Title: All Bets Are Off
Post-Ep: Constituency of One
Author: Cathy Miller (www.cathyswestwing.com)
Rating: R (language and some sexual content)
Disclaimer: They’re not mine, but I’ll feed them and walk them…
Feedback: Appreciated
(Re-cap)
“What happened?” Donna asked.
“I think she’s been fired. She thinks so. I kind of unloaded on her. She’ll be back. I don’t
know when but she’ll-“
“Find her. Forget about budget bills and poll samples and missile launchers and just go
find her.” Donna suggested.
“What else have I got?” Josh asked distractedly.
“Senator Carrick is in the Roosevelt room.” She replied.
*********************************************
“Josh, Leo wants you in the mural room.” Margaret told him and Josh walked woodenly
down the hallway, wondering how he could possible spin Carrick’s defection to the
Republican Party.
“Surprise!” came a chorus of shouts from all around him. A surprise Birthday party was the
very last thing Josh was prepared to deal with at the moment. He had watched Amy walk
out of the building just moments before Senator Carrick asked him to deliver a letter to the
President announcing his party switch. His whole life was going down the toilet and these
people expected him to make a wish and blow out the candles? Fine. ‘I wish I could do this
day over’ he thought as he blew out the candles. Nothing. Figures.
Josh noticed Donna looking at him strangely. She moved up next to him to help him cut
and distribute cake.
“Are you okay?” she asked in concern.
“I need to talk to Leo…alone.” He said quietly.
“Now?”
“Now.” Josh insisted and Donna nodded. He saw her wind her way through the people and
whisper to Margaret. She, in turn, drew Leo away from where he was suffering through a
Presidential lecture and indicated that Josh needed him. Leo’s eyes met Josh’s and Leo
motioned to the door. Donna watched them both leave with grave feelings of misgiving.
Something was terribly wrong.
A few minutes later, C.J. and Toby were summoned, but still no sign of, or word from Josh.
When C.J. finally returned to the party, Donna knew it was bad. She cornered C.J. and got
her to repeat the entire story. Donna’s heart sank. She debated only a minute before
going in search of Josh. It took her awhile, but she tracked him down in Amy’s office.
“Are you having a meeting of some kind?” Donna asked. “Either Amy’s really late, or you’
re really early.”
“No, it’s me that’s late, too late all the way around.”
“What are you talking about?” Donna played dumb. Josh let out a humorless chuckle.
“There’s that Drama Major coming into play again.” Josh mused. “Everyone in the building
has to have heard about it by now. Carrick is a Republican. I actually turned a Democrat
into a Republican with the wave of my hand.”
“Josh, maybe if you apologized-“
“If I thought it would help, I’d go offer him a missile launcher on bended knee, Donna. It’s
not that simple!”
“I didn’t say it was.” Donna tried to soothe, but it only ended up irritating him more.
“You’re always throwing advice at me. ‘Go after her, Josh.’ Or ‘Apologize, Josh’. You have
no idea what you’re talking about.” Josh stood up and swiped all the papers off Amy’s
desk. “My whole life is going to shit. By tomorrow noon, I will be a single, unemployed
political operative who was fired by the President of the United States. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to
offer my resignation first. Do you get it now?” Josh was yelling and although Donna was
used to Josh yelling at other people, she could count on one hand the number of times he’
d ever yelled at her; and this particular rant was personal.
“I got it before, Joshua. Is there anything you need from me or do I have your permission
to leave?” Donna asked intently. She had to leave before her tears started to fall.
“Go. You might as well start job hunting, too. Maybe C.J. or Toby will take you on their
staff.” Josh muttered, absolutely miserable at the thought of her leaving him, of them being
separated, and all because he got too cocky with Carrick.
Donna turned and left the room without another word. She almost turned back to tell him
she left his Birthday gift on his desk, but couldn’t get the words out, so she simply left.
Josh sat heavily in Amy’s chair again. Well, probably not Amy’s chair anymore, he noted.
He fucked that whole thing up too. He should have stopped her the minute he had a clue
as to what she was doing with appropriations. He should have gone to bat for her with the
President. Isn’t that what you did for someone you loved? Instead he chose to strut in front
of Carrick with his brilliant news leak. He got screwed, the President got screwed, the
Democratic Party got screwed, and Amy Gardner got screwed.
He had run through all the different options in his head, and there was nothing he could do
about those first 3 items, but he had figured out a way to fix the fourth.
He bolted out of the chair and went to find Amy Gardner…
***************************************************
Donna finished listening to C.J.’s spiel about how to control the schoddenfreud, with half
an ear. She had meant to leave directly from Amy’s office, but then she decided she
needed to check in with C.J. She needed to know whether or not Josh was exaggerating
about being unemployed. C.J. made it sound rocky, but doable. They would just have to
weather this for a couple weeks; they’ve certainly weathered worse. But as she stopped in
his office to turn off the computer, she noticed that his backpack and her present for him
were still sitting on the desk. Had he not left yet? That must be it. Josh would never have
left without his backpack, and he has never yet been able to resist the temptation of a
wrapped gift.
Maybe Amy came back and they were talking things out in her office right now. Donna’s
heart constricted at the thought. Yes, she encouraged him to go find her, but that was only
because he’d seemed so upset. She hated to see him upset and this thing with Carrick
was only going to compound the problem. Josh took great comfort in the fact that he knew
what he was doing in the political arena even if he rarely knew what he was doing in the
personal arena. C.J. told her that Josh was told to stay out of the office until Monday, so
unless she heard differently from him, she was going to spend a rare weekend at home.
The rest would get worked out on Monday; they would get through this and get back in the
game.
*********************************************
“Josh?” Amy opened her door, surprised at her visitor. Things had been dicey between
them when she’d left and she was sure his disappointment in her would preclude him from
even calling her, let alone showing up on her doorstep.
“Can I come in?” The fact that he would even ask rather than simply barging in gave her a
big clue about his state of mind right now.
“What’s going on, J? Aren’t you supposed to be at a surprise party right now?”
“It was a surprise alright.” Josh muttered. “I’m sorry…about before. I should have helped
you; talked to the President or stopped you before it got that far…something.” Josh was
doing his pacing routine.
“The President talked to me, he told me I could keep my job.” Amy told him.
“Oh. That’s good then.” Josh said deflated.
“Except that I told him I was resigning.” Amy continued. “That job isn’t for me. You’re right; I
don’t understand the building and I don’t want to. I want to do what I’m good at and fight for
what I believe in without having to worry about office politics.”
“But-“
“It’s a good thing, J.” Amy smiled. “Now I can start over professionally and personally. It’ll
be a whole new ball game, to use a metaphor you’re fond of.”
“I don’t want a whole new ball game.” Josh told her. “I need to finish this one.”
“Excuse me.”
“I blew it today; in more ways than one, but I can fix this. Let me try to fix this.” Josh said
with a desperate tone in his voice.
“Josh, what happened at work after I left?”
“Nothing. Everything. I just…I had a light bulb moment.”
“And I was in that moment somehow?”
“Yes.” Josh answered. “I realized that I had blown it with you and that I could fix it, if you’ll
let me.”
“There’s only so much you can do with duct tape, Joshua.” Amy teased.
“See? That’s been the problem. I’ve just been doing patch work on this relationship. Now, I’
m ready to give it my full attention and focus. I can do that now.”
“And you’ve just decided this?” Amy questioned.
“I just realized it.” Josh corrected. “I want to make this work. We’re good together, we
understand each other…I don’t want to lose you.”
“We’ve been round this bend before. Maybe we’re better off being friends.”
“No. This is different. I..I love you,” Josh said seriously. “and I’d like to talk about getting
married down the road.” He took her hands in his and brought her closer.
Amy’s eyebrows shot up. “Love and marriage in the same sentence? Are you feeling
alright?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” Josh kissed her. “It’s definitely a fever of some kind.”
“You do feel a little warm.” Amy noted. “Maybe you should lie down for awhile.”
“I will, if you come with me.” he kissed her again and started unbuttoning her shirt.
“I think that’s only fair.” Amy said returning the favor by undoing his belt. “What time do
you have to be in tomorrow?”
“I don’t.” Josh responded. He didn’t want to say anymore about it right now. She’d hear
about it soon enough, he reasoned. The Sunday talk shows would be full of it.
“That’s a great Birthday present. Remind me to thank Leo.” Amy mentioned.
“Uh-huh.” Josh managed as he pulled her with him to the bedroom.
**********************************************************
Donna made sure she was there to greet him, when he got out of the cab outside the
White House Monday morning. She had been more than a little alarmed to find his
backpack and present untouched on his desk, and even more concerned when he didn’t
answer his home phone that morning. But when she reached him on his cell, he sounded
happy and upbeat, so she let it go.
“You look good.” She told him as he got out of the cab.
“I feel good.” Josh responded smiling, but he was wearing his sunglasses, so she couldn’t
see his eyes. “What are you doing out here?”
“I have a crush on the Cappuccino man on the corner.” Donna replied without missing a
beat. She had been prepared for that question, and had rehearsed the answer. “I called
the Idaho DNC chair and set up a call for first thing this morning. I figured if you could
survive his wrath, it would be all downhill from there.”
“What time does Leo want to see me?”
“He’s going to get back to you on that. His morning kind of fell apart, according to
Margaret.”
Josh stopped in his tracks and waited for Donna to turn around and face him. “What?”
“You met me out here so you could tell me Leo wasn’t meeting with me this morning
outside the building. Then we wouldn’t be around people if I got upset.” He accused.
“So?” Donna kept his gaze. “The place is buzzing pretty good with gossip this morning;
between Carrick and Amy getting fired-“
“She didn’t get fired; she resigned.” Josh corrected her. “This place really wasn’t a good fit
for her anyway. She’s going to take something more issues oriented.”
“She came back to the office then?”
“What?”
“Friday night, after I left, she came back to the office?” Donna shrugged her shoulders. “I
didn’t see her, but I figured as much when I saw you left your backpack here.”
“No, I went to her place.” Josh told her. “We talked some things out.”
“You did? That’s good…right?” Donna asked hesitantly. It was hard to know which way the
wind blew when it came to Josh and his relationship with Amy Gardner.
“Very good. I asked her to marry me.” Josh cracked a smile at his accomplishment. This
time Donna stopped in her tracks.
“You got engaged?” she clarified trying to ignore the pounding heart in her chest.
“Sort of.”
“You don’t ‘sort of’ get engaged Josh.” Donna’s voice rose in what she would later identify
as panic. “You either are or you aren’t.”
“Well, we haven’t set a date and I didn’t get her ring yet, but we agreed that’s where we’re
heading.” Josh explained. Donna’s head was still spinning.
“Wow. Well that is exciting news.” Donna managed. “No wonder you weren’t home this
morning.”
“Yeah, I spent the weekend at Amy’s.” Josh confirmed, and Donna’s step slowed further.
“What did you do with your free weekend?”
“Oh, this and that.” Donna stalled. She had spent the weekend coming up with a survival
plan for them. “You know, all the stuff my mean boss won’t usually give me time to do.”
Josh laughed and stopped outside his door to go through his mail. Donna continued inside
and surreptitiously removed her Birthday gift. She would replace it with something else
later, if he even noticed hers was absent from the pile he’d received on Friday. She kept it
hidden under her pile of folders and she handed him his schedule and call sheet as she
passed him going back to her desk. She dumped the gift in her bottom drawer and
slammed it shut just as C.J. walked by.
“Everything okay?” C.J. inquired.
“Sure. I just think it’s going to be a long week, you know?”
“We got through Rosslyn, M.S., and Zoey. This will be a cake walk.” C.J. assured her and
Donna gave her a weak smile in response. It didn’t feel like that.
********************************************************
Josh got back from his meeting with Leo and slammed his door shut. Donna had already
maxed out on Tylenol, so the throbbing the door started up in her head went untreated.
Josh hadn’t said another word about his ‘engagement agreement’, but she’d observed him
on the phone with her and the verbal sparring he had been engaged in with her turned
Donna’s stomach. Reluctantly, she knocked on his door and brought in the budget report
for his review.
“Thanks.” He said without looking up. “Oh, and can you make reservations for Amy and I at
Morton’s tonight? Eight O’Clock would be good.”
“No.” Donna replied.
“I’m sorry?”
“I said ‘no’. Surely you’ve heard the word before. In this case it denotes a negative
response to your request.”
“You have some problem using the phone?” Josh asked.
“No, I have a problem making dinner reservations for you and your fiancé. I’m sure that
duty isn’t listed anywhere in my job description.” Donna explained. “When you are making
a lifetime commitment to someone, Joshua, you should be willing to pick up the phone to
make dinner reservations for them.”
“But…I don’t have the number or anything.”
“THAT I will get for you.” Donna replied. She went to her desk, wrote the number on a post
it note and stuck it on Josh’s phone.
“You’re serious?” Josh asked.
“Extremely. You should call now if you hope to get in by 8.” She warned him and left him
with his jaw hanging open.
********************************************
Toby approached Josh’s office and was surprised to see the door closed. He instead
walked over to Donna.
“Who’s he in with?” Toby motioned to the closed door with his head.
“Cruella DeVille.” Donna muttered and Toby wasn’t entirely sure he was supposed to hear
that.
“What?”
“Nothing. I can interrupt him.” Donna offered and picked up the phone.
“No, never mind.” Toby put his hand over hers on the phone. “Listen, what have you got
on the cap gains stuff?”
“Are you serious? Leo is pulling him off of cap gains?” Donna felt a tingle of panic.
“The entire Democratic caucus is screaming for his head on a platter. Leo can’t send him
in to negotiate votes with them on cap gains.” Toby reasoned.
“What about the budget?” Donna nailed him with her direct gaze and made a lie impossible.
“I think…Leo will be bringing in Angela Blake to handle that.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I’m not.” He replied. Then Josh’s door opened and Amy strolled out, throwing a significant
look to Donna. Toby turned back to Donna after watching Amy leave.
“You’re kidding me.” he said.
“I’m not.” Donna said sadly. “They’re…talking marriage.” Donna admitted after only a brief
wrestle with her conscience about telling Toby something Josh had told her in confidence.
“Dear God.” Toby moaned. He shook his head and looked back at Donna. “Can you get
me up to speed so I can meet with Singer on cap gains?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“If I can go in with you.”
“To meet with Singer?” Toby confirmed and Donna nodded. “Done.” Josh walked out of his
office and Toby looked at him long and hard. “You’re an idiot.” He told Josh as he winked
at Donna and left.
“What the hell was that about?” Josh asked her.
“The usual I expect.” Donna handed him the messages he’d accumulated while he’d been
‘conferencing with Amy’ and was surprised to find she felt no guilt over her deal with Toby.
“I’ll return these when I get back. I need to go see Leo about Singer.” Josh told her and
walked away. She took the opportunity his absence provided to bring Toby up to speed on
Singer and cap gains.
************************************************
Josh brushed the Pierce kid off and went to find Donna. He couldn’t believe he Leo was
kicking him off cap gains AND the budget. What the hell? He must be bringing someone
new on the budget and Donna would know who that was. She heard everything.
When he got to the bull pen, however, she was nowhere to be found.
“Ed! Where’s Donna?” he shouted.
“Haven’t seen her.” Ed called back.
“Me neither.” Larry added.
“I didn’t even ask you, Larry.”
“You were about to.” Larry responded.
“Fair point.” Josh muttered. “Can someone please tell me where the hell my senior
assistant went?”
“She’s in with Toby.” Came a response from the bull pen. ‘Toby? Why would she be in with
Toby?’ Josh wondered. Before he could get much further in his mental process, Donna
herself came back to her desk.
“What were you doing with Toby?”
“We’re having a torrid affair.” Donna answered. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
“If you were having torrid affair with a member of the senior staff, I think I’d know about it.”
Josh snarked.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“What did Toby want?” Josh repeated the question. Donna took a deep breath and said
the sentence she knew was going to change things between them.
“I’ve been briefing him on cap gains.”
“You’ve been…Toby is taking the cap gains meeting?” Donna just kept her gaze on her
desk. “Is he taking the budget negotiations, too?”
“No. That will be Angela Blake.” Donna told him, still not meeting his eyes.
“Angela…You can’t be serious.” Josh pounded his fist on the filing cabinet. “And you’re
helping them?”
“I’m helping the President.” Donna corrected.
“You’re helping yourself, you mean!” Josh turned it around.
“Why shouldn’t I help myself? Is there someone else here who is interested in helping me?”
“I think I’ve helped you on more than one occasion.” Josh returned heatedly. “Particularly
during testimony!” Donna gasped a breath when he said that. “Is this about Amy?” he
asked getting quieter and moving closer to her.
“What is ‘this’ and what does Amy have to do with anything?”
“She told me about your conversation…the night Zoey was kidnapped?” Josh clued her in
to what he was talking about. He face flushed scarlet as she imagined just what Amy had
shared from that night.
“Could we please take this in your office?” Donna asked in an intense whisper.
Josh gestured to the door and followed her inside, closing the door behind him.
“Don’t you dare yell at me in front of the rest of the staff like that!” Donna’s embarrassment
gave way to heated anger over the words she wished she could say. “You have no right to
humiliate me like that!”
“You want to talk about humiliation? How about being robbed of your legislative portfolio
over a botched plan that your boss approved and then having your friend go behind your
back to help them do it to you!” Josh shot back.
“I didn’t go behind your back.” Donna insisted. “I was doing my job.”
“Your job is to assist me, not Toby; although you seem to assist him better than you have
me lately.”
“Then I guess this arrangement isn’t working out very well for either of us, is it?” Donna
challenged him. Josh sat down in his chair and stared at her.
“I get that I’m not Mr. Popularity around here right now, but I never thought you’d jump
ship. I thought we were more than that.”
“So did I.” Donna said honestly.
“You never answered my question. Is this about Amy?”
“I don’t have to answer personal questions from you, Joshua.” Donna turned on her heel
and had her hand on the door.
“Is this about Amy?” he asked again in a louder, impatient tone of voice.
“Yes, it’s about Amy! It’s about Amy and Jack and Mandy and Cliff. What the hell did she
tell you?” Donna shouted back. Josh got up and walked over to her.
“She said she asked you if you were in love with me.” Josh answered without looking away.
“She said you wouldn’t answer her. She said that it was obvious that your feelings were
getting in the way of our working together. She said-“
“She said quite enough!” Donna interrupted him, her hands shaking with mortification. “I’m
going to Leo right now and ask for an immediate transfer.” Donna opened the door. “That
way you won’t have to worry about my betraying you with Toby, or whatever ‘feelings’ you
and Amy are convinced I have.”
Donna walked down the hall and made it into the women’s restroom before the sobs
started coming. She was in there for quite some time, so it wasn’t a shock when she heard
Carol’s voice from the other side of the stall door.
“Donna? Donna are you okay?”
“I don’t…think so…” Donna answered gasping for breath. “Can you get…my purse
and…coat for me?”
“Of course. I’ll get Josh, too.”
“NO!” Donna stated. “Please don’t…bother him. I’m sorry…to ask you to do this but-“
“Don’t worry about it. C.J. is on the disaster trip with the President. I’m not doing anything
important.” Donna let out a watery laugh at the words ‘disaster trip’. She thought C.J. could
have stayed right here and the press could still have covered a ‘disaster’. “I’ll be right
back.” Carol promised.
Donna exited the stall and ran cold water over her face. By the time Carol returned with
her things, Donna only looked like she’d had a severe allergic reaction rather than a
mental/emotional breakdown. Carol ushered her into a cab without a single Josh Lyman
sighting.
*********************************************
“I’m doing my best Leo, okay?” C.J. shouted into the phone. Donna held her receiver away
from her ear.
“C.J.? It’s Donna, not Leo.”
“God, I’m sorry, Donna. Leo has been calling me every 5 minutes trying to get me to get
the President back to the White House.”
“No luck, huh?”
“Have you ever tried to get the President of the United States to do something he doesn’t
want to do?” C.J. huffed. “No, no luck at all.”
“I’ll let you go then, I thought you were on your way back already.”
“I wish.” C.J. mutters. “What does Josh need?”
“What makes you think Josh needs something?”
“Isn’t that why you usually call me?” C.J. asked with humor in her voice.
“Well…yeah, I guess…but sometimes I call to go out and get a drink or something; talk
maybe.”
“But since I’m currently in Oklahoma, and you’re aware that I’m currently in Oklahoma, I
figured it wasn’t for the drink thing.”
“Yeah, you’re smart that way.” Donna mused.
“Donna, is something wrong?”
“I’m pretty sure I just quit my job.”
“Ok, well that’s pretty big.” C.J. responded. “Since your Josh Lyman tolerance is higher
than anyone else’s, I’m guessing this isn’t so much about Josh as it is about you and Josh.”
“There is no me and Josh.”
“Please…”
“There isn’t!” Donna raised her voice and shocked C.J. “He’s…he and Amy are talking
about getting married…He’s asked her and everything.”
‘The pin drops’ C.J. thought to herself. Out loud, she replied, “You don’t seem to like that
idea very much. Is that why you quit?”
“No! He was accusing me of betraying him with Toby and-“
“Excuse me?” C.J. interrupted for clarification.
“On cap gains.” Donna reiterated. “Leo pulled a bunch of stuff from Josh’s portfolio and
gave it to Toby and Angela Blake. I briefed Toby on it and-“
“Josh hates Angela Blake.” C.J. added.
“Yeah, I think I caught that.” Donna said sarcastically.
“And although he loves Toby like a brother, he’s also extremely competitive with Toby.”
“I know that, too, C.J.”
“So even though he hates Angela Blake and is extremely competitive with Toby, he loaned
you out to brief them on the legislative agenda he got taken away from him?”
“First of all, I am not a piece of equipment to be ‘loaned out’ to someone else. And
secondly, when a member of the senior staff asks for my help, I help.”
“And your helping Toby didn’t have anything to do with a little misplaced anger toward
Josh?”
“C.J.!”
“It would be understandable, Donna. The man has no trouble using you personally and
professionally when it suits him, but when push comes to shove, he picked Amy…again.”
“Don’t…C.J. please don’t say that.”
“You’re still defending him.” C.J. pointed out.
“I’m not.” Donna insisted. “I didn’t call you to be chastised, C.J.” she said quietly and C.J.
took a breath before responding.
“No, of course you didn’t. I just hate to see you hurt over and over when-“
“I don’t know what to do!” Donna told her. “I told Josh I wouldn’t work with him anymore,
and that I was going to Leo for a transfer, but now I don’t know what to do.”
C.J. thought about it for 30 seconds. “Skip Leo. Go to Toby. He’d love to have you on his
staff; hell, so would I if I had a place to put you. Go to Toby and let everyone see what you
can do.”
“What if I screw up?”
“Donna, it’s the White House, of course you’ll screw up.” C.J. assured her. “Open a bottle
of wine, take a hot bubble bath, get some sleep, and see Toby in the morning.”
“Okay. I will.” Donna promised. “Thanks C.J.”
Post-Ep: Constituency of One
Author: Cathy Miller (www.cathyswestwing.com)
Rating: R (language and some sexual content)
Disclaimer: They’re not mine, but I’ll feed them and walk them…
Feedback: Appreciated
(Re-cap)
“What happened?” Donna asked.
“I think she’s been fired. She thinks so. I kind of unloaded on her. She’ll be back. I don’t
know when but she’ll-“
“Find her. Forget about budget bills and poll samples and missile launchers and just go
find her.” Donna suggested.
“What else have I got?” Josh asked distractedly.
“Senator Carrick is in the Roosevelt room.” She replied.
*********************************************
“Josh, Leo wants you in the mural room.” Margaret told him and Josh walked woodenly
down the hallway, wondering how he could possible spin Carrick’s defection to the
Republican Party.
“Surprise!” came a chorus of shouts from all around him. A surprise Birthday party was the
very last thing Josh was prepared to deal with at the moment. He had watched Amy walk
out of the building just moments before Senator Carrick asked him to deliver a letter to the
President announcing his party switch. His whole life was going down the toilet and these
people expected him to make a wish and blow out the candles? Fine. ‘I wish I could do this
day over’ he thought as he blew out the candles. Nothing. Figures.
Josh noticed Donna looking at him strangely. She moved up next to him to help him cut
and distribute cake.
“Are you okay?” she asked in concern.
“I need to talk to Leo…alone.” He said quietly.
“Now?”
“Now.” Josh insisted and Donna nodded. He saw her wind her way through the people and
whisper to Margaret. She, in turn, drew Leo away from where he was suffering through a
Presidential lecture and indicated that Josh needed him. Leo’s eyes met Josh’s and Leo
motioned to the door. Donna watched them both leave with grave feelings of misgiving.
Something was terribly wrong.
A few minutes later, C.J. and Toby were summoned, but still no sign of, or word from Josh.
When C.J. finally returned to the party, Donna knew it was bad. She cornered C.J. and got
her to repeat the entire story. Donna’s heart sank. She debated only a minute before
going in search of Josh. It took her awhile, but she tracked him down in Amy’s office.
“Are you having a meeting of some kind?” Donna asked. “Either Amy’s really late, or you’
re really early.”
“No, it’s me that’s late, too late all the way around.”
“What are you talking about?” Donna played dumb. Josh let out a humorless chuckle.
“There’s that Drama Major coming into play again.” Josh mused. “Everyone in the building
has to have heard about it by now. Carrick is a Republican. I actually turned a Democrat
into a Republican with the wave of my hand.”
“Josh, maybe if you apologized-“
“If I thought it would help, I’d go offer him a missile launcher on bended knee, Donna. It’s
not that simple!”
“I didn’t say it was.” Donna tried to soothe, but it only ended up irritating him more.
“You’re always throwing advice at me. ‘Go after her, Josh.’ Or ‘Apologize, Josh’. You have
no idea what you’re talking about.” Josh stood up and swiped all the papers off Amy’s
desk. “My whole life is going to shit. By tomorrow noon, I will be a single, unemployed
political operative who was fired by the President of the United States. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to
offer my resignation first. Do you get it now?” Josh was yelling and although Donna was
used to Josh yelling at other people, she could count on one hand the number of times he’
d ever yelled at her; and this particular rant was personal.
“I got it before, Joshua. Is there anything you need from me or do I have your permission
to leave?” Donna asked intently. She had to leave before her tears started to fall.
“Go. You might as well start job hunting, too. Maybe C.J. or Toby will take you on their
staff.” Josh muttered, absolutely miserable at the thought of her leaving him, of them being
separated, and all because he got too cocky with Carrick.
Donna turned and left the room without another word. She almost turned back to tell him
she left his Birthday gift on his desk, but couldn’t get the words out, so she simply left.
Josh sat heavily in Amy’s chair again. Well, probably not Amy’s chair anymore, he noted.
He fucked that whole thing up too. He should have stopped her the minute he had a clue
as to what she was doing with appropriations. He should have gone to bat for her with the
President. Isn’t that what you did for someone you loved? Instead he chose to strut in front
of Carrick with his brilliant news leak. He got screwed, the President got screwed, the
Democratic Party got screwed, and Amy Gardner got screwed.
He had run through all the different options in his head, and there was nothing he could do
about those first 3 items, but he had figured out a way to fix the fourth.
He bolted out of the chair and went to find Amy Gardner…
***************************************************
Donna finished listening to C.J.’s spiel about how to control the schoddenfreud, with half
an ear. She had meant to leave directly from Amy’s office, but then she decided she
needed to check in with C.J. She needed to know whether or not Josh was exaggerating
about being unemployed. C.J. made it sound rocky, but doable. They would just have to
weather this for a couple weeks; they’ve certainly weathered worse. But as she stopped in
his office to turn off the computer, she noticed that his backpack and her present for him
were still sitting on the desk. Had he not left yet? That must be it. Josh would never have
left without his backpack, and he has never yet been able to resist the temptation of a
wrapped gift.
Maybe Amy came back and they were talking things out in her office right now. Donna’s
heart constricted at the thought. Yes, she encouraged him to go find her, but that was only
because he’d seemed so upset. She hated to see him upset and this thing with Carrick
was only going to compound the problem. Josh took great comfort in the fact that he knew
what he was doing in the political arena even if he rarely knew what he was doing in the
personal arena. C.J. told her that Josh was told to stay out of the office until Monday, so
unless she heard differently from him, she was going to spend a rare weekend at home.
The rest would get worked out on Monday; they would get through this and get back in the
game.
*********************************************
“Josh?” Amy opened her door, surprised at her visitor. Things had been dicey between
them when she’d left and she was sure his disappointment in her would preclude him from
even calling her, let alone showing up on her doorstep.
“Can I come in?” The fact that he would even ask rather than simply barging in gave her a
big clue about his state of mind right now.
“What’s going on, J? Aren’t you supposed to be at a surprise party right now?”
“It was a surprise alright.” Josh muttered. “I’m sorry…about before. I should have helped
you; talked to the President or stopped you before it got that far…something.” Josh was
doing his pacing routine.
“The President talked to me, he told me I could keep my job.” Amy told him.
“Oh. That’s good then.” Josh said deflated.
“Except that I told him I was resigning.” Amy continued. “That job isn’t for me. You’re right; I
don’t understand the building and I don’t want to. I want to do what I’m good at and fight for
what I believe in without having to worry about office politics.”
“But-“
“It’s a good thing, J.” Amy smiled. “Now I can start over professionally and personally. It’ll
be a whole new ball game, to use a metaphor you’re fond of.”
“I don’t want a whole new ball game.” Josh told her. “I need to finish this one.”
“Excuse me.”
“I blew it today; in more ways than one, but I can fix this. Let me try to fix this.” Josh said
with a desperate tone in his voice.
“Josh, what happened at work after I left?”
“Nothing. Everything. I just…I had a light bulb moment.”
“And I was in that moment somehow?”
“Yes.” Josh answered. “I realized that I had blown it with you and that I could fix it, if you’ll
let me.”
“There’s only so much you can do with duct tape, Joshua.” Amy teased.
“See? That’s been the problem. I’ve just been doing patch work on this relationship. Now, I’
m ready to give it my full attention and focus. I can do that now.”
“And you’ve just decided this?” Amy questioned.
“I just realized it.” Josh corrected. “I want to make this work. We’re good together, we
understand each other…I don’t want to lose you.”
“We’ve been round this bend before. Maybe we’re better off being friends.”
“No. This is different. I..I love you,” Josh said seriously. “and I’d like to talk about getting
married down the road.” He took her hands in his and brought her closer.
Amy’s eyebrows shot up. “Love and marriage in the same sentence? Are you feeling
alright?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” Josh kissed her. “It’s definitely a fever of some kind.”
“You do feel a little warm.” Amy noted. “Maybe you should lie down for awhile.”
“I will, if you come with me.” he kissed her again and started unbuttoning her shirt.
“I think that’s only fair.” Amy said returning the favor by undoing his belt. “What time do
you have to be in tomorrow?”
“I don’t.” Josh responded. He didn’t want to say anymore about it right now. She’d hear
about it soon enough, he reasoned. The Sunday talk shows would be full of it.
“That’s a great Birthday present. Remind me to thank Leo.” Amy mentioned.
“Uh-huh.” Josh managed as he pulled her with him to the bedroom.
**********************************************************
Donna made sure she was there to greet him, when he got out of the cab outside the
White House Monday morning. She had been more than a little alarmed to find his
backpack and present untouched on his desk, and even more concerned when he didn’t
answer his home phone that morning. But when she reached him on his cell, he sounded
happy and upbeat, so she let it go.
“You look good.” She told him as he got out of the cab.
“I feel good.” Josh responded smiling, but he was wearing his sunglasses, so she couldn’t
see his eyes. “What are you doing out here?”
“I have a crush on the Cappuccino man on the corner.” Donna replied without missing a
beat. She had been prepared for that question, and had rehearsed the answer. “I called
the Idaho DNC chair and set up a call for first thing this morning. I figured if you could
survive his wrath, it would be all downhill from there.”
“What time does Leo want to see me?”
“He’s going to get back to you on that. His morning kind of fell apart, according to
Margaret.”
Josh stopped in his tracks and waited for Donna to turn around and face him. “What?”
“You met me out here so you could tell me Leo wasn’t meeting with me this morning
outside the building. Then we wouldn’t be around people if I got upset.” He accused.
“So?” Donna kept his gaze. “The place is buzzing pretty good with gossip this morning;
between Carrick and Amy getting fired-“
“She didn’t get fired; she resigned.” Josh corrected her. “This place really wasn’t a good fit
for her anyway. She’s going to take something more issues oriented.”
“She came back to the office then?”
“What?”
“Friday night, after I left, she came back to the office?” Donna shrugged her shoulders. “I
didn’t see her, but I figured as much when I saw you left your backpack here.”
“No, I went to her place.” Josh told her. “We talked some things out.”
“You did? That’s good…right?” Donna asked hesitantly. It was hard to know which way the
wind blew when it came to Josh and his relationship with Amy Gardner.
“Very good. I asked her to marry me.” Josh cracked a smile at his accomplishment. This
time Donna stopped in her tracks.
“You got engaged?” she clarified trying to ignore the pounding heart in her chest.
“Sort of.”
“You don’t ‘sort of’ get engaged Josh.” Donna’s voice rose in what she would later identify
as panic. “You either are or you aren’t.”
“Well, we haven’t set a date and I didn’t get her ring yet, but we agreed that’s where we’re
heading.” Josh explained. Donna’s head was still spinning.
“Wow. Well that is exciting news.” Donna managed. “No wonder you weren’t home this
morning.”
“Yeah, I spent the weekend at Amy’s.” Josh confirmed, and Donna’s step slowed further.
“What did you do with your free weekend?”
“Oh, this and that.” Donna stalled. She had spent the weekend coming up with a survival
plan for them. “You know, all the stuff my mean boss won’t usually give me time to do.”
Josh laughed and stopped outside his door to go through his mail. Donna continued inside
and surreptitiously removed her Birthday gift. She would replace it with something else
later, if he even noticed hers was absent from the pile he’d received on Friday. She kept it
hidden under her pile of folders and she handed him his schedule and call sheet as she
passed him going back to her desk. She dumped the gift in her bottom drawer and
slammed it shut just as C.J. walked by.
“Everything okay?” C.J. inquired.
“Sure. I just think it’s going to be a long week, you know?”
“We got through Rosslyn, M.S., and Zoey. This will be a cake walk.” C.J. assured her and
Donna gave her a weak smile in response. It didn’t feel like that.
********************************************************
Josh got back from his meeting with Leo and slammed his door shut. Donna had already
maxed out on Tylenol, so the throbbing the door started up in her head went untreated.
Josh hadn’t said another word about his ‘engagement agreement’, but she’d observed him
on the phone with her and the verbal sparring he had been engaged in with her turned
Donna’s stomach. Reluctantly, she knocked on his door and brought in the budget report
for his review.
“Thanks.” He said without looking up. “Oh, and can you make reservations for Amy and I at
Morton’s tonight? Eight O’Clock would be good.”
“No.” Donna replied.
“I’m sorry?”
“I said ‘no’. Surely you’ve heard the word before. In this case it denotes a negative
response to your request.”
“You have some problem using the phone?” Josh asked.
“No, I have a problem making dinner reservations for you and your fiancé. I’m sure that
duty isn’t listed anywhere in my job description.” Donna explained. “When you are making
a lifetime commitment to someone, Joshua, you should be willing to pick up the phone to
make dinner reservations for them.”
“But…I don’t have the number or anything.”
“THAT I will get for you.” Donna replied. She went to her desk, wrote the number on a post
it note and stuck it on Josh’s phone.
“You’re serious?” Josh asked.
“Extremely. You should call now if you hope to get in by 8.” She warned him and left him
with his jaw hanging open.
********************************************
Toby approached Josh’s office and was surprised to see the door closed. He instead
walked over to Donna.
“Who’s he in with?” Toby motioned to the closed door with his head.
“Cruella DeVille.” Donna muttered and Toby wasn’t entirely sure he was supposed to hear
that.
“What?”
“Nothing. I can interrupt him.” Donna offered and picked up the phone.
“No, never mind.” Toby put his hand over hers on the phone. “Listen, what have you got
on the cap gains stuff?”
“Are you serious? Leo is pulling him off of cap gains?” Donna felt a tingle of panic.
“The entire Democratic caucus is screaming for his head on a platter. Leo can’t send him
in to negotiate votes with them on cap gains.” Toby reasoned.
“What about the budget?” Donna nailed him with her direct gaze and made a lie impossible.
“I think…Leo will be bringing in Angela Blake to handle that.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I’m not.” He replied. Then Josh’s door opened and Amy strolled out, throwing a significant
look to Donna. Toby turned back to Donna after watching Amy leave.
“You’re kidding me.” he said.
“I’m not.” Donna said sadly. “They’re…talking marriage.” Donna admitted after only a brief
wrestle with her conscience about telling Toby something Josh had told her in confidence.
“Dear God.” Toby moaned. He shook his head and looked back at Donna. “Can you get
me up to speed so I can meet with Singer on cap gains?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“If I can go in with you.”
“To meet with Singer?” Toby confirmed and Donna nodded. “Done.” Josh walked out of his
office and Toby looked at him long and hard. “You’re an idiot.” He told Josh as he winked
at Donna and left.
“What the hell was that about?” Josh asked her.
“The usual I expect.” Donna handed him the messages he’d accumulated while he’d been
‘conferencing with Amy’ and was surprised to find she felt no guilt over her deal with Toby.
“I’ll return these when I get back. I need to go see Leo about Singer.” Josh told her and
walked away. She took the opportunity his absence provided to bring Toby up to speed on
Singer and cap gains.
************************************************
Josh brushed the Pierce kid off and went to find Donna. He couldn’t believe he Leo was
kicking him off cap gains AND the budget. What the hell? He must be bringing someone
new on the budget and Donna would know who that was. She heard everything.
When he got to the bull pen, however, she was nowhere to be found.
“Ed! Where’s Donna?” he shouted.
“Haven’t seen her.” Ed called back.
“Me neither.” Larry added.
“I didn’t even ask you, Larry.”
“You were about to.” Larry responded.
“Fair point.” Josh muttered. “Can someone please tell me where the hell my senior
assistant went?”
“She’s in with Toby.” Came a response from the bull pen. ‘Toby? Why would she be in with
Toby?’ Josh wondered. Before he could get much further in his mental process, Donna
herself came back to her desk.
“What were you doing with Toby?”
“We’re having a torrid affair.” Donna answered. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
“If you were having torrid affair with a member of the senior staff, I think I’d know about it.”
Josh snarked.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“What did Toby want?” Josh repeated the question. Donna took a deep breath and said
the sentence she knew was going to change things between them.
“I’ve been briefing him on cap gains.”
“You’ve been…Toby is taking the cap gains meeting?” Donna just kept her gaze on her
desk. “Is he taking the budget negotiations, too?”
“No. That will be Angela Blake.” Donna told him, still not meeting his eyes.
“Angela…You can’t be serious.” Josh pounded his fist on the filing cabinet. “And you’re
helping them?”
“I’m helping the President.” Donna corrected.
“You’re helping yourself, you mean!” Josh turned it around.
“Why shouldn’t I help myself? Is there someone else here who is interested in helping me?”
“I think I’ve helped you on more than one occasion.” Josh returned heatedly. “Particularly
during testimony!” Donna gasped a breath when he said that. “Is this about Amy?” he
asked getting quieter and moving closer to her.
“What is ‘this’ and what does Amy have to do with anything?”
“She told me about your conversation…the night Zoey was kidnapped?” Josh clued her in
to what he was talking about. He face flushed scarlet as she imagined just what Amy had
shared from that night.
“Could we please take this in your office?” Donna asked in an intense whisper.
Josh gestured to the door and followed her inside, closing the door behind him.
“Don’t you dare yell at me in front of the rest of the staff like that!” Donna’s embarrassment
gave way to heated anger over the words she wished she could say. “You have no right to
humiliate me like that!”
“You want to talk about humiliation? How about being robbed of your legislative portfolio
over a botched plan that your boss approved and then having your friend go behind your
back to help them do it to you!” Josh shot back.
“I didn’t go behind your back.” Donna insisted. “I was doing my job.”
“Your job is to assist me, not Toby; although you seem to assist him better than you have
me lately.”
“Then I guess this arrangement isn’t working out very well for either of us, is it?” Donna
challenged him. Josh sat down in his chair and stared at her.
“I get that I’m not Mr. Popularity around here right now, but I never thought you’d jump
ship. I thought we were more than that.”
“So did I.” Donna said honestly.
“You never answered my question. Is this about Amy?”
“I don’t have to answer personal questions from you, Joshua.” Donna turned on her heel
and had her hand on the door.
“Is this about Amy?” he asked again in a louder, impatient tone of voice.
“Yes, it’s about Amy! It’s about Amy and Jack and Mandy and Cliff. What the hell did she
tell you?” Donna shouted back. Josh got up and walked over to her.
“She said she asked you if you were in love with me.” Josh answered without looking away.
“She said you wouldn’t answer her. She said that it was obvious that your feelings were
getting in the way of our working together. She said-“
“She said quite enough!” Donna interrupted him, her hands shaking with mortification. “I’m
going to Leo right now and ask for an immediate transfer.” Donna opened the door. “That
way you won’t have to worry about my betraying you with Toby, or whatever ‘feelings’ you
and Amy are convinced I have.”
Donna walked down the hall and made it into the women’s restroom before the sobs
started coming. She was in there for quite some time, so it wasn’t a shock when she heard
Carol’s voice from the other side of the stall door.
“Donna? Donna are you okay?”
“I don’t…think so…” Donna answered gasping for breath. “Can you get…my purse
and…coat for me?”
“Of course. I’ll get Josh, too.”
“NO!” Donna stated. “Please don’t…bother him. I’m sorry…to ask you to do this but-“
“Don’t worry about it. C.J. is on the disaster trip with the President. I’m not doing anything
important.” Donna let out a watery laugh at the words ‘disaster trip’. She thought C.J. could
have stayed right here and the press could still have covered a ‘disaster’. “I’ll be right
back.” Carol promised.
Donna exited the stall and ran cold water over her face. By the time Carol returned with
her things, Donna only looked like she’d had a severe allergic reaction rather than a
mental/emotional breakdown. Carol ushered her into a cab without a single Josh Lyman
sighting.
*********************************************
“I’m doing my best Leo, okay?” C.J. shouted into the phone. Donna held her receiver away
from her ear.
“C.J.? It’s Donna, not Leo.”
“God, I’m sorry, Donna. Leo has been calling me every 5 minutes trying to get me to get
the President back to the White House.”
“No luck, huh?”
“Have you ever tried to get the President of the United States to do something he doesn’t
want to do?” C.J. huffed. “No, no luck at all.”
“I’ll let you go then, I thought you were on your way back already.”
“I wish.” C.J. mutters. “What does Josh need?”
“What makes you think Josh needs something?”
“Isn’t that why you usually call me?” C.J. asked with humor in her voice.
“Well…yeah, I guess…but sometimes I call to go out and get a drink or something; talk
maybe.”
“But since I’m currently in Oklahoma, and you’re aware that I’m currently in Oklahoma, I
figured it wasn’t for the drink thing.”
“Yeah, you’re smart that way.” Donna mused.
“Donna, is something wrong?”
“I’m pretty sure I just quit my job.”
“Ok, well that’s pretty big.” C.J. responded. “Since your Josh Lyman tolerance is higher
than anyone else’s, I’m guessing this isn’t so much about Josh as it is about you and Josh.”
“There is no me and Josh.”
“Please…”
“There isn’t!” Donna raised her voice and shocked C.J. “He’s…he and Amy are talking
about getting married…He’s asked her and everything.”
‘The pin drops’ C.J. thought to herself. Out loud, she replied, “You don’t seem to like that
idea very much. Is that why you quit?”
“No! He was accusing me of betraying him with Toby and-“
“Excuse me?” C.J. interrupted for clarification.
“On cap gains.” Donna reiterated. “Leo pulled a bunch of stuff from Josh’s portfolio and
gave it to Toby and Angela Blake. I briefed Toby on it and-“
“Josh hates Angela Blake.” C.J. added.
“Yeah, I think I caught that.” Donna said sarcastically.
“And although he loves Toby like a brother, he’s also extremely competitive with Toby.”
“I know that, too, C.J.”
“So even though he hates Angela Blake and is extremely competitive with Toby, he loaned
you out to brief them on the legislative agenda he got taken away from him?”
“First of all, I am not a piece of equipment to be ‘loaned out’ to someone else. And
secondly, when a member of the senior staff asks for my help, I help.”
“And your helping Toby didn’t have anything to do with a little misplaced anger toward
Josh?”
“C.J.!”
“It would be understandable, Donna. The man has no trouble using you personally and
professionally when it suits him, but when push comes to shove, he picked Amy…again.”
“Don’t…C.J. please don’t say that.”
“You’re still defending him.” C.J. pointed out.
“I’m not.” Donna insisted. “I didn’t call you to be chastised, C.J.” she said quietly and C.J.
took a breath before responding.
“No, of course you didn’t. I just hate to see you hurt over and over when-“
“I don’t know what to do!” Donna told her. “I told Josh I wouldn’t work with him anymore,
and that I was going to Leo for a transfer, but now I don’t know what to do.”
C.J. thought about it for 30 seconds. “Skip Leo. Go to Toby. He’d love to have you on his
staff; hell, so would I if I had a place to put you. Go to Toby and let everyone see what you
can do.”
“What if I screw up?”
“Donna, it’s the White House, of course you’ll screw up.” C.J. assured her. “Open a bottle
of wine, take a hot bubble bath, get some sleep, and see Toby in the morning.”
“Okay. I will.” Donna promised. “Thanks C.J.”
All Bets are Off part 1
All Bets are Off part 2
All Bets are Off part 3
All Bets are Off part 4
All Bets are Off part 5
All Bets are Off part 6
All Bets are Off part 2
All Bets are Off part 3
All Bets are Off part 4
All Bets are Off part 5
All Bets are Off part 6
