Spoilers: Roni meets Elizabeth and Annie for the first time.

Disclaimers: If you haven't seen or heard them on TWW, they are mine.

Otherwise, I'm just taking them out for a spin.

"Why is this our problem?" Leo asked storming into his office for the morning
staff meeting.

"The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan," Sam
said.

"Is it that bad that they need the help of the federal government?" Leo
questioned.

"Discharges that cause a sheen or discoloration on the surface of a body of
water; Discharges that violate applicable water quality standards; and
Discharges that cause a sludge or emulsion to be deposited beneath the
surface of the water or on adjoining shorelines all require the attention of
the federal government." Josh said as he took a sip of his coffee.

"And in this particular case?" Leo asked.

"In this particular case, we have a discoloration on the beaches in
Charleston, low water quality, as well as discharges that have caused a
sludge to be deposited beneath the surface of the water." Sam said while he
grabbed a doughnut.

"Do we know what company it was?" Toby ventured to ask.

"Mayersk." CJ replied reading it from some hand written notes in front of her.

"They've stepped forward?"

"Yes, but they refuse to pay for the damages and the cleanup." said Sam as he
took another bite of his doughnut.

"Why? If they've taken the blame for it, why won't they pay for it?"

"They claim they don't have the kind of money that it would take to clean it
up, and have asked that the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund be tapped into."

"Can we do that?"

"When the responsible party is unknown or refuses to pay, funds from the Oil
Spill Liability Trust Fund can be used to cover removal costs or damages
resulting from discharges of oil. I think we're gonna have to ask that this
be tapped into, until we do find out who is responsible." Josh said as he
took another sip from his coffee cup.

"How much oil was spilled?"

"About 8 million gallons, only 3 million gallons away from pushing the famous
Exxon Valdez oil spill record." Sam finished the last part with an attempt to
be funny, but had no takers. "Of course there have been many other spills,
at much higher volumes, such as the incident of January 12, 1991, where 240
million gallons of oil were spilled. But that was over in the Persian Gulf.
The Valdez incident is the last one of large volume to curse the United
States' water's."

"What are the wildlife and environment people saying?"

"It's not good, Leo."

"Why, what's going on Josh?"

"Well Toby and I already have had our schedules changed all day today to deal
with the environment people."

"And I have been granted the privilege of dealing with the wildlife people."
Sam said with a very unenthused look on his face.

"Which leaves the Mayersk people," Josh said, giving Leo a very translucent
look. "Margaret has made some updates in your schedule as well."

"Ok. What about you CJ? You've been awfully quiet."

"Well, the press is going absolutely crazy over this. There hasn't been a
big oil spill like this since the Exxon Valdez back in March of 1989, so you
can imagine what my day will be like."

"Okay, lets get to work everyone." Leo said with a pained expression as
everyone left his office.

******************************

"Are they all coming?" Jed asked his wife as he sat down to eat his lunch.

"No, just Elizabeth and Annie. Bill wanted to come, but he couldn't get time
off work."

"When do they get here?"

"3:00 p.m."

"And I suppose you two are going to want me here, right?" Roni asked with a
sound of bitterness in her voice.

"You have plans already?" Abbey asked.

"I was supposed to go into work today, but I guess I could call in sick or
something."

"With your luck, the press would find out about it, and demand to see your
medical records or something."

"Yeah, I guess I haven't had too much success with the press, have I? Tell
you what though, I will try to get off work early, if I can. But if I can't,
the earliest I will be back will be 10:30 p.m."

Suddenly Charlie entered the dining room and interrupted the conversation.
"I'm sorry sir, but Leo is on the phone. He says it's urgent."

With a very annoyed look on his face, the President stands up and excuses
himself from the table. He follows Charlie into the other room, to the
nearest phone. "Leo, what's going on? And oil spill off the coast of
South Carolina? The Charleston harbors? When? Do we know…?
They what? Okay, as soon as I finish lunch, I'll be right back there. Do
what you can in the meantime."

******************************