Title: Stay Anyway 23/?

Author: Amber (Ambino1111@prodigy.net)

Disclaimers & other notes in Part 1

Previously, in Stay Anyway...

Sam sees his ex-fiancée Lisa as she takes a tour of the White House with her son Alexander. He talks with her and they decide to go to dinner the next night. A political snafu pops up before their dinner, and they end up eating with Josh and Donna in the White House. Lisa vows to hook up Josh and Donna, the latter becoming a new friend. Sam encourages Lisa to stay so they can talk about what happened between them, and as she is singing her son to sleep in Josh's office, Sam talks with Josh and Donna. He goes ballistic when Josh asks if he still loves Lisa. Sam and Lisa decide not to talk about what happened, although Lisa rhetorically asks "How did we get here?" Flashbacks: Lisa is a dentist and first meets Sam at an appointment. Fast forward to Sam and Lisa living together. A misunderstanding occurs when Sam's plans for a surprise party make Lisa suspicious. She tracks down the woman she thinks he's having an affair with, and discovers it was Josh, who had been helping Sam plan everything. At the party, she and Josh, realizing who they are, react strangely when introduced, which makes Sam wonder. He confronts Josh, who tells him the truth. Sam tells Lisa it was all just a misunderstanding and they drop it. Back to the present, where Lisa informs Sam that she and Alex are moving to DC He offers to let her stay at his apartment until hers is ready - she says she'll think about it. Instead, she accepts Donna's offer to live with her and refuses to call Sam and tell him. Sam and Josh have a heart-to-heart about women, and Josh learns about the office-wide pool betting on when he and Donna would admit their feelings. Meanwhile, at Donna's, Lisa comforts Donna, who admits that Josh treats her like a platonic wife. Josh shows up at her apartment, drunkenly informing her of his love, and Donna makes him leave. While waiting for the cab, Josh tells Lisa that Sam still loves her. In the middle of the night, Sam comes over to Donna's and demands to know where Lisa is. He and Lisa have a huge fight that ends with Sam yelling that he loves her. Later that day, Lisa calls Sam and tells him it's over - they shouldn't even see each other anymore. At lunch, Sam decides to ask Ainsley out to dinner and she agrees. Fast forward to Lisa and Alex waiting in the mess to eat lunch with Donna. Before she arrives, Lisa meets Ainsley, who is waiting to eat with Sam. An awkward situation ensues, in which both Sam and Lisa pretend to not know each other. That Friday, HR 206 passes, and everyone is happy. Sam and Ainsley decline the invitation to celebrate with Josh, Donna, Toby, and CJ, and instead go to dinner. After dinner, Ainsley offers to cut Sam's hair. They go to his apartment, where they both change out of their rain-drenched clothes into sweatpants. While Ainsley is cutting Sam's hair, he leans forward and kisses her. A knock at the door interrupts them. It's Lisa, who has just found out that her dad died. She can't get in touch with Donna and feels overwhelmed. She takes Alex on a walk in the rain and winds up at Sam's building. Lisa admits she never stopped loving Sam. Then Ainsley opens the door to see if everything is okay, and Sam admits that Lisa is his ex-fiancée. Lisa mumbles that she's sorry and leaves. Sam is torn between staying with Ainsley and running after Lisa. He decides to stay, and Ainsley wants to know what happened. At her apartment, Lisa gives Alex a bath and puts him to sleep. Then she makes a few phone calls before she collapses in tears.

*****

"Who's got my back now?

When all we have left is deceptive

So disconnected

So what is the truth now?"

- Creed, Who's Got my Back Now?

*****

"I don't want to talk about it," I say tiredly, walking past Ainsley to get back inside my apartment. I silently will her to drop it, to just let it go. Water under the bridge.

I sink into the couch and put my head in my hands. I hear the door click closed, but don't turn around to look at her. "Sam... please be honest with me."

"I am being honest. I don't want to talk about it. Not now... not ever."

"Sam..." Her voice carries with it a warning. I'm going to blow everything, absolutely everything, if I don't talk about it now.

I CAN'T talk about it now. Can't she understand? I don't even know what just happened, where this fits in the whole mess of whatever Lisa and I have between us. I'm not even sure I WANT to know, even if I could understand it. And if I can't understand it, I don't want to try to explain it to someone else.

"Ainsley," I start with a sigh. I look up at the woman wearing my sweats and robe, the woman whose arms are crossed in front of her, patiently waiting for me to spill the beans about my past. "Please don't make me do this right now."

She nods sadly and walks over to the dryer. She pulls out what are presumably her clothes and disappears into the bathroom. Crap! I'm losing her, and I don't know how to get her back, how to fix this.

I don't know what to do.

"Ainsley," I try to appeal to her as she re-enters the living room, looking slightly damp.

"Sam," She walks over to me and puts her hand on my shoulder. She reaches up and kisses my cheek. "Sam, I won't lie to you. I thought we could have had something special."

She turns to leave. "I'll see you later."

She opens the door before I find my voice long enough to yell, "Wait!"

She spins to look at me. "Wait," I repeat, steadying my shaky voice. "Close the door. I'm not going to lose you, too."

She nods, slightly dumbfounded, and I motion her over to the couch. I start talking before she even sits down next to me.

"Lisa and I were engaged to be married in 1998. The eighth, actually, because she liked the idea of 9-8-98. I loved her a lot, but... we were going through hard times. Her mom was sick, and Lisa was traveling between New York and Pennsylvania every weekend. I wasn't happy at work, I never saw my fiancée, and ... that's when Josh came. He told me about Bartlet, and I went to Nashua to see him, and ... I've never let myself look back."

"And...?"

"And what?"

"Just out of curiosity- where does Alex fit into all this?"

"Alex?" I'm confused. "Well, he's two years old. I feel guilty that I ruined Lisa's life, but ... she said I shouldn't be. He was conceived after we broke up – a fling, Lisa said."

"Are you sure?" Ainsley's voice is so gentle that it takes a moment to register what she said.

"Wh- what do you mean?" My mind starts to race, and my heart beats faster.

"I don't know, but – maybe she was rounding his age. Maybe he's older than you thought. I mean, it's around two years old that moms stop doing the whole how-many-months-old thing."

It takes a moment to respond. "No way." Despite my iron-clad policy of denial, the memory of Lisa's second thing she had to tell me creeps into my brain. Maybe...

"Sam, he might be your son. He probably is. But, how will you ever be sure if you don't ask Lisa?"

"But-"

"No. Listen. I know you thought it'd make me stay, but your telling me all this ... I don't want to compete with a family-"

I open my mouth to object, but she continues before I can. "Even if you're not his father, you still... there's something special between you and Lisa. I tried to ignore it in the mess, but now... now it all makes sense, it's all so blatantly obvious. It was fun while it lasted, Sam, but your heart was never in our relationship – it was somewhere else." She leans forward and softly kisses my forehead. "Now we both know where."

With that, she leaves the apartment, quietly closing the door behind her.

I want to walk over to the door, but my legs won't move. My brain is busy comprehending what has happened in the past ten minutes.

One minute I was kissing Ainsley, the next Lisa was telling me she loved me. That's enough to boggle the mind right there. But no, the situation had to go and get more complicated.

What did she mean, my heart wasn't in our relationship? It was. I was having such a good time, I liked Ainsley so much that I had forgotten about all my problems with Lisa.

Oh.

Well... now what do I do?

I spot the phone from across the room and dazedly make my way over to it. I dial Donna's number.

Ring. Ring. Ri-

"Hello?" A breathless voice picks up during the third ring.

"Donna?"

"Oh, hey, Sam. Listen, is it an emergency? 'Cause I was kind of in the middle of something."

"Well actually..." I trail off when I hear what is unmistakably Josh's voice instruct Donna to hang up the phone.

"Is that Josh?"

"Um... yeah."

It all sinks in. "Ohh. Well, I take it you've patched everything up then."

"Yeah," Donna sounds slightly distracted.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"Listen, I'll be quick then. Has Lisa called you? She was just here and was pretty upset, and I don't have her phone number."

"Hang on," Donna puts the telephone down and Josh picks it up.

"Hey, Sam. What's up? How'd your date go with Ainsley?"

Um. "It went well... up to a certain point. Then-"

Donna returns, and apparently snatches the phone back from Josh. "Sam, she left me a message about half an hour ago." She pauses. "She said her dad died."

What?

Wow. I never expected that.

"Really? Anything else?"

Donna sounds guilty. "She said she wanted to talk to me. God, Sam, her dad just died and she needed a friend, and I was out having drinks with Josh. I'm a horrible person."

"No you're not," Josh and I say in unison.

"That's nonsense, Donna. I'm the idiot that let her walk away in the rain," I take a deep breath, trying to overcome the guilt. She was shivering, she was hurt, and I just let her walk away. "Donna, do you have her phone number?"

"Yeah," She reads it off, then suddenly exclaims, "Wait, I'll do a three-way call!"

There's a click and then another, and I can hear a phone ringing. "Sam?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Okay."

Ring. Ring. Ring. "Hello. You've reached the Prescott residence. Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

"Lisa, it's Donna. I'm just calling you back. Please call me when you get home. I'm here for you."

With that, two more clicks, and then it's just Donna and me.

"Please let me know if she's okay. Can you go stop by her place? It's 721 Foster Avenue, Apartment 16. Josh and I will be over in a few minutes."

"No. You don't have to, Donna. I didn't mean to interrupt your date or anything. I'll go find Lisa. She probably isn't even home yet. It'll be all right."

"Okay," She doesn't sound too convinced, but I get the impression that Josh is doing his best to convince her to stay, too. Somehow, I think he'll be more persuasive than I'll ever be.

"I'll call you later, Donna. And call me if you have any news about Lisa."

"Okay. Good luck, Sam."

"Bye."

I hang up the phone and run my hand through my hair. It's a decent walk from here to Foster Avenue; it's possible she isn't home yet.

I grab my wallet and jog out the door.

TBC