It Would Remain A Stupid Idea

"You guys almost ready?" Sam stepped into Josh and Donna's apartment.

"Almost!" Donna called, rushing through the room and vanishing back toward the bedrooms.

"Having these two over goes a lot better when they actually sleep," Josh noted, coming out from the kitchen.

"You have mismatched socks," Sam told him.

"Donna!"

"Fold your own socks!" she yelled back. "And leave me alone or come get them ready for me!"

"I'll do it. You can do... the thing." Sam waved an arm in the general direction of the bedrooms and followed it when it appeared Donna wasn't going to protest.

"It's cold, come on," she was pleading as Sam poked his head around the door. Samantha noticed him first and squealed a little.

"Daddy Sam!" She tumbled over in his direction, followed by her sister and a despairing eyeroll from Donna.

"Hey!" He picked her up and tapped her nose gently. "How are you doing?"

"Warm," she declared.

"Daddy up?" Abigail requested, tugging on his suit coat.

"You have to get ready to go," he informed them, setting Sam down. "Come on, let Mommy Donna put your coats and shoes on."

"Uh-uh."

"Now, Abigail, that's not very nice." Sam picked up her shoes and set them down. "Come on. Or you won't be able to play with-" she put her feet in the shoes with a little pouty sigh.

"Daddy Josh," Abigail said cheerfully as she held onto Sam's shoulders while he buckled her shoes.

"Hi. Are you ready?"

"Ask Mommy."

Josh lifted an inquiring eyebrow at his wife.

"Almost." She squeezed Sam into her coat and checked Abigail's. "I can't wait until we can move..."

Josh made a face, but it was too late.

"You're moving?" Sam asked.

"We want a real house, since Donna spilled the beans."

"Sorry, Josh!"

"No, no, it's okay... we just want more space, that's all."

"Thinking of starting a family?" Sam nudged them out of the room, taking a quick glance at his watch.

"We already have one."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, we're discussing kids." Josh smiled and gave Donna a kiss as he put his coat on.

"We haven't completely decided yet," Donna added, snatching up her bags.

"Speaking of which, when are you going to ask Mallory to marry you?" Josh asked with a smirk.

"At some point when I'm not scared of Leo convincing the President to send me on a two-year advance trip to Australia."

"They have regular flights to Australia."

"Antarctica, then. Let's go."

"Oh, are we going to be late?" Josh checked his watch.

"That's your anniversary present, right there," Donna told him.

The twins giggled as Josh got a disconcerted expression. He turned slowly to Sam.

"Did they come with knowledge of the Sisterhood?" Sam asked first. He looked at Donna suspiciously, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"I think they got lessons in utero," Josh griped. "Donna, we're having a boy first."

"It's all up to you, buster."

"Hey, there are tender ears present," Sam objected. Samantha and Abigail just giggled.

"Oh, this is going to turn out to be a stupid idea," Josh moaned as they finally exited the apartment. "I just hope we can put them in the Residence if it gets too busy."

"I'm sure that's not going to happen."

"Ball, Daddy Toby?" a pert voice inquired from just below his beard.

"Not now, sweetie." He wrinkled his forehead a little bit, looking at the screen.

"Please?"

"Daddy has to write, Abigail." He gave her a little squeeze with one arm and then placed his hands above the keyboard again.

"Toby?" Bonnie stepped in. "You wanted a half hour warning."

"Yeah."

"Half an hour."

"Thank you."

"Hi," the toddler smiled.

"Hi, honey." Bonnie smiled back and retreated.

Abigail tossed the ball at one of the TVs.

Toby sighed and moved her on his lap so he could look her in the eye, more or less. "Abigail, please do not throw the ball inside, okay?"

"Sorry." She pouted a little and wiggled off his lap.

"Not that I don't want to myself," he murmured, tapping the keyboard.

A few paragraphs passed before he was interrupted again. "Daddy Toby?" She stood on tiptoe, looking at the pictures on his desk.

Toby looked that way, and stilled completely, staring. Abigail had worked her way around his desk and back again, and now stood on his right side, pointing at one of the frames.

"Who that?" she asked innocently, unaware of the shock in her father's eyes.

"Someone I loved very much," he said. "She worked here..."

"I meet her?"

"She's not here anymore."

"Why, Daddy?"

"Uh..." he paused, wondering if it was even possible to explain death to a toddler, and looking at the framed shot of CJ, her eyes focused and thinking, watching the reporter asking the question. He thought it was probably someone from the third row, and judging by the slant of her eyebrows they hadn't been asking a terribly intelligent question at the time. "She had to leave," he finally said, taking a frequent copout. "Are you ready to go see Uncle Charlie?"

"Yay!" she agreed, grinning and taking a step back from the desk, then dashing around to pick up his ball and hand it to him as he rose.

"Thank you," he said, setting it in a drawer and taking her hand while shooting another glance at the former object of her attention.

"How's the budget coming along?" the President inquired that afternoon.

"It's coming," Josh sighed. "They'd like us to cut a few things, we'd like them to cut a few things... it's coming."

"Remember that we're not selling the store," Leo directed.

"Yeah, they wanted the tuition thing cut and we said no way," his deputy agreed.

Toby sat and let the conversation move around him.

"Toby," Sam said for the third time.

"Yeah," he responded, looking up.

"Are you all right?"

"That's why you were calling my name?"

"I was calling your name to ask you if you were done with the speech for next week, since the President had already asked you three times without a response, but now I'm just calling your name to see if you're still on the same planet."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm polishing it. It'll be done by tomorrow."

"What's going on, Toby?" Leo asked from his chair.

"Nothing." He looked down at his notes. "I'm sorry, the budget meetings are...?"

"We finished talking about that over ten minutes ago," Josh told him.

"What's wrong?" Leo requested again.

Toby sighed, shifted, and finally decided he may as well tell them. They were all involved, after all. "This morning, Abigail asked about one of my pictures of CJ."

The moment of stillness mirrored Toby's initial response to the innocent question. Finally, the President sighed and lifted one hand. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"What'd she ask?"

"Who the person in the picture was, and why they weren't here anymore."

Leo and Josh closed their eyes. Carol reached over and patted his knee.

"I told Abigail the person had to leave," Toby admitted.

"That's about as good of an answer as you can give at that age, Toby," Bartlet told him.

"Yeah, but... at some point they're both going to want more of an answer than that."

"And we will give them that answer when they ask it," Leo declared.

"Yeah, but we're not all going to say it the same way," Sam noted.

"We need to talk about it," Donna agreed. "But I think it can wait a little."

Toby just nodded wearily, and the meeting moved on.

The effective leaders of both parties faced each other across the table. One met the other's gaze steadily, waiting for his demand, his request, his push to make himself more powerful, while the other looked at the older one, gauging his level of weakness and noting that he was lacking a certain determined fire, just as his staff had been lacking it during the negotiations.

Finally, the Speaker of the House shifted and made his request.

"It's going to have to be a bigger cut."

Josh and Donna, sitting back in a corner of the Roosevelt Room, sat up in alarm, looking upset. They'd had an agreement... and now the opposition was trying to upset the boat. Gain more power. Weaken the White House.

For a long, long several minutes, the President met the gaze of the third man in the line of succession.

At last, he seemed to make his decision, bowing his head and clasping his hands together with a thoughtful look. Josh held his breath, and tugged at Donna's sleeve a little, making her turn that way too.

"I don't think so."

"Sir, you have to take this."

"I really don't. You know why, Mr. Speaker?" The President placed his hands flat on the table and turned his full focus on Haffley.

"No, sir, I don't."

"Because I'm done with both our parties screwing each other and the American people over just so we can have our way for our two seconds of fame. I'm done with your party trying to blackmail my White House. And I am done, Mr. Speaker, with your weak and petty attempt to trip up negotiations that both your people and mine have spent weeks on. In other words, we are going to sit here until we get a budget, Mr. Speaker, and it's going to be the one we agreed on before you waltzed in here with your delusions of power."

"Mr. President-" the younger man started.

Josh and Donna were gaping at the squared-off pair.

"I don't want to hear it. I want to hear that we have a budget that you haven't sabotaged." The President stood and leaned forward, hands still on the table, and practically glared. "If you're under the impression that this White House is weak, think again. Josh and Donna have been the lead people in this from here; they're going to stick around until we have a budget, and you're not going to screw around, because while Donna looks like a nice young woman, and she is, she's also very smart, and she doesn't like people double-crossing her." He turned away. "Finish the damn budget."

"Sir, I don't think you can do this," the Speaker tried to protest.

"Fancy that. I'm doing it anyway. You know why?"

"No, sir."

"Because we can bitch at each other later about how bad the other's party is, but that's not as important as keeping this country running, and it's high time you folks realized that you don't get to hold up the biggest credit line in the world just so you can get what you want. Settle the budget. We'll have someone bring you in some coffee and sandwiches later." He pulled open a door and left.

The two White House staffers stood there for a moment, staring after their leader, and then turned to the table. "Okay," Josh started, taking a seat.

"Let's talk about the spending in section five," Donna suggested.

The Speaker of the House had all he could do not to grind his teeth together. Every time you tried to catch the Bartlet White House out in a moment of weakness or relaxation or scandal, they seemed to always be able to come back and kick you right back to where you started.

The worst part was that the President was right.

"Okay, did I miss the alien invasion that replaced the House of Representatives with, you know, actual people?" Josh gawked at the proposed bill before him.

"Hey," Toby objected from his desk. "That's the mother of my children you're talking about, there."

"I think Josh meant to leave out Congresswoman Wyatt," Sam said, peering over his friend's shoulder.

"She's also one of the authors of the bill," Donna noted.

"This is a good bill. It's too good to be true."

"Josh, we can always use good news, even if it never passes," Carol answered him from her spot by the TV sets.

"How can they not pass this? This is..." Josh waved both hands at it.

"... something we could have used earlier, Josh. I am aware of that, and so is the Congresswoman from Maryland," Toby came back.

"What do you want to do?" Donna asked.

"Let's push it. Bipartisan. It's tough on crime and ups family values."

"It also espouses sex education that's not abstinence only," she pointed out.

"They can swallow it," Josh said, seeming to bounce even though he was still sitting down, staring at the bill.

"We're going to help this pass." There were nods all around.

"I thought I might find all of you here." Leo appeared in the doorway.

"Leo, have you seen this bill? It's great... it's got-"

"Yeah, we're going to have to put it on hold for a bit."

"What happened?"

Leo stepped in and shut the door. "No press yet. However, we've received information about a threat to a major Gulf city, so that's what the next week is about."

"Which city?"

"When?"

"Houston, in the next couple of days or so, possibly. We're still trying to track down the latest information, but it appears that there's a cargo ship with some explosives on board heading that direction. It's in Mexican waters right now, so we've got that to work around, as well as where the boat came from."

"It came from Qumar, didn't it?" Toby guessed after a horrible pause.

"What kind of-" Sam started. "No."

"That's what they think."

"Dirty?" Josh gasped.

"Yeah."

"This is about the base, or something else?" Donna asked.

"I think it's mostly about this is Qumar. I'll have more for you as soon as possible; you'll be getting a briefing on this sometime in the next half hour, but it'll just be elaborating on what I told you. Toby, Sam, get together with Will again and get some statements ready. Josh and Donna, make sure we're not going to trip over anything legislative while we're focused on this, and Carol, wait to brief on this until you get the sign from Toby."

"Where are the twins?" Josh asked suddenly, an odd panic spreading across his features.

"Zoey's got them." There were sighs all around, and Leo turned to go. "Everyone got what they're doing?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll keep you updated."

After the door closed again, Josh rolled his head around on the back of the couch, groaning softly with frustration.

"We'll get it, just not now," Sam assured as he stood up.

"Everyone except Sam go away," Toby directed. "Ginger!"

"It's happening?" Sam tapped on the door to the Oval Office.

"We think so." Leo stood by the President's desk, watching as he flipped through various folders and photos. "We've been deployed out there and on alert the past few days, so it was just a matter of being in the right spot at the right time. Donna, Toby, come on in."

"When do we know?" Toby asked as he stopped by one of the couches.

"They're prepping a SEAL team now, and then they'll approach the suspect ship. What they do will determine what we do, and whether or not we've got the right one."

"We don't know?" Will asked as he stepped in, Charlie quietly closing the door after him.

"There's an awful lot of cargo ships out there," Leo reminded.

"But it's likely to be done in the next few hours?" Donna inquired, opening her briefing book.

"Yeah." Leo looked around. "Where's Josh?"

"He's out at the place," Donna said softly.

"Now? During this?" Toby demanded, running a hand over his head.

"It's the day, Toby, what did you expect?" Sam retorted in defense.

"Yeah, okay," the President said from his place at the desk. "Are the statements ready?"

"Will, are the statements ready?" Toby asked him.

"Yeah. I mean, yes, they are."

"Is yours really ready?" Sam insisted.

"Yes..." Will drew out slowly, a puzzled look on his face. "We're only going to need one, right?"

"Yours is the one we use if this doesn't go well," Toby told him.

"Oh." Will's mouth fell open. "It's ready."

"Okay." Toby raised an eyebrow at him, but turned back to the President.

"We wait."

"Okay." Sam made a few circuits of the couches, forehead wrinkled in a frown.

"I don't understand where Josh is," Will finally said after several minutes.

There was a pause of terrible quiet, as the old guard, the friends, met each other's eyes uneasily.

"Someone's got Sam and Abigail?" Leo wanted to know.

"Carol's got them," Sam assured in a low voice.

"They're not in the office-" Toby started. Sam just shook his head. "Okay."

"I don't get it," Will noted in puzzlement.

Charlie knocked and stepped in with a note. The President read it and seemed to relax and tense at the same time. "They're ready. This next part could take a while. You're sure Fitz has everything under control?" he asked Leo.

"He's got it unless something really out of the ordinary happens."

"Like this whole thing isn't out of the ordinary?" Bartlet snorted.

"Fair point, sir."

Will was still looking from one to the other with great confusion. Finally, Donna took partial pity on him. "Josh is out of the building for a few hours."

"During a major national crisis?"

"Yeah."

Josh sighed and rocked back and forth a little; his feet were almost numb, but he was staying there until he felt he'd... what was he doing? Was he memorializing? Paying homage? Speaking to one gone?

"You know, there's a major crisis in the Gulf right now, and I'm out here. I'm out here... I'm going to get my ass kicked when I get back in the building, you know that?" He squinted as a brighter shaft of sunlight slipped through the clouds, but didn't reach for his sunglasses.

"They're smart," he said softly. "And members of the Sisterhood, already. Wonderful friends, and so sweet, when they're not refusing to do something, like sleep or get dressed. They ask about you sometimes, you know. I mean, we've all got pictures on our desks or on the wall in the office... sometimes I wonder why we do that. The President does too. Right next to his other girls...

"I wonder what we're going to do," he mused. "They call us mommy and daddy... and at some point, they're going to have to know. It'd be a disservice not to, but I don't think any of us wants that particular responsibility. And we haven't decided how this is going to work after we're out of the White House, either. And Sam told me once that he'd told Mallory we need to protect them from politics. How do we do that? How is that even possible? What if they like this? What if they have your talent and skill, CJ? Would it be fair?" He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"I wonder if they're going to still love us after they know we're raising them because what we did killed their mother. I don't know," he swallowed, "if we'll ever be ready, even when we have our own families and after advice from Leo and the President, to take the step of telling them the whole truth, even though I think we have a responsibility to do so."

Amazing how this is reflecting so many of my thoughts about the DC political arena, isn't it? And my feet are frozen and I don't know what else to say. I should get back. I just... I'm so not ready for this.

"So they got it?" Josh asked with a sigh of relief.

Leo looked up. "Yeah."

"Was it what we thought it was?" Sam asked.

"Yes. It was a dirty bomb headed for a major Gulf coast city which would have contaminated a huge area and killed who knows how many people."

"Can I tear up the statement I wrote now?" Will asked desperately.

"That would involve getting it back, wouldn't it?" Toby inquired of him.

"Well, yeah..."

"No." Donna and Sam smiled faintly at the disconcerted expression on Will's face.

"Is the lid on?" Carol checked with Leo and Toby.

"Yeah. There'll be a briefing with the State Department and probably Defense tomorrow morning; we anticipate 10 or 11 o'clock."

"Right. Thanks." She scribbled it down in her notebook and stood up.

Leo looked at the couch as Carol exited. "You two look ready for bed," he advised.

"Yeah, I heard they didn't sleep much this afternoon," Sam said, lifting his namesake from her curled-up position on Leo's couch. She blinked sleepily and pushed an absentminded fist into his shoulder.

"Yeah, they're pretty much out," Josh added, brushing Abigail's hair back before picking her up as well.

"Daddy," she yawned absently. Josh just smiled and cuddled her more.

"What're you doing this weekend, Toby?" he asked, catching up his memos in the other hand.

Toby pursed his lips. "I have daddy time with Huckleberry and Claudia this weekend, Josh."

"Four of them would be a little too much?" Donna asked with a smile.

"Just a little bit."

"Okay, have fun, Toby." Josh hesitated as the other man headed for the door. "Andi going to be there?"

Toby turned. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I'm staying at the house."

"That's great," Sam grinned.

"Go away," Toby glowered at him. "Good night."

"Night, Toby."

"Night, Daddy," Samantha murmured into Sam's shoulder. Sam just smiled and patted her.

"We're getting you to bed."

"My office is a nursery," Leo complained with a grin. "You're turning this nation's capitol into a nursery school... my office, the Oval, Charlie's desk, the Mural Room..."

"They love you too, Leo," Donna teased lightly. He shook his head and came around the desk to kiss them good night.

"Also, we're not responsible for the time the President had them on his lap during a national security briefing," Sam defended.

"That was priceless," Josh snorted.

"Yeah. See you in the morning."

"It's a stupid idea."

"It is not."

"It really is. We can't-"

"It's a perfectly legitimate way to-"

"I don't care!"

"I've noticed!"

"You can't do it like this."

"Just watch me."

"We don't need to climb into bed with the people that tried to-"

"-blackmail us over the Vice President and the budget! Yes, I know, Josh! I was there!"

"Thank you for seeing it my way."

"I'm not. We need to reach out to both sides of the aisle."

"No."

"Josh, you and Toby and Sam all agreed this should be bipartisan before the thing."

Pause.

"Okay."

"That's it?" Donna asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's it. Go get us a bipartisan bill."

"What happened to there being two breadwinners in this household?"

"Uh-uhh... there still are. You came up with it, you do it."

"I won't be able to if you're doing your usual stomping all over everyone and being hostile, Joshua!"

"You know, it makes me really hot when you say my full name, Donnatella."

"Josh!" she exclaimed.

"It does! And I will do my best to be nice."

"Josh, we want this bill, right?"

"Yeah."

"Can we do it my way?" Donna looked at him, eyes pleading, and Josh finally nodded.

"We'll talk about it in staff."

"You'll be on my side?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you." Donna turned around.

"But if it doesn't work, I'm telling the whole world it was your stupid idea," Josh called.

"So you want them to have a list of all of your stupid ideas?" she asked, turning back to face him.

"Um, that's a no."

"I'm going to go strategize."

"I'll watch."

"Shut up."

"I'm sorry, Donna; I don't see how you can expect us to support this." Congressman Kirk took his glasses off and set them on the table. "We're all facing elections this year; how can you ask us to vote for a bill that supports sex ed that's not abstinence only?"

"It's a tie-breaker in a lot of our districts," added Congresswoman Souter. "I agree, it's got a lot of good things in it and I admire the authors of the bill for writing such a broad item during an election year."

"That's right, it does have a lot of good things in it," Donna sighed. "One of them is emphasis on education, so that we can help our children learn about these things in a more constructive fashion."

"Our constituents won't see it that way, I'm afraid, and I'm not entirely sure I see it that way, either," Kirk answered.

"I understand, Congressman; if I ever have kids, I'd be upset if they went off and did something without telling me, but the fact is this is happening and it has been happening, and I think it's time we did something about it. There's far more in this bill that you agree with than you disagree with, right?"

"There's a number of parts we approve of, yes," Kirk agreed for them.

"Then tell your constituents that in the overall public interest, you voted for this bill in the name of compromise and reaching out across some very substantial political divides," Donna pleaded. "One of the bill's authors is a Republican!"

"That's true," Souter admitted. "We're happy with the incentives for families, although of course we'd prefer the government didn't try to regulate family."

"I'd prefer it too," Donna smiled. "However, I think that whatever the cause, our country has wound up in what's not necessarily a good place, and this helps us remember several important things."

"We'll seriously consider it," Kirk told her, looking from side to side for agreement. "You'll have an answer this afternoon."

"Thank you." Donna smiled and rose, reaching across the table to shake his hand.

"I'll vote for it," someone contributed suddenly from the end of the table.

"Thank you, Congressman," Donna answered, smiling brightly at the previously silent Ed Hoop.

"You're welcome, Donna," he said, shaking her hand and looking at his colleagues.

Kirk smiled a little and shook his head almost as slightly. "We'll get back to you," he repeated.

"Thank you all very much."

Donna waited until they were gone before collecting her own materials from the table. They hadn't discussed the anti-crime provisions at all, but she also hadn't expected that to be an issue. Both parties and a large segment of the American public were in favor of stiffer penalties for certain crimes.

"Donna?" an assistant asked. "You have Congresswoman Wyatt and Congressman Anders in the Mural Room."

"Hi, Max," she greeted. "When did that happen?"

"About three minutes ago."

"Do you know why they're here?"

"No."

"Okay, thanks," she told him, turning down the hall.

"Donna." Andrea Wyatt stood and smiled.

"Congresswoman," Donna smiled. "This is unexpected."

"Nothing's wrong with the bill, at least nothing that won't be fixed by about 300 'yea' votes," Wyatt assured her. "And of course you know Ben Anders."

"Of course," Donna smiled at him and shook his hand. "What can I do for you?"

"We did actually want to talk to you about the bill," Anders said.

"I kind of figured, what with the two of you having written most of it."

"This is actually Congressman Anders' idea, so I'll let him tell you." She sat back.

"It's quite brief." The Congressman turned to her. "Some of my colleagues and I, and by that I mean a few fellow Republicans I sit on committees with, have been discussing the name of this bill."

"I thought we agreed to call it the Family Education and Anti-Assault Act," Donna answered, puzzled. She didn't understand Andrea Wyatt's carefully impassive expression.

"We can still call it that, but we were talking about the common name for the bill, something a little easier to remember." Anders paused and smiled. "Donna, there's interest, which is so far unanimous among the dozen or so Representatives who have discussed it, in calling this the CJ Cregg Bill."

"There's a lot in here CJ would have approved of," Wyatt added into the silence.

"Including the bipartisan cooperation that founded it, the President's recent smackdown of the Speaker of the House notwithstanding," Anders said with a slight smile.

"Donna?" Congresswoman Wyatt asked after a minute.

"I literally have no idea what to say," Donna finally managed. "Why this one?"

"If this bill is passed, there will be much stiffer penalties for-" Anders started. Donna shook her head.

"Yeah, I know, I just... I'm sorry, I really don't know..." Donna took a deep breath. "I think I can tell you that the White House would have no objection."

Andi Wyatt smiled. "You'll take it to them?" her colleague asked.

"Yes, of course." Donna smiled at them.

"Also, one other thing." Wyatt met the younger woman's gaze. "You know some Democratic members of the House have had reservations about certain family values aspects, just as some Republicans have reservations about the sex ed provisions."

"Yeah, I just came out of a meeting about that."

"Thanks to the dual endorsement of the President two years ago by so many women's groups and so many conservative groups," Anders explained, "and thanks to the fact that a lot of people liked Ms. Cregg, it's likely that between their own feelings and the people making their opinions known, renaming this bill could pick it up not only the rest of the Democratic vote, but also twenty or so Republican votes as well, despite the concerns on both sides of the aisle."

"I see. Okay." Donna took a huge breath. "Thank you both so much. I'll take this to Josh and Leo."

"Thank you, Donna." Ben Anders rose and shook her hand.

"I'll be right out," Andi told him.

"Is the bill really all right?" Donna asked as he stepped out.

"Yeah."

"No riders or anything?"

"Nope."

"Okay," Donna sighed with relief.

"You have to fight Josh for the bipartisan angle?" Andi inquired with a smile.

"A little bit, yeah. He said it was stupid."

"Maybe it still is."

"I'm starting to think maybe it isn't," Donna chuckled. "How are Huck and Claudia?"

"Growing too fast. They also like to talk for hours on end, but Toby's been disappointed they're not speaking in complete sentences yet."

"He kept hoping Sam and Abigail would spout oratory early on, too," Donna answered with a quiet smile. "We should get together sometime."

"Yeah." Andi slung her coat on. "Thanks for seeing us, and I'll talk to you later, right?"

Donna nodded. "I'm going to them right now."

"Aww, man, this is too good to be true," Josh protested for the umpteenth time as he watched the House getting ready to vote.

"Stop saying that before it actually becomes the case," Sam admonished him from where he was sitting.

"How did this become bipartisan, again?" Carol asked blankly.

"I let Donna do something stupid," Josh responded.

"You did not!" Donna exclaimed, hitting him on the back of the head.

"Shut up, they're starting," Toby directed.

"It was potentially stupid," Josh continued in a whisper.

"It was not a stupid idea, and this proves it," Donna hissed back.

"You going to let me be right at all this year?" Josh inquired. Donna raised her eyebrows at him.

"I can think of a few ways..."

"Get a room," Carol griped at them. Sam looked that way and smirked.

"Wyatt. Wyatt of Maryland votes yea."

"That's it?" Leo asked.

"Yep," Josh answered.

"Two nays from House Democrats and 38 nays from House Republicans, and that's it," Sam confirmed.

"Excellent," Josh grinned broadly, getting up to do a little dance with Donna.

They hardly noticed when Leo slipped out on Charlie's heels half an hour later. He looked frustrated when he came back in.

"What's wrong?"

Leo sighed. "Majority Leader's about to come out with the Hoynes thing."

"You're kidding."

"How stupid-"

"What the hell is he doing?"

"Yeah, it's coming out."

"If we had lost this, it would still be a bad idea," Sam noted.

"They'd be kicking us while we're down. Instead they're engaging in political retribution for us winning!" Josh said in frustration.

"So why are they doing it?" Will wanted to know.

"Because they can."

"It's a stupid idea," Donna murmured, one hand to her forehead.

"Yes," Josh sighed. "It remains a stupid idea."

"Get ready." With that, Leo turned away from them and left the room, leaving them staring at each other with furrowed brows.