Chapter 6
“What’s next?” Josh cued the senior staffers in the Oval.
“I’m getting questions about the First Lady’s schedule.” Lester announced.
“Refer them to the First Lady’s office.” Josh ordered. “What else?”
“That’s a little difficult when they’re connecting it to Collective Learning.” Lester noted.
“What are you talking about?” Josh asked.
“The trip they’re making to California. The Press is asking why the push for two different
education packages. They’re wondering if the left hand knows what the right hand is
doing.” Lester explained.
“Sam!” Josh nearly shouted.
“I was told they weren’t planning the trip for the near future.” Sam replied holding his
hand up and out in the international sign for ‘hey, don’t blame me’.
“When are they planning this trip for?” Josh turned back to Lester.
“According to their online schedule…9 days from now.” Lester answered.
“Their online…I’m supposed to check their online schedule? Can no one inform me
about these things?” Josh complained.
“My wife is planning a political trip to California in nine days and we’re just hearing
about his now?” The President jumped into the fray.
Lester handed a copy of the schedule to Josh who glanced at it long enough to confirm
the two day trip to California before groaning and handing it to the President. “This is
not going to happen. Nine days from now, our bill should hit the floor for a vote. We can’
t have half the media in California following the First Lady.”
“I tried this already.” Sam chimed in. “I think it’s time for the heavy hitters to come up to
the plate.”
“That’s you, sir.” “That’s you, Josh” the two men said simultaneously.
“Sir, couldn’t you…in the course of, you know, living together, mention to the First Lady
that postponing the trip…indefinitely…would be very helpful right now?” Josh asked.
President Santos gave Josh a look that was reminiscent of the looks Josh used to get
from President Bartlet when Josh suggested that someone ‘handle’ Dr. Bartlet.
“I think that kind of directive might be better received from you, Josh.” The President
replied.
“One of you needs to grow a pair and tell the First Lady the trip is off.” Lou interjected.
The two men in question looked at each other and shrugged. “Lou can do it.” They
again spoke simultaneously.
“Oh for God’s sake.” Lou got up and took the walk to the east wing.
“That was easy.” President Santos muttered.
“Anything else?” Josh asked the staff and there were no takers so Josh sent them on
their way.
“Helen is not going to like us stepping on her trip like this.” President Santos.
“Due respect sir, neither is Donna, but the fact of the matter is that you were elected to
this office, your wife was not. Your agenda has got to come first.” Josh noted. “I’m sure
Lou will make that clear to them.”
The President chuckled. “Uh-huh.”
****************************************
“Donna, Lou Thornton is here to see you.” Deb called over the intercom.
“Send her in.” Donna instructed before turning to the other staffers in her office. “This
should just take a moment.”
“Donna? Could I speak to you privately for a minute?” Lou asked once inside.
“I’m kind of in the middle of a meeting here, Lou.” Donna motioned to the group around
her conference table. “If you need a private meeting, I can come down to your office
when we’re finished.”
“We just got out of senior staff in the Oval. Lester is getting questions in the room about
your proposed trip to California.”
“You can refer any questions to Annabeth.” Donna turned back to her staff.
“He can handle the questions; that’s not a problem.” Lou maintained. “The problem is
that this proposed trip is already diverting attention away from out legislative agenda.
The President would like you to postpone the trip.”
“Until when?” Donna asked.
“Indefinitely. We can keep you apprised of the progress of the Collective Learning Bill
and reschedule the trip once it’s through.”
Donna could feel the eyes of her staff on her. What she did now could determine how
the east wing functioned for the next four years.
“I’m sorry that the First Lady’s trip is diverting attention from you legislative agenda, but
I don’t think the solution is to cancel the trip.”
“The President would like you to cancel the trip, Donna.”
“I don’t work for the President, Lou.” Donna stood up to face her. “Until the First Lady
tells me to cancel the trip, we’re planning on leaving in 9 days.”
Lou blinked in surprise at Donna’s tone. Perhaps speaking to Donna in front of her staff
was a bad play. “You know what? I’m interrupting your meeting without so much as a
phone call in advance to let you know I was coming over. If you could come find me in
my office when you’re done, I’ll clear whatever I’m doing to speak then.” Lou smiled at
the assembled group and kicked herself all the way back to Josh’s office.
“I blew the play.” Lou announced.
“Which play?” Josh looked up confused.
“The one where I put the kibosh on the First Lady’s trip to California.”
“I don’t understand. You stood in the Oval office just 20 minutes ago and said it was a
piece of cake.”
“I never said it would be a piece of-“
“That’s right you said something else…what was it….?” Josh pretended to try and
remember.
“Joshua…” Lou rolled her eyes.
“I remember now…you said we should strap on a pair and go cancel the trip. How’d that
work for you Lou?” Josh asked.
“I made what might be a strategic error.” Lou admitted. “Donna was in a staff meeting
when I got to her office. Asking her to postpone the trip in front of her staff might have
put her in a position of having to refuse our request or looking like she takes orders
from us.”
“She DOES take orders from- Look, our agenda comes first; plain and simple.”
“I’ll make that clear to her when she comes to my office. She promised to come see me
when she finished with her meeting.” Lou assured him.
“Lou…I can’t tell you how much I’d like to avoid this conversation with Donna.” Josh
moaned.
“I’m on it.” Lou asserted.
**********************************
“Donna, come on in.” Lou greeted her warmly. “I want to apologize again for barging
into your meeting. I was myopically just focused on the meeting we’d just had in the
Oval.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Donna smiled and sat on the couch in Lou’s office.
“Great.” Lou paused. “How are things going over in the east wing? We haven’t had
much opportunity to have a chat lately.”
“We’ve never had chats, Lou.” Donna pointed out. “I’m not canceling the First Lady’s
trip.”
“Whoa! Slow down a second.” Lou walked over and sat next to Donna on the couch.
“You wouldn’t need to cancel it, just postpone it for a bit; lay low until we can get our bill
through the House and Senate.”
“How much are Josh and the President paying you to take the rap on this one?”
“Nothing! I volunteered…sort of.” Lou added.
“Then they got off cheap.” Donna noted. “I’d like to accommodate the President, but the
First Lady made her plans very clear. We leave for California in 9 days.”
Lou looked at Donna closely. “This is more than just the trip isn’t it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are we talking about something other than the
trip?”
“You’re in a pretty tenuous position aren’t you Donna?” Lou surmised. “Running the
First Lady’s office, being responsible for her agenda while you still have…very strong
ties in the west wing.”
“My job comes first, Lou. I take that job very seriously. Mrs. Santos has been looking for
a substantive issue to get behind and this is the one she’s chosen. And we’re not
postponing the trip unless the First Lady tells me to.” Donna stood up. “Was there
anything else?”
Lou shook her head slowly. “No. Thanks for coming over.”
Lou walked back to her desk and called Josh. “I think we have a problem.”
***********************************
“Lucy, I’m home.” Josh called from the apartment door.
“In here.” Donna called back from the office they shared.
“Hey, I’m sorry I’m so late. I got a little hung up and forgot to call.”
“That’s okay. I just got back myself.” Donna lifted her head for his kiss. “Pizza will be
here in about 15 minutes if you want some.”
“I’d love some. I missed dinner.” Josh confessed. “I’m just gonna go shower and
change.”
Josh had been thinking about how to approach this all afternoon and evening. He finally
just decided to wing it based on Donna’s mood when he got home. She seemed fine;
not at all upset about Lou’s conversation with her. That was a good sign.
When the doorbell rang, he hurriedly finished changing into a t-shirt and sweatpants.
Donna had already paid for the pizza and brought it to the table by the time he came
out.
“God, that smells good.” Josh grabbed a piece and started eating standing up.
“Sit down, Joshua. There’s no need to eat standing up. It’s bad for you digestion.”
“Are you channeling my mother? Ruth is that you?”
“You’re a riot. Sit your ass down.” Donna pushed the chair out for him with her foot.
“What kept you so late? Or can’t you say?”
“I had back to back meetings with leadership on Baker. Leo was right when he said this
job is like herding cats.”
“Good meetings or bad meetings?”
“I think we’ve got everybody back on the reservation. Amy did a great job with the sub-
committee.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth he froze, unsure of what
Donna’s reaction might be. She merely grunted.
“That’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?” Donna said with a mouthful of pizza. “Considering you
think she floated Gelsey with the committee.”
“I never said-“
“You didn’t have to.” Donna cut him off. “That’s good news, though, I’m glad. It probably
took the sting out of our refusal to cancel our California trip.” Josh choked on his pizza.
‘Yeah, Lou said something about that to me.”
“I’ll bet she did.” Donna smiled grimly. “Why did you send Sam and the Lou to talk to me
about the trip? Why not just talk to me yourself?”
“Because that’s not what the Chief of Staff does. Meetings between the west wing and
FLOTUS are handled by the Deputy COS or the Communications Director. That’s how it
always was with President Bartlet.”
“But it’s different with President Santos. We’re involved personally, you and I. It would
seem logical-“
“Logical? What about any of this is logical? It would be logical for the First Lady’s office
to take the lead from the Deputy Chief of Staff. It would be logical for the First Lady’s
agenda to take a back seat to the elected official’s agenda. It would be logical for you
and your staff to take a little more time to see what you’re getting into before you
jumped up to your eyeballs in a project with Lee!” Josh lost his temper a bit at the end
there, but Donna just continued to stare at him like he’d grown horns.
“Sorry. I’m…sorry. I didn’t mean to shout. I just don’t think you appreciate how important
it is to the President to get this ed reform into law.”
“I get that, but I think it’s you that doesn’t appreciate how important it is to the First Lady
to feel like she’s a contributing member of this administration.”
“She is! It’s just a different type of contribution.” Josh reasoned. “After we get this bill
signed into law-“
“Mrs. Santos doesn’t need a ‘by your leave’ from the monarch to do something she
thinks is important and could help millions of families.”
“She wasn’t elected to office, Donna.”
“Oh, I didn’t understand that. Maybe Mrs. Santos and the rest of her staff are confused
about that too.”
“Donna…” Josh said quietly.
“No, really, I should gather the staff so you can illuminate all of us women on our rightful
place in Government; what an appropriate role for us would be.”
“I never said- Hell, I didn’t even imply- You’re not being fair about this.” Josh sputtered.
“I’m sorry if your plans about having your girlfriend and your former girlfriend around to
do your bidding have been shot to hell.” Donna said snidely.
“Where the hell did that come from? You know I didn’t put her in leg affairs. Hell, I didn’t
even want her in the west wing at all.”
“Yes, but now that you’ve been reminded of her political prowess her position there is
looking better to you all the time.” Donna stood up and tossed her paper plate in the
waste basket. “I’m not trying to make your life, or the President’s life more difficult, but
neither am I, or the First Lady, going to sit quietly with our hands folded in our laps until
you tell us it’s okay to speak.”
Donna stormed out of the room without giving Josh a chance to reply. She went into the
bedroom and slammed the door shut. So much for her good mood, Josh thought to
himself. To add insult to injury, he found he couldn’t eat any more pizza either; it just
wasn’t sitting well in his stomach.
He did a little more work in their office before determining that he couldn’t keep his eyes
open any longer and went to bed. He could tell Donna wasn’t asleep yet, but she didn’t
say a word to him. He moved closer to her on the bed and stroked her arm.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just assumed you’d drop everything for the benefit of the
President’s agenda, but it’s a campaign promise he’s taken most seriously and we’re
having a tough time getting it done.”
“I know that.” Donna answered quietly. “But this trip is very important to Helen, and to
me. If we can’t do this without taking away from what you’re trying to accomplish, then I
think you’re the ones who have legislative issues not us.”
Josh let that sit for a moment. “Maybe, but I wasn’t staffing this out to Lou or Sam…well,
maybe a little bit because I thought it would keep this issue out of our personal
relationship.”
“Look how well that turned out.” Donna quipped.
“Yeah, just look.” Josh muttered and stretched out next to Donna. “These things are
going to come up sometimes. We can’t drag it all home with us. Nothing is worth that.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” Donna replied.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that no one looks at you and wonders how you got your job. It means that you’
re not the one they’re doubting has the professional skills to work in the White House.”
“Donna, that’s your very active imagination in overdrive again.”
“It’s not.” Donna maintained.
“Name one person who thinks of you like that.” Josh challenged her.
“I could name six, and that’s just off the top of my head.” Donna shot back. “Just pick up
any newspaper. They’re full of innuendo and accusations.”
“Wait. Just wait.” Josh requested. “Don’t read the papers, Donna. It will just make you
nuts. I guess you could read the sports page if you absolutely had to get your hands on
a paper, but that would be the extent of it.”
“They’re not saying anything I don’t already feel; Mrs. Santos hasn’t found her voice yet
and I’m in way over my head in this job.”
“And that’s different from my professional relationship with President Santos how?”
“It just is. It’s different when you’re a woman. You don’t understand.” Donna shook her
head slowly.
“I don’t get it. Haven’t I been supportive and encouraging this whole time with you and
your new job?”
“Yes, but then you also just sent two members of your senior staff to tell me to back
off.” Donna pointed out.
“I’ll try not to do that again…anytime soon at least.” Josh qualified and had Donna’s
head turning so she could look him in the eye.
“We’re still going to California, but maybe we could compromise on some of the
language so it would sound more like a fact finding trip than a kickoff for a national
proposal of First Steps.”
“That would help a lot.” Josh told her.
“I can live with that.” Donna decided and settled back into Josh’s arms and sighed.
“Hey, we just got through our first west wing/east wing fight.” Josh nudged her. “This is
going to be a piece of cake.”
“None of this is going to be a piece of cake, Joshua.” Donna replied sleepily.
And damn if the woman wasn’t right again.