Disclaimer: I own neither the characters nor the universe of The West Wing, and make no such claim upon them. I'm simply having some fun here.
Author's Note: Thanks to chai4anne for some vital suggestions on this story. This one was inspired her story Valentine's Day, in which she mentioned Donna getting a talking-to by Toby after the Reese Quote Affair in Inauguration Part II: Over There. I wondered what such a conversation would be like, and was always surprised there were no repercussions for the quote, and so I present to you:
Unofficial Reprimand
Two days after the announcement of the mission to Kundu on Inauguration Night, the mood in the West Wing was beginning to return from scrambling madness to its normal, merely frenetic, pace. The initial statements and reactions to the mission had been crafted by Toby Ziegler and Will Bailey, and Toby felt comfortable enough to take a break from Kundunese matters, and focus on the other communications event of the week.
He highly doubted it had been dealt with by anyone else.
Toby wasn't looking forward to this – he had a soft spot for Donna Moss stretching back to the first campaign, when the young woman (and he wished he had a better way to describe her than "plucky" or "spunky", but sadly those clichéd words really did fit her) inserted herself into the life of Josh Lyman and brought order to the swirling chaos surrounding him. It grew stronger after Toby was the one to tell her Josh was shot, after he was the one to tell her about the President's MS, and after their nightmare in the wilds of Indiana.
She was quick-witted, intuitive, and had a prodigious memory. Toby often thought that if there were any possible way to get her onto his staff, he would do so in a heartbeat, not just to improve the communications department, but to eliminate... other potential problems. But he knew that the Deputy Chief of Staff would never allow it.
He didn't want to have to do this.
But someone had to address Donna's claim of responsibility for the quote Lieutenant Commander Jack Reese gave to the Post. According to Josh, Reese thought he was off the record, so he had an excuse, although it wasn't much of one for a supposedly intelligent naval officer. Donna, however, had been learning the political game for five years from Josh Lyman, easily one of the top political strategists in the country, though Toby would be loath to admit that to him. She knew better.
As he came up to her desk, he saw her bantering with Josh. They were both smiling, and she was shaking her head in mock exasperation at her boss. Her smile grew wider as Josh reached out and lightly touched her arm as he said something to her, which caused her to lower her gaze from him.
Josh and Donna had always had a close and tactile relationship, but the way they were openly flirting, Toby knew that Josh had not reprimanded her after the scene in the snow outside her apartment two nights ago. No, this was something only Toby would be able to deal with.
It was probably for the best that way.
Donna noticed his approach first, and turned and smiled at him, although not with the wattage she reserved solely for Josh. Josh turned to see what she was looking at, and withdrew his hand from her arm.
"Hey Toby, great speech you wrote on the Kundu deployment," she said brightly.
"Thanks. Can you come to my office in about twenty minutes?"
"Sure, as long as the slave driver here doesn't come up with anything else," she said with a playful look at Josh.
Josh, however, looked anything but playful. He uttered a grunt and retreated into his office. Toby followed him and shut the door.
Josh ran his hands through his hair, and said quietly, "You have to do this?"
"Have you dealt with it?"
"She knows she screwed up, Toby. I let her know there at her apartment."
"Yeah, I'm sure when you had her sitting in your lap in the cab, whispering God knows what in her ear, that's what she was thinking about."
"Toby..."
"Look, I know she knows she screwed up. But someone has to lay it out to her what this could have meant. She doesn't get to do this without a dressing down, and somehow you whisking her away to a ball doesn't seem like much of a deterrent!"
"Keep it down!"
"Would you rather talk to her about this?"
"No. Fine. Just... look, she knows it was wrong, okay? She's been beating herself up over it. Don't be an ass about it."
"Am I ever?" Toby said with a humorless smile as he left Josh's office and returned to his own.
Donna knocked on his door exactly twenty minutes after he first spoke to her.
"Sit down, Donna."
"Toby?" she asked tentatively as she took her seat.
"We need to talk about the quote."
"I'm sorry," Donna said contritely. "I know I shouldn't have taken credit for it, but..."
"No buts, Donna. You shouldn't have done it. You know that."
She looked down at her hands, which Toby guessed she was wringing by the way her arms were moving. "I know."
"So why did you?"
Donna quietly answered, "Jack knew he shouldn't have said it."
"You're damn right he shouldn't have!" Toby said, raising his voice. "I know he didn't vote for us, but to sabotage the White House like that is inexcusable!"
"It wasn't like that, Toby. Honestly. Jack wouldn't do that. It was in the heat of anger. He was angry he was being punished by the DoD for doing what the White House asked him. He was angry he was being transferred out of Washington, he was angry at being transferred to an Air Force Base instead of out to sea, and he wasn't thinking. He didn't think he was on the record."
"We're always on the record!"
"Jack didn't know that."
"But you did."
"Yes. As soon as his quote hit the Post, Jack knew he'd be in trouble. Bad enough he was being sent to an air base in Italy; if the quote got traced back to him, his career might be stalled completely."
"Maybe it should be. Being an officer requires discretion, Donna. 'Loose Lips Sink Ships' isn't just a slogan. So this guy denigrates the White House to the press, and then makes his girlfriend cover his tracks?"
"No!" Donna exclaimed. "I volunteered. I told CJ I said it. He didn't ask me."
"He didn't stop you."
"I didn't tell him until afterward."
"But he didn't correct the misattribution, did he?"
Donna sighed. "No, he didn't."
Toby shook his head.
"You claimed responsibility. You wanted everyone – me, CJ, Josh, Leo, the President! - to think you gave that quote. If Josh hadn't figured it out – if Danny Concanon hadn't made Josh figure it out... When CJ came to me with that quote, I had the same reaction Josh had. That this wasn't what it looked like."
Donna's head popped up at that phrase, but Toby continued.
"That there was no way you, of all people, would say that. But when you claimed responsibility... Donna, I wanted to fire you. I wanted to send you packing, even though I knew I wouldn't be able to. To have this kind of a communications... fiasco from someone who'd been with us since the first campaign! You know better than that."
"I do, Toby. I never would have said those things," Donna said, her voice raising in intensity.
"That's not what you wanted us to think!" Toby snapped. "You did worse. You knew better, and yet you claimed it was your quote anyway. We can't have these kinds of self-inflicted wounds, Donna, not at the start of our last term. It's bad enough that an aide to the National Security Advisor would leak against us, but for one of our own... We only get one shot at this. As of yesterday, we're a lame duck administration in the eyes of many. We cannot sabotage ourselves like this!" Toby said, raising his voice back.
"I'm sorry," Donna repeated softly, her eyes downcast, her voice shaking.
"Did you think how this would look? The Deputy Chief of Staff's assistant giving comments against us to reporters? Everyone knows how close you and Josh are, Donna. They'd think you were his proxy. We likely would have had to fire you, and we might have lost Josh in the process. Claiming responsibility... You're damn lucky that you work for Josh. If you were my own assistant, I'd probably fire you just for that. I'd certainly demote you."
Donna's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She looked stunned. Toby continued more quietly.
"You're not going to get fired or demoted, Donna. Josh wouldn't allow it, and if I pressed the issue... Well, I'd either lose, or Leo would fire you, and then we'd probably lose Josh completely, or if not, we'd certainly lose his faith in us. And we can't have that. This isn't going in your file, Donna. There will be no official repercussions from this. And I'm not going to bring it up again. But you cannot do this again. Anything like it. White House personnel cannot give statements against the Administration, or leak to reporters, and keep their jobs. I wouldn't. Josh wouldn't. You wouldn't. But you made us think you did. You should have seen Josh. I don't think he ever really believed you would say that, even after CJ told him you said you did. But the look on his face..."
Donna looked downwards, avoiding Toby's eyes.
"You didn't think about what this would do to Josh, did you? Not to what he thought of you. Not to how it would affect his career."
Donna looked up sharply at Toby. "What do you mean? How would it affect his career?"
"Josh is the Deputy Chief of Staff, Donna! If that quote came out from his own Senior Assistant, a quote directly attacking this Administration's relationship with the military, which I know that you know the press thinks is one of our biggest weaknesses, how do you think Josh would look? The press would think that if he couldn't control his Senior Assistant, someone who he gives a hell of a lot more responsibility than any other assistant at the White House, that he's ineffective. That he can't control his own people. The Congressmen, Senators, the lobbyists who Josh deals with every day, all of them would question his ability. You know what that would do to him."
Toby had raised his voice to the point he was shouting again, so he began speaking in conversational tones.
"But that's not even the most likely scenario. Or the worst one. Some people would think you said that on Josh's behalf. On his orders. They'd think that he thought the Administration wasn't supporting the military."
Donna obviously hadn't considered that by the look on her face.
"They wouldn't think that. Everyone knows Josh would never…"
"Do they, Donna? Damn near all of Washington knows how close you two are. How much he relies upon you, and how loyal you are to him. When you say something, not only does it reflect on Josh, it's often at Josh's behest. Why would they think this was any different? You don't think that if you're badmouthing us, that people would think you're doing it on Josh's orders? You don't think that Leo might think that? That the President might think that? That you, who fought so damn hard for Josh after Rosslyn, who is the person he relies on most around here, would never act to hurt Josh, so that he must be in on it?" Toby once again couldn't help shouting. "Do you think he would have any influence on the Hill, or around here, any more if people thought that?"
Tears began to well up in Donna's eyes. "No, Toby, NO!" she said. "I… I didn't even think… that people would think… Josh would… no!"
"No. You didn't think. You could have got yourself fired. You could have got Josh fired. But the thing is, what I don't understand is why. Why you would do it in the first place. Was it just to protect Reese's career, even at the cost of your own? Are you unhappy here?"
"No, Toby!" Donna said quickly, wiping away the tears. "I love it here!"
"Is it Josh? He thought you were pissed at him."
"No. I mean, I was angry at him when he asked if Jack wanted to be transferred away, but... no, I would never do something like that against Josh. It was just for Jack."
"Good, because it would be too damned ironic if you did that because you were mad at Josh. I know he's a pain in the ass, but..."
Donna shook her head. "It wasn't like that."
"Okay. Don't do it again, Donna."
Donna fidgeted with her hands once more. "Toby, what did you mean about it being ironic?"
Toby sighed. He didn't want to get into this, but she deserved an answer. "I was serious when I said Josh wouldn't let you be fired easily. He'd quit first. If you had taken responsibility because you were mad at him..."
"You can't be serious, Toby. He'd never do that."
"I'm deadly serious. I don't know what's stronger – Josh's loyalty to you, or his loyalty to this administration. I hope the two never come into conflict. That's my nightmare scenario, Donna, something happening that makes Josh risk his reputation to protect you, or rescue you. Because that would risk the reputation of this administration, of this President, and I don't think the administration or the President would win!" Toby said, his voice raising at the end.
Donna looked down almost guiltily at her hands. Toby thought of inquiring, but then decided there were some things he really did not want to know.
"You should go. I don't think there's anything left to discuss, and I don't need Josh bursting in here yelling that I'm monopolizing you. You cannot do this again, okay?" Toby said, probably more gently than he normally would. She looked so guilty.
"I won't, Toby. I promised Josh I'd never lie to him again."
"Fine. And don't put him in a position where he has to lie for you either."
"I won't."
"Okay. At least I got to throw some snowballs. I haven't done that in years."
Donna sniffled, wiped her eyes once more, got up and opened Toby's office door. She was just about to leave when Toby called out her name.
"Donna? Did Reese at least say 'thank you'?"
Donna looked at him, blushing with embarrassment, her mouth falling into a frown. She shook her head sadly as she left his office.
Toby got up to go to Will's office, but he looked down the hallway at Donna's desk before he went. Josh was already there, talking gently to her, as she shook her head. He leaned in and said something, and Toby saw a smile slowly spreading across her face. Josh put a hand on her upper arm, and then turned around to go into his office, but not before catching Toby's eye.
He nodded. Toby nodded back.