About a week later, the two parties sat on opposing sides facing each other. Both sides waited in quiet tension, remaining silent until the other acted in desperation to talk. From time to time someone would shift in their seat or rifle through a folder, causing squeaks and crackles to fill the room.
The tension was momentarily broken as the Republicans began whispering and murmuring amongst each other and behind strategically placed folders. The white house and senior staff had been working furiously on the budget negotiations for weeks and now it was all coming to a head.
It had been especially stressful for Josh and Juliana. There were many days were both worked tirelessly against each other all day and then came home to each other. It took all the self restraint Jules had not talk about the budget negotiations and it took all the self control Josh had not to yell at Jules about Republicans and their idiocy. The night before had been the one exception to their rule about not talking about work at home.
Josh rolled over and traced gentle circles on Juliana's bare shoulders. He could feel the tension that still resided in her shoulders.
"Tomorrow's the day, huh?" Josh said quietly.
"Uh huh." Jules replied groggily, she was half asleep and secretly hoped that Josh would leave her alone so she could go the other half of the way.
"Hey, what happens if…" Josh said. His voice sounded oddly unsure. This prompted Juliana to come closer to consciousness and roll over to face Josh.
Jules soothingly placed her lips on Josh's, savored a kiss and then cut his off to explain. "Hey, don't worry. Things will be fine and soon this pressure and strain will be over. The way I see it, you've got a good plan. Knock it down to a 5 cut and I think you're bound to have a deal. You've done good work."
Josh took in Juliana's words and silently sealed their conversation with a kiss. Both Josh and Jules quickly drifted off to sleep.
Now Juliana and Josh sat on opposite sides of the conference table, their respective sides seemingly not agreeing as they had once hoped they might.
"I'm sorry," the speaker said. "I can't take this plan back to the house and expect any type of support. I could take back the alternate version of the bill, providing for a 2 percent cut instead, and it will be easily passed. If I take that bill to the floor for a vote I have at least 320 votes out of 465, both Republican and Democrats alike. Your bill…well, I can't even get enough support from my side of the aisle to not make it look embarrassing. Your language and demands get me no support."
"Oh, come on!" Josh howled, throwing his hands up in the air. "Can you believe this?"
Leo sat passively, waiting and crafting a response. The senior staff and democratic leadership had worked tirelessly for weeks on this bill. Now it seemed to be falling apart in their very presence. The tension was thick and emotions were running high. The speaker was haughty and arrogant and knew that he had the upper hand. Leaning back in his chair, the speaker looked across the table at Josh and Leo. Leo could see the frustration and anger mounting on Josh's face. Josh's endless need to please and serve the president had driven him to perfection with this bill. It had been a fight and a stretch to drum up support from both parties, but Josh had fought his way through. When Leo looked at Josh now, he could see how tired he was from the fight and Leo could see Josh's exhaustion manifesting itself in a rage. Leo just couldn't decide whom Josh was going to take his rage out on.
"This isn't the deal we had. You can't just waltz in here at the eleventh hour and demand these types of changes." Josh growled across the table.
Seeing the next confrontation coming, Leo put his hand on Josh's arm to remind to show some restraint. Josh, who had now stood up, leaned forward against the conference table, resting his weight on his outspread hands in front of him. Josh's mind was racing. He couldn't believe the gall of the speaker. Josh was silently kicking himself for not seeing this turn of events coming. He felt manipulated and used. It was then that, through the haze of frustration, Josh focused on Juliana, who had been sitting quietly next to the speaker.
"This isn't the deal we had last night." Josh hissed at Juliana as he turned his attention to her. He was still leaning on the table, but he had lifted his head enough to look her straight in the eyes. Suddenly the room grew deathly quiet. The speaker turned to Juliana with a questioning look on his face, as if to ask if she had gone to the white house to meet without his knowledge. Others in the room looked at Juliana and Josh quite confused. Leo let out a breath he had been subconsciously holding in and shook his head at Josh.
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." Juliana replied in an even tone. She was hoping that Josh would catch the look in her eyes that was imploring him to leave the subject alone.
"Last night, when we were….you said…you said that it was locked….you said that you thought…We came to an understanding…" Josh stammered, unable to string together all the thoughts going through his head.
"I don't know what meeting you and Ms. Wexler had last night, but I assure you that without my support and sponsorship of this bill, you'll get nowhere with it." The speaker spat. He was obviously annoyed with Josh's outbursts and the revelation of a meeting, a meeting that he had no knowledge of.
"I assure you Mr. Speaker, that Josh and I did not meet last night to discuss this bill or to broker a deal," Juliana reassure the speaker.
"You're playing me on this!" Josh yelled. "When we were together, you said that…" Josh didn't get to finish his sentence before Juliana rose from her seat.
"Excuse us." Juliana said, looking around the room. Her breathing was deep and calculated. It was obvious to almost everyone in the room that Juliana was angry. "Josh." Juliana growled. "I need to see you outside please. Now."
As she stepped outside the Roosevelt room, Juliana could see Leo through the glass attempting to placate the speaker. Josh stepped out of the room just after Jules. He was pacing in minute circles in front of Juliana, opening and closing his clenched fists and breathing deeply, his anger and frustration was about to spill over. Juliana waited until Josh turned in his pacing to face her and then began her tirade.
"How dare you use our personal life against me! God, in the White House, no less! Our relationship is private and should remain that way."
"Me? How dare I?" Josh yelled. Realizing that the hallway was no place for a yelling match, Josh pulled Juliana into the closest vacated office. "True or false? Last night you told me that the bill could be passed at 5 and with hearty bipartisan support. Am I right? Or did I just imagine that whole conversation while we were happily in my bed?"
"Josh! I was just talking! Did we have a meeting? Did you make an appointment? You can't use something that happened while we were together against me! I tried to warn you, but you threw me out of your office. You didn't want to hear it!"
Briefly, Josh thought back to early this morning when Juliana had shown up in his office. Neither had had the time to talk, but Jules seemed to want to stick around and discuss something. Josh had assumed that she wanted to talk about something more personal, and ignoring her requests for just a minute or two to talk about something that "might matter to him", he had literally pushed her out of his office and turned to Donna to talk about a file he was missing.
"You played me!" Josh shouted back, his memory of that morning now over. He no longer cared if anyone outside the office heard their argument. Josh was losing his command of this bill and it made him angry. "You planted that information on me so that we would feel secure. Then you plotted all day to destroy the bill and use it for your own gains. You used me and you used us! But, what else is new. You've used everyone who's ever come into your life. All your connections. Sam. You even spun the death of your husband to make yourself look better. "
"God Josh, I wish I were brilliant enough to come up with that plan. And while I can't take credit for brainwashing the deputy chief of staff, I do know that if you don't trust me and respect our relationship, then this isn't worth it." Juliana had lowered her voice. She was no longer yelling. Juliana's voice had a defeated tone to it. "Which one is bothering you more? The fact that you think I work for people who you feel are morally and ethically corrupt and that you can't trust me? Or that you lost? You got beat on this bill – possibly because you've spent so much time with your head up your ass that you didn't notice to movement on the other side."
Neither Josh nor Juliana had stopped to notice that outside the office, staffers and visitors were pausing their work to listen to their argument. The duo also failed to notice the flag sprawled across the wall bearing the motto "Don't Tread on Me". But, their location became clear as the door to Sam's office opened and Sam walked in.
"What is going on in here? You can hear the yelling outside. Josh, what happened to the meeting?" Sam asked.
Neither Josh nor Juliana spoke. Schemes, plans and plots that Juliana might have constructed were running through Josh's head. He couldn't focus on the people in front of him, because he was blinded by his anger. Juliana was trying to restrain the many feelings inhabiting her body, ranging from anger to hurt. Sam looked at Juliana and read her body language. He could see the anger and pain in her eyes.
"What did you say to her?" Sam asked in a more accusatory tone than Jules or Josh had expected.
"Nothing she didn't deserve." Josh replied coldly. Sam took a few angry steps towards Josh, but stopped when Josh started talking again. "She blindsided us Sam! She used what we had to sneak a deal in under the table. God, Sam! She was using us! All of us! You, me, everybody!"
"Watch what you say. You can't talk about my sister that way." Sam warned, his voice bordering on shouting.
"I can say whatever I want. She's my girlfriend. She's my problem. My thorn in my side." Josh shouted at Sam.
"Would you both stop it! I'm not something you can fight over." Jules turned to each man separately to address them, anger raging in her eyes. Sam and Josh could both recognize the Seaborn talent of restrained anger. "You, have never been an older brother to me, so don't start now. I'm not something that you need to protect. This is my life; so let me do with it what I please. You." Juliana said turning to Josh. "You cannot claim me as yours. I am not your problem. I am not your girlfriend. I am in no way yours!"
Juliana started walking to the door. Sam made an attempt to grab her arm, hoping to keep her in his office and work things out. Juliana jerked away from him in one clean motion. She had neither the strength nor the will to continue this battle with either Sam or Josh today. Juliana was already kicking herself that she had left a meeting in the west wing to have a shouting match with her boyfriend.
"Jules, wait." Sam said quietly. Juliana's words had begun to sink in and in Sam's mind he was piecing together a plan to mend his relationship with his sister. Had Juliana turned around, Sam's body language would have conveyed his message.
"Let her go, Sam." Josh spat out, not even looking at Juliana who had paused at the door. Juliana was partially out the door, when Josh mumbled angrily under his breath. "Pathetic. I bet you would prefer it if I just died. Ha. Closure."
Juliana stopped in her tracks, keeping her back to both Sam and Josh. Josh instantly began wishing he hadn't stooped so low to win an argument. He began formulating an apology, but was caught off guard by a binder hitting him forcefully in the shoulder. Josh was still reeling from the impact of the binder and rubbing his shoulder, when he looked up to see Jules still standing with her back to him. Josh whirled around to see Sam fuming and looking fiercely at him.
"That was low. Even for you. Get out."
Josh started to retreat from Sam's office, but Juliana stood blocking his exit. She was finishing scribbling a note of some kind. Josh approached her as she finished, unsure of whether to wait for her to leave or to try to walk around her. The weight of all the things Josh had said were starting to sink in and he wanted more than anything to take Jules into his arms and make the last hour disappear.
"I assume you're going back to the meeting. Please give this to the speaker for me."
Juliana didn't wait for a response or acknowledgement. She simply turned and walked out of the bullpen. Josh walked a few steps out of Sam's office and wondered if she'd ever be back. He wondered if he would come back were it him. He knew the answer to that question – not a snowball's chance in hell. Josh looked at the note in his hand. Juliana had folded it in half before giving it to him. He opened it gingerly, knowing that opening and reading it probably afforded him another binder in the shoulder. Juliana's unmistakable script floated across the page.
'Mr. Speaker – Don't budge. They're not worth it.'
Josh sighed, refolded the note and walked back to the meeting, knowing that he had been defeated on more than one level.
6