Chapter 11
Jax saw the look of bewilderment on Carly and Ned's faces and decided to intercede. "Ned, Carly, this is Leo McGarry. He's. . ." he paused, not sure what the man's relationship to Donna actually was.
"An old friend of Donna's," Leo put in as he stared at the man and woman across from him.
"Leo, these are Carly Spencer and Ned Ashton," Jax sighed.
"Nice to meet you," Carly smiled as she wiped at her tears and Ned put his hands in his pockets as he rocked on his feet, his mind running as he tried to place the reason for the familiarity of the man's name.
Their actions bothered Leo, who recognized Jax's introductions, as being part of a divergence, and that didn't sit well with him. What the hell are they hiding? he wondered as he heard a change in the tones of the machines that occupied the room. "What was that?" he wondered as he looked towards the bed, whose view was obscured by the younger couple.
"Her heart range changed," Carly replied.
"Are you sure?" Leo asked worriedly.
"Fairly," Carly shrugged. "I learned a few things in nursing school."
"So, you're a nurse?"
Carly shook her head at that, a slight laugh escaping her lips, which in turn caused Leo to frown as she answered: "I kinda had to give up on that idea. I run a cosmetics company."
Why'd I even ask? Leo wondered as he ran a hand over his face. "Have you been told anything more about her condition?"
"The doctors haven't been in since last night, but the last time a nurse was in, they said she seemed stable," Ned replied evenly.
"How long ago was that?"
"Around six this morning."
"WHAT?!?!" Leo asked, his surprise evident in his tone as he checked his watch. Sure enough, it was nearly ten o'clock and four hours between checks in an ICU was, as far as he knew, unheard of.
"Melissa said it was because of the fact that there weren't any orders since they didn't have permission to do anything," Carly explained hurriedly.
"The papers granting permission were faxed her nearly an hour ago," Leo said, a touch of anger in his voice as he rubbed his forehead. Abbey's going to be kicking some major butt for this!
"Wonder if they know that or if the papers were just 'misplaced?'" Carly muttered with a roll of her eyes.
'"Papers like those get lost often around here?" Leo couldn't help but ask sarcastically.
Carly gulped at the underlining tone in Leo's voice and the sharp look she got from Jax, who stepped towards Leo. "I think she just meant that since it's the change of shift they might have just been overlooked. Right Carly?"
"Ummm, yeah. That's what I meant," Carly replied unconvincingly as she shot Jax a questioning look.
Leo just shook his head, his patience growing shorter with each passing minute, "then I think I better make sure they get looked at. Mr. Jacks, would you mind helping me find someone who could get the proverbial ball moving on this?"
"Certainly," Jax replied as he opened the door to let Leo proceed him into the hallway, mouthing an 'I'll explain later' to his two friends.
As the door shut behind them Carly cursed. "Jax didn't tell him anything!" she huffed as she turned to Ned.
"We don't know that."
"Ned, he covered my comment about the paperwork. We all know what's going on here. Monica's pulling rank to prevent Donna from getting the medical care she needs."
"We don't know that," Ned replied to a snort from Carly. "All right, we can't prove it. Besides, maybe Jax is right to not say anything."
"What do you mean?"
"Just that. What do we know about this McGarry guy?"
"You think your family might try to pull something through him? How? I mean, how would they even know who to contact?"
"I don't put anything past them. And I don't know what to think right now. All I know is that his name is veryfamiliar, but for the life of me I can't remember why!"
"Maybe Donna mentioned him?" Carly asked, earning a sharp look from Ned. "OK, OK, it was just a suggestion."
"Carly, has Donna mentioned anyone from her life before Port Charles to you by name?"
She shrugged, "She and V. have spoken about a Mal and Zoey a couple of times. Those conversations usually bring in a Sam and/or a Charlie. And there's someone with a strange A. name."
"But nothing--- nobody--- else."
"She didn't speak of anybody to me directly, and no, none by name."
"So what makes you think it's a possibility that I heard his name through her."
"It was a suggestion. I don't know, maybe you heard the name during some business deal."
"He look like an executive to you?"
"No. Lawyer or civil servant, maybe," Carly replied. "Hey, maybe Alexis went up against him in court or something."
"Yeah, maybe," Ned sighed, unconvinced as he looked over to where Donna laid, the feeling that all hell was going to be breaking lose soon settling over him.
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Meanwhile
Leo waited for Jax in the hall his frown growing as he reviewed the impressions he had gathered in the last hour and a half. Jax had backpedaled over Carly's comment too heavily for him to disregard it as he initially would've. So now, he had one more question to ponder: Why would someone try to deny another person medical care? Especially one who worked in the medical field?
"I was thinking it might be best to start with Tony Jones," Jax said as he stepped out of the room.
"Fine. I want to get this legal snafu handled so that they can start giving Donna the proper treatment," Leo said tensely as they started down the corridor.
"Tony said that her condition was stable before he left last night. They didn't think. . ."
"That seems to be exactly the problem here, Mr. Jacks. No one thought," Leo snapped. "At least not about Donna."
"Excuse me," Jacks returned angrily, halting the older man with a hand on his arm. "I don't know who you think you are. Or whom you think you're talking to. Ned, Carly and I have been here all night. I'm the one who called you. I'm arranging to get people you claim need to be here, here. Don't accuse me of not thinking when you haven't!"
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that. We've been here for Donna when you and these people haven't. We've been the one who have helped her deal with. . ."
"With what?" Leo asked, catching Jax's anxious near slip and pouncing on it.
"With things," Jax covered feebly.
Leo scowled and shook his head, "you know, maybe I'd consider the fact that you were thinking of Donna if you'd tell me what was actually going on around here. . ." Jax only stared. "That's what I thought."
"What is your problem."
"My problem, Mr. Jacks, is that someone I consider to be a part of my family is lying in a hospital bed and you and your friends won't explain what happened. My problem is the fact that Donna is being denied medical care because of paper work and her doctors couldn't figure out a way around the bureaucracy and red tape. My problem is that instead of talking to her doctors and trying to get things straightened out I'm here fighting someone who claims to be her friend because of a slip of the tongue. After all, I didn't get any more sleep than you did, and I resent the fact that you think I did!"
"Look, we don't know each other and. . ." Jax started to try to fumble his way through an apology.
"You're d@mned right we don't. And up to now I've given you the benefit of the doubt. I'd hope you'd do the same for me. Now, as I see it we have Donna in common. We both want to fix this, whatever this is. My advice to you is this: don't stand in the way of my doing just that."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, that's the way it is. Now, let's go talk to her doctors."
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Mandy looked up as the door of Monroe's office opened and the man's secretary stepped in. "Sir, we seem to have a problem," she said her voice holding equal parts anger and disbelief.
"Well?" he asked as he slid the file the staff was reviewing to the side.
"Josh Lyman just walked off."
"WHAT?!?!?" he bellowed before giving Mandy a scathing look.
"That's not something Josh would do," she protested.
"He did it," the secretary replied a bit too cattily turned his anger towards Mandy.
"Josh wouldn't walk off a campaign without a good reason," she surprised herself with countering.
"He did it to Hoynes."
"That was a mutual decision," Mandy responded through gritted teeth. "Are you sure you didn't misunderstand? That he wasn't just going to miss Staff?"
"He's gone. Something about a family emergency and he doesn't know when he's going to be back."
Mandy narrowed her eyes at that, "see I told you there was a reasonable explanation. I'll call his mother and find out what's going on," Mandy said as she rose and collected her papers.
"He walks and it's your fault. I didn't want him in the first place," Monroe said angrily. "And I don't care who got you this job, it costs me the election and you're through."
Mandy swallowed hard at that as she grabbed her things and walked out, the secretary right after her. "Some people just need to be reminded of their places," she smirked.
"Really? I wonder if Mrs. Monroe will agree if she were to find out about what you're really assisting her husband with," Mandy shot back.
"You wouldn't?"
"Don't bet on it," Mandy replied icily as she went down the hall, cursing Josh Lyman the whole way.
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AJ rolled over in bed and frowned as he realized he was in his room at the mansion and not his apartment, and even worse that he was still dressed in his tux from the night before. Groaning, he pulled himself into a sitting position and went to the closet to grab a change of clothes. As he did the pounding in his head told him he had had too much to drink. Going into the connecting bathroom he tried to remember exactly what he had done the night before. . .
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Jed Bartlett looked up from the essays he was grading to watch his wife pace in quiet amusement. "He'll call once he knows something," he said simply, earning a glare for his efforts.
"He should know something by now," she countered as she turned. "I don't like the feel of this, Jed."
"I think we can agree that none of us do," he replied as he took off his glasses and put the essays to the side.
"How can you be so calm?"
"You're doing enough worrying for both of us," he replied, earning another glare. "Besides, Leo would've called if it were bad news."
"I hate not being able to do something," Abbey admitted as she finally slid into the seat next to him.
"You'll be able to soon enough," Jed said as he placed a hand in hers. "You've accomplished a lot as it is. Hotel reservations, car rentals. . ."
"Well, being a former First Lady does have an occasional perk," she teased, only to grow serious again as her mind jumped to another aspect of the issue at hand. "Charlie's going to take this hard."
"They both will. I'm surprised that Zoey didn't start crying the minute I told her."
"She probably did the minute you hung up."
"She wanted to try to postpone some of her exams. I think I talked her out of that though."
"Donna would hate it if either of them did that. Hell, she'll be embarrassed at all the attention we'll be heaping on her, and I can bet she'll say we all should've stayed put--- that we shouldn't have interrupted out important schedules for little old her."
"And we'll remind her that it's the privileges of rank, and the fact that she's family," Jed shrugged and then laughed slightly.
"What?"
"Just thinking of a conversation Leo and I have a few months ago."
"Somehow, I get the feeling that I don't want to know."
"Good, because it goes under privilege, at least until. . ."
"Until?"
"Like you said, you don't want to know," he smirked as he reached for his glasses again. "Why don't you try harassing Cassidine some more about gaining privileges at the hospital."
"I guess I will," Abbey sighed as she stood up and started to move across the compartment. "And Jed, don't think your diversionary tactic worked. I'll find out eventually," she threw over her shoulder.
"Yes, dear," he said as he hid his grin with the essay he was reading more than proud that his one to get her to stop her damnable pacing her worked.