Part 8

SAM'S HOUSE

Sam and Lisa sat and ate their breakfast. It felt like old times. It was nice.

"It's good." Sam said with a smile.

"You can't mess up eggs that much." She joked.

"Sam." Maggie came into the kitchen. "Josh and Toby are here."

"Thanks." Sam looked at Lisa.

"Go ahead. I'll clean up here."

"I'll be back." Sam kissed Lisa and walked out.

"Hey guys. You didn't get in that much trouble last night, did you?" Sam walked up to them.

"Not really." Josh smirked.

"Are plane is leaving in an hour. We wanted to make sure you were okay." Toby stated.

"Yeah. Lisa came by last night. She's going to stay for a little while."

"That's good." Josh nodded.

"Thanks you guys, for everything. It meant a lot to me." Sam hugged both of them.

"We're always going to be here Sam. Don't forget that." Toby replied.

"Will you call when you get back? Here's the number." Sam asked, handing Toby a piece of paper.

"We will."

"Take care Sam. We'll be waiting for you." Josh patted his friend on the back.

Sam nodded and hugged them once more before heading back into the house. Josh and Toby watched as he walked in.

"I guess we have to go back to work." Josh moaned.

"Don't start moaning." Toby warned as he got back in the cab.

"Maybe we should eat before the flight."

"I swear Josh, don't start on the food thing again." Toby yelled as the cab drove away.

"I don't understand how you could you have brought up CJ when you were in bed with another woman." Josh laughed.

"First of all. I didn't mention CJ. Allison did. She overheard your sorry ass talking about it at the bar." Toby said while hitting him.

"I was right." Josh grinned. "Even she told you to go after her."

"No she didn't."

"She told you to tell CJ that there is a great guy waiting for her. Excuse me, but does that not sound like her pushing you to CJ."

"You know something. You're an idiot." Toby yelled. "Now shut up. We're about to land."

"CJ and Toby sittin in a tree…" Josh started quietly.

"If you continue, I'm going to throw you out of this aircraft."

Josh sunk in his chair.

FUNERAL

During the funeral service, Sam stood next to Lisa and Maggie. Both of them holding his hands. Sam felt the tears fall down his face again, but he didn't care. He listened to the final words being said. When everyone was done, Sam placed some flowers down next to the coffin.

"Goodbye mom." Sam whispered and blew a kiss to the sky. "I love you."

Sam walked back to the car and stood next to Lisa.

"You did good." She said.

"Yeah." Sam looked at her again and hugged her. "I loved her so much."

"I know. We all did Sam." Lisa rubbed Sam's hair to calm him down.

"Yeah." Sam kissed Lisa on the cheek. "I know you should be getting back to work."

"I can stay."

"It's okay. I'm going to spend the next few days helping my dad and sisters clear out mom's house."

"Sam…"

"It's okay. I've had so much help in the past week. I thank you for coming Lisa. You will never know how much it meant to me."

"Take care of yourself Sam." Lisa kissed Sam on the cheek. "I'll always be here if you need me."

"I'll call." Sam smiled.

"You better." Lisa joked.

"Goodbye Sam."

"Goodbye Lisa."

Sam watched as Lisa walked back to her car and drove off. He felt like he was going to get through this. He knew he was going to be just fine.

WHITE HOUSE

"Well, I wonder how many people missed us." Josh smiled as they both walked in the White House.

"I doubt many." Toby mumbled.

"Josh!" Donna bellowed from down the hall.

"Hey Donna."

"You have a meeting in twenty minutes." Donna said while handing Josh some papers.

"I just got back." Josh whined.

"Bruno heard from Leo that you would be back today and told me to tell you to take the meeting because he's tired of doing your job." Donna said quickly.

"So much for relaxing." Josh said harshly. "Can you excuse us for a minute Donna?"

"Hurry." Donna said while taking off down the hall. Josh then looked at Toby, who was smiling.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Better be nothing." Josh warned. "Look, I just wanted to say that I had a good time."

"We didn't just get off of a date, Josh." Toby joked.

"Shut up!"

"I had a good time too. It was fun."

"Yeah." Josh smiled. "Now if you excuse me, I have a meeting." Josh moaned as he walked off.

COMMUNICATIONS BULLPEN

"Hello," Toby said to everyone as he walked in.

"Oh, thank god." Ginger followed him into his office.

"Miss me that much, huh?" Toby said.

"Actually, Larry and Ed were driving me crazy." Ginger moaned.

"I drive you crazy." Toby looked up at her.

"Yeah, but I'm used to you." Ginger smiled and handed Toby some messages. "How's Sam?"

"He's going to be fine." Toby said easily.

"The President wanted to see you and Josh tonight before you guys headed home."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Anything else?" Ginger asked before walking out.

"Yeah, where's CJ at?"

"She's just finishing up the briefing."

"Thanks."

"You want me to get her for you?"

"No, thanks."

"Okay. Welcome back." Ginger smiled.

Toby just smiled as Ginger walked out.

JOSH'S OFFICE

"Donna, why do I have to take this meeting?" Josh whined.

"You know. I didn't miss your whining when you were gone." Donna smiled.

"But you did miss me." Josh wiggled his eyebrows.

"Bruno was driving me crazy. He was pissed he had to take all your meetings. And he let all his anger out on me."

"You want me to take care of him for you?"

"I put him in his place." She smiled.

"That's my girl."

"How's Sam?"

"He's going to fine, I think."

"It was sweet to you and Toby to go with him."

"I think we all needed a little break."

"Yeah." Donna smiled. "Meeting in five."

"Yeah, yeah." Josh moaned. "Thanks."

PRESSROOM

"I'll have an answer to that…" CJ started and then saw Toby in the back of the room. "Uh, I'll have that tomorrow. That's it for now, I'll see you all again later." CJ smiled and walked out of the room, running into Toby.

"I knew I felt your eyes on me." CJ smiled at Toby. "You just get back?"

"Yeah." Toby followed CJ back to her office.

"You didn't call for the past two nights."

"We got home late last night." Toby answered.

"And the night before?"

"We were, uh, contained." Toby looked down at his feet nervously.

"Yeah, sure." CJ smiled. "How's Sam?"

"He's good. I think he's going to be fine." Toby looked at her.

"That's good. I'm glad your back." CJ made note of they way he was looking at her. Something about it made her grin like an idiot.

"Yeah, me too."

CJ and Toby just looked at each other for a moment.

"You look different." CJ mentioned.

"Like how?"

"I don't know. You just do."

"I'm the same old Toby." He looked at her seriously. "Look, I wanted to say something."

"What?"

"I…" Toby stopped and looked in CJ's face. "I'm supposed to tell you that the greatest guy is waiting for you." Toby smiled nervously. He didn't believe he just said that.

"And who is that supposed to be." CJ asked confused.

"You'll find out when it's time, I think." He shuffled. "I should go and fix mistakes I know Larry and Ed must of made. You have plans tonight?"

"Not really."

"Want to go out for pizza?"

"Sure, as long as you're buying." CJ teased.

"I always buy, why should I break the habit now?." Toby joked.

"Go away now." CJ threw a pen at him.

"Yeah, yeah." Toby laughed as he walked out.

"What the hell was he talking about?" CJ asked herself and went back to work.

TBC