Figuring Them Out

Leo had been wandering around the bullpen aimlessly for the past few minutes. He found himself standing in Josh's office. Josh stood when he realized that Leo was there, but Leo motioned for him to sit down. Leo himself took a seat in one of Josh's chairs.

"How's Sam doing?" Leo found no reason to dance around the point. "I'm worried about him."

"You and me both." Josh said.

"I found him sleeping here this morning. I tried to talk to him." Leo thought back to his earlier conversation with Sam.

"Josh told me what happened... with your parents. Sam... " Leo started.

"Yeah? "

"My father had affairs. "

"Did he? "

"Yeah. "

"My father didn't pick up a cocktail waitress, Leo. He's had a woman in an apartment in Santa Monica... "

"Yeah? "

"...for 28 years. " Sam seemed almost defeated as he talked. He was most definitely exhausted.

"How'd he get caught? " Leo asked.

"My father it turns out is stupider than the guy in Spain. So, the real question is how did he not get caught until now? "

"Yeah. " Leo sighed.

"Anyway, I'll see you at the staff meeting later." Sam left Leo's office, but Leo couldn't leave it at that.

"Sam." Leo called down the hall after him. Leo joined Sam in the hall, and they walked together.

"Yeah? " Sam asked.

"When did you find out? "

"Tuesday. "

"You slept here the last three nights? "

"No. " Sam said firmly.

"Seriously, man, go home. " Leo sounded more concerned than a boss should.

"Life goes on, Leo. Certainly the Federal Government does, so...Thanks, but let's drop it, okay?"

"Yeah. "

"So." Leo started, both he and Josh cleared their minds to focus on each other. "He's taking it pretty hard."

"Yeah. But how would you take it if you found out your father had another family on the side? I think he's entitled."

"Yeah."

"He was already angry with me, you know." Josh said. He looked at Leo. Leo could see the look of regret on Josh's face.

"Juliana?" Leo asked. He didn't need to ask, he already knew the answer. The tension between Josh and Sam had been unmistakable. It hadn't come to blows, but Leo and others had picked up on the fact that Sam wasn't speaking to Josh and when he was it was cold and calculated.

Josh nodded and shook his head.

"How is she taking this?" Leo asked.

"Geez, Leo. Sometimes it's hard to remember that they're related to each other. For all of Sam's moodiness, sleeplessness and passive aggressive anger, Jules is full of… apathy and indifference. It's like she could care less." Josh sat back in his chair for a moment and thought about his conversation with Juliana. He had been apprehensive to bring it up, especially since Sam had told him and not her, but he wanted to make things easier for her if she was reacting like Sam was.

"Hey." Josh said when Juliana opened the door. She took note of his jeans and sweatshirt, knowing that he had taken the time to change and get out of "work mode" before coming over.

"Hi. Come on in." Juliana smiled. She closed the door behind him.

Josh couldn't help but notice the piles of papers and memos covering the coffee table and couch. Jules had walked back to the couch and curled up between two piles of papers.

"I just need to finish this up. It'll only take a minute." Juliana assured Josh. It was common practice between the two not to talk about work or engage in work when the other was around. It helped keep the peace. Josh didn't sit, he stood between the coffee table and the fireplace, the fire that was lit toasting his legs. Hands shoved in his pockets, he rocked back and forth on his feet.

"Sam told me about your dad." Josh decided now was the time to bring it up.

"Yeah?" Juliana asked without looking up.

"Yeah. I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything." Juliana pulled all her papers together and put them away in her bag. She rose off the couch placing things around the apartment, not looking at Josh. Josh stared at Juliana, not sure how to approach the conversation he had started.

"Jules, Sam is really disturbed over this. If you need to talk…"

"There's nothing to talk about, Josh." Juliana had turned to look at Josh. In her face, Josh didn't see the defensiveness that he thought would accompany those words. He wasn't too sure what he saw, her expression was unreadable. "I'm not Sam. I'm okay."

"But your parents….your dad…"

"My father was having an affair and maintained a secret life, really a secret family, for most of my life. How is this any of my business?"

"Jules, come on!"

"Josh, he did what he needed to do to make himself happy. He was a good father to me. I never felt neglected or unloved. I feel a little let down that he didn't tell us sooner, considering we're all now adults, but it's not my business. This should really be between my mom and dad. It doesn't affect me."

"We could sit down and talk about it."

"Or we could, you know, not sit and talk about it. I'm fine."

"Yeah."

"I've dealt with it."

"How long have you known?" Josh asked.

"Since Friday."

"During the panel discussion?"

"Yeah."

"You knew before Sam?"

"Yeah."

"You didn't tell him?"

"It wasn't my place to. Our dad is the one with the secret life, the one who's been having an affair. It was his job."

"You found out first? Why?"

"Yes. I'm the easy one. I can see the facts and not get overly emotional."

"How did you find out?" Josh prodded.

"It's not important."

"It is."

"It's really not." Juliana reassured him. "Really, Josh, if you're going to badger me all night about this, you should leave."

"I'll drop it." Josh was confused by her reaction and lack of emotions, but he decided that leaving was not what either of them wanted.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Juliana asked nonchalantly.

"It was uncanny, Leo. She didn't seem to care at all."

"We all deal with things differently." Leo imparted. "You seeing a lot of her?"

"Yeah. She's unbelievable. I though it would be…I don't know…She does the cutest…" Josh started to explain.

"No. Stop. I'm already sorry I asked." Leo said lightly with a chuckle. It was good to see Josh happy about something other than beating down Republicans. "Just watch it with Sam. He was your friend first."

"Yeah. I'll take care of him." Josh said reassuringly as Leo reentered the bullpen and disappeared into a sea of staffers.

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