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People Still Care

Sam was looking at some files, trying to get his head around them. He had been out of politics for way to long.

"Hey," Josh said calmly, wondering into the room with his hands buried deep in his pockets.

"I can't believe that I use to be able to understand all this." Sam gestured to the folders. "It's going to take me months to catch up with everything."

"You'll be fine." Josh leaned back against a desk. "About earlier, with Otto..."

Sam looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"I..I'm just tired," he explained. "I guess, I lost it for a moment, I'm sorry."

Sam shrugged. "You'll feel better once you've had some time off."

"Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be able to do that just yet..."

"Well, I'm out of here then." Sam threw the folder on the desk.

Josh sighed loudly, running a hand through his hair. "What is it with people and ultimatums today?!"

"Josh, you're going to burn out."

"I've just got to sort the transition out then I'll see about taking a day or something off."

"No."

"Sam..."

"No, Josh...God, don't you understand? Santos needs you...He's going to make a good President but he doesn't know how everything works," Sam claimed. "And the rest of your staff, well they're pretty new to all of this too."

"Which is why I need you to be my Deputy."

"You need a break."

"I can't..."

"You went from President Bartlet's re-election to Zoey's kidnapping... Then there was Gaza..."

"It's my job..."

"It wasn't your job to fly halfway across the world with nothing."

Josh glared at him. "Yes, it was..."

"You come back from Gaza and had to deal with the peace talks...There was Leo's heart attack," Sam said, watching as Josh started to pace around. "Then you quit.."

Josh ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't just quit...I left to run a Presidential campaign."

"Exactly and that hasn't been a stress free job."

"It's a campaign, Sam! Of course there's going to be stressed!" Josh raised his voice. "I signed up for it and I signed up for this too!"

"A break down?"

"I'm fine!"

"When was the last time you slept?"

"Last night."

"Yeah right," Sam laughed sarcastically.

Josh walked over the window but barely glanced out before walking back across the room.

"Look at you," Sam said quietly. "You can't even stand still."

Josh forced his feet to stop moving and turned to face Sam.

"You're trying to deal with way too much," Sam continued. "I don't know what's happening between Donna and you but I know there's something there...You haven't even started to grieve for Leo."

Josh tensed and spun around away from Sam again. "I can handle it."

"Leo was always your guy... he was the one you worked so hard to please.."

"Okay, stop."

"And he died on one of the biggest days of your life...Just like your Dad."

"Seriously, Sam...just stop it!"

Sam fell silent but only for a few seconds. "You've had a hard couple of years... Why can't you just take some time off?"

"I can't..." Josh whispered, his back still to Sam.

"Josh..."

"I can't stop." He moved to lean against a wall.

"Why?"

"I just can't."

"I remember last time."

"What?"

"I remember the last time you couldn't stop."

Josh frowned a little in confusion.

"You kept going and going until you put your hand through a glass window."

Josh pushed himself away from the wall and stood up straight. "Don't you dare compare this to then!"

"You're ignoring everything... You're dealing with Leo's death, you probably haven't talked to anyone about Gaza."

"I wasn't even there!"

"But Donna was."

"It's not the same, Sam."

"I'm not going to hang around here and watch you go through all of that again."

Josh rubbed his eyes before running his hands through his hair again. "I don't know how to get him to listen."

"Who?"

"The President-Elect... I don't know...This is a new administration and I want to learn from the mistake we made but I want to continued the good work we'd done...I want the Bartlet administration to be remembered..." He sat down looking at Sam. "But I can't get the President-Elect to listen to me."

"You need to take a step back, Josh," Sam advised. "You're running around trying to deal with everyone's problems but you can't...You got to set back and see the bigger picture."

Josh sighed, leaning back in his chair but didn't say anything.

"You've got the rest of today to think about the vacation," Sam told him as he searched around for something in his bag. He pulled at a small white envelope and held it out to Josh.

"What is it?" Josh questioned, looking at it and seeing there was no writing.

"It's a letter I wrote to you."

"When?" Josh opened the envelope.

"The same night as Rosslyn."

Josh's looked up and locked eyes with Sam, surprised.

"We didn't know if you were going to make it...There was a lot of waiting around and...well, I wrote you a latter." Sam explained, he moved closer to the door watching as Josh gripped tighter onto the paper. "The night, of the Christmas party...The reason why I came to your apartment...It was to give you this latter."

"Why?" He asked quietly.

"Because you were struggling and I wanted you to know that people cared about you," Sam told him. "I'm giving it to you now because your struggling and people still care about you."

Josh stayed silent, suddenly feeling overwhelmed about everything.

"I'm going to get a coffee." Sam walked to the door. "Think about what I said."

Josh just nodded but continued to stare at the envelope in his hand. He sat there for almost 15 minutes before he finally built up the courage to pull the letter out. He carefully unfolded the old, worn paper and instantly recognised Sam's writing.

Dear Josh,

Something terrible happened tonight. We were all victims of a senseless crime but for some reason unbeknown to me, you've come off worse.

You're in surgery now and the doctors have told us we should prepare for the worse. I don't care what they say Josh because you are strong. You are one of the strongest people I know. You can fight this, I know you can. You can beat this! You can't leave us.

I'm sorry that I'm writing this letter because it might seem like a goodbye but I'm praying so hard that I won't need it. I just can not sit here and wait for news. I need to do something. I need not to sit here and look at everyone's faces. We're all distraught...I cannot take the look on Toby's face... I cannot stand C.J trying to comfort me even though she needs someone to tell her everything will be okay... I cannot stand to watch Donna sit in fear of her heart being ripped out of her chest.

The only thing that can fix all of this, is if you come back to us Josh. So keep fighting...Keep being strong...Come back to us.

S.Seaborn

XxXxX

Sam gave him an hour before returning to the office and saw him stood by the window.

"I got you a sandwich," he said, causing Josh to turned around.

"Thanks," Josh replied quietly. "The President-Elect has stepped out for a moment but once he's back, I'll introduce you."

"Okay."

"You'll going to need to met him if you're going to cover for me."

Sam smiled slightly. "You're taking a vacation?"

"My flight leaves in a few hours." He nodded.

"That's great."

"Donna's coming with me."

Sam raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Really?"

"We need to talk about Gaza and what happened after...Plus we need to deal with what's happening between us."

"So there is something happening between you two?"

"I hope so."

"Well, I think it's great."

"Sam?"

"Yeah."

"I am fighting...just...you were right, I need to step back because I'm not fighting the right way."

"Just come back to us."

Josh nodded and they both fell silent.

"Josh?" Ronna knocked lightly on the door. "The Congre...I mean, the President-Elect is on his way back over."

"You ready?" Josh looked at Sam.

"Are you?"

"Yeah, lets go."

The End

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