Tuesday:
"Leo…"
"I'm serious!"
"I know, Leo, but I think we have to keep to our promise." Bartlet said quietly as his old friend stared at him, half angry and half worried for him.
"Do you understand what this will mean?"
"Of coarse I do, but that's not the point is it? I think they all have a point; we can't hide this issue for much longer, in fact I'm surprised we've lasted so long, that thing with Seligman could have really blown up but it didn't. I think our grace time is running out."
"So you want to go at this running?"
"You promised them that, you said we'd hit walls running and this is one wall we should." Bartlet said, pointing at his friend, Leo sighed and sat down staring at his hands.
"I know we should do this, I'm just worried what this could do for our chances of re-election."
"This is more important than re-election, if only for Josh." Leo looked up at his friend and nodded. Josh had been lost ever since Donna had left and no one was sure if he was going to cope or for how long.
"Fine, but I'm not happy about this ok? You want to do it quietly, we don't want anymore fuss then is absolutely necessary."
"How do you keep practically nationalising the Health Management Organisations quiet exactly?" Bartlet laughed, "No, we do this in plain sight." Leo sighed
"How do you want to do it?"
"We have the Democrats fundraiser coming up…"
"Then? You couldn't make it anymore public!"
"I know, maybe if we do it in plain view no one can complain." Leo nodded but didn't look too happy.
"I'll get the staff together."
"I wish I could be there." Bartlet said smiling, "They're going to be ecstatic."
"Yeah." and Leo walked back into his office shouting for Margaret to gather the senior staff.
"What's going on?" CJ asked, concerned as she walked into Leo's office, but when she looked at the three grinning faces she knew, "We're gonna go after the HMO's?"
"Yes, and we're going to do it at the Democrats fundraiser."
"Yes!" CJ said, and started grinning like the others.
"Don't get too excited, this could kill us ok?" they all tried to stop grinning except Josh who was just too happy.
"Toby, Sam, I want this speech to make it completely clear about the Presidents relationship with HMO's, if we hide anything its gonna be used against us. We have to beat them to it, and use it to our advantage." Toby nodded
"We'd already been working on something." Sam said thinking he was being helpful, Leo gave him an icy look and then sent them all on their way.
"Hey, Josh!" Sam called after Josh
"Hey" he said turning around and waited for Sam to catch up before resuming his pace.
"So…" Sam said smiling
"So…what?"
"Are you going to call her?"
"Who?" Josh said trying to play dumb
"Donna!"
"No." Josh said, his smile slipping.
"Why not?"
"Because she wont come back, she shouldn't have had to leave for us to do something."
"Did she say that to you?"
"Not in so many words."
"Well, don't count her out yet, k?"
"Yeah." Josh said non-commitedly
"Ring her."
"Maybe, I probably leave her alone, let her make the decision."
"Fine." Sam sighed, frustrated at his friends stupidity. Sam turned off towards his office, just as Josh shouted after him,
"Do a good speech!"
"We will!" Sam said smiling.
***
I sat next to my father in the waiting room, we held each other as if we might fall if we didn't, my sister said she would come later, she had to drop her kids off at school. The funeral parlour waiting room was surprisingly cheerful, there were prints of beautiful landscapes scattered around the room and the colours were light and almost vibrant. I stared towards the door which I knew we would have to walk through, where my mom was lying in a casket, ready to be buried. Just the thought of what was waiting in there for us made me squeeze my father even more. He had barely spoken since yesterday afternoon when she had finally given up fighting. It was earlier then the doctors had predicted, but these things were never certain they said. She had seemed so peaceful in the bed, as if she'd just gone to sleep again, it was only dad's face, full of horror and sorrow that told me she was dead.
The funeral was on Friday, it felt like an eternity away. I dreaded the relatives and the flowers and callers, all the stuff I would have to deal with when I got home. My sister was helping out, but she had her own life to lead, I wasn't doing anything. I hadn't even thought about what I was going to do after the funeral. I was going to have to start my life all over again, find a job, maybe go back to college, or just stay and look after dad. I didn't know what I was going to do, I hadn't even had any plans for the future before, I'd just been wrapped up in the world of the West Wing, not daring to wonder what would happen to all of us after the term was up. I would have to write to Josh, or phone him, ask him for a reference. Maybe I could just write to Leo, then I wouldn't have to go through all the pain of trying to speak or put down on paper what I wanted from him. As I sat there, going through what I would write in my head, the funeral director appeared quietly from behind the door I was dreading,
"You can come in now." he said quietly, as if you couldn't speak loudly in this place. I looked over at my dad who tried to smile then instead just stood up. Together we walked through the door, scared of what the shell of the person we had loved so much would look like.
