Notes: A story, in three parts, about the fateful
events on the eve of President Bartlet's second term.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua
Lyman looked at his watch and winced. He was cutting it close. There was
the ceremony on the Hill and then that other thing to take care of before
he could even think about his evening plans. It was an odd concept, having
plans for the evening. He shook his head as he made his way through the
nearly empty halls of the West Wing. He was enjoying the relative quiet
of the late morning. However, his pleasure was short lived as he rounded
the corner and approached his bullpen.
"It would be like a day without orange
juice, wouldn't it, Josh?" CJ Cregg snarled as she appeared in his doorway.
"You couldn't let it slide, not even once. The man is an influential US
Senator!"
"I am an influential person, too,"
he retorted.
"You're an infantile person," she snapped
with her wide eyes wild and quivering in their sockets. "This is a man
whose support we need, if I'm hearing Leo and Toby correctly. I realize
that you were baited into making a comment..."
"I was," he agreed.
"I also realize that the fact that
certain people breathe the same air as you is considered baiting in your
book," CJ continued.
Josh brushed off the lecture with a
wave of his hand. He had endured similar ones from both Leo and Toby for
half an hour that morning. Sam Seaborn agreed that Josh had perhaps gone
a bit far in admonishing the senator the previous afternoon on the capitol
steps. Only Sam didn't quite say so. It was the look on his face that told
the story.
"You're going to fix this, right?"
CJ asked as she followed him into his office.
"Don't I always?"
"Always?" she said. "Good word. It
connotes the perpetuity of your stupidity! Josh, couldn't you have waited
24 hours? One day. That's all I ask. I mean, the President has even been
sworn in again and already you're picking fights!"
"First, it wasn't a fight," he assured
her. "It was a verbal disagreement held in civilized tones that no camera
or microphone caught. Next, and more important to me, I'd like to point
out that no one has yet to say I was wrong."
"Well, of course you weren't," CJ said.
"But that's really beside the point. Fix this!"
"I'm on it," he said grabbing his jacket.
"Calm down, CJ. Senator Hannah and I have an understanding. We're both
intelligent men, though you gotta agree that, in a basic battle of wits,
the man is not in my league."
"Humility, Josh," she said. "Learn
that word before you get to Virginia!"
"It's under control," he said easily.
She sighed and turned deftly on her
heel. Josh looked briefly out his window. The cloud ceiling was falling
steadily but though the skies were gray there was no rain or snow yet.
The temperature was edging toward the low 40s. Fair inaugural weather,
he though.
"Donna!" he yelled as he peered into
the gray flannel above. "Donna!"
"Stop shouting," she said calmly in
his doorway. "You really need to work on that."
"On what?"
"Your yelling," she said. "It's distracting
to people who are working."
"Okay, maybe but there's two things
wrong with that statement," he said. "First, no one is working right now
and second, I'm your boss. I'm allowed to be distracting."
She looked at him unmoved. He stared
back at her expectantly and made an emphatic gesture with his hands.
"Well?" he said.
"What?"
"Are we going?" he asked. "I have precisely
one hour to watch this thing before I have to hop a plane to Virginia.
You arranged it all, right?"
"Yes, but I need to know one thing,"
she said.
"What?"
"Why are you flying?" she asked. "It's
like a one hour drive."
"I'm flying there because it's like
a three hour drive," he said. "I don't want to spend the entire evening
on the road."
Donna walked to the outer office to
grab her coat. Josh stood in his doorway, making no move to help. She cast
him a brief perturbed glance and shook her head.
"It would serve you right if you had
to drive all night," Donna said. "It's your fault you have to go to Virginia
at all."
"Thanks for the support, Donna," he
said.
"I do support you," she said. "In fact,
I do it so well so often, I've begun to wonder if I'm enabling your behavior.
We really should work on your impulse control."
"Yeah, let's do that," he said.
"Really?"
"No," he said shaking his head.
"I still think you shouldn't get off
this easy, if not for this, then for what you did to me," she said. "You
sabotaged my date for the inaugural ball."
"We are not back to that again," he
protested. "Donna, sabotage is an ugly word that implies premeditation."
"Josh..."
"Donna, you should thank me," he said.
"I did you a favor. You stood him up once, and he cast you aside like a
leper. I mean, it couldn't be clearer. The guy obviously has issues. Do
you need someone with issues in your life?"
"Afraid of the competition?"
"I do not have issues," he said. "I'm
complex. Didn't you read the cover story in Time last week? The
word they used was 'complex.' "
"Complex is a word used by someone
who is sucking up to a man with issues," Donna replied tossing her head.
"And I'd like to point out that your ego has yet again turned my dilemma
into a discussion about you."
"Sounds like you're the one with the
issues," he offered with the hint of a smile. "Look, I'm sorry your date
fell through."
"Are you really?"
"No, not really, but it seemed like
the polite thing to say," he replied. "Look, I told you I would make it
up to you. You can take a day off."
"When?"
"Some time," he said. "When I don't
need you here."
"But I still have to go the inaugural
ball alone," she said. "I'm one of the most eligible women in Washington,
Josh."
"Right."
"I am an erudite conversationalist,"
she continued unhindered. "I am well-read, considered quite attractive
and fashionable. But do I have a date to the social event of the year?"
"No, and do you know how I know this?"
"Because I keep telling you," she replied.
"Yes, hourly," he remarked. "I think
you're taking a very narrow view of the facts if you thinks it's my fault
you missed your date."
"You insisted that I stay here until
3 a.m. to help you research the historical and constitutional trends of
immigration restrictions on contiguous territory," she informed him.
"Which I thanked you for," he said
hesitantly, then paused as she glared at him. "Didn't I?"
"No."
"Well, I'm sure I meant to," he said.
"I'll make it up to you."
"A day off at some unspecified point
is not good enough, Josh," she said. "It doesn't solve the problem of me
going alone tonight."
"Donna, are you that insecure?"
"I am not insecure," she said confidently.
"Then is it really that much of a problem?"
"Yes," she said. "It doesn't look good."
"You shouldn't put so much stock in
appearances," he told her.
"Is that the new motto of your fan
club?" she asked. "This is a special event, Josh. The inaugural ball is
a place to be seen. Look, you graduated from Harvard and Yale and have
all the connections in the world to set yourself up after the president
finishes his last term. I do not. I need to market myself. I'm out of a
job in four years."
"Or maybe sooner."
She ignored his comment as she donned
her coat.
"Besides, walking in alone is... well,
it's depressing," she said. "Everyone who is anyone wants to be at this
event, but I managed to not find a date."
"Fine, I'll take you," he said. "You
won't have to walk in alone. Satisfied?"
"Let's go!" CJ shouted. "If we're not
out there by the time the President arrives, I'll never hear the end of
it, and therefore neither will you. And Josh, you're already never going
to hear the end of your latest fiasco. But I've got to thank you. It gave
me a great gift idea for your next birthday."
"Really," he said anxiously. "What?"
"Lobotomy," CJ said.
Josh let the comment slide as he and
Donna followed the raging press secretary. They exited the building with
Josh and CJ squabbling over how he should approach his meeting in Virginia.
They ceased their wrangling only when they took their places on the Capital
Hill dais. The rest of the staff was already gathered in the stands. They
did not wait long for the arrival of the commander-in-chief. The president's
motorcade was pulling up as they took their seats. Then the formalities
began.
President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet took
the oath and launched into his speech. Beside Josh, Sam could be heard
quietly repeating the words in synchronization, words he had begun writing
a year earlier when the campaign began in earnest.
"You're flying?" Toby whispered into
Josh's ear.
"Yeah," Josh said without turning.
"I'll be back early this evening."
"You'll be back when you've fixed this
mess," Toby replied.
"I'll be back with a better deal than
we would have gotten had I not opened my mouth," Josh said. "And I will
do it with ample time to make it to the party tonight. Sen. Samuel Hannah
and I are intelligent men. We will reach an understanding."
"I don't care what you reach so long
as it includes an acceptable apology from you that keeps him in the box
for a week until we can launch our education plan," Toby said and leaned
back.
The President's speech concluded half
an hour later and the staff piled into the motorcade. It took them back
to 1600 Pennsylvanian Avenue where they would watch the parade.
Inside the west wing, Josh grabbed
several files then prepared to leave.
"No," Donna said as he passed her desk.
"No what?" he asked stopping in mid-stride.
"No, I'm not satisfied with your offer,"
she said and looked at his bewildered expression. "See, you've forgotten
already. You'll do the same thing this evening; not that you'll be back
in time anyway. You're a very inconsiderate man, Josh."
"I keep telling you," he said in earnest
tones. "It feels better when you say things like that at the top of your
lungs. You should try it. Shouting is a good release. Imagine what a stress
ball I would be if I kept quiet all the time."
"Imagine our shock if you did," she
said. "And let me point out that (again) we weren't talking about
you. But if we were, I'd have to say that you are conceited and do not
deserve the likes of me as an escort."
"I'll be there," he said.
"No, you won't," she said.
"Donna, I promise," he said.
"You promised me it wouldn't take long
to research the immigration trends," she said. "Nine hours constitutes
a long time, Josh."
"Fine," he relented. "I'll put it in
writing. That way it's a contract, a binding agreement that I must honor."
He grabbed a pad from her desk and
scribbled on it. Sam was passing by, heading for the parade stands, when
Josh stopped him.
"Sam, sign this," he said handing him
a pen.
"Sure," Sam said and briefly reading
it. "Am I understanding this? In essence, you are promising not to forget
to bring Donna to the Inaugural Ball tonight under penalty of... well,
basically shouting by the aforementioned party in front of the entire staff
without a single syllable of protest from you?"
"Yeah."
Sam laughed. "Oh, like that's gonna
happen."
"Shut up and sign it," Josh said.
"Okay," Sam agreed while penning his
name. "Donna, if you want to run through some choice adjectives later,
I'm offering my time and many suggestions."
"Thank you," she said, palming her
contract.
"You leaving now?" Sam asked as Josh
grabbed his bag.
"Yeah, I got this thing in Virginia,"
he said looking at his watch. "It's 1:30 now... I'll be back by seven,
eight at the outside. Donna, your place, 8:30. Don't still be playing with
your hair."
"Ha! If you think I'm going to spend
my entire afternoon getting ready for a date with..." she scoffed as he
hurried down the hall. "Hey! Josh!"
"What do you need?" Sam asked.
"I need to work with him on his social
skills," she sighed. "He didn't say good-bye."
***************************************************
"Yeah, McGarry," Leo said brusquely
into his phone.
"Leo."
"Josh."
"I've been trying to call you for the
last half hour," Josh said. "Margaret kept saying you were too busy. Then
I called back again, and it took you six rings to answer."
"Well, I'm kinda busy here, Josh,"
Leo said. "I just got the president sworn in and am preparing to launch
his next administration. You might not believe it, but some members of
the staff make that job a little more difficult than others."
"You don't need to get hostile, Leo."
"I trust you have news," Leo said.
"It's 5:30. I told you to call every hour."
"I thought you wanted to know when
it was fixed?"
"I did," Leo replied. "I also wanted
you to call every hour. That's why I said: Josh call me every hour and
let me know when it's fixed."
"Well, I'll let you know," he said.
"It's not?"
"Almost," he said. "Fred Drummer...."
"Hannah's chief of staff?"
"Yeah, he and I are close to getting
somewhere," Josh said. "Hannah's driving back to DC tonight so he can think
things over; he's actually driving himself."
"Why?"
"He said he thinks better when he drives."
