Okay, I forgot the 'disclaimer' in chapter 1, so here it is: NOTHING IS
MINE! IT ALL BELONGS TO OTHER CRAZY PEOPLE.
A/N: Well, most reviewers seemed to really like chapter 1 which is totally cool! So, here I go with chapter 2 I suppose (by the way, I really have no idea how long this story is gonna be)
BTW, I don't really know if anyone outside Leo, Donna, the President, etc knew about the PTSD so for the purposes of this story they don't. The only ones who know are Donna, Josh, Stanley, Leo, and the President.
Chapter 2
In the bustles of people moving through the airport, a barely audible cell phone went off.
"This is Stanley Keyworth."
"Stanley!"
Stanley listened to the voice at the other end. "Leo?"
"Yeah, it's me. You know that plane you're getting on to go to California?"
"Yeah."
"Don't get on it."
"Leo." Stanley tried to protest.
"We need to talk." Leo insisted, and Stanley knew he wouldn't be going anywhere.
"Is Josh okay?"
"He'll be fine. Look, I need you to come up to the White House, this isn't really a conversation you should be having in the middle of a crowded airport."
"Okay, I'll be there in a bit."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Margaret stuck her head into the White House Chief of Staff's office. "Leo, there's a Stanley Keyworth here to talk to you. He doesn't have an appointment."
"I don't even want to hear about it, I can make my own appointments if I want. Send him in." Leo finished what he was doing and looked up as Stanley walked into the room, "Hey Stanley."
Stanley nodded his head in acknowledgment. "What's up? I assume this has to do with Josh?"
"Ah, can't get anything past you, can I?" Leo replied with a smirk. He then turned rather serious. "Yes. Of course it's about Josh. Apparently Josh leaves for his lunch break today at 12:30. Three comes and goes and he's nowhere to be seen or heard, so Donna goes out looking for him. 3:30 comes and he calls the office for Donna to come pick him up, except Donna's out looking for him so his intern-"
"Ryan?" Stanley cut him off
"Yes, his intern Ryan had to go and get Josh from a café parking lot several blocks away."
Stanley frowned. "He had to have someone get him? Why?"
"Well, I assumed he'd had a few too many drinks while at lunch, so I started berating him about it. So then I find out, no, he's not drunk, he started having Rosslyn flashbacks when a car backfired as he was driving home and he had to pull over. So, what's going on, Stanley?"
"Where is he now?" asked Stanley.
"I told Donna to take him home to get some rest. She's gonna stay with him for a while."
"Leo," sighed Stanley, "you know I can't talk about what goes on when I'm with a patient. Not without the patient's permission."
"Ah, we thought of that." Leo pulled out a written note from his desk drawer. He handed it to Stanley who read it outloud.
"I hereby give my doctor, Stanley Keyworth, permission to discuss the events of my most recent appointment with Leo McGarry and the President if need be. Joshua Lyman." Stanley smiled slightly. "Well, I've got to say Leo, you think of just about everything."
"Well, that's my job. Now, about Josh."
"Well," replied Stanley, "what do you want me to say? He's having long term effects and reactions to being shot."
"I thought these things usually happened just within a couple months after the event." Leo frowned.
"They usually START within a couple months of the event," corrected Stanley. "After that it varies from person to person. A person might continue to have the PTSD symptoms for a few months after they start and they'll go away completely. Another might have symptoms that come and go for years."
"Why now then, for Josh?" asked Leo.
"Who can really say?" Stanley countered. "Each person is so different, different things set them off. The best thing I could come up with is, after the thing with Carrick, it was a combination of stress and change that did it."
"What do you mean, 'change'?
"Everyone began acting rather different to Josh afterwards, understandably. He screwed up. He was stressed out afterwards, he couldn't sleep. He told me he started having nightmares almost immediately after the whole mess so he stopped trying to sleep. Then you were changing things on him here, understandably again, and it stressed him out even more. He had less to do at work so he had more time to think about his mistakes. It would only have been a matter of time until he started showing signs of PTSD again. When he realized this, he gave me a call."
"Well," murmured Leo, "Josh has more common sense than I gave him credit for at times." Leo sat in deep thought for several moments before speaking again. "So you think that if I restore all his former duties to him, he'll be okay?"
"Well, it's difficult to say. Now that he's talked about it, that might be what he needed all along. Maybe you just need to reassure him that you do still trust him and that he will still have his job-,"
"Was he worried about losing his job?" frowned Leo.
"Well, he said the thought passed through his head on more than one occasion. But I think that Josh knows you wouldn't fire him really." Leo nodded for Stanley to continue. "Maybe if you talk to him it would be best to give him a few days to rest. Maybe a day or two out of town, have Donna go somewhere with him. But then of course it gets a lot more complicated. He'll have the press following his every move and they'll probably think you made him take time off."
"Yes," Leo nodded, "That's what everyone would say. Unless.-," Leo broke off, thinking.
"What?"
"There could be a way to do this and actually get some public sympathy for Josh instead of ridicule."
"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking.-,"
"Have C.J. do a special briefing about it. With Josh's permission of course."
"Don't you think that could be something of a bad idea? Instead of sympathy, you could end up with everyone insisting that the Deputy Chief of Staff has a mental condition and is unfit to work in the White House."
"Well, that's always a possibility. Margaret!"
Margaret was at the door in a few seconds. "Yeah?"
"I need C.J. as soon as possible." Margaret disappeared and Leo turned back to Stanley. "It's true that it could be political suicide for Josh. I doubt it will be though. I survived being an alcoholic, Sam survived a call-girl, the President survived MS and we're all still in the game to some degree. Which is why we need to think this through before we make any decision either way. But for a very long time right after Rosslyn, everyone loved Josh and was sympathetic. I don't think the general public would find something like post-trauma to be a big issue for someone who was shot in the chest and barely.-," Leo was interrupted by a knock at the door. C.J. poked her head inside.
"Leo? You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah, come on in C.J. This is Dr. Stanley Keyworth, Stanley, this is C.J. Cregg. C.J. we need to talk about something very important and very private that few people know about at this point." C.J. raised her eyebrows in surprise and Leo kept going. "C.J., what do you think the public reaction would be upon finding out that someone who worked in the White House had a somewhat unpredictable mental illness?"
"Leo," C.J. started, "What is this.?-,"
"Answer the question, C.J."
"Honestly," she sighed, "I think it would depend on the person. Who it was, what they did here, how closely to the President they worked, etcetera. What's going on, Leo?"
"What do you think the public reaction would be if they found out a senior staffer in the White House had a unpredictable mental illness?"
"Leo!"
"Alright! C.J., you remember the first Christmas right after Rosslyn, Josh was acting kind of funny, he came in with his hand bandaged the one day, we were all really worried about him?"
"Leo," C.J. moaned, "Please don't say what I think you're going to say."
Leo held up his hand for her to be quiet. "I called in Stanley here. He's a very good psychiatrist, he lives out in California. Josh spent a day with him and found out he has post traumatic stress disorder."
"You said it. I asked you not to say it.-," She paused a shook her head. "This is the one that causes you to have flashbacks about a life threatening experience, correct?"
Leo nodded. "Josh began having difficulty again shortly after the mess with Carrick. Stanley thinks it might be a good idea to give him a few days, let him go somewhere with Donna or something, but.-,"
"But you're afraid that everyone will think you're benching Josh completely and he doesn't have the trust of you or the President anymore," C.J. finished his sentence for him.
"Exactly, which is one we're throwing around the idea of having you do a special briefing about it, explain things a little."
"But you're also afraid that it will destroy Josh's political career if you tell the press. And you don't want to keep Josh here because then he'll have a meltdown completely. No matter which way it goes, it doesn't go well for Josh."
"True," agreed Leo, "but I also think that when you remind everyone of Rosslyn you will get more support and sympathy for Josh than you will ridicule of him."
C.J. looked uncertain. "Well what do you want me to do?"
"Find some way to get a poll in the field."
"Leo, you remember the last time we tried that? With the MS. We got results that were totally unhelpful to us from Joey's poll!"
"Well obviously we're not going to get exact results for our situation without directly asking about Josh. But it will give us something of an idea. Just do it. If the results of the poll are good enough, we'll bring it up with Josh. If not, we won't bother him at all about it."
C.J. nodded, though she still felt uneasy about the whole thing. "Anyone in particular you want to do the poll?"
Leo shrugged. "Why not Joey? She's someone we can trust to keep what's really going on quiet. Just have her do something similar as she did with the MS, pick a state and go from there."
"Yeah," muttered C.J. "I have to go," she said, looking at her watch. "I've got a meeting."
"Go ahead," Leo waved her on. He then turned to Stanley, who hadn't said much of anything throughout the tense conversation. "Well Stanley, sorry to hold you up. I believe there is another plane heading out your way at about 7. If you leave now you can get there in plenty of time. Thanks for hanging around."
"No problem. And, do keep me updated, would you?"
"Of course." Leo opened the door and Stanley left. He then turned and went into the Oval Office.
"Mr. President, do you have a moment?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Well there's my chapter two! What do you think on this one? Like I said at the end of last chapter, sorry if there are any technical errors in regards to the show. I obviously don't know everything about it. I don't know if Joey Lucas is still in the polling business for instance.? Anyways, it doesn't really matter, it's my story, I'll do what I want! Muahahahaha! :-P
Cheers!
A/N: Well, most reviewers seemed to really like chapter 1 which is totally cool! So, here I go with chapter 2 I suppose (by the way, I really have no idea how long this story is gonna be)
BTW, I don't really know if anyone outside Leo, Donna, the President, etc knew about the PTSD so for the purposes of this story they don't. The only ones who know are Donna, Josh, Stanley, Leo, and the President.
Chapter 2
In the bustles of people moving through the airport, a barely audible cell phone went off.
"This is Stanley Keyworth."
"Stanley!"
Stanley listened to the voice at the other end. "Leo?"
"Yeah, it's me. You know that plane you're getting on to go to California?"
"Yeah."
"Don't get on it."
"Leo." Stanley tried to protest.
"We need to talk." Leo insisted, and Stanley knew he wouldn't be going anywhere.
"Is Josh okay?"
"He'll be fine. Look, I need you to come up to the White House, this isn't really a conversation you should be having in the middle of a crowded airport."
"Okay, I'll be there in a bit."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Margaret stuck her head into the White House Chief of Staff's office. "Leo, there's a Stanley Keyworth here to talk to you. He doesn't have an appointment."
"I don't even want to hear about it, I can make my own appointments if I want. Send him in." Leo finished what he was doing and looked up as Stanley walked into the room, "Hey Stanley."
Stanley nodded his head in acknowledgment. "What's up? I assume this has to do with Josh?"
"Ah, can't get anything past you, can I?" Leo replied with a smirk. He then turned rather serious. "Yes. Of course it's about Josh. Apparently Josh leaves for his lunch break today at 12:30. Three comes and goes and he's nowhere to be seen or heard, so Donna goes out looking for him. 3:30 comes and he calls the office for Donna to come pick him up, except Donna's out looking for him so his intern-"
"Ryan?" Stanley cut him off
"Yes, his intern Ryan had to go and get Josh from a café parking lot several blocks away."
Stanley frowned. "He had to have someone get him? Why?"
"Well, I assumed he'd had a few too many drinks while at lunch, so I started berating him about it. So then I find out, no, he's not drunk, he started having Rosslyn flashbacks when a car backfired as he was driving home and he had to pull over. So, what's going on, Stanley?"
"Where is he now?" asked Stanley.
"I told Donna to take him home to get some rest. She's gonna stay with him for a while."
"Leo," sighed Stanley, "you know I can't talk about what goes on when I'm with a patient. Not without the patient's permission."
"Ah, we thought of that." Leo pulled out a written note from his desk drawer. He handed it to Stanley who read it outloud.
"I hereby give my doctor, Stanley Keyworth, permission to discuss the events of my most recent appointment with Leo McGarry and the President if need be. Joshua Lyman." Stanley smiled slightly. "Well, I've got to say Leo, you think of just about everything."
"Well, that's my job. Now, about Josh."
"Well," replied Stanley, "what do you want me to say? He's having long term effects and reactions to being shot."
"I thought these things usually happened just within a couple months after the event." Leo frowned.
"They usually START within a couple months of the event," corrected Stanley. "After that it varies from person to person. A person might continue to have the PTSD symptoms for a few months after they start and they'll go away completely. Another might have symptoms that come and go for years."
"Why now then, for Josh?" asked Leo.
"Who can really say?" Stanley countered. "Each person is so different, different things set them off. The best thing I could come up with is, after the thing with Carrick, it was a combination of stress and change that did it."
"What do you mean, 'change'?
"Everyone began acting rather different to Josh afterwards, understandably. He screwed up. He was stressed out afterwards, he couldn't sleep. He told me he started having nightmares almost immediately after the whole mess so he stopped trying to sleep. Then you were changing things on him here, understandably again, and it stressed him out even more. He had less to do at work so he had more time to think about his mistakes. It would only have been a matter of time until he started showing signs of PTSD again. When he realized this, he gave me a call."
"Well," murmured Leo, "Josh has more common sense than I gave him credit for at times." Leo sat in deep thought for several moments before speaking again. "So you think that if I restore all his former duties to him, he'll be okay?"
"Well, it's difficult to say. Now that he's talked about it, that might be what he needed all along. Maybe you just need to reassure him that you do still trust him and that he will still have his job-,"
"Was he worried about losing his job?" frowned Leo.
"Well, he said the thought passed through his head on more than one occasion. But I think that Josh knows you wouldn't fire him really." Leo nodded for Stanley to continue. "Maybe if you talk to him it would be best to give him a few days to rest. Maybe a day or two out of town, have Donna go somewhere with him. But then of course it gets a lot more complicated. He'll have the press following his every move and they'll probably think you made him take time off."
"Yes," Leo nodded, "That's what everyone would say. Unless.-," Leo broke off, thinking.
"What?"
"There could be a way to do this and actually get some public sympathy for Josh instead of ridicule."
"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking.-,"
"Have C.J. do a special briefing about it. With Josh's permission of course."
"Don't you think that could be something of a bad idea? Instead of sympathy, you could end up with everyone insisting that the Deputy Chief of Staff has a mental condition and is unfit to work in the White House."
"Well, that's always a possibility. Margaret!"
Margaret was at the door in a few seconds. "Yeah?"
"I need C.J. as soon as possible." Margaret disappeared and Leo turned back to Stanley. "It's true that it could be political suicide for Josh. I doubt it will be though. I survived being an alcoholic, Sam survived a call-girl, the President survived MS and we're all still in the game to some degree. Which is why we need to think this through before we make any decision either way. But for a very long time right after Rosslyn, everyone loved Josh and was sympathetic. I don't think the general public would find something like post-trauma to be a big issue for someone who was shot in the chest and barely.-," Leo was interrupted by a knock at the door. C.J. poked her head inside.
"Leo? You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah, come on in C.J. This is Dr. Stanley Keyworth, Stanley, this is C.J. Cregg. C.J. we need to talk about something very important and very private that few people know about at this point." C.J. raised her eyebrows in surprise and Leo kept going. "C.J., what do you think the public reaction would be upon finding out that someone who worked in the White House had a somewhat unpredictable mental illness?"
"Leo," C.J. started, "What is this.?-,"
"Answer the question, C.J."
"Honestly," she sighed, "I think it would depend on the person. Who it was, what they did here, how closely to the President they worked, etcetera. What's going on, Leo?"
"What do you think the public reaction would be if they found out a senior staffer in the White House had a unpredictable mental illness?"
"Leo!"
"Alright! C.J., you remember the first Christmas right after Rosslyn, Josh was acting kind of funny, he came in with his hand bandaged the one day, we were all really worried about him?"
"Leo," C.J. moaned, "Please don't say what I think you're going to say."
Leo held up his hand for her to be quiet. "I called in Stanley here. He's a very good psychiatrist, he lives out in California. Josh spent a day with him and found out he has post traumatic stress disorder."
"You said it. I asked you not to say it.-," She paused a shook her head. "This is the one that causes you to have flashbacks about a life threatening experience, correct?"
Leo nodded. "Josh began having difficulty again shortly after the mess with Carrick. Stanley thinks it might be a good idea to give him a few days, let him go somewhere with Donna or something, but.-,"
"But you're afraid that everyone will think you're benching Josh completely and he doesn't have the trust of you or the President anymore," C.J. finished his sentence for him.
"Exactly, which is one we're throwing around the idea of having you do a special briefing about it, explain things a little."
"But you're also afraid that it will destroy Josh's political career if you tell the press. And you don't want to keep Josh here because then he'll have a meltdown completely. No matter which way it goes, it doesn't go well for Josh."
"True," agreed Leo, "but I also think that when you remind everyone of Rosslyn you will get more support and sympathy for Josh than you will ridicule of him."
C.J. looked uncertain. "Well what do you want me to do?"
"Find some way to get a poll in the field."
"Leo, you remember the last time we tried that? With the MS. We got results that were totally unhelpful to us from Joey's poll!"
"Well obviously we're not going to get exact results for our situation without directly asking about Josh. But it will give us something of an idea. Just do it. If the results of the poll are good enough, we'll bring it up with Josh. If not, we won't bother him at all about it."
C.J. nodded, though she still felt uneasy about the whole thing. "Anyone in particular you want to do the poll?"
Leo shrugged. "Why not Joey? She's someone we can trust to keep what's really going on quiet. Just have her do something similar as she did with the MS, pick a state and go from there."
"Yeah," muttered C.J. "I have to go," she said, looking at her watch. "I've got a meeting."
"Go ahead," Leo waved her on. He then turned to Stanley, who hadn't said much of anything throughout the tense conversation. "Well Stanley, sorry to hold you up. I believe there is another plane heading out your way at about 7. If you leave now you can get there in plenty of time. Thanks for hanging around."
"No problem. And, do keep me updated, would you?"
"Of course." Leo opened the door and Stanley left. He then turned and went into the Oval Office.
"Mr. President, do you have a moment?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Well there's my chapter two! What do you think on this one? Like I said at the end of last chapter, sorry if there are any technical errors in regards to the show. I obviously don't know everything about it. I don't know if Joey Lucas is still in the polling business for instance.? Anyways, it doesn't really matter, it's my story, I'll do what I want! Muahahahaha! :-P
Cheers!