The Hidden Hand

This is a brief moment showing Sam's subtle, yet important role in the inevitable pairing of Josh Lyman and Donna Moss

Disclaimer: I do not own The West Wing or its characters.

"Excuse me, sir? Excuse me, just a moment of your time, please?"

Sir? When was the last time someone addressed me, Sam Seaborn, as a 'sir'? I whipped around to see the source of this formality and came face to face with a very young, very desperate looking woman.

"Volunteer?" I assumed, looking back down at the polling numbers in front of me.

"No, actually." the woman said. "I'm here for a job. Any job."

I sighed. How many times a day did I have to go through this?

"Miss..."

"Moss. Donnatella Moss." she said.

"Right. See, Miss Moss, we're not really hiring right now. I'm so sorry, but it was very nice meeting you. If you leave your information with Margret over there, maybe we can get in touch with you if that changes."

Temporary interruption taken care of, I resumed the hustle of my average Tuesday morning at campaign headquarters, usually involving writing an endless series of speeches (today the hot topic was education) and knocking sense into Josh. Deflating Josh's ego seemed to be my personal responsibility these days and that task alone was enough to give me my first gray hairs. If this Campaign didn't kill me, my best friend would.

"There's a typo in the second line."

I turned around to see the familiar face I'd dismissed only thirty minutes ago.

"Were you following me this whole time?" I asked, slightly concerned.

By the embarrassment on her face, I knew what the answer was.

"Look, I can type, organize, and micro-manage. Plus, I travel light." she looked at me hopefully. There was something about her that made me hesitant to turn her away.

I sighed. "Miss Moss-"

"Call me Donna." she corrected, smiling. "And you're Sam Seaborn, right?"

I nodded. "Yes I am, but I really wasn't lying to you before. We're not hiring at the moment. We're still in the primaries and Bartlet hasn't picked up fundraising power yet. You seem like a really nice person, but we can't hire you now."

"Please. I'm not proud to say this, but I'm completely desperate. I really want to..."

Then her cell phone started ringing. Her face turned red as she fumbled through her purse to silence the call.

Recovering, she continued: "You have to understand something, Mr. Seaborn, I'm really good at what I do and I really believe in this campaign. I don't even want money right away. See, I'm-"

It rang again.

And again.

"Do you need to answer that?" I asked her curiously. Donna was getting pretty flustered, but I couldn't pin-point the reason. "I mean, you might as well break job interview decorum, seeing as just a few minutes ago you were stalking me and there's no way I can hire you anyway."

Donna glanced down at the phone again, as if gathering up strength.

In one swift motion, she flipped open her ringing phone and answered bluntly, "What do you want form me?"

As intriguing as that beginning sounded, I tried my best to ignore her hushed conversation in the middle of headquarters. Still, I was starved for entertainment these days and I found my ears alert and curious.

"You're just mad at me because I won't put up with your bull shit!" she said angrily, pacing back and forth. "Someone needs to tell you that you're an arrogant ass hole on a regular basis, you know that? God, your head is so far up your-"

I snorted. I couldn't help it! This woman was turning out to be fairly interesting. Plus, I couldn't help but recall how many times in the past week I've been tempted to say something similar to Josh. I guess I have more restraint than this woman. I wonder if that's a bad thing?

Donna was fuming. "You need a reality check so badly right now. Please, stop calling me. I don't have time for you anymore. It might shock you, but there are actually more important things in this universe than your medical aspirations." she slammed her phone shut.

It was then, I suppose, that Donna looked around and realized just how many people witnessed that ugly conversation. Her mouth was hanging open.

"Donna." I tapped her on the shoulder.

"I'll go now..." she said turning to the door. Pretty much everyone in the office had their eyes on her as she attempted a graceful exit out of politics.

"Don't you want a job?"

She stopped suddenly in her tracks and turned around.

"What?"

"Do you want a job?" I asked again slowly walking toward her.

She eyed me suspiciously. "Is this a joke or something? Two minutes ago you said you weren't hiring."

"Things change."

"Change how? Change after you hear me bitching to my ex over the phone?"

I smiled. "Oh yes."

Donna looked more baffled than ever.

I lead her over to a back office and let her in. There were mountains of messy paperwork, posters, and files. The room was chaos itself.

"You'll be Josh Lyman's new assistant." I said, offering her my hand to shake. "Welcome to Bartlet for America."

I congratulated myself on this unexpected find. This was perfect! The perfect woman to handle Josh walked in through those doors this morning. To think, I almost turned her away! Before today I didn't think such a person existed. I felt as though Santa existed again! I loved this feeling. Now it was someone's actual nine-to-five-job to maintain the mess that was Josh Lyman. If I were a religious man, I'd be on my knees right now.

"Mr. Seaborne!" I heard Donna call after me. She'd obviously awoken from her mild shock.

"Call me Sam." I said.

"Sam, what should I tell Mr. Lyman. I mean, he didn't actually hire me yet..."

I smiled. "Tell Josh that he'll find you valuable. Very valuable."

Oh Josh, you have no idea what gift I've just bestowed upon you...