Title: Bipartisanship
Author: ScarlettMithruiel
Rating: PG-13
Classification: R
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own it. Otherwise, I could keep Josh, Toby, and Sam, and hide CJ in my locker to be funny when I need her to be. Heh. I love 'em all. But John Wells has them. Alas!
Author's Note: Yet another chapter. Blame it on the tea. If I go into a hiatus, well…yeah. Please review. Oh, and I realize that it's pretty much impossible for Josh, Sam, and Toby to all be out at once. But you know, pretend it is possible.
-
Sam Seaborn stared at his duffel bag. What had he packed? Suits. After suits. After suits. Oh, yes, and two pairs of shoes and a shitload of socks. And his boxers. He was after all going for months. And Ainsley was coming along. He grinned. Josh and Toby were sure to get a kick out of that. Sorry for the noise last night, guys. But it was pretty excellent sex. He stared at the bag again. He was really going to do this. He was going to travel around the country, not with the President and Leo and the rest of the Senior Staff, but to campaign for himself. The thoughts still hadn't begun to sink in yet. But on his last night in DC for a few months, he was going to take Ainsley out. He loved her so much and they both had been so busy lately. But better to be discreet and enticing than reveal it immediately.
He pushed down on the overflowing duffel bag and zipped it up. Better take along a bookbag too, full of files and speeches, in case he loses anything. He wouldn't know how to function without his proper working materials. He quickly loaded his materials into the bookbag and headed out of the door, dumping his duffel bag and bookbag in the back of his car, he decided to make a quick stop at a specialty store he had often visited.
The bell rang shrilly when he opened the door. He walked to the counter and asked for a card. He gave the woman specific wording and gave her the address. After paying the woman, he left and headed for the White House. He arrived and accidentally stumbled into Josh. His coffee spilled all over his shirt. He looked up at Sam with a half-attempt at a glare. Sam supplied an apology and skittered nervously towards his office. He stopped and peered into Toby's office. "You ready for tomorrow morning?" The man gave him a look and he popped his head out of the office. He had things to finish up also.
-
Ainsley Hayes sat in her office, fanning herself with the brief she had just finished reading. She had turned her attention to the latest one. It never ceased to amaze her how some judges interpreted the Constitution. There was a tentative knock at the door. She hoped it wasn't another exterminator. They had all failed to rid her office of the roaches that had taken to infesting. Ugh. Steam Pipe Trunk Distribution Venue indeed. "Come in." A delivery man walked inside and placed a card on her desk, before heading out. She picked up the card and felt the parchment. This must have been pricey. She flipped it over and read the message, scrawled in amazingly formal calligraphy.
"I've prepared something special tonight," it read. "Buy a formal gown and meet me at the apartment around 8 p.m. Love, Sam." She realized with startling clarity that the parchment was melting onto her hand. She lifted her index finger and her tongue swept out to tentatively taste some of the melted parchment. It was chocolate! Apparently, amazingly fine, processed white chocolate, with milk or dark chocolate writing. She grinned. Sam.
-
Sam was certain this was a circle of hell that lay undiscovered. At least until now. He was trapped…in dinner…with two Republican Congressmen from the planets Condescending and Patronizing. Senator Whilton and Senator Traine were both in their sixties and they enjoyed to laugh at him. A lot. This meeting was arranged so they could talk about the latest amendment they wanted to get past. Unlike their other ones, which had restricted each right individualy, this pretty much covered all rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. And Sam was convinced they could start a government system all on their own that surpassed Fascism and Nazism.
"Sam, unlike whatever you're thinking, we're not Fascist and we're not trying to restrict any rights," Senator Whilton croaked out.
"Right. Not restrict, you're trying to eliminate."
"Now, hold on there. Watch what you're saying, young man."
"Sir, all due respect, this constitutional amendment would basically restrict, or eliminate, all the rights guaranteed to the American people in the Bill of Rights. It also alienates those that aren't Catholic or any other dividends of that religion, and declares that the government should hold fast to one belief, solely, and ask all American citizens to adopt that belief. Now, if you're not going to do anything else but eat and call me a 'whippersnapper,' and tell me that I'm wrong, I'm going to leave now." He began to pack his things. "Don't expect to pass that Constitutional Amendment. I don't like the Republicans. It's not a secret, but I'm hoping that at least a few dozen of them has enough sense to tell you that the constitutional amendment you're suggesting is unconstitutional to the core. Good night, gentlemen." He packed up his things and with a slight nod of his head, left the restaurant.
He returned to the White House and began to collect his stuff. He popped into Josh's office, to find him seated and speaking to Donna about something seemingly trivial. He threw a genial greeting Donna's way and told Josh he'd see him bright and early the next day on the Seaborn campaign bus. How odd that sounded…tasted, rolling off of his tongue through his lips. It felt odd.
He stopped and did the same with Toby, although the older man looked like he was about to attack Sam with a stick. He quickly exited the building and headed for his car. Quickly dumping his new items in the back with his duffel bag and bookbag, he got into the car and decided to drive towards the club before Ainsley received the notion that he stood her up.
He arrived and he quickly found the table he reserved. And the woman sitting at the table looked spectacular. And he hadn't even seen her face yet. He supposed she heard him coming. She stood up and looked at him and he felt his breath hitch in his throat. She was dressed in a burgundy dress, with spaghetti straps and sequins subtly placed along the bodice. The skirt fell just a few inches beyond the knees, displaying her shapely legs and leading down to the high heels that her dainty feet were bequeathed in.
"Sam," she greeted, enveloping him in a hug. She sat and he sat at the seat across from her. She smiled. "I ordered coffee already." He smiled back. She rested her head on her hands and leaned forward, batting her eyelashes. He laughed. "Where are we, anyway?"
"We're in a jazz club. I took you here so we could dance and have some recreational fun before we leave to travel the country like a traveling circus."
"That's a bit redundant," she replied. The soft jazz began to filter into the room. A man in a corner was smoking a cigar and drinking scotch. Sam was vaguely reminded of Toby. The pianist's fingers moved deftly over the keys and a woman walked out onto the stage. The pianist began to extend the introduction with an improvisation of his own, before finishing the introduction with a flourish, leading into the first verse. The jazz singer's alto began to spread across the airspace of the room. Couples were getting up and dancing. Sam got up and offered Ainsley his hand. She grinned.
They headed out into the center of the dance floor. His left hand was poised on her hip, and his right hand clasped hers loosely. Her right hand was on his shoulder and they danced closely. She looked up at him and he smiled back at her. She emitted a contented sigh. He gazed at her. "You're perfect, Ainsley," he said, waxing poetic. "A deity in a mortal form." He brushed aside a lock of her hair and kissed her neck. "And on the campaign, people…McAllister's people are going to say stuff about you." She silenced him with a soft look.
"I know, Sam. Besides, I'm one of them, so if he says anything, he knows I'm smart enough to come back with a better answer." He looked at her with a sentimental expression. "What?"
"You admitted it." He laughed.
"What?"
"You said, 'Besides, I'm one of them.' So you admitted that Republicans are not truly people," he joked. She punched his arm playfully.
"Watch what you say. I'm a Republican."
"You're my Ainsley," he replied. "There's a difference." They danced like that throughout the night until they returned home and Ainsley finished packing. That night, as they lay in bed together, he gazed out the window at the lustrous moon, shining beautifully in the dusky night.
"What are you looking at?" Ainsley asked, her voice groggy with drowsiness.
"The moon. Shakespeare loved it. There are allusions to it everywhere. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says the moon is jealous of Juliet's radiance."
"Sam…it's late. Stop thinking about Shakespeare."
"'Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind,'" he quoted. He kissed her bare shoulder. "Good night." And Sam was overwhelmed by both the sense of longing and love he felt and the fatigue his eyes could no longer restrain, and he drifted to sleep.
