Putting Family First

Summary: When Josh suffers a personal tragedy, he needs Donna more than ever.

Author's Notes: When you get to chapter 11 of this fic, it breaks into two pieces. They are alternate endings for the story, and they're completely different. If you get confused, e-mail me, I'll talk you through it.

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"Josh Lyman's office," said Donna as she held the phone between her ear and shoulder and continued typing.

"May I speak with Mr. Lyman please?"

"He's in a meeting. May I take a message?"

"Actually, no. This is the Wellington Regional Medical Center emergency room, in Palm Beach, FL. I need to speak with him now if at all possible. Is there any way he can be interrupted?"

His mom. "Of course. One moment please." Donna stood up quickly and walked to Josh's office. She stopped at the closed door and took a deep breath, then knocked quietly and walked in.

Josh was in a meeting with a representative from the EPA, discussing polluted streams in upstate New York. He looked up when she opened the door. "Josh, you have a phone call you need to take."

"Who is it?" he asked as he started to pick up the phone.

"No, Josh," she said with a stern voice. He looked up at her, surprised at her tone. She turned to the young man from the EPA. "I'm sorry, Mr. Abbott, could you please give us a moment?"

"Of course. I'll wait outside." He stood up and walked out into the bullpen.

"Thank you," she said after him and closed the door behind her.

She turned to Josh who was looking at her like she'd grown an extra arm. "What's wrong?"

"It's the hospital in Palm Beach."

"My mom?" It came out as less than a whisper.

"I think so. I'm gonna…" she pointed out to the bullpen and opened the door to leave.

"Donna," he choked out. She turned around and looked at him, his eyes boring into hers and his hand resting nervously on the phone. He didn't say anything else, but she knew what he was asking. She closed the door again, walked to his desk, put her hand on his forearm and gave him a small smile.

He hesitated another moment before hitting his speakerphone button. "This is Josh Lyman. Is something wrong with my mother?"

"Mr. Lyman. This is April Messick, from…"

"I know. What's wrong with my mother?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Lyman, but your mother suffered a stroke this afternoon."

His breath caught in his throat and he stood up. "Is she…" He couldn't finish the sentence.

"She's alive. She came in awake a half hour ago by ambulance. While admitting her, she suffered what we think was her second stroke and slipped into a coma. We've run an MRI, she has two infarcts, both on the right side of her brain."

Josh dropped back into his chair and sat silently. "Mr. Lyman? Are you still there?"

Josh looked up at Donna, helplessly. It was the same look he gave her when she told him his father died. She hated that look, hated to see him hurt and confused. She squeezed his arm and then moved to his computer, got online and started looking for flights. She had to do something productive. As she typed, Josh asked the woman, "What do we do now?"

"At this point, we wait. Once she regains consciousness, we'll have a better idea of the damage done. But you should know, Mr. Lyman, the next 24-48 hours are critical. The longer she's unconscious, the smaller her chances of a meaningful recovery. "

He stared at the phone like a lost child until Donna spoke quietly to him. "Josh, the next flight leaves from Reagan in an hour. After that, there isn't another one until tonight." He didn't respond, so she put her hand on his forearm. "Josh. Come on."

He focused on the sound of Donna's voice and tried to stay calm while he spoke to the nurse. "I'm on my way. If there's any news before I get there, please call here and ask for Donna." Donna hit the purchase button and printed the confirmation screen.

"Yes sir, we have her on the list of family." Of course his mother would list Donna as family. Not only would Donna be the logical choice for getting in touch with Josh, his mom loved to tease him by calling Donna her future daughter-in-law. She told him that he might be able to fool himself, and he might be able to fool Donna, but he certainly wasn't fooling her. She knew love when she saw it.

"Ms. Messick, This is Donna. Let me give you a few phone numbers. Do you have something to write with?"

"Yes. Go ahead."

"Josh's cell phone is 202-481-5226. Mine is 202-481-5227." She looked at Josh who was sitting slumped in his chair and whispered, "Get your backpack and laptop ready to go." Then she spoke to the woman on the phone again. "I'm going to be calling you for updates a few times an hour so Josh can check in with me from the plane. What number should I call?" The nurse gave Donna the number to the ER and they disconnected.

Josh then stood up, grabbed his backpack and frantically started shoving files into it. "I don't have time to go home and pack. And I've got this guy from the EPA here and I've got a meeting at 2:00 on the hill, and there's a conference call..."

She put her hand on top of his and he instantly calmed down. "Are you going to be ok on your own?" She couldn't ask him if he needed her to go, although she desperately wanted to. Elizabeth was Josh's only remaining family. The two of them were very close, and she could tell that Josh was hanging on by a thread.

"Yeah. Can you…" he looked around the room.

"Get your things. I'll drop you off at the airport; you don't have time to park. I'm going to get rid of the guy out here. You need to hurry," Donna looked at him for a few seconds and walked out of his office.

As she drove him to the airport, she went over some details with him. "Take a cab to the hospital when you get there. You can't take the time to get lost. I wrote the name of the hospital and the nurse on this." She handed him a piece of paper. "Your confirmation number for your flight is on there too, you're on Delta. I'll FedEx some clothes and toiletries to the hospital, they'll be there by ten o'clock in the morning. We'll worry about a hotel and car later, when she's stable."

"Ok." He looked out the window, lost. Everything was moving in slow motion and all he could hear was the nurse, 'your mother suffered a stroke this afternoon.'

"Josh…" she had no idea what to say to him. He looked so far away, and she wondered again if he would be ok on his own.

"I didn't tell Leo," he said as if he was in a trance.

"I'll take care of it." She got her cell out of her purse, called Leo and explained the situation. When she hung up, she turned back to Josh. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I'll need clothes."

She sighed. "I'm going to FedEx them to the hospital, remember?"

"You are?" She nodded. "Ok, I'm sorry."

"It's ok. Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

He sat quietly for another minute. "She called me last night and I didn't call her back."

"Josh, don't do this to yourself." She knew this Josh all too well.

"What if she could tell she was getting sick? What if she needed me? I should've called her back."

Donna tried to focus on the road and look at Josh at the same time. She settled for reaching over and putting her hand on his leg. "Josh, if she knew she was getting sick, she would have called 9-1-1. There aren't always warning signs for strokes."

"I still should have called her back."

"You got home from work around midnight, right?"

"Yeah."

"Did her message say to call, even if you got home late?"

"No. But…"

"Josh, you need to focus on your mom, not what you should or shouldn't have done. People don't return phone calls at midnight."

"If it were you, I would've called back."

"Yeah, well… you have no respect for my time." He chuckled, but it was shallow and she could tell he didn't mean it. Finally, he put his hand on top of Donna's and they rode the rest of the way to the airport in silence.

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"Send her in Charlie," the President said as he walked to a couch in his office.

Donna walked in to the oval office, where Leo, the President, Toby, Will and CJ were sitting. "Donna, what do we know?" Leo asked.

"Not much, unfortunately. There were two strokes, both on the right side of the brain. I just talked to the hospital. She's still in the emergency room. They're going to transfer her to the ICU in a little bit."

"What else?" asked CJ, taking notes.

"They think the first stroke happened before she got to the hospital, they've run an MRI, she's in a coma and the next 48 hours are critical. That's all I know."

"When does Josh land?"

"7:30."

"How's he holding up?" asked Toby.

"He's already blaming himself."

"Thanks Donna," said the President. "Let us know if you hear anything else."

"Yes Sir," she said and walked out of the room.

The President turned to Leo. "How long is she going to be here?"

He smiled. "I wouldn't count on seeing her tomorrow. CJ, don't say anything unless you get questions, and then keep it to the minimum."

"That shouldn't be a problem, the minimum is all we have."

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As soon as the plane touched down, Josh dialed Donna at the office. "Any news?" He had called from the phone on the plane three times, and there hadn't been any word.

"No change. I spoke with the hospital twenty minutes ago. Have you landed?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way to the cab stand."

"The name of the hospital is on the sheet I gave you in the car."

"I've got it."

"How're you holding up?"

He sighed. "Not well."

"I'm sending some Sertaline along with your clothes. Please take it if you need it. Don't be stubborn." Sertaline was Josh's PTSD medication, which he hated and rarely took.

"Ok." He paused, and then whispered into the phone, "What am I going to see when I get there?"

The truth was, Donna had no idea what he would see. She had never known anyone who'd had a stroke. "You're going to see your mom. It doesn't matter what's hooked up to her or how she looks, she's your mom. Remember that. You'll call me when you talk to a doctor and see her?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. I'm leaving here in an hour to go pack some things for you. I'll leave my cell on. If you need anything at all…even just to talk….call me, ok?"

"Alright. I have to go."

"I'll talk to you soon."