There was a bird in the communications office. No one knew how it had got in and nobody seemed to be able to coax it out. Toby watched, fascinated, as it flew wildly around the Bullpen. Ginger was matching its desperate flight with her own frantic movements. "Oh God, get it out!"

"If you don't like birds then go somewhere else. You're making it nervous," Bonnie said as she climbed onto the desk and tried to guide the bird towards freedom.

Keen to get away from the two agitated women it saw a flash of daylight and darted towards it. Toby had been watching the action from his desk but now the bird had chosen his office for his escape route he jumped out of his seat and closed the door, shutting his assistants out of the room. The bird sat trembling on the windowsill, dangerously close to becoming tangled in the blinds. Toby made a shushing noise and carefully leaned around the bird to unlatch the window. The sound of it being pushed open set the bird off in frantic flight once more. It flew around the room before returning to flutter around the blinds. Toby pulled them back and once again it panicked and flew further from the gap which was now wide enough for it to fly through. Toby sighed in frustration. "Come on bird, let me help you!"

Whether it was his plea or the fact that at that moment the breeze sent the blinds billowing out to reveal an even larger gap Toby didn't know, but the bird suddenly gathered its wits and flew up and out of the window and straight on into the grey December sky. Toby watched until it was just a speck and then he walked to the door, opened it, threw Bonnie and Ginger a condescending look and went back to his desk.

Josh knew the waiting room quite well now. He knew the stack of magazines was replenished every three weeks, he knew the plants were all plastic apart from the one which was slowly dying and he knew the receptionist had a crush on Dr Graham.

Sam had taken in slightly less of his surroundings during his many visits to Dr Graham's office. He picked up a magazine and flicked through the pages not taking in much of those either. The receptionist's face brightened as her phone buzzed and she spoke a few words. "Mr Seaborn?"

Sam took a deep breath and stood before looking down at Josh. "You coming?"

Josh quickly stood. Sam was irritable this morning and although Josh was used to his different moods he disliked this one the most.

Dr Graham was, as always, impressed with Sam's progress. He was less impressed with his willingness to talk about his return to work.

"It was fine. I felt a little apprehensive but it was fine."

"You ended up in the ER!"

"Well, you know, work sucks."

"Okay, Sam." Graham leant back and studied his patient. "How was your trip to California?"

"Great."

"Were you able to relax there?"

"Yeah."

"He went sailing," Josh interrupted. "Tell him about the sailing."

"I went sailing."

Graham removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. "Okay." He studied Sam again, replaced his glasses then flicked through a file on his desk. "Physically you're in good shape. This is a really positive prognosis for your ankle. I'm glad that's left you with no real problems. The headaches are continuing but they're not debilitating. You're managing for increased periods on your own. This is all good." He removed his glasses once again. "I don't want you thinking the decompensation you experienced is a set-back that we can't handle but I do think we need to look carefully about how we proceed with getting you back to work." Graham looked at Sam waiting for some sort of response. "You still want to return to work?"

"Yes, because there's always the possibility that I didn't humiliate myself enough the last time." Sam heard Josh say his name quietly and knew he was trying to pull him out of the uncooperative mood he was in. He ignored him. "This is bullshit. Good news, Sam, your ankle's healed, your headaches have improved, you can manage to be in your own home for a few hours without freaking out but unfortunately you're still a raving lunatic."

"Sam!" Josh's voice, louder than before. Sam felt a hand on his forearm and looked down at it surprised to find he was now standing. He sat heavily and rubbed at his eyes before mumbling an apology.

Graham waited for Sam to compose himself. "Do you still want to return to work?"

Sam smiled at Graham's feigned disinterest in his outburst and the last of his anger left him. "Yes, I still want to return to work."

Josh let out the breath he had been holding in the form of a huge sigh and sat back and listened as Sam and his doctor talked about Sam's latest steps on his road to recovery.

Toby knew there was an article and a picture and he knew CJ was worried. The meeting he'd had with her and Leo this morning had done little to assuage his fears. The story was going to be published it was just a case now of finding out when and minimising the damage as much as they could. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't hear CJ tap at his door or notice as it was pushed open and she entered his office.

"Hey, amigo, I am not the bringer of glad tidings."

"Well go away then."

She collapsed onto the sofa. "I can't stop the article."

"Have you seen it?"

"No, and before you ask I haven't seen the picture."

"When?"

"I don't know but they're not going to sit on it for long."

"Who's got it?"

"Tomorrow, The DC Reporter, the day after that…" She didn't need to finish the sentence, they'd both seen stories they couldn't control spiral away from them like tornados.

Toby's attention wandered to the window. "There was a bird trapped in here earlier. It kept flying towards the window, getting all tangled up. It wouldn't let me help it." He turned to CJ, and laughed softly. "Anyway, it got out in the end." He stood awkwardly looking at his friend and welcomed the warmth she sent as she looked back at him.

Leo made sure the door to his office was closed and Margaret at her desk before he picked up the receiver. He hadn't spoken to Claire for nearly a week. A hectic week for him and a week spent trying to catch up at work for her. Leo knew Claire would be fine about that. One of the things he loved about their relationship was that she put no pressure on him. She knew that at this point in time his job had to come first and she had never tried to make him choose between them.

They swapped their news and Leo loosened his tie, grateful as always for the ability Claire had to make him feel like kicking his shoes off even when he was sitting next door to the Oval Office. Both were reluctant to broach the subject of Sam and his return to work. When Leo finally did, he could almost feel the sense of calm dispersing like a lost balloon drifting into the sky.

"You know he's ready for this." Leo was surprised at how reluctant Claire was to see Sam return to work.

"I know he is. I'm just not sure I am!"

"Last time, that thing that happened, it won't happen again. Josh has been working on a- hear me out, Claire, Josh has been working on this schedule for Sam that keeps it light but gets him back in the game."

"Maybe he could work from home? Have you talked to him? He won't talk to me about it. He just says he's keen to get back."

"Well there you go then."

"But he isn't! There's something, I don't know, there's always been something about work, about Toby. We've talked about this, Leo. I don't think Sam should go back to working with Toby until he's dealt with whatever's wrong."

"And I don't think he will until he's back working with Toby." He glanced at the clock and realised he was late for his meeting now. "I have to go. I'll talk to him. I'll make sure Josh does too. We aren't doing this lightly."

Claire told him she knew that. She was certain Leo had spent more time thinking and worrying about Sam than he let on even to her. The call was ended, both Claire and Leo feeling much the better for it.

Leo talked to Josh and then he talked to CJ. He had a quiet word with Bartlet and he even chatted to Bonnie and Ginger. He spoke to everyone about Sam's second return to work except Toby. Josh had told him all he needed to know about Toby's state of mind regarding Sam. It was a week after his conversation with Claire that Leo talked to Sam. He took him out to dinner. He wanted a neutral venue but he also wanted to see Sam out of the comfort zone of his own home.

They met outside. It had rained most of the day and the sky had stubbornly remained grey even when the rain had stopped. Leo saw Sam waiting and picked up his pace towards him. They were seated quickly although the restaurant was filling up. For the start of the meal Sam was quiet. Leo thought he seemed nervous. They chatted about work, a senator whose wife had decided to announce to the world her husband was gay and the President's latest obsession with facts about volcanoes.

After a glass of wine Sam began to relax and Leo turned the conversation towards his return to work. "So how ya feel about coming back to work next week?"

"You mean coming back to work again."

Leo smiled. "Yeah, Sam, again."

"Because the first time didn't go so great."

"I'm not disagreeing. No reason not to try again."

Sam glanced to his left where a large group had just been seated. "What about John…Jim…Jake?"

"James."

"What about him?"

"He's going to carry on with the communications team for a while. He's got this job offer, lecturing thing, I don't know the details. He's waiting on the confirmation."

Sam rolled his napkin into a tube and then flat again. "Next week?"

Leo nodded. A burst of laughter came from the table next to them. Sam flinched and rolled the napkin again. "What does Toby think?"

"I haven't asked him, don't intend to. I'm asking you, it's what you think I'm interested in." Leo waited for Sam's answer. Behind him he could see a large cake being wheeled out on a trolley.

"My doctor says I should go back. He thinks I'm ready. I am ready, I mean physically, I suppose. It's just, I still get these headaches and I don't always follow things…not like I could. There's no way I could handle fulltime, not yet, maybe later, you know, when I stop getting headaches and when I can get things straight because they're not always straight and I…I…I'm sorry I have to get out of here." With that Sam stood, knocking his chair onto the floor in the process. He placed it back under the table, apologised again and headed for the exit.

Leo cursed as he hastily signalled for the bill. Why hadn't he seen it? The noise from the table next to them was getting on his nerves so it must have been unbearable for Sam. He hurried outside and relaxed a little on finding Sam hands in pockets, perched on the hood of his car a sheepish smile on his face.

"You know, Sam, if you were worried about paying the bill you could have just said."

Sam let a huff of laughter escape. Leo watched it drift between them in the cold night air. "I guess I flunked the test."

"Tonight wasn't a test. It was a very expensive dinner is what it was."

Sam smiled. Leo didn't see it and so he turned towards him. "It wasn't a test. I wanted to see how you're doing, how you're handling being out of your comfort zone."

"Not very well."

"Hang on there, Sam. You knew the noise was stressing you out so you got the hell out of there. That's coping. Josh would have something to say here about stages of recovery but we can both probably do with a rest from that. You're ready, Sam. And I have to tell you, we need you back there."

"Ok." Sam looked at Leo. "Ok."

"Good! What do you say to a coffee before we call it a night? We'll ask to be seated away from the party from hell." Leo put an arm around Sam's shoulders and led him back to the hotel. Sam was coming back to work and Leo would make sure that this time, he stayed there.