Chapter 15
V. stepped into Donna's room forcing her expression to go blank. "So, what did you lose my number or something?" she asked, causing the trio to look up in surprise.
"V.! You're back," Jax said with a smile as he stood.
"Good observation."
"I just wasn't expecting you till later this afternoon," he explained as he hugged her.
"Well, I got an earlier flight," she replied as she stepped back. "Why didn't you tell me Donna had been hurt?"
"I wanted to wait till we knew more," he hedged.
"So, what happened?"
"Donna took a fall down the stairs at the party last night," Jax replied as he put his hands in his pocket and Carly's eyes shot up to him in surprise.
V. caught the exchange and frowned. "Fell or was pushed?" she couldn't help but ask.
"It's being ruled an accident," Jax stated simply.
His wording hit her hard, Leo's right. They are hiding something, and I pray it's not what I think it is, "Oh," was all she said as her eyes darted to Ned, who refused to even look at her. "Well, then I guess I'll just make those calls Leo asked me to."
"What calls?" Jax asked, as Carly put in a: "You know him?"
V. silently cursed her slip of the tongue as she fought the urge to rub her collar bone, "He's an old friend of my godfather's," she shrugged. Well, he is, she mentally defended to the inner voice that chided her cover up. "And he asked me to make the calls about the transportation details. You did get them made, didn't you Jax?" she asked, earning a slight nod from her fiance.
"He's an old friend of your godfather's?" Ned muttered, calling her attention to him. "So, you've talked about him?"
V. gulped as she took in the weird expression on his face. "I guess."
"And that's how you met Donna?"
"Well, in a round about way, yes. That's how we met."
"Oh. OK."
"Ned, are you OK?" V. asked, concern evident in her voice.
"He's been trying to figure out where he heard Leo's name before. Guess he just did," Carly shrugged.
Ned would be the one to figure it out. "Well, that's probably it. Donna and I usually talk over my godsister Zoey's and Leo's daughter Mal's exploits. You probably heard us mention Uncle Leo a time or two," V. said uneasily. "So. . . umm. . . Jax, how about giving me what you have on depart/arrival times so I can make those calls before I check in at the station?"
"Sure," Jax shrugged as he went to get the needed papers from his briefcase, oblivious to V's tension, but Carly wasn't. And she knew darn well that she had never heard V. mention her godfather or Leo. What is going on? Who the hell is Leo McGarry and why is V. covering for him? Maybe Jax is right. . .Maybe we shouldn't trust anyone but the three of us. . .
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AJ walked quickly down the hall mentally reviewing what he had to do for the day. As often happened, he stopped at the top of the stairs as he was flooded by memories. Only this time, instead of Carly, his mind flashed a picture of Donna Moss falling down the stairs. "You're losing it, AJ," he muttered as he started down them and into the living room.
He immediately went to the wet bar and poured himself a glass of orange juice as Edward walked in. "Glad to see you're finally up."
"And a good morning to you too, Grandfather."
"It's afternoon, and there's been nothing good about the day so far since I've been cleaning up your latest mess!" Edward informed, a finger right in AJ's face.
"And what is it I supposedly did now?" AJ asked as he moved to sit on the couch. "Annoy an important client? Piss off the press?"
"Throw another woman down the stairs," Edward retorted angrily, watching AJ blanch. "Do you have any idea the amount of tap dancing I've had to do to keep this out of the papers? To keep your drunken hide out of jail?"
"Leave him alone, Edward!" Monica said as she came in. "He didn't do anything wrong. It was an accident."
"Believing our own press?" Edward asked sarcastically.
"Don't even try it, Edward."
"I'm past 'trying it,' Monica," Edward shot back pointedly as he shook a finger in her direction of her face. "The boy is worse than a hoodlum! At least the delinquents in this family don't intentionally hurt innocent people!"
"Innocent my. . ."
"MONICA!"
"She's been leading him on for months!"
Edward only snorted at that, "her and all the other women I've had to pay off, get jobs for, or just make disappear in general over the last couple of years!" he bellowed as he threw up his hands and turned to his grandson who was sitting with a shellshocked expression eerily similar to the one his cousin had been sporting for the last 10 hours. "You don't talk to the police without Justus. You insist it was an accident. You try to stay sober, although I know that will be a losing battle!"
"EDWARD!" Monica cried indignantly.
"Fine!" he said throwing him his hands in frustration. "But don't say I didn't want him. There's only so many people I can bribe before it all comes down on us!" he declared as he stormed out of the room and towards the gardens.
"Don't pay him one ounce of attention," Monica said as she sat down to her son. "It was an accident."
AJ only nodded as he looked into his drink, but all he saw was her falling. Funny, he couldn't tell if it was Donna or Carly. All he knew was that the blonde in his mind was falling and it was his fault. . .
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Leo stood on the runway as the Secret Service escorted the former First Couple off the plane, his stance a little straighter than usual as they approached. "Afternoon, Sir. Ma'am," he said as they stopped in front of him, the agents fanning out around them.
"Leo. . ." Jed Bartlett sighed in exasperation at the address.
"Sorry, old habits," Leo shrugged with a wry grin.
"Then switch to older ones," Jed quipped earning an eye roll from his wife.
"Please, just humor him," Abbey sighed as she kiss Leo's cheek.
"Don't we always?" Leo shot back, earning a grunt from his best friend.
"Sir, we need to get you out of here and some place more. . ."
"Secure," Jed interrupted the Secret Service Agent with his own roll of the eyes. "You really would think they'd realize I know the drill by now."
"Perhaps if you'd follow it. . ." Leo said as the three fell into an easy pace, Abbey holding onto both men's arms as the members of the security team wrapped around them.
"I follow them," the former President sighed indignantly.
"When it suits you," Leo replied as they stopped at the limo and both men dropped back to allow Abbey to enter it first.
"I think I preferred it when you were being respectful," Jed teased as he slid into the limo.
"I have orders from a higher source to humor you," Leo volleyed as he followed his friend into the limo and sat opposite the couple. It was seconds later that the door was closed behind him.
Jed laughed slightly as someone pounded on the roof and the car started to move. "Smart man."
"I like to think so," Leo returned. "I understand we're heading to the hotel first."
"Much to Abbey's displeasure," Jed said earning a mock glare from his wife.
"Oh, and you're just so happy about it?" she asked in a sweetly sarcastic tone.
Leo sighed, deciding to intercede, "It may actually be for the best."
"Saids the man who's already been there," Jed quipped as Abbey picked up on the subtext of his statement.
"What do you mean?" she asked leaning towards him.
Leo sighed as he ran a tired hand down his face. "The more I see and hear the more certain I am that we're getting involved in some sort of cover up."
"You have evidence pointing towards it?" Jed asked.
"Nothing solid yet. Just a feeling."
"Which was all the Republicans had on us!"
"This isn't a joke," Leo said tensely. "This time a fall might actually kill one of us!"
"Leo, for pete's sake, calm down and explain."
"We have the call to Toby and whatever other information his cub might have turned up. I haven't had the chance to call and find out what he's been able to get. There's the fact that Jasper Jacks is evading my questions, and one of Donna's friends made a comment about whether or not the disappearance of the Medical Power of Attorney was an accident. I probably would've let it go, but the man backpedaled too hard to try to cover her comment for it not to have meant something. Then there's the fact that someone was harassing her."
"What?!?! Did you know about that?" Jed asked.
"You know d@mned well that if I had you and Abbey would've too. Sam's apparently the only one who knew, or at least thinks there might be a connection. He was going to look over the evidence she had."
"As the usual voice of reason around here, I hate to remind you boys that it all can be coincidental," Abbey put in, although not really believing it to be just a coincidence herself.
"Saids the woman who's been known to consult an ouiji board."
"I said humor him, not me, Leo," Abbey shot back pointedly.
"Yes Ma'am," he replied, properly chastised. "Besides, there's more. Donna was, is, in ICU. There was over a four hour span between checks on her by the nursing staff."
"That's criminal!"
"That's what I thought," Leo said as he shook his head and looked down at his hands before continuing. "I saw V. at the hospital. She had just come back from a conference and didn't know about Donna. I'm afraid I bungled telling her," he said as he rubbed his hands against his legs and looked back at the couple, "anyway, she said she'd look into things. She also suggested we keep our presence here as low key as possible, since no one seems to know that Donna worked at the White House."
"Hence your reasoning for our de tour being for the best, but considering what you just told me, I'm not trusting her care to those jackasses!"
"V. seems to think that as long as a certain someone," he paused looking pointedly at the former President, "keeps a low profile, or better yet, out of sight, we'll be OK."
"Oh, and my wife and former staff are so much less recognizable than me?" the man in question couldn't help but point out.
"He's right. I did have a higher approval rating," Abbey smirked.
"Hell, we all did," Leo laughed before growing serious as Jed shot mock glares at the two of them. "Abbey will have a legitiment reason for being there. She's going to be one of Donna's doctors. I already said an old friend would be consulting. Never said that friend knew Donna," Leo stated.
"You have a devious mind McGarry," Jed smirked as he leaned back in the seat.
"I'm a politician, what do you expect?" Leo shot back before continuing. "V. claims the town is apolitical, which from the reactions I got from people I tend to believe."
"So we hide in plain sight and hope no one buys a clue," Abbey mused.
"And meanwhile we contact whoever we know here and ferret information out of them," Jed added.
"And then we make whomever is responsible for hurting Donna pay," Leo finished earning a nod of agreement from the couple, as the former President gave a slight smirk, "I love it when a plan starts to come together."