| Title: Monitoring Progress Author: Cathy Miller (www.cathyswestwing.com) Rating: Everybody Timeline: Sometime in the 2nd year of the Santos administration Disclaimer: I don’t own them, yadda, yadda, yadda. “Did you bring it?” Josh asked when he opened the door. “Yes, against my better judgment, I brought it.” Sam rolled his eyes. “I’m not smuggling illegal contraband into the home of the White House Chief of Staff am I?” “Of course not! Well, not really.” Josh qualified. “It’s just contraband here.” Sam looked more confused than ever, but handed Josh the box that had been in Josh’s office under his desk. “Hurry up, Donna will be down here in a minute.” Josh ushered him in and quietly walked him back to his office where he cut the box open. “Somehow, this is going to end up bad for me isn’t it?” Sam asked. “There is no way she’s going to find out about it, so there’s no way you could get in trouble for it.” Josh reasoned. “What is it exactly that I’m not going to get in trouble for doing?” Sam inquired wearily. “Bringing another baby monitor in the house.” Josh said quickly and quietly. “WHAT?!” Sam exclaimed sitting straight up in the chair he’d just sat down in. “Shhhhhh!” Josh shushed him. “You know she has ears like a bat. What are you trying to do to me?” “What are you trying to do to me?” Sam countered. “If she finds out I brought that thing here, she and Ainsley are going to hang me up by my thumbnails!” “Chicken.” Josh chided him. “Right; except I didn’t see you risking life and limb to bring that thing in here.” “Would you stop saying ‘that thing’ like it’s a nuclear weapon of some kind. Besides, you didn’t know what you were bringing here. You have plausible deniability.” Josh reasoned. “You’ve been in Government too long. Plausible deniability isn’t going to mean shit when our wives find out.” Sam shook his head. “I’m just going to leave now. Nobody even has to know I was here today, right?” “You can’t leave now, Sam. When I told Donna you were stopping by, she invited Ainsley to come over too so we could all eat dinner together. You’re stuck, pal.” Josh was busily pulling the pieces of the monitor out and putting it together when he heard his wife on the stairs. He thrust everything under his desk before leaning back in his chair and putting his feet on his desk. “Just. Act. Natural.” He instructed and Sam just shook his head again. The door opened and Donnatella Moss-Lyman stuck her head in the door. “I thought I heard voices.” Donna beamed and leaned in to kiss Sam on the cheek. “Did Josh tell you Ainsley is meeting us here for dinner?” “Uh….yeah. Yes, he did. That’s uh…great.” Sam acted enthused. “I’m sorry we can’t go out, but Ben’s really not on a schedule yet and truth be told, I really don’t trust anyone enough to leave him for that long.” Donna explained, thinking Sam was disappointed he wasn’t going out for dinner. “He’s only 2 weeks old.” “Oh. Sure. That’s fine.” Sam stammered. “Dinner here is great. It’s just that we might not be able to stay long.” “Why not?” Donna asked. “Ainsley didn’t mention any other plans.” “It’s uh, work. Work at the White House.” Sam tried to explain. “Well yes, Sam. That is where you work.” Donna agreed. “Are you okay?” “Yes! Yes, I’m fine. It’s just lack of sleep. You know how that is.” “I certainly do. When Ben actually manages to get some sleep, this one,” she jerked her thumb at Josh, “is telling me he can hear Ben fussing or that he thinks he can hear Ben fussing and has to go check on him several times a night.” “Since you took away all the baby monitors, I have to guess.” Josh noted. “Josh, you had 10 baby monitors in the house.” Donna sighed. “So?” “We only have 8 rooms in this house.” Donna responded and Sam barked out a laugh. “It’s called child safety, Donna. I think you’d be a little more protective of the child you carried for 9 months.” “Josh, we have an alarm system, deadbolt locks on all the windows and doors, and a Secret Service agent who sleep between your son’s room and our front door; I like our chances.” “Yeah, but the agent is only between Ben’s room and the front door if they come in the front door. If come in a window…” “Ahhhhh” Donna groaned in frustration. “I am going to go take a shower before Ainsley arrives so I don’t look like a member of the walking dead. Will you keep an ear out for Ben?” “Sure.” Josh smiled and wisely chose not to say anything else about the monitors. “Josh…” Sam started. “Wait.” Josh insisted. He listened until he heard a door shut upstairs, followed by the sound of running water. “Now.” He proclaimed and picked up the remote control to his television. He turned on the TV, entered a code, and up popped a picture of Josh’ s infant son sleeping in his crib. “Josh…what have you done?” Sam asked even as his heart softened at the sight of the sleeping baby. “Donna can toss the monitors, but the Secret Service works for me.” he gloated. “They did this whole thing while she took the baby to the residence a couple days ago. You have to enter a code to get the picture, so she can’t accidentally turn it on to this channel.” “You have gone round the bend.” Sam stated. “Give me back the box. I’ll sneak it back to my car while she’s in the shower. No one ever has to know about this.” “No!” Josh protested. “I need the monitor. What if Ben needs me during the night and I can’t hear him? It’s just not safe.” “Then maybe you should talk to Donna about it reasonably. Share your concerns and promise that you’ll just use the one monitor…at night…” Sam broke off when he saw his friend’s face. “You already have a monitor in the house, don’t you?” “Just two.” Josh assured him. One in the basement-“ “You don’t use the basement except for storage.” Sam argued. “That’s why she’ll never find it there.” Josh countered. “The other one is in the guest room closet. If I turn it up just enough, I can hear Ben while still plausibly maintaining I heard it directly from the nursery.” “Uh-huh.” Sam really didn’t know what to say. His friend was a brilliant politician and was Chief of Staff to President Santos, but Fatherhood was a new gig for him, and now Sam was wondering if Josh should really have taken a month off. Maybe he simply had too much time on his hands. “Where’s this one slated to go?” “This one is going in the kitchen. Sometimes I work at the kitchen table and it’s impossible to hear Ben from there.” “Josh, seriously, talk to Donna. Maybe you can come to some kind of compromise.” “No way. Since I blew the power out with baby monitor number 10, she threw them all out and told me I’d be going out with the next one she found.” Josh explained. “And still you sneak more in.” Sam pointed out. “Technically, you snuck more in this time.” “Right.” Sam reluctantly agreed. “Wait. What if you blow the power out with this one now? Then she’ll know right away you’re at it again.” “No. I got that covered. I made some adjustments-“ “Excuse me?” Sam interrupted. “Okay, an electrician made some adjustments, and he assured me I could add 5 of these babies without any problem.” Josh’s eyebrows wiggled. “We’re all set.” “No, no. Not we. You. You are all set. You’re also certifiable, but that’s a while different conversation.” Sam muttered. “Here’s the plan.” Josh continued as if Sam hadn’t spoken at all. “After dinner, we’ll volunteer to do the dishes while Donna and Ainsley take Ben in the living room. You will make a lot of racket in the kitchen while I sneak back into my office, get the baby monitor, bring it into the kitchen and plug it into the kitchen closet. It’s foolproof.” “Uh-huh.” Sam’s gaze wandered back over to the television where baby Ben was sleeping. Maybe when it was his turn, he’d act just as over protective. Ainsley arrived just after Donna got out of the shower. Dinner was Chinese Delivery and the four of them talked and laughed throughout the meal until Ben was heard from. “Oh, can I get him Donna?” Ainsley asked. “Sure. Just call down if you have any trouble.” Donna told her. “She wouldn’t have to call down and risk her vocal cords if we had a baby monitor.” Josh noted. “Josh…” Donna and Sam chorused together. “I’m just saying.” Josh replied. “Why don’t you go into the living room? You and Ainsley can play with Ben while Sam and I will clean things up in here.” “That would be very nice, Joshua.” She rewarded him with a kiss. “Thanks, Sam” “No problem Donna.” Sam responded. He waited until she cleared the room. “I’m just gong to go out to my car now. You can tell them I got called back to the office or something.” “Don’t be such a wuss. You’re the acting Chief of Staff while I’m on leave. Are you really going to let Donna and Ainsley push us around?” “Actually, it’s Donna pushing you around, and I’m perfectly comfortable with that.” “Nice. Just….make some noise with the dishes and the dishwasher will you?” Sam sighed but did as his friend asked. Within a couple minutes Josh was back with the monitor and Sam could hear the women playing with the baby. “You seem to have everything covered here.” Sam noted. “I’m going to play with Ben.” “Fine. I’ll be right there. Just act-“ “natural; yes, I’ve got it.” Sam replied laughing. When Sam spotted Ben in his wife’s arms; his heart stopped. He and Ainsley had talked about starting a family, but they had decided to wait a little longer for reasons Sam couldn’t quite remember at that moment. “God, Donna, he’s beautiful.” Sam said honestly. “Luckily he got your looks.” “Thanks, Sam. Unluckily, he got Josh’s lungs.” Donna noted and her son chose that moment to prove it. “If you’ll excuse us, for a minute, I’ll just go feed him and be right back.” Donna took the wailing baby up to the nursery and settled in to feed him. At that moment the electricity went out and Sam froze. Donna didn’t need any technological aid to be heard throughout the townhouse. “JOSHUA LYMAN!” “Uh, we’ll just be heading out now.” Sam called in the direction of the stairs while he felt around for the front door. “Thanks for dinner.” He added right before he pulled his wife outside with him. “Sam, what are you doing?” She hissed. “You don’t want to know.” He assured her. “Let’s go home.” The End. |