DISCLAIMER: See chapter 1

A/N: I know Sam never had a couch in his office but I forgot that while I was writing this and I'm too lazy to fix it. I also made up a country for the purposes of this story.


Chapter 2- First Days are the Toughest

Donna Moss, Josh's assistant, had just finished giving Alexandra Cameron and Olivia Brooke a tour of the White House. They both seemed very nice, and she liked them a lot. She hoped that no one would give them a hard time, since it was their first day. Although, despite what she wanted, she knew that the senior staff would be playing as many practical jokes as they possibly could. After showing them to their offices, which Olivia and Alex were now personalizing, Donna headed to Josh's office.

"Josh!" Donna called, walking in to his office. Josh was on the phone with a Senator, and Donna did not continue until he put down the phone. "I showed them to their offices."

"Who?"

"Alex and Olivia."

"You were supposed to bring them back here so that I could take them to the Senior Staff meeting. Go get them."

"No! You go and do something for once."

Josh sighed. "Fine," he stood up and walked past Donna. "Jeez, that was harsh."

"Sorry."

Josh sauntered to the office that Mandy had formerly occupied. Inside, he found Alex pulling an oddly shaped mound of bright purple clay out of a box. She looked up as Josh entered. "It's a paperweight," she laughed, indicating the clay. "My nephew made it for me."

"That's... nice," Josh lied, inspecting it from a distance. "Come on, we gotta go."

"Where?"

"Senior Staff meeting."

"Sorry, I'd like to come, but I'm busy."

Josh did a double take. "You're BUSY?! You really think that you can say you're busy when you work at the White House?! You are not working for some stupid Congressman from some district in the middle of nowhere anymore! You work for the President of the United States, you—"

Alex walked right up to Josh. "I know. I was kidding. You didn't have to get all riled up, Skippy." She patted Josh's cheek twice and walked out into the hall.

"Skippy?" Josh followed her.

"Yeah. It's a nickname. I enjoy it. I think that that's what I am going to call you from now on."

"I'm just going to ignore you now." Alex shrugged and trailed Josh as he went to Olivia's office. Olivia was putting photos on her desk. "Olivia, come on. We've got a Senior Staff meeting."

"Already?" Olivia asked. "It's my first day."

"I know. Come on." Josh began to walk to the Oval Office. "Today is actually going to be a rather slow day, so you won't have to worry about doing a lot of work. It will probably be just a lot of introductions and—,"Josh looked behind him and saw that only Alex was following. He looked down the hall and saw Olivia walking in the complete opposite direction. "OLIVIA!," he yelled.

Olivia stopped, turned, and then realizing her mistake, ran over to Josh and Alex. "Sorry about that. I started daydreaming and—" Josh and Alex were both smiling. Olivia laughed nervously, and they continued toward the Oval Office.

Josh led them into an office just outside of the Oval. CJ, Toby, and Sam stood inside talking, and Charlie sat at his desk on his computer. "Hey everyone. This is Alex Cameron, our new Media Director. And this is Olivia Brooke, our new Senior Congressional Liaison." Josh indicated them as he spoke. "This is... everybody."

Charlie stood up and offered his hand to each of the new women. "I'm Charlie Young. I'm the President's personal aide." He then turned to Josh. "He'll be ready in a minute." Josh nodded.

"I'm CJ Cregg, the Press Secretary." CJ said, shaking each of their hands. "Welcome aboard."

Sam walked up to Olivia. As he stood face to face with her, he seemed to lose his senses and began to babble incoherently. Josh laughed and stepped in. "That's Sam Seaborn. He's the Deputy Communications Director."

"Yeah. That's right." Sam muttered.

Then as she saw Toby for the first time, Alex stated, "Hey, I know you. You're Toby Ziegler. You ran a great campaign against Walt."

"Apparently not great enough to beat yours though." Toby mumbled.

"That's not a surprise."

The door to the Oval Office opened and Leo stepped out. "We're ready." Leo went back in and the Senior Staff followed.

"Mr. President, Leo," Josh said when they were all inside. "I'd like you to meet our new Media Director—"

"Alex Cameron." Jed stood up, walked over to Alex, and shook her hand, smiling. "How have you been?"

"Wonderful, sir. How about you?"

"Can't complain. You know, I thought that you were going to be on Broadway."

Alex shrugged. "Things change."

"Excuse me but... do you two know each other?" CJ asked.

"Alex and Liz were best friends in high school." The President responded. "She beat out Liz to be valedictorian. My brilliant daughter was forced to be salutatorian."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm sorry about that Mr. President?"

"You will never be able to apologize enough."

"Pardon me," Leo stated, "but could we finish up the introductions?"

"Yeah," Josh said. "Um... this is Olivia Brooke, our new Senior Congressional Liaison. That's the President of the United States and that's Leo McGarry." He indicated each person.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. President." Olivia exclaimed before turning to Leo. "Hi Uncle Leo!" She ran into his arms.

"Welcome to the team, kiddo." Leo pulled out of her embrace. "Let's get to work."


After the Senior Staff meeting, Alex walked back to her office to find its interior covered in silly string and paper streamers hanging from the ceiling. A moment of complete and utter shock followed, but that slowly dissolved into a laugh. Alex strolled into her office and began her work as if nothing had happened.

A little while later, Josh marched into Alex's office with a devious smile on his face. "What happened?" he asked with mock concern in his voice.

"Gee, this was such a great joke. It really got me," Alex sarcastically replied. "How did you guys do it anyway? We were all in the Staff meeting."

"We have assistants, you know."

"Ah, I see." Alex stood up and walked to Josh, carrying a folder. "I have a few questions to ask you about some of these policies. Shall we take this to your office? Seeing as mine is unusable."

"Sure," Josh said, obviously dejected. His plan hadn't worked the way it was supposed to. Alex was supposed to be freaking out about the state that her office was in. Instead, she was cool and calm and acting like nothing had happened.

When they reached his office, Josh stopped dead in the doorway. Alex, not anticipating this, ran right into his back. The chairs that resided in Josh's office were there, but his desk was missing. "Where the hell is my desk?!," he bellowed. Josh was about to call for Donna when he noticed Alex giggling up a storm. "What did you do to my desk?!"

"I have an assistant, too." Alex pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Josh. "Here's the treasure map. Good luck finding all the pieces, Skippy."

"I shouldn't have hired you."

"But aren't you glad you did?" With that, Alex walked back to her office, leaving Josh bewildered.

Josh turned to Donna's desk where Donna was cackling uncontrollably. "Did you help her with this?!"

"No!" Donna said, defensively, while trying to keep a serious face. It didn't work and a smile leapt onto her face. "So what if I did? You guys are always mean to the newbies, so I thought I'd help give one of them a leg up. Besides, you've got to admit that that plan was awesome."

"No it wasn't! And as punishment, you get to find my desk and put it back together!" Josh threw the piece of paper at Donna.

"Why do I have to do it? Why can't you do it?"

"Because I am a high-ranking, government official. And you are my assistant."

"You're also a mean person!"

Josh walked back to his office. "I try."

Donna stood up. "I'm on Alex's side now... just because you're making me do this."

"Whatever."


Olivia walked the halls of the West Wing aimlessly. She had left the Senior Staff meeting confident that she knew where she was going, but now that she was alone in the West Wing she realized that she was completely lost. Fear began to overtake her. She couldn't admit to anyone that she was lost because she was supposed to be smart. They would all think that she was stupid if she said she was lost.

As she began to panic, Olivia ran headfirst into Sam. "Sorry," she apologized.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"Nothing." Olivia turned to walk away.

"You're lost aren't you?"

She turned to face Sam. "What makes you think that?"

"Well... you have the looks about you of a lost person that is need of assistance. Good Samaritans can always tell these things... and I'm a Good Samaritan, so you're in luck."

Olivia studied Sam's face carefully. "I think that you know that I'm lost because you used to get lost yourself."

Sam smiled. "You got me. Would you like me to take you back to your office?"

"That would be great."

Sam started to walk toward Olivia's office and she followed, careful not to take her eyes off of him for fear that she would lose him. "So..." Sam stammered. "Are you enjoying the White House so far?"

"Yeah, it's nice. Exhilarating even."

"That feeling doesn't go away. Trust me."

"You mean, the long hours and loads of stress don't take a toll on you?"

"They do. Believe me, they do. But the feeling doesn't go away." Olivia laughed. "Here's your office," Sam said, pointing Olivia into her office. "It was nice talking to you."

"You too." They both stood in silence for a few seconds.

"There you are!" CJ cried, stomping down the hall in their direction.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"I wasn't talking to you Samuel. I was talking to Olivia."

"Me?" Olivia gasped.

"Do you see any other Olivia's around?"

"I don't know. I'm new."

"Yes, I'm talking to you!" CJ laughed. "I thought it would be nice if we all went out for drinks... you know, to get to know the new guys. Alex already said yes. What do you say?"

"Sounds fun."

"Why didn't you ask me?" Sam inquired. "What the hell did I do to upset you, CJ?"

"Calm down, Sparky. I was going to ask you next."

"Well, I won't come because I'm busy."

"No you're not."

"You're right. I'll be there."

"Good." CJ walked away.


Sam sat in his office, deleting some files on his computer. Today had been a slow day. He worked on the speech that the President had to give to the Farmers' Guild and also on some comments that the President would give at a photo-op. Nothing exciting had happened in the news that day.

In fact, the most exciting thing that happened to Sam that day was just then as he looked up from his computer and saw Olivia standing in his doorway. "May I come in?"

Sam's throat went dry. "Sure," he stood and indicated the chair across from his desk. Olivia came in and sat down. Sam sat too. "How was your first day?"

Olivia sighed. "Boring. I thought that working at the White House would be more exciting."

"It usually is. Today was a slow day. Be thankful that a day like today happened to be your first day. There could have been a bombing at an embassy or something."

"Yeah, I guess," Olivia said unenthusiastically. She looked into Sam's eyes and he smiled at her. "CJ said we were going out for drinks. When?"

"Soon. Josh is coming to get me when everybody's ready."

As if on cue, Josh entered Sam's office, with his coat on and his backpack slung over his shoulder. "Ready to go?," he asked Sam. He then noticed Olivia. "Hey Olivia. How was your first day?"

"Monotonous." Josh laughed.

Alex then walked in to Sam's office, grinning. She received smiles from Olivia and Sam, but a loud, exasperated sigh from Josh. "Hi everyone!"

"Hi," said Sam. "How was your first day?"

"Monotonous." Olivia and Sam laughed at this coincidence. Josh sighed again. "What?"

"I said the exact same thing," Olivia explained. "But Josh laughed when I said it."

"That's to be expected," Alex shrugged. "Josh hates me."

"I do not hate you!" Josh cried.

"Yes you do. Because I rival your academic knowledge."

"I do not... you do not..." Just as Josh was about to make his comeback, a Secret Service agent stepped in to the room.

"Excuse me," he said. "Please stay where you are. This is a crash."

"A real one or a drill?" Sam and Josh asked at once.

"Real." The agent replied.

"Why?" Sam and Josh asked at once, again. This time, their voices were filled with anxiety.

"I don't know. I'll let you know when I find out." The agent stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Well, you two wanted something exciting to happen. Here it is." Josh groaned.

"So we're not allowed to go anywhere?" Olivia inquired, starting to panic. Josh and Sam shook their heads.

"What would have caused this crash?" Alex questioned. She also was beginning to worry, but being with two men who had been through this so many times, she was determined not to show it.

"Could be anything," Sam elucidated. "Probably a threat against the White House or the President or Washington DC in general. As we speak, the President and First Family are probably being taken to underground bunkers."

"Yeah, but don't worry about it," Josh said, plopping onto Sam's couch. "It happens all the time. Most of the time, it's nothing."

"Most of the time?" Olivia was beginning to panic even more. "Sometimes it's real?"

"Yeah... sometimes. But, just relax... make yourselves comfortable. We're gonna be here awhile. Try not to think about it." Josh sighed. Olivia nervously sat on the couch next to Josh. Alex sat down in the chair across from Sam's desk.

"I'll be the one to change the subject," Alex exclaimed. "Josh... how goes the desk hunt?"

"We found all of the pieces. But we have to call in a repairman to fix it."

"We did it means Donna did it, right?"

"No!" Josh cried defensively. Alex stared at him, and a few seconds later the glare penetrated him. "Yes. But I'm a high-ranking government official. I have more important things to do than look for pieces of a hidden desk." Alex scoffed. "You're a really cruel person. You know that?"

Alex shrugged. "You silly stringed my office."

"It wasn't entirely him." Sam divulged. "I helped. And so did CJ and Toby."

"I'm coming for you next Seaborn... Hey, wait a minute... did you guys play any pranks on Olivia? I mean, she's new too."

"No." Sam, Josh, and Olivia said at once.

"Why not?!" Alex cried incredulously.

"We like her better than you." Josh replied smugly.

"These guys are really mean, Alex," Olivia exclaimed. "I don't think I like them anymore."

"I never liked them in the first place."

"Hey!" Sam bellowed. "In my defense... Josh forced me to do the prank and I haven't done anything else that's malicious."

"Way to back a friend up!" Josh answered sarcastically.

"I know Sam... I actually think you're a nice guy. I was only kidding." Alex laughed.

"What do you think about me?," asked Josh.

"Oh, you're still mean."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Alex smirked.

Olivia looked down at her watch. "Can't this thing just end? I wanna go and get drunk." Everyone looked at Olivia in shock. She never seemed like the kind of girl who would say that. A few seconds later, she looked up to all of the bewildered stares. "What? Did I say that out loud?" Everyone laughed.

"I concur." Josh smiled. "You guys are going to love this bar. It's called the Blue Rubber Band... best bar in DC."

"Oh before I forget," said Alex, "Josh... Donna says that you're not allowed to have a lot of alcohol... she says you can't hold it."

"Nope. He can't." Sam chuckled.

"I hold my alcohol just fine, thank you!"

"Who are you kidding, Josh? Last time you had more than two drinks you ended up at my apartment wearing a lampshade on your head and telling me that your name was Mrs. Snivelbottoms." Olivia and Alex erupted into giggles at Sam's recollection. Josh rolled his eyes.

"Why isn't Donna coming, anyway?" Josh sighed, eager to get off of the subject.

"She's on a date." Olivia replied.

"With who?"

"Some guy she met at a restaurant the other day." Alex explained.

Josh looked back and forth from Alex to Olivia, slightly confused. "What, are you two like friends with her now?"

"Yes." The two women answered at once.

Josh groaned. "This can't be good."

There was a knock on the office door and the Secret Service agent from earlier popped his head into the room. "Mr. Lyman, Mr. Seaborn, I just found out that the reason for the crash is that our embassy in Evastad has been bombed. At least five dead and seventeen injured. There have also been some threats to DC."

"Who did it?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. I've told you everything I know." The agent left the room, shutting the door again. Josh, Sam, Olivia, and Alex sat in a stunned silence for a minute.

"Well... I guess things won't be boring anymore." Olivia was able to mutter. "Looks like we won't be going out for drinks tonight, though."

Josh had already begun to pull out his cell phone. "I'm calling Leo."

"He'll be on the phone with the Evastadian Prime Minister or Ambassador, won't he?" Sam questioned.

"Yeah, but he'll know more than us." Josh paused and dialed. "I'm gonna have to get Donna back in here, too."

"I've got a friend that works somewhere around there for the UN. Maybe he knows something about the victims or the terrorists." Olivia quickly grabbed her cell phone and began to call her friend.

Alex was already on her cell phone, trying to get a hold of CJ. She knew that CJ was going to have to brief the press as soon as the crash ended, and Alex was going to have to help round up the press core and help write CJ's remarks. Sam started to brainstorm for the address that the President was going to inevitably make. He knew that he and Toby would have to fight over it for a while before it was complete, but he should start now.

Their fun time was over. The four Senior Staffers got down to work.


"CJ! CJ! CJ!"

"Danny!"

CJ stood at the podium in the briefing room, addressing the press core about the bombing. In the hour since the crash had ended, a lot of information had flooded in to the White House. New information was coming in by the second. What was known was that six people were killed and nineteen people injured. Among those killed was the ambassador's wife, and the ambassador himself was critically injured. The terrorists that had bombed the embassy called themselves the Bloody Seraphs, and their threat against Washington DC was a hoax to throw off the US government. It wasn't clear yet what they were standing up for or what, if they had any, their demands were.

Alex was standing behind the window in the pressroom, watching CJ breathlessly. She thought that CJ was handling all of the confusion beautifully and with great poise. Alex could only hope that she was handling the situation as well as CJ was. Her eyes itched with tiredness, every time she opened her mouth she yawned, and any talk of the victims made her want to cry.

There was a tap on Alex's shoulder, and she turned to see Olivia flashing her a weary smile. "Here, it'll help," Olivia whispered, handing Alex a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," she took the cup. "What time is it?"

Olivia looked at her watch. "Almost midnight. How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay. How about you?"

"Same... But I never thought working at the White House would be this tiring or this crazy." She and Alex both began to laugh weakly.

"Okay, guys, that's it!," CJ called out. "There will be another briefing in an hour!" CJ stepped down from the podium and out of the pressroom. Just as the press was about to bombard Alex and Olivia with questions, Alex grabbed Olivia's arm and pulled her out of the room. CJ met them in the hallway.

"Hey!" she smiled. "How are you guys holding up?"

"We're managing." Alex stated. "That was brilliant in there, by the way."

"Thanks. But get used to nights like these. They happen all the time." CJ walked on as Olivia and Alex stopped dead in their tracks, contemplating the meaning of those words.

Toby stomped up to them. "Have you two seen Sam anywhere?!"

"No."

"Well if you see him, tell him I'm looking for him! Tell him that his BOSS is looking for him because he has important work to do! Tell him that he needs to hurry up and start working because the President is going to be making an address to the American people in less than twenty-four hours and there is absolutely nothing written for him to say! Tell him—"

"Okay, Toby, chill out." Alex said in what she thought was a comforting voice.

"You want me to chill out? You want me to chill out?! Americans have been killed, Alex, and you want me to chill out?! I am just trying to do my duty to the President and to our country and you act as if nothing has happened! I swear—" Toby continued to ramble on as he walked down the hallway and out of sight.

Toby had struck a nerve with Alex. She had been trying her hardest to keep a brave face on and do her job right. It was her first day and she was doing the best she could. It was all getting to be too much. She just wanted to help. Tears burned threateningly in the back of her throat, and she knew that she had to be alone for a few minutes if she was going to continue to weather this storm.

"Are you okay, Alex?," asked Olivia.

"Yeah... I'm fine... I'm just gonna go to my office now... I've got work to do... Bye." Alex sprinted down the corridor in the direction of her office.

Olivia was about to follow when Sam stopped her. "Olivia! How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. How are you?"

Sam shrugged. "Let's just say that I liked the day better before the crash." Olivia smiled. "Shall I walk you back to your office?"

"Okay." Sam and Olivia began to walk in the direction of her office. "Oh, I almost forgot... Toby's looking for you."

"I know. That's why I'm walking with you. I'm hiding from him."

Olivia giggled. "Why?"

"He's in one of his moods. He thinks that he's so much more patriotic than everyone else because he thinks he's working harder than everyone else. He sees anyone talking about something else or taking a break and he thinks that they shouldn't be working here."

"He came down pretty hard on Alex."

"She shouldn't worry about it. He's in one of his moods."

"You said that already." Olivia laughed. Sam nodded, sheepishly. "So what do you do on these confusing, late nights to keep you up and going?"

"Nothing. I'm one of those natural people."

"Really?" Olivia inquired, disbelieving Sam.

"No... I drink gallons of coffee."

Olivia held up her own coffee cup. "Well I've got a start. I must have a quart in me by now." Sam laughed as they approached her office.

"Good luck with the rest of the night. Stay awake."

"I will, thanks. You too."

"I wi—"

"SAM!!!," came Toby's bellowing voice from down the hallway.

"I gotta go!" And with that, Sam dashed off and Olivia returned to work.


"Donna!," Josh yelled as he sat in his office. He had just ended his phone conversation with the Evastadian Ambassador. Josh rubbed his haggard eyes as he waited for Donna. She didn't come. "DONNA!!!" A few seconds later, she scrambled into the office carrying a large stack of papers. "Where the hell were you?"

"I can't do fifty things at once Josh. I'm not Wonder Woman."

Josh sighed. "I'm not getting any new information. Do any of the news outlets have anything new?"

"It's Alex's job to know that. She's Media Director. I can't be flipping through news channels while going through these faxes and e-mails and answering the incessant phone calls."

"Go and get Alex then."

"Josh!," Donna cried, sounding overwhelmed.

"Fine! I'll go!" Josh stood up and began to walk quickly toward Alex's office. Donna scurried back to her desk.

Upon reaching Alex's office, Josh found that the streamers in the office were down and a lot of the silly string had been cleared away. Alex was sitting down, watching CNN and from a distance she looked like she was crying. "Hey." Josh said.

"Hi," Alex cried, sounding somewhat surprised and distressed. She swiveled her chair around so that Josh could only see her back, and she furiously wiped the tears away from her eyes and cheeks. Alex quickly spun back around and did her best to smile, though the grin felt very weak. "What's up?" She silently prayed that Josh wouldn't pick up on her anguish.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked, sounding genuinely concerned. He walked in to the office and right up to her desk.

"Nothing," said Alex, trying to act nonchalant.

"You sure?" Josh questioned, skeptically. Alex nodded. Josh looked around. "You really cleaned this place up."

"Yeah... it was a pretty slow day... until a few hours ago." Alex looked at the TV. Josh followed her glance.

"Anything new?"

"Nope. Same stuff they've been reporting for the past hour. Six dead, including Martha Sharn, nineteen injured, including Doug Sharn." Alex's eyes began to well with tears again and she frantically wiped them away.

"Okay, something is wrong," Josh grabbed one of the temporary folding chairs that had been set up, placed its back to her desk, and sat astride. "And you're going to tell me what it is."

"Nothing is wrong!"

"So you're crying for no reason then?"

"Josh... you have more important things to do than talk to me. You're Deputy Chief of Staff for God's sake!"

"I don't care! Tell me what's wrong."

"No!"

"Fine then... I order you to tell me what's wrong. I'm your boss, so you have to follow my order."

"Technically, Toby is my boss but—"

"Shut up! I still outrank you! Tell me what's wrong! I'm not going to stop pestering you until you do."

"Josh—"

"Tell me now!"

Alex sighed. "Well... I guess it's basically that I'm tired. I didn't get much sleep last night in anticipation of today, so I haven't slept for a while. And then... I don't know... you'll think it's stupid... but Toby gave me this whole schpeel about how I'm not doing my duty to the President and to my country—"

"You're going to listen to what Toby says to you?! He's still mad at you for beating him in an election!"

"Yeah, but it just hit a nerve. I mean, that's why I wanted to work here in the first place... to serve the President and my country."

"Here's some advice... don't listen to Toby on nights like these. Something in his head makes him think that he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and that without him, America would crumble in to the ocean. It's just the way Toby is. He's an extremely smart man, but very grumpy. Don't listen to him. You're doing a great job."

"Now you're just lying to me."

"No... I actually mean it... believe it or not."

Alex gave Josh an authentic smile. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Josh sighed. "I guess I should be getting back to work. The country needs me." He stood up and walked to the door.

Alex called to him to stop him at the door. "Josh!" He turned around. "Do you always work that hard to boost workers' morale?"

Josh grinned. "Only the special ones, Alex." He turned and left.

Alex couldn't help but smile to herself as she turned back to flip through the news channels.