Ron Butterfield was a reserved man by nature. He played his cards close to the vest and tried
very hard not to let his personal opinions of people get in the way of his work. As he began his
investigation into Josh Lyman’s apparent suicide attempt, he kept getting a niggling feeling in
his gut that something was wrong.
He sealed off the office to the Deputy Chief of Staff and went over every corner of the room
with his F.B.I. counterpart. If someone had been watching him work, they would have seen him
taking meticulous notes, but rarely voicing any questions. Ron kept those to himself.
His F.B.I. counterpart, Adam Sinclair, was a solid agent and a great investigator. The problem
was, in Ron’s opinion, that the man didn’t know Josh Lyman. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle
where all the individual pieces fit together perfectly, but when you were done the picture came
out wrong. This was not the picture of Josh Lyman that Ron Butterfield had come to know.
He was relieved to hear that Josh Lyman was out of the woods, but was more concerned about
what got him into the woods to begin with. He was meeting again with Adam Sinclair when he
got the request to brief the President in Josh Lyman’s hospital room. It wasn’t Ron’s first
choice of a briefing location, but he thought he might get an opportunity to ask Josh some
questions and that alone would make his trip worthwhile.
When Ron entered the hospital room he was surprised to see Donna Moss and Leo McGarry
seated along with the President in Josh’s room.
“Good evening Mr. President.” Ron greeted him.
“Ron, thanks for coming over right away. I’d like a briefing on your investigation so far.”
“Certainly, sir. Perhaps we should step out, sir?”
“No, we’ll do it here.” The President countered. Josh saw Ron’s gaze go to Donna and
immediately reacted.
“She stays.” Josh insisted.
“I can step out if-“ Donna began.
“She stays.” Josh repeated.
“Go ahead Ron.” The President prompted him.
“Mr. President, Agent Sinclair and I spent the morning going over every inch of Mr. Lyman’s
office and cataloging the items we found there. Obviously, we haven’t finished our
investigation at present, but I’d be glad to give you an overview of what we have so far.”
“Please.” President Bartlet encouraged him to proceed. Josh took Donna’s hand again.
“The empty bottle of Scotch in Mr. Lyman’s office had only two sets of fingerprints on it; one
set belonging to Mr. Ziegler and the other belonging to Mr. Lyman. Each pill vial in the office
was written off a stolen prescription pad of a local emergency room doctor. The prescriptions
were filled in person within the last few days by a man matching Mr. Lyman’s description. The
only fingerprints on the vials were Mr. Lyman’s.”
“Has all of this been verified by Agent Sinclair as well?” President Bartlet asked.
“Yes, sir.” Ron verified. “Security tapes show Mr. Lyman entering the White House alone and
proceeding to his office, which has been verified by several witnesses. No incoming or
outgoing calls were made from his office. When the cleaning crew came through at 5 am, Mr.
Lyman’s door was closed and locked.”
“What aren’t you telling us, Ron?” Leo asked.
“If I could, sir, I’d like to ask Mr. Lyman and Ms. Moss some questions.” Ron gave Leo a non-
answer answer.
“Sure.” Josh answered for himself.
“Mr. Lyman, why did you come back to the office last night?”
“Leo paged me to come back about the vote.”
“I didn’t-“ Leo began but Ron cut him off.
“Was that unusual in any way?” Ron persisted.
“I guess he’d usually call first, but Donna had unplugged my phone so I could get some rest.
When Leo can’t reach me by phone, then my pager is the next step.”
“Did you have any interaction with anyone before you reached the White House?”
“No. Well, the cab driver, I guess.” Josh replied trying to focus on what he could remember. “I
was pretty groggy and didn’t think I should drive. The cab dropped me off right outside the
gate and I went directly inside.”
Ron nodded and made some notations in his notebook before he turned to Donna. “Ms. Moss,
when you entered Mr. Lyman’s office this morning, did you pick anything up?”
Donna too, tried to pull her focus to the moment she walked in and saw Josh this morning.
“The phone. I picked up the phone to call 911.” Donna noted.
“Nothing else? It might not have been a conscious thing. Maybe you picked up something to
look at it more closely and got distracted with the emergency tech’s or the 911 operator?”
“No. I touched Josh, and I touched the phone; that’s all.”
“Ron?” The President asked again.
“Sir, there are several things that puzzle me about this investigation, but unfortunately I haven’
t got the answers to all my questions yet.”
“Like what?” Josh asked.
“Why are Josh’s prints the only one on the medicine vials? Wouldn’t the pharmacist have to
touch the bottles to fill the prescriptions? Why was Mr. Lyman’s office locked at 5 am when the
cleaning crew came through but open for Ms. Moss when she came in at a little before 7? We
searched every inch of that room and Mr. Lyman’s clothing but two of the caps from the pill
containers are missing. Where are they? If Mr. Lyman took the pills himself, the caps would
have to be somewhere in his office or on his person; they’re not.”
“Agent Butterfield, you are my new best friend.” Josh spoke quietly.
“Then you’re going to love this.” Ron replied. “On the way over here, Agent Sinclair called with
the tox report. It seems someone has been tampering with the drinks in your office frig as well
as your medication which we recovered from your home.”
Josh could feel Donna’s hand tighten on his.
“Well, this is sort of a good news/bad news situation then, isn’t it?” Donna asked.
“Yes, Ms. Moss, it is. The good news is that Mr. Lyman did not try to kill himself, but the bad
news is someone else surely did and went to great lengths to make it look like a suicide.” Ron
let that sink in for a second. “Given the extent of the tampering involved at several locations,
including the White House, we have to assume it isn’t just one person; we’re looking at a
conspiracy.”
**********************************
Ruth Lyman paced impatiently outside her son’s hospital room. Donna had been in there a few
minutes now and Ruth was tempted to demand entrance as well, but she really didn’t want to
have to deal with Leo McGarry right now. Her sense of betrayal by Leo was extensive and
deeply felt. They had known each other for decades and more importantly he’d known her son
for decades. She just couldn’t look at the man right now.
Just as she was thinking that thought, the man himself walked out of her son’s room. She
turned away, physically rebuffing him and although he stopped next to her a moment, he said
nothing to her and eventually moved on past her. The President exited next, but he stopped to
talk to her.
“Mrs. Lyman, again, I’m sorry you’ve been put through all of this. We’re going to see that Josh
is kept safe now. You have my word.” He said sincerely and Ruth reluctantly nodded before
she hurriedly went in to see her son. Donna was looking very angry and her son appeared
rather dazed.
“Mrs. Lyman? I’m Ron Butterfield. I head the Secret Service detail for the President.” He held
out a hand and Ruth automatically took it in hers. “I’ve been investigating the incident involving
your son.”
“Do you know who’s responsible for this, Agent Butterfield?” she asked him.
“Not yet, ma’am, but we’re working on it round the clock in conjunction with the F.B.I. We will
get the answers, ma’am.” At that point another agent knocked on the door and announced the
arrival of Mike Casper and Sam Seaborn. At Ron’s nod, they were allowed in.
“God, are you a sight for sore eyes.” Sam exclaimed and embraced his friend and Mike looked
on smiling. When it was his turn to greet Josh, Mike gently smacked him on the leg and
reluctantly said he was glad to see him.
“Agent Casper, we were just discussing options for keeping on eye on the Deputy Chief of
Staff. Perhaps you’d like to weigh in?”
“Sir, I think we need to keep any surveillance inconspicuous at present. Our greatest
advantage is won by pretending to believe Josh tried to commit suicide.”
“Why?” Donna demanded.
“Because as long as law enforcement believes Josh attempted suicide, whoever tried to hurt
him feels safe.” Mike answered.
“So how do we keep him safe without tipping our hand?” Sam asked next.
“In a suicide attempt, the individual is required to undergo a routine psych evaluation followed
by intense psychological care; possibly in a self-contained environment.” Ron said carefully.
“A psych ward?” Josh clarified.
“Essentially, yes.” Ron confirmed.
“No, no. no.” Josh shook his head.
“We’re not talking about placing you on a psychological hold. We’re talking about giving the
appearance of placing you on a psychological hold.” Ron assured him.
“Maybe you should just start at the beginning.” Sam suggested.
Mike looked at Ron for permission to explain which Ron gave him. “The idea is to give the
impression that you’re out of the way; which is what the perpetrators obviously wanted to
accomplish. The President announces you are taking a medical leave of absence. In the
meantime we have a double for you declared incapacitated and moved to a medical facility
that provides mental health care. We keep your actual location secret and under guard while
we continue the investigation.”
“Absolutely not.” Ruth Lyman declared, speaking up for the first time.
“Mrs. Lyman, I understand why you’d have reservations.” Ron began.
“Really? You understand? Good. Then you need to get someone stationed outside his door
immediately to make sure whoever tried this doesn’t try it again.”
“We still don’t know who did this or why. We need to buy a little time here, and the safest way
to do that is to make these people think they’ve succeeded in eliminating your son from the
picture.” Ron said succinctly.
“Josh, what do you think?” Donna asked him softly noting he had closed his eyes and laid his
head back on his pillow.
“Sorry, I stopped processing after he said psych ward.” Josh admitted to her.
“It could be a nice vacation for you.” Donna joked.
“Mike, what do you think I should do?” Josh asked his long time friend.
“You should listen to Agent Butterfield. He and my boss are all over this; you couldn’t have
asked for a more thorough team. We need to find someplace safe to drop you when we take
your double to the mental healthcare facility. Everyone has to believe that’s where you’re
staying for the time being.”
“You’re going to have to go through with a psych eval.” Ron told him. “You simply repeat that
you don’t remember anything that happened after you got to your office.”
“Which has the rare quality of being true.” Josh surmised.
“The ‘evidence’ along with the erratic behavior over the past few weeks will be enough to place
you on a psychological hold for the time being. Obviously, that impression would be
strengthened if Mrs. Lyman added her weight to the commitment.” Ron paused and waited for
the explosion from Mrs. Lyman.
“Mike,” she turned to her son’s friend. “This is the best way to keep him safe?”
“I think it is, Mrs. Lyman.” Mike said honestly. Ruth turned back to her son.
“I’ve thought you should be committed ever since you got into politics; I just didn’t think I’d
actually get the chance to do it.” She leaned down and kissed her son’s cheek.
“It’s just pretend, mom.” Josh reminded her.
“Right.” Ruth shared a look with Donna. “But we won’t have to pretend too hard will we
Donna?”
Donna smiled for the first time in hours. “No, we won’t.”
*************************************
When Josh returned from his psychological evaluation, he found Donna asleep in the chair
next to his bed. His mom had gone back to his place to get some sleep but Donna was still
here. The nurse who had wheeled him back to his room, offered to help him back into bed but
he shook his head and parked himself next to Donna until the nurse left. Once she was gone,
he gently shook her arm.
“Donna. Donnatella, wake up.” When her eyes fluttered open he told her, “You should go
home and get some sleep. You didn’t need to stay until I got back.”
“I wanted to make sure you made it back here okay.” She whispered her hand reached out
automatically to stroke his cheek. “You must be exhausted.”
“I slept most of the day.” He replied. “You need to go home.”
“I was so scared, Josh.” Donna admitted. “I couldn’t tell if you were breathing and I was so
scared.”
“I’m sorry.” He said helplessly holding her head on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I believed their filthy lie for a minute.” Donna said angrily. “I just saw the all
the empty bottles and I panicked.”
“Who wouldn’t in your position? You believed me when it counted, before you had any
evidence to support it.”
“So did the President. So did Leo.” Donna noted.
Josh laughed humorlessly. “Not right away. Not until…”
“Not until what?’ Donna asked curiously.
“Not until I asked them if they could ever imagine a circumstance where I’d put you in the
position to find me.” he admitted.
“Josh...” Donna was overwhelmed by his statement.
“I could never hurt you like that Donna.”
“I know.” Donna assured him. “I know that, Joshua. When I think how close I came to losing you
today…”
“You didn’t.” Josh reminded her.
“No, but it did make me realize something important.” Donna said quietly. “I don’t think I could
live without you in my life. I know how badly I messed things up between us with Cliff…”
Josh tipped her chin up to look her directly in the eyes. “Donna, don’t. That’s not important
right now. None of that matters.”
“But even after I messed everything up, you still risked everything to make a deal with Cliff.”
Donna protested.
“That’s just what you do when you love someone, isn’t it?” he asked tentatively and Donna’s
heart stopped. “Isn’t that why you lied about the diary to begin with?”
“I guess it is.” Donna bit her lip until Josh used his thumb to smooth it out.
“I do love you, Donnatella.” He whispered just before he closed the gap between them and
kissed her tenderly. She stopped just long enough to return the endearment, but no longer,
since Josh couldn’t seem to let go of her lips for that long.
“This is going to cause problems, isn’t it?” Donna asked when Josh made his way across her
cheek to her ear.
“No more than being the center of two Federal investigations.” He quipped.
“Speaking of which; we came to some decisions while you were gone.” Donna admitted.
“I’m not going to like this, am I?’ Josh asked dreading the answer.
“That depends. How would you feel about hiding out at my place while they continue the
investigation?”
“Donna, that might put you in danger.”
“Not if they think you’re safely tucked away in a rubber room.” She countered. “We have it all
worked out. With you in the ‘mental health facility’ I’d be way too broken up to return to work
leaving me free to stay at home and act as an intermediary for Ron and Mike.”
“I don’t think it’s safe, Donna.”
“But the professionals do and I’ll feel much better if you’re with me.” she was willing to beg if
necessary. She wasn’t letting Josh out of her sight for a very long time. “Tomorrow, you’re
going to be transported to the mental health facility-“
“Will you stop saying that?” Josh whined.
“You and your double will switch places in the van and once they unload him…there…they’ll
bring you to my apartment. Your mom is even going…there…to visit you.” Donna explained.
“Mike is setting up surveillance in an apartment across the hall from mine. We’ll both be safe
there.”
“This is way too far down the rabbit hole for me.” Josh admitted raising his head to the ceiling.
“It’s okay, Alice.” Donna crooned. “I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.”
Josh looked back at her face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Donna confirmed and took the small risk of kissing him again. Suddenly, his head
popped up.
“Wait a second.” He insisted. “I get to stay with you at your place?” he asked with the familiar
Lyman leer on his face before it fell away. “There’s no way Leo would approve of that.”
“He already did.” Donna noted. “Your mom and I sort of made it a condition of our
cooperation.”
“You are brilliant, Donnatella.” He told her before he took her mouth in another kiss.
“I think that’s the exhaustion talking. You need to go to bed.” Donna told him regretfully.
“Only if you come with me.” Josh replied. “I just want to hold you while I sleep, okay?”
“Yeah, that’s more than okay.” Donna assured him as she helped him into the hospital bed
before joining him there. “Mike wanted me to tell you that they have someone assigned to the
nurses’ station keeping on eye on you. So close your eyes and sleep.”
Josh merely nodded and continued to stroke Donna’s hair until he fell fast asleep.
6*******************************
Josh and Donna watched from the comfort of her living room couch as C.J. took the podium
and announced that the Deputy Chief of Staff was taking a medical leave of absence.
“This is going to wreak havoc on my resume, you know.” Josh complained.
“Yes, and that’s what you should be worried about now.” Donna responded. “Your mom looks
good on TV.” She noted as the news switched to a tape of Ruth Lyman going to visit her son.
“This is going to drive me nuts; being locked up in here.” Josh whined. “It’s like when I got out
of the hospital after Rosslyn.”
“Except without the intense pain of a gunshot wound and nasty physical therapy.” Donna
added.
“Yeah, without that.” Josh agreed. “Everyone else gets to play a role here; gets to help with
the investigation and I have to sit here and wait.”
Donna’s phone rang. After she listened for a minute, she hung it up again. “Mike and Toby are
on their way up.” She told Josh. Josh reluctantly got up and went into the kitchen; following
procedure so that he wasn’t seen by anyone in the hallway when Donna opened the door.
After he heard the door close and lock again, he walked back into the living room.
“How are you doing?” Toby asked quietly.
“Tired, sore, and bored.” Josh replied.
“Serves you right for touching my Scotch.” Toby deadpanned and Josh tried to smile, but
failed. He hated that his friend’s bottle had been any part of this whole thing. Mike went for
distraction.
“Hey, I’ve got something for you to look at.” Mike told them and slipped a tape into Donna’s
machine.
“You brought me a movie?” Josh joked.
“Not exactly. It’s a copy of a surveillance tape.” Within seconds the screen filled with the image
of the front gate of the White House. It had obviously been cued up because Josh promptly
appeared in one corner. He was walking slowly and looked like he was drunk. After a few
steps, first one person ran into him, and then another. The second person held onto him a
moment, as it steadying him, then Josh continued on his rocky journey into the White House
and out of camera range.
“Do you remember bumping into those people?” Mike asked him.
“Yeah. I remember being surprised that there were people outside the gate at that hour.” Josh
answered. “Why?”
“We don’t think it was a random occurrence. If you watch it closely…(he rewound the tape to
play it again) it appears that the first guy you bumped into pushed you right into the path of
the second. (Mike paused the tape at that point) And look at the second guy’s grip on you.”
“He was steadying Josh so he wasn’t knocked down.” Donna surmised.
“Maybe, but look at his grip.” Mike directed. He then took Josh in the same grasp as the
anonymous man on the screen. “It’s awkward. Why take his hand like this? It would make more
sense, be more natural to steady him by the shoulder or even upper arm.” Mike
demonstrated.
“Then why?” Josh cut to the chase.
“We think they got you with something outside the gate, before you even made it in.” Mike
turned Josh’s hand over and examined it under the light of the living room lamp. Barely visible,
was a tiny red spot in the fatty tissue near his thumb.
“Son of a bitch.” Josh whispered. “I didn’t feel a thing.”
“No, because you were pretty messed up before you even got there. They mixed you quite a
cocktail in your meds, but it was important to them that you enter the White House on your own
power.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If someone wanted to hurt Josh, there have to several hundred
places where it would be easier to do it than the White House.” Toby objected.
“Yeah, but if you want to set up someone to make it look like they committed suicide, what
better place than the White House? Between surveillance and security, it would be very
difficult to arrange, making the suicide look even more genuine.” Mike countered.
“But why?” Josh asked. “That’s an awful lot of time, trouble, and effort to go to. Why?”
“That’s what we’re working on now and we need your help to do it.” Mike said frankly. “First, we
need a list of people you’ve pissed off recently.”
“Do you have a D.C. phone book?” Toby responded. “We could work alphabetically.”
“Ha. Ha.” Josh responded. “I can make up a list, Mike, but I swear it’s just been business as
usual.”
“That’s next on the list. Donna, can you help us compile a list of what Josh has been working
on?” Mike asked her.
“Sure. How far back to you want me go?” She inquired.
“How far back did you notice Josh’s behavior was off?” Mike returned.
“Let’s see, I started working for Josh in February, during the Bartlet for America campaign…”
Donna pretended to think back and Josh smacked her on the shoulder.
“Donna!”
“It was just a joke.” She assured him. She pulled out her daytimer and looked back through it.
“I noted Josh was acting strange about 3 weeks ago.”
“You keep notes on me in your daytimer?” Josh asked, trying to look to see what was written,
but Donna promptly shut it.
“Sometimes, yes. It’s part of my job to look out for you.” Donna defended herself.
Josh smirked. “No, it’s not, Donnatella.” He said quietly.
“It is now.” She replied and her lips twitched.
“Yeah, it is now.” He agreed. Toby and Mike watched the proceedings with interest, knowing
something significant was being said here but not quite sure what.
“Okay, then, why don’t you start back 6 weeks ago and give me list of what Josh has been
working on since.” Mike instructed Donna who nodded and opened her lap top.
“You really think this is something he’s been working on?” Toby asked Mike.
“It makes the most sense.” Mike told them. “The people who did this had something to gain by
removing Josh from the equation; something big politically or monetarily; maybe both. We
need to figure out what.”
They worked for the next 2 hours with lists and theories. Josh’s head was literally pounding,
especially when he saw news clips about himself on the television, so Donna finally unplugged
the thing.
“Tell me about this appropriations bill.” Mike requested for the 2nd time.
“Jesus, Mike, you work in this city, you liaise with the White House every week. How can you
not know what this shit is?” Josh exploded. Donna moved to intervene but Mike stopped her.
“And your office liaises with mine every week. You want to tell me about any of our
investigations?” Mike responded calmly.
“I know you aren’t looking into Harmon’s finances like I told you to.” Josh replied.
“As a matter of fact we are; smartass.” Mike said shortly. “These things take time and finesse,
you know.”
“Then they should really move you into another department, shouldn’t they?” Josh shot back.
“Enough!” Donna shouted and gave them each a nasty glare. “Everyone is doing their best on
little sleep and a lot of tension. Back off; both of you.” She looked over at Toby who was giving
her an amused look. “Do you have something to add Mr. Ziegler?”
“Hell yes; they’re both idiots. This has nothing to do with appropriations.”
“Appropriations makes up huge dollar amounts Toby.” Josh argued.
“Yes, but they’re decided in committee and taking you out of that picture isn’t going to change
things significantly.”
“True.” Josh acknowledged.
“Good, we can take that off the table, then.” Mike crossed it off their list. “What about the
Brigham bill?”
“It crashed and burned.” Josh said glumly. “There’s nothing there.”
“It crashed and burned after you got hurt.” Donna corrected. “Until then, you were gaining
some momentum on it.”
“It was a very large, uphill battle.” Josh told Mike. “There was huge PAC money on the other
side.”
“What was it, healthcare something?” Mike clarified.
“The bill would have provided government funded healthcare to all children under 6.” Josh
recited, bored and depressed by the topic. It was just another failure in his book.
“Then who was on the other side?” Mike asked.
“Harmon, and to some extent Eggleston in the Senate. Chambers, DeWilda, and Severson
spearheaded against it in the house.” Josh replied.
“No, I mean the PAC’s. Who funded them?”
“A variety of HMO’s.” Toby replied. “None of them wanted it. The six and under demographic is
huge for HMO’s; well checks, immunizations, and all the colds and ear infections mean huge
pharmaceutical profits alone for these people.”
“Medalliance.” Donna noted and all three men turned to look at her. “They were throwing
money everywhere against this bill and Josh mentioned them repeatedly when he was fighting
Harmon and Severson on the national news shows.”
She pulled out her daytimer again. “All this began 2 weeks after he did the symposium railing
against HMO’s in general and Medalliance in particular.” She pointed out the relevant dates on
her calendar.
“You were making headway on the bill at that point?” Mike inquired.
“I guess.” Josh replied.
“Come on, Josh. This stuff is life blood to you; you know if you were making headway or not at
that point. Work with me here.”
“Public opinion was swaying in our direction, but the PAC’s were pouring serious money into
ad buys.” Josh thought back, then looked at Donna’s daytimer to help refresh his memory. “I
was booked solid that next week. A lot of voters are fed up with privatized insurance.”
“So you took point on that bill?”
“I take point on most of the bills that go to Congress, Mike.” Josh got exasperated. “I piss a lot
of people off and bully my way through a lot of meetings, but as far as I know I’ve never driven
anyone to attempted murder.”
“What I mean is; you were the face of that bill, right? To discredit you, would have been to
discredit the bill. Isn’t that what you do all the time? Someone is sponsoring a bill you don’t
like, you go after them and take them out?”
“Not literally!” Josh protested.
“I know that.” Mike explained. “I mean metaphorically. That’s a D.C. strategy right?”
“Yeah.” Toby agreed.
Mike pulled out his secure cell and made a call. “I’m going back to the office and dig around on
this a little more. I think the stakes and the timing make it a good prospect. Toby, I’ll give you a
ride back?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Toby got up slowly, still considering what Mike had said. “You know, if it does
have something to do with this bill, I don’t think whoever is involved is going to feel okay about
leaving the job half done.” He looked carefully at Josh and Donna.
“No one gets in this building that we don’t have an eye on. No one gets near this apartment or
even on this floor without our say so. We have agents stationed around the building and
across the hall. Everyone is safe here.” Mike assured them all.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought about the White House too.” Toby left on that note, Mike right
behind him.
“Toby’s just a ray of sunshine isn’t he?” Josh remarked. “Maybe he’s right though. Maybe I
should leave.”
“He’s not right about that.” Donna disputed. “I trust Mike and I trust Ron Butterfield. We’re okay
here.”
Josh didn’t look convinced. Donna moved closer to him. “Why don’t I heat something up for
you to eat? You didn’t eat much earlier. Is your stomach still so sore?”
“You know, Donnatella, if you’re going to fall back on misdirection, there are a lot better ways
of employing that technique.” Josh teased her.
“Such as?”
“Such as…” Josh leaned into her and gently kissed her lips.
“That’s distracting alright.” Donna agreed. “So you’ll stay?” she asked while she ran her hands
up his arms to his shoulders. She batted her blue eyes and employed the pout that had
always worked on Josh Lyman in the past.
“For now.” Josh agreed. “But if anything changes and Mike doesn’t think it’s safe here
anymore…”
“That’s not going to happen.” Donna insisted.
7************************************
“Everything is fine. The West Wing is in disarray. They have no message because they have
no messenger. Bartlet hasn’t even made the standard ‘we wish Josh Lyman a speedy recovery
speech’. That’s how much they’re distancing themselves from Lyman and everything he
touched.”
“Yes, but my office is being flooded with questions and my Chief of Staff says someone is
digging around my finances.”
“Harmon, this is exactly what you said you wanted; major publicity for taking Lyman down and
plenty of coin for the campaign coffers. Of course people are looking into your finances, you’
re going into an election year. You haven’t got unmarked bills wrapped in tinfoil in your freezer
have you?”
“No,” Harmon replied tersely.
“Of course you don’t. You’re not that stupid and neither am I. We have, each of us, covered
our tracks very well. Go about your business as usual; I’m looking forward to your interview
with Lauer tomorrow.”
Harmon paused, wanting to couch his words carefully. “I’ll go ahead with the Lauer interview
tomorrow because it would look strange if I cancelled at the last minute, but then I think it
would be wise to put another face up front on this; for both our sakes.”
“Jeff, are you saying you want out of our partnership? Because we made it very clear from the
beginning that this was a long term commitment.”
“I know that. I just think that more harm than good could come from my repeatedly pushing this
issue when the bill is dead and Lyman is out of the picture. I’m not looking to get out, just to
lessen my visibility right now before too many people draw lines we’d rather not have drawn.”
Harmon reasoned.
“If you don’t want lines drawn, you’d better be careful what you say and where you step. If you
want out; simply say so. We can release you from your commitment. There are more than a
few people who’d be happy to replace you on our team.”
“That’s not necessary.” Harmon assured him; concerned now about how people were
‘released’ from their commitment.
“Good.”
****************************************
“I brought your notes and files on the Brigham vote and the committee fight on gays in the
military.” Sam announced when he came into Donna’s kitchen the next morning.
“What took you so long?” Josh complained.
“I had to get clearance through Ron Butterfield. Your office is still locked up as a crime scene.”
Sam explained.
“Terrific.” Josh replied and began sorting through papers. Sam threw Donna a look that asked
if he’d been this bitchy all morning. Donna nodded.
“I think it’s the drugs still working their way through his system.” Donna said out loud.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about me like I wasn’t here.” Josh’s voice rose.
“And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bite my head off when I’m trying to help you.” Sam
intervened, taking the hit that was meant for Donna.
“Yeah…sorry.” Josh managed.
“Since Sam is here. I’m going to make quick store run. Do you want anything?” she addressed
both men.
“I’m good.” Sam noted.
“Me too.” Josh added. Donna smiled at Sam and came to stand next to Josh. “I’ll be back in a
few minutes.” She told him, pausing to kiss him quickly.
“Don’t go without an agent.” Josh instructed.
“He’s already waiting for me downstairs.” She called over her shoulder and closed the front
door behind her.
Sam waited a few seconds for Josh to comment, but he simply went back to studying the
papers Sam had brought to him.
“Uh…anything you’d like to tell me, Josh? Any major changes in your life?” Sam hinted but
Josh didn’t look up.
“You mean besides someone trying to kill me and make it look like a suicide?”
“Yeah, besides that.” Sam confirmed.
“None that I can think of.” Josh replied. Sam gave that a beat.
“It’s just that Donna kissing you goodbye hasn’t been a part of our normal daily routine.”
Josh continued to read; occasionally marking something with his highlighter.
“Would you prefer that I go?” Sam asked, fed up with Josh’s childishness.
“Do whatever you like. You can’t stay too long though. It would be suspicious.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Josh exploded. “Someone tried to kill me Sam; on purpose,
not by accident like at Rosslyn, on purpose! And no one can tell me why. Just being here puts
Donna in danger, but I have nowhere else to go. My mother is visiting some FBI agent
pretending to be me in a mental facility. Everyone I know and work with thinks I’m mentally
deranged!”
“Yeah, but now you’re kissing Donna, and everyone questioned your mentally stability way
before this.” Sam replied with a straight face. It was exactly the response Josh needed at that
moment to release all the tension that had built up inside him. He threw back his head and
laughed.
God, Sam.” Josh drew in a wheezing breath. “Where the hell do you come up with those lines?”
”I don’t know. Maybe I should think about speech writing, huh?” Sam took a seat at the table
next to his friend. “You and Donna?”
“Yeah…” Josh answered carefully. “How much of a problem do you think that’s going to be?”
“Compared to attempted murder and Governmental conspiracies? Not much of a problem at
all.” Sam replied. “Don’t worry about it.”
“If leo-“ Josh started.
“Don’t worry about it.” Sam repeated. “You both deserve a little happiness if you ask me. So all
that date sabotaging…”
“Yeah, I guess I should have realized there was more to it than not liking her dates.”
“I guess…Can you tell me what you’re working on?” Sam motioned at the papers spread out
on the table. Josh blew out another breath.
“I can try. I swear, Sam, my brain just isn’t running on all cylinders right now.”
“It’s been through a lot in the last few weeks. Mike said the drugs they had coursing through
you were pretty potent. It may take a little while to clear everything out.”
“I don’t have that much patience, Sam.”
“No….” Sam deadpanned. “Show me what you’ve got. Maybe talking it out will help.”
“We ran a list of things I was working on during the time in question. After weeding out several
items we’ve narrowed it down to these two; the bill over gay rights and early childhood
universal health bill. They’re both aligned timewise, both high profile issues that are deeply
divisive, and both have heavy monetary and political ramifications.”
“So the idea is that someone involved in one of these issues wanted you out of the way,
discredited, or both, to get their way?”
“That’s the theory.”
“There’s more money in the Universal healthcare bill, but the gay rights issue is hotter
politically and socially.” Sam noted. “Harmon is still shooting his mouth off. Did you see him this
morning on the Today show?”
“Donna’s unplugged the TV and hid the remote.”
“She does take care of you, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, she does.” Josh agreed.
***************************
Donna rapped on her own door twice, which was the signal to Josh to step out of view when
she opened the door. It wasn’t a problem in this instance, since Josh and Sam were still in the
kitchen weighing the pros and cons of each theory.
Sam didn’t miss how Josh’s eyes lit up when Donna came in though; or how her eyes carefully
scanned Josh to take inventory as she returned. They didn’t have time for a greeting,
however, before Ruth Lyman stepped out from behind Donna.
“Mom.” Josh got up and took his mother in a hug.
“You’re looking better.” She murmured and hugged him back.
“Donna’s taking good care of me.”
“She always has.” Ruth replied winking at the woman in question.
“It looks like you two have been busy.” Donna looked at the mess in her kitchen.
“We have, but now I need to get back to the White House.” Sam proclaimed rising. “If I come
up with anything more, I’ll call Donna with it.” He told Josh, who nodded agreement.
“This place is a mess.” Donna announced after he’d left. She moved to stand behind Josh and
put a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you take your mom into the living room while I make us
some coffee?”
“She might want to watch some television.” Josh suggested. “She likes to keep up on the news
and world events.”
“Uh-huh.” Donna drawled. Wise to him, but willing to let him win this battle, she took the TV
remote out of her purse and handed it to him. “I trust you can handle plugging it back in?”
“I’ll do my best.” He smirked and took his mother’s hand to lead her into the living room.
After letting Josh reconnect the television and turn on the news. Ruth broached the topic she’d
been working herself up for all morning.
“Joshua. I’ve decided to go back home tomorrow.” She paused when he looked over at her. “It
would mean everything to me if you came home with me.”
“Mom, I-“
“Just think about it. You can’t accomplish anything holed up here. Even if they solve this case
tomorrow, I don’t know how they can put you back in the Deputy’s office. And even if they
could, it escapes me why you’d want to go back there.” Ruth’s tone turned strident.
“Mom-“
“They knew something was wrong! They knew it, but they wanted you on the job so they just
let you…”
“Mom, that isn’t true.” Josh broke in. “They tried to help; each one of them did. None of us
realized what was happening.”
“I’m begging you, Joshua. Come home with me. Your father’s firm would hire you in a
heartbeat.”
“Not while I’m a suicide risk.” Josh attempted to joke.
“That’s not funny.” Ruth admonished him. “I’ve buried my daughter and my husband; I couldn’t
survive it if I lost you too.”
Josh leaned forward and took his mother’s hands in his. “I know. Don’t you think I know that? I’
m sorry. I’m sorry for all of this, but going home isn’t going to change anything and it may even
put you in danger.”
“So you won’t even consider it?” She pled with him as Donna came in with coffee. She
immediately felt the tension in the air.
“I’m sorry, do you two need a minute?”
“Mom was just giving me the selling points on working in my father’s office.” Josh told her and
motioned for her to come sit down with them.
“Don’t you have to be a lawyer to work in a law firm?” she asked cheekily.
“Very funny, Donnatella.” Josh replied and tugged on some of her hair that fell closest to him.
Ruth watched the exchange carefully. “What do you think? Are you ready to pack it up and
move to the great state of Connecticut?” he asked Donna. Both Donna’s eyes and Ruth’s
eyes widened at the implications of the question.
“I go where you go.” She replied simply. Ruth’s eyes clouded with tears. Josh nodded and
turned back to his mom.
“I don’t think we’re quite finished here yet, mom.” Josh explained but took Donna’s hand in his
while he sipped the coffee he’d finally gotten Donnatella to bring him.
“I guess I can’t fight both of you.” Ruth acquiesced.
“Not many can. That’s why we’re going to finish this. Then we’ll talk about Connecticut. Okay?”
Josh offered.
“Okay.” Ruth agreed. She told them about her visit to the hospital and the media requests for
interviews. She told them about her private meeting with the President and Dr. Bartlet. She
told them all the news she could think of while she watched her son and the woman she knew
he loved. It was what she saw between them that gave her some measure of comfort when she
left the building with an armed agent hours later.
8********************************
“Fill me in, Agent Casper.” The President ordered.
“We’ve got a lot more to report, sir.” Mike replied. “We’re following quite a money trail right
now. Agent Sinclair has tied money from Medalliance to no less than 2 Senators and 4
Representatives.”
“We’re not talking campaign money, are we?”
“No, sir. This is well laundered money, that’s being dispersed in off shore accounts. Agent
Sinclair wanted to give you this report in person, sir, but he’s in the middle of an interrogation.
He thinks he has a solid lead on a White House employee who may have been responsible for
the tampering in his office.”
“Then that’s where he should be.” The President verified. “Ron told me they were running
additional tox screens on the blood they took from Josh when he was brought into the ER. Can
you tell me about that?”
“We’ve been able, through computer enhancement, to show where Josh was injected with
drugs and who injected him outside the White House gates. His blood was so filled with
chemicals that it’s taken a bit of time to sort it all out. We’ve been able to identify trace
elements of GHB.”
“The date rape drug?” Leo asked.
“Exactly. It would cause Josh to become dizzy and nauseous but walk into the White House on
his own. Once it started to take effect, he would obligingly drink anything or take anything he
was given, and best of all, he would have absolutely no recollection of the events afterwards if
he was fortunate enough to survive.”
“You think they weren’t trying to kill him?” President Bartlet asked.
“No, sir, I think they were, but they were smart enough to be prepared for the possibility that he’
d be discovered before he stopped breathing. GHB, when combined with alcohol, severely
depresses the respiratory system. Then you add in the cocktail they provided through his
medications at home and he’s extremely lucky to be alive. If Donna hadn’t come in when she
did…” Mike let the sentence trail off and President Bartlet sat down heavily at his desk.
“What about the prescription bottles that were on scene?” Leo asked.
“Five different pharmacists, none of whom have popped on anything else. The man
pretending to be Josh claimed he didn’t have health insurance and paid cash for each
prescription. They obviously wanted a trail leading to Josh for those pills.” Mike concluded.
“Then what about the pills that were tampered with in his home?” Leo inquired.
“All that takes is access to the drugs and the ability to break into an apartment in Georgetown.
Josh’s building doesn’t employ security cameras, so we’d usually to door to door interviews to
find out what neighbors have noticed. In this case..”
“In this case we don’t want anyone to know we’re suspicious so you can’t.” The President
finished the sentence.
“Precisely, sir.” Mike confirmed.
“How long does my Deputy Chief of Staff have to stay underground, Agent Casper?”
“We hope to have the case broken within 48 hours.” Mike declared.
“You’re pretty confident, Agent Casper.”
“We have every reason to be, sir. We have an excellent team assembled.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I want an update first thing in the morning.”
***********************************
“Put it down, Josh.” Donna asked him again. “You can’t possibly even focus any longer.”
“There’s another connection here, Donna, and I’m missing it.” Josh scanned the pages with
names and numbers written all over it with connecting lines drawn between them.
Donna took it out of his hands. “It’s time for bed.”
“Okay, okay.” He reluctantly agreed. “I’ll put the papers aside for now, but I’m too wired for
sleep.”
“Who said anything about sleep?” Donna asked and the light went on for Josh. “I just said it
was time for bed.”
Josh’s eyebrows rose at the implication of what she was saying. Although there had been
looks, kisses, and touches since they got home from the hospital, neither of them had been
quite ready to take that final step over the threshold between friends and lovers.
“It just seems that we’re here alone, with no chance of being called into a work emergency or
disturbed by unwanted visitors. It seems like the perfect opportunity for me to take advantage
of your weakened condition.” She said quietly into his ear.
“You’re going to take advantage of me?” he questioned.
“Shameless advantage.” Donna promised.
“I should probably shower and shave first. I’m a mess.” Josh mumbled against her skin.
“Only if I get to shower with you.” She replied and Josh immediately felt himself harden.
“We are the party of water conservation.” He managed.
“Thanks God.” Donna replied and led him into the bathroom. She grabbed two towels from the
closet shelf as they passed by and deposited them on the sink before starting the water. Josh’
s hands were roaming all over her while she adjusted the temperature and the jets. When she
finally turned back to him he captured her mouth with his and pulled off her t-shirt in one
smooth stroke.
He fumbled for a second until he realized her bra fastened in the front and then quickly
divested her of that as well. His palms smoothed over her breasts and they immediately
peaked for him. He groaned his approval and moved his mouth down her body until he was
able to take a perfect bud into his mouth; then it was Donna’s turn to groan.
“Wait. Joshua, wait a minute.”
“Mmm-hmmm.” He answered negatively without removing his mouth from her skin. She
chuckled.
“I’m half naked and you’re fully dressed.” She protested.
“Then you’d better catch up.” He challenged her while he unzipped her pants and pushed
them past her hips.
Competition had always been a mainstay of their relationship, and apparently that wasn’t
going to change by adding a sexual layer to things. Donna popped the buttons of his shirt
when she pulled it open which had the added benefit of shocking him enough to slow him
down while at the same time removing any barrier between her and his chest. Her fingers
lingered a bit over his scar before he pulled them up to his lips to kiss them.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore, Donnatella.” He assured her. “You took care of me then, too.”
“I’ll always take care of you.” She promised and the heartfelt conviction in her voice nearly
overwhelmed them both. He kissed her with a passion that had only been hinted at in their
previous kisses and she responded. It took another few minutes before they rid themselves of
the last of their clothing and stepped into the shower.
Donna ran the soap over his body while he poured shampoo into her hair. Taking a shower
together had more advantages than either of them had dreamed. When they’d finished
washing one another things had reached a fever pitch. Josh reached over Donna’s shoulder
and abruptly turned off the water. He wrapped one of the towels around her and after a
cursory drying session, he picked her up and carried her into her bedroom.
He laid her on the bed and joined her there; his body desperate to join with hers. He was
about to enter her when his brain jolted into gear.
“We need protection.” He sighed and laid his head on her chest and she chuckled at the
sadness in his tone.
“No, we don’t. I’m on the pill.” She told him. Whispering in his ear she added, “And even if I
weren’t on the pill, it wouldn’t matter. I don’t need protection for when we’re together.”
Josh looked into her face when her words registered. Donna, his Donna, wanted to have a
child with him. Love, that he’d been unable to acknowledge a few days ago, rushed at him with
a gale force. In one swift move he entered her body and just like in the rest of their
relationship, their timing was perfectly in sync.
When their heart rates slowed enough to converse, Josh repeated how much he loved her.
Donna told him she had no doubts about that. They slept wrapped around each other; skin to
skin, heart to heart.
Donna’s internal alarm woke her at 6 and when she stirred she woke Josh.
“Sorry.” She said quietly. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Can you go back to sleep?”
“No, that’s okay. I feel very well rested.” He grinned and kissed her.
“Then it that case. I’ll go get us some coffee. The machine is on a timer, so it should be piping
hot about now.”
“Coffee? Twice in two days? Are you sure I haven’t been fired or something?”
“The no coffee rule applies at work, not at home, but you can turn on the TV and check the
news about your job. I’m sure firing the Deputy Chief of Staff would make CNN.” She quipped
and got up with only a towel wrapped around her. He chuckled and grabbed the remote from
the nightstand. He flipped the power on and turned the channel to cable news where the
‘Breaking News’ logo was flashing on the screen. He saw Jeff Harmon’s picture on the screen
but was too late to get the story from the beginning. He switched the channel and had better
luck the second time around. Donna walked in with two ceramic cups just as the newscaster
made his announcement.
“Again, this just in, Senator Jeff Harmon, a Republican from Michigan, was found dead in his
home this morning of an apparent overdose.” Josh was startled by the sound of the cups as
they shattered where Donna had dropped them on the hardwood floor.