Disclaimers: The West Wing and it's characters are the
property of Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers and NBC. No
copyright infringement is intended.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: WARNING: This fic is about a character
death. If you don't like that type of story, then hit
delete now.
The ringing of the phone woke Toby up. He looked at
the clock and saw it was two in the morning. He knew
there was no way this could be good news.
"Hello." He said quietly. "Yeah, Leo. When did it
happen? Do we know anything? Okay, I see. Yeah, half
an hour. Bye."
After hanging up the phone, he glanced over at the
woman who was sleeping peacefully beside him. He
didn't want to wake her up, but knew he had to. He
gently started to rub her back. "CJ, wake up."
"What?" She asked sleepily.
"You need to get up,"
"Why it's two in the morning?"
"Leo called."
"What's wrong?" CJ asked setting up.
"Josh has been in a serious car wreck."
"Oh, God! How badly was he hurt?"
"I don't know. Leo just said Josh had been in a
wreck."
"Okay." CJ said as she started to get up.
"I told Leo that we could be there in half an hour."
Toby said.
"Okay."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The drive to the White House passed in silence. Toby
reached over and held CJ's hand the entire drive. He
was still holding her hand as they walked into Leo's
office.
"What did Leo tell you?" Sam asked.
"Just that Josh had been in a car accident." Toby
replied.
"That's all he told me too. I don't really like the
sound of this."
"Neither do I." CJ said quietly.
Leo walked back into his office at that moment. He
looked around the room, and saw that everyone was
there.
"Okay, I see everyone is here." Leo said.
"What exactly happened?" Sam asked.
"Josh was driving home tonight, when another car
hydroplaned and struck his head-on."
"How serious are his injuries?" Toby asked.
"I'm getting to that." Leo said. "Josh was taken to
George Washington University Hospital with multiple
injuries. He was taken into surgery. He didn't survive
the surgery."
"Leo..." CJ said. "He's dead?"
"Yeah."
"Does Donna know?" Sam asked.
"Margaret is going to tell her now."
"She's not going to take this well." Sam said.
"Yeah, I know." Leo said. "I need to tell the
President. You may stay here if you like."
"Sam?" CJ asked.
"Yeah."
"Are you okay?"
"It's unbelievable. I've lost my best friend."
"So have I." CJ said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donna awakened to a loud banging on her apartment
door. As she walked to the door to answer it, she
thought of killing whomever was on the other side of
the door.
"Margaret?" Donna said as she opened the door.
"What's going on?"
"May I come in?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks." Margaret said. "Listen Donna you should sit
down."
"Margaret, you're scaring me." Donna said.
"Donna, Josh was in a car accident tonight." Margaret
said.
"What? Which hospital is he in?" Donna asked.
"Donna, he didn't make it."
"What?" Donna asked, she was quickly growing
hysterical.
"Josh didn't make it." Margaret repeated.
"He's dead?" Donna asked quietly.
"Yeah."
"Oh, God." Donna said as she buried her face in her
hands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toby stood at the door to CJ's office. She was
sitting in the dark staring at a picture. She didn't
realize he was standing there.
"What are you looking at, sweetheart?" Toby asked as
he walked into her office.
"A photo of Josh and I, that was taken the day you
and I were married." She said quietly as she reached
her hand out to him.
"Are you okay?"
"As well as can be expected. Does it seem real to
you?"
"No, not at all."
CJ sat the photo down and started to get up. Toby
quickly steadied her as she started to sway.
"I think you need to sit down." Toby said as he
helped her over to the couch.
"Yeah so do I. What time is it?" CJ asked.
"Six-thirty."
"I guess that explains this."
"How?"
"This is the time we usually get up. I've been
getting sick as soon as I get up."
"Yeah, is there anything I can do for you?"
"No, it will pass in a few minutes. Actually I hope
how soon I'm past this stage."
"I know you do. So do I." Toby said as CJ laid her
head on his shoulder.
"I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and this will
be a dream."
"I know." Toby said and kissed the top of her head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next three days were hard on everyone. But it was
finally over. Everyone was worried about Donna, who
was not taking it well. She had barely spoken during
the funeral services, or during the graveside
services.
"Donna." CJ said placing her hand on her shoulder.
"It's time to go."
"Okay." Donna said as she got up. She stood and
stared at the closed casket for a long time. "I loved
him, CJ, and I never knew it until he was gone. I wish
I had known." Donna said as she laid the single red
rose she was holding on the casket. She then turned
and walked away.
CJ turned and looked at the casket for a moment.
"Good-bye." She whispered.
Toby put his arm around CJ's waist as they walked
away from the tent.
"It still doesn't seem real." CJ said.
"It won't for awhile." Toby said.
"Yeah." CJ said and they walked in silence to their
car.
"Toby." CJ said once they had reached the car.
"There's something I want to do."
"What?"
"If this baby is a boy I want to name him Joshua."
"We will." Toby said as he kissed her forehead.
The end.