Chapter 3
He walks out of his office and up to her desk at exactly one o'clock the next afternoon. The meteor didn't hit and the president's fixing ?xml:namespace prefix st1 ns "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" / China from a wheelchair, so there's not a lot to do at the office, but even if that weren't the case, he's not going to miss this lunch. She's on the phone and looks casually up, her face showing mild surprise at the coat he's putting on.
She hangs up and hands him three binders, the neat and no doubt thorough reports she's put together for him, then stands and puts on her own coat. Her hair is underneath the collar and he watches almost mesmerized as she pulls it out and let's is land against her shoulders. He thinks he should be used to that after seeing it so many times, but it never fails to make him want to reach forward and do it for her.
Once she's put on her coat and grabbed her purse, they leave through the front gate and walk to the corner to catch a cab. Instead of a place nearby, he instructs the driver to take them to Star of Siam in Adams Morgan. It's quiet there and is far enough away from the Hill to keep them from running into anyone. For once, he wants to have a meal with her without interruption.
Conversation is awkward on the way to the restaurant. He's careful not to ask about her job search; he's not sure how he's going to pull it off, but he doesn't want her to know that he knows about the job offer from Will. Personal topics seem almost off-limits while they're on such unstable ground, and that leaves little else other than the report, which he doesn't want to discuss in front of anyone. He does ask her if the Star of Siam is ok, but it's just for the sake of speaking. He knows it's one of her favorites.
"Your mom liked her Hanukah gift?" she asks after a few minutes of awkward silence.
He nods; she always likes the gifts Donna picks out for her. "She said she didn't need anything that nice," he says with a pointed look her way.
She shrugs. "I'm in charge of shopping and I say she deserves it."
He smiles at her aloofness. "I don't even want to know what I paid for it, do I?"
She grins, chuckles a little bit even. "When your credit card bill comes, just pay it. Don't even look at it. In fact, bring the unopened bill and your checkbook to me and I'll…"
She stops suddenly and looks out the window. He doesn't say anything, because what's he supposed to say? He's already humiliated himself by pretty much begging her to stay.
"It's not that I won't miss it," she says tentatively a minute later, still looking out her window.
He's looking out his own window and doesn't turn towards her. He shouldn't ask; he knows he shouldn't, but he does anyway. "Miss what?"
The work, the importance of it all, the building, the president… he doesn't know what he expects her answer to be; just what he wants it to be. "All of it," she says, then pauses for several seconds. "Spending the day with you," she adds softly.
He feels somewhat hopeful at her statement, and somewhat angry. If she likes spending the day with him so damn much, why won't she stay? He doesn't love it there anymore either; not with CJ fumbling through Leo's job and the whole damn world at war. But with her there he wouldn't be anyplace else; why can't she show him the same devotion?
It's only a few more minutes to the restaurant, but neither says anything else until they get there. When they do, he hands the driver a few bills and gets out, then holds the door open while she scoots to his side and slips gracefully out onto the sidewalk. Even pissed off at her, he watches to catch a glance of inner thigh as she gets out of the car. As usual, he doesn't get it.
It's quiet while they look at the menus, but once they order things get easier. She pulls the files out from under the table and hands them to him. "What'd you find out?" he asks as he flips through the first one. He can only hope at this point that Bingo Bob's voting record is as bad as he thinks it is and that Matt Santos' is as good as he thinks it is.
"Senator Vinick votes his conscience, constituents be damned," she says quietly, leaning in so no one overhears them.
"They must not mind, they've elected him to five six-year terms," he says, putting down the folder in his hand and picking up the one for Vinick. "What else?"
"He crosses party lines regularly on abortion and minimum wage, he's consistently tough on foreign relations and crime, he's in favor of alternatives for fuel, he's voted against almost every form of tax increase ever introduced…"
"What about education?" he asks, looking up at her.
She tilts her head, makes a little face that he thinks is cute. "He votes against budget increases… a lot."
Josh raises an eyebrow. "He's against education?"
"Not against it really…"
He smiles; she's impressed, but not overly so. He needs Vinick to come in second place here. So far so good.
"He's not in favor of over spending. He's not in favor of paying anyone's way through college or sending anyone who doesn't deserve to go. He's not in favor of private school vouchers. He's pro community college, trade school, things like that."
He nods and flips the page to healthcare. "He's for socialized medicine?" he asks, surprised.
"He's for whatever is going to get people healthy."
"Does he have a plan for it?"
She shakes her head. "No, but he will. It'll be a major point of his campaign."
He looks up at her and smirks. "It will, huh?"
She nods confidently. "Definitely."
They continue through Vinick's highs and lows until their lunch comes, then take a break to eat pad Thai and coconut chicken soup. The conversation is easier; they stick mostly to talk of the Chinese delegation and holiday parties he's trying to avoid.
Once they've mostly finished their lunches, and they're picking things off each other's plates and pushing uneaten food around, he brings up Bingo Bob. "What about Russell?"
She looks up at him, as if she's been caught, but he ignores it and pulls the folder for Russell out from underneath his napkin. She shakes herself out of it quickly and puts on a positive voice. "He's very loyal to the party."
He's looking down at the folder when she says it, and he stops mid page turn and looks up at her questioningly. "Meaning…"
"He's… a team player."
He tilts his head; gives her a look. "What are you telling me? He voted with the party most of the time?"
She glances down at her napkin. "All the time."
This shocks him and he flips through a few more pages to Russell's stats. "He never voted against the party?" he asks in a less than manly voice.
"There's something to be said for watching out for your party."
He looks up at her. She's defending him? Bingo Bob? "There's something to be said for independent thought! Donna, this guy's an idiot!"
"He finds it more important to support his party than to…"
"Follow his conscience?" he shrieks.
"He follows his conscience," she says louder. "He co-sponsored more than a hundred bills."
His eyes widen. "Co-sponsored? So what… he stood up and pointed to someone who was smart enough to introduce a bill and said, 'yeah, let's do that.'?"
She takes a deep breath and sighs. "There's more to it than that, Josh."
"How many bills did he sponsor?"
"He…" she stalls.
"How many?"
She pauses and looks over at the wall. "One."
"One bill? He sponsored one bill in thirteen years in Congress?"
She looks back at him and nods. "Yes."
"For?"
"Money for the families of coalminers killed while on duty."
He nods. That makes sense. "So, his biggest contributor was and still is the coalminer's union, and the one bill he sponsored in Congress was to benefit them."
She looks down at the table and he wonders if she realizes that she can't look him in the eye while talking this idiot up. It makes him feel a little better that on some level she knows it's not good enough. "That doesn't mean it didn't need to be done."
He shakes his head and smiles sadly at her. It's like looking back in time; this is what he used to do when he worked for Hoynes. "Donna," he says softly. "It's just me. You can call a spade a spade."
She looks up at him and he sees for the first time that she's torn. So she is considering taking Will's job offer, and she's trying to convince herself that she should. It shouldn't surprise him, but it does.
Their server clears their plates and asks if they'd like desert. They both decline, but Josh orders coffee for himself and tea for her. He glances at her and can tell by the look on her face that she'd rather just leave. He needs to pull her back.
"I don't know how you can even drink that stuff," he says in what he hopes is a teasing voice when the waiter sets the small pot of it on the table.
She looks up from pouring it into the miniature cup, and must see the laughter in his eyes, because she relaxes a little bit. "It's very soothing."
"Any why don't they give you a real cup for it? That's just ridiculous."
She smiles and rolls her eyes at him, but reels it in and stares at him. "The president wasn't ready when you were getting him elected," she says quietly.
"No," he agrees, shaking his head. He leans forward, putting his elbows on the table between them. "But he was the right man to get ready."
She looks at him for a second and then nods.
"So," he says in what he hopes is a lighter voice while dumping packets of sugar into his coffee cup. "What about this Matthew Santos guy?"
She takes a drink of her tea. "Don't let him quit."
Score! He feels like shouting! "No?" he asks, trying not to smirk.
"No. He's liberal, he's progressive, he's bipartisan when he needs to be, he's idealistic…"
"How's his record?"
"Stable." She pulls the third folder out from underneath the other two and hands it to him. "There were a few times he voted against a bill and then switched when it was reintroduced later…"
"Do you know why?"
She shakes her head. "I need to research those bills."
He nods. "Good. What else?"
"He's got some… progressive ideas on education, but they make sense even if they are a little idealistic. He's sponsored two bills in having to do with education programs for welfare recipients, an immigration bill, a bill for public pre-school programs… He's from Texas, but doesn't take money from oil or gun companies. He votes fairly closely to party lines, but not exclusively. He's very strong in healthcare; he's sponsored or co-sponsored more than ten healthcare bills since he took office and he's only been there seven years." She takes a drink of her tea. "He just got that $5 million cap on the Patient's Bill of Rights."
"I know," he says nodding. "That's what made me think we should keep him."
"You definitely need to keep him, but…" she stops and looks at him for several seconds. "What about the Senate?"
He raises an eyebrow. "The Senate?"
She nods. "Bratlien's a thousand years old and polling low; Santos might be able to take it from him."
He smiles; Bratlien's one of the most conservative republicans in the Senate. She's definitely thinking the right way. He just needs her thinking bigger.