Title: The Set Up
Author: Cathy Miller (www.cathyswestwing.com)
Rating: Teen
Summary: Post Ep for Arctic Radar (then seriously AU)
Disclaimer: Do I have to say it again? Fine, they’re not mine.
Feedback: Always appreciated
JOSH
Listen, it occurs to me that, uh... you know, I mentioned Donna before and it occurs to me
that I told you that I named some things that tickled me. I... I don't know. I certainly wouldn't
want to leave you with the impression that she was... you know...
Anyway, if you wanted to ask her out, she'd probably say yes.
JACK
Hey, Josh, uh... I'm new and I want to do well and, uh, I don't want to get in between anything.
JOSH
"In between anything"?
JACK
I have an aide, who in my life, I haven't talked about as much as you've talked about Donna in
our entire relationship, yours and mine, which is a cumulative total of seven minutes old.
JOSH
No, no, no.
JACK
You sure?
JOSH
Sure. Tell me your aide's name. I'll ask her out. We'll double.
JACK
Chief Petty Officer Harold Wendell.
JOSH
I got the fuzzy end of that lolipop.
JACK
I don't know. Wendell's not "cute" cute but he's so funny.
JOSH
So, that's it. We're done talking about Donna. Whose full name is Donnatella, by the way.
Mom's Italian... Dad's Irish. Okay. Thanks.
***************************************
Donna's at her desk when Josh walks out of his office.
JOSH
Hey. I think he's going to call you.
DONNA
He already did. Thank you, thank you. He asked me to have a drink tonight at the Hawk and
Dove and I'd really love to go home and shower and change. [putting on her coat and scarf]
The two CBO reports are right on your desk, as is the East Asia paper. Your call sheet is
clear. If there's anything else, I'm happy to come in early tomorrow. Do you think I could go?
JOSH
What time is it?
DONNA
Quarter to eight.
JOSH
Sure.
DONNA
Thanks. I really like him.
JOSH
Have a good time. Those are good stories about you, though. Those stories would make me
like you.
DONNA
You like everybody.
JOSH
Tomorrow's Thanksgiving.
DONNA
Yeah.
JOSH
I meant, you won't be coming in early tomorrow. You won't be coming in at all.
DONNA
Is there anything you need?
JOSH
No, I'm just saying...
DONNA
Okay. Happy Thanksgiving!
JOSH
You too.
Donna leaves and Josh watches her as she departs.
*****************************************
Josh went back into his office and picked up the first CBO report. He flipped the first page
over, and started the second before he realized he didn’t have a clue what the first page was
about. His concentration was nil! It was only 8 PM., how could his concentration be shot
already. He began the second page of the report again when he found his mind drifting to
when he brought Donna the underwear she had dropped in front of Karen Cahill. She had
been SO red! The memory alone made him laugh out loud. God, that was funny. And trading
votes on Election Day? What kind of person thought of that kind of thing?
He didn’t care what Donna said, those WERE great stories and if Commander wonderful
couldn’t appreciate them, then he didn’t deserve Donna. Hell, if he met someone half as
bright, funny, and beautiful as Donna he wouldn’t hesitate-
Wait a second…He had met someone as bright, funny, and beautiful as Donna. He had the
real thing; Donna herself. Why was he hesitating then? Oh yeah, the professional work thing.
That could be bad, it’s true.
However, they were in their second term now. Was anyone paying that much attention to
them anymore? Would it really be that big a deal if he dated Donna? Kissed Donna?
Touched Donna? Wait, wait, stop! Going down that road, even mentally, could open a huge
can of worms. Besides, Donna was, at this very moment, getting ready for a date that he had
set her up on. He couldn’t go and ask her out when he’d just set her up with some gomer.
The problem was that Commander Wonderful might not actually be a gomer. He seemed like
a decent guy, Nancy McNally trusted him, so he must be smart. This guy had actual potential,
plus Donna already liked him. This was so bad. What had he been thinking, going out of his
way to get Jack to ask Donna out? He had to stop this before it became an issue. Where did
she say they were going again? Think, Lyman, think…the Hawk and Dove! That’s it. What
time? Shit, I don’t think she said what time. Well, she was going home to shower and change
so if he went directly to the Hawk and Dove and cut her off…
That’s it. That’s what he would do. He would get to the Hawk and Dove, wait for her to show
up, and then…what? Improvise. He would improvise. First, though, he had to get to the hawk
and Dove.
*************************************************
This was insane. He was pacing back and forth close to the Hawk and Dove but not in front of
it where Jack Reese might spot him. He didn’t even know what time they were meeting. He
could freeze to death out here before they got here. What if they came here together? She
said they were meeting for drinks, but that didn’t mean they weren’t meeting at her place and
going for drinks from there, did it?
Women really shouldn’t invite men to their apartment on their first date. It wasn’t safe. It wasn’
t smart. Donna was smart, so she was probably meeting him here. On the other hand, Reese
did work at the White House, so Donna probably assumed he had passed all kinds of security
checks. Okay, this was nuts…he was going to give it 10 more minutes, then he was going
home to thaw…
“Josh?” Shit, she spotted him before he spotted her. That wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
“Is something wrong? Do you need me? I thought I had my cell phone on…”she reached
down into her purse to retrieve the phone and check to see that it was on.
“No, no. Everything’s fine…I was just going to…” Shit. Improvisation wasn’t working.
“Josh?” Now she looked concerned; like PTSD concerned.
“I just felt like getting a drink, and when you mentioned the Hawk and Dove it sounded good.”
“By yourself?” she questioned.
“Yeah, I guess I got kind of nostalgic with Sam being in California and everything. But the
more I think about it, it’s just a bad idea. I’ll see you tomorrow…Friday! I meant Friday,
because as we discussed earlier tomorrow is Thanksgiving…and we have the day off…being
a Federal Holiday and everything.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Donna asked again. “I can cancel with Jack and do it another
time.”
“No! No, of course not. After all the trouble we went to getting it set up? Don’t be ridiculous. I’
ll…see you Friday…Have fun.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” Donna hesitated and started walking backwards. “See you Friday.”
She looked back once more and then went in search of Commander Wonderful inside the
Hawk and Dove while Josh looked for someone to hit him over the head with something.
**********************************************
Josh walked for what seemed like forever before going back to the White House. What a
waste of an hour and a half. On top of everything else, he now had a perfect picture of how
great Donna looked for her date with Jack. That was going to haunt him. The reports Donna
had left him were still sitting on his desk unread. He warily packed them in his backpack. He
would try to look at them at home.
On impulse, he picked up the phone and called Sam.
“Sam Seaborn.” Sam answered.
“Josh Lyman.” Josh shot back.
“Hey! How’s it going?”
“Oh…you know…I should be the one asking you how it’s going. It’s got to be different being
the candidate instead of the speech writer.”
“That it is. I’m really not crazy about Scott Holcomb.”
“He’s supposed to be good.” Josh tried to reassure him. “It probably just seems weird to have
someone feeding you lines for a change.”
“Maybe. What’s going on with you?”
“What do you mean?” Josh asked suspiciously and had Sam laughing.
“It’s a pretty standard question, Josh.”
“Oh, sure, right.” Josh responded and Sam’s radar started beeping fast and loud.
“What IS going on with you Josh?”
“Nothing!” was the adamant reply.
“Are you still at work?” Sam inquired.
“Yeah, but I’m packing up to go home.”
“Okay. Let me talk to Donna.”
“Why?”
“Because SHE will tell me what’s going on.”
“There’s nothing going on Sam. I just thought I’d check in with you.”
“Uh-huh. Let me talk to Donna.”
“I can’t. She left for the night already.”
“Donna left for the night even though you’re still at work?”
“She had a date. So she left.”
“Ahhhh.” Sam sounded like he had divined an answer to a complex question.
“What does ‘Ahhhh’ mean?” Josh asked defensively.
“Just ‘Ahhh’ now I understand why you’re in a mood. Donna has a date you were unable to
sabotage and now you’re in a mood.”
“That is SO not true. As a matter of fact, I even set her up on this date. She met this
Commander working for Nancy McNally and asked me to set them up and I did. So what do
you have to say about that?” Josh demanded.
“Did you start taking some kind of hallucinogenic drugs since I left?”
“NO! What the hell are you-“
“Then why, my friend, would you set up the woman you love on a date with an eligible military
Officer who works in the White House?” Sam nearly shouted.
“Have you started taking hallucinogenic drugs? I’m talking about Donna.” Josh responded.
“So am I!” Sam insisted.
“I don’t love Donna.” Josh stopped short. “Well, sure, I love Donna, but I don’t love Donna like
that.” Another pause. “Even if I did love Donna like that…or like Donna like that…I couldn’t Do
anything about it.” Yet another pause. “I mean she works for me Sam, that would be crossing
all kinds of lines…and I’m not even sure she’d WANT me to do anything about it…”
“Do you even need me for this conversation?” Sam chuckled.
“No, now that you mention it, I think you’ve said quite enough for one night, Samuel. Thanks
for getting me all worked up here, buddy.”
“Anytime. But I really don’t think it’s ME that has you all worked up.” Sam replied. “Go talk to
her Josh. For the sanity of everyone who knows you, go talk to her.”
“Have you not been listening to me? That’s a bad idea. Besides, she’s on a date right now,
what am I supposed to do? Interrupt her date and say ‘sorry to bother you Donna on the date
I set you up on, but I was just wondering if when you’re done with this date, if you’d like to go
on a date with me, your boss.’?”
“Well I’d phrase it a little better than that, but then I’ve worked as a Presidential speech writer.”
“Sam!”
“Would you like me to call her?”
“Sam…”
“Wait until she comes into work tomorrow, ask her to go to lunch and have a conversation
with her.”
“That will never work.” Josh replied instantly.
“Why not?”
“Because tomorrow is Thanksgiving and neither of us will be at the office.”
“Oh right.”
“Any other ideas, Cyrano?”
“None comes immediately to mind, but I’ll keep working on it.”
“Yeah, okay. Have a good Thanksgiving Sam.”
“You too, Josh.”
***************************************
Chapter 2
It was nearly 11 and Josh had only waded through one of his CBO reports when there was a
knock on his door. Puzzled, he went to the door with the second report in his hand and his
pen between his teeth and opened the door. When he saw Donna standing outside his door
his jaw dropped open and the pen fell to the floor. Both of them bent to pick it up at the same
time and nearly banged heads.
“I got it, thanks. What’s going on? Are you okay?” Josh took a visual inventory and Donna
appeared to be okay, but if Reese tried something and she was upset…
“That’s my line, I believe.” Donna stated in a peeved voice. “What was so important you that
you paged me to come here at 11 at night on the night before Thanksgiving when you knew I
was on a date?” Man, she sounded angry. “I mean, I know you like to wreak havoc on my
social life, but you set this date up. If you didn’t want me going out with Jack, why would you
set it up in the first place?”
“Because I’m an idiot.” Josh muttered underneath his breath.
“What was that?” Donna demanded.
“Nothing.” Josh said a little louder. “I didn’t page you Donna.”
“Yes, you did.” She argued and pulled out her cell to prove it. “There. Look. It says, ‘urgent,
come to my place. Josh.’ See?” she pushed it in front of him. “Do you deny sending me a
page now?”
“I don’t deny that you got a page, Donna, just that I sent the page.”
“I don’t know anyone else named Josh.”
“Regardless, I didn’t send that page.” Josh maintained and had Donna looking at him
suspiciously. “Seriously. I swear! The only time I ever page you is when I’m in a meeting and
can’t call you.”
Donna couldn’t deny that was true. Josh preferred to cal her directly. He knew it was harder
for her to say ‘no’ when she heard his voice. “Then who sent me the page?” she asked, now
more curious than angry and she sat down on his couch. Then it hit Josh.
“Sam.” He said to himself. Unfortunately, Donna heard him too.
“Sam is in California. Why would Sam be paging me? And paging me to go to you? And
signing your name?”
“Okay, okay, stop!” Josh interrupted her endless questions. “I was talking to Sam earlier and
he may have thought I needed you…for work! Needed you for work and some questions I had
on the CBO report. I must have sounded really confused and he thought he’d help by getting
you over here.” That sounded lame, even to Josh’s own ears.
“What is going on?” Donna asked seriously.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
“Because you’re acting very strange, Joshua. Sam wouldn’t have sent me over here unless
he thought it was serious. He must have been seriously worried about you.”
“Believe me when I say he was not.” Josh’s head dropped back against the couch in
frustration at the situation Sam had put him in.
“He must have been. Otherwise Sam would have just called me directly.” Donna reasoned.
“What other explanation is there?”
“Oh there’s another one.” Josh sing-songed his reply and laughed humorlessly.
“Josh, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
Josh opened his eyes and lifted his head off the couch, turning so his whole body was facing
Donna. “You want to know what’s wrong with me? What’s been bothering me all night?”
Donna wordlessly nodded her head, her brow furrowed with concern.
“I have been kicking myself all day for setting you up with Jack Reese.” Josh just laid it out for
her. “I had this niggling feeling all day that it was a mistake, but I couldn’t put my finger on
why. Then, the second you told me you were meeting him for drinks all the tumblers fell into
place and the safe opened.”
“Excuse me? What safe?”
“It’s a metaphor, Donna.” Exasperated and exhausted from this mental battle he’d been
waging for much longer than just today, Josh got up and started pacing the living room. “I
mean, that I realized that I didn’t want you meeting Reese for drinks.”
“You found out something bad about Jack?”
“NO! I found out something about me.”
“Which was…?”
“That I want to be the one to meet you for drinks; that you go home to shower and dress up
for. That’s why I was waiting outside the Hawk and Dove. I was going to tell you before you
met up with Reese, but I lost my nerve. I talked to Sam about it and I’m sure that’s what
prompted his fake page.” Josh finished and ended up standing in front of her, a plea for
understanding was on his face.
Donna, for her part, was stunned. She had always hoped that maybe someday Josh might
come to feel more for her than just friendship, but she hadn’t expected any declaration of the
kind now.
“Well don’t just sit there.” Josh ordered. “Say something!”
“I don’t know what to say.” Donna replied.
“Huh. That’s a first. I’ve reduced Donnatella Moss to speechlessness. Somebody call the
media.” Josh said sarcastically and turned away from her to pace again. “I’m sorry. Just forget
I said anything. It was entirely inappropriate.”
“Was it the truth?”
“Do you think I sit up nights thinking of ways to humiliate myself with you? Of course it’s the
truth.” Josh said huffily. “If you want I can have Leo transfer you someplace else in the West
Wing.”
“Yeah.” Donna nodded. “That might be best.” She agreed and Josh’s heart sunk. Not only did
he blow a potential romantic relationship with Donna, but now he wouldn’t even have her
professionally in his life anymore. This couldn’t be happening.
“Really. You want to be transferred?” He confirmed.
“I think that’s the only option. Leo isn’t going to let me work for you after he knows we’re
involved personally.” Donna commented and kissed Josh with everything inside her.
Things escalated pretty quickly from there. Neither of them said another word while they
disrobed one another. If someone had asked, Donna would have said that she had
fantasized about their first time being at some romantic location with candles and music and
love making that took hours. This was the exact opposite of that. They were in Josh’s living
room, where they’d spent countless hours working together, there was no sound at all except
their heavy breathing and the occasional moan of pleasure. And all indications led Donna to
believe this would be over quickly, but she wasn’t disappointed in the least.
She and Josh were going to make love. Josh wanted her. There would be plenty of other
times for slow and romantic, but now she just wanted- no, needed to have him inside her.
Josh couldn’t believe he was holding/kissing/touching a naked Donna right now. Dear God,
he owed Sam big time! He briefly considered leading her to the bedroom, but after a moment’
s consideration decided it was just too far away. Maybe later. He pulled her down to the rug
before remembering to ask about birth control.
“Wait, do we need…?”
“No, I’m on the pill and I’m healthy, unless you want…”
“No. I want you with nothing between us.” He told her and moved on top of her. He entered
her quickly and she called out his name. He had never felt anything this intimate before. He
waited until he felt her release before emptying himself inside her. His heart felt like it would
burst at any moment. He could feel Donna’s beating quickly as well. He couldn’t bring himself
to leave her so he simply rolled them onto their side and cuddled with her. He pulled the
afghan off his couch to cover them both.
Exhaustion overtook them and they slowly fell into sleep. Josh’s last thought before
unconsciousness took over was; C.J. was going to kill them both.