VIII

THURSDAY:

Sam practically bounced into Leo's office. Josh was back at work and apparently well, he had a social life, and he and Toby were working on something he could believe in. Life was good.

CJ was giving him a bit of a funny look as he breezed in; probably wondering why he was so cheerful all of a sudden. He flashed her a bright grin, and she smiled back almost involuntarily.

In fact, everybody in the room seemed more alert, more full of life than they had been in a long time. In reality, nothing had changed, everything was still as bad as it had been when the Healthcare Bill crashed and burned on Friday. But somehow there was a different vibe in the air. Josh's crisis had brought them all together, knitting them back into the team they'd once used to be.

"Settle down, folks," Leo said, but he said it with a smile. "Okay; CJ?"

"We're riding out the media cycle pretty well on this one," CJ nodded. "Josh's speech yesterday pretty much turned the tide on all but our biggest detractors. He's proved himself to be about as compos mentis as he's getting."

Josh pumped his fists triumphantly, ignoring the jibe.

"Okay," Leo nodded. "Good. Toby, you had a thing?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Capitol Beat want Josh on tonight so they can talk about the failure of the Healthcare Bill."

CJ arched an eyebrow. "You mean they want Josh on so they can steer the conversation around to Saturday night."

"Yeah."

"I'll take it," Sam offered.

"Sam can take it," Leo agreed.

"I want to take it," said Josh. They all looked at him.

"Josh..." CJ groaned.

"No, seriously. Let me take it," Josh insisted. "You just said I did good yesterday. I can do good today!"

"Yesterday was the press. Today is Republicans," Toby pointed out.

"Who've they got on?" Sam asked.

Toby rolled his eyes. "Melissa Berrington."

"Berrington?" Sam snorted. "She hasn't been within shouting distance of the Healthcare debate!"

"And yet, by some strange coincidence, she's spent the last three days telling every news organisation that'll slow down long enough that I'm mentally incompetent," Josh noted.

"Seriously, Josh, you can't take this one," CJ warned him. "It's going to be twenty-four minutes of 'let's bait Josh' time."

"I can handle it."

"You can not handle it," CJ laughed. "You'll explode before you go twenty-four seconds!"

"Then let me explode!" Josh shook his head. "CJ, I can't sit on the sidelines on this. I can't wait it out until the other kids decide to stop picking on me, 'cause if I do it's never gonna happen. You gotta let me off the leash."

They all exchanged glances. "He's right," nodded Toby.

"He is," Sam agreed.

"Okay," said Leo. "Josh does Capitol Beat tonight. Now, all of you, get working."

CJ snagged Sam on the way out. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"When you've got a couple of minutes later, can you drop by my office?"

"Sure." He frowned for a moment, but shrugged it off. He'd find out soon enough what that was all about.

"Donna." Josh sauntered back into the bullpen, grinning brightly. "I'm gonna be on Capitol Beat tonight."

"Oh God." She thumped her head against the desk in despair. "Who against?"

"Melissa Berrington."

"I repeat; oh God. In fact, oh celestial pantheon."

"It'll be fine," Josh shrugged easily.

Donna felt that was best answered with a highly expressive snorting noise.

"Little bit of sinus trouble there, Donna?"

"Yeah, my boss keeps getting right up my nose." She pulled a face. "Melissa Berrington?"

Josh shrugged again. "Hey, it's cool; Leo's given me permission to do a number."

"How high a number?" she demanded warily.

He leaned his elbows on her desk and smiled at her. "I really will be fine, Donna," he laughed. "Come with me, if you want."

"I can't. I have to pick my mom and sister up from the airport."

"What time?"

"Eight o'clock. And yes, already, I'll make up the time on-"

"No, I was just, I was just..." he shrugged. "You've got time; come with me," he insisted.

"Josh." She rolled her eyes. "If I go with you I've got to go to the studio, come home, drive to the airport..."

"No you don't. I'll give you a ride," he suggested airily.

Donna blinked at him a few times. "Okay, pod person, step away from the desk and keep your mandibles where I can see them," she said sharply. "What are you, and what have you done with the real Josh Lyman?"

"Hey, I can't do something nice for my assistant?" he said, pretending to be wounded.

"In a word? No."

He straightened up and headed towards his office. "Come with me, Donna, and I will prove to you that I can handle Melissa Berrington without going off the rails. And then I will drive you up to the airport, and ferry you and your Republican relatives to whatever destination you so desire. And you can have the rest of the evening off."

The door closed behind him, and Donna stared at it for a while.

"Wow. Weird."

She made a mental note to phone Josh's mother and ask her if he'd picked up any kind of prescription medication while he was out there in Florida.

"Hey, Bonnie."

"Hey, Sam." She gave the Deputy Communications Director a bright grin. It was such a huge relief to see Sam back to his old self again - confirmation that the world was indeed still spinning in the right direction. Sam was cheerful, and Toby was better than he had been the previous week, whilst still being just grumpy enough to not be scary. A happy Toby was downright terrifying.

But a happy Sam was the way things were meant to be.

She'd checked with Ginger to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, and then done a quick survey of the rest of the assistant chain. Yup, there had been a definite attitude change, and it had happened somewhere between Friday night and Sunday morning. That, to Bonnie, spoke volumes.

She'd presented her evidence to the girls at Tuesday's early morning coffee and bagel meeting. Item one; Sam's change of attitude had taken place over a period encompassing both Friday and Saturday evening. Item two; Donna had reported difficulty in contacting Sam by cell phone Saturday, which was later revealed to be the result of at some point visiting a movie theatre. Item three; Ginger had reported traces of an unfamiliar aftershave clinging to Sam early one morning. Confirmation on the third was still pending, owing to the difficulty in finding a good enough excuse to get close enough to sniff him without arousing suspicions. Nonetheless, it suggested that Sam was making an effort to impress somebody.

Movies. Aftershave. Cheerfulness.

It all led to one inescapable conclusion; Sam was getting laid.

The evidence was considerable, but she wouldn't have needed it. As Bonnie had often told her girlfriends - usually just after the giggly stage of getting drunk - she had an eye for the 'I'm so getting some' look. And Sam was definitely displaying it.

That said, then, it was an effort not to snigger as he grinned and said "I need you to get me some information on sex."

She arched her eyebrows at him. "Looking for some tips?"

Tellingly, he didn't make the usual 'What? Working in this place?' jokes, just smiled. "I need some stats on Sex-Ed in other countries. Policies vs. teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, that sort of thing."

"Sure." She noted it down on her day-planner as 'Get Sex For Sam', just for the hell of it. When you worked a job for hours and pay like hers, you had to make the most of the intangible benefits.

"Thanks." Sam straightened up. "I'll be back. I just have to go talk to CJ."

"What about?"

He shrugged. "I'll find out when I get there. Thanks!"

"No problem."

When he was gone, Ginger leaned over from the next desk. "He's getting some," she said authoritatively.

"Hell yeah."

They went back to their work.