Donna's POV:
We've been to California several times before; I mean the state has
a ton of electoral votes, but this time is different. This time it's
for the convention. There is an excitement and a tension in the air that
is far different from anything I've experienced on this campaign
before.
Then there's Josh.
Roommates and busy campaign schedules have put a damper on our
personal relationship, but we've found moments here and there; and those
moments have been combustible. I guess I should be a little nervous
about jumping into a new relationship so soon after ending it with
Freeride; look, he's got me calling him that now. But the truth is
I'm not. Josh and I just click, which is wonderful, but I have a
confession to make.
I overheard part of Josh's conversation with his mother recently. Now before
you get on your high horse and start thinking about how wrong it is to
eavesdrop, let me just say I wasn't trying to eavesdrop. I was just being
quiet while Josh was on the phone, which is actually quite considerate.
Then by the time I realized he was talking about me, about us, I couldn't just
announce my presence.
He was arguing with his mom about when he'd have time for a wife
working at the White House which caught my attention as you can imagine.
Then he made a comment about only knowing each other for 4 months. But
his last comment was what really got me: You know what else makes it
right, mom? If the woman feels the same way.
I wanted to pop out and tell him right then that she does feel the same
way, but I couldn't!
When I finally made my entrance, he quickly got off the phone and it
took everything in me not to jump him right there. I mean, seriously.
Then another thought occured to me: this could be a really bad idea for
Josh professionally. If a senior member of the White House staff was
caught having an affair with his assistant it could have all kinds of
negative implications. I tried to point that out to him, but he really
didn't seem to care. I say that because he told me he didn't
care; right before he kissed me senseless.
I'm pretty sure about where it all would have led if Sam hadn't made an
appearance, but appear he did. Since then, it's been stolen kisses and
amazing touches whenever we can find some privacy. Sadly for me, that
hasn't been often. I can only imagine that now we've hit the convention site
those moments will only be fewer and farther between.
That's okay though. We have very important work to do here, and Josh
says I'm one of our secret weapons. So we'll stay focused on getting
Governor Bartlet the nomination and figure out what to do about us later.
"Donna!" Came a familiar voice from down the hall. How bad does a woman
have it when having her name bellowed gives her shivers?
"Joshua, lower your voice please. We are not the only people in this hotel."
"No, but we're trying to get a man elected President. These other people
are like, on vacation." Josh protested.
"I'm sure they'll understand then." I say sarcastically, but the sarcasm
seems lost on Josh as he just nods at my comment. He's highlighting
something in his hands as he's walking. I don't know how he can highlight
copy while he swaggers down the hall, but he manages.
"I need you to take these to CJ for me; I'm late for a meeting with Leo."
"No, you still have 15 minutes." I respond, looking over the copy.
"You told me the meeting was at 8:45." He counters.
"Yes, I did, but it is, in fact, at 9; which gives you 15 minutes to eat
something before your meeting." I explain while I drag him into the suite
we're using as a war room. There is a breakfast buffet set up. "Start with the
egg dish." I instruct when he reaches for a bagel. "It will give you protein
and you can always take a bagel with you."
He immediately follows my directions and I can't help but smile. He rarely
fights me on the food issues anymore. Oh, he'll put up a token protest, but
he always gives in, especially if I sit down and eat with him as we're doing
this morning.
"These are all Hoynes issues." I note as I look over the highlighted portions.
"Yeah." He agreed while stuffing eggs into his mouth. His nutrition may have
improved but his manners…
"But Hoynes is our biggest competition for the nomination. Why would we be
aligning ourselves with him on these issues?"
"Because if he's going to be our Vice Presidential nominee, we need to
establish some points of agreement. Also, by floating his name as our Vice
Presidential pick, it puts us in the front runner position in the media and
media perception is-"
"…voter reality." I finish the quote he's given me often enough.
"Right." He grins at me and his dimples pop out.
"But it seems a little paradoxical to try to build up the reputation of our main
competition." I argue.
"This is Democratic politics. Of course it's paradoxical."
He shovels in more eggs and even a few pieces of fruit that I added to his
plate. "There's a lot of in fighting during the primary; it's the only way to
weed out some of the contenders. During the convention, though, we all get
out the crazy glue and put the pieces back together so we have the
strongest ticket to go up against the Republicans."
"Did you know that objects put together with crazy glue are actually proven
to be stronger than the objects were in their original form?" I ask him
seriously. I watch as he struggles with the humor and finally looses, almost
choking on his breakfast.
"I honestly didn't." he admits and takes a quick glance at his watch. "Come
with me a minute. I have one more thing I need you to give CJ." He tosses
his plate and napkin in the trash and exits without even looking to see if I'm
following him; because he's just THAT confident that I will.
We walk quickly down the hall toward the room he's sharing with Sam
while we share our own brand of abbreviated conversation that we seem to
have developed.
"Don't forget the note cards for the thing with the Wiley people." He reminds
me.
"Already done. Copies to the gang?"
"Yeah, and Mandy too, I guess." I grimace at that remark. Mandy isn't really
part of the `gang'. She consults for us; but she pops in and out a lot while
she works for other candidates. I guess now that we're at the convention
she'll be a more permanent resident…joy.
"Got it. You've got a 10:15 with Andrea Mitchell; I'll page you 10 minutes
before." I add when we reach his door. I hold my hand out for his key card;
Josh doesn't do well with key cards. I think it's the excess energy that runs
through his body. It just short circuits the things.
I key us in and walk ahead of him into the disaster that is his hotel room; or I
should say his half of the room is a disaster. Sam's half is as neat as a pin.
This half Martha Stewart/half Oscar the grouch lifestyle doesn't seem to
bother either one of them, but it never fails to get a chuckle from me.
"What else do you need me to give CJ?" I ask right before he tackles me to
the bed. I manage a small scream before he silences me with his mouth. His
hands are everywhere and it takes my stunned body a couple seconds to
catch up. In the back of my mind I know things can't go much further than
this. Sam, or anyone else from the campaign, could come in at any moment.
"Joshua…" I finally choke out when he moves from my mouth to my neck.
"Josh, you have a meeting with Leo."
"I have two more minutes. Besides, he expects me to be late to these
things." Josh peppers his kisses with this well reasoned argument.
"Two minutes really isn't much time."
"Tell me about it, but it's all I've got right now so work with me." It's a
convincing argument, so I decide to go along with him. I run my hands over
his shoulders and down his back, pulling him closer to me. The entire length
of our bodies are in close contact now and I'm finding it harder to breath.
For a man whose only form of exercise seems to be walking or pacing, he's
in very good shape.
At last, job security rears its' ugly head and I push him away from me.
"You have to go." I tell him regretfully. He sighs and his forehead rests on
mine before he gets up and straightens his clothes. His hand reaches out
for mine and he helps me to stand up next to him.
"You'll get that stuff to C.J.?" he asks again and I smile and nod. "Okay, I'll
see you later." With one last kiss, he grabs his file folders and hurries out
the door.
************************************
"Mandy?" I call her name again. I swear the woman is purposefully ignoring
me. "Josh asked me to give you these." I hand her the note cards on Wiley.
She looks them over critically.
"These are good." She murmurs. "He's finally getting focused."
"Actually, I did them." I admit and see her eyebrows wing up.
"Josh is letting you take point on Wiley?" she nearly laughs; I nearly hit her.
"You just said they were good."
"They are. Josh must really be bringing you up to speed." She noted cattily.
Josh has told me repeatedly that they broke up long before I arrived in
Nashua, but I still get the feeling that Mandy blames me for it somehow.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid.
"I'm a fast learner."
"Who wouldn't be with private political tutorials from Josh Lyman?" She
replied. Okay, not being paranoid.
I ignore her pointed remark and make my way to one of the hotel
restaurants where I'm supposed to meet Sam and Josh for lunch. I find them
already there and in a heated argument.
"You have the closest relationship to him. You worked with the man for
years." Sam said.
"And abandoned his campaign to come work for Bartlet; yeah, he's going to
want to hear from me." Josh asked facetiously.
"You know his hot buttons. You know how to present the offer to him."
"Maybe, but I can NOT be the one to present it."
"Hi, guys." I sit down between them and immediately help myself to Josh's
fries. He makes a token move of his plate a little further from my reach but it
in no way impedes me.
"Hey, Donna. Tell Josh that Hoynes is enough of a grown up to take a
meeting with him." Sam requests.
"About the V.P. spot?" I confirm.
"Yes." Sam nods and takes another bite of his sandwich.
"Josh should absolutely NOT present the offer to Hoynes and thanks so
much for waiting for me before you started eating. It's nice that I work with
such gentlemen." I give them both a glare.
"We were hungry and you were late." Josh tries.
"I am not late. You were just impatient. What a shock!" Sam laughs at my
little joke then remembers my previous answer.
"Wait a second. Why shouldn't Josh talk to Hoynes about the VP spot?"
Sam continues the argument.
"Several reasons: One, it will only serve to remind Hoynes that Josh left him
for Governor Bartlet. Two, Josh is insufferably smug when he wins and he
won't be able to hide that from Hoynes. Three, if the Governor is asking
Hoynes to be his VP through someone else, particularly Josh, Hoynes will
take it as an insult and use the insult as an excuse to reject the offer. Then
we'll have a floor fight and that's exactly what we're trying to avoid, right?" I
look up at Josh who is beaming like his student just won the national spelling
bee. Since he's distracted, I steal two more fries before grabbing the
waitress's attention and ordering some lunch for myself.
"Okay, but I really don't think we want the Governor alone in the room with
Hoynes at this point. It's gotten pretty contentious between them." Sam
conceded.
"It's got to be Leo." Josh maintained. "He's high enough on the ladder not to
insult Hoynes and they're not close enough personally or professionally to
have other connotations to the conversation."
"Well, I guess you've got it all settled then." Sam blustered, obviously
insulted.
"Yep." Josh agreed. "You just make sure the speech is a home run, buddy,
I'll take care of the rest." Josh took another bite of his sandwich.
"See?" I pointed out to Sam. "Insufferable. And he hasn't even won yet."
"I guess you're right." Sam agreed and shared a smile with me before
handing me half his sandwich. Sam is really very sweet.
Josh did a double take at Sam's offering and then grudgingly offered me
half of his too. I gave a chuckle at his sacrifice and moved my hand along
his leg underneath the table to show my appreciation. His body jerked in
surprise and then his dimples popped out again.
Sam kept on talking about what he wanted to add to the speech and what
Toby wanted to cut, oblivious to the undercurrents at the table.
**************************************
Watching Josh Lyman is always educational; just how he keeps all his
contacts and their hot topics in his head I will never know, but he does and
he does it well. He is in constant motion and since we arrived at the
convention site that motion is going double speed.
"Donna! I need-" I hand him the latest delegate count before he can finish
his sentence. "I need to talk to New Mexico."
"Charlie Reese from the New Mexico delegation on line 2." I inform him and
he quickly picks up the line.
"He is something when he's in convention mode, isn't he?" Mandy asks from
just behind me.
"He certainly is." I agree.
"So full of passion and worked up to a fever pitch." Mandy noted. "As
arrogant as he is professionally, he has no idea the personal effect he has
when he's like this."
Not knowing how to respond to that, I chose to stay silent and busy myself
with locating the number and name of the next delegate he'll want to talk to.
"It's been a vicious cycle. We date, we drive each other crazy, we break up,
but then work brings us back together again." She confesses.
Some of my surprise at this comment must have shown on my face because
she immediately adds, "It's okay, Donna. I don't blame you after all. Men like
Josh need to feel admired. They like to play Henry Higgins to an Eliza
Doolittle. It happens all the time with him. Part of the reason he doesn't want
to be the one to approach John Hoynes? It's because his last Eliza, Erica
Lee, is still working for Hoynes. Once the romance of the campaign wears
off, it becomes awkward for him."
I keep my eyes on the paper so that Mandy doesn't see the panic in them. I
can feel tears welling up and I know I need to make a quick escape. "I'm
going to run these over to C.J." I excuse myself and quickly leave the war
room.
I catch up with C.J. in the press room and sidle up to her. She is too busy to
talk with me at first but after a few minutes, she takes a break and we grab
a couple of waters. The press room is filled with correspondents and
representatives of the various campaigns.
"How's it going?" I ask her.
"Good. I've been approached twice by the Hoynes contingent today. I'm
taking that as a good sign."
"Do you know them very well?"
"Not really. We're all in the same fish bowl so we get to know one another a
bit, but well? No, not me. Josh does; but he's been avoiding them all like the
plague. I think part of him feels guilty for abandoning the Hoynes ship."
"How about Erica Lee? Do you know her?" I try to keep my tone casual.
"Somewhat." She replies and looks at me quizzically. "She asked me to pass
on a message to Josh; apparently he's not taking her calls." C.J. smirked.
"There she is; the brunette in the power suit, red blouse."
I look over to where C.J. has inclined her head. The woman is gorgeous
and she's obviously very comfortable talking with the assembled press. My
heart drops a bit.
"Someone needs to talk to New Mexico. They're back on the fence with the
Governor." C.J. breaks me out of my reverie.
"Josh is on it." I reply, my eyes still tracking Ms. Lee.
"Good. He and Charlie Reese go back a long way. Can you find out how it's
going for me? I'd love to get something solid in before the print deadline."
"Sure. I'll be right back." I promise and taking a fortifying breath, as well as
one last glance at Erica Lee, head back to Josh.
I think I'm steeled for another confrontation with Mandy when I open the
door to hear Josh bragging about his phone call.
".I told him to see how far that would get him with John Hoynes and then he
couldn't pledge his delegates fast enough."
"Fabulous." Mandy smiles standing in front of him.
"I really am something." Josh agrees.
"You are something alright, Joshua." She leans closer and kisses him
quickly on the mouth. "Good job." She saunters away leaving Josh looking
after her. What the hell? They're far enough away from me that my
presence goes unnoticed.
"Hey, Donna. Did you hear Josh got New Mexico back?" Sam asks me,
oblivious to the scene that just unfolded in front of me.
"Yeah, he really is something. I need to go tell C.J. She wants it before the
print deadline." I tell him, still watching Josh who seems to be transfixed by
Mandy.
"Are you okay?" Sam asks.
"Sure." I pretend. "Just trying to get my sea legs for this convention."
"It's like a whole different universe, isn't it?"
"It sure is." I agree.
"But look at how much you've learned in such a short time. I don't know
what the hell Josh would do without you."
"He's been quite the teacher." I note and Sam looks at me funny again.
"I've got to go find C.J." I repeat and leave before I'm forced to deal directly
with Josh. I know I'm going to need to talk to him but later sounds much
better to me right now.
My head is spinning as I make my way to C.J. and deliver the message
about New Mexico. What if this is all just a campaign fling? What if I've
completely misread this situation? Next time, will it be me asking C.J. to give
a message to Josh because he's not taking my calls anymore?
I'm trying not to be paranoid here. Josh has told me repeatedly that he
wasn't interested in Mandy anymore and it was definitely Mandy who
initiated that kiss. Still…he wasn't exactly fighting her off either. And just
who the hell is Erica Lee anyway? The only way to find out is to ask Josh
only we're kind of in convention mode now. They'll gavel open the
convention in less than 12 hours.
Okay, this is going to have to go on hold for the next four days, but then I'm
getting some answers. You can put up with anything for four days right?