DISCLAIMER: See chapter 1
A/N: First of all, I want to thank my friend's boyfriend Chris for the idea for the bill. When I was discussing The West Wing with him, he, who has never seen the show in his life, began to talk about why it should be a bill (I really don't know how his mind works). He managed to convince his girlfriend that it was real, so it was really her reaction I put in. So thanks to them. Secondly, if you don't know how to play Spoons, it's a card game where in the center of the table you place enough spoons for all but one person playing. Then, everyone is dealt four cards, the dealer has the rest of the stack next to him/her. The goal is to get four of a kind. You pass your unwanted cards to the next person, in a circle. There must be four cards in your hand at all times. Once someone gets four of a kind, they grab a spoon from the center. When a spoon is grabbed, everyone else must try to grab a spoon. The person who ends without a spoon loses and gets an S. Each time they lose they get another letter until it spells SPOONS and then they're out. I'm sure there's other variations on the game as well. It's very fast-paced and fun. I suggest you try it. If you didn't understand my instructions, I don't blame you. Search it on google or something, you'll find it. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a little bit more humurous. This is almost done. Three more chapters, unless I decide to put in an epilogue in which case it will be four. Please keep reviewing, I appreciate it.
Chapter 6 - Playing in Paris
Josh and Alex's relationship blossomed over the next few months. Everyone around them could tell that they were in love. They were kissing all of the time and spending every free second with one another. In fact, they were together so much that it made some people want to gag, Toby in particular.
Work continued as usual. In October, the President would be taking a trip to Paris, France. The Senior Staff would all be going with him. Alex and Olivia would get to ride on Air Force One for the first time, and both were notably excited about it. Olivia spent the greater part of two weeks asking anyone who would listen questions about the aircraft. It got so bad that many people began avoiding her. Alex even began avoiding her. Sam was the only person in the entire building that would actually listen to and answer her questions about Air Force One.
On the day that they were all leaving, Alex rode in a car with her assistant, Josh, and Donna to Andrews' Air Force Base. She stepped out of the car and looked up to see the Air Force One looming over her. "This is so cool!," she cried. "I'm expecting to see Harrison Ford any minute."
"What are you talking about?," Josh asked. He grabbed Alex's hand and led her toward the plane.
"You've never seen Air Force One?!"
"Yeah, it's right there." He pointed at the plane.
"I meant the movie you dork!" Josh shook his head. "You need to watch it. It's a good movie." They could suddenly hear Olivia talking a mile a minute behind them. "Come on! Let's hurry up! If we don't, we'll be stuck listening to her for the entire plane ride!" Alex started running toward the plane, dragging Josh along with her. Donna and Alex's assistant quickly ensued.
Sam walked alongside Olivia, listening to her ramble on. "Oh my God Sam! Can you believe it?! This is Air Force One! THE Air Force One! I'm looking at it! I'm going to RIDE in it! This is so exciting! I think that my life is complete now! I can die happily now just because I can say that I've flown in Air Force One!"
"That's nice," Sam said. He wasn't listening to Olivia.
"Wow! I mean, this is... wow! I'm such a lucky girl! Sam... what was it like the first time you rode on Air Force One?" Sam didn't answer. "Sam? Sam?! Are you listening to me?!"
"That's nice."
"SAM!!!"
"What?"
"You weren't listening to me."
"Yes I was!"
"Liar! I can tell... remember?"
"You're right. I was tuning you out. I've been listening to you talk about Air Force One all week and it's really annoying. So... I'm sorry."
"I'm not talking to you anymore!" Olivia began to hum to herself.
"Olivia, I'm sorry.... Olivia... Please talk to me." Olivia hummed louder. "All right. Don't talk to me. I guarantee you will be before this flight is over. Because you see, no one else is going to listen to you ramble on and on about Air Force One. Only me. Just wait." Olivia walked ahead of Sam and got on the plane.
The plane had been in flight for three hours. Alex and Olivia had been given a tour and some M and M's with the Presidential Seal on them. The novelty of the flight had worn off a bit so Olivia sat around going through some paperwork that she had to do. She was stuck on a proposal for a bill that Congresswoman Liberatti had written, and she had asked for White House approval on it. The more she read about it, the more she thought it was a good idea. Since she knew no one but Sam would talk to her, Olivia headed straight for him. He was writing something on his laptop. "Sam?"
"Told you you'd talk to me before the flight was over."
"Yeah... you know I can't stay mad at you."
"Good. What's up?"
"Well, I've been reading this bill that Liberatti drew up... and I think it's really good."
"What's it propose?"
"To ban people from fishing off of giraffes' backs in the United States."
Sam stared at Olivia in disbelief. "That's not already a law?" He stood up, walked over to Olivia, and began to browse through the folder.
"I guess not. But it really should be. I mean, not only are giraffes endangered, but there are no more wild giraffes left in the United States... they're all in zoos."
"She wanted approval of this bill before bringing it to the house?" Olivia nodded. "I agree. This bill definitely needs to go through. Let's see what Josh thinks, though. If he agrees, then we can take it to Leo." Sam and Olivia went off in search of Josh. They found him walking around all by his lonesome. "Hey. Where's Alex?"
"What? Do you think that because we're dating we have to be together all of the time? We do like to be alone now and then."
"You lost her?"
"Yeah."
"Listen... we have a proposal for you..." Sam and Olivia began to talk to Josh about Liberratti's bill. Josh agreed with Olivia and Sam that this had to be a law. The three of them kept coming up with more and more reasons to put the bill into effect.
"And if you think about it... this law could help stop giraffe poaching," Josh exclaimed as Alex walked over to them.
"What's happening?," she smiled.
"Congresswoman Liberatti wants White House approval for her bill and we're going to take it to Leo," Olivia explained.
"What's the bill for?"
"It's a bill to ban all fishing off of giraffes' backs in the United States. Which is a really great idea, don't you think?" Josh declared happily.
Alex stared at the three smiling idiots for a few moments in shock. Finally, she said, "Um... Josh, do you think I could see that folder?" She took the folder from Josh's hands and whacked him over the head with it. "And they call you one of the greatest political minds this generation?! Sheesh!" Alex shoved the folder back into his hands.
"You don't think it's a good idea then?"
"No. Stupidest thing I've ever heard." She turned to walk away.
"Where are you going?"
"To tell Toby and CJ about this so that we can all laugh at your stupidity together." Alex smiled playfully and left.
"That woman drives me crazy," Josh sighed. "I think that's why I love her." He smiled.
"I still think that this bill is a good idea," Sam said.
"You won't as soon as CJ and Toby get here," Olivia replied. "They are never going to let this go."
CJ marched up to Sam, Olivia, and Josh. "Well, if it isn't our American safari guides!"
"Here we go," muttered Josh.
It was a full day for Bartlet's Senior Staff. There were meetings, speeches, and luncheons that they all had to attend. Some of the Staffers were distraught to find out that this trip would leave no time for sightseeing, others just became extremely tired, so by the end of the day everyone was in a grouchy mood. That didn't stop Olivia, Sam, CJ, Toby, Donna, and Charlie from meeting in Josh and Alex's hotel room that night.
Olivia, Donna, CJ, and Alex had all decided to watch a movie. Alex and Donna were lying on their stomachs on the bed, and CJ and Olivia sat on the floor in front of the bed to watch that night's movie: Moulin Rouge. The men, not wanting to watch a musical-romantic-chick flick, decided to play a card game. Some of the women pleaded the men to watch, saying that watching the movie would further their emotional education. CJ, on the other hand, just said, "Good riddance!"
As the movie ended, the four women were in tears. "How do you even sit through a movie like that?," Charlie asked.
"You do realize that it's not real, don't you?" Josh laughed.
Alex walked over to Josh, stood behind him, and put her arms around him. "At least I'm not the one who thought that it would be a good idea to ban fishing on the backs of giraffes."
"Did you guys really think that people did that?" Toby inquired.
"There was a lot of research and effort put into it," Sam retorted. "All of the glitz and glamour drew me in."
Olivia walked over to the group. "Whatcha playing?"
"Poker," the men grunted.
"I wanna play!"
"Me too!" Alex squealed.
"Deal me in," CJ stood up and walked over.
Charlie sighed. "I think we have enough people at the table without adding three women, thank you."
"Is it just me or did our Charles sound a tiny bit sexist right there?"
"Are you going to beat him up, CJ, or am I?" Alex asked, playfully.
"I'm not afraid of you two."
"Just deal us in before we hurt you all." Olivia rebutted.
With loud sighs, Sam, who was the dealer, dealt the three women in. "Donna, are you joining us?," Josh called, but Donna had fallen asleep.
Olivia pulled up a chair next to Sam, Alex next to Josh, and CJ next to Charlie. "I'm keeping my eye on you."
"You had all better not yell at us when you're paying us all of your money," Toby said.
An hour later, the guys were all groaning. "Why are you three demanding money from us?! We weren't even playing for money!" Josh pleaded.
"Yes we were, smartass. Now pay up before I vow not to have sex with you for a month." Alex responded. Josh quickly began to hand over his money to all three women, who had won spectacularly.
"I didn't even want you to play in the first place," Charlie claimed. "So I don't think that I owe you money."
"I'm not listening," CJ sang. "I'm too busy counting your money that now belongs to me."
"Talk about gracious winners," Toby muttered, sarcastically.
"We're only doing what you guys would have done," Olivia laughed. "Sam... hand over my money."
"How about one more game?" Sam asked.
"NO!" Everyone said at once.
"Just thought I'd ask."
Olivia gasped. "We should play Spoons!"
"I LOVE that game!" Alex cried.
"What's Spoons?" Everyone else questioned. Olivia and Alex went into a full-blown explanation, and soon enough, the seven White House Staffers were playing Spoons.
"Wow. This is a really cool game. I think I'm gonna be good at it," Josh exclaimed just before starting the second round. By the time the ninth round was beginning, Josh was out. He paced the room, cursing and yelling about what a stupid game Spoons was. His yelling woke Donna, who then joined the others to play. Sam was the next out after Josh, followed by Toby and then Charlie. The men were all acting in the same angry manner while the women, when they were called out, watched the following matches. Alex was the first woman out, she was followed by CJ, and then Donna. Olivia won the Spoons tournament.
"That's not fair. You're an expert Spoons player. I think that you should be disqualified," Sam remarked to Olivia.
"Shut up you loser! Haven't you heard of beginner's luck? You apparently don't have it. Just like everyone else here."
"All right, that's it," Josh cried. "Everyone out of my hotel room, especially Miss I-Always-Win-And-Like-To-Gloat over there."
"Your hotel room?" Alex asked.
"Our hotel room," he sighed.
"Much better."
With some reluctance, everyone retreated back to their own hotel rooms to get some sleep before resuming their hectic schedule the next morning.
The trip to France was a busy one. It was full of politics, ceremonies, and many other things. Alex had been hoping to spend some time with Josh, seeing as it was their first vacation together. A lot of things got in the way, though. Anytime that they had some free time, Josh always seemed to come up with an important emergency meeting, and he cancelled any meal that they had planned together. The only time Alex really got to see Josh was at night, and by then he either wanted to spend time with the guys or go to sleep.
While the schedule didn't leave any room for sightseeing, many of the Staffers got away once and a while. Olivia dragged Sam to several art museums during their stay, Alex and Donna went on a whirlwind pastry tasting tour, and Alex, Olivia, Donna, CJ, Sam, and Josh all made a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower. Somehow, they all managed to get their jobs done, and the trip was altogether successful.
The flight home on Air Force One was a relatively somber one. Those who weren't asleep were busy getting ready to go back to their jobs in America. Josh and Alex had some random fight and were now avoiding each other, though both knew they would be talking by the time they arrived back in DC. Olivia had tried to have a pleasant conversation with Sam, but he snapped at her, saying that she was disturbing him while he tried to write a speech the President would have to make. And so, while the trip to Paris was fun, it ended on a bad note.
