A/N: Once more, thank you guys for all the reviews! There's more CJ/Abbey coming up (though not yet) and thank you Adpacaus, for the governor thing. I was struggling with how they'd address him and for some reason that title completely slipped my mind *blushes*


Tempus plus one hour, thirty-one minutes and twenty-four seconds

"Do you know what I was doing Joshua?" Wearily the deputy chief of staff watched his assistant as she passed through gate-security, Margaret and Carol in tow. Both looked very much as women whose long-overdue beauty sleep had been unceremoniously interrupted. Donna, on the other hand, appeared to be soaking wet. "I was taking a bath. With bubbles Josh, bubbles!"

"At one-thirty in the morning?"

Donna shrugged, "I couldn't sleep."

"You should have."

He turned when she halted and saw realization dawning in her eyes, behind her Margaret and Carol uneasily glanced from one Secret Service agent to the next. "Why?"

They followed him when he resumed the path to Leo's office, taking a detour to avoid the bullpen. "Because you're probably not going to get any for a while." None of them spoke until he reached his destination.

"What happened?"

Leo's office was empty, but he would wait. He couldn't tell them, he didn't know how. Hell, he could barely wrap his own head around the situation. It wasn't like it was new to them, he considered angrily, they'd had their share of losses and he was growing tired of them.

The doors opened, but it was Sam who entered – now like Josh dressed in his back-up suit. His face betrayed nothing but the same weariness Josh couldn't shake. "She had it under control," Sam said absently, "she was on the phone wrapping up when…" his voice broke, probably for the best. "Oh, you're here," he addressed the three women and fell into the couch, deflated.

Carol yawned. "Yes, the question is, why?"

Before either of them could answer, Leo barged in, slamming the door behind him and hissing an expletive under his breath. If the circumstances were different, Josh thought he might have laughed at the way all three assistants jumped and came to attention. Ignoring them, Leo faced his deputy. "Where are the deputies?!"

"Henry is in Brussels covering the NATO assembly," Leo's eyes flashed, but the Chief of Staff stayed silent. Probably not for very long, considering the news to follow. "John…" he paused, unsure of how to explain, "well, the Secret Service found him in a bar."

"And?"

"He's pretty drunk Leo, they took him to the gym's shower to sober him up."

"You're telling me our deputy press secretary is drunk like a stupid college kid on spring break?! Who else has been drinking?!" He glowered at the room. "Well?"

Donna timidly raised her hand, "I had two classes of wine, but I'm not drunk."

"Anyone else?"

Sam and Carol shook their heads, Margaret just fidgeted. Scraping his throat, Josh braced himself. "I had two beers."

"You had--!" the older man stopped himself then calmly pointed to the door. "Get out."

"Leo-"

"Get out!"

"You can't bench me on this!" He wasn't drunk, not by a long shot, his system wasn't that delicate and he could help, he would help and Leo McGarry couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Whatever his boss was going to say in response when, completely unexpected, Margaret suddenly shouted, "can someone just tell us what's wrong?!"

Astounded they all looked in her direction, taking a moment to process the many ways in which the exclamation was out of character.

Leo, ever in control, directed the assistants to sit. "Look, something happened."

"We got that much," Donna murmured anxiously.

"There's really no good way to say this," Josh offered after exchanging a quick glance with Sam.

Margaret spoke up again, but toned down the volume to normal. "It's really bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

After five years – or more- they'd all developed close relationships and their assistants often switched seamlessly between the roles of mothers, schoolteachers and supporting shoulders. Together they'd returned home broken and beaten down from battles they'd lost more times than he could count. They'd spent nights fighting for their causes, or just talking in the mess about victories and near-misses.

Leo took a deep breath, physically steeling himself. "CJ was shot, she's in surgery at GW, but it doesn't look good."

Keeping an eye on Donna, Josh's focus lay with Carol. Shock registered slowly on the brunette's face. Margaret reached for her friend's hand, but nearly toppled over when Carol jumped to her feet and raced out of the room. Donna was seconds behind, but Leo called her back. "We're going to need CJ's schedule for the next few weeks. The Secret Service isn't going to be happy about us going through her office, so be careful."

Donna nodded, her lower lip caught between her teeth. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Yeah," the Chief of Staff answered. He didn't fool anyone. "Margaret, get Henry back here yesterday." The redhead acknowledged him quietly and stepped out to her desk. "Sam?"

"Huh? Oh," like an old man the youngest of the three left stood up, "the First Lady's interview was with Kathy Layson."

"Layson… isn't she?"

"A gay-rights activist, yeah," Josh finished.

"I spoke to her," Sam continued, "she said CJ already got her to agree to cut out the questions we are uncomfortable with, they were just talking about – apparently they knew each other – about shared history," he looked at them unsteadily, defeated, "she heard the shots, then the line went dead."

"Great, so the whole Press corps is going to be at our throats in, what? Thirty minutes?"

"Tops."

The heavy wooden door swung open, startling the men, and Carol came running in, Donna close behind. "I tried to stop her," the blonde assistant apologized.

"It's okay," Leo said hesitantly and accepted the memo held out by Carol. After glancing it over, he allowed a hollow chuckle and read: "Do's and don'ts when CJ's indisposed or admitted."

"She wrote a-"

"Contingency plan."

"One: do follow these rules," Josh snickered despite himself, "Two: don't, under any circumstance, allow Joshua to enter the pressroom," Leo's glare silenced any comment he might have, "Three: do think before speaking, do take a breath before answering,"

"It also contains a filename of her recent briefings, special active issues that need attention and a list of democrats and republicans who are likely to cause negative publicity for the White House in the near future." Carol shrugged, "after the root canal and Roslynn, she wanted to be prepared. She updated it not that long ago, after Zoey..." she didn't need to finish.

"Three bullets in her body and she's still the smartest kid in class."

Suitably chastised, Sam and Josh looked at the floor. "CJ was my contingency plan," Josh whispered defensively.

Leo just shook his head.

"The Secret Service says we're not allowed in CJ's office anymore until they finish their examination," Donna said quietly, "they'll only allow Sam since he's already been in there."

Sam, for his part, just looked resigned and still hadn't manage to shake the shell-shocked expression he wore. Secretly, Josh was relieved he wouldn't have to face the intimacy of CJ's office. Just the brief glimpse he'd gotten earlier. Seeing her blood on the floor and the shattered glass of Gail's fishbowl…

Leo interrupted his thoughts, his voice gruff. "Sam, it looks like you're going to do the briefings until Henry gets back. Work with Carol and Donna."

"Yes, sir."

"Josh, call her family and prepare the information for the regular morning briefing. I'll be in with the President." He made eye contact with each of them, a wan smile bringing a tragic expression to his weathered face. The last time he'd seen Leo this old, was when Zoey was missing. It didn't look good on him. "When I know something, you will."

Quietly the four of them left. He felt he should say some words of comfort to his coworkers, something to take death out of Sam's eyes and the fear out of Donna's. They stood awkwardly in front of Margaret's desk, none of them sure how to act.

Eventually he turned to the redhead, managing nothing more than a wry smile and sullen voice. "Let's get her brothers here Margaret." She nodded and quietly continued typing. It appeared to be the cue they were all waiting for, because suddenly Josh found himself alone. His scar ached.

He knew, mostly because he'd been told so afterwards, that CJ had held his hand on the way to the hospital. He remembered hearing her voice telling him not to give up, and Toby's, muttering similar words. He remembered that one kiss so long ago and suddenly regretted the many times he took her friendship and advice for granted. CJ really was his contingency plan. He needed that shiksa feminista.