The silence was deafening, and also eerie and terrifying in its potential.

Then the silence was broken.

Why was she screaming? What was wrong? Had someone been hurt?

He didn't notice the pain in his neck, nor did he notice the trail of blood leaking from the wound there.

~*~*~*~

It was the strangest sense of unfortunate deja vu, like an error of fate, as they rushed through the front hall of the Austin General Hospital and Emergency Room. "White male, 31, gunshot wounds to the chest and the right thigh, no exit!"

"Get him into Exam 1!"

The rest of the staff raced after the stretcher as it was wheeled through the halls. "Don't compromise on the...voucher bill...Mallory will kick...my ass..." Sam's words were getting breathier and quieter, like he had less air.

"Oh, God," Leo murmured, realizing the call that had to be made.

~*~*~*~

"I need a ticket to Austin right away!"

"Ma'am, I'm afraid we can't do that. They've closed the airport because of the assassination attempt on -"

"My father works for the president, I have to get down there!"

The woman sighed. "The best I can do is a flight for Dallas/Fort Worth that boards in fifteen minutes."

"I'll take it." The woman punched it into the computer and handed Mallory a boarding pass. Mallory walked over to the gate and was waiting for them to call her to board when her cell phone rang. "H'lo?!"

"Baby, it's me."

"Oh, thank God...thank God you're okay..." she murmured, sinking into a chair.

"Yeah. So you've heard about -"

"It was on the news...and I was panicking...I'm on the next flight to Dallas,it leaves in a few minutes, so I should be there sort of soon...unless you're just leaving now in which case I'll cancel it..."

"Sam was hit, Baby."

"He was...he was shot?"

"Yeah. They're taking him up to surgery."

"H-How bad?"

"It's -"

"How bad?"

"...pretty bad..." he said quietly. "...he was shot twice, once in the chestand once in the leg...they can't tell anything until they're in there..."

"I-...I-I-...I'll be there in a few hours."

"Call me when you land and I'll fill you in."

"Yeah."

"And don't drive from Dallas to Austin - I'll give you money, take a cab or something...but don't drive. Last thing we need is you crashing somewhere."

"Okay, Daddy." Boarding call. "I gotta go."

"Okay. Love you, Baby."

"Love you too, Daddy...Let Sam know I love him too, okay?"

"Will do."

~*~*~*~

//My God...what if he dies before I get there? C'mon, stop thinking like that...be positive...Josh made it, and Josh has the curse of Lyman against him...Sam will be okay...Sam will be okay...he has to be okay...//

~*~*~*~

How they were the last ones to the hospital, nobody knew.

He was rushed in on a stretcher, unconscious, Abby yelling frantic instructions as they passed the private waiting room. Everyone in the room leapt up and raced along behind, like a bizarre processional, grotesque parade. "What happened?" Leo demanded, being the first to reach Abby.

"Gunshot to the right neck, so far no change in breathing, BP 100/65 and dropping!" Abby rattled off, as much for Leo as for the doctors. "No visible spinal damage but check anyway!" The stretcher was wheeled through the double doors of an OR and the staff halted.

Leo snapped immediately into safe mode. "Margaret, get Nancy on the phone, tell her I need two copies of The Letter given to The Guy."

"Will she -"

"She'll know what I'm talking about. Josh, get Hoynes on a plane back to DC. CJ, talk to the press."

"And tell them...?"

"What we know."

"Which is nothing?"

"Exactly."

"Yes, sir."

"Toby, I'm gonna need you to try for once to be comforting and charismatic."

"I don't do that."

"Ya do now 'cause Sam can't." Everyone fell into icy silence. "Toby, TV. C'mon. Let's go."

Everyone whipped out cell phones and yammering filled the room. And somehow, in the middle of it, Abby slipped in, unnoticed by everyone but Leo. "How is he?" Leo whispered. She stared wordlessly down at her blood-stained hands. "That bad?"

"I've never been so scared in my life," she murmured. "I mean, twice in one year..."

"Yeah."

"And I keep -...I keep seeing pictures of Jackie in the pink suit..." She glanced down at her own green dress and jacket.

"It's THAT bad?"

"There was a-...there's a lot of blood in the car...And I, in all the medicine I've studied and practiced, I-...I can't tell how bad it is, and they won't let me in there..." Tears of fear and frustration, anger and angst, began to fall slowly, and Leo hugged her. "...Now I know...why I prefer being on the other side of the OR door..."

"Shhh..." he murmured as she rested her chin on his shoulder. "...It'll all be okay... The president's -...Jed's too damn stubborn to die. At least before re-election." Abby smiled weakly. "C'mon, sit down."

She sat and looked around. "Where's Sam?"

"You didn't hear?"

"Hear what?"

"He was shot twice. Chest and thigh." Abby sighed. "Yeah."

"...Such a sweet kid...Prob'ly saving someone..."

"CJ again." Leo smiled faintly. "Mal's on her way into Dallas as we speak."

"Freaked?"

"Well, she sounded about like you did when you walked in, so..."

"Yeah." Abby stood.

"Where ya goin'?"

"I'm gonna find out what's going on. Charm the answer outta 'em - after all, I AM the First Lady!"

~*~*~*~

"It wasn't my fault!"

"Like hell, dumbass - youi couldn't shoot straight!"

"It was a moving target!"

"What did you THINK it'd be?!"

"Hey!" the dark-haired Texan said, pulling his cell phone away from his face a little. "I'm on the phone here - shut up, would ya?"

"Sorry, sir."

"It's your fault he isn't dead right now -"

"He IS wounded..."

"In the throat - hardly fatal."

"Listen -"

"We failed!"

The dark-haired ringleader hung up his phone. "Wrong."