Disclaimer: The show still belongs to Aaron Sorkin, and no one can convince me otherwise.
Spoilers: ITSOTG.
A/N: Short, sweet, and with far less angst than I normally write.
She does not want to do this now. Truthfully, she'd rather not do it at all, but it has been delayed until the last possible moment.
Her office is full of boxes, none of them packed. She can't bear to leave-not just yet.
She decides to start with the walls. She only has a few framed prints up; they don't take long to be wrapped in plastic. Putting the last one in a box, a flash of red catches her eye. Tucked in beside one of the filing cabinets is a rolled up paper.
It turns out to be her 'Bartlet for America' poster. She's had it since her third week of the campaign, since that day she almost walked out.
She'd been completely unprepared, of course. No matter how often she rehearsed, how much information she was given, anything that came out of her mouth sounded clumsy and weak. The fact that Governor Bartlet could never remember her name hadn't been terribly encouraging in her mind, either.
She'd gone back to her hotel room one night after a particularly harsh lecture from Leo ('We can always find someone else, if you can't do this'), immediately poured herself a drink, and started stuffing clothes into her suitcase. Toby had come after her, trying to reassure her that everything would be fine.
She'd laughed at him and poured herself a second drink, finishing it even before she slammed the door in his face. Her third drink followed even faster.
The next morning, she'd woken up without the help of her alarm. She was in the shower when someone knocked on the door, and then came in. She was used to it by now, people coming and going; that's why she always locked the bathroom door. She'd figured that it was Toby.
So when she found the rolled up poster on her bed, next to her packed and waiting suitcase, she'd been more than a little confused; Toby was never big on leaving gifts. After drying off so she wouldn't drip water on it, she sat down and freed the poster from its thick rubber bands.
She'd been ready to check out of the hotel and go back to California, until she read what he had written:
Claudia Jean,
Don't worry about it.
We all fall into pools from time to time.
Jed
Later, between breakfast and a meeting with the Secret Service, he took her aside and told her she was doing an excellent job, and that he was proud of her, no matter what. Something in his voice reminded her of her father, and in that moment she knew that she would do anything for him.
Looking at the poster now, she knows that she will make a call today to have it framed. It will take nearly two weeks to get back to her, and cost more than she can really afford, but it will be worth it. She'll remove it from the packing crate, and spend more than an hour trying to decide just where to put it. Eventually, it will come to hang on her living room wall. It will not be prominently displayed, but she'll be able to see it from anywhere in the room. On the days that she sits at her computer, unable to form the proper words, she will stare at the black scrawl, and the words will untangle themselves as if by magic.
Years later, after the quiet service, she will sit with her one time co-workers, and Toby will raise his glass in a toast. No one will know quite what to say, and silence will fall. A light will catch her eye then; it will be sunlight reflecting off the swimming pool outside. As soon as they hear the splash, they'll all come running. They will find her floating fully dressed, on her back, staring up at the sun. Only Toby will realize what it really means, and he'll smile for the first time in months.
She will not explain her actions, and only grin as she reaches for a towel to dry her hair.