Hey, this is going to be a series that follows my story 'Two Administrations Two Families.' Thank you to everyone that review, I'm really glad you liked it. Whilst writing this, I've been doing some researching and I think there are a few mistake that I've made about how elections and everything works so if I have then I'm sorry. I'll try my best to get the right information.

Anything onto the story, please review!!

Enjoy!!!

A Whole New Story

Tears and Rain:

Donna sat in the chair beside Josh's bed; both her hands gently wrapped around his left hand. She had been sitting there, just watching him for twenty minutes now and he still hadn't moved. She couldn't help but think about Rosslyn and how different it was. Although there was a monitor keeping track of his heartbeat and an oxygen mask over his face, there weren't nearly as many machines as there were eight years ago.

She turned a little to glance over her shoulder when she heard the door open quietly as Sam walked into the room.

"How's he doing?" He asked softly, walking up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder, looking down at his best friend.

She turned her attention back to Josh; removing one of her hands from his to wipe away a stray tear.

"No change."

Sam squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.

"How's everyone else?" She looked back at Sam.

"Shocked, upset." He answered. "No one's really sure what to do."

"Four days, Sam...That's all we had... Four amazing days." She stated. "What was the point of all the hard work if this was just going to happen?"

"I don't know, Donna." He said quietly.

"How's Leo doing?"

"Trying to get over the fact that he's just become the President-Elect whilst dealing with Matt Santos's death and Josh being..." Sam answered, his voice trailing off a little, not needing to finish the sentence. "C.J is making him see a doctor..."

Donna turned quickly to look at him. "What?!"

"He's fine...We just want to make sure with everything going on... It hasn't been stress free these past few months and now all of this..." Sam assured her. "We just wanted him to get checked out."

Donna nodded slightly and rubbed her forehead with one hand. "God, Sam, how did we get here? How did all of this happen?"

Sam was saved from answering the question as the door opened and Josh's doctor entered with a nurse following close behind. Sam and Donna moved away from the bed, standing in the corner of the room, watching as they checked over Josh. Both of them noticing the concerned look on the doctor's face.

"What's going on?" Donna asked when the nurse rushed off after an order from the doctor.

"We just want to run a few tests...

"Like what?" Sam asked, reaching for Donna's hand.

"Josh's blood pressure if very low at the moment, it could the result of the blood loss but I'd like to rule out a few other things."

"What other things?"

"We're going to do a chest x-ray and I want to make sure that there has been no internal bleeding..."

"He was shot in the shoulder... Why would you need to do a chest x-ray" Donna pointed out.

"He might have fallen awkwardly after he was hit..." The doctor explained. "Like I said, I just want to rule out a few things."

"Right, but there isn't a problem... I mean, low blood pressure... That can be fixed right?"

"It is common in cases like this, however as I said earlier, the strain of this on Josh's heart has us a little concerned."

Donna gripped onto Sam's hand tightly. "But...Look...He Can't..."

"Miss. Moss, I promise you that your boyfriend is in the best possible care..." He tried to reassure her. "There might be nothing to worry about."

She nodded a little, not trusting herself to speak and be able to keep from breaking down.

"Someone will be down soon to take him for the tests." He said as he wrote a few things down on Josh's notes.

"Thank you, Doctor." Sam said quietly as he left.

Donna let go of Sam's hand and moved back to her seat, immediately taking Josh's.

"Donna, would you like me to give you privacy?" He asked softly.

She nodded again wordlessly.

"Okay, I'll let everyone know what's happening."

"Thanks." She whispered but said no more, nor did she take her eyes off of Josh.

She waited until she heard the door close behind Sam before moving from the chair to the side of the bed. Tears fell down her face and onto his as she pressed her lips against his forehead before moving down to his cheek and on to his lips. She put her arm loosely across his torso and rested her head against his chest, careful not to hurt him; as she broke down and cried, pleading for him to be okay.

XxXxX

Leo paced around the small room where he was meant to be resting. How could he rest when all of this was happening? He had just inherited the most powerful job in the world and he had no idea how to handle it.

There was a knock on the door causing Leo to stop pacing. "Yeah?"

An agent opened the door. "President Bartlet is here, Sir."

"Okay." He nodded, sighing softly.

"How you holding up?" Jed asked, once the door closed behind him.

"I really don't have any idea..." Leo stated.

"Yeah." Jed said, watching his best friend in just as much disbelief at what was happening as he was. "Leo, if there is anything you need..."

"Tell me how to do this job?"

"What?"

"How do I do this?" He asked. "I never wanted to be President...I never thought I'd be doing this job."

"You'll do great things, Leo..." Jed reassured him. "I can't tell you how everyone back at the White House is glad that it's you in this position and not Bob Russell..."

Leo ran his hands down his face. "I was never meant to do this."

"You signed on to become Vice President, you must have thought about what you'd do if something like this happened?"

"Honestly, who would you put money on living the longest? Me or Matt Santos?"

"You've got to step up, Leo." Jed told him. "The public people elected the Santos/McGarry administration and now it's time for you to become the main guy."

Leo leaned back against the bed, remembering a similar conversation that they'd had eight years ago.

1998

Jed stood in the doorway, watching his campaign staff. Sam was lying half on the couch, half off, with his head resting on the floor, whilst his leg was underneath C.J who was stretched out across the couch - both of them were fast asleep. Toby was sleeping in an armchair, a glass of scotch in his hand and every now and then, he'd mumble something. Donna was curled up on the floor, with Josh's suit jacket draped over her, leaning back against the chair that he had been sitting in moments before, but he was now sitting on the window ledge; staring outside whilst talking quietly on his cell phone.

"Mr President-Elect..."

Jed spun around to face a grinning Leo.

"Leo..." Jed started, but stopped again, he was still stunned about what had happened the previous night.

Leo laughed, looking over Jed's shoulder. "Looks like they all had a good night..."

"Leo, last night wasn't a dream, was it?" Jed asked.

"No, Sir...Last night you won the election." Leo confirmed. "Last night you became the next President to the United States."

Jed stared at Leo for a moment before taking a few small steps away from him. "Okay..."

"Where are Abbey and the girls?" Leo glanced around the room.

"They're still sleeping..." Jed told him, glancing back into the room. "Just like everyone else apart from us."

"And Josh." Leo nodded towards the younger man.

"Who is he talking to at this time anyway?" Jed looked at his watch, seeing it was only 6:15am.

He laughed and shook his head. "I don't even want to know."

Jed turned away from the room again, staying silent for a moment before looking at his best friend.

"Do you really believe we can do this?"

"We already have."

"No, I mean the next part."

"Yes."

Jed watched him, waiting for him to continue. "That's all you're going to say?"

"The whole campaign was based around what we plan to do in the White House...This is the part where we do what we want...What we promised the American people we would do."

"Yes, but can we really do it?" He asked firmly. "Can I do it?"

"We have the best team, which is why we won." Leo pointed out. "And it was you who convinced the people...It was you who they voted for."

"Yeah..." Jed said, sighing softly.

"Sir, if there is anything you don't know how to handle, or if you need any help, that's what I am here for." Leo assured him. "You're the guy but I'm the guy behind the guy."

Jed couldn't stop a small smile forming on his lips. "You realise I haven't actually appointed you as my Chief of Staff, right?"

"Well, I decided to take that decision upon myself." Leo smirked. "And I'll be making some other staffing decisions later on today as well."

"Like what?" Jed leaned back against the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets, feeling more relaxed.

"For a start, Josh is going to be my deputy."

Jed gave a small nod of agreement not really surprised by his choice.

"Who else?"

"Toby Ziegler as commutations director..."

"I don't want Ziegler." Jed cut in.

"What?"

"What's David Rosen doing?"

"I honestly don't know and I don't care...Toby's the man for the job."

"I really don't think so..."

"That's because he disagrees with everything you say."

"Oh and I wonder why I wouldn't want someone like that around." Jed replied sarcastically.

"You need someone like that around, Sir."

"David Rosen is more then capable..." Jed started, but stopped when Josh exited the room, almost walking right in to him.

Josh looked startled at the presence of the two older men. "Sir, I'm sorry, I don't see you there."

"Josh, did you sleep at all last night?" Jed looked at him curiously.

He grinned. "I don't think I've slept since I joined the campaign, Sir."

"You guys carried on with the celebration last night after everyone left?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, it was good for us to relax for a few hours."

"It's only 6:30am, why don't you try to get some sleep."

Josh shook his head. "Nah, I'm still pumped from yesterday."

"Looks like you're the only one..." Leo gestured to the others. "How long have they been asleep?"

"Well, C.J and Sam got drunk pretty quickly, they were playing eye spy until about 3:30am - and then they both fell asleep... I'm not sure when Donna dropped off, sometime around 4am I think and Toby hasn't been asleep long, we talked for a few hours... He has some good ideas."

Jed avoided looking at Leo, knowing he'd have an 'I told you so' look on his face.

"What about Mandy?" Jed asked, changing the conversation to Josh's on/off girlfriend.

"Uh, she left around about 1am, Sir." He ran his hand through his hair, showing his discomfort at discussing her and decided to change the conversation himself. "I'm just going to go out to get some coffee and stuff... Can I get you anything?"

"You realise there's a restaurant right here in the hotel, right?" Jed questioned.

"I feel like getting some fresh air and taking a walk whilst the city is quiet."

Jed smiled. "Well, okay then, but before you go there is something we'd like to talk to you about."

"Sir?"

"Leo is going to be my Chief of Staff." He told him, but knew that everyone probably had worked that out all ready. "We want you to be deputy."

Josh looked from him to Leo before back to him again. "Deputy to what, Sir?"

"Well, to Leo..." Jed stated.

Josh frowned a little. "To Leo?"

"Oh for, God sake, Josh..." Leo rolled his eyes. "You're going to be the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, okay?"

Josh stared at them for a little while, as he tried to ignore the buzzing in his ears, he finally was able to nod silently.

Jed chuckled lightly, reaching out to shake his hand. "Leo, you and I will sit down later on today and talk about the rest of the staff... But for now, go out and enjoy your walk."

"Thank you, Sir." He whispered.

"I don't know why he's surprised..." Jed commented as he and Leo watched Josh walk away. "He's the obvious choice."

"To us, but to him, maybe not." Leo glanced across at him. "About Toby..."

Jed shook his head to stop him. "Later, Leo...I'm going to go back upstairs and see if my wife and children are awake, then we're going to have breakfast together..."

"Yes, Sir."

Jed took one last look at his campaign team, still wondering how they managed to pull it off. He smiled to himself before turning and heading for the elevators, patting Leo's arm as he passed him.

Jed starting to say something brought Leo back to the present.

"...If there is anything that you can't handle...If there's anything you need help with, then that's what the guy behind you is there for." Jed repeated the words Leo had said to him, all those years ago.

"The thing is, Sir..." Leo started. "The guy that I need to be behind me is currently unconscious after being shot."

Jed didn't know how to reply to that, so instead he placed a hand on Leo, squeezing his forearm gently. "He'll be just fine."

"Well, he better be because otherwise, we're all done here." Leo claimed.

XxXxX

Sam took a few deep breaths and let his eyes close as he stepped into a small courtyard outside the back of the hospital. He just needed to get away from everyone for a while. It had been one hell of a day.

After a few seconds of taking in the peace and quiet, he opened his eyes again and took a look around. Only then did he notice Lou sat on a bench on the other side of the courtyard.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked.

She looked up startled, not realising he was there. "Uh, sure. How's Josh?"

Sam shifted his feet, uneasily looking at the flowerbed behind her. "They've taken him for some tests."

"What kind of tests?"

"They're worried about internal bleeding and his low blood pressure."

She balled her fists tightly together. "If we lose him then we might as well all quit now."

Sam turned his eyes back to her quickly at the statement.

She sighed and rubbed her temple. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I keep saying things like that..."

"I wanted to apologise." He cut in as he sat down next to her. "You were right and I'm sorry that you felt we were trying to exclude you from caring about Josh."

"I shouldn't have blown up like that." She shook her head, looking down at the unlit cigarette in her hand.

Sam leaned against the back of the bench. "It's been one of those days where you just don't know what to do or what to say and you just hope the people around you understand."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry if we acted like we don't understand but we do...Really, we do." Sam claimed. "Its just well..."

She looked across at him when he stopped. "You were hoping that the people around you would understand that you've been here before."

Sam gave a small nod, staring ahead at a small tree that was in front of them.

"I guess we got off to a bad start..."

He sat forward, leaning his elbows on his knees and rubbed his eyes. "I didn't expect to walk into this...When it happened at Rosslyn, I couldn't get my head around it. It was the President of the United State...I remember C.J doing a briefing..."

Lou turned her body a little, giving Sam her full attention.

"If anyone thinks those crimes could have been prevented if the victims themselves had been carrying guns, I'd only remind you that the President of the United States himself was shot last night while surrounded by the best trained armed guards in the history of the world..." He quoted, remembering it word for word. "I couldn't get my head around that...For weeks, I kept thinking about it...He was surrounded by the best trained armed guards. How did it happen? They were there to stop it...What was the point of them being there if they couldn't?"

"That's life, Sam. It's not a fairy tale just because you get to work in a Big White house. It doesn't mean you're invincible."

"It's fate..." Sam mumbled.

"What?"

"That's what someone once said to me...It happened because it was fate... There's a reason for everything..." Sam explained. "I guess when it happens once you can put it down to fate, bad luck or even being in the wrong place at the wrong time...But this...This has happened twice now."

"It's not the same..."

"It might not be for the same reasons, but the President still got shot! Josh still got shot!" Sam pushed himself to his feet, anger starting to rise in him. "I mean - these people get to vote! They get to choose the guy they want..."

"They don't." Lou stopped him.

"What?"

"They don't all choose..." She stated. "Half the country wanted Vinick to be President."

"And that gives them the right to come out and shoot the winner?" He started to pace a little.

"What? No, of course not!" Lou exclaimed. "It was just a kid, Sam. A depressed, sick kid who was grieving for his family! There's no excuses for it...And there's nothing we can do about it now!"

"This time it was." Sam pointed out, stopping and turning to face her. "What will the reason for next time be?"

"Next time?"

"Fate seems to like having the President and his staff shot at..." He replied, his voice breaking a little with emotion. "It makes you wonder what the point is in sticking around."

Lou watched as he turned away from her and ran his fingers along a plaque that was on the back of the bench.

"When is your flight back to California?" She asked quietly.

"What?" He didn't bother to turn around and look at her.

"You obviously made a choice about your future..." She started, picking up her jacket and a few files that she had left on the bench. "Just do us all a favour, Sam, If you're going to go...Then go now...We've got so much to handle now...We don't need you getting in the way."

Sam didn't move and stayed silent when she walked back into the hospital. His eyes remained on the plaque that was in memory of a doctor that had passed away. He felt a raindrop hitting his hand as he gripped tightly onto the wood, hoping it would give him strength to do the right thing. Only when the rain started to pour down, did he move to look up to the sky. Water ran down his face and he wasn't sure what was rain and what were tears.

TBC

I hoped you like it. Please and let me know what you think. Also please let me know about the flashbacks. I'm thinking about doing more. Please let me know if you think they work or if they don't work!! Thanks for reading!!