Disclaimer: "'If only, if only,' the woodpecker sighs." I didn't write that, that was the geniuses behind Holes, nor did I come up the characters from The West Wing. If only, I did. Oh, nor did I write or sing See the sun.
A/N: While this isn't technically a song fic, it is based on Dido's See the sun. I was listening to it and the idea just popped into my head. It was going to be about the evil hell bitch herself but Amy was bringing my mood down and then I decided this would work better anyway. Tell me what you think! Oh, and Pineapple and Passionfruit yoghurts are bizarre! Mango and Guava, too!
The phone rang for the hundredth time that day, the thousandth for that weekend. He looked at the name displayed on caller ID and sighed. She was never going to give up.
"Leave me alone!" he cried as he answered then hung up. Less than ten seconds later the phone was ringing again. He groaned once before answering.
"Don't hang up!" Her voice came down the line hastily. "I'm coming around, I'll be ten minutes. Don't leave because I'll just wait." Then she hung up and he was left in his misery once more.
It took him two minutes to decide to leave, another one to find his coat and wallet and open the front door. A second more to find her standing there; arms folded, a raised eyebrow and an irritated look on her face.
"What did I just tell you?"
"You said I had ten minutes."
"I lied, get in there," she said pushing him back into his apartment, following him in and closing the door behind him. "What are you doing?"
"Well, I figured this was going to take a while so I'm going to sit down, is that allowed." He retorted as he settled onto the couch.
"Not that," she remarked, wandering over to his kitchen. "I meant here, what are you doing here? You're meant to be at work, and why is it so dark in here?" She grabbed a beer from his fridge and turned to look around until she saw the source of the darkness. "Open your curtains," she instructed him with a roll of her eyes. "And open the window, a little bit of fresh air isn't going to kill you."
"Yes ma'am," He muttered sarcastically but did as he was told, he knew better than to argue.
"Well?" She opened the beer and drank a mouthful before sitting beside him on the couch and handing him the bottle.
"Well what?"
She sighed. "Why aren't you in work?"
"Because it's seven in the evening on a Sunday."
"Don't try and be cute, Lyman. You haven't been in since Thursday. Friday we let you off but this is just getting ridiculous."
"I'm taking a few days sabbatical."
"And you didn't think to tell anyone? Like me for instance."
He was silent, having no quick quip to come back with. She looked thoughtful for a moment then sighed.
"Go get changed."
"What, why?"
"Because we're going for a walk."
"And I can't do that in this?" He was wearing a pair of black jeans with a black jumper.
"No, you look like you're in mourning. Nobody died so stop acting like it and do as you're told."
He studied her a moment trying to work out how serious she was being. After silently calculating the amount of damage she would give him if he didn't, He went to his bedroom, returning a minute later in blue jeans and the same jumper.
"That's better," she smiled, standing up and leading the way from his apartment.
"So, where are we going?" He asked.
She shrugged. "Just around and you're going to talk to me."
"That's it, I'm going back in." He turned and began to walk away but her hand grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
She linked her arm through his. "Don't even think about it. I have a key, remember? I'll find you wherever you go."
"You're just some kind of crazy stalker person, aren't you?"
"You better believe it, baby."
He smiled for the first time in a week, not a real dimple-showing smile but definitely the beginnings of one.
"Ok…so what do you want to talk about?" He already knew the answer but he had to ask anyway.
"Why aren't you in work?" She asked him for the fourth time in the ten minutes she'd been with him.
"I'm taking a few days break, with all the work we've been doing lately I think it's justified, don't you."
"Sure, and if that were the real reason you're not coming in then I'd let you off but it's not, so tell me, what's going on."
"Nothing's going on," He claimed, his voice raising just a fraction. He scowled at the smug look on her face. "Shut up."
"Tell me."
"Its nothing, I'll be in tomorrow. Can I go home now?"
"Sure," she said, turning around with him.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am. I have a beer to finish."
He shook his head in defeat. "Fine, but then you go."
"If that's what you want," she answered going silent.
Neither spoke the entire way back to his apartment or during the emptying of the bottle of now-warm beer. After the bottle was empty she got up and grabbed another one for them to share and another after that.
"Is this about Amy leaving?" She asked half way through their fourth.
"No," he answered shortly. "It's not about anything because nothing's going on."
"Yeah, see I don't believe you. If there was nothing wrong with you then you'd be arguing with me right now but you're not, which been something's happened. So tell me."
He stayed silent but his eyes began to fill with water.
"Josh?" She asked with deep concern. "What's wrong? You're scaring me. You're not…There's nothing…you know…"
"No!" he interrupted her hastily. "God, no. It's Cleo…I came home Wednesday night and she'd…"
She looked at him sympathetically although a small part of her was fighting amusement deep down. "Cleo? Your hamster, Cleo?"
He gave her a look. "Yes, I know what you thought about her but she was one of the best things in my life outside of work."
"I know, God Josh, I know. I know how much she meant to you and I know that being here is better than being at work because here you have the memories of her while people at the White House don't even know you had a pet but staying here isn't going to bring her back. She's not coming back."
A few tears spilled over but he blinked most of them back and nodded. "I miss her."
"I know you do," she placed her hand over his and shuffled closer to him. "Come on," she stood up, holding a hand for him to use to balance himself. "Go rinse your face, we're getting drunk."
"Is that really such a good idea?"
She shrugged. "For me maybe, it's you who's going to suffer tomorrow so I guess we'll see."
He smiled, that was a very expected answer and it still surprised him to hear. Fifteen minutes later they were both seated in a downtown bar, having ordered their drink of choice.
"Tell me what you remember, what you miss the most."
"I miss the way she was always up when I got home," he said instinctively a small smile beginning on his face. "Always standing up to attention when I walked through the door. I miss the way she would crawl up and down my arm whenever I played with her and I miss the way her little nose twitched whenever she did anything."
She smiled listening to him. She remembered these things, too, she'd seen them when she and Josh had been working late at his apartment. The connection between Josh and his pet had been obvious and sweet to witness. He showed the same kind of qualities he would have as a father. It was beautiful to see.
"I remember the day you got her," she told him. "You were so excited. A week or so later you told me she was the most important thing in your life that wasn't connected to the White House in some way and that you couldn't wait to get home and see her."
He frowned. "I said that? I don't remember saying that."
"Well," she giggled. "You were pretty drunk at the time."
"Figures."
"So, you want to know the best thing about what you've just told me?"
"Go on," he instructed her.
"You just told me all the good tings about her and it didn't kill you to do it, that's a good sign. Each day that pain is going to get less and less until one day it will subside and you'll be happy once again."
He smiled again. "You're a wonderful person, you know that? You shouldn't have to be telling this about a hamster."
She smiled back at him, a perfect 100-watt, light-up-the-room grin. "You cared for Cleo, you lost Cleo, you're hurting for Cleo. I'm your friend, it's what I'm meant to do."
He stood up, pulling her with him. He took her hand and led her out of the bar. "See the sun," he muttered on the way to her apartment.
"What?" she questioned him with a frown.
"See the sun, it's a song. I heard it playing on the radio in the office a few months ago. I thought it was silly when I heard it but it's playing in my head now and it's sounding awfully familiar…"
She gave him a smile but said nothing until they reached her building. She gave him a hug. "You're allowed to talk to me without feeling like you're putting on me, okay? Remember that." She felt him nodding against her shoulder. "You'll be in tomorrow." It was more a statement than a question and he knew he had no choice.
"They're going to ask me why I wasn't in."
"So tell them," she shrugged. "Or tell them you were on sabbatical. You're a grown man, Josh but you're allowed to have feelings."
He nodded and she opened her front door. Just before she closed it she heard him calling her name.
"Donna?" She pulled the door open again and saw him still standing there. He ran a hand through his hair before he told her one little word. "Thanks."
Her 100-watt smile increased to around 1000-watts. "That's what friends are for, Joshua."
"And no one could ask for a better one, Donnatella." He flashed her a smile and not just the same weak one she'd seen before. This time there were full dimples on show before he turned and swaggered down the corridor. She watched him go, watching long after he had gone. It was only when her phone rang that she closed the door.
"What do you want now, Josh?" She asked irritably on answering the phone though they both knew full well that she wasn't angry. Quite the opposite in fact.