“When will he get the question?” Leo demanded.
“I leaked it to Chris an hour ago. She’ll do a little digging on her own and then call
Josh’s office for confirmation and a comment.” C.J. told him.
“And his comment will be…?” Leo looked at Josh.
“Get out of my private life you blood sucking leeches.” Josh deadpanned.
“Of course there are lingering effects from when I was shot at Rosslyn.
Fortunately, they are not debilitating and haven’t affected my job.” C.J. corrected
shooting a glare at Josh.
“No one likes my ‘leeches’ answer.” Josh smiled at her and Sam smiled in
response.
“Imagine that.” Leo noted. “We’re ready to release the statement from Stanley?”
“Ir’s good.” C.J. said. ”He explains PTSD in easy to understand terms and Josh
comes off as a courageous public servant who almost lost his life in the service of
the President.”
“Josh IS a courageous public servant who almost lost his life in the service of the
President.” Said Josiah Bartlet from the doorway to the Oval office, and everyone
stood up. “Take your seats. Josh I’d like to see you a minute.” The President
commanded as he went back to his office. Josh followed him immediately.
“Yes, sir?”
“Where’s Donna, Josh?”
“She’s gone to Wisconsin for a while, sir.”
“Have you spoken to her? Is she okay?” he inquired.
“Not yet, Mr. President. Her Mom told me she’s pretty upset.” The President
seemed to take that in for a moment.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am about all this Josh.” Josh remained silent, not
trusting himself to speak on this topic. “I’d like to talk to Donna. Would you get me
her parent’s number in Wisconsin?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll be issuing a personal statement, after this leaks, stating my full and
unequivocal faith in your abilities as Deputy Chief of Staff and that I wouldn’t
consider asking you to resign for a moment. I will tell them your job performance
has been exemplary, and aside from a tendency to smart aleck answers and
rogue press conferences, I have no complaints about the job you’ve done and will
continue to do for me.”
Josh’s cheek twitched in a half-smile. “Just had to work that in there, didn’t you,
sir?”
“Without Donna here, someone has to keep your ego in check.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get that number for you.”
“Thanks…and Josh?” Josh turned to face the President. “I know that C.J. is going
to need you around for awhile, but once you’ve given your statement, you might
want to take a couple personal days. Get away from Washington and all the blood
sucking leeches.”
“Yes sir.”
**********************************************************
“Donna? I heard the President called you.” Donna’s Dad commented.
“Uh-huh.”
“That’s it? The President of the United States calls my house and all I get is an
‘uh-huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Let’s try something else then. Why is it you’ll take a call from the President, but
not from his Deputy Chief of Staff?”
“Dad…please…”
“I’m worried about you, Donna.”
“Dad, my personal diary is going to be plastered all across the country, it may
even go international. This isn’t the way I always dreamed I’d get published. I just
need to be alone for awhile.”
“Sam Seaborn just called. He said to tell you that they were leaking it today. That
make sense to you?”
“They’re going to talk to the press about Josh’s PTSD before my diary becomes
the story. It will be on the news by dinner.”
“Is it really that big a deal? The man was almost killed. Wouldn’t it be natural that
he’d always have to deal with some sort of repercussions from it?”
“I love you, Dad.” Donna smiled. “There’s something else you need to know
before you hear it on TV…I wrote a lot about Josh in my diary Dad…about my
feelings for him. That’s going to be all over the news too.” Donna couldn’t stand to
look at her Dad’s face as she told him.
“I take it this isn’t something you’ve talked about with Josh?” Her Dad wasn’t sure
how to handle this part of the conversation, even though his wife had already
given him the details.
“No. I haven’t talked to anybody about it. Just wrote it someplace safe and private.”
“Then I guess a conversation with Josh would be the next step, wouldn’t it?”
“I can’t Dad. I’m too humiliated. I’ve resigned my position at the White House. I don’
t think I could ever walk back through those doors after all this comes out.”
“About that…Sam also told me that Leo isn’t accepting your resignation. He’s
putting you on personal leave for now.” Thomas Moss looked at his daughter’s
face to see how that news was going over. She just closed her eyes and shook
her head. “It could all blow over, sweetheart. I may not be some big wig in
Washington, but I think you overestimate the interest the rest of the country has
in your love life or Josh Lyman’s health history.”
“I hope so, Dad. I sincerely hope so.” Donna murmured as she hugged her father.
****************************************************
“Now what?” Sam asked C.J after the President finished giving his statement of
support in front of the press.
“Now we see how it plays and go from there. Have you heard anything from
Calley?”
“He’s having a preliminary meeting with Congressman Thomas from Michigan. He’
s going to float a limited reading of the diary. Thomas can be a decent guy, but
he hates Josh pretty bad, so who knows.”
***************************************************
“It’s so beyond the scope of this committee-“
“It’s all part of the Bartlet conspiracy to cover up serious health conditions in the
White House.” Thomas argued.
“Come on, Congressman. This has nothing to do with the President’s condition; in
fact it corroborates everything the White House has been saying. The senior staff
didn’t have any knowledge about the M.S. until a few days before the President
announced it on national television.”
“Then they should be glad to have the diary out in the public.”
“Congressman?” his staffer interrupted their debate. “The President is giving a
live statement to the press. You might want to see it.” She shut the door as he
turned on his television.
“Well that makes our discussion academic, doesn’t it?” Thomas concluded after
the President finished. “It’s out now. We have every right to find out why an
additional member of the Bartlet White House is hiding a serious medical
condition.”
“Fine, I think it’s a strategic error on your part, but fine. I’ll make copies of the
entries concerning the PTSD and distribute them to the committee. Then I’m
returning the diary to Sam Seaborn.” Cliff waited to be overruled.
Thomas considered the implications; he’d had access to the entire document
after all. He’d love to push the issue and ask Lyman about his relationship with
Moss under oath just to watch him squirm, but Cliff was right. If he pushed too
much or too hard, he’d only end up generating sympathy for the star crossed
staffers. Eventually, Thomas nodded his approval and Cliff gave a sigh of relief
once he got back to his office. He called Seaborn with the news and told him he’d
seal the diary and send it over by courier. Cliff also mentioned how well the
President looked on TV. Sam paused, then thanked Cliff for his cooperation.
Things were starting to look up for his friends.
*****************************************************
Donna had watched the President give his statement last night and felt a surge of
pride that she had helped get him elected. She knew her parents were watching
her carefully during the statement, so she was careful to keep her expression
neutral, even when the President mentioned her by name and publicly apologized
for the invasion of her privacy.
This morning, though, she was feeling at odds with her peaceful surroundings.
She was just plain bored and she wasn’t sure what she should do next. She had
left to go for a walk this morning, listening to her favorites on her Ipod, and
realized she was preparing herself for the phone call she would have to make to
Josh. He must have read it all by now. She specifically told Sam to let Josh read it
first so he would be prepared. Part of her wondered what he felt about her more
personal revelations. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to debate herself about
whether or not to share her feelings with him anymore.
This was it. She was almost back to the house and when she got there, she would
pick up the phone and deal with Josh Lyman. She was concentrating so hard on
what she was going to say, practicing her casual tone of voice, that she didn’t
notice the man himself sitting on her parent’s front step until she was almost on
top of him. When she did notice him, she turned red and had to fight the urge to
flee.
“I though maybe the talking to yourself thing was something you saved for the
office.” Josh stood up and teased her once she pulled her earphones off.
“What are you doing here?” Donna asked quietly.
“The President ordered me to take a couple days to rest. It’s good for those of us
who suffer from PTSD”
“Josh…”
“I came back to get you. Thought maybe your personal leave was up?”
“Josh, I can’t. You can’t ask me to go back there after what you’ve read.”
“I haven’t read a thing, Donnatella.”
“But I specifically told Sam…”
“Yeah, but I don’t have to listen to Sam. I haven’t read a thing.” He repeated and
took her hands in his. “He told me what I needed to know about what you’d written
about last Christmas. Anything else in there that concerns me, I’d prefer to hear
directly from you.”
Donna had to bite her lip to keep from crying. “Josh…I’m so sorry.”
“Shhh…It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.” Josh assured her. “Sam and
Cliff worked it out so that no one else is going to see anything other than the
entries about the PTSD. Cliff returned your diary to Sam and Sam has got it
locked in a safe at the moment…Let’s go home and get it.”
“I don’t ever want to see it again.” Donna whispered intently.
“I understand that, but a few good things came out of it. I don’t have to worry
about the diagnosis getting out anymore. The President apologized personally
and publicly to both of us. And if they hadn’t gotten their slimy hands on your
diary, I probably never would have worked up the courage to do this.” Josh
admitted as he kissed her softly.
“That part’s nice.” Donna agreed and kissed him back. They would have
continued with their activity indefinitely if Donna’s mother hadn’t cleared her throat
repeatedly.
“We haven’t had lunch yet. Would you like to join us Joshua?”
“I’d love to Mrs. Moss.” Josh answered smiling at Donna who was blushing
furiously.
“Since you appear to be getting rather close to my daughter, perhaps it’s time you
started calling me Ellen.” She said over her shoulder as she walked back inside.
******************************************************
It felt good. Sam, C.J., Toby and Donna were all sitting around Josh’s table eating
and strategizing together, and it felt very good. When Josh and Donna had
returned from Wisconsin yesterday their happiness was instantly marred by a
subpoena for Josh to appear as a material witness in front of the Congressional
committee. Josh was able to convince Donna to put it away for the night, and
concentrate on other things…well…him. But first thing this morning, she had
organized a dinner meeting at Josh’s with the aforementioned parties and was
paying careful attention to the advice they were getting.
“Do you they think will re-call Donna?” Josh asked the group at large.
“Depends on what you give them.” Sam wanted to make this perfectly clear. “If
you fight them on the PTSD, play word games and use lawyer tricks, they may
want to re-call her to read every word from her diary in front of the cameras to
make everything clear.”
“Sam is saying, no bloodsucking leeches comments.” Donna interpreted. He had
shared the first draft of his statement with her and SHE had thought it was funny.
“Got it.” He leaned towards her and gave her a quick kiss.
“I mean it Joshua. I do not want to get another subpoena.” Donna reiterates.
“I think I can handle a Congressional deposition Donna.” He insists.
“You know, if I hadn’t just seen the kiss, I would swear that nothing has changed
between them.” C.J. said to Toby.
“Can we move on to a subject I care about?” Toby asked the room in general.
“Which would be what?” Sam asked, indulging him.
“We’re taking our eye off the ball here. While I personally don’t care if Josh goes
to jail for obstruction of justice or conspiracy to whatever, having him in prison is
going to make re-election significantly more difficult. We need to be looking at re-
election.” Toby told them.
“In what respect, Toby? We’ve got no Democrat running against us and the
Republicans are still duking it out.” Josh noted.
“The numbers, Josh. The numbers that you love so much are indicating some
serious doubts about re-election. He’s weak on ‘shares our values’ and ‘strong
leader’. This could kill us in November.” Toby responds.
“Then where do we start on that?” Donna asked him.
“We need a strong State of the Union. He has to hit it out of the park.” Josh
surmises.
“Something your Mets have been trouble doing lately.” Toby adds.
“You just had to go there didn’t you?” Josh rounded on him.
“I didn’t want you to mistake my concern about your possible prison time with, like
concern, about you.”
“Mission accomplished.” Josh shot back. “See if you and Robin here can give the
President some material he can work with.”
“Can I just say that I am NOT Robin.” Sam clarified as Donna and C.J. laughed.
Yes, this felt good.
***********************************************
“Will the committee please come to order?” Thomas gaveled them into session.
“We have a full schedule today, beginning with the testimony from Deputy Chief of
Staff Josh Lyman, so let’s get started. Please swear the witness in.” Thomas
waited patiently while Josh took the oath and poured some water.
“Thank you for appearing in front of the committee today, Mr. Lyman.” He began.
“Well, you asked so nicely, Mr. Chairman.” Josh responded and chuckles
sounded throughout the committee room.
“Yes. Mr. Lyman, it’s come to the committee’s attention that you suffer from Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“And when were you diagnosed with this disorder?”
“December 24th of last year.”
“How did you come about being diagnosed with that disorder, Mr. Lyman.”
“I was almost killed when white supremacists shot at the Presidential party in
Rosslyn, Mr. Chairman. I thought you knew about that already.” Josh smirked and
vowed to help whoever ran against Thomas in the next election. Hell, he’d make
personal appearances in Thomas’ home state of Michigan if that would help.
“I meant, how was it that you were diagnosed on December 24th. Were you
experiencing symptoms?”
Oh, yeah, he was so kicking this asshole out of office. Josh took a deep breath
and remembered Sam’s repeated warning; don’t answer more than they ask you.
“Yes.” Josh answered simply and watched the impatience gaining on Thomas.
“What were those symptoms, Mr. Lyman?”
“Anxiety and a short temper, although many people I work with believe the short
temper isn’t so much a symptom as it is a character flaw.” Okay, well that was a
little more than he asked for, but Josh still felt he was on top of things.
“I might agree with them. Who diagnosed you?”
“Dr. Stanley Keyworth.”
“And he is?”
“A traumatologist with ATVA; The American Trauma Victims Association. Since I
had been the victim of violent crime, it seemed to be a good referral for me.” C.J.
had instructed him to use the word ‘victim’ as many times as possible during his
testimony.
“Once Dr. Keyworth diagnosed you with PTSD, was there any discussion about
you resigning your position at the White House as a chief advisor to the
President?”
“No.”
“None?”
“None that I’m aware of Mr. Chairman. Leo McGarry threatens to fire me at least
once a week, but I don’t think that has anything to with my being a victim of a hate
crime.” ‘Ha!’ thought Josh. ‘Got the word in again. Maybe they could play a
Congressional testimony drinking game with the word victim.’
Thomas waited until the laughter died down again before he offered his next
question.
“Leo McGarry was aware of your diagnosis, though?”
“Yes.”
“And the President was aware as well?”
“Mr. McGarry told me that he had informed the President himself.”
“But neither of them suggested you resign your position or take a leave of
absence?”
“Again, not that I’m aware of.”
“Even though your symptoms were noticeable enough that your assistant picked
up on them?”
“I put my hand through a window in my home, Mr. Chairman, quite a lot of people
picked up on that. Besides, my assistant and I are very close. I would be surprised
if there’s anything she doesn’t notice about me.” ‘I dare you to go there, you
Republican dog.’ Thought Josh. Thomas hesitated with his next question and for
a minute, Josh thought he’d go for it.
“So you were breaking windows in you home, and still no one suggests you
resign?”
“No. It hadn’t then, nor has it now, affected my work.”
“Why wasn’t your condition ever released to the public?”
“I’m under no obligation to share my personal medical history with the public, sir,
but I wasn’t asked to keep it a secret, nor did I ask anyone else to keep it a
secret.”
“Unlike the President.” Thomas noted.
“The President never asked me to keep it a secret.”
“Is that because he didn’t tell you about his disease until right before his public
announcement or because he didn’t have to swear you to secrecy?”
“Both.”
“What does that mean Mr. Lyman?”
“It means that I would walk through fire for President Bartlet. If he had told me
about his M.S. back when we first started campaigning, I would have rolled up my
sleeves and got him elected anyway. He is an incredible leader and one of the
finest men I have ever had the privilege to work for. Josiah Bartlet, even with
symptoms of M.S. is ten times the leader that any one of your Republican
candidates is, and we’ll prove it come November.” Applause rang out and Thomas
had to use his gavel again.
“Thank you, Mr. Lyman. I will now turn the questions to my colleague from across
the aisle.”
The rest of the testimony was thankfully anti-climactic, and C.J. was even re-
considering the fact that she might have the ancient curse of Bast on her. Josh
found the whole event exhausting. Limiting his answers to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for several
hours pretty much depleted his store of patience, but he found Donna’s reward
for his good behavior worth the effort.
*************************************************************
“Why can’t you do it?”
“Because that’s not my job anymore.” Donna told him, yet again.
“But I like it when you do notecards.” Josh leaned over Donna on the couch in the
hopes of persuading her to change her mind. Donna laughed.
“Right. All the while I was your assistant, you complained about the illegibility of
my note cards. Now you’re complaining because I’m not doing them anymore?”
“I just complained about your handwriting so I’d have an excuse to come out to
your desk and talk to you.”
“Really?”
“No.” Josh admitted. “Your handwriting really sucks, but I did like having an
excuse to come and talk to you.”
“What a crock! You always shouted for me to come to you.”
“Fair point. But I don’t like you way over by the Oval.”
“More importantly the President likes me outside the Oval, so you’re just going to
have to deal with it.”
”You care more about what the President wants than what I want?”
“At work I do.”
“But we’re not at work right now…” Josh trailed off and wiggled his eyebrows
suggestively. Donna laughed just as her cell phone rang.
“Ignore it.” Josh commanded.
“Right, ‘cause that’s what I did when I worked for you. I work for the President now,
Joshua. It could be important.” She told him as she got up to answer her phone.
“Meaning it couldn’t be important when I was the one calling you?”
“It doesn’t seem likely does it?” Donna replied. “Donna Moss.” The laughter died
from her face as she listened to the caller. Josh sat up and looked at her.
“Donna, did you hear me? I need you to meet me right now, tonight.” Said the
voice of Cliff Calley.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She stated without mentioning who she was
speaking to and turning to face away from Josh.
“You owe me one Donnatella Moss, and I’m collecting tonight. Meet me at the
dinner place we went to the first night.”
“I don’t know that I can accomplish that this evening. I’m over at Josh’s right now…”
“Excellent. Bring him along.”
“Are you insane?”
“Bring him along Donna, this concerns him too. 20 minutes.” He hung up before
Donna could answer.
“What was all that about?”
“How’d you like to go out for dinner?” she asked.