Donna came in and sat down next to Josh's bed and she was still shaken from seeing Sam. She had never seen him like that and it had scared her beyond belief. Calling C.J. wasn't enough to calm her down. So she had gone to see Josh, which she knew wouldn't help her situation any. She knew it wouldn't help but she was drawn there anyway.

"Oh Josh, what are we going to do? Sam woke up today and he is a completely different person. He is nothing like the man that I have known for all of this time. He was scary and mean. Please tell me that you aren't going to be like that. Please." Donna begged as she grabbed his hand.

As usual there was no response from Josh. Donna hadn't figured there would be. She knew that Josh hadn't moved since that one time Leo saw him in the Recovery Room. She also knew that whatever was wrong with Sam would probably be worse with Josh since he was given more of the drug. She just needed him to be okay.

"Josh, Sam made me feel really stupid. He was mad at me for coming to visit him because he thought that I only should have been visiting you. Sam is my friend to. And so are you for that matter, you are my friend that just happens to be my boss. Why would he get so upset? What have I ever done to him?" Donna asked as she hit a patch of bed in anger.

Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she thought about what Sam had said. He was mad at her because she hadn't gone to the hotel that night. He was mad at her for visiting him, because he thought it was just out of pity. And something that scared her even more was that he thought he would have been better off dead. It was like an eerie replay of what happened to Josh around Christmas time.

"Your best friend thinks that he would be better off dead. He thinks that he caused this. He wouldn't believe me when I told him otherwise; all he did was kick me out of the room. He's trying to shut himself of from people just like you did at Christmas. I guess he hasn't learned from your mistakes. " Donna sighed angrily as she wiped the tears away.

She just sat there holding his hand looking him over. His shoulder injury had almost healed. A therapist came in every morning to work with his muscles and she was beginning to work with that to. Donna wondered if he could feel any of the immense pain that he felt the last time around. She figured he probably couldn't or he would've woken up and started complaining about it.

She failed however to notice the slightest amount of pressure that was being applied to her hand. She was too preoccupied to notice that. When the pressure got a little harder she just removed her hand and complained about having a cramp. She decided that she was too upset to continue the visit so she whispered good-bye and hurried out of the room. Not realizing the thing that she so desperately needed had begun to happen.

Josh made a fist on the bed. He could faintly hear someone talking to him and he felt their hand in his. But when he had tried to open his eyes it felt like some cement blocks were blocking them. So he had tried to squeeze the hand that was in his, but his squeezing had gone ignored and now the voice was gone.

He tried to open his eyes again and still nothing happened. He became aware that his muscles felt really sore like he had been working out or something. Something inside of him told him that wasn't true. He scratched working out from his list, but he couldn't remember what he had done to become sore like that. Actually he couldn't remember much of anything.

He gave up trying to open his eyes when he realized he didn't have enough strength too. He moved on the bed slightly and his arm touched something metal. Josh knew that there was nothing metal, nowhere near his bed. He groaned softly when he remembered what kind of bed usually had metal by it, hospital beds.

Josh wondered what the hell had happened to put him back into the hospital. Instinctively, he moved his left hand to his scar. But the scar didn't appear to be the cause. It wasn't until he tried to move his right arm that he realized what one of the reasons was. Pain shot through him and he thought that he was going to pass out because of it.

He struggled to remember what had happened. But he couldn't remember a single thing that could have caused it. He could remember getting Donna's underwear via messenger mail and having her get pissed off at him. He remembered C.J. getting mad because he had indulged Sam and had tacked on a question about the pressroom to the latest DNC poll. But beyond that he couldn't remember a thing.

"What the hell happened to me?" Josh asked frustrated.

His voice sounded awful as it echoed around the room. He wondered just how long he had been in the hospital because his voice made him sound like he was ninety years old. Josh brought his good hand up to his head and touched his hair, it seemed like he had about the same amount of hair as he remembered, though it seemed like it could be just a tad bit longer.

He gathered up some strength from somewhere and he forced his eyes open. But he quickly realized something else was wrong. He knew that his eyes were open; he even touched his eyelids to make sure they were in the up-right position. But he saw absolutely nothing.
"My day just keeps getting better and better." Josh croaked out before the weight of keeping his eyes open became too much and he drifted back off to sleep once again.

Rosslyn Long-term Care- Sam's Room

Sam had tried to go back to sleep but he just lay there in vain because sleep wouldn't come. He cursed the damn fire and the stupid coma because he figured it would take a really long time before he could regulate his sleep pattern again. Sam had normally been able to quickly fall asleep whenever he wanted. But being trapped in a hospital was not a normal situation.

"Sam are you awake?" Jed asked.

Sam resisted the urge to make a sarcastic remark. He recognized that it was the President of the United States and that he probably should watch what he said. He slowly opened his eyes and he watched as a huge smile crossed Jed's face.

"I hope you'll excuse me for not standing." Sam said apologetically as he sat up as straight as he could on the bed.

"No need to apologize for that Sam." Jed answered as he chuckled softly.

Sam became a little irritated that the president had chosen to laugh at his statement. He truly meant that he was sorry. He remembered hearing a story about Josh when he was recovering from the shooting and still under the influence of powerful drugs, that Josh had almost fallen out of bed trying to stand up for him. Sam felt his eyes narrow.

"Sam is something the matter?" Jed asked.

"Yes, sir, I don't appreciate your laughing at me. Especially in light of what nearly happened to Josh." Sam replied coldly.

"I'm sorry Sam, I hadn't meant any harm by my laughter." Jed apologized.

"So you couldn't find anyone better than Mandy to replace me?" Sam asked abruptly changing the subject.

"Actually she kind of came to us. We figured that someone who knew the administration was…" Jed's voice trailed off when he realized Sam was trying to interrupt him.

"Josh gets replaced by Casey Adams and I get replaced by MANDY! Do you know how bad that looks? Do you know what that says?" Sam asked angrily.

"No Sam what does that say?" Jed asked realizing a split second too late that he shouldn't have egged Sam on.

"It says that you care more about Josh than you care about me. It says that I am so worthless to the administration that a woman that has left it twice can replace me! It says that my writing must really suck if someone with the talent of a paper bag can replace me!" Sam exclaimed.

"Sam, just please calm down." Jed begged.

"You replaced me with Mandy and you want me to calm down? Oh and what is this about only Donna being able to come and visit me everyday? What were the rest of you to busy?" Sam yelled.

"Sam, please that's enough." Jed ordered.

"You know I probably would have been better off if I had died that night. I probably would have saved you all a whole lot of trouble." Sam screamed.

"Sam you can't possibly mean that." Jed exclaimed in a shocked voice.

"Oh really? When Josh was shot we all kept a rotating vigil until he was out of the woods, but when it's me it was like it was no big deal." Sam yelled.

"Sam that is not true. When you were at Georgetown we kept a vigil but when you got moved here the doctors weren't sure that you were ever going to wake up again. Donna was the one who never fully gave up hope. That's why she was the only one who came and visited. She was the only one who had faith in the two of you. Sam you were in a coma for a very long time and I'm sorry but we had a country to run." Jed replied getting a little angry himself.

"I'm sorry if I interfered with you running the country. Since you are so worried about it, why don't you go back to running it now and just leave me the hell alone!" Sam screamed.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Leo asked as he couldn't stand in the hallway and listen to the shouting any longer.

"I'm done here that's what the hell." Jed said as he stormed out of the room.

"Just what the hell did you say to him?" Leo asked Sam.

"The truth. I guess it bothered him." Sam smirked.

"Sam what in the world is wrong with you? Why did you just yell at the President?" Leo demanded.

"Because I wanted to see what I could get away with. And I figured that if Josh could do it why can't I?" Sam asked with an odd smile.

"Sam that was different and you know it." Leo barked.

"Really, I can't really tell from where I'm sitting." Sam remarked to which Leo just angrily stormed out of the room.

Sam leaned back on the pillows and he stretched his arms behind his head. He had no idea where this new him had come from. But he was beginning to think that being a complete asshole suited him. Just the sheer scared looks on their faces were satisfaction enough for him. Being a jerk could turn out to be fun.