December 2005
I am worried about Josh; seriously worried. He’s downing energy drinks and looks like
death warmed over. I also heard that he ripped into Otto. Even the President Elect
called me in to his office to ask if I was sure Josh was okay. When one man notices
that another man looks horrible, we’ve crossed the line from exhaustion to the
undead.
When the President Elect asked if Josh was seeing somebody I choked. I didn’t know
what Josh was comfortable telling the President Elect! I stuttered until he withdrew
the question. I did think it was very sweet that the President Elect cared enough
about Josh to ask, though.
I’m still reflecting on the meeting and what it meant when I hear him.
“Dooooonnnaaa!”
Everyone stops and looks over at me. I shake my head at them dismissively and pick
up the phone.
“I know you know how to use the phone, Joshua. Ronna already told me you’ve
become quite adept at it.”
“That’s Ronna; the yelling is us.” He counters.
“Not. Anymore.” I insist.
“Ah-kay.” He sighs. “Could you please come in here for a minute?”
“Are you going to yell at me too?” I ask.
“Yell at you? Why would I yell at- Ah, you heard about Otto.”
“I did.”
“I was REALLY hoping you hadn’t.” he admits
“Then you REALLY shouldn’t have done it in front of most of the staff.”
“Fair point. It won’t happen again.”
“Uh-huh.”
“If you’re done chastising me, would you please come in here a minute? I need your
opinion on something.”
“Is it important?”
“Is it import- Donnatella Moss, the Chief of Staff to the President Elect is asking you
to come to his office. In fact, he even used the word please.”
“Fine.” I agree and hang up the phone. I swear to God this better be good. If he
thinks he can pass off some grunt work to me when I’m already passing off grunt
work of my own…
“You bellowed, sir?”
“I did.” He admits without any compunction. I need you on a trip. How fast can you get
packed?”
“A trip? Where are you sending me?”
“Someplace warmer than D.C.” he tells me. “How fast?”
“How long will I be gone? What is the purpose of the trip? Am I going alone? What
the hell is going on, Josh?”
“You are a lot of work, you know that? Donna Moss is, in the vernacular of “When
Harry Met Sally”, ‘high maintenance.” He explains. “And if you ever tell anyone I used
a Harry/Sally reference I will flatly deny it.”
“My questions are perfectly reasonable and would be expected by anyone other than
Josh Lyman.”
“Maybe.” He shrugs. “I think it’s going to take 10 days and you’re going with me.”
“Going where, exactly.” Someplace warmer than D.C.? That could be over half the
country and a few islands nearby. Not that we’d be going anywhere tropical during
transition, or anytime soon thereafter, I imagine.
“That’s where you come in. I can’t decide; Cayman Islands or Hawaii. Obviously
Cayman is much closer so we’d get more time there, but Hawaii has become such a
part of our personal history…well, I couldn’t decide so I thought I’d have you make
the final call.”
“You’ve gone round the bend, haven’t you? All the stress, the lack of sleep, the
pressure from Goodwin, it’s all pushed you right over the edge. Josh, we’ve barely
started transition. You can’t leave to go anywhere right now.” I explain slowly so his
addled mind can grasp what I’m saying to him
“Yes, I can. I even asked the President Elect and he said if it didn’t involve a
motorcade, he’d take me to the airport himself.” He says smiling.
He looks serious, maybe a bit deranged around the edges but perfectly serious.
“Okay…let’s say that’s true. Josh Lyman would have to be crazy glued to an airplane
seat to leave town right now, for any length of time.” I argue.
“Under normal circumstances, maybe. But in this case, I believe all it will take to get
me to stay in an airplane seat is having you seated next to me. I need a vacation,
Donna. That much has been made clear to me. But a vacation will mean nothing if
you’re not there to share it with me. All you have to do is pick a destination and pack
your clothes. I’ll take care of the rest.” He tells me.
“Really?” I raise an eyebrow at him.
“Carol will take care of the rest.” He amends and gives me a dimpled smile. Josh is
very proud of the fact that Carol will be coming with him to the Chief of Staff’s office. I
am very relieved about it. He needs someone who won’t back down when he’s
being…Josh and she’ll take good care of him too.
“Donna?” he prompts me. “Cayman or Hawaii?”
“Did you really have to ask? Hawaii.” I decide easily.
Josh consults a printout in front of him. “Next available flight leaves in 5 hours, which
means we’ll have to be at the airport in 3 hours.”
“I’ll staff out the stuff on my desk….”
“No, leave now. I’m leaving too. Sam promised to take care of farming out whatever is
left on our desks.” He orders before he picks up the phone again. “Carol, it’s
Hawaii…that’s the one…and the hotel?...perfect…no, you can’t send it to my
blackberry, I’m not bringing that with me. Just print it out please, and I’ll pick it up on
my way out. Thanks Carol.”
“You called Carol on the phone, you said both please and thank you, and you told
her you’re NOT taking your blackberry on a ten day trip? Who are you and what
have you done with Josh Lyman?” I demand.
“Josh Lyman 2.0. I think you’re going to like the improvements.” He says as he
saunters closer to me. “We’ll discuss them during our trip.” He dips his head to kiss
me. It quickly turns from sweet to passionate until we hear someone clearing their
throat behind us.
“Shouldn’t you to be packing right now?” asks Sam Seaborne.
“Sam! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.!” I envelope him in a hug. “I thought I was
going to have to sedate him until you said ‘yes’.”
“Lucky for all of us, I caved quickly. My fiancé will be here by the time you two get
back.” He announces.
“You’re engaged!” I exclaim. “When did this happen?”
“Josh didn’t tell you?” We both turn evil glares to Josh who has the grace to look
sheepish.
“It didn’t come up?” He offers lamely. “Plus, I knew Sam would want to tell you all
about his fiancé Jane-“
“Jeanne.” Sam corrects.
“Right. Jeanne. He’d want to tell you about Jeanne himself.” Josh summed up.
“Nice try, Harvard.” Sam quips. “Get out of here, both of you. We’ll catch up when
you get back.”
“Thanks Sam.” Josh tells him, relief evident in his voice. “Carol has all our contact
info if there’s an emergency. Otherwise..”
“Otherwise, no one will call, write, email, or send smoke signals. Have a relaxing trip.”
I give Sam another hug and hurry out to pack for our trip. I’m already making lists in
my head of what we’ll need. What? I’ll have to pack for Josh too or he’ll be on the
Hawaiian beach wearing a suit and tie. He knows this too, which is why he’s not
nearly as panicked as I am.
It wasn’t as quick as I’d like and it sure wasn’t pretty, but when we sit in our seats on
the Boeing 747 to Hawaii, we are packed and ready for takeoff. We spend the flight
dozing and cuddling together. This is the most relaxed I can ever remember seeing
Josh and we haven’t even hit the beach yet.
This is a dream come true.