tore through some muscle. He also lost a lot of blood at the scene because of the limited resources his friend had to use to try and stop the bleeding. Because he was trapped for a long time, he inhaled a lot of some and has had some minor problems breathing. We were just giving him oxygen but we have since moved him to a ventilator to ease some of the pressure off of his lungs. He also received a head wound in the fire but when he was brought into the E.R. he was hovering near death. Josh was in shock from the loss of blood and was having trouble breathing that we put off paying any attention to his head wound because it appeared minor. That has turned out not to be the case.” The doctor began.

Sarah closed her eyes for a moment as she listened to the doctor. She got a flashback from all of those years ago when they brought Joanie out of the fire on a stretcher. She was said to have been hovering near death, and she was for she died a few hours later. Leo squeezed her hand because he knew what she was thinking. She opened her eyes and continued to listen to the doctor describe Josh’s injuries.

“It appears that there is some minor swelling of the brain, and we are contributing that to the shock that Josh was in from the blood loss.” The doctor finished.

“Does my son have any brain damage?” Sarah asked softly.

“Actually that is what I came here to tell Mr…” The doctor began but was interrupted.

“Call me Leo, please.” Leo supplied.

“That was what I was going to talk with Leo about. It is too early to tell for sure or not whether he has any brain damage, but it doesn’t appear that way right now. We will know more once he wakes up from the coma.” He said gently.

“Do you expect him to wake up soon?” Sarah asked.

“Coma’s are a strange thing, sometimes we can tell and sometimes we can’t. And unfortunately, right now Josh is in the latter category.” The doctor replied.

“Thank you doctor. I need to see my son now.” Sarah said as she gently excused herself.

“Doctor is there something that you are leaving out?” Leo asked once Sarah had slipped into Josh’s room.

“There is something that I left out. In the Recovery Room after surgery, Josh was responding the proper way. I mean it was a miracle considering everything that he has been through and all of a sudden he falls into a deep coma.” The doctor began.

“What are you trying to tell me?” Leo asked.

“Josh should have died in the fire. His companion should’ve to. There is no way that both of them should have survived in a smoke filled building for as long as they did. But Josh especially due to the previous scarring that was done to his lungs this summer. And then he survived the surgery which none of us expected. The coma came completely out of left field. He was responding like a patient should after his type of surgery…” The doctor paused near the end of his sentence.

“So where did the coma come from?” Leo asked.

“That’s the thing. There is no medical reason for his coma, not even that minor of brain swelling should have done it. Granted he would have a huge headache but that should have been about it." The doctor replied slowly.

"Thank you doctor, but if you'll excuse me I have to go check on Sam now." Leo as he hurried down to Sam's room.

Georgetown Hospital-Just outside of Sam's room

"Toby what's going on?" Abbey asked once she reached the end of the hallway.

"Sam began having another seizure, it was worse than the first one. This one caused him to stop breathing." Toby muttered angrily.

"What aren't you telling me?" Abbey asked once she realized that Toby was withholding some vital information from her.

"I think that it has something to do with that doctor. Sam was calmed down, I mea we had a nice long talk and the old Sam was back, the Sam that was horrified that he could beat Josh up. Then the doctor kicked me out of the room and by the time she left Sam's room the crazy Sam was back. He was ranting and raving again and then he started having the seizure." Toby replied, and Abbey could see the anger and terror in his eyes, so she knew that Toby was thinking the same thing that she was about Dr. Bleuer.

"I've had some misgivings about her myself. I actually talked to the chief of staff about her. He is in the process of removing her as Sam's doctor right now." Abbey assured him.

"If Sam dies because of her, so help me…" Toby began but let his voice trail off when he remembered that a secret service agent was right there.

"What's going on down here?" Leo asked once he got to where they were standing.

"Leo, Sam's having another seizure and we are worried about that his doctor might be part of the problem." Abbey answered quickly before the enraged Toby could say anything.

"Toby is there anything that you want to add?" Leo asked, sensing Toby's need to talk.

"Sam was fine until that damn doctor saw him. He was almost back to normal and then he got all-wild again after she saw him. Before I could calm him he began to have the seizure. " Toby explained angrily.

"Abbey is that true?" Leo asked with a shocked voice.

"I don't totally know for sure but I think that Toby's allegations are true." Abbey replied quietly.

"This can not be happening. I can't believe this." Leo mumbled throwing his hands up in the air.

"What?" Abbey and Toby asked together.

"You guys think that Sam's doctor is harming him more than helping him. Well, I just got done talking to Josh's doctor and that they can't find any medical reason for his coma." Leo replied angrily.

"So you're saying that the conspiracy hasn't isn't over yet?" Toby asked.

"It appears so." Leo mumbled.

"The president is not like going to like this." Abbey replied.

"The president isn't going to like this? I don't think that he's the only one. If I ever see Senator Herman again…" Toby threatened.

"Trust me Toby, you'll get your turn but I'm getting mine first." Leo said as he stormed down the hallway.

"Do you think that he's actually going to do something?" Toby asked, amazed.

"God, I hope so." Abbey muttered.

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