A/N: Again, I had to play with the timeline and canon a little to make everything work.
Donna’s POV:
Even though our paths have crossed a couple times since I enhanced his breakfast,
we haven’t actually spoken; just nods and careful smiles. I have decided enough is
enough. Josh and I are going to talk some things out and put the past behind us. He
made and effort by apologizing for the chicken stunt, now it’s my turn to step up to the
plate.
I walk into the hotel, my stride full of purpose, and see Josh and Amy standing in the
lobby. My heart drops to my knees. Amy licks her ice cream cone and hands it to
Josh. They’re together? Again? No! I quickly move out of their line of sight and
practically hide in around the corner. I must look ridiculous with my cell phone at my
ear, pretending to be on the phone and pacing up and down the hallway. I finally risk
a peek around the corner and see that Josh and Amy are gone.
I manage to make it up to my room before the tears come. I close my eyes, but it
doesn’t stop a hundred images from playing in my head; Josh and Amy at the First
Lady’s Birthday party, Amy asking her if she loved Josh and her stammering denial,
Josh and Amy leaving the fireworks show early and together. Hundreds of images
pass through my mind, none of which I can stomach very well. Please not Amy again.
It must be some kind of sign. The very day, the very moment, I decide to confront
Josh, there she is; Amy Gardner. It’s like that movie “Groundhog Day”. We seem to
keep re-playing this scene over and over. You’d think by now my heart wouldn’t break
into so many pieces each time he goes back to her.
I call Will to tell him I’m sick and that I’m staying in for the rest of the day. He sounds
concerned; which makes me feel a bit guilty over my lie, but there is no way I can
leave this room right now.
*************************************************************************************
Josh’s POV:
I’m standing at the front desk, waiting for my package when I hear a voice behind me.
“So the mighty Josh Lyman is reduced to dressing up his staff in chicken suits?” Will
jeers at me and I have to concentrate to unclench my fist.
“Just the opening salvo, I promise.” I assure him with a fake smile on my face.
“Can’t wait to see what the follow up is to grown men in chicken suits.” If Will doesn’t
wipe that smug grin off his face…
“The follow up is an ad so gutsy that the news media is going to play it for free until
the primary.” At least I hope so. The Congressman has rejected all our ideas so far
and is threatening to ‘wing it’. I think it was a subtle dig at my chicken suit operation.
Will looks suspicious, but intrigued.
“The Vice-President wants me to tell you that he’s accepting your candidates’
invitation to debate.”
“He does?” Now I’m looking at him suspiciously. “Fine. Good. I’ll let the Congressman
know.” I look at the crowd of Russell staff milling around but don’t see Donna.
“She’s not down here.” He tells me.
“Who’s not?” I reply with what I hope is an innocent expression.
“The media strategist for the Vice-President’s campaign.” He waits for me to
acknowledge him with eye contact. “She called earlier to tell me she was sick; didn’t
sound too good.”
He turns to the desk clerk who has finally returned with my package. “Can you push
the wake up call for room 322 back to 7?” The clerk nods and makes a note. Will
turns back to me. “She could use the extra rest. I can’t afford to have her out of the
game for long.”
With a small smile, he heads back to his devotees waiting by the gift shop. As soon as
they’re out of sight, I hit the ‘up’ elevator button. When that proves to take too long, I
round the corner and take the steps two at a time. I’m in pretty good shape right now, I’
ve been running again, so it doesn’t take me long to get to the third floor. Once there,
I hesitate outside room 322. Do I knock and see if she’s okay, or do I leave her alone
and let her rest. You’ve got to be kidding, of course I knock.
I quickly, but quietly, rap on the door. I hear her amble to the door and I suspect she’s
looking out the peephole.
“Donna? Are you okay? I heard you were sick?”
“I’m okay. Just a little rundown.” She tells me but she doesn’t open the door.
“You sure? Your voice sounds weird.” She sounds like she did when she got really
bad allergies.
“Please go away, Josh. I just need to rest.”
“I could get you some…I don’t know…soup or aspirin or something?” I offer and it she
makes a strange sound on the other side of the door.
“Just…please go.” She repeats and it sounds like she’s crying. She must really be
sick.
“Not until you open the door so I can see you’re okay.” No response. “I mean it
Donna, I’m staying right here until I see for myself that you’re not dying of plague or
something. It’s going to be hard to explain to all your Bingo Bob associates that the
Santos campaign manager is parked outside your door.” I hear the lock turn in the
door and it opens a crack.
“And just what does plague look like, Joshua.” She asks me. Her eyes are all puffy
and her nose is red. She looks sick. I wish I knew what to do to help her.
“I know it when I see it.” I quip and put the back of my hand on her forehead. She
doesn’t feel warm. Maybe she is just run down. “Are you sure I can’t get you
anything?” She nods.
“You should go. I’m sure you have other places to be.” She adds and I look at my
watch.
“Yeah, I don’t want to be late.” I mention and she looks down. “Look, call me on my
cell if you need anything. You’ve still got my number, right?”
She nods and whispers ‘thanks’ before she quickly shuts the door. I’d push it, but I
have to get downstairs and into the car with my candidate. He wants to do the TV spot
live and I want one more chance to try to talk him out of it.
Donna’s POV:
He doesn’t want to be late. No, he doesn’t want to keep Amy waiting. I put the pillow
over my head and feel relieved that no more tears come. Tomorrow, I’ll snap out of
this and do my job. I’ll pretend I don’t care that Amy Gardner is here with Josh. But
tonight, I’m just going to have a pity party. I wonder if there’s anything in here I can
use to make a voo doo doll…
A/N: Again, I had to play with the timeline and canon a little to make everything work.
Donna’s POV:
I don’t get my wake up call until seven which starts my day in a panic until Will calls to
tell me he’s the one who changed it, and I should take my time getting down to the
campaign office. When I get off the phone I turn on the television to catch up on the
overnight news while I get ready for the day. Matt Santos is all over the airwaves. His
‘personal message’ appears to be a big hit. Will is going to have a cow.
I decide to skip breakfast, and anyone who might be eating breakfast, and head
directly for the office we have set up here. When I stop for coffee, the fates conspire
against me. Seated at a nearby table, perusing the newspaper in front of her, is Amy
Gardner herself.
When she notices me, her eyes light up and she pulls up a chair, inviting me to sit. I
ignore it.
“Donna! I heard you were in town and working for Russell. That got Josh pretty
pissed.”
“I don’t make my professional decisions based on what pisses Josh off.”
“Maybe not, but I bet it’s a bonus.” She smiles without opening her mouth; I hate that.
“Was this your brainstorm or Josh’s?” I motion to the front page article about Santos
and his live ad.
“Neither. It was all the Congressman’s idea apparently.”
“I bet you have to peel Josh off the ceiling this morning.” I muse.
“No, I used duct tape last night. That did that trick.”
I shut my eyes for just a second and when I open them again, Amy’s smirk puts me
over the edge.
“I’ll bet it did. Duct tape may be the solution to your problem.”
“What problem?”
“The problem regarding how to hold on to Josh Lyman. He keeps dumping you. That
must be maddening.” Her smirk disappears.
“Well, once you’ve been with Josh, it’s an experience you want to repeat, right? Or is
that an experience you haven’t had an opportunity to sample yet?” There she is; the
bitch that will not die. She usually keeps this side of her carefully covered out in
public. I must have hit close to her vampire heart to have her strike out like that.
Nonetheless, her arrow hits center as well and I pause to take a breath.
“You haven’t…interesting. I’d have thought once the workplace environment was no
longer an excuse, Josh would have responded to your obvious crush right away.”
I don’t have a crush! I may be in love with him, but what I feel is definitely not a crush.
“My relationship with Josh has been based on friendship and professional respect.” I
retort.
“Really? Tell me again how he respectfully requests you fetch his burnt hamburgers.”
“Tell me how you connect with him in any way other than sex?” I shoot back. “That’s
why he keeps dumping you, Amy. You don’t have a hold on any other part of him and
after awhile even that part gets old. Nice seeing you again Amy.” I decide to exit on
that line and make an expedient beeline out of the coffee shop.
The farther I get from the coffee shop, the slower my heart rate becomes. I absolutely
hate that woman. I hate her most for the same reason I imagine she hates me; we’re
both right about Josh.
Josh’s POV:
I’m going to kill her. All day long I should be riding the waves from the commercial
bonanza and now I have to put out this fire. What the hell does she think she’s doing
giving quotes to ALL the Democratic candidates? Amy is a smart woman, but
sometimes her motivations get her, and me, into trouble.
I walk in to find her doing debate prep with the Congressman. I was so pissed when
the Congressman told me he had hired her for this. He needs to learn to go through
me on this stuff.
“Sir, I need a moment with Amy, please.” He looks at Amy and then me again.
“Sure. I need to go call my kids anyway.” As soon as he leaves I pounce on her for
giving all the candidates the same material. She tries to argue her way out of it, but
she’s wrong this time, and I want to make sure she knows it. Just to ensure that base
is covered, I fire her ass and send her packing. Voila! For my next trick I will make
Bingo Bob sound like a credible Presidential candidate…just kidding, Houdini couldn’t
pull that off.
I go back into the lobby and sit in the chair with my head in my hands waiting for the
Congressman to return. When he does, I give him the bad/good news about Amy. He
doesn’t seem to be as happy about the news as I am.
This job, taking a little known 3 term Congressman and trying to catapult him into the
office of the President of the United States, has it’s moments, but this isn’t one of
them. I decide to take a walk. Maybe it’s subconscious, but my meanderings take me
by the Russell campaign office. I try to look casual and still search for Donna at the
same time. It fails on all fronts; I can’t come off as casual since I’ve walked back and
forth in front of it several times, plus…no Donna. Is she still sick?
“Did you come to volunteer?” A voice asks from behind me. I turn to face Donna, who
is still looking a little pale, but certainly looks improved since last night.
“I don’t think I’d have much chance getting a paid position here.” I respond and she
smiles.
“I’m hiring right now. Would you fetch coffee for your boss?”
“I guess that would depend on the boss. Some people get drunk on that kind of
power.”
“Particularly when they have sensitive systems.” She counters. We are so good at
this; this verbal flirting. Would we this good at the next level? Whoa! Where did that
come from? Back up, Lyman, she’s barely speaking to you at the moment.
“What are you doing here, Josh?” she asks and brings my attention back to the
conversation.
“I was taking a walk…I got into a thing with the Congressman.” I admit. “About Amy
Gardner.”
“He doesn’t want you dating someone who’s working with the other campaigns?”
“Dating…No. I fired Amy without consulting with him and even though he hired her
without consulting me that pisses him off. I don’t know how to get this chain of
command idea through to him. Maybe if I draw a flow chart of some kind…”
“You fired…Amy?” her face looks confused, like when I tried to explain that the
Mexican Government collapsed overnight. “Santos hired Amy?”
“Yeah, can you believe that? He never follows a single instruction I give him and hires
people for the campaign without even running it by me. What the hell was I thinking,
Donna?”
“You were thinking he’s a strong leader with a mind of his own. Unfortunately, that
comes with, you know, I mind of his own.” She responds immediately. That makes me
laugh and I lean up against the wall next to Russell’s office.
“I really shouldn’t be talking to you about this.” I tell her quietly.
“You’re just blowing off some steam with a friend.”
“Am I?”
“I thought you were, unless you’re really here about a job.”
“No, I meant the friend part. Are we friends again?”
“I think so.” Donna agrees.
“We should talk…about things.” I say tentatively.
“That would be good. Kind of clear the air.”
“Start over on new footing.” I concur.
“Donna, the Post wants a quote on the Santos surge in New Hampshire.” Shouts a
staff person from the door of the campaign office.
“Santos surge?” I repeat smiling.
“That’s not what I’ll be calling it, and wipe that smug look off your face. If you get into
double digits here, you’ll be lucky.”
“Luck has nothing to do with it.” I assure her as I walk her to the door and open it for
her.
“Maybe, maybe not. I’ll see you later.” she said it as a statement, but I could hear the
question in her voice.
“I’ll see you later.” I confirm and she leaves me to give a quote to the Post.
*******************************************************************************
Donna’s POV:
I should have left here an hour ago. The Vice-President’s speech was over an hour
ago and I should have left then, but instead I am sitting in a dark corner of the
auditorium waiting for Santos to give his speech on ethanol. If anyone asked me, I
could tell them that I’m doing opposition research, but that’s not the truth. Sure, I want
to hear what Santos has to say, but I’m honestly more interested in catching sight of
Josh.
We never got around to our ‘talk’ in New Hampshire. The ‘Santos surge’ turned things
there into a circus and we’ve all been running ever since. I thought if we happened to
run into each other here, it might remind him of his suggestion to talk.
I can see them now, off to the side of the stage. Josh and the Congressman seem to
be having an intense discussion. I wonder if this is one of those times that
Congressman Santos isn’t following Josh’s instructions.
Santos finally takes the podium and after a brief hesitation takes the ethanol pledge. I
have to admit to being disappointed. I thought maybe…this man might have the
courage to say what we all want to say about ethanol, but are too scared about losing
Iowa to come out and say publicly. Josh looks pleased, though. Interesting…
As soon as Santos wraps up, I make my way to the Santos contingent.
“I’m guessing from the expression on your face, that you got the Congressman to
follow your lead on ethanol.” I tell him.
“He’s finally listening to me.” Josh smiles.
“He shouldn’t have.” I counter. Josh’s smile bobbles. “He doesn’t believe in it; none of
us do. He should have said so.”
“I didn’t notice Bingo Bob stepping up to the plate on that one.” He argues.
“It’s different for him. He has an actual chance of winning Iowa, your guy doesn’t. He
can afford to take the lead on this. Open a dialogue.”
“Commit suicide, you mean.”
“Just little bit…and only in Iowa.“ I qualify.
“Since no one expects us to win Iowa, we need to have a strong finish to defy
expectations. Send us flying over the heads of dullard cowboys and womanizing
career politicians who have to resign their national office in shame…what are you
doing with Russell, Donna?”
I practiced this line in the mirror for just such an occasion as this and it comes out
smoothly and confidently. “I’m doing an important job and making a name for myself,
aside from the White House.”
“Aside from me, you mean.” He says bluntly. I shrug because we both know it’s true.
“You’re doing a good job there, Donna; too good. You get that stuffed shirt elected
and then what?”
“Then we surround him with good people who can advise him.” I spout back.
“You don’t believe that. You don’t believe in him.” He insists.
“I’m doing my job, Josh.” I repeat. “I’m simply doing my job. It’s not personal.”
“Yeah, it is.” He disagrees. “That’s the problem; it’s always personal with us.” He gives
me one last look and walks away from me. Great. I finally have his professional
respect and now I’ve lost his personal respect. This did not turn out quite the way I
planned.