Sam sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the phone in his hand. It had been a strange twenty-four hours, made worse by little real rest. He had been so tired when Josh had finally left, so sure he would sleep through the night. His dreams, though, had been full of voices clamoring at him to listen, to heed disjointed words of advice. He had finally given up and gotten up before dawn, more tired and stressed than he had been when he had gone to bed.

He almost dropped the phone when it rang. Checking the caller ID, he sighed with relief as he pressed 'talk'. "CJ?"

Her voice was brisk, one he immediately recognized from briefings. "I'm going to read a short statement and then take a few questions."

Sam held the phone away from his ear and blinked, wondering when he had joined the White House Press Corps. "CJ," he tried again, "what are you —"

"Hold your questions until the end," she ordered him.

"Right…"

"There are times when the concern and affection we feel for a friend and colleague override our collective common sense, undermining whatever good we try to accomplish. Last night was just such a time. Well-intentioned —"

"You're spinning this?" Sam asked, half horrified and half amused.

"Just let me finish this, and then we'll forget this conversation ever happened."

"You are! You're spinning this!"

The rustle of paper carried over the line along with CJ's sigh and the creak of her chair as she leaned back. "It's not me per se, but…"

He gripped the phone tighter as the meter and weight of the words she had read hit him. "Toby," he supplied, wondering why his voice was suddenly husky. He cleared his throat. "Toby wrote that."

"He — we were worried you'd think we actually planned what happened last night."

For the first time since crawling out of bed, Sam smiled. "That's about the last thing I thought."

There was a hesitant pause. "Really?"

"You didn't see Josh's reaction when I told him I'd just come from the White House. Nobody could've faked that, especially Josh."

"Hey, give him some credit. He can fake out most of the Republican Party without breaking a sweat. You're the one of the few people who sees through him."

Sam frowned, seeing the path she was guiding him towards and resenting it. "CJ, please leave it alone." Leave me alone.

"The two of you have been friends a long time," she reminded him.

"Things change, friendships change."

"No, not yours. God, you made it through the campaign and were closer than when you started — and that's saying a lot! Sure, you argue, but that's who you guys are."

"Ah yes, the savvy politician and naïve idealist. That came up in conversation last night, as a matter of fact."

"It did?"

"Right before the part about me growing up."

"Wait, Josh said that?"

"No, believe it or not, he managed to stop himself before the words actually came out of his mouth." He frowned and scrubbed his face with his hand. "I'm not making much sense, am I?"

"No, but that's nothing new," she teased.

"He told me the President and Leo have noticed the progress I've made, but there are still a lot of things I don't know. For those, I'm supposed to depend on his expert guidance."

"He's looking out for you. He doesn't want to see you fail."

"I want to fail. I want to try things and see what happens without Josh looking over my shoulder and telling me what to do."

"Have you told him that?"

"Come on, CJ, be honest! You know he doesn't listen to me!" Sam countered, his voice sharp. He took a deep breath and exhaled. "I'm sorry. Let's not have this conversation, okay?"

"Who else can you have it with?"

He sighed, staring at the floor. "I don't want to have it with anyone."

CJ's voice was unbearably kind. "You're going to have to have it sooner or later."

"I will — just not now. I need some distance."

"Look, I know you have your mom and dad, but I'm here if you need me."

"I know."

"And it's not just me."

"CJ…"

"Let me just say this, okay? You say the word, and any one of us will be on the first plane out there."

"Thanks."

She was silent for a minute. "Are you all right? The President, the First Lady and Charlie, one after the other. How'd that go?"

Sam stretched out across the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "It was… pretty much like you'd think it would be.

"Josh told you that we advised the President against bringing you in, right?"

"Yeah."

"He wanted to go with Toby on Tuesday, but we managed to talk him out of it."

"Who, Josh?"

"No, the President."

Sam considered it for a moment. "Well, that would have been…"

"Surreal?"

"That's one word for it." He swallowed a yawn.

"You sound exhausted, kiddo."

"I've been up since 4:30. The good news is that I've been packed since 6:00."

Her laugh warmed him. "What time's your flight tomorrow?"

"9:15. Thank god there aren't any stopovers so I can get some sleep."

"Do you need a ride to the airport? I could slip out for a little while."

"Thanks, but I'm good."

"It's really no — Hold on a sec, will you?" CJ asked, and Sam heard Josh's voice in the background.

She did not cover the mouthpiece, but Sam could not make out much. He closed his eyes and felt himself drifting. The world at the other end of the phone line was fast becoming a memory. He no longer felt the rush of adrenalin that had accompanied any thought of the West Wing.

"You there?"

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"That was Josh reminding me not to call you. Too late for that, huh?"

"You're not supposed to call me?"

"None of us are. Leo laid down the law this morning."

"You're kidding me."

"Yeah, he decided we've all bugged you enough."

"And you..."

"Well, I had already planned to call and tell you to have a safe trip, so it was grandfathered into my day."

"Ah..."

There was a silence, and then CJ spoke briskly. "Go take a nap. You sound all tuckered out."

"'Tuckered'?" he teased.

"Shut up, it's a word!"

"Yeah, one my great-grandmother used."

"I'm hanging up on you now. Have a safe trip, and send me an email when you get there."

"I don't know, CJ, I might be too tuckered out to write."

"Say it again, and I'll be knocking on your door in half an hour, sarcasm boy."

"Sorry!"

"Sam, remember I'm here for you, okay? Any time."

"I'll remember," he promised. "I'll talk to you soon."

"Make sure you do," and she hung up.

Sam leaned over and put the phone back into the charger. Flopping back on the bed, he grabbed the edge of the comforter and pulled it over himself. He yawned and closed his eyes. So Leo had ordered them to leave him alone. As he drifted to sleep, Sam smiled. What would CJ have said if he told her he had hung up from Leo's call a minute before hers?