Author: Jo-Anne Storm
Title: To Court a Lady
Rating: PG-13 for a few choice words
Disclaimer: The West Wing and all its characters are a property of Aaron Sorkin, John Wells Production, Warner Brothers Television and NBC. No copyright infringement is intended.
Spoilers: Up through Season 4.
Summery: After a blow-up, Josh gets permission to date Donna.
Notes: I should point out here that in spite of this section of the story, I really did like Jack. This is just something that popped into my head at some point during the last season. I'm not really sure why.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The last three weeks had been a mixture of both Heaven and Hell for Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman. Not only was the West Wing recovering from the fallout of the kidnapping of Zoey Bartlet and President Bartlet's subsequent decision to temporarily resign his power, but also from the announcement that the kidnapping was retribution for the earlier assassination of a high ranking Qumari diplomat and terrorist. Adding to the burden of the press frenzy that the announcement had instigated was the President's appointee to the position of Vice President, an appointee that had almost no chance of being confirmed by Congress but that Josh was determined to have in office.
The struggle to get Leo McGarry to accept the nomination was Hell in and of itself. An admitted alcoholic and drug addict, Leo was perfectly happy serving at the pleasure of the president as White House Chief of Staff. He was doing what he believed in and was supporting his best friend at the same time.
Josh, however, saw it as a golden opportunity to improve the quality of their government. He didn't want to go back to the constant power struggle that had been in effect for the last five years of the Bartlet administration. Vice President Hoynes had toed the party line in public and fought for every scrap of power in private.
Still, Hoynes was a good man, a good politician. Josh hadn't wanted the man to resign despite the scandal that his remaining in office would have caused. He still held a certain amount of loyalty to his former employer. He was just more loyal to the President.
Leo had finally accepted the nomination though, much to the staff's relief. Even now he was in the Senate Committee Hearings, answering questions about every grade he had ever received in college or every mission he had ever flown for the Air Force. The combined Senior Staff and banded together to insure that he would be approved, and if it took a miracle, then that's what Josh would pull off.
Now though, with Leo tied up in the hearings, he was staffing the president. Which, much to his dismay, meant he had to review the situations in both Qumar and Kundu. That was why he was in the Situation Room at an ungodly hour reading reports that were months old.
If his professional life was Hell, his personal life was definitely Heaven on Earth. Following the advice of his mentor, friend, and hopefully the next Vice President, Josh had begun to date Donna Moss. They had had five dates over the past three weeks and Josh was rather pleased with the progress. The fact that they had found the time to date at all was a minor miracle considering the level of stress that was in evidence around the office.
His assistant, who had managed to last for five plus years, a new record, had done a bang-up job at scheduling a few hours a week for him to have a personal life. She had a vested interest in the subject after all, considering that she was his girlfriend.
"Eat dinner with me tonight?" he had said the first time he had asked her out. The inflection of his voice made the statement a question.
"So we can go over the thing?" she said, not looking up from her computer. "Sure. Which take out place do you want?"
"I was thinking Luigi's."
"They say that the mind is the first thing to go, you know. You're showing your age, I think. Luigi's doesn't deliver."
He shifted nervously from foot to foot. It was obvious that she thought he was demanding that they share a working dinner, as they often did. He knew he was no good with relationships. Hell, everyone knew he was no good with relationships, but surely he wasn't wrong about Donna's feelings for him.
"I wasn't suggesting take out."
"Well, we can't take work to Luigi's, Josh. There's not enough room at those tables to spread out. Besides, Luigi's is more of a date place than a work place."
"Yeah, I noticed that."
She finally looked up from her work and frowned at him. "So you actually want to take time out of your busy schedule to eat a decent dinner? Josh, the president just resumed office yesterday. I'm shocked that you are even acknowledging the need for food and sleep."
"Well, I am," he muttered.
"OK. So, we'll go down to the mess for dinner. Or, if you just want to get out of the building, we'll pop over to that café you like. Luigi's is too nice for a working dinner."
"Which is exactly why I want to go to Luigi's."
The frown returned to her face. "I. I. Josh?"
"I'm not demanding that you work through dinner tonight. I'm asking you to go to dinner. With me. At Luigi's."
"Josh. I."
"See, the thing. You know, don't you?"
"I know?" she whispered.
"That I'm not good at this. That I'm a power dater. I'm hit and run."
"Yeah, I know that."
"But. I don't want to power date you."
Her face scrunched up a bit in disappointment. "You."
"I want to court you. Silly word, I know. But it's appropriate, I think. I want to have something more than a thing." He glanced down at the floor, disconcerted by trying to talk about the feelings that were a knot in his chest.
"So. Have dinner with me tonight? At Luigi's, or any other restaurant you like. No work. Just you and me."
He was almost afraid to look back up at her and so glanced at her through his lashes. She was standing stock still, her mouth gaping open.
"Donna?"
Wordlessly she turned and reached for the phone. He felt a flash of panic that she was calling whomever it was that women called when they started sexual harassment proceedings. He held his breath as she punched in a number, only breathing again when he heard the words that would possibly change his life.
"Yes, I'd like to make reservations for two tonight. Eight o'clock is fine. Joshua Lyman."
After she had hung up and carefully made a notation in her planner, he gave her a shaky smile and retreated into his office.
That night, once they had gotten past the nerves inherent in a first date, they had remembered that they were Josh and Donna. The same Donna who had taken over his life in New Hampshire. The same Josh who bellowed for coffee without ever expecting it to appear. The Josh and Donna who worked as if they were equal parts of a whole.
"So, I never did ask you," he had asked during desert. "Why did you assign yourself to me?"
She had laughed a little ruefully. "Hotel. The old TV show with Connie Seleca and James Brolin. In the first episode she hires herself to be his assistant or something like that. I thought it had panache."
"So, you just chose an office at random and started working? You could have ended up working for Toby?"
"Yes. Well, no." She frowned slightly as she played with her slice of French Silk Pie. "I chose your cubicle because of your name."
"My name?" he pressed when she seemed reluctant to continue.
"You have to remember where I was in that point in my life, Josh. I had just broken up with-"
"Dr. Freeride, yes."
"And I really wasn't looking for any type of relationship."
"My name?"
"Dr. Freeride's name is Josh," she said in a rush.
Josh quickly swallowed the mouthful of water he had taken while she talked. "So, let me get this straight: you chose me to latch onto because of Dr. Joshua Freeride?"
"It was meant to be cleansing," she defended herself. "I thought, if I could stand up to you, not let you push me around, then if the time ever came, I could do the same with him."
"You used me as a substitute?" he squeaked.
"Wow, your voice got really high right then."
"Donnatella!"
"I never said it worked. Pretty much the opposite, in fact."
"What?"
"So, anyway, I refused to let you order me around-"
"You're job is to let me order you around," he pointed out.
"Well, yes. But I didn't let you manipulate me the way he always did. I refused to bring you coffee or let you push me around. I always called you on it if you forgot how valuable I actually am to you."
"You did," he acknowledged with a fond smile. "So, I'm trying to wrap my mind around this. You're the person I know today because of a TV show and the coincidence that Dr. Freeride and I share the same name?"
"Yeah."
"We don't share any other characteristics, do we? Because, I gotta say, if we do, I'm going to change them right away."
She laughed. "No. Beyond the name, the two of you couldn't be more different."
He gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Thank God." He took a bite of his apple pie before asking his next question. "So, why did you leave me?"
"Huh?"
"During the campaign. You left me to go back to Josh Freeride."
"His last name is Haute."
Josh paused for a moment to take in this information. "Joshua Haute. Ya know, I'm just going to leave that one alone."
"Please do."
"Why'd you go back to him?"
"I thought he was the love of my life," she confessed, her face slightly red.
"You don't still think that, do you?"
She could tell he was worried about her answer just from the sound of his voice. A quick glance at his face confirmed her assessment.
"No."
"Good. Because then I'd have to have him audited or something."
"Josh! You can't go throwing your weight around like that!"
"Why not? I'm the third most powerful man in the country. If I can't use my aw-inspiring power for good, what use am I?"
"'With great power comes great responsibility,'" she chided him with a smile.
"And my responsibility is to take care of you."
That night he had left her at her door with a kiss on the cheek. As he had stood beneath her window, waiting for the light to come on, he had thought fondly back to the night of the Inauguration and the snowballs he had lobbed at her window in order to get her attention. He had thought it was a grand romantic gesture. She had thought it was silly that he didn't just use his ever-present cell phone to call her.
The morning after their first date was a bit awkward. Neither knew exactly how to balance their personal and professional lives. Josh had dashed around, politely asking for files and reports. Donna had silently handed each folder to him before beating a hasty retreat back to her desk.
The break in the tension finally came after lunch, when a stressed and frazzled Josh couldn't find a report on media censorship he was supposed to be reviewing. He instinctively yelled for his ever-efficient assistant.
"Donna!"
"It's in your backpack," she yelled back.
"Donna! I need the-"
"It's in your backpack," she reiterated as she appeared in his doorway.
"The censorsh-"
Giving an exasperated sigh, she crossed to his beloved backpack and produced the file he needed. "You have exactly half an hour before you have to leave for the Hill. You meeting with Skinner has been moved to tomorrow."
As easy as that, one bellow for a file, and they were back on track.
Their second date went as well as their first. This time they attended an embassy ball. It was work for him, since he still had to smooze the politicians scattered about the room, but he never once asked Donna to do anything related to work. He once caught her reaching for her ever-present planner when one congresswoman requested a meeting, only to look at him in shock when he grasped her hand and informed the congresswoman that she would have to call his office in the morning to set up an appointment. He even admonished her not to call before seven because he had given his assistant the night off and fully expected her to enjoy the evening.
After that he pulled her onto the dance floor and waltzed her around the room. They danced the same way they worked, in perfect harmony. He left her that night with another kiss on the cheek and a quiet thank you for being her.
He shook himself out of his memories, content that although they had not progressed past chaste kisses that their relationship was going well. For their third date they picnicked in the Mall. By some miracle, she managed to get him to sit still long enough to watch a movie in an actual theater for their fourth outing. Their fifth date, which had only been the night before, had been another political function. Afterwards they walked through the Arboretum hand in hand. She had teased him about his dislike of the outdoors and he had told her about Charlie and Zoey's grand romantic gesture of sharing a bottle of wine together.
With a sigh, he returned to the reports in font of him. Nancy McNally had had one of her aids weed out all the reports that were too out of date for them to be important. Never-the-less, it was still quite an impressive pile.
Abruptly, he realized that he had read half of the three page report without actually raking any of it in. He decided that it was a good time for a break and made his way to the coffee pot. The coffee, of course, was cold and bitter. He dumped it out after his first swallow and made a new pot. He briefly considered going home, or at least to a room with a couch, and catching a few hours of sleep, but dismissed the idea as a pipe dream. If he were lucky he would be able to catch a power nap when the president had a few peaceful moments. Tonight was blown as far as sleep went.
Fresh coffee in hand, he returned to his seat and once again opened up the report on the projected strength of the Kundu military. He was only half- way down the page when he suddenly sat up straight and relinquished his grip on his coffee mug.
Muttering an oath under his breath, he set the report to the side and rapidly skimmed through the reports waiting to be read, silently thanking his father for teaching him speed reading techniques when he announced his intention to study law. Within a few minutes he had sorted another two reports out of the pile, one on a terrorist training camp in Qumar and one on the weaponry another insurgence force was suspected to have.
"Lieutenant!" he called to the officer of duty, bringing the man running into the room.
"Sir?"
"What time is Dr. McNally supposed to get here?"
"Sir?"
"What time is Dr. McNally supposed to get here?" he repeated, his voice filled with barely suppressed fury.
"Six, sir."
A quick glance at his watch, then another at the clock on the wall to get the correct time, informed him of the fact that it was only three.
"Call her. Tell her I need to see her as soon as possible."
"Sir, should I call the other Joint Chiefs?"
"No, just McNally. Tell her to meet me in my office." With that, he grabbed up the three reports and stormed out of the Sit Room. Sleep was a distant thought.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Nancy arrived an hour later, amazingly looking as put together as she always did. "I was woken up from a very good dream," she told him as she strode through the door. "A dream, I might point out, that featured Keith Hamilton Cobb wearing very little. What is so important?"
"Sit down," Josh said, motioning to his visitor's chair. Once she had settled herself, he continued. "So, I was looking through these old reports tonight and found a few the just jumped out at me."
He handed her the reports he had brought with him and waited not-so- patiently while she skimmed through them.
"Yeah, they're reports. Not even particularly sensitive reports or ones that make a difference to the current situation."
"Do you happen to know who wrote them?"
"Joshua Lyman, if you drug me in here to talk about reports I swear I will beat you to within an inch of your life."
"Just bare with me," he soothed.
She looked skeptical but glanced at the reports once again. "Let's see. November to early January. I assume the reason you're so interested in these is because they have the same author. I'm going to hazard a guess and say Commander Jack Reese."
"That's what I thought you would say." Getting up he went to the file cabinet and extracted a few folders. Within were the notes that Donna had put together on various subjects. He picked folders at random, neither caring about the content of the report nor Donna's "distinctive" filing system.
"These are reports Donna has done for me over the years," he said, handing them over.
Nancy skimmed the first report silently, her brow furrowed in confusion. It was only when she was partway through the second one that she realized what he was trying to tell her.
"God, Josh. What clearance does Donna have?"
"Secret. Nancy, you have to promise me-"
"I can't, not yet. I have to see all the briefings he ever submitted first."
"Nancy-"
"I know, Josh. I know," she said as she stood and strode from the room, once again leaving him in silence.
She came back in his office at the stroke of six, her face a mask.
"I have good news." Josh looked up from the report he was skimming and her mask slipped into a look of sympathy at the wild look in his eye. "As far as I can tell, the highest report she saw was Secret. Which means that there's no grounds for treason or espionage. However, it also means that we can't pin either charge on him."
"What happens now?"
"Now, I take this to Leo and the president. Reese will be quietly reassigned to a dead-end assignment or asked for his resignation. What happens to Donna will depend on them."
He nodded resignedly and led her to Leo's office. While it was still at least an hour before the rest of the staff would start to appear, Josh knew that Leo would be in his office, dealing with issues that might have come up while he was being interrogated by Congress.
"Come," he called when Josh rapped on his closed door. He looked up from the report he had been reading and took in the expressions of his two visitors.
"Oh, God. What's going on now?"
"Josh was going through old reports," Nancy explained. "And came across something disturbing."
"Old reports? Kundu and Qumar? Did you find a connect between them or something?"
"Worse," Josh muttered, running an agitated hand through his hair. "You remember Jack Reese?"
"Yeah, the guy Donna dated for awhile."
"We have evidence that he had Donna write several of the briefs he presented," Nancy said.
"April Fool's Day has already passed, Josh," Leo stated before fully taking in their expressions. "You're not kidding, are you? How bad is it?"
"It could be worse. As I explained to Josh, Donna didn't see any documents that were marked higher than her clearance. She could still face an inquisition."
"And Reese?"
"Conduct unbecoming. He gets filed away in some backwoods base and is never heard from again."
"He doesn't get discharged?"
"Too many connections," she explains. "As soon as he realizes his career is over, he'll probably quietly resign."
"Josh?"
Josh made a frustrated sound. "I can't believe she knew anything about this, Leo. I don't know why she would have written them, but I just can't think that she purposely let him pass her work off as his own. Donna takes too much pride in herself, in her work."
"Nancy?"
"I just don't know, Leo. It's not a decision I feel I can make. Technically, she did nothing wrong, except for being a bit naïve."
"Which she seems to make a habit of. Get her in here first thing, Josh."
"She'll be in in about an hour. I'll be at her desk waiting for her."
"Good. After I talk to her, we'll decide what to do."
"Leo," Nancy cautioned. "Are you sure you're the one who should be making this decision? Reese's commanding officer should have a say in this."
"He will. I just want to talk to Donna before taking this to the president."
Both left the room quietly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Josh was indeed waiting for Donna as she got to her desk, an occurrence which prompted a smile from her.
"Hey. What are you doing here so early?"
"We have to go see Leo," he said shortly.
"Josh?"
"I can't talk about, Donna. We have to go see Leo."
She gave him a worried look but deposited her purse in her desk drawer and followed him to Leo's office. She shifted nervously as they waited for his command to enter and became even more uncomfortable in the silence that followed.
"Sit down, Donna," the older man ordered her as he came from behind his desk and sat in the chair opposite from the one she chose. Josh settled onto the sofa and tried to give her a reassuring look. The most probable reason it failed was because he felt anything but reassured.
"Donna, I need to talk to you about Jack Reese."
"Jack? Did something happen?"
"No. When he was stationed here, did he ever ask you to help him with any reports?"
"Yeah," she said cautiously. "He was trying to get caught up with the situation in the Middle East so I briefed some of the older reports for him."
"What do you mean you briefed the reports?"
"I summarized them. The same way that I do reports for Josh. I've briefed reports for most of the Senior Staff, actually."
"Do you remember what the reports were about?"
She frowned thoughtfully and glanced at Josh once more for reassurance. "I remember one I did for him. He had asked me to teach him to do it the way I did, because he found the ones I did for him so helpful. He gave me a fake report, a terrorist camp in the Amazon and I showed him how I summarized it."
"Any others?"
"Something about guns and another on Kundu. Leo, what's going on?"
Leo looked at Josh, silently giving him his permission to tell Donna.
"Donna, Jack took your reports and presented them as his own."
"Wha-? You mean?"
"He basically plagiarized your work. That report about Amazon terrorists? It was a report about a terrorist camp in Qumar."
"But. What does that mean?" she asked, looking once again at Leo.
"The good news is he didn't show you anything above your security level. Because of that, I doubt we'll pursue it. If we did, you'd be released from White House employ."
"Oh God."
"Either way, Reese's career is over."
"When?"
"I'm heading over to talk to the president right now. He'll have the final say. I would send you home, but we need you around too much."
"No, it's good," she said, wiping away the tears of fright. "I-I need to keep busy. I'd go crazy at home."
"Alright. I'll talk to you as soon as I know anything."
Josh and Donna left the Chief of Staff's office and hurried to his. Donna stopped at her desk and tried to pretend that she wasn't upset. Josh, knowing her well enough to see that she was about to fall apart, broke their unspoken rule to leave their personal lives at the gate and pulled her into his office. Once there, he tugged her into his arms and held her as sobs shook her thin shoulders.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"What do you think?" President Bartlet asked Leo after he had explained the problem.
Leo sighed. "I think Donna's a good girl who has bad taste in men."
"She's dating Josh now, right?"
"My point exactly, sir," he said as they shared a smile. "If she leaves, Josh will go with her, I can almost guarantee it. I have too much on my plate to be looking for a new deputy."
"Especially since you'll be too busy with your duties as new Vice President." Leo scowled at him but Jed swept on. "And the Commander?"
"Desk job in Timbuktu."
"He'll quietly resign?"
"Should."
"Good. What's next?"
Title: To Court a Lady
Rating: PG-13 for a few choice words
Disclaimer: The West Wing and all its characters are a property of Aaron Sorkin, John Wells Production, Warner Brothers Television and NBC. No copyright infringement is intended.
Spoilers: Up through Season 4.
Summery: After a blow-up, Josh gets permission to date Donna.
Notes: I should point out here that in spite of this section of the story, I really did like Jack. This is just something that popped into my head at some point during the last season. I'm not really sure why.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The last three weeks had been a mixture of both Heaven and Hell for Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman. Not only was the West Wing recovering from the fallout of the kidnapping of Zoey Bartlet and President Bartlet's subsequent decision to temporarily resign his power, but also from the announcement that the kidnapping was retribution for the earlier assassination of a high ranking Qumari diplomat and terrorist. Adding to the burden of the press frenzy that the announcement had instigated was the President's appointee to the position of Vice President, an appointee that had almost no chance of being confirmed by Congress but that Josh was determined to have in office.
The struggle to get Leo McGarry to accept the nomination was Hell in and of itself. An admitted alcoholic and drug addict, Leo was perfectly happy serving at the pleasure of the president as White House Chief of Staff. He was doing what he believed in and was supporting his best friend at the same time.
Josh, however, saw it as a golden opportunity to improve the quality of their government. He didn't want to go back to the constant power struggle that had been in effect for the last five years of the Bartlet administration. Vice President Hoynes had toed the party line in public and fought for every scrap of power in private.
Still, Hoynes was a good man, a good politician. Josh hadn't wanted the man to resign despite the scandal that his remaining in office would have caused. He still held a certain amount of loyalty to his former employer. He was just more loyal to the President.
Leo had finally accepted the nomination though, much to the staff's relief. Even now he was in the Senate Committee Hearings, answering questions about every grade he had ever received in college or every mission he had ever flown for the Air Force. The combined Senior Staff and banded together to insure that he would be approved, and if it took a miracle, then that's what Josh would pull off.
Now though, with Leo tied up in the hearings, he was staffing the president. Which, much to his dismay, meant he had to review the situations in both Qumar and Kundu. That was why he was in the Situation Room at an ungodly hour reading reports that were months old.
If his professional life was Hell, his personal life was definitely Heaven on Earth. Following the advice of his mentor, friend, and hopefully the next Vice President, Josh had begun to date Donna Moss. They had had five dates over the past three weeks and Josh was rather pleased with the progress. The fact that they had found the time to date at all was a minor miracle considering the level of stress that was in evidence around the office.
His assistant, who had managed to last for five plus years, a new record, had done a bang-up job at scheduling a few hours a week for him to have a personal life. She had a vested interest in the subject after all, considering that she was his girlfriend.
"Eat dinner with me tonight?" he had said the first time he had asked her out. The inflection of his voice made the statement a question.
"So we can go over the thing?" she said, not looking up from her computer. "Sure. Which take out place do you want?"
"I was thinking Luigi's."
"They say that the mind is the first thing to go, you know. You're showing your age, I think. Luigi's doesn't deliver."
He shifted nervously from foot to foot. It was obvious that she thought he was demanding that they share a working dinner, as they often did. He knew he was no good with relationships. Hell, everyone knew he was no good with relationships, but surely he wasn't wrong about Donna's feelings for him.
"I wasn't suggesting take out."
"Well, we can't take work to Luigi's, Josh. There's not enough room at those tables to spread out. Besides, Luigi's is more of a date place than a work place."
"Yeah, I noticed that."
She finally looked up from her work and frowned at him. "So you actually want to take time out of your busy schedule to eat a decent dinner? Josh, the president just resumed office yesterday. I'm shocked that you are even acknowledging the need for food and sleep."
"Well, I am," he muttered.
"OK. So, we'll go down to the mess for dinner. Or, if you just want to get out of the building, we'll pop over to that café you like. Luigi's is too nice for a working dinner."
"Which is exactly why I want to go to Luigi's."
The frown returned to her face. "I. I. Josh?"
"I'm not demanding that you work through dinner tonight. I'm asking you to go to dinner. With me. At Luigi's."
"Josh. I."
"See, the thing. You know, don't you?"
"I know?" she whispered.
"That I'm not good at this. That I'm a power dater. I'm hit and run."
"Yeah, I know that."
"But. I don't want to power date you."
Her face scrunched up a bit in disappointment. "You."
"I want to court you. Silly word, I know. But it's appropriate, I think. I want to have something more than a thing." He glanced down at the floor, disconcerted by trying to talk about the feelings that were a knot in his chest.
"So. Have dinner with me tonight? At Luigi's, or any other restaurant you like. No work. Just you and me."
He was almost afraid to look back up at her and so glanced at her through his lashes. She was standing stock still, her mouth gaping open.
"Donna?"
Wordlessly she turned and reached for the phone. He felt a flash of panic that she was calling whomever it was that women called when they started sexual harassment proceedings. He held his breath as she punched in a number, only breathing again when he heard the words that would possibly change his life.
"Yes, I'd like to make reservations for two tonight. Eight o'clock is fine. Joshua Lyman."
After she had hung up and carefully made a notation in her planner, he gave her a shaky smile and retreated into his office.
That night, once they had gotten past the nerves inherent in a first date, they had remembered that they were Josh and Donna. The same Donna who had taken over his life in New Hampshire. The same Josh who bellowed for coffee without ever expecting it to appear. The Josh and Donna who worked as if they were equal parts of a whole.
"So, I never did ask you," he had asked during desert. "Why did you assign yourself to me?"
She had laughed a little ruefully. "Hotel. The old TV show with Connie Seleca and James Brolin. In the first episode she hires herself to be his assistant or something like that. I thought it had panache."
"So, you just chose an office at random and started working? You could have ended up working for Toby?"
"Yes. Well, no." She frowned slightly as she played with her slice of French Silk Pie. "I chose your cubicle because of your name."
"My name?" he pressed when she seemed reluctant to continue.
"You have to remember where I was in that point in my life, Josh. I had just broken up with-"
"Dr. Freeride, yes."
"And I really wasn't looking for any type of relationship."
"My name?"
"Dr. Freeride's name is Josh," she said in a rush.
Josh quickly swallowed the mouthful of water he had taken while she talked. "So, let me get this straight: you chose me to latch onto because of Dr. Joshua Freeride?"
"It was meant to be cleansing," she defended herself. "I thought, if I could stand up to you, not let you push me around, then if the time ever came, I could do the same with him."
"You used me as a substitute?" he squeaked.
"Wow, your voice got really high right then."
"Donnatella!"
"I never said it worked. Pretty much the opposite, in fact."
"What?"
"So, anyway, I refused to let you order me around-"
"You're job is to let me order you around," he pointed out.
"Well, yes. But I didn't let you manipulate me the way he always did. I refused to bring you coffee or let you push me around. I always called you on it if you forgot how valuable I actually am to you."
"You did," he acknowledged with a fond smile. "So, I'm trying to wrap my mind around this. You're the person I know today because of a TV show and the coincidence that Dr. Freeride and I share the same name?"
"Yeah."
"We don't share any other characteristics, do we? Because, I gotta say, if we do, I'm going to change them right away."
She laughed. "No. Beyond the name, the two of you couldn't be more different."
He gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Thank God." He took a bite of his apple pie before asking his next question. "So, why did you leave me?"
"Huh?"
"During the campaign. You left me to go back to Josh Freeride."
"His last name is Haute."
Josh paused for a moment to take in this information. "Joshua Haute. Ya know, I'm just going to leave that one alone."
"Please do."
"Why'd you go back to him?"
"I thought he was the love of my life," she confessed, her face slightly red.
"You don't still think that, do you?"
She could tell he was worried about her answer just from the sound of his voice. A quick glance at his face confirmed her assessment.
"No."
"Good. Because then I'd have to have him audited or something."
"Josh! You can't go throwing your weight around like that!"
"Why not? I'm the third most powerful man in the country. If I can't use my aw-inspiring power for good, what use am I?"
"'With great power comes great responsibility,'" she chided him with a smile.
"And my responsibility is to take care of you."
That night he had left her at her door with a kiss on the cheek. As he had stood beneath her window, waiting for the light to come on, he had thought fondly back to the night of the Inauguration and the snowballs he had lobbed at her window in order to get her attention. He had thought it was a grand romantic gesture. She had thought it was silly that he didn't just use his ever-present cell phone to call her.
The morning after their first date was a bit awkward. Neither knew exactly how to balance their personal and professional lives. Josh had dashed around, politely asking for files and reports. Donna had silently handed each folder to him before beating a hasty retreat back to her desk.
The break in the tension finally came after lunch, when a stressed and frazzled Josh couldn't find a report on media censorship he was supposed to be reviewing. He instinctively yelled for his ever-efficient assistant.
"Donna!"
"It's in your backpack," she yelled back.
"Donna! I need the-"
"It's in your backpack," she reiterated as she appeared in his doorway.
"The censorsh-"
Giving an exasperated sigh, she crossed to his beloved backpack and produced the file he needed. "You have exactly half an hour before you have to leave for the Hill. You meeting with Skinner has been moved to tomorrow."
As easy as that, one bellow for a file, and they were back on track.
Their second date went as well as their first. This time they attended an embassy ball. It was work for him, since he still had to smooze the politicians scattered about the room, but he never once asked Donna to do anything related to work. He once caught her reaching for her ever-present planner when one congresswoman requested a meeting, only to look at him in shock when he grasped her hand and informed the congresswoman that she would have to call his office in the morning to set up an appointment. He even admonished her not to call before seven because he had given his assistant the night off and fully expected her to enjoy the evening.
After that he pulled her onto the dance floor and waltzed her around the room. They danced the same way they worked, in perfect harmony. He left her that night with another kiss on the cheek and a quiet thank you for being her.
He shook himself out of his memories, content that although they had not progressed past chaste kisses that their relationship was going well. For their third date they picnicked in the Mall. By some miracle, she managed to get him to sit still long enough to watch a movie in an actual theater for their fourth outing. Their fifth date, which had only been the night before, had been another political function. Afterwards they walked through the Arboretum hand in hand. She had teased him about his dislike of the outdoors and he had told her about Charlie and Zoey's grand romantic gesture of sharing a bottle of wine together.
With a sigh, he returned to the reports in font of him. Nancy McNally had had one of her aids weed out all the reports that were too out of date for them to be important. Never-the-less, it was still quite an impressive pile.
Abruptly, he realized that he had read half of the three page report without actually raking any of it in. He decided that it was a good time for a break and made his way to the coffee pot. The coffee, of course, was cold and bitter. He dumped it out after his first swallow and made a new pot. He briefly considered going home, or at least to a room with a couch, and catching a few hours of sleep, but dismissed the idea as a pipe dream. If he were lucky he would be able to catch a power nap when the president had a few peaceful moments. Tonight was blown as far as sleep went.
Fresh coffee in hand, he returned to his seat and once again opened up the report on the projected strength of the Kundu military. He was only half- way down the page when he suddenly sat up straight and relinquished his grip on his coffee mug.
Muttering an oath under his breath, he set the report to the side and rapidly skimmed through the reports waiting to be read, silently thanking his father for teaching him speed reading techniques when he announced his intention to study law. Within a few minutes he had sorted another two reports out of the pile, one on a terrorist training camp in Qumar and one on the weaponry another insurgence force was suspected to have.
"Lieutenant!" he called to the officer of duty, bringing the man running into the room.
"Sir?"
"What time is Dr. McNally supposed to get here?"
"Sir?"
"What time is Dr. McNally supposed to get here?" he repeated, his voice filled with barely suppressed fury.
"Six, sir."
A quick glance at his watch, then another at the clock on the wall to get the correct time, informed him of the fact that it was only three.
"Call her. Tell her I need to see her as soon as possible."
"Sir, should I call the other Joint Chiefs?"
"No, just McNally. Tell her to meet me in my office." With that, he grabbed up the three reports and stormed out of the Sit Room. Sleep was a distant thought.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Nancy arrived an hour later, amazingly looking as put together as she always did. "I was woken up from a very good dream," she told him as she strode through the door. "A dream, I might point out, that featured Keith Hamilton Cobb wearing very little. What is so important?"
"Sit down," Josh said, motioning to his visitor's chair. Once she had settled herself, he continued. "So, I was looking through these old reports tonight and found a few the just jumped out at me."
He handed her the reports he had brought with him and waited not-so- patiently while she skimmed through them.
"Yeah, they're reports. Not even particularly sensitive reports or ones that make a difference to the current situation."
"Do you happen to know who wrote them?"
"Joshua Lyman, if you drug me in here to talk about reports I swear I will beat you to within an inch of your life."
"Just bare with me," he soothed.
She looked skeptical but glanced at the reports once again. "Let's see. November to early January. I assume the reason you're so interested in these is because they have the same author. I'm going to hazard a guess and say Commander Jack Reese."
"That's what I thought you would say." Getting up he went to the file cabinet and extracted a few folders. Within were the notes that Donna had put together on various subjects. He picked folders at random, neither caring about the content of the report nor Donna's "distinctive" filing system.
"These are reports Donna has done for me over the years," he said, handing them over.
Nancy skimmed the first report silently, her brow furrowed in confusion. It was only when she was partway through the second one that she realized what he was trying to tell her.
"God, Josh. What clearance does Donna have?"
"Secret. Nancy, you have to promise me-"
"I can't, not yet. I have to see all the briefings he ever submitted first."
"Nancy-"
"I know, Josh. I know," she said as she stood and strode from the room, once again leaving him in silence.
She came back in his office at the stroke of six, her face a mask.
"I have good news." Josh looked up from the report he was skimming and her mask slipped into a look of sympathy at the wild look in his eye. "As far as I can tell, the highest report she saw was Secret. Which means that there's no grounds for treason or espionage. However, it also means that we can't pin either charge on him."
"What happens now?"
"Now, I take this to Leo and the president. Reese will be quietly reassigned to a dead-end assignment or asked for his resignation. What happens to Donna will depend on them."
He nodded resignedly and led her to Leo's office. While it was still at least an hour before the rest of the staff would start to appear, Josh knew that Leo would be in his office, dealing with issues that might have come up while he was being interrogated by Congress.
"Come," he called when Josh rapped on his closed door. He looked up from the report he had been reading and took in the expressions of his two visitors.
"Oh, God. What's going on now?"
"Josh was going through old reports," Nancy explained. "And came across something disturbing."
"Old reports? Kundu and Qumar? Did you find a connect between them or something?"
"Worse," Josh muttered, running an agitated hand through his hair. "You remember Jack Reese?"
"Yeah, the guy Donna dated for awhile."
"We have evidence that he had Donna write several of the briefs he presented," Nancy said.
"April Fool's Day has already passed, Josh," Leo stated before fully taking in their expressions. "You're not kidding, are you? How bad is it?"
"It could be worse. As I explained to Josh, Donna didn't see any documents that were marked higher than her clearance. She could still face an inquisition."
"And Reese?"
"Conduct unbecoming. He gets filed away in some backwoods base and is never heard from again."
"He doesn't get discharged?"
"Too many connections," she explains. "As soon as he realizes his career is over, he'll probably quietly resign."
"Josh?"
Josh made a frustrated sound. "I can't believe she knew anything about this, Leo. I don't know why she would have written them, but I just can't think that she purposely let him pass her work off as his own. Donna takes too much pride in herself, in her work."
"Nancy?"
"I just don't know, Leo. It's not a decision I feel I can make. Technically, she did nothing wrong, except for being a bit naïve."
"Which she seems to make a habit of. Get her in here first thing, Josh."
"She'll be in in about an hour. I'll be at her desk waiting for her."
"Good. After I talk to her, we'll decide what to do."
"Leo," Nancy cautioned. "Are you sure you're the one who should be making this decision? Reese's commanding officer should have a say in this."
"He will. I just want to talk to Donna before taking this to the president."
Both left the room quietly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Josh was indeed waiting for Donna as she got to her desk, an occurrence which prompted a smile from her.
"Hey. What are you doing here so early?"
"We have to go see Leo," he said shortly.
"Josh?"
"I can't talk about, Donna. We have to go see Leo."
She gave him a worried look but deposited her purse in her desk drawer and followed him to Leo's office. She shifted nervously as they waited for his command to enter and became even more uncomfortable in the silence that followed.
"Sit down, Donna," the older man ordered her as he came from behind his desk and sat in the chair opposite from the one she chose. Josh settled onto the sofa and tried to give her a reassuring look. The most probable reason it failed was because he felt anything but reassured.
"Donna, I need to talk to you about Jack Reese."
"Jack? Did something happen?"
"No. When he was stationed here, did he ever ask you to help him with any reports?"
"Yeah," she said cautiously. "He was trying to get caught up with the situation in the Middle East so I briefed some of the older reports for him."
"What do you mean you briefed the reports?"
"I summarized them. The same way that I do reports for Josh. I've briefed reports for most of the Senior Staff, actually."
"Do you remember what the reports were about?"
She frowned thoughtfully and glanced at Josh once more for reassurance. "I remember one I did for him. He had asked me to teach him to do it the way I did, because he found the ones I did for him so helpful. He gave me a fake report, a terrorist camp in the Amazon and I showed him how I summarized it."
"Any others?"
"Something about guns and another on Kundu. Leo, what's going on?"
Leo looked at Josh, silently giving him his permission to tell Donna.
"Donna, Jack took your reports and presented them as his own."
"Wha-? You mean?"
"He basically plagiarized your work. That report about Amazon terrorists? It was a report about a terrorist camp in Qumar."
"But. What does that mean?" she asked, looking once again at Leo.
"The good news is he didn't show you anything above your security level. Because of that, I doubt we'll pursue it. If we did, you'd be released from White House employ."
"Oh God."
"Either way, Reese's career is over."
"When?"
"I'm heading over to talk to the president right now. He'll have the final say. I would send you home, but we need you around too much."
"No, it's good," she said, wiping away the tears of fright. "I-I need to keep busy. I'd go crazy at home."
"Alright. I'll talk to you as soon as I know anything."
Josh and Donna left the Chief of Staff's office and hurried to his. Donna stopped at her desk and tried to pretend that she wasn't upset. Josh, knowing her well enough to see that she was about to fall apart, broke their unspoken rule to leave their personal lives at the gate and pulled her into his office. Once there, he tugged her into his arms and held her as sobs shook her thin shoulders.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"What do you think?" President Bartlet asked Leo after he had explained the problem.
Leo sighed. "I think Donna's a good girl who has bad taste in men."
"She's dating Josh now, right?"
"My point exactly, sir," he said as they shared a smile. "If she leaves, Josh will go with her, I can almost guarantee it. I have too much on my plate to be looking for a new deputy."
"Especially since you'll be too busy with your duties as new Vice President." Leo scowled at him but Jed swept on. "And the Commander?"
"Desk job in Timbuktu."
"He'll quietly resign?"
"Should."
"Good. What's next?"