I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter to this one. It's a fun set of characters to write, and the story is one I've been wanting to do for some time. Here is the second chapter where we see some other characters come into play. Gregg.

Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

10:30am

Two hours, five short meetings, two phone calls, and a niggling fear of talking with Margaret, later, Josh was sitting at his desk wondering where the Hell Donna was. He had called her thirty minutes before and yet she still wasn't in his office yet. Just was he was about to call her again and see what the Hell was going on, she walked into his office, a smile on her face.

"You needed something?" she asked, the smile still in place, and mentally doing a rundown on the state of his office. Some habits were hard to break.

"Come be my assistant again!" he jumped up and approached her. "I'll offer you anything you want, even the kinky bedroom stuff that you love so much that throws me off my A game!"

"It only throws you off your A game because you're too impatient to get in on the action when I put the cuffs on you," she teased.

"I am the epitome of calm, Donnatella," he said defiantly. "But that's for later. I need you back doing what you do best. Keeping me sane and on the right page."

"Margaret can do that quite easily," Donna told him, quite amused at his self-described level of calm.

"She scares me," Josh admitted in a hushed voice.

"I scared you, and still do," she pointed out.

"You did not scare me," Josh shrieked in that impossibly high pitch.

"Then why would you hide out in Toby's office to eat a burger and fries when I was out to lunch and had left you nice healthy salads?" she questioned.

"You knew about that?" Josh blanched. He was going to have to be more vigilant about his clandestine eating activities from now on.

"Of course," she replied, smiling widely. She leaned forward, her lips at his ear. "I knew everything."

"Are you a CIA plant?" Josh asked.

Donna laughed. "No," she shook her head. "Josh. I am not coming to work as your assistant. You have a wonderful assistant. Now is there anything else?"

Josh slumped. "No," he said. It was worth a shot, but he knew that he would get shot down in the end. "We still on for lunch?"

Donna smiled. "Come to my office at 12:30 and we can have something special," she told him.

Josh looked up eagerly. "Special? As in I'm Da Man special?" he preened.

"Come to lunch and find out," Donna told him as she left his office.

With a sigh Josh turned back to the slowly shrinking pile of folders on his desk. He had to make more of a dent before lunch since he had a Situation Room briefing with President Santos, the National Security Adviser, SecDef, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on the continuing tensions involving Russia and China after lunch. Who knew how long that meeting would last.'

12:30pm

"Josh!" Sam Seaborn called out as Josh made his way through the Bullpen.

Josh cursed. He was a bit behind as it was, and if Donna was really interested in pronouncing him Da Man, then he needed all the time he could get to live up to her high expectations. Stopping to talk with Sam was not on the schedule where that was concerned.

"What?" he asked testily, which Sam ignored thoroughly.

"I was wanting to know if you wanted to grab a bite," Sam told him. "We need to go over the legislative agenda for the rest of the week, and I wanted to talk about the best way to deal with H.R. 152."

Josh sighed in frustration. This was important stuff, and Sam wouldn't be bothering him if he didn't need some guidance from his El Supremo. He got out his cell phone and sent a text to Donna.

Need 2 talk 2 Sam. Sorry. Rain check till Dinner? Josh.

"All right, Sam, let's go," he said, a bit deflated. He was sure that Donna would say absolutely not to a nooner, but a little making out had still been in the cards, and Josh had been hoping to once again show her what a master he was on that front. His blackberry chimed, letting him know that he had a text message. He glanced at it and sighed.

Sure. Too, bad, though. I was going to let you see how far around the bases you could get at lunch. Donna.

"You owe me, Sam," he said shaking his head as he followed his friend into the commissary. His phone chimed again and he looked at the message.

Don't try ordering anything fried or burnt. The kitchen has strict orders on what you may have. Donna.

"Really owe me," he muttered.

2:30pm

Josh was sitting at his desk after having given Otto some instructions on how he wanted some research conducted on the new gun legislation that was being crafted. Ever since lunch he had been in meeting after meeting, including the Situation Room Briefing, and then had attended the brief oath taking ceremony for West Wing staffers which was the standard ceremonial on this day in a new Administration. It had felt kind of odd not having CJ, Toby, and the assistants that had been so familiar during President Bartlett's time in office there this time. He knew it would take some time getting used to, but he would. A knock on the door frame leading to the Oval Office snagged his attention. He jumped up.

"Mr. President!" he said quickly. "Can I do anything for you?"

Matt Santos frowned at the kind of fawning that he knew was the norm, but he had hoped that he and Josh could drop some of the formality. The man in front of him was the sole reason he was here now as the President and not working on local issues back in Texas.

"Relax, Josh," he chided. He came into the office holding a cup of coffee. He took a seat in one of the comfortable chairs near the couch.

Josh sighed and went to the other chair and sat down. He was busy, but never too busy to give his attention to the President. He had a bottle of water, which he loathed but Donna had sent it down to make sure he had his required intake of water so he was sucking it down, in his hand and took a drink. "Is there anything you need, Sir?"

"I wanted your opinion on something," Santos told him. "Is this a good first full day?"

Josh thought back to the first full day of the Bartlett Administration and smiled. Now that had been a Hell in a Handbasket day if there ever had been one. They had all been on pins and needles and wondering if their every move was being judged for perfection. It had taken a week or so of talks, both calm and near screaming, from Leo to calm everyone down and just do their jobs. He chuckled. Thank God he, Sam, and Donna had already sat everyone down over the last few weeks and really prepped them on what to expect and what they needed to concentrate on.

"On a scale of one to ten?" Josh leaned back. "I'd give it about a nine. There's always room for improvement, after all."

Santos looked a bit relieved. He relaxed slightly. "I don't know why I'm even worried over it, but it seemed like the question to ask," he told his Chief-of-Staff.

"You're going to have good days, Sir, and you're going to have days that make you question what the Hell you're doing here," Josh counseled. "No one, and I mean NO ONE, is ready for this job, or is born to it. A President can be great, and have a great team, but it's how you handle the bad days that will really show what kind of President you are, and just how good your supporting cast are."

Matt Santos pondered that one for a minute. Then he remembered a humorous event involving a certain Deputy Chief-of-Staff named Josh Lyman in the second year of the Bartlett Administration. "Bad days like when a certain staffer suggests that the President has a secret plan to fight inflation?" he teased.

"President Bartlett was a Saint on that one, but Leo was about to tear my head off, and CJ wanted to castrate me," Josh chuckled at the memory, not surprised that someone would bring it up after all these years. He was just surprised that it wasn't Donna telling it to the troops so they could get a real good laugh at their beloved leader.

Santos looked at his watch. "I've got a meeting with some Boy Scouts," he said, a smile on his face. It felt good to know that he could relax even for a minute with his very driven and brilliant Chief-of-Staff. "Oh, by the way," he added, a wicked smile on his face. "Your Mom's right. Have a couple of kids. She needs grandchildren," he told him as he slipped out of the room as water sprayed all over the coffee table.

"MARGARET!" Josh bellowed.

A/N: Well, there's another part of the day. I wanted to bring in a mix of some serious thought as well as the humor I love to write, so I hope it worked. This is, after all, a fun story first and foremost. I hope to have another chapter done in about a week or so. Merry Christmas everyone. Gregg.