A/N: OKAY, after asking around for a bit about Sam, I've come to the conclusion that no one really knows what happened to him so I can kinda do what I want with his character...I'm not really going into details but I suppose you can assume that he is somehow involved with a firm of sorts in California

Chapter 4

"You know, Donna. I'm an outdoorsman."

"Shut up, Josh. We're not even outside."

"We're not exactly inside either."

"Look around you, Joshua! Walls, floor, ceiling. How is that not inside?"

"We're thousands of feet high, going hundreds of miles an hour. I don't know, something just doesn't seem very inside-ish there."

Donna rolled her eyes. They'd been in the air for a full 10 minutes and already Josh was off on one of those little tirades of his. She knew the other wouldn't be far behind- -

"I can't believe you couldn't find a plane that didn't switch in Atlanta."

There it was.

"Josh, you can't go anywhere in the world without switching in Atlanta."

"Really? So you're telling me I can fly from Seattle to LA and still go through Atlanta?" Josh just loved annoying his assistant like this.

"Okay, let me rephrase that. You can't go anywhere east of the Mississippi, fly south while still staying east of the Mississippi and not switch in Atlanta. Unless of course you're starting in Florida, in which case you'll have to be flying north and you could probably go anywhere and still- -,"

"Alright, alright, I surrender. No more complaints about Atlanta."

"Thank you."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Donna pulled out a book and began to read it.

"You know, it's not just Atlanta. Switching anywhere is annoying and a hassle."

"You said no more Atlanta complaints!"

"I'm not complaining about it! I'm defending it!" Donna shook her head in defeat.

"You know what. I'm going to spend the entire few days we are in Florida with your mother looking for a direct flight from Palm Beach to D.C. Okay? It's not my fault I only had a few hours to look for a flight!"

"How long does it really take?"

"I swear," Donna muttered, "next time we're taking Air Force One."

"Ooh!" Josh exclaimed. "Could we?"

"Yeah, Josh, because I'm sure the President and the Secret Service won't mind when the staff borrow his personal jet for vacationing to see their mothers."

"It might be worth a shot."

"I'll let you handle that then. I'm an assistant, I don't think I'll be getting such grand personal favors from the President any time soon. Now I'm going to try to sleep until we get to Atlanta, so please find some silent way to keep your self amused for the next couple hours. Please?"

"Yeah, okay." Josh pulled out a newspaper from the back of the seat in front of him. He skimmed uninterestedly through the pages, ignoring the story on the front about himself. He sighed and folded the paper up as quietly as he could, not realizing that, 1) Donna was still awake, and 2) he was still being loud as hell, despite his efforts. Donna smiled to herself as Josh struggled with getting the paper to fold back up right, gave up and just stuffed it back where it came from.

"Excuse me, would either of you like anything to drink?" The stewardess was making the rounds.

"Coffee, please," Donna spoke up. Josh jumped slightly as he still thought she was asleep. She smirked at him, amused that she could startle him so easily.

"And you, sir?"

"Oh, a uh- a ginger ale, please," Josh said and turned to Donna. "I thought you were going to sleep until we got to Atlanta."

"Ah, I never could sleep very easily on airplanes."

"I never could stay awake very well on airplanes," Josh mused.

"You're wide awake now," Donna pointed out.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be out of it by Raleigh." Donna found that she didn't have to wait nearly that long. In just a few minutes Josh began to doze, before their drinks even came.

Donna read the rest of the trip. Josh woke with a start when they were about 15 minutes from landing in Atlanta.

"What is it?" asked Donna, slightly concerned at Josh's behavior.

"It's nothing," Josh faltered, "it's- -the music woke me up. It startled me."

"What music, Josh?"

"The- -the music. It was playing, it woke me up," Josh paled slightly. "There's no music, is there?"

"No, Josh," Donna said quietly. "I think you were dreaming."

"Yeah." They sat in silence as the plane began to make its descent.

"It was Ave Maria," Josh muttered as they exited the plane.

"What?" Donna was pulled from her own little world of thoughts.

"The music. It was Ave Maria. Joanie used to play it all the time."

"It was just a dream, Josh. Don't worry about it."

"But it's not just a dream, Donna. It's more than a dream. Even when I'm awake, sometimes, I'll hear it in the back of my mind."

Donna didn't really know what to say. She pulled on Josh's arm gently. "Come on," she said quietly, "it would totally ruin the plane switching experience if we missed the plane and had to drive to Palm Beach."

Josh smiled faintly. "Yeah, I suppose. Let's go."

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"You see the news, Sam?" Sam Seaborn looked up as he was addressed.

"Huh?"

"The news."

"You're going to have to be just a little more specific there, Jim," Sam said, annoyed.

"Seems the White House has been trying to cover up another one of them medical scandals. No wonder you got out of there."

"What?" Sam asked quickly.

"I said, "it's no wonder you got - -,"

"No, before that."

"Oh, you didn't hear? Their Press Secretary announced yesterday that one of the senior staffers had some mental illness. Post trauma, something or other. Been hiding it for three years or something like that. They tried to pass it off that the public didn't need to know and it was okay that some loony was working with the President since he got shot earlier. I mean, come on. Just because the circumstances are out of the ordinary like that, the guy can be working in the White House?"

"It's Josh?" Sam asked.

"That Lyman fellow? Yeah, the one who got plugged in the chest at Rosslyn. I totally marveled that he didn't- -,"

"Excuse me," Sam said distractedly, and not wanting to hear the rest of the rant. He went hurriedly down to his office and dug through his desk until he found an old address book. He was pretty sure he had the number here somewhere- -

"Got it!" He picked the phone receiver up and dialed the number.

"Leo McGarry's office." A voice that Sam hadn't heard in so long.

"Margaret?" The person at the other end paused.

"Who is this?"

"It's me. Sam."

"Sam- - Seaborn?"

"How many Sams do you know who would be stupid enough to say 'it's me,' when someone asked who it is?" Margaret laughed. "How are you guys?"

"Oh, we're doing okay. I suppose you heard the news?"

"Yeah, I did. How's he doing?"

"Well," Margaret said, "he's not here. He took a few days off, I think he went to see his mother in Florida. Donna went to keep an eye on him."

"I see. Well is Leo around?"

"Yeah, want me to get him?"

"Thanks, Margaret." She put the phone on hold and knocked on Leo's office door.

"Come in," he called.

"Leo," she said, "You've got a call."

"From who?" he asked distractedly, as he was concentrating on his work at his desk.

"Sam." He looked up in surprise.

"Seaborn?" Margaret nodded. "What does he want?"

She shrugged. "I think he wants to know about Josh. Seems like he just found out with the rest of us."

Leo winced. "Yeah, I bet Josh didn't even think of calling him when C.J. told him to tell everyone who should know before the announcement. Thanks, Margaret, I'll take it from here." He reached over and picked up the telephone. "Sam!"

"Leo! How are things?"

"And by 'how are things' I assume you mean - -,"

"How's Josh?"

"Yeah, I figured. Well, as you can probably imagine, he's going through a tough patch here. You should have called yesterday, he probably would have enjoyed talking to you for a while."

"Well, I just found out this morning actually."

"How the hell could you have just found that out this morning?" asked a slightly amused Leo.

"Well, I didn't work yesterday. Therefore it was my 'do nothing day.' Which seemingly involved- -not picking up a newspaper or watching news of any kind- -yeah." Leo laughed. "Anyway, how long is he going to be away?"

"He's figuring on staying in Florida about three days, I think. He really didn't specify a set amount of time, I just told him to relax and take some time to work out his issues. After that, who knows? He might come right back, he might not. We'll have Angela to cover for him as long as he needs."

"Well look, Leo, I've got a couple weeks vacation starting in a couple days. Do you think he might like if I came up for a bit, just sort of hung out, you know?"

"You don't have any other plans for your vacation?"

"Nah, I usually just sit around and do nothing- - kind of like yesterday."

"Well yeah, Sam, I think that'd be a good idea, if you're up for it. You should come by the West Wing. Everyone would love to see you and yell at you for leaving us."

"Gee," Sam said dryly, "thanks."

"Anytime there, son. Well I've got a meeting here in a few. Call me when you get here in a few days, okay?"

"Sure. Oh, and Leo? Don't tell the others I'm coming up. It'll be a fun surprise." Leo laughed.

"See ya, kid."

They both hung up their respective phones. Sam walked out of his office and back down the hall from where he came from.

"Hey, Jim. I'm going to be taking about two vacation weeks here in a few days." Jim was totally thrown off his guard.

"Why?"

"I've got to go see a sick friend," Sam called over his shoulder as he continued walking.

"Who?"

"Josh Lyman!"

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Okay, okay... I know I haven't updated this in MONTHS but a friend has been badgering me about it (yes, I mean you, Triscuit girl)...so the story continues! I know it's not a long chapter by any means, but I wanted to get it updated quickly...I'll go to work on the next!

Cheers! *~Lexi Lupin~*