Title: Expectations
Author: Cathy Miller (cam7192003@yahoo.com
Rating: PG 13 (some language)
Setting: Future fic; Sam is married to Ainsley and running for
President/Josh and Donna are married and working the campaign.
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, they’re not mine; please don’t rub it in.
Feedback: Almost as good as chocolate.
PRESENT: THE EVE OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL
CONVENTION – 97 DAYS UNTIL THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
“Tell the truth, you ditched Donna so you could have more than
two drinks tonight, didn’t you?” Ainsley accused Josh as she
opened the hotel room door to let him in. Josh took in her relaxed
appearance. Her long blond hair was free from the perpetual bun
she’d been wearing it in during the run up to the nomination.
Ainsley has been a huge boost on their southern campaign run
having been raised in North Carolina, but in the north, she
struggled more to be taken seriously; even with her law degree
and White House service.
“Hey Ains, looks like you started without me.” He kissed her cheek.
“Donna wasn’t feeling that great, so she’s going to bed early.” Josh
spotted Sam in the living area typing away furiously on his laptop.
“Jesus, Sam, put the laptop away and have a drink. Writing
speeches isn’t your job anymore.” Josh accepted the beer Ainsley
handed him and pulled the laptop away from Sam.
“Hey!” he protested. “I was working on that! The foreign policy
section still isn’t right.”
“The foreign policy section, along with the rest of the speech, is
fine. You yourself locked it in 2 hours ago.” Josh reminded him.
“Yes, but then he made the mistake of re-reading it an hour ago
and it’s all been downhill since.” Ainsley drawled.
“Couldn’t you distract him or something?” Josh tossed the
challenge in her court, smirking at her.
“How do you think I kept him away from it for the first hour?” she hit
it back to him smoothly.
Josh chuckled. He had always enjoyed Ainsley’s quick wit and
sense of humor; ever since that fateful day she had subbed on
Capitol Beat and kicked Sam’s ass. During the campaign, however,
he had found a new appreciation not only for what she herself
added to the campaign, but for what she meant to his best friend.
Sam took a swig of beer and began pacing the room. “I was
thinking about the ad buy we’re planning…”
“Whose job is it to plan the ad buys, Sam?” I asked shaking my
head.
“I was just thinking about what you said-“ Sam tried again.
“Unbelievable! The man has the best, the most talented, the most
creative-“
“Don’t forget humble.” Ainsley added helpfully.
“And humble, thanks Ains, -campaign manager in the Democratic
party, and he questions my judgment.”
“Absolutely criminal.” Ainsley agrees smiling at her husband.
“If only you were half as good as you think you are.” Sam teases
back.
“Sam, do us all a favor and put it away for the night.” Josh told him
as Natalie, the Seaborn’s nanny came into the room.
“Ainsley, I’m sorry but Charlotte is refusing to go to bed until she
sees you.”
“Sure, if you gentlemen will excuse me a minute?” Ainsley set down
her beer and followed Natalie into the other room to see to her
youngest daughter. Sam and Ainsley had three children, all of
them girls, and all of them had their dad wrapped around their little
fingers.
“You seem wound a little tight this evening Samuel.” Josh noted.
“Well I’m about to get the Democratic nomination for President so I’
ve got a pretty good excuse. You seem a little down tonight; you
sure Donna’s okay?” Now that Sam thought about it, Donna had
been very quiet the last few days.
“Overtired I think. We haven’t seen home for awhile. Donna may
take the kids to Wisconsin for a bit after the convention.” Josh told
him, but Sam got the feeling there was something else going on.
“Grace ran her speech by me this morning. It hit just the tone we
want. You wouldn’t have had anything to do with that, would you?”
Grace Matthews was Sam’s Vice-Presidential running mate. A
senior Senator from Illinois, she complemented Sam’s abilities and
had a husband and children media consultants could only dream
of. Grace and Sam had begun the primary process running against
one another, but soon found out that they agreed with each other
on many issues, and enjoyed each other personally a great deal. It
was a match made in electoral heaven.
Sam looked away from the accusation in Josh’s face. Josh had
been singing a verse and two choruses on delegating for the past
6 weeks. It wasn’t that Sam disagreed with him, it was just hard for
him to let go.
“Buddy, it’s just going to get harder from here. You have to trust
your staff to do their job so you can be more effective in yours. If
you don’t like this crop of writers, we’ll look for someone else, but
you need to back off.”
“I like to speak using my own voice.” Sam meant in his writing and
Josh knew it.
“The right speech writer will use your voice. I guess we need to
keep looking for the right one.” He glanced at Sam for
confirmation, who nodded. “In the meantime, Toby said he’d pinch
hit for us.” Sam smiled at the thought of Toby ‘helping’ to write his
speeches.
“Yeah, okay.” Sam finally stopped pacing and sat down next to his
friend. “It’s just hitting me, that’s all. I’ve been so focused on getting
here, that I haven’t given much thought to what would happen once
I did.”
“You’ve been amazing out there, Sam. You should be proud of
what you’ve accomplished so far, and know you can handle what’s
coming next.” Josh told him simply and that one statement from
Josh meant more to him than all the editorials and endorsements
combined.
“Okay, we’re going to have to sell Charlotte, darling. I know you’re
fond of her, but she’s simply too much work.” Ainsley reported as
she rejoined them. Both men laughed. “Do you know she conned
her detail into stopping for a snack on the way back from the
thing? I swear we’re going to have to pay those people double
time.” She settled onto the couch between the guys. “Where are
your two tonight?” she asked Josh.
“Donna hired an intern to keep them occupied and she took them
swimming downstairs earlier. There were rumors of an in room
movie and popcorn tonight.”
“Ah, hotel life. How will we ever adjust to home cooked meals and
sleepovers again?” Ainsley pondered, but Sam laughed at her
supposition.
“This is Josh you’re talking to. I highly doubt home cooked meals
were ever a big staple.”
“I’m telling Donna you said that.” Ainsley threatened her husband.
He took advantage of her upturned face and kissed her before
replying.
“She’d be the first one to tell you it’s true.”
Josh had to look away from his friends’ happy, relaxed faces.
“Thanks for the beer. I’m going to do one last run through with the
team before bed. You two try to get some sleep.” Calls of
goodnight reached him as he went out the door and came face to
face with Jim Watson, head of Sam’s security detail. “You need to
brief?” Josh asked him and Agent Watson nodded. Okay, security
briefing, team meeting and then bed. He was very tired of security
briefings…especially when they had nothing to do with Sam.
ELECTION NIGHT: 1 AM CALIFORNIA TIME.
“Holy shit, Josh.”
“Yeah.” came the reply from Josh Lyman.
“I mean…Holy shit.”
“Yeah.” Josh repeated as he dropped his head to the table he was
sitting at.
“What do we do now?” Sam Seaborn asked him.
“Well, it’s been awhile since I did this, but I’m pretty sure we start
planning our transition team and a little speech you’re going to
have to give on January 20th.” Josh replied with his head still on
the table. The networks had all declared Sam Seaborn to be the
next President of the United States a few minutes ago and no
sooner had the announcements been made than Sam pulled Josh
into his suite for a private nutty.
“An Inauguration speech. I’m not ready yet. I really didn’t expect
any of this.” Sam objected. At these words, Josh lifted his head to
stare at his friend.
“You did understand when you agreed to run that there was a
distinct possibility you would actually, you know, win, right?” He
deadpanned.
“Well, yeah, but not much of one.” Sam responded. Josh grinned.
“Sorry, I’m good.” He said unrepentantly.
“I still think it was more Donna than you.” Sam knew where to jab
Josh; right in the ego.
Amanda, Sam’s executive assistant came in with a cell phone. “It’s
President Roberts for you Governor.” President Roberts was the
Republican nominee and current President. This was the
concession call. Sam paused a moment before he took the phone
from her.
“Sam Seaborn…Thank you sir, that’s very gracious of you…Yes, I
agree, we were able to raise a lot of important issues…It HAS been
a long night, sir, in fact it’s been one long night since the
convention…I will tell her you said so, and if you’ll be good enough
to pass my good wishes on to your wife as well?...Thanks again,
Adam, we’ll be talking soon, I’m sure.”
“Amanda, will you go see if Ainsley is ready to make an
appearance?” Sam asked her. She nodded and went in search of
the First Lady elect.
“I’m going to go do this thing, now, but after that you and I are
going to have a long talk.” Sam told Josh.
“Yes, sir.” Josh answered and watched as Sam grimaced.
“Come on…not now; not between us, Josh.”
“Okay, Sam, tonight I will humor you, but all bets are off tomorrow.”
Josh’s smile faded as Donna came into the room. There had been
serious tension between them over the past few weeks that Sam
hadn’t been able to figure out. They hadn’t had the luxury of time
or privacy for him to delve into it further with Josh either.
“Congratulations, Mr. President-elect.” Donna said with a quiet
smile. “Ainsley is ready. She’s waiting outside.”
“On my way. Donna, thanks so much for everything you’ve done. I
wouldn’t be here today if you and Josh hadn’t been on board.”
“I think you would, but I appreciate the sentiment.” Donna kissed
his cheek. “You better get out there, sir.” Sam grimaced and threw
a glance at Josh who simply shrugged.
“Tomorrow morning…well, really this morning I guess. Breakfast
here at 10.” Sam looked at Josh for confirmation and he nodded
silently.
Sam opened the door and cacophony reigned until it closed
behind him.
“10:00 tomorrow?” Donna made the statement into a question.
“Transition, that’s all.” Josh told her, but didn’t meet her eyes.
“He’s still pushing for you to take it, isn’t he?” She asked point
blank.
“Not really, and it wouldn’t matter even if he did. I promised you
didn’t I?” Josh’s voice rose in frustration.
“Yes, and I can tell how happy you are about that decision.” Donna
cracked back.
“I’m going to go say goodnight to the kids.” Josh told her as he got
up. He walked past her as a cheer erupted from the television. She
turned to see Sam, Ainsley, and their 3 children (Caitlin, Cassidy,
and Charlotte) take the stage. They were followed closely by Vice-
President elect Grace Matthews and her family. Under other
circumstances, Josh and his family would be there too. They had
been invited, but declined the invitation; telling everyone they
preferred to stay behind the scenes. At least that was partially true.
Josh let himself into their family suite and nodded at the intern they’
d hired to baby-sit for the evening. Julie? Jenny? He couldn’t
remember. He would say it sucked to get old, but the truth was he
had always had difficulty remembering interns’ names.
“Congratulations, Mr. Lyman. It’s so exciting isn’t it? Noah fell
asleep about 2 hours ago, but A.J. is still awake in her room.”
“Thanks for staying with them.” He handed her some cash. “You
should go join the party.”
“Really? Great. Goodnight, Mr. Lyman.” Jenny! Her name is Jenny.
“Goodnight, Jenny.” Josh watches with envy as she bounces, full of
energy, out the door. He runs his hand over his son’s sleeping
form and tucks the blanket around him. He heard a noise behind
him and turned to see his daughter standing in the doorway.
“Hey, A.J.” He smiled and held his hand out for his daughter.
“It’s kind of wild isn’t it?” his twelve year old daughter asked him.
“Sam is President-elect of the United States.”
“Pretty wild alright. Aren’t you tired, kiddo?”
“I couldn’t sleep. Did he write his own acceptance speech?” AJ
asked.
“Most of it. Toby helped him a little, and I got to throw my two cents
in, but most of it was what he wrote on his own.”
“The reporters on the news tonight kept talking about how you and
Sam have been friends forever. They said he’s going to make you
Chief of Staff again.”
“Is there a question somewhere in there, AJ?” Josh prodded gently
as he held his daughter in his arms on the couch.
“Are you going to work in the White House again, Dad?”
“No, I promised your Mom that I wouldn’t accept a position in the
White House if Sam was elected.” Josh said carefully.
“That’s not fair, Dad. You worked hard for Sam and Grace to get
elected and he needs you with him at the White House. Everybody
says so. Why does Mom have to ruin it for everybody?!”
“Abigail Joan, do not speak about your Mother like that. This was
not her decision; it was our decision.”
“Sure it was.” AJ mumbled.
“Why are you talking like this?”
“I’m not a baby, Dad. I’ve been campaigning with you all summer
and fall. I hear what everybody’s saying.”
“And just what is everybody saying, AJ?”
“That Mom didn’t even want to campaign for Sam, that she’s
pressuring you to get out of politics, and that you’ll be divorced by
inauguration.” Josh blinked at his daughter, literally stunned by her
speech.
“Nobody’s getting divorced here, AJ. You should know better than
to listen to campaign gossip.”
“It’s not just gossip. I hear you and Mom arguing more and more.
She wanted you to quit after the convention. I heard you fighting
about it.” AJ held her father’s gaze. “Why didn’t she want to help
Sam get elected?”
“AJ, you shouldn’t listen in on private conversations.” Josh
admonished her.
“That’s all you’re going to say about it?” AJ got up from the couch
to face her Dad.
“Your Mom and I have conversations that have nothing to do with
you, AJ. We are your parents, but that doesn’t mean we owe you
explanations for all the decisions we make.”
“You do when it affects the rest of us. When were you planning to
tell Noah and me we’re moving to Connecticut?” There was fire in
his daughter’s eyes now, and Josh had a moment to see the
formidable opponent his daughter would become.
“We will talk about plans to move, if and when that decision has
been made.” Now the steel was back in Josh’s voice. “I think it’s
time for you to go to bed now.” Josh stood up to kiss his daughter
goodnight, but she turned her head and walked away. Well,
Lyman, you seem to have made all the females in the family pissed
tonight. What an accomplishment.
Josh pulled out a bottle of beer from the fridge and popped it open
taking a large swig. When Donna returned to their suite, he had
finished his second bottle. Her gaze swept over the empties next to
her husband and he waited for her to comment, but she said
nothing about them.
“You should get some sleep if you’re meeting Sam at 10.” She
leaned over to kiss her son’s cheek.
“President-elect.” Josh corrected her. Donna shrugged. “I imagine
it’s that kind of reaction from you that had our daughter asking me
if we’re getting divorced.”
“Excuse me?” Donna’s voice was frosty.
“AJ sat right here not 30 minutes ago and informed me that she’s
heard all the gossip, as well as some of our more impassioned
arguments, and wants to know if we’re going to divorce.”
Tears formed in Donna’s eyes. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her no one is getting divorced, and that sometimes married
people fight and those fights are private. She also asked about the
move to Connecticut.” Josh responded.
Donna’s head dropped down. “That was my fault. I was speaking to
your Mom, and talking about options. I didn’t realize AJ had
overheard any of it.”
“Well, she did. Maybe we shouldn’t have brought the kids on the
campaign.”
“Maybe none of us should have been on this campaign.” Donna
retorted.
“Look at that, Donna.” Josh insisted as he pointed to the television
still covering the victory party of the Seaborn/Matthews ticket. “We
did that together. That’s no small thing, Donnatella.”
“No, and it has no small price, Joshua.” Donna looked at her
husband briefly, then shook her head. “I’m going to bed.”
Author: Cathy Miller (cam7192003@yahoo.com
Rating: PG 13 (some language)
Setting: Future fic; Sam is married to Ainsley and running for
President/Josh and Donna are married and working the campaign.
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, they’re not mine; please don’t rub it in.
Feedback: Almost as good as chocolate.
PRESENT: THE EVE OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL
CONVENTION – 97 DAYS UNTIL THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
“Tell the truth, you ditched Donna so you could have more than
two drinks tonight, didn’t you?” Ainsley accused Josh as she
opened the hotel room door to let him in. Josh took in her relaxed
appearance. Her long blond hair was free from the perpetual bun
she’d been wearing it in during the run up to the nomination.
Ainsley has been a huge boost on their southern campaign run
having been raised in North Carolina, but in the north, she
struggled more to be taken seriously; even with her law degree
and White House service.
“Hey Ains, looks like you started without me.” He kissed her cheek.
“Donna wasn’t feeling that great, so she’s going to bed early.” Josh
spotted Sam in the living area typing away furiously on his laptop.
“Jesus, Sam, put the laptop away and have a drink. Writing
speeches isn’t your job anymore.” Josh accepted the beer Ainsley
handed him and pulled the laptop away from Sam.
“Hey!” he protested. “I was working on that! The foreign policy
section still isn’t right.”
“The foreign policy section, along with the rest of the speech, is
fine. You yourself locked it in 2 hours ago.” Josh reminded him.
“Yes, but then he made the mistake of re-reading it an hour ago
and it’s all been downhill since.” Ainsley drawled.
“Couldn’t you distract him or something?” Josh tossed the
challenge in her court, smirking at her.
“How do you think I kept him away from it for the first hour?” she hit
it back to him smoothly.
Josh chuckled. He had always enjoyed Ainsley’s quick wit and
sense of humor; ever since that fateful day she had subbed on
Capitol Beat and kicked Sam’s ass. During the campaign, however,
he had found a new appreciation not only for what she herself
added to the campaign, but for what she meant to his best friend.
Sam took a swig of beer and began pacing the room. “I was
thinking about the ad buy we’re planning…”
“Whose job is it to plan the ad buys, Sam?” I asked shaking my
head.
“I was just thinking about what you said-“ Sam tried again.
“Unbelievable! The man has the best, the most talented, the most
creative-“
“Don’t forget humble.” Ainsley added helpfully.
“And humble, thanks Ains, -campaign manager in the Democratic
party, and he questions my judgment.”
“Absolutely criminal.” Ainsley agrees smiling at her husband.
“If only you were half as good as you think you are.” Sam teases
back.
“Sam, do us all a favor and put it away for the night.” Josh told him
as Natalie, the Seaborn’s nanny came into the room.
“Ainsley, I’m sorry but Charlotte is refusing to go to bed until she
sees you.”
“Sure, if you gentlemen will excuse me a minute?” Ainsley set down
her beer and followed Natalie into the other room to see to her
youngest daughter. Sam and Ainsley had three children, all of
them girls, and all of them had their dad wrapped around their little
fingers.
“You seem wound a little tight this evening Samuel.” Josh noted.
“Well I’m about to get the Democratic nomination for President so I’
ve got a pretty good excuse. You seem a little down tonight; you
sure Donna’s okay?” Now that Sam thought about it, Donna had
been very quiet the last few days.
“Overtired I think. We haven’t seen home for awhile. Donna may
take the kids to Wisconsin for a bit after the convention.” Josh told
him, but Sam got the feeling there was something else going on.
“Grace ran her speech by me this morning. It hit just the tone we
want. You wouldn’t have had anything to do with that, would you?”
Grace Matthews was Sam’s Vice-Presidential running mate. A
senior Senator from Illinois, she complemented Sam’s abilities and
had a husband and children media consultants could only dream
of. Grace and Sam had begun the primary process running against
one another, but soon found out that they agreed with each other
on many issues, and enjoyed each other personally a great deal. It
was a match made in electoral heaven.
Sam looked away from the accusation in Josh’s face. Josh had
been singing a verse and two choruses on delegating for the past
6 weeks. It wasn’t that Sam disagreed with him, it was just hard for
him to let go.
“Buddy, it’s just going to get harder from here. You have to trust
your staff to do their job so you can be more effective in yours. If
you don’t like this crop of writers, we’ll look for someone else, but
you need to back off.”
“I like to speak using my own voice.” Sam meant in his writing and
Josh knew it.
“The right speech writer will use your voice. I guess we need to
keep looking for the right one.” He glanced at Sam for
confirmation, who nodded. “In the meantime, Toby said he’d pinch
hit for us.” Sam smiled at the thought of Toby ‘helping’ to write his
speeches.
“Yeah, okay.” Sam finally stopped pacing and sat down next to his
friend. “It’s just hitting me, that’s all. I’ve been so focused on getting
here, that I haven’t given much thought to what would happen once
I did.”
“You’ve been amazing out there, Sam. You should be proud of
what you’ve accomplished so far, and know you can handle what’s
coming next.” Josh told him simply and that one statement from
Josh meant more to him than all the editorials and endorsements
combined.
“Okay, we’re going to have to sell Charlotte, darling. I know you’re
fond of her, but she’s simply too much work.” Ainsley reported as
she rejoined them. Both men laughed. “Do you know she conned
her detail into stopping for a snack on the way back from the
thing? I swear we’re going to have to pay those people double
time.” She settled onto the couch between the guys. “Where are
your two tonight?” she asked Josh.
“Donna hired an intern to keep them occupied and she took them
swimming downstairs earlier. There were rumors of an in room
movie and popcorn tonight.”
“Ah, hotel life. How will we ever adjust to home cooked meals and
sleepovers again?” Ainsley pondered, but Sam laughed at her
supposition.
“This is Josh you’re talking to. I highly doubt home cooked meals
were ever a big staple.”
“I’m telling Donna you said that.” Ainsley threatened her husband.
He took advantage of her upturned face and kissed her before
replying.
“She’d be the first one to tell you it’s true.”
Josh had to look away from his friends’ happy, relaxed faces.
“Thanks for the beer. I’m going to do one last run through with the
team before bed. You two try to get some sleep.” Calls of
goodnight reached him as he went out the door and came face to
face with Jim Watson, head of Sam’s security detail. “You need to
brief?” Josh asked him and Agent Watson nodded. Okay, security
briefing, team meeting and then bed. He was very tired of security
briefings…especially when they had nothing to do with Sam.
ELECTION NIGHT: 1 AM CALIFORNIA TIME.
“Holy shit, Josh.”
“Yeah.” came the reply from Josh Lyman.
“I mean…Holy shit.”
“Yeah.” Josh repeated as he dropped his head to the table he was
sitting at.
“What do we do now?” Sam Seaborn asked him.
“Well, it’s been awhile since I did this, but I’m pretty sure we start
planning our transition team and a little speech you’re going to
have to give on January 20th.” Josh replied with his head still on
the table. The networks had all declared Sam Seaborn to be the
next President of the United States a few minutes ago and no
sooner had the announcements been made than Sam pulled Josh
into his suite for a private nutty.
“An Inauguration speech. I’m not ready yet. I really didn’t expect
any of this.” Sam objected. At these words, Josh lifted his head to
stare at his friend.
“You did understand when you agreed to run that there was a
distinct possibility you would actually, you know, win, right?” He
deadpanned.
“Well, yeah, but not much of one.” Sam responded. Josh grinned.
“Sorry, I’m good.” He said unrepentantly.
“I still think it was more Donna than you.” Sam knew where to jab
Josh; right in the ego.
Amanda, Sam’s executive assistant came in with a cell phone. “It’s
President Roberts for you Governor.” President Roberts was the
Republican nominee and current President. This was the
concession call. Sam paused a moment before he took the phone
from her.
“Sam Seaborn…Thank you sir, that’s very gracious of you…Yes, I
agree, we were able to raise a lot of important issues…It HAS been
a long night, sir, in fact it’s been one long night since the
convention…I will tell her you said so, and if you’ll be good enough
to pass my good wishes on to your wife as well?...Thanks again,
Adam, we’ll be talking soon, I’m sure.”
“Amanda, will you go see if Ainsley is ready to make an
appearance?” Sam asked her. She nodded and went in search of
the First Lady elect.
“I’m going to go do this thing, now, but after that you and I are
going to have a long talk.” Sam told Josh.
“Yes, sir.” Josh answered and watched as Sam grimaced.
“Come on…not now; not between us, Josh.”
“Okay, Sam, tonight I will humor you, but all bets are off tomorrow.”
Josh’s smile faded as Donna came into the room. There had been
serious tension between them over the past few weeks that Sam
hadn’t been able to figure out. They hadn’t had the luxury of time
or privacy for him to delve into it further with Josh either.
“Congratulations, Mr. President-elect.” Donna said with a quiet
smile. “Ainsley is ready. She’s waiting outside.”
“On my way. Donna, thanks so much for everything you’ve done. I
wouldn’t be here today if you and Josh hadn’t been on board.”
“I think you would, but I appreciate the sentiment.” Donna kissed
his cheek. “You better get out there, sir.” Sam grimaced and threw
a glance at Josh who simply shrugged.
“Tomorrow morning…well, really this morning I guess. Breakfast
here at 10.” Sam looked at Josh for confirmation and he nodded
silently.
Sam opened the door and cacophony reigned until it closed
behind him.
“10:00 tomorrow?” Donna made the statement into a question.
“Transition, that’s all.” Josh told her, but didn’t meet her eyes.
“He’s still pushing for you to take it, isn’t he?” She asked point
blank.
“Not really, and it wouldn’t matter even if he did. I promised you
didn’t I?” Josh’s voice rose in frustration.
“Yes, and I can tell how happy you are about that decision.” Donna
cracked back.
“I’m going to go say goodnight to the kids.” Josh told her as he got
up. He walked past her as a cheer erupted from the television. She
turned to see Sam, Ainsley, and their 3 children (Caitlin, Cassidy,
and Charlotte) take the stage. They were followed closely by Vice-
President elect Grace Matthews and her family. Under other
circumstances, Josh and his family would be there too. They had
been invited, but declined the invitation; telling everyone they
preferred to stay behind the scenes. At least that was partially true.
Josh let himself into their family suite and nodded at the intern they’
d hired to baby-sit for the evening. Julie? Jenny? He couldn’t
remember. He would say it sucked to get old, but the truth was he
had always had difficulty remembering interns’ names.
“Congratulations, Mr. Lyman. It’s so exciting isn’t it? Noah fell
asleep about 2 hours ago, but A.J. is still awake in her room.”
“Thanks for staying with them.” He handed her some cash. “You
should go join the party.”
“Really? Great. Goodnight, Mr. Lyman.” Jenny! Her name is Jenny.
“Goodnight, Jenny.” Josh watches with envy as she bounces, full of
energy, out the door. He runs his hand over his son’s sleeping
form and tucks the blanket around him. He heard a noise behind
him and turned to see his daughter standing in the doorway.
“Hey, A.J.” He smiled and held his hand out for his daughter.
“It’s kind of wild isn’t it?” his twelve year old daughter asked him.
“Sam is President-elect of the United States.”
“Pretty wild alright. Aren’t you tired, kiddo?”
“I couldn’t sleep. Did he write his own acceptance speech?” AJ
asked.
“Most of it. Toby helped him a little, and I got to throw my two cents
in, but most of it was what he wrote on his own.”
“The reporters on the news tonight kept talking about how you and
Sam have been friends forever. They said he’s going to make you
Chief of Staff again.”
“Is there a question somewhere in there, AJ?” Josh prodded gently
as he held his daughter in his arms on the couch.
“Are you going to work in the White House again, Dad?”
“No, I promised your Mom that I wouldn’t accept a position in the
White House if Sam was elected.” Josh said carefully.
“That’s not fair, Dad. You worked hard for Sam and Grace to get
elected and he needs you with him at the White House. Everybody
says so. Why does Mom have to ruin it for everybody?!”
“Abigail Joan, do not speak about your Mother like that. This was
not her decision; it was our decision.”
“Sure it was.” AJ mumbled.
“Why are you talking like this?”
“I’m not a baby, Dad. I’ve been campaigning with you all summer
and fall. I hear what everybody’s saying.”
“And just what is everybody saying, AJ?”
“That Mom didn’t even want to campaign for Sam, that she’s
pressuring you to get out of politics, and that you’ll be divorced by
inauguration.” Josh blinked at his daughter, literally stunned by her
speech.
“Nobody’s getting divorced here, AJ. You should know better than
to listen to campaign gossip.”
“It’s not just gossip. I hear you and Mom arguing more and more.
She wanted you to quit after the convention. I heard you fighting
about it.” AJ held her father’s gaze. “Why didn’t she want to help
Sam get elected?”
“AJ, you shouldn’t listen in on private conversations.” Josh
admonished her.
“That’s all you’re going to say about it?” AJ got up from the couch
to face her Dad.
“Your Mom and I have conversations that have nothing to do with
you, AJ. We are your parents, but that doesn’t mean we owe you
explanations for all the decisions we make.”
“You do when it affects the rest of us. When were you planning to
tell Noah and me we’re moving to Connecticut?” There was fire in
his daughter’s eyes now, and Josh had a moment to see the
formidable opponent his daughter would become.
“We will talk about plans to move, if and when that decision has
been made.” Now the steel was back in Josh’s voice. “I think it’s
time for you to go to bed now.” Josh stood up to kiss his daughter
goodnight, but she turned her head and walked away. Well,
Lyman, you seem to have made all the females in the family pissed
tonight. What an accomplishment.
Josh pulled out a bottle of beer from the fridge and popped it open
taking a large swig. When Donna returned to their suite, he had
finished his second bottle. Her gaze swept over the empties next to
her husband and he waited for her to comment, but she said
nothing about them.
“You should get some sleep if you’re meeting Sam at 10.” She
leaned over to kiss her son’s cheek.
“President-elect.” Josh corrected her. Donna shrugged. “I imagine
it’s that kind of reaction from you that had our daughter asking me
if we’re getting divorced.”
“Excuse me?” Donna’s voice was frosty.
“AJ sat right here not 30 minutes ago and informed me that she’s
heard all the gossip, as well as some of our more impassioned
arguments, and wants to know if we’re going to divorce.”
Tears formed in Donna’s eyes. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her no one is getting divorced, and that sometimes married
people fight and those fights are private. She also asked about the
move to Connecticut.” Josh responded.
Donna’s head dropped down. “That was my fault. I was speaking to
your Mom, and talking about options. I didn’t realize AJ had
overheard any of it.”
“Well, she did. Maybe we shouldn’t have brought the kids on the
campaign.”
“Maybe none of us should have been on this campaign.” Donna
retorted.
“Look at that, Donna.” Josh insisted as he pointed to the television
still covering the victory party of the Seaborn/Matthews ticket. “We
did that together. That’s no small thing, Donnatella.”
“No, and it has no small price, Joshua.” Donna looked at her
husband briefly, then shook her head. “I’m going to bed.”
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