"He's out of his head."

"What do you mean?" he asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"He's...It can't be good..." She finally gave up on words and pointed.

Leo looked into the room. "Go get a nurse," he instructed. "He's gonna strangle himself on all the wires if nothing else." Mallory did as she was told, and a minute later, a nurse appeared with a tranquilizer. Mal looked on in veritable horror as Sam's wrenching body went limp, his flailing limbs coming to rest abruptly and unnaturally.

"What was that?" Mallory asked in a small and uncharacteristically afraid voice.

"Well, I hardly know what goes on in Sam's head," Leo joked, and his daughter smiled faintly. "But I'd guess one helluva nightmare."

"A NIGHTMARE?!" Her eyes fairly bulged from their sockets. "He looked like he was having a seizure or something, the nurse had to sedate him, and you're telling me it was just him having a bad dream?"

"See, Baby, there's something you've gotta understand if you wanna help him more than you hurt him."

"What do I need to understand?"

"That there's a lot you **don't** understand. You've never been fired on, you've never almost died. I think Josh is gonna be his best help here." He saw his daughter's crestfallen look that she tried unsuccessfully to hide. "And I know you wanna help. But y'know something?"

"What?"

"I saw the look on his face when you had to leave last night...He wants you here. He needs you here." He smiled sympathetically at his daughter. "And I really think he's gonna be okay."

~*~*~*~

It was the first new information she'd had for quite some time.

Meaning the press corp. was in a frenzy.

"CJ! CJ!"

Each and every one of them wanted more information than she had, but that was, as they had said in her home town, "hard cheese" for them.

"Moments ago, at 7:27 Central Standard Time, the U.S. Secret Service, working with the Texas National Guard and the Austin PD, arrested a suspect by the name of Mark Newman outside a local store. Newman is an associate at the law firm Rosenthal and Hartman, which is housed in the building from which the shots were fired. That's all the more I can give you at this time..."

~*~*~*~

He flicked off his television in disgust. "The same damn clip over and over - the White House Press Chick announcing the suspect in custody." Attempt after attempt to reach his boss had been unsuccessful, and time was of the essence. It was his call.

"Plan C3," he said to himself, taking a deep breath before grabbing the phone.

~*~*~*~

When he entered the room, everyone stood up.

He had been mentally preparing himself for that moment. That would mean he was **TRULY** acting president. When everyone in the Situation Room stood up upon his entrance, he knew it for damn sure.

He was, at least for the time being, President John Hoynes.

"What's going on?"

"Sir, approximately 17 minutes ago, the suspected assassin died of a gunshot, fired from an unknown location," Nancy began. "Now, I don't know about you, but I think it's not outside the realm of possibility that a coup-"

"Nancy, the guy who shot the President is dead, what is there left to worry about?"

"The friends of the guy who shot the President, sir."

~*~*~*~

She was there when he woke up, which made him instantly relieved. "Hey," she said quietly, smoothing his hair back a little with gentle fingertips. "How ya feelin'?"

"Groggy...Like I can't quite wake up..." She looked instantly a little sad. "Mal? What's wrong?"

"They had to sedate you," she said quietly. "You were flailing and I knew you'd hurt yourself if you kept it up and I didn't know what to do and-"

"Mallory." He cut her off. "It's okay. Really." She looked afraid a little bit...nervous...uncertain... "Where's everyone else?"

"CJ's back at the White House, Toby's on his way there - he did morning shows."

"TOBY?!" Sam burst out laughing which turned into a fit of coughing. "I'm...okay..." he wheezed, seeing Mal's panic-stricken expression. "...Get the...water..." She grabbed the cup from the night stand and handed it to him, and he sipped at it until the coughing subsided. "Sorry," he mumbled. "What about Josh...and Leo...and the President?"

"Josh is running things from the hotel so he can stop by later, he's gotta head back in a couple days. The President's in recovery, and Dad's...negotiating..."

~*~*~*~

"Sir-"

"Dr. Banks, he would be in the best of hands, both in transit and one he arrives. Dr. Bartlet would make the trip so if anything happened-"

"Mr. McGarry, he was shot and had massive surgery YESTERDAY, there's no way he's stable enough."

"Then how soon?"

"Maybe Friday. We'll have to see."