XII

FRIDAY:

This was going to be the day from hell.

Forget the aftermath of Josh's most recent PTSD attack, or how worried she'd been when he disappeared after the vote went wrong. Forget days when Josh was on the rampage, the dark times surrounding the president's MS coming out, forget even that hideous period when she'd narrowly scraped past perjury charges.

Today, her family were coming to see her at work.

Happy birthday to me.

All her frantic arguments this morning had counted for nothing. Mrs. Moss had decided she was coming to Washington, and here she was. Mrs. Moss had decided she was coming to the White House, and here she would be. Might as well try and hold back the tide.

She wasn't sure what was worse; the thought of all her friends getting to see the horrible truth of where she came from, or her mother being given free reign to pick the whole of her life apart. And pick she would.

Josh deserved some kind of a medal for not running screaming from what he'd witnessed last night, and he'd only got the beginning of it. Donna herself had received a much longer lecture over the phone that night, and this morning.

Her mother appeared to have some kind of weird mental split going on when it came to Josh. On the one hand, he was Donna's boss, and she should: be more respectful, not be so dreadfully over-familiar, and not be so undignified as to 'fawn over him'. Donna still wasn't exactly sure how her mother had arrived at the word 'fawning' as a suitable label for her interactions with Josh. On the other hand, he was a scruffy, uncouth, untrustworthy, mentally suspect liar of a politician, and she ought to be wary of him.

In conclusion, her mother believed that her boss was a scumbag, but that it was Donna's place in this world to bow and scrape and be respectful to scumbags - especially male scumbags - because they were 'more important' than she was.

It wasn't hard to see where her self-esteem issues had come from.

But, no, she wasn't that weak-willed girl anymore. She was Donnatella Moss, Deputy Deputy Chief of Staff, speaker with presidents - well, one president - maker of government policy (occasionally) and all-round impressively successful human being. She could do anything she put her mind to.

Apart from win an argument with her mother.

She stomped into the office in a foul mood, what little birthday joy she might have been feeling completely squashed by the looming prospect of Mama Moss invading the White House.

Maybe she could go out to a payphone and anonymously call in a terrorist alert...

"Donna!" Josh bounced out of his office to grin at her.

She glared at him suspiciously. "Okay, you've got to stop with this being bright and cheerful early in the morning. It's scary."

He beamed at her, and whipped a package out from behind his back. "Happy birthday, Donna!"

Bad mood. Bad mood. Bad mood. Nope, dammit, it was slipping away.

Josh made her extend her hands and pressed his present into them. Flat. Rectangular. Hard. Another book?

Josh bobbed impatiently. "'Kay, are you gonna open that, or are you intending to absorb it by osmosis?"

Donna pulled a disappointed face. "Okay, it's not a stereo, a car or a package holiday..."

"Open it!" he commanded. She rolled her eyes at him, and did as ordered. It seemed to be a picture frame... Was she relying on Josh's eye for art? Uh-oh. She turned it over to look at the picture.

Awww...

Okay, she was going all misty-eyed. Beside her, Josh grinned. "It made me think of you," he said softly.

It was a cute framed illustration, like something from a children's book or a greetings card, of a rumpled-looking teddybear. It sat in a sad and lost-looking heap amidst piles of books, whilst another bear watched from the corner with one hand - paw? - covering an amused smile. Beneath the picture was written 'Hopelessly lost without you'.

And it was... it was completely... awww.

She gave Josh a hug. "Happy birthday, Donnatella," he said gently.

Donna smiled up at him. "Ban my mother from the White House?" she asked optimistically.

Josh laughed, and squeezed her before letting go. "Alas, some things are beyond even my powers."

"Many, many things," she agreed, regaining her composure.

CJ appeared in the doorway. "Donna!" The press secretary charged over to give her a quick hug. "Happy birthday! Did Josh give you his present yet?"

"Yeah," Donna nodded, shooting her boss a quick smile.

"Massively inappropriate?" CJ asked, with a pointed eyebrow.

"Cute." Donna tilted the picture towards her, and CJ smiled at it. She gave Josh a quick pat on the head.

"Good boy."

Josh quickly ran a hand through his hair, as if it was possible for CJ to have made it more mussed than it usually was. "Well, thanks, and now I think I'll go get my chew-toy," he said dryly.

"You can do that after staff. Come on." CJ hauled him away. She turned back to Donna as they left. "Have a great day!"

Small chance of that. Still, Donna couldn't help sneaking another look at the picture and smiling to herself.

She wasn't sure how long this 'I wanna be a nice guy' epiphany of Josh's was going to last, but she was certainly gonna make the most of it while it did.

Leo straightened up as Josh and CJ entered the room. "Okay," he said without preamble. "Healthcare is dead. It's over, it's done, and we're moving on." He glanced at CJ. "The best way to get rid of this bad news is to make more news."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," she quipped. Sam gave her an almost imperceptible look, and she flashed a gentle smile his way.

Either not noticing or ignoring this byplay, Leo said "We're turning our attention to the Peterson thing."

"Single parent families," Sam supplied quickly, back on top of his game at last.

Leo nodded. "Josh, I want you to take some meetings. This thing's still in the development stages, and they want to make it more palatable to Congress. See what you can get them to take about child healthcare benefits."

Josh clicked to it immediately. "From the old bill?"

Leo nodded. "CJ, emphasise to the press that we don't give a damn about losing the healthcare package, we care about getting legislation enacted. One way or another, we're getting these changes through."

CJ nodded and made a quick note. "Want me to blame Congress again while I'm at it?" she smirked.

"Tell them Congress is like a cranky child," Toby supplied. "If they won't swallow it whole, we cut it up into smaller pieces."

"Hopefully avoiding any temper tantrums," CJ agreed.

Leo nodded, satisfied. "Anything else?"

"It's Donna's birthday," Josh informed the room. "And I should warn you, her Republican family are gonna be invading the White House."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "How many of them are there?"

"Three."

"We can take 'em," he said dryly.

"Oh, you say that now. Wait 'til you meet Donna's mother," Josh said.

"Idiot boy." CJ whapped him lightly about the head. He blinked at her.

"Okay, but I expect you to retract that after you've met her."

"Everybody out," Leo ordered. "Josh, say hey to Donna for me."

"I will."

Sam hung back. "Leo, can I have a minute later?"

"Grab Margaret, find a space," Leo shrugged, already focused on the work on his desk.

"Thanks." Sam followed Toby out, and Josh looked after him curiously. He turned to CJ.

"Is there something going on with Sam that I should know about?"

CJ could only give him a noncommittal shrug. "I'm sure Sam'll fill you in in good time."

"Yeah." But Josh still looked faintly pensive.