Title: Heart Condition Chapter Four
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the West Wing characters etc. Just trying to play a little, so please don't sue!
Author's Note: Thanks for the feedback. This chapter sets up the big Josh/Donna confrontation. It's coming next time out, I promise, so hang in there
Chapter FourMatt arrived on the floor Josh's hospital room was on and heard him bellowing all the way down the hall. Steeling himself for his campaign manager's bad temper, Matt hustled down the hallway to save whatever healthcare workers were trying to help Josh.
"GET OUT! I'm not going to eat anything on that tray, I don't need you to explain the two channel television to me and I will NOT get you the Congressman's autograph!" Josh shouted. A frightened looking young blonde woman scurried out of his room and almost tripped over Matt. She looked up at him, stricken, and a huge sob shook her shoulders before she ran down the hall with tears streaming down her face. Matt knocked lightly on the door.
"I said GET OUT!" Josh roared before seeing Matt looking at him with a mixture of amusement and trepidation. "Uh, sorry. I don't really do too well in hospitals." Josh whined, slumping down into the bed.
"So I gathered. You know you made that poor girl cry. Guess we can kiss her vote goodbye." Matt teased.
"D. C's primary doesn't count anyway, and it was about three months ago." Josh scoffed, with a wave of his IV hand.
"Counting us out already, Josh? Think the primaries are as far as we'll go? You get a few heart palpitations and now you're ready to call it a day?" Matt's tone was light, but his gaze was serious and steady. Josh met his eyes and shook his head.
"No, certainly not, sir. I still believe you will be President, even without me there to nag at you and give you bad advice. Rhonna and Ned run a great team and you have instincts better than any politician I've ever worked with." Josh answered, with a trace of wistfulness in his tone.
"And is that the way it's going to be? You've decided to quit? Not that I blame you at all, just want to know where we stand." Matt said with uncertainty all over his face. Josh had been the very center of the campaign, keeping all the wheels moving forward in ways the others did not even notice.
"I…I don't know. Dr. Newman is certainly high on a low stress lifestyle and I think we both know the campaign trail is anything but that." Josh couldn't quite meet Matt's eyes for fear he'd see the turmoil this health scare was causing him. Matt waited a few minutes, weighing his words carefully.
"You know Josh, it's been brought to my attention that you and I don't know each other all that well outside of campaign matters. But if you need an ear to listen while you think through a few things, I'm here." Josh looked up at his candidate with a wan smile.
"I appreciate it, Matt, I really do. I just don't even know where to begin right now."
"Well if it's any help, there's a beautiful blonde woman having a cup of coffee with my wife right now that rushed to your bedside the instant she heard you were here. Seems like she may have a pretty good ear too. She obviously cares about you very much. She ripped into Helen and I for not taking better care of you." Matt said with a trace of laughter in his voice.
"Donna's here?" Josh asked, shock filling his face. "How did she know? Is this in the press already?"
"Not as far as we've seen yet. Rhonna and Helen called her. I guess you listed her as your emergency contact. Is there something I should know about you and the Chicken Fighter? Not that I care, mind you. Just curious." Josh sighed heavily and stared out his window before answering.
"Uh…there's not a lot to say. Donna worked for me in the White House. We were pretty close."
"She worked with you and you made her your emergency contact over your mother? There's more to this story, Josh. It's none of my business, just seems like if she's rushing to your bedside something must be going on. She made a comment about not being sure whether she was fired for doing so." Matt tried not to push too hard, but wanted to be sure Josh was clear on things. He had taken an instant liking to Donna for her fierce tenacity and did not want to see her hurt.
"It's complicated, Matt. Donna and I … we were really close. I always thought it would be something, you know? But she left and it's been difficult since then." Josh still kept his eyes on the window rather than meeting the older man's eyes, knowing he'd call his bluff soon.
"Complicated, huh? But you still listed her as the person to contact if something happened to you. Why?" Matt pressed on, knowing that it really wasn't his business, but knowing someone had to do it before he came face to face with Donna.
"I don't know…I guess it was just habit. She took care of me after Rosslyn, almost more than my own mother did. She always took care of me, nagging me about what I ate, to take my medication, to exercise more. It was just what we did." Matt continued to stare at his campaign manager with disbelieving eyes.
"I don't buy that for a minute. She's downstairs waiting to see you, so you might want to do a little self examination before she comes up." Matt advised him. "We can talk about the campaign and things later. You have more important things to think about right now." With that, Matt left the room.
Josh stared out the window again, pondering what Matt had told him. The truth was that he had listed Donna as his emergency contact without thinking about it, just a force of habit. She was the only person who knew how to take care of him without driving him crazy. But if he was honest with himself, he knew that it went deeper than that and it scared him.
While Matt was up with Josh, Helen and Donna made their way to the hospital cafeteria for a cup of coffee and a change of scenery. They found a table in a deserted corner of the room and sat down. Donna pulled out her cell phone.
"I need to call Josh's mother and let her know what's going on. Do you mind?" Donna asked while checking her contact list for Sylvia's number. Helen stared at her in disbelief.
"You have Josh's mother on speed dial?" She asked incredulously. Donna nodded as she waited for Sylvia to answer her phone. She put a hand up and turned away from Helen as she heard the older woman's jovial voice.
"Hi Sylvia, it's Donna. I'm all right, how are you? Uh huh… it's been awhile. Busy… uh huh, well you know Josh, not too big on phone calls. Actually Sylvia, I'm calling about Josh. He's had a little bit of a heart problem, nothing too serious, but they're going to put in a pacemaker tomorrow morning. No, I don't think you need to hurry here. The doctor made it seem like it was a very routine procedure. Yes, Dr. Newman, the cardiologist who took care of him after Rosslyn. Uh huh, the bald one. Sure, I'll stay until you get here. It sounded like he should be home in a day or two, but Dr Newman wants him to stay home for a few weeks afterwards. Yes, I'm sure that will be really popular with Josh. The rules will need to be enforced again. Umm… I'm not sure what Josh will want. I'll have him call you in a bit, ok? All right, see you tomorrow, Sylvia. I missed you too. Bye." Helen did her best not to eavesdrop, but even one-sided the conversation was fascinating. Donna was talking to Josh's mother like she was her own mother, something that as a woman who'd been married for many years had never felt with her mother in law. The many mysteries of the relationship between Josh Lyman and the woman before her just kept growing.
"Sorry about that, but I knew Josh wouldn't call her. He doesn't like to worry her, though that's pretty much impossible. Sylvia Lyman has spent every day since Josh was shot convinced the phone would ring telling her that her son was dead. It doesn't help that he never calls her and almost never goes to see her. Another thing sacrificed for national politics." Donna remarked with a touch of bitterness. After the events of the day, the sacrifices they had made for their careers and for others' careers seemed very steep.
"Good thing she has you to keep her up to date on her son's activities." Helen joked, trying not to be obvious how curious she was about their relationship.
"Well that used to be, but not so much lately. I haven't talked to her much since I left the White House. It got too hard, trying not to put her in the middle." Donna seemed to think Helen knew more about the situation than she did, which was getting her nowhere.
"Ok, I've been trying really hard not to stick my nose in your business, but I just don't understand. What are you to Josh?" Helen asked bluntly. Donna let out a harsh, humorless laugh.
"Well that's really the $64,000 question these days, isn't it? The short answer, I guess, is that we used to work together in the White House and were friends."
"Must be more than friends if you are the person he listed to contact in case of emergency. Otherwise why wouldn't he list his mother, who by the way none of us knew even existed." Helen continued to press, despite Donna's obvious attempt to put her off.
Donna opened her mouth to defend herself, but was interrupted by the reappearance of Matt Santos. He pulled a chair over to their table and sat down heavily, the stress of the day catching up with him.
"How is he?" Donna asked nonchalantly, though her concern was clear in her eyes.
"Cranky and a little bit depressed, I think. When I got to his room, he sent a nurse from his room in tears. I think he was glad to hear you were here, though he was surprised to hear it." Matt attempted to lead her into further comment. Donna avoided the searching looks both Matt and Helen were sending her way.
"He shouldn't be. He's the one who made me his emergency contact. You should both go. I'll stay with Josh tonight. His mother is coming in the morning. You have campaign commitments I'm sure that Josh wouldn't want you to miss." Donna instructed, falling into her administrative mode.
"What about you? Russell won't be happy about you being here." Helen spoke with a heavy disdain for her husband's political opponent.
"Judging by the number of messages that seem to have accumulated on my cell phone, I'm quite certain that he and Will are both pretty pissed. Some things are more important than politics." Donna spoke with a sudden tremor in her voice that made Helen reach out to squeeze her hand gently in encouragement. Donna cleared her throat uncomfortably and turned to Matt. "You had probably better check in with your headquarters about whether this has been leaked and make a statement. I don't know how many people would really care, but give Will a minute and I'm sure he'll find a way to use it against the whole Santos campaign." Donna's voice was business-like, but held a bitterness that was shocking to both Matt and Helen.
"Wow! You tell it like it is, Miss Moss. I wouldn't expect such candor from the Russell spokesperson." Helen remarked with a degree of admiration in her voice. Matt looked uneasy at her clear betrayal of campaign allegiances.
"I think when I check my voice mail, I'll find I don't have a job anymore. And if by some miracle I do still have a job, I think I've worked my last day for Bob Russell. Josh is going to need someone to keep track of him when he gets out of here. Following physician instructions is not his forte. Of course that is assuming he'd want my help." Donna finished uncertainly.
"I think Josh is the only one who can answer that. He's expecting you." Matt replied. Donna sat frozen for a moment, looking more frightened than she had the entire time they'd spent with her. Taking a deep breath, she stood and gathered her purse to leave.
"Ok. You really should get back. I'll call in the morning with the updates on how things go." She promised and turned to leave. Helen and Matt watched her leave in silence. After she had disappeared down the hall towards the elevator, Helen turned to Matt.
"So what's the story with those two?" She asked with an arched eyebrow. Matt shook his head in confusion.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing. Josh tried to say they were just friends, but that doesn't make sense with his reaction to her name or the way she stormed in to that emergency room."
"I really like her, she seems like she'd be good for Josh. If things work out, I think you should hire her. She's smart and she knows what makes Josh tick. That would be nice to have around." Matt smiled at his wife's comments.
"We'll see. We better get back and make a statement like she suggested. Rhonna's probably going crazy by now." He suggested and took his wife by the hand.