And The World Stood Still

by:SheilaVR

Character(s): Jed & Co.
Category(s): General
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is actually intended, but no threat of same will stop me from fantasizing about "The West Wing" anyway...
Summary: The President demonstrates that alcohol and motorcades do not mix.
Author's Note:I wrote this shortly before we heard any details about the first season finale episode. So, for all intents and purposes, humor me and pretend that "What Kind of Day Has It Been" never took place.

In the Chief of Staff's office, Leo and Josh were preparing to do what no one else in the West Wing would volunteer for right now: leave the immediate area and delay their catching the first whisper of news. But duty was duty.

The same duty that prevented a man from going to a friend who needed him.

"The Secret Service will contact us the second they hear anything. We're not even leaving the building." Leo did his best, but clearly he did not want to move beyond earshot of his own phone for a single moment, for any reason. He kept in constant motion, shifting papers from desk to briefcase to filing cabinet and back, just so that his hands didn't have time to shake... and his face looked more deeply lined than it might have earlier this evening.

"Yeah, I keep telling myself that, too." Josh leaned against the opposite wall, sleeves rolled up, arms folded, able to do little else except watch. "And meanwhile the word just trickles out, unconfirmed, and in no time it'll be twisted beyond all recognition."

He hesitated, then abandoned that concern as something he could do nothing about anyway. Another factor needed his attention more. "Look, whichever way this goes, we're going to get through it. Together."

Leo deliberately misinterpreted him. He did *not* want to go there. "The nation will survive, Josh. It's just too damned big to hinge entirely upon one man." Which was, from a national perspective, true enough. Over not much more than two centuries, one U.S. President in five has died in office.

His tone grew remote. Withdrawn. "Sure, we've all invested a good chunk of our careers in this administration. But nothing lasts forever, and you have to move on. I've done it."

Not *this* way, though. Not by the death of part of *himself*.

Josh persisted. "That's not what I'm talking about - "

So much for dodging the issue. "Thank you, but I've already been through this on the phone with my wife *and* my daughter. Hell, Jenny has known the Bartlets almost as long as I have, and Mallory's known them all her life." Leo's tone had a real edge to it. "And *you* know that I don't need any further distractions right now. There's too much work that has to get done."

The rifling of pages sounded louder than ever. Anything to fill the void.

"Leo, I think I've got a pretty good idea how you feel."

Both hands descended to the desk surface, and were still. The sudden quiet where neither of them *wanted* quiet was unsettling.

Leo kept his eyes averted and his voice tightly reined. "Josh, you're nowhere near forty yet. How can you imagine what it's like to have a forty-year-old friendship? When you're convinced sometimes that you know that person better than you know yourself?"

Silence.

"I haven't known *you* that long," Josh pointed out, with a softness and a sensitivity that many people who saw mostly his brash wit would not have accredited him. "Or Toby, or CJ, or Sam." He shrugged. "Even a comparatively young friendship can still mean a lot. I wouldn't want to see any of you die. And I sure wouldn't want to see any of you suffer brain damage."

Silence.

"The truth is, I'm not at all sure which possibility scares me more." Leo sounded almost bewildered, lost. It took him several seconds to put his darkest fears into words. "Either way, I lose the man I've always known."

Josh said nothing. What comfort could expressions of sympathy bring here, now? None, for either of them. All he had to offer was himself. A friend.

Somewhere in the stillness, this silent yet palpable support penetrated, and the Chief of Staff recalled that he wasn't the only one suffering here. And, that calculating degrees of suffering between people served no good purpose. His head turned. His eyes were haunted by a sorrow beyond tears.

"We *all* lose him."

Several more seconds ticked by almost audibly. Josh chose this time to move a few steps closer, a testimony to wordless compassion.

His boss looked down again. "Damnit, I should be there. Even if it's only to pace the halls with his family - "

Then Leo sighed, venting a horrible pressure that simply had no outlet. "He's the President of the United States. He's Abbey's husband. He's Zoey's FATHER!" He closed his eyes, and his volume dropped to a near-whisper. "What right do I have to feel so bad?"

Josh waited a beat. "All the right in the world. He's your friend."

"He's also my President, and I have a responsibility to him. But I complied when he said that he didn't need me tonight. Might as well let some of the younger staff have the experience." Leo's words came harder now. "If only I'd done the proper thing and gone along anyway. At least *then* I'd have had a decent enough excuse to be at the hospital with him!"

There was a problem with this scenario, and Josh hesitated to mention it. "If you *had* gone, you probably would've been in the limo with him, too."

Their eyes locked, grasping the full scope of repercussion.

"Better that than not knowing." The thought of enduring such a collision held no power over Leo at this time.

Josh shook his head at that one. "Ugh, I don't know... we really can't do without our Commander-in-Chief *and* our Chief of Staff. *One* of you has to carry on."

Another long pause.

If there was one aspect to said Chief of Staff's character that stood out above the rest, it was his unswerving devotion to duty. His gaze lowered, dispirited, resigned. "Yeah."

Enough of this pessimism. Josh shifted into encouragement. "Leo, he's going to be okay. We all have to believe that. The President has surprised us before. And I expect people are praying for him all over the country by now."

After yet another long, long moment, Leo nodded.

"I don't know if the collective will of the people can have any physical effect... but I do know that he'd be very grateful to hear that."

And slowly he straightened again, as though resuming a burden that might have become marginally less oppressive.

His subordinate took that as a good sign. And pressed on with the business that must be faced. "In the meantime we have some serious planning to do. No telling how long he may be incapacitated. The other thing I'm worried about is the *Vice*-President."

Leo seized upon the change of topic gladly. "Leave Hoynes to me. I have some history there as well to draw on if needed." He started shuffling papers again. Regulating anxiety to the back burner. There was no other way to function.

"If the President can think straight at all, he'll want to be back on the job at once, one way or another. And Hoynes sure won't like *that*." Reduced to just standing around for this interlude, Josh just stood. And fidgeted. "How unconstitutional do you think this can get?"

His boss glanced up. "Are you proposing we lock the President in his room until he gets a clean bill of health?"

Josh smiled his relief at this return of humor, however slight. "You'll never convince him it's for his own good."

Leo grimaced at the thought. "Tell me something I don't know."

Time to get to the point. The Deputy Chief of Staff exhaled, like a pot on the boil. "Leo, there's no love lost between the President and Hoynes. You know that. I know that. Everyone who works here knows that."

"Josh - "

"I'm just saying, Hoynes knows how close you are to the President. And he must figure that the senior staff is about as loyal. Naturally he'd prefer to work with his own people rather than us. What if he tries to clean house?"

"Then hand him a mop and pail!" In truth, Leo valued the Vice-President's worth rather more than that, but his emotions were wearing thin tonight.

"I'm not talking about just the White House." Josh paused for impact. He was a highly regarded strategist throughout the political arena; his theories merited consideration. "I'm also thinking about the House of Representatives."

Leo stopped his file-stacking again, this time in surprise. "He can't do *that*, even if he's President himself."

"But what about the chance of a long-term convalescence? We don't know - even assuming the President does make a full recovery, he might be bedridden for months! Could Hoynes plead the nation's best interests and demand a more compatible working environment around here?" Josh waved his arms with nervous energy. "Will he start drumming up some personal support in Congress?"

The Chief of Staff frowned ominously. "Not if he values his career in politics, heir apparent to the Presidency notwithstanding." And he sounded very sure of that.

Josh stuffed both hands in his pants pockets, as though drawing an irrevocable line in the sand. "I know the House of Reps is not our business." And he paused again. Deliberately.

"But if he tries it here - *we the people*... walk."

For a moment Leo just stared at him.

"What, you've got a petition circulating or something?"

Josh looked far too confident for a man bluffing with the uppermost strata of American social and political structure. "I don't need one."

Leo did not reply. But then, neither did he issue a direct challenge to that declaration of independence. Perhaps it didn't come as so much of a surprise after all.

A soft knock was followed by Margaret's timid entrance. "Leo?" she practically whispered.

They turned to her in unison.

"Phone." Her voice almost broke. "The hospital."

The two men traded a fateful look. This was it: the message they all so anticipated - and dreaded.

Having discharged her primary function, Margaret did not leave as a secretary should. And her boss did not dismiss her. She needed to know, too.

Slowly, Leo reached over to pick up... and hesitated for one more heartbeat, one more deep breath. Whatever information waited on that line, events had already occurred and were quite irreversible. Now that it had come at last, he was afraid to find out. Terrified to learn that his best friend - that the U.S. President - *no longer existed*.

But he had to know. Not only for himself, but for everyone else.

For the whole nation. Indeed, for the world.

All three braced themselves as, finally, portentously, he lifted the receiver.

"McGarry."

Margaret gripped Josh's arm. He didn't move, every muscle tense.

"I *know* who you are, Doctor." How Leo kept his voice from trembling was a minor miracle. "Please - just cut to the chase."

Silence for one second. Two. Three.

Then, inch by inch, Leo's face sagged and his shoulders slumped. With agonizing slowness, he sank back into his chair as though completely drained of strength.

Josh and Margaret did not relax at all. Rather, their nerves tightened even more unbearably. This graphic reaction could mean news either wonderful or *devastating*.

Several rapid heartbeats slammed painfully against the ribcages of the two people unable to hear both sides of this critical conversation, before Leo managed a very quiet "Agreed."

With *WHAT?*

A dozen more lifetimes seemed to pass; then, tonelessly, "Thank you." And with a hand that shook just a bit, he hung up.

And sat there, features slack, eyes on a distant horizon.

It took him another three endless seconds to remember that he wasn't alone in his office, and to look around. Expression unchanging.

*WHICH IS IT?* two teeth-clenched faces shrieked at him.

"He's going to make it."

Margaret almost fainted on the spot. Gasping for air - he had no memory of holding his breath in the anguish of the moment - Josh reacted in time to steady her as she staggered.

Leo was too overwhelmed to even smile. Feeling positively light-headed.

"Thank God on high, he's going to *live*."

His secretary made an inarticulate sound halfway between a laugh and a sob and threw her arms around Josh's neck, White House decorum be damned. He didn't mind; in fact, he hugged her back. And he *did* laugh.

Leo kindly waited until they were calm enough to hear more.

"He's already been upgraded from critical to serious. His breathing is stronger, his heart-rate is regular, and his blood pressure has been restored. And they seem pretty sure that the concussion won't cause any mental complications. He'll be coming home soon, with all the equipment and attendants needed. Maybe as early as Sunday or Monday, depending on how things go. The healing time might as well be spent here; it'll be easier on him, on his family, on the hospital staff, and on the Secret Service."

"I *can* think of a few others to add to that list," Josh said in an attempt at his usual smart-aleck attitude. Like a declaration that things were finally returning to normal.

Margaret was dabbing at her eyes. By now all three wore grins so broad it hurt. Another second or two ticked past as they just savored this indescribable moment of such tremendous news... and the heady sensation of being not only the sole individuals in the White House but among those very few in the entire anxiously-waiting world who possessed it. However, even in this ecstasy it was cruel to delay the proclamation. Leo sat up.

"Okay, Margaret, spread the good word." Now that was a joyous command. "Just make sure you tell Toby *first*, or else he'll never forgive us. Oh, and inform CJ that I'll brief her for the next release as soon as we get back."

His secretary flashed an even more radiant smile and left the office at a run. Anyone outside who even glimpsed her face would guess the basic headline at once. This particular broadcast should beat any other grapevine record hands down.

Leo ran a handkerchief slowly across his forehead. "Whew. So much for the most frightening ordeal of *my* life."

"Here, here." Josh sighed, equally wrung out. "You feeling better now?" he couldn't resist asking.

After their previous heart-crushing conversation on this topic, a touch of comedy felt marvelous. "Better than a long-shot majority on the last ballot."

"Wow, that *is* good." Josh grinned anew. "Well, this wraps up today's little drama. All that's left is the denouement." He glanced towards the door. "I *really* hate to leave now. This place is going to see quite a celebration. Be a shame to miss it."

"I know what you mean, but you and I are a little indispensable right now." With the elimination of grief came a new purpose. Leo rose and stepped around his desk, once again fully focused on the task ahead. He looked at the time. "We can't put the Vice-President *and* the Cabinet off just to party, even for this."

"Do we have to tell Hoynes just how temporary his new role will be?"

"Oh, wouldn't it be great if he found out from someone else."

Josh retrieved his blazer from a nearby chair. "Yeah - but a longer period of ignorance might give him enough rope to hang himself."

"For pity's sake, Josh, the man is on *our* side!"

"*Is* he?"

For one long moment, the Chief of Staff had no honest reply. Then,

"He'd *better* be."

*****

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

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