January 2006
“Stop pacing, Joshua. You’re making me dizzy.” I complain from the couch.
“And for God’s sake put the list down.”
“You made the list!” he protests.
“I HELPED you make the list so you’d calm down and relax the rest of the
evening, not so you could obsess over the list. Come sit down with me.
Olbermann is coming on. You love Keith. You can mock Republicans
together.”
He comes to sit by me but his body is still restless.
“You’re going to be fine, Josh. In fact, you’re going to be great!” I try to assure
him but he shrugs me off.
“I was supposed to be doing this with Leo. He’s been through it all before. He
was going to make sure I didn’t drop any balls.” He argues.
“You’ve got a team of people to help with that, including but not limited to,
President Bartlet, C.J. Craig, Sam Seaborn and many others on staff. And,
last but not least, me.”
“I know. And I know that’s no small thing. I just really miss him and I’d feel so
much better if he were here to help me do this.”
I offer him a smile and a kiss. “He’s with you, Josh. I truly believe he is.”
He smiles but there are no dimples. The phone rings and I answer it before I
look at the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Please hold for the President of the United States.” A White House operator
tells me and I stand up out of habit.
“Hello?” President Bartlet comes on.
“Good evening, Mr. President.” I tell him and Josh looks up suddenly.
“Donnatella! How are you this evening?”
“Fine, Mr. President. And you?”
“I’m fine. I was hoping to find you there. I wanted to speak to you and Josh
together. Is this a bad time?”
“Certainly not, sir. Let me put you on speaker.” I hit the button and hear Jed
Bartlet’s voice boom from the speaker.
“Josh?”
“Good evening, Mr. President. What can I do for you?”
“For the first time in 9 years, absolutely nothing. I don’t even have to pack,
can you believe it?” President Bartlet laughs.
“Are you anxious to get back to Manchester, Mr. President?” Josh asks.
“More than you know, Josh. More than you know.” The President answers
tiredly. “I was thinking about Leo and I decided to give you a call. Do you know
that night before inauguration, Leo stayed up all night planning and re-
planning our first day in the White House?”
“No, I didn’t know that, sir.” Josh answers. “Leo just always seemed so
confident I assumed he didn’t have doubts about what he was supposed to
do.”
“Don’t forget Leo’s first rule of politics…fake it ‘til you make it.” Jed laughs
again. “He wouldn’t let any of YOU see it, of course, but there were many
times he questioned whether he was doing the right thing or not. As Chief of
Staff you have to act as if you have no doubts so the staff follows you, but
that doesn’t mean you don’t have them.”
“Hear that Joshua?” I confirm.
“Yes, Mom.” He disses me, and gets a smack on the head for his trouble.
“Ow!”
“Joshua, Joshua, Joshua. How is it that a man who is so incredible bright in
complex areas like law and politics, is so incredibly stupid in simple matters
like a relationship with a wonderful woman?”
“I can’t really answer that at the moment, Mr. President.” Josh answers
hesitantly, eyeing me with suspicion.
“Listen to me, Josh, you have waited a long time for this; personally and
professionally. I expect you to live up to all the promise Leo and I saw in you
all those years ago.”
“I’ll do my best, sir.” Josh says seriously. “I don’t want to let any of you down;
especially the President Elect.”
“You won’t. You’re ready for this. You don’t need Leo or me as a security
blanket. Trust your judgment, trust your intuition, and temper your reactions.
And listen to the fair Donnatella, will you? She’ll ground you and be there for
you no matter what, won’t you Donna?”
I look right into Josh’s questioning eyes. “Yes sir, I will.” Josh’s eyes widen as if
I’ve made a whole different kind of promise just then, and he’s not necessarily
wrong.
“Donna? Abbey wanted me to tell you that she’s very proud of you and she
thinks you’ll be perfect as Mrs. Santos’ Chief of Staff. I do too, for that matter.
You’ve come a long way from that inexperienced young woman who joined us
in Nashua.”
“Yes sir, I have. Thanks to all of you. It was an honor to serve in your
administration, Mr. President.” I tell him with tears in my eyes.
“I was honored to have such an exemplary staff. I’ll let you two go now, I’m
sure you have better things to do than placate me in my final hours here.” Jed
paused and they heard Abbey’s voice in the background. “No, I haven’t
forgotten, Abigail, I just hadn’t gotten to it yet.” Jed sighs long and loud.
“Abbey would also like you to keep something in mind. If you two should have
a social gathering of some kind in the next year or so that requires someplace
that can hold a good number of attendees, the farm in Manchester is
particularly beautiful in the spring and summer…for whatever pictures you
might want to take at such an…event.”
“Thank you, Mr. President.” Josh chuckles. “We’ll keep that in mind. In fact I
was just thinking about where we could hold such an event…Donna’s Birthday
is coming up and I thought we’d have a blow out party for her.” He teases.
There’s a silent pause. “Donna?”
“Yes, Mr. President?”
“Hit him for me will you? Hard.” The President requests.
“My pleasure sir.” I pick up the pillow between us and whack Josh in the face
with it.
“Hey! That hurt.” Josh objects.
“Don’t be such a baby. It was a Presidential order.” I counter.
President Bartlet chuckles again. “Goodnight you two. I’ll see you both
tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Mr. President.” We both answer and hang up the phone.
“That was nice of him to call.” I note. Josh is still rubbing his face where the
pillow hit him. “Oh baby, does it hurt?” I coo.
“Yes, it does, actually.” He whines.
“Let me kiss it better.” I climb onto his lap and begin raining kisses on his face.
He forgets the injuries pretty fast and returns the kisses. After a few minutes
of ramp up, I make another suggestion. “Let’s move this to somewhere more
comfortable, shall we?”
I see the assent in his eyes and start to move off him, but he just stands up,
still holding on to me. I wrap my legs around his waist , toss back my head and
laugh. He’s laughing too by the time we both land on the mattress. It’s a stress
reducing, all consuming, laughter that has tears in both our eyes.
We are starting a new chapter tomorrow, professionally and personally. There’
s an element of fear about screwing up one or the other or both aspects, but
there’s also an air of excitement. An excitement about a new administration, a
new relationship (or a new part of an old relationship) and of all the
possibilities that are laid before us now.
I don’t know that either of us will be getting any sleep tonight, but if we don’t, I
do know that we’ll have plenty to keep us occupied. All things considered…I
can’t wait for tomorrow…
The End.