Happy Thoughts

Part 8

"Josh, you are going to want to see this." CJ said, coming into his office without any preamble.

He looked at her and grabbed the paper she was holding. "What is it?"

"Danny gave it to me after the press briefing. It's an article he is writing about the Veteran's Affairs bill."

"Ok." He didn't see the big deal of why he needed to look at it. "So what?"

"Take a look about halfway down." CJ instructed.

When he got halfway down he realized why CJ was in his office. He finished the article and then re-read it to make sure he wasn't having some kind of stroke. "Is she serious? She can't actually be serious. She wouldn't do something like this."

He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince CJ or himself.

"Danny said he met with her in her office about two hours ago." CJ explained. "He wants to know if we have a response before he publishes it."

Two hours ago was after she had come and asked him to release the bill from committee, after he had told her no and after she said she would get the bill out of committee one way or another. This was certainly one way to do it.

He picked up the phone and dialed her office number, motioning for CJ to stay where she was.

"Andrea, it's Josh. Can you put me through to Donna?...What do you mean she is out for the rest of the day?...Fine. Thanks." He put the phone down and dialed her cell phone number.

"Hello?" Donna answered.

"What the hell are you doing?" He yelled into the phone.

"I'm having a very late lunch." She answered calmly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out why you would talk to Danny and tell him that I am standing in the way of the Veteran's Affairs bill."

"I did it because you are standing in the way."

"This is a pretty dirty thing for you to do." He warned.

"You mean, kind of like when you had Stackhouse shelve the bill in the first place?" She questioned. "Or when you preemptively went to every member of Congress and tried to scare them into not even talking to us?"

"That's different."

"Of course it is." She said softly. "It's different because you did it. Look, I had to do this. And I toned down the language my boss wanted me to use. You should have heard what he really wanted me to say. He wanted me to bring up the President's MS."

"So I should be grateful to you that it wasn't worse?" He scoffed. "Are you expecting me to thank you?"

"Josh, just release the bill from committee and Danny won't publish the piece."

"I'm not going to bow down to blackmail."

"It's not blackmail so much as a piece of helpful advice." She sighed. "I didn't want to make a statement in the first place but I was forced into it. I know it seems like it was harsh but believe me it could have been much worse if I didn't temper it down. Please work with me on this. I'm trying my best here."

"All you are trying to do is destroy our relationship and my career!" He said, slamming the phone down.

He was so furious with her right now. She had no right to say those things to Danny. He wasn't acting like God and he wasn't over-reaching his power. Without a moments' hesitation, he grabbed a blank piece of paper and started scribbling. Then he handed it to CJ. "Here is the White Houses' response. Give it to Danny and let him print it word for word."

He watched as CJ read it and then shook her head.

"No way." She refused. "I'm not saying this and neither should you."

"Why not?" He asked, getting really annoyed now.

"Josh, I realize you are angry and I realize that things in that article are frustrating. But the response you are giving this isn't measured. Donna's remarks are a nuisance-something that can be explained away with a simple reminder that the White House doesn't engage in playing game with bill in or out of committee. It's out of the news in one cycle. What you are proposing as a response is a complete decimation of her character."

"She started it." He sighed.

"Are you five now?" CJ scoffed. "Besides, this is Donna we are talking about, not some lobbyist or politician we don't care about. Donna is family. You don't treat family like this."

"You should be giving her that lecture too." He shot back.

"Maybe I will but you are the one standing in front of me holding a grenade that will destroy your relationship with her so right now you are the priority."

He stayed silent. CJ was right. This statement could destroy his relationship with Donna.

"Let's take it to Leo." She suggested. "See what he thinks."

"Fine." He sighed, following her to Leo's office. Fortunately he wasn't in a meeting so they were able to go right in.

"What's going on?" Leo asked.

"Donna has been talking to Danny." CJ said, handing him the article. "Danny wanted a comment before he went to print tomorrow morning."

"Wow." Leo chuckled as he read. "I wouldn't have thought that Donna had it in her to do something like this. I guess she did learn from Josh after all. I'm actually kind of impressed that the kid could pull this off."

"This is what Josh came up with as a response." CJ handed Leo the second paper. "I think that we can mitigate this with a much softer statement. Please tell me that you are going to talk some sense into him about this because I don't think…"

"You have to do it." Leo interrupted.

"What?" CJ asked.

He looked over and saw that his friend was shocked. He wasn't though. He knew Leo would side with him. They had to fight hard against this. It was an election year and they had to appear strong. They couldn't let scandals like this dominate news cycles. They had to shut it down…shut Donna down. He didn't like it but it was the way things had to be.

"He has to fight fire with fire on this." Leo explained. "Make the statement and then have Stackhouse release the bill to the floor. It will undermine her credibility in the article if the bill is on its' way to be voted on."

"You guys can't be serious." CJ scoffed. "You are going to ruin her."

"She will be fine." Leo assured. "Trust me."

He looked between CJ and Leo while they talked. While at first he thought the statement was a good idea, he was beginning to have second thoughts. Taking the bill out of committee would allow her to get the bill passed, but the article would destroy her credibility. He knew she wouldn't be happy about it.

"Anything else?" Leo asked.

"No." CJ sighed. "But I want to go on record here saying that I think this is a bad idea and I'm not happy about it."

"Fair enough." Leo nodded.

He waited until CJ left before looking back at Leo.

"Something else you want to say?"

"Isn't the statement harsh?" He asked. "Couldn't we have toned it down? Even a little?"

"I know it is hard for you because this is Donna we're talking about." Leo explained. "But she will be fine."

"Our relationship probably won't be." He sulked.

"You'll be ok." Leo counseled. "These things have a way of working themselves out."

"Yeah. Right, because we're Josh and Donna." He sighed, leaving the office.

He stood outside Donna's door that night, unsure if she would even let him in. The article wasn't coming out until tomorrow morning, which meant this could be the last chance he would have to be around Donna before she hated him. Honestly, she might already be mad because of the way he yelled at her earlier on the phone. He decided not to use his key, knocking instead.

She answered wearing shorts and a tank top, her hair up in a messy ponytail and a confused look on her face. "Hey."

"Hey." He greeted.

"I didn't think you were coming over tonight." She admitted. "I thought you were still mad at me."

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." She looked at him strangely as he entered her place.

He turned to see her close the door.

"Is everything ok?" She asked. "You are acting weird."

"It's just been a long day." He shrugged.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She offered.

"Not really." He shook his head. "It's just a bunch of work stuff."

"Ok."

She let his excuse go, not questioning it further. It made him feel guilty.

"Are you hungry?" She offered. "I could make you something."

"No thanks." He shook his head.

"Are we…are we ok?" She asked hesitantly. "I know you were really mad at me earlier and to be honest you have every right to be angry. I just…I didn't really have a choice about saying…no, you know what? I'm going to own what I did. I did have a choice. I could have told my boss I quit instead of saying those things. But I didn't and I'm sorry. But Josh you have to realize why I have been working my butt off trying to make this happen. I…"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore." He interrupted her, closing the gap between them and kissing her. It took a moment, probably because she was surprised, before she wrapped her arms around him and returned the kiss.

He felt her unbuttoning his shirt and started to lead her back to her bedroom. If this was their last night together, he would make it count.

The next morning, he woke up before her and watched her sleep. She looked peaceful. That would end once she got a hold of the newspaper and saw Danny's article. All hell would break loose then. He felt bad about last night and not warning her about it. He felt even worse about what he was going to do now. He slipped out of bed, careful not to wake her. His clothes were strewn across her bedroom and the hallway so he quietly gathered them up and started to get dressed.

After getting his clothes on he went back to the bedroom and saw that Donna was still asleep. He scribbled a quick note with a lie about having to go in early and stuck it on her bedside table. Then he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"I love you Donna." He whispered before leaving her apartment.

He was a coward. That much was sure. He couldn't even stay until she saw the article. He had to leave before. And he couldn't tell her that he loved her while she was awake. He had to do it while she was asleep.

Now the only thing left to do was go into the office and wait for the fallout.