NSI said: Interesting story, but I have a question -- where did Annabeth go? She was 5

minutes behind Leo and one of the closest people to him in the past months? Wouldn't she be at the hospital before Josh and Donna?

Ooo, psyche. I'm glad to see people actually read this comprehensively. I can't write comprehensively. Here. I fixed it. :)

Everyone was sitting in the same room, staring at the televisions. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC – they were all showing the images of a crashed SUV. Every so often the channels would update everyone on the rest of the news going on in the world, but, a car driven by the US Secret Service topped everything that was going on today. There didn't seem to be any bombings going on in the Middle East. The news was all about that the wreck that had happened in DC, and the Santos-McGarry campaign headquarters wondered the exact same thing.

"Did I miss something, or have they not released any names yet?" Ronna asked.

"No," Bram replied. "They aren't saying anything."

"Isn't that weird?"

"Very," Santos interjected.

They sat in silence for another few minutes, until Lou's cell phone began to ring. She glanced at the caller ID.

"Who is it?" Bram asked.

"Donna." Lou opened up her phone and hit the green button. "You have any news?"

The directness with which Lou answered the phone startled Donna. Josh was right, this had to be one of the worst calls she'd ever have to make. There was no point in trying to get around any of it; she'd just have to tell Lou directly. "The Secret Service wouldn't let us in at first, but—"

"Hang on a minute," Lou interrupted. "Let me put you on speakerphone. Okay, we're set."

"What I was saying was that at first the agents here wouldn't let Josh and me in, but then we called C.J. and she got us into the hospital. Then we had to wait for the doctor, because they're trying to keep stuff from leaking out."

"It's security related?" asked Lou.

"No, no. They just don't want any information out yet because they can't rule out conspiracy. But, Josh and I finally talked to the doctor." Donna's voice cracked. "He said that Leo had suffered massive head trauma and that the paramedics tried but they could barely save him. They tried to get him here, and he was okay for a few minutes, but then he didn't make it. The doctor said that there was nothing that they could do. He's gone. I don't know what to do."

"Oh, my God," Santos said in a whisper-like voice. "Donna, are you sure they've done everything?"

"Yes, sir. He didn't make it."

"What about the other people in the car?"

"I – I don't know. We didn't ask about them."

"Could you?"

"Yes, sir."

"And, Donna," Lou added, "we're going to need you to – I don't want to make light of the situation, but we need the official time and cause of death. That stuff. Could you get it?"

"Yeah, I think I can. As long as they're willing to give it. They won't release anything publicly until they're absolutely positive no one did anything to cause the accident."

"Thank you, Donna," the Congressman said.

"I'm so sorry, sir. I'll call you again with anything else." And with that, Donna closed the phone. She looked over at Josh who was still on the phone with what she assumed was the group of people in the Situation Room. I can't even imagine how hard this has to be on the President, she thought to herself. Leo and he were – Leo's the whole reason the President's there right now. Bartlet for America. She headed over towards Josh, putting her hand on his shoulder and looking at him as he finished the phone call.

"Thank you, sir. Yes, I won't leak anything. I'm definitely going to follow in accordance with the Secret Service and FBI, Mike. Thank you."

"You tell him?" she asked once he hung up.

"No."

"You didn't?"

"He wasn't in the room when I called. C.J. said she'd tell him. How did your call go?"

"Not well. Or, well, I guess it went fine. Not like these can go well. The Congressman seemed pretty upset."

"Yeah," Josh replied, as he grabbed both of Donna's hands. She smiled. It definitely helped that he wanted to hold her hand hands.

"Lou needs me to find out the official time of death and cause of death, what should I do?"

"Go talk to the doctor. I just got yelled at by Mike Casper to make sure we don't release anything to the media until the investigation is done. He finally got to speak to the people here and the agent who was in the passenger's seat should be able to talk soon."

"Really? He's going to be okay?"

"Yeah. He was lucky."

"Was there anyone else in the car aside from Leo and the two agents?"

"No. But, the agent who was driving the car is in critical condition. The other guy's the only hope for information."

Donna sighed. "This was all so unforeseen. Ask anyone about this, and I bet you that no one would have chosen Leo dying in a car accident over some other ailment. Presidents get shot more often than Secret Service vehicles get in accidents."

"I know."

Just then Donna saw Agent Dempsey walking by. She broke her hands from Josh's and ran over towards him.

"Excuse me, Agent Dempsey!"

He stopped and turned. "Yes, Ms. Moss?"

"I need to talk to Dr. Morgan. I've spoken to campaign headquarters, and everyone there knows not to leak any information until the investigation is completed and the Secret Service and the FBI give it the okay, but I need to find out information."

Donna looked as the man gave her a somewhat skeptical look. His demeanor then changed and he extended his arm in the direction of the doctor. "He's over there."

"Thank you," Donna said in a tone that audibly thanked the man for his compassion and walked over towards Dr. Morgan, Josh following her.

"Dr. Morgan, would it be possible to talk to you in private for a minute?"

"Did the agents say it was okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay," he replied, and began to walk over to the hallway that lead to the operating rooms. He brought them over into a corner. "What is it that you need to know?"

"Basic things: time of death, cause of death. Just facts I can use later when we'll need to put out a press release."

"Fine. I need to go get the information from my office, so I'll need you to wait here." He began to walk away, but instead turned around, saying, "Actually, on second thought – well, she didn't want anyone to know that she was here, but I thought it was all right because she was accompanied by an agent of her own – Mr. McGarry's sister is here. She arrived before that big caravan you see in the lobby and is outside the operating room Mr. McGarry was in."

Josh and Donna exclaimed glances. What the hell?

"I'm sorry, doctor," Josh began, "you said Leo's sister is here?"

"Yes. She arrived right after before we got him into surgery."

"His sister? Josephine?"

"No, no," the doctor replied. "Annabeth."