Chapter 6 - I'm All Right With You
Crunch time was upon the staffers of the Santos Campaign. It was exactly two weeks until the election, a time that was spent voicing their promises and plans for a better America on a minute by minute basis. Speeches at schools, rallies, parties, and fundraisers, all combined to span a single day. A day would not go by with the Congressman not visiting more than 8 or 10 places and sometimes way more than that. It was all putting a toll on them, but in everyone's hearts, they knew it would be worth it in the end. They were doing something special.
He was working late, ironing out the last week of the campaign. The campaign was taking its toll on him as well, he appeared tired and worn out even after getting his much desired 4 or 5 hours of sleep. He managed and he knew he had Hawaii to look forward to.
Working beside him this evening was one of the campaign speechwriters, a young guy named Todd. He had hired him two months ago and Toby had once called to compliment the young man's writing. He was impressed with the young man's passion and energy; he always brought his a game to the table.
Todd was sitting at his makeshift desk across from Josh, working on a couple speeches for the last week of the campaign. Josh would occasionally read what the young man was working on, shake his head either a yes or no, and return the work back. The young man would then scribble more down and the process would continue. Josh was enjoying watching him; for he was very expressive in his writing.
"So Josh," the young man started. "We need to talk about 'the speeches'."
"What speeches?" Josh replied, confused at the statement.
"You know, the ones, the 'speeches'", Todd replied, gesturing quotations when he spoke.
It took Josh a second to realize what he was speaking of, and then he had his 'of course I know, duh' expression. "Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about them."
"Good, because I need to start writing them soon, and I'm frankly a bit scared to write the one," Todd explained.
"The one if we lose?"
Todd stiffed a laugh and smiled at him. "No, actually, the one if we, you know, win."
The older man looked at his young associate with curiosity. He had tried for weeks to figure out what he was about. He paused before continuing. "Yeah, okay." He stopped what he was saying when he saw her enter the room. He tried to hide his enthusiasm by only grinning slightly. He turned back to the young man across from him.
"Listen, here," he said while scribbling down a phone number, "Call Toby Ziegler. Tell him you're trying to write the two speeches. He'll help you from there."
"Me, call, Toby Ziegler?" Todd asked him, stunned at his suggestion.
"Yeah, don't worry about it," he replied, noticing she was smiling at him from all the way across the room. "Listen, I gotta go, so you'll be fine, I know."
He picked up his belongings and moved across the room to where she was standing. He was grinning like a child in a candy store. He carefully grabbed her hand and pulled her all the way down the hallway into an alcove. He moved in closer and began kissing her, needing the contact with her. He moved his hands around her, enveloping her in his embrace.
They eventually pulled away and she grinned at him. "Missed me?" she asked him.
"God, yes." He said, out of breath from the kiss that he deemed magical.
"Good, I was worried you were getting tired of me."
He had a look of concern on his face after her statement. He grabbed her hand in his. "You kidding, Donna? I don't think I could ever get sick of you."
She placed a kiss on his cheek, "You are too sweet."
"Let's go," he told her, starting to drag her out of the building.
"Go where Josh?"
"I don't know, how about France?" he said.
She pulled him to a stop during his efforts to take her who knows where. "Josh, are you insane? We can't go to France, we have to stay here and win a campaign."
"Dang, I knew I was forgetting something…" he smirked.
"You are acting so silly, what's going on?" she inquired.
"Well, you see, I went to Texas one day trying to convince this guy to run for President. Then, he actually decided to do it and then all of a sudden, next thing I know, he's got the nomination. And somewhere in there I decided I was completely lost without you, and you joined our team, and…"
"Josh!" she stopped him. "I get your point, now, how about we go for a walk. I think some air could do you some good."
They linked arms and exited the building. It was a rather cold evening and they both donned warmer jackets. Since it was late, past midnight, the cold evening air was prevalent with the gusts of wind blowing in their face. He pulled her close by placing his arm around her. The warmth of their bodies against one another comforted both of them.
For the most part, they walked in silence. It was moments they shared like this that they treasured the most. However, the silence was ended when they reached the stoop of Josh's apartment. They both sat down, sharing a step. He looked up at the moon, which was very bright on that October night.
"You know what?" he asked her.
"Well, I know lots of things, but probably not the particular item you are thinking of," she replied back, in their usual banter fashion.
He turned to her, "In all seriousness Donna, I never thanked you properly for taking care of me after I was shot. I don't think I have ever felt that loved in my entire life. Every time you would visit, I would think to myself, you know, my life isn't all that bad. I mean, yeah, I did get shot at, but to have you, to have you watching over me and caring for me, that meant the world to me."
She turned her head away from him in an attempt to prevent the tears from coming. However, her attempt was futile because the next thing she knew, tears were running down her face.
"Oh Donna, I didn't mean to make you cry," he told her, wiping the tears off with his hand.
She placed her finger on his mouth, hushing him. "Joshua," she started, words coming out in between sobs and tears, "You have no idea how hard it was for me, waiting to find out, if you would live or die. If I would have the opportunity to tell you how I felt. But now, these, these are tears of happiness, because I did get that opportunity."
At that moment, she threw herself at him, and he welcomed her with open arms. They sat there for minutes; he stroked her hair while she lay across his lap. He knew they had so many things left to say to one another, but he was glad at least one of them was out in the open.
Her sobs and tears stopped and she turned her head to face him. "Remember after the shooting when all you would talk about is how you wanted to be an outdoorsman?"
"Of course!" he smiled back. "I don't know what made me want to continue doing this stuff anyway… an outdoorsman would have been a much better career switch."
"And what exactly would you have done?" she asked him.
"Well, I'm glad you asked. Considering I had a lot of time to sit and think, I had it all planned out. I was planning on getting a cabin, say, in Montana," he started. She rolled her eyes at his beginning statement. "What are you rolling your eyes at me for?"
"Montana, Josh? You would live willing in a state that has like, what? Two or three electoral votes? No political power whatsoever?" she asked him, suppressing a laugh or two.
"Excuse me, let me continue, miss make fun of Josh," he replied to her. "Anyway, as I was saying…"
"You were going to get a cabin in Montana," she recapped.
"Yes, and I was going to kill bear and hunt. And catch a lot of fish, I figured I would be a pretty good fisherman," he explained.
"You've done a lot of fishing in the Potomac River?" she asked.
"Yeah, you know me."
At that moment, she couldn't take it anymore. She started laughing uncontrollably. He stared at her, confused why she was laughing at him. And she was now standing and pointing at him too!
"Yes?" he asked.
"Josh," she started, barely able to speak through her cries of laughter, "You would have run from the bear. You've never gone fishing in your life and you would have gone screaming the first night because you'd swear you had heard a raccoon outside the cabin."
"Well, I suppose there might be flaws in my plan…"
He pulled her back on the stoop and pulled her in, his arm draped around her back. She leaned her head onto his shoulder and they sat on the stoop in silence for several minutes. It was not until she started to shiver that he made his move.
"Listen, it's getting late, you're freezing, and we have to be at work early tomorrow," he told her.
"So?" she asked.
"So, I'm saying we go inside, where I have, you know, heat, and we may go to sleep, so that we are not too tired for tomorrow's roster of activities," he explained to her.
"Alright, you win," she replied.
They walked, hand in hand, up the steps, into his apartment. They had finished another day together; both of them rejoiced to have the other in their life. It had become a campaign built on a promise for a better tomorrow and they both had one another to keep that promise to.
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