Disclaimer: I do not own any characters associated with The West Wing.

Los Angeles, California

Sam Seaborn's Office

"What do you mean you guess we're going to D.C.?" Cathy said loudly. "We can't go to D.C. and you know it."

"It couldn't hurt to go check it out," Sam said. "Come on Cathy, you said it yourself that you miss D.C. and would rather be there than here."

"Sam, we can't go to D.C." Cathy paused with realization. "You're planning on taking the job aren't you?"

Judging by Sam's silence Cathy knew the answer. "Sam, are you out of your mind?"

"Cathy, I'm just thinking about it. End of discussion." He walked away from Cathy's desk and out of her office. He went into his office and shut the door.

Cathy was angry. She couldn't believe that man sometimes. She got up from behind her desk and barged into his office and slammed the door behind her. "Don't ever walk away from me like that. I can't believe that you are thinking of throwing away everything that we have built to go back to D.C."

"It will only be for a year, year and a half at most."

"This," Cathy held up her hands gesturing to her surroundings, "won't be here in a year and a half, Sam. What about me, Sam? What about everything we built. It took us a two years to get to where we are now and you want to throw it all away. You've built a life here, Sam. You have friends. You have a family. You have a great job which you love. You've always said that you want to run for office again someday. Well, this is the place to do it. People know you here. You have connections. Why go to D.C. and spoil it all. Don't they know what you have here?"

Sam didn't even get a chance to open his mouth to attempt to say anything in his own defense. "The reason they don't know is because you haven't told them have you? You haven't told them about the business or the speeches or the anything else. That's why Donna was so surprised when I answered the phone. They didn't know that we work together. They think that I'm just your assistant. Someone who you used to work with who needed a job that you hired because you're a nice guy. They don't know that I'm your business partner do they? They don't know that we write the speeches together? They don't know anything because you haven't told them."

Cathy was right. He hadn't told them anything. He had never really gotten the chance. Anytime he spoke to Josh, which wasn't much, they spoke about politics and the White House and the President. They never spoke about their personal lives or their jobs. In fact, he really hadn't spoken to anyone inside the White House since he left three years ago. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell them. I never really got the chance. Look, I promise that I will tell Josh everything when we get there. OK."

"Are you going to take the job?"

Sam looked around his office and decided that he liked what he saw. He liked having his own business, even if he was just consulting. "No, I'm not," Sam said. "I'll go there and listen to what they have to say. Then, I'll tell them all of the reasons why I can't take the job."

Cathy looked at him, "Good."

Just as she was about to walk out of the office, Sam said, "They want you too, you know that right?"

"They want me as you're assistant, someone who types out your notes and edits your speeches and answers your phone, not as a speechwriter." Cathy paused for a minute, "You better book the tickets to D.C."

"What's the..."

"It's in the top right hand draw in the phone book under airlines."

Sam opened the top right hand draw of his desk and in it he found the book that Cathy had been talking about. He found the number and dialed it, happy that he had been able to get an outside line without Cathy's help. "Hi, I need two tickets for Washington, D.C. for Wednesday morning. You need what?" Sam stood up and reached in his back pocket for his wallet. They asked for his credit card and something else that he wasn't quite sure what it was. He hadn't booked a flight in a long time. Cathy always did that or whatever assistant he had at that time. "So what is it again that you needed?"

Cathy laughed to herself at the sight of Sam trying to juggle the phone, his wallet, and a pen and paper all at the same time. She walked over and took the phone from Sam. "I'm sorry what is it that you need?" She gave the woman on the phone Sam's credit card number and all of the other information that was needed. After she booked the flight she said, "Sam, the flight is at eight in the morning on Wednesday. You need to be out of the apartment by five-thirty so we could be at the airport at six. Also you need to be packed and ready Tuesday night. Although you really should do it tonight that way you can go over everything on Tuesday just to make sure you didn't forget anything."

"Why do we have to leave so early?"

"Because they say that you always should be at the airport at least two hours before your flight, just in case anything goes wrong or something takes too long."

"But.."

"Sam, don't argue with me. How many times have we gone through this in the last year alone?"

"OK. Fine. I'll pack tonight, check everything tomorrow, and then wake up really early on Wednesday and be really grumpy from lack of sleep and torture you on the plane."

"So what's new?" Cathy said sarcastically as she walked out of Sam's office.

The White House

Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff

Josh Lymon sat at his desk at nine o'clock on a Monday night. He looked at his watch. It read 7:36. His watch really did suck. He thought back to the events of the day. About his meeting with the President in the morning, about the events on the Hill today, and about his conversation with Sam. He was really happy that Sam was coming back to work at the White House. He didn't sound too happy though. He also made sure that Cathy was coming. That was something that was very strange because when Cathy worked at the White House, she scared the crap out of him. "Hmm, that was weird."

"What was weird?" Donna asked. She had quietly walked into Josh's office to put the files that he needed for the next day on his desk.

"Nothing." Donna gave him a look telling him that she knew that he was lying. "Didn't you find it weird that Sam said that Cathy had to come? Or what about the fact that we didn't even know that Cathy was working with Sam until today? I don't know, something's off."

"What do you mean?" Donna said with annoyance. "You think that it's weird that Sam would want his assistant to come with him to D.C.? The assistant who probably has not only booked the flight already, but has instructed him on when to pack and what to bring. She probably makes sure that he eats and sleeps because if she doesn't do it than he'll forget to and be a wreck the next morning. I'll make you a bet that if she weren't around he'd fall apart and do you want to know why? Because he can't take care of himself!"

Man, Donna was pissed. Josh couldn't help but notice the similarities in the situations. "Are you talking about Sam and Cathy or about us?"

"I'm talking about both you and I and them. I'm talking about all of you men. Why is it that you can't learn to take care of yourselves? Learn to do the normal things that every other man in America can do like book an airline ticket or get an outside line or tell the time? Why is it that your assistants end up acting more like your mommies than your assistants?"

He knew that he frustrated her sometimes, but he never knew that she was this frustrated. "Donna, I'm sorry. I really am. Maybe I should learn to do things more on my own." He paused seeing that she wasn't buying it. "How about you teach me how to get an outside line so I can call Sam and find out when he's coming." Donna walked over to the phone and showed Josh exactly how get an outside line. Truthfully, he already knew. He just liked having her close. Once she left, he dialed Sam's number in hopes that they could have a long friendly chat like they used to when he was in D.C. "Sam. Hi, it's Josh. So did you book your flight? Yeah? What time? Eight o'clock? In the morning? What it Cathy trying to kill you? So what else is new? You have to go pack? Yeah, Cathy got to you too? Ok, I'll see you soon. Sam wait, who booked the tickets you or Cathy? Cathy? Ok, bye Sam."

Josh laughed to himself. Well, at least he wasn't alone. "Sam is as bad as I am," Josh thought, "but my assistant isn't anywhere near as scary. Not on an everyday basis anyway.

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