Chapter 12

Jed was in deep sleep when the phone rang. Grudgingly, he rolled over and grabbed it on the third ring. "Yeah?"

"Mr. McGarry needs to see you, Sir."

"Send him in." He turned on the lamp and leaned back on his pillow. Of course, his first thought was he was needed in the Situation Room.

The door opened, and he recognized his Chief of Staff. "Yeah, Leo. What's going on?"

Leo came next to the bed, grabbed a nearby chair, and sat down. "Mr. President…Uh…Jed…"

Jed became fully awake at this point. If this had been anything in the Situation Room, Leo would have called him Mr. President and been all business. But this was something else. Something more personal.

"Leo, what's the matter?" Jed noticed immediately that Leo couldn't look him directly in the eyes. "Look at me, Leo. What is going on?"

Leo looked directly at him, but Jed saw only pain in Leo's eyes. He threw the covers back, and sat up on the edge of the bed. "Leo!"

"Jed, Abbey's plane is in trouble. It's…" Leo was having trouble finishing the sentence.

At this point, Jed's heart started beating very rapidly and his breathing was coming in gasps. "Leo, what's wrong with the plane? Are you saying that it has crashed? No! You can't be saying that!"

"NO! I mean I don't know! I mean, I don't… Oh HELL Jed!" He started to cry as he tried to explain all that was going on. The words were so jumbled in his brain that he couldn't get them out in an orderly manner.

Leo watched as his best friend turned pale, sweaty, and tried to get his breath. Jed clutched his chest as if he was having a heart attack.

Leo yelled, "I need HELP!" The two agents stationed outside the door ran into the room. "Call the medical office and get some help up here right now. The President is in some kind of trouble."

The two agents spoke into their mics and jumped into action. They laid the President back into bed and pulled the covers over him. Then one led Leo to the sofa, as he was also having trouble breathing.

Within minutes, the room were filled with other agents, Ron, and medical personnel. Dr. Hackett focused on the President.

"Mr. President, try and calm down. Slow down your breathing. Let me take your blood pressure. Are you having any chest pain?" Dr. Hackett assessed the President while his assistant noticed that the Chief of Staff was also having some difficulty and went over to check on him.

"Mr. McGarry, slow down your breathing. Let me check your vital signs. Are you having any pain?"

Leo let Hackett's assistant do his job. He finally got his breathing under control, and looked back at the group around the President to try and determine what was going on in the other part of the room. Leo shouldn't be the focus now. The President was the one everyone should be paying attention to.

"Mr. McGarry, I think you're okay. You need to rest and avoid stress. Your blood pressure is high, but with rest, it should go down."

Leo replied sarcastically, "The President might have had a heart attack, the First Lady might have died, but I need to reduce my stress. Fat chance that will happen."

He looked over to the doorway, and saw Josh and CJ staring at the circus in front of them. He caught their eye, and motioned them over to the sitting area.

"Leo, how are you?" Josh was the first to speak.

"I think you should find out how the President is doing. Can you see anything?"

Josh looked in the direction of the bed, but there too many people surrounding the bed to see anything. "No. Not yet. Hackett and Ron are talking."

"Shit. That's not good. Probably talking about wanting to move him to a hospital. I don't know if he will let them."

CJ spoke at that point. "If he will let them? Leo, if he's having some sort of medical problem, does the President really a say in the matter?"

"He thinks he does. Let's just wait until Hackett comes over here."

It didn't take long before both Ron and the Dr. Hackett made their way over to the trio waiting for them. Leo anxiously waited for the medical information that Dr. Hackett had to share.

"Well?"

"Leo, I think it was just a panic attack. He doesn't have an irregular pulse, the pain has gone away, and he's not complaining of any other symptoms. I am going to do an EKG just to be sure. However,…'

Leo held his breath. He hated the word 'however'. It usually had a negative connotation.

Hackett continued. "…his blood pressure is really high and his breathing is still too fast for my liking. So I gave him a light sedative. He should sleep for a few hours. He needs rest and I would prefer someone to stay with him. I don't want him out of bed tonight, and the last thing he needs is more stress. Ron has shared with me about Mrs. Bartlet, but I don't think, at this time, the President is able to tolerate any direct involvement in her situation."

"How the HELL do you think I can prevent him? It's his WIFE for God's sake."

"I don't know, Leo. But he doesn't need any more stress," Dr. Hackett emphasized. "Any additional stress or increase in blood pressure could cause a stroke."

"Well, isn't that just dandy?"