He'd claimed yet another victory for the Santos administration. He'd met with the nay votes and by the time he'd left to return to the White House, all of the Senators in question had changed their stances on the foreign aid package that would be brought to the floor the following day.
It wasn't every day that Josh Lyman made house calls, in fact it was the first time in over a year that he'd set foot in the Capitol building. But his plan had worked flawlessly. He'd caught the Senators off guard and, though none of them were typically game to cross Josh on a normal day, they knew if he was standing in their offices he meant business.
But rather than revel in his own glory as the old Josh would have, he pushed forward. He didn't slow to take a celebratory lap, but rather he took focus on the obstacles he'd been met with. He'd picked up some interesting information while he was on The Hill that afternoon, one piece in particular. Yes, he'd seen it coming a mile away, but President Santos had given Amy the job of Legislative Affairs Director without consulting Josh.
Though Josh and Amy had plenty of disagreements, the two could typically work together in a somewhat professional manner. But that had all changed for Josh. The unexpected opposition to the foreign aid bill, he'd come to realize, was caused not by a difference in viewpoints from the opposition party, but rather from a particular West Wing deputy who had decided to push her own agenda rather than the President's. Josh's anger with Amy, which had been simmering slowly over the last 18 months, had come to a rolling boil over that particular maneuver.
Exiting his town car as it pulled into the North Portico, Josh stormed through the corridors towards his office, staffers ducking out of his way as the masses divided to leave room for Josh to pass. He didn't stop to speak with anyone, he didn't nod hello, he didn't smile.
"Get me the whip's office on the phone and set up a briefing for me with Nancy McNally on the latest intelligence out of Kazakhstan. I want a copy of the briefing memo on pollution in the Everglades and get Lou in my office NOW." He didn't even pause or glance over as he bellowed, storming into his office and grabbing a file. He waited a few beats and when he didn't hear a response he opened his mouth to shout for his assistant… what was his name again?
"Sir?" Ronna peeked into his office.
Josh grumbled at the sight of her. It wasn't that he didn't like Ronna- on the contrary, actually. He thought she seemed like a nice woman, and he was pleased with the job that she was doing as the President's secretary. She'd quickly learned to run the Oval with precision, yet maintained a certain, likeable quality. Still, he wouldn't exactly categorize her as a friend.
"Ronna." Josh nodded his head in acknowledgement. He knew what, specifically, her presence meant. If Ronna Beckman was in the Chief of Staff's outer office, it always meant the same thing- Josh's assistant had quit. "How many times have I told you that you don't have to call me Sir? Josh is fine."
"Sure, Mr. Lyman."
"The guy is gone?" Josh dug through a stack of unorganized papers on his desk.
"Yes, Mr. Lyman. I'll have HR send someone else up here in the morning." She'd given up on trying to figure out what had gone wrong between Josh and his revolving door of assistants, opting instead to just see that the position was filled. "In the meantime, I'll get to work on that list."
"How late is he in the Oval," Josh asked. It was safe to say that the Santos White House ran very differently from the Bartlet White House. Santos was in the residence by 6pm every night, barring a national emergency. He prioritized dinners with his family and spending time with his wife and children, making a work life balance a possibility for his employees, too. Not that Josh Lyman had noticed.
Ronna glanced at the clock. "About another hour, Sir."
"I need a few minutes before he leaves."
"Yes, Sir," Ronna jot that down on her notepad. "Lou and Bram are here to see you now."
Josh stood as the two exhausted communications employees entered the Chief of Staff's office. They both knew exactly why they were there.
"Listen, Josh," Lou began, "we're working on it. We don't have any information. They're keeping it a closely guarded secret."
"Last time I checked you're the WHITE HOUSE Communications Department. And unless you want me to DO THIS MYSELF in a way that I'm fairly sure you're not going to want to address in your next briefing, I'd have a copy of the damn book ON MY DESK BY TOMORROW!" He slammed his hand down on the desk for emphasis, the true venom in his voice snapping everyone within earshot to complete attention. The constant coverage was beginning to get under his skin, and though Josh would never admit it, he was fearful of what Hellhound would contain. He hadn't slept in several nights and his stress level was even higher than usual. He, for all of his hubris, was a private person and wished for his personal life to stay out of the news.
"Josh-" Lou began to protest.
"NO! I'm done with the list of excuses! Do your job or I'll find someone who can. I'm sick of this dominating the news cycle. Get the focus back on the President." His words left no room for misinterpretation, and everyone in the room knew that he wasn't bluffing.
As if it wasn't bad enough that he had to listen to the endless news cycle obsess about a book written about that no one had even read yet, let alone labeled as reliable, but he had to do so when the President should have been dominating the news with his latest round of education reform proposals.
"That'll be all," he barked, all but pushing them out of the room as he pulled on his suit jacket and headed for the door that connected to The Oval.
"Mr. President? I'm sorry to interrupt," Josh eyed Peter Santos sitting on the couch doing some homework.
"Josh! Come in!" Matt Santos stood to greet his Chief of Staff with a smile. Though Josh Lyman spent the bulk of his days brooding, President Santos was his usual chipper self, trying to convince his Chief of Staff to relax a little bit. Even though they'd been working in extremely close quarters for over two years, the two hadn't formed much of a friendship. Josh remained a closed book. "Peter," President Santos continued, "why don't you head upstairs and set the table for your mother, okay Buddy? I'll be there in a few minutes"
Peter did as he was told and President Santos poured them a drink, handing Josh a glass as well. "So, I hear you're in need of another new assistant," the President chuckled.
"Yeah. That guy was incompetent anyway," Josh muttered. "If you don't have the desire to work hard and stick to something, a job at The White House isn't for you."
President Santos let out a small laugh, somewhat amused by his Chief of Staff, even if he did act like a curmudgeon from time to time. "And tell me, Josh. Have you ever had an assistant who lived up to your expectations?"
Josh swallowed, staring at a point on the floor several feet in front of him. He certainly had. She'd exceeded every expectation and every possible notion he'd ever had about her. She'd amazed him every day. She'd made him infinitely better at his job, and in his opinion, a better man. But he couldn't allow himself the luxury of going down that road at the current moment. He wouldn't let his mind wander that way while he stood in The Oval. He had compartmentalized his life very well, and this was why. He cleared his throat and placed himself back into political operative mode and began to debrief the President.
The two men touched on a number of subjects as they wrapped up the day's events.
"There is one more thing, Sir," Josh continued as he closed the folder he'd been holding. "It's about Amy Gardner."
"Josh," Santos grinned. "I've heard things. Are they true?"
"Sir?"
"About you and Amy," President Santos smirked. It had been nearly impossible to avoid the rumored history of Josh and Amy, and he'd been trying desperately to coax Josh into getting a life since they'd taken office. He appreciated greatly the hard work and sacrifices that Josh had poured into the job, but he was also fairly sure that if Josh Lyman didn't find a way to relax, he was going to blow a gasket.
"No," Josh cut him off, scrubbing his face. "Sir, I- No. Absolutely not." Josh reiterated that he and Amy were not even a viable option, wanting to make that point crystal clear as he shook off the implication that the President was making. He was long past that, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why he thought it was a good idea in the first place.
Once he regained his focus, Josh recounted to the President what he'd unearthed on The Hill that afternoon, detailing Amy's attempts to push her own agenda in lieu of the White House's. It was, as both men knew, the tip of the iceberg with her.
"She's made a few deals that we won't want her to honor. Agreements for increased funding for backdoor deals in the Senator's home states in exchange for votes against any legislation that contains a global gag rule. And, Sir, don't get me wrong, I'm all for removing the gag rule from the language, but sometimes you have to take a win where you can get one- and we need to pass the foreign aid bill and then a budget. We can't have her working against the rest of us on this, and I'll tell you from experience, if you think this is outlandish, wait until we have to recertify welfare. It's not that I disagree with her, Mr. President, it's that there is someone working in the West Wing that we can't fully trust. Right now it's the global gag rule, and next week it could be a minor line in the education bill, but when the going really gets tough around here, and at some point it will, YOU need to know that you have a staff you can trust."
President Santos raised his hand casually, stopping Josh's speech. "You know, Josh, when I hired her I found your objections to giving her the Director of Legislative Affairs position unreasonable. I thought you were blowing things out of proportion. But, you and I also came to an agreement on the same night. An agreement that anyone who wasn't getting the job done had to go."
"Yes, Sir."
The men sat in silence for a moment. Though Josh still wasn't completely comfortable around Matt Santos, and could hardly say that the two were friends, he'd learned the President's tells and he knew when to remain quiet and let the President mull over new information.
They'd had more than their fair share of issues along these lines with Amy, but Josh wasn't an easy man to work for and Matt Santos tended to be quite forgiving in situations such as this. That, and, it didn't hurt to have the support of the women's movement.
"Well, Josh," President Santos finished his drink, "I think we're in agreement on what needs to be done."
"Sir?"
"This is her third strike, Josh. If you think she's out, I support that decision. But I'm ultimately leaving it in your hands. You run that part of the show, and I've yet to be disappointed by your ability to handle West Wing operations. Just do me a favor- Make sure someone from HR is there."
"Yes, Sir."
"Have a good night," he added, grabbing his briefcase. "And try to get out of here at a decent time."
"Thank you, Sir," Josh added, both men knowing that, just like every other night, Josh Lyman would work until the early hours of the morning only to return to his office after a handful of hours of sleep- if he left at all.