We had a life, we had a love,
But you don't know what you've got 'til you lose it.*

"Mr. President!" Charlie exclaimed as he burst into the Oval office. Jed
looked away from his conversation with Toby.

"Charlie, what is it? Where's the fire?" He asked quickly, sensing the
worry in the young man's voice and face.

"There was a shooting at the Environment celebration ceremony." Charlie
said gravely. Toby stepped forward, his face white all of a sudden.

"Shooting? What happened? Was anyone hit?" Jed asked. Charlie looked
directly at Toby, a sorrowful look in his eyes. Toby gulped and shook his
head, not wanting to believe.

"No." He said. Charlie looked at the President who had also paled and
nodded. Jed looked at Toby, then back to Charlie.

"KD shoved Leo out of the way of the bullet, from what I hear. I can't
get any other information." Charlie admitted. "There's not much information
to get any hands on."

"Toby." Jed exclaimed as he looked at his communications director. Toby
seemed to be in shock, frozen in his stance. Jed moved over to Toby's side
and put a hand on his shoulder, then he turned back to Charlie. "Call
everyone together. We need to be kept up to date. I want everyone in here,
now." He ordered sharply. Charlie nodded, paused to flash Toby a sympathetic
look and then moved quickly out the door.

"I have to get over there." Toby whispered.

"We have to find out where there is first." Jed reminded him.

"I don't care. I have to get over there." Toby retorted and started for
the door. Jed kept a hold on Toby's shoulder, keeping him in the room. Toby
spun to face his boss. "You can't keep me here. I have to go to her." He
snapped.

"Toby, I'm sorry. You have no idea how much I want to let you go, or how
much I want to go with you. But we have a security lockdown now, and we have
to wait until we know exactly what's going on." Jed replied sharply. Toby
stared at him incredulously.

"I . . ." He started.

"Sir, KD was sent to Bethesda. She went straight into the OR. Danny
Canconnon went with her. He's there now and he'll keep us up to date."
Charlie exclaimed as he burst into the room again. "Leo and Josh are in the
limo. They should be arriving any minute and the others-"

"Are right here." CJ finished as she stepped in the door with Sam right
behind her. Jed nodded.

"Someone get Donna, David and Margaret in here. This concerns them too."
He ordered. Charlie nodded and moved.

"How are you doing, Toby?" Sam asked softly. Toby looked at his friend
carefully and shook his head. Sam nodded and moved to his boss, a friendly
hand flying to the other man's shoulder. Toby sat down on the couch and
stared into space. He didn't flinch when the door flew open on the other side
of the Oval office, revealing the entrance of Josh, Leo and David. David had
no clue what was going on, but as soon as he saw the look on Toby's face, he
knew it wasn't a good thing. He probably already knew it was a bad thing, for
it was a rare event that he was ordered to the Oval office.

"Leo, are you all right?" Jed exclaimed. "Josh?"

"No, I'm actually not." Leo replied softly. Josh nodded, looking
bedraggled. Behind them, the door opened as Margaret and Donna moved into the
room.

"Josh!" Donna cried as she ran into his open arms and hugged him like she
could never let him go. Leo was staring straight at Toby, who was still
staring into space. David was staring into space himself.

"Sir?" Mrs. Landingham exclaimed as she leaned in the door. Everyone
looked at her, save Toby and David who were gazing into space, trying to
understand what the loss could mean.

"Yes?" Jed asked. Behind him, Abbey and Zoe moved into the room, worried
looks on their faces.

"Danny's on the phone." The secretary replied. Jed looked at the phone
and then nodded.

"Okay, I'll get it." He replied before walking over and grabbing the
sleek black receiver, bringing it up to his ear. "Hello. Danny, hey. What can
you tell us?" Jed asked. Silence filled the room as Jed listened quietly. It
was not a good sign when he paled and forced himself to sit down in his large
chair. All eyes were on him as he listened. "What do they say, Danny? Okay,
you'll call us as soon as . . . Okay, thank you, Danny." He finally finished
and slid the phone back into its place. He looked up to see all eyes still on
him.

"What did he say?" Abbey asked softly.

"The doctors haven't told him much. The bullet went into her chest. She's
still in OR, and they predict she will be for several more hours." Jed
replied softly.

"Is that it?" Josh asked.

"There was a lot of internal bleeding. They don't know . . . if she's
going to make it." The president replied quietly. Silence filled the room.

Leo stared at his best friend as if someone had ripped his heart out. Abbey
brought her hand to her lips, the tears already brimming. CJ looked around
the room until her eyes settled on Toby who was staring at the phone with a
vacant expression, obviously deeply hurt but not willing to let it show. Sam
seemed confused, his face contorted as he processed the announcement. He
glanced over at Josh to see that his friend was extremely distressed. Donna
placed a hand on Josh's shoulder and squeezed gently, trying not to cry. He
took her in his arms and looked back out at the faces of the people in the
room. Charlie was by Zoe's side and was there when she turned to hug him and
cry gently into his shoulder.

"With your permission, Mr. President, may I get the hell out of here?"
Toby asked, rising to his feet. "Thank you." He added before Jed could
respond. Everyone watched him walk out the door. The next thing they knew,
David disappeared out after him.

Toby walked briskly down the hallway. He could feel the eyes on him as he
made his way towards the parking garage. He heard footsteps running up behind
him that managed to slow as David slowed to a stop by the communications
director's side. Toby glanced at the young blonde man and looked him over
with a dark glare.

"What the hell are you doing?" The older man asked sharply as he moved
around a corner to the elevator.

"I may not be her boyfriend, but I care about her too." David insisted.

Toby glanced at the young man once more and then nodded, moving into the
elevator and hitting the right button with such a force that David actually
jumped a few inches in the air. They rode down in silence and when the doors
opened again, Toby moved to his car and then looked at David expectantly. The
young man smiled and got into the car with his boss's boyfriend. Toby climbed
into the driver's seat of his 1993 Dodge dart and started the engine.

To Be Continued . . . .

*(Lyrics from Something Happened On the Way To Heaven by Phil Collins)