Title: Simoom
Author: Willow
Summary: A helicopter crash in The Middle East and the CCTV documentary keep the staff busy.
Spoilers/Episode: Set in an a/u that leaves the show's timeline after season 5, Memorial Day. This chapter takes place a month after chapter 10.
Characters: Ensemble and Danny
Rating: PG
Part I
Tuesday February 8th 2005
"DONNA!" Josh called as he leaned out of his office doorway.
"Umm?" Donna replied without looking up.
"What sort of a reply is that?" Josh asked as he entered Donna's cubicle.
"I'm a little busy here."
"You're busy?" Josh asked. "I'm the deputy chief of staff for strategic planning, and you're a little busy?"
Donna gave Josh a look that made him cower away slightly. "What could you possibly need now?" she asked. "You have the blue file for the thing, as you so eloquently put it. You have Cooper's notes, Sutherland's file and the Health Screening file."
"I have more on my schedule than just those," Josh complained.
"It's 9.30 at night, what do you need?"
"Do you have any of those little wipes for cleaning the computer?"
Donna gave Josh an amused look, "You're going to clean?"
"I have smudges on my screen."
"That's because you're constantly touching it."
"I'm a tactile person."
"I'd noticed," Donna smiled and handed him a screen cleaner.
"Thank you. So what are you..."
"You got a minute?" Sam interrupted them and walked into Josh's office without waiting for a reply.
"That doesn't look good," Donna commented.
"No," Josh agreed and walked back into his office.
Sam closed the door and turned to face Josh. "What's this about a documentary on Sunday?"Josh looked confused for a second and then replied, "The CCTV one?"
"Yes."
"What about it?"
"Why's it on?" Sam asked.
"You weren't here," Josh realized, "when it was discussed, you weren't here."
"No. And from what Toby says it wasn't so much discussed, as you decided unilaterally to let it go ahead."
"Well, it's me that's in it."
"That's not the point."
"Then what is?" Josh asked, but continued before Sam could answer. "I know I was shot, I remember what happened, I've seen the tape, there's nothing in it I didn't already know. So?" he shrugged.
"You're not the only one this involves," Sam argued. "What about your mom? You think she wants to see you getting shot, you think she needs a visual reminder of how close you came to dying, you think any of us do?"
"I've spoken to my mom, she says she doesn't need any reminder, it's not something she's likely to forget. And I didn't die."
Sam sat down and gave a deep sigh. "No, but it was damn close for over a day."
"I know."
"No, you don't," Sam replied angrily. "If you had any idea what those hours were like you wouldn't be letting them do this. Do you know how terrified we were?"
"Yes," Josh said. "Do you think I haven't already has this discussion with my mom, with Donna, with Leo and Charlie and Toby and CJ? What do you think would happen if I fought them, if I took this to court?"
"You'd win."
"No I wouldn't. And even if I did, it wouldn't matter. The whole thing would have been dragged up again. There'd be footage of Rosslyn on the news, there'd be stories in the papers. If it was banned, the producers would appeal, it's the big pull of their show after all. I'd rather they just showed it and got it over with. I've moved on, Sam, I don't want to go back to that again, any of it."
Sam studied his friend. "You'll be okay watching it?"
"I've seen it. CJ got a copy of the tape."
"And?"
"It's grainy. You wouldn't know it was me, if you didn't already know."
"I meant... you know what I meant."
Josh nodded, he knew full well what Sam meant. "I had a few sleepless nights after I watched it, but I was fine."
"I think we'll all be having sleepless nights next week," Sam replied.
"The producer asked me to take part in the program, do an interview."
"What did you say?"
"I declined. He persisted," Josh replied. "I told him if he contacted me again I'd get an injunction and stop the whole thing. Strangely he hasn't been in touch since. We'll see what he says about that in his documentary."
"He'd better not say anything," Sam replied.
Josh grinned.
"What?" Sam asked.
"I missed you."
"Me too," Sam smiled. "Even when you're infuriatingly stubborn."
"It is one of my more endearing qualities," Josh agreed and answered his ringing phone. When he hung up he looked across at Sam, "An army helicopter's crashed in Gaza."
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Wednesday
"CJ took a bit of a beating," Josh commented.
"She handled it well," Leo replied.
"She did," Josh agreed. "I'm just saying, the press are jumping heavily on this."
Leo nodded, "That was bound to happen."
"Has he called the parents?"
"Yeah. I don't think it went too well."
"How could it possibly go well?" Josh asked. "They found out this morning that their kids were dead."
"They don't think we should be there."
"Half the country doesn't think we should be there."
Leo gave Josh a knowing look, "Including you?"
"I don't know," Josh admitted. "I know something needs to be done, I'm just not sure that US troops in Gaza is too reassuring for the Palestinians, there was bound to be opposition to it. I don't know why we're surprised, did we really think the people would welcome us with open arms."
"I don't think anyone thought that."
"It was an accident though, wasn't it?" Josh asked.
"The helicopter crashed."
"I know, I'm just asking, it was definitely an accident?"
"As far as we know. General Alexander's briefing at 2 from the Pentagon."
At 2.30 that afternoon, the senior staff met in the Oval Office to discuss, among other things, The Pentagon's preliminary statement on the crash.
"Sand?" Toby asked.
"A sand storm," Leo amended. "Apparently helicopters hate dust and sand."
"Wouldn't that make them kind of dangerous for use in the desert then?" Josh asked.
"What's the alternative?" Leo replied.
"I don't know," Josh shrugged. "But you'd think by now someone would have devised something that didn't dislike sand and dust quite so much."
"He has a point," CJ agreed. "And it's one the press are raising."
"What are they asking?" Jed asked.
"Didn't the commanders know that this would be a problem. We just lost seven men and Britain lost four because of a sand storm."
"I've had a couple of phone calls," Sam added, "questioning the age of the helicopters in use. I referred them to the Pentagon, but the press aren't going to let this go."
"There's a pressure group, Families For Peace, who've been asking about this for some time now," Toby said.
Leo nodded. "Some of Alexander's aides are going to meet with them and with the families of the soldiers killed."
"So I keep referring everything to the Pentagon?" CJ asked.
"Yes," Leo replied.
"They're not going to be happy. I know it's a military issue, but as far as the press are concerned this is the White House and the buck stops here."
Part II >>>>>
