THUMP
Bartlett was awakened from his deep sleep by the thumping in his chief of staff's office. He immediately rushed in and inquired after CJ; who, he realized after a moment, was incapacitated with grief. He rushed back to his office and refilled his glass pitcher which he had had repaired with cold water and dashed it over her face, taking care not to splash it over her light blue suit.
She didn't wake up…and wasn't breathing.
Bartlett panicked and telephoned his wife Abby from CJ's office. He described the situation to her and she came down from the residence without delay. After donning her stethoscope and checking for a heart beat and pulse…she reported that she could find none. CJ was in a deep state of shock, possibly dead. Bartlett reached for the phone to dial 911.
As soon as he contacted the first response team, he yelled "Code Blue, my chief of staff needs immediate medical attention." While he was waiting for a response on the other line, he got a couple of staffers to make an impromptu stretcher for CJ and they wheeled her out into the open air. He had left Abby standing by the phone just in case they picked up.
CJ opened her eyes for a fleeting second, allowing a single tear to roll down her cheek. Painful realizations of where she was and what had happened seemed to hit her all at once. Bartlett hollered back to Abby, "She's alright! We're good." Then, turning to CJ he said "My, Claudia Jean! You gave us quite a scare." He offered her a hand to help her off the stretcher and back to her office.
Bartlett noticed however, a slight limp and very puffy eyes. "You look terrible," he said. "You should go home"
"Oh no sir, I'll just have Carol bring me some clothes from my apartment." She hollered at Carol, whom she realized had left to work for Toby.
She picked up the extension cord in her office and dialed the number.
Carol picked up and gently reminded her that she had her own assistant named Margarette. CJ laughed and hung up the phone, feeling 100 better than before.
That is…until she saw the daily news.
The news caster showed pictures of the aircraft, shooting up in flames. As she viewed the images CJ found that she could no longer hold herself together. Bartlett heard this and ran into her office, surprised at the sudden change in demeanor. Unsure of what else to do, he reached forward and pulled her into a tight embrace. A few moments passed as CJ sobbed into the shoulder of the man she had come to view as a father. Bartlett whispered softly in her ear, "You'll get him back…I promise." With those words he left the office, closing the door with a click.