DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or dialogue taken directly from the show. I do not claim to be a political expert, I am far from that, I am a biology major. Therefore I would like to preface this story with the notion I wrote this story out of pure love of the show and the characters. Thank you & enjoy.

The West Wing

"Dum vita est spes est"

("While there is life there is hope")

Part 1: Tuesday, November 16, 1999

Congress was frantic and everyone was running around crazy. We had just returned from a three-day weekend for Veteran's Day and it was the night before the vote on a piece of legislation that had been trying to work its way through Congress for some time. Everyone else was freaking out, but not my brother and his staff – no, we were still trying to dig ourselves out of a very deep ditch as far as debt in education; there was simply no money left to give our schools and this was a problem. Along with that Maryland was proposing a $30 million dollar security system that would monitor her open water borders. It was going to be the day from hell.

8:45am.

"Mack, what's my schedule looking like today," my oldest brother, Alexander "Alex" Whitman, Jr. and Senator of Maryland, asked as we rushed into his office at the Capitol.

"It's busy. You have a meeting with Senator Kane at 9:15, a brief breakfast with Senator Johnson afterwards, Vice President Hoynes wants to see you about the education debt, and I can't find anyone to listen to me about the security proposal."

"Mack, you do know that this proposal is completely insane, right?" he sat down in his chair and looked up at me – being ten years my senior he always treated me more like a daughter than sister.

"Yeah, but why not fight for it? Maybe all the states that are exposed to open water could benefit. How great would that be if our office was the one that cranked out one of the most brilliant bills ever?"

"It would be nice, but it's not going to happen," he glanced over reading glasses and then continued writing.

"Well, what do you want me to do? Tell the committee to disband? Who do you want me to talk to!" I put my hands on my hips and gave him an annoyed tone.

He stopped writing, removed his glasses and then stood. Now my brother is not extremely tall, about 6'1 but being 5'3, he's a giant. He looked down at me with his big blue eyes sending a telepathic signal that I had to come to connect with: "Mack, talk to the White House."

"Who? They're all running around frantic about the passing of the Energy Conservation Bill – "

"Talk to Josh Lyman – "

"No!" I yelled and then realized my reaction. "I mean, no."

"Yes, Josh and my office have a really good rapport, he'll at least listen. That's all we want, is someone to listen and to have it somewhere in the back of the head so that one day when the President or some senior staff member randomly says, 'so how's our homeland security going?' Josh will be able to say, 'you know what, a while back Senator Whitman's office had this proposal, that is absurd, but possibly with tweaking could go somewhere'. Thus we get the ball rolling and in the end are responsible for one of the greatest bills ever created. Do you see this McKayla?"

I paused and then looked at my feet.

"Yeah. I'll go call the White House."

"Thank you," Alex sat back down.

I headed for the door, but he called back.

"Mack."

"Yeah?"

"If they can get us in, leave your stuff with Mary and you go talk to Josh."

"You really hate me, Alex," I sighed.

"It will make you a stronger politician."

"Oh no, after you, I'm done."

"Not if I plan on running for President some day," he smiled and with that I left.

"Hello?" a peppy familiar voice answered the phone.

"Hey Donna, it's Mack Adams."

"Mack, hey how are you? One moment – hey Toby, Josh is looking for you," I could hear her chatting to Toby Ziegler. "Sorry, what's up?"

"Nothing much, how are you?"

"Ugh, things are crazy. Everyone's panicking about the vote tomorrow."

"Yeah, it's the same here. Anyways, I was wondering if Josh has any free time today, I need to speak with him as soon as possible."

"Sorry Mack he's booked solid."

"Donna, as a friend, could you shift some things around?"

Pause.

"Just Josh?"

"Just Josh," I responded hopefully.

"Hold on," I waited for about five minutes. When Donna got back on the phone she sounded almost winded. "Okay, you're in, do you know when you'll be stopping by?"

"Um," I was shocked that we got in. "In about two hours?"

"That's fine, I'll give him a heads up."

"Thank you, thank you very much, Donna. I owe you."

"It's no problem. Hey, Mack, I sorta had to lie to get you in. Right now Josh thinks you're a swing vote and if you didn't mention that I lied to him, that'd be great."

"Of course, Donna, you have my word."

"Thanks. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Donna."

11:02am.

The West Wing was busy; you could just feel the tension in the air like humid fog. It had been about two years since my last visit to the White House. Mostly everything was as I remembered it except the change of staff. I had never visited during President Bartlet's term. But still, the layout was the same.

I meandered through looking for Donna. I wasn't 100 sure of where Josh's office was. But luckily Donna is tall and blonde and not easy to miss. Clad in a black skirt, baby blue blouse and black raincoat, and black sidesaddle bag with my life stashed inside, I rushed up to Donna.

"Donna!"

"Hey. Mack, how are you?" she beamed as I gave her a hug.

"Okay, where am I meeting Josh?"

"Well he's with Toby right now, but he'll meet you in the Roosevelt Room in about two minutes. You remember where it is?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Sorry I can't chat, busy, busy," she smiled.

"Hey, Donna, where's CJ?" I called after her.

"Um, press briefing, she'll be out in a few minutes," Donna smiled and disappeared into her cubicle.

I began walking towards the briefing room in hopes of seeing CJ as she walked out and also to avoid the Communications Director, Toby Ziegler's office. Just as I was about to round the corner past Leo's office, I heard a loud call.

"Mack! Ahhh!"

I turned with a big smile and was swept up in a warm embrace by CJ Cregg.

"Oh my God, I haven't seen you in forever. How have you been?" CJ began the conversation.

"I've been okay, busy, but okay," I hated giving the same answers repeatedly.

"They got you running around crazy up at the Hill?"

"Yeah, my brother, he knows he owns me," I gave a sarcastic smile.

"It's okay, he's just being a brother. So tell me, how's the love life? Last I heard you were dating the senator of Ohio?"

"Just rumors," I smiled. "I've been single for quite some time."

"Getting lonely?"

"Who has time to be lonely when you've got a brother who is a senator and a father who wants you to do his medical paperwork on the side?"

"That's true," CJ checked her watch. "Listen, I gotta go, but we've got to do lunch soon. Remember to give me a call and we'll chat and eat. You have to remember because I won't," she began walking away. "It was great seeing you, bye Mack!"

"Bye CJ," I muttered as she disappeared out of sight.

I sighed as another good White House friend wandered in and then out of my life. Before entering the Roosevelt Room, I took a deep breath and prepared to meet Josh head-on, but instead I found Leo sitting alone at the table. He had a cup of coffee and was busy looking over a thick folder.

"McKayla, I thought I heard your voice," he said as he looked up and removed his reading glasses.

"Hey Leo," I walked over and gave him a dutiful kiss on the cheek. "How are you?"

"Not bad, not bad. You're looking good," he said with a smile as he eyed me up and down. "They're not running you too far into the ground up at the Hill, are they?"

"Nah, nothing I can't handle. You know me, Leo, I love to play with fire the night before a big vote," I smiled and then leaned on the wall.

"You look beat, kid, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just can't wait for Thanksgiving."

"Yeah, I know how you feel. So what brings you down to the White House? Is everything okay?" Leo frowned and then offered me a seat across from him.

"Everything's fine, I'm just here to talk to Josh," I explained as I draped my jacket over the back of the chair and sat.

"You? Talk to Josh? This ought to be good," he chuckled.

"Yeah, tell me about it," I rolled my eyes.

"What is it with you two?" Leo leaned back in the chair.

"I don't know. He just hates me, that's all."

"Have you ever talked about it?" Leo urged.

"Nah, it's just a thing, and I don't think it's getting any better."

"Leo," Josh stood in the doorway and looked thoroughly surprised.

"Hey Josh," Leo sat upright. "Josh, do you mind if I sit in on this meeting?"

"No, of course not," Josh seemed tense. Our eyes met and we both stared each other down. There was another man behind Josh; he was good looking – tall, brown hair, blue eyes, square jaw, a perfect poster boy for Ralph Lauren. "Mack." Josh shook my hand. It was cold and clammy. "Mack I would like you to meet Sam Seaborn, Deputy Communications Director. Sam, Mack Adams. I think you two have met before?"

I frowned as I shook Sam's hand.

"I think up at a rally in New Hampshire during the Bartlet Campaign?" Sam responded.

"Oh yes, I remember, just briefly," I smiled and then sat.

Josh sat at the table while Sam retreated into the corner of the room. He seemed to be acting merely as Josh's bodyguard. Josh began the speech I expected about swinging in favor of Bartlet and supporting the bill.

"So Maryland is a swing vote. Okay … Why? No, don't answer that. I'll tell you why you shouldn't be one and should vote in favor of the bill. Because if you don't you will screw yourselves for however long we're in office. And I don't just mean if your nephew little Johnny Appleseed wants a photo with the President, we're going to say no. No, I mean much more.

"If you say no to this bill then you will be jumping off the bandwagon and believe me, in this case, jumping off is bad. Because if you leap then you're not only going to be left behind and out of the loop, you'll be caught up in one of those little net-things that hang off the back of the wagon – you know like in Fievel Goes West – and you'll be dragging behind the bandwagon as long as it keeps going. You'll have dust in your face, it will become hard to breathe and work and function. And the next time you come to us for extra money, say for education, we'll say shove it up your ass, and say 'how does it feel now?' So are you still swinging?"

For a moment I just stared at Josh. My gaze went to Sam who was speechless and Leo whose jaw was on chest. I kept a hard stare.

"You're right," I said softly. "Whatever were we thinking?" I let my eyes wander to Leo. "We support the President and plan to show that through our approval of this bill."

"Really?" Josh was floored. "That – that's it? You're in?"

"Of course," my eyes rested on Josh again.

"Well, that was – that was simple and amazing. If there isn't anything else I have – " Josh stood.

"There is," I opened my briefcase and slapped a bound stack of papers on the table. "This here is a $30 million dollar proposal for a new security system in order to monitor Maryland's borders that are exposed to open water – "

"You're joking right?" he turned and seemed ready to leap off a bridge.

"Josh," Leo put his hand up in order to calm him.

"Sorry, continue," he put his hand on his forehead – it was a long day in the White House also.

"This proposal is completely idiotic," I said bluntly, all heads turned. "We know this proposal has not a prayer's chance to get passed as is, but what we want is to get the ball rolling on something. We know that even with revisions this probably won't get passed in my brother's term, but say we cut the budget in half and start small; there could be a possibility. I'll quote my brother on this one here. He said "all we want, is someone to listen and to have it somewhere in the back of the head so that one day when the President or some senior staff member randomly says, 'so how's our homeland security going?' Josh will be able to say, 'you know what, a while back Senator Whitman's office had this proposal, that is absurd, but possibly with tweaking could go somewhere.'" He said Josh because I thought I was only meeting with him.

"So, that is all I have to say about this right now. You're busy, I'm busy, so I'll be going," I stood and pushed the proposal towards Josh. "I don't think there is anything else that needs further discussion. Good day gentlemen."

"Wait," Josh called. I turned and looked at him. "Can I talk to you a sec, in private?"

"Sure," I replied and held the door open for Sam and Leo. "Nice seeing you, Sam. Bye Leo." I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "What's up Josh?" I shut the door.

"It's funny," he chuckled, but I knew he wasn't finding anything amusing. "It's funny, I knew as soon as I consented to seeing you that this wasn't about the vote."

"How so?" I raised and eyebrow.

"You were never a swing vote. You were always for Bartlet. You always will be."

"You figured me out, Josh, congrats," I said coldly.

"Why do you dislike me so much?" he switched gears.

"Um, I never said anything about disliking you, I think it was you who began the whole feud or whatever this is."

"No," he smiled. "No, I never initiated anything. I thought ever since grad school you just flat out hated me."

"You mean after you hit on me and found out I was your law professor's daughter? No, you were the one that put up the defenses and resented me from then on, Josh."

"No actually. I never resented you. I was actually still pretty hung up on you for some time. But you just kept giving me the cold shoulder … "

"So what are you saying Josh?"

"I think we've just been letting an awkward situation develop into mutual dislike."

"Very insightful of you, Josh," I turned and left the room.