"Sorry."
"Matt's not here. I'm trying to get Helen's medical records and then Joey's gonna put a poll in the field; see how bad we got hurt."
"What do you want me to do?"
He could think of several things that would be suitable. "You're the expert. You tell me."
"Put someone on air. Fight back."
"With what? We don't even know if it's true or not." He hung up, satisfied with getting a record faxed to him. "There actually is something we need to discuss."
"What?"
"Shut the door." She got up and shut the door, folding her arms in front of her. "I'm proud of you."
"Josh..."
"That being said, I am still furious with you. If Matt feels he needs you, if he can trust you, that's fine, you stay."
She nodded. "I didn't want to take the job. I told him no but he hired me anyway."
"If I were him, I woulda made you sign something to say you'd be here until the end of the campaign or at least the next day."
"If you're worried about me jumping ship, don't. I only left as a last resort. And if we're finished here, I'm gonna see if I can get something to fight back with."
"We're not finished here. Two more things. I don't trust you. Maybe I will someday but it will be a very long time before it happens. And this crap about I never gave you a chance is ridiculous. You had more opportunities than Margaret, than Carol, than Cathy or Bonnie or any other assistant you want to name."
"Fine. Anything else?"
"Yeah. As angry as I am, we have to work together. I'm calling a truce, at least at the office." She nodded, opening the door and leaving.
"Mr. McGarry wants you," one of the assistants said.
Josh went to Leo's office. "Helen's medical records are on their way in."
"Close the doors." He closed them. "What was the first thing you asked the congressman?"
"C'mon, Leo, I just got out of a major ice storm with Donna and I need to call Joey. I asked him how he didn't tell me."
"Maybe because it was personal, Josh. Maybe just maybe he wanted to protect his family from something horrible and not for once did he think it would come back to bite him in the ass. You remember Claypool?"
"Yeah." It was their second year in office; Sam was still there and Donna had been Donna.
"I know what he's going through, Josh. You said the exact same words to me when the pills and alcohol came out because of Lillianfield."
"I did not. I looked at you and I said we'd get through this and we did, barely." He remembered Mallory getting harassed on the streets, remembered wanting to punch Claypool...he would have if Sam hadn't been there. He remembered the look on Margaret's face when she realized what Leo would go through. "I'll apologize when he gets back." He looked at his friend. "May I go now? I've got another apology to make."
"Don't ever do that again, Josh. He already lived through that hell once and now they're forcing him to do it again." He nodded. "Yeah, get outta here." He went back to his office, grabbed a frame off his desk, a badge, and went to Donna's office next door.
She looked up at the sound of footsteps. Her eyes were red. "What do you want?"
"This is yours. You left it when...you left it." He handed her the 'Bartlet for America' badge. "And I'm not sure if you'd want this or not, but I have another copy." He handed her the picture of the senior staff: C.J., Toby, Sam, him, and Donna.
She nodded, taking both objects. "I cried for a week after I left. Not that you'd care or anything."
"I carried that badge around in my shirt pockets until today."
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I'm sorry I'm such an ass. Can we just agree to disagree? I mean, there's a lot of stupid stuff we both did; we can't expect it to be all better in a day, right?" She nodded, wiping her eyes. "Don't launch the attack. You should go home. I'm going to call Joey and look over some personnel files anyway."
"Why?"
"The congressman doesn't like negative attack ads. And Helen's records are none of our business. Tomorrow, if things haven't died down, we'll decide what to do together, with Leo and, if he's back, the congressman."
She nodded. "You have a bottle of aspirin in your office if you need it." She gathered her things and left for the day. He smiled, going back to his office.
Annabeth stood in Leo's office, takeout in hand, just watching. "Leo?" She finally asked quietly.
"Oh, hey, I didn't see you there. Come in."
She put his food on his desk. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine."
"How is the congressman?"
"Not so good." She sat down, not knowing what to say or to ask, knowing that he wasn't okay. "I'm sure you heard about the scandal I created for the president a few years ago."
"Sierra Tuscon." Even if she hadn't heard, the first few weeks had been full of reminders.
"Yeah. It just feels like the same thing, all over again."
"Are you okay? Do you want to talk? Do I need to call someone? Mallory or Margaret?" She asked, instantly worried.
"No. No."
"Okay."
"You sound just like Margaret."
"I'll take that as a compliment." She knew how fond he was of the other woman, considered her family not just an assistant. They smiled at each other.