Abbey's POV

I had always cut Amy a lot of slack when it came to her relationships with men. Because of "the incident" I have been eternally grateful that Amy has an interest in men. I had hoped and prayed that Amy would settle down with Chris, her beau in law school, but that didn't happen. As busy as I've been over the years, what with med school, motherhood, politics and all, I've always kept in touch with Amy, sometimes I feel as though Amy were my kid sister. Our parents were close, we lived a block away, and babysitting her was my first job.

But, I was flabbergasted when Amy took up with Josh Lyman; try as I may, I just couldn't understand it. She was too much of a feminist, too independent to see anything in the likes of him. I have to admit, I've thought long and hard about Josh, due to these past few months, and I don't understand Josh. I don't understand why women seem to flock to him; men too, come to think of it. He's good looking, but not to my taste. He has a good family, and money, but still.

I debated the merits and pitfalls of Leo's suggested scheme to marry Josh to Ellie or Zoey, and even invited him to spend a weekend with us, to test the waters, so to speak. That was a disaster.

I don't find his personality endearing at all. Perhaps it's because he exudes arrogance and power from every pour. And yet, Amy took to him like a bee to honey.

I know Amy well, I have watched her relationships with men, or should I say her assault on the Good Old Boys Network which runs Washington. I have heard people say that Amy power dates politicians, to rise in the political world. I know better, though. I know why Amy uses dating as therapy; to prove to herself that she can handle men. Although we have never discussed it, I am sure Amy uses sex in the same way, not for her own pleasure, rather as a means to gain control over powerful men.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised about Josh. He is also power dater; Mandy Hampton, Sarah Wissenger, Joey Lucas. He is a very powerful man, a back office operator well trained by Leo. Probably second only to Leo in cunning.

I always knew that the day would come when Amy, an astute politician in her own right, would realize that the real power in government lay behind the throne; still resides in the hands of obscure political operatives who thrive in the smoke filled back rooms of yore, making and breaking careers in chats over stiff drinks and five card stud.

Well, they say it's who you know, not what you know. And Amy and Josh surely knew the powers that be. Josh was hand-picked by Leo. And Josh pushed Amy onto me. Oh, yeah, I caught on to Josh when I arrived back in Washington from California, eager to track him down and throw the name of my new Chief of Staff back into his face. To see his reaction to the fact that he would have to interact with Amy on a daily basis. To hurt him as much as his relationship with Jed hurt me. His smirk gave him away. When I saw that, I realized I had been had. He shrewdly manipulated me to do exactly what he wanted. But why?

And that was the part I just don't understand at all. Why did he do that? Why did he risk my wrath to get Amy hired?

I have thought long and hard about all of this, and all that I can conclude is that Josh and Amy are engaged in sort of quixotic power struggle, entangling both their personal and political lives in a strange war of words and actions. I can't understand why. Josh is continually manipulating Amy's career, seemingly having her hired and fired on his whims.

She worked as an Issues Director for Now, as Political Director for Emily's List, as an A.A. to Hope Schraeder, worked with Rock the Vote, Jed's campaign... For God's sake, she founded the Democratic Women's Forum. She resigned from the WLC, because of his manipulations and I just don't understand why Amy allows him to do this to her.

They dated and broke up. I don't know why; they haven't breathed a word to anyone. In fact we weren't quite sure if they were together or not for months, they were so tight lipped about it. At one point, though, it seemed as if they despised each other. Yet Josh convinced Sam to take her on his campaign staff, then he contrived the means to bring her back to the fold.

And the dance started yet again, the hazing, the help in fitting in, teaching Amy how to be a Chief of Staff. I saw it all... I have watched them engage in combat in meetings; in full battle mood, drawing lines in sand over minor issues. I have watched them cooperate in other meetings; bantering, teasing and laughing while they resolved intractably complex issues that would cause others apoplexy. I've watched them wordlessly communicate with each other, glances and facial expressions mysteriously conveying what they needed to know, and a nod and smile to confirm whatever they had agreed to, all without a word spoken. It was as though the baggage and subtext they shared set them a bit apart from the rest of the world.

Then it came to me, I suddenly realized what Josh was up to. And that's when I realized just how wrong Leo was, Josh has outfoxed his mentor.

Josh would never make a good Congressman, Senator, nor Governor; he is not about to waste his time and energy placating his constituents to ensure his tenure in office. He didn't need a politician's wife; a politically-correct, dutiful companion, photogenic eye-candy for public consumption. He didn't need or want my daughters, as Leo had proposed.

All this while Josh has been grooming Amy to serve as his eyes and ears in a world in which he is not welcome. The succession of jobs and institutions he had guided her to, and taken her from, had been a strategic plan to carefully build her networks and contacts, to position her into a leading role in the feminist branch of the DNC.

He wasn't looking for a wife; he was looking for an ally whose political acumen is on a par with his own, who possessed finely honed skills in the manipulation of people and policies comparable to his own.

Between the two of them, they will control access to the Chief of Staff, the President and myself, the First Lady. They would take control of the power behind the throne, they would control the DNC. And along with Jed and Leo, handpick the next Presidential candidate. Whomever they threw their weight behind would be guaranteed the Democratic nomination, and would do their damnedest to give the candidate the presidency. That's why they've been conferring so much about Hoynes' replacement.

My God - Leo and Jed have always told me that Josh was the best political strategist they had ever seen, I just never believed them.

I don't need to find him a wife, he found one himself.