"You know, I never got the chance to tell how proud I am of your work. Leo tells me that he's so happy that you are on his side and not still working for Hoynes. I never liked that guy anyway. He made you so unhappy, but you were too loyal to just quit until Leo came along. I never told you how happy I was that you quit. And even though you got shot and nearly died, I'm glad that it was because it was something that you loved doing. You never would have made a good lawyer like your father. Your heart was never in it. Don't get me wrong you would have won a lot of cases, but you would have loathed going into work each morning." Sarah said as she touched her son's cheek.

The only change was that he didn't feel as hot as he once did. In fact, to Sarah his skin nearly felt like ice. She wasn't sure which extreme was better. But the doctor had come in and changed his IV and said that they were flushing some toxins out of his system. She hoped that the IV was doing its job as she tucked his blanket up under his chin.

"I remember when you were a little boy, you used to sleep with the blanket pulled up so high over your head, that it was like you were in a cocoon. Joanie used to make fun of you but you did it every night. I guess you stopped when you realized that it couldn't protect you from all the evils in the world. I'm sorry that..." Sarah's voice trailed off as the door opened.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt." C.J. said as she walked in to Josh's room and saw Sarah talking with him.

"You didn't interrupt anything, I was just rambling." Sarah confessed, secretly glad that she didn't have to finish her train of thought.

"I'm C.J." C.J. replied as she held her hand out to Sarah.

"I'm Josh's mother, Sarah." Sarah replied as she shook C.J.'s hand. "Josh has told me a lot about you."

"Oh I'll bet he has. I'm sure it's all good too." C.J. replied with a slight moan.

"Don't worry, he's only told me a few embarrassing stories, but I won't hold them against you." Sarah smiled.

"Thanks." C.J. replied with a tiny sigh of relief.

Sarah studied C.J. for a moment. She knew that Josh considered C.J. a very close friend. And Sarah could see why, the woman had the look of fear and exhaustion all over her face. It was the same look she had seen on C.J.'s face as she gave briefings after the shooting. Though she was seeing those emotions up close for the first time, she knew that C.J. wasn't handling the situation very well.

"Would you like a few minutes alone with him?" Sarah asked quietly.

"No that's okay." C.J. replied and Sarah knew it was because C.J. was petrified of being left alone.

"Nothings going to happen if I leave the room for a minute." Sarah whispered.

"I know. I just feel guilty. Why wasn't I a target too? I mean the reporters kept asking me that question and I didn't know how to respond. Why was Sam and Josh a target and not me?" C.J. asked.

"I don't know. But C.J. you can't be mad at yourself for not being in that bed. I've tried that line of thought once myself, and trust me it doesn't do any good." Sarah replied gently.

"Was it after the fire that..." C.J. began but she wasn't sure how to say it.

"You mean after the fire that claimed Joanie's life don't you? It's okay, I lost her a long time ago. And I stopped reliving that night a long time ago. But I still don't think Josh has forgiven himself. You don't want that kind of grief C.J. it eats away at you until there is nothing but painful memories left." Sarah replied.

"Sam felt guilty too about forcing him to relive another situation like that. He kept screaming that he never should have left Josh behind. He was so worried about what that would do to Josh." C.J. replied.

"Sam was just afraid of being taken to the hospital only to find out that Josh was gone, just like what happened to Josh the night that Joanie died." Sarah stated quietly.

"And now Sam's in a coma too. Both of my friends are in a coma and I wasn't even there." C.J. replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

"C.J. I don't think that they blame you for this. Scratch that, I know that they don't blame you for any of this." Sarah assured her.

"Sam started to go crazy because of the guilt, does that mean I'm going to go crazy too?" C.J. asked.

"Is that what you are worried about?" Sarah asked softly.

"A little bit I guess." C.J. sheepishly admitted.

"C.J. I want you to spend a few minutes talking to Josh. Tell him all of your fears, talk to him about anything that is troubling you. And then when you are done with that give him a little hug and go and see if you can repeat the process with Sam. And after you are done with that let yourself know that you did nothing wrong, that you did nothing to cause this." Sarah suggested.

"Do you really think that will work?" C.J. asked.

"Just try it and see." Sarah whispered as she left the room.

"Hey there Josh how's it going? I know that this may seem a little bit stupid to you but..." C.J. began.

Georgetown Hospital-Sam's Room

"Oh Sam how could this have happened? How could we have let someone try to kill you at a hospital for God's sake? How does something like this go unnoticed until it is too late? I know that I got through to you, why did that bitch have to go and try and kill you?" Toby complained as he went in and sat down beside Sam.

They had removed the restraints from Sam's wrists. Toby could see them laying rather limply at Sam's side. He also noticed that Sam had a special IV in him which he assumed was to cleanse Sam's blood of the drug. He prayed silently that they had gotten to both Sam and Josh in time.

"Sam you had better survive this. I will not let them get away with this. Also, I am not going to be able to deal with the wrath of Josh alone. He's your best friend and believe me he's going to be pissed when he finds out that he's lost his best friend. And you know how well I get along with a pissed Josh. I would rather tear the rest of my hair out before that happened. Don't make me hunt you down in the afterlife, because I swear you aren't getting off that easy." Toby threatened.

After getting the expected no comment from Sam, Toby began to wonder what it was that he could talk with Sam about. He wanted to be Sam's friend and he figured that friends would know what to say. He just wished one of them would be there now to help guide him.

Toby sat back and thought to when he became such a cynical person. He had been young and reckless once. He had that same passion that Josh and Sam had. Maybe losing all of those elections before getting Bartlet elected was the cause. Maybe it was how he devoted his life to politics and or how he let his marriage suffer until there was nothing left to salvage. Or maybe it was how he let his brother push him away because David didn't think politics was a noble career.

Whatever the reason, he figured that it was time to start letting people back in. C.J. occasionally broke through his shell, but he wondered if maybe that was because she was a woman. Women seemed to have a better time it at it. Like the recent incident with Ann Stark. He thought that she was his friend and she turned around and stabbed him in the back.

Toby smacked himself across the forehead. He figured out why he had become such a crabapple. He was afraid of getting hurt. He was afraid of having people betray him, and in his line of work that's all people did. But Sam wasn't that type of person, and well neither was Josh for that matter. They clung to friendships like they were lifelines, and all he did was keep tossing his back out to sea.

"Sam, I'm sorry. Oh God, am I sorry. Here I have discovered something about myself and I would love to share it with you but I can't. I can't because those bastards keep trying to kill you." Toby whispered angrily.

Toby still didn't know what to say to Sam. He knew that he should try and say some comforting and soothing words, but that wasn't his style. And he didn't even know Sam well enough to know what did comfort him. He kicked himself for not having reached that point yet. But he decided to try and fake it anyway.

"You know, C.J. told me all about what you and Josh did. Asking in a poll if it's okay to move the press room, even after she already told you no. She was so pissed when she found out. But I had to laugh because you had the guts to pose the question anyway. And trying to explain to the press corps the next day that you didn't really want to put the swimming pool back in was hilarious. I've never told you but you really crack me up sometimes." Toby replied with a laugh.

Toby got up and paced around the room a little. He took out a copy of the sketch that the artist drew. The woman on the sketch looked so familiar to him. It wasn't because he had seen her as Sam's doctor either, he could swear that he knew her from somewhere. He racked his brain trying to figure it out. If he could figure out who she was maybe he could figure out her connection to Senator Herman.
"Sam wake up, you are the one who remembers everyone's name. You gotta help me here buddy." Toby pleaded.

Toby stared down at the sketch and got a vision of the Congressional Christmas Party. That's it, that's where he had seen her. Course he had been a little worried about Josh to pay much attention to many of the events of that night. But he struggled to come up with anything else.

"Hey Toby. Is there something I can help you with?" C.J. asked when she came into Sam's room.

"C.J. do you recognize this woman?" Toby asked handing her the sketch.

"Yeah that's Senator Herman's sister, Alicia. Why? We just met her a few weeks ago, don't you remember?" C.J. asked in a confused voice.

"Alicia what?" Toby prodded.

"I don't remember, she had some Russian last name. She said that she was going to be her brother's new assistant. Oh my God, is this what she was assisting him with?" C.J. exclaimed.

"Meet the mysterious Doctor Bleuer." Toby stated as he showed her the picture once more.