[email protected]
�Actually, no. I got out of here at the almost respectable hour of eight o�clock last night. I was just up late working on something,� Donna said. She had stayed awake until the early hours of the morning working on a plan of attack to help Sam get through his current battle. If there was one thing that she had learned since starting work at the White House it was how to formulate an effective plan.
�For Sam,� Cathy stated. Donna nodded. �What�s going on with him? I know you�re closer to the Senior Staff than the rest of us. Something�s up and I hate not knowing what it is. Yesterday he came in and told me to clear his schedule for the next few days. Today he came in muttering something about IKEA. CJ gave him a Raggedy Ann doll and Toby didn�t explode when Ginger told him that Sam would be out of town for a few days even though they have four speeches to write by the end of the week. What the hell is going on?�
Donna took a deep breath. �His family was in an accident and he�s got to go and deal with some things in California,� she said. It was up to Sam to go into further detail.
�Are they okay?� Cathy asked.
�Yeah. Well, no, they�re not, but everyone�s alive. Sam just has some stuff he needs to take care of. You should talk to him about it. I don�t know how much he wants to tell people,� Donna said weakly.
Cathy nodded. She knew Donna wouldn�t betray a confidence. �I�ll do that. Now, do you have the thing for 820?�
In Senior Staff things were going well. It seemed it would be a slow day, if you were to go by the amount of actual work that concerned the running of the country that was being discussed. They went over Toby and Sam�s speech on 820 which was further legislation for their fight for gun control, Josh�s latest battle with Congress, and the fact that the delegation from Australia that was supposed to arrive later in the day had to cancel because of a death in the family of the Ambassador. Once those topics were out of the way Leo asked if there was anything else, his eyes fixed on Sam.
�I already told them, Leo,� Sam said without emotion. �They were all over at my place trying to turn my office into a bedroom for Meredith. Our lack of success was astounding.�
�It always is,� Leo said. �Once you have a plan let us know and we�ll accommodate you however we can.�
�Thank you,� Sam said softly. He�d already spoken to Leo and the President and they had both offered their support, but at the time he was still in shock and the words hadn�t penetrated properly, so hearing them again was very comforting. �I�m probably going to need a lot of help,� he admitted.