Stumbling Towards Contentment 14/14
See part one for notes and stuff.
For those of you who stuck it out until the end, thank you. I would love to
hear what you thought about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day went about as well as expected, given the date and the fact that Josh
still wasn't feeling well. Two years earlier on the anniversary Josh and
Donna had sat the boys down and explained things to them. In a house where
CNN was on basically every hour of the day they were bound to see Josh and
Jed's faces on that particular day in May so Josh and Donna told them enough
for them to understand.
Donna took the boys aside that morning before Josh got up and reminded them
of the date. They were too cute trying to keep Josh laughing by telling bad
jokes and stuff like that. Josh felt a little better although he still had a
slight fever for most of the day. He walked the boys to the park around the
corner after lunch and sat in the sun reading the paper while they played.
As was normal for that particular day in May the phone rang constantly. Some
calls Donna took, some she let the machine pick up. By 9:00 that night
everyone from Bartlet's Senior Staff had called at least once. Josh was
finishing up a call from Jed and Abbey while Donna got the boys settled into
bed.
Josh was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom when Donna came into
the room. He was standing there wearing only his untied bathrobe, boxers and
a pair of socks.
"That's quite an outfit Joshua." she teased as she walked behind him to toss
some clothes in the hamper. He didn't respond to her teasing and she stopped
to actually see what he was doing. And then it hit her; he was looking at
the scar on his chest. She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around him,
resting her chin on his shoulder.
"You can hardly see it anymore." she whispered as her eyes met his in the
mirror.
"I suppose so." he sighed. "You don't think it's ugly."
"Josh, it's been 14 years. I don't even notice it anymore." she said as she
slowly traced the thin line with her finger.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Come on; let's go to bed. You need some sleep if you're going back
to work tomorrow."
"OK."
Donna took Josh by the hand and led him to bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The summer flew by in a flash. The entire Lyman clan was busy from the time
school let out until Labor Day weekend. The boys spent time in day camp for
a few weeks. Then Donna and the boys had taken a trip to Wisconsin to visit
her parents and they all spent a long weekend in New Hampshire with Jed and
Abbey.
Josh worked hard on the campaign and did fairly well, all things considered.
He had a rough time traveling for more than 3 or 4 days at a time but managed
to work his schedule out so that didn't happen very often. The weather in DC
had been very hot and humid for two weeks in the middle of July and he had a
rough time. So he worked from home as much as he could, doing stuff over the
phone and the computer.
For the most part he listened to his body and took care of himself. Sure
there were a few incidents over the summer, but nothing that landed him in
the hospital, at least not overnight. He did spend one memorable night in
the emergency room in St. Louis though. Sam and Toby had joined him for a
few days and they had been playing pool when Josh's little finger somehow got
in the way when Toby was breaking. He ended up needing an x-ray and
eventually lost the fingernail. Josh blamed that incident on his slower than
normal reflexes since the stroke. Donna knew better and blamed it on the two
beers Sam let him have.
Now it was two weeks away from the election. Things looked close, the
Republican challenger, Stephen Baxter, was gaining ground and Josh and the
rest of the staff were scrambling to hold things together. Donna was trying
not to hover and was actually doing a pretty good job. She didn't bug Josh
about eating or sleeping but she was known to stuff his backpack full of
raisins, peanut butter crackers and other things that bordered on being good
for him.
Back in June she had found a therapist she liked. And it worked out well.
She usually saw him every two weeks but as the election got closer she found
herself going every week. He helped her to know when to take a step back and
just let Josh be and when to step in. While deep down Donna was glad for the
opportunity the campaign had given Josh, she was glad it was ending. He was
set to go back to teaching in January and the boys were looking forward to
having him around more. The novelty of visiting the White House and even
traveling on Air Force One had worn off and they just wanted their dad back.
The days leading up to Election Day passed by in a blur of activity, phone
calls, faxes, number crunching and the occasion nap. By the morning of
Election Day Josh was wiped out. The boys went with Josh and Donna to vote
and then the 4 of them headed over to the White House to join the rest of the
campaign staff as they spent the day glued to the television.
Despite the excitement, Donna did manage to get Josh to just sit with his
feet up in his office for about an hour in the late afternoon. She got him a
cup of tea and shut the door, leaving Nick to stand guard for a while.
At a little after midnight that night it was announced that John Hoynes had
indeed won re-election. The party started immediately. Ben had stopped by
to pick up the boys about 10:30, leaving Josh and Donna to celebrate the
victory.
Around 1:30 they headed through the West Wing on their way out of the
building. As they stepped through the gate they stopped and turned back to
look at the White House. The building stood stately in the light of the full
moon and the bright stars. Josh put his arms around Donna and they stood
there in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
The realization that his days in the White House were over hit Josh all at
once and he buried his head in Donna's shoulder. She patted his back and
whispered that she loved him.
"This is it, isn't it?" he answered, his voice hoarse from the celebrating
and the sheer exhaustion.
"Yeah, this is it for the White House. Now it's time to go back to being a
family."
She felt him nod as he kissed her cheek and let go of her.
"You wanna walk for a little while?" she asked.
"Yeah." he answered softly as he took her hand and they started walking. The
walked up to the Washington Monument in silence, taking a seat on the very
bench where Josh had proposed years earlier. "Do you regret my taking the
job?" Josh asked as he put his arm around her shoulders.
"No, not at all. It was good for you. It's what you needed. And now it's
time to move on."
"I know. And I'm ready for whatever comes next." he said.
They sat for a while, eventually ending up at home a little after 3. They
collapsed into bed and slept soundly for the first time in weeks. When Josh
woke up the next morning he noticed the bed was a little crowded. Sometime
in wee hours of the morning both boys had crawled in with them. Jessie was
in between Josh and Donna while Jake was stretched out across the end of the
bed, wrapped in the blanket from the chair.
Josh slid out of bed carefully, sat down in the chair and looked over at the
bed. Three blonds heads stuck out from under the covers and as he watched
them he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time, the feeling of complete
and utter contentment. And there was nothing like that in the entire world.
THE END
See part one for notes and stuff.
For those of you who stuck it out until the end, thank you. I would love to
hear what you thought about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day went about as well as expected, given the date and the fact that Josh
still wasn't feeling well. Two years earlier on the anniversary Josh and
Donna had sat the boys down and explained things to them. In a house where
CNN was on basically every hour of the day they were bound to see Josh and
Jed's faces on that particular day in May so Josh and Donna told them enough
for them to understand.
Donna took the boys aside that morning before Josh got up and reminded them
of the date. They were too cute trying to keep Josh laughing by telling bad
jokes and stuff like that. Josh felt a little better although he still had a
slight fever for most of the day. He walked the boys to the park around the
corner after lunch and sat in the sun reading the paper while they played.
As was normal for that particular day in May the phone rang constantly. Some
calls Donna took, some she let the machine pick up. By 9:00 that night
everyone from Bartlet's Senior Staff had called at least once. Josh was
finishing up a call from Jed and Abbey while Donna got the boys settled into
bed.
Josh was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom when Donna came into
the room. He was standing there wearing only his untied bathrobe, boxers and
a pair of socks.
"That's quite an outfit Joshua." she teased as she walked behind him to toss
some clothes in the hamper. He didn't respond to her teasing and she stopped
to actually see what he was doing. And then it hit her; he was looking at
the scar on his chest. She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around him,
resting her chin on his shoulder.
"You can hardly see it anymore." she whispered as her eyes met his in the
mirror.
"I suppose so." he sighed. "You don't think it's ugly."
"Josh, it's been 14 years. I don't even notice it anymore." she said as she
slowly traced the thin line with her finger.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Come on; let's go to bed. You need some sleep if you're going back
to work tomorrow."
"OK."
Donna took Josh by the hand and led him to bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The summer flew by in a flash. The entire Lyman clan was busy from the time
school let out until Labor Day weekend. The boys spent time in day camp for
a few weeks. Then Donna and the boys had taken a trip to Wisconsin to visit
her parents and they all spent a long weekend in New Hampshire with Jed and
Abbey.
Josh worked hard on the campaign and did fairly well, all things considered.
He had a rough time traveling for more than 3 or 4 days at a time but managed
to work his schedule out so that didn't happen very often. The weather in DC
had been very hot and humid for two weeks in the middle of July and he had a
rough time. So he worked from home as much as he could, doing stuff over the
phone and the computer.
For the most part he listened to his body and took care of himself. Sure
there were a few incidents over the summer, but nothing that landed him in
the hospital, at least not overnight. He did spend one memorable night in
the emergency room in St. Louis though. Sam and Toby had joined him for a
few days and they had been playing pool when Josh's little finger somehow got
in the way when Toby was breaking. He ended up needing an x-ray and
eventually lost the fingernail. Josh blamed that incident on his slower than
normal reflexes since the stroke. Donna knew better and blamed it on the two
beers Sam let him have.
Now it was two weeks away from the election. Things looked close, the
Republican challenger, Stephen Baxter, was gaining ground and Josh and the
rest of the staff were scrambling to hold things together. Donna was trying
not to hover and was actually doing a pretty good job. She didn't bug Josh
about eating or sleeping but she was known to stuff his backpack full of
raisins, peanut butter crackers and other things that bordered on being good
for him.
Back in June she had found a therapist she liked. And it worked out well.
She usually saw him every two weeks but as the election got closer she found
herself going every week. He helped her to know when to take a step back and
just let Josh be and when to step in. While deep down Donna was glad for the
opportunity the campaign had given Josh, she was glad it was ending. He was
set to go back to teaching in January and the boys were looking forward to
having him around more. The novelty of visiting the White House and even
traveling on Air Force One had worn off and they just wanted their dad back.
The days leading up to Election Day passed by in a blur of activity, phone
calls, faxes, number crunching and the occasion nap. By the morning of
Election Day Josh was wiped out. The boys went with Josh and Donna to vote
and then the 4 of them headed over to the White House to join the rest of the
campaign staff as they spent the day glued to the television.
Despite the excitement, Donna did manage to get Josh to just sit with his
feet up in his office for about an hour in the late afternoon. She got him a
cup of tea and shut the door, leaving Nick to stand guard for a while.
At a little after midnight that night it was announced that John Hoynes had
indeed won re-election. The party started immediately. Ben had stopped by
to pick up the boys about 10:30, leaving Josh and Donna to celebrate the
victory.
Around 1:30 they headed through the West Wing on their way out of the
building. As they stepped through the gate they stopped and turned back to
look at the White House. The building stood stately in the light of the full
moon and the bright stars. Josh put his arms around Donna and they stood
there in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
The realization that his days in the White House were over hit Josh all at
once and he buried his head in Donna's shoulder. She patted his back and
whispered that she loved him.
"This is it, isn't it?" he answered, his voice hoarse from the celebrating
and the sheer exhaustion.
"Yeah, this is it for the White House. Now it's time to go back to being a
family."
She felt him nod as he kissed her cheek and let go of her.
"You wanna walk for a little while?" she asked.
"Yeah." he answered softly as he took her hand and they started walking. The
walked up to the Washington Monument in silence, taking a seat on the very
bench where Josh had proposed years earlier. "Do you regret my taking the
job?" Josh asked as he put his arm around her shoulders.
"No, not at all. It was good for you. It's what you needed. And now it's
time to move on."
"I know. And I'm ready for whatever comes next." he said.
They sat for a while, eventually ending up at home a little after 3. They
collapsed into bed and slept soundly for the first time in weeks. When Josh
woke up the next morning he noticed the bed was a little crowded. Sometime
in wee hours of the morning both boys had crawled in with them. Jessie was
in between Josh and Donna while Jake was stretched out across the end of the
bed, wrapped in the blanket from the chair.
Josh slid out of bed carefully, sat down in the chair and looked over at the
bed. Three blonds heads stuck out from under the covers and as he watched
them he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time, the feeling of complete
and utter contentment. And there was nothing like that in the entire world.
THE END