A/N: Here we go again, onward and upward. I know that in the last edition, Jack seemed a bit out of character, but I took creative license, so don't look upon me too harshly. Need I remind you all that these characters are owned by Steven Levitan Productions, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, Sony Pictures Television and NBC? Probably not, but I did it anyway so (tongue out) nyyah!

MR GALLO GOES TO WASHINGTON

Based on characters created by Steven Levitan

Dennis Finch nearly collapsed where he stood.

"You're what?" he asked slowly.

Jack was annoyed he had to repeat himself. "You heard me, Dennis. I'm firing Maya."

"What the hell for?" Dennis asked, "Find out she was smarter than you are?"

"I just found out that she was sleeping with Cal Berkeley."

"So?"

He looked at Dennis as if he'd spoken to him in Arabic. "So? Dennis, he's the enemy. She's a spy. In some countries, she could be shot."

"And in some countries Nina would be considered a tea totaller. What's your point?" Dennis could feel his face beginning to flush in anger and he tried to control it with even tones and deep breaths.

"She betrayed me, Dennis. She's a potential security leak and with the campaign as close as it is, I can't afford it. And I do not appreciate being talked back to by the help."

"OK," Dennis finally said, closing the door behind him and walking up to the edge of Jack's desk, "That's it.

"First of all, Jack, this campaign from top to bottom is one big, Don Rickles-level unfunny joke. You couldn't win right now if Berkeley died. You're two percentage points away from being a third party candidate, so worrying about Maya being a spy for Berkeley is like the captain of the Titanic worrying about corporate espionage right after hitting the iceberg.

"Secondly, you don't have any proof that Maya is where those two guys got those keys. Even the cops aren't sure. If they had been, they wouldn't have let Maya walk out of here. You're in the middle of a political campaign, such as it is, and the cops want it wrapped up nice and neat, with a bow if possible. You're overreacting. Imagine that, Jack Gallo overreacting."

Jack gave Dennis a hard stare. "Are you listening through the door again?"

"Finally, Maya is an adult, so it shouldn't matter who she's sleeping with. You're just doing it because you think you're proving to your bosses down at the party offices that you can be a mean son of a bitch, something they've been complaining about."

"You've been listening to my phone calls again, too, haven't you?" Jack asked.

"Forget your damn phone calls!" Dennis slammed his fist on the desk, making Jack jump back away from him and the desk, "Jack, she's your daughter! She's smart and warm and caring and honest and..."

"You're in love with her."

"Never mind that. This isn't about me, it's about Maya. You know if you had her running this campaign instead of those fat bastards downtown, you might actually be in contention. You need someone who's at least heard of the issues you claim to care about so much, and someone who can actually write a speech."

"Oh, that one to the retirement center wasn't all that bad."

"Jack, the guy misspelled 'retirement' three times and started it out with, 'yo, old people'."

"It was a joke."

"And before your speech, I didn't know that Martin Luther King ran the AARP."

Jack had to give him that, so he said nothing.

"Maya did something that I cannot forgive."

"Well, maybe Jack Gallo, candidate for congress, can't, but Jack Gallo, the publisher of Blush magazine could. He hired Elliot DiMauro and Nina Van Horn and even a boyishly handsome college grad when they were all mistakes and forgave and forgot."

"Well, Elliot and Nina and you didn't do anything this bad."

"Anything this bad?" Dennis heard himself whining, and stopped. "Remember that incident with the Russian Ambassador?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Yeah, that Jack Gallo was fun to work with. That Jack Gallo wouldn't fire his own daughter. But Candidate Gallo is just a bastard, and I won't work with a bastard. I quit."

Dennis pivoted on his heel and left. Jack sat at his desk, chewing on a cigar, thinking. After a moment, he grabbed his telephone, stared at it, then cried out, "Dennis? How do I dial out?"

As Dennis ignored Jack, he noticed that Maya's office door was open. Concerned, as she never left her door open, he walked over and crept inside.

She was gone, and as Dennis approached her desk, he spotted an ominous sign. The lower right hand desk drawer was open, and empty.

"Damn."

Like a shot, Dennis took off out of the office, ignoring the startled looks and Jack's calling out for him to stop as he leapt into the elevator as the doors were closing.

WASHINGTON, DC

The office of Congressman Cal Berkeley sat on the third floor of the Congressional Office Building on a side where he had a view of a parking lot and a small city park just beyond from his desk.

"That wasn't smart, Stewie," he said into the phone, "Not smart at all.

"That's no excuse. Jack Gallo's campaign is disintegrating anyway. Have you seen the latest poll? He couldn't see me if he stood on a damn ladder...I agree, it's gotta be a record of some kind...Yeah, I know, Stewie, but I had it under control...That's right, I have Maya...or had anyway. She called today, saying that her daddy canned her lucious ass...I don't know. She started crying and everything, so I told her I'd come back to New York tomorrow to 'give her a shoulder to cry on' and that we can 'talk about it'...With a spoon, my friend, a freakin' spoon. She's really of no use to me anymore if she and Gallo are on the outs, but she's just so damn good in..."

There was a knock and his secretary entered discreetly.

"Hold it, Stewie," he said into the phone, then to his secretary, "Yes?"

"Elizabeth is on line two."

Berkeley's face clouded in confusion. "Who?"

The secretary cleared her throat. "You wife, sir."

"Oh." The clouds cleared, "Thank you, Lee Ann."

When the secretary stepped out, he returned to Stewie.

"Just my wife...Anyway, where was I?...Oh, yeah...Maya Gallo..."

He laughed at something Stewie said.

"Maybe after I'm done...Yeah, I think you'd enjoy her...Oh, yeah, a lot better than the aide for the Hamilton campaign last time, better in bed, better information, and I only had to use the 'B' lines with Maya."

He laughed. "I agree...And best of all, I break clean this time...No, not this time I didn't...Anyway, I'd better go. The ball and chain is on the other line. And Stewie...take care of Bud and Lou, will you? I don't like messes..."

A/N: An author once wrote that one of the best ways for a writer to get ideas is to pay attention. I hadn't pre-planned the Russian Ambassador bit, but the more I think about it, the more I think it would be interesting to explore that little 'incident' sometime in the future. What, exactly, did 'the Gang' do to him? OK, until then, here's tonight's questions: Is Dennis serious about quitting? Will Jack change his mind about firing Maya? What was in the lower right hand drawer of Maya's desk and why is Dennis so concerned about it's not being there now? What, exactly, does Berkeley mean about this time being able to 'break clean'? How does he expect Stewie to 'take care' of the burglars? What about Nina's proposed TV spot? Why is this writer ignoring Elliot? For answers to at least one of these questions, tune in soon. Until then, my friends...