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This is a piece I began back in October and that I put on the back burner until we saw what AS was going to do with the psychological ramifications of the shooting. There will be several of these, each dealing with a separate member of the staff. ---------------------------------- Carpe Diem Jane Harper RATING: PG-14 SUMMARY: Sarah gets thrown into the politics and personalities of the President's staff in order to help them heal from the assassination attempt. Begins about a month after the Rosslyn shootout. ARCHIVE: Help yerself. HTML version supplied upon request. DISCLAIMER: We didn't start the fire ..
FROM PART TWO: Zoey nodded. "I know you helped Josh and Toby and Sam and Donna after the shooting. Mom thinks I need somebody to talk to." "Everybody needs somebody to talk to sometimes. Who do you share stuff with?" "I have a couple of friends at school," she said, "but they don't really understand what it's like." "I'm not sure anybody who hasn't been the President's kid can understand," Sarah responded. "I know I sure couldn't, not really." "You know, I could handle it if people hated me for something I did -- but instead it's for somebody I am," she said, sighing. "I can relate to that," Sarah replied. "You can?" "Of course. I'm Jewish." "Oh," Zoey said, embarrassed. "I forgot."
PART THREE: A couple of days later there was a rap on Sarah's door. "Come in!" It was Sam. "Hey," he said. "Hey yourself. C'mon in and take a load off." She waved toward the brand new comfy chair. "You've done nice things in here," he began. "Yeah well, it's a cubbyhole, but mine own." She looked at his rumpled hair and droopy eyes. "You look really tired, Sam. Are you sleeping ok?" "I'm fine." "Sam .. this is me." "I'm fine, dammit!" "OK." This didn't sound like Sam. "How are things on the other side of the building?" "Same shit, different day," he said. She leaned over and put her hand on his arm, but said nothing. The anger in his eyes was new. "I'm worried about Josh," he admitted finally. "Either he's acting like nothing happened, or he's going out like the other night and getting ripped." "You can't _make_ Josh deal with it. He has to come around in his own time. The only person you can lead through the process is Sam Seaborn." "Do I have to go there?" he asked quietly. She nodded. "Sooner or later. You can lance a boil with a scalpel or a set of bolt cutters, but the stuff has to come out. The only questions are, how much will it hurt, how long will it take, and how big will the scar be." He shook his head, then got up and walked out of the office. * * * * * Two weeks after starting her duties at the White House, Sarah was discouraged. She spent time every day in the West Wing, but with the preparations for the midterm elections beginning, she was feeling like a fifth wheel. One Tuesday evening a couple of weeks into July, though, she stopped feeling that way. She was sitting in Josh's office shooting the bull with him and Toby when her pager went off and read 911, and the residence number. "Uh oh," she said, and headed for the door without saying anything more. She sped to the elevator to the residence, and when she arrived across from the China Room the agent waved her inside. Abbey met her just inside the door. "What's wrong, Mrs. Bartlet?" "It's Zoey. She went to some event at school and freaked out. Her detail brought her home, but now she's locked herself in her bathroom and won't come out." A thin dark-haired woman came striding down the hallway and stopped next to Abbey, holding out a hand toward Sarah. "Hi, I'm Gina Toscano, Zoey's AIC. Think you can help us out here? We don't want to have to kick down the door and go busting in there if we can help it." Sarah looked up at her. "I'll do the best I can." Gina beckoned to her and the three women went up the hallway to Zoey's bedroom. "We were going to a party," the agent began, "and just as we arrived somebody set off some firecrackers left over from Independence Day. Mike and I knew what they were, but Zoey didn't, and she freaked out, jumped back in the car and started screaming. We brought her back here instead of to the dorm, she ran into her room and locked herself in the bathroom. That's when we called you." "What happened to the guys with the firecrackers?" Abbey asked. Gina grinned. "They got an eyeful of blue steel and an earful of lecture." "Good for you," the First Lady said. Sarah rolled up right next to the door and knocked softly. "Zoey? It's Sarah Cooper. I heard what happened." Silence. "Can I come in?" Silence. "You don't have to come out, I just want to come in. Nobody will force you to come out unless you want to. If you feel safe in there, then you can stay." The door opened a crack. Gina came closer but Sarah waved her off as she opened the door a little farther. Zoey was in the far corner of the room sitting on the side of the bathtub. "I'm gonna have to open this door wide so I can get in, Zoey. Is that OK?" The girl nodded but did not speak. Sarah turned back to Abbey and Gina and said, "We're OK. Would you mind waiting outside the room? I don't think Zoey's going to feel good about my opening this door all the way up if you're right there." "We'll be right out here," Gina said after Abbey nodded, and they pulled the bedroom door mostly closed behind them. "OK, Zoey, everybody else is gone, can I come in now?" "OK," the youngster said. Sarah rolled in and pushed the door shut behind her. "Must have been pretty scary." Zoey nodded. "All I could think of was-- was--" "I know." She waited a few moments then went on. "If I were in your shoes I'd probably feel like a nut magnet." The First Daughter laughed. "It's not just scary because of me. Everybody around me--" she stopped. Sarah leaned forward a little. "I'd worry how many more people were going to get hurt because I was around." Tears appeared in the girl's eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "Sarah, they almost killed my Daddy, because of me." "No, Zoey, that's not true. It wasn't because of you. It was because there are sad and sick people in the world, they try to hurt people they don't understand. They're scared because the world is changing too fast, and they think violence is a way to make that stop." She didn't say anything, but her body language relaxed a little, so Sarah continued. "People like that will find somebody to hate, regardless. If not you, they would have picked somebody else. You just showed up on the radar when they were looking for a scapegoat." "How can people be like that?" "I wish I knew. It might explain what happened to six million of my people." "How can you not--" She stopped to take a deep breath. "--want to run away?" "Where can I go? The world's too small. There's noplace left to hide. Besides, if I run, then they win. They get to tell me where I can be and where I can't, what I can do and what I can't." "Who you can be with--" Sarah nodded. "You've been through something horrible, and it's not going to be easy to begin to make sense of it, but I think we can, if we try. In any case, trying might make it a little less scary." Zoey got up and went to the sink and threw some water on her face. "I look awful." "You look beautiful. Want to go out and hug your Mom? She's worried." The First Daughter walked out of the bathroom and into her healing.
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