Ghosts in the Smoke
Part 10

Mer


Toby's Office

"What the hell do you want?" Toby asked as he heard someone knocking on his door.

"C.J. just…never mind." Donna said as she turned to leave.

"Donna, wait I didn't mean to snap. I've been agitated all night." Toby called out.

"Okay so what did you do to the real Toby? The normal grumpy Toby wouldn't give a damn." Donna replied, putting a little more force behind her words than she indented.

"I know that you are just as worried about them too and I'm sorry." Toby replied softly.

"I'm worried about…" Donna began but Toby cut her off.

"I know that you care about Josh. The whole building knows how much you care about Josh." Toby stated.

"What do you mean the whole building knows how much I care about Josh?" Donna asked with a shocked voice.

"You made up the rules while he was recovering, you took him to the hospital on Christmas Eve, you are more than his assistant. I guess it's only natural that you'd be worried about him." Toby replied.

"Actually, I'm more worried about Sam right now." Donna replied sheepishly.

"More worried about Sam? Why?" Toby asked.

"Yeah, Josh was pretty mad at him for getting them both in trouble." Donna said trying to make a joke.

"Yeah, and by now he's probably blaming the whole fire thing on Sam just like he blamed the whole Mural Room fire on Sam." Toby replied his face cracking as close as he ever got to a smile.

"I told them not to use kerosene, which by the way I still haven't figured out where they got it." Donna replied.

"I'm more impressed that they figured out how to build a fire. Neither one of them are what I would call "outdoorsmen." Toby replied.

"Oh Josh is remember?" Donna joked, and Toby rolled his eyes.

Toby couldn't help but laugh at that. He looked at the smile on Donna's face and he knew that C.J. had been right. As much as he hated to admit it, Donna was handling this a lot better than he was. And that bothered him a lot.

"Anyway the real reason that I came over here was to tell you that C.J. needs to see you in her office about something. She said it has to do with your trip." Donna stated, interrupting his thoughts.

"My deputy and your boss are trapped in a fire and I still have to go on a stupid trip. Damn, why couldn't I have been the one forced to go to that stupid auction…at least then I would be the one struggling to breath and praying for a miracle." Toby snapped.

"Just see C.J." Donna replied shakily, and Toby watched her brave face come crashing down.

"Donna, I didn't mean too…" Toby said as he watched her dart away. "Damn, I guess I'm not only a grump, but I'm a bastard too."

C.J.'s office

"Carol are they really going to keep asking me about what the Fire Chief said?" C.J. moaned as she hung up the phone.

"Yeah I guess so. By the way your next briefing is in three minutes." Carol remarked.

"Thanks for all of your support." C.J. muttered.

"You wanted to see me?" Toby said as he entered the office.

"Yeah, Carol tell them that I'm canceling the next press briefing because I have nothing new to report yet." C.J. stated.

"Okay." Carol said as she left the room.

"I was a jerk to Donna." Toby admitted once Carol was gone.

"So what else is new?" C.J. asked rolling her eyes.

"Nothing, I just thought you should know." Toby replied.

"Okay. Hey Leo told me to tell you that your leaving on Friday instead of on Wednesday." C.J. stated.

"But that's tomorrow." Toby protested.

"We might have something else planned then." C.J. said sadly as she gestured at the television.

D.C. Hilton

The flames had inched even closer. Neither Sam nor Josh had said a word about it. Kenny and Jason were too busy trying to help the guys on the other side dig them out to notice. He may not have said anything about it, but Sam couldn't keep his eyes off of them. He wanted to face impending death with open arms.

Sam glanced over at Josh and noticed that Josh had passed out again. He thought about nudging him back awake, but he figured that maybe Josh was better off being asleep through the whole thing. The last thing he needed was to hear his friend scream. He felt guilty enough, and he didn't want the last thing he heard to be Josh's screams.

'This is all your fault." The voice taunted again.

"I know." Sam mumbled.

Sam was starting to get a little tired himself. He wished that he could just pass out like Josh, but he had resigned himself to the fact that he had deserved this. He had done it to himself, and that he should be forced to face the consequences up until the bitter end.

"You're gonna die a slow and agonizing death and your best friend will sleep right through it." The voice commented.

"There are worse things." Sam mumbled.

"Aren't you the least bit worried?" The voice asked.

"I'm not afraid of dying." Sam yelled to the voice.

"You should be." The voice laughed.

"Just leave me alone. Let me die in peace please!" Sam screamed.

"Um…who is he talking to?" Jason asked.

"He's going crazy remember. Maybe he's talking to that other guy." Kenny replied solemnly.

"Nah, I think he's passed out again." Jason replied.

"I just hope he can hang on a little bit longer." Kenny mumbled.

"Look at the flames now." Jason stated pointing to them.

Kenny turned around and they were just inches from Josh's head. Kenny cursed softly. It wouldn't be too much longer before it would be too late. In fact, he guessed that they were nearly at that point. With a sigh he went over and pulled Josh as far away from the fire as he could, which wasn't very far considering the tight space.

Sam's eyes grew wide as he watched Kenny do this. He felt like he had betrayed Josh yet again. He should've been smart enough to move his best friend. He should have been smart enough not to talk back to a voice, but to help his friend.

"I failed him yet again. I hope that he can forgive me when we get to heaven." Sam murmured.

"You think you're going to heaven? My, my don't you know Sammy boy that politicians go straight to hell?" The voice teased.

"Funny, I thought I was already there." Sam replied with a smirk.

Before the voice could respond the hole was punched all of the way through. Kenny grabbed Sam since he was closer and began to pull him out of the stairwell and on to the fifth floor. The other firefighters grabbed a hold of Sam after Kenny had pushed him out to them.

"I can't leave." Sam protested throwing his arms up wildly.

He was not about to leave Josh. He was not about to leave Josh and he figured they should know better. But they didn't listen to Sam, and two of them began to carry him away, since they doubted Sam could walk with his leg injured so badly.

"They are going to get him out. Calm down." One of the other firefighters urged as they gingerly carried him down to the lobby.

Sam had given up fighting but he had turned and he couldn't see the other three firefighters. This aggravated him to no end. Once they got to the lobby, Sam tried to twist away from them.

"Where is he? Where is he? You promised!" Sam exploded.

"They are coming, I swear." The same firefighter soothed.

"Where is he? I should be the one to die! I should be the one to die!" Sam shrieked.

"Calm down." The firefighter urged.

Sam didn't listen and he actually broke free of their grasp. He tried to stand up but the pain in his leg was too severe. The firefighter grabbed a hold of him again, before he collapsed onto the floor. He again tried to assure Sam that they were going to get Josh out.

Paramedics rushed over and attended to Sam before Sam could protest any further. They placed Sam on a stretcher and the firefighters mumbled something to the paramedics about Sam being delusional. The paramedics asked Sam what his name was but he didn't answer them.

His eyes were glued to the opening where he had come from. Sam tried to protest as the stretcher moved further and further away from the opening. But his protests were ignored and he was loaded up into the back of an ambulance. Not before being blinded by television cameras. Questions were being hurled at him, but he didn't say anything except, "I should be the one to die."

part 11

HOME | TITLE | AUTHOR | CATEGORY