Just One Name (6?)
Disclaimer: Not mine, hence the Alternate Universe angle
Rating: PG
Feedback: I haven't really been getting a lot of feedback, but I hope you all are enjoying it. Feedback does inspire me to write more quickly.
Sam had been working late in his new, and Josh's old, office the night of Josh's ill-fated fall at the restaurant. Margaret was staying late to help him get things organized and to brief him on the most pressing matters. She had agreed to be his assistant for a few weeks, with the understanding that she would be going to work for Leo in the future, whether he returned to the White House as a senior advisor or went off to work somewhere else.
Almost everyone had gone home for the evening, and Sam was grateful that he had some peace and quiet. Around one o'clock in the morning, he decided to call it a day.
It was when he placed a memo on Donna's desk before exiting the building that he noticed a secret service agent at the door. Then, he noticed a light on in Josh's office. He entered the room to find his friend lying on the couch, fast asleep, with a cold compress on his head and a hand over his eyes. In light of all of the added responsibility and pressure, Josh had been handling his new job with ease and confidence. Therefore, Sam was surprised to see him looking so worn out. He wondered what the cause could be. He suspected it wasn't work related.
Several evenings later involved a semi-formal event at the White House: the unveiling of the plans for President Bartlet's library. After grabbing a glass of white wine and a red one, Josh headed toward Donna, who was leaning on her crutches and conversing with Margaret. He heard the tail end of her conversation. "He's just so persistent. It's embarrassing," Donna murmured while turning slightly red.
For his part, Josh felt himself turning green. Ever since seeing her out with Colin, he had felt his heart churning. But seeing as how he knew that he had no right to be inquisitive or jealous, he avoided mentioning it and decided to be happy for her. He knew that if he wanted to continue to be in her life, which he most certainly did, it was his job to be supportive of any choices she made regarding her personal and romantic life. Even if those choices didn't include him, Josh made a decision to be supportive.
Margaret told her, "Enjoy the attention; it doesn't have to turn into anything." Donna shrugged.
"Always talking shop, these two," Josh said to Sam while handing Donna the white wine. Donna took the wine and said sincerely, "Aren't you sweet?" He grinned.
"I think that he might just be the sweetest," Margaret deadpanned. Sam chuckled while looking at the two ladies' apparel.
"Well, my lovely lady friends, don't you both look stunning," Sam said gallantly. The women smiled brightly. "You two weren't wearing those outfits in the office today were you?" Sam asked seriously.
Donna and Margaret rolled their eyes. "Ladies and gentlemen, the men who help the President run this country," Donna announced with a hint of playfulness.
"If you'll excuse us for a few minutes, ladies…" Sam ushered Josh off and headed toward Toby. Once they reached him, Sam started talking. "I just got off the phone with the Transportation Secretary. He wants an extra ten billion in the budget for his department."
Toby look horrified. "An extra ten billion?" he grumbled.
Sam nodded. "For public transportation improvement in large urban cities and development of mass transit in some of the smaller urban cities."
"And what, pray tell, does the Secretary want us to cut so that his department gets more money?" Toby asked.
"He wants us to decrease the value of unemployment checks that are issued by 10," Sam replied.
Josh ran his hands over his face in frustration. The secretary had agreed to the proposed budget just a week ago. "All right, tell him to come to my office and we'll have a little chat. Maybe if we offer him half of what he wants he'll rest easier for a while." A few minutes later, Sam was talking to a Senator while Josh and Toby were camped out by the shrimp platter. Josh noted all of the green carpeting and Irish themes that were ubiquitous in the library model that had been set up.
Toby had just dipped a huge piece of shrimp into a yellow looking sauce and was about to take a bite when Josh said, "Do you know what the Irish call kissing? They call it snogging. I mean, they can term it whatever they want I suppose. It just makes no sense to me why they would liken kissing with something that sounds like it came out of someone's nose."
Toby looked at his shrimp and immediately placed it in a napkin. "How exactly do you get women, Josh?"
Josh smirked and said, "Boyish good looks, intelligence, and charm."
"I'll bet."
A few weeks later found the Bartlet team on a whirlwind tour around the U.S. to launch the president's new education ideas. Sam stayed at the White House as acting Chief of Staff while the others formed the President's entourage. Not for the first time, Toby had to be dragged away from several events because of making the President nervous while watching him read the speeches.
While in California, the senior staffers had to be on Air Force One by five a.m. for a flight from L.A. to Sacramento. Josh, Donna, C.J., and Toby rode the elevator down to the main lobby of their hotel. When it opened, they all walked quickly toward the motorcade, but Josh and Donna's stride was the fastest. While walking, they effortlessly juggled files, luggage, coffee, and even managed to have two separate cell phone conversations while arguing about vitamins.
C.J. and Toby heard their little debate while walking at a slower pace behind the dynamic duo.
"No. I'm not taking them."
"Josh, take them. You need something in your system besides coffee and hamburgers."
"I'm not a little boy, Donna. I don't need them."
Even from behind, C.J. and Toby could see the formation of Donna's pout as she turned to the side. "It would mean a lot to me if you took the vitamins."
Josh raised his eyebrows and viciously stuck his hand out to retrieve them.
C.J. and Toby shook their heads at each other.
C.J. made a special note to thank the pilot for, not only flying over but pointing out the San Andreas fault line on the flight, which became a full fledged presidential geology lesson on plate tectonics and earthquakes. After that, the lesson became a quiz.
Josh got a perfect score on the quiz and even though she had lived in California for many years, C.J. got a B. Despite being a grown man with a high profile job, he took delight in gloating about his high score.
"Hey, listen don't feel bad C.J. It's okay that you don't know these things," he chided. "Besides, the only reason I know is because my tour guide (he pointed to Donna who was sitting across from him, intently studying a report) likes to explain things, and well, I let her."
When the motorcade finally reached the hotel around eleven P.M. after a day of meeting with several California college presidents in the Sacramento area, they checked into their rooms at the downtown Hyatt Regency.
After several grueling hours on her feet during one of her first days entirely without crutches, Donna was ready to call it a night. Toby wanted to call Huck and Molly. The first lady had gotten to the presidential suite a few hours before the motorcade's arrival, and thus, the president was off to a bar-b-que.
C.J. and Josh decided to grab a drink and some food at the hotel bar. They ate fried mozzarella sticks and sat on barstools discussing school vouchers and laughing about the time that Leo gave Mallory Sam's opposition preparation paper to get her all riled up at Sam.
C.J. nearly choked on her beer when Josh asked, out of the blue, "Did you know that Will offered Donna a job?"
"Donna..."she paused. "Donna Moss?"
"Yeah, did you know?" he persisted.
"No, but I'm not surprised. She's incredibly capable, you know." C.J. gave him a pointed look.
"Of course I know that." He attempted a little bit of humor. "I'm not an idiot. It's not like I got to be Chief of Staff to the President of the United States on account of my dashing good looks." C.J. snorted.
He sighed and became a bit more serious. "Why does everyone assume that I don't know that?"
"Perhaps because you have kept her in grunt level servitude for too long." he raised his eyebrows at that comment.
"Oh yes," he added sarcastically. "Being given a career as a senior assistant in the White House is such enslavement. I don't know who on earth would want a job like that."
C.J. shook her head while chomping on another cheese stick that she had dipped in marinara sauce. "You know, it's a wonder that more women don't throw drinks in your face."
She continued but slightly softened her tone, aware that she was about to tread into slightly unmarked territory. "You also sold her a bill of goods when you sent her on the CODEL. She was on press detail. You sent her halfway around the world to do half of what she did for you in the office." At that remark, he sunk his head in defeat.
"You're right," he said simply and sadly.
"Oh, I'm going to need that in writing to show the others in the morning."
He ignored her. "I just...I need Donna...to do the work that I do at the White House.
C.J. laughed at how similar this conversation was to one that she had just several months prior with his other half. In her deja-vu moment, and in other recent moments, she realized her own mistake in interfering in the matter. She underestimated both Josh's and Donna's devotion to the other.
"It's not the White House." He looked at C.J. as if she had grown three heads and raised an eyebrow as if asking what else it could possibly be.
"It's her," she finished. Josh visibly gulped.
Donna stumbled into her room and headed straight toward the bed. She landed flat on her back and stayed very still for a few minutes and silently cursed her leg for giving her so much pain. A few minutes later, she hopped into the bathroom to get ready for bed.
Once on the bed again and clothed in her pajamas, she pulled her hair into a high, messy ponytail. She then signed onto her White House issued laptop to begin working on some opposition prep work that Josh had asked her to do. She paused for a moment and remembered putting her hand on his forehead to see if he was feeling okay when he had requested it. While appreciating the opportunity, it wasn't typically like him to offer her work that distracted her from picking up his lunch and scheduling his appointments. She wondered what had accounted for his recent vocal praise of her work.
Whatever the reason, she was grateful for the challenge. Although she hadn't told him as had been her habit in the past, Donna had turned down over fifteen job offers since Josh's promotion. One of the more notable offers came from Angela Blake, who apparently had been impressed enough with Donna to remember her a year later. While the most appealing offer had come from Will (an opportunity to be his deputy during the Vice President's campaign), Donna had never truly considered accepting any of them.
She had known that, although fully capable and prepared, Josh would need stability in his transformation from a deputy to a Chief of Staff. Just as she had suspected, their solid foundation as a team had created a flawless transition.
Josh had stayed by her hospital bed when she was at her most vulnerable. He stayed even when she knew that Leo needed him in Washington. He wanted to stay even after she kicked him out when her mom was driving her insane. She had no intention of leaving her best friend at one of the most critical points in his life.
After about thirty minutes of typing, she closed the laptop and drifted off to sleep. Her sleep would soon be interrupted.