1Disclaimers: Not mine
Third Chapter in the Then Everything Changed Series.
Author's notes: Helen and Will's POV. I just wanted to have a little fun.
Matt and I call the kids to wake them up. Three weeks with my sister and they have the routine down pat. It's hanging up that is the hardest for Matt. It tears him up to be for far from them. It's the goodbyes that are hard for me.
The living area to the suite is beginning to buzz, the troops are signing in for the day.
Donna brought bagels, and force feeds two of the secret service agent. She's interesting to say the least. Entertaining. That's what she is.
Josh is almost a different man. Whole, not a shell.
"What's the occasion?"
"I slept very well last night, the first time in a long time."
She smiles, so does Josh, who is in earshot. They are desperately trying not to make eye contact.
He looks good today, well rested, and calm and he's wearing a new tie, or at least one I've never seen before.
"Did you get everything bagels?" My husband; stomach first then the rest of the world.
"Yeah, they're in a separate bag, some people don't like the way they make all the others taste."
She meant Josh, she said some people, but I see the cleaver little game she plays.
Hmm he has dimples, who knew?
She starts to hum which evolves to sing, "And how could I ever refuse I feel like I win when I lose and catches herself. "Why they hell am I singing ABBA?"
"Did you drive to get the bagels?" She nods. "The driver only has one CD in the van. ABBA Gold, he plays it every low so only he can here, but the whole staff now knows every word to the CD. Hey Josh, nice tie."
He doesn't even look down.
"Thanks, it was a birthday gift from an old dear friend." She smiles.
Matt makes eye contact with me. He caught that one. His eyebrows rise, we know what the other is thinking, free entertainment for the rest of the campaign.
Then Will Bailey comes running into the room, and crashes on the couch, head, chest and life first.
"Four speeches, each are perfection." Gee don't over sell it.
"Will, did you sleep last night?" Donna asks as she wipes cream cheese on her bagel.
He holds the papers in triumph.
"Read them! Perfection I tell you." No he didn't sleep.
Donna's job is to make sure our message is clear, keep us on track, its why Leo hired her.
She starts reading and by the time she finishes half her breakfast she speaks.
"Will, they are wonderful. This is your best work since the your first State of the Union. Its just, we can't use them. Not today."
"What!" I can hear the disappointment in his tone, I can also see Josh's smirk.
"You wrote about the US's Global responsibility in 3rd World Counties."
"Yeah, it was good."
"Yeah, it was, but the Congressman is going to speak to Soy bean farmers about subsidies farming. Will they just won't work, we'll use them, but not today. You have to write another one."
"But I'm sooo tir-ed." Wow it never cease to amaze me how well men can whine. "I have no motivation to do it."
"Sex." Donna spouts out as if it were nothing.
My glaze haste over to Josh who now looks like he is...no he is choking on his coffee. Will sits up, very interested.
"Um, you never.. I mean... It always seemed... I thought you were into..." Wow could he possibly be tripping over his words any more. "I didn't think you were interested."
"I am not." Deadpan. Her voice gets husky, sultry, "But I know someone who might be."
Josh is still coughing.
Will's interest is peeked to say the least.
Ronna hands me a coffee and takes her place next to me as we watch the show unfold before our eyes.
"I am going to need proof."
"I'll make the call now." and like a knight wheedling her sword, Donna brandishes her cell phone.
"Kate Harper, please." Will lounges for the phone, suddenly this Ivy League grad is reduced to the antics of a fifteen year old and we are all in home room.
"Donna, hang up the phone."
"Kate, hey, it's Donna. You got a sec? Oh the sit room huh? Well hasn't the war in the Congo been going on for like twenty years? So… it isn't going to get fixed in the next five minutes, right? Great! I wanted to talk to you about Will Bailey. If you can get over the fact he is Will Bailey, he's actually a nice guy. He has that geek quality that is kinda cute. You know he's a political genius, but he's not stuck up about it. Now, I am a little bias but, I think he's the best."
Now her voice goes back to being sultry and flirty. "You know what his best feature is, words. He's a speech writer at heart, he know the power words hold."
Matt looks at me, eyebrows raise. No, you idiot, she isn't flirting with Kate, she flirting with everyone man in the room. Correction, she's flirting with one man in the room but he's still choking and therefore not noticing.
"He has the ability to weave them and use them to make you feel like you are the only women in the world. If you do only one thing in this lifetime, go on first date with speech writer. He will utter a gentle phrase that will make you melt, and it won't be a lie or line, he is simply stating the truth in the kindest and most elegant way."
Ok now I am looking at Will just a little different.
"Yeah I guess Toby is the exception to that rule. No, he won't wear the duck tie. I know its weird. We will be back home in two weeks, so that gives him time to pick out a nice place to eat. You know I'll help him, that whole geek thing. Um, I can't remember."
Donna eyes him up, slowly, and back in the smoky voice "Eight maybe nine."
Now every eyebrow is up in the room.
"Its impressive for a guy like him. Oh any if that wasn't a sell, he can control the weather. Ha! Hey, you should listen to the Congressman's speech today. It's the best one Will's every written. Great! Good luck in the sit room. Bye."
She closes her phone and looks at Will for the first time since that call.
His face is ... priceless. A blend of horror and pride, and I don't think he's breathing.
She nods her head at the door. "Go write the speech Will."
I hear the door slam and Donna sips her coffee in victory.
Josh follows quickly after Will.
Its Ronna who starts the applauds.
Ok, no pressure, juts the greatest speech of my life in three hours. I can do this! Sure. Don't think about what happens when you screw this up. Don't think about what will happen when Kate realizes I am painfully out of her league. I might end up having sex this administration.
Donna set pretty high standards that no man can reach that bar. God, she's the best. If she isn't married in five years I am going to propose. No question about it.
"Bailey!" Hmm. Josh seems pretty pissed about something. There's no blood in his face.
"Are you sleeping with Donna?"
He's kidding right? Should I give him a smart ass answer. Damn, he's really pissed. I think he's going to hit me.
"No, Josh I am not sleeping with Donna. I have a very important speech to write and I don't have time to indulge your neurotic tendencies about your former assistant."
"Will! Have you ever slept with her?"
Where the hell is this coming from? Not that the thought hasn't crossed my mind like a million times, but still.
"No, Josh, She's the kind of woman you marry, not the kind of woman you have awkward sex with."
Maybe that was too much information.
He doesn't really look satisfied with my answer. "Look, I asked her out once."
Whoa, this is a whole new level of pissed. "But I think she threw up a little bit. She clearly wasn't interested in me. We're friends nothing more. Relax. I think she holds a torch for someone else."
"You know, Kate Harper is out of your league."
"Yeah I know, but lets not tell her that." He grumbles and I'm left to write my masterpiece.