The Road Ahead:
Part 6
M.A.B.
"So, I hear you had fun, yesterday," Josh commented to Sam, as the
latter came into the communications bullpen, carrying his briefcase
in one hand and a donut in the other.
Sam made a sound of disgust. "Oh, yes, loads of fun." He handed
the donut to Kathy. "Sorry, they only had honey dip left."
"Well, if you had went a little earlier..." she began.
"Hey, I was up late and..." He looked at his no-nonsense assistant.
"Never mind. Where's the Neuwrith-Anderson file?"
"On your desk."
"Thanks," Sam replied, as he went into his office.
"So, why were you up late last night?" Josh asked, following his
friend.
"I was talking to someone," Sam answered, as he put his briefcase
down to check his mail.
"Who?"
"Kyle."
"Kyle?"
"Yeah."
"As in your brother, Kyle? That Kyle?"
Sam looked up. "Yeah, that Kyle," he confirmed. "Why? Is there
something wrong with me talking to my brother?"
"No."
Because if you find that there's a problem with that..."
"Sam!" Josh interrupted, "No, there is nothing wrong with you
talking to your brother. In fact, I like your brother."
"Just don't tell Jaime that."
"*Not* in that way."
Sam smiled. "I was just kidding."
"I know you were," Josh admitted, "Just don't talk about that around
here."
"So, I can say it someplace that's filled with reporters?"
"Sam," Josh warned.
"Hey, I need some fun in my life, even if it's momentarily," Sam
countered.
"You had fun yesterday," Josh retorted. "You go traipsing to god
knows where, for most of the afternoon and when you do come back,
it's only for a few minutes before the President escorts you to
somewhere else."
"Josh," Sam muttered wearily, as he took off his coat and placed it
on the coat rack.
"But you couldn't have gone far, because your car was still in the
parking lot..." Josh continued.
"You checked?" the deputy director of communications asked
incredulously as he sat down.
"Yes, I check! After all, Toby wasn't in the best of moods
yesterday after you left him with most of the work, so he took it
out on the rest of us. As usual."
"I did what I could before I had to leave the first time, and I
didn't want to go then, either," Sam defended. "Secondly, after I
came back, I did bring work with me."
"You didn't want to go?"
"No," Sam confirmed.
"President Bartlet forced you to go somewhere you didn't want to go," Josh
clarified.
"Yes," Sam replied honestly. After all, he wasn't *exactly* lying.
It had been *Abigail* Bartlet who had ordered him to go, and while she
wasn't the President, she did have her husband's backing.
Josh shrugged. "Okay."
Sam looked at his friend curiously. "That's it?"
"Yep."
"No lecture, no bullying me around, trying to find out where I was?"
"No lecture. As for bullying you around, never!"
"Hah!" Sam exclaimed, opening up a file on his desk.
"Hey, I like to think that I'm more subtle than that!"
"Uh-huh. Sure, Josh, go ahead and think that."
"So, where were you, then?"
"So much for subtlety."
"Sam!"
"Josh."
"Listen, I can't help but be curious. Toby said that when you came
back yesterday, that you were walking funny and that you had hurt
yourself again."
"So, I'm accident-prone."
"I think the term, 'klutz,' is more appropriate."
"Josh, I don't need to be insulted by you first thing in the
morning," Sam retorted, trying to read the file.
"But it's so much fun."
Sam shook his head. "Josh..."
"No, I agree with Josh," Toby said, as he came into Sam's office.
"You're late," he pointed out.
"He was up late talking to Kyle," Josh put in.
"Why didn't you just hang up the phone?" Toby wondered aloud.
"Because it's kind of hard... Nevermind," Sam dismissed. "What's
up?"
"What have we been dealing with for the past few days?" was the
reply.
"The aftermath of Senator Schillack and his merry Chief of Staff?"
Sam replied.
"Yep," Toby answered.
"Listen to CJ, next time. Okay, big guy?" Sam suggested.
Toby gave him a look. "There won't be a next time."
Sam almost snorted. "Trust me, Toby. Knowing you, there will be."
"Ha, ha, ha," Toby mocked. "Meeting. Leo's office. Now."
"Yes, Master," retorted Josh, as Sam got his things and followed the
former out of his office.
When they got there, CJ was already present and seated. "Hail,
hail, the gang's all here," she stated, as the newcomers began to
seat themselves.
"Enough of the sarcasm first thing in the morning, okay? And Sam,
can you try to at least stay focused today?" Leo suggested from
behind his desk, peering over the top of his glasses.
Sam felt a bit embarrassed over this. "Sorry about that Leo," he
began, "It won't happen again."
"Uh-huh." Leo looked from Sam to Toby. "Let's get started."
The meeting had been in session for only fifteen minutes, when the
door to the Oval office opened and POTUS entered. Everyone stood.
"Good morning, everyone," he greeted.
"Good morning, Sir," Toby answered.
Jed Bartlet gazed inside the room. "And how is everyone today?" he
asked, as he looked pointedly at each person--more so at Sam than for
everyone else. It seemed that no one noticed this but Leo, who peered at
the deputy director from the corner of his eye.
"Good," Sam rushed, "We're all good, aren't we?"
"So far," Josh agreed.
POTUS nodded. "Okay. That's all I wanted to know. Carry on," he
said, as he left and closed the door behind him.
"Okay, that was..." Josh trailed.
"Nevermind," Leo put in, as he sat back down. "CJ, you were saying
about--"
The door opened again. "Does anyone want any coffee, tea, milk,
water or ginger-ale?" POTUS queried.
The senior staff stood up again. "Ginger-ale? At 7:30 in the
morning?" Leo asked.
"Something different?"
Leo gave an exasperated expression to his friend.
"You're right," Bartlet conceded. "I'll leave you alone now," and
closed the door behind him, yet again.
Upon seating themselves, the meeting began, yet again, with people
wondering what was going on with their commander-in-chief. All
except for the youngest in the room. No one suspected that what
just happened was probably a way for the President to check up on
Sam, but he did. And from Leo's gaze every so often, he knew that
the Chief of Staff knew that something was up. And that it had
something to do with the deputy communcations director. The latter felt
uncomfortable at this and tried to push it completely from his mind, until
the meeting was done.
When it was finished, Sam quickly left, as he had to prep for
another meeting at 10am, and it was 12:30 when he got out of that
one. He saw Josh come towards him, as he neared his office. Again.
"What do you want to do for lunch?" the deputy chief of staff asked.
"I have no idea," Sam answered truthfully, as he walked into the
office and put down his folder.
"Hot dogs, or Mackie's?"
"Josh, I...hot dogs."
"You don't want to go to Mackie's? We haven't been there for
months."
"You really don't want to go to Mackie's," Kathy suggested as she
leaned against the frame of the door. "Sam, your brother is in the lobby."
"Send him up," Sam replied. Kathy nodded and left.
Josh looked in surprise at his friend. "Kyle's here?"
"Yeah," Sam said off-handedly.
"What's Kyle doing here?" Josh continued, as he sat down.
"Visiting."
"I sort of figured that out, but why?"
Sam seemed perplexed at this. "What? My older brother isn't
allowed to visit me?"
"Yeah, he's allowed to visit you, but he hasn't in two years."
"So? I haven't visited him in two years!"
"Yeah, but he's in California!"
"And I'm in D.C. So, what's your point?"
"I don't know! I guess I don't have one! It's just a statement
that I made, that's all! It doesn't have to mean anything."
"Well, it has to mean something!" Sam persisted.
"Well, that was before I remembered that you meet him and Jaime in
Bermuda every year."
"Josh!"
"I'm just curious of why he would come at the start of the semester,
that's all," Josh furthered.
"He's on sabbatical, remember?"
"He's on sabbatical?" Josh repeated. Sam nodded. "Okay, so what's
he doing here, then? I mean, he's writing that book, right?"
"Maybe he needs a break."
"Is everything all right between him and Jaime?" Josh persisted.
Sam gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, everything is fine between
them."
"Then why is he visiting? I mean, this has to be a
spur-of-the-moment thing, because if this was planned, you would
have said something about it."
"Josh!"
"Am I interrupting anything?" came a voice from the door. Josh
turned to see who it was, while Sam automatically knew.
"Kyle!" Sam went to hug his brother. "Thanks, Kathy." His
assistant nodded, and went back to her desk. "And no, you're not
interrupting anything," Sam answered, directing a pointed look
towards Josh, now facing him.
"Fine, whatever," the other man announced, and got up. "Kyle, do
you want to join us for lunch?"
"Uh, actually, I'm just dropping in to see Sam about something,"
Kyle explained.
"And not eat?" Josh asked incredulously. "But it's lunchtime. No,
you're coming with us to Mackie's."
"Um, Josh, no offence, but I really need to speak to Sam."
"Is something wrong?" Josh asked, now concerned. First Sam was
acting strange, then Kyle appeared...
"Just some family stuff. You know, boring, family stuff."
Josh seemed to think that the brothers had done one of two things;
a) both had lost their minds or b) something was up and both knew
what it was, but didn't want to share. And he didn't like either
option. But did he really want to know right now?
Probably not. "Okay, suit yourself." He faced Sam now. "I'll see
you later."
"Okay," Sam replied as his friend left.
"Yeah, bye Josh," Kyle put in. After the door closed behind Josh,
Kyle smile at his younger brother. "He knows."
"He *suspects* something, but doesn't know what it is," Sam
corrected. He sat down and motioned his brother to follow suit.
"What's up?"
Kyle put a piece of folded paper out of his pocket, and gave it to
Sam.
"What's this?" the latter asked.
"I phoned the hospital this morning, and told them that I was
writing a book, and needed to know about sperm collecting, freezing
and storage."
Sam went a tad red over this. "Kyle!"
"Well, I *am* writing a book!" he defended.
"Yeah, on nineteenth century Russia!" Sam retorted.
"I didn't say that the two were related!"
"Now you're sounding like a lawyer."
"Hey, I live with one in California, and I'm living with one right
here."
Sam unfolded the paper. "And?" he furthered, knowing that his
brother would understand his meaning.
"You would think that they would do something like this at GW,
considering that it's a teaching hospital, but for long-term care,
they don't. You'd have to bring the sperm to a storage facility."
"Wonderful."
"But don't worry, I called around and found a few potentials," Kyle
continued, "You may want to discuss this with the First Lady and
your oncologists to see what they recommend."
Sam went red at this. "You want me...to go to her...with this?!?!"
"Don't have a conniption, Sam, it was only a suggestion."
"Sorry, about that," Sam apologised. "It's just that..." he made a
motion with his hand.
"Yeah, I know," Kyle stated. "And I did more research on Hodgkin's
and printed it out. It's on your desk at home."
"Anything else?"
"I made a copy of your key, so you can have yours back," Kyle
announced, handing over a silver-coloured key. "And I was thinking
of doing a tour of the White House before doing grocery shopping.
What did you want?"
"From the gift shop?"
It was Kyle's turn to give an exasperated look at his brother. "No,
for groceries."
"How about we go for lunch and make one up at the same time?" Sam
suggested. "By that time, the President will have heard that you're
here and will want to meet you."
"What?"
Sam felt like laughing. The look on Kyle's face was pure panic.
Here Kyle was dressed in nothing but khaki's and a shaker sweater
over a t-shirt, with a black leather jacket. Sam knew that in
Kyle's opinion, he was wholly underdressed for meeting the
head-of-state. "Don't worry, he puts his pants on one leg at a
time," he teased.
"Oh, very funny!"
Sam had to laugh at Kyle. "And since this is a 'surprise visit,'"
he began, as he emphasised the last phrase, "I'll probably be able
to get off earlier than 8pm."
"Good. And when you come home, you will come home to a wholesome
meal, just like mom used to make."
"I'll hold you to that," Sam promised, as he got up and went to grab
his coat. "How does George's sound?"
"You mean that Greek place that you rave about so much?" Sam
nodded. "Okay."
The two left the office and walked down the corridor. As they entered the
lobby, Kyle turned to his brother. "Sam, didn't you ever tell Josh
that the last time you ate at Mackie's, you got food poisoning and
spent the night bowing to the porcelain god?"
Part 7
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