So this ended up having way more Sam in it than I anticipated (somewhere Meli is upset about this) but I just really love Sam and Josh's friendship. Reviews are always appreciated, but never expected. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter TextSam walked back to his office after a meeting with a few Congressmen on the Hill and was surprised to find the Chief of Staff sitting in his chair. His feet propped up on the desk, but his head tilted towards the window. He didn't notice Sam come in.
"You lost?" Sam asked him, dropping his stuff on the desk next to Josh's feet with a loud bang. Josh jumped and spun around.
"Not exactly," Josh replied airily. Sam noticed Josh had a far away look on his face.
"Don't you have a million important things to be doing right now?"
Josh shrugged and sniffed.
"You okay?" Sam asked.
Josh returned to looking out the window of the office.
"Just thinkin."
"About Donna?"
"It's weird being in here."
"You guys spent a lot of time in here together," Sam smiled wistfully.
"Yeah," Josh replied with that faraway look in his eye again. He was thinking about all the lunches he would spend in this room with Donna, all the times Donna would tie his bow tie, all the little moments that solidified his relationship with Donna within these four walls. The way she would steal his french fries, the way she would lift his feet up off the desk without saying a word to him to get to a folder trapped underneath, the way they would tag team writing down the names of different Congressmen and Senators on the blackboard and pretend they weren't racing.
"Josh? Can I help you with something?"
Josh's stare out the window broke and he turned to Sam. After a moment he replied. "Yeah, sure. I uh, meant to ask earlier I guess, but will you be my best man for the wedding?"
Sam froze.
"Really?"
Josh looked amused as Sam fell into one of the visitors' chairs. The irony wasn't lost on Josh that he was sitting in Sam's chair in his old office. If he closed his eyes he could almost imagine this conversation taking place years earlier.
"Of course. Who else would I pick?" Sam looked shy, looking up at Josh from behind his glasses, but pleased.
"I'd be honored, Josh."
"What you think I'd ask Toby or something?"
Sam shrugged. "I don't know, you guys have the Jewish thing. I thought you might."
"I'm not sure Toby even likes me enough to say yes." Josh said with a self-deprecating laugh. He paused. "The whole Jewish thing?"
"Stop," Sam scolded lightly.
Josh stood. "So you'll do it?"
"Of course," Sam smiled proudly. Josh smiled back and patted him on the shoulder as he left the office.
"Will I make a speech?" Sam asked as he moved back to his desk chair. Josh paused in the doorway, a hand on the door jam.
"If you want, I guess."
Sam rested his fingers on the handle of one of his desk drawers.
"Yeah, I think I will."
The East Room of the West Wing was covered in string lights that glowed dimly against all of the white drapery crisscrossing across the walls. The room was dressed elegantly, transformed into a makeshift alter. There were too many chairs to count, with all the occupants of those chairs currently awing at the six-year old Ziegler twins walking down the aisle, performing their joint role as ring bearer flawlessly. Behind them was Miranda Santos, looking thrilled to finally get her chance to be flower girl. Josh was waiting at the top of the aisle standing next to Sam, hands held tightly behind his back.
"She's certainly thorough," Josh muttered to Sam. Miranda was taking her time throwing each individual flower petal to the ground. As they reached him, Sam corralled Molly and Huck in front of him and took the rings and eventually Miranda found her way to the other side of the aisle.
Then the room turned its attention back to the end of the aisle, where Donna now stood arm in arm with her father. Even though Josh had married her once before only a few weeks ago, he still couldn't help but feel overwhelmed at the sight of her dressed in white again. Her dress this time was more glamorous, but to Josh it felt just the same as watching her walk down the aisle in Maine. He felt the same overwhelming feeling of luck as he watched the woman he loved walk towards him. Josh spared a quick look towards President Santos and suddenly felt eternally grateful that he had forced Josh and Donna into this. Not that Josh wanted the attention or the glamour, but he was happy for Donna to get to experience this moment with her family and friends. He was happy to see his mother in the front row, tears quickly gathering in his eyes.
His eyes glanced down to Donna's stomach, hidden by an expanse of white fabric, and his smile grew wider, and his eyes filled with unexpected tears. The next thing he knew, Donna was standing right next to him. She grabbed his hand and he then pulled her hand to his lips to place a soft kiss on top of it. Together they turned to face Chief Justice Lang and went through the same motions they did in Maine all over again.
Sam stood up from his seat next to Josh at the head table. The room was bustling with talk and discussion as they ate the second course of their meals. He clinked his glass a few times and the room came to a halt, everyone turning to him expectantly.
"Hi," Sam began, more nervous than he anticipated. "I'm Sam Seaborn, best man."
Sam saw a few of their friends roll their eyes. C.J. wasn't even trying to be subtle about it. Of course everyone in the room knew who he was.
He chuckled nervously before continuing on. He glanced down at Josh who looked only mildly concerned at the speech to come. Josh had both hands enveloped around one of Donna's.
"I'm not so used to being the one giving the speech as opposed to the one who just wrote it, so bear with me," Sam said with a small smile. He heard a not so subtle "hah!" come from President Bartlet's table and the room filled with laugher.
"Back in August 2000, I was with President Bartlet and the rest of the staff for a town hall the President was doing in Rosslyn, Virginia."
Sam paused for a moment as an obvious shudder rippled through the crowd. He took a deep breath and looked back at his crinkled piece of paper he was reading off of. He tried, unsuccessfully, to flatten it out a few times.
"After a successful event, we all filed out into the open air and as many of you may remember, we were shot at by two gunmen from a nearby building. President Bartlet was shot in the abdomen, another woman was shot in the leg, and Joshua Lyman was shot in the chest."
Sam paused again, taking another deep breath. He glanced down at Josh who was frowning slightly; unsure of where Sam was taking the speech. Rosslyn was not a topic any of those affected by the event had liked talking about.
"Being a writer, one of the ways I've always used to cope and get through hard times, is to articulate my thoughts through language and prose. While we waited 14 hours for Josh to get through the surgery to try to repair the damage to a major artery and his lungs, I found myself restless, impatient and impossibly scared. So I started to write while we waited out the night and I found myself writing to Josh himself."
Sam saw C.J. look down at her lap from the corner of his eye. He tried to flatten out his piece of paper again.
"I wrote about our friendship and what he meant to me and all of his friends. For the full 14 hours Josh was in surgery I would continually come back to this piece of paper and add to it, trying my best to articulate all the feelings and emotions that were running through not only me, but the entire administration and the world that night. Thanks to a miracle and the brilliantly talented surgical team at GW hospital. I never had to use this letter as an obituary, but after that night, I always told myself I would give this to Josh at some point. I thought it was important that he knew how important his friendship was to the people around him. I put the letter in a drawer, planning to give it to him when he was recovered, but then life took over and it was forgotten about. Tonight I would like to use this letter to honor my best friend."
The room was so utterly silent, you could have heard a pin drop. Sam took a moment to glance around the room again, his eyes settled on Donna and he saw her staring back with wide eyes, eyes coated with a sheen of unshed tears. He glanced at Josh again who looked touched, but whose mouth was drawn in a thin line of anxiety and Sam felt his chest tighten. He adjusted his glasses and then squeezed Josh's shoulder before returning to read off his wrinkled piece of paper.
"Dear Josh,
I'm sitting in the waiting room of GW Hospital right now. You're still in surgery and have been for some time. Bartlet staff members, our friends, surround me. In reality, I guess this is really our family; our makeshift, crazy found family that neither of us really expected to have. I remember when we were lonely Congressional aids on the Hill making coffee runs together, we used to talk about how we both had wished we had come from big families. I think we ended up in one big family without either of us really ever noticing. The way C.J. yells at us, you could certainly believe she was our big sister."
The room broke out into soft laughter at this, especially from those who had been around to experience C.J.'s wrath at Sam and Josh's expense.
"And then there's Toby, the older brother who you think hates you until he's walking up to the bully in your class with a roll of pennies clutched in his fist." Sam raised his head to glance at Toby sitting at the back of the room. He was too far away to really register Toby's reaction, but Sam felt defiant He hoped the room's occupants saw this for what it was, Sam was defending Toby's honor in a room full of people who might still resent him for what he did.
"If you were here right now, I think you'd actually be touched by how worried he is, but then you'd probably make a joke at Toby's expense and Toby would say something, exceedingly cruel back and you'd brush it off and move on with a smile like you always do. I keep expecting you to do that. Walk through the door, make a joke at our expense and then smile as we nag and berate you for it. You're always good at bringing people together like that. You don't let things get to you and it helps put everyone else at ease. We might be a bit of a makeshift family with two dads and a mom who is constantly nagging us to get check ups and to stop eating junk food, but it works. Somehow. We've picked up a few neighborhood kids along the way in Donna and Charlie, but they've fit right in."
Sam paused again with a light smile and glanced over at Josh and Donna, who were watching expectantly.
"One might even guess that you have a crush on the blonde from down the street, Josh."
The room erupted into gentle laughter again. Sam laughed along with them and fiddled with the corner of the paper. Josh squeezed Donna's hand and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"And as I sit here looking around at our family, I'm struck by the realization that we wouldn't be here without you. In the truest sense, Donna and I at the very least wouldn't be here. You held out hands and dragged us into this crazy White House with a promise that we could make the world a better place and you show us every day why fighting for that is important. Not only us though, Charlie, who has become such an integral part of our group wouldn't be here without you. It was you that who decided to bring him on board, you that knew our family needed another member. And then there's C.J. and Toby, you didn't recruit either of them, but because Leo recruited you, this team of ours made it all the way to the White House and that's no small feat."
Sam took a deep breath, trying not to let emotion tarnish his voice.
"So I guess what all this rambling means, is thank you. Thank you for being the lynchpin that brings this family together, thank you for my friends that I wouldn't have found without you, thank you for your friendship. And although this room is filled with such fear and sadness at the moment, I hope one day you will get to understand that beneath this heavy layer of grief, is a feeling of such love. Love for you and the friendship and life you bring to all of us. Your laughter, your advice, your clumsiness. The way you enjoy nothing better than fighting with Republicans. Your secret plan to fight inflation. All of the things that are so quintessentially Josh are the things we are holding on so tightly to right now as we pray that you make it through the night.
C.J. just came by to tell me that you're out of surgery, so we're headed to the hospital. Thank you for hanging on.
Love always, Sam."
The silent room was now spoiled by the sound of sniffing noses and Sam looked up to see many guests dabbing at their eyes. He made eyes contact with C.J. who put her hands over her heart. Sam looked towards the back of the room and could make out Toby, a hand propping up his head and covering his mouth. President Bartlet looked like he was trying to hold back tears and Sam cleared his throat.
"Josh showed up at my law firm in New York City all those years ago to recruit me for the Bartlet campaign and then eight years later, in the same fashion, he burst into a meeting and pulled me along with him for his next grand adventure with President Santos. Just like the first administration he served in, Josh was the architect of another family. So if I could get everyone to raise their glasses." Sam grabbed his own from beside him on the table.
"I'd like to raise a glass to Josh Lyman. Thank you for the families and friends you have given to me and I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you finally happy with the girl next door you invited into all our lives all those years ago, ready to start a family of your own. I'm thankful every day that you're still here. To Josh!"
The room repeated it with gusto. "To Josh!" And then broke out into applause and Sam retook his seat. He saw Donna dabbing at her eyes furiously and even saw Josh's eyes were looking especially wet.
"How'd I do?" Sam asked. Josh punched him in the shoulder before pulling him in for a hug.
"You really wrote that on the night of Rosslyn?"
"Yeah," Sam answered, he folded the piece of paper in half and then placed it back in an envelope that had been sitting next to Sam's plate.
"I've been meaning to give it to you for years."
He handed the envelope to Josh, who let go of Donna's hand to grasp it with both of his own. He held it out in front of him, not quite sure what to do with it.
"I don't think I want this."
"I've been meaning to give it to you for years."
"Sam-" Donna reached across and grabbed it from his hands.
"You're keeping it."
Before Josh could respond, they heard a clinking glass and they held back groans as they saw who the culprit was. Jed was standing at the center of the room.
"Not again," Josh sighed, putting a hand to his face.
"This is the third speech," Donna said, she couldn't help the smile on her face. Her head was still nuzzled into Josh's shoulder as the night began to take its toll.
"I think he misses the spotlight," Sam chuckled. Before Jed started his speech, Sam turned to Josh and Donna.
"I love you guys. I'm so happy for you." Josh and Donna smiled warmly back at him and Donna reached out to affectionately fix Sam's bowtie.
"Thanks for the speech, Sam."
The three of them sat back as Jed started another speech on love, but ended up on a tangent about some obscure trivia fact that only really Donna knew about. Sam caught a glimpse of Josh's hand as it subtly strayed to Donna's stomach and felt a warm feeling spread through his body. He then found himself watching Josh, taking in the sight of his chest rising and falling. Josh was oblivious, watching President Barlet speak and Sam realized that to this day, the sight of Josh's chest rising and falling still reassured him. After a full night spent with Donna in the hospital watching to make sure Josh's breathing never stopped, Sam made sure to never again take the sight for granted. Returning to the present, Sam smiled and relaxed into his chair to enjoy the night with his family, the one he never expected, but would feel forever grateful to have in his life.