It took every ounce of strength Josh had to keep from launching
himself across the office
and strangling the life out of Mandy. He wanted nothing worse than to
wrap his hands
around her throat. To make her feel some of the pain, the fear and
the panic that he knew
Donna must have felt during those hideous searches. But he knew that
he couldn't do it.
He knew that he had to maintain control, for his sake, as well as for
Donna's.
"You were expecting me?" he asked in a measured tone.
"Of course." Mandy said turning to look out the window. "I figured
that eventually you
would have to ride your trusty white steed over here to defend the
fair maiden against the
evil witch."
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Josh asked.
She turned and lashed out at him, anger blazing in her eyes.
"Don't play games with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
You're only here
because of HER. You've only lowered yourself to speak to me again
because of HER.
You're just dying to be HER hero. Well, too bad. You're not going to
get that chance, I'll
make sure of it. You can just sit there and watch her go down in
flames."
Josh fought hard to control his rising anger, determined to hold his
temper. He kept
reminding himself that Mandy was only baiting him.
"Donna's not going down in flames, Mandy. You should be able to see
that. We
obviously found enough evidence to convince a judge to give her bail.
We know what
you did, and we know how you did it. It's just a matter of time until
we prove that Donna
is completely innocent."
Mandy was momentarily taken back. She was surprised by his references
to other people.
"We" found enough evidence and "We" know what you did. She had been
so sure that
Josh would want to handle this alone. Had he really allowed other
people in to help? The
old Josh, the Josh she knew, would never have admitted he needed
help. He would never
have admitted that there was any situation that he couldn't handle
himself.
"We'll just have to wait and see, Josh." she said breaking herself
free from those
troubling thoughts. "This isn't over by a long shot."
"Then let's end it, Mandy. Right here. Right now." Josh yelled,
losing his grip on his
emotions for a split second before pulling himself back
together. "Tell me what this is
really all about. Tell me what all of this pain and suffering has
been about."
Margaret wasn't at her desk when Donna entered Leo's outer office.
Through the crack in
the door, she could see him poring over files. She took a deep breath
and knocked lightly.
"Leo?" she said sticking her head in just far enough so that he could
see her.
"Donna, come on in." he said with a smile, rising and crossing over
to meet her.
"Do you have a minute?"
"For you? Anytime." He said motioning for her to sit on the couch.
Donna perched nervously on the edge of the cushion and Leo sat down
in the overstuffed
armchair facing her. She stared intently at the floor, her hands
shaking slightly.
"What's on your mind?" Leo asked attempting to put her at ease.
Donna lifted her eyes to meet Leo's. "I wanted to apologize for what
happened in the
Mural Room the other night. And also for the way I behaved yesterday
here in your
office. I know that you were only trying to help me, Leo and I'm
sorry. I overreacted. I
don't know what was going on in my head. I'm really sorry..." she said
sniffling back
tears.
"Don't worry about it. It's already forgotten." Leo said handing her
a box of Kleenex.
"I want to assure you that nothing like that will ever happen again.
I promise."
"Okay, then." Leo said. "Did you talk to Stanley this morning?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"Josh mentioned that he was going to get you an appointment. Did it
help?"
"Yes it did. I know that this isn't going to go away overnight. I
know that it's going to
take a lot of work. But I think I'm back on the right track now. I
know that I was focusing
my anger on the wrong people, on the people who were trying to help
me. I won't be
doing that anymore."
Leo looked in her eyes and he knew that she was telling him the
truth. She had turned a
corner, and while it was still a long way back, she was at least
headed in the right
direction. With the help and support of the people who loved her, he
knew she would
make it back. Just as he had.
"Good." he said, "That's all I wanted to hear."
Donna hesitated, looking for the nerve to ask the next question.
"When would it be ok for me to....well....um.....would it be ok for me to
come back to
work?" Donna stammered, afraid that he was going to tell her that she
no longer had a job
there.
"As soon as you feel up to it." Leo said patting her knee gently.
Donna's body relaxed immediately. She exhaled deeply as she dried her
remaining tears.
"I was just worried about you, Donna. We all were. I want you to
realize that. When CJ
and Toby came to me about what happened in the Mural Room, their only
concern was
your well being. They saw that you were in pain and they wanted to
help. And when I
told you that you needed to seek treatment, your welfare was my only
concern. It was
never my intention to make you think that your job here wasn't
secure. It is."
"Thank you." she said softly.
"Anytime." he said. "Now let's get back to work."
"Ok." she smiled.
"Donna?" he said as she reached the door.
"Yes?"
"You know that my door is always open right? That you can come to me
if you need to
talk?"
"Yes I do," she said "and I appreciate it."
Donna smiled as she walked back down the hall towards the bullpen,
thinking how very
lucky she was to have these people in her life, and how close she had
come to letting
Mandy take it all away from her.
"You know exactly what it's about." Mandy hissed.
"No, I really don't." Josh said. "Why don't you enlighten me?"
"It's all about her. Donna. And the fact that she took everything I
wanted away from me.
Right when it was within my grasp, she yanked it all away. And now
I'm going to do the
same thing to her."
"What did Donna take from you, Mandy?" Josh asked no longer able to
contain his
anger. "Because the way I see it, you willingly gave it all up. You
ended our relationship,
you quit your job, you left town. How is any of that Donna's fault?"
"It's all her fault, Josh. She took you away from me and you took
everything else with
you when you went."
"Donna didn't take me away from you, Mandy." Josh exploded. "Our
relationship was
never going to work. You've said that yourself a million times. We
were like fire and
gasoline. It was only a matter of time until the explosion came."
"That's right." Mandy said crossing over to stand directly in front
of Josh. "But I was the
one holding the match. I was supposed to be the one to decide when
the explosion came."
They were standing face to face now, screaming at each other.
"So it's all about the fact that you didn't get to control where and
when the relationship
ended?"
"No it's not about that. Don't kid yourself into thinking this is all
some elaborate plan to
get back at the man who broke my heart. Our relationship was never
like that. It was
never all hearts and flowers. I needed you for something else,
something much bigger.
Bartlet was my ticket to the top Josh. My chance to be somebody
important. My chance
to make a name for myself. To be a real player. I was going to have
the ear of a president.
And everybody would know that. They would all have to go through me
to get whatever
they wanted. I was right on the threshold of feeling real power Josh.
But I needed you to
get there. Because Bartlet may have been my ticket to the top, but
you were my ticket to
Bartlet. You were my in. I knew that if it came down to the two of
us, he would keep you
around over me. I needed to keep you close so that I could stay close
to him. But the day
you met HER, it all started to fall apart."
"You can't think that's true. Not even you are that delusional." Josh
said clenching his
fists at his side.
"It is true Josh and you were the only one who couldn't see it. You
may have convinced
yourself that you took her in for purely professional reasons but you
sure as hell never
convinced anybody else."
"I'm tired of this argument Mandy. Donna had nothing to do with the
end of our
relationship. I've told you that a thousand times."
"A thousand more and I might actually believe it-more to the point
you might actually
believe it yourself."
"There was nothing between Donna and I during the campaign."
"There's been something between you and Donna from day one. But you
know what?
That isn't even the point. You could have screwed your secretary on
the side for all I
cared. I could have lived with that. But I needed you for what we
could have
accomplished professionally."
"I'm not having this argument again Mandy. That's not what I came
here for."
"What did you come here for Josh?"
"I told you-I came here to end this-once and for all."
Sam entered Toby's office just as Toby was hanging up the phone. He
couldn't help but
notice that Toby looked very pleased and wondered if now was the best
time to break the
news to him about Larry.
"Good news?" he asked.
"Indeed." Toby said making a few final notes on the paper in front of
him. "That was
Jack Harmon from Lennox Chase. He was quite surprised to hear that
one of his
companies was apparently involved in what happened to Donna. When I
told him that we
believed that Mandy was behind it, he told me a little story of his
own. One of
approximately 3 million dollars systematically pilfered from various
Lennox Chase
accounts over the last 2 years. He's faxing all of the information
they have over to Chad,
as we speak, to see if we can make any connections." Toby leaned back
and clasped his
hands behind his head. "We're close Sam. I can feel it. It won't be
long now. And I'm
going to be the one who tells her she's been nailed. I want to see
the look on her face."
"Well you deserve to enjoy that moment Toby. You've certainly earned
it."
"I just want to make sure she gets what she has coming Sam. I want to
see her pay for
what happened to Donna. She can't be allowed to get away with it."
"And she won't"
Sam cleared his throat and shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
"Was there something you needed?" Toby asked
"Actually, yes" Sam said sinking down onto Toby's couch and trying to
decide where to
begin. "I had a conversation with Larry earlier."
"Speaking of Larry, where is he? I haven't seen him all day."
"I sent him home." Sam said.
"Is he ill?"
"No."
"Then what, Sam. Spit it out." Toby said impatiently, wanting to get
to the point so he
could move on to other things.
"Larry told me this morning that he is the person inside the White
House who has been
feeding Mandy information."
"What?" Toby said, convinced that he had misunderstood Sam's
statement.
"Larry was the one who gave Mandy Donna's social security number and
personal
information. He is the one who told her about the flowers."
"When? Why?" Toby screamed.
"He ran into her the night we stayed late trying to punch up the
speech for the
correspondents dinner. He said he had no idea what Mandy was up to,
how bad things
were going to get. He just wanted to pay Donna back for a little case
of unrequited love."
"Well, this is quite a little payback isn't it?" Toby thundered.
"I know. Look, I didn't know what to do. I sent him home and I told
him we'd call him
when we knew what our next step was going to be. I know it doesn't
mean much now,
but he definitely seemed sorry. I think Mandy really manipulated him.
I know that
doesn't excuse his behavior."
"No, it doesn't." Toby growled.
"So, what are you going to do about him?"
"I'm not sure yet. I need time to think. But the first thing he is
going to have to do is
apologize to Donna face to face. Let him look her in the eye and see
what he's done.
After that, we'll decide."
"Ok. I'll call him."
Sam walked back to his office to call Larry. He would have to get
with Donna to set up a
time for them to talk. He wasn't sure that hearing Larry's confession
was exactly what
Donna needed right now but better that she hear it from him than that
she pick it up off
the grapevine.
He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts when he entered his office
that he didn't see
Ainsley sitting on the couch.
"Hey" she said causing him to jump a foot in the air. "Sorry, I
didn't mean to startle you.
Cathy wasn't at her desk so I just let myself in. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, everything's fine." Sam said regaining his composure. "To what
do I owe the
pleasure of this visit?"
"I just got back from having lunch with CJ and Donna and I thought
I'd stop by to see
how you were doing."
"Well, I'm better now that you're here." he said.
Ainsley felt a slight blush creeping up her face.
"So how goes Operation??. Have you come up with a name yet?"
"Operation Porter."
"Porter?"
"Yes. In honor of the character Mel Gibson played in Payback."
"OK" Sam said with a grin.
"Don't make fun of the codename Sam. I worked very hard on it. It's
completely fitting."
"Ok, I'll take your word for it. So has Operation Porter dug up
anything?"
"Oh yes, quite a bit."
"Really. Like what?"
"Like an offshore bank account with over 7 million dollars, which is
jointly held between
Mandy and Senator Lloyd Russell."
"Are you kidding me?"
"No. CJ's getting all of the details now from someone she knows at
justice."
"Well that's very interesting considering that Toby just talked to
the people at Lennox
Chase and they are missing over 3 million dollars."
"Do they think Mandy was involved somehow?"
"They do now. They are sending the information to Chad and he is
going to try to see if
he can come up with anything more concrete."
"This is great Sam. We're closing in." Ainsley said with a satisfied
smile.
"I know. This nightmare might be about to come to a close."
"I wish it was all going to be that easy, ending it I mean. I think
we're close to nailing
Mandy and exonerating Donna, but we will be dealing with the fallout
from this for a
long, long time."
"I know."
"Including the fact that I need to start thinking about what I'm
going to do for a job. It's
expensive living in DC, a girls gotta work."
Sam noticed the sad look in her eyes that she attempted to hide
behind her glib statement.
"I'm so sorry. I know how much you gave up to help Donna and I can't
even begin to
express how much I appreciate it. How much we all appreciate it ." he
said as he sat
down beside her on the couch and took her hand in his.
"I know. It's fine. I did it because I wanted to. I don't have any
regrets its just...."
She was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in." Sam said without removing his hand from Ainsley's.
"I heard you were in here, Ainsley" Leo said as he stepped into the
office. He couldn't
help but notice their linked hands. He made a mental note to tell
personnel that they were
not to hire anymore leggy blondes. They seemed to weave some kind of
magical spell
over the male members of his senior staff. The thought that he might
some day have to
watch Toby swoon like Sam and Josh were was too much for him to
handle. 'Brunettes it
is from now on' he said to himself.
"Was there something in particular you needed from me, sir?" Ainsley
asked breaking
him out of his reverie.
"I just wanted to see how your vacation was going?" he said
"I'm sorry?"
"Your vacation. I wanted to see if you were getting the personal
problem straightened
out."
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you are talking about." Ainsley said,
no longer able to
mask her confusion.
"Josh told me that you needed to take some vacation time to deal with
a personal matter."
Leo said with a twinkle in his eye. "I just wondered when it might be
cleared up and
when we might be getting you back here working for us?"
"Are you serious Leo?"
"Ainsley, listen to me. As soon as you get your personal matter taken
care of, you start
right back to work here. If you want to that is."
"If I want to?" Ainsley squealed, "Of course I want to."
"Great." Leo said. "When do you think we might be seeing you back?"
"Well, if things continue down their current path at their current
speed, I should be back
from "vacation" within a week."
"Great, see you then." he said as he left Sam's office closing the
door behind him.
"I still have my job!!!" Ainsley squealed as she impulsively wrapped
her arms around
Sam's neck.
"Yes, you do." Sam said, enjoying the feel of her in his arms and
suddenly having to fight
back a very strong desire to kiss her. 'Oh yeah,' he thought to
himself. 'I definitely have a
lot of thinking to do'.
Mandy glared triumphantly.
"Well you don't have the power to end it Josh. This is between Donna
and me. It doesn't
end till I say it ends."
"I'm warning you right now Mandy. You leave Donna alone. You stay
away from her.
Because if you don't, it'll be the biggest mistake you ever made."
"Aren't you cute when you're lovesick?"
"I mean it Mandy."
Suddenly, she found herself wanting desperately to broach the one
topic that she had
promised herself she would stay away from, that she would never bring
up with him
again. Why her? Why Donna? What was so special about her? Why had she
been able to
have this effect on Josh's life that no one else could. She simply
couldn't stop herself
from asking the question even though she dreaded the answer.
"You know there is one thing I'm curious about though. What is it
you see in her? It's
obviously not her education, her breeding, her class....what is it? I
mean there are a lot of
pretty faces in the world, why her?"
"You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know Donna.
You don't know
the first thing about her. And I'm certainly not going to stand here
and defend her to
you."
"All I can say is---she must be one hell of a lay." Mandy said
needing to believe that
Josh's attraction to Donna was that basic-that elemental.
Suddenly Josh realized why Mandy was asking.
"I wouldn't know." he said
He watched as Mandy digested those words. Her eyes widened. She
couldn't believe it.
Couldn't believe that they had never slept together. All that
attraction-all that chemistry.
She had been so sure that they had acted upon it during the campaign.
But she could see
that Josh was telling the truth. She had always been able to tell
when he was lying.
"Oh my God." Mandy rasped. "You really do love her, don't you?"
"Yes, I do."
For some reason that she couldn't explain, that revelation rocked her
to her very core.
This wasn't a fling, wasn't some tawdry affair. Josh really loved
Donna. In a way that he
had never even come close to loving her.
"And I guess I should really thank you for making me realize that."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying that there is one good thing that came out of all this
Mandy. It made me
realize how much I love Donna. I was buried so deep in denial before
any of this
happened that it's doubtful I would have ever dug my way out. And
even if I had, I'm
sure Donna would probably have given up on me and moved on long
before it happened.
So I guess I really should say thank you."
Mandy's mind was reeling. She couldn't believe what he was saying. It
wasn't possible.
He couldn't possibly mean that she had been responsible for bringing
them together.
Since the day she had met Donna, she was only focused on keeping them
apart. On
getting Donna out of Josh's life. The thought that she might actually
have brought them
closer together made her nauseous.
"Fuck you, Josh" she screamed.
Josh knew her well enough to read the look in her eyes. He had
devastated her, and he
was glad. Let the others handle the legal revenge. He had done his
part. He had come
here to see hurt in Mandy's eyes and now he saw it. He wondered why
he didn't feel bad
about it. He had cared about her once after all. But then he
remembered the look in
Donna's eyes that night in the Mural Room. And he knew that the pain
Mandy was
feeling now was nothing compared to what Donna had gone through.
He turned and walked out the door. Just as it closed behind him, he
heard Mandy begin to
throw things against the wall.
"Donna?" CJ said as she entered the bullpen. "I need to see you,
Josh, Toby, Sam and
Ainsley."
"Did you find something?"
"I think so. I have to check on a few things first. I also need you
to do a little digging for
me. Find out as much as you can about the balance in Senator
Russell's reelection fund.
Ok?"
"Sure thing."
"See if you can get everybody to my office in an hour, ok?"
"Will do."
Josh shot the receptionist a full dimpled smile as he sailed past her
towards the elevator.
He could tell by the horrified look on her face that she had heard
the screaming.
As he stepped out onto the ground floor, his phone rang.
"Josh Lyman." he said
"Donna Moss." came the reply.
"Hi there. How was lunch?" he asked
"Good. Where are you? CJ wants to see everyone in her office in an
hour."
"I had an errand to run but I'm on my way back now. I'll be there in
plenty of time."
"An errand?"
"I'll tell you all about it when I get there."
"Ok. See you in a bit."
"Donnatella?" he said, "I love you."
"Love you too, Joshua. Hurry back."
Josh found himself actually whistling as he walked through the
parking garage to his car.
"I talked to Mark Wilkins at the Justice Department." CJ said as soon
as everyone was
assembled in her office. "He was very interested to hear about the
off shore account for a
variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it is illegal for
a US Senator to be a party
to such an account."
"I would think so." Toby snorted.
"Did you find out anything about his reelection fund, Donna?" CJ asked
"Yes, I did." Donna said proudly. "As a matter of fact, within the
last week, several very
large chunks of cash have been withdrawn, ostensibly to pay
consulting fees, however, as
far as I can tell, the money never made it to the consulting company."
Josh could tell by the look on Donna's face that there was more to
the story. She had
another piece of news that she was just dying to share. He decided to
give her the opening
she needed.
"Who is the consulting firm involved?" he asked.
The gleam in Donna's eyes was blinding. "Lennox Chase," she said with
a smile.
"Amazing." Sam said. "I can't believe she thought she could pull it
off."
"Stealing from Lennox Chase and the Senator's reelection fund? How
did they think they
would get away with it?" Ainsley asked.
"Lack of confidence was never Mandy's problem." Josh said derisively.
Toby's phone began to ring and he stepped out in to the hallway so
that he could hear
better. When he came back in, he was wearing the biggest smile anyone
had ever seen
Toby wear.
"We've got her!" he said, "Dead to rights."
"Really?" Donna asked standing to face Toby. "Are you sure?"
"100%." he assured her.
Donna sat back down on the couch and wrapped her arms around Josh. As
the tears fell
down her face she said, "It's over. It's really over."
"Not quite," CJ said with a grin. "We still have to confront Ms
Hampton with the
evidence."
"Exactly." said Toby "This is going to be the fun part".
himself across the office
and strangling the life out of Mandy. He wanted nothing worse than to
wrap his hands
around her throat. To make her feel some of the pain, the fear and
the panic that he knew
Donna must have felt during those hideous searches. But he knew that
he couldn't do it.
He knew that he had to maintain control, for his sake, as well as for
Donna's.
"You were expecting me?" he asked in a measured tone.
"Of course." Mandy said turning to look out the window. "I figured
that eventually you
would have to ride your trusty white steed over here to defend the
fair maiden against the
evil witch."
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Josh asked.
She turned and lashed out at him, anger blazing in her eyes.
"Don't play games with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
You're only here
because of HER. You've only lowered yourself to speak to me again
because of HER.
You're just dying to be HER hero. Well, too bad. You're not going to
get that chance, I'll
make sure of it. You can just sit there and watch her go down in
flames."
Josh fought hard to control his rising anger, determined to hold his
temper. He kept
reminding himself that Mandy was only baiting him.
"Donna's not going down in flames, Mandy. You should be able to see
that. We
obviously found enough evidence to convince a judge to give her bail.
We know what
you did, and we know how you did it. It's just a matter of time until
we prove that Donna
is completely innocent."
Mandy was momentarily taken back. She was surprised by his references
to other people.
"We" found enough evidence and "We" know what you did. She had been
so sure that
Josh would want to handle this alone. Had he really allowed other
people in to help? The
old Josh, the Josh she knew, would never have admitted he needed
help. He would never
have admitted that there was any situation that he couldn't handle
himself.
"We'll just have to wait and see, Josh." she said breaking herself
free from those
troubling thoughts. "This isn't over by a long shot."
"Then let's end it, Mandy. Right here. Right now." Josh yelled,
losing his grip on his
emotions for a split second before pulling himself back
together. "Tell me what this is
really all about. Tell me what all of this pain and suffering has
been about."
Margaret wasn't at her desk when Donna entered Leo's outer office.
Through the crack in
the door, she could see him poring over files. She took a deep breath
and knocked lightly.
"Leo?" she said sticking her head in just far enough so that he could
see her.
"Donna, come on in." he said with a smile, rising and crossing over
to meet her.
"Do you have a minute?"
"For you? Anytime." He said motioning for her to sit on the couch.
Donna perched nervously on the edge of the cushion and Leo sat down
in the overstuffed
armchair facing her. She stared intently at the floor, her hands
shaking slightly.
"What's on your mind?" Leo asked attempting to put her at ease.
Donna lifted her eyes to meet Leo's. "I wanted to apologize for what
happened in the
Mural Room the other night. And also for the way I behaved yesterday
here in your
office. I know that you were only trying to help me, Leo and I'm
sorry. I overreacted. I
don't know what was going on in my head. I'm really sorry..." she said
sniffling back
tears.
"Don't worry about it. It's already forgotten." Leo said handing her
a box of Kleenex.
"I want to assure you that nothing like that will ever happen again.
I promise."
"Okay, then." Leo said. "Did you talk to Stanley this morning?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"Josh mentioned that he was going to get you an appointment. Did it
help?"
"Yes it did. I know that this isn't going to go away overnight. I
know that it's going to
take a lot of work. But I think I'm back on the right track now. I
know that I was focusing
my anger on the wrong people, on the people who were trying to help
me. I won't be
doing that anymore."
Leo looked in her eyes and he knew that she was telling him the
truth. She had turned a
corner, and while it was still a long way back, she was at least
headed in the right
direction. With the help and support of the people who loved her, he
knew she would
make it back. Just as he had.
"Good." he said, "That's all I wanted to hear."
Donna hesitated, looking for the nerve to ask the next question.
"When would it be ok for me to....well....um.....would it be ok for me to
come back to
work?" Donna stammered, afraid that he was going to tell her that she
no longer had a job
there.
"As soon as you feel up to it." Leo said patting her knee gently.
Donna's body relaxed immediately. She exhaled deeply as she dried her
remaining tears.
"I was just worried about you, Donna. We all were. I want you to
realize that. When CJ
and Toby came to me about what happened in the Mural Room, their only
concern was
your well being. They saw that you were in pain and they wanted to
help. And when I
told you that you needed to seek treatment, your welfare was my only
concern. It was
never my intention to make you think that your job here wasn't
secure. It is."
"Thank you." she said softly.
"Anytime." he said. "Now let's get back to work."
"Ok." she smiled.
"Donna?" he said as she reached the door.
"Yes?"
"You know that my door is always open right? That you can come to me
if you need to
talk?"
"Yes I do," she said "and I appreciate it."
Donna smiled as she walked back down the hall towards the bullpen,
thinking how very
lucky she was to have these people in her life, and how close she had
come to letting
Mandy take it all away from her.
"You know exactly what it's about." Mandy hissed.
"No, I really don't." Josh said. "Why don't you enlighten me?"
"It's all about her. Donna. And the fact that she took everything I
wanted away from me.
Right when it was within my grasp, she yanked it all away. And now
I'm going to do the
same thing to her."
"What did Donna take from you, Mandy?" Josh asked no longer able to
contain his
anger. "Because the way I see it, you willingly gave it all up. You
ended our relationship,
you quit your job, you left town. How is any of that Donna's fault?"
"It's all her fault, Josh. She took you away from me and you took
everything else with
you when you went."
"Donna didn't take me away from you, Mandy." Josh exploded. "Our
relationship was
never going to work. You've said that yourself a million times. We
were like fire and
gasoline. It was only a matter of time until the explosion came."
"That's right." Mandy said crossing over to stand directly in front
of Josh. "But I was the
one holding the match. I was supposed to be the one to decide when
the explosion came."
They were standing face to face now, screaming at each other.
"So it's all about the fact that you didn't get to control where and
when the relationship
ended?"
"No it's not about that. Don't kid yourself into thinking this is all
some elaborate plan to
get back at the man who broke my heart. Our relationship was never
like that. It was
never all hearts and flowers. I needed you for something else,
something much bigger.
Bartlet was my ticket to the top Josh. My chance to be somebody
important. My chance
to make a name for myself. To be a real player. I was going to have
the ear of a president.
And everybody would know that. They would all have to go through me
to get whatever
they wanted. I was right on the threshold of feeling real power Josh.
But I needed you to
get there. Because Bartlet may have been my ticket to the top, but
you were my ticket to
Bartlet. You were my in. I knew that if it came down to the two of
us, he would keep you
around over me. I needed to keep you close so that I could stay close
to him. But the day
you met HER, it all started to fall apart."
"You can't think that's true. Not even you are that delusional." Josh
said clenching his
fists at his side.
"It is true Josh and you were the only one who couldn't see it. You
may have convinced
yourself that you took her in for purely professional reasons but you
sure as hell never
convinced anybody else."
"I'm tired of this argument Mandy. Donna had nothing to do with the
end of our
relationship. I've told you that a thousand times."
"A thousand more and I might actually believe it-more to the point
you might actually
believe it yourself."
"There was nothing between Donna and I during the campaign."
"There's been something between you and Donna from day one. But you
know what?
That isn't even the point. You could have screwed your secretary on
the side for all I
cared. I could have lived with that. But I needed you for what we
could have
accomplished professionally."
"I'm not having this argument again Mandy. That's not what I came
here for."
"What did you come here for Josh?"
"I told you-I came here to end this-once and for all."
Sam entered Toby's office just as Toby was hanging up the phone. He
couldn't help but
notice that Toby looked very pleased and wondered if now was the best
time to break the
news to him about Larry.
"Good news?" he asked.
"Indeed." Toby said making a few final notes on the paper in front of
him. "That was
Jack Harmon from Lennox Chase. He was quite surprised to hear that
one of his
companies was apparently involved in what happened to Donna. When I
told him that we
believed that Mandy was behind it, he told me a little story of his
own. One of
approximately 3 million dollars systematically pilfered from various
Lennox Chase
accounts over the last 2 years. He's faxing all of the information
they have over to Chad,
as we speak, to see if we can make any connections." Toby leaned back
and clasped his
hands behind his head. "We're close Sam. I can feel it. It won't be
long now. And I'm
going to be the one who tells her she's been nailed. I want to see
the look on her face."
"Well you deserve to enjoy that moment Toby. You've certainly earned
it."
"I just want to make sure she gets what she has coming Sam. I want to
see her pay for
what happened to Donna. She can't be allowed to get away with it."
"And she won't"
Sam cleared his throat and shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
"Was there something you needed?" Toby asked
"Actually, yes" Sam said sinking down onto Toby's couch and trying to
decide where to
begin. "I had a conversation with Larry earlier."
"Speaking of Larry, where is he? I haven't seen him all day."
"I sent him home." Sam said.
"Is he ill?"
"No."
"Then what, Sam. Spit it out." Toby said impatiently, wanting to get
to the point so he
could move on to other things.
"Larry told me this morning that he is the person inside the White
House who has been
feeding Mandy information."
"What?" Toby said, convinced that he had misunderstood Sam's
statement.
"Larry was the one who gave Mandy Donna's social security number and
personal
information. He is the one who told her about the flowers."
"When? Why?" Toby screamed.
"He ran into her the night we stayed late trying to punch up the
speech for the
correspondents dinner. He said he had no idea what Mandy was up to,
how bad things
were going to get. He just wanted to pay Donna back for a little case
of unrequited love."
"Well, this is quite a little payback isn't it?" Toby thundered.
"I know. Look, I didn't know what to do. I sent him home and I told
him we'd call him
when we knew what our next step was going to be. I know it doesn't
mean much now,
but he definitely seemed sorry. I think Mandy really manipulated him.
I know that
doesn't excuse his behavior."
"No, it doesn't." Toby growled.
"So, what are you going to do about him?"
"I'm not sure yet. I need time to think. But the first thing he is
going to have to do is
apologize to Donna face to face. Let him look her in the eye and see
what he's done.
After that, we'll decide."
"Ok. I'll call him."
Sam walked back to his office to call Larry. He would have to get
with Donna to set up a
time for them to talk. He wasn't sure that hearing Larry's confession
was exactly what
Donna needed right now but better that she hear it from him than that
she pick it up off
the grapevine.
He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts when he entered his office
that he didn't see
Ainsley sitting on the couch.
"Hey" she said causing him to jump a foot in the air. "Sorry, I
didn't mean to startle you.
Cathy wasn't at her desk so I just let myself in. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, everything's fine." Sam said regaining his composure. "To what
do I owe the
pleasure of this visit?"
"I just got back from having lunch with CJ and Donna and I thought
I'd stop by to see
how you were doing."
"Well, I'm better now that you're here." he said.
Ainsley felt a slight blush creeping up her face.
"So how goes Operation??. Have you come up with a name yet?"
"Operation Porter."
"Porter?"
"Yes. In honor of the character Mel Gibson played in Payback."
"OK" Sam said with a grin.
"Don't make fun of the codename Sam. I worked very hard on it. It's
completely fitting."
"Ok, I'll take your word for it. So has Operation Porter dug up
anything?"
"Oh yes, quite a bit."
"Really. Like what?"
"Like an offshore bank account with over 7 million dollars, which is
jointly held between
Mandy and Senator Lloyd Russell."
"Are you kidding me?"
"No. CJ's getting all of the details now from someone she knows at
justice."
"Well that's very interesting considering that Toby just talked to
the people at Lennox
Chase and they are missing over 3 million dollars."
"Do they think Mandy was involved somehow?"
"They do now. They are sending the information to Chad and he is
going to try to see if
he can come up with anything more concrete."
"This is great Sam. We're closing in." Ainsley said with a satisfied
smile.
"I know. This nightmare might be about to come to a close."
"I wish it was all going to be that easy, ending it I mean. I think
we're close to nailing
Mandy and exonerating Donna, but we will be dealing with the fallout
from this for a
long, long time."
"I know."
"Including the fact that I need to start thinking about what I'm
going to do for a job. It's
expensive living in DC, a girls gotta work."
Sam noticed the sad look in her eyes that she attempted to hide
behind her glib statement.
"I'm so sorry. I know how much you gave up to help Donna and I can't
even begin to
express how much I appreciate it. How much we all appreciate it ." he
said as he sat
down beside her on the couch and took her hand in his.
"I know. It's fine. I did it because I wanted to. I don't have any
regrets its just...."
She was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in." Sam said without removing his hand from Ainsley's.
"I heard you were in here, Ainsley" Leo said as he stepped into the
office. He couldn't
help but notice their linked hands. He made a mental note to tell
personnel that they were
not to hire anymore leggy blondes. They seemed to weave some kind of
magical spell
over the male members of his senior staff. The thought that he might
some day have to
watch Toby swoon like Sam and Josh were was too much for him to
handle. 'Brunettes it
is from now on' he said to himself.
"Was there something in particular you needed from me, sir?" Ainsley
asked breaking
him out of his reverie.
"I just wanted to see how your vacation was going?" he said
"I'm sorry?"
"Your vacation. I wanted to see if you were getting the personal
problem straightened
out."
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you are talking about." Ainsley said,
no longer able to
mask her confusion.
"Josh told me that you needed to take some vacation time to deal with
a personal matter."
Leo said with a twinkle in his eye. "I just wondered when it might be
cleared up and
when we might be getting you back here working for us?"
"Are you serious Leo?"
"Ainsley, listen to me. As soon as you get your personal matter taken
care of, you start
right back to work here. If you want to that is."
"If I want to?" Ainsley squealed, "Of course I want to."
"Great." Leo said. "When do you think we might be seeing you back?"
"Well, if things continue down their current path at their current
speed, I should be back
from "vacation" within a week."
"Great, see you then." he said as he left Sam's office closing the
door behind him.
"I still have my job!!!" Ainsley squealed as she impulsively wrapped
her arms around
Sam's neck.
"Yes, you do." Sam said, enjoying the feel of her in his arms and
suddenly having to fight
back a very strong desire to kiss her. 'Oh yeah,' he thought to
himself. 'I definitely have a
lot of thinking to do'.
Mandy glared triumphantly.
"Well you don't have the power to end it Josh. This is between Donna
and me. It doesn't
end till I say it ends."
"I'm warning you right now Mandy. You leave Donna alone. You stay
away from her.
Because if you don't, it'll be the biggest mistake you ever made."
"Aren't you cute when you're lovesick?"
"I mean it Mandy."
Suddenly, she found herself wanting desperately to broach the one
topic that she had
promised herself she would stay away from, that she would never bring
up with him
again. Why her? Why Donna? What was so special about her? Why had she
been able to
have this effect on Josh's life that no one else could. She simply
couldn't stop herself
from asking the question even though she dreaded the answer.
"You know there is one thing I'm curious about though. What is it
you see in her? It's
obviously not her education, her breeding, her class....what is it? I
mean there are a lot of
pretty faces in the world, why her?"
"You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know Donna.
You don't know
the first thing about her. And I'm certainly not going to stand here
and defend her to
you."
"All I can say is---she must be one hell of a lay." Mandy said
needing to believe that
Josh's attraction to Donna was that basic-that elemental.
Suddenly Josh realized why Mandy was asking.
"I wouldn't know." he said
He watched as Mandy digested those words. Her eyes widened. She
couldn't believe it.
Couldn't believe that they had never slept together. All that
attraction-all that chemistry.
She had been so sure that they had acted upon it during the campaign.
But she could see
that Josh was telling the truth. She had always been able to tell
when he was lying.
"Oh my God." Mandy rasped. "You really do love her, don't you?"
"Yes, I do."
For some reason that she couldn't explain, that revelation rocked her
to her very core.
This wasn't a fling, wasn't some tawdry affair. Josh really loved
Donna. In a way that he
had never even come close to loving her.
"And I guess I should really thank you for making me realize that."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying that there is one good thing that came out of all this
Mandy. It made me
realize how much I love Donna. I was buried so deep in denial before
any of this
happened that it's doubtful I would have ever dug my way out. And
even if I had, I'm
sure Donna would probably have given up on me and moved on long
before it happened.
So I guess I really should say thank you."
Mandy's mind was reeling. She couldn't believe what he was saying. It
wasn't possible.
He couldn't possibly mean that she had been responsible for bringing
them together.
Since the day she had met Donna, she was only focused on keeping them
apart. On
getting Donna out of Josh's life. The thought that she might actually
have brought them
closer together made her nauseous.
"Fuck you, Josh" she screamed.
Josh knew her well enough to read the look in her eyes. He had
devastated her, and he
was glad. Let the others handle the legal revenge. He had done his
part. He had come
here to see hurt in Mandy's eyes and now he saw it. He wondered why
he didn't feel bad
about it. He had cared about her once after all. But then he
remembered the look in
Donna's eyes that night in the Mural Room. And he knew that the pain
Mandy was
feeling now was nothing compared to what Donna had gone through.
He turned and walked out the door. Just as it closed behind him, he
heard Mandy begin to
throw things against the wall.
"Donna?" CJ said as she entered the bullpen. "I need to see you,
Josh, Toby, Sam and
Ainsley."
"Did you find something?"
"I think so. I have to check on a few things first. I also need you
to do a little digging for
me. Find out as much as you can about the balance in Senator
Russell's reelection fund.
Ok?"
"Sure thing."
"See if you can get everybody to my office in an hour, ok?"
"Will do."
Josh shot the receptionist a full dimpled smile as he sailed past her
towards the elevator.
He could tell by the horrified look on her face that she had heard
the screaming.
As he stepped out onto the ground floor, his phone rang.
"Josh Lyman." he said
"Donna Moss." came the reply.
"Hi there. How was lunch?" he asked
"Good. Where are you? CJ wants to see everyone in her office in an
hour."
"I had an errand to run but I'm on my way back now. I'll be there in
plenty of time."
"An errand?"
"I'll tell you all about it when I get there."
"Ok. See you in a bit."
"Donnatella?" he said, "I love you."
"Love you too, Joshua. Hurry back."
Josh found himself actually whistling as he walked through the
parking garage to his car.
"I talked to Mark Wilkins at the Justice Department." CJ said as soon
as everyone was
assembled in her office. "He was very interested to hear about the
off shore account for a
variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it is illegal for
a US Senator to be a party
to such an account."
"I would think so." Toby snorted.
"Did you find out anything about his reelection fund, Donna?" CJ asked
"Yes, I did." Donna said proudly. "As a matter of fact, within the
last week, several very
large chunks of cash have been withdrawn, ostensibly to pay
consulting fees, however, as
far as I can tell, the money never made it to the consulting company."
Josh could tell by the look on Donna's face that there was more to
the story. She had
another piece of news that she was just dying to share. He decided to
give her the opening
she needed.
"Who is the consulting firm involved?" he asked.
The gleam in Donna's eyes was blinding. "Lennox Chase," she said with
a smile.
"Amazing." Sam said. "I can't believe she thought she could pull it
off."
"Stealing from Lennox Chase and the Senator's reelection fund? How
did they think they
would get away with it?" Ainsley asked.
"Lack of confidence was never Mandy's problem." Josh said derisively.
Toby's phone began to ring and he stepped out in to the hallway so
that he could hear
better. When he came back in, he was wearing the biggest smile anyone
had ever seen
Toby wear.
"We've got her!" he said, "Dead to rights."
"Really?" Donna asked standing to face Toby. "Are you sure?"
"100%." he assured her.
Donna sat back down on the couch and wrapped her arms around Josh. As
the tears fell
down her face she said, "It's over. It's really over."
"Not quite," CJ said with a grin. "We still have to confront Ms
Hampton with the
evidence."
"Exactly." said Toby "This is going to be the fun part".