Sam stood in front of the TV in his office, a scowl on his face, his arms crossed. The things that were being reported made his blood boil. The major news outlets had almost moved on but the political talk shows were just getting started.

The number of times that a talking head had suggested that something inappropriate had occurred between two of his best friends was taking its toll on his resolve to stay out of it. He didn't know how much longer he'd last. Josh had made it absolutely clear he didn't want to drag them into it, but Sam was having a hard time restraining himself. He was itching to step in and sue someone for slander on Josh's behalf, but he knew that would only aggravate the already fragile situation.

Sam pulled into a parking spot down the street from CJ's house. He was immediately relieved to see the press had dissipated over the course of the last week. He was so proud of Donna. She kept her cool, remained strong, and issued crisp "no comments" all week. Just as they'd expected, eventually the media gave up. There just wasn't much thrill getting a no comment from her, and if they harassed her too much, they'd start to look bad themselves.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with Josh. From the news footage, it was obvious to Sam that the constant media attention was getting under his skin. He just hoped that his friend wouldn't snap.

"Honey, I'm home," Sam called as he opened the door, placing the grocery bags on the counter.

"And I've missed you all day," Danny snarked from the adjoining room.

"Well who could blame you?" Sam and Danny's friendship was an unexpected development. Danny had been Josh's friend first. Then CJ's. He and Sam and only been slight acquaintances. And Sam had a fairly large distrust of the media after the Laurie incident. But eventually, Sam had learned that Danny had sat on the Laurie story for many years. And so, he came to trust Danny, and a friendship grew over the last two years. They were sort of an odd couple, with Sam's good looks and Tommy Hilfiger Ad sweaters, to Danny's rumpled tweed jackets and scraggly beard. But they both loved and cared for the same people, and a friendship had developed from there. And it turned out, they had a similar sense of humor.

"The girls are on the deck," Danny nodded towards the open French doors. "I've been sent in for more wine."

"Ah," Sam nodded his understanding and hung back for a moment to talk to Danny.

"Beer?" Danny offered as he opened the door to the fridge.

Sam accepted, closely watching the conversation on the porch through the French doors.

"How's she doing?" Sam asked as he took a long drink, attempting to study Donna.

"You spend as much time with her as I do so I think you know the answer to that," Danny looked pointedly at Sam.

"Yeah." Sam sighed.

Danny sat the wine on the countertop and remained silent for a beat. "Did you read it?"

Sam paused for a moment before turning to look Danny in the eye. "Yeah. You?"

Danny gave a nod of confirmation.

"The girls?" Sam asked.

"Neither of them," Danny confirmed. "Though if this keeps up much longer CJ will probably start to weigh in and she'll have to read it to get her opinion straight. But not Donna. She's dead set against it."

"I'm glad to hear that," Sam admitted. "She's already having a hard time staying silent. If she read it, there would be no chance. And she's way too emotionally involved to be a good spokesperson for him. I'm afraid it really would just make matters worse."

Danny nodded his head. He too was angry at the narrative surrounding Josh and Hellhound.

"How much of it do you think is true?" It was a question that Danny only dared ask Sam.

Sam's face morphed into a pained expression. "I don't know," he admitted. "There's a hint of truth woven through pages of lies. Just enough to make people wonder. Just enough reality in the theories so that the lies seem plausible. It was meticulously thought out, that's for sure."

"Any ideas who wrote it?"

Sam shook his head. "Had to have been ghosted," he stated. "That's the only thing I can think of. I didn't pick up any tells in the writing."

"Me either." Danny stared at the floor, hating that he had to even ask the question he'd been leading up to. "Did you read chapter 8?"

"Yeah." Sam said nothing else.

"And?"

Sam spun around to look at Danny. "There's no way. It didn't happen. It's a full out lie. He just… he wouldn't. Say what you want to about his political stature, but when it comes down to it there's no way Josh would EVER-"

"Yeah." Danny offered quickly, wishing to keep the conversation quick and discreet, should one of the girls walk in. "I know he didn't do it. But the rest of the implications in that chapter?"

"They're… hard to refute with any level of certainty."

This time Danny sighed. "If I ever figure out who's behind this…"

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "I'm right there with you."

Sam wandered outside after a few more moments, greeting Donna and CJ before making himself comfortable in a chair. "What are you two discussing?"

"Oh, you know," CJ waived her hand in the air casually. "Physics."

"Physics?" Sam's ears perked up a bit as he tried to put on a happy face given the day's events. "Really?"

"No," Donna laughed. "We're discussing the fact that Danny has been slowly amassing lumber in the back corner of the yard and he thinks we haven't noticed."

"Chicken Coop?" Sam questioned.

"Don't encourage him," CJ threatened, pointing a finger at Sam in warning.

Sam put his hands up in a show of surrender, smiling the entire time. "What's for dinner?"

"Burgers," Donna grinned. "I thought we'd switch it up a bit. Don't worry, yours is a turkey burger. They should be ready in 10 minutes."

Sam glanced quickly at his watch. "I need to call Josh before it's too late. I started to call him on the way over but I always lose service for a minute when I'm stopped at the light by that 7/11." He pulled his phone out and dialed the familiar number, not surprised in the least when his call went to voicemail.

"Hey, buddy," Sam began.

"Hi, Josh!" CJ shouted loud enough to be heard on the voicemail.

"Hello, Joshua," Donna chimed in.

"I'm at family dinner, if you couldn't tell," Sam commented, standing from where he'd been seated and wandering inside. "Anyway, just wanted to touch base with you…"

"Is that Josh?" Danny asked as he wandered by.

Sam nodded affirmatively.

"Hey, man!" Danny chimed in. "Your Mets got schooled last night. Just wanted to point that out."

"Danny says hello, too," Sam stated, ducking into the dining room for some privacy. "I called because I wanted to invite you to Donna's graduation party," Sam began. "We're going to surprise her after the ceremony. It's nothing over the top. We're just having a nice catered dinner at CJ's. It'll just be the four of us and, well, hopefully you. She didn't us want to make a big deal of it, but I know it would mean a lot ot her if you were here. Give me a call and let me know if you can make it. Talk to you later."

As Sam closed his phone and returned to the deck, he couldn't help but wonder if Josh would attend. It would make Donna so happy, and it would do Josh a world of good to take another break from DC. But Josh was unpredictable these days, and he certainly didn't want Donna to be disappointed if he was a no-show. Sam glanced at a calendar. He had 2 weeks to coax his best friend back into the land of sunshine and rainbows and he was going to make it his mission to do so.