Chapter Text
Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog
Where no one notices the contrast of white on white
Somewhere in the haze, all is haze, sound light sensation, but somewhere surfaces the most familiar voice. Of adulthood, anyway.
"I'm right here..."
"I shouldn't be in this meeting," Josh complains, and it takes so much effort, but he needs to get someone's attention, needs to speak up. "I need to get to New Hampshire."
And there it is again, there he is again, reassuring. He'll fix it, like usual. Well, when it's his turn. They kind of take turns like that. "We did, we went to New Hampshire, you came and got me, remember?"
And in between the moon and you, the angels get a better view
Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right
The beeps are annoying, even when they fade in and out, even when he can't catch a breath to ask what the hell the beeps are for, can we please shut those up?
Well, I walk in the air between the rain, through myself and back again
Where? I don't know
Is this New Hampshire or North Dakota or New York or Connecticut? Not that there's really much difference, is there? It all weaves and bleeds together anyway. Bleeds, for sure. There's blood, and there's smoke, but then it's all swallowed up in the haze, the fog, so that's okay too.
Maria says she's dying, through the door I hear her crying
Why? I don't know
At some point, when he's...back, from wherever...somewhere totally blank...Josh swears he can hear Donna somewhere in the haze. Sounds like she's crying. That can't be good. He doesn't know why that would be, or where she would be, but he feels bad for her.
...And she walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land
Just like she's walking on a wire in the circus
"CJ, what can you tell us?" It's an abrupt and rather rude interruption...she thinks she could maybe be forgiven for drifting a bit. She's just trying to defog her brain, figure out what the hell has even happened in the last 48 hours.
"Donna. ...Josh was hit."
"Hit with what?"
And she knows she's more than just a little misunderstood
She has trouble acting normal when she's nervous
"I don't understand. I don't understand, is -- is it serious?"
Leo has been far too present in the middle of all of this, and finally feels himself zoning out every minute or so, it seems like. Even though nothing is over, except for the President's surgery. This is nowhere close to over.
'Round here, we're carving out our names
'Round here, we all look the same
"...I'm tired of it year after year after year after year having to chosoe between the lesser of who cares? Of trying to get myself excited about a candidate who can speak in complete sentences. Of setting the bar so low, I can hardly look at it. They say a good man can't get elected President. I don't believe that, do you?"
'Round here, we talk just like lions
But we sacrifice like lambs
"The President remains in stable condition in the recovery room, and is expected to return home Wednesday. Josh Lyman is in his sixth hour of surgery..."
'Round here, she's slipping through my hands
But the girl on the car in the parking lot
Says, "Man, you should try to take a shot
Can't you see my walls are crumbling?"
Toby isn't freaking out. He doesn't freak out. He finds solutions. He gets answers. He especially doesn't freak out due to feeling guilty or anything like that. Which must clearly be why Sam, and then Leo, definitely don't seem at all concerned about him and his not freaking out.
'Round here, she's always on my mind
'Round here, hey man, got lots of time
There's an unnatural hush over the waiting room. Especially unnatural for a room that includes both Sam and Donna, who instead seem to be the most withdrawn of all.
Donna, for her part, doesn't even notice that Toby and Sam had to hustle out for...something, doesn't notice at all till the First Lady speaks to her softly, and she realizes the room is emptier than it just was.
'Round here, we're never sent to bed early
And nobody makes us wait
'Round here, we stay up very, very, very, very late
Sam is gone again, and he knows it'll be nonstop. Whatever. It's not like he's doing Josh much good just sitting and silently freaking out. As much as he hates to leave, he supposes it's for the best. He can do something useful at work. Help carry the load for Toby, for CJ, whoever, when he can't currently carry anything for Josh.
You catch me if I'm fallin', you catch me if I'm fallin'
Will you catch me? 'Cause I'm fallin' down on you
CJ figures it out, somehow. Something he said on the morning shows, apparently? It helps some, but it doesn't. Not entirely.
"Were you scared?"
"Yeah."
"Me too. Thanks."
I said I'm under the gun...around here
I'm innocent
"Charlie. The President wasn't the target. According to the statement, the President wasn't the target."
I'm under the gun 'round here
"We don't know what the injury count is, yet."
And I can't see nothin'
nothin'
'round here