Episode Summary:
When Zoey’s kidnapping is learned to be the work of Qumar terrorists, Bartlet decides to invoke the 25th ammendment to prevent him from putting this personal crisis ahead of the national good. And since there’s no Vice President, the power of the Presidency goes to the Speaker of the House; new father, Toby is concerned about his ability to love his children.
Script:
THE WEST WING Season Four � 4.23 "TWENTY-FIVE" Original Air Date: 5/14/2003 Written by: Aaron Sorkin Directed by: Thomas Schlamme ========================== Transcribed by William A. Bushey for TWIZ TV.COM E-mail: [email protected] ========================== Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the story. The West Wing and all its characters are a property of Aaron Sorkin, John Wells Production, Warner Brothers Television and NBC. No copyright infringement is intended. ========================== TEASER FADE IN: INT. PRIVATE ROOM - WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT Instrumental music is playing on a record and, as the camera pans up, the President is seated on a couch opposite of two other men. Abbey Bartlet and two other ladies are seated at a nearby table. A woman's laugh is heard. WOMAN 1 My husband's been having some empty nest problems. WOMAN 2 Jerry's been sighing all week. Has the President been sighing? ABBEY BARTLET Please. Jed's been sighing. He's been sighing in all kinds of dead languages. WOMAN 1 Those pearls really are beautiful. ABBEY Thank you. Yeah. The men are not taking this very well. Abbey turns around on her chair to look at Jed Bartlet on the couch as he is looking through some of Zoey's childhood photographs. ABBEY Fellas, you know, we're all having a good time over here. PRESIDENT BARTLET (Sullenly) We're having a good time here, too. ABBEY Ha! Doing what? PRESIDENT BARTLET Talking about the too rapid passage of time and, you know, grieving. Abbey turns back around to face the two women sitting at the table with her. ABBEY He's gonna schedule nine White House visits to France over the next three months. He is accepting every invitation. He's gonna be a judge at the Cannes Film Festival. The President turns around to face Abbey with a photo in his hand PRESIDENT BARTLET I told you it was this one! ABBEY (softly) Oh. PRESIDENT BARTLET That's the day we brought her home from the hospital. Tell me that wasn't a month ago. What the hell is she doing graduating summa cum laude from something? MAN 1 Remember the ride home from the hospital? Scariest drive of your life. Camera pans towards the entrance of the room where Leo McGarry and Agent Ron Butterfield appear with alarmed looks on their faces. MAN 2 Seven miles an hour with the hazard lights on all the way home. President Bartlet sees the looks of concern on Leo and Ron's faces and rises up from the couch with some of Zoey's photos in his left hand and a drink in his right. President Bartlet starts to walk towards Leo and Ron who are waiting for the President just outside the doorway. MAN 1 >From what I remembered, did we have baby seats then or did we just hold on very tight? The President approaches Leo in the background, but their dialogue is inaudible. MAN 2 Yeah, we had the�. Hey honey, were there baby seats when Jackie was born? WOMAN 2 Yes, of course there were. There were baby seats, indoor plumbing. (laughs) MAN 2 That was twenty-one years ago. I can't remember what hotel we stayed in last night. Camera pans closer to President Bartlet as he listens to Leo McGarry. The dialogue is still inaudible. WOMAN 1 I wore all of my jewelry to the hospital when George was born. I don't know why. Camera zooms in on a close-up shot of Ron as he interjects and speaks to the President, still inaudible. WOMAN 2 To show off. With the camera still on the President, Leo and Ron, the guests' voices become muffled as dramatic music becomes louder. The camera pans down to the carpet where, in slow motion, you first see the photos drop with a booming sound, then the glass of alcohol drops five seconds later with a crashing sound as the alcohol and ice spill all over the photos. Abbey slowly turns in her seat to look at President Bartlet. The President slowly turns his head towards Abbey with a look of shock on his face as the background music crescendos. Camera turns back to Abbey's face, now visibly concerned. Camera moves back to the President's face, then zooms in on one of Zoey's childhood pictures. SMASH CUT TO: MAIN TITLES **** ACT ONE FADE IN: EXT. STREET - NIGHT AGENT WES DAVIS All right, Harbor Patrol's got the Potomac? SECOND AGENT Yes, sir. WES Forensics! JOSH LYMAN Wes, what the hell is going on? WES She's been taken. JOSH What? CHARLIE YOUNG What are you talking about? FEMALE AGENT How many? WES 188, 24 stat! CHARLIE What are you talking about? WES Zoey's been taken. We had her, going into the bathroom and she's gone. CHARLIE She's messin' with you. WES No. MALE AGENT Local news over there. WES: It doesn't matter! We move them away. CHARLIE Wes, she's messin' with you. I'm tellin' you. She's at a Baskin-Robbins with her girlfriends right now. You gotta call these people off. WES They shot one of my agents, Charlie. Molly's dead. They shot Molly. CHARLIE Molly's dead? Charlie turns away, walking briskly in the other direction. CHARLIE Well, they couldn't have� WES Charlie! CHARLIE They couldn't have gotten very far. WES Charlie, you gotta stay here! CHARLIE My car's around the corner. JOSH We need to stay here! They're gonna need to talk to us! Josh starts to reach for Charlie's arm. CHARLIE They couldn't have gotten� Charlie violently pushes Josh's hand away. CHARLIE Get off of me! JOSH: (recoils) Whoa! Listen to me! They've already dropped a net on the city. They have already dropped a net. These guys aren't getting anywhere. They're not gonna let us leave right now. We were the last people to see her go in the club. They're gonna want to have a word with us. CUT TO: INT. WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT The President, Ron and Leo are seen walking very quickly down a small staircase. AGENT RON BUTTERFIELD Metro police have roadblocks around Georgetown and they've already closed down the Key Bridge, Memorial Bridge and Route 29. LEO McGARRY FBI's putting up a command post at OEOB? RON Yes. LEO CIA and Diplomatic Security are getting briefed? RON Right now, and they're wired to the Ops Center. We're gonna begin questioning which�. PRESIDENT BARTLET Do you have my older daughters? Do you have Ellie and Elizabeth? RON Yes, sir. President Bartlet, Leo and Ron enter the White House Situation Room. OFFICER Ten, hut! LEO There's no need to keep this a secret. In fact, we want to get it out there quickly and massively. Mike, right, turn all the lights on? MIKE Secret Service put themselves on the police frequencies, so anyone with a scanner has it. Everyone's coming in. LEO Major, I need C.J. Cregg. Are we being attacked? ADMIRAL FITZWALLACE We don't know. LEO Then, tell me what you think. FITZWALLACE I think we're being attacked, but this is gonna take some time. LEO How much time? FITZWALLACE Forty-five minutes to assemble and evaluate known threats. And another hour to cross-check with the Secret Service Familiar Faces list. OFFICER Another two hours for the interviews at the club. LEO Related incidents? MIKE We don't believe any of the three high-profile abductions last week are related. The Mexican CEO, the two DEA agents in Peru. LEO Patterns? MIKE INS says three separate groups of Qumari nationals, seventeen people altogether, flew back today. Eleven out of JFK and six out of Dulles and� traffic lights went out at Wisconsin and M four minutes after Wes Davis called in to the AOP. PRESIDENT BARTLET What is it they're gonna want? Bahji prisoners freed? We get out of Qumar? We get out of Kundu? FITZWALLACE Well, they're gonna let us know, sir. In a typical kidnapping�. NANCY McNALLY It's not a typical kidnapping. FITZWALLACE �They're gonna tell us what�. LEO Wait. Nancy, what did you say? NANCY Is there anyone here who thinks this sounds like a typical kidnapping so far? Could it have been any more low-tech? A plan based on knowing when someone's gonna need to use the bathroom? FITZWALLACE Seventeen Qumari nationals leave the country? NANCY Out of 10,000 in the U.S. FITZWALLACE Every car rental agency is out of vans AND U-Hauls? NANCY It's graduation weekend. Every kid in the mid-Atlantic is moving right now. We shut down the airports. Either they didn't know we were gonna do that, or they didn't care. Either way, Mike, does this seem like a James Bond operation to you? MIKE I don't know what it is yet, Dr. McNally. LEO I wanna stop hearing that answer soon! PRESIDENT BARTLET And Union Station, too? We shut down Union Station? AGENT Yes, sir. PRESIDENT BARTLET I'm gonna check on Abbey. President Bartlet leaves the Situation Room. NANCY Leo. Whoever took her doesn't know what they're doing. It was an absurd kidnapping. She's not gonna turn up in a Bahji camp. She's gonna turn up in the back of a muffler shop. FITZWALLACE Well, I'm looking at Syria moving 20,000 troops closer to Lebanon today and Pakistan testing a long-range missile so... I'm not sure about that. CUT TO: EXT. STREET - NIGHT Camera pans up as a helicopter is flying overhead. Josh is running alongside of a Secret Service agent. Charlie is running behind them. JOSH I was there at the arboretum� I was at the arboretum, but I didn't see her! AGENT I don't understand! JOSH This part doesn't matter! AGENT We don't know what matters! JOSH You're right! I'm sorry, I� we went there together, we hopped the wall and then when we realized that Zoey was also there, I� I stayed with Agent Reed and Charlie�. CHARLIE We buried a bottle of champagne out there three and a half years ago and we were drinking to celebrate graduation. AGENT Where's "out there?" CHARLIE At a spot between two� in the Asian Garden. AGENT How much champagne did she have? CHARLIE I don't know. Maybe a third of the bottle. I don't know. WES Charlie. All right now there was no evidence of a struggle at the club. None. All she had to do was press a panic button, and she didn't do that. In fact, I found it on the ground. Now, it's graduation night. She's going to France tomorrow. You didn't try anything? Vicodin? Valium? Uh, Ecstasy? CHARLIE Ecstasy! Charlie turns quickly and runs in the opposite direction. CHARLIE Jean-Paul! AGENT You need to sit down, son! JOSH (running after Charlie) Hey! Hey! Charlie runs right up to Jean-Paul's face as he's leaning up against an ambulance. Jean-Paul is heavily sedated. CHARLIE Did you?! She said you wanted her to take ecstasy with you tonight! Did you give some to her?! WOMAN He's completely out of it, Charlie. He's high. CHARLIE Did you give her ecstasy?! Did you put it in her drink or something?! Just tell me! WES Wait, wait. This guy isn't� (Wes shines a flashlight in Jean-Paul's eyes) Look at me for a second! Yeah, this guy isn't high on X. Get me a paramedic! What's your dealer's name, huh? Who gave this to you? Give me a name! Listen to me. You're gonna be fine. You are the key witness to the end of the world. Come on, come on! We're gonna keep you alive! You have to tell me who gave this to you! AGENT What's wrong with him? WES I don't give a damn. Get a blood sample to the lab! PARAMEDIC Yes, sir. Wes walks over to Josh and Charlie. WES All right, you guys are done. JOSH Listen, I� I don't know what to say about Molly. WES Go back to the White House, Josh. Stand your post. Josh puts his arm around Charlie's shoulder and they walk away as the camera pans up to the helicopter still flying overhead. CUT TO: INT. BULLPEN AREA - NIGHT CAROL No law enforcement issues from the podium. You refer them to the FBI. The crime scene's still being secured. There's no press on the scene. C.J. CREGG I heard there was. CAROL It was local news because they were at the party, but they got them out of there. LEO C.J. Excuse me, Carol. CAROL Yes, sir. C.J. and Leo enter C.J.'s office. Carol exits. LEO Do not get into a discussion of the President's emotional state. C.J. Yeah. LEO You have to pivot whatever you get to commander in chief. C.J. Yeah. LEO Congressional leadership's been notified. We'll have statements inside an hour. C.J. Carol gave me that. WILL BAILEY Excuse me. LEO We're in control. The government is functioning. This is the most important press conference of your life. C.J. looks up at Leo as he exits her office. WILL Has anyone heard from Toby? C.J. I haven't. You haven't? WILL The last time I saw him was this morning, then he went with Andy to the house. I have to write a statement from the President and I don't even know where to start. C.J. grabs a document off of her desk as she starts to briskly walk out of her office. C.J. He'll answer his page. WILL Listen. C.J. Yeah. WILL (sighs) Nothing. C.J. What?! WILL There's no Vice-President. C.J. What does that have to do with this? WILL Are we really expecting him to get on the phone with somebody and say, "We don't negotiate with terrorists?" C.J. One step at a time. WILL Good luck. C.J. Thanks. CUT TO: INT. PRESS ROOM - NIGHT As C.J. enters the Press Room, several reporters begin calling out her name as press photographers snap pictures. C.J. At 11:21pm, Special Agent Wesley Davis of the U.S. Secret Service called in an AOP, which means: "Attack on the Principal." REPORTERS: "C.J.!" CUT TO BLACK. END OF ACT ONE **** ACT TWO FADE IN: INT. PRESS ROOM - HOUR 2 - NIGHT C.J. As I said, they're obviously examining any tape from security cameras that may have picked her up at the club, but we don't have a photograph of what she was wearing. I'm gonna repeat again what witnesses have told us. Black pants, black high-heeled boots and a black tank top over a red tank top which makes it appear, from a distance, that the black top has red piping. Walking into the club, she was wearing a multicolored silk jacket, but it appears she may have taken the jacket off. I know this feed is being carried live right now by all the networks and I just wanna remind the news directors to keep the 800 number� to keep the tip line bannered on your air, please. Two more questions. FEMALE REPORTER Surely, he's not reacting as if this is someone else's kid? LYLE Is there a concern that she's being raped? C.J. Lyle, for the sake of a number of distraught people, I'm gonna ask you not to publicly speculate on what's going on. Katie, and then I've gotta go. KATIE WITT Is there a concern that this could exacerbate his MS? C.J. No. Thank you. I'll brief again in an hour. STEVE When will you release the name of the Secret Service agent? C.J. Just as soon as we can locate her family. Reporters continue to shout C.J.'s name as she exits the Press Room. C.J. (spots Toby) Where have you been? TOBY ZIEGLER All of Northwest is shut down. Pennsylvania Avenue and Connecticut Avenue are shut down. I wouldn't be surprised if Pennsylvania and Connecticut were shut down. There are no cabs. The Metro's closed. Metro Police took me to 18th Street. It took me fifteen minutes to get in with a hard pass. WILL Where have you been? TOBY I'm not repeating all that again. Do you have a statement? WILL Right here. GINGER You've got about a hundred phone messages. How do you want em? TOBY I want them to stay in your hand for a moment. Toby begins to read what Will has written. TOBY "In this difficult time, we are grateful for the support of the American�" (looks up at Will) We're not asking for fruit baskets. It's gotta say: "Our youngest daughter has been abducted. She will be found, brought home safely, and her� abductors caught and punished." JOSH "While we work for her safe return� C.J. Yes. JOSH �the world community must know that this country will not be taken hostage. That our efforts toward peace and freedom continue unabated." TOBY Good. (pauses) How is he? JOSH I haven't seen him. TOBY What about Abbey? C.J. Somebody's looking in on her and they want a doctor to see the President, too. TOBY He's not gonna allow himself be sedated right now? It's a waste of time and I don't want that story leaked. C.J. It's not for a sedative. TOBY MS? C.J. Yeah. TOBY Where's Leo on the Stock Exchange? JOSH We haven't had time to talk about it yet, but I think if we don't have her by six, we gotta recommend that Leo instruct the Treasury Department to suspend trading. WILL That the PRESIDENT instruct the Treasury� Listen to me, there is no mechanism, none. There is no mechanism for presidential recusal. Leo can't give an order to the Treasury secretary and the Treasury secretary can't follow it. TOBY All right. (to C.J.) I heard most of the briefing on the radio. You did great. For the rest of the night, they've gotta get their information from us and not the agencies. I don't want it like she's on a milk carton. Josh? JOSH I've already started the calls. TOBY Five hundred and thirty-five congressman and senators you've gotta call. You 're gonna need a posse. State's gotta call the ambassadors. Will, you've gotta be a lawyer. Sit in on all the meetings tonight in the counsel's office and report back to Josh right away. He's not gonna have time to wait for a memo. (pauses) Well, let's go. C.J., Josh and Will start to walk away. TOBY Oh, uh, hey! This is� By the way, this is� The babies were born. C.J. What babies? TOBY The twins. Andy had the babies. That's where I was. I was at the hospital. C.J. Oh, my God. JOSH Are you kidding? TOBY No. It just happened ten days early. WILL Are they okay? TOBY Yeah, they're great. Six pounds, one ounce. Each. JOSH God. (walks over to hug Toby) Mazel tov, Toby. WILL Mazel tov. C.J. (smiling) Toby. JOSH No, wait, wait. Do they have names? TOBY The boy does. He's named after Andy's grandfather. JOSH What's his name? TOBY Huck. C.J. Huck. (laughs) What a great name for a boy! Toby nods and grins. TOBY We've gotta get back to work. JOSH Yeah. Yeah! C.J. Toby. C.J. puts her left hand to her heart. Toby nods. C.J. Okay, okay. CUT TO: INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT A military doctor is taking the President's blood pressure as the President exhales forcefully. MILITARY DOCTOR This is high. I'm a little concerned. PRESIDENT BARTLET You and me both. Charlie enters the Oval Office. CHARLIE Mr. President. PRESIDENT BARTLET Yeah. CHARLIE They've located Molly O'Connor's parents. They're on the phone now. The President pauses as he looks at Charlie, then nods his head. FADE TO BLACK. END ACT TWO **** ACT THREE FADE IN: INT. JOSH'S BULLPEN AREA - NIGHT JOSH How many people are in that building right now? DONNA MOSS Including press? JOSH Not including press. DONNA Not many. Anyone who left town can't get back. JOSH Why did people leave town in the first place? DONNA It's the weekend. They went crazy. JOSH We're gonna need some people. DONNA Do you know how many faxes we've gotten and do you know how many of them are from your insane groupies? (reads one of the faxes outloud) "The Lyman Ho's have chosen this time to let you know via fax, should you be needing any physical comfort during this horrible time�" Read that. Do you like that? Is that what turns you on, you sicky? JOSH I didn't write this. DONNA Yeah, but they must sense it in you. JOSH What are the others? DONNA I just picked them up. It's gonna be more thoughts and prayers, good wishes� JOSH That's nice. DONNA �and bus station skanks. WILL Do you need help with these calls? JOSH Yeah, but� you gotta sit with Babish and his guys. Donna begins to comment on another fax. DONNA Spreklettes of Ames, Iowa hope we don't exploit this to make another irrational argument about taking their guns. The Spreklettes of Ames have weighed in. Will looks over at Josh. WILL Yeah, I was gonna say the speechwriting interns are here. JOSH They got in? WILL No, they've been here. JOSH You had them in on a Saturday night? WILL It was a character-building exercise. JOSH (to Donna) You hear that? (back to Will) These interns, they can talk on the phone? WILL Yeah. JOSH They gotta talk to congressmen. They're gonna have to� DONNA (reviewing one of the faxes) Hang on. WILL They can do it, but you should take the committee chairs� DONNA Hang on. JOSH What? DONNA This is one tank top on top of another tank top (hands the fax to Will) This is a Polaroid of Zoey. WILL That's a ransom note. CUT TO: EXT. WHITE HOUSE EXTERIOR - NIGHT President Bartlet, Charlie and a security agent are walking briskly towards the Oval Office. Agent Ron Butterfield opens the door from the inside and greets the President. RON Sir. PRESIDENT BARTLET Blood tests? RON They found GHB. Gamma hydroxybutyrate. MIKE It's degreasing solvent mixed with drain cleaner, and in low doses� PRESIDENT BARTLET In low doses, it's a date-rape drug. MIKE Yes, sir. PRESIDENT BARTLET What about the boy? RON They believe he'll be conscious in an hour or so. The President walks into the Oval Office from the outside. PRESIDENT BARTLET Where is it? Leo hands President Bartlet the fax, then a second piece of paper. LEO This is the translation. PRESIDENT BARTLET We think this is Zoey? LEO It's a fax-quality picture, but the left shoulder� PRESIDENT BARTLET Where was it faxed from? LEO A Kinko's self-serve in Dover. A security camera got a partial license plate. It's a minivan rented to a Shahab Kaleel, and there's an FBI APB out. PRESIDENT BARTLET (reading the translation) "Release Uzma Kalil, Ahmed Mansour and Barmak Essa from the Islamabad maximum-security prison. The President will announce on television that the United States will abandon its military presence in Qumar." LEO Now, the analysts say Qumar's Mufti made a call for martyrdom operations last week, using phrasing that's almost identical to the next passage and named those three prisoners. Two years ago, a Bahji cell kidnapped the sons of the prime minister of Eritrea in exchange for close to a hundred of their prisoners. President Bartlet sighs, then looks over to Admiral Fitzwallace. PRESIDENT BARTLET Where are you? FITZWALLACE I wanna prepare to attack the following targets: The Bahji C3I: Communications, Command, Control and Intelligence. I wanna move the C-130s and the Blackhawks and I wanna move the Washington carrier group into the gulf to strike three Bahji camps in Qumar. NANCY And I believe we cannot move into position yet. This will escalate. This will get worse before it gets better. Sir, that boy's gonna be conscious in an hour and we have a good chance of finding the dealer once he is. LEO We're gonna find the dealer, Nancy, but he's gonna be dead when we do. President Bartlet looks at Leo, then down at his fax, then turns to Fitzwallace. PRESIDENT BARTLET Move the 5th Fleet into the gulf. FITZWALLACE Yes, sir. President Bartlet takes off his glasses, sighs and looks at Leo. FADE TO BLACK. END ACT THREE **** ACT FOUR FADE IN: INT. WHITE HOUSE - HOUR 4 - NIGHT A news anchor can be heard on the television in the background. MALE NEWS ANCHOR No, and I think we should be careful about saying that but� certainly, it's easy to imagine how this escalates to a military situation under any number of scenarios. FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR Thank you, Keith Nant and we'll be coming back to you. We've been, from time to time, showing you home-movie footage in the corner of our screen. I don't have the dates in front of me, but it looks like she can't be more than� LEO Huck? TOBY Yeah. LEO That's nice. I like that. TOBY It's her grandfather's. LEO Oh, hey. Hey. (Leo turns the volume down on the television) The house. What happened? What happened with the house? Did you propose? TOBY Yeah. (clears throat) We tabled it, though, because, you know� LEO You had to go to the hospital. TOBY Yeah. LEO Was there time to tell her you bought her the house? TOBY Yeah. I told her about the house and everything. LEO (smiles) What'd she say? TOBY This really doesn't feel like the night to, you know� LEO What did she say? TOBY She said no. LEO Well, I mean, that'll� change, right? TOBY Hey, let me ask you something. When Jenny was pregnant with Mallory, you were nervous, right? LEO Yeah. TOBY Yeah, me too. LEO Every father. TOBY Yeah. (pauses) But I think I was nervous for a different reason. LEO What? TOBY I think I was nervous I wasn't gonna love my kids� the way other fathers love theirs. LEO Why? TOBY I don't know. If, for nine months, you're hearing how this is gonna change your life, and: "You've never loved anything like this," and, "My God, the love" and, "Nothing's gonna be important anymore." It just never really felt to me like I was someone who had the capacity for those feelings. Plus, you know, I� I like what's important to me. I want it to stay important. I, uh� I wanna be able to do it well. LEO What do you mean, you don't have the capacity? TOBY (pauses) Anyway, I was just curious. LEO Of course you're gonna be a great father. Of course you're gonna love your kids the way you're supposed to, the way other fathers� TOBY My God, Leo, we look around, we see that's not true. It's not automatic. LEO I'm not talking about everybody. I'm talking about you and I'm telling ya, it's a mortal lock. It's guaranteed. (Leo and Toby look at each other) LEO Toby, what went on at the house? Toby smiles uncomfortably as he picks up the remote and turns the volume up on the television. FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR With the Capitol area virtually sealed off, all air traffic is grounded. Let me ask you� CUT TO: INT. OUTSIDE OF ABBEY BARTLET'S OFFICE - NIGHT Amy Gardner is seated when she sees that Abbey has come through the door, walking briskly. AMY Mrs. Bartlet? Abbey continues walking past Amy. AMY Ma'am? Mrs. Bartlet? ABBEY I'm gonna make a direct appeal. They'll turn on the cameras when I go into the briefing room. I'll make a direct appeal. AMY Ma'am, you can't. ABBEY I'm the mother. AMY You can't. ABBEY I don't know why I waited this long. I screwed up. AMY Let� let's sit down. ABBEY Get away from me. C.J. Abbey? AMY You can't go in the press room, It'll undermine� ABBEY I've seen other mothers do it. AMY (whispers to C.J.) She wants to go in� C.J. Abbey! You can't go in the press room. ABBEY I'm going to make a direct appeal. I don't know why I waited this long. I've seen other mothers do it. Abbey enters the press room and freezes as photographers snap pictures. REPORTERS Mrs. Bartlet! C.J. braces Abbey by the shoulders as she spins her back out of the press room. C.J. Uh, guys! Give her a break! Reporters continue to shout questions as C.J. and Amy walk silently behind Abbey. Amy hesitates for a moment, then speaks. AMY It can be seen as negotiating with them and� it could undermine the military threats the President is making and if the goal is to destabilize our government, they're going to see you and know they're succeeding. You can't go in the press room. ABBEY (Sighs) I know�. I'd just seen other mothers do it. I screwed up. C.J. (softly) Abbey, come sit on my couch for a minute. AMY I'm gonna call the doctor. ABBEY Tell him I want whatever Zoey got. C.J. Come sit on my couch. AMY (on the telephone) It's Amy. Yeah, she's all right. She's fine. If you can just step into the press secretary's office. Thank you. CUT TO: INT. SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT NANCY Mr. President. Have Leo meet with the Qumari ambassador. Have him do it before the sun comes up. Let's try the diplomatic route before this gets out of hand. FITZWALLACE Before it gets out of hand? Sir, I wanna put the planes in the air now. If we're gonna end up striking bases later on in Tamar and Laddi, we're gonna need some element of surprise. NANCY Chairman, do I have to remind you that Qumar is an ally? FITZWALLACE You don't. But I need to ask you, what good is an ally if their citizens are capable of waging war on their own? LEO (to the President) Excuse me, sir. We have a problem. PRESIDENT BARTLET One? LEO There's an airplane up there. (turns on a speaker phone) Captain, give us the controller's transmission, please. CAPTAIN ON SPEAKER Yes, sir. LEO An unidentified Beech Baron 58. It's a twin-prop plane. It's in the air over Richland, Washington and it hasn't acknowledged radio communications from Air Traffic Control. They're ninety miles from the Saw Mill River Nuclear Reactor. CAPTAIN ON SPEAKER Beech 0827, do you respond, over? (pause) Beech 0827, this is Air Route Traffic Control Center, Seattle. Do you respond, over? LEO We scrambled the jets? GENERAL Two F-15s out of Portland. They're on either side. They're over water. They have clear shots. PRESIDENT BARTLET When do you want me to give the order? Seventy miles from the target? Sixty? Fifty? GENERAL I'm sorry, Mr. President. Which target are you talking about? LEO He meant the Nuclear Plant. PRESIDENT BARTLET How far away do I wait? CAPTAIN ON SPEAKER Has the transponder been dialed to 7700? OTHER MAN ON SPEAKER Negative. No signal. PRESIDENT BARTLET Seventy-seven hundred's an emergency frequency? LEO If you lose your radio, you set your transponder to 7700. Seventy-five hundred means you've been hijacked. These guys aren't signaling anything. PRESIDENT BARTLET Fellas, we've got confusion in here! The President slams his fist down on the table, and gets up from his seat. PRESIDENT BARTLET When do I give the order? MAN ON SPEAKER Beech 0827, this is Air Route Traffic Control Center, Seattle. LEO Seventy miles. But they're gonna be over population in about a minute. PRESIDENT BARTLET (to Leo) Talk to me. LEO General! FIGHTER PILOT ON SPEAKER Beech 0827, this is U.S. Air Force F-15 five-six. I'm a half-mile back on your right side and I have missile lock. Switch to frequency 121.5 and stand by for slow flight. BEECH ON SPEAKER Yeah, this is Beech 0827. Sorry about that. Uh, we were having a problem with the� with the thing. President Bartlet sighs, then begins to walk out of the Situation Room. FITZWALLACE Mr. President? PRESIDENT BARTLET I know you wanna get the planes in the air. I wanna think about it a minute, okay? FITZWALLACE Of course, sir. The President and Leo exit the Situation Room and as the President comes to a small set of stairs, he takes a seat on one of the stairs. PRESIDENT BARTLET I don't know what to do about the military options. Nancy's making good points. Sorry about the confusion in there. I know we practiced that. LEO We're doin' fine. PRESIDENT BARTLET I don't think so. I need you to tell me now. Do you think she's already dead? LEO I absolutely do not. PRESIDENT BARTLET If they show me a picture of her alive and tell me to aim cruise missiles at Tel Aviv, they're counting on the fact that a father� LEO But you wouldn't. PRESIDENT BARTLET (turns to Leo) I might. LEO (speaking in a low voice) There are people around you who won't let you. PRESIDENT BARTLET How about a picture, they've got a knife to her throat, get out of Saudi Arabia? LEO You shouldn't think of images like that. PRESIDENT BARTLET All I CAN think of are images like that. LEO Sir. PRESIDENT BARTLET Leo. Please listen to me. Did Fitz give me target recommendations a little while ago? LEO Yes, sir. He wants to attack the bases� PRESIDENT BARTLET I don't remember having the conversation and I don't know what targets he wants to hit. Did I green-light the targets? LEO Of course not. Mr. President, no one is expecting you to keep the United States out of a war tonight. Me and Nancy and Fitz are standing right next to you. When you get information, you don't need to remember it. And we're standing right next to you when you give orders. You're not gonna hurt anybody. PRESIDENT BARTLET I know it's a strange time to bring this up but� I forecasted this once. I made up a scary story a few years ago for Zoey so that she'd take her� protection seriously, and I went too far. And I scared her. And she cried. This was the story. Leo, the people you just named don't have the legal authority to� stop me from doing certain things and some of them would go to jail if they didn't follow my orders. Very quietly, I want you to assemble the Cabinet. I want you to call the Speaker of the House. President Bartlet rises from the stair on which he was seated and walks up the stairs. FADE TO BLACK. END OF ACT FOUR **** ACT FIVE FADE IN: INT. HOSPITAL - HOUR 6 - NIGHT Toby emerges from Andy's hospital room and enters the nurse's station as he approaches the front desk. NURSE Is she asleep? TOBY Yeah. Toby walks over to a window where he can see his babies. One of the babies is crying. NURSE Mr. Ziegler? You know, these people went home last night. If you like, I can bring the babies in there and you can have a few moments� TOBY Oh, no. Thank you. No. That's okay. The nurse smiles as she starts to walk away. TOBY Okay. Yeah, sure. CUT TO: INT. HOSPITAL BED - NIGHT The nurse carries the babies into a dimly-lit hospital room, softly whispering to the babies as she sets them down on a nearby bed. NURSE (to the babies) Right over here. There we go. (to Toby) They'll need to be fed in a few minutes, so I'll come back. TOBY Thank you. Nurse leaves the room and closes the door behind her. Toby looks down at his babies on the bed. TOBY I didn't realize babies come with hats. You guys crack me up. (baby coos) You don't have jobs. You can't walk or speak the language. (pulls up a chair next to the bed) You don't have a dollar in your pockets, but you got yourselves a hat. So, everything's fine. (baby coos) I don't wanna alarm you or anything but� I'm dad. (laughs as he look over at Huck) And for you, son, for you, this'll be the last time I pass the buck, but I think it should be clear from the get-go that it was Mom who named you Huckleberry. I guess she was feeling like life� doesn't present enough challenges to overcome on its own. (to his daughter) And, honey, you've got a name now too. Your mom and I named you after� an incredibly brave� uh� An incredibly brave woman, really not all that much older than you. Your name is Molly. Huck and Molly. So, what do I do? Well, you're gonna need food and clothes and doctors and dentists and� there's that. And, should you have any questions along the way, I'm gonna be doin' stuff like this, (grabs a tissue and wipes Huck's mouth) Huck, because you're leaking a little bit out of your mouth there. You're holding my finger, son? Hey, Molly. Your brother's holding my hand. Do you wanna hold my hand? (laughs) This isn't gonna mean anything to you, but� Leo was right. (smiles) Leo was right. Nurse enters the room. NURSE Mr. Ziegler? TOBY Yeah. NURSE It's so nice when they look at you like that, isn't it? TOBY Yeah. The nurse turns to look at the television as it plays home movies of the President and Zoey Bartlet when she was a little girl. NURSE Oh, look how sweet they are together. They've been showing old home videos on the news. I don't know why they do that. (sighs) Toby looks up at the television to see President Bartlet wiping Zoey's mouth just as Toby had done with Huck a few moments earlier. Toby looks back down at his babies, then rises up from his chair. TOBY I have to get back to my office now. NURSE Mr. Ziegler, would you convey to the President and Mrs. Bartlet that the prayers of everyone in this hospital and�. (sighs) well, everyone� are with them tonight? TOBY Of course I will and they'll both appreciate it. I'm writing down my pager number if Andy needs me or� if they do anything new. NURSE New? TOBY Yeah. NURSE Like what? TOBY You never know. As Toby is leaving the hospital, he gives a slap to the exit sign hanging above his head. CUT TO: EXT. WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT Leo is sitting outside on a bench just outside of the White House as his secretary, Margaret walks towards him. She hands him a cup of coffee. LEO Oh, thank you. MARGARET Charlie's on his way. LEO Thanks. MARGARET I think you should sleep for a few hours. LEO I'll sleep when he sleeps, but YOU should sleep for a few hours. MARGARET I'll sleep when you sleep. LEO Well, this is gonna be interesting because we're gonna have a small band of dedicated people who can't lift their arms. Charlie appears as Margaret walks away. CHARLIE Yes, sir. LEO I guess if I told you to get some sleep, it wouldn't do much good. CHARLIE No, I'm fine. LEO Tell the staff secretary's office I'm gonna freeze all nonessential paper for executive signature. All nonessential executive orders. All nonessential correspondence. All legislation. Do you understand? Leo sets his cup of coffee down on the table next to a small booklet that reads: "The Constitution of the United States of America." Charlie looks down at the booklet for a moment. CHARLIE Until when? LEO Until further notice. I need you to get a federal judge here right away. CHARLIE Yes, sir. Charlie exits as Josh, C.J. and Will enter. Leo stands up. JOSH Donna's paging Toby. LEO I just ordered Charlie to have the staff secretary's office hold all nonessential paper for executive signature. JOSH Why? LEO It's one in a series of steps I'm taking tonight to temporarily but dramatically downsize the scope of the Oval Office. JOSH Why? LEO The Cabinet is meeting in a few minutes. C.J. Leo. LEO He's invoking the 25th Amendment. He's invoking twenty-five. JOSH Really? LEO Yes. C.J. Is his mind made up? LEO He's with the Cabinet now. Where did everyone come down? C.J. Josh and I were on the fence. We don't know what Will thinks? WILL Of the President temporarily handing over power to his political enemy? I think it's a fairly stunning act of patriotism. And a fairly ordinary act of fatherhood. LEO Yeah, I do too. TOBY (approaching) Hey! (panting) The President's gotta get out of the West Wing. I don't know what we've been thinking� LEO Why are you out of breath? TOBY I ran here very fast and there were some obstacles. LEO The babies are okay? TOBY Yeah, they're great. And if somebody was hurting them, I'd drop napalm on Yellowstone to get them to stop. Letting some prisoners out of jail wouldn't be nothing and I've known my kids for about forty-five minutes. LEO He's invoking the 25th. TOBY He is? LEO Yes. Toby pauses as he looks at everybody. TOBY (whispering) Good. Camera pans to the floor as the image of several men's feet walk towards the camera. PRESIDENT BARTLET �availing myself of the constitutional option offered to this office by Section Three of the 25th Amendment which permits, through written declaration, to temporarily transfer all powers of the presidency to the next in the constitutional line of succession. Camera view over the shoulder of a guard to see a group of men walking down a set of stairs and down a corridor as Josh's voice is heard. JOSH It's just that we're elevating the most powerful Republican in the country. LEO That's just a political reality. JOSH It's� just a political reality. Camera sees the same group of men walking towards a stationary police motorcade. PRESIDENT BARTLET The article doesn't require the unanimous consent of the Cabinet, but I want it. I want it as clear as can be that this administration stands squarely behind� and shoulder to shoulder, with the acting president. Police motorcycles and cars make their way down the road with sirens wailing and lights flashing. The Capitol building can be seen in the background. JOSH We're gonna be handing the Republicans the election. LEO Yes, we are. JOSH It doesn't say, "I can't handle this?" TOBY It says, "I AM handling this." C.J. It does. CABINET MEMBER Mr. President, my concern is this: If you and the acting president were to give contradictory orders, Leo McGarry would be put into an impossible situation which could lead to extraordinary chaos. PRESIDENT BARTLET I won't be giving any orders. SECOND CABINET MEMBER But, if you did, I think there are those in this room, myself included, who would wanna follow those orders. And now, we have two governments. PRESIDENT BARTLET Leo would know what to do. THIRD CABINET MEMBER Would he? PRESIDENT BARTLET Yes. Motorcade arrives at the White House. JOSH What if he changes his mind and starts giving orders. TOBY Leo will know what to do. Toby looks over at Leo as the camera cuts to a group of men entering the White House. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of Commerce? SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: Aye. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of Veterans Affairs? SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: Aye. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of Housing and Urban Development? SECRETARY OF HUD: Aye. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of Health and Education? SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND EDUCATION: Aye. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of Agriculture? SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: Aye. Camera once again pans down to the footsteps of the approaching men. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of the Treasury? SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Aye. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of Defense? SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Aye. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of State? SECRETARY OF STATE: Aye. Silhouettes of the men are visible from just outside of the White House windows. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of Labor? SECRETARY OF LABOR: Aye. PRESIDENT BARTLET Secretary of the Interior? SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR: Aye. Guards open up a set of doors as the Speaker of the House enters, followed by a group of men. The Speaker of the House, Glenallen Walken, walks towards Toby, Leo, Josh, C.J. and Will who are standing just outside of the Oval Office. WALKEN (Sighs) Relax, everybody. Breathe regular. Walken turns to one of the members of his own staff. WALKEN You, too. Leo approaches the Speaker of the House. LEO Mr. Speaker. Leo shakes Walken's hand. WALKEN Leo. LEO Let's go inside. CUT TO: INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT As people begin to enter the Oval Office, Nancy and Fitzwallace are already inside as the Speaker looks around the room. WALKEN How's Mrs. Bartlet? LEO Well, she's very upset. WALKEN Yeah. LEO Mr. Speaker, C.J., Josh, Toby, Will Bailey. They're just getting this news now and they're among the first. They� haven't put anything together yet, but we'll do a joint press conference, you and the President, probably two hours or so, and in that time, you'll receive the first of your briefings� WALKEN What was the Beech Baron doing? LEO Sorry? WALKEN What did it end up, the two guys in the Beech Baron were doing? LEO They were frat guys and they were drunk. They were playing chicken. WALKEN Really? LEO Yeah. The briefings� WALKEN With the Air Force? LEO What? WALKEN They were playing chicken with the Air Force? FITZWALLACE Yes, sir. WALKEN Unidentified aircraft get one warning and I don't care if my mother's onboard that plane going to visit HER mother. President Bartlet enters the Oval Office, walks to his desk and drops a White House folder on his desk. PRESIDENT BARTLET Mr. Speaker. WALKEN Mr. President, Walken shakes President Bartlet's hand. PRESIDENT BARTLET I find out the gun that killed Molly O'Connor was bought through a loophole, so help me, mother of God, Glen� LEO Mr. President. Charlie knocks on the door, then enters. CHARLIE Excuse me. Madam Justice Sharon Day. LEO Come in. WILL Mr. Speaker? WALKEN Yeah. WILL You need to resign. PRESIDENT BARTLET Does he? JOSH He's right. WALKEN Yeah, it's against the law to work for two branches of government at the same time. You got a piece of paper? LEO Hang on. Glen, if you resign from Congress, you can't just go back. You have to be elected again in two years. WALKEN Well, I was gonna have to be elected again in two years anyway, right? Witnesses. Walken turns around to sign his letter of resignation on the President's desk. President Bartlet steps away from his desk, approaches Toby and smiles. PRESIDENT BARTLET Huck? TOBY And Molly. PRESIDENT BARTLET Nice. So, what do you know now that you didn't know before? TOBY Babies come with hats. PRESIDENT BARTLET Ha. Yeah. (smiles) They also come with those little theft-protection devices. Those little LoJacks on their ankles so they can't be boosted from the hospital. Man, don't even let them take it off (smiles). Toby leans over to whisper in the President's ear. TOBY There's no one in this room who wouldn't rather die then let you down, you know. President Bartlet nods his head as Walken signs his resignation. Will signs as a witness. PRESIDENT BARTLET All right, let's get organized. I've got two letters. One removing me from power, the other reinstating me. I'll sign the first. And then the justice will swear in the speaker, and I think Leo's right. The first thing is, how do we announce this? C.J. (clears throat) Well, the President and the Speaker have to make it clear to the country that there's someone in charge. JOSH I'd� argue we first have to make it clear to the world that there's someone in charge. WILL I'd make it clear to Bahji that there's someone in charge. WALKEN Franz Ferdinand, who was the nephew of the Austro-Hungarian emperor, was killed by a group called the Black Hand. And because they were a Serbian nationalist society, the empire declared war on Serbia. Then Russia, which was bound by a treaty, was forced to mobilize which meant that Germany had to declare war on Russia. Then France declared war on Germany, and that was World War I. Because the emperor's nephew was killed. Now, I thought you all had some good ideas, but somebody oughta make it clear to the people in this room that someone IS in charge. PRESIDENT BARTLET Glen, they've been up all night. Walken looks over his shoulder to President Bartlet. WALKEN: You're relieved, Mr. President. President Bartlet looks at Walken for a moment, then turns towards Leo. LEO (Softly) You're relieved, sir. PRESIDENT BARTLET (to Madam Justice Sharon Day) Swear him in. Madam Justice Sharon Day approaches Walken. JUSTICE DAY Will you place your right hand on the Bible? Raise your left hand toward God and repeat after me. I, Glenallen Walken, do solemnly swear� WALKEN I, Glenallen Walken, do solemnly swear� JUSTICE DAY �that I shall faithfully execute the office of President of the United States. President Bartlet exits the Oval Office to the outside. WALKEN �that I shall faithfully execute the office of President of the United States. A Secret Service agent closes the door behind the President as the camera pulls back away from the office. JUSTICE DAY And I will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. WALKEN And I will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. FADE TO BLACK END CREDITS * * *