AN: Hello all. I have been reading West Wing fan fiction for a while and I decided t take my own swing at things. The Leo & Josh dynamic always stood out to me during my many rewatches. Hope you enjoy it.

"What are you doing?"

"It looked like you wanted to hug me."

"Oh man, did you read that wrong."

As Chief of Staff Leo McGarry sat in Deputy Chief Joshua Lyman's Intensive Care Unit hospital room, he couldn't help but relive the conversation that had happened yesterday in his office. How Josh, who was always so eager to please him and was always so disappointed when he did, had just wanted one thing. Just one miniscule thing compared to the hundreds of big things that Leo had requested Josh do. Just one minuscule thing compared to the things Josh did without Leo even requesting it.

And now he was sitting here, praying to God, that that wouldn't be the last real conversation that he would have with his deputy. Yet as he sat here, he was filled with the pang that that never might happen. The doctor, as well as Abbey, had been very straight with Leo and the rest of the senior staff that the injury was very severe. That they had done the best that they could do and it was up to Josh's body when it came to surviving the next 48 hours, that they would play it by ear. Leo looked away as Toby, C.J., Sam, and Donna came together in an embrace, he couldn't bear to watch as all four of them weeped. Josh's mother was currently in a private room set up by Abbey. When she had arrived and she had heard the prognosis, she had quickly needed to be sedated. With all the loss she had gone through, it was understandable.

The monitors beside Josh's bed gave nothing away except that he was alive, although with the tubes and machines still attached to him, it would be easy to not think that. His breaths were shallow to the point of being non-existent and he was so still.

Ever since he had met Josh, all those years ago when Josh was just a precocious three year old with unruly brown curls, he had never known the boy to be quiet or still for long periods of time. The only time that had happened was when Josh's interest was piqued by something. This usually occurred when Joanie, Josh's sweet older sister, Noah, or another adult started to talk about their interests. That or when something upset him. It had always caused his heart to pang that Josh knew from a young age how to hide his feelings.

So seeing him on the bed like hurt. Hurt like hell. If only he could have a drink right now to take away the pain. The pain of bringing his old friend's only remaining child onto what was thought to be a suicide campaign, promising to watch after him, and letting him get hurt. The pain of not reinforcing it into Josh's brain and making him know that he did a good job everyday, not just when he decided to commend him. The pain of seeing the President stroke Josh's hair, trying to comfort him, and not having enough courage to do it as well

The pain of knowing that Joshua Lyman had become more than the son of an old friend or even a coworker to him. Joshua Lyman was his son.

That was his son lying on the hospital bed. That was his son who was always willing to walk through fire for the president and him, and actually had in this case, at a high price to himself.

That was his son's doctors who had approached him and the others in the private waiting room that the hospital set up for them, despite GW's president's pleas for them to go back to work or home and wait, and told them that yes, Joshua Lyman had made it through surgery, but he was still critical. That yes, the fact that he woke up for a second was a good sign, but that there was a 60% chance that the trauma was going to be too much. That the fact of the matter was that the bullet had only been 2 inches away from his heart, causing his lung to collapse and blood to stop flowing to his brain for 45 minutes, and so for the next few days it would be touch and go.

Leo was snapped out his reverie from Josh's heart monitor beginning to beat faster. He scrambled out of his chair, wiped the tears away that had unconsciously formed, and gently grabbed Josh's hand.

"Josh? Come on, Josh. Wake up. Wake up, Joshua. It's okay. Just open your eyes. You did it once. Now's not the time to be stubborn kid."

There was no movement and Leo could feel the tears welling up. "Please, Joshua. You got to wake up for me, Joshua. The doctors are gonna come in here and they are gonna do something, if your heart monitor keeps going off and you don't do anything. Come on, kid."

As if God had finally decided to give him a break, it was at that moment that Josh's eyes opened and his heart monitor evened out.

"Josh, you're awake. God, kid, you scared the crap out of us."

Josh's eyes took a minute to focus and he slowly turned his head to Leo. He attempted to sit up, harshly whispering "Leo" but quickly gasped in pain, resulting in Leo quickly moving and stopping him, squeezing his hand. "Hey, it's okay kid. You don't need to try to move mountains right now. Just rest. That's all I want you to do, Josh."

Josh attempted a smile and Leo didn't realize until then how much he missed Josh's dimpled grin. Leo sobered a bit when the thought crossed his mind that there was a possibility that this could be the last times he saw those dimples. He shook that thought out when he saw Josh attempt to speak again.

"Mmm—ss-sorr-ry. K-now tha—that…"

Leo could see where he was headed and put his foot down.

"Jesus Christ, Josh. You were shot. I don't really want to talk political ramifications right now because I really don't care. We'll deal with it. We'll deal with it."

"B-but...L-Leo...l-let...let you-"

And as if God had decided that he, Leo McGarry, had been blessed enough, Josh's monitors once again began to beep shrilly and race mirroring the coughing fit and the pain that Josh displayed on the bed.

"Josh! Joshua it's okay! It's going to be okay. The doctors-the doctors are coming."

The nurses rushed in the room and checking Josh's vitals, grabbed a syringe and stuck it into Josh. Josh began to calm.

"What..What the hell happened? What did you give him."

"We gave him a sedative, Mr. McGarry. He was getting worked up and that's going to make things worse. His heart and his lungs aren't strong enough right now. He'll be out for a few hours, starting in a few minutes and so I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The nurse did all of this without glancing once at Leo and it honestly made Leo wonder what the hell happened to bedside manner and reassuring the patients loved ones, but he nodded and grabbed his jacket.

"It's probably for the best. I don't-I don't want to get him all riled up. He knows how to do that on his own."

He walked over to the bed and waited for the nurse to leave the room, before he began to speak to Josh, who despite everything, was trying to fight to stay awake.

It reminded him of a seven year old Josh who, at a dinner party hosted by his father's law firm, climbed under a table and when he caught him by seeing a small dress shoe stick out from under the table and picked him up, he saw an exhausted, but petulant little boy rub his eyes and say,"Mm...not tired, Mistah MahGarry. Honest, not."

"Hey, Josh. I'm going to go. You get some rest now, you hear? I don't want to come back and see that they had to give you another sedative, your mother already wants to kill me. You're gonna be okay. The President is okay. You are doing okay."

He sees Josh smile and his eyes slowly drift close, before he hears Josh murmur something that vaguely sounds like "love you".

It's at that moment, he does something that he knows he would never do when Josh was awake or well. Something that he would deny doing if caught, but at the same time something he needed to do. Especially with all the uncertainty.

He waits a few more moments before he starts to stroke Josh's hair. "You did good, kid. You frustrate the hell out of me sometimes, but you always do good. You're not just a son of an old friend, I promise to God you're not. You got to keep fighting, son. You got to. Your friends they need you, your mother needs you, the President needs you. I...I need you, son. I love you, kid."

Leo sighs and stops stroking Josh's hair before leaning down and kissing the top of his head and giving Josh a gentle hug.

He walked towards the door and at the last moment turned around whispering, "You didn't read that wrong, son. I'm gonna make sure you know that."

He walked out of the hospital room and down the hall, passing the Secret Service agents who were a part of his detail and the new agents that had become assigned to Josh Lyman for the time being. He knew that when he got back to his hotel suite he should call C.J., Toby, Sam, and Donna, so that they could decide who wanted to go stay with Josh next alongside Josh's mother who would eventually wake up, but he decided to let them rest for a bit. He knew he was going to, especially due to the fact that he wasn't going to have the same dream he had been having since the shooting.

Why? Because he had finally hugged his son.