Just One Name (3?)

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Notes: the inscription on the card is from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

The next few days went by in a whirlwind. Everything and everyone in D.C. was buzzing with a newfound sense of exuberance. C.J. was beaming as she began the press conference in which Josh was introduced as the incoming Chief of Staff. It had gone very well, despite Josh's nerves at facing the entire press corps in light of past missteps with the reporters. Nevertheless, the president's announcement earned Josh a standing ovation. One journalist from Reuters even asked in a snooty tone if she could be let in on what Josh's "secret plan to fight inflation" entailed. At that, he laughed nervously while a tiny bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

Donna noticed a new skip in his step and was profoundly happy to see him get the recognition he deserved, especially in light of the hardships that he had endured just a year earlier. His giddiness was downright contagious, and she had never been more proud of anyone in her life.

She appointed herself in charge of watching over his mental state by instating certain rules. Unless absolutely unavoidable, Josh was not allowed to stay at the White House for longer than fourteen hours at a time. She kindly asked the workers in the Mess not to serve Josh anything with inappropriately high levels of sugar or caffeine. The last thing the country, and Donna specifically, needed was to have the new Chief of Staff all amped up and bouncing around the West Wing like Tigger. For the two of them to work as the well-oiled machine that they had been from day one, Josh had to be cool, calm, and collected. Well, as cool, calm, and collected as Josh Lyman could be.

Some people assumed that Josh would appoint Margaret as his senior assistant, seeing as how she had kept the Chief of Staff's office running effectively for many years. Assuming was not always a wise choice in politics. Unfortunately for Will, he also "assumed" that Donna would no longer be working for Josh and decided to pay her a visit and feel out the situation. He came to regret that decision exactly twenty minutes later when a decidedly rumpled Josh came stomping into his office and slammed the door so hard that Will thought it might fall off of the hinges. In fact, he really hoped that Josh didn't have any sharp objects with him, like a switchblade or something with the ability to inflict pain.

"I'll give you three guesses as to why I'm here, but I suspect you already know the reason," barked Josh through his scowling face. He took a look at Will, who appeared rather frightened. The two men began speaking at the same time.

"For the love of God, will you tell the Vice President to stop sitting in on meetings with the President and the Joint…"

"Look, Josh, if this is about the job that I offered Donna this morning…"

"I mean, he can't just barge into meetings without permission-.." Josh froze in the middle of his sentence as if he'd been hit with a stun gun. Then, very quietly, he whispered in a raspy tone, "You offered Donna a job?"

Will nodded. "She is extremely capable and brilliant and would make an excellent addition to the Vice President's staff." Josh had taken a seat and had become very pale very rapidly; he knew that many people had tried to hire her away over the years. It had never been a concern to him; they had always been loyal to each other no matter what. However, her unhappiness in her job just months before had created a considerable insecurity with which he wasn't entirely familiar.

"So that is reason enough to poach the most valuable person that I have ever worked with?" he screeched. Then, his voice got softer. "That's reason enough to try and steal my…"Josh paused. So many words could fill in that blank for him. He completed it with, "my best friend?"

"Josh, I wasn't trying to steal her. I heard through the grape vine that you were going to have Margaret be your senior assistant, so I offered Donna an opportunity for advancement. Fortunately for you, she likes working with you more than anyone. But you know, she won't work for you forever." Will's voice possessed a slightly accusatory tone. "And if she really is the most valuable person you've ever worked with, have you stopped to ask yourself why you have her organizing your schedule and taking your lunch order rather than assisting you with the more serious issues? Face it Josh, one day, you're going to have to let her go." At Will's final remark, Josh felt like he had been punched in the gut, smacked upside the head, and had his heart ripped out of his chest.

He didn't dignify Will's little diatribe with a response. Rather, he stood up and walked toward the door.

Before he left, he looked back at Will and spoke. "Tell the Vice President to take more geography lessons with Kate before trying to converse with the Joint Chiefs. Make him draw a map of the world and label it before you send him into a strategy session again." With that, he left.

Although Josh had begun working out of Leo's office on the day of the announcement in order to be close by to serve the president, Josh's things still needed to get packed up. He still spent time in the old office every day. Margaret had agreed to staff him for a few days while Donna packed up their things from their old office quarters.

Upon walking back from the OEOB, Josh realized how others may have assumed that Margaret was staying permanently. He wondered out loud why Donna hadn't mentioned the job offer to him; she usually did tell him when she received them. The fact that she hadn't mentioned it scared him slightly. While she might have been staying with him for the time being, he had an overwhelming sense of dread that perhaps she wasn't happy being around him anymore. That thought terrified him to his very soul.

When he reached Donna's soon-to-be former cubicle, he climbed over the boxes. His assistant was in the process of politely but forcefully delegating the packing to two junior staffers that Toby had loaned her to help out. The last thing that Josh and Donna needed was for someone to interrupt their, and by "their" system they meant Donna's system, of organization by throwing everything into boxes with no attention to detail.

Toby had been very sweet to Donna since she had returned from Germany. He wheeled her to the mess for lunch or helped her into a cab in the evening, which was no easy task in light of her still sensitive right leg. Offering her the staffers for a few days was yet another kind gesture. To the world, Toby might've been rough and grumbling, but Donna had the ability to bring out Toby Ziegler's inner teddy bear.

Josh had actually discovered that jumping over all of the boxes was like a fun, albeit slightly intricate game of hopscotch. Of course, it had been a tactical error to mention that fact to Donna; it earned him a rather imposing death glare. As he quickly leaned down over her shoulder toward the desk to pick up the file about the thing later, he couldn't help but notice how heavenly she smelled. Heavenly, he thought, like an angel. Just as quickly as his mind had floated away, she forcefully grabbed him by the collar of his suit jacket before he had a chance stand up straight.

Josh didn't miss a beat. He smirked and decided to bait her into what he had discovered was a brilliant stress reliever: banter. "You know Donna, if you keep being so demonstrative in the office, people are going to talk." That last part was the biggest understatement of the century; people had always "talked," and, in light of Josh's recent "travel" destination, people were talking more than ever.

She completely ignored his comment and realized that she would have to activate the code word system. The code word system was something that they had invented way back on the Bartlet for America campaign. It was meant to place Josh on high alert, to be acutely aware of his surroundings so as not to get looped into any conversations with political piranhas waiting around in the wings for him. Little did they both know that a code word system was unnecessary; no one had ever succeeded in following their fast paced conversational stylings: not even Toby.

She yanked his collar again and whispered, "Danger, Danger, Will Robinson." Josh immediately tensed. Donna released his collar and continued packing her files. He ran his hands over his face roughly and raked his hands through what was remaining of his hair. Whatever was on the other side of the door, it could not be anything good if Donna had used code language. He slowly opened the door, looked inside, and instantly wished he could've been sucked into the depths of the earth rather than take this next meeting…

Flowers were being sent by the truckload to the Chief of Staff's office to congratulate Josh on his promotion. To Donna's surprise, she was receiving flowers as well. Of the several dozen flowers that were sent to her from people like Congressman Skinner and various senior assistants and aides on the Hill, two of her floral arrangements were left unsigned. One of the cards hardly needed a signature. One arrangement contained long stemmed crimson red roses with baby's breath peeking out of the edges. Despite the fact that the arrangement had almost gotten lost in the midst of the other flowers, the card remained planted firmly in the arrangement and read: "For my dearest partner in greatness." The note, written in that oh so familiar handwriting, caused her to grin from ear to ear. She held the card against her heart and whispered into the air, "Thank you."

The other distinct bouquet of flowers contained wild orchids with a note written by someone with penmanship that was unidentifiable to Donna. The card was short:

"I'm not going anywhere…"

To be continued….

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