Ghosts in the Smoke Part 8

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 8

Toby’s Office

“What do you that you don’t know anything? I’m watching this on live television! Were they able to get them out or not?” Toby yelled into the phone.

Unsatisfied with the person’s answer Toby slammed the phone down in disgust. He turned his eyes back to the television set. He had just seen a section of the hotel come crashing down, the very same section that Sam and Josh were supposed to be in.

Toby angrily threw a rubber ball at the window. Sam had hated the bell so he had bought some balls, and this was actually his first opportunity to use one. The ball smashed a picture that he had on his wall, and the picture came crashing down. The glass made a loud sound as it shattered to the ground.

“You okay in here?” Ginger asked as she ran to her boss.

“I’m fine! Why is everyone worried about me, I’m not the one trapped.” Toby snapped.

“I just thought…” Ginger’s voice trailed off and she began to retreat back to her desk.

“What the hell was that about?” C.J. asked as she appeared in Toby’s doorway.

“The section of the hotel that Josh and Sam are stuck in just collapsed and they aren’t saying whether they got them out.” Toby replied.

“And the breaking of the glass…” C.J. asked.

“I broke a damn picture.” Toby replied.

“Okay. Listen I don’t think breaking anymore pictures or yelling at your assistant is going to help matters.” C.J. said, trying to calm him.

“It works for Josh.” Toby replied, which caused C.J. to shoot him an evil look. “I guess I never realized how much he means to me.”

“Sam?” C.J. guessed.

“Yeah. I mean most of the time he annoys the hell out of me, but that is like part of his charm I guess.” Toby relented.

“Toby, I’m sure that everything’s going to be fine.” C.J. assured.

“That logic might work for Donna, but it isn’t going to work for me.” Toby replied.

“You know right now, she’s doing better than you are.” C.J. replied causing Toby to look into Sam’s empty office.

“He was supposed to be here right now helping me…this wasn’t supposed to happen. Why couldn’t he just keep his big mouth shut?” Toby asked.

“Yeah, well Josh is Josh.” C.J. replied.

“No, I was talking about Sam. Josh wasn’t even at the meeting…it was all Sam’s fault.” Toby stated turning back to look at her.

“Are you sure?” C.J. asked.

“Of course I’m sure. Who do you think Sam came whining to once his punishment was being doled out? I should’ve fought Leo on this. I shouldn’t have let him do this to them.” Toby protested.

“They will both be fine.” C.J. stated in an uneasy voice.

“They had better be or I will kill them.” Toby replied.

The Oval Office

“Leo, have you been watching this?” Jed yelled from his desk.

“Yeah.” Leo replied entering the room from his office.

“Do we know anything yet?” Jed asked.

“Just that they are trying to get them out.” Leo replied softly.

“How is everyone else holding up?” Jed asked quietly.

“Everyone seems to be okay. Toby is yelling a lot but then he’s just being Toby.” Leo tried to joke.

“Did you talk with Josh’s mom?” Jed asked softly.

“Yeah she knows, she is going to wait until we know more news before she comes up here.” Leo replied.

“I guess that’s understandable. What about Sam’s family, have they been contacted?” Jed asked.

“I wasn’t going to call them until I knew more, but his father called and told me to keep them posted.” Leo answered.

“Have you spoken to Senator Herman?” Jed asked.

“Not since earlier this afternoon, why?” Leo asked, not liking the look on his friend’s face.

“Because this is the last time that man will use blackmail against us.” Jed practically screamed.

“I realize this, sir.” Leo replied without meeting his friend’s eyes.

“I know that you had to punish them to prove a point, but next time find some other way.” Jed urged.

“I’m just hoping to get that chance.” Leo replied.

“Leo, a couple of days ago they tried to burn down this building. I just wish that was their only experience with a fire this week.” Jed said softly.

“Yeah me too.” Leo answered.

D.C. Hilton

Kenny and Jason reached the opening and they heard an awful thunder sound. They knew that the rest of the stairwell was collapsing. Without even thinking they both reached out to grab a hold of Josh and Sam. Kenny had grabbed Sam and had started to pull him towards him when the avalanche of debris reached them.

The four of them lay in stunned silence after it happened. As the dust began to clear Jason realized that their opening had been blocked. The fire was also just a few feet above them. He shuddered to think that the four of them were going to die there.

“You okay?” Jason asked Kenny.

“Yeah I’m fine, I was able to escape most of the debris.” Kenny replied.

“They didn’t seem to be so lucky.” Jason said as he noticed that both Sam and Josh had been covered.

Kenny and Jason began the task of clearing Sam off. He had been hit with some heavy debris, partly because Kenny had pulled him into the path of it. Kenny felt guilty but he couldn’t waste too much time dwelling on it.

“Am I dead yet?” Sam asked after they had removed most of it.

“No, not yet.” Jason assured him. Jason cringed when he saw Sam’s leg. He could tell that it must have been broken during the initial collapse but the second one had only added to it. It had been ripped open to the point where part of the bone was showing and was bleeding terribly. He ripped off part of Sam’s tux sleeve and he used it to try and stop the bleeding.

Sam also had some nasty cuts on his chest. They could see that through what was left of his shirt. To them it looked extremely painful, but Sam didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed a little bit dazed.

“Where’s Josh?” Sam asked causing both men to focus their attention on the other pile.

“We will find him. Here take this.” Kenny replied handing Sam the spare oxygen mask that he had brought with him.

“We had a fight…” Sam’s muffled voice protested.

“It’s okay, we will find him.” Jason assured Sam.

“I don’t care he’s a good friend.” Sam pleaded through the mask.

“Who is he talking to?” Jason whispered.

“My guess is that he is going a little crazy.” Kenny replied.

They began digging in the pile and were comforted by the sound of coughing. The last bits of debris were removed and it revealed Josh. Kenny was the first to notice that Josh was shivering. He looked up at the fire, which seemed close enough to touch and he knew that Josh should be sweating like Sam was.

“We have a problem here.” Kenny whispered to Jason, then he noticed that large gash on Josh’s shoulder.

“Yeah I know that he’s in shock, but we are going to have to move him, once we figure out how.” Jason said as he pointed up at the fire.

Kenny sighed and he placed the oxygen mask that Jason gave him on Josh’s nose. Jason stared up at the fire and then back down at the blocked entrance. He just didn’t think that there was anyway that they could move either one of them.

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