Technicolor
Part 1

MC

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Sam Seaborn cleared his throat again and picked up the phone. He had another fifteen phone calls to return today. Sometime in the last hour he'd noticed his throat was sore and his head was pounding. Last week he'd boasted that he'd avoided the cold sweeping the West Wing. He guessed his luck had run out.
Almost everyone had succumbed to the nasty virus. Josh and his sensitive system were the presumed origin, since he was the first one to get sick. Unfortunately it hadn't made him sick enough to take any time off from work, so he simply grumbled, coughed and whined his way through last week.
The majority of the staffers recovered over the weekend and the Wing seemed back to normal. Sam realized that he probably should have caught up on his sleep yesterday instead of going sailing. Then he decided that catching a cold was well worth the four glorious hours he'd spent on the water yesterday.
He left a message for Senator Collins and reached for the next message in his stack.
Toby appeared at his door. "Sam. I need you to write up a twenty minute speech for the President to give at the potato farmer's lunch in two days."
"Potato farmers? When did that happen?"
"Five minutes ago. They're giving him the "Big Spud" award or something, and the Chairwoman of the council is a friend of Abby's."
"Can someone tell me something about potatos, 'cause you know, I'm from California, and we eat them as French fries mostly."
"CJ has the book."
"Okay." Sam sneezed and cleared his throat.
Toby leaned on the door and smiled. "You got the cold."
"Yeah, I guess so."
The next morning Sam dropped the draft of the 'Spud Speech' on Toby's desk at 6 am and headed back to his own office to hit the other projects.
He was now officially miserable with 'The Cold.' His fever hit 102 last night and his head felt ready to explode. His muscles ached and his voice was weak. Great, he thought again, its gonna be a long day. He fished into his desk drawer and downed two more aspirin before he started typing.
As predicted the day felt long, but there were no disasters, so Sam started packing to go home at eight o'clock.
CJ leaned in his door as he was heading out.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"The speech for the potato thing's good. I like the jokes."
"Thanks, I really never expected to need to know any spud jokes, but let's just hope they go over OK and he doesn't improvise."
CJ smiled. "What? Our president? Improvise....Naah." She rallied sarcastically.
"Yeah."
"How are you feeling Sam?"
"Better."
"Really?"
"No. But I'm trying not to whine like Josh."
"You don't whine like Josh. And you know we only know he's really sick when he stops whining."
"Yeah, that's true. So, if I whined more you'd leave me alone?"
"No, Sam, cause that wouldn't be you."
"I'm confused now, so I think I'll go home to bed."
"Okay. Feel better."
"Thanks, CJ." Sam felt a bit better already because he knew his friends cared about him. He guessed that Josh had sent CJ to check on him because he'd be more likely to tell her the truth than put up a front for another guy.

That night, Sam gave up pretense of doing any work at home. His fever spiked again and his cough was worse. He took more aspirin and while rifling through his medicine cabinet, he found the remnants of an antibiotic prescription he'd been given six months ago for a sinus infection. He decided that taking a course of antibiotics couldn't hurt. If it was a virus, it wouldn't help, but if he'd gotten something else it might. He set the bottle out on the table so he'd remember to take it twice a day for the next week or so.
He did feel better over the next few days, and was able to return to his usual frantic pace at work. His cough went away and his nasal congestion abated. He did still have fevers, which he thought was a bit odd, but continued on his schedule of antibiotics and aspirin and was able to function well.
A week later the senior staff gathered in Leo's office for the afternoon meeting. Josh and Toby discussed the relative political merits of having the President speak at an environmental conference.
Sam sat next to CJ on the couch and flipped idly through a briefing folder.
Toby stopped pacing and addressed Sam. "Sam, these environment things are your pet project. Got any new thoughts?"
Sam finished reading a paragraph and looked up. "I'm reading their latest statement now. I don't think they are saying anything new or original. This group strikes me as trying to be trendy because environmental issues are considered chic at the moment. We won't gain much politically from going there and they really don't do anything worth of our attention. So I say, why bother?"
Leo looked from Josh to Toby. "Guys?"
"-Kay, we don't need to waste the time." Josh intoned.
"We're done guys," said Leo
CJ leaned over to Sam. "Nice call Spanky. Thanks for saving me from the fashion conscious environmentalistas."
Sam smiled. "Is that what they are calling them now?" He sneezed and cleared his throat.
"Don't really know. Don't really care. Hey, Sam-"
CJ paused mid sentence when she looked at Sam. He held a handkerchief to his nose to stem the flow of blood.
"Sam, your nose is bleeding."
"Thanks for the info CJ, I know that."
"Why is your nose bleeding?"
"I don't know. I guess I could say Josh hit me."
Josh turned around at the mention of his name.
"What?"
CJ looked up at him. "Sam says you hit him and gave him a bloody nose."
Josh looked at Sam, who was smiling at him while putting pressure on his nose.
"Not in the last two minutes. I have witnesses." Josh gestured around the room.
Toby looked at Sam sternly. "That's the second nose bleed today, Sam. What's going on?" Toby intended it to sound harsh, but it didn't come out that way. The rest of the people in the room knew that Toby could be very paternal when it came to his Deputy.
Leo perched on his desk and watch his staff. Sam was the unofficial kid brother and as such they tended to be protective. Granted, Sam tended to be a bit overzealous in many things and sometimes needed protection.
Sam looked up at his friends, a bit irritated now at the hovering.
"Guys, it's nothing. Probably just some sinus irritation from that cold."
Toby looked nonplussed and picked up the phone.
"Ginger, Sam has a nose bleed and needs some ice. Can you put it in his office, please."
Toby paused as he listened to her response.
"No, Ginger. Nobody hit him. Just get the ice." He hung up the phone and grumbled at the room in general.
The rest of the day passed without problems. Toby and Sam finished the day going over Bartlet's next speech. As usual Toby, took a large red pen to Sam's draft and talked as he edited it.
"Sam, I swear, if you'd just use commas...", Toby mumbled. He looked up to see Sam typing into his lap-top. Then the younger man stopped and rubbed his forearm. When he moved his hand, Toby could see a large purplish bruise on his forearm.
"Sam, what did you do to your arm?" Toby's voice was uncharacteristically soft.
"I hit it on the car door this morning. It hurts like hell. But I didn't expect the technicolor bruise."
"Let me see it Sam."
"What for? It's just a bruise. Not affecting my typing, really." He obligingly held his arm out so Toby could see it.
"Do you have any other bruises?"
Sam paused before he answered. Toby knew from experience that meant Sam was going to lie to him.
"No, Toby. Are we done with this? Cause I need to do the thing for tomorrow."
Toby paused and Sam thought for a moment he was going to launch into a rant. But he said only, "Yeah, make the changes. See you tomorrow." And he turned and left the office. Sam was puzzled by his odd behavior, but continued typing.
The next morning Sam was late. Toby grumbled to Ginger and Bonnie.
"So, did he tell you he was running late? Where the hell is he?"
Sam rounded the corner and watched Toby rant for a moment. Ginger and Bonnie saw him over Toby's shoulder and tried not to smile.
"I'm here Toby. What's up?
Toby followed Sam into his office as he put his briefcase down and dropped into his chair.
"You're late."
"Toby, it's Seven AM. I'm not late. Senior Staff is at eight today."
"You're always here before me."
"I overslept." Sam said softly.
"What?"
"I overslept. I don't think that's a crime Toby." The last sounded snappish and Toby looked closely at Sam. He was rarely grumpy. And he looked very pale in his dark suit. There were dark circles under his eyes as well.
"Fine. Do you have the briefs on the Simmons thing?"
"I gave them to CJ. I'm going to run it with her in ten minutes."
"Yeah." Toby left the room.
Sam waited until he was gone, then he put his head down on his desk. He couldn't remember feeling more tired. He'd actually slept through his alarm this morning. He never did that. He'd tried to go for a short run last night and only managed to make it a few blocks before he'd stopped. He normally managed about three or four miles at a reasonable pace. And the fevers were back. That didn't make any sense to him, because the cold was long gone.
Josh's soft knock at his door prompted him to sit up in his chair.
Josh piped cheerfully, "What's this, is our posterboy for clean living finally hung over?"
"I wish." Sam said softly.
Josh caught something strange in Sam's voice and forgot why he'd actually come by. "You look pretty bad. What's up?"
Sam paused a moment. "Just tired. What do you need?"
Josh looked a him for a moment longer, then dropped it. If Sam didn't want to talk, he wouldn't.
"Leo wants to ditch the environmental restrictions on the new bill."
Sam's head snapped up. "Why? The restrictions are important."
"But not politically popular." Josh continued.
"I didn't know we were trying to be get elected 'most popular,' I thought we were trying to do the right thing." Sam's voice rose in anger.
"Hey, just giving you the heads-up so you'll be ready to fight in the Oval."
Sam's voice dropped to normal. "Thanks. I'll be ready."
Later that morning there was indeed a spirited discussion in the Oval Office. The President and Sam wanted to keep the environmental restrictions in the bill. Toby and Leo wanted them out, because they felt they angered the right wing and wouldn't pass.
Josh was actually neutral and trying to referee the situation.
Bartlet's voice was louder than usual. "Leo, Toby, I don't care if it's 'popular' it's the right thing to do. Why should we give in?" They squared off and continued to argue.
Toby and Leo flanked one side of the room and Sam and the President were on the other. Josh paced nervously between the groups. He idly pondered that Bartlet and Sam were on the left side of the room and Leo and Toby were on the right. That actually amused him enough to make him smile.
The President stepped across the seal and towards Leo. "Leo. It's the right thing to do. They'll talk to Sam. They love Sam. Maybe we can make a deal."
Sam took a breath and got ready to interject again. But he had had to reach out to the corner of the sofa to steady himself. The room spun lazily and he couldn't focus on what he planned to say.
Toby continued arguing and looked over for Sam's next comment, but stopped mid sentence when he saw his face. Sam was pale and there was a deep sheen of perspiration on his forehead. He leaned heavily on the arm of the couch and seemed disoriented.
Toby crossed to stand at his side. "Sam, are you okay?"
Sam didn't answer. Toby looked up and motioned to Josh. Josh came to the other side of Sam and touched his arm.
"Sam, hey. What's----" Josh didn't complete his question. He was too busy trying to help lower Sam onto the sofa when his knees gave out.
A minute later, Sam took a deep breath and cleared his head. Toby and Josh stared at him worriedly.
"Guys, I'm fine."
Josh exploded. "Like Hell you are, Sam, you were two seconds from passing out in the Oval Office!"
Sam stood up and squared off with Josh.
"Josh, I'm fine. I'm tired. I didn't eat breakfast. I just lost focus for a second. I'll set up a meeting with Granger from the GDC for tomorrow. We'll get the bill and we'll get what we want."
Bartlet and Leo exchanged worried glances. "That's all for today. Sam go home in the next five minutes or I'll have the Secret Service escort you there."
"Yes, sir." Sam turned and left the Oval Office with Josh on his heels.
They rounded the corner of the Bullpen. Josh tried to figure out what to say. Sam was the health nut of their group. He was in better shape than a college student. He ran at least twenty miles a week and worked out every day. His recent bout with the cold was the only time in Josh's memory that Sam had been sick enough to even look sick.
And he never ate breakfast. So he'd just lied to the President.
"Sam, can we talk for a minute?" Josh spoke quietly and closed the door to Sam's office behind him after he followed him in.
"What Josh?"
"Sam, are you really okay? You just scared the Hell out of me."
Sam looked up at his friend. "I'm sure it's nothing Josh. I just pushed too hard this week."
"You would tell me?"
"Yes."
Toby entered the room without knocking. "Sam, get your coat. You are going home now."
"I just have a few more things-"
CJ entered next and handed Sam his coat. "I'm taking you home. Don't grouse about it. It's me or the Secret Service. I have better legs and no guns. So let's go."
Sam smiled and took the coat from her. He knew when to stop arguing.
Sam returned to the West Wing early the next morning. He made sure to arrive long before Toby. It required incredible force for him got drag himself out of bed this morning, but he convinced himself that he felt a bit better.
At Senior Staff the usual morning patter halted when the President bounded into the room unexpectedly.
"I have a very important issue that I need input on immediately." Bartlet faced them and waited for their full attention.
They leaned forward in their seats. This was the President's 'someone's declared war on me voice.'
"Abby's birthday is next week. I need ideas."
Toby looked at him and grumbled, "I didn't know I was supposed to play personal shopper for you sir."
Bartlet grumbled "You are senior advisors to the President. I need advice. So you advise."
Leo sat down heavily on the sofa. "Sir, you know I'm exempt from this."
"Yeah, Leo. It took years for that to blow over." He turned to the rest of the staff to explain. "We got Abby and Jenny exactly the same thing one year, cause it seemed like a good idea. It wasn't."
Josh piped up, "Well, sir, nothing says love like power tools."
"Josh, you are pathetic."
"Yes, sir. But now you know not to ask me."
"Yeah. Sam?"
Sam considered it for a moment. "I've never had to go farther than flowers and a nice dinner followed by--"
Bartlet interrupted. -"Never mind Sam. I don't want to know."
CJ spoke. "Abby liked several pieces of jewelry in a museum catalog I had. I could get it for you."
"Good, CJ. That could work. Toby, speak up."
"She likes Tchaikovsky. You danced to that waltz at your anniversary party. Maybe you could get her a music box that plays it."
"Toby, that's really good. This is from a man who was married. Remind me not to yell at you for at least a week."
Josh spoke again, "If I'd known there were gonna be prizes I would have tried harder."
"Give it up Josh."
"Yes, sir."
Bartlet left and they finished the meeting fairly quickly.
Josh rounded the corner of the Bullpen five minutes after the meeting ended and yelled for Donna.
"Don't yell Josh. I'm right here."
"I need you to do some research."
"The environmental stuff?"
"No. Birthday presents. I need to come up with a really good idea for the President's gift to Abby."
Donna looked at him for a moment, then pulled out the index cards and went to work on the latest project.
Sam spent most of the morning working quietly in his office. Toby was gone to the Hill for meetings and the Bullpen was quiet.
He stretched in his chair and then rose to go to the bookshelf for some statistics he needed to verify. The binder had migrated to the top shelf and he was forced to drag his chair over to the shelf to extend his reach. Just as he managed to grab the binder, Toby's voice boomed from the door.
"Sam. What the hell are you doing!"
Startled by the sudden noise, Sam lost his balance and fell off the arm of the chair he was balanced on and into the shelves. A loud thud sounded as he hit the left side of his chest and abdomen against the shelves and sent to books crashing to the floor."
"Damn it, Toby."
Toby crossed over to Sam and watched him climb down. "Sorry Sam. You okay?"
"Yeah. Why are you yelling?"
"Sam, you almost passed out not long ago. You shouldn't be climbing things."
"I was fine till you yelled."
"The bill passed. Nobody bailed cause of the environmental restrictions. I came to tell you did a good job."
"Yeah?"
"I'm not saying it again. Stay off the furniture, Sam."
"Yeah." He smiled to himself as Toby left the room.

Just before Senior Staff that afternoon, Donna presented Josh with a neat stack of index cards.
"That's the list of every present the President has given the First Lady for her birthday for the last ten years, with notes on which ones she liked best and why."
"How'd you get that?"
"Information compiled from Margaret, Mrs. Landingham, Lily, purchase records and an obvious direct inquiry to Abby herself to get it right."
"You asked Abby?"
"Yeah, she said we were very late this year."
"And you've listed some possibilities based on this?"
"Yes, in order of preference and feasibility of acquisition prior to her actual birthday."
"-Feasibility of acquisition? Is this a military operation?"
"Josh."
"Give me the list, Donnatella."
"You are welcome, Josh."
"I'm going to find Sam."
Josh smiled as he looked at the list. He rounded the corner of the Communications Bullpen.
"Hey, Bonnie. Is Sam here?"
"Yes. He's there."
Josh continued to Sam's door and rapped on the frame. Sam looked up from his paper strewn desk.
"I've obtained information that will help redeem us in the birthday present thing."
"What?" Sam looked up at Josh but didn't focus on him right away. He tried to stretch, but found the left side of his chest was sore.
"I've got ideas for Abby's present."
"Okay, let's see."
Sam stood to come over to where Josh sat on the sofa. He made it two steps before he grabbed the corner of the table and fell to the floor unconscious.
Josh froze for a moment, then yelled for help and went to kneel next to his friend.
Leo and Toby were next door discussing a bill and ran into the room at the sound of Josh's voice.

Toby and Leo watched with alarm as Josh knelt next to Sam and shook him gently to see if he would respond. Sam's eyes fluttered briefly. His face was as pale as his white shirt in the overhead lights.
Leo stood quietly for a second then grabbed a phone and barked for an ambulance.
Toby crossed to join Josh at Sam's side. He touched Sam's shoulder and shook it softly. "Sam. Sam, wake up." There was no response. He checked his pulse at his throat. It was rapid and faint. Sam's skin was clammy but it felt like he had a fever. The heat radiated through his fingers.
"Get his feet elevated. Anybody know what's going on?"
Josh was visibly shaken. "He was fine earlier."
Toby said nothing. He was staring at Sam's arms. Multiple bruises mottled his forearms. He reached down and loosened Sam's tie and impulsively lifted his shirt up to look at Sam's chest. A large purplish bruise darkened his left flank.
Josh spoke shakily. "What the hell is going on?"
Toby didn't answer. He put his hands down and tried to stop shaking. Then he got up and started to the door. "I'll meet the ambulance to get them back here faster."
Sam remained unconscious. Josh remained glued to his side. He was talking softly to Sam and trying to get him to wake up.
The Bullpen halted and a sea of faces appeared in the door. President Bartlet forced his way through and pulled Leo aside. "Leo, what the hell happened?"
Leo motioned the President to a quieter corner. "He had the same cold we all did a while back. There was that thing in the Oval, but I don't know anything else."
Bartlet sat down heavily in a chair. "I swear if the ambulance doesn't get her in one minute I'll..." He broke off and looked again at Leo. "Toby looked scared to death. Does he know something more?"
"I don't know." Leo answered. "I'm going to make sure Ron Butterfield clears the way for the EMS crew and see if they can get them an escort to the ER."
He crossed to Josh and looked down. "Josh, is he awake."
"No. His pulse is still weak and--" Josh's voice broke. He was scared. He felt he should have pushed Sam harder this morning to tell him what was wrong.
Leo put a hand on Josh's shoulder. "I'm going to go talk to Ron. I'll meet you at GW."
Josh smiled his gratitude at Leo and then startled as the EMS crew entered the room and jostled him aside.
An hour later they gathered in the ER waiting room. Josh paced frantically. CJ and Toby sat quietly in the cold plastic chairs.
CJ leaned over to look at Toby. He hadn't said a word since they got there. He held a small red ball in his hand and crushed it until his knuckles grew white.
"Toby?"
He didn't look up. She pried his hand loose from the ball.
He looked up at her, with a dazed expression.
CJ had never seen Toby Ziegler scared like that. It shook her at some level she couldn't name. She looked up to Josh. He seemed to sense her gaze and stopped pacing to look at her. He looked at her and then at Toby.
Leo returned to the room quietly.
"He's still in the ER exam room. They said he had some kind of internal bleeding and passed out because of the blood loss. He's stable now. As for the rest, they don't know."
Toby looked up. "How can he have internal bleeding and they don't know what caused it. That's just ridiculous--"
He stopped when a doctor appeared at the door.
"You are all with Mr. Seaborn?"
They nodded.
'I'm Dr. Jackson. He's stable at present. He apparently did have intra-abdominal bleeding. It seems to have stopped for now and we have another CT planned as well as frequent checks of his hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, his red blood cell counts, that is. His spleen is enlarged, and the bleeding originated there. It looks like he had some trauma on his left side and that initiated the bleeding. We'll follow closely to determine if we need to do surgery. The amount of blood loss wasn't severe, it was just acute and that's likely why he lost consciousness. He's young and his heart is strong so I don't think he'll suffer any long term effects."
The doctor paused to look around the room to see if they followed his report. They all looked dazed but seemed to understand.
He continued "Our chief concern at this point is determining what caused this to happen. In addition to the severe anemia I mentioned, he also has a severe depression of his platelets, which help the blood to clot. That's why he had the bleeding. He also has a fever of 102.6. We'll be transferring him up to the ICU in a few minutes, but it would be helpful if anyone has more history to give me about his recent illness. He's pretty groggy and just says he had a cold last week."
Leo motioned to Josh to speak with the doctor first. He looked worriedly at Toby. He looked pale and shaken. Not much scared Toby Ziegler. He watched as Toby stood and pulled CJ from the room.
CJ looked puzzled, but followed Toby into the hall.
He leaned wearily against the wall. She knew Toby wanted to talk to her, but it wasn't going to be easy.
"CJ, Sam's really sick."
"Toby, we don't know what's going yet."
"There's something you don't know about CJ. I have some experience with this sort of thing and--"
Leo appeared in the door and cut him off. "Sam's going upstairs. They think we can see him there in a few minutes."
CJ turned back to Toby, hoping he would continue, but he turned to fall in step beside Leo to walk to the elevators.
CJ stood there for a moment. She had no idea what Toby planned to tell her. Josh came out and caught her arm.
"CJ, you okay?"
"Yeah."
"CJ?"
"Nothing Josh, let's go see Sam."
Josh looked at her again. Something else played in her eyes, and he made a note to himself to ask her about it again.
They walked quietly to the elevators. Josh was quiet for a minute and then spoke.
"CJ, the doctor just asked me about a million questions in there that I don't know the answers to. Like exactly how long has Sam been sick, has he had any pain, is he taking any medication...I don't know those answers. How can I be his best friend and not know those answers?"
"Josh, none of us knows the answers."

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Part 2

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