Chapter 17
Sam was giving his introductory speech for President Bartlet at the rally
when Josh met up with them.
“Joshua!” President Bartlet embraced his former Deputy.
“It’s good to see you sir, Dr. B.” Josh turned to hug Abby too.
“How is Donna, Josh?” Abby asked.
“She’s keeping her blood pressure down despite the fact she’s living with
me.” Josh joked. “I can’t thank you enough for all your help with the medical
information. It meant a lot to me that you took the time to talk me through all
of it; especially since she didn’t have a doctor out here yet.”
“I wish I could have done more.” Abby shared. “It’s hard when you’re so far
away.”
“Tell me about it.” Josh said ruefully.
“Problems, Josh?” President Bartlet smiled.
“A bit of a rough patch, sir.” Josh acknowledged. “Turns out running a
campaign for your best friend isn’t as easy as you’d think it would be.”
“No kidding.” Jed drawled.
Josh chuckled thinking about the times President Bartlet had gone head to
head with Leo; particularly in the first campaign.
“You know, Josh, it’s a difficult adjustment becoming the candidate. You’ve
had a lot more experience running campaigns, but ultimately it’s Sam’s
name on the ballot. I remember thinking that Leo had it easy some days
getting to stay in the background and play Monday morning quarterback,
telling me what I should do or say differently. It came to the point were I had
to be in charge of my own campaign. I still listened to Leo, of course, and
valued his opinion, but I had to make the decisions that I knew I could live
with whether I won or lost.”
“Just when did it come to that point for you, sir?” Josh asked curiously.
“The night of the Illinois primary.” Jed answered quietly watching Josh’s
eyes.
“So…what do I do then? How do I help him?” Josh prodded further.
“You become his sounding board. You make sure he’s getting all the
information he needs to make a sound decision. Give him someone to vent
to when the pressure gets intense. You already did the most important part,
Josh; you got a good man to run for office.”
Josh smirked. “If I blow this, he’ll never run again.”
“You’re not going to blow this. He’s going to be the next Governor of
California.” Jed predicted.
“I can’t close this last small gap in the numbers.” Josh complained.
“No, you can’t. Only Sam can do that. Once people see him head to head
with Taylor, it will be a whole new ball game.” President Bartlet assured him
and turned to hear the end of Sam’s introduction.
“He has been one of the finest President’s to grace the Oval Office and it
was my profound honor and pleasure to serve in his administration. Ladies
and Gentlemen, President Josiah Bartlet.” Sam motioned to the side of the
stage where they were waiting.
“Show time.” The President smiled before walking on stage and embracing
his former speech writer.
“He looks really good, Dr. B.” Josh addressed Abby.
“He has good days and bad.” She replied. “He has been so excited to come
out here and see all of you; to stump for Sam.”
“We’re really thrilled to have you both out here.” Josh told her. “And we’re
going to have to find a way to get you both to Donna or I’ll be sleeping on
the couch until Election Day.”
“We’d already thought of that and gave the Secret Service a heads up. We’
ll fit it in and if Jed has anything to say about it, it will be sooner rather than
later. How’s Ben adjusting to California?”
“He likes the beach. He and his Grandma have practically taken up
residence there, but he keeps asking when we’re going home.”
“I would imagine he does. Kids at that age like routine and familiar
environments, neither of which he’s getting here.”
“I’ve been wondering, given recent events, if this was the best choice for
our family.” Josh admitted.
Abby heard the unspoken guilt in his voice and used her hand to turn his
face to meet hers.
“We don’t know what causes preeclampsia. You said Donna’s sister
developed the same condition and she didn’t move across the country. You’
re talking about 3-4 months here. That’s not going to negatively affect Ben
or Donna or your new daughter. Someday, Ben will tell stories about how
you came out here and helped Sam become the new Governor of
California. Put the guilt aside, Joshua, it doesn’t benefit anybody; least of all
yourself.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Josh smirked and turned to concentrate on the President’s
speech. Now it was Abby’s turn to smirk.
“Something else troubling you, Joshua?” she asked knowing full well what
was bothering Josh.
“Uh…not exactly.” Josh answered carefully. “It’s just that I offered to look at
the President’s speech, and he refused to let me see it.”
“Are you concerned that he’s going to say something inappropriate?”
“No, more along the lines of embarrassing…to me; and to Sam too I guess.”
“I’ve looked at the speech. It’s fine.” Abby assured him. “And he has a very
funny story at the end about standing on the Truman balcony in his
underwear because you and the Democratic nominee for Governor decided
to start a fire in a fireplace that was welded shut years before.”
“Yeah…that should be perfect.” Josh sighed.
***************************************
Billy looked up from the canvassing instructions he was giving a group of
volunteers when a tall woman with light brown hair burst into the conference
room. She looked different from the last time he’d seen her in person, but
he had no trouble recognizing her.
“Josh Lyman. Where is he?” She demanded from the room at large.
“He just got back from an event with President and Dr. Bartlet, Ms. Cregg.
He’s in his office. Would you like me to take you there?” Billy replied
cautiously. C.J. Cregg looked supremely pissed.
“Yes, please, and if you have a weapon of some kind I’d like that too.”
Billy made no response to that request. He had all kinds of respect for C.J.
Cregg, but his first loyalty was to Josh.
He knocked perfunctorily and opened Josh’s door to announce the new
arrival. “Josh, Ms. Cregg-“
But he was cut off when C.J. knocked the door out of his hand and entered
the room, storming right up to Josh.
“WHAT?!” she shouted. Josh stood up in an attempt to negate the power
differential, but failed miserably.
“C.J.! You came! That’s fantastic.” He smiled happily. Billy watched the
exchange from the doorway shamelessly eavesdropping on the whole thing
“Of course I came, you idiot!” she continued to shout. “You text me a
message telling me there’s an emergency with Donna and you need me
here immediately, but when I reply by phone, fax, email, and text message,
strangely I get no reply.”
“Uh…I haven’t quite caught up on all my emails yet. You know how I am with
technology.” Josh said self-deprecatingly.
“What is the emergency?!” she demanded.
“Donna had to be taken to the emergency room. She’s developed a
condition called preeclampsia.” He began.
“Is she alright? The baby?” she asked in alarm.
“They’re both okay, but Donna has to be on bed rest for the duration.” Josh
reassured her.
“Oh, that has to rough for her. How is she doing with it?”
“The first couple weeks were rough, but she’s adjusting pretty well these
days.”
“The first couple weeks?” C.J. looked puzzled.”When exactly did this occur?”
“About a month ago.” Josh admitted sheepishly.
“A month ago? And you’re just telling me now?” She picked up a file lying
on Josh’s desk and gave him a smack on the head for old time’s sake. Billy
visibly flinched. “Do you know where I was?”
“Yeah, London.” Josh answered.
“In England, which in on the other side of the earth.”
“I know. It took a long time to track you down there.” Josh explained.
“We were on vacation!” C.J. swiped the remaining papers off his desk in
anger and Billy flinched again, but like a motorist passing an accident, he
found that he couldn’t look away either.
“With Danny?” Josh guessed.
“Yes, with Danny! Don’t married people usually vacation together?”
“Yes. Yes, they do.” Josh agreed.
“And my son too!” C.J. ramped it up again.
“Isn’t it great taking a kid on vacation?” Josh smiled.
“It is if you’re not sent an emergency message and asked to come home
immediately.”
“That does kind of suck.” Josh agreed again.
“Yes, it does.” C.J. nodded. “So if this happened a month ago, why do you
suddenly need me here now?”
“Well, see, here’s the thing: Donna was working as our media strategist-“
“NO!” C.J. interrupted him. “I was the Chief of Staff to the President of the
United States.”
“Me too!” Josh exclaimed. “That job has a lot of late nights and a lot of
stress. Being a media strategist will be much easier for you; a walk in the
park.”
“You did not trick me into cutting my family vacation in Europe short so I
could be the substitute media strategist!”
“No! No, I didn’t.” Josh held his hands up in an appeasing gesture. “I cut
your family vacation in Europe short so you could job share the position of
media strategist with Donna.”
C.J. searched the desk for something else to hit him with and when she
came up empty, Billy handed her a file he was holding.
“Thank you.” C.J. smiled at him while she again smacked Josh on the head.
“You’re an idiot.”
“I know.” Josh nodded. “But Donna really wants to be involved as much as
she can and she needs you to help her with that since she’s on bed rest.”
All the anger immediately evaporated from C.J. She sighed and closed her
eyes.
“Where is she?”
“At the home we’re renting in Monterey. Here’s the address.” He scribbled
on the back of one of his cards.
“I’ll talk to her about it, but I’m not promising anything.”
“Completely understandable.” Josh smiled. “C.J.?”
“What?!”
“Thanks for coming.” Josh said sincerely.
“Idiot!” she threw out as she left his office.
Billy looked back at the mess in Josh’s office and raised his eyebrows in
question at his mentor.
“She’s totally on board.” Josh assured him. “How’s it going with the
canvassing training?”
“There’s good news and bad news.” Billy told him. “The good news is that
we have a record number of volunteers ready to hit the ground for the
canvassing over the weekend. The bad news is that most of them have
never done canvassing or literature drops so we’re going to need to spend
some additional time training.”
“Let me guess. Most of them are college age females.”
“Some high school age females too. They’re all hoping for a personal Sam
Seaborn sighting.” Billy shared.
“I knew that man’s pretty face was going to make things more difficult for
me. Get back to it, young Jedi.” Josh instructed as he tried to re organize
the mess C.J. made in his office.
**********************************
“C.J.!” Ruth beamed when she opened the door. “I thought Josh said you
were in London.”
“I was.” C.J. grimaced.
“Well I’m glad you’re here now. Donna will be so delighted to see you. How
is that young man of yours?”
“Tommy is doing great, thanks. How’s Ben?” C.J. replied.
“He keeps us all hopping. He has a lot of his father in him.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” C.J. said wryly and made Ruth laugh.
C.J. saw the moment Donna noticed they had come in the room. Her face lit
up like a Christmas tree. “C.J.! What a wonderful surprise! Come give me a
hug. What are you doing here?” C.J. embraced her friend and felt the
desperate way Donna held on to her. In that one moment, she made her
decision.
“I heard you needed someone to work with you on media strategy and since
this is my home turf, I thought that someone could be me.”
“Seriously?” Donna asked hopefully.
“Seriously. Do you think you can bring me up to speed or do you have to
rest now or something?”
“I don’t need a nap.” Donna laughed. “I just have to stay off my feet.”
“You’re really okay?”
“As okay as I can be cut off from real life and bored out of my mind.” Donna
drawled.
“Well all that is about to change, my friend.” C.J. promised.
“Where are Danny and Tommy?” Donna asked.
“They went home to rest and recover from the jet lag.” C.J. sidestepped the
question just as she had done for many years as Press Secretary.
“But you didn’t need to recover from jet lag?”
“I got the impression I was needed her sooner rather than later.” C.J.
answered, still not meeting Donna’s eyes. Donna had no trouble putting two
and two together.
“What did my husband do?” Donna said in a low, angry voice.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad to help.” C.J. assured her.
“I’m going to kill him.” Donna threatened.
“Don’t do that. Ruth says Ben is just like Josh was at this age. I think the
better punishment is to keep him around to deal with the miniature version
of himself.”
“Yeah, that’s good too.” Donna considered. “But there will have to
additional punishment.”
“I’m sure between the two of us, we can come up with something suitable.”
“The Sisterhood?” Donna suggested.
“You bet your ass.” C.J. agreed.
*******************************
“You didn’t like the speech Sam?” President Bartlet asked when they got to
the car.
“The speech was great, as usual, sir.” Sam replied automatically.
“But?” the President prodded.
“I’m just wondering if the fireplace story was absolutely necessary.” Sam
queried.
Ainsley and Abby shared a smile.
“Not necessary, perhaps, but it was fun and it was a nice personal story. It
added a personal layer to your public persona.” Jed theorized.
“Plus you got some payback for the time you had to stand on the Truman
balcony in your underwear.”
“Plus that.” The President agreed. “We’re going to stop and see Donna
before the fundraiser tonight. Do you want to come with or should we drop
you at home first?”
“You go ahead and have some alone time with Donna. We’re going to go
home and see Caitlin; make sure she still recognizes us.” Sam replied.
“Plus you get a break from Presidential lectures that way?” President
Bartlet turned his statement into a question.
“Yeah, plus that.” Sam grinned. The Seaborn’s bid a temporary goodbye to
the Bartlet’s and were warmly greeted by their daughter who did still
remember them. Sam took great joy in removing his coat and tie and
playing on the floor with his daughter while Ainsley changed clothes. They
had 2 hours of precious family time before they had to leave for the
fundraiser. Then they would be traveling en masse with the Bartlet’s for a
series of campaign stops around the state.
“Hey, Princess. I missed you so much today.” He tumbled his daughter onto
her back and made her laugh by blowing raspberries onto her belly. Caitlin
reached up and tried to grab her daddy’s glasses. Sam took them off
himself before she became successful in her effort.
“No, no. Don’t touch Daddy’s glasses.” He warned her, but she took no
notice of his tone and tried to grab his shiny watch next. He was in the
process of removing that temptation when Ainsley came down the stairs in a
comfortable sweat suit.
“Are you undressing in our family room, Mr. Seaborn?” She chuckled.
“It’s not so much me as it is our daughter who’s undressing me.” Sam told
her. “She tries to rip off anything I’m wearing that’s shiny. I think we might
be raising a monkey.”
“Don’t talk about Miss Caitlin like that.” Ainsley replied. “She is a very
curious young lady. That will bode well for her when she grows up. Why don’
t you change into something more comfortable while I make us all some
dinner?”
“Sounds good to me.” Sam got off the floor and rolled his shoulders.
“When is your mom getting here?” Ainsley asked.
Sam went to look at his watch and laughed when he remembered he didn’t
have it on. “Around 6, I think.”
“Then we better get rolling. Come help Mama make dinner, sweet Caitlin.”
Ainsley picked her up and placer her in her bouncy seat where she could
watch all the activity.
When Sam came back down, Caitlin was babbling at Ainsley and Ainsley
was almost finished cooking omelets.
“We’re having breakfast for dinner?” He inquired.
“We’re having omelets for dinner. We had all the ingredients and Caitlin
can have them too; win/win.”
“In other words you’re too tired to make dinner.” Sam guessed.
“Exactly. Have a seat candidate Seaborn.” Ainsley instructed. “And bring
your daughter over to the table too.”
“Thanks.” Said Sam when she placed a plate with an on omelet on it in front
of him.
“Are you okay? You seem unusually quiet at the moment.” Ainsley noted.
“I’m just wondering, if we pull off a miracle here and manage to win the
election, are we going to have any more nights like tonight? Nights where it’
s just the three of us and we can relax and have family time?”
“I’m sure we will. Maybe not as many as before, but we’ll still have them.
And for the record? I don’t think it will require divine intervention of any kind
to get you elected Governor.”
“I’m still four points down with only a few weeks to go. I haven’t gotten a
single point closer to Taylor in the last month.”
“Well, I choose to believe that was because…(Ainsley covered Caitlin’s
ears) Rose the bitch was more interested in promoting herself than she
was in promoting your candidacy.” Caitlin gave a squawk of protest and
Ainsley uncovered her ears.
“Well that’s convenient for me, then.” Sam chuckled at Ainsley’s confidence
in him. He realized it was a biased opinion but it still made him feel good.
When his mother arrived shortly after 6, President and Dr. Bartlet were right
behind her. Abby was holding a large wrapped package which she set on
the floor against the wall.
“Sam, why didn’t you tell me C.J. was here working on the campaign?”
President Bartlet complained.
“I’m sorry? C.J. is here?” Sam asked perplexed by this turn of events.
“She said something about a difference of opinion with your last media
strategist and said she and Donna would be working on it together now.”
“Well, that’s just great.” Sam replied. “Something that maybe a campaign
manager might want to speak to me about, don’t you think?”
“She said she just arrived and agreed to help out this afternoon. Maybe
Josh just hasn’t had a chance to tell you yet.” Abby soothed.
“Yeah. I’m sure that’s it. Will you excuse me for a minute?” Sam went into
his office and made a call to Josh.
“Hey, I was waiting to call you until you were en route to the thing. I know
you’ve had precious little family time lately.” Josh answered his phone. “You
will never guess who agreed to work with Donna on media strategist.”
“You don’t think I’ll ever guess?” Sam said drolly.
“No way. I’ll bet you $100 bucks you can’t guess who it is. I’ll even give you
three guesses.”
“A hundred dollars if I guess who it is?” Sam confirmed.
“Yep. Go ahead; take 3 guesses.” Josh prodded him.
“C.J. Cregg-Concannon.” Sam replied instantly.
Josh waited a beat before responding. “Well you sucked the fun right out of
that one.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were bringing C.J. in?”
“I didn’t know she was coming…exactly. I kind of …”
“Tricked her?” Sam filled in the silence.
“I was going to say masterfully manipulated her; but tricked her works too.”
“She was in Europe Josh; on a family vacation.” Sam said hotly. “And I
really think you should have discussed this with me before you approached
C.J.”
“Look, I messed up hiring Sanchez. I just wanted to fix my own screw up.
You’re right. I should have spoken to you first.”
“Wait! Did you just say I was right about this?” Sam asked.
“I did and you are.” Josh admitted. “President Bartlet reminded me of a few
things about running your best friend’s campaign. At some point, you have
to turn the reigns over to the man you had the good sense to recruit in the
first place. I think we’re there.”
“Really?” Sam asked cautiously.
“I trust you, Sam. You’re going to be an incredible Governor. Now get in the
car and get to the fundraiser. Bat you’re eyes at every woman there until
they cough up a chunk of change that I can use in the final stretch.”
“Bat my eyes?” Sam groaned.
“It’s a tough job, but you’ve got to take this one for the team.” Josh
explained. “Hey, are you okay with C.J. staying on?”
“She’s a great choice.” Sam admitted. “Just don’t go hiring any more senior
staff without talking to me first, okay.”
“Deal. Call me on your way back from the thing.” Josh told him before
hanging up.
Sam shook his head and wandered back into the living room. “Sorry to
keep you waiting. I’m ready to go now.”
“Not yet.” President Bartlet pronounced. “Abby and I have brought you a
house warming present.”
“Not me.” Abby responded. “This one was all Jed’s idea.”
Sam approached the large flat wrapped present carefully. Abby’s tone
made him a little leery. Before Sam could reach out and remove the paper,
the President interrupted him.
“In 1851,” President Bartlet began and elicited moans from everyone but
Sam’s mother; who didn’t know any better. “In 1851, a writer named John
Soule coined the phrase ‘Go west, young man ‘. He was referring to all the
opportunities that came with the frontier. This is a new frontier for you, Sam;
you and your family, but it’s only the beginning of your journey into the new
frontier of seeking elected office. So when I saw this painting, I immediately
thought of you and your family’s journey west.” The President motioned for
Sam to open it and Ainsley moved closer to see what it was. Once Sam
ripped off the paper, he stepped back to take it all in and Ainsley placed
her hand on his shoulder.
“It’s beautiful, sir.” Ainsley told the former President. “Just perfect for over
our fireplace. We’ll think of you whenever we look at it.”
It was titled “Westward the Course of Empire” and it was painted to reflect
the period of time when Americans were just beginning to settle in the
western territory. Sam was literally speechless until Ainsley squeezed his
arm.
Sam finally turned away from the painting to look into the eyes of the man
he’s served so many years ago.
“I don’t know what to say, Mr. President. It’s a beautiful gift and perfect for
the occasion. I will treasure it always. Thank you very much.” Sam
embraced the man who was such a patient mentor and the heartfelt
embrace brought tears to the eyes of all the women.
“That’s enough now. Let’s get this show on the road and raise some money
for the next Governor of California.” President Bartlet decreed. He opened
the door for the women, but Sam took one last look at the painting before
he was able to leave.
“You’re cutting Josh a little slack now, right?” Jed asked him as they walked
to the car. “He’s working very hard to avoid letting you down.”
“I don’t think he ever could.” Sam admitted. “I just have to feel like I’m
steering my own ship, you know what I mean, don’t you?”
“I certainly do. Just don’t forget that Josh is the navigator for your ship. You
need a good navigator to go anywhere.” Jed reminded him as they got into
the waiting car.