Wow look at me updating within a reasonable time frame like a functioning human with their life together go me! Let me just preface this chapter by saying this: it took every ounce of my willpower to quiet my inner Josh/Sam shipper on this one...please enjoy

Sam offered to help clean up, but Josh brushed him off and told him he could help the twins get into their pajamas instead. Clearing the table was a pretty quick process, especially since he and Donna had trained the kids to at the very least bring their own dishes to the sink. All Josh had to do was rinse off the plates and load the dishwasher, and wash the pan he had used for quesadillas.

When he had finished that, he went upstairs to check on the bedtime process, and found Leo sitting quietly on his bed reading, already dressed, and Megan sitting in what had to be a pile of every pair of pajamas she owned, determined to show Sam each and every one of them. Sam, for his part, seemed to be trying to convince her that they were all very good and she should just pick one, but reluctant to be stern with her. Josh supposed he would have to be the bad guy here then.

"Megan Elizabeth Lyman."

Megan dropped the shirt she was holding at the sound of her dad's voice and looked up at Josh guiltily.

"I was just showing Uncle Sam that I have jammies in every color of the rainbow," she defended.

"Your brother is waiting. Please just pick a color and put them on so we can watch a movie. If you take too long getting ready you won't be able to finish a movie before bedtime," Josh reasoned with her. That seemed to do the trick because Megan quickly tugged on the first top she could get her hands on, then Sam helped her locate the bottoms.

Josh ducked into his bedroom to change into sweats and met the rest of the group back in the living room, where Megan and Leo were crouched in front of their DVD case, deep in a discussion over which movie to watch tonight. Sam had already taken a spot in the middle of the couch, so Josh settled in his armchair, hoping but not really expecting one of his kids to crawl up there with him like they normally would.

Eventually, the kids seemed to settle on Moana, though Josh wasn't entirely sure how much input his son had had in that decision. Leo's easygoing nature certainly saved them a great number of fights, but Josh also wanted him to be able to stick up for himself. He made a mental note to make sure that Leo picked the next movie.

As Josh predicted, the twins climbed on either side of Sam on the couch and snuggled in tight. Sam, as if reading his mind, shot him an apologetic glance, but neither of them said anything. Josh had given up on begging his kids for attention for the day.

Leo hardly made it an hour into the movie before he was out cold, despite his sister loudly singing along to each song. It was only eight-thirty, but Josh also felt the desire to turn in for the night, so he slowly stood and stretched, and walked over to the couch to pick Leo up. The boy hardly stirred as Josh shifted him in his arms.

"Do you mid staying up with her?" Josh whispered to Sam. Sam gave him another worried look.

"Are you going to bed?" he asked quietly.

"I might call Donna, but yeah, I'm pretty beat." He didn't really have any intention of calling his wife, he just wanted to crawl into bed, but that probably sounded like a much less concerning excuse.

"Okay, yeah, I'll make sure she gets in bed," Sam agreed.

"You have everything you need down here?" Josh asked. "Towels, whatever?"

"I'm good," Sam responded. "Thanks Josh. Goodnight."

"Night," Josh answered. "Goodnight Megan," Josh added a bit louder.

"Night daddy," Megan responded distractedly, eyes never leaving the TV screen.

Josh carried Leo from the room without another word. He thought about waking him up to brush his teeth, but there was always the chance that he wouldn't go back to sleep afterwards, so Josh just resolved to make sure he brushed extra well in the morning and placed his son right in bed.

Content that Leo would stay asleep, Josh closed the door halfway and crossed the hallway to his own room. He mechanically moved through the process of getting ready for bed before climbing in himself, barely remembering to send a goodnight text to Donna before he closed his eyes. He must not be used to a campaign schedule yet, because Josh couldn't remember feeling so wiped in his entire life, and he used to go three days at a time without sleep. He also used to be much younger, he figured.

Still, he couldn't tell if his exhaustion was physical or mental at the moment. All things considered, he had been getting an acceptable amount of sleep up until this point, and while he had grown accustomed to a more laid-back lifestyle, the campaign had yet to really pick up steam (that would happen the first week of the new year, when they would practically move into their New Hampshire office in preparation for the first primary) and Josh hadn't even felt tired until he got home. The one thing that had kept him going the past few weeks had been the thought of seeing his kids, and so far it hadn't gone at all like he'd expected.

Josh woke up the next morning to his phone buzzing with a text from Donna that she and Ainsley had boarded their flight. The house was still quiet, unusual for a Saturday morning. His phone said that it was after eight, so there was little chance that the kids were still asleep, especially with Leo falling asleep so early. That meant that Sam must be up too, which meant that the kids had gone to wake him up first. Josh should be grateful for the rare opportunity to sleep in. He wasn't.

He rolled out of bed, stretching, and pocketed his phone for Donna's call that they landed. Downstairs, as he expected, Josh found the other three occupants sitting in front of Spongebob in the living room. Instead of announcing his presence, Josh squeezed between Megan and the arm of the couch.

"Morning daddy," she greeted before turning back to the TV.

"Morning sweetie," Josh smiled, combing a hand gently through her curly hair. "Sleep well?" She was sufficiently distracted, though, because she offered no further comment.

Josh sat with them for another minute before getting up to get breakfast started. He wasn't exactly in the mood to cook again, so he turned on the coffee machine for himself and Sam and pulled out a few boxes of cereal for the kids. Hopefully they would come in when they got hungry enough. In the meantime, Josh went about getting ready for the day: showering, checking his email, making a few quick phone calls to Sam's remaining staff in Washington before they went home in the afternoon. He tried calling Charlie, but it went straight to voicemail so Josh hung up without leaving a message.

Finally, around ten o'clock, Donna texted that they were on their way. Josh returned a thumbs up emoji and went back downstairs to check on the twins and Sam. He found three bowls in the sink, so apparently they had eaten. They were, however, still watching TV in their pajamas.

"Okay guys, mommy's gonna be home soon, time to get dressed," Josh instructed.

"After this episode please daddy?" Megan begged, but Josh had long since become immune to his kids trying to walk all over him. Mostly.

"Nope. Now," Josh reached for the remote and turned the TV off. "You've been watching TV all morning, now it's time to start the day."

Megan stood up with a huff and an eye roll and trudged in the direction of the stairs, Leo following quietly behind her.

"Do they need help? Getting ready and stuff?" Sam asked as he stood up from the couch.

"Nah, we'll give them a few minutes. Megan's pretty self-sufficient, she just likes attention. And Leo's getting better at doing stuff for himself too. If they're not down in a bit I'll go check on them."

The two men made their way into the kitchen, and Josh poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Also, sorry if they weren't supposed to be watching TV this morning," Sam added. "I wanted to let you sleep and I wasn't sure what else to do with them to keep them quiet."

"Don't worry about it," Josh waved him off. "They're six years old, Saturday morning cartoons won't kill them. I do wish you'd woken me up though, you're not here to babysit."

"No, I'm here to spend time with them though," Sam countered. "Seriously, I don't mind. What did you get up to this morning then?"

Josh shrugged. "Email, made some phone calls, nothing crazy."

"Josh."

"What?"

"You're working already? We haven't even been gone a whole twenty-four hours yet!" Sam protested.

"It's not like I had anything better to do," Josh reasoned. "And I thought we agreed that now isn't a good time for us to be taking a week off?"

"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean you can't take some time off," Sam shot back.

"And I will."

"When?"

"When…I don't know, when I don't have anything to do! Do you want me running this campaign or not?" Josh huffed.

Sam threw up his hands. "Fine, fine, do what you need to do," he surrendered. "But don't think I won't get Donna to wrangle you in when they get here."

"Oh I'm counting on it," Josh grumbled.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, fine," Josh responded as convincingly as possible.

Sam didn't look particularly convinced, but he dropped it, so Josh took it as a win.

"Well, as long as you're working you might as well keep me up to speed on everything that's going on," Sam suggested.

"I just checked in with Max for a bit," Josh informed him, referring to Sam's current Chief of Staff in his Senate office. Max Neilson was a young kid from Sam's hometown in California, and reminded Josh a bit of himself when he was working for Hoynes. He had done a tremendous job running Sam's office for the past six years, but Max himself would be the first to admit he knew nothing about politics at a national level and even less about campaigning on such a large scale. Josh actually looked forward to working with him, in whatever capacity the younger man wanted to be a part of the campaign. If nothing else, Josh was sure they'd be in pretty close contact just trying to coordinate Sam's campaign commitments with his obligations as a sitting Senator.

"And?" Sam pressed.

"Don't worry about it," Josh responded reflexively.

"Josh."

"Seriously Sam, what do you think we're talking about?" Josh laughed. "I just wanted to make sure he knew what he was taking home with him for the holidays. He's gonna check in on the Orange County office when he gets in tonight, then I told him to take the rest of the weekend off."

"As should you," Sam reminded him.

"Yeah right."

"Seriously Josh, I know we said we couldn't take a week off and I know we really can't afford to take the week off but you need to spend time with your family too."

"I think you're spending enough time with my family for the both of us," Josh mumbled.

"What did you just say?"

Thankfully, Josh was saved from having to answer by the sound of the front door opening. The twins really had some sort of sixth sense when it came to new people in the house because before the door had even shut again, Josh heard two sets of footsteps come barreling down the stairs. His reminder not to run in the house fell on deaf ears as they passed through the kitchen.

"Mommy!" he heard them shout, and Josh internally sighed. So apparently it was just him they didn't care about seeing this time.

Josh and Sam followed after them to the front hallway where their wives each had taken custody of a twin, Ainsley holding Megan and Donna carrying Leo.

"Don't worry boys, we're here to save the day," Ainsley greeted.

"Our heroes," Sam responded sarcastically, meeting his wife for a kiss. "Hey baby." Megan took that opportunity to grab onto Sam's shoulders and transfer herself into his arms.

"Apparently Sam's her new favorite," Josh informed them, doing his best to keep the mild resentment out of his voice. Ainsley and Sam didn't seem to notice, as Megan had immediately begun telling Ainsley a story that she had told twice yesterday about her friend Ella and a purple crayon collection, but the expression on his own wife's face told him that they would be having some sort of conversation about it later. Great.

"Well, in case it wasn't clear, you're my favorite," she said, quiet enough that only the two of them—and possibly Leo, if he was paying any attention—could hear. Josh wrapped his arms around her so tightly that their son started to squirm, so Donna let him down and returned her attention to Josh, wrapping her arms around him in return. He would never, never, ever stop being grateful to this woman for being in his life.

The world felt right again the moment she was in his arms and Josh allowed himself to relax for a moment, to forget the unexpected stress that had come with returning home. Having Donna around just automatically made everything better. She gently squeezed the back of his neck, a familiar gesture, comforting.

"Okay?" she asked softly. She could have been asking about a million things, but even though they had been apart for most of the past week Josh knew that she was completely in-synch with his mood.

It wasn't a discussion for right then, though, because they had company to entertain, so Josh just nodded into her shoulder. "Yeah, he whispered, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Good flight?" he asked, slightly louder.

Donna turned and wrapped an arm around his waist, guiding him back towards the kitchen. "It was a flight," she responded absently. "I'm getting way too used to flying back and forth now."

Josh smirked. "A simpler time," he said.

"Hard to get used to it again?"

"I used to fly multiple times a week, now I've flown more in the past month than I have in the past six years," Josh explained. "You could say it's an adjustment."

"He had to take anxiety meds when we flew to California," Sam informed her, following them in. He was still carrying Megan and Leo was trailing closely behind him.

"Okay, I didn't have to," Josh protested. "I was fine. It was just a long flight and I wanted to sleep."

"You didn't sleep," Sam shot back.

"Only 'cause you wouldn't shut up the entire time!" Josh accused. "I swear to god, seven hour flight and you didn't close your mouth once. It would've been remarkable if it wasn't quite so irritating."

"I think it's a little early for you two to be getting on each other's nerves," Ainsley commented, entering the kitchen behind them. "You're only six weeks in, what are you going to be like come November?"

"I've seen Sam more in the last six weeks than I've seen Donna," Josh complained. "It's a miracle I haven't killed him yet."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Donna smacked the side of his head. The twins, clearly seeing that they didn't want to be a part of this conversation, retreated up to their room to play. Josh felt slightly proud that their default wasn't to turn on the TV anytime they were bored, especially when he had instructed them to turn it off not half an hour ago. They didn't play outside as often as some kids, but having a built-in playmate helped them to entertain themselves. "You two get along just fine."

"This is why they tell you never to room with your best friend in college," Josh added. "Too much time together is poison."

"Now you're just being dramatic," Sam huffed.

"Okay, fine, it hasn't been that bad," Josh conceded. "You are a pain in the ass, though."

"Well, yeah," Sam agreed. "You knew that going in."

"I knew that like thirty years ago," Josh confirmed.

"God, have we actually known each other for thirty years?" Sam paused, and Josh had to stop and think about that for a minute because how could that even be possible? He could hardly remember a time when Sam hadn't been in his life—they had met in their mid-twenties, Sam fresh out of law school and Josh barely starting to make a name for himself in Washington. Oddly, Josh couldn't remember actually meeting Sam, nor could he remember a moment where he realized that the other man had become his best friend, but no matter how many times they went apart and came back together it was like nothing had changed.

"That's…wow," Josh finally said. "I guess we have."

"You were one of the first people I met in DC, I think," Sam reminisced. "I know we weren't working together at the time, but you might have known someone else on Jacobson's staff? I don't think I ever actually figured out the connection."

"Y'know, for the life of me I can't even remember how we met it was so long ago," Josh admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Remind me to pick up some blueberries," Donna teased. "Can't have your memory going quite yet."

"Give me a break, it was a long time ago," Josh huffed back.

"Nah, it wasn't really remarkable, I'm not surprised you don't remember," Sam brushed off. "You had been in town for a few years already, and you know what it's like, you meet ten new people every day and at least nine of them you'll never see again. I hadn't even been there two weeks, though, I barely knew anyone. I kept telling myself that everyone I met could be a connection in the future, so I was determined to memorize every face and name I was introduced to. Well, that lasted all of a month before I realized that it just wasn't feasible, but you made the cut. It was that little bar, I think, just off of 6th? A couple of guys asked me if I wanted to go for drinks after work and I was just happy to be included. Turned out, they were all assholes who ended up ignoring me once we got there, but you came over and talked to me for like an hour or something. I thought you were the greatest thing ever. After that, you said hi to me a couple times around town, but I don't think you actually knew my name. We got introduced again when our guys were collaborating on that bill for…god, what was it? Agriculture or something. Anyways, we ended up working together a bit on that, and then we'd all go out for drinks at the end of the day. And then even once the bill had died we kept meeting up for drinks and stuff."

Josh vaguely remembered that bill. It had been doomed from the get-go, and Josh had said as much, but his opinion meant very little back then with only three years of experience under his belt. It had been one of those things that would get thrown to the more junior staff, simply because no one else had wanted a piece of it, and being relegated to "junior staffer" had left his twenty-nine-year-old ego a bit bruised.

He remembered Sam, though. Sam had been beyond impressive. Sam had been the one person on the entire project who acted like he wanted to be there, and his energy was infectious. And on top of that, Sam was smart. The man's intellect seemed obvious now, having worked with him for decades, but back then, Josh remembered being taken aback by how well-spoken and confident and just brilliant the kid was.

Donna had started moving around the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher that Josh had never gotten around to, and Ainsley moved to help her. They were giving the boys at least the illusion of privacy for their conversation, which Josh appreciated. He and Sam were always very open with each other—something that came from the comfort of knowing each other for so long—but Josh often found it hard to really open up with an audience, and sometimes Sam could be the same. Fortunately, both of their wives were well-tuned to them. They really did get lucky.

"You did well on that bill," Josh said aloud. "I remember something about that. You stuck out to me then for sure. I knew you'd be someone I'd want on my side. I knew you'd do big things one day." Sam smiled shyly, and Josh smiled back. "Looks like I was right. I'm so proud of you, Sam. Whatever this next year brings, I'm already so incredibly proud of you."

"That really means a lot, Josh," Sam said seriously. "I wouldn't be here without you."

"Nah, you'd probably be making seven figures in the private sector instead," Josh teased. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be. This is what I'm meant to be doing. I have purpose here. I have something to say, and I want to say it."

"Well, that's what I'm here for," Josh assured him. "To make sure you're heard."

See? Josh/Sam fluff that's not actually Josh/Sam everyone wins! Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far, please continue to leave me feedback! It makes me want to keep writing! I've got the next chapter done now too, and the following chapter started...however, I started classes again today which means my time to write just took a major hit...I'll do my best though! Thanks for reading!