Sam knew someone was being punished but what he couldn't work out was if it was him or Josh. He wondered perhaps if it was both of them together and tried to work out if their slights merited equal damnation.

"This is your fault you know," Josh apparently had no doubts over who was to blame.

"Now see I don't agree," Sam retorted as he pushed his glasses up his nose before placing his chilled hands back into his coat pockets.

The pair were walking in a hurry to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on an errand they were both in agreement could have been delegated to a lesser staffer. Although neither was eager to get there it was cold outside and whilst the groundsmen had ensured there was no ice on the paths they could do nothing for the arctic nip in the air.

On either side of them were tall trees with decayed brown leaves crumpling to hard dirt and grass turned white with frost. Ordinarily scenic, the flora seemed an unsettling reminder of death this morning.

"Well you wouldn't," Josh retorted with a shrug. He frowned as they reached the Vice President's domain. "Frenemies," he said flatly as he stared up at the grey and off-white building.

"What?" Sam glanced over at his co-worker in puzzlement.

"Frenemies," Josh repeated with a nod to the building. "Donna was yammering about some old acquaintance who she didn't like but was seeing for drinks anyway because it's the done thing, she used that word. Don't you think it suits Hoynes and the President a little?"

Josh glanced over at Sam curiously, squinting slightly at the late morning sun, it offered no warmth and blinded as its watery light reflected off the frost and ice.

"No," Sam retorted bluntly with a shake of his head, "and you should call him the Vice President, he does deserve his title Josh," he chided quietly. "They're mutually benefiting acquaintances," he decided.

Josh let out a snort of laughter at this as he turned ahead and continued up to the main doors. "The Vice President would not agree with that."

They stepped into a busy lobby and nodded to the Secret Service on duty as they flashed their ID cards before preparing for the expected walk through the metal detectors. Even trusted staff were never fully trusted.

Once they had headed through the security they paused and glanced at each other dubiously.

"You don't know which way we should go, do you?" Josh queried quietly as he slung his tan coat over the crook of his arm.

Sam shook his head and leaned close to Josh so his voice was audible to him but hopefully inaudible to others. "No but they can probably sense fear so we should act like why we know and just pick a direction."

Josh recoiled from Sam with a dubious glance. "Sense fear?" he repeated mockingly with a grin. "Sam they're not wolves and weren't you the one all for us being one team?"

"Yes but they're not going to treat us with equal respect if they think we got lost in their lobby," Sam hissed back. He glanced about warily, unsure if he wanted to see a familiar face or not.

"Good morning, are you two lost?" the sarcastic peals of Gavin Drake called out.

He approached them with a wide grin, briefcase in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. He pocketed his phone in his trouser pocket as he reached them. He wore a dark, woollen coat which which appeared both designer and dry cleaners only and indicated that he was on his way out.

"Good morning Gavin," Sam retorted politely with a smile. "We're here on business actually."

"Well yes Sam, what else would it be?" Gavin continued to tease as he glanced from him to Josh. "I saw you come in but you haven't moved from the lobby, are you actually lost?"

"No Gavin we're just not sure what's the best route to our destination," Josh replied brightly as he gave the man a disarming smile.

Josh had no real like or dislike for Gavin. To him Gavin was another preened, Ivy league office suit but Josh knew he wasn't far off that himself, knowing that his crinkled clothes and unruly hair might highlight a sense of rebellion in him and his Jewish background saved him from being classified as a WASP but he was still a Harvard and Yale educated, highly paid, politics player. Josh at least showed some passion in his work but he found Gavin passive, a yes man who preferred to go with the flow than make waves.

Gavin nodded. "So lost," he said calmly. "Look, I'm on my way out here for a meeting, why don't you get over your pride and know I'm going to mock you both for this for a while anyway so you can't salvage it and just tell me which office you're trying to find," he suggested.

"The Vice President's," Sam confessed.

Gavin glanced from Sam to Josh and his smile widened. "You're kidding."

Josh shoved his hands into his trouser pockets as he gave Gavin a biting smile in answer. "Nope."

Gavin started laughing. "And you guys continue to insist he's respected by all of you," he said with a shake of his head, "but you don't even know where he's based."

"Not true," Sam interrupted as he raised his finger pointedly, "we know it's in this building."

Josh groaned. "Sam not helping," he murmured as he took a step back. He glanced about their surroundings and was relieved to see that no one was watching them.

Gavin gestured to the right with one hand. "Take the stairs to the second floor, follow the corridor, follow on your right, you'll hit our offices first, the Vice President's office is to the right, just past Cal's office. The Secret Service agents ought to be a good clue and yes, he is there at the moment although I'm sure you at least checked that."

Gavin raised his eyebrows slightly as he gave them a look of scrutiny.

"Of course we did," Sam answered with just a slight waver to his voice.

Gavin laughed again. "I'm going to save this incident," he vowed, "and choose my moment wisely. See you idiots later."

Gavin walked off without waiting for a response.

"Ouch," Josh retorted dryly as he watched the man go. "And they wonder why we don't consider them friends."

"He didn't have to give us directions," Sam pointed out.

Josh gave Sam a serious look. "Who says he did Sam? We could end up in a broom closet."
"Well only one way to find out," Sam said stubbornly.

Sam started walking to the door leading to the stairs.

Josh matched pace with him. They were walking quickly again but this time it was to avoid the possibility of conversation with anyone else. They both wore an expression of calm indifference and avoided eye contact with anyone they passed as they climbed the stairs. They were out of their comfort zone here and they both knew it.

They reached the second level and headed down a corridor with a marble, black and white chessboard floor.

"So why is it my fault?" Sam reverted to their earlier discussion.

"You dated a call girl Sam and then you went and gave her a graduation present and the press caught it all," Josh reminded him calmly. "More importantly, you haven't called the Chief of Staff's daughter, whom you were technically dating, to explain things."

The corridor was an icy cold and had Josh sinking his hands back in his pockets as he debated putting his coat back on.

"It was one date, a flirtation really," Sam retorted, "and Mallory hasn't called me either. I mean we weren't dating, I'm not even sure I know what dating is anymore," he lamented.

"Sam."

"Yes?" Sam glanced over at Josh curiously.

"Stop talking."

"Okay."

The pair continued their walk in silence and neither knew whether they should be relieved or not to be faced with not a broom cupboard but their counterpart offices in the Eisenhower.

Being a much bigger building than the White House, the Eisenhower all served as the work domain for many of the President's staff, it was just his most needed who occupied the West Wing but here in the central hub of the Eisenhower the Vice President's most closest employees worked close to his domain.

When Josh glanced to the right and saw who occupied the office in there he felt only despair and a fresh rush of annoyance for Sam. Oh sure, Josh had been overheard by Leo mocking the Big Block of Cheese Day to C.J but Sam's offence was far worse. Josh was quite certain he had just gotten caught in the crossfire of Leo trying to find a legal way to punish Sam for his offences to Mallory. Apparently sending them on an errand to the Eisenhower was, in Leo's eyes, a fitting punishment.

Cadence McGarry was seated at her desk surrounding by paperwork. She busied herself with highlighting passages and copying notes all whilst talking on the phone to someone.

Josh lingered by her closed door staring through the glass with a quiet sense of curiosity. He could see the back of a photo frame on her desk beside her computer screen and wondered if it was the infamous raccoon picture. Charlie had murmured about Zoey meeting it a few nights ago and his concerns that the First Family daughter could be exposed to rabies.

Cadence was evidently busy and judging from the stack of files in her tray and books by her computer she was going to be for a long time. It was how Josh remembered her, never a slacker, Cadence had worked all the hours of the day and more and she was smart and dedicated, if given a task, she would do everything in her power to succeed at it. The problem was the flaws Josh remembered about her too. Her passion worked both ways, once she became dedicated to something that was it, it didn't matter if it was right or wrong, she had no qualms in expressing her feelings on the matter and sticking to her guns.

Cadence glanced up and Josh stumbled back as if her gaze had physically shocked him.

She smiled at his awkward stumble and ended her phone call.

"Sam," Josh said anxiously as he glanced over his shoulder to him, "we need to go."

Sam looked at him quizzically.

Josh started to move but he wasn't quick enough, Cadence had already opened her office door.

"Well now, what are you two doing here?" she pried.

She leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms, which pushed back the sleeves of grey jacket to expose the black cuffs of her shirt. Her hair was down behind her shoulders and in smooth, light brown waves with a few blonde highlights, it was a recent dye job although neither man noticed.

"Business," Sam answered hastily. He felt a rush of unease as well, Cadence was Mallory's sister after all. He wondered if she knew, if she had seen the scandal on the news or if Mallory had mentioned it to her.

"The kind you get for free or the kind you pay for?" Cadence queried sardonically as she fixed a cool stare on him.

"You know," Sam said flatly.

"That you like buying hookers gifts?" Cadence quipped. She nodded. "I know."

Cadence hadn't seen Mallory since her dinner with her, Zoe and Gina five days ago. The news of Sam's recent liaison with the call girl had broken three days ago and Cadence had received a multitude of angry phone calls from Mallory about it ever since. She had also been flat at work ever since but Mallory didn't think that was a valid excuse for Cadence cutting their calls short.

"She's a call girl," Sam retorted defensively.

Cadence gave him a stony stare. "Has that distinction mattered to anyone else?" she pried.

"No," Sam retorted as he reached up a finger to adjust his glasses, "but it should."

"Not really." Cadence turned her stare onto Josh, cocking her head to the left slightly and causing her black and silver striped tie to crease with the movement. "So what are you two doing over here? Did you get demoted?"

Josh gave a purposefully put on laugh at this. "Oh ha ha," he said sarcastically, "aren't we allowed to visit?"

"Only during the designated visiting hours, isn't that how prison usually works?" Cadence answered with a beaming smile.

"Prison?" Sam echoed. "I thought you were happy here." Catching her wilting stare his expression turned bashful. "Oh," he said with a wave of his hand, "this is one of those things were you can say it as a joke but we can't?"

"And Mal said you had brains," Cadence growled out, "of course the very public stint with the not a prostitute has already disproved that."

"You know Mallory and I only had one date that wasn't really a date," Sam argued defensively. He winced seeing the glower he got and held up his hands defensively.

Josh bowed his head and pressed a hand to his brow as he quietly cursed Sam out in his head.

"I'm just saying," Sam continued, "the terms weren't clear and I wasn't seeing Laurie, not in that way. Well I was," he said awkwardly, "in the beginning but I told Mallory that, I mean it was a graduation gift from a friend for a friend."

Cadence turned a puzzled stare on Josh. "Is this making sense to you?"

"No," Josh admitted with a shrug and a smile. "Look, we're actually here to see Ho-the Vice President."

"Did you just refer to him as a ho?" Cadence was quick to hone in on Josh's slip of the tongue. She narrowed her gaze and regarded Josh and Sam with a equal measure of feigned disgust. "Do you pair maybe need some kind of therapy? Seems like you both have an interest in working women of a certain variety."

Josh gestured outwards with one hand in an energetic protest. "That is not what I said! I didn't sound the vowel out like that, the y was almost present! I just nearly said your boss' name that's all, I didn't say ho!"

Several of the admin workers who were bustling too and fro in the corridor they occupied, paused to glance over at Josh's excited yelling.

"And there it is again" Cadence remarked breezily. "Honestly, I think I'm going to have to query this, it's not a healthy interest for White House staff."

"It's not what I said!" Josh continued to protest, waving his hand with each word as he did.

"Josh I think she knows," Sam said quietly.

Cadence smiled again. "Yeah, I think I do. Sam," she added in a more serious tone, "I actually don't care who you sleep with, I'm not in a position to judge that, I only care if you want to date my sister. If you do, then call her."

"See she hasn't called me," Sam protested.

"She doesn't have to, she wasn't seen on newspapers with a not a prostitute," Cadence reprimanded him. She let her arms drop by her side and stepped away from the doorway at last. "I'm only giving you advice, call her, go for drinks, she'll give you a chance to explain."

"Not alone," Sam protested anxiously, "I mean, she'll be mad, she might yell. Would you come?"

"Sam what are you doing?" Josh snapped.

Cadence's eyes widened in surprise. "Is this, this whole we should be friends thing again? Sam, I'm not a pathway to my sister."

Sam gave her an objecting look. "No but come on," he switched to pleading as he gestured outwards with one hand, "it would be easier for me if there's a group of us, more casual, not a date, then if Mallory doesn't want to date it's not as awful."

"Or it's a hundred times worse because you have witnesses to it," Josh muttered.

"Look, call her," Cadence repeated, "and if she wants that she can let me know. Now, you shouldn't keep the Vice President waiting much longer, he has a meeting with the Vice President of Colombia today."

"We know," Josh murmured wearily as he pushed a hand through his messy curls, "that's why we're here."

"Oh?" Cadence looked at them curiously.

"The President has an idea of what should be discussed at this meeting in light of recent events," Sam explained, "and the Chief of Staff asked if we would pass along the message with some suggested speeches."

"Sure Sam, tell her everything," Josh complained as he glanced at his friend scornfully.

Josh just wanted to get their punishment over with because it was, as far as he was concerned, most definitely a punishment. He didn't like standing here in this corridor thinking of might have been and could have been. One twist of fate and he and Cal Mathis could have been revered, just as Josh had started on Hoynes' team, Cal had started on President Bartlet's too before being fired by Leo for Toby.

"Oh dear," Cadence mused quietly with a spark of amusement in her eyes, "is the Chief of Staff perhaps punishing you for this non-date with the non-prostitute?"

"No," Sam retorted unconvincingly, "I am the Deputy of Communications, I wrote the speech and these are two Vice Presidents we are dealing with, this is important."

"Uh huh." Cadence's probing stormy gaze was back on Josh. "And what wrong did you do?"

"It was guilt by association I'm fairly sure," Josh grumbled with little concern. He glanced at his watch. "Look, we really need to get going."

"He made fun of the Big Block of Cheese Day," Sam blurted out.

"Sam," Josh scorned as he turned his head skywards in despair. He lowered it to glower over at his companion again. "What is with you today? Didn't you learn from the headlines that gossiping is bad?"

"I'm not gossiping," Sam protested. He gestured to Cadence with one hand as he faced Josh. "She is Leo's daughter, she will probably learn all this anyway and it's hardly secretive information."

"Big Block of Cheese Day?" Cadence repeated with a confused stare. "I don't...what's that?"

"Don't ask or better yet," Josh added with a smile, "ask your father. It's been fun Cadence, as always, see you later. Sam, we need to go."

"Right." Sam gave Cadence an apologetic smile. "It was nice to see where you work."

"Well you didn't really see the office," Cadence pointed out.

"No, maybe next time. Hey, are you meant to be dressed like a raccoon, it's just the colours and the tie," he remarked as he pointed to her striped tie.

"Sam!" Josh called sharply. He had already started walking off.

Sam gave the now smiling Cadence an awkward smile before he hurried off after Josh.

Josh was bracing himself for their next challenge here. He considered dryly that it was almost like a castle invasion, they had dealt with the jester in the lobby, then the witch in the dungeons and now the self-styled king was waiting to be reminded that he was actually only a prince or count, hell Josh didn't really know the accurate medieval term for that one. The irony was thinking that feudal systems were dead and democracy had prevailed when really all they had done was change the titles and made public domination legal with a voting system.

Josh glanced back in Cadence's direction at his last thought, it was a little too close to what her thesis had made murmurings about. He almost shuddered as he decided being near her was having a bad effect on him.

Josh and Sam found the Vice President's office with ease. As Gavin had advised it was easily spotted by the two Secret Service agents standing outside. The shouting coming from within was another indication.

John Hoynes was, overall, a relatively calm man. When the President shouted he usually balked to it, sure he had his moments of protest but usually he just accepted that he couldn't shout over the President and instead he submitted to a sulky quietness. John wasn't a passive person but he did lack aggression and was, in Josh's opinion, a moderate middling man afraid to show a strong opinion on key points where he felt he might lose support for daring to have an opinion. However, as Josh knew first hand, when John really lost his temper he wasn't afraid to express a certain sharpness to his tone. It was extremely rare however for him to raise his voice, usually he just let his words carry his convictions but sometimes, like most humans, he just snapped.

"You will sort this Cal because it is important and I'm telling you to do it damn it!" John's voice rang out.

Josh hesitated at the door, reluctant to interrupt and hopeful he might overhear more.

"Sir, it's fluff, it will go away and even if it doesn't, she's only been here a few weeks and as what, a deputy of PR? We could lean on the fact that her father obviously got her the post, I mean her capability is questionable, she has googly eyes on her stapler for Christ's sake! So we make it clear we're only doing him a favour in having her-"

"Cal that's enough," John retorted in a warning tone, "I hired her, do you understand?" His Texan accent was on full. Anytime John lost his temper he lost his Washington strain as well and his natural Texan twang came out in full force. "I hired her," he repeated firmly. "She is part of this team, you're Chief of my Staff, she's part of my staff, get on it before it becomes a real story."

"Right sir," Cal responded reluctantly.

"Also," John grumbled, "what in the hell does it matter how she decorates her stapler? She got me a good promotional spot regarding foreign policy and polling says I'm up five percent since that, she's doing a damn good job."

Sam and Josh shared a glance at the mention of polling before they rushed to step away from the door as they heard footsteps approaching it.

The door opened and Cal Mathis stepped out with a scowl. Spying Sam and Josh only worsened the anger in his stare. "And I thought this morning couldn't look worse," he muttered. "Sam, Josh, what are you pair doing here?"

"Business with the Vice President," Sam answered hastily.

"I'm his Chief of Staff Sam, I think I deserve more detail than that," Cal retorted moodily.

Cal had left the door ajar behind him, aware that Sam and Josh were heading that way.

"Just an update from the President's Chief of Staff on the meeting later with the Vice President of Colombia," Josh murmured.

Cal looked surprised at this. "Are you two being punished?" he queried dubiously.

Sam frowned as he wondered why it was so obvious. "No," he said defensively, "this is important."

"But not important enough for me to know the details," Cal countered crossly.

"Important enough for the Vice President to hear of it first hand," Josh replied quickly.

Cal continued to frown. "Fine Josh, go deliver your important news," he murmured moodily. He stepped away from the doorway and headed for his office.

Josh stepped through the ajar doorway and suddenly felt awkward, as if he should have knocked and waited to be summoned. He found it odd that there was no reception point person, no Mrs Landingham equivalent for John.

"Good morning Mr Vice President," Josh greeted with a forced smile.

John looked annoyed. He was standing in the centre of the room, head bowed as he ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. He lowered his hand and glanced over at Josh and Sam warily. "Is it Josh?" he quipped. "Do we have an appointment?" he added with a look of genuine questioning.

Josh shook his head. "No sir, the Chief of Staff asked us to visit on behalf of the President."

John turned to face the pair fully with the same dubious look Gavin, Cal and Cadence had given them. "What did you two do to make Leo mad?" he quipped.

"Nothing sir," Josh answered quickly. He praised himself for resisting the urge to ramble about call girls and cheese and admit to John that yes, visiting him was in fact a punishment.

John looked like he wasn't buying Josh's answer. He waved him and Sam in anyway. "Shut the door then," he ordered.

Sam obeyed as he followed Josh to stand properly in the room. Neither of them opted for a seat.

"Sir, we're here about your meeting later with the Vice President of Colombia," Josh explained. "It's just, in light of these allegations that the DEA may have gotten the CIA to combat the cartel in Colombia without really concerning themselves about limiting the CIA or maybe advising them of acceptable collateral damage, well we need to be careful what's discussed."

"Josh, I'm not an idiot," John retorted stonily. He folded his arms and frowned over at the Deputy Chief of Staff. "And I resent the implication that I am."

Josh kept smiling but it was hard, he had expected John to go on the defensive, when it came to orders from the President, John was always on the defensive. "Sir I know that and I'm not implying anything," he attempted to reason with him. "It's bad timing, we only heard about the CIA's involvement yesterday, we don't know what the press knows yet and you've had this meeting planned for weeks."

"I guess I'd better drop my plans for discussing Colombian drug deals and cartels then," John retorted bitingly.

"Sir," Sam remarked as he stepped forward, "it's not about you raising the conversation it's about Vice President Rojas doing so."

"And you think I can't handle that?" John queried with a hostile stare at Sam.

"Mr Vice President," Josh decided to just get to the point, "Leo sent us with an ultimatum, either you use our script or the meeting gets cancelled. We can't be seen meeting with Colombia unprepared until we know what's happening in Colombia, the press will draw the wrong conclusions and right now we can't be certain that the Colombian government isn't involved with the cartel on some level, it's happened before."

John pointed at Josh angrily as his blue eyes filled with an icy rage. "You tell Leo if he wants to order me he does it in person. He doesn't send his lackeys to reprimand and order me like a schoolboy."

Josh sighed whilst Sam looked apologetic.

"It's just bad timing sir," Sam insisted. He reached into his inner jacket pocket for his notes.

"Much like photographers snapping photos of White House staff exchanging goods with call girls," John sneered. "Is that bad timing Sam?"

Sam frowned as he held out his notes. "Mr Vice President, I'm just the messenger but this is happening," he said sternly. "We can go through our script now or tell Vice President Rojas the appointment is cancelled, it is your choice."

Josh glanced from Sam to John nervously. He knew Sam had gone too far, they both did. John's rage was clear on his face and he had started to pace about the office. He paused, placed his right hand in his pocket and raised his left up and out in a gesture to Sam.

"I do not do scripts," he said flatly.

Don't knock Leo's Big Block of Cheese Day, you deserve punishment if you do. Also, everything in this story is a fictionalised version- fictionalised West Wing, fictionalised Colombia, fictionalised Eisenhower (because Google was limited help), just like the show.
The characters' views do not represent my own, sometimes I don't even know how I'm writing this my knowledge of American politics is so poor but here we are :-)
For those who are reading this, I thank you for your time and hope you are enjoying it as much as I enjoy writing it.