Title: The Immediate Context of History
Author: Marcia Plome
Fandom: The West Wing
Characters: Jed/Leo, Jed/Abbey
Rating: M for language, allusions to a m/m relationship, and violent references
Disclaimer: The West Wing, its characters and storylines are the sole property of Aaron Sorkin, John Wells Productions, Warner Bros. and NBC Television. What follows is for entertainment purposes only and no copyright infringement is intended.
Spoilers: Major for events seen in flashback during "An Khe"
Summary: Pre-administration, Jed rushes to Leo's side as he recovers from injuries resulting from being shot down and the aftermath.
Warnings: Angst, very major angst. Slash, but well within an M rating.
Archive: Absolutely, just let me know.

He woke from the dreamless sleep of the exhausted to the insistent buzz of the alarm. He was still dressed, having fallen asleep immediately upon collapsing on the bed, a stark contrast from the insomnia he usually associated with stress. He stumbled towards the shower and twenty minutes later was once again riding the elevator to the fifth floor of the hospital.

Jed strode past the nurses station, surprised by how much better he felt after sleep, a shower, and the short walk. "Good morning," he said to Nurse Ferguson as he went by.

She looked up from the paperwork she was working on. "Oh, Mr. Bartlet, good morning. Col. Hester was just looking for you. He had one other patient to see, and then he said he was headed to Captain McGarry's room."

Jed thanked her and continued to Leo's room. Leo hadn't moved, and his condition seemed unchanged from when Jed had left. Though this didn't surprise him, he still cringed a little at the unnatural feeling of the room. Other than the bellows in the respirator, nothing in the room moved. Leo was absolutely still, and there were no sounds beyond those of the machines that surrounded him. Jed shook himself a little and ran his fingers over Leo's buzz cut, deciding to ask Nurse Ferguson if they could wash it for him. Leo was a stickler about his appearance, and Jed thought something simple like that might make him feel better. It would make Jed feel a little better anyway, and maybe that was enough. "Morning, old friend," he whispered, seating himself back in the guest chair.

Hester walked in minutes later, before Jed had come up with another topic for one-sided conversation. "Good Morning, Mr. Bartlet. I see from his chart that Captain McGarry had a quiet night. I hope you were able to get some rest yourself."

Jed wasn't sure if Dr. Hester had heard about his blowup with Bauer last night or how much Nurse Ferguson had told him about the arrangements she'd made for him, and not wanting to respond to either subject, he decided to be vague. "Uh, yes sir, I did, thanks." Hoping that the physician would leave it at that, he asked, "So, you're going to take the tube out?"

Hester seemed to hesitate, and Jed braced himself for an unwelcome conversation about last night, but instead the doctor just looked hard at Leo and nodded slowly, "Yes, I think it's time."

Hester pulled a pair of gloves out of a box on the tray next to the respirator and moved a mask with a bag attached to it closer to the bed. He put a hand on Leo's shoulder, "Captain McGarry, it's Col. Hester. Can you open your eyes for me?"

Jed was surprised, he hadn't known there was any expectation of Leo waking up for this. He flashed his eyes from Hester to Leo, but Leo eyes didn't even flutter.

Hester didn't seem disappointed, he just moved his hand into Leo's, "Okay, Captain, squeeze my hand."

Jed couldn't tell if Leo was reacting, but he let himself hope for a brief moment before Dr. Hester shook his head. "All right, Captain, it's okay. I'm going to get that tube out of your throat for you. It's a pretty uncomfortable feeling, but it'll be over in just a second."

"Now Mr. Bartlet, I need you to stay where you are, just in case I have to call anyone in here to help. Okay?" Hester asked.

Jed's throat was dry, but he nodded his agreement.

Hester held his gaze on Jed for just a moment longer before turning his attention back to his patient, "All right then Captain, here we go." Hester disconnected the tube from the respirator and put his left hand on Leo's jaw before pulling the tube out in one smooth motion with his right. He laid the tube on the instrument tray and watched Leo.

Jed's eyes were fixed on Leo's chest, it had fallen with the natural exhalation after Dr. Hester had removed the tube, but it wasn't rising. He focused on Leo, silently urging him to breathe.

Hester took the bag off the tray without moving his eyes from Leo. He gave him another minute, but had the mask tight over his nose and mouth and was bagging him before the monitor's alarm sounded. He gave one slow squeeze and let the bag reinflate before repeating the procedure. Then he took the mask off of Leo and waited again for him to breathe.

This time, Jed's urging wasn't silent. The band constricting around his chest was getting familiar by now, and the lump in his throat was back, "C'mon Leo, please. You can do this. C'mon Leo."

Hester gave Leo another long chance, but he still wasn't breathing on his own, and Jed slipped back into silence as Hester began to bag him again. When he pulled the bag off, Jed ignored the order to stay out of the way and moved back to Leo's side, holding his fingers gently, careful not to disturb the IV. Hester ignored this development and this time it was he who spoke, though Jed's silence did nothing to quiet his concern and support. Hester's voice was steady, but there was a tone there that Jed hadn't heard before when he spoke, "All right now, McGarry, breathe." Leo's chest still didn't rise, and Hester tried again, "Captain, I'm not asking you. Breathe! That's an order young man."

Jed had just started to shift from concern towards panic when he saw Leo's chest come up. His head snapped up toward Dr. Hester, and Hester wore a faint smile, like he had known that last tactic would work, but was pleased with himself nonetheless. Jed sat there transfixed for several moments, just watching each inhalation and exhalation, the pause between the two still causing a brief pang of fear each time. Hester stood unmoved from his position by Leo's head, timing respirations with his wristwatch for some minutes before picking up the chart.

The adrenaline that had started with panic became exhilaration, and Jed fairly bounced in the chair. Hester smiled at him, clearly sharing some of that feeling, and hung the chart on the foot of the bed again, gently setting his hand on Leo's good ankle. "Well done Captain, first step there, now you just relax, and we won't bother you for a while."

"Mr. Bartlet, you can have a few minutes to catch him up on the news, and then come find me for a cup of coffee so I can update you on what to expect the rest of the day and the weekend," he said.

Jed nodded, "I'll do that, doctor, and thank you." He expected Hester would have words for him about Bauer, but decided he'd deal with that in its own time.

Hester just smiled again and left the room, leaving Jed to struggle again for whatever news he was supposed to give Leo. He settled for recounting Lizzie's conversation from last night, and telling Leo more exciting stories about adventures with an infant.

Jed stayed there long enough to convince himself that Leo wasn't going to stop breathing without notice, and then left to meet Dr. Hester. Though he wasn't quite whistling, the last half hour had given a huge lift to his spirits, and he was beginning to hope that Leo just needed a bit more time.

He asked for Hester at the nurses' station and was given directions to his office on the third floor. Alone in the elevator, he tried to brace himself for what he expected to be a reprimand for his behavior with Captain Bauer last night. He didn't care, Dr. Hester could say whatever he wanted this morning, with Leo getting better, Jed would happily submit to whatever dressing down he had coming. Besides, Bauer had been an ass, and Jed didn't really regret having gotten into it with him.

He stepped into the hall and immediately noticed a difference. This floor was clearly the administrative floor, there were no patients, no nurses' stations, and the décor was entirely different, more professional, less clinical. He followed the directions he'd been given to the end of the hall. The door was open, and Jed was momentarily surprised to see a young airman sitting at the desk until he realized this must be Dr. Hester's secretary.

The younger man looked up at him, "Yes sir? Can I help you?"

"I'm Jed Bartlet, Dr. Hester asked me to meet him here," he answered.

"Yes sir, one moment please." Picking up the phone, he pushed the intercom button, "A Mr. Bartlet to see you sir." He listened for a moment and then responded, "Thank you sir," and hung the phone up. "You can have a seat sir. The colonel will be with you in just a minute."

Jed looked around, there was a small sitting area with a couch, two chairs, and a coffee table. He moved that way, stopping to study the photos covering the back wall. All the photos had the same theme, a plane dominating the shot and men either clustered in front of it, standing on the ladder to the cockpit, or seated in the cockpit. The planes were all different, ones that Jed knew were World War II planes, ones that looked just like the pictures Leo had sent of the one he was flying, most with the standard paint job, but some with teeth, wings, or cartoons painted on. The pilots were all the same though, in flight suits with huge grins and waving to the camera. In one corner of each picture was a short note, thanking Hester for getting the writers back to their planes. Jed felt an unexpected flicker of jealousy. Would this be Leo too, anxious to get right back to it, ready to leave Jed to get back to the fighting? Even so, he couldn't help but feel more confident, that if all these guys were writing to thank him, Hester would be able to get Leo back on his feet too. Jed supposed that was the point of having the pictures here like this, and wondered how many other families had felt this same surge of relief, that maybe things would be okay after all. If there were a battle coming, at some point in the future, over Leo going back to his planes and his war, it would be one Jed welcomed, even in defeat, as a victory over the current campaign, desperately praying for Leo to just wake up.

He'd just settled onto the couch when Dr. Hester opened his door. "Mr. Bartlet, sorry to keep you waiting, come on in." As Jed followed him into the inner office, Hester settled back into his chair and reached for a coffee cup on the table behind him. "Coffee?" he offered.

Jed nodded, studying this room for more clues about Hester. The table was neat, with a few patient files stacked on it, and a desk calendar. His desk held two framed pictures, one of the colonel and a woman Jed assumed was his wife, and the other of a Marine crouched in tall grass with a rifle. Behind the desk, in what was clearly the place of honor, was an oversized frame with some kind of letter and below that, a picture of a younger Hester in dress uniform shaking hands with President Eisenhower.

Hester handed him the coffee, and gestured for him to sit.

Jed sat, happy that the coffee mug gave him something to do with his hands, but unused to being on this side of a desk, and feeling strange without a notebook or essay in his lap. "So, Leo's doing better, it seems like, when do you think he might wake up?" he asked.

Hester cleared his throat, "Getting him off the respirator was important, but it was more to prevent further complications than an indication of improvement. His fever has come down a little, so that's a sign that the infection might be responding to the antibiotics, but it's still elevated, and as I told you yesterday, unless we can control the infection, discussions about Captain McGarry regaining consciousness should be broached in terms of 'if' and not 'when'."

Jed let out the breath he'd been holding, Dr. Hester's words dousing the spark of hope that had been growing. When would anyone give him good news about Leo?

Hester must have noticed the drastic change in Jed's body language because his next words were an attempt to offer some comfort. "I'm sorry, I just don't want you to have any false illusions here. We're doing what we can for him, but at the moment, I'm afraid that's not much."

Jed nodded soberly, "I understand. What's next?"

"More of the same," Hester answered. "Hopefully the fever will continue to come down as the antibiotics do their work. I wanted you to know I won't be around this weekend, Captain Bauer will be directing Captain McGarry's care. I don't anticipate major changes, but the treatments will continue."

Jed flinched a little at the news. Knowing the young, abrasive doctor would be responsible for Leo over the next days left him with a deep sense of unease. The man might be a doctor, but he lacked any bedside manner. Still, Jed knew Bauer hadn't been the only one out of control in their encounter. Hester hadn't said a word about it, and Jed wondered if he didn't know or if he'd just decided he didn't need to address the issue. Regardless of whether or not his run in with the doctor was commonly held knowledge, he certainly wasn't going to chance Hester dressing him down over his own lack of decorum by trying to complain. Instead, he quietly thanked Dr. Hester for the update.

Jed left Hester's office dejected. Yet again, the small shred of hope he'd begun to let grow had been taken away. He stepped back into Leo's room, trying to keep his mood upbeat, not wanting to chance Leo sensing the increased desperation he was feeling. Finding no words, he settled for just rubbing Leo's shoulder. If all he could do was be here for him, at least he'd do that much.

Leo came to again slowly, with no concept of how much time had passed since he'd last been conscious. Things were quiet now, and he wondered if they'd left him alone. This was the most coherent he'd felt, and if they'd in fact given him a reprieve between sessions, it was an opportunity to assess his condition. He fought to open his eyes, needing to see where it was they had him, and succeeded in getting them open the tiniest bit. Even that small amount of light was overwhelming, and he could barely make out dim shapes. Giving it up as a bad effort, he tried to determine his condition. He kicked his right leg out a little, other than the general soreness he felt all over, everything seemed fine there. The other leg was a different story, and he dreaded what he was about to do, but he had to know. He gingerly tried to stretch it out, flexing the knee a little just to see how bad things were. The inarticulate scream that was wrenched from his throat was testament to the wisdom of that idea. He should have known better, he realized, as he lay there trying to catch his breath again. He felt hands on his shoulders, and he could only hope it was another prisoner and not the guards ready to drag him off again. Trying to catch his breath only added a sharp pain in his chest to the excruciating pain in his leg, and he lost his battle with oblivion before he could say a word.

Jed had almost missed the first little movement, but he'd been on his feet as soon as he realized Leo was awake. His elation at signs of Leo regaining consciousness had immediately been replaced by terror at the agony conveyed by his scream. Jed had both hands on Leo's shoulders and was almost shaking him before he realized what he was doing. Leo went limp again, and Jed was screaming himself. "Help! I need some help in here!"

A nurse he didn't recognize rushed in, and Jed didn't take his eyes off his friend. "He's waking up. Get Dr. Hester up here."

She looked at him, "Let me just check his vitals. Col. Hester will be making rounds soon."

Jed glared at her. "Get Dr. Hester." The last thing he needed was a reputation for being hard on nurses, but this was Leo, and he didn't have time to worry about her feelings. "Now!" he shouted.

She jumped a little at his outburst and hurried back out of the room. Leo was still again, but Jed didn't move, staring down at his friend, anxious for another sign of life. Hester came in very shortly thereafter, clapping Jed on the shoulder on his way past and moving to Leo's other side. Seeing that Leo was giving no signs of consciousness, he looked to Jed. "He was awake?"

Jed nodded helplessly, "Sort of. Awake enough that he moved a little."

"Did he say anything?" Hester asked.

"No, he screamed and then he passed out again," Jed answered.

Dr. Hester nodded. "Okay." He looked down at Leo, "Rumor has it you've decided to rejoin us, Captain. I'm very pleased to hear that." Getting no reaction, he looked over at Jed, and then back to Leo, "Can you open your eyes for me, Captain McGarry?" Jed looked anxiously, but Leo's eyes didn't so much as flutter.

Leo heard voices, cutting through the layers of pain in which he'd been mired, not the harsh shouting from last night either, but calm voices. Other prisoners then? He had to let them know who he was. Once people knew he was here, what his captors did to him wouldn't matter. Just so long as someone knew what had happened to him. Moving was out of the question, he didn't know exactly what he'd done to his leg, but it was agonizing just lying still, anything else would probably be enough to make him pass out again, and he needed to get his name out before that happened. His throat was still sore, but he wasn't gagged anymore. Summoning his strength, he croaked out the information that would identify him.

"McGarry, Leo T."

Jed saw his lips move. Hester was writing in his chart, and Jed reached over to grab his lab coat, wanting to be sure he noticed, but not wanting to chance interrupting Leo. Hester's attention immediately focused on his patient and he and Jed watched as Leo continued.

"Captain. USAF." It was just loud enough for them to hear if they strained, and his voice was broken, gravelly and hoarse, but there was no doubt about what he'd said.

Jed first reaction was elation. No matter how quiet or rough, that was Leo's voice, and it meant his friend was coming back to him. He looked over to Dr. Hester, expecting to see his own relief and joy mirrored, and instead saw his jaw tighten and his eyes cloud with concern. Reality sunk in, Leo might be waking up, but he didn't know where he was. Why tell your doctors your name and rank? What in the world was Leo thinking? "Dr. Hester? What's going on?"

Leo had fallen silent, and Hester just stood there for a moment, before taking a breath and looking away. "Come join me in the hall for a minute."

Once they were in the hall, Col. Hester got straight to the point. "How much do you know about what pilots can expect when they're shot down?"

Jed knew quite a bit, though Leo had never told him. The media coverage coming back from over there was bad enough, but in a misguided attempt to reassure himself about what his friend would be going through, Jed had done some research. What he found did nothing to comfort him. Captured pilots were extremely valuable for propaganda purposes, young officers that could be paraded in front of the camera in an attempt to show the American viewing public that the young men had been convinced to support the Vietnamese. The lengths to which the NVA was willing to go to force those kinds of performances were extreme, and the details were gruesome. Jed realized Dr. Hester was waiting for an response. "More than enough," he answered.

Hester nodded. "That's what he thinks he's going through."

"I'm not sure I understand," Jed replied. "He thinks he's been captured? But we're right here."

"He's not processing sensory perception. Or at least he's not processing it correctly. It could be temporary, a transitional effect as he regains consciousness, or it could be some kind of permanent brain damage from the fever having been so high. It's not all that unusual for patients to perceive what they expect to perceive in situations where their mental status is impaired. When he was last fully conscious, he must have believed he was going to be captured." Hester paused, checking to be sure Jed was absorbing this. "I'm sorry, there really isn't much more we can do beyond what we're already doing. We should know more in a few days. I'll come back by before I leave, but have someone page me if anything major happens before then. If this is transitional, he's going to be very confused. You need to keep reminding him of where he is and what's happened. You can do that?"

Jed nodded. "And very little else, it would seem." He turned back towards the door, bringing his hands up to scrub at his face. He leaned his head into the door frame. He was exhausted, and frustration over not being able to do anything at all for Leo was building into a sense of guilt that it was somehow his fault his friend wasn't getting better.

Hester interrupted Jed's self recrimination, "I know this is rough on you, seeing him like this, watching him go through this. But you have to stay positive for him. He needs to have someone who knows him as more than just a patient. None of us can do that for him yet, but you can."

Jed nodded again, not encouraged, but at least feeling like maybe he had something to contribute after all, and went back into Leo's room.

The rest of the morning was something of a blur for him. Leo would move a little, or mumble, but never said anything intelligible beyond the same mantra of his name, rank, and serial number. Jed pleaded with him to wake up and come out of it, tried to tell him he was safe now, that he wasn't still over there, but nothing he said mattered. Leo was still oblivious to his reassurances, to his very presence. After sitting through this for hours, Jed knew he was about to lose his composure and decided maybe some lunch would help.

Leo came to, suddenly aware that someone had him by the arm. Someone dragging him off for another round of questioning then? He would lose this fight, he had no illusions on that point, but they were going to beat him anyway, so he might as well put up a bit of resistance. The grip on his arm tightened and Leo flailed in that direction, struggling blindly to lash out at his captors. Movement of any kind hurt, and sudden violent movements like this hurt more than the careful exploratory movements he'd made earlier. Even so, he knew it was nothing compared to what they'd do to him once they got him out of here, and he fought until the little strength he had was gone. Then, deciding their methods of bringing him back to consciousness were unlikely to be worse than their methods of obtaining information, he let himself collapse again.

Jed returned from the cafeteria to find Leo thrashing while a nurse tried to take his blood pressure. He rushed over to his friend and started anew with reassurances, trying to hold Leo's arms down enough that he wasn't flailing. "Leo, stop. You're safe now, you're not over there. You got picked up and you're home. You're in California, Leo. I'm here, stop fighting us, please stop." The nurse must have called for some help because two more nurses came in and before Jed really understood what was going on they'd fastened padded cuffs around Leo's wrists and ankles. Jed was sick at his stomach. Leo's delusions had him held prisoner by people who would torture him, and his reality had him tied down. This couldn't possibly help him understand he was home and safe in an American hospital. "Are those absolutely necessary? I can't believe he's strong enough to hurt anyone like this."

The nurse that had been in the room when Jed first returned looked up at him apologetically, "I'm sorry sir, they're to protect him. We need to keep him still, moving around like that he could pull an IV line out, or worse, displace one of the broken ribs and puncture a lung."

The three nurses left him alone again and Jed collapsed back into his chair by Leo's bed. Putting his hand on Leo's shoulder, he repeated reassurances that now rang false even to his ears. "You're safe Leo. You're home. I'm here, old friend, come back to me."

Jed stayed there, always in contact with Leo, a gentle, unobtrusive touch on his arm, his cheek, his chest, his murmured reassurances matching Leo's mumbled comments. When Dr. Hester came back, Jed had no idea of how long they'd been like that, but he made no effort to move.

Seeing Leo in restraints, Hester immediately looked to Jed, "What happened?"

Jed shrugged, "I'm not really sure. I'd gone to get lunch and when I came back he was fighting with a nurse trying to get his blood pressure. She said it was for his own protection."

Hester was unbuckling the restraint on Leo's left leg. "I trust my nurses, but I'm sorry it came to that. It's not going to make it any easier on him, I'm afraid. I'm going to make a note in his chart, and I'll tell the nurses on duty now myself, but I need you to be sure no one restrains this leg. You'll do that?"

"Of course," Jed answered, "but why does it matter?"

Hester let the sheepskin cuff drop to the floor, "If he tries to kick out with that leg, he could manage to recompound the fracture. There's nothing stabilizing the reduction yet and the shock of that kind of a complication, in his current condition, would probably, well, he just doesn't need that. When he wakes up again, he's probably going to react pretty violently to the restraints. There really isn't anything we can do to make that easier, so if you're here when it happens, just try to reassure him that he's all right, and get a nurse if you think he's going to hurt himself."

Hester pulled new dressing material from the cabinet and removed the splint from Leo's leg. "I had planned to do another debridement this afternoon, but I think that might be unnecessarily traumatic for him given what he's perceiving. I'm going to change the dressings now, but if things don't look too bad, I think we'll leave the debridement for later. If this is a transitional state of consciousness we can wait to treat him until he's more aware of his surroundings."

Jed knew Dr. Hester had left unsaid the other option, that if Leo were permanently damaged, waiting to treat the leg wouldn't matter. The smell that hit him when Dr. Hester removed the bandages wasn't the shock it had been before, but he wasn't sure if that was because it wasn't as strong, or only because he'd been expecting it.

Hester didn't seem fazed by anything he saw, and made short work of getting the old dressings off and new dressings on. When he'd finished cleaning things up, he put a hand on Leo's other foot, in what Jed was beginning to recognize as a signature gesture of comfort. "I realize this probably isn't a good motivator, Captain, but I need you to work your way back towards us so I can get this leg cleaned out." Shifting his focus to Jed, he added, "It's not looking any worse than it was yesterday, and that's a good thing, but until we can go in and really clean things out, I can't give any realistic prognosis about his use of the leg." He updated the chart, and turned back to Jed. "I'm headed home, is there anything I can do for you before I go?"

"Tell me he's going to be okay," Jed begged.

Hester's features tightened, and to his credit, his hesitation was very slight. "He's a fighter and we're doing everything we can for him. Don't discount the difference having a friend here for him can make."

Jed nodded, disappointed, but not having really expected the promise for which he'd asked. "Thanks."

"Hang in there, both of you. I'll see you Monday." With that, Hester stepped past Jed and left.