W.W. –Friday evening

"Mom, Avi, thanks for coming. I'm glad you decided to stay another day." Josh looked at his mother and wondered again if she was blushing. Best not to think about it.

"Why should we rush home, Josh?" Ruth took a sip of wine and looked around the restaurant. "I mean, when you take us to such a dinner as this?" She laughed, but it was at the idea, not at their surroundings.

"Donna picked this all out, Mom. I had no idea they had anything like this at Disney."

Donna blushed, and said diffidently, "I read on line that the Victoria and Albert was Orlando's only 5-star restaurant the last three years running, according to Triple-A… and I like that we can take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks later."

Avi Maxwell, speaking up for the first time, indicated the Royal Daulton china and the crystal stemware. "You pick a very nice place, Donna. We thank you for your invitation. I imagine today has not been fun for you?"

"The news stories were a little more than we'd hoped for," Josh admitted. "I supposed we were too optimistic that leaving the capitol would change much."

"Josh," Ruth Lyman looked at her son with determination, "I don't know from television, but I know you. For the last ten years, maybe twenty, you have always been busy. Elections, campaigns, what have you. Successful- sometimes yes, sometimes no. Always looking ahead to the next fight, maybe. Tonight, since you finally admit your feelings for this girl, you look happy."

She reached over and patted his cheek. "Such happiness I thought I'd never see again in you. It's good for you. It's good for me."

"It's good for me, too." Josh said, and took a sip of wine. He looked at Donna, and she reached over and took his hand. "And if you like that, you'll love this: We've spoken to Leo, and talked it over a lot between the two of us. Donna and I are both leaving the administration."

If he had been waiting for the shock, he would be waiting still. Ruth and Avi just nodded and waited for him to continue. "Okay, you don't seem surprised."

"You found something else, yes?" Avi asked gently. "Something maybe where you can be together?"

"There's a teaching position open for Josh," Donna told him. She trusted herself a little more talking to Avi than to Ruth. She was a little afraid of being the goyisheh blonde who stole Ruth's little boy's heart. "I'll still be doing some work for the President, but I'm going to office on campus."

"This is great news, Donna," Avi enthused. "The two of you together, working where? Georgetown?"

"That's just the thing," Josh squeezed Donna's hand. "Mom, we're coming to UCF, here in Orlando. We were hoping you could come visit once we get settled. You too, Avi, of course."

Ruth looked down for a moment, and then she lifted her eyes and looked carefully at her son. "This is what you want, Josh? They aren't sending you away?"

"No, Mom. I've talked it over with Leo, and he agrees. It's time, the, the changes, I guess, with Donna and me, have just changed our timetables a bit. This will be good for me." He looked to Donna. "For us."

Avi raised his glass, and they all followed. "Joshua, Donnatella. Mazel tov."

W.W.

The President stood in the doorway to Leo's office, shadowed by his protective detail. He was nodding as he listed to his old friend.

"And you're sure this is the best way to handle this? Josh isn't being noble, he really wants this?"

Leo thought for a few seconds. "Yeah. Yeah, I think he really does. And it's a good fit, I think."

"He'll be an interesting professor, that's a certainty," mused the President.

"I was actually talking about the other thing." Leo grinned his lopsided grin and the President chuckled.

"Yeah." He shook his head. "I guess I better go tell Abby before she hears it round the water cooler. She always did like those two."

"Well, we all do, Mr. President."

"That too. I better get going, I think Special Agent Casper has been waiting all this time to talk to you, when he really ought to be out, you know, solving crimes." The President pitched his voice to reach the agent under discussion, who as usual was avoiding the limelight and trying to avoid presidential notice as well. Unusual for DC, the young FBI agent really preferred actually doing his job to getting noticed doing it.

"Good night Mr. President." Leo stood up, and waved the young FBI agent in past the departing Secret Service detail. "Mike, thanks for waiting."

"Not at all, sir. I have the report you asked for on Watertown, and I had been hoping to say hello to Josh. I understand he's still out of town?"

Leo snapped his fingers. "I knew there was something. Excuse me just a moment, Mike."

"Of course, sir." Casper had a way of standing casually that screamed out that he wanted to be standing at attention, but was trying to act casual. Not a natural for undercover work, that one.

"Margaret! Before I forget again, we need to send something, flowers I guess, to Ruth Lyman and her new friend, uh, Avi Maxwell. They're at the Hyatt in Orlando. Take care of it?"

Margaret poked her head in, looking shocked. "Flowers?"

"Yes?" He wasn't so sure, the way she looked.

"You're sending a woman flowers, at the hotel where she and her new boyfriend are staying?"

"Ah. Yeah."

"I'm thinking fruit basket, Leo."

"Yeah. Yes, thanks Margaret."

He turned back to Casper. "Sorry about that. Josh's mom is an old friend, she and her new boyfriend, I guess, are up from West Palm Beach seeing Josh and Donna. They… well, it's all over the TV, and I'm sure you have sources."

"I really couldn't comment sir." This guy is so square, Leo thought. I love it. I thought they didn't make G-men like that any more.

"Thanks for the report. We appreciate you running it by in person, and I'll have Josh give you a buzz when he's back Monday."

"That's okay, sir. I'll call him myself. Have a good night."

"You too, Mike." Leo went back to clearing his notes for the day and getting ready to head back to is hotel suite. Sometimes he still missed Jenny, but he had to admit having the suite alone for brooding and reading at all hours actually helped his nights some.

W.W.

Mike Casper was in his car, heading back over to his office. He dialed his department desk on his secure cell.

"Watch Commander Milton." Vicki Milton sounded like she had just clocked in, not like she was ostensibly five minutes from the end of her shift.

"Special Agent Casper. I need you to pull a file for me and have it on my desk when I get there, please." He drove automatically, his mind busy processing.

"Yes, sir?" Mike Casper wasn't a typical DC player, despite being a career FBI agent with an eye towards eventual advancement. If he called in a file request, unlike some agents Milton could name, it was because he thought it was important, not because he thought she had nothing better to do.

"The subject is Avi Maxwell of West Palm Beach, Florida." He thought back, and wasn't surprised that the file came to mind. "Check the Casebook Sonic files, file number 11157856."

"Yes, sir. It will be on your desk when you get here, sir."

"Thanks, Vicki."

He pulled in to the parking garage. So. Avi Maxwell, and Josh Lyman's mother. Interesting.