My first order of business when I get back to the White House is to type my letter of
resignation. Donna is meeting with Blake, so I don’t have to deal with questions from her
about where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing. Once my letter prints, I walk down to Leo’s
office and Margaret send me through.
“What’s this?” he asks as I hand him the letter.
“My resignation.” I say matter-of-factly. I don’t say anything about Donna. I know what she told
me, but I won’t presume to speak for her with the COS. “It seems I can no longer work
effectively for this administration so I think it would be best if I resigned.” Also, if this thing with
Amy blows up I want to be as far away from the White House as possible, but I don’t say that
either.
“This wasn’t personal, Josh. You shouldn’t take it that way.” Leo admonishes him.
“Of course it’s personal, sir. Due respect, I okayed this plan with you. We were on the same
page. It backfired, big time, and I’m sorry about that, but it was a strategy I ran past you first.
So frankly saying ‘No one wants you here.’ and then asking me not to take it personally is a
little much.” Josh snapped at him.
”The President isn’t going to want to accept this.” Leo waves the letter in the air.
“I’m afraid he’ll have to. He needs to get a budget passed and the stimulus package back on
the floor. He can’t afford this distraction right now.”
“Let’s go talk to him.” Leo suggests. He gives a quick knock on the door to the Oval. Josh
follows him inside the office.
“Leo…Josh…What have you got for me?” the President asks as he shuffles through papers.
Leo indicates Josh should go ahead.
“I have a resignation letter for you, sir.” Josh tells him and Jed Bartlet looks up in surprise.
“Pardon me?” he asks as he removes his glasses and stands up. Leo hands him the letter.
“Josh, if this is all about Carrick, it will blow over. He hardly ever voted with us anyway. Other
than being a big headache for CJ in the press room, this doesn’t have a tangible impact on
how we do business.” The President informed him.
“Due respect, sir, I don’t believe it will. Taking my portfolio and handing it, and the budget
negotiations, to Angela Blake signals to everyone that I no longer have the ear or the trust of
the President, which makes doing the job of DCOS impossible for me. You need to start fresh
with someone else so you can get your agenda moving again.”
“Leo, will you give us the room, please?” Leo grimaces, but does as the President asks.
“There seems to be a lot of tension between you two lately.”
“Yes, sir.” Jed sighs as he realizes Josh is not going to expound on the tension and betray his
boss and mentor even though they’re currently at odds with one another.
“Here’s what I’d like to see happen, Josh. I will put this letter in my top drawer and leave it
there for now. You take a couple personal days and then come see me again. If you still want
me to accept this then, I will. Fair enough?”
“Alright, sir. I can live with that.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Josh was quiet the rest of the day and that made Donna uncomfortable. There was something
going on here besides Carrick, and it was big, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. When
he stopped by her desk at the end of the day, she jumped. He’d been quite stealthy in his
approach.
“Go home, Donna. It’s late…I’m going to take a couple personal days at the request of the
President. I know you have plenty saved up. Why don’t you use a couple yourself?”
“Personal days. Josh, is your Mom okay? Are you okay?” the alarm in her voice gets to him.
“I’m fine. Just a little stressed. Take the time off and I’ll see Thursday.” Donna nods reluctantly
as she watches her boss put his backpack over his shoulder and walk out on the building. His
body screamed ‘I’m defeated’ and worse he didn’t seem to care.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Donna tossed and turned all night. She tried to sleep in and laze about, but her thoughts kept
drifting back to Josh. Finally, at 10:30, she couldn’t take it anymore and stopped to get bagels
before going on to Josh’s place. His car was there, so at least it wouldn’t be a wasted trip.
She got into the building as another tenant was leaving. She rapped 3 times quickly and
opened the outer door with the key she still had. When she got inside, she saw Cliff Calley
and Mike Casper at the table. When Josh walked back into the room, he noticed the tableau
around him and froze. His eyes landed on Donna’s and then quickly turned to his friends.
“Hi, guys.” She began tentatively. A chorus of ‘Hi, Donna’s came back to her.
“I brought some bagels over. I thought you might be hungry.” Donna kept her attention on
Josh. “It’s funny. I watched the news and there was nothing on it about hell freezing over.”
“Hell freezing over?” Josh repeated numbly.
“You have a Republican leader sitting at your table, so I assumed hell must have frozen over.”
She retorted and Mike laughed before he could stop himself. “So, what’s going on? This isn’t
any poker game.”
It’s the ultimate poker game, thought Josh, but he kept that to himself.
“I needed some help on something, I-“ the phone rang, saving him from an awkward
explanation of the lies he was going to tell her.
“Josh Lyman.” He answered. “Yeah, now isn’t a good time…Drinks at O’Malley’s at 11…I know
that Amy, but…” Donna couldn’t catch anymore of the conversation as Josh took the cordless
phone into the other room and shut the door.
Donna ignored Mike for the time being. She knew from experience that the FBI agent would
never roll over on Josh no matter how hare-brained the scheme might be, but Cliff…
“Cliff. I’m surprised to see you here. Don’t you have a job you should be doing?”
“I can work from anywhere. How are you Donna?”
“I’d be better if you’d tell me what you’re scheming with my boss.”
“I think that’s a discussion you should have with him.” Cliff met her eyes levelly. “I think there
are any number of discussions you should be having with him.”
“Don’t.” Donna shot a look at Mike whose head remained stubbornly fixated on the computer
screen in front of him. “You have no right to bring any of that up.”
“I already did.” Cliff admitted. He decided to push the envelope. “Amy Gardner knows.”
Donna sank to the chair with the weight of that announcement. “You son of a bitch.”
“It was an accident. I never meant to-“ Cliff was interrupted by Josh’s entrance. Josh took in
Donna’s pale appearance and became alarmed.
“Donna? Here, have some water.” he handed her his glass from the table. “What’s wrong?”
“Amy Gardner knows?” she asked Josh devastated.
Josh threw Cliff a nasty look. “Just the overview, none of the details. Right?” Josh turned to
Cliff for confirmation.
“Like that makes a difference! This is what you were talking about yesterday? When you said
you were considering leaving for the private sector?” Donna stood up. “I’m the one that has to
resign; right now, today. I can’t be anywhere near you or the White House when she leaks this
story.”
“You two really are perfect for each other.” Cliff announces. “Tell her about the affidavit you
wanted me to put together.” Cliff prompted.
“Shut up Calley.”
“No, we had a bet. Donna, Josh wanted me to write an affidavit stating that you lied under
oath on orders from him to protect him from word of his PTSD getting out. This idiot actually
thought he’d get you to sign it to get yourself off the hook and leave him as the lone fall guy. If
I had wasted my time writing that piece of garbage, would you have signed it?”
“Not in a million years.” Donna declared, her teary eyes never leaving Josh’s.
“Told you.” Cliff said to Josh. “She has a vested interest in all this, and a rather large one at
that. She deserves to hear it all, and hear it all from you. Mike and I will take a walk over to the
coffee shop for some caffeine.” Cliff motions to Mike and they leave Josh and Donna alone in
the apartment. Mike grabbed Donna’s hand for a quick squeeze as they left.
“You ordered me to lie under oath to protect you? Are you kidding me? Were you drunk at the
time you came up with that?”
“It’s what you did, isn’t it?” Josh countered.
“Yes, but not because you ordered me to. I did it because-“ Donna stopped abruptly. Josh
moved closer to her.
“Why, Donna? Why did you do it?”
“Why did you go to Cliff and make a deal for me…twice?!”
“I asked you first.” Josh countered.
“What, are we five now?”
“Answer the question!”
“Because they would have crucified you in the press, because your political career would be
over, because it was my words that would have ended everything you cared about!”
“No, not everything I cared about. When you told me about the testimony and the diary, all I
could think about was a way to fix it, to save you. I didn’t think about why you lied about the
diary or what might be in it that you wanted to protect. All I focused on was saving you.”
Tears spilled over Donna’s face, but she didn’t break eye contact with Josh.
“When Cliff came to my apartment after the testimony and told me he’d seen my diary when
he’d been in my apartment I wanted to die. I started to think about all that I’d written in the
diary, and knew that if I gave it to him, I’d be ruining your life. I denied I had the diary over and
over, but he didn’t believe me.”
“I know.” Josh pulled Donna into his arms and hugged her. “I know you did it to protect me.
But why, Donna? We each risked Federal prison. Didn’t it occur to you to ask yourself why?”
“You’re my boss; my best friend. You gave me a chance when nobody else would.”
“Cop out.” Josh said quietly. “Why?”
Donna studied Josh’s face closely and summoned the courage to say the words out loud.
“Because I loved you and it was written on every page of that damn book in one way or
another.”
Josh smiled and leaned his forehead against Donna’s. “Funny, that’s exactly the same reason
I tried to protect you from all this…twice.” Donna looked up at him as he leaned closer to her
and kissed her. It was a brief, intense kiss, summing up all that they had just confessed.
“We’re going to have to finish this intriguing conversation after we get rid of Tweedle Dee and
Tweedle Dum. But for now we need their help putting this Genie back in the bottle.” Donna
smiled at his use of the word ‘we’.
“I’ll get some note cards and you can get me up to speed.” Donna agreed. “Are we going to
have to leave the White House?”
“I handed in my resignation yesterday. The President asked me to take a couple personal
days and reconsider.”
“And are we reconsidering it?”
“I guess that depends on how this plan goes.” He answered honestly.
“Then we better do a good job.” Donna replied.
When Mike and Cliff returned a few minutes later, they found Josh and Donna hip to hip at the
table working together seamlessly.
**********************************
“We don’t have that much time, guys.” Josh argued again.
“We don’t need that much time. Will you leave this to the professional?” Mike replied
“Sure. You know where we can find one?”
“Josh…” Mike’s warning tone made Josh back off a bit.
“You can’t be anywhere near this, Mike. If this blows up in my face…”
“Our faces.” Donna corrected.
“Our faces” Josh repeated although he had no intention of letting either of them come with
him to meet Amy. “Then you need to lose my number and be very far away. Plausible
deniability, pal.”
“I am a fully trained, highly regarded agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We hide
our involvement in bigger things than this before lunch every day.”
“See, I really didn’t want to hear that.” Cliff told them, shaking his head.
“Could we possibly move away from this pissing contest and get on with making sure all our
bases our covered?” Donna re-directed them.
“All our bases are covered, Donna.” Josh assured her.
“Cautious optimism, Joshua.” Donna replied.
“I’m heading out.” Cliff announced. “Good luck tonight.” He added to Josh.
“Thanks for your help, Cliff.” Donna told him sincerely.
“Since it started with me, it’s only fair I help stop it. Take care, Donna.” Cliff grabbed his things
and moved toward the door. Josh walked him out.
“This could backfire on you, too, you know.” Said Josh.
“Only if you let Donna down, and I don’t think that’s likely.” Cliff replied. “Remember, you don’t
have the best poker face, so let the papers do the talking. She’ll fold. She’s too much of a
player not to. Goodnight.” Cliff let himself out.
When Josh returned to the living room, Donna was on the phone ordering some food for
them. Mike had his electronic toys spread across the table. He started to explain to Josh how
they worked, but apparently they got too loud and Donna went in the other room to finish the
order.
“I’m telling you that I am not at all comfortable with your hand there, buddy.” Josh complained
to Mike as Mike tried to attach the mic and wires.
“You don’t exactly have a lot of options, here. Would you rather I get Donna to do it?”
“Frankly, yes.” Josh answered as Donna came back in the room.
“Have Donna do what?” she asked suspiciously.
“Get him wired.” Mike replied and held up the electronics for Donna to take.
“No, no, no. I’ll end up electrocuting him, and I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“You’re stuck with me pal.” Mike smiled and moved forward.
“Fine, but just watch your hands this time.” Josh allowed.
“Would you two like to be alone?” Donna teased.
“No, but when I get you alone, you can be sure that I’m going to make you pay for that
comment.” Josh responded and Donna’s eyes widened. Mike stopped in the middle of what he
was doing.
“Joshua Lyman…I think you should just concentrate on the task at hand.” Donna replied
primly. “We’ll deal with later…later.”
“Very eloquent, Ms. Moss.” Josh knew he got to her with his comment and he knew it would
distract her from this mess for a little while at least. He punctuated the whole thing with an
eyebrow wiggle that made her laugh.
“Okay, you remember what I told you about technical stuff, right?” Mike asked.
“Probably not.” Josh admitted.
“You should write it down for him, Mike.” Donna suggested.
“That kind of defeats the purpose of being covert, doesn’t it Donna?” Josh pointed out.
“I don’t think you’re capable of ‘covert’ Josh.”
“Children, enough!” Mike interrupted. “The earpiece will enable you to hear me and give you
instructions.”
“I don’t need that.” Josh told him. “You won’t be anywhere near me to give me instructions.
You can not go to this meeting.”
“You can not do this alone.” Mike insisted. “If nothing else, I want to make sure you don’t
damage any of my valuable electronics.”
“Look, this is Amy, not the mafia. She’s trying to use this information to control me, but I’m not
in any kind of danger from her.”
“I’m not suggesting she’ll try to knife you. I’m saying it is a rule in law enforcement to always
have backup in case something unforeseen should occur.”
“It’s overkill for this particular mission, 007. No one else shows their face at the bar,
understood?” Josh looked first at Mike, who nodded reluctantly, than at Donna who nodded
more resolutely. “I’m going to finish getting dressed in private. You two are freaking me out.”
Josh wasn’t out of the room 10 seconds when Donna turned to Mike.
“So what’s our plan?.....”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“I’m sorry, you’re doing what? Cause on this end of the phone, it sounded like you said
something about forged documents and blackmail.” Sam repeated.
“But you can defend me on those charges, right? I mean you’re always telling me how you’re
a real lawyer and me, not so much.” Josh teased. He was in an amazingly good mood
considering the circumstances and he guessed that probably had a lot to do with the fact that
he and Donna had admitted their feelings for each other. After years of holding it all in and
trying to hide it, he felt positively liberated.
“Are you drunk?” Sam asked.
“High on life. I told Donna I loved her today.”
“Excuse me? Is this Josh Lyman? The caller ID says it is, but technology isn’t all that reliable.”
“It is Joshua Lyman. Want me to prove it? Hmmmm…..Your middle name is Norman and you
once tried to abolish the penny.”
“Okay. Then I don’t believe you told Donna anything. Leo would kill you and CJ would feed
you to the press corp.”
“Nope. None of that matters since I resigned this morning.”
“Jesus, Josh, would you slow down? Is this about Carrick? That’s bullshit that they dropped it
all on your doorstep.”
“Tell me about it, but as I said it’s really not my problem anymore since I tendered my
resignation.”
“Josh, for the love of GOD, will you please explain what is going on over there?”
“It started quite awhile ago. Remember when Donna testified during the MS thing?” Sam
grunted in the affirmative. “We ran into a little trouble…” Josh took a few minutes to give Sam
the overview of what had transpired then and the ramifications of Amy finding out now. When
he finished, there was silence on the other end of the line. “Sam? Are you there? Can you
here me?”
“That’s too crazy to be a made up story isn’t it?” Sam said weakly. “I mean it never occurred to
either of you nut jobs to come to me to help Donna walk it back and make everything nice and
legal?”
“I don’t think I like you talking about Donna like that.” Josh said all offended.
“Please. It had to be your idea. Donna must have been too freaked out to think clearly and
reign you back in.”
“Nice!”
“So now, your solution is to compound your illegal activity with blackmail and forgery?”
“Well if the blackmail works, we won’t have to use the forgery.” Josh could have sworn he
heard Sam’s head hitting a hard surface. “Don’t worry, Sam. I got Mike Casper and Cliff Calley
to help. Donna and I aren’t doing this by ourselves anymore.”
“Oh, good. Then you’ll have friends to share your cell with you….What do you need me to
do?”
“You’re a good man, Sam. Here’s what I’m thinking….”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A Bad Day 3