Chapter 19
“Is everyone okay?” Helen demanded.
“We’re trying to get a report now, Ma’am.” Donna replied, already on the
phone with Secret Service. Her heart was jack hammering in her chest. The
only news they had was that there had been a disruption at a speaking event
that necessitated an immediate evacuation of the area. Normally, Donna’s
only concern would be for the safety of the President, but by some strange
coincidence, just like that long ago night in Rosslyn, Josh had been part of
the group.
“I need an update for the First Lady.” Donna insisted when she hit a road
block. But when her cell phone rang, and she saw Josh’s name on the caller
ID, she dropped the landline and answered the cell. “Josh?!”
“We’re fine.” Josh immediately told her. “Everyone is fine. It was a false alarm,
or a prank or something.”
“Everyone is fine.” Donna passed on to the First Lady who slumped into a
chair in relief. “What happened?”
“The Secret Service is investigating.” Josh said noncommittally and Donna
realized he wasn’t going to be able to comment further on a cell phone.
“When will you be back here?”
“We’re pulling in now.” Josh told her.
“We’ll be right down.” Donna said meeting Helen’s eyes.
“In the Oval.” Josh instructed before Donna hung up. The Secret Service
detail that had appeared in the East wing took the lead on the way to the
Oval, but Helen and Donna were right behind them.
They met in the Oval and to the relief of all involved, had visual proof that no
one had been injured in any way.
“What the hell happened?” Helen asked.
“We were exiting the building and there were these loud popping sounds.
The Secret Service had us out of there in no time.” Matt explained. “They’ve
already determined it wasn’t gun fire.”
“Oh, well, then everything is fine I guess.” Helen said sarcastically.
Donna took in the conversation behind them, but her eyes were searching
Josh’s for the answer to the question she wouldn’t ask in front of the
President and First Lady. Josh tried to convey that he was shaken but okay,
however all Donna seemed to get was the shaken part.
After a brisk knock, Ron Butterfield entered to give his report. Several
firecrackers had been the cause of the commotion and they were being
examined by the forensic department to determine their origin and who might
have wanted to disrupt the Presidential visit. There weren’t a lot of answers
yet, but the rapid response of the Secret Service team had impressed
President Santos no end.
“Are you done for the day?” Donna asked pointedly.
“Not yet.” Josh shook his head.
“I think I’M done for the day.” President Santos replied. “What have you got
left?” He asked Josh.
“I have some things on my desk I need to take care of, and I’m waiting for an
update from General Kinney.”
“Is there some reason he can’t call you with that at home?” The President
asked.
“I need to be here, sir. You go ahead.” Josh maintained without looking at
Donna. “I’ll come up to the Residence if there’s something you need to know
tonight.”
“If you say so.” President Santos answered carefully. “But as soon as you get
the update, I want you out of here. False alarm or no, it took a toll on all of us
today. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. Goodnight, Mr. President, Mrs. Santos.” Josh excused Donna and
himself. When they’d retreated into Josh’s office, Josh walked around to sit
at his desk and go through the messages Carol had left for him. Donna
watched him for a minute and then plopped down on his sofa.
“You should go home.” He stated.
“Nuh-uh.”
“Seriously, I could be awhile.” Josh reiterated.
“So I heard.” Donna grabbed a magazine from the end table and started
thumbing through it.
Josh returned a couple phone calls and pretended to be busy at his
computer for a bit before the explosion Donna had been waiting for arrived.
“Would you just go home, damn it?!” He shouted.
“No. Way. In. Hell.” Donna stood up and walked around his desk. “You want
to put on a face in front of Matt and Helen, that’s fine. Don’t you dare try to
do it with me.”
“Donna, I have to wait for-“
“Bullshit. That’s bullshit, Josh.” Donna snapped.
“We have a tenuous situation in Abu Dhabi and I need to wait for the report
from Kinney and from Vinick.”
“Then wait for them, but I’ll be waiting here with you. Why should that bother
you Joshua?” Donna persisted.
“It doesn’t.” He shouted back, his tone and volume belying his words. “There’
s just no reason for you to stay late too. You should go home and sleep
instead of staying here and waiting for my delicate psyche to shatter!”
“You think it’s going to shatter?”
“It was a bunch of firecrackers, Donna. Nobody’s life was in danger.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“For the love of God will you just let me be?”
“No.” Donna answered simply.
“Why the hell not?” He demanded.
“Because the last time I did, you put your hand through a window!” Donna
snapped. “So…I’ll be waiting right here for you until you’re ready to go
home.” Donna took a deep breath, let it out in a long huff, and resumed her
position on the couch with the magazine in front of her face.
Josh observed her for a few minutes, thinking about what she said. Then he
slowly walked around his desk and sat down next to his fiancé on his couch.
Donna refused to move the magazine from in front of her face.
“I forgot to breathe.” He finally spit out quietly.
Donna lowered the magazine a small fraction. “What do you mean?”
“I heard the noise and I forgot to breathe; forgot to move. I forgot everything
they run you through in the security briefings. I just stood there like a deer in
headlights.” Josh admitted.
The magazine lowered a little further. “I’d think that’s a pretty normal
reaction.” She offered.
“They wouldn’t let us call you at first.” He continued. “They wanted to wait
until the situation was secured, but all I wanted was to hear your voice. Then
when I finally did, the words wouldn’t come out.”
“Josh…” Donna dropped the magazine on the floor.
“After all these years, you’d think the impact would lessen. You’d think I
wouldn’t be able to feel the bullet hit my chest.” Josh’s eyes filled and Donna
took his hand in hers. “I don’t want to re-live that anymore.”
“I know.” Donna kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“Maybe I’m fooling myself into thinking I can handle this job.” Josh leaned
back and closed his eyes.
“Well, that’s just bullshit too, Joshua.” Donna chastised him.
“You’re using the word ‘bullshit’ a lot, I’m noticing.” Josh grimaced.
“Stop giving me cause then.” Donna replied. “Then pick up the phone and
call Stanley.”
“I’ll call him later if I need to.”
“You need to call him now.”
“I’m not calling unless I need to and I’m not calling from here.” Josh insisted.
It took Donna a moment, but she got it. Josh didn’t want the call on his log.
“Okay, but just for the record, you’re going to need to.”
“Give me a break, it just happened. I’ll be fine once my heart rate returns to
normal.”
“Or…” Donna trailed off.
“Or what?” Josh asked.
“Or we could get your heart rate up for an entirely different reason.” She
suggested. “I hear that sometimes after a life threatening situation, people
need a life affirming act to regain their balance.”
“Firecrackers are not a life threatening situation.” Josh countered.
“So you’re gonna pass on the life affirming act?” She asked innocently. “After
I went to all the trouble of making sure your office doors locked?”
The light dawned and Josh stopped his fervent denials. “I suppose it COULD
have been a life threatening situation. A well placed firecracker can cause
you a world of hurt.”
“This is what I’m saying.” Donna smiled and moved closer until her lips met
her fiancés. “Don’t try to shoo me away like I’m somebody else. We’ve made
a commitment now; we already had in our own way I suppose, but now it’s
official. So you don’t get to go solo anymore.”
“Yeah?”
“That’s the deal.” She confirmed.
“I like that deal.” He admitted and proved it by pulling her closer. “I love that
deal. I just need reminding sometimes.”
“Why should this be any different than anything else?” Donna wondered out
loud before checking the locks herself.
********************************************************
“It was a big risk to take.”
“Not too big a risk, obviously.” Amy replied. “You want to knock President
Santos off his game, you have to knock Josh Lyman off his. Not much knocks
Josh Lyman off his game; PTSD and Donna Moss.” Amy smiled grimly.
“Believe me, I know of what I speak.”
“You better be right.” Said her drink companion. He was an up and coming
Senate staffer and was as anxious to make a name for himself as he was to
further the agenda of his boss.
“Please. If you had any doubts, now is a little late to bring them up. What’s
next?” Amy took another swallow of her whiskey.
“My research tells me that people with PTSD are sensitive to all manner of
things. It shouldn’t take much after the jump start we got today. You get ready
to push the agenda. Have you had any better luck getting time with Lyman
himself?”
“He’s still foisting me off with his Deputy, but I’ll get a personal meeting soon.”
Amy assured him.
“You’d better. All this is for nothing if we can’t move our agenda with it.”
“Trust me. I’ve got it under control.” Amy finished her drink in one swallow
and left the bar.
***************************************************************************
“Are you sure?” Ainsley asked.
“What do you mean, am I sure?” Sam asked incredulously. “I’m the Deputy
Chief of Staff. You think I wouldn’t know if the President or Josh were injured
in some way?”
“You don’t need to take that tone with me, Sam.” Ainsley chided him.
“Seriously Ains, you think I’m not plugged in around here?”
“Why is it that when you ask a man a simple question, they act like it’s a
direct blow to their ego?” Ainsley pondered.
“Are you asking me, or are you simply having a conversation with yourself?”
Sam smiled.
“Surely, I should be asking you since you’re such a great source of
information.” Ainsley batted her eyes at him, flirtatiously. “You are, after all,
the master.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And what more can you tell me about what happened tonight, oh Deputy
Chief of Staff?”
“Actually…not much. The Secret Service is investigating, but they’ve
determined that there was no immediate danger to the President or his
entourage.”
“I am so telling Josh you called him the President’s entourage.” Ainsley
teased.
“I didn’t call him that, the Secret Service did.” Sam held his hands out in
denial.
“But you’re sure everyone is fine?” She confirmed yet again.
“Ainsley!”
“What?! There may be information you’re privy to that you can’t share with
others.” She maintained.
“And if that were the case, you think asking me repeatedly will wear me down
until I break?” Sam laughed.
“I told you, I have wiles, Sam.” Ainsley sauntered a bit closer to him.
“Oh, I know you do.” Sam’s eyes traveled over Ainsley in a way that was sure
to get him into trouble if that assistant named Celia saw him.
“And there isn’t anything else you can tell me about what happened tonight?”
she practically purred.
“I’m not sure. Perhaps we should go have a drink so that I can unwind and
lower my inhibitions.” Sam suggested.
“Hmmmm…after giving it careful thought, I’ve decided you can buy me a
drink.” Ainsley smiled.
“Why, exactly, am I buying YOU a drink?”
“Because YOU are the one who needs his inhibitions lowered and I have
wiles.” Ainsley explained.
“Fair point.” Sam grabbed his coat and keys. “This isn’t some devious
Republican ploy to take advantage of me in my weakened state, is it?”
“Why, sure it is, Sam!” Ainsley laughed and before her courage fled she took
hold of his lapels, pulled him to her and kissed him breathless.
“Well…” Sam managed when he could get air into his lungs again. “That
could work.”