"Josh, you've got Halligan on the Hill in-" Donna looked at Josh suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing! I'm working."

"No you're not. You were looking at something you shouldn't be!" She walked behind his desk and minimised the word document. "Aha!" she cried as the internet window appeared showing flights to California. "Leo made himself pretty clear on that."

"Yes."

"Under no circumstances are you to even consider the notion of going to California. Those were his exact words."

"Yes."

"And yet you're looking at flights."

"Yes."

"You can't go, Josh."

"I know."

"Leo talks to Claire and she said that Sam isn't-"

"I know!" Josh rolled his eyes in silent apology then sighed and closed the internet page. "I know."

"You've got Halligan on the Hill in twenty."

Josh nodded and turned back to the work on his desk. "I know."

Sam wasn't ready. Claire had explained this to Josh, Leo and Toby. She turned her thoughts away from the White House and back to Sam who was coming down the stairs. "Are you going sailing?" she asked as she poured a coffee and a glass of orange for him.

"Yeah, not too far out though." He gulped down the juice and then took the coffee and the newspaper into the living room. She followed him and sat down beside him.

"What are you doing later?"

"No plans. You?"

"No plans." She picked up a magazine and browsed through it. "I saw Mark Chapman yesterday."

Sam put his paper down and looked at her. "Really? You always predicted a dark future for him."

"And I was right! He ended up in jail."

Sam smiled. "I don't think he went to jail for making me give him my lunch money."

"That's where it started."

"He went to jail for embezzling public funds."

"Exactly!"

Sam laughed and shook his head. "Okay, Judge Judy."

"So, you'll be around later."

"Yeah, I think I'll just- Hold on! What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on." She put the magazine down. "Leo's going to call tonight and I said if you were around you might like to speak to him. If you wanted to."

"I might."

"Well, good then."

Sam raised his paper and Claire her magazine.

"I might not." The paper and magazine were lowered again. "I'm just saying, I might, I might not." Magazine and paper were raised again and they sat in silence until Sam left.

Claire waited until the door closed before she picked up the phone. "I asked him and he said he might speak to you. Then again, Leo, he might not."

Later that evening, Leo was as relieved as Claire that Sam had decided on the 'might' option.

"How you doing, Sam?"

"I'm sailing, eating home cooked food, running on the beach every day and I haven't been woken by an alarm clock since I got here."

"Man, that sounds good."

Sam smiled as Leo began to tell him about a trip to Detroit. When the call ended he was surprised to find he'd been talking to him for nearly an hour.

Josh was standing in the doorway to Sam's office staring at the empty desk. Toby only waited a few moments before calling him into his office. "You're moping."

"I am so not moping!" Josh protested. "Lymans don't mope, we brood, occasionally we pine but we do not mope."

"Well whatever you're doing, can you go do it in your own office!"

Josh stuck his hands in his pockets and walked over to the window. "It's been three weeks, Toby!"

"You can add whining to the list of things Lymans do." Toby glanced up at Josh and sighed.

"You just have to accept the fact that there is absolutely nothing you can do but wait this one out."

"I don't do waiting that well."

"No kidding!" Toby picked up his cup and walked to the coffee machine. When he returned Josh was still at the window. Toby closed the door behind him. "If he's not back in a week we'll think again."

"You mean by next Monday?"

"Well yeah, I was sort of counting seven days as a week."

"No, because you could have meant a working week which would be Friday and if we-"

"If you don't get out of my office in the next five seconds I'll-" Josh didn't hear what Toby would do; knowing when to make a swift exit was another entry on the list of things Lymans did.

The President sat at his desk and sighed deeply. He picked up the copy of Toby's speech which he had already read twice. He started again but then dropped it onto his desk and called for Charlie. "Is Toby still here?"

"He's pretty much here all the time at the moment."

"Yeah, well ask him to come see me would you?"

Whilst Bartlet waited he poured two drinks and took them and the speech over to the sofas. He nodded to the seat opposite him when Toby appeared and handed him one of the drinks. Toby looked at the speech sitting next to Bartlet and groaned.

"I made a similar noise when I read it," Bartlet told him.

"I was hoping you wouldn't."

"Groan?" Bartlet asked.

"No, read it."

"Ah, yes, well the ship's sailed on that one I'm afraid" He took a sip and relaxed back. "Would a game of chess help?"

Toby let out a small puff of laughter. "No, Mr President, I don't believe it would."

"Leo told me he talked to Sam yesterday. He said Sam sounded well." Bartlet reached for his glass and took another sip. "Leo's got this thing about not visiting Sam or pressuring him about when he's going to come back."

Toby just nodded. He had a feeling he was going to like what the President was going to say.

"Leo can be a very stubborn man. No, not stubborn, tenacious."

"Yes, sir."

"Don't get me wrong, tenacious can be good. It's Leo tenacity that got me here." Bartlet stood and brought the bottle back to the sofa. Toby watched as he topped up their glasses. "Leo thinks we should wait for Sam to decide when he's ready to come back."

Toby nodded as he reached for his glass. "Claire thinks that too."

"They're probably right." Bartlet took a long sip of his drink. "Moms know."

"Know what, sir?"

"Their sons."

"Ah."

"But we know Sam too. We know him, Toby, and I can't help feeling that he might be in need of a gentle nudge."

"A nudge?"

"Just a gentle one."

"Have you thought about how this 'nudge' might be delivered, Mr President?"

"Well no, I'm more of an ideas man."

Toby chuckled softly as he shook his head. "So what you're saying, if I can summarise, is that you believe we shouldn't wait until Sam feels he's ready, you think he needs a gentle nudge but you want someone else to work out how to actually, you know, do the nudge because you're an ideas man?"

"That's about it. Oh, and your writing sucks at the moment."

"Yeah, obviously I missed that bit out."

"Obviously." Bartlet held up his glass. "To the return of Sam Seaborn!"

Toby smiled as their glasses chinked. He only hoped the President was right about Sam's return because one thing was certain, he wouldn't last another week in the job without him.

Josh peered groggily at his phone, pager and alarm before working out that the buzzing noise was coming from his door. It was Saturday evening and he had gone to bed for a much needed early night. He pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants, tripping over his backpack on his way. He opened the door squinting at Toby who stood in the harsh light of the corridor. "Toby," he said groggily.

"Josh." Toby walked past him and into the kitchen.

"What's going on?"

"I'm making you coffee and then you're going to pack. We're going on a trip."

"A trip? Wait, it's Sam isn't it, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Get dressed. I'll make some..." Toby opened two cupboard doors, "get dressed," he repeated, his plan of making something abandoned on seeing the empty shelves. He waited while Josh splashed some water on his face and then took the coffee into the living room.

"We're going to get Sam," Toby announced as he passed Josh his cup.

"Get Sam what?"

"God give me strength. We're not going to get Sam anything. We're going to get Sam."

"Are we going to abduct him?"

"We're acting on the orders of the President."

Toby told Josh about his conversation with Bartlet. When he'd finished Josh stood and went into his bedroom. A few moments later he reappeared with a packed bag. "Let's go."

"We've got a couple of hours." Toby watched as Josh dropped the bag like a child being told a trip to Disneyland had been cancelled. "Well, I suppose we could head out now and get something to eat at the airport."

Josh did a quick scan of the apartment, unplugged the TV and the coffee machine and then lifted his bag once more. He held the door open for Toby who walked slowly through it. He knew he had to set a slow pace if his nerves were going to survive the next few hours with Josh. "You've had that bag packed ready haven't you?" he asked as Josh locked the door.

"I was waiting for your seven day deadline but yeah, I'd pretty much planned to go out there no matter what you decided."

Josh glanced down at Toby's bag. "When was your bag packed?"

"Two weeks ago," Toby confessed.

The two men set off down the corridor, both wearing equally sheepish smiles.