Chapter 5

Helen tried not to stare at Donna as she spoke on the phone, but when the young woman announced that she quit, everyone including herself looked over at her. She smiled to herself. It was like watching the song "Stand By Your Man" come to life. She liked her. In fact, she liked her a lot.

She liked that Donna had tried to escape, that she had been clutching the phone in desperation, that she cried openly, not giving a shit who watched her, that she jumped out of the van and went ballistic in front of the police, that she gave evil, evil glares to her husband. Not that it was Matt's fault. Matt hadn't left him, but for whatever reason, this woman thought he did, and she was the unforgiving kind. Matt left her guy, and she was pissed. As Helen sat in the small van, no one talking, she looked at Donna. Yeah, she definitely liked her.

And she knew her husband. She knew that on the off-chance something did happen to Josh, he'd rather Donna hate him for leaving him there than hate herself because he stayed to save her and had gotten killed. She knew it and she loved him for it. Loved that he would put himself in the position he was in at that moment, getting looks of death and snide comments from Russell's apparent ex-press secretary.

What she didn't get was everyone's need to protect this woman. Clearly Josh loved her; and just as clearly she loved him. She thought it was odd he'd never mentioned her. Maybe he thought they'd be pissed that he was dating someone on the other side. They wouldn't have been, Josh was nothing if not dedicated to getting Matt into the White House, but she could certainly see why they'd want to keep it quiet.

But to protect her? First Josh and now Matt? Helen looked at her once again, and the woman she was looking at did not need protected. This woman was a lioness. Strength poured from her. Men might see tears as a weakness, but she knew better. Not fearing those tears made this woman even stronger. No, this woman didn't need protected. In fact, Helen was willing to bet money that this Donna woman would be back at that park before the day was over.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Something hit the door and he jerked his head from the crap he was reading, then jumped to his feet. Something else hit it and he saw the entire door bend inward. It wouldn't last long. He grabbed the toilet brush from the picnic table and stood in the doorway to the bathroom. That door was metal. If worse came to worse, he might be able to lock himself in there.

He looked at his watch. 14 minutes. Donna should be long gone by now, and the police should be there. Matt told him he'd get someone in there to get him out, but Josh knew it would take a while. They'd have to get through the crowd. The maddening, screaming crowd that invaded Josh's brain and wouldn't leave. It was still so loud.

The pounding on the door stopped, but Josh stood in the bathroom doorway for another minute just to be sure. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, but all in all, he was out of the crowd, which was definitely good, and Donna was safe, which was what mattered most.

His phone started ringing just as there was another pounding on the door, so he shut himself inside the bathroom thinking it was best that Donna not hear that sound. It was actually a bit quieter with the door closed, and his aching head thanked him for the brief reprieve from the noise.

"Tell me you're away from the park."

"I'm fine. Are you doing ok?"

"That wasn't my question," he said sternly. If she was still at the park, he'd make sure to get out of this mess just so he could strangle her. "Where are you?"

She huffed into the phone. "On our way back to your hotel. Now answer mine please."

He relaxed a little more. "I'm bored," he whined.

He heard her sigh and he smiled. "Only you, Joshua."

He was quiet for a moment, just reveling in the sound of his full name. It had been too long since he'd heard that from her. Since they'd bantered. "Your purse is here."

"Joshua Lyman, do not snoop through my purse." Joshua again. He found himself actually smiling and could hear the smile in her voice as well. It made him feel amazingly free, which was ironic, he thought.

"Me? Never!"

She laughed that time but he could hear the tears behind it. She'd been crying. He hated it when she cried. It made him feel useless and helpless. He specifically hated it when she cried because of him, and sitting there in the decrepit bathroom, he wondered how many times she had cried because of him. He'd give anything to be able to erase every one.

"Hey, the noise is giving me a headache. You don't have any aspirin in there do you?" That wasn't the complete truth, but he didn't want to worry her.

"There's some Aleve in there. You may get that out, but you may not snoop through the rest of my purse in your state of boredom."

"Understood."

"We told the police where you are and Toby was going to make some phone calls. You just…" Her voice cracked and quivered and it broke his heart to hear her so worried. "Just… hang on a little longer."

"I'm just hanging out here. I'm fine," he said as nonchalantly as possible. "My room key's in the van. Wait for me and we'll have dinner tonight."

"Promise?" she whispered, and he was immediately grateful he could hear her.

He knew she couldn't see him, but he nodded anyway. "Promise."

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Thank you officer. Please keep me posted." Toby hung up and looked around the oval office. Ron Butterfield and Mike Casper stood near the door, talking quietly. CJ was on her cell phone, Leo and the President were speaking quietly and Cliff and Annabeth sat on a couch looking out of place.

When CJ hung up, the President started the conversation. "What do you have, Ron?"

"At approximately 2:07, the Vice-President left the stage at the rally. The announcer, a local news anchor, went on stage to announce the Congressman, and just as he began to speak, the stage was rushed. We're not completely sure of a reason at this point, although it seems likely that the crowd was unpleasedthe Vice-President had chosen not to speak about the Cuban issue. The Vice-President was behind the stage at the time and secret service agents had him in a car and away from the site in 46 seconds. We don't believe it was a direct threat of his life."

"46 seconds?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good job, Ron. Mike?"

"Thank you Mr. President. The local police and FBI are on the scene. There are somewhere between a thousand and twelve hundred people rioting. They're working on penetrating the crowd from the outside going in, but they're considering smoke bombs. There are countless fistfights, several knife fights, and at least three dead so far. People are being trampled while trying to get up on the stage where they're screaming into the microphone. The basic message of the group is kill Castro and free Cuba."

"Why hadn't I thought of that?" the President mumbled.

"Smoke bombs? What about Josh? Is that building insulated well enough?" CJ asked.

"We don't know. They know about Josh but they can't get to him. The pavilion's completely surrounded."

"What about Donna?"

Toby cleared his throat. "Donna's safe. I was just speaking with the Miami police department. She was seen in a minivan with Congressman Santos screaming at the police to get Josh. He must've had the congressman get her out of there. I'm gonna call her and make sure she's ok, but the officer I spoke with said she was fine, just frantic about Josh."

"That sounds about right," CJ said quietly.

"I'm gonna have to brief the press."

"Don't mention Josh," Mike said. "If the crowd doesn't know he's in that building, it's best they're not told."

Toby nodded. "Do we know about the rest of the city?"

"There's some disturbance in areas that are highly Cuban populated, but the majority of the city's without incident so far. They've temporarily grounded planes from leaving Miami International, but they're expecting to open them up within the hour."

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

She hit end and looked at the phone in her shaking hand, taking deep breaths and trying not to cry again. He promised. He never broke promises to her.

"He's ok?" Matt asked quietly a minute later.

She scoffed and looked out the window. "He has a headache," she said quietly.

"I'm sure, he's definitely going to need stitches," Helen said, handing her another tissue.

Donna's head whipped around and her eyes nearly shot out of her head. "What?" she yelled.

Helen looked at her and then at Matt through the rearview mirror, who was shaking his head. She turned back to Donna and smiled slightly. "He cut his head. It didn't look too bad, but I'm pretty sure he's going to need stitches. He also has a bloody nose."

Donna couldn't breathe. She tried to ask what happened, but her voice gave out after "Wha…?"

"We fell off the stage," Matt said quietly.

She turned to look at him. "When?"

"We were standing on the stage and it collapsed. We were kind of tossed off. We hit the ground."

"And he…got hurt?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"Scratched up really," he said shrugging, trying to sound upbeat.

"And… you left him there anyway," she managed through her sobs.

"Donna, we didn't…"

"Helen," Matt said, cutting her off.

"Matthew," she said, glaring at him.

"That's between Josh and myself."

"She doesn't need protected. She needs the truth." She turned back to Donna. "He wouldn't come with us, Donna."

Donna's eyes grew large.

"We were leaving and…he wouldn't come with us," Ronna repeated.

"Why wouldn't he…" she stopped, knowing the answer already. Her lips started quivering and she slowly put her hand over her mouth and looked back at Matt.

"It's ok, Donna."

She shook her head and started crying harder. "No it's not."

"He'll survive, Donna," Helen said with a real smile this time. "You're not the first woman who was ever pissed off at him."

"But…"

"It's fine Donna," Matt said sincerely with a smile.

She looked at him for a minute and then nodded and tried to smile at him. "He's hurt?" she asked after several moments.

"It's not that bad."

"He stayed because of me?"

He paused for a second and then nodded. "Yeah," he said quietly.

A small smile spread across her face despite the tears. "Stubborn idiot," she whispered.