S03 End and pre Season 4

Admiral Percy Fitzwallace sat at the table with the congressional leaders as Leo McGarry walked off.

Once he was gone the President of the Senate looked at the Admiral and asked, "So we stay here to read these, correct?"

Fitzwallace gave a non-shrug motion. "It's as confidential a matter as anything that I've delivered to the Intelligence Committee." Percy paused to consider that. "Actually, it's even more top secret. What does Congress do with the classified files that are eyes only?"

The ranking member of the Intelligence Committee in the House chuckled. "Do you have the redacted copies for our files?"

"I have one of my aides waiting with them. The originals are where the law says they have to be. These copies will be shredded under my aide's supervision as I will have to get ready for the operation when we're done here."

"Well, we better get to it," the Minority leader of the Senate said.

Every man there knew how confidential this was and none of them complained about the time needed out of their day. The reports for this matter were one of the few where even the files containing confidential information were redacted. Only a very few copies of the original file would ever be found until the matter became public or the 50-year limit was reached. And even then, those copies would only be less-redacted and not fully legible.

The National Security Act recognized that some information never saw the light of day.

Fitzwallace waited patiently. As he sat there, he noticed one particular Senator watching him. "Senator?"

Everyone else looked up from the report. Senator Max Lobel peered at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Admiral. How much is this tearing him up?"

Admiral Fitzwallace was torn between holding it in and telling the truth. He was loyal to Jed Bartlet. Originally, he had been loyal because he was a soldier and Bartlet was President. But Jed Bartlet had long since convinced Percy Fitzwallace that he was worth his loyalty.

Fitz sighed. "It hasn't been easy. He ran State, Justice, and the Alphabet Soup ragged to find any way, any way, that we could handle this without resorting to something that he finds morally reprehensible. But he's the President. When he was finally convinced that there was no other way, he ordered this upon the suggestion of his advisors. But he knew it had to go this way even before it was brought up. He's the President and it's his job. No one else can take the weight. He's going to tear himself up about it all the up until it happens, and then when it's done, he'll tear himself up some more about it. But he'll do it. Because it's the only way and because he wants to protect his people. Even the ones who hate him. But yeah, it hasn't been easy for him."

Everyone listening was somewhat humbled by the staunch loyalty of the highest ranking military leader in the country outside of the President himself. Not one of them would want to be in Bartlet's shoes right then, but all of them were willing to support him on it. Because Shareef was a bad man and he was a threat to everything they believed in.

Max Lobel closed the folder and pushed it over. "I'll take the redacted copy now – I've read enough."

The other seven men, after a moment's consideration, repeated that action. Percy Fitzwallace gathered the files into a pile and went to retrieve the redacted copies.

Max Lobel looked around at the other Congressional leaders. "What do you all say we give Bartlet a fairly easy pass on that vote that's happening tonight?"

The Democrats were almost fish-faced. The Republicans were a bit leery. The Senate Majority leader said, "As much as we might respect this, he's still the leader of the other party and we are engaged in an election against him." Max noted that the man's tone wasn't disapproving, just observational.

"That's true." Max looked off for a moment and then back. "But the bill's gonna pass – Lyman is working overtime on it. We got the Marriage Incentives our constituents wanted and they got the Childcare that their side wanted. It's time to stop fighting. And no matter our disagreements, and I have quite a lot, Bartlet's a man who stands up. Even the MS thing – he took the censure without protest. I heard the rumors, same as all of you. Everyone else wanted to fight it, but he finally said, 'I was wrong and a man stands up'. This Shareef thing is hard enough on him. Let's not make it any harder. Tonight we recognize that he's the President and we back him up. Tomorrow we can go back to being on the other side. For tonight, we need to let it go."

The senior House Republic member said with some humor, "We're going to have to come up with a reason why we aren't fighting harder. It's not like we can tell everyone why we're doing it."

Max shrugged and said with some amusement, "We're politicians. I'm sure we can come up with something on the way back to the Hill."

As he walked out of the White House that afternoon to return to his office, Max Lobel mused that he was feeling remarkably good. He had quite enjoyed his dinner the night before.


Josh Lyman and Donna Moss noted a distinct change in tenor with their phone calls starting early to mid afternoon, even as the President was on Air Force One on the way to New York.

Josh had been expecting a lot more negotiating and deal making. But suddenly, quite a number of the people they had been expecting to argue with suddenly were confirming that they would be voting yea.

Around the same time, Amy Gardner was in her own offices. And suddenly there were quite a few members of Congress that they had been counting on started to not be available for calls.

She didn't know how it happened, but something had changed. And by 6:00, she resigned herself to the idea that this one wasn't going to go her way no matter what she did.

She looked at the clock and decided that it was time to go home. She took a few minutes to type out her resignation – it was the only answer she had for having a policy initiative overturned so definitively. After putting the envelope on her boss's desk, she took some time to pack up a box from her office and left.

That night, when Josh appeared at her door, she really wanted to fight about it. At least she had been expecting a fight. She had worked herself up to be ready to fight.

Instead, Josh was … blandly pleasant.

Finally she said, "Okay. Let me have it. I've been waiting for it."

Josh looked at her and sighed. "I'm done being pissed at you about the whole thing."

Amy looked at Josh in confusion and said, "How?" This was not going the way she had expected.

Josh shrugged and said, "Yeah. I was pissed about it. But Donna convinced me that I shouldn't be. So now I'm not."

Now Amy was really confused. Donna was someone that actually made Amy a bit nervous. She didn't think that Donna liked her particularly but it was something that she had decided to live with. But now she had to ask, "How did she do that?"

Josh had a small smile as he said, "When Donna came back from North Dakota, she walked into my response to your work to derail it. I was pissing and moaning about your lack of loyalty and she basically told me to suck it up. I was pissed that you weren't being loyal to the President because you're a Democrat. She pointed out that you were being loyal to your boss and your cause. You were a lobbyist and it was your job to push your agenda regardless of party issues. I was concentrating so much on Us vs. Them that I was ignoring that my job right then was to back the President's decision to not fight the issue because it wasn't worth the political capital it would take to change their minds. When I was told about the incentives, I talked to my boss, he talked to the President, and as much as he thinks Marriage Incentives are a crock, he also was realistic in recognizing that you don't get to have everything when you're compromising. So I did what I was told. Even if you hated it. Because that was my job. And I'm good at my job."

Amy stood there contemplating her boyfriend as she considered what he was saying. And even as she privately appreciated that Josh's assistant had saved her a whole lot of irritation, she also knew that there was something about Donna Moss that just annoyed the hell out of hell out of her.

She was about to reply when the phone rang. All thoughts on the matter fled as the voice on the other side told her about the tragedy of Simon Donovan.

Once she handed the phone to Josh, she watched him as he took in the news and started making plans. After a final, "Thank you," he hung up the phone.

Before she could ask questions, Josh picked up the phone again. "Donna. This is Josh." "Simon Donovan was killed in New York tonight." "No. It was something else. Apparently they caught the guy who was harassing CJ before it happened." "He walked into a robbery when he was off duty." "Yeah. It really does suck." "I need you to contact the Office of Protocol. They need to start working with the Secret Service. We're going to need to get a copy of his file." "He was killed in the line of duty even if he wasn't on duty at the time and while they'll handle notification and arranging the funeral, we've got to think about who else needs to be invited." "I don't know where he grew up or what agencies he worked for. But we've got to make sure invitations are sent." "We don't need to go back in tonight, but we need to work with Communications, Protocol, and the Secret Service first thing." "Right. Tomorrow morning." "Good night."

Josh hung up the phone and sighed. "You think you're having a good day and something like this happens. It never ends."

Amy could only say, "That's the way it seems to be." Her heart went out to the man who now showed obvious grief and not a small amount of exhaustion.


It was a somber day six days later as mourners gathered at the National Cathedral. President Bartlet had been fully on board with Josh's efforts to make sure that Simon Donovan was fully honored. The memorial service was held and then the casket was escorted to Arlington.

Simon Donovan had been a member of the armed services in addition to having lost his life as a Secret Service agent. His family had been honored to have him buried there rather than his home town.

The US Flag at the White House had been flown at half staff the day of his funeral, and would only be raised fully once the casket had been interred. In addition, members of the Chicago Police Department, NYPD, the DC police, and the US Army had been included in his funeral procession in recognition of his service in the army and his time with the Chicago PD. The NYPD presence was in recognition for him having died in New York. Other law enforcement agencies had also been represented.

With the President's attendance, many Secret Service agents who would not have been able to attend due to their duty requirements could attend. And they appreciated the opportunity to pay tribute to one of their own.

Donna was with Josh and other members of the staff on the way back to the White House from the funeral. The members of the Senior Staff and their assistants were riding together as the limo they were in could seat eight and there was a desire to free up space for additional Secret Service members to ride in the motorcade as well.

The other staff were listening to CJ as she talked about Simon. At one point, Donna clutched Josh's arm and he looked at her curiously. She murmured, "Later." He nodded.

When they got back, Josh asked her about it. "What was that about in the limo?"

Donna looked at Josh earnestly. "Remember what CJ was talking about?" Josh nodded. "The teenager who Simon was with as a big brother: Who's going to do that now?"

Josh thought about it. "I don't know. It wasn't something that came up."

Donna nodded at that. "Do family members get help when an agent dies?"

Josh was about to say that he was certain it was being taken care of but then paused. "I don't know. I'd have to ask."

Donna said, "You should talk to Frank Tinney. In all the work going on to arrange the funeral, I don't know if anyone has thought about it. And it sounds like something that was important to Agent Donovan. Someone needs to take up what got dropped when he got killed."

Josh replied, "I'll call him. There isn't much I can do, but I think CJ would be relieved if it was taken care of. She really seemed to think that Simon loved being a big brother."

"I agree." The two went back to their office area and Donna stood by as Josh made the call. When it was done Josh said, "He'll look into it and let us know."

Donna nodded in acknowledgement and went to start working on the next thing on their plate.


As Josh walked to his office from Sam's area, he noticed something strange: Donna Moss was standing there, apparently doing nothing, just outside his office. She wasn't even looking around. He paused and peered at her, trying to figure out what she was doing.

Josh himself was just getting back from different meetings he had on campaign issues because the Democratic National Convention was scheduled for early August that year and there were quite a number of things to sort out before it hit.

The varying schedule of the conventions was always something that had made him crazy. The Primaries were anywhere from early January to early June but there was no statutory requirements so it changed every election cycle.

Some years the conventions were as early as late June and some years the conventions ended up being after Labor Day.

For someone like him, the chaos of it was both annoying and invigorating. Because the President was up for reelection, the Democratic Convention had been pushed to as early as possible because there was no anticipation of a challenge. The Republicans had originally forced them later but that played against them as Ritchie had become the presumptive nominee quite early in the Primary schedule.

The latter half of the primaries had been almost pointless. Even that year's Super Tuesday, an event which was on a different date during every election, had been fairly anticlimactic.

After Ritchie had moved form single digits to the front runner by March, the other Republicans in the field had basically folded and got behind the man who hoped to unseat the President.

Josh almost couldn't believe that the Republicans would be nominating such an idiot. But as John Hoynes had pointed out, Ritchie's position as the Governor of Florida with many family members being overwhelmingly popular in Texas actually posed a threat in the election, a surprising effective threat considering the man's utter lack of suitability that any intelligent person could see if they opened one eye.

There was a reason that Josh Lyman considered the average Republican voter, and even the average Democratic voter, completely brainless. So he was an elitist: Sue him.

Still, he had no idea why Donna Moss was standing in Ops apparently doing nothing. So he quietly walked forward until he was just behind her. "What are you doing?"

Donna whirled around and said, "Josh! How did your meetings go?"

"They were fine. But what are you doing?" Donna looked over to her desk to see a young man doing work that Donna normally did. "Who is he?"

Donna said, "You don't need to know his name yet." She said it loudly enough for the guy to hear her. "If I'm going to be out of the office for class, someone's got to make sure this place doesn't fall apart. And so I'm going to be working through the pool from personnel until I find someone who can do the job." She was at her snarkiest – which was kind of hot, Josh admitted even only in the privacy of his own mind.

Josh looked at her almost wide-eyed. "What happened to my nice assistant? The woman who is cheerful and helpful even when I think she shouldn't be?"

Donna looked at him and smirked. "If they can't handle me not being nice, then how in the hell are they going to handle the normal you if I'm not there as a buffer?"

Josh was about to snark back but paused to consider what she had said. Donna had a point. "Okay then. Maybe I can get whoever is covering to get me coffee."

Donna gave him the gimlet eye and then raised her voice a bit. "Ted?" The guy looked over. "If you ever succumb to Josh Lyman begging you to get him coffee, I'll fire you instantly. Do you understand?"

Ted, apparently the guy's name, looked almost frightened as he said, "Understood, Ms. Moss." He then turned back to the desk.

Josh stood there watching a moment and murmured, "I don't think this is the one."

Donna sighed and said just as quietly, "You're probably right. At least this is only the first one. I'll get someone. Just you watch."

Josh grinned at her and said, "Carry on."


Leo happened to be coming to visit Josh when Donna found the right person for the job. She had run though about six different people until Rebecca Simpson was sent.

Donna was standing back watching Rebecca work when Leo appeared next to her, also pausing to watch. Both of them observed Josh come out of his office and say, "I need you to drop what you're doing and go pick up these files from OEOB." He set a paper down.

She looked at it and said, "Is there some emergency which requires this at this moment? A meeting you have in less than an hour?"

Josh was exasperated. "I just need you to get the files."

She looked straight at him and said, "I'll get the files but you're going to have to wait for half an hour. Because if I drop this I'll lose four hours of work. So I'm sorry, Mr. Lyman, but unless it's an emergency, you have to wait. Maybe take a break and get your own coffee."

Completely annoyed Josh said a bit loudly, "You're fired!"

Rebecca looked at him and then called to Donna. "Am I fired?"

Donna smirked and said, "No." Her tone was definite.

Rebecca nodded, looked back at Josh and said, "Sorry, Mr. Lyman. Impervious."

Josh looked at Donna with a disbelieving face. Donna just grinned at him. Leo, standing beside her, had to squash his own desire to laugh at his Deputy Chief of Staff.

Donna said to Josh, "Because it's been a tough day, I'll go get the files and let Rebecca work without supervision. You'll have them soon."

Josh took a deep breath and then let it out. "Fine."

Donna turned and looked at Leo. "I'm keeping her. And even when I'm not in class, I'm still not sending her back. I'd like to get her assigned as either Secretary or Assistant for the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff. I'll be the Senior Assistant if it comes to that."

Leo looked at Donna (who looked slightly smug), looked at Rebecca (who looked slightly hopeful), looked at Josh (who looked slightly resigned), and then back to Donna. "Done. Work with her on the title. And she answers to you. You're still the one in charge of keeping Josh from falling apart."

Donna smiled widely. "That works for me. Thanks, Leo." She went to get the list of files that Josh needed from OEOB.

Josh almost felt like knocking his head against the wall but he sucked it up. "Is there something you needed, Leo?"

Rebecca only gave a happy grin to Donna, who smiled widely back.

A/N: It was always strange that the Deputy Chief of Staff only seemed to have one Assistant and no secretary. Donna did all the work of about four people. I figured that would have to be fixed if this story was going to work.