Title: "The Lamentable Demise of George" Part 5
Author: Madeleine Mitchell Carr
Email:
Category: General, Josh/Donna
Rating: PG
Summary: Josh, Donna, a chinchilla. General mayhem and confusion. Many misunderstandings ensue. A touch of angst and a pinch of romance.
Donna POV continued
Spoilers: Post-'Noel'. General season 2 stuff
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Aaron Sorkin and NBC; I'm just borrowing them. Please don't sue me, as I have no money.
Feedback will be taken in, fed and loved to excess
"Hope I wasn't interrupting anything?"
Sam said this in his characteristic mild and slightly bland tone of voice. He uses it when he wants to insinuate something, but give himself an out at the same time, just in case he's wrong.
"No, nothing at all."
"Okay" (with a very subtle smirk)
Damn lawyers.
Then he said more naturally,
"Is Josh all right?"
"What? Why do you say that? Did he not look all right? Did he look sick?"
Okay, maybe that was a bit of an overreaction.
"Is Josh sick?"
"Did he look like he was?"
"Did Josh look sick?"
"Yes."
"No"
Oh.
"Okay"
"But…"
WHAT? WHAT?
"Yes?"
"He looked kind of upset"
Ah. George.
"Sam, who's George?"
Sam looked confused at my apparent non-sequitor.
"George who? "
"I don't know. Do you know anyone called George, at least, do you know if Josh knows anyone called George."
I thought about this a moment.
"I mean, obviously he does know someone called George, but do you know who that would be? Other than his name is George…"
Sam, struggling manfully throughout my sudden unfortunate descent into incoherence suddenly brightened.
"I know someone called Irving."
Why did I even bother getting out of bed this morning?
"Irving?"
"Yeah. You know…George Washington - Washington Irving…"
He smiled guilelessly at his own joke.
"SAM"
He looked disappointed.
"Oh, Okay. Point taken."
He paused and pondered whilst I writhed with anticipation.
"Josh's room mate at Yale was called George. That's the only George I can think of at any rate."
Oh no.
"Were they good friends?"
That came out a little strangled, and Sam shot me a concerned look.
"Why do you ask?"
"He's dead"
Well, that surprised him. His eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.
"George is dead?"
"Yes"
"Oh. You think that's why Josh looked upset?"
"Well, obviously"
Sam shook his head.
"What?"
"He hated George. Couldn't stand the guy."
"Really? Why were they room mates?"
"Noah Lyman really liked George. Josh didn't want to disappoint his Father so he put up with George."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Oh, he also wrote letters home about how much he liked his room mate, and how they were best buddies and stuff like that."
"That doesn't sound like Josh."
Sam put his head on one side and considered me a moment.
"What?"
"I forgot that you'd never met Mr. Lyman. He was a good man. Josh idolised him."
Well, I knew that part at any rate.
"Okay"
That rather overstated the case as I was now even more confused than ever.
"So you don't think he was upset by George's death?"
"Well probably not, no. Especially as he told me that he used to fantasise about stabbing George in his sleep."
"Oh"
"Yeah"
"Unless…"
"What?"
"Well, he could, you know, be feeling guilty because he despised George so much, and now he's dead."
Actually, that didn't sound unlikely at all. Not for 'take-the-weight-of-the-world-on-my-shoulders' Lyman. Josh was a past master at assuming guilt at the slightest provocation. Well, unless something actually was his fault, in which case he tended to blame everybody else.
"Yeah. You could be right."
"Right. Well, if we've sorted that out, I'll…"
Sam trailed off and indicated the open door.
"Oh, well, you probably have to go and write a speech or something. Thanks Sam"
He nodded, turned and walked to the door. I was quite surprised that he wasn't more curious about the odd conversation we'd been having.
"Oh, Donna?"
Damn, another lawyer's trick.
I regarded him suspiciously as he stood, slightly turned in the doorway.
"Yes?"
"That was a very confusing conversation we just had."
"It was?"
"Yep."
"So?"
"So, you know I'll be asking Josh about it later, don't you?"
Bless you, Sam Seabourne.
"You will?"
"Yes"
"Okay"
"Okay"
He left with a quick smile and a subtle wave
I was left all alone in Josh's office.
All alone in Josh's office?
Hmmm.
There is no doubt that I am a smooth operator. But when I operate, it's generally pretty above board and out in the open. In other words, I don't sneak and I don't spy. I was about to break that unwritten rule.
I didn't feel too guilty about the action I was about to take though, as it was motivated entirely out of concern for Josh. I'd come down from the panicked high I had been on 10 minutes before, but I knew that he was keeping something from me, and I was determined to find out what it was.
Consequently, I made a beeline for his laptop which was sitting innocuously but prominently on his desk.
Josh is useless with computers, but he does occasionally do some work at home on the laptop and the fact that he'd been using it at work was ringing alarm bells in my head. So, having quietly closed the door, I gingerly opened the laptop.
Now isn't that interesting?
He'd left his browser running. What had he been looking for on the Internet? I'd barely had time to formulate this thought before my hand had moved and opened up the History folder.
I scanned the list. Hmm…map of the Everglades, well that was work related at least…what was that? A site about chinchillas? Weird. Come to think of it, he'd probably tried to look for enchiladas or something and got confused…wait a minute…medical sites? Lots of them? A whole damn list of them?
Oh. No.
Hands trembling, I clicked on one at random and was rewarded by a very dry looking document filled with scientific terms. I never got to read it because the title alone was enough to send cold shivers down my spine.
Possible long-term side effects of traumatic pneumothorax
Oh Josh.
I closed the laptop a little too harshly and the cable clattered against his White House coffee mug.
This was getting a little too big for me. I needed to talk to someone. But who? Who cared about Josh the person as well as Josh the politician? Leo? No, no, no and no again. I wasn't going to do that again.
Toby? Hardly. CJ?
Ah. CJ.
Yes.
I now had a plan.
TBC
As we leave Donna seeking out CJ and Sam in his office writing a speech, or something, let us rejoin Josh on his way to the Oval Office. Will he tell the President about George? Will the President even care? I bet you can't wait to find out.