With trembling hands he turned up the volume to rid the car of the unwelcome quiet until it drowned out all thought. He didn't want to think about the phone call. He didn't want to ponder what could have happened to his friend. He knew he would find out soon enough once he arrived at the hospital, and until then he was determined not to let himself dwell on the unthinkable.

Traffic was almost non-existent at 2:30 AM, even though DC was a city that never slept. Making record time from his apartment in Alexandria, he breathed a shaky sigh of anticipation mixed with dread as he parked in Georgetown University Hospital's garage.

For a moment he sat in the car unmoving, staring out of the windshield as he composed himself. He knew whatever he'd find out once he entered the building would be shocking and no doubt upsetting - if it weren't, the nurse that had called him wouldn't have insisted on waiting till he arrived to fill him in. He had to be sure that he could handle himself. Whatever he found out would have to be relayed to the rest of the Senior Staff, so he would have to stay levelheaded.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he exited his car and headed for the elevators. On the way back down to the first floor from his third-level parking space, he found himself wishing he had taken the stairs. Standing idle as the elevator lowered him slowly to his destination gave him too much time to think. He still wasn't ready to start thinking yet.

Josh found the ER to be more orderly and quiet then he would have imagined. It had always seemed so chaotic and frightening on TV. Nervously, he sought out the nurses' station, his anticipation/dread from the car still riding with him.

There was a young woman behind the tall counter when he arrived and she offered him a soft smile as he came to a stop before her. "Can I help you?" she asked gently. From the look in his eyes, she assumed that he was the family of one of their patients. His look was one she was sorrowfully familiar with.

"I'm Josh Lyman," Josh introduced himself, swallowing against a suddenly parched throat. "I'm looking for Sam Seaborn. I just got a call saying he had been brought in here."

The girl nodded and set down the chart she had been scribbling in. "I'm Nurse Bekins," she replied. "I'm the one that called. I'm glad that you made it here so quickly."

Josh watched as she turned to the male nurse that shared the station with her. They held a hushed conversation before she turned back and came out from behind the counter. He took advantage of her being more at eye-height to meet her gaze and search for what he desperately needed to know. "What happened?" he finally asked weakly.

The nurse shot him a sympathetic look and shook her head. "Why don't I show you to the waiting room, and we can talk there?" she offered. Without waiting for a reply, she began strolling down the hall, expecting him to follow.

With a few long strides, Josh caught up with her, setting his pace to match hers so he could watch her face. She glanced over at him once and found him staring at her, but she took it in stride. "It's been pretty quiet tonight so we should have some privacy."

"What's happened?" he croaked. "What's wrong with him? Why wouldn't you tell me more on the phone?" He knew his desperation was plain in his voice, but he couldn't seem to control his emotions as the nurse's continued silence set his nerves even more on edge.

Bekins shook her head again, flicking her gaze to him momentarily. "I really think you ought to be sitting down somewhere away from everyone when we discuss this."

Wide-eyed, Josh took her by the elbow, halting both of them in their tracks. "It's that bad?" He stared hard into her compassionate blue eyes. "You have to prepare me to hear about this?" He felt his stomach begin to knot up. He had guessed the situation would be bad, but he had still maintained hope that it was nothing he and Sam couldn't handle.

Sighing, Bekins gently removed her arm from his grasp and took hold of his instead. They walked a few more yards down the hall, turned a corner, and entered the waiting room. "Sit," she ordered firmly.

Watching her warily as he lowered himself into a cushioned chair, Josh obeyed. He waited nervously with a white-knuckle grip on the arms of the chair as she took a seat across from him.

"Mr. Seaborn - "

"Sam," Josh interrupted absent-mindedly.

Bekins frowned quizzically, cocking her head to the side as she tried to puzzle out his meaning. "Excuse me?"

"Call him Sam; he hates being called 'Mr. Seaborn'," Josh explained as he shook his head, raising his gaze to hers tiredly, his blood-shot brown eyes worried.

"Ok," the nurse murmured, her frown fading away as she nodded. "Sam," she stressed the name, "was in a car accident this morning." She winced at the stricken look that passed across his unshaven face. "From what we can tell by the clothes he was wearing, he was out running when the car hit him." She paused again, biting her lip. "The driver of the car was drunk and was speeding fairly fast."

Josh stared at her in shock for a full minute, motionless, before all her words and their meaning made their full impact on his stunned mind. "Oh God," he rasped, his wild eyes casting around the room hopelessly. "Oh God." As he repeated the words he dropped his head in his hands.

"He's still here in the ER," Nurse Bekins continued. "He came in about an hour ago but we haven't been able to stabilize him enough to get him up to surgery."

Josh's horror-stricken gaze peered out at her from between his fingers. "He's not even in surgery yet?" he asked brokenly. He shuddered and dropped his hands away from his face. "Is he… is he going to make it?" His eyes begged her for reassurance.

She shook her head helplessly. "I really don't know at this point, Mr. Lyman, and it would be unfair of me to make guesses right now. But as soon as they send him up to surgery, one of the ER surgeons will come out to speak with you."

It took conscious effort on his part to remember to breathe. "Thank you," he whispered. Slowly he reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone. "Um… there are several people I need to contact about this. Is it all right for me to use my cell phone in here?"

"Yeah," the nurse answered standing. "I'm going to go get you some water while you make those calls, ok?"

Josh nodded and watched her go before turning his attention to the phone in his hand. After a moment's consideration, he decided to call CJ first. She would need to be prepared for phone calls from the press as soon as they caught wind of the incident.

"Hello?" mumbled a sleepy CJ Cregg on the sixth ring.

Josh swallowed hard and shut his eyes, willing himself to be strong as he did what needed to be done. "CJ…" he began haltingly. "There's been an accident. Sam's… he's in the hospital." Inwardly he kicked himself for his lack of tact, but in his addled state, he could barely form coherent sentences, let alone break the news gently.

There was a pause on the other end of the line and for a moment Josh wondered if she had hung up. "CJ?" he asked, resting his head in one hand. "CJ, are you there?"

He heard some ruffling and CJ's voice answered him. "I'm… sorry, Josh. I dropped the phone." Her voice sounded almost as shaky as his did. "Are you all right? Were you a part of the accident?" she inquired as she gathered her wits about her.

Josh shook his head in annoyance even though he knew that she couldn't see him do it. "I'm fine," he snapped, and bit his lip to restrain himself. "I got a call half an hour ago and I rushed down here," he explained before she could ask about that too.

"What's happened Josh? Is Sam ok?" Her voice had become remarkably calm and even, and he had to admire her self-control. But that was part of her job - to shelve her emotions and act calmly until she could deal with her personal feelings later.

"No's he not." He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut tighter, not sure if he could get through this. "I just talked to one of the nurses, and she said he was hit by a drunk driver while jogging. It's bad CJ." His voice tapered off to a scared whisper. "It's been an hour already and they still can't stabilize him enough for surgery."

He could hear CJ mutter a curse under his breath and his mind reeled. CJ was usually not one to react with profanity in any situation. "All right Josh. I'm coming down there right now, so hang on, ok?" He took comfort in the reassuring tones of her voice.

"CJ?" he asked. "Could you call Toby on your way in?" He hated to do it to her, but in the state he was in, and knowing how the older man would take finding out about his deputy being hurt, he didn't know if he was able to make that particular call. There was another pause before he heard her draw in a deep breath. "Sure. I'll call him on my way in."

"Thanks Claudia Jean. Bye," he murmured and hung up.

He stared at the phone for another minute before pressing another of his speed dial buttons.

"Leo McGarry," a sleep-roughened voice greeted him.

Licking his lips, Josh wondered if he could handle doing it all over again. Shaking his head and telling himself that of course he could, he started in. "Leo, Sam's been in an accident." He congratulated himself on sounding more in control then he had with CJ. He was willing to bet it had something to do with it being Leo that he was talking to. The older man had that effect on people.

"What kind of accident?" Leo demanded, all traces of sleep instantly gone from his voice. Josh could easily picture his boss sitting upright in bed now, alert and ready to get dressed and prepared for action.

Letting the image reassure him, Josh relaxed a little. "The nurse here at the hospital says that he was out jogging when a drunk driver hit him. It's pretty serious Leo."

When Leo cursed, it wasn't under his breath and Josh wasn't surprised by it. Angry oaths were something you could expect from Leo McGarry. "You're at Georgetown?" he asked and Josh could hear movement that he interpreted as the older man rising from bed to dress.

"Yeah," he answered quietly, looking up as Nurse Bekins reentered the room with a glass of water.

"All right. I'll be down there soon. I'm calling the President and you should probably give the staff there a heads up because I'm sure he'll want to rush on down too."

"All right Leo. See you soon." Hanging up, Josh gratefully accepted the glass and drained it quickly. It did little to ease his dry throat.

Bekins sat across from him again and stared at him curiously. "Sam's an important guy, isn't he?" she asked. "I think I've heard his name a couple times on TV before."

Josh nodded and sank back in his chair. "He's the White House Deputy Communications Director, and one of the President's senior advisers."

The nurse didn't seem too shocked about it, having suspected that he was probably some high-profile staff member in the White House. "And that would make you?" she asked.

"Deputy Chief of Staff."

Pondering over that, Bekins shook her head ruefully. "And here I thought tonight was going to be pretty quiet."

Josh shrugged, not in the mood for conversation, still to worried about Sam. "Look, the President and the rest of his Senior Staff will be racing in here soon enough, and you can expect there to be a full compliment of Secret Service agents and reporters following them. Whatever quiet you had is going to be gone pretty soon."

The young woman's eyes widened a little, but she remained composed. "I need to go notify some people then." She stood and glanced down at him hesitantly. "Will you be ok in here alone?" she asked, her eyes worried.

"Yeah, sure," Josh answered, smiling wanly. "It'll give me time to think about stuff."

As the nurse nodded and headed back for her station, Josh refrained from adding that he really wasn't looking forward to the thinking time he had just been handed. He looked down at his clasped hands in his lap as his shoulders drooped. Just hours ago he had the left his friend working in his office. Sam had looked depressed, but other than that he had seemed fine. Now he was somewhere in the hospital with his life on the line.

Josh's entire body began to shiver as he wrapped his arms around himself. He could only pray that the rest of the gang show up quickly so he wouldn't have to go through all of this alone.