Title: Peripheral Vision

Author: Tinkerbell99

Rating: T

Disclaimer: The characters are not my creation, they belong to someone else.

Summary: And so it was that Donna joined the campaign, but what else happened that day? Told through the voices of those on the outside of the main event.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! This should explain the kitchen thing…

POV: Leo

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"-and I wanted to sit down with you for a few minutes before we meet with Ed and Larry about the agenda for the week's review meeting." I try not to wince in anticipation. The Governor has already made it abundantly clear he isn't fond of any meeting, and I'm not looking forward to the reaction of this statement. Unfortunately, it's pretty much as I'd expected.

"You want me to…Just so I'm clear on this, Leo. You and I are having a meeting…to prepare for a meeting…about yet another meeting?" I nod and begin to speak, but before I can, he cuts me off. "Leo! What the hell kind of arrangement is this? If this is how we spend our time during the…" Aaaaaand we're off.

I've known Jed Bartlet for a good number of years, and in that time I've learned a few things, one such thing being that it's not a good idea to interrupt the Governor when he's in such a mood. Of course, he's been in exactly this type of mood for the last month, so the windows of opportunity for speech are dwindling and we have a potentially major event tonight.

"Governor?"

" - meeting after meeting where nothing even remotely vital to the -" Usually he'd be waving his arms around by now.

"Governor?"

" - and all they keep telling me is to have patience because some damn numbers I don't even understand tell them that -" Well, we do have finger pointing and screaming.

"Governor?"

" - an economist for God's sake! If I can't decipher them I don't know how we expect average Joe American to know why I'm at the -" There goes the arm waving.

"Governor?"

" - instead of the VFW hall or meeting with mothers on welfare!" And now he's kicked over my trash can.

As the crumpled papers and fast food wrappers flutter to the floor, I decide it may be better to ride out this storm in silence. Unfortunately, Toby appears just then, hovering in the doorway behind the Governor. I try to catch his eye and clue him in to the fact that this may not be the best time to bring up this morning's gaffe, but Jed takes my aversion of eyes as an invitation to turn on yet another victim.

"And here we have another one," he cries, waving in the general direction of Toby. "Am I late for another meeting?"

Caught off guard, Toby manages to mumble, "No, Governor," and clear his throat. "I was just looking for Leo. Mrs. Landingham wasn't at her desk, and I - "

"Whatever. There were three people in the room, so I just assumed." Jed snatches his coat off a folding chair and whips it over his head. "I'm meeting Abby for lunch. Back in an hour." And with that, the candidate slams the door to the Nashua office in search of his wife and hopefully a stiff drink. A young blonde woman carrying a crate of files narrowly avoids being run over as he marches into the street.

"Did I come at a bad time?" That would be a stupid question, but I'm not sure Toby's ever even seen the Governor at what could be called a good time.

"Look at the trash on my floor and you tell me." Is Josh talking to that blonde?

Silence.

Oh, God, he is. Great. Nothing I can do about that now. "What is it, Toby?"

"About the problem this morning…"

"Yeah, we need to try not to do that again." I can't seem to find the revised schedule for this afternoon. Wasn't it under the brown clipboard? "Margaret!" Maybe she took it. "Anyway it looks as though there might be a silver lining. We'll get more exposure this evening and -"

"Yes, Leo?" Margaret appears in the doorway, holding a brown cardboard box full of…campaign badges? Wonderful. So help me God, if she starts talking to me about pointpeople and overflow…

"Margaret, I need the revised schedule for this afternoon."

"Looks to me like you need a new trash can, Leo."

"The schedule, Margaret." Honestly, the things she finds to focus on…

"It's taped on your computer screen."

"No it's not! I would have noticed it if it was on my -" Oh. So it is. "Well why the hell did you put it there?"

"So you wouldn't lose it, Leo."

"You didn't think I might want to, I don't know, use my computer?"

"No." She shifts the box and innocently shakes her head.

Sadly, she's right. I'm not even sure the thing is plugged in. "All right, then. Go…do a job…and stop talking about overflow! You're scaring the volunteers."

With one last look at the crumpled papers strewn about my office, she leaves us in relative peace.

Thank God she's efficient, 'cause she's driving me crazy.

Meanwhile, Toby has been pacing around my cubicle. No easy feat, since he has maybe a five foot by five foot area to work with. I right the trash can Jed kicked over and try to refocus. "I'm sorry. What was it you wanted?" Why is the can crooked?

"The problem this morning?"

Jed dented my trash can. Dented it.

"Right. And I don't think it necessarily was one." Let's see, we need to be on site tonight at 5:15, so we need to get the Governor moving by 5:00...

"You don't think it was a problem?"

…4:30 to be on the safe side…"No, like I said, it's a larger event now. Course we're under some pressure as far as time goes, but…" Was I supposed to call Jenny this morning?

"So, what you're telling me is that if we keep screwing up, it'll be good for the campaign? That's fantastic, truly fantastic!" My head whips up as the trash can crashes against my desk (again), this time courtesy of one Toby Ziegler.

Time to put the schedule away. I take a good look and notice for the first time that Toby looks as tired and old as I feel. I can only imagine what a cranky Toby must be like for Sam to work with. And CJ.

I'm not sure I want to, but someone needs to intervene here before he starts kicking people as well as wastebaskets. "The thing this morning. It wasn't CJ's fault."

He spins in mid-pace. "I know it wasn't her fault! Everybody in the building knows it wasn't her fault!"

"Good, cause, you know it was the Governor who made the decision to stay with the guy. If you're going to need to blame someone, you should -"

"It's nobody's fault, Leo! We shouldn't need to blame anyone! He missed the press event because he was sitting in a guy's kitchen. The man lost his job and as a consequence of that he is losing his home." He stops pacing and sits suddenly on a scarred leather couch, running his hand over his head before he speaks. "He missed a staged press event today because he was helping a real man pack his entire life into boxes. He missed a press event because he called eight different people trying to find the guy a job."

I can only nod. "Yes, he did."

"He missed the press event today because he's the perfect man for the job." He pauses before continuing, and when he does he's startlingly quiet. "He's going to lose the election, Leo. And it's because he's the perfect man for the job." I wish I could disagree.

"It frustrates him, Toby. He sees the need, he sees the possibilities, and he thinks we're restraining him."

"I think if he'd look around, he'd realize nobody was restraining him."

"I know that. But he isn't used to campaigns. He likes to roll up his sleeves and make a difference."

"By spending an entire morning in one man's kitchen? One man - in a country of millions just like him?"

"He hasn't seen the big picture, Toby. That this -" I motion around me "-is a means to an end. When he gets back, we start again."

"And then what?"

"I don't know. But we begin with tonight."

"You gotta sit down with him, Leo. He needs to know that the campaign comes first. If we don't get the chance to govern, there are gonna be a lot more kitchens just like that one for him to sit in."

"I know that."

"Okay." He looks around and stands. "Sam's rewriting right now. I'm looking at his draft in a few minutes."

"Good, keep me posted."

"Anyway…Leo…I know it wasn't her fault."

"Does she know that?"

Toby sighs and heads out, bellowing for Sam. I pick up the wastebasket only to realize it's now worthy of being placed in a trash can itself.

Fantastic.

"Margaret!"

"Yes, Leo."

"I need a new trash can."