Part 2
FLASHBACK: 2 MONTHS BEFORE THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION:
“Who are you and why are you channeling Amy Gardner right now?” Josh
asked his wife and earned a slap upside the back of his head for his
questionable humor.
“She’s right.” Ainsley confirmed. “Grace Matthews is the one Sam should be
approaching about the VP spot. She’s right politically, personally, and
geographically. Having a well respected Senator from Illinois will open things
up electorally.”
“Now you’re talking my language.” Josh informed her.
“Ainsley neglected to mention how fired up women, who are in the majority in
this country, will be to have a woman in high office.” Donna pointed out.
“Yeah, I remember how much Geraldine Ferraro added to the Walter
Mondale ticket. How many states did they take again?....Oh yeah, one!”
“You can’t pin that on Ferraro. That had far more to do with Mondale
screwing up and Reagan catching fire than-“ Donna retorted.
“What did I say about mentioning that name in my presence?” Josh
interrupted hotly while Donna smirked.
“What name? Mondale?...or was it RONALD WILSON REAGAN?” Donna
teased. Josh howled like he’d been burned. Ainsley shook her head laughing.
“Stop torturing Josh, Donna.” Ainsley requested. “We still need him for the
campaign. Besides, I’m sure he’s re-thought his position on approaching
Matthews about the VP nod. Right, Josh?” Ainsley confirmed.
“Congressman Rowley might be a better fit…” Josh hedged.
“Well he’s in DC right now. Let’s get you and Sam a ticket into Reagan
National and-“ Ainsley offered keeping a straight face as Josh covered his
hears and howled again.
“Excuse me; are we done with open mic night? Does anyone care what my
opinion is?” Sam asked.
“That depends on whether or not you agree with your brilliant wife, who I am
sure you wish to share a bed with in the near future.” Ainsley told him.
“That could be construed as bribery, counselor…good thing for me I do
agree with you.” He turned to Josh. “It’s Matthews, Josh. There isn’t a single
piece of doubt in my mind. We connected at the debates; more each time we
met. She’s the one I want.” Josh read the seriousness in Sam’s face and that
weighed far more heavily with him than Donna’s or Ainsley’s attempts at
persuasion.
“Matthews it is.” Josh confirmed. “Normally, I’d make the initial call, but I think
in this case, it would be better if you did the honors directly.”
Sam looked at him quizzically. “You didn’t get into a fight with my Vice-
Presidential nominee, did you Josh?”
“No!” Josh sounded indignant. “There was a misunderstanding and she was
not your nominee at the time. You should make that call right away. It will
generate some more free media as we ramp up for the convention.”
Sam decided against asking for details about the ‘misunderstanding’ for now.
“Why do we need more free media 2 months out?”
“Locks up the convention, gets a buzz going before the Republican
convention gets underway, and then we get a second more significant bump
after our convention.” Josh explained. “Ainsley, we’re not sure if President
Bartlet is going to be well enough to address the convention so we’re
pumping up Dr. B.’s appearance. I’d like you to introduce her the second
night. Sound good?”
“Sounds great!” Ainsley enthused. “If Donna will help me with the remarks.”
“Done.” Donna promised. “I think we should include the Bartlet daughters
too. Make it about women’s accomplishments and active work in the party. It
will be a nice build up to Grace Matthews too.” Josh just smiled at his wife.
“God, is it any wonder I love this woman. See how I taught her to think
strategically?” Josh bragged and got another cuff to his head. “That was a
compliment, honey.”
“Yeah, to you, HONEY.” Donna kissed his cheek. “Make your phone call
Samuel. We need to start making plans.” Donna pulled Josh up with her and
they left the Seaborns to have some privacy.
“This time, it’s going to be a smooth nominating convention Donna.” Josh
bragged as he slung his arm around Donna’s shoulder.
“Cautious optimism, Joshua.” Donna warned once again.
“I’m telling you, it’s going to be a walk in the park!” He kissed her as they
made their way to the suite where their children waited for them. “A walk in
the park.” He repeated.
PRESENT :THE MORNING FOLLOWING THE ELECTION:
At ten the next morning, Josh found himself across the table from President-
elect Seaborn and Vice-President elect Matthews. The room was abuzz with
staffers coming in and out with messages, press requests, and schedule
changes. Grace Matthews, in particular was peppering Josh with all kids of
questions regarding transition. Josh smiled at her energy and enthusiasm,
desperately wishing he had a small fraction of those qualities himself. After
an hour, Sam raised his voice.
“That’s it everybody. Josh and I need the room.” His authoritative voice and
serious face had the room empty in record time. Grace was the only one who
hesitated before leaving.
“We’ve hit every topic except the one that matters most to me.” Sam began.
“I need you in the office next to mine, Josh.”
“Sir-“
“I know you’ve done the job before and I know it’s asking a lot for you to do it
again, but I’m not sure I can do my job without you doing that one.”
“I told you, I’m honored that you’d ask and I wish I could, but I simply can’t,
sir.”
“A compromise; serve two years and then help me pick your successor. That’
s reasonable.”
“Very reasonable, sir, but I just can’t.”
“What the hell is going on Josh? You and Donna are stressed about
something, you’ve been distancing yourself from me and my family. I don’t
understand what’s wrong!”
“Sir, I need you to respect my decision on this and-“
“Would you please drop the ‘sir’ bullshit? It’s me, your friend for over 30
years; just you and me in the room. I need you to be my friend here and talk
to me.”
“Unfortunately, SIR, my friend is now also the President-elect of the United
States, and that regrettably changes how things work between you and me. It
changes how things work between you and everybody, save maybe Ainsley.”
Josh stood up and gathered his things. “If you’ll excuse me sir, Vice-
President elect Matthews asked me to go over some staffing
recommendations with her.” Josh waited for Sam’s nod, which he reluctantly
gave and then left the newly elected President alone in the room.
A moment later, Amanda came in. “Sir, the Senator from Virginia is on the
line for you.”
“Thanks Amanda.” Sam replied and started to pick up the phone. “Oh,
Amanda, will you please get Donna Lyman up here as soon as possible? I
need 10 minutes.”
“Yes, sir.” Amanda told him and went to find Donna Lyman. Sam figured if he
couldn’t get anything out of Josh, then maybe he could get it out of
Donna…He should have known better.
“Donna Lyman to see you, sir.” Amanda announced.
“Thanks, Amanda, send her right in please. If my wife makes an appearance
send her in too, will you?”
“Yes, sir, but I haven’t seen her at all yet this morning.”
“Okay, but we’re coming up on lunch now and I like my odds when it involves
my wife and food.”
“Yes, sir.” Amanda smiled as she motioned for Donna to come in. The First
Lady elect’s predilection for food of any kind had been a running joke during
the campaign.
“Donna, thanks for coming up. Did you get any sleep last night?” Sam asked
as he rose to kiss her cheek.
“Not much, sir. You?”
“Not at all. I’m still running on adrenaline. How about Noah and AJ?”
“Noah’s whining a bit about Disney. It seems his Father made a hasty
promise involving the magic Kingdom and now he has to pay up. AJ pretends
to be indifferent about it, but I think she’d be thrilled to have her Dad to
herself for a change.” Sam caught the tone in Donna’s voice even though
the words were innocuous enough.
“I wanted to talk to you about Josh, as a matter of fact. He seems like he’s
been a bit off lately; you both have. Is everything okay with you two?”
“Fine, sir. Presidential campaigns are just a bit stressful.”
“Not for Josh. Well, a bit for Josh, but it’s the good kind of stress.”
“The good kind?” Donna repeated.
“He lives for it; thrives on it. You both do. But something’s been off for awhile
now. If I had to guess I would say it was around the time of the convention.
What’s going on Donna?”
“Nothing, sir.” She lied right to his face.
“Okay, but if you want to talk about anything, you know I’m here, right?”
Donna gave him a tight smile and nodded her head. “Fine, then help me talk
your husband into accepting the Chief of Staff position.”
“I can’t do that, sir. He’s already made up his mind.”
“That was before I came up with a brilliant compromise; he serves for 2 years
and grooms his handpicked Deputy as a successor. What do you think?”
“I think it’s only natural that you’d want Josh in that office, he’s very good at
what he does, but he’s already served 2 Presidents and given up over a
year of his life to get you in that office, so maybe he’s earned a break now.”
Donna’s voice had turned strident.
“Donna, what the hell? If he doesn’t want it, he doesn’t want it, but that’s not
the feeling I get when I talk to him. I get the feeling that he wants it, but won’t
take it and I’d like to know why.”
“Then maybe you should ask him…sir.” Donna replied.
“I have. All he will tell me is that he can’t accept it and to stop offering it.”
“Well if he’s your very dear friend then perhaps you should consider
respecting his decision and leave him alone!” Donna stood up and walked to
the door. When her hand made contact with the handle, she turned her head
slightly and quietly said, “With your permission, sir?”
“Yeah.” Sam agreed, still stunned by her outburst. Donna walked out and
nearly ran into Ainsley on her way in. They exchanged curt ‘hello’s’ and
Ainsley came in to see her husband.
“What was that about? Donna looked angry enough to spit nails.” Ainsley
asked Sam.
“I’m not sure, Ains. Has Donna said anything to you about Josh?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. She’s been pretty reserved lately, though. Not
her usual gregarious self. You think something’s up?”
“I know something’s up. I just can’t get them to tell me what it is. God, I was
just elected last night, and already they’re treating me like…”
“The President of the United States?” Ainsley offered.
“I don’t want that with them Ainsley. They’re our closest friends and I feel like
there’s suddenly this wall between us.”
“It’s just going to take everybody a little time to adjust, is all. It’s a lot to take
in.”
“Not for Josh and Donna. They’ve been close friends to the Bartlet’s and the
Santos’; what is so different with us?”
“Maybe it isn’t us, but them.” Ainsley suggested.
“What do you mean?”
“There have been some rumors, Samuel, about Josh and Donna.”
“What about Josh and Donna? And why is this the first time I’m hearing about
it?”
“You were a little busy running for President, and they were just rumors, but
in light of what you’re telling me, maybe they are more accurate than I gave
them credit for.”
“What rumors, Ains?”
“That their marriage is in trouble. They’ve been overheard fighting quite a bit
and not the usual Josh/Donna banter fighting; serious conflicts. Then there
was the 3 weeks after the convention that Donna left the campaign…”
“She went home to Wisconsin to see her family.” Sam repeated what he’d
been told by Josh.
“Then why did the airline tags on her luggage say D.C.? I saw them when
she came back.” Ainsley stopped at the surprised look on her husband’s
face. “I’m just saying that you’re taking this too personally, baby. I think this
has a lot more to do with the two of them than the two of us.” Ainsley gave
Sam a quick kiss. “I heard lunch was coming soon?”
“Yeah.” Sam managed a smile as he took his wife’s hand and walked with her
to the conference room where most of the staff had gathered for lunch. Sam
made small talk with his staff while he watched Josh out of the corner or his
eye. Josh looked sad and tired and Donna was nowhere to be found. After
about 20 minutes the Lyman children invaded. Noah jumped
unceremoniously on his dad’s lap. AJ kept a little more distance. Sam
excused himself from his conversation and moved over to AJ, putting his arm
around her shoulder.
“I hear you’re kidnapping my campaign manager and holding him hostage on
Space Mountain.” He began.
“Is he still your campaign manager now that your campaign in over?” she
asked.
“You are your mother’s daughter. Okay, my former campaign manager. Is
that better, Ms. Lyman?”
“It was Noah’s idea. I could care less.” AJ spouted off.
“Well, maybe there’s a little of your dad in there.” Sam mused. “Cause you’re
too mature and cool to hang out in a Mickey Mouse hat, right?”
“It might be worth it to see Dad hurl after Space Mountain if I had a friend to
go with me.”
“I’d love to, kiddo, but I’m a little busy this week.” Sam teased.
“I meant Caitlin.” AJ clarified mentioning Sam’s oldest daughter.
“I’m sure she’d love to go with you, but the Secret Service would have a thing
or two to say about that.”
“They always do. I’m so sick of it!” AJ groused.
“It’s a pain, I know, but in a few more weeks, once transition is done, you won’
t have to deal with it anymore.” Sam reminded her.
“I doubt it.” AJ said with some conviction. “Have you seen my Mom?”
“Not since earlier this morning. You okay, AJ?”
“Yeah, I just want to go back home. Things will be better when we get back
home.” Sam was about to ask her what she meant by that when Noah
bounced over to them in a manner that would make Tigger proud.
“He said we can go on Thursday! We’re going on Thursday!” Even AJ had to
smile at his enthusiasm. “You want to go with us, Sam?” the 9 year old asked.
“Mr. President-elect.” AJ hissed at him.
“Sam is fine.” Sam insisted. “Wish I could, buddy. But if you can manage to
take a few pictures of your dad doing embarrassing things there, it could be
worth big bucks to you.”
“Alright!” Noah ran back to report his new lucrative business to his dad.
When he’d relayed the information, Sam saw Josh roll his eyes and look over
at Sam smirking.
“Who’s going to be your Chief of Staff?” AJ asked him, bringing him back to
their conversation.
“What?” Sam asked surprised. “Are you working for the Post now, AJ?”
“Danny Concannon said I can get a job as a stringer.” AJ told him.
“I’ll bet…I haven’t filled that position yet, AJ, are you applying for the job?”
“No. None of us are; the Lyman’s I mean. All the news channels are saying it’
s going to be Dad, but he told me that’s not true.”
“Not everything you hear on TV is true, Abigail, you know that, right?” she
nodded, but didn’t meet his eyes. “I would be thrilled to have your dad as my
Chief of Staff, but he doesn’t seem to think it’s a good idea right now.”
Just then, Donna entered the room and Noah ran up to her to share his
news about Disneyland. She smiled at him and tousled his hair. She looked
over at Josh with her eyebrows raised and he gave her a tired smile. After a
few seconds, she gave him a full smile in return. Sam observed all this with
interest, more determined than ever to try to help his friends through
whatever they were dealing with.