Sorry the last chapter was so short! I promise I'll make the rest of them longer. Also, I ask you to suspend your disbelief, because I know that Bartlet's campaign was in New Hampshire, not Washington. So work with me here.
And thank you to the two people who reviewed my story!
Disclaimer: I forgot this last time. I don't own them, but I'm waiting for a phone call from Aaron Sorkin telling me he needs to use my wonderful writing skills to fix this great mess he made with letting Rob Lowe and Emily Procter go.
April 31, 1998:
Liz was sitting on the small bench with a cardboard box, a duffel bag, and her backpack. Her mouse brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and the expression on her face conveyed her obviously displeasure at leaving. Josh entered through the front door and glanced at her, waiting calmly by the door. She stoutly met his eyes, and he quickly looked away.
Liz squeezed her eyes shut and thought furiously, 'please let that not be him, please let that not be him.'
Ms. Gold came into the room. "Ahhhh, Mr. Lyman!" Liz opened her eyes in defeat. "So nice of you to come."
"What, was I not going to come?" In spite of herself, Liz grinned at his comment.
"Oh, no, of course not, I meant…" she trailed off.
"OK," Josh replied calmly, not letting her finish. "Where is she?" Liz scowled slightly at being called 'she.'
"Oh, yes." She indicated Liz. "This is Elizabeth Anna Webster. You've filled out all her paperwork?"
"Yes, and I have the medical information you wanted."
"Good," Ms. Gold cheerfully chirped. "Come on in here so we can fill that part out." Josh followed her and Liz followed him with her eyes.
Moments later he returned to the hallway alone and smiled at her. "I gave her the information and I'm letting her fill out the forms. She'll get a taste at how long it takes to fill those things out."
Liz simply raised her eyebrows at the feeble joke. "Do I call you Mr. Lyman?"
"Please don't. Call me Josh."
"You can call me Liz. I hate Elizabeth."
"Really? I think it's a nice name. It's better than Joshua."
"Well, do you have a middle name?" Liz demanded.
"No."
"They stink. As if Elizabeth Webster isn't enough of a mouthful, they have to add Anna in the middle. That's eight syllables they can drag out if they're mad at me."
"You actually counted them?" Josh asked incredulously.
"Yep."
Ms. Gold emerged from the room. "All the forms are done, so you two can be on your way. Liz, honey, be good."
Liz made absolutely no indication of any emotion she might have been feeling. "Sure." As they left, Josh swore he heard Liz mutter, "do not call me honey."
---
Uncomfortable silence filled the car ride home. Finally, Josh cleared his throat. "I don't want to seem like the overprotecting guardian-" Liz noticed he carefully said 'guardian' "-but I just want to sent down a few rules." He looked at her narrowly. "Don't do anything you wouldn't want Ms. Gold knowing about." For the second time that day, Liz grinned. "After school everyday, you can come to my office, or go home. If you choose to home, I want you to call my office at 4:00 to tell me you've gotten home. If you want to go to a friend's house, you call me to ask me first."
Liz raised her eyebrows. "Have you practiced this talk or something?"
"No, but I had a foster kid once."
"Really?"
"Yeah, an eight-year-old boy."
Liz got the message that he didn't want to talk about it. "So I can come to your office? To do my homework?"
"Yeah, you want to?"
"Depends, where do you work?"
"I work for Bartlet for America."
"Really?" Liz asked with a huge smile. "Do you actually work with him?"
"Yeah, I'm the Senior Political Director."
"Cool, I'll come there."
"OK, I'll pick you up after school and bring you there so you can see the way."
"Great."
---
Liz began unpacking soon after she got to Josh's apartment, mainly so she could be alone in her room. She glanced around. Her room. She hadn't had her own room for four years. Her new room was small, and slightly bare. The walls were painted soft, light blue, and she had a bed, a desk, shelves, all hers. The bathroom was right down the hall. Mr. Lyman (she still wasn't prepared to call him Josh) had his own bathroom in his room. Her own bathroom! She shook her head to clear it. Get a grip, Liz! You aren't staying very long.
She finished stacking her small collection of books on the shelves, as she listened to Josh making dinner. Now the only thing that was left in her duffel bag was a small stuffed dog. It was old and ratty, and its brown fur had faded. It didn't have a name. She glanced over at her bed, and then placed the dog back in her duffel bag. "Sorry I have to keep you in here, but we aren't staying very long, so we better be prepared to leave when we have to." Saying the words out loud made her even more convinced to believe them. Why would anyone ever want to be her parent? After all, her birth parents just up and left. There had to be something wrong with her.
Josh finished making the KraftTM Macaroni and Cheese and carefully put helpings on two plates, trying not to burn or break things, which tended to happen if he was thinking about something important while he cooked. Liz seemed to be a real distant kid, but there was no surprise there. The happiest Liz seemed to be was when he told her that he worked for Governor Bartlet. But, any kid would probably be that way if they found out that their foster parent worked for a presidential candidate. So he'd take her there tomorrow and introduce her to everyone, and maybe, if Governor Bartlet was in a good mood, he thought, he could take Liz to meet him too. That decided, he took the plates to the table and called Liz down for dinner.
I realize that this chapter really wasn't as good as it could have been. Sorry! But it's gonna get better when it gets West Wing-ish. But review! 'Cause when people review it makes me feel like people are reading it and I write faster. So review!
--Anna K