The Lifeboat by Brenna

Title: The Lifeboat
Author: Brenna (tkeefer6@home.com)
Website: http://blake.prohosting.com/wwffa/
Spoilers: "Two Cathedrals"
Summary: Toby's thoughts on the lifeboat.
Disclaimer: The West Wing and its characters are the property of Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers, and NBC. No Copyright Infringement is intended.
Archive: Ask first please.
Feedback: Love it.

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'I can't believe he did that!' thought Toby as he threw the rubber ball against the wall of his office. Ginger and Bonnie had long since found work to be done far away from their boss. Hiding was always the better part of valor when Toby was in one of these moods.

THWACK!

'Does he think I can't be trusted?'

THWACK!

'We are in the middle of a frigging crisis here, and Leo hands me a lifeboat. No one else gets a damn lifeboat.'

THWACK!

'We are about to announce that the President has MS to the entire world, and I'm supposed to just leave?'

THWACK!

'Who the hell does he think he is? How could he think I'd jump ship!'

Toby sat thinking about the conversation he had with Leo an hour ago.

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"Leo, you got me a life boat."

"Greg Summerhayes?" Leo asked.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I gotcha a lifeboat," he admitted.

"Did you imagine that there were any circumstances under which I would use it?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"To show him that," explained Leo.

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The ball hit the wall with less force now. It's bounce barely returning it to Toby's hand.

THUMP!

'He knew I wouldn't use it.'

THUMP!

'I'm a moron!' Toby thought throwing the ball against the wall yet again. 'It wasn't a life boat. It was a lifeline, and he didn't get it for me. He got it for the President. He saw the President drowning in an ocean of despair and guilt, and he made me the President's lifeline.'

THUMP!

'He needed the President to realize that we were all here for him. That the MS didn't make a damn bit of difference to us. We serve at the pleasure of the President, and that's not going to change. It was a wake-up call to the President. Leo wanted to remind him that we're all depending on him.'

THUMP!

'He didn't send it using Josh or CJ or even Sam. He sent it with me.'

THUMP!

'Of all of us, Leo trusted me not to jump ship.'

THUMP!

'He was throwing me a lifeline as well. He wanted me to know that I still had his trust. Even after the idiotic way I reacted in the Oval Office.'

THUMP!

'Will Leo's little wake-up call be enough though?'

"Toby, it's time to go," announced Bonnie sticking her head into what she and Ginger affectionately called 'the lion's den.'

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"Leo, I just wanted to say, thanks for the lifeboat," Toby said. "Or should I say lifeline."

"You understand why I did it?" asked Leo.

"Yeah, I think I do," replied Toby as he watched the President on the monitors. "Will it work?"

For a minute Leo didn't respond. His attention was focused on the President as he called on Sandy.

"Watch this," he whispered.