Chapter 2

She hasn't been gone from his office for even five minutes when he has a job lined up for her in both the legislation department and the east wing. It won't work and he knows it, but they're there in case he gets desperate.

He spends the rest of the day trying to concentrate on the meteor headed towards earth, but he keeps coming back to the fact that she's leaving him. He's been passed up for promotion, he's getting his projects taken away, he's taking orders from CJ, who really has no idea what she's doing, and even Charlie's bossing him around. She's leaving him now? Now?

He reminds himself not to think of it that way; tells himself to remember that she's quitting her job, not him. But it doesn't work. He can tell himself anything he wants to, but the fact remains that in two weeks she'll have left him and he would never do that to her.

At that thought, the anger returns. He would do anything for her, damn it, how dare she just walk out on him. He took a chance on her when no one else would, he trusts her with far more than any typical assistant, he listens to her suggestions, watches her back… He risked jail for her for fuck's sake, dropped everything to be with her when she was almost killed, saw his life fading away while she lay of that damn operating table. How dare she leave him! He loves her, doesn't she know that?

He doesn't realize he's thrown his paperweight against the wall until he hears it smash into pieces, and even then all he can do is look over at the remnants of it. His door opens several seconds later and it's her, wanting to make sure everything's ok. He barely tries to cover the anger, so he's not surprised when she sees it written across his face and knows exactly where it came from. She seems confused at first, and why wouldn't she be? When she left his office two hours earlier, things had seemed ok. She looks away and leaves without cleaning it up, then avoids him for the rest of the day.

He gets pretty drunk that night when he finally leaves the office a little before midnight. He won't be able to sleep anyway, so he might as well drink. By two o'clock, he's got a pretty good plan, but by six a.m. it's the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard.

Things are awkward that day at work and he thinks she's regretting giving him a two week notice. His anger certainly isn't helping his case; he'll never convince her to stay by making her miserable, but he can't seem to let it go. And what's worse is that he knows it's just covering up other feelings; betrayal, love, lust, and a thousand other things for her he feels on a regular basis.

He runs into Will Bailey in the Mess around noon and wonders if he's being stalked. Will's been in the west wing more the last few weeks than he has the last two years. He's not interested in running Bingo Bob's campaign; Will needs to get that through his head.

Which is exactly what he's about to say when Will blindsides him.

"I was surprised to hear from Donna."

He's just taken an absolutely huge bite of his hamburger and swallows some of it so that his mouth, while still full, isn't going to drip food. "About what?"

Will sits down at his table and he's pissed again; that's Donna's spot. Will can't sit there just because Donna isn't. "About…" Will pauses as if maybe he shouldn't say anything, then continues matter-of-factly. "About a job. She told me you knew she was looking."

He feels like he's been punched in the stomach and his hamburger falls out of his hands to a heap on his cafeteria tray. "Donna came to you for a job?" he asks in total shock and disbelief.

Will looks at him for a second. "I told her I wouldn't poach her away from you," he says defensively. "She said that wasn't an issue."

His first instinct is to tell him 'fuck yes, it's an issue,' but he manages restraint. "Donna's not coming to work for Bingo Bob."

"The vice-president," Will reminds him. "The next president."

Josh laughs harshly. "You don't believe that anymore than I do."

"He's what we've got to work with Josh. President Bartlet picked him."

"Hafley picked him."

Will nods slightly. "Then run the campaign; make him the man he needs to be," he challenges.

Suddenly it's clear and Josh pushes his tray forward so he can lean in and get right in Will's face. "Don't use Donna to get me."

Will leans back and shakes his head. "I'm not. But if I can't have you, she's the next best thing. She's not ready to run the campaign, but she's spent seven years shadowing you. That alone makes her useful."

It's been almost eight, but he doesn't say that. And Donna's anything but a shadow, but he leaves that out as well. "She won't work for Bingo Bob," he spits out instead, standing up and walking away from the table, his lunch and Will.

He's going to kill her. Bingo Bob? If he's taught her anything over the last eight years, and he's taught her plenty, it's integrity. Now she's going to work for Bingo fucking Bob? No fucking way. He doesn't realize how quickly he's moving through the hallway and up the stairs from the mess until he passes Leo, who moves slowly and relaxed these days. "Slow down, the meteor didn't hit," Leo says with a chuckle.

Josh whips around; he hadn't even seen him there. "I'm… sorry, I was looking for Donna." He takes a deep breath. "What's up?" he asks impatiently.

Leo shakes his head. "Nothing. Something going on?"

"No," Josh lies.

Leo starts walking with him, too slowly, back towards the bullpen. "I saw the vice-president playing tennis yesterday."

Josh scoffs. "Will thinks they can beat Vinick by making Russell look young."

"It'll take more than that," Leo says as they enter the bullpen.

Josh nods, his focus now on Donna. She's sitting at her desk working as if nothing's going on. As if she's not about to go work for Bingo Bob Russell, the joke of the Democratic Party. How could she abandon everything right with the Democratic Party for everything wrong with it?

"He's consistent, he's bipartisan, he's not tied to tobacco or oil," Leo continues. "And the man can campaign."

"Excuse me," he mumbles to Leo before walking towards her desk. He takes two or three steps before it hits him and he turns back. "Anyone who studies their voting records..." he says to himself.

Leo nods and starts to leave. "It's an easy choice really."

Josh watches him walk towards CJ's old office and wonders if he knows what he just told Josh to do. He probably doesn't, except that Leo knows everything. A smile starts creeping up on his face, his first since Donna walked out of his office yesterday. It's going to be a tough sell, but he's got the beginnings of a plan.

He turns back towards Donna's desk. She's working diligently, just more proof that he can't let her go. He sidles up to her desk and sits on the corner. She looks up at him, then back at her desk. She isn't avoiding him so much as she's just done with him. "Congressman Myers called about 743."

He nods. "I need something from you."

She stops typing and stares at her hands for a second before looking back up at him differently. He tries to read her face, but she speaks too quickly for him to figure out how exactly. "What?" she asks a little brighter.

"I need you to pull all of Vinick's and Russell's votes."

She looks more interested now. "Why?"

He shrugs. "They're the presumptive nominees for president. I need to know everything about how they've voted in the house and senate. Anytime they've gone against their party, any discrepancies or changing their votes on issues, any bill they've sponsored, how they vote overall on education, healthcare, women's issues… Also, find out who their big contributors are. NRA, tobacco, oil… who's calling in favors from them."

She's writing down everything he says, nodding as he speaks. "You're going to help Will get the vice-president elected?"

He raises his eyebrows at her question but quickly hides his expression, unsure if telling her 'not a chance in hell' would make her more or less likely to join Russell's campaign. "I just want to know what we're dealing with. Besides," he adds in a teasing voice. "I haven't decided who to vote for."

She chuckles and looks back at him and for a second everything feels right again. "When do you want this?"

"Can you work on it today?"

She looks at him skeptically. "You're asking?"

He cracks a smile. "I'm being nice. I don't want to overwork you."

"Since when?"

He stands. "You're right. Do the same thing for Matthew Santos."

"Congressman Santos?"

"Yes," he says, leaning back against her glass particle. "He claims he's not running for congress again. Before we convince him to, I want to know if he's worth fighting for."

She nods. "I'll pull their voting records first so you can go over them."

He shakes his head; that won't work. "You go over them. You know what I'm looking for. Put a report together, nothing formal. We'll go over it tomorrow over lunch."

Her eyes perk up and she smiles genuinely. "Lunch?"

He starts heading towards his office. "Don't I owe you a salad or something?"

"At least one," she calls out happily before turning back to her desk.