Title: Secret Lunch
Author: Cathy Miller (cam7192003@yahoo.com)
Rating: Everyone
Time Frame: After ‘The Supremes’
Disclaimer: Oh, to own but a single character of West Wing…
Feedback: Makes me feel better, especially now that I can’t take Motrin
anymore
 
A/N: Just a short, and hopefully humorous, fic to help cleanse the palette
from the heavy fic I just finished.

Josh’s POV:

This was going to be tough; really tough. You know the kind of shit James
Bond has to pull off? Nothing compared to this mission. However, I am a
graduate of Harvard and Yale and I have enlisted the help of the sneakiest,
trickiest, guy I know…a Republican named Matt Skinner. In addition to Matt,
my college friend and current FBI Agent Mike Casper has joined ‘Team
Josh’. If  we can’t pull this off…then there is no hope for  mere mortal men.

“Donna, I’m heading over to Matt Skinner’s office for lunch.” I mention
casually as I pick up my back pack and head for the door.

“Don’t forget the file on appropriations. I made note cards.”

“Of course you did.” I mutter. “Thanks. I’ll be back before the 2:00 with Leo
and Conway.”

“What do you want?” she asks as she appears in front of me.

“What do I want? That’s a rather deep and philosophical question for a
Monday isn’t it Donnatella?”

“To eat, Joshua. You never bring any lunch so I’ll have something delivered
for you and the Congressman.”

“Don’t worry about it. Matt will take care of it.” I assure her while trying to
walk around the barrier she has become in the hallway.

“That’s why I am going to order it, Josh. If Matt takes care of it, you’ll end up
eating junk and drinking a beer before your meeting with Conway and I think
we both know you’re going to need all your faculties intact for that one.”

This, of course, is a dig at me because last time I met with Conway he
provoked a less than professional reaction from me; at least that’s what Leo
says it was. I still think it was completely appropriate. Hence, Leo is
babysitting us today.

“Thanks for your concern. Tell you what; I’ll stop and get a sandwich on the
way, okay? I’ll even put some disgusting lettuce on it.” Oops, I went too far
with that one. She’s going to be suspicious that I offered to get lettuce.

As predicted, she gives me a suspicious look and holds me in place for a
moment, but then relents and lets me go.

“Say ‘hi’ to the Congressman for me.” She sing-songs and goes back to her
desk. Whew! That was close. I get out while I can and make my way to Matt’s
office.

I get stopped on the hill half a dozen times; did I mention I HATE most of
these guys? You did know we’re stuck with a Republican Congress, right?
Most of them are worse than useless, but there are a few (and you may
never quote me on this) that can actually be helpful. Matt Skinner is one of
them. Honestly, I don’t know why he chose to be a Republican, but we all
have our issues, I guess.

“Hey, Laura.” I greet Matt’s personal assistant. “The Congressman is
expecting me.”

“Yes, indeed. You can go on in, Mr. Lyman.” I smile my thanks and open
Matt’s door. Unfortunately, there are two other Republicans with him that I
don’t consider nearly as amiable.

“Lyman, you get lost? The minority leader’s office is on the next floor.”
Radke, R- Utah, shoots off his mouth.

“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t get to rub it in about how I personally shot down
your pork barrel amendment, would I?” Radke is such an ass. Matt just rolls
his eyes.

“You and Bartlet will need my vote on appropriations, Lyman. I would watch
my mouth if I were you.”

“It’s President Bartlet and I don’t want you to worry your little head about the
appropriations bill. I can take care of business.”

“Jeff, Tom, will you two excuse us? I have some private business with Josh.”
Matt interrupts. With a pathetically surly look thrown my way, Radke and his
compatriot leave Matt’s office.

“Seriously, Matt, how can you work with those guys?”

“Don’t start.”

“Come over from the dark side, Matt.” I tease and he laughs.

“Don’t start. Aren’t you here asking for a favor?”

“I wouldn’t call it a favor, exactly.”

“Did you or did you not call me at 5:30 AM this morning asking to meet for
lunch today.”

“I did but-“

“And did you, or did you not ask me to cancel my existing lunch appointment
to accommodate you?”

“I may have suggested-“

“Yes or no, Mr. Lyman?”

“You really should have pursued criminal law instead of politics. You know
that right?”

“Yes or no?” Matt repeated.

“Yes, but you had a lunch meeting with Republicans, so really I was doing
you a favor by giving you an excuse to cancel.” I argue.

“I give up. What was so important that you had to meet now, today?”

“Not yet; we’re waiting for one more participant. He should be here any
minute.”

“What are we supposed to do in the meantime?”

“Got any lunch?”



Donna’s POV

Get a sandwich, with lettuce, on the way? Does he think I’m that stupid? No.
he doesn’t think I’m stupid. It’s far more likely that he thinks he is just so
much smarter than I am. He’s probably got some secret agent, James Bond
superspy, riff going on. His mission is doomed to failure, however, because
he forgot one important thing; The Sisterhood.

“Hi Laura, it’s Donna.”

“Hi Donna, how are things at 1600?”

“Pretty quiet since my boss is in with your boss.”

“I hear you. That blowhard Radke was in before that. He asked me out for
drinks AGAIN.”

“You have to stop being subtle, Laura. Tell the man you’re not interested.”

“Don’t you think I have by now? He’s just slimy. Why is it that when some
people hit on you, it’s amusing, but when other people hit on you, you need
a shower?”

“We should get a Government grant to study that.” Donna replied and Laura
giggled.

“You could probably swing that. We could compare and contrast Jeff Radke
and Mike Casper. When Mike hit on me today, he was totally cute and funny.”

“Mike was there today?”

“Is here today. He’s having lunch with Josh and the Congressman.”

“You’re kidding me.” Donna said, puzzled. “Josh said he was meeting the
Congressman about appropriations. I made note cards and everything!”

“Well unless their plan is for the FBI to take out anyone in the opposition,
they are NOT meeting about appropriations.”

“Uh-huh. Tell me something. Did Josh happen to bring a sandwich to the
meeting?”

“He wasn’t carrying anything besides a folder and the Congressman ordered
from the grill.”

“Burnt hamburger?”

“Yeah!”

“Laura, I need you to do something for me…”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


“Congressman?” Laura opened the door without knocking and all three men
bobbled their burgers and beer. “Sorry. Am I interrupting something?”

Matt threw a panicked look at Josh. “No, no. What do you need?”

“The speaker called to reschedule your lunch meeting.” Laura tried to
unobtrusively see what the men were doing. Josh shut his folder quickly and
Mike was staring intently at the floor.

“Okay…you’ve got my appointment calendar. Go ahead and re-schedule it.”
Matt told her.

“I just thought you might have a preference for when…?” Laura trailed off as
she brought the calendar to his desk. This time it was Matt who moved
quickly and shut his laptop.

“Whenever. Thanks Laura.” Matt dismissed her. She left, closing the door
behind her.

“What the hell was that?” Mike questioned.

“Donna.” Josh and Matt answered simultaneously.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“They are certainly up to something fishy. The second I barged in they
closed the files they were looking at and tried to act all innocent.” Laura
reported.

“Hmmm. And no one said anything about why they needed an FBI Agent in
this meeting of theirs?” Donna asked.

“Nope, although to be fair, he does just stop in to say ‘hi’ sometimes.”

“But that wasn’t what he was up to today. Thanks for trying Laura. I’ll take it
from here.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Josh’s POV:

Okay, so Donna is suspicious. No big deal. She is frequently suspicious of
what I do and why. The key here is to act normal. I can do normal.

“How was your sandwich?” Donna pops up from behind me.

“God! Would you quit doing that? You’re going to give me a heart attack one
of these days.” See? Acting normal with a side of ‘misdirection’.

“Did you get it from Lou’s? I love Lou’s turkey sandwiches.” She comments.
Okay, maybe not so much with the misdirection. Never fear, I am not giving
up the fight this easily.

“Lou’s has good sandwiches.” I reply; not a lie, but not exactly the whole
truth either. I had a Catholic friend at Harvard who would call it a lie of
omission, but luckily I’m not Catholic.

“The speaker called while you were gone.” She continued and dropped the
sandwich thing, thank God. “I told him you were meeting with Congressman
Skinner about the appropriations bill and he seemed confused by that. He
said he told you yesterday that it would pass.” Oh, shit. “I told him I was sure
you had a good reason for meeting with Congressman Skinner about it,
because I made note cards for the meeting and everything.”

I pick up my pace to my office. It’s almost 2 and I have that meeting with Leo
at 2. I could be early! That’s it. I’ll grab my notes for the meeting and tell
Donna I need to talk to Leo privately before bonehead, I mean
Congressman Conway, arrives.

“Good. Where’s my stuff for the thing with Conway?” I have to ask her since
she’s ‘organized’ my desk again.

“Right here.” She tells me and hands me the file that she’s been holding in
her arms. “So what was it?” She lost me again.

“Huh?”

“The good reason you had to meet with Congressman Skinner about an
appropriations bill that’s already slated to pass.”

“What?” I’m purely stalling for time now.

“Are you sure about that 760 verbal score, Joshua? I think I’d like to see
some documentation of that. The good reason?”

“He had some…concerns. I thought if I could bring him on board, alleviate
his concerns, he could bring some more votes with him and really make this
a big win for the President.”

“That makes sense.” Whew! Relief sweeps through me. “You might want to
get some mouth wash before your meeting. If Leo finds out you had a beer
before your meeting with Conway, he’ll kick you into next week.” She advises
me as she goes back to her desk.

Maybe the relief was a little premature….

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Donna’s POV:

All week long, Josh has been acting strange; I mean stranger. Phone calls,
that he dials himself, are quickly ended when I enter his office. He hasn’t let
me touch his backpack. He hasn’t even asked me for coffee! Something is
definitely up, but despite my best efforts, he has managed to keep it a secret
from me.

It all started with the secret lunch. What could he be planning that would
involve a gay, Republican Congressman and an old college buddy who now
works for the FBI? It can’t be work related or he would have told me about it
right away. He loves to brag about how he’s come up with a brilliant political
solution for…whatever…so it can’t be about work. That means it must be a
personal issue.

What kind of personal issue could he be dealing with and why wouldn’t he
tell me about it? We’ve been best friends for years! It can’t be anything
seriously wrong because his mood has been too good; occasionally tense,
but overall very good. He got major kudos for the appointment of the new
Supremes and the media has been positive, so he’s been able to run the
table legislatively.

Clearly I need some help ferreting out the truth and there’s only one person I
would trust in a situation like this.






“CJ have you got a minute?” I ask her. “I need some help.”

“It’s a slow news day, Donna. Fire away.” She tells me. I just love CJ. She is
everything I want to be when I grow up; confident, humorous, and cunningly
intelligent.

“Josh is keeping something from me and I want to find out what it is.”
“Hmmm, a secret? How is he able to keep a secret from you? You run his
life.”

“Not all of it, apparently.” I respond and bring her up to speed on the events
of the last few days; secret lunches, private phone calls, and the ‘hands off’
policy of his backpack. She takes it all in, like the professional operative she
is, and asks me some pointed questions.

“It can’t be political. I would have had at least a whiff of that kind of
information. Could he have met someone new?” she asks.

“When? No, he’s had no time, no opportunity, and no special wardrobe
changes.”

“Oh, God, he hasn’t hooked up with Amy again, has he? There ought to be
some sort of immunization he can get.”

“There is, it’s called the rabies vaccination.” I reply wittily and CJ grins her
approval. “It’s definitely not Amy. Why would he bring in Mike and Matt to
help with Amy? They both hated her.”

“True. The problem here, as I see it, is that Joshua is managing to stay
surprisingly closemouthed about whatever secret plan he has going. This
out of character silence blocks off your usual method of getting information.
However, what you are forgetting is that you run the man’s life. You have
access to his computer; which means internet and email access. You have
access to his credit card information; which means you can find out where he’
s spending his Government salary. All this should provide excellent clues as
to what he’s up to.” CJ summarizes. God, she is so good.

“You’re right. I will gather the clues and report back.” Josh is in a meeting in
the Roosevelt room and will be stuck there for at least another 30 minutes.
Now is the time to start digging…
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