The president pro-tem shook Hoynes' hand. "Thank you for your service, Mr. President."

"I wish it were under other circumstances."

The speaker shook John's hand. "We all do, Mr. President."

The room cleared out fairly quickly, leaving CJ, Josh, Jeffrey and the acting president. Hoynes turned to CJ. "What's first?"

"Press conference announcing the use of the 25th Amendment."

Hoynes nodded. "And then?"

"We'll sit with Mrs. Landingham and review the schedule and make any adjustments that we think are necessary."

"That should take us to about seven am," Josh offered.

"Yeah," Hoynes agreed.

"I'd like to prepare the president's statement for the press announcement," Jeffrey said.

"Acting-president, Jeffrey," Hoynes corrected. "Any problem with that, CJ?"

"No sir." CJ headed toward the door, holding it open. "Shall we, Mr. President?"

Hoynes looked at her slightly oddly, but all he said was, "Yeah."

As they exited the room, John Hoynes shook his head: he walked in a vice president, and walked out the president. There was something heady about it, even under such dire circumstances...

Mrs. Landingham entered the White House mess, and found them right where Charlie said they'd be.

Donna spotted her first, and her voice was hopeful, "Is there news, Mrs. Landingham?"

Delores shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Donna."

"Oh," the blonde said quietly, deflated.

Delores patted the woman's shoulder and smiled at the rest of the assistants. "Mind if I join you for awhile?"

"Come on..." Bonnie said smiling slightly.

Ginger pulled a chair over for the older woman. "Want a beer?"

"No thanks, dear. It wouldn't look right, a senior citizen like myself sipping a beer in the White House mess. I think I'll just sit here awhile." She glanced at Margaret, who had said nothing. "You've been with Mr. McGarry for a long time..."

"Yes ma'am. I started working for him when he was the secretary of labor." She glanced into the soft eyes of Delores Landingham. "But you've known them both a lot longer than that..."

The older woman smiled then, as if seeing something no one else could. "They were handsome devils when they were young you know, and hellions, both of them." Delores leaned in, as if about to share a national security secret. "The day Jed left for London, Leo stuffed a chunk of the smelliest cheese ever made into his luggage. By the the time Jed reached his dorm room, everything he owned smelled like that piece of cheese. He was at the London School of Economics for five years and never lived it down."

"It couldn't have ended there..." Donna said, smiling.

"The president is not the type of man to take a prank like that lying down, no. That piece of cheese turned up in Leo's locker at bootcamp, although I have no idea how the president got it there. After that, it made an appearance at Jed's graduation in London, taped to the bottom of his seat."

"The same piece of cheese?" Bonnie asked.

"I believe so, dear, yes."

"Isn't it all moldy, and you know, gross?" Donna asked.

Mrs. Landingham smiled. "I'm certain it must be, which makes it all the better for those two. That piece of cheese has been passed back and forth over the years I don't know how many times."

"They must have had a lot of laughs about it..." Ginger commented.

"Oh, no, not at all." Seeing the confused looks, Mrs. Landingham continued, "Neither of them has ever mentioned it to other as far as I know. They just keep passing it back and forth at the most inopportune moments. It was at the president's wedding, Mr. McGarry's honeymoon, the inauguration podium when Jed became governor, Leo's desk drawer when he was labor secretary, and I believe it was sitting on a velvet pillow on the President's bed in the residence the day he and Mrs. Bartlet moved into the White House."

"Then that means Mr. McGarry's gonna get it again next!" Bonnie smiled. "Margaret, you'd better watch out, it could wind up in your office!"

Laughter broke out at the table, and after a moment, Margaret stood, anger clouding her eyes and tears streaming down her face. "This isn't funny. Leo and the president might be... we don't know if they're... "

Unable to complete the sentence, or face the other assistants, Margaret ran from the room in tears. Donna started up, but Delores stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Let her go, dear. I'll take care of her."

"I didn't mean to upset her," Bonnie said sadly.

"She's pretty attached to Leo," Ginger commented.

"I've never seen anyone who really knew him who wasn't," Mrs. Landingham commented.

Donna, Bonnie and Ginger watched the older woman leave the room, heading in the direction they had seen Margaret run.

Delores stood quietly at the threshhold of Margaret's office, listening to the woman's soft cries floating out toward her. After a long moment, she walked toward Leo's door, picked up the tissue box from the top of Margaret's desk, and entered Leo's office. There was no light within, except for what little emanated from the moonlight streaming int he window. Mrs. Landingham let her eyes adjust to the low light and decided that the sniffling was coming from Leo's desk chair, which was facing away from the door.

Delores stepped forward cautiously, so as not to startle the younger woman. "Margaret? Would you like a tissue, dear?" She held the box in the direction of the assistant curled up in Leo's chair. From the diffused light of the window, Mrs. Landingham saw Margaret shake her head no. Delores set the box on the desk, and then leaned against the windowsill, facing the distraught woman. "It's normal to be frightened at a time like this..."

"You don't seem frightened."

Delores couldn't tell if there had been intentional malice behind the statement or just incomprehension. "No, I suppose from the outside, I don't seem frightened." She looked up to find Margaret's eyes staring intently at her. "But on the inside, Margaret, I'm terrified. I've known Jed Bartlet and Leo McGarry most of their lives, and I love the two of them as if they were--" She stopped herself, glancing away, then after a moment she said, "God never takes something without giving something. The hard part is remembering all of the joy you've been given in the face of grief."

Tears continued to roll silently down Margaret's cheeks. "Leo doesn't know," she whispered.

"He doesn't know what?"

"I've never told him how much he means to me, Mrs. Landingham. Half the time I'm downright surly with him, and he probably thinks I don't even respect him."

Delores pulled a tissue from the box and gently dabbed the tears from Margaret's face. "Is that what you really believe?" The redhead shrugged and Mrs. Landingham smiled. "It's nonsense." Margaret's eyes darted to meet the smiling ones behind the large-framed glasses. "It is. Trust me. You've seen the way the president and I communicate. Do you think that I don't respect him or that he doesn't respect me?"

"No ma'am, I don't think that."

"And well you shouldn't because we have a great deal of respect for one another. And friendship. And love." She brushed the errant strands of hair from Margaret's face. "Believe me, dear, Leo knows how you feel about him, and if you question for one moment that he doesn't value and respect you, then you haven't been paying attention. I know Leo McGarry almost as well as I know Jed Bartlet, and Margaret, dear, you're very special to Leo. You're like another daughter to him. He depends on you for everything, trusts you with anything, and he'd be completely lost without you."

"He's lost now, and there's nothing I can do to help him."

Mrs. Landingham grasped Margaret's hands with her own. "Just pray that those two boys are together. As long as they are, nothing will happen to either one of them."

"How can you be sure?"

Delores looked far away, into another time, another place, and another set of brothers and said, "Because I know my boys..."

Bartlet tried unsuccessfully to hold Leo still as he writhed in pain. "Ron!" Bartlet yelled for his secret service agent. "Ron!"

Within seconds, Butterfield knelt next to the president, handing him his illuminated flashlight. "Mr. McGarry? Take it easy, sir." Ron steadied the chief of staff, preventing him from thrashing around, but his distress was taking an obvious and heavy toll on the president, who flinched with each cry of Leo's pain.

McGarry clutched at his abdomen, his teeth gritted together. "Jed..."

Bartlet put a soft hand on McGarry's shoulder. "Here, Leo."

"Maybe we can move him to a less stressful position," Ron suggested.

The agent careful gripped Leo's much smaller frame and attempted to readjust him on his side, but McGarry screamed in agony.

Bartlet grabbed Ron's shirt, tightly. "Ron, don't." The president held out his arms. "Give him to me."

Butterfield gently laid McGarry into Bartlet's arms and Jed allowed Leo to lean into him, cradling him softly. After a few minutes, Leo's ragged breathing calmed, and he seemed to be in less pain leaning heavily against the president.

Bartlet looked up into the concerned eyes of Butterfield. unsuccessfully trying to keep his eyes from misting over. "Do you have a best friend, Ron?"

Butterfield nodded. "I did, Mr. President."

"Did?"

"Agent Ortega, sir. We've been close since West Point Academy."

"Oh Jesus, Ron, why didn't you say anything?"

Butterfield stared into the saddened hazel eyes. "Because you are my main priority right now, Mr. President, and telling you about it won't help you." He looked down for a moment, steadying himself. "And because Tommy would want it this way." Ron brushed a gentle hand over the back of Leo's head, and squeezed Bartlet's forearm slightly. "Both of our best friends made a sacrifice today, Mr. President. Don't let that be in vain..."

Butterfield stood and walked back to the area he was clearing and once again began working. With tears streaming down his face, Jed gently pressed Leo closer to him, whispering, "I'm sorry, Leo. I'm so sorry..."