Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all know it's not mine...or do we???
Chapter 8
Secret Service agents swarmed into the Oval Office.
"What- -?" The President began.
"Sir," Ron Butterfield cut him off, "we need you to stay here and stay as far away from windows and doors as possible. We're in a lockdown."
"What the hell for?" demanded Bartlet.
"Our agent in the ambulance was able to determine an attack of sorts on Mr. Lyman. We're just doing a routine check of the White House to make sure it wasn't anyone in the building. The paramedics were relatively convinced it happened last night though, probably after he left work."
"Mr. President," Leo interjected, "I was just starting to tell you. Josh collapsed in his meeting with Senators Gates and Eisenhauer. They've taken him to GW already. Donna and Abbey followed."
"I don't understand," the President stated. "He was attacked?"
"It would seem so," Leo said grimly. "Abbey exposed his stomach, there were bruises entirely covering his lower abdomen. Josh may be clumsy, but he couldn't have done something like that by himself."
"Leo- -," started the President.
"Sir?"
"Dammit!" he exclaimed. "Leo! How does this happen?" Leo was surprised at the anger and hatred in the President's eyes.
"We think something happened on his way home last night. He walked, with Sam."
"He walked," the President said in amazement. "Josh walked home?"
"Yeah. You know Josh, sir. He doesn't like to seem...you know."
"Excuse me, Leo?" Ron broke in. "Sam Seaborn?"
"Yeah, he's in town for a few weeks."
"If he walked home with Mr. Lyman, we'll need to talk with him. Can you tell me where he's staying?"
"I can't, actually," Leo said. "C.J. or Toby would probably know. Donna would for sure, but she's on her way to the hospital."
Ron pulled out his radio and spoke quietly into it. "I need Flamingo and Porcupine to Eagle."
"Porcupine?" the President mouthed to Leo. Leo just shrugged.
About thirty seconds later, Toby and an indignant C.J. were ushered into the Oval Office, the door shutting firmly behind them.
"Mr. President," both greeted. "What's going on?" Toby asked softly.
"Ron wanted to know if either of you could provide him with the name of the hotel that Sam is staying at." Leo wasted no time.
"It's the Churchill," C.J. said, "but what- -?"
"Building's clear," Ron spoke up again. "The Churchill? In Georgetown on Wisconsin?" C.J. nodded silently. "Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President, you're free to move around again. I have a job to do now, so if you'll excuse me..."
"Thanks Ron," the President called at his retreating form.
"C.J., Toby, sit down," Leo ordered. "Now here's what's going on..."
s
Sam Seaborn groggily reached over for the phone as it started ringing.
"'Ello?" he said as coherently as possible.
"Mr. Seaborn?"
"Yes?"
"There's a gentleman on the phone who wishes to speak with you, by the name of Ron Butterfield."
Sam was instantly awake. "Put him through," he told the woman. 'Well this can't be good," he thought...
s
"Ron," Sam greeted the agent, "it's good to talk to you. Is everything alright?"
"Sam, I need you to tell me about your walk home with Josh last night. Did anything unusual happen between the White House and where the two of you parted?" he asked in a low voice.
"No," Sam answered in confusion, "there weren't even that many people out on the street. It was an uneventful walk, we just talked. We split at Pennsylvania and 29th. Ron," he paused, "what's happened?"
"I'm not in a position to say. I'd call Leo if I were you."
s
"Dr. Bartlet?" a young doctor approached Donna and Abbey where they were sitting. "I'm Doctor Freemont. We've completed Josh's procedure."
"And was it- -?"
The doctor nodded. "It was just as you suspected. Hemorrhaging of- -," he went on in a long stream of medical terms that Donna didn't even come close to understanding. Doctor Freemont then seemed to notice her standing there in confusion. "I'm sorry," he turned to her. "I didn't catch your name."
"Donna Moss," she said, "I'm Josh's assistant. Is he going to be okay?"
"He'll be fine," he smiled at her, "Your boss was suffering from internal bleeding. Nothing too serious, or he would have been here much sooner, but enough to cause concern. We've closed up everything and he should be good to go in two or three days. I wonder if I might have a word with Dr. Bartlet alone?" he asked kindly.
"Sure," Donna said, "Ma'am? Should I call Leo, or do you want to?"
"Go ahead," Abbey waved Donna on, "just tell him exactly what Dr. Freemont said. Then we'll go up to Josh's room."
s
"I'll tell you what," Leo said, as he hung the phone up, "the worst phone call I've ever had to make in my life was the night of the shooting in Rosslyn."
"Josh's mother?" Toby guessed quietly.
"Yeah," Leo sighed. "I mean, how do you call a woman you've known for over forty years and tell her that her son has been shot in the chest, the bullet centimeters away from his heart, and you won't know much more for fourteen hours, until the surgery is done? Anyway, the second worst was probably calling her and telling her that her son just fainted and we have no idea why. I think she's going to have a heart attack next time she hears my voice over the phone out of the blue."
"Is that who you just hung up with?" Toby asked.
"No. That was another call that makes the top ten. Sam, asking my why Ron Butterfield is asking him about his walk home with Josh last night."
"Ah," Toby nodded understandingly. "Is he coming in?"
"Nah, he's going right over to the hospital."
"I- -," Toby struggled to find the words, "I remember trying to tell Donna what happened to Josh. She had only heard about the President being shot. We told her he would be alright and she just smiled and looked said how relieved she was. No one could find the heart to tell her- -," he paused. "I finally spoke up."
"Leo?" Margaret came in. "Donna's on line one. She says she has good news."
s
"C.J.! C.J.!" Reporters called to C.J. from all directions. One spoke above the others. "C.J., can you tell us why an ambulance was in the driveway earlier? Who was taken out in it? Does it have anything to do with the lockdown?"
"Yes, I can tell you why, if everyone would shut up for two minutes!" The room promptly got quiet. "Thank you. At approximately 9:15 A.M., Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman fainted while in a meeting in the Mural room. The cause," she paused as the volume went back up, "the cause," she said again, a little louder, "has yet to be determined. He has been taken to GW, George Washington Hospital, we are awaiting an update on his condition. Mark?" she stopped for a question.
"Was this the cause of the Secret Service lockdown?"
"I can not comment on Secret Service procedure," C.J. paused as Toby handed a note to Carol, looking grim. Carol read it over once and headed towards the podium. C.J. read the note thoroughly before turning back to the White House press corps. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have an update on Josh's condition."
s
"Donna!"
Donna turned around as she closed her cell phone to see someone hurrying towards her. One of the many agents that had accompanied her and Abbey to the hospital took a step in her direction, but she waved him off.
"Sam. Did Leo call you?"
"No, actually," he replied, "I called him. How's Josh? Did you find out anything more?"
"He'll be fine, we're going up to see him in a couple minutes." Sam noticeably relaxed at this information. "He probably won't be awake for an hour or two though."
"Sam!" Abbey approached the pair from behind. "It's good to see you again."
"And you, Mrs. Bartlet. I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"Well," she answered, "I may not be practicing medicine, but I still know my stuff."
"Ah..." Sam said vaguely, not quite sure how to respond to that.
Abbey clapped her hands together. "Anyway, the doctor says we can go up now and see Josh. Well, actually he said Donna and I could go up and see Josh, but I'm sure one more person won't hurt, right? And it's Sam! Sam's like family!"
Donna grinned at the look of embarrassment on Sam's face and led the way to the elevators.
s
"Josh? Josh, are you okay?"
The look of panic and fear slowly edged off of Josh's face as he came to terms with where he was and who was talking to him.
"Yeah," he muttered, "yeah. I'm in a hospital."
"Yeah..."
"What'd I do?"
Donna was caught slightly off guard. "You...well, you fainted. During your meeting."
"Oh. That. Right."
"Josh?" this time Abbey questioned him. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Oh! Yes ma'am, excuse me. I didn't see you there. And Sam, don't know how I could have missed you."
"How's it goin'?" Sam offered weakly.
"Well, I'm sitting in a hospital bed." A sign of the real Josh began showing through as he grinned cockily. "Otherwise, not too bad, how about yourself." Sam just laughed. "I'm betting that as soon as I ask this everyone in here is going to either going to stare at me blankly or freak out, but what happened?"
"You can't remember?" Donna asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about it," Abbey reassured them, "you're still groggy from the anesthesia. Just try to relax, we'll worry about that later."
"Yeah...well I'm still feeling a little sleepy, if you know what I mean..."
"Go ahead and go to sleep, Josh. We'll be here when you- -,"
Josh didn't hear any more as he slipped back into a deep sleep.
s
"Abbey says he's been awake for a while. He's in and out of it, but he's coherent at any rate."
"Mr. President, you realize what we're going to have to do, right?" Leo raised his eyebrows questioningly at the President.
"Yeah. Have you talked to Ron?"
"They have an agent ready for the assignment, as soon as you can get Josh to sign the form. Once Abbey's gone, the agents leave with her, and I want someone outside his room day and night."
"Leo, not that I don't agree with you, but are you sure we're not making more of this than it is? A Georgetown mugging isn't exactly unheard of, you know."
"Mr. President, in the section of Georgetown that Josh lives in, it's relatively unheard of. He's the White House deputy Chief of Staff and C.J. just made a public announcement about his mental health that may make him seem vulnerable to any enemies."
"Like the ones on the Hill?" the President asked jokingly.
"I mean more like the ones in West Virginia White Pride."
Leo and the President stared at each other for a long minute.
"It wasn't Josh that they were after," the President said quietly.
"Yeah? Something tells me that they didn't mind so much hitting the Jewish person instead of the black one."
"We're done with this conversation," the President said flatly. "I'm taking a car to the hospital. I have to talk to Josh about Secret Service protection. I have no meetings in the next hour and a half that can't be cancelled or postponed."
"I'll come by later. Thank you, Mr. President," Leo exited the room into his own office.
s
"Mr. President, you really didn't have to come all the way down here to see me, you know?" Josh stated.
"Nonsense!" the President exclaimed. "A member of my staff is sick, I want to be there for him."
"Well, thank you, sir."
"Actually, I needed to talk to you about something too."
"Yes?" Josh asked suspiciously.
"Now, I know this just seemed to be an ordinary mugging..."
"It was," Josh insisted. "Some guy in a ski mask or something came at me out of an alley with a baseball bat! It was like, something horribly clichéd out of a bad horror movie or something."
"Now, Josh, let's not make light of the situation. Leo and Ron think there may have been more to it than that. And so, I wanted to discuss- -,"
"No," Josh cut him off, "No. You are not going to have some agent tail me around."
"Josh," the President tried to reason, "we don't want anything to happen to you. Just one agent. I went through this before with C.J., and we caught the guy- -,"
"The people you guys think are after me can not be caught! There are hundreds of them, all over the place!"
"I am aware of that, Joshua, but I think it's a good idea to make sure that you are safe. Particularly if you're walking home at nights."
"But if there's no one to catch, I'm going to have this agent on me forever!"
"Just until we leave the White House, Josh."
"Three and a half years of being tagged around by someone, never getting to do what I want?"
"Alright," the President nodded patiently, "I'll let it be for the moment. But once you're out of here, you, me, Leo, and Ron are all going to sit down and talk about this, okay?"
"Yes, sir," Josh mumbled.
s
A/N: Okay...I'm not doing too bad with time for this chapter! I'm impressed with myself!
I think there are only going to be one or two more chapters...but we'll see, maybe something will come into my head to keep it going longer as I'm writing...
Review!!! I must know what you think!!!
Cheers!
Lexi Lyman
Chapter 8
Secret Service agents swarmed into the Oval Office.
"What- -?" The President began.
"Sir," Ron Butterfield cut him off, "we need you to stay here and stay as far away from windows and doors as possible. We're in a lockdown."
"What the hell for?" demanded Bartlet.
"Our agent in the ambulance was able to determine an attack of sorts on Mr. Lyman. We're just doing a routine check of the White House to make sure it wasn't anyone in the building. The paramedics were relatively convinced it happened last night though, probably after he left work."
"Mr. President," Leo interjected, "I was just starting to tell you. Josh collapsed in his meeting with Senators Gates and Eisenhauer. They've taken him to GW already. Donna and Abbey followed."
"I don't understand," the President stated. "He was attacked?"
"It would seem so," Leo said grimly. "Abbey exposed his stomach, there were bruises entirely covering his lower abdomen. Josh may be clumsy, but he couldn't have done something like that by himself."
"Leo- -," started the President.
"Sir?"
"Dammit!" he exclaimed. "Leo! How does this happen?" Leo was surprised at the anger and hatred in the President's eyes.
"We think something happened on his way home last night. He walked, with Sam."
"He walked," the President said in amazement. "Josh walked home?"
"Yeah. You know Josh, sir. He doesn't like to seem...you know."
"Excuse me, Leo?" Ron broke in. "Sam Seaborn?"
"Yeah, he's in town for a few weeks."
"If he walked home with Mr. Lyman, we'll need to talk with him. Can you tell me where he's staying?"
"I can't, actually," Leo said. "C.J. or Toby would probably know. Donna would for sure, but she's on her way to the hospital."
Ron pulled out his radio and spoke quietly into it. "I need Flamingo and Porcupine to Eagle."
"Porcupine?" the President mouthed to Leo. Leo just shrugged.
About thirty seconds later, Toby and an indignant C.J. were ushered into the Oval Office, the door shutting firmly behind them.
"Mr. President," both greeted. "What's going on?" Toby asked softly.
"Ron wanted to know if either of you could provide him with the name of the hotel that Sam is staying at." Leo wasted no time.
"It's the Churchill," C.J. said, "but what- -?"
"Building's clear," Ron spoke up again. "The Churchill? In Georgetown on Wisconsin?" C.J. nodded silently. "Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President, you're free to move around again. I have a job to do now, so if you'll excuse me..."
"Thanks Ron," the President called at his retreating form.
"C.J., Toby, sit down," Leo ordered. "Now here's what's going on..."
s
Sam Seaborn groggily reached over for the phone as it started ringing.
"'Ello?" he said as coherently as possible.
"Mr. Seaborn?"
"Yes?"
"There's a gentleman on the phone who wishes to speak with you, by the name of Ron Butterfield."
Sam was instantly awake. "Put him through," he told the woman. 'Well this can't be good," he thought...
s
"Ron," Sam greeted the agent, "it's good to talk to you. Is everything alright?"
"Sam, I need you to tell me about your walk home with Josh last night. Did anything unusual happen between the White House and where the two of you parted?" he asked in a low voice.
"No," Sam answered in confusion, "there weren't even that many people out on the street. It was an uneventful walk, we just talked. We split at Pennsylvania and 29th. Ron," he paused, "what's happened?"
"I'm not in a position to say. I'd call Leo if I were you."
s
"Dr. Bartlet?" a young doctor approached Donna and Abbey where they were sitting. "I'm Doctor Freemont. We've completed Josh's procedure."
"And was it- -?"
The doctor nodded. "It was just as you suspected. Hemorrhaging of- -," he went on in a long stream of medical terms that Donna didn't even come close to understanding. Doctor Freemont then seemed to notice her standing there in confusion. "I'm sorry," he turned to her. "I didn't catch your name."
"Donna Moss," she said, "I'm Josh's assistant. Is he going to be okay?"
"He'll be fine," he smiled at her, "Your boss was suffering from internal bleeding. Nothing too serious, or he would have been here much sooner, but enough to cause concern. We've closed up everything and he should be good to go in two or three days. I wonder if I might have a word with Dr. Bartlet alone?" he asked kindly.
"Sure," Donna said, "Ma'am? Should I call Leo, or do you want to?"
"Go ahead," Abbey waved Donna on, "just tell him exactly what Dr. Freemont said. Then we'll go up to Josh's room."
s
"I'll tell you what," Leo said, as he hung the phone up, "the worst phone call I've ever had to make in my life was the night of the shooting in Rosslyn."
"Josh's mother?" Toby guessed quietly.
"Yeah," Leo sighed. "I mean, how do you call a woman you've known for over forty years and tell her that her son has been shot in the chest, the bullet centimeters away from his heart, and you won't know much more for fourteen hours, until the surgery is done? Anyway, the second worst was probably calling her and telling her that her son just fainted and we have no idea why. I think she's going to have a heart attack next time she hears my voice over the phone out of the blue."
"Is that who you just hung up with?" Toby asked.
"No. That was another call that makes the top ten. Sam, asking my why Ron Butterfield is asking him about his walk home with Josh last night."
"Ah," Toby nodded understandingly. "Is he coming in?"
"Nah, he's going right over to the hospital."
"I- -," Toby struggled to find the words, "I remember trying to tell Donna what happened to Josh. She had only heard about the President being shot. We told her he would be alright and she just smiled and looked said how relieved she was. No one could find the heart to tell her- -," he paused. "I finally spoke up."
"Leo?" Margaret came in. "Donna's on line one. She says she has good news."
s
"C.J.! C.J.!" Reporters called to C.J. from all directions. One spoke above the others. "C.J., can you tell us why an ambulance was in the driveway earlier? Who was taken out in it? Does it have anything to do with the lockdown?"
"Yes, I can tell you why, if everyone would shut up for two minutes!" The room promptly got quiet. "Thank you. At approximately 9:15 A.M., Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman fainted while in a meeting in the Mural room. The cause," she paused as the volume went back up, "the cause," she said again, a little louder, "has yet to be determined. He has been taken to GW, George Washington Hospital, we are awaiting an update on his condition. Mark?" she stopped for a question.
"Was this the cause of the Secret Service lockdown?"
"I can not comment on Secret Service procedure," C.J. paused as Toby handed a note to Carol, looking grim. Carol read it over once and headed towards the podium. C.J. read the note thoroughly before turning back to the White House press corps. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have an update on Josh's condition."
s
"Donna!"
Donna turned around as she closed her cell phone to see someone hurrying towards her. One of the many agents that had accompanied her and Abbey to the hospital took a step in her direction, but she waved him off.
"Sam. Did Leo call you?"
"No, actually," he replied, "I called him. How's Josh? Did you find out anything more?"
"He'll be fine, we're going up to see him in a couple minutes." Sam noticeably relaxed at this information. "He probably won't be awake for an hour or two though."
"Sam!" Abbey approached the pair from behind. "It's good to see you again."
"And you, Mrs. Bartlet. I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"Well," she answered, "I may not be practicing medicine, but I still know my stuff."
"Ah..." Sam said vaguely, not quite sure how to respond to that.
Abbey clapped her hands together. "Anyway, the doctor says we can go up now and see Josh. Well, actually he said Donna and I could go up and see Josh, but I'm sure one more person won't hurt, right? And it's Sam! Sam's like family!"
Donna grinned at the look of embarrassment on Sam's face and led the way to the elevators.
s
"Josh? Josh, are you okay?"
The look of panic and fear slowly edged off of Josh's face as he came to terms with where he was and who was talking to him.
"Yeah," he muttered, "yeah. I'm in a hospital."
"Yeah..."
"What'd I do?"
Donna was caught slightly off guard. "You...well, you fainted. During your meeting."
"Oh. That. Right."
"Josh?" this time Abbey questioned him. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Oh! Yes ma'am, excuse me. I didn't see you there. And Sam, don't know how I could have missed you."
"How's it goin'?" Sam offered weakly.
"Well, I'm sitting in a hospital bed." A sign of the real Josh began showing through as he grinned cockily. "Otherwise, not too bad, how about yourself." Sam just laughed. "I'm betting that as soon as I ask this everyone in here is going to either going to stare at me blankly or freak out, but what happened?"
"You can't remember?" Donna asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about it," Abbey reassured them, "you're still groggy from the anesthesia. Just try to relax, we'll worry about that later."
"Yeah...well I'm still feeling a little sleepy, if you know what I mean..."
"Go ahead and go to sleep, Josh. We'll be here when you- -,"
Josh didn't hear any more as he slipped back into a deep sleep.
s
"Abbey says he's been awake for a while. He's in and out of it, but he's coherent at any rate."
"Mr. President, you realize what we're going to have to do, right?" Leo raised his eyebrows questioningly at the President.
"Yeah. Have you talked to Ron?"
"They have an agent ready for the assignment, as soon as you can get Josh to sign the form. Once Abbey's gone, the agents leave with her, and I want someone outside his room day and night."
"Leo, not that I don't agree with you, but are you sure we're not making more of this than it is? A Georgetown mugging isn't exactly unheard of, you know."
"Mr. President, in the section of Georgetown that Josh lives in, it's relatively unheard of. He's the White House deputy Chief of Staff and C.J. just made a public announcement about his mental health that may make him seem vulnerable to any enemies."
"Like the ones on the Hill?" the President asked jokingly.
"I mean more like the ones in West Virginia White Pride."
Leo and the President stared at each other for a long minute.
"It wasn't Josh that they were after," the President said quietly.
"Yeah? Something tells me that they didn't mind so much hitting the Jewish person instead of the black one."
"We're done with this conversation," the President said flatly. "I'm taking a car to the hospital. I have to talk to Josh about Secret Service protection. I have no meetings in the next hour and a half that can't be cancelled or postponed."
"I'll come by later. Thank you, Mr. President," Leo exited the room into his own office.
s
"Mr. President, you really didn't have to come all the way down here to see me, you know?" Josh stated.
"Nonsense!" the President exclaimed. "A member of my staff is sick, I want to be there for him."
"Well, thank you, sir."
"Actually, I needed to talk to you about something too."
"Yes?" Josh asked suspiciously.
"Now, I know this just seemed to be an ordinary mugging..."
"It was," Josh insisted. "Some guy in a ski mask or something came at me out of an alley with a baseball bat! It was like, something horribly clichéd out of a bad horror movie or something."
"Now, Josh, let's not make light of the situation. Leo and Ron think there may have been more to it than that. And so, I wanted to discuss- -,"
"No," Josh cut him off, "No. You are not going to have some agent tail me around."
"Josh," the President tried to reason, "we don't want anything to happen to you. Just one agent. I went through this before with C.J., and we caught the guy- -,"
"The people you guys think are after me can not be caught! There are hundreds of them, all over the place!"
"I am aware of that, Joshua, but I think it's a good idea to make sure that you are safe. Particularly if you're walking home at nights."
"But if there's no one to catch, I'm going to have this agent on me forever!"
"Just until we leave the White House, Josh."
"Three and a half years of being tagged around by someone, never getting to do what I want?"
"Alright," the President nodded patiently, "I'll let it be for the moment. But once you're out of here, you, me, Leo, and Ron are all going to sit down and talk about this, okay?"
"Yes, sir," Josh mumbled.
s
A/N: Okay...I'm not doing too bad with time for this chapter! I'm impressed with myself!
I think there are only going to be one or two more chapters...but we'll see, maybe something will come into my head to keep it going longer as I'm writing...
Review!!! I must know what you think!!!
Cheers!
Lexi Lyman