Author's note: Life has been super crazy, sorry for the slow update. In this chapter Josh does something crappy and you might hate him. Please bear with it. He's Josh and he will redeem himself. We learn some very important facts about Donna. Oh, there is a Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince spoiler in here, but I thought it was worth it for the joke.
Thank you for all the feed back. I should be updating faster this week. My goal is to be finish and have everything posted by next Sunday.
AFTERNOON
The day ticked on, at the break neck speed as does everything is during a campaign. Amy was infuriated that her Secret Service name translated to Bitch from Hell. Josh was pissed about something but no one could pin point it. Donna was finishing statements that would be made to the press on Santos' behalf. The phone was ringing in the chaos filled room. Scream and shouts filled the air; CNN was playing Vinick and Santos' press conferences and commentating on them. The phone was still ringing, Amy was still complaining, and the stress was too much for Josh.
"DONNA! Would you do your God damn job and answer the fucking phone!"
The room stopped. CNN was on mute.
Even Amy stared at Josh in horror.
Donna was too angry to be hurt. With one gesture, one finger in the middle of her hand, she responded to Josh and answered the phone, "Santos for America, Donna Moss speaking…." The chaos resumed.
Mrs. Santos Head turned instantly and focused on Donna who remained under her watchful eye.
No one reprimands Josh; they've been around him enough to know he is doing it to himself. Josh opened his mouth to apologize instead left the room to sulk in his self loathing.
Santos passed Josh at the doorway. Cheerily he asked, "Hey Chicken Fighter, do you think you can watch the kids tonight? There's a black tie fundraiser a few miles away. It'll be a drag, you want an out?"
Donna hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of her nose. She pushed past Santos not answering his question.
"MATHEW SANTOS YOU GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Helen screeched. She point to the second room and kicked anyone working in it out of it.
Santos looked desperately to the people around him. "What did I do?"
Most of the people shrugged and resumed their work, expect for Ronna. "I know what you did."
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Hell no."
"You're fired." He said out of fake spite.
She has long become immune to his empty threats. "You're not firing me."
"You're still letting me go in there blind!"
"Have a nice time, Boss."
Helen slammed the door behind her husband. He started to speak but her hand in front of his face stopped him. "It's her first day! She has been humiliated, insulted and verbally abused."
"Who?" He had just walked into the room. But he wouldn't allow any of those things happen to anyone on his staff.
"Donna Moss. Now sit down and read these two campaign plans." He did as instructed, Road the Victory really wasn't very good, read on its own flaws were easily found. However when it was compared to the far superior Without Killing Your Husband piece, Road to Victory was garbage, trite and simplistic.
"Um, I assume, Donna wrote Without Killing Your Husband?"
His wife nodded, "And I have a theory, wanna here it?" She told him and watched his eye grew wide.
He fumbled for his phone and called Will. "Did she write one of these campaign plans for Russell," the Congressmen asked panicked.
On the other end of the phone Will responded, "Yes, and if I followed it, none of us would be here today."
Santos swallowed, "do you know where she went?"
There was silence, "Yeah, she just called me five minutes ago. She's in the hotel bar ordering a whiskey sour and contemplating quitting."
"WHAT!" Santos ran out through the make shift headquarters in the hotel room.
Donna was swirling her drink around in the glass, "You know, if someone had 24 jobs in three years, what the natural assumption is?"
The bartender smiled, "she isn't good at her job."
Donna slammed her fist down, "Yes!" It was two thirty and she was done. One the Russell Campaign she was respected and valued, here on with Santos this treatment was unforgivable. She had never been treated like that, not by snotty Senators who demeaned her intelligence. Worst of all it had been by Josh! This man who shared Josh's name was not Her Josh. This man was different, cold and tired. Her Josh would never yell at her like that, use that word, and insult her. Of course maybe Her Josh would, after all he did tell Amy about Cliff. He was Her Josh back then. A horrifying thought entered her mind, maybe he was never Her Josh.
"Bud Light in a bottle." She heard the voice behind her demand. By the expression on the Bartender's face, she knew who it was with out looking.
"I am assuming your wife yelled at you?" Donna said looking into the glass.
Santos sat down next to her, "yeah a little, ok a lot."
"I don't need to be rescued."
"I'm rescuing myself. I here I could lose a pretty vital staffer."
"You mean babysitter." Donna hissed bitterly into her glass.
Santos scratched his head and took a swig of his beer. "Sorry about that, I wasn't sure if you had a dress or not."
"It's a campaign, I always have a dress."
Santos meekly stated, "Sorry."
Donna looked up at the TV above their heads, "You know, I think Vinick is against Bill 473. He hasn't said anything to support it or come out against it either. I think he might back it politically but detest it personally."
Santos shrugged, "it sounds like something he would do."
The sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, for a change of pace it was Santos who spoke first, "um I liked the plan you wrote for my wife. I thought the title was funny."
Donna shrugged, "I wanted it to stand out."
"You didn't need a flashy title for that.." Donna smiled at the complement, "Rumor has it you wrote when for Leo too." She nodded and Santos probed farther, "did you write one for me too?"
Donna started reading all the liquor bottles in front of her, "I wrote three."
Santos's eyebrows went up, "Geez, when did you write all this?"
She added, "I haven't slept in a year and I already read The Da Vinci Code and the new Harry Potter."
Santos huffed, "what did you think of the ending of the Harry Potter book?"
"Depressing."
"Yeah I mean when are Ron and Hermione going to get together, I've been waiting for this for four books now."
A smirk crossed Donna's lips and rather ironically she stated, "yeah, its really annoying waiting for two characters to get together."
Sensing the hostility, Santos returned to the original topic, "So you wrote three huh?"
"One to get you out of New Hampshire, in case I got a desperate phone call in the middle of the night. I didn't, by the way, so that's one is useless. One of my own planning from start to finish and another that blends your current plan and my plan." She added under her breath, "that one is the best."
"Well, give them to me and I'll check them out." He took one last gulp pf his beer and set it down on the table, "You know I've been meaning to find the Russell staffer who got him to join my debate. If Russell hadn't joined in the fun, Hoynes wouldn't either and I never would have gotten out of New Hampshire." He glanced at her, but she continued to reread the bottles. "I think it might have been the same person who pushed Hoynes out of the race."
Donna took the bait, "Hoynes was an accident, according to that staffer."
Santos shrugged, "Still I sure would like to thank her."
"You shouldn't, she didn't do it for you." Donna paused and finished her whiskey sour. "If you didn't get out of New Hampshire it would have killed his career. In case you didn't notice, his career is his life. Sure, he could have come back to the White House, but he would have been weakened and weakness it no taken lightly in DC. It's a shame really, he's the best."
Santos scoffed, "I really haven't seen it."
Donna shook her head, "No, he hasn't been on the top of his game. But he doesn't want you to get hurt, his is painfully overprotective sometimes. He won't ever make you take a pledge like the ethanol one or make you sacrifice your morals again. He doesn't want you to lose either." She recalled her the first year with Josh. "Last time it was different, he had Toby, CJ and…" Donna stopped speaking and suddenly she understood.
"You?" Santos offered.
Again she shook her head, "No. Hey can I hire someone? It's a good way to make up for that whole babysitter thing."
"Sure."
"Great in 24 hours you'll see a brand new Josh."
Santos stood up, "I'm looking forward too it."
Donna reread the bottles for a third time, somehow it was easier not to look at Santos as she made her confessions, "I was only giving Russell advice, if he took it well that was up to him. And if it helped a black horse campaign along the way, well I can't be responsible for any side effects of my advice. But you're welcome anyway."
He started out the bar door, stopped and turned around, "Hey, what happened a year ago, that made you stop sleeping."
Donna spun around in the stool, and met his gaze, "car accident."
Concern covered his face, "are you ok?"
"No, I haven't been the same since