Later that day

The joint chiefs just left the Oval, leaving Sam, Lou, and I with the President*. It is strange to look at the seal and not think Bartlet but Matt now. It's not a bad feeling though. In fact, it's an amazing one.

"Alright, what do we got?" It's no what's next but I'll take it.

"I think we should send what we have for the cabinet tomorrow morning." Sam says.

"Do we wanna leak one today?" Santos asks.

"No, I want to do a press conference with you in the Rose Garden tomorrow morning, announcing the picks. Show you're a leader from day one, that you're not letting anything rest. Plus without a press secretary yet, this will distract them enough." Lou chimes in.

"How is that going?" Santos asks.

"Donald Morales is good…" Sam says.

"But not great?" I add. Sam nods.

"We're not going to find another CJ Cregg." Lou replies.

"We've got three deputy press secretaries- none of them can move up?" Santos asks.

"No. I mean I would have moved Donna up if she had signed on as deputy press secretary-"

"I knew it was my wife's fault." Matt jokes.

"Carol could do it but it'd make it to big a story- an assistant straight to press secretary looks too much like Bartlet nepotism which we're already toeing carefully." I add.

"And Lester is hungry for it and has the charisma but doesn't have the repore with the reporters. Yet."

"And the guy from the D triple C is a marshmallow and the press corp would eat him alive." Lou says.

"Why did we hire him again?" I ask.

"Favors. Good faith. Flies with honey." Sam says with a bit exasperation. Nate Hawkins worked with Barry Goodwin before working with the DCCC for the past year or so. He worked for the Russell campaign for a little while too. He's smart but lacks the gumption to be press secretary. We wouldn't have hired him as deputy but Barry insisted we needed to utilise some of the core democratic blood since Santos was a left field candidate with Lou, Sam, and I at the helm as left field operatives.

"Whatever, I think we're fine with having Lou do the normal press briefings and having Carol and Lester fill in the blanks with the press corp." I reply.

"Okay but I want one soon. I don't want to look like we're floundering staffing already." Santos says.

"Speaking of… there's a few positions that you'll want to make official by asking them tomorrow." Sam moves onto our next thing.

"Carol, Lester, and Nate just need to sign the paper. Same with Amy for Legislative Affairs and Edie for Political Affairs. Bram for Public Liaison, you technically have to ask still. Although he's been doing the job already." I cycle through my mental rolodex of staffing to do's. "You have to ask Otto formally to be a presidential speechwriter- he's probably going to freak out about it. I may have scared him that he's not getting it." I admit.

Santos and Lou both laugh while Sam shakes his head.

"There's the general speechwriting staff that you don't need to deal with but you know most of 'em. Ned Carlson is in there but I might farm him out to the VP's office one he's confirmed." Lou says.

"I do want to add another Presidential Speechwriter other than Otto. He's young." Sam says. Sam had run himself a little silly running up to the inauguration speech with looking over Otto's drafts. I have a feeling I'm going to need to pull him away from speechwriting quite often as its still inherent in his blood.

"Who are you thinking? I haven't seen anyone who really stood out." Lou asks.

"You don't know her. But I want to hire Will Bailey's little sister." Sam says to more to me than the others, since they don't know her.

"That's not a bad idea. But would she want it? Isn't she in LA now?" I ask.

"According to Will, she's back in D.C. and has decided to be done with television."

"This is a TV writer?" Santos asks skeptically.

"She's a comedy writer technically. But she helped Will out a lot when he was first hired here then worked with the First Lady a bunch." I fill in the blanks for Lou and Matt.

"What's her name?" Lou asks.

"Well, that's the funny part. Elsie Snuffin."

Lou looks blankly at Sam for a minute before laughing just a bit hysterically. I join in a bit too. So does Matt and Sam. It's a good moment of camaraderie and levity in the midst of the enormous weight of the jobs we have to do.

"So when are we doing the whole ceremonial, will you be my staff thing?" Santos asks.

"Donna had an idea. Don't look at me like that." Sam turns away but I can see his lip twitching. It's not my fault my girlfriend is brilliant. "She thinks we need to do the whole we're a family, team thing. She suggested a get together in the residence where you- and the first lady for her staff- will do the announcements and get it all out of the way at once."

"Sounds good." Santos agrees.

For the next thirty five minutes, we debate the leftover cabinet positions and make a plan for the next few days. Sam is in charge of finding the next Charlie, Lou with help from Carol will keep looking for a press secretary, and I've got to meet with the maybes for cabinet positions. Santos has to focus on Kazakhstan and adjusting to his new whirlwind.

The President is still confident about having Swaine for Secretary of Defense and we've all reached a consensus that Vinnick is the right choice for State. Sam proposes Karen Kroft for Secretary of Interior since we kind of screwed her as the Bartlet Administration. Lou thinks we'd have to give another republican for Secretary of Agriculture which I don't like but agree that it'd be a tough fight without doing so. They agree with me that Tom Landis who I once screwed on the Chesapeake Bay cleanup would be our first choice if we can swing it on the hill. Lou and I go to bat about HUD Secretary. Santos ends up siding with me and wanting to go with Jeff Breckenridge. For Veterans Affairs and Energy, we don't make much headroom but we agree we'll have to go moderate since we have heavy hitters for education and labor secretaries. Lou is going to send Bram and Edie to meetings with some of the DNC players to see who they want for those. Sam brought up Tony Marino for Labor Secretary and Santos wanted to bring Leo's sister, Josephine, on board for Secretary of Education. I know Leo would be caution us against it but there's a certain poetry about still having a McGarry on the team.**

Lou and Sam leave with their marching orders and I discuss some legislative stuff that we'll want to get into once things settle in.

Ronna interrupts and whisks away the President so he can get ready for the balls after a while. I have to backtrack as I go to exit through where I used to- then remembering now I have my own door. Leo's door. I take a few moments to take it in as I settle into my desk, whispering thanks boss as I look at CJ's WWLD sticky note.

*technically in Tomorrow Bram, Sam, and Josh are in this meeting but that doesn't seem right to me- Lou should be there instead so here ya go.

** if the various staffing stuff is too difficult to follow next chapter will be a guide as to who's who in what position which was my favorite part of writing this so if you're a nerd like me... stay tuned

reviews are always appreciated !