Author: Willow
Summary: An undisclosed threat gives everyone chance to talk.
Spoilers/Episode: Set in an a/u that leaves the show's timeline at the end of season 5. This chapter takes place immediately after chapter 5.
Characters: Ensemble
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing them for a while, they belong to Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, John Wells, NBC......
PART IV
The White House
Three hours later, the assistants were sat drinking the beer they had commandeered from CJ and Josh's fridges. "There are soldiers and tanks outside," Margaret said.
"They're not tanks," Debbie amended. "They're armored vehicles."
"And that's less scary?" Margaret asked.
"No," Debbie agreed. "It's times like this I wish I'd carried on farming."
"Just think of all the excitement you'd have missed," Donna replied.
"What are they doing in there?" Debbie asked.
Donna glanced at CJ's office, where Josh, CJ and Toby had been shut in for an hour. "Press statements I think."
"Does Josh know what's going on?"
"Yeah, he can't tell us," Donna replied.
"I know," Debbie agreed. "What do you think the president and Leo are doing at the moment?"
"Fighting?" Donna suggested. "I don't know who's worse, you think they'd have sorted it by now, they're two grown men."
"Leo can be very stubborn," Margaret agreed.
Carol returned from her office, where she had been checking the wires. "The news is reporting an explosion in Arlington" she told them.
"Shit," Ed muttered.
"May have nothing to do with this," Charlie reasoned.
"And a lot of fire department and police activity in Georgetown."
"Still may be unconnected."
"You really believe that?" Larry asked.
Charlie shrugged, "I'm going to phone Deanna," he said and went into Carol's office as Josh opened CJ's door.
"What's going on?" Josh asked.
"Explosion in Arlington and fire department activity in Georgetown," Charlie replied. "Wish you'd left?"
"Yeah," Josh smiled.
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Secure Location
"Don't you think the summit achieved anything?" Jed asked.
"It got them talking, for a while anyway," Leo replied.
"And a cease fire."
"That's now ended," Leo added, wondering why he had to do that. Why couldn't he just agree with Jed that the summit had been worthwhile?
"A five week cease fire that saved a lot of lives and gave both sides chance to talk."
"I know."
"But?"
"But nothing," Leo replied. "I didn't think the summit would go anywhere," he admitted. "Even after they reached an agreement, I thought they'd renege on it as soon as they got back home, or at least that their superiors would refuse to honor it. But I was wrong. The meetings in Syria seem to have been worthwhile. We'll have to wait and see."
Jed nodded. "It's a conflict that's been around a lot longer than we have. We couldn't hope to settle it overnight. It may take years. Look at Northern Ireland, they're still trying to work out their differences, but at least they are talking, even if a lot of it is through back channels."
"Back channels is better than nothing at all. You're right, I would have tried to talk you out of it. I was angry, they'd killed US citizens, they killed Fitz and three congressmen. They almost killed Donna. I admit a large part of me agreed with Josh, I wanted to go in and kill them."
"And now?"
"Now I don't want us to get embroiled in a war that will take years, cost too much in lives and money and that in the end, we can't possibly win."
Jed nodded. "And us, can we settle our war?" he asked with a small smile.
"I want to. I know I haven't been making it easy the last few weeks," he offered.
"I suppose you may have had good reason," Jed replied.
"Was that an apology?"
"It was a gesture," Jed smiled.
"That's a start I guess. You want to pour that drink now?"
"Mineral water?" Jed offered.
"I may push the boat out and have a St. Clements."
Jed poured orange and lemonade into a glass and handed it to Leo. "How's Josh, more to the point, where's Josh?"
"Josh is looking after the staff for us."
"He wanted to stay with Donna," Jed commented. "I hear things," he added and Leo wondered what other rumors Jed had heard.
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The White House
"It was a gas leak in Georgetown," Carol told them. "The police and fire department activity."
"Happens a lot in Georgetown," Josh said.
"What about the explosion?" Donna asked but Carol shrugged.
"A car caught fire and exploded," one of the agents told them.
"Nothing to do with this then?" Donna asked him.
"No."
"Come and get some sleep," Josh told her.
"I'm fine," Donna insisted.
Josh ignored her though. "We'll be in Leo McGarry's office," he told his agents, he took Donna's hand and pulled her up. "Come on."
As they left Carol smiled. "I wish he'd tell her," she said.
"Or she'd tell him," Debbie added. "Is there a reason they couldn't date? I mean no one's told me about any kind of dating policy."
"There isn't one," Carol replied. "I think it's more an issue of him being her boss."
"So if she moved to another department it wouldn't be a problem."
"Except they both spend most of their time at work, so they'd hardly see each other, not to mention the fact that no one else would put up with him."
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In Leo's office, Josh sat watching Donna sleep. How could he possibly have left any of them, especially Donna? He brushed some stray hairs off her face and smiled slightly. If they were going to be attacked, if the unthinkable should happen, he could think of worse place to be than here with Donna. After a few minutes he drifted into an uneasy sleep. His cell phone roused him twenty minutes later. He gently moved Donna and answered the phone.
"It's just me," Leo told him.
"How you doing?" Josh asked.
"We're all fine. Everyone okay there?"
"Nothing's happened."
"I know, where are you?" Leo asked.
"Work, your office in fact."
"What's wrong with your office?"
"You have a couch," Josh reasoned.
"Fair enough. If anything does happen the NSA will contact you, they'll also let you know when we get the all clear. You remember your password?"
"I think so. So it's a good job I stayed behind."
"I guess," Leo smiled. The smile soon faded though. "You do everything the Secret Service and NSA tell you, Josh. You keep safe."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine, we'll all be fine. There's only a few still here."
"Who?" Leo hated being away from the White House, hated not knowing what the staff were doing.
"Donna, CJ, Toby, Carol, Margaret, Charlie, Debbie, Ed and Larry."
"The president said Debbie had gone to her sister's?"
"She changed her mind," Josh replied. "Something about her brother-in-law and maggots, or that could have been that her brother-in-law is a maggot. How is the president?"
"Climbing the walls," Leo sighed. "He didn't want to leave."
"He had to, so did you. Couple of days you'll be back here and we'll wonder what all the fuss was about."
"You called your mom?"
"Yeah. I think she's a little pissed at me for staying, but she understands."
Part 5...............