Author's Note: I still don't own The West Wing or the characters. Any feedback you have on this story is greatly appreciated.

"Did she like the hat?" Josh asked Sam when he hung up the phone.

"Yeah, she did," Sam smiled. "I think she was more worried about you though."

"I'm fine," Josh waved him off.

"That's what I told her," Sam replied. "But, are you really fine?"

"Sam," Josh sighed. "I'm fine okay? Losing a national election sucks, but I'm not going to throw myself off a bridge okay?"

"Okay," Sam said skeptically. "Have you talked to Leo?"

"Of course I've talked to Leo," Josh replied clearly frustrated with his friend's line of questioning.

"Recently?" Sam pressed.

"I talked to him in Texas after the election," Josh replied exasperated.

"So you haven't talked to him in weeks then?"

"No, I guess I haven't," Josh said. "Does that mean something? Do you want to call Stanley and get him out here to talk to me about it?"

"No," Sam replied simply. "I just wondered whether you and Leo were on speaking terms. And by the way, you came here to see me so you might want to be a little nicer."

"Be nicer?" Josh replied puzzled.

"Yes," Sam said. "Do you want to get some lunch?"

"Okay, sure," Josh said adopting a nicer tone. "We okay?"

"We're fine," Sam said.

"Okay," Josh replied.

The two old friends walked down the street in the California sunshine. Sam had managed to clear his morning schedule to spend a little more time with Josh, but he was going to pay for it that afternoon. Josh shoved his hands in his pockets as they walked.

"You think he hates me?" Josh asked suddenly.

"Who?"

"Leo," Josh said almost sheepishly.

"Leo knew the risks of the campaign. You win some and you lose some," Sam replied.

"That's what CJ said," Josh replied.

"She's a very intelligent woman," Sam said.

"Yeah," Josh said. "I miss her some times." Josh waited a beat before he proceeded. "I miss everyone, the old days, you know? I never thought I'd miss it so much."

"Yeah," Sam nodded.

"What?" Josh asked.

"Nothing," Sam said clearly suppressing a thought.

"Seriously," Josh pressed.

"Look, this isn't new to me okay?" Sam said. "I've been out here for how long? How many times did you or Toby or CJ call me just to say hello? I was sent out here on a fool's errand to win an election in a decidedly Republican district and by some miracle I won. I never thought I would. I thought I'd be going back to the White House. Instead I was exiled and never spoke of again."

"That isn't true," Josh said stopping short and waiting for Sam to stop with him. "Is that really what you think?"

"Yeah, it really is," Sam replied. "I heard from you on my birthday. CJ would occasionally call me. Toby would drop me an e-mail when he was mad at Will, but none of you gave a damn. The White House moves Josh and you're just realizing what I've known for the last three years—if you're not moving with it you're left behind."

"You weren't left behind Sam," Josh tried to tell his friend.

"Well it sure felt like it," Sam replied. "I was lost when I first came out here. Nothing felt the way it did and I was just lost."

"I feel lost now," Josh said.

"Yeah," Sam said knowingly as he started walking again.

"Hey," Josh said grabbing Sam's arm. "We didn't forget about you."

Sam stopped for a minute and looked his friend in the eye. "In my head I know that," Sam replied. "I'm just telling you that if you don't want to feel like your whole world is gone then maybe you should call Leo or Donna or Toby. It's obviously what you want. Why are you here? Why did you get on a plane the night after the election to go see CJ?"

"I missed you guys," Josh said quietly. "I wanted to feel like I did back then. We had the real thing for a while Sam."

"Yeah, we did," Sam nodded. Sam paused a moment to make his point. "Look, I have a pretty packed afternoon. If we're going to have lunch we better go."

"Yeah," Josh said as he followed Sam down the street.

He had never known that Sam felt abandoned by the rest of them. Maybe they had abandoned him. He thought of Sam after he left. He found himself stealing glances inside his old office every so often, half-expecting to see him typing away or fighting with Toby. Things happen so fast at the White House that there isn't time to dwell on what's missing. On who is missing. Soon after Sam left Zoey was kidnapped, the President had given power to the Republicans and things seemed to spiral out of control. The fact that Sam was gone seemed to get lost in the chaos and clutter of everyday. But, on the days when things were slow, Josh still had Leo, CJ, and Toby to talk to. Sam had no one.

Josh suddenly started to realize why Toby was so angry with him when he left. CJ was just promoted to Chief of Staff, effectively taking her away from the senior staff, and Josh had left. Leo wasn't around enough to really be considered a key player at the time and Josh suddenly saw that Toby felt abandoned.

'CJ must really feel abandoned,' Josh thought to himself as they walked up the street in silence. 'But things change,' Josh told himself. 'If things don't change they stagnate and then nothing is accomplished.'

Josh had an internal conversation with himself and he realized that even though things had to change there was no reason to sacrifice relationships. At one time they were like a family. The President and Leo seemed to be the head of the family and the kids-older brother Toby, little brother Sam and sister CJ-filled the void in Josh's life. As they searched for a place to eat Josh made a mental note to do whatever he had to in order to make things right.

"Do you have CNN on right now?" Danny asked CJ over the phone.

"Yeah," she said quietly watching the television screen.

"Well?" Danny asked.

"Well I'm glad that it's over for him," CJ said.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it," CJ replied somewhat bitterly.

"CJ, this is Toby we're talking about," Danny reminded her. "He got a suspended sentence. He won't have to serve time in prison for the leak."

"I know," CJ said. "I said I was happy for him. What else do you want from me?"

"I thought you'd be a little happier about it. You and Toby are friends."

"Toby and I were friends," CJ said. "He put me in a terrible position and he knew it."

"CJ," Danny tried to interject.

"No Danny," CJ said. "I'm over feeling bad about it. I'm over feeling sorry for him and I'm over feeling sorry for myself. He knew what he was doing and he did it anyway. I'm glad that he's not going to jail. I'm glad that he's going to see his children grow up, but that's it."

"Okay," Danny said.

CJ sighed into the receiver as the television showed a picture of Toby leaving the courthouse flanked by his attorneys. She felt her eyes begin to well with a few tears and she bit her lower lip to stop them from falling. She'd shed enough tears over Toby when she was alone in her office at night. He made his choice and now they both had to live with it.

"You're not going to call him?" Danny ventured.

"Okay, what part of I'm over it did you not hear?" CJ replied irritated. She didn't mean to take this out on Danny. He was only trying to be helpful. He'd been so caring and solid over the last few weeks. The transition from working in the White House, while welcome, was much more difficult than CJ would have thought and she was feeling pressure.

"I heard you," Danny replied. "I just think you're being stubborn."

"Thank you very much," CJ replied.

"You're welcome," Danny said with a smile in his voice.

"Remind me again why I like you?" CJ asked.

"It's a combination of my boyish charm, my witty repartee and, of course, my rugged good looks."

"And don't forget your modesty," CJ added.

"Of course," he said with a smile in his tone.

"Sorry," CJ said almost inaudibly.

"What was that?" Danny asked. "It got loud in here."

"I said I was sorry," CJ repeated. "I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's okay," Danny said.

"It's not," CJ replied.

"You didn't mean it."

"No, I didn't," CJ said seriously.

"Then it's okay," Danny said. "You gonna be around later?"

"Yeah," CJ said.

"I'll stop by on my way home," Danny said.

"Hey Danny?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Bring your toothbrush," CJ suggested.

Danny smiled outwardly and looked down. There were some days when he still didn't believe that he and CJ were actually together and then she'd go and make a comment like that.

"Okay," he said.

"Bye," CJ said hanging up the phone.

"Bye," he replied. Danny hung up his phone and smiled, but he felt sick for CJ. He hated to see her so miserable and that's when he decided he was going to try his best to make her feel better. He flipped through his contact numbers and found the one he was looking for. He hoped that the number was still valid and he waited to hear a familiar voice on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" Toby answered the phone gruffly.

"Toby, it's Josh," he said.

"Josh?" Toby questioned. "What is this, old home week?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Toby said clearing his throat. "What do you want Josh?"

"I just wanted to say hello," he said.

"Okay," Toby said in the same skeptical tone he adopted with Leo a few weeks back.

"So hi, I guess," Josh said.

"You do realize that it's two in the morning here right?" Toby asked him.

"Oh, shit, sorry," Josh said. "I've gotten so used to west coat time. I'm staying with Sam for a while."

"Lucky Sam," Toby said.

"I didn't wake the kids did I?"

"No, they're with Andrea," Toby said. "What do you need Josh?"

"I heard about the trial," Josh said. "I wanted to tell you that I'm glad that things went well."

"Yeah," Toby said sullenly.

"A suspended sentence," Josh tried to say brightly. "You've got to be happy with that."

"Yeah," Toby said again.

"Have you talked to anyone?" Josh asked.

"No, I haven't and as riveting as this conversation is it's two in the morning," Toby said raising his voice.

"Since when were you ever sleeping at two in the morning?" Josh asked him.

"Since I was tossed out of the White House on my ass," Toby said. "It's amazing to get on a regular sleep schedule again."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Josh agreed. "Look I don't want to keep you, but I was wondering what you were doing in two weeks?"

"Probably something. Do you have a specific day and time in mind?" Toby asked.

"The ninth," Josh said. "It's a Thursday, evening-ish."

Toby let out a deep sigh. "I'm packing," Toby said.

"Packing? You moving?"

"Yes," Toby replied.

"Where are you going?"

"I was offered a job at Columbia."

"Wow," Josh said. "You're getting out of politics?"

"You and Leo are supposed to be these brilliant campaign strategists," Toby said. "Why do both of you question me leaving politics? Surely you can figure out that being fired by the President of United States doesn't look good on a resume."

"You talked to Leo?" Josh asked.

"Yeah," Toby replied angrily. "He came by a few weeks ago."

"Was he okay?" Josh asked.

"He doesn't hate you Josh," Toby said. "Maybe if you'd summon the courage to call him he could tell you that himself."

"I can call him," Josh defended himself. "I'm giving him space."

"Whatever, I don't really care," Toby said.

"So Columbia?" Josh asked.

"I'm teaching a few classes there. We'll see how it goes."

"When do you leave for good?"

"The end of the month," Toby said.

"Well then the ninth we'll get together," Josh said.

"I told you I'm packing."

"Take a break from packing," Josh insisted.

"Why?"

"Because it's what old friends do for each other when they're in town," Josh said.

"So you and I are old friends catching up with a beer?" Toby almost chuckled.

"Yeah," Josh said. "And it's not just me, it's Sam too."

"Sam too? The future governor of California?" Toby scoffed.

"Sam is in town then and I'm coming back to D.C. and I want us all to get together."

"Sam shouldn't be seen with me," Toby said.

"Sam doesn't care and no one is going to remember the leak a year from now anyway."

"I will," Toby said. "The President will. CJ will."

"The American people won't. The people of California won't, and if they do, they won't care. Have a beer with us on the ninth."

"Fine," Toby sighed.

"Really?"

"Really," Toby said suddenly wondering why he had agreed. He didn't have strong feelings about seeing Josh or Sam again; at least he didn't until Josh called him.

"Good," Josh said surprised. "We'll see you around seven?"

"Fine," Toby said. "Now get the hell off my phone so I can get some sleep."

"Night Toby," Josh said with a small grin.

"Night," Toby said hanging up the phone.

TBC