The Dumb Duo
Show: The West Wing
Characters: Leo and Helen, mentions of Donna and Josh
Season: Set during season 7, with the election after Donna joins the campaign
Rating: K+
Summary: Leo tells Helen the Josh and Donna story.
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish it were so
A/N: This is told in Helen's POV
I let out a deep breath as I walked around the temporary campaign head quarters that at one point was called our home. I made my way around all of the workers on the campaign as they ran from one spot to another each one of them throwing numbers, statistics and anything else at one another. The people who have committed the next few months into getting my husband elected the next President of the United States.
I stood at the entrance way to our dining room and watched the hive of activity, people speaking rapidly to one another, scribbling on note pads and pieces of paper next to them, handing files and pieces of paper to one another over the table, and people talking on phones. How any one could hear themselves think let alone the person they were talking to each other was beyond her. I kept looking around the room as my eyes locked onto my husband who was just watching me and just smiled and I couldn't help but return his smile, he gave me a small nod as he turned his attention back to the person talking to him. I continued looking around the room and I locked my eyes onto the man who came into our lives and told him that he should run for President. I couldn't help but shake my head as I thought back to how simple my families life was before Joshua Lyman stood on our front door step with his twelve point plan. My eyes flicked to the blonde woman that he was talking to huddled together so that they could hear one another. The woman who at one point was working on the Russell campaign but when Matt won the nomination came to work for us after a few weeks ago. The one thing that I had noticed from the moment I saw Josh and Donna work together Josh seemed more calm and relaxed I had ever seen him the entire time I had met him. I watched as they both wrote on a piece of paper that was between them and scribbled and wrote some more with them both shaking their heads. As I watched them, mesmerised by them unable to figure out why, I wondered how long they knew each other because they were way to comfortable with one another as the rest of the staff were only starting to get comfortable with one another these two were like that from the first moment. I was about to step away from them when I heard a voice behind me
"Those two must be the dumbest duo I have ever met"
I frowned at the statement, but knew the voice, the voice belonging to my husbands running mate Leo McGarry, I turned to face him and noticed the smile on his face and in his eyes, something that I realised was rare for Leo to do, smile a real true smile like the one he was currently wearing, I couldn't help but ask who he was referring to "Who?"
"Donna and Josh" Leo said with a smile on his face as he looked over my shoulder at the two of them and I followed my eyesight to see that they were smiling at something the other had said before they got back to work a second later
"What do you mean?" I asked as I moved into the kitchen to get Matt a drink and make a pitcher of lemonade for the rest of the staff. As I passed Leo I saw him take in a deep breath as he was trying to figure out what to say.
Leo looked at me and then followed me into the kitchen "How much do you know about Josh"
I frowned as the question threw me for a loop and realised I didn't know much about Josh other than the fact that he seemed to live, breathe and eat politics "Not much why?"
"What do you know about Josh's time at the White House?"
"Nothing. I know that he left the White House to get my husband to run other than that not much. Why?" I asked as I began to get the lemonade ready.
"Well Josh is one of the best political minds around. But in every other aspect Josh is probably one of the dumbest people around"
I frowned "What do you mean?"
I watched as Leo shook his head "How much do you know about Donna?"
I looked at Leo and began to wonder where he was going with this "Not much. I know that Donna worked for the Bob Russell campaign but other than that not much"
I watched at Leo nodded and take in a deep breath "Donna used to work for Josh at the White House"
My eyebrows shot up, I didn't know that "What did she do there?"
"She was his assistant"
"His assistant? Really?" I said I couldn't believe it, I thought Donna might have done something more than that, she seemed a lot more capable than that I was thinking to myself.
Leo nodded "Really" I watched as Leo took in a deep breath and smiled to himself at what looked like a long lost memory "Donna started working for Josh on the Bartlet for America campaign when President Bartlet first ran. One day Josh had no assistant and the next he had one, and he was on time for his meetings and he was organised for what was probably the first time and I asked him what happened and he told me that he got an assistant who was paying her own way through. I just nodded and was glad that he was finally organised. Later that day I found out that Donna had hired herself and talked Josh into giving her a job. I for one was glad that she did because I don't know what would've happened if Donna didn't come along when she did"
I smiled as Leo told me that and something about the way Leo told me that it was probably true because it seemed that Donna was the only one who could talk any sort of sense into Josh when was going frantic with what looked like a hundred thoughts coming out of his head at a million miles an hour if it wasn't distressing to watch it was amusing.
I frowned thinking back to Leo's original statement "Why did you call them the dumbest duo?"
Leo smiled at me "Because they are in love with one another and neither of them has ever done anything about it"
I frowned "What? Why?" I asked completely enthralled into the story not realising that I was paying more attention to Leo rather than making the lemonade
I watched as Leo take in a deep breath "Because they were working in the White House"
"Surely that couldn't have stopped them?"
"They didn't want to cause any sort of scandal for the President, and they are also scared of their feelings for one another and the fact they believe the other doesn't feel the same"
I nodded feeling a little sad about it "How did you know about the way they feel about one another?"
Leo let out a deep sigh "With Donna it was when Josh got shot at Roselyn and with Josh it was when Donna was in Gaza and was injured"
I frowned "Gaza?" I asked and then it all came together "Donna was on the CODEL?"
I watched as Leo nod slowly as if was still a painful subject matter for him "Yeah. Donna was the only survivor in the vehicle"
I was shocked when Leo said that and thought back to when Donna would get into a car she would always look around before getting in as if she was looking for something "I didn't know"
Leo nodded "Not a lot of people do. Donna didn't want a lot of people to know. Anyway that was when Josh probably thought for the first time that Donna meant more to him than anyone else ever did"
I took in a deep breath as I took in the story "Well, why didn't they do anything when she got back?"
I watched as Leo shrugged "I don't know. Something happened in Germany, I don't know what. But anyway Donna still worked for him and neither did anything so they went back to the way they were. Then Donna left, and a week later Josh left to run your husbands campaign."
I nodded slowly and looked at Leo "So the entire time they've known each other, they've never over stepped the line?"
I watched as Leo shook his head "No they haven't. They are also very protective of one another"
I nodded as I took in everything that Leo said "Do you think that they ever get together?"
Leo shrugged "I don't know. But I do hope so, and soon because this had been going on for nine years, and if it goes on much longer I think there will be several people who will lock them in a room together till they sort everything out" Leo said with a smile
I looked at Leo and realised that he probably would do that himself.
Leo continued "Because there are a lot of bets going on in Washington about the two of them getting together, though I don't think anyone had picked anything close to the decade mark that these two are heading towards" Leo finished with a smile
I looked at Leo and shook my head with my head smile "There's bets' going on?"
Leo nodded "Yeah. On the Hill, in the press corps and in the West Wing"
I couldn't help but smile at that.
I thought back to whole time that I've seen them together and whenever Josh saw Donna on TV during the primary that he would look a cross between proud and what now I realised as a look that said that he missed her, and I shook my head at the thought "Well I hope that they do get together"
Leo smiled at me before moving from the kitchen "You and me both Mrs Santos" Leo said and I could tell that he still had a smile on his face.
I shook my head and moved back to the entrance way and looked at Josh and Donna and realised that they look that they were giving each other was pure love, looks that both Matt and I share with one another. I realised that right then and there that Josh and Donna had another person barracking for them to get together.
I shook my head and went back to the kitchen to finish the lemonade and realised that Donna must really love Josh if she can look past his politically obsessed nature to find the real man, and that she must know him pretty well to be that in love with him. I smiled as I finished the drink and one of the volunteers offered to take it in for me and I agreed thinking that I haven't heard from the kids in a while and I hoped that they haven't caused too much trouble.
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