CHAPTER 16
February 18
11:00 AM. EST. White House Press Room
"So the candlelight vigil will be held on the twentieth, commemorating the one-month anniversary of the attack. President Fryer will make a speech, along with several others. It will be held at Capitol Hill and begin at approximately nine p.m. Any questions?"
"CJ!"
"CJ!"
"Hang on." She said, "I've promised the first question to someone already."
CJ pointed to the back of the press room "Fiona."
"Fiona Jeremy. LIU-Brooklyn." Fiona said, standing up. "Does the White House have a comment on the sentences given to the leaders of the United Front?"
"President Fryer is greatly appreciative of the decision that the jury made and he believes it was the right choice."
"CJ!"
"Danny."
"How tight will security be at the vigil?"
"Extremely. There will be armed guards, bomb-sniffing dogs, the whole nine yards. And everybody, let's congratulate Danny on his book deal..."
11:45 AM. EST. Leo McGarry/Josh Lyman's office
Josh ripped open the envelope and shook out a single piece of notebook paper.
Dear Lyman,
Great. First you manage to screw up everything as the Deputy Chief of Staff. Now you're Chief of Staff? I wasn't a fan of McGarry, but I'd take the old drunk over you any day. Our country is going to fall apart with you helping run it. Might as well set off the nukes now and be done with it. They had two chances to kill you and none of them worked. Why?
Josh reread the letter, set it down on the desk, and sighed. "It's good to be back."
February 19
12:00 PM. EST. The White House
Fryer and Tina stood in the main lobby together and watched as the men opened the crate. Styrofoam peanuts spilled out and more came as they reached in and pulled out the frame.
"Are you ready for this job?" Fryer asked Tina.
"I think so."
"What are you planning to do about school?"
"I'll drop out while I'm here. I think this is a little more important right now. But once it's over I'll reenroll."
"You understand that that could be years. It probably will be."
"I know. But Mom got her degree in her thirties, didn't she?"
"Yeah, she did."
They turned back to the workers who were now setting the frame on the wall. Fryer couldn't see it clearly until they gave him a small nod and left.
The intelligent, open face of Josiah Bartlet gazed down at them from its permanent place in the White House.
February 20
9:00 PM. EST. Capitol Building remains
CJ had been right. The security was the toughest anyone had ever seen. They couldn't have everyone walk through metal detector frames but the Capitol police and the DC police walked around with handheld metal detectors, frisking everyone.
A podium was set up in from of the remaining debris, facing out toward Pennsylvania Avenue.
When the vigil began, all two thousand people lit their candles, passing the flames down the streets. A few people such as the mayor of Washington DC and the police chief made short speeches. At exactly nine-seventeen there was a moment of silence, shared by millions around the country who were watching on TV. Then CJ and Josh had gone up. Now it was Fryer's turn.
He stepped up to the podium and looked out at the crowds that flowed through the streets. There was a path in the middle that was guarded by cement barricades and police. He and the others had been able to get up through it without being crushed.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, fumbling with his index cards, "A month ago tonight, an unspeakable crime was committed against the American people. Our nation's very heart was ripped out. My first thought, sitting in the Oval Office that night was, how is this fixed? Nearly our entire federal government was destroyed. This couldn't be reversed. We went from a government of thousands to a Secretary of Education, two Senators, two Representatives, and a handful of White House assistants. But slowly we've begun to build ourselves back up. The cooperation between the three branches has been liked nothing I've ever seen myself, nor heard about in the past. With that and the support of billions around the world, my question has been answered. This can be fixed through the cooperation, determination, and hard work of the American people. If we work together we can rebuild. But that is the key. We have to work together. Whether we're Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, whatever! We have to put our political differences aside, if only for a little while, and get out government up and running once more. We owe it to them. We owe it to the victims of this massacre. Even if you disagreed with every word that came out of President Bartlet's mouth, you owe it to the people who died because of their belief in rule by the people. All those people were together in that room for one reason. They wanted to improve the government to improve the lives of its people. So now we must carry on that goal. We will rebuild. We will make it better than it has ever been before. We need more interparty cooperation, international cooperation. It may seem like an impossible dream, but we can do it. We have to. For the sake of the United States of America."
Because of the candles, there was only a scattering of applause. But the deafening screaming in response to that speech could be heard throughout the neighboring cities. Fryer gathered his index cards, which had fallen off the podium midway through his speech, and was about to step down when something caught his eye. Someone was standing in the middle of the path. It was President Bartlet. Fryer blinked, but he was still there. Nobody else seemed to see him. They were still screaming for Fryer. But Fryer stared, transfixed, at the lone figure at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Bartlet winked at him, then turned and started walking toward the White House, slowly fading into the soft candlelight.
THE END
