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MY GUESTBOOK
�Josh is going to be in recovery for at least eight hours. You won�t be able to see him until he�s in the ICU. When he wakes up he�s going to want to know that the people he loves are okay and, to be perfectly honest with you, Donna, at the moment you look like death on a Triskit,� Dr Bartlet said.
I smiled softly. �Zoey always says that to Josh,� I said. Dr Bartlet looked at me pointedly but, while her stare might have worked on the leader of the free world, I stood firm. �I can�t leave, ma�am. I know it sounds crazy, believe me I feel like an idiot for saying this aloud let alone feeling it, but I feel like I absolutely cannot leave this hospital right now.�
Sighing heavily, Dr Bartlet nodded to one of her Secret Service agents who turned and headed off down the hall talking into his wrist mike. �I figured that would be your response. There�s a family room around the corner. Leave your pager number at the nurses station and get some sleep.� She reached out and smoothed a few loose tendrils of hair behind my ear in a decidedly motherly motion. �Put your pager on your pillow so it wakes you up if we need you,� she advised.
�I was semi-engaged to a third year medical student. I know all about pagers on the pillow,� I said drolly.
Dr Bartlet smiled. �Alright then. You go get some sleep and maybe one day you can explain how you were semi-engaged to someone.�
�Yes, ma�am,� I said with as warm a smile as I could muster in my current state of exhaustion.
I left my pager number with the nurse at the nurses station and she pointed the way to the family room with a sympathetic smile and a reassuring promise that she would beep me if any change in Josh�s condition�or the President�s, though he was more or less out of the woods for the moment�and when I asked her what her name was she replied, �Joanna,� and said that she would be watching over Josh herself until he left Recovery and was moved to the ICU.
All signs pointed to Josh being in good hands. Dr Bartlet, Leo, the Secret Service, and a nurse with the name of Josh�s sister who gave her life for his when she was only twelve years old made me comfortable enough to try and rest, if only because I had a feeling that the worst of this particular debacle had yet to come.