Rainbow's End: 'Trust The Wind' 2/11
TRUST THE WIND
3rd June
Sam was finishing giving Josh all the details of his date with Alexandra.
"So you had a good night?"
"I had a very good night."
"Did she have a good night too?"
"I really think she did."
"Well, that's great, man."
"Thanks."
"But really, what were the chances of you two meeting again like that. I mean, the chances are astronomical. I think it's fate."
2nd June
Sam sat behind his desk, briefing papers for his meeting with Josh spread out in front of him and the letter he had so carefully crafted to Alex locked firmly in the bottom drawer of his desk. She may never receive it but Sam figured from time to time it would be there for him to take out and remember that perfect lunch. His eyes were looking forward unfocussed, while he held his glasses loosely by the arm, unconsciously twisting them around.
"Sam." Josh called interrupting Sam's reverie. Sam put his glasses on the desk in front of him and focussed his attention on Josh, who was standing in front of his desk.
"Josh. Sorry. I was miles away there."
"A trip to the moon on gossamer wings?"
"It was just one of those things." Sam grinned like a schoolboy. Josh could tell, just from the lost and dreamy look on his face that his friend had fallen in love.
"Well, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to disturb you. We gotta go to the meeting."
"They're here already?"
"Sam!" Josh exclaimed shocked and anxious. "It's three thirty. They're running late."
"Oh." Sam looked sheepish again, like a naughty child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Not Mrs. Landingham's cookie jar, obviously. If he had been caught with his hand in there he would be lucky to have any hand left at all!
"You read the briefing notes?" Sam nodded the affirmative. He had read them, it wasn't a lie, he just couldn't vouch for how much of the information he had actually absorbed. "O.K."
Sam stood up and stretched his limbs, stiff from sitting for so long without the release of movement and followed Josh to the Roosevelt room. The two men could see through the open doorway that a whole collection of people had assembled: a civil rights lawyer, a particularly stubborn Republican Congressman whom the White House were trying to court in attempts to reduce some of the damage he could do to their agenda and also a pair of democratic Congressman.
This would be excruciating, Josh knew. Congressman Richardson courting the White House on reinstating the draft, a pet project of his, Congressman Matt Skinner there to argue against gay marriage recognition (again) and Congresswoman Andrea Wyatt, there at the behest of Jeff Breckenridge, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights to discuss slavery reparations and any number of other things. The lawyer was attached to the ACLU and an expert in her field, which only served to increase Josh's displeasure at having to chair the meeting and why he felt he needed Sam there to hold his hand, so to speak. They were all there to discuss these various elements that would come up on the President's next trip to California, scheduled midway through August.
The Staff and the President were scheduled to attend a wide variety of meetings whilst there and wanted to prepare for them early to anticipate any consequential problems and nip them in the bud before they became a thing. The fact that all of the above coincided meant killing three birds with one stone and meant that Josh had only to endure the one long meeting, rather than several "short" ones that start off shorter then end up running out of control
As they entered the room, everybody within stood up to formally greet one another. The three Congress 'men' were both well known to the two White House staffers as they had all had many run-ins in the past; the lawyer was new.
Josh stepped straight up to her to introduce himself while Sam was distracted by Andi, who was questioning him on disturbing rumours she had heard that Toby had been eating salad. Sam assured her that they were not true, just someone having a little fun and also that the prospect of Toby eating a salad was about as close to the likelihood that the two of them would ever re-marry.
When Sam had finished his conversation with Congresswoman Wyatt and had shaken the hands of Congressmen Richardson and Skinner, he turned his attention to the civil rights lawyer. She was about five foot six with long brown hair with natural red highlights that positively glowed. She had intense blue-grey eyes and a solemn face but when she smiled her whole face lit up.
She was just about to introduce herself to Josh when she caught sight of Sam.
Sam blinked a couple of times when he saw her, unable to believe what was in front of his own two eyes.
"You?"
"Yes." She said in a soft voice.
"You never said that you did this for a living."
"You didn't ask. Besides, I didn't want to intimidate you." Josh raised an eyebrow in Sam's direction.
"You two know each other?"
"We've met." Sam said, a smile on his face and a sparkle in his eyes.
"Where? When?"
"Josh. This is Alexandra Johnston." Josh looked momentarily perplexed as he tried to remember where he had heard the name before, then it dawned on him.
"Oh. You're the one that Sam met in the park, right?"
"Yeah."
"He's told us a lot about you."
"Really."
"It's all good, don't worry."
"He's not known me that long. I don't think that there's anything that bad about me that he could have picked up over one lunch, except perhaps my proclivity to get my lunch down my blouse but if I'm having a good day I miss my sweater and the food that falls lands on my pants"
"Today was a good day?" Josh attempted to discreetly catch a glimpse of Alex's top. Alex shook her head.
"No. In fact today was a very good day. I managed to hit the floor, though given the comparative sizes of me and the ground it really makes you wonder how I could possibly miss in the first place." Josh grinned. He liked this girl; she seemed suited to Sam. It sounded as if the two had something in common, in their nature at least. Matt Skinner cleared his throat; he wanted to get on.
Josh quickly introduced Alex to the rest of the room while Sam looked alternately at the paper in front of him, his face pink from the blush that rested there, and catching quick glimpses of Alexandra through doe-eyes across the long table. It really did seem like the fates had conspired to bring them together.
X X X
There's a voice that's softly whispering inside my head
Telling me I'm gonna be all right
It keeps saying let yourself be led where you are led
Don't hold back, don't put up a fight.
It tells me trust the wind, breathe the air
There's a place you're meant to be and you're already there
Open up your heart and let life in
You know that you can always trust the wind
Dreams have wings, thoughts take flight
All good things are streaming t'ward us every day
They hear our prayers, they know the way
I'm gonna trust the wind, breathe the air
Let it take me on its wings and carry me somewhere
I'll open up my heart and let life in I know wherever breezes blow,
Wherever winding rivers flow I'm going where I need to go
I can trust the wind
(Extract from: 'Trust The Wind' by David Friedman, transcribed from JoJo de la Cerna's album: Trust The Wind).
X X X
June 2nd
After a very fruitful meeting Sam took Alex back to his office. As they walked through the hallways and the Communications Bullpen they were followed by dozens of pairs of eyes, all wondering who it was that Sam was with, especially because his skipping escapades had become common knowledge throughout the West Wing; nay the White House.
Toby and C.J. were in Toby's office looking over some information for the next press briefing when they saw Sam and a woman enter the room next door. When they heard Sam close the door they shot up from where they were sitting and went to the glass partition that separated the two offices, trying to peer through the slats of the closed blind. When that failed, they decided that the next best thing was to do a recon. mission; remaining silent to gather as much information as they could simply from listening in. Had they not been so curious to find out what was going on and who the woman was, they may have felt a little guilty for encroaching on Sam's privacy, as it was however, the pair had no such scruples.
X X X
"So, you're a lawyer."
"So are you, only you work for the President."
"I do. And you came to see me for the purposes of your work. That's sweet."
"You do realise that I didn't come to see you. I mean, I would have been here even if you didn't work here."
"Right. And you do know that even if you didn't come here for your work, I'd still be here for my work!"
"Sam, tell me honestly; do you actually understand where this conversation is going?"
"Not at all."
"Do you understand where it's just been?"
"No. I think that I'm just a little nervous. I'm not good at situations like this."
"Meeting people in your office?"
"No. With women. Whenever I meet a woman they get me in trouble. Well no. I think I've actually got the getting into trouble bit down all by myself." Alex nodded.
"I read about the call girl."
X X X
Josh burst into Toby's office to tell him what had happened at their meeting; that the woman Sam liked was there, only to see the Communications Director and the White House Press Secretary with their ears pressed as closely as they could be to the partition.
"The woman Sam met earlier was...What are you guys doing?" He changed course as the observation penetrated.
"Shhh." Toby said, waving his arms around to shush Josh.
"Sam's got a woman in there." C.J. added in a whisper.
"It's the woman he met earlier, Alex. She was at our meeting along with Toby's Congressman and the ex-Mrs. Ziegler. What are they talking about?" Josh asked.
"When I find a sentence in comprehensible English I'll let you know." Toby hissed.
X X X
"Were you going to call me?"
"I..." Sam thought a minute. "I honestly don't know. I wanted to. I wanted to more than anything but I didn't think that you would want me to."
"Why not? I gave you my number; I wanted you to call me."
"You see the thing is, I don't get women. I never know if they like me, if they don't like me. I never know if they're looking at me or not. If they want me to call them or not of if they're indifferent altogether...I'm talking too much again, aren't I?"
"Just a little bit."
"I wanted to be chivalrous."
"That's sweet."
"Look, do you want to, maybe, you know... Do you want to go out with me for dinner tonight?"
"I would love to."
"I mean I'd understand if you didn't. I mean, that would be fine and I wouldn't mind at all, well, I would, but if that was what you wanted I would respect that. Wait..." Alex smiled. Finally he'd got the idea. "Did you accept?"
"I did."
"You'll come to dinner with me?"
"Yes I will."
"Right." Sam took a deep breath. This is going extraordinarily well. Sam thought. "There's this new restaurant that's opened. It's open late, which believe me, with this job is certainly an advantage. Anyway, it has a wonderful view over the Potomac and it looks very pretty when it's dark and you can see all the lights outside, I'll make arrangements. The food's meant to be good, so Josh says. You remember Josh?"
"Yeah Sam. He chaired the meeting that we were both in just a couple minutes ago."
"Yeah. Anyway, Josh says that the food is really good, though how he knows that I'm not entirely sure as I don't think he's left the office in the past three months but... Sorry." Alex smiled.
"You know, you really are very sweet when you talk a lot because you're nervous."
"You think it's sweet?"
"I really do."
"O.K. You know, you were very good in that meeting in there. You made some very good points. I think that you made them very well."
"Thank you. I think you made your points very well too."
"I'm sorry. I don't actually know what I'm meant to say now." Alex grinned at him, one of her mega-watt smiles.
"You don't have to say anything at all." She said.
All of a sudden there was an explosion of laughter that Sam could not pinpoint at first. He looked about him confused as he reached for his desk and took his glasses, hoping that by putting them on things would become clearer. Miraculously things did become clearer as the guffaws continued.
Sam raised his finger to his lips to indicate for Alex to be quiet. She looked at him quizzically but complied as Sam crept towards the glass partition that separated his and Toby's offices. With one swift movement he hoisted the blind to reveal three faces, frozen in time amid their laughter as they realised what had happened; they had been sprung. Sam tapped on the window and waved for Toby to meet him in the doorway.
"Hi."
"Hey Sam. What's up?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"You could I guess but I think it's a bit of a waste of time seen as we both know the answer."
"You were listening?"
"Yeah."
"How much did you hear?"
"Pretty much all of it."
"Ah."
Josh stuck his head out of Toby's office and joined them.
"Hey Sam."
"Josh." Then: "C.J." He called over Josh's shoulder, as the tall woman loitered behind Josh, still in Toby's office.
"Sam."
"So you guys were laughing there."
"Yeah." Said Josh. "Sorry man."
"So she's the one who had you as giddy as a thing earlier?"
"Yeah."
"What do you think?"
"She seems nice." Toby shrugged.
"She's very sweet, Sam." C.J. said stepping up to the door to join the three men, no longer able to stay out of the conversation.
"She seems great." Josh enthused, his head bobbing up and down, his brown curls danced with a mind of their own. "I mean she looks... well."
"Yeah."
"You'd make a cute couple Spanky. You need a foible..."
"Plus you need someone to bring you in from those idiotic rants that lose any meaning they may have begun with." Toby finished.
"What were you laughing at?"
"Well, gee Mr. Speechwriter, I don't actually know what I'm meant to say right now." Josh mimicked.
"You don't need to say anything at all."C.J. added a big grin on her face and her voice raised an octave.
"Hi." Came a new voice to the conversation. "For the record, I don't think I sound like that. Lyrical and birdlike yes, a smurf, no."
"Oh. Hi." C.J. said looking about her desperately to try and find a quick way out of the hole she had dug for herself. Instead she saw Josh smirking and Toby with a broad grin under his beard.
"Toby Ziegler. Sam's boss." Toby introduced himself.
"Alexandra Johnston." Alex shook the hand that Toby had offered to her.
"C.J. Cregg." C.J. added, coming to her senses and putting the unfortunate circumstances under which she flashed onto Alex's radar out of her head.
"Hi, C.J."
"So you two are going out on a date tonight?" Josh asked.
"We're going out for a meal." Sam affirmed.
"The place with the view over the Potomac?"
"You know that it is, Josh. You were listening to our conversation through the window."
"We were. And I have to tell you man, that's a great choice about the restaurant, it really is something else."
"And here I was thinking it was just a restaurant, and nothing else." Alex giggled.
"I like this girl" Josh said. "You guys have fun tonight. We'll leave you alone to make your plans. Meeting again like that, I don't know, but I would say that fate is really smiling on you!" Josh, C.J. and Toby all retreated back into Toby's office and closed the door behind them.
3rd June
"You two are fated to be together like Romeo and Juliet."
"I really hope that that's not the case."
"Why?"
"They both died, Josh."
"Fine then, let's say Sonny and Cher, John Lennon and Yoko Ono" Sam groaned.
"Josh, none of those ended well."
"They didn't?"
"Not so much, no. There was a lot of death and dying involved there."
"They're all the famous couples I could think of."
"Well, do me a favour, Josh. Don't speculate any more. I just met the girl of my dreams, I don't want for either of us to die." Josh grinned and took a quick look at his wrist watch.
"C'mon buddy. I think that it's about time for Staff. We're in the Oval, right?"
"Donna didn't tell you?"
"She left me a note. I can't read it, she used her distinctive penmanship." Josh screwed up his face as he waved the note between Sam and himself as if by some fluke it would make the writing on it clearer.
"Don't ask me what it says; I've not had time to unpack my glasses yet. In fact I've not managed to get to my office to open my briefcase yet, let alone empty it." As if to answer any query Josh had, Donna popped her head around the doorway to his office.
"Hi guys; Staff."
"Where?" Josh asked plaintively.
"I left you a note Joshua."
"Donnatella, I know that you left me a note, the only problem being that I couldn't actually read it. I think that we're going to have to send you off on a handwriting course."
"There's nothing the matter with my handwriting, Josh. I have distinctive penmanship like..."
"...like Salvador Dali, so you've told me; many, many times!" Josh stood up assertively. "C'mon Sam."
Sam shrugged at Donna as he walked past her where she stood in the doorway and followed Josh down the hallways to try and find Staff. Had Josh not been so proud he would have asked Donna again but he felt that that would somewhat take the edge off his indignation. Instead both he and Sam hoped that they would chance to meet someone who did know where the meeting was.
When C.J. did not materialise to walk with them, the two took the scenic route and went via the Communications Bullpen; it also provided the ideal opportunity for Sam to dump his briefcase and rescue his glasses, otherwise his attendance at the meeting would probably be futile as he would not be able to read the memos that were thrust upon him. Fortunately their arrival coincided with Toby's departure and he decided that for once he felt both generous and sociable and waited with Josh while Sam sorted his stuff out.
There was a series of small thumps and quiet curses as various things flew off Sam's desk and from his briefcase onto the floor. Toby and Josh turned their backs on the open door so that Sam could not see their smiles.
"Do you know how he got on last night?"
"It went well, apparently."
"She didn't turn out to be a call girl or anything that I don't want to know about, did she?"
"As far as I know, we're fine."
"Excellent."
"However, I seem to recall that we didn't find out about the last one being a hooker until, like a week after."
"Even longer in C.J.'s case." Toby said.
"That is certainly one conversation I don't want to relive. She just about scared me to death when I found her sitting in my office." Toby grinned, he remembered the account C.J. had given him of the same event; the words "abject shock", "fear", "deer" and "headlights" featured prominently.
"Guys, you ready?" Sam asked coming up behind them from his office.
"Sure." Josh said, and the 'gang of three' set off together to get to Staff. "Toby?"
"Josh?"
"Where is Staff?"
"You don't know?"
"No."
"Donna didn't tell you?"
"She left me a Post-it. I couldn't read it."
"Distinctive penmanship?"
"Supposedly."
"In the Oval."
"Thanks."
Toby turned his attention to Sam.
"So things went well yesterday, Sam?" Toby enquired.
"Yes. Thank you."
"She's not a hooker, is she?"
"No Toby, she is most definitely not. I've been burnt before. Besides, we didn't have any sex."
"Well, that makes me feel better, Sam. And I would like to thank you for being you and giving me far more information than I could possibly care to know." Sam grinned as Toby grumbled.
"It was good. We spent a nice evening together. You wanna hear what we did?" Toby glanced at Josh over Sam's head and saw the younger man quickly shake his head. Toby took the hint:
"Sorry, Sam, I don't think that we have time right now. Oh look, we're here." Toby was more than a little relieved.
They had just arrived at the President's Outer Office where Mrs. Landingham was sitting behind her desk and Charlie was standing sifting through some files in the tall filing cabinet.
"Good morning boys."
"Good morning, Mrs. Landingham." Sam said.
"Would you like a cookie, Sam?"
"I would, thank you." Sam lifted the lid from the jar, reached his hand in and pulled out a cookie. He smiled pleasantly at the President's old secretary.
"May I have a cookie, Mrs. Landingham, please?"
"You may not Josh."
"Why?"
"You've not been nice to your assistant. Donna works very hard for you, you do not appreciate her, so you don't get a cookie."
"A-kay." Josh found it very difficult to argue with this logic.
Silence prevailed.
"Aren't you going to ask me if you can have a cookie Toby?"
"I think that we both know what your answer would be, don't we?"
"You might be surprised."
"I imagine that that's highly unlikely." Mrs. Landingham looked at him pointedly. Toby rolled his eyes. "Fine. Mrs. Landingham, may I have a cookie?"
"You may not." Toby opened his mouth to respond but was prevented from doing so when he heard the President call out of the Oval:
"Charlie, I'm ready to see the Staff now. Send them in."
"Sir." Charlie called back. "You can go in now guys."
"Thanks Charlie." Josh said. Toby simply growled at the Executive Secretary as he entered the Oval Office.
"Did I just hear you growl there, Toby?"
"You may have done Sir."
"Why?"
"Your secretary is withholding cookies."
"She won't let you have one either?" The President asked.
"Nor me." Said Josh. "Sam got one." Josh said in a somewhat disgruntled tone.
"Teacher's pet." The President said.
The door on the far side of the Oval Office came open and in walked Leo McGarry who cut a very dashing figure in his dapper wardrobe.
"Leo."
"Mr. President. We're just waiting on C.J.?"
"Yeah."
"She'll be along in a minute?"
"Yes." Answered C.J. as she walked quickly through the door that conjoined the Oval Office and the Outer Office. Her shoulders were slumped to try and reduce the physical presence her height impressed in the room and making herself a smaller, less noticeable target for any forthcoming comments on punctuality. This tack, however, was largely unsuccessful; C.J.'s very presence in a room could not be missed, her height and manner a natural draw for attention. "Sorry to be late."
"That's fine, C.J. Let's get on. All of you sit down, would you please."
Sam sat on one end of one of the long couches with Josh at the other, while C.J. and Toby occupied similar positions on the sofa opposite. The President and Leo both sat themselves in the wing-back chairs.
"Just before we start," the President said, "I think that you should all know that Leo's been testing his missile defence shield again."
"How's it doing?"
"It's doing great." Leo said, nodding enthusiastically though not wanting to elaborate any further.
"Only missed by a hundred seventeen miles this time?" Josh wisecracked.
"No, no Josh." The President said. "It missed by a hundred twenty-three."
"Well," Josh conceded, "at least it's getting nearer."
"It still missed!" The President said. "The fact that it didn't miss by quite as much as last time is hardly a consolation to me."
"It'll work, Sir."
"Anytime soon, Lucy?" C.J., Josh, Sam and Toby exchanged glances with one another. They could only assume that it was some private joke between the President and Leo; if only they knew!