Josh put his feet on the chair opposite and settled back. Toby and CJ were going over some briefing notes and Sam was asleep. Air force One was taking them to California. Two town hall meetings, a tour of an electric car plant, a breakfast meeting, opera at the War Memorial Opera House and a visit to an elementary school were going to make for a very busy few days. As well as the scheduled events a number of behind the scenes meetings were going to take place. Support was being sought for social security reform and the meetings would hopefully show that a number of key players would be backing it, at least in principle. To add to the stress, DC's heat wave was nothing compared to the soaring temperatures currently hitting California.

It was mid-July. Sam was now working fulltime although the hours he worked varied. He could stay focused in meetings and discussions for greater lengths of time and it was often all too easy to forget how ill he had been and that he was still recovering. He took himself off when he needed to and had developed ways of managing situations that he found difficult.

But then, out of the blue, he would suddenly seem to go back to months earlier in his recovery. His memory would decline or a situation he had dealt with numerous times would suddenly be overwhelming. At these times, Sam withdrew from everyone. The fatigue that had never left him since the accident would become exhaustion and he would eventually have no choice but to remain at home until he felt well enough to return.

Josh was thinking about these relapses in Sam's recovery as he watched him sleep. The trip to California was the first one Sam was taking since the accident. It was yet another milestone in his recovery. Josh was sick of milestones. He was sick of keeping a mental tally of things Sam did and said that demonstrated further steps in his recovery. He wanted his friend back now. He was impatient but his impatience paled when compared to Sam's increasing frustration at his slow journey back to who, he now clearly remembered, was the man he had been.

Josh leant forward and picked up a magazine in an attempt to think about something else. His head narrowly missed clashing with Sam's who suddenly lurched forward in his seat, coming awake with a harsh intake of breath. Sam looked around trying to gain his bearings and slowly recognised the three concerned faces of Toby, CJ and Josh. He wiped a hand over his face and breathed deeply, blowing it out in a shuddering breath. He held up his hand dismissing Josh's enquiries and CJ's offer to get him some water. He leant back in his chair and closed his eyes in the hope that the others would get the message and ignore his shaking hands and erratic breathing. They did, but not without a series of raised eyebrows and concerned glances.

They arrived late in the evening and having eaten on the plane the plan was to have a short meeting before CJ held a press briefing then a meeting with the President followed by a reasonably early night. Sam listened as Toby impressed upon Bartlet again the importance of the pause in the second paragraph of the speech that was being made tomorrow. He knew Toby was focusing on that because he could now do no more about the meetings planned for the trip. He also knew the President would only take so much misdirected anxiety from Toby, especially when it concerned his skills as an orator. Sam stood up and told Toby in no uncertain terms that the speech worked with or without a pause and that the meetings were going to work too so everyone should just go to bed and quit acting like worrywarts.

Sam entered his hotel room, placed his bag at the end of the bed and pulled off his tie before collapsing onto the crisp white sheets.

"Are you going to sleep like that?" Josh asked from the adjoining door.

"Yup."

Josh smiled and went over to the mini-bar to check out the contents. "You've got two more bottles than I have!"

"Go away!"

"Seriously, man, at least take off your shoes."

With a groan that Josh was sure could be heard on the floor below, Sam moved to the edge of the bed and slowly removed his shoes.

Josh drained the last of his orange juice and turned the page of his newspaper. CJ and Toby had joined him and they sat in companionable silence, eating breakfast and watching CNN. They had agreed to meet in Josh's room that morning to go through some last minute plans for the day. Toby glanced at his watch and then walked over to the door between Josh and Sam's rooms. "Hey, sleeping beauty, you up?"

Toby jumped back in surprise as his question was answered by the door being opened by a weary looking Sam. "Did you sleep?"

"What time are we leaving? Have I got time to grab something?"

"8.30, you've plenty of time. Did you sleep?" Toby repeated.

"I slept." Sam walked over to the table and picked a muffin from the tray. "Am I meeting with Harlow alone?"

"Yeah, but I can come in on that if you want me to?"

"I don't need my hand holding I was just checking, last night you were saying Ed might come in on it to talk about the R9 funding."

"Ed's going in with Josh now," Toby explained. "Josh does need his hand holding, especially when he's having meetings about matters he knows little, and cares less, about."

"That pretty much describes most of my meetings," Josh said, smiling disarmingly.

Sam poured himself a coffee and then went back to his room. He threw the muffin in the wastebasket as his stomach turned then he sat on the bed and pulled one of the files, that he had spent most of the night reading, towards him.

"How did it go?" Toby jogged up the hotel steps to catch up to Sam. He only had a few minutes before he was meant to leave with the President. He grabbed Sam's elbow to slow him down and repeated his question.

"Good, I think. It's as we expected, no surprises. I think the Matlin Committee is going to work out better for us than we thought."

"You okay?"

"I've got a couple of hours so I'm going to go over the town hall comments."

Toby realised he still had a hold of Sam's elbow and let go. "They're fine. We can look over them tonight. Get some sleep or go use the hotel pool or something."

"Yeah." Sam turned away and carried on up the steps. Toby started to follow but heard his name being called and saw the motorcade starting to move. He glanced back at Sam before hurrying back down the steps.

Once the curtains were drawn and the lamp off, Sam's hotel room was surprisingly dark. He set his cell phone's alarm in the vain hope that sleep would come. After a few moments the rushing sound he'd had in his head all morning faded and was replaced with the sound of a busy hotel in the afternoon. Unfortunately the elevator was next to Sam's room. The pinging of its bell and the whooshing doors were less aggravating than the snatches of conversation coming from the people getting on and off it. The usual unfathomable hotel sounds of air-conditioning units or whatever caused them also seemed close to Sam's room or more specifically its window. He sighed deeply and rolled over.

Thinking back to the meeting he tried to remember the last words Peter Harlow had said to him. He had written them down as he now wrote down anything that he knew was important. 'Your dad still got that boat, Sam?' No, it was after that, he'd said it when they were shaking hands. 'Tell Josh Lyman he should look out for the Barnell Committee recommendations.' No, they already knew that. Sam rubbed at his neck and rolled over again. 'It's the pensions that are going to screw you.' That was it. Harlow said that but it was what he had said after that was important, the name of a person or maybe an organisation that would prove to be an unexpected ally.

A gale of laughter erupted outside of his room and Sam cursed at the interruption to his train of thought and sat up in the bed. He tried thinking back to the beginning of the meeting, tried to recall how it had begun. That was lost to him too. He should get something to eat and then try to sleep. He should get rid of the nausea that had boarded Air Force One with him and accompanied him ever since and then try to sleep. He lay down and closed his eyes. He couldn't eat nor could he sleep. The rushing sound returned, drowning out all over sounds. He curled into a tight ball and waited for the alarm to sound.

Toby was sitting in the corner of the meeting room grumbling about pauses and how they should be used to the best effect in oratory. The President had clearly ignored Toby's instructions and was doing just as good a job at ignoring his criticism now. "They loved me, Sam!"

"I'm pleased to hear it, sir?"

"Mr Grumpy over there thinks the absence of a pause in the second paragraph changed the meaning and tone of the speech. What do you think, Sam?"

"I wasn't there, sir."

"Good answer! Well, I was and I have to tell you that despite the fluent rhetoric of paragraph two, they loved me. They had banners, Sam. Some of them were wearing badges. Have you ever had a badge with your picture on it, Toby?"

"You mean that I didn't make myself?"

"A man who people wear badges of should be able to choose when…and if, to pause." He stuck his hands in his pockets and turned towards Toby. "You see what I did there, I put a pause between 'when' and 'and'. I think it worked."

Sam noticed the slight flicker of a smile on Toby's face as he nodded. "Yes, Mr President. It worked."

On the speakerphone, Leo could be heard clearly calling the meeting to order and Sam sat down next to Josh and listened as the day's meetings and visits were reviewed. When it came to his turn he pulled out his notes and read from them. He finished with Harlow's advice and sat back as the others speculated as to its meaning and how best to respond.

"I think he's stirring things up. I think he wants us to approach Senator Burrows and then he'll be able to say we've been drumming up support before we've-"

"No, it's not us he wants to call out," Josh interrupted Toby, "it's the committee. Did he mention it when you were talking about the funding, Sam?"

"I don't remember, I think they're electing a new chair." Sam picked up his notes and started to scan them.

"He told you that?"

"I don't…no, I think I heard that somewhere else."

Josh stood and started to pace. "He's making hints, mentioning the chair's up for grabs." He paced some more and then stopped behind Sam. "Think, Sam! Did he tell you about electing a chair when you met?"

"I can't remember! I suppose he must have but it didn't strike me as important at the time or I-"

"Did he say Burrows was making a move for chair?"

"He might have…no I'd have-"

"Did he or didn't he? God, Sam, it was less than five hours ago!"

The sound of Sam's fist hitting the table equalled the volume of his voice. "Damn it, Josh, are you fucking deaf? I said I can't remember!"

Bartlet sat back and looked at his staff. Josh looked as if he had been punched. His face had lost all colour but it was nothing compared to the bleached pallor of Sam's. Toby and CJ were staring at Sam but no one made a move. It was Leo's voice that broke the silence. "What the hell's going on over there?"

The President answered that he would call Leo back and reached over to end the call. Still no one spoke. Josh took a step towards Sam, his name spoken softly with a questioning tone to it. Sam held his hand up. He was okay. He was tired. He was sorry. He was going to his room to get some sleep. He was sorry. All this was stated as he backed out of the room. It was only when the door closed behind him that the silence was broken, tentatively at first and then in a torrent of accusations and defensive comebacks. When CJ thought Toby and Josh might actually come to blows, she stood and placed herself between them. "Well, this is really useful. Josh knows he's been an idiot, Toby. The thing is what we're going to do about it."

Bartlet stood and placed his hands in his pockets. "I don't think there's anything we can do about Josh being an idiot. One of you should go check on Sam though and I think it probably shouldn't be you, Josh."

"I'll go," Toby said as he stood. "He'll tell me he's okay or pretend to be asleep but I'll go."

Sam pretended to be asleep and when Toby poked him in the arm until he stopped pretending, he told him he was okay. Toby returned to find CJ and Josh waiting for him. They went to the hotel bar and spent the rest of the evening there.

At breakfast the next morning it was clear that they had spent longer in the bar than was wise when faced with a 6am start. CJ sipped orange juice, viewing the world from behind dark glasses. Josh's head was on the table, his occasional groans the only sign of life. Toby's hangover took him to a new level of grouchiness and he only showed any sign of interest in events around him when Sam entered the room and walked over to them. Sam tutted and shook his head. "Priests and prophets stagger and reel from beer and wine, err in vision, and stumble in judgment." Josh's response was somewhere between a groan and a gurgle. Sam smiled and sat down. He enjoyed his coffee in silence, his companions seemingly unable to offer anything in the way of intelligent conversation.

CJ reluctantly removed her sunglasses when she entered the school hall. A glance down at her clipboard confirmed her fears that she was about to be treated to three tunes by the school's brass band. She looked through the window and saw Josh standing outside pretending to be on his cell phone. He'd obviously checked the schedule before entering the hall. CJ pulled a bottle of water from her bag and took a long drink. It was during the second number from the out of tune and way too loud band that CJ was relieved to feel her cell phone vibrate. She left the hall and immediately saw Josh heading towards her. He was also on the phone.

"It's me," Josh announced.

CJ told held up her hand to indicate she was taking a call.

"On the phone, it's me on the phone," Josh clarified into his phone.

"Well we should hang up then." Both feeling foolish, they put their phones away and carried on the conversation. "What's up?"

"I can't find, Sam."

"He's with Toby isn't he?"

Josh shook his head. "I thought he was but Toby's been making some revisions with Ed in the car since we got here."

"Does Toby know?"

"Yeah, he's trying Sam's cell."

Josh took CJ's elbow and led her outside. She placed her sunglasses back on as the glare of the sun's reflection off the line of cars hit her. Toby was sat sideways in the doorway of one of the cars. He closed his phone and walked over to them. "He's not answering."

"Damn it, this is going to be a thing," Josh muttered.

"It's not a thing until I say it is," Toby announced. He was going to continue but was stopped by one of the agents calling him over. He walked back to the cars and had a short conversation before returning to CJ and Josh. "Okay, it's a thing."

"I knew it was," Josh declared.

"I'm gonna go see him and probably take him back to the hotel. You two better get back in there." Toby nodded to the school's entrance and reluctantly Josh followed CJ back into the building.

Toby followed the agent who had told him that Sam had been found wandering around the campus. An agent had stayed nearby but took his leave now that Toby had arrived. Sam was sat on a bench in the shade. Toby was glad of it as the morning sun was already blisteringly hot. He passed Sam a bottle of water that he had grabbed from one of the cars and studied him as he drank. "What happened?"

Sam replaced the lid on the bottle and ran a hand through his hair. "Can we just go back to the hotel?"

Toby, relieved that action was required over talking, quickly hailed a cab and ushered Sam into it. They arrived at the hotel minutes later and as they waited for the elevator Toby saw just how exhausted Sam was.

Once inside his room, Sam sat on the edge of the bed, pulling at his tie and pushing off his shoes. Toby was busy closing the curtains and placing the do not disturb sign on the door. Sam threw his tie onto the floor and undid the top buttons of his shirt before collapsing back onto the bed. He felt the mattress dip as Toby sat on the edge of it. "Is there anything I need to know about what happened at the school?"

"No."

"Can you remember what happened?"

"Yeah."

"Well?"

"I went outside to get some air then I threw up in the trashcan by the swings. I had a wander around and then I tripped over the netting from the outdoor seascape and then I had another wander which is when Agent Donald found me."

"What's an outdoor seascape? No, I don't care. Did anyone see you? Does CJ need to know anything?"

"I was very discreet, except for when I fell into the clam. You don't need to worry there was no one around."

"Why did you throw up?"

"Heat, too much black coffee, tiredness, anxiety…possibly a dodgy clam."

"Okay. Take the afternoon and see how you feel later."

Sam mumbled a reply. He could feel the dip of the bed where Toby sat and to his surprise he could already feel himself succumbing to sleep. He was asleep when the dip rose as Toby stood and left the room.