Category: West Wing couple fic – Sam n Josh and Leo n Dan with other WW characters passing through. Rating: NC-17 (sexual violence/language) Warnings: Graphic depiction of homophobic violence. Summary: Sam and Josh’s celebration dinner ends in a nightmare. Spoilers: Anything from Season 1 onwards Notes: Medical accuracy isn’t guaranteed. Warning: Deals with a violent attack on Sam and how the staff deals with it. Don’t read this if the idea of Sam n Josh as a couple squicks you. Title: A good heart is hard to find Still dazed, ignoring the blood oozing from his forehead, Josh did the only thing he could do. He called Leo. ************************ ‘So what exactly is it that you do? You have one minute to describe your job or I’m going to leave.’ Dan was trying to get Leo to explain what he did. She had tried before, but she had become bored before he had got even a little way into his job description. He smiled. ‘Okay. I run the West Wing.’ Dan was impressed. With the speed, if not the descriptive quality, of Leo’s answer. ‘Your turn. What do you do?’ ‘You know what I do. I’m a doctor.’ ‘Yeah, but what do you do?’ Dan poked her tongue out at Leo as she realised she was being teased. ‘I move paper, I balance budgets, I attend meetings, I…’ Leo interrupted her. ‘Your minute’s up.’ Dan pulled a face. ‘That was never a minute.’ ‘No, but it seemed like it. I thought you practised medicine?’ Dan laughed. ‘Do you have any idea how much paperwork is involved in treating even the smallest injury?’ ‘Nope.’ ‘The higher up the tree you climb, the more you realise the trees around you are being chopped down to make paper.’ Leo smiled. ‘I gotta remember that one.’ His smile faded as he realised his phone was ringing. ‘Sorry.’ Dan shook her head. ‘Running the West Wing continues even after you leave?’ Leo fished in his coat for his phone. ‘McGarry.’ He listened for a few seconds. ‘Okay. Stay there. I’ll come get you.’ He closed his phone and got up. ‘I gotta go. Sam’s been attacked.’ Dan frowned ‘Attacked?’ Leo was pulling on his coat as he replied. ‘Yeah. Mugged.’ Dan got up too. ‘You might need my help.’ Leo walked towards the desk. ‘I gotta go Phil. I’ll settle with you tomorrow, okay?’ The restaurant owner nodded understandingly. ‘Sure. It wasn’t the food, I hope?’ Leo shook his head, his mind elsewhere. Dan followed him out to the car. ********************** As they drove, Dan managed to ask the question she had been waiting to ask ever since they left the restaurant. ‘Sam can’t be badly hurt if he managed to telephone you to tell you he’d been mugged.’ Leo said grimly: ‘Sam didn’t call, Josh did. They were out together, and they were walking back to the car when they were attacked.’ Dan tried hard to picture the two men. She had been to the West Wing a few times, and each time she had tried hard to remember the names and faces of those she was introduced to. But she could only picture Josh. She remembered she had been surprised that Leo had taken someone on as his Deputy who was as unlike him as it was possible to be. She had thought that they were probably a good team because of it, but she was still surprised. But Sam’s face wouldn’t come. """""""""""""""""""""""""" Leo pulled the car up to the pavement and opened his door. ‘Josh?’ Josh’s voice came from a few feet away. ‘Over here.’ He had pulled Sam into the alleyway between two buildings, and was sitting next to him as Dan reached them. She knelt down. ‘What happened?’ As he waited for Josh’s response, she began to examine Sam. He was barely conscious, his lips moving soundlessly, his face cut and beginning to darken into several bruises. His hands tried to push Dan away, but he was too badly hurt to put up much resistance. ‘We had dinner. We were walking back to the car. I didn’t see them until it was too late. They pulled a knife on Sam. I thought they were gonna cut his throat…’ Dan felt Sam’s arms and legs. ‘I don’t think there’s anything broken. Did they get your wallets?’ Josh nodded. ‘Yeah.’ Dan looked up at Leo, wondering why he was just standing at her side. Sharply, she prompted: ‘Call an ambulance, Leo.’ ‘Let’s get him in the car.’ Dan looked at Leo as if he had suggested leaving the man in the alleyway. ‘Leo!’ Josh got to his feet, leaning on the wall as he felt dizziness overwhelm him. ‘I’ll give you a hand.’ Dan wondered if the two of them were mad. ‘You will not. You have a head wound. Now sit down and wait for the ambulance.’ She fished in her bag for her own phone. As she opened it, Leo reached down and took it from her. Lifting Sam to his feet, Leo began to move him towards his car. ‘Leo, what the Hell are you doing? They need an…’ Her voice tailed off as she saw the bloodstain on Sam’s pants. Josh saw it to then, and put his head in his hands, slumping to the ground. ‘They cut him.’ Leo turned back to her. ‘I’m gonna take Sam to the Residence. Abbey can look after him. You take Josh’s car and bring him too.’ As she walked back to Josh, Dan asked: ‘Who’s Abbey?’ ‘Abbey Bartlet. The President’s wife. She’s a doctor.’ Dan put out her hand, pulling Josh to his feet. ‘Josh, I’m a doctor. You need to go to hospital. I’ll take care of both of you, but you have to go.’ Josh swayed for a moment, then, leaning on Dan he began to walk slowly to the end of the street and his car. Finally, he said: ‘We can’t. If you treated us, you’d have to make notes. And it’d get into the papers.’ Dan was less than sympathetic. She was driving an unfamiliar car on unfamiliar streets, and Josh seemed unlikely to give her useful directions. ‘Josh, you were mugged, it happens. It’s hardly newsworthy.’ Josh was lying back in the seat now, the events of the past hour finally taking their toll. Quietly he said: ‘Sam wasn’t just mugged. He was…’ Josh couldn’t bring himself to say the word. Dan recalled the blood on Sam’s jeans. She finished the sentence for him. ‘Sexually assaulted.’ Josh cringed at the words. Slumping further in the seat, he said softly: ‘That’s newsworthy.’ Once she realised they were only a short distance from the White House, Dan’s confidence in her ability to get them back there, on now-familiar roads, grew. She was surprised to see Leo’s car only a few yards ahead of her. He had had not only a headstart, but a much better idea of where he was and where he was going than she had. Leo pulled the car into the entrance. Shouting at the guard to open the gate, and to let Dan through after him, Leo drove at speed into the White House grounds. The President and the First Lady were already waiting for them, and the Secret Service agents around them helped carry Sam inside. Dan pulled the car up and walked round to help Josh out of the seat. As he slumped in her arms, Dan shouted: ‘I need a hand here.’ Seconds later, she was relieved to hand Josh over to a couple of agents who had responded to the sight of her trying to prop the White House Deputy Chief of Staff up against the car door as he fell against her. She left the two men to bring Josh and ran in to find where Sam had been taken. He was being carried upstairs, the President and Leo waiting for Josh, the First Lady walking behind the two Agents who carried Sam’s limp body up the ornate staircase. ‘Leo?’ Dan walked across to the two men. Leo didn’t even think to introduce the President to the woman he had been dating for almost two months. ‘Abbey’s gonna need a hand.’ ‘Leo, I can’t. He needs to be in hospital. They both do.’ Josh came in then, supported by two Agents. ‘Sir, I…’ The President’s voice was calm. ‘It’s okay, Josh. We’re gonna take care of you. Both of you.’ Dan gave in then. ‘Find a first aid kit and clean the cut on his head. If it’s still bleeding in ten minutes, or if he wants to sleep, come and get us.’ She walked slowly up the stairs, following the sound of the First Lady’s voice to work out which way to go. Abbey Bartlet looked up as the door opened. ‘Hi.’ ‘I’m Dan. I’m a friend of Leo’s. I’m a doctor. Can I help?’ Abbey didn’t have time to think about how long Leo had been seeing the tall, dark-haired woman. But part of her mind stored the question for later. ‘Help me get his things off.’ ‘He’s bleeding.’ ‘I saw. D’you know what happened?’ ‘Josh wasn’t making much sense. But he did say the people that attacked them pulled a knife on Sam.’ Abbey and Dan pulled Sam’s shirt off his back, as he moaned gently. The blood was beginning to dry, and it stuck to his torn skin. Abbey listened to Dan’s soft reassurances. ‘It’s all right, Sam. You’re safe now. I know it’s sore, but it’s nearly done.’ ‘If it’s too bad, I’ll call Hackett.’ ‘Who?’ ‘There’s always a doctor on call for us. If we can’t handle it, I’ll bring him in.’ Dan made a quick decision. ‘I think the fewer people know about this, the better. Let’s see what we can do first before we bring anyone else in.’ Abbey nodded. ‘Okay. Sam, we’re gonna take these off now. We need to see if you’re hurt anywhere.’ As she held Sam’s hands to stop him trying to push Abbey’s hands away, Dan suddenly noticed that the top two buttons on Sam’s pants were missing. Sam moaned as Abbey peeled them off. His white underpants were blood-soaked and the two women exchanged a look as Abbey pulled them down. Sam’s struggles became stronger as Dan held him on his side. ‘Shh. It’s all right. We’re not going to hurt you. Just keep still.’ But, semi-conscious and with the attack still clearly in his mind, Sam fought the gloved hands touching his raw and bleeding flesh. ‘He’s been cut. He’s gonna need suturing. Can you hold him?’ Seeing the large wound, Dan shook her head. ‘No. Not for that. He needs to go a hospital.’ ‘You can go if you want. I’ll get Jed and Leo up here.’ Dan sighed. Abbey was right, Sam had been through enough for one night. ‘Okay.’ Relieved, Abbey straightened up ‘Okay. I’ll give him a sedative. Hold him while I get it.’ Dan frowned. ‘Where from?’ Abbey nodded to a large bag on the table in the corner of the room. ‘It’s got pretty much everything we’ll need.’ ‘Whose bag is it?’ Abbey walked to the bag. ‘Mine.’ As the sedative took effect, Sam’s struggles and soft cries lessened. After a few minutes, Abbey asked: ‘You want me to hold him?’ Dan shook her head. Then she understood what Abbey had meant. ‘Not unless you want to?’ ‘Give you a break?’ Dan nodded. ‘Okay. I’ve actually never done this before.’ Abbey smiled. ‘Me either. But you are at least a practising doctor. I haven’t done any hands-on stuff for a few years.’ ‘Can you hold his knees bent? I think we might need an extra pair of hands.’ This time it was Abbey’s turn to disagree. ‘We’ll manage.’ ‘This will need suturing. Looks like they used a knife.’ Dan unpacked the sterile suture kit and Abbey held Sam tightly as he felt the sting of the needle and the local anaesthetic which followed. ‘Okay, Sam. It’ll be over real soon. Just be brave for a little longer.’ She stroked his damp forehead as he whimpered, fighting the shock and pain, dulled only a little by the sedative. Abbey’s sleeve was quickly soaked in Sam’s tears, but she held him tightly, stroking his hair, her gentle voice penetrating his mind, driving out the horror for a few moments. ‘We need to something about those burns.’ There were several small round burns on Sam’s chest. ‘I have some antibiotic gel. It should ease the pain too.’ Sam cried out as the cold gel was wiped across his raw flesh. ‘All right, Sam. Almost done. All right. That’s it. I’m almost finished. You’re doing really well.’ ‘Do you have antibiotics in your bag? If not, I’ll go into the office and get something.’ Abbey opened the large leather bag. ‘I have several. Broad spectrum, yeah?’ ‘Yes, I think so.’ ‘Any morphine?’ Abbey nodded. ‘Yeah.’ Dan’s eyes widened. ‘Where do you get it all?’ Abbey shrugged. ‘I’m the First Lady. What I want, I usually get.’ Dan filled a small syringe from a bottle. ‘I almost don’t want to hurt him any more than he is already.’ ‘If those burns get infected, it’ll be Hell.’ Dan nodded. ‘Okay. Can you hold him?’ Abbey knelt at Sam’s side. Taking his hand, she waited until he focussed on her. ‘Sam, we need to give you a couple of shots.’ He shook his head slowly. ‘Hurts…’ Abbey smiled. ‘Yeah. One of them will take the pain away. Shh, now.’ She held Sam’s hands, struggling to hold him as he felt Dan’s hand on his thigh. Abbey had to force herself not to cry as Sam’s wounded gaze met hers. He flinched at the cold swab and cried out as the needle pierced his bruised flesh. Dan had tried to avoid the mass of bruises which were beginning to darken on his legs, but she could see from the way Sam was struggling that it wasn’t going to make much difference. Abbey stroked his face as she watched Dan fill the second syringe. ‘Okay, Sam. Last one now.’ He was sobbing as Dan pushed the second needle into his thigh, and no amount of reassurance from Abbey could stop the stinging pain of the antibiotic as it entered his body. ‘Hurts. Please, stop…no…’ At last, Dan stood up. ‘All done, Sam. You did really well. Rest now.’ Sam moved in the bed, mind trying to work out how to lay to lessen the pain, eventually curling up into a foetal position. ‘Hey fag!’ Sam cringed. His arm stretched as Josh turned, but he pulled Josh back. Then they were both grabbed, Josh pulled from him as the group of men pushed Sam to the ground. Struggling, he lost the battle against sheer weight of numbers and tried to roll away from the sharp blade at his throat. ‘I got a better idea.’ He fought hard against the hands pulling his clothes off, but it took only seconds before he felt the sharp sting of the blade across his bare flesh. A dirty hand cut off his scream over his mouth, but already there was panic among the men holding him. ‘Someone’s coming…I’m outta here…no way…’ Blackness overwhelmed him, and he remembered nothing more until he heard Leo’s voice. """"""""""""""""""""""" Dan and Abbey watched him, both startled by a gentle knock on the door behind them. Abbey walked to the door. Leo’s voice carried across to where Dan stood at Sam’s side. ‘How’s he doing?’ Abbey said sadly: ‘He’ll live. That’s about it.’ Dan looked up. ‘How is Josh?’ ‘He’s getting sleepy. You said to come get you if…’ Dan nodded. ‘Are you all right here?’ Abbey looked across at Sam, finally resting. ‘Yeah. Go.’ As they walked down the stairs, Dan said: ‘However nice their dinner was, it wasn’t worth this. Whose birthday was it?’ Leo looked away. ‘Er, it wasn’t, um Sam and Josh live, um…share…’ Dan decided to help out. ‘Is that an attempt, albeit slightly awkward, to tell me Sam and Josh are a couple?’ Leo said gruffly: ‘Yeah. Some kind of anniversary.’ Dan let Leo open the door for her. ‘We’ll go somewhere different for ours.’ If Leo had been concentrating a little more, he might have been more shocked at the words than he was. Without really hearing the comment, he managed only: ‘Okay.’ ********************** ‘Josh, you need to stay awake. Come on.’ Dan rested her hands on his upper arms and shook Josh’s shoulders gently. His eyes opened and he asked: ‘How’s Sam?’ Dan smiled. ‘He’s resting. Now, I want you to walk round.’ Josh got up and almost fell back onto the chair behind him. Dan grabbed him and called across: ‘Leo!’ Between them they moved Josh back into the chair. Dan began to undo Josh’s shirt buttons. ‘Christ! What the...?’ Leo couldn’t help himself. Josh’s upper body was covered in bruises and cuts. Dan pulled Josh’s shirt closed. ‘I hate it when I’m right. Leo, Sam was being attacked. Do you think Josh would just stand there?’ She lifted Josh’s legs so he lay on the sofa, and he groaned at the pain. Pulling his shirt open again, she felt slowly down his ribcage. Twice, her fingers moved bone, and Josh cried out at the sudden pain. Dan stopped as she reached the last rib. She moved to sit at his side, her face close to his. ‘Josh, are you hurt anywhere else?’ He knew what she was asking him. ‘My back. They kicked me.’ ‘Let me look.’ Dan pressed her fingers into Josh’s lower back, feeling across the bruised skin. ‘Okay, anywhere else, Josh?’ Dan stared at him, waiting. Eventually, his voice almost a whisper, he said: ‘No, they didn’t really notice me.’ Dan sighed. ‘Right, you’re going to the ER now.’ Ignoring Josh’s protestations, Dan said sharply: ‘ You have broken ribs. Leo will take you.’ She looked across the room. ‘Leo, drive carefully. Josh has broken ribs and won’t be able to wear a seatbelt.’ Leo fished in his pocket for his keys. ‘Okay. Come on.’ Josh got up slowly. ‘Can I see Sam?’ Dan shook her head. ‘He’s sleeping. And you’re hurt. You can see him when you come back. I’ll call ahead and get them to clear a space for you.’ Click here to go to Part Two Home Send me feedback on this fic Return to the X-Files Fic Index Return to the West Wing Fic Index