Hi all! Thank you for everyone who reviewed! I've only just noticed this story is nearing 100 reviews which is wonderful! This chapter, originally 2 chapters but I promised longer updates so but then together. Glad you like Marie, I really enjoy writing her in this fic! Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!
I'm Fine
"Mom?" Even though Josh had made plans with his Mother, he was still surprised to see her.
Marie recovered from the shock of his appearance quickly; years of practice after trying to hide her grief over her daughter and husband from her son, who she knew felt a tremendous amount of guilt and wanted to be strong for him.
"Joshua…" She smiled and reached out to hug him when he reached her.
Donna felt her eyes burning with tears again, as she watched them and quickly got to her feet. She busied herself by making Josh and Matt a cup of coffee, trying to pull herself together before anyone noticed.
"Congressman, I'd like you to meet my Mother…" Josh said as he stepped back, glancing at Matt. "Marie Lyman."
"Congressman Santos, it's nice to finally meet you." Marie held out a hand. "I've heard a lot about you from Joshua."
"You have?" Matt shook her hand, his eyebrows rising in surprise as he shot Josh a look.
"Of course, he regularly keeps me updated by emails." She informed him. "I'd like to apologize for my son…"
"Apologize?" Matt frowned a little as Josh rolled his eyes.
"For dragging you into all this…"
"Ma…" Josh started.
"She apologized to me too…" Helen announced cheerfully; she had quickly grown fond of Marie Lyman.
"And me." Donna added, rejoining them, grinning as she handed each of them a coffee.
"Ma, stop apologizing to people." Josh told her. "I'm trying to run a presidential campaign here…"
"Exactly, I know how you are…"
"She didn't apologize to me." Leo claimed. "Told me this is my punishment…"
"Punishment?" Helen repeated. "For what?"
"For being a terrible influence and getting me involved in politics." Josh replied, already knowing the answer.
"He was all set for a quiet life in Connecticut with a family of his own…" Marie said wishfully.
"Yeah, like that was ever going to happen…" Leo let out a laugh and received a glare from Marie. "Come on, Josh was never destined to do anything other than politics…When he found out what my job was, he sought me out and bombarded me with questions."
"He was five years old, Leo!" She remembered the dinner party he was talking about. "You could have encouraged him to become a teacher or pianist or a lawyer…"
"Hey, I am a lawyer…" Josh cut in.
"I mean, a real one, dear." Marie patted his arm.
"Yeah, this isn't humiliating at all..." He muttered sarcastically as he looked at the others. The congressman actually watched a little bemused by the whole exchange and he noticed that Donna had a genuine smile on her face for the first time in days while Helen looked elated by the conversation…He couldn't help but feel that was going to turn out badly for him. "And Mom, what are you actually doing here? I thought we were meeting for dinner…"
Leo rolled his eyes when he noticed Josh glancing at his watch, just to check that it wasn't already time for dinner.
"I thought I'd come down and see if I can help out at all…" She offered. "I helped during President Bartlet's first campaign; it seems only fair I offer my services to the next President too."
"You helped on President Bartlet's campaign?" Matt questioned.
"I did." Marie grinned. "I stuffed envelopes, made food and shouted at Joshua when needed…"
"Well, I think we can definitely use your skills in that area." Matt replied.
"I'm happy to help." Marie claimed.
Josh looked over at Leo. "Whose idea was it to come to Florida?"
"Yours." Leo smirked and glanced at his watch. "Well, I've been gone twice as long as I promised Lou I would be. I should probably go find her."
"I sent her to meet with some donors, so you got some time." Josh replied. "There was some stuff I wanted to go over with you…Thought we could grab some lunch?"
Leo was about to ask what he needed but then realized he might not want the rest of the room knowing and he didn't want to put him in a position of lying to the congressman again or his mother. He gave a nod. "Sure, I'm ready when you are."
"Mom, I'm sorry I'm not going to be around much until later…" He turned to her.
"Oh, don't worry about me…I'm surprised I've managed to pin you down in one spot for this long anyway."
"Marie, would you like to join us for lunch?" Helen offered. "Donna and I was going to go over my schedule for the next couple of days but we could do that later…I'd love to hear more stories."
"Mom…" Josh groaned.
She smiled and patted his arm but turned to look at Helen. "I'd love to join you."
"So, let me get this straight…." Matt started. "You're all going out for lunch and not one of you is inviting me? You know… the candidate? Possibly the next President of the United States?"
"Oh, I'm sorry honey….would you like to join us girls?" Helen asked sweetly with sarcasm.
"Sir, I'm sure you won't have to go far to find someone out there who will jump at the chance to have lunch with you…" Leo told him.
"Just not my wife, campaign manager or running mate?"
"Want me to call Otto to go out and get you something?" Josh offered.
"While the rest of you are out of the building and Lou is stuck in a meeting?" He questioned. "Hell no…I'm going to go take a nap…"
The others all laughed lightly and began packing up their belongings while Josh pulled his mother away from the group.
"I'm really sorry I won't be able to spend some time with you until tonight." He said quietly.
"Honey, its fine…"
"But you came all the way down here…"
"Joshua, you called…So, I came…if you call, I will always come." She told him, reaching up and cupping his cheek. "Every time…No matter what."
He didn't know how but he knew she knew. He felt his eyes burning and tried his hardest to blink away the tears before they started to fall. She had always been there for him no matter what and although he knew this time would be no different, he hated that he was going to hurt her.
"I wanted you to meet him." He whispered his voice rough with emotion.
"The congressman?" Marie asked.
Josh nodded. "I want you to meet him and see what a good man he is….See why it's important I make him President."
Marie pulled her eyes away from him to look over to the other side of the room where Matthew Santos had his arm around his wife while he laughed at something Leo was saying.
"I know how important this is to you, honey." She assured him.
"It really is." He replied. "Listen, the next couple of weeks is going to be a little crazy…The Congressman is taking the weekend off to spend some time with Mrs. Santos and the kids…He is insisting we all take the time off too so I was thinking…"
"That you'd ignore him and work anyway?" Marie teased lightly.
"No…" He rolled his eyes but couldn't help a smile. "Actually, I was thinking I could come back to your condo and spend it with you…"
"Really?" She questioned.
"Yeah, if that's okay?"
"Oh honey, of course its okay." She assured him. "You're always more than welcome."
"Okay, good…I know, I don't visit very often but you do know I love you, don't you, Mom?" He questioned, his eyes dropping away from hers in a moment of self-conscious. "That everything I've done…I've done it because I wanted to make you proud…You, Dad, Joanie and Grandpa."
"Joshua…" She whispered, laying her hand on his cheek again. In her heart she knew something was seriously wrong. For them to be having this conversation while he was in the middle of a Presidential election and with his candidate just a few steps away. "I am so very proud…and your Dad, sister and Grandpa were proud of you…they would be prouder if they were here today… you do know that, don't you?"
Josh nodded a little but still didn't look up at her.
"Joshua…" She placed a finger under his chin and forced him to look at her. "No matter what happens next, you should be proud of yourself, you hear me?"
"Yes, ma'am." He replied, smiling a little. "Sorry, I guess the lack of sleep is getting to me…"
She knew he was hiding something but didn't call him on it and instead pulled him in for another hug, noticing that he held her a little tighter than normal. She could see the other people in the room were paying them no attention but she could also see that Leo had positioned himself, so he was mostly blocking them from the congressman and his wife's view. She knew when Leo McGarry was in distraction mode, giving them chance to have a private moment….whatever was going on; she knew her old friend knew what it was.
"So, I get you all weekend?" She asked, as she pulled back.
"Yep, I can help with all those jobs you've been trying to get me to do since you've moved there." He replied.
"Like that's going to happen…" She said sarcastically. "Besides, I think your time might be better spent getting some sleep and eating some real food…"
"Normally, I would say something about being a grown man who doesn't need taking care of but that actually sounds wonderful." He admitted.
Marie smiled, reaching out and squeezing his hand. "Well, in that case I think I share you for one evening."
"Huh?" Josh frowned, a little.
"Congressman, Joshua was just telling me you're forcing him to take time off this weekend…" Marie took a few steps towards them.
"Well, yes but I'd actually be surprised if he listened to me…" Santos replied.
"Oh, he'll listen to you…I'm going to kidnap him and take him home with me." She told him. "However, I was wondering if you and your lovely wife would like to join us for dinner tonight…"
"Mrs. Lyman, we'd love to join you…" Matt started. "But I know you don't get to spend a whole lot of time with Josh…."
"We have the whole weekend and besides I'd like to get to know the man my son has chosen to become the next President of the United States."
"Most parents grill their son's girlfriends but of course, only Josh's interrogate his Presidential candidates…" Leo quipped, remembering the grilling Marie had given President Bartlet the first time they met.
"Thanks for that…" Josh shot Leo a look.
"Donna, Leo…I hope you're both free too?" Marie looked over at them.
"I go where the campaign manager tells me to go…" Leo replied, nodding towards Josh.
"Count me in." Donna smiled; she always enjoyed spending time with Marie.
"Well, we'd love to join you…" Matt replied after seeing his wife nod her agreement.
"Okay, that's settled then." Marie stated. "And it'll be Leo's treat."
"Uh, excuse me?" Leo questioned in surprised.
"You've got a lot of making up to do…." She grinned at him. "I should have a whole bunch of grandchildren by now…"
"Okay, when the word 'grandchildren' is mentioned it's time for me to get out of here…" Josh announced and looked at Leo. "You ready for lunch?"
"Yeah, let's go before I sign my own grandson over to her…" Leo reached for his jacket "I'll have Annabeth book us a table."
"Congressman, we'll finish looking over those polls later…" Josh said and then glanced at his mom. "Mother, please try and behave…"
"Right back at you, dear." She patted his hand.
Josh rolled his eyes but instead of commenting he just sighed loudly and followed Leo out the room.
XxXxX
They were half way through their lunch and although they had talked about the final stage of the campaign, Leo knew there was something else Josh wanted to discuss.
"So, what was it that you wanted to talk about that you couldn't with the congressman around?" Leo questioned, after a few minutes of silently watching Josh push his food around his plate without taking a bite.
"What do you think of Ben Josephs?" He put down his fork and looked across at him.
"Wasn't he Senator Morgan's chief foreign policy advisor?" Leo asked, being familiar with the name but wasn't sure whether he had actually met the man or not.
"Yeah and before that, he worked for Senator Porter as legislative director and ran a bunch of good campaigns…" Josh nodded. "He's based in New York doing some freelance consulting…Been helping us out a bit there…"
"You want to get him more involved?" Leo guessed.
"Yeah, I've been thinking about it…" Josh nodded. "He's actually good friends with the congressman…They met in college and have worked together on a few projects in the past…"
"Sounds like we could use him with us then."
"Yeah…" Josh agreed, picking up his fork again but still just moved the pasta around. "Besides, if we win Santos is going to need a chief of staff…"
This time it was Leo who dropped his cutlery down on his plate, the noise causing Josh to look up at him to see him staring back at him, mouth open a little
"What?" Josh frowned. "You don't think Ben Josephs would be any good? He's got the experience plus Santos knows and trusts him…"
"I guess but…"
"What?"
Leo sighed. "It's just….I hadn't thought about it... That job should be yours…"
"You know I can't do it." Josh claimed.
"Yeah…" Leo pushed his plate away from him; he had suddenly lost his appetite.
"Leo…" Josh started and rubbed his tired eyes. "You had to have known this was coming…"
"No, I honestly didn't consider what would happen after the election." Leo answered. "What are your plans exactly? If we win, everyone is going to wonder why you're not going back to the White House…"
"I spent seven years there and the last year campaigning, I don't think it'll be hard to believe after all that, someone would decide to have a break." Josh stated and sighed. "I'm tired already, Leo… Once this is over, I'm going home and try to enjoy the time I have left with the people I care about."
They both fell silent when a waitress came over to check everything was okay with their food and although Josh hadn't had a mouthful and Leo had only had half of his, they asked for the bill.
"I guess, we should get back." Leo said once they were alone again.
"Yeah, my Mom has probably got the photo albums out by now…" Josh winced at the thought.
"You're going to tell her this weekend?" Leo asked quietly.
Josh nodded. "I don't know how but yeah, that's why I need to spend the weekend with her."
"I know you're going to want to protect her ….To take care of her but just remember that she's your mom...she's going to want to do those things for you."
"Yeah, I know…I'll try to let her." Josh replied, tracing a pattern on the table with his finger before looking up at Leo again. "You'll keep in touch with her, won't you?"
"What?"
"Mom…I know she's made some friends here and still has good friends back in Connecticut but I just…." He trailed off, his eyes back on the table.
"Josh?" Leo prompted.
"Other than a few distant cousins that we haven't seen in years, we have no family." Josh swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat. "She is my only family….and I'm hers…I don't…I don't want her to be alone."
"Your mother is one of the strongest women I know…She wouldn't want you to worry about her…"
"She had to be strong, Leo…" Josh replied. "After everything that has happened. I hate that I'm going to put her through more heartache when she should be enjoying herself here in Florida…"
"She'd slap you upside the head if she heard you talking right now…" Leo claimed before leaning across the table; keeping his voice quiet but firm. "You listen to me, you didn't ask for this… you don't deserve to go through this…This is not your fault…You understand me?"
"I'm just worried about her…" Josh whispered.
Before Leo could say anymore, the waitress returned, making them both lean back in their chairs again as she placed the bill down on the table. Josh immediately handed over his credit card and she headed off again.
"You're just like him, you know…" Leo said quietly, staring at the younger man.
"Who?" Josh frowned a little.
"Your Dad." Leo claimed. "You're a lot like him in many ways but every now and then you say or do something and it's like having my friend back here."
"Really?" Josh questioned, his eyebrows rising in surprise.
"You know when he found out I had been to Washington to ask you to come to New Hampshire, he called me up and made me promised that I'd look out for you if anything would to happen…."
"He did?"
"Yeah and I know there have been times when I haven't done a great job of that…"
"Hey, Leo…" Josh started to protest but Leo wouldn't allow him to cut in.
"What I'm trying to say is, I'll try not to let you or him down any more." Leo stated. "And I'll promise, I'll do all I can to help your Mom and Donna."
"Donna? How did you…?"
"What? Am I stupid?" Leo smirked a little. "That girl would do anything for you, you know?"
"I do know." Josh admitted. "I really don't think I could get through this without her…"
"Well, I'm glad she's there for you." Leo stated, standing up after the waitress returned with Josh's credit card. "And I'm glad you're letting her."
"I'm trying to." Josh replied.
Josh stayed seated when they were approached by one of the donors Santos, Leo and him had dinner with the first night they arrived. He was there with his family and asked if Leo would meet them. He said, in January he wanted his teenage sons to be able to say they had met the Vice President. Josh couldn't help but smile, knowing Leo still wasn't too used to being the candidate. He told Leo to go ahead while he finished his coffee.
He was checking his phone for any messages that needed his urgent attention and was surprised when someone sat in Leo's recently vacated chair. He was even more surprised when he looked up and saw it was Bruno Gianelli sat opposite him.
"Can I help you with something?" Josh questioned when Bruno didn't speak.
"I was here having lunch…" Bruno started, reaching over and picked up one of the mints the waitress had brought over with his receipt. "Thought I'd come over and say hi."
"Okay…Well, hi." Josh even gave him a small wave before turning his attention back to the phone.
"So, I see campaign life is treating you well…." Bruno leaned back in the chair.
"Meaning?" Josh questioned but not bothering to look up as he typed an email to Lou.
"Meaning it looks like a strong wind could knock you off your feet…" Bruno claimed. "What you doing? Having your caffeine intake by IV so you don't sleep?"
Your concern is touching…" Josh replied sarcastically. "I didn't know you cared…"
"Oh I don't…but I care about Santos whining and using you collapsing from exhaustion as an excuse when Vinick wipes the floor with him in November."
Josh sighed, set his phone down on the table and rubbed his eyes. Bruno was right about one thing…He was exhausted.
"What did you really want, Bruno?"
"Now, Josh…we're old friends…."
"Bruno?" Josh cut in again
"You're going to the Cancer Research event in New York in a couple of weeks…"
At the mention of cancer, Josh inadvertently tensed but managed to give a nod. "Yes."
"You're aware Senator Vinick was invited too."
"I figured he would be…" Josh shrugged.
"He wants to attend." Bruno needlessly told him.
"I'm pretty important within politics, Bruno but I don't have the power to dictate who does and doesn't go to a charity event…"
"His wife died from breast cancer…so it's a cause close to his heart…As I'm sure it is to yours too…" Bruno continued. "If Santos is attending, the Senator doesn't want it to turn into a political circus…"
"I'll speak with the congressman…" He picked up his phone once more.
"Thank you…" Bruno got to his feet. "Oh and try to get some sleep, yeah...you looking like death is going to start to distract from the real issues in this campaign soon."
Josh's head snapped up to watch him walk away. He knew there was no way for Bruno to know about the cancer but he was right about his health distracting from the campaign; reinforcing his first instinct to keep his illness to as few people as possible.
TBC
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