Title: True Lies 2/3
Author: Rhasa
Rating: Pg-13
Category: Drama
Summary: Josh, Donna, suspicions, accusations, trust,
betrayal, and a rock and a hard place.
Disclaimer: Aaron Sorkin owns these. I hope they bring
him as much joy as they bring me.
True Lies Part 2
by Rhasa
Josh's head was reeling. He didn't believe it. He didn't believe a word of it. Bruno didn't know Donna. If he had have known her he would have known that there was no way in hell she could do what he suspected her of doing. Someone had leaked information there was no doubt about that. And part of that was Bruno's responsibility. He was just looking for someone to blame. A scapegoat. A patsy. A fall guy. The whole investigation was a witch hunt. And it looked like they had Donna pegged for head witch.
The 'evidence' if they wanted to call it that was circumstantial at best.
Someone leaked information to Blake's office.
Donna was one of only six people to have access to that information. All of the others had denied releasing any information whatsoever.
Donna was seen having lunch, and passing an envelope to Amanda Davis, secretary to Blake.
There was a little matter of a ten thousand dollar deposit into Donna's bank account. How Bruno got that particular piece of information, Josh was determined to find out.
Logged telephone calls showed no less than seven calls were made from Blake's office to Donna's line.
Leo had assured Josh that they were just suspicions for now. But there was an investigation and Donna would have to answer for her actions.
But to Josh it was all bullshit. Utter, total bullshit and he was going to treat it that way. He had begged Leo that he be the one to ask Donna about the allegations, but he wasn't about to haul her into his office and interrogate her "Bruno" style. No. He would do it the Josh Lyman way. And everything would be cleared up. Everything would be all right. He'd make casual observations and slip his questions into an everyday conversation. And Donna would answer them. And everything would be all right.
Everything would be all right. He'd keep telling himself that and eventually he would have to believe it.
Everything would be all right because this was Donna and this was bullshit, utter total bullshit.
"Hey, Donna," Josh sighed as he re entered the bullpen.
"Josh, where have you been? I have sixteen messages here for you and you missed you're ten o'clock at the OEOB."
"Sorry," he shrugged. "I got held up."
"In that unscheduled meeting you had?"
Josh winced internally. He hated keeping things from her that would ultimately affect her but he couldn't let her know what was going on just yet.
"Yeah," he said softly,
"Well you could've told me. I would have bumped the OEOB. It would have been a damn bit easier than having to apologise profusely to Dee over your unexpected no-show."
"Dee?" he asked as his eyebrow rose.
"Yeah Dee Hooper. See it's all very simple, this is how it works. My boss misses her boss's meeting, so her boss yells at her to yell at me so I can yell at my boss, which is usually when my boss yells at me for allowing him to miss the meeting and I have to apologise over and over again to her and her boss for my boss."
"Yeah, it is all very simple," he let a small sad smile cross his face. If only he could get rid of the nausea that suddenly seemed to have formed in his stomach.
"And so is a short message to me, your assistant, to kindly say, 'Sorry Donna, but this unexpected, unscheduled mystery meeting is taking much longer than I thought it would. Would you be so kind as to bump everything on my schedule by half an hour? Thank you.'"
"Yeah. Look, as I said, I'm sorry," his genuine apology made Donna feel a tad bit guilty.
"Oh never mind. These things happen. We'll probably laugh about the whole thing over lunch."
"We will?" Josh asked confused, thinking he couldn't recall arranging to have lunch with Donna today.
"Me and Dee," she threw over her shoulder casually as she moved from her desk to the nearby filing cabinets.
"What?"
"We're having lunch today."
"You've been having lunch outside of the office quite a bit lately," he said, internally admonishing himself for suddenly being suspicious.
"So?"
"Nothing."
"It's what normal people do, Josh. It's called a 'lunch break'. It implies having a break away from work, breaking for lunch, hence the out of the office part. It gives me a chance to recharge my batteries and catch up with others."
"Catch up with others?"
"Yeah. Don't tell me you need me to explain that concept to you as well."
"No. I am fully aware of the concept of catching up with others. So who are these others that you are catching up with?"
"Excuse me?"
"Who do you have lunch with?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"I'm just curious," he shrugged. God he was bad at this.
"Are you fishing here or something?" she cautiously grinned.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Is this a bizarre 'Josh way' of asking me if I am seeing someone? Are you jealous?"
"God NO! You've got it all wrong. I was just curious that's all." Josh realised this surreptitious way of asking Donna questions wasn't really going to clarify anything. He now knew it was wrong to try it this way. He'd have to ask her directly, something which he dreaded doing.
"Oh, okay. Well then, let's see. I have lunch with all sorts of people. Dee's today of course, but it's usually Carol or Bonnie, Ginger, Kathy, Nancy a few times, Sam half a dozen-"
"You have lunch with Sam?" There went the eyebrow again.
"Yeah, on occasion."
"When? What occasion?"
"Usually when you're not around."
"What do you mean when I'm not around?"
"Geez, Josh, relax. There have been about half a dozen times when Sam has come looking for you, only to find that you are not here and we've ended up having lunch together. It's all very innocent."
"Yeah, well, I know that."
"Then there's Margaret and CJ of course, Ed and Larry - their always together-"
"What?"
"Nicole, Tina, Alec-"
"Alec? The Secret Service Agent?"
"Yeah."
"Alec the six foot four, one hundred ninety pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes, kill you as soon as look at you Secret Service guy?"
"Yeah."
"I thought the agents were not supposed to get involved with us," Josh said.
"They're not supposed to get involved with their protectees. I'm not his protectee, Josh. Although what I wouldn't give to be in need of some of his protection..." she grinned dreamily.
"Donna!"
"Sorry I can't believe I said that out loud," she giggled.
"God, is there anyone you don't have lunch with?" He was fully aware that she hadn't mentioned her lunch with Amanda Davis and it made Josh more than uneasy. Did she really have something to hide or was it a mere oversight?
"I guess I'm popular."
"I guess you are, " he concurred.
"Oh and of course there's you. Occasionally we have lunch together, if that's what you want to call it, they're more like non-lunches, because it does involve eating but there isn't a pause in working or a break in any kind of way as it is usually a working lunch an eat-as-you-file-type-or-organise lunch."
Josh didn't know what to say, he was guilty of making her work through lunch but then all of the assistants to the senior staffers had had to do the same more often than not.
He sighed again which caused Donna to look at him. He knew he was doing a lousy job. So far his 'casual conversation' method of interrogation had gleaned little information other than the fact that she had lunch with Sam more often than Josh liked. Oh, and the fact that she hadn't mentioned Amanda Davis as one of her 'usual' lunch dates. But still without direct questioning he'd never really know if that was a mere oversight or not.
He sighed again, suspicious even for him.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing. Is... is that a new suit?" he asked deflecting the conversation.
"Yeah."
"And you have new shoes that you wore yesterday and a new bag. I must be paying you too much."
"That'll be the day."
Okay new clothing and accessories it could add up to a sudden increase in wealth. A windfall - or a pay off his mind supplied.
Oh god. This was driving him crazy. He needed to ask her and he needed to ask her straight, if only to get this dirty business over and done with and not to prolong his fears and anxiety.
"Look Donna, we really need to have a talk," he said.
"Funny that's what I thought we were doing."
"No. A serious talk."
"Okay," she said, suddenly sobered by the tone in his voice.
"I want you to clear a spot for this afternoon."
"You want me to clear a spot?" she asked a little bewildered.
"Yeah."
"So we can talk?"
"Yeah."
"Why?" she eyed him suspiciously.
"So we don't get interrupted."
"You don't want us to be interrupted?"
"Donna, that's what I just said."
"Am I up for review, because you could have given me some warning, Josh. I might have even brought you coffee."
"No. It's not time for your review."
"It's not time for a review, but you want me to clear a spot for this afternoon so we can 'talk'." She squinted at him.
"Yeah."
"Well, why can't we talk right now?"
"Because I have a meeting with CJ and when we do have a talk I don't want us to be interrupted."
"Can you give me a clue as to what's this all about?" she asked hopefully.
"Donna!" he yelled, and she knew from his tone that he wasn't going to give her a heads up in any way.
"Okay, okay. I'll clear a spot. But I'll spend the better part of the day wondering just what's going on. Don't expect me to be too productive."
"When do I ever?" he grinned.
"You are a cruel man, Joshua Lyman," she quipped.
But Josh couldn't answer her. Because he knew that's exactly what he will be feeling like in a few hours time. Cruel. To ask her the questions that he needed to ask her, there was no other word for what he was going to be other than cruel.
Despite this all being bullshit. Utter, total Bullshit.
end part 2
Rhasa4@yahoo
I'd love to hear from you.
True Lies Part 2
by Rhasa
Josh's head was reeling. He didn't believe it. He didn't believe a word of it. Bruno didn't know Donna. If he had have known her he would have known that there was no way in hell she could do what he suspected her of doing. Someone had leaked information there was no doubt about that. And part of that was Bruno's responsibility. He was just looking for someone to blame. A scapegoat. A patsy. A fall guy. The whole investigation was a witch hunt. And it looked like they had Donna pegged for head witch.
The 'evidence' if they wanted to call it that was circumstantial at best.
Someone leaked information to Blake's office.
Donna was one of only six people to have access to that information. All of the others had denied releasing any information whatsoever.
Donna was seen having lunch, and passing an envelope to Amanda Davis, secretary to Blake.
There was a little matter of a ten thousand dollar deposit into Donna's bank account. How Bruno got that particular piece of information, Josh was determined to find out.
Logged telephone calls showed no less than seven calls were made from Blake's office to Donna's line.
Leo had assured Josh that they were just suspicions for now. But there was an investigation and Donna would have to answer for her actions.
But to Josh it was all bullshit. Utter, total bullshit and he was going to treat it that way. He had begged Leo that he be the one to ask Donna about the allegations, but he wasn't about to haul her into his office and interrogate her "Bruno" style. No. He would do it the Josh Lyman way. And everything would be cleared up. Everything would be all right. He'd make casual observations and slip his questions into an everyday conversation. And Donna would answer them. And everything would be all right.
Everything would be all right. He'd keep telling himself that and eventually he would have to believe it.
Everything would be all right because this was Donna and this was bullshit, utter total bullshit.
"Hey, Donna," Josh sighed as he re entered the bullpen.
"Josh, where have you been? I have sixteen messages here for you and you missed you're ten o'clock at the OEOB."
"Sorry," he shrugged. "I got held up."
"In that unscheduled meeting you had?"
Josh winced internally. He hated keeping things from her that would ultimately affect her but he couldn't let her know what was going on just yet.
"Yeah," he said softly,
"Well you could've told me. I would have bumped the OEOB. It would have been a damn bit easier than having to apologise profusely to Dee over your unexpected no-show."
"Dee?" he asked as his eyebrow rose.
"Yeah Dee Hooper. See it's all very simple, this is how it works. My boss misses her boss's meeting, so her boss yells at her to yell at me so I can yell at my boss, which is usually when my boss yells at me for allowing him to miss the meeting and I have to apologise over and over again to her and her boss for my boss."
"Yeah, it is all very simple," he let a small sad smile cross his face. If only he could get rid of the nausea that suddenly seemed to have formed in his stomach.
"And so is a short message to me, your assistant, to kindly say, 'Sorry Donna, but this unexpected, unscheduled mystery meeting is taking much longer than I thought it would. Would you be so kind as to bump everything on my schedule by half an hour? Thank you.'"
"Yeah. Look, as I said, I'm sorry," his genuine apology made Donna feel a tad bit guilty.
"Oh never mind. These things happen. We'll probably laugh about the whole thing over lunch."
"We will?" Josh asked confused, thinking he couldn't recall arranging to have lunch with Donna today.
"Me and Dee," she threw over her shoulder casually as she moved from her desk to the nearby filing cabinets.
"What?"
"We're having lunch today."
"You've been having lunch outside of the office quite a bit lately," he said, internally admonishing himself for suddenly being suspicious.
"So?"
"Nothing."
"It's what normal people do, Josh. It's called a 'lunch break'. It implies having a break away from work, breaking for lunch, hence the out of the office part. It gives me a chance to recharge my batteries and catch up with others."
"Catch up with others?"
"Yeah. Don't tell me you need me to explain that concept to you as well."
"No. I am fully aware of the concept of catching up with others. So who are these others that you are catching up with?"
"Excuse me?"
"Who do you have lunch with?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"I'm just curious," he shrugged. God he was bad at this.
"Are you fishing here or something?" she cautiously grinned.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Is this a bizarre 'Josh way' of asking me if I am seeing someone? Are you jealous?"
"God NO! You've got it all wrong. I was just curious that's all." Josh realised this surreptitious way of asking Donna questions wasn't really going to clarify anything. He now knew it was wrong to try it this way. He'd have to ask her directly, something which he dreaded doing.
"Oh, okay. Well then, let's see. I have lunch with all sorts of people. Dee's today of course, but it's usually Carol or Bonnie, Ginger, Kathy, Nancy a few times, Sam half a dozen-"
"You have lunch with Sam?" There went the eyebrow again.
"Yeah, on occasion."
"When? What occasion?"
"Usually when you're not around."
"What do you mean when I'm not around?"
"Geez, Josh, relax. There have been about half a dozen times when Sam has come looking for you, only to find that you are not here and we've ended up having lunch together. It's all very innocent."
"Yeah, well, I know that."
"Then there's Margaret and CJ of course, Ed and Larry - their always together-"
"What?"
"Nicole, Tina, Alec-"
"Alec? The Secret Service Agent?"
"Yeah."
"Alec the six foot four, one hundred ninety pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes, kill you as soon as look at you Secret Service guy?"
"Yeah."
"I thought the agents were not supposed to get involved with us," Josh said.
"They're not supposed to get involved with their protectees. I'm not his protectee, Josh. Although what I wouldn't give to be in need of some of his protection..." she grinned dreamily.
"Donna!"
"Sorry I can't believe I said that out loud," she giggled.
"God, is there anyone you don't have lunch with?" He was fully aware that she hadn't mentioned her lunch with Amanda Davis and it made Josh more than uneasy. Did she really have something to hide or was it a mere oversight?
"I guess I'm popular."
"I guess you are, " he concurred.
"Oh and of course there's you. Occasionally we have lunch together, if that's what you want to call it, they're more like non-lunches, because it does involve eating but there isn't a pause in working or a break in any kind of way as it is usually a working lunch an eat-as-you-file-type-or-organise lunch."
Josh didn't know what to say, he was guilty of making her work through lunch but then all of the assistants to the senior staffers had had to do the same more often than not.
He sighed again which caused Donna to look at him. He knew he was doing a lousy job. So far his 'casual conversation' method of interrogation had gleaned little information other than the fact that she had lunch with Sam more often than Josh liked. Oh, and the fact that she hadn't mentioned Amanda Davis as one of her 'usual' lunch dates. But still without direct questioning he'd never really know if that was a mere oversight or not.
He sighed again, suspicious even for him.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing. Is... is that a new suit?" he asked deflecting the conversation.
"Yeah."
"And you have new shoes that you wore yesterday and a new bag. I must be paying you too much."
"That'll be the day."
Okay new clothing and accessories it could add up to a sudden increase in wealth. A windfall - or a pay off his mind supplied.
Oh god. This was driving him crazy. He needed to ask her and he needed to ask her straight, if only to get this dirty business over and done with and not to prolong his fears and anxiety.
"Look Donna, we really need to have a talk," he said.
"Funny that's what I thought we were doing."
"No. A serious talk."
"Okay," she said, suddenly sobered by the tone in his voice.
"I want you to clear a spot for this afternoon."
"You want me to clear a spot?" she asked a little bewildered.
"Yeah."
"So we can talk?"
"Yeah."
"Why?" she eyed him suspiciously.
"So we don't get interrupted."
"You don't want us to be interrupted?"
"Donna, that's what I just said."
"Am I up for review, because you could have given me some warning, Josh. I might have even brought you coffee."
"No. It's not time for your review."
"It's not time for a review, but you want me to clear a spot for this afternoon so we can 'talk'." She squinted at him.
"Yeah."
"Well, why can't we talk right now?"
"Because I have a meeting with CJ and when we do have a talk I don't want us to be interrupted."
"Can you give me a clue as to what's this all about?" she asked hopefully.
"Donna!" he yelled, and she knew from his tone that he wasn't going to give her a heads up in any way.
"Okay, okay. I'll clear a spot. But I'll spend the better part of the day wondering just what's going on. Don't expect me to be too productive."
"When do I ever?" he grinned.
"You are a cruel man, Joshua Lyman," she quipped.
But Josh couldn't answer her. Because he knew that's exactly what he will be feeling like in a few hours time. Cruel. To ask her the questions that he needed to ask her, there was no other word for what he was going to be other than cruel.
Despite this all being bullshit. Utter, total Bullshit.
end part 2
Rhasa4@yahoo
I'd love to hear from you.