Choices Chapter 2
Chapter 2
A slightly rumpled and hung over Josh Lyman hurried into Leo
McGarry's office after receiving a summons from Margaret. The White
house was in turmoil after the bombing in Gaza, and it didn't appear
to have calmed any during Josh's absence. Margaret gave him a
`go head' nod as he passed by desk. He gave a perfunctory knock
on the half-closed door and sat himself in the visitors chair in front
of Leo's desk while Leo finished a phone call.
"I know what he said, Gordon, but I want to have options ready in
case he changes his mind. Things are happening fast over here and I want
to be prepared is all, okay?...Good, thanks."
Leo looked over at Josh and took in his Deputy's appearance.
"How you doing kid?"
"Fine…good."
"Really? Cause I gotta say you look like shit." Leo was shaking
his head. "I need your head in the game now Josh. If it's not,
tell me now."
"No, I'm all in. Where do you need me?"
"In a couple hours, I need you on the hill, helping Congressional
Democrats come to Jesus on the Camp David thing." He paused and
looked at Josh again as he shuffled some papers while he gathered his
thoughts. "Also, I have some news you're not going to be
thrilled about so I want you to prepare yourself. Don't fly off the
handle with it, okay?"
"What?" there was a world of trepidation in that one word.
"We are going to have to make some administrative changes. Starting
with the position of legislative liaison." Leo paused to take a
breath. "The President asked Cliff Calley."
"No way." Josh said flatly.
"Yeah, and…we're going to have to transfer Donna when she
gets back." Leo decided he might as well get it all over with at
once.
"Leo, you've got to be kidding! Cliff AND Donna? Anything else?
Do I still have my job?"
"The President picked Calley, Josh, it wasn't me. Although even
you have to admit he turned out to be pretty decent for a
Republican."
"Decent Republican is an oxymoron Leo, and let's step back to
Donna for a second. Why is she being transferred? Don't you think
it's going to look awfully bad for the White House to demote the
sole surviving member of the bombing in Gaza?"
"She's not being demoted and I think it'll look worse for
the White House when CJ is answering questions in the room about why the
Deputy Chief of Staff flew to Germany with only the clothes on his back
to the bedside of his senior assistant."
"I had a backpack too." Josh groused.
"Josh…"
"It's bullshit, Leo."
"Josh, I swear, you might as well have taken an ad out in the Post.
Are you really going to sit there and tell me the nature of your
relationship with Donna hasn't changed?"
"Yes, I really am. I care about Donna; of course I do. She almost
died! I went to see her and stay with her just like she did with me when
I was in the hospital. I didn't want her to be alone in a foreign
country bleeding to death. There's nothing else going on. Hell, her
boyfriend from Gaza was there."
"That doesn't change how it looks, or …how things might
change." Leo held up his hand to forestall Josh's objections.
"It's done Josh. Don't bother. Besides, have you thought
about where Donna is going to be at physically when she gets back? Are
you even sure she wants to come back?'
"Of course she wants…" Josh thought a moment. "She never
said she wasn't coming back." He insisted.
"Then let's assume she is. She's going to have months of
physical therapy ahead of her. She'll be in a wheelchair, then
crutches for a long time. How is she supposed to keep up with you when
she's dealing with all that?"
"Where are you moving her?" Josh asked resignedly. "She's
senior assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff. Where can you move her
without it being a demotion?"
"She's not being demoted, Josh. She's going to be special
assistant to the Chief of Staff. That way we can tailor her hours and
restrict her to the higher level work that she excels at. Toby asked if
she can do some research for him when she gets back. I could use her on
the education bill; stuff like that. There's even a pay raise for
her." Leo assured him. Josh gave a sarcastic laugh.
"She'll love that. All she had to do to get promoted was get
blown up. Oh, and have me go to see her in the hospital."
"FLY to a hospital in GERMANY to see her, Josh. That's no small
thing for the Deputy Chief of Staff to do in the middle of an
international crisis."
"You told me I could go!" Josh practically shouted at him.
"I did and I still think it was the right thing to do, but don't
diminish the import of the act; to Donna, to the White House, or the
press. Can we move on, now?" He asked and Josh nodded resignedly.
Calley will be contacting you with a list of appointments for the
day." Leo stopped as Josh started banging his head against the back of
the chair.
"Margaret switched things up so Ginger is going to be staffing you.
Everyone agreed it would be an easier adjustment until you find a
permanent replacement for Donna." Josh closed his eyes at the words
`permanent replacement'.
"We've got a lot of work to do, Josh, and this thing in the
Middle East is going to get worse before it gets better, I promise you.
We've got senior staff in 30 minutes and the President is going to
want you to weigh in on our options. We have to get him to a place where
he's comfortable ordering a military strike in retaliation for the
bombing."
"Don't worry, I'm in a place to order a military strike in
retaliation for the bombing. Anything else?" Josh asked as he stood
to leave.
"Go do a job…And Josh? This is going to be an adjustment for all
of us. The more positive a spin you put on this for Donna, the easier it
will be for her when she comes back. No guilt trips or asking her to
stay late to help you. Understand?" Josh saluted and walked back to
his office where Ginger was trying to make sense of Donna's system.
"What do you need first?" she asked him.
"Some whiskey and something to hurt Republicans with." Josh
deadpanned.
"No problem, Toby's got whiskey and a bat in his office;
I'll get them. Here's your phone sheet, or sheets, more
accurately. A lot of speculation about who you're pitching to the D
triple C on the open Congressional seats." Ginger said quietly.
"You mean the seats that are open because two Congressmen were
killed in a bombing?" Josh's pitch grew louder and his tone
became more menacing.
"Yes?" Ginger responded hesitantly, edging toward the door.
"Take every last one of those cretins's off my call sheet,
Ginger, Every last one. I'm not going to even dignify their morbid
questions with a response." Josh was yelling now.
"Got it." Ginger answered and quickly shut the door behind them.
Josh picked up the nearest briefing book and chucked it at the door in
anger. A moment later the door opened to admit Toby.
"Welcome back. Having a bad day?" he inquired softly. Josh just
laughed and dropped into his chair. "How's Donna?"
"Recovering. How's Andi?"
"She was pretty shaken up and very happy to be home with Huck and
Molly. All things considered, very, very lucky." He watched Josh for
awhile. "What sent the book flying, Calley's new job or
Donna's new job?"
"They were just pre-cursors. It was the call sheet listing
Congressional inquiries about the two open seats we suddenly have."
The disdain in Josh's voice was palpable.
"Yeah, I got a couple of those calls while you were gone." Toby
noted. "I just yelled at them and hung up…didn't actually
throw anything though."
"Did you need something Toby? I've only got a few minutes before
senior staff."
"No, Ginger just said you needed my whiskey and my bat, so I thought
I'd bring them over." Toby looked at his friend and didn't
like what he saw. "It's going to get better, Josh."
"Right, sure." he agreed before screaming out his now open door.
"Donn- Ginger!" Ginger poked her head inside. "Let Mr.
Calley know that the Deputy Chief of Staff wants to see him after senior
staff."
"Where?" she asked still standing in the hallway. He looked at her
like she's retarded.
"My office. And get Sanderson on the phone will you? He's first
on my list of people to kick into next week."
Senior staff went longer than anticipated, so Cliff had been waiting
more than 30 minutes for Josh to return. After 20, he picked up the
phone on Josh's desk and tried to get a little work done from there.
That's how Josh found him when he finally returned from staff;
pacing behind Josh's desk with the phone at his ear.
"I'm a lawyer not a magician, Lyman will never go for
it…I'm saying there's a compromise to be made, but majority
or not, this administration isn't going to roll over and beg for
you." When Josh cleared his throat, Cliff looked up.
"Talk to your caucus and come up with something I can work with or
don't bother calling back." Cliff said and quickly hung up the
phone. "Sorry about that. I was waiting awhile and wanted to get
some calls done." Josh moved around his desk in silence and sat in
his chair. "How is Donna doing?"
"As well as can be expected. I thought we should take this
opportunity to discuss how you're going to do your job under my
direction." Cliff just barely refrained from rolling is eyes at the
power play going on here.
"I'm not interested in a pissing match with you Josh. I
don't imagine you're any happier with the current circumstances
than most of my Republican colleagues, but the President personally
called me into the Oval Office and asked me to serve, so what do you say
we skip this portion of the show, and move onto the trade bill."
Silence reigned for a good two minutes before Josh broke it.
"It was a decent thing you did; for Leo and for Donna. Maybe we can
work together, but I swear Calley, if you cross us, if you cross me,
just one time, the consequences are going to be career ending." Josh
finally stated. "Who were you on the phone with?"
"Jacobs. He's going to be calling back in about an hour with a
compromise for the trade bill."
"He's an asshole." Josh stated starting to go through his
files.
"He's an asshole with 8 votes in his pocket. If we play good
cop/bad cop well enough, we'll get your trade bill passed by the end
of the week."
"Good enough. I need you to catch me up on the current temperature
of the Speaker before I leave for the Hill. The President isn't
ready to order a strike yet. How much trouble is Haffley going to be
until he is ready?"
"A little bit. You need to have CJ get in front of it." Cliff
stated simply.
"She's going to need that flak jacket for a few days." Josh
replied and cracked a smile. "Tell me about the numbers in the house
for a resolution." Josh sat back and listened as Cliff caught him up
on recent events and most played sound bites.
Maybe Cliff was a decent guy, and he did have a sharp political mind,
but Josh still didn't trust him. The worst part was that the lack of
trust had less to do with him being a Republican than it had to do with
Calley having read Donna's diary. Just what did Calley know about
Donna that Josh wasn't privy to? He hated the idea that the man
sitting across from him knew the intimate thoughts and feelings of
Donnatellla Moss while he was left guessing about them.
Josh drew himself back to the present and tuned into what Cliff was
saying. It was going to be a long day,