Disclaimers: None of the characters on which this fic is based belong to me. They belong to Aaron Sorkin, NBC, Warner Bros. and many others. I am only borrowing from them and make no profit.Please send any feedback or comments to Christine
Revealed
Donna popped her head around the door of CJ’s
office to see if she was ready to go for lunch.
“Almost,” CJ replied as she waved
her inside. “I just need to finish typing this last memo for this afternoon’s
briefing.”
“Ok.” Donna wandered into the
office and noticed an intricate patchwork quilt draped over the back of CJ’s
couch. “That’s a beautiful quilt, CJ. Where did you get it?”
“My sister-in-law,” CJ answered
without looking up from her laptop. “She bought it when she went to Pennsylvania
Dutch country. My niece, Hogan, picked it out.”
“It’s really quite beautiful. I’m
surprised you brought it into the office. That’s something that belongs in your
bedroom to curl up with on cold nights.”
“Well, it needed to be cleaned. I
brought it in so I wouldn’t forget to drop it at the dry cleaners.
Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten for 3 weeks now.”
“Cleaned? Really? It looks like
it’s in pristine condition.”
“Oh, you know how it goes. I hate
to use something that was owned by someone else before washing it,” she lied
easily. “So you’re going to the thing tomorrow, the thing for Justice Crouch,
right?”
“Yes. Josh wants me on hand. He’s
meeting with Joey Lucas.”
CJ looked up at her in surprise.
“Joey will be there?”
“Mm-hm,”
Donna confirmed. “Maybe he'll ask her out while she’s here.”
“And
you’re ok with this?”
“Sure,
why wouldn’t I be?” She sounded ok with the idea, but CJ detected a note of
unhappiness.
“Because, well, during the
campaign, Josh was infatuated- and you seemed-,” CJ began to say and then
stopped abruptly. She was completely confused by Donna’s calmness.
“Yes?” she asked innocently.
CJ began to wonder if she had
imagined that there was something between Josh and Donna. In one respect, she realized
that if Josh were to show a renewed interest in Joey Lucas, then all her Press
Secretary nightmares would be laid to rest. On the other hand, the realization
that Josh and Donna would deny their very obvious feelings for one another
saddened her. She decided not to worry about it today; there were plenty of
other issues to worry about, including the upcoming gala. She closed the
laptop, threw off her glasses and grabbed her purse. “Never mind. Tell me about
your dress,” she started as they walked out of the office.
**********
CJ stood in the door of Toby’s
office and watched him debate the gun control bill with Josh. Both men were so
intensely involved in the conversation that they didn’t notice her immediately.
Finally, Toby saw her standing there. “What can I do for you today, Claudia?”
“You’ve got that appointment with
your plumber tomorrow, right?”
“Yes.” Josh noticed that Toby was looking at her, but wouldn’t
meet her eyes.
“Listen, my car is in the shop and
I have this quilt I need to take to the dry cleaners. Can you give me lift
around lunchtime tomorrow? I can walk back.”
“My appointment is at one.”
“Ok, then. I’ll meet you here at
12:30.” She turned to leave when Toby’s voice stopped her.
“CJ, you’ve got the answers for
this afternoon’s briefing, right?”
“Yeah,” she answered slowly.
“Ok.” Toby gave her a small smile and then returned to the
conversation with Josh.
Josh noticed that there was a
peculiar undercurrent to their conversation, but he was too busy formulating
counter-arguments to Toby’s stance on gun licensing to pay much attention to
it. When CJ left, he picked up the conversation right where it had left off.
They continued to argue for almost a half an
hour, until Toby stopped Josh in the middle of an explanation about handguns
versus automatic weapons. “Josh, we’re not getting anywhere with this. Talk to
me after your meeting with Chris Wick. See what his objections to the bill are.
We’ll figure something out then.”
“Ok.” He got up and was almost out
of Toby’s office when he stopped. “You know, you should think about moving to a
better apartment.”
”Why?”
“Almost every time I see you lately, you’re rushing to go
meet with your plumber.” Josh gave him an appraising look. Something was definitely
going on with Toby. Josh couldn’t quite say what it was, but he knew he would
figure it out eventually.
Toby frowned and pointed to the
door. “Josh – leave. Come back when you’ve talked to Wick and we can put
together a strategy.”
“Ok. I’ll talk to you later.”
**********
“I went to lunch with CJ today,”
Donna announced later that evening as she sat in Josh’s office, waiting for him
to finish writing a memo for Leo.
“Oh, yeah?” Josh asked
distractedly.
“Yes. We were talking about
tomorrow night’s party honoring Justice Crouch. She was surprised to hear that
Joey Lucas would be attending.”
That comment got Josh’s attention.
He looked up at her. “Why was she surprised? Joey’s been a great help to us
this past year.”
“She seemed to think I would be
jealous.” Donna tried to hide the trace of sadness in her voice, but Josh
noticed. He made a mental note to find out later what was wrong.
“Jealous? Why, Donnatella, why
would I ever look at any woman besides you?” Josh teased her in an effort to
cheer her.
“She does have a valid point,
Josh. No one knows that we’re involved. We’ve done a very good job at keeping
it a secret. Even Sam only has some suspicions,” Donna claimed. She was quiet
for a moment and then added, “I think maybe it’s time to tell Leo.”
“Donna, now is not a good time.
We’re trying to get the votes back on gun control, we have to put together a
short list for the new justice – it’s a really bad time,” Josh repeated. He
understood her need to have their relationship out in the open, but he wasn’t
convinced that the time was now.
“It’s never a good time, Josh,”
she countered. “There are always a hundred different things going on at once.
Thanksgiving is in a few weeks. My mother is already making noises about me
coming home for the weekend. How can I explain that I’d rather spend it here
with my boyfriend when I can’t even tell her who he is?”
“Ok, you’re right. We’ll talk to
Leo soon. How about next week, after the confirmation?” he suggested. “That
will give us a little time for things around here to cool down and it will also
give us time to come up with a plan on how to tell him.”
“Thank you.” She smiled at him and
he knew that he would do anything just to be gifted with that smile. “So in the
meantime, do I have to wonder about you asking Joey Lucas out?”
“No,” he answered firmly. “I have
eyes for no one but you. Besides, I’ve learned my lesson about dating women I
work with. It never turns out well. Take Mandy, for example. When we broke up,
we despised each other; it made it impossible for us to work together anymore.”
“I still can’t believe you dated her.”
“Trust me when I tell you, I must
have been out of my mind. She was nearly as bad as this girl I knew in college.
She dated my roommate for a while, but broke up with him when it became obvious
his IQ wasn’t all that high. Her idea of flirting was throwing water balloons
and damaging personal property. She was quite the nutcase. And she had this
annoying habit of calling me ‘Special J.’” Josh shuddered at the memory.
“You have such a knack for picking
women, Joshua,” Donna teased him.
“I have a tendency to pick women who seem like
they should be perfect for me. They’re smart, ambitious, and powerful – but in
reality, they’re too much like me and it never works out. It becomes a power
struggle to see who can win each verbal battle. Any sexual chemistry we had in
the beginning fizzles out and we wind up miserable.” He could see Donna was
starting to frown, so he tried to lighten the mood. He got up and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “My
taste in woman has improved dramatically in the past year.”
“I think that was a compliment.”
“Yes, it definitely was. Now I
have smart and beautiful, without all the control issues.” He smiled down at
her. “Speaking of beautiful, don’t you want to share all the
details of your dress for tomorrow?”
“I thought you’d never ask. You’ll be
impressed. It’s a deep red color and has a strapless top and full skirt.” She
stood and twirled in a circle, pretending to model it for him.
“And it fastens where?” he inquired.
“Right here.” She indicated the length of her
back. Josh stepped behind her and trailed his hand down her sweater covered
back.
“Here?”
“Mm-hm,” she murmured, as little waves of
pleasure traveled down her spine.
His hands moved to her hips and he turned her
around. His hand glided along the top of her breasts. He could see her nipples
pucker through the thin cashmere knit. “And it’s strapless?”
“Yes.”
One hand traced a path between her breasts to
her waist. “A full skirt, hmm?”
“Yes.”
He leaned forward and captured her lips in a
kiss. She whimpered softly as he took her lower lip between his teeth and
lightly nibbled at it. His tongue caressed the tender skin and then swept
inside her mouth. He groaned at the feel of her mouth fusing with his. His
groin tightened and he felt an erection start to grow. Reluctantly, he pulled
away.
“As much as I want to make love to
you right now, there are still too many people around. Go home. I’ll finish up
here and meet you at your place. Rachel’s still away, right?”
“Regina. And yes, she’s still in
Seattle visiting her family. She’ll be gone until Sunday.”
“Good, because for what I have planned, we
don’t need any spectators.”
**********
“Was that Donna I just saw
leaving?” CJ asked as she appeared in Josh’s office.
Josh jumped at the sound of her voice. “Geez,
CJ. Don’t sneak up on a person like that.”
CJ merely looked at him. “Was that Donna?”
”Yeah. I told her she could go home and that I’d finish up,” Josh answered.
“That doesn’t happen very often. What are you working on
tonight?”
"I've got five congressmen I need to get back for the gun control bill
and I'm going cross-eyed looking at nominees to fill Crouch's court seat.
You?"
"Nothing important. Listen, I talked to Donna today."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. She said Joey Lucas is going to be here for the party tomorrow
night."
"It's her polling results that helped put together the package on
firearms."
"I mentioned this because I get the feeling that Donna thinks you
should be dating Joey.”
"She what?"
"She didn’t say it in so many words, but she made me believe that she
thinks you should be dating Joey Lucas," CJ repeated.
"I can't believe she would - never mind," he uttered at CJ's
confused look. "CJ, I am not going to be asking Joey Lucas out."
"Good. It's not that I want to deprive you of a social life - God
knows, with the hours we all put in, we deserve one - but I'm not sure its best
to mix work & personal this way. It wouldn’t look very good for the
administration. It might look like we were using her for consulting because
she’s your girlfriend. Remember the disaster we had with Mandy," she
reminded him.
"CJ, you don't need to worry. I am not interested in Joey Lucas,"
he replied firmly.
"Ok, then." CJ turned to go and then stopped. "Oh, and Josh?
One more thing. Try not to hurt her. She has a crush on you."
"Joey?" he asked, his brow wrinkling in confusion.
"No, Donna." And with that parting comment, she left.
**********
Thirty minutes later, Josh arrived at Donna’s apartment. “Well, hello,
Dolly!” he greeted her.
“Josh?” she asked, puzzled, as she swung the door wider to let him in.
“I just had a little visit from CJ. Seems some people on my staff think
I should ask Joey Lucas out,” he explained as he walked into her kitchen and
helped himself to a Coke. He was confused that Donna could possibly think he
would be interested in any other woman when he had her.
Donna looked a little embarrassed and uttered a small, “Oh. I never
actually…”
“So CJ said. But she said you seemed concerned about the possibility. What
were you thinking?” he asked.
“Well, it was before I talked to you and we decided to tell Leo. You were
interested in her last year, and she seems like the type of woman you should be
interested in."
“You're the type of woman I'm interested in," he explained gently.
"And because of this thing with Joey, I got a lecture from CJ about mixing
work and pleasure. She’s concerned about the way things would look.” Josh took
another swig of soda and looked at Donna over the rim of the can.
“I’ll talk to her tomorrow – explain that you’re not interested in Joey.
I'll tell her I was mistaken.”
Josh set down the empty can and sighed. “No, don’t bother. I’m sure she’ll
forget about it soon enough.” He leaned back against the kitchen counter and
pulled Donna into his arms. “One more week, Donna. That’s all I ask. Then we
can talk to Leo. Get this whole relationship out in the open and act like
normal people.” At Donna’s amused look, he amended, “Well, as normal as we get,
anyhow.”
He leaned down to kiss her and finally noticed what she was wearing. He
smirked at her. “Donna, I told you I’d be coming over, and this is what you
wear?”
“Yes, it’s all worn and comfortable. You don’t like my nightshirt?” She
leaned back and looked at the big round elephant on the front. “I think he’s
kind of cute.”
”For a republican, sure. But I think I’d prefer not to be sleeping with the
opposition.”
“Well, I can fix that,” she said, as she took a step away from him. She
grabbed the hem and pulled the offending shirt up and over her head. She
grinned at him through a tangle of blond hair. “Better?”
“Immensely.” He reached out and cupped her breasts, his thumbs grazing the
nipples. They immediately got hard. He felt his own body respond and he pushed
away from the counter. He opened her refrigerator and rummaged around a bit,
finally emerging with a bottle of Hershey’s syrup. He held it up triumphantly
and grinned at her amused giggle. He grabbed her hand and started leading her
to the bedroom. “Let’s go to bed.”
**********
The following night…
**********
“Josh, I have someone here that I
thought you’d like to see,” Donna began, a smile playing about her lips.
“Joshua Lyman, the man with the cutest little
butt in professional politics,” came a somewhat garbled feminine voice.
Josh spun around and looked at the
woman standing next to Donna. “Joey!” he exclaimed as he smiled at her, his
dimples coming out in full force. “I’m glad you could make it.” He noticed her
interpreter standing to her left. He held out his hand. “Hey, Kenny. Good to
see you again.” Kenny quickly released his hand and began signing.
“So to what do I owe the pleasure
of this invitation?” Kenny translated for Joey.
“It's the President's way of
thanking you for all the help you gave us in putting together the firearm's
bill,” Josh explained.
"I'm honored."
"Have you gotten anything to eat? There are some incredible crab
puffs," Josh suggested nervously. He was intensely aware of Donna's
presence. They had discussed the situation about their relationship and Joey a
little the night before, but he was still unsure of how Donna would respond to
his behavior around Joey.
"I'm fine," Joey replied via Kenny. The foursome made small talk
for several moments before starting a discussion about politics. Leo approached
the group just as they began talking about search for a new Justice.
"Donna. Josh,” he greeted them. “Who is this beautiful woman your
chatting with?"
Josh introduced them. "Leo, meet Joey Lucas, the woman who's been
helping us with our polling data. Joey, this is Leo McGarry, White House Chief
of Staff."
"Nice to meet you, sir."
"Likewise. I've seen the results of some of your work. Good job. Josh,
take notice. She’d be good for you," Leo commented. "Excuse me, I see
someone with the President that I need to speak with." He said his
goodbyes and left the small group to resume their discussion.
Josh was momentarily speechless. When he recovered his
voice, he stuttered, "Joey, I don't know why Leo would say such a thing...
Don't get me wrong, you are a beautiful woman," he started to say, when he
noticed the small frown that Donna was directing at him. "It's not that I
don't admire you, but I'm simply not interested in you that way."
“You should ask her out, Josh.
She's cute,” Donna stage whispered to him.
Kenny signed what was said to Joey, who looked
at them in puzzlement.
Donna kept a social smile in place, but her
displeasure was evident. “I keep telling Josh he needs to gather his rosebuds
while he can. No sitting at home on a Friday night for my man.”
Joey looked confused. “But…” she
started to say, when Josh cut her off.
“Donna thinks she's being
amusing,” Josh said with a warning glance in her direction. “She understands
the need to keep professional relationships, well, as professional
relationships and nothing more,” he added with a slight bite in his voice.
Donna frowned at him again, and he could see the anger growing in her eyes.
“Yes, Joshua, like ours is a professional relationship.”
Sarcasm dripped from her voice. She was fairly certain that Kenny wouldn’t
translate the tone of her words, but she decided not to find out. She smiled as
graciously as possible at Joey and made her excuses. “It was lovely seeing you,
Joey, but I’m sure you’ll excuse me. I need to freshen my lipstick. Josh.” She
left the three of them together as she exited the ballroom without looking
back.
Josh was once again reduced to stuttering. “Joey, I’m sorry.
She’s not normally so… I need to go talk to her. Excuse me.”
Joey was left looking at their retreating backs. She
shrugged at Kenny and then made her way to the table where CJ and Toby were
seated.
**********
Josh followed Donna into the
ladies’ room. “Donna, you can not get angry at me for the Joey Lucas thing.”
”Really? Because I'm feeling pretty angry,” she said caustically, ignoring
the fact that he shouldn't be there.
“This is not the time or the place
to be discussing this. Joey Lucas has worked well with us, but she is not a
part of this administration and we don't know much about her. Or her
interpreter. Do you even know Kenny's last name, Donna? We don't know who they
could talk to or what they might say. It's not a good idea to start flaunting
our relationship in front of them - or *anyone*, for that matter - until we
talk to Leo,” he tried to explain.
“Flaunt? I would hardly call telling you to ask
her out flaunting *our* relationship,” Donna snapped.
“You know what I mean. And what
the hell are you doing agreeing with Leo and telling me to ask her out anyhow?
You know that I have absolutely no interest in her, yet you're deliberately
setting it up to look like I do. We talked about this last night. For God's
sakes, CJ’s already warned me about hurting you.” Donna looked startled, but
Josh was so caught up in his arguments that he didn't notice.
He ran a hand
through his hair and expelled a deep breath. “Joey's a very perceptive woman.
She's going to get suspicious. Do you want our relationship to wind up on the
10 o'clock news?” Josh demanded. He turned around and started pacing in the
small space in front of the sinks. “Donna, I'm just trying to keep this thing
between us quiet for a little bit longer.”
“That's what I'm trying to do too.
Anyway, Leo seems to think that you and Joey would be absolutely wonderful
together.”
Josh's head snapped around to look
at her. He saw that despite her anger, her lower lip was quivering and her eyes
looked sad. He suddenly realized how hard this whole situation was on her. He
stood in front of her and cupped her face in his hands.
“I'm sorry,” he told her softly.
“I didn't know… I *don’t* know,” he corrected, “how to do this. I never
imagined things would get this far out of control. I didn't think it through.”
He gently kissed her lips. “We'll talk to Leo tomorrow. See what our options
are. Hopefully, he won’t freak out and we’ll work out some sort of compromise
about our work situation. Ok?”
“Ok.”
His lips found hers once more. It
started out simple, but quickly grew. His tongue traced along her bottom lip
and she soon slid hers out to meet it. They kissed for several moments and then
Josh broke away. “We haven’t done it in a White House bathroom yet,” he
suggested comically.
She laughed at his silliness and reached up to pull his head
down for another kiss. Things quickly moved from simple kissing to something more.
Josh found himself lowering her gown's zipper so that he could touch the
softness of her bare skin. He discovered that she was braless beneath the red
satin and he let out a strangled groan. "Donna, warn a man when you're not
going to be wearing a bra," he grumbled good-naturedly.
"Well, I didn't expect that it would matter at this
point in the evening," she replied as she traced his earlobe with her
tongue.
"Trust me, it matters at any point," he answered
her. His fingers started to creep inside the bodice of her gown, when she
reluctantly stopped him.
"Josh, we can't." She pulled slightly away from
him. "There are hundreds of people out there, not the least of whom is the
President of the United States. We can't do this here. We need to get back to
the party."
"You're right. You're always right. Ok, we'll go back
to the party, but promise that I get to be the one to remove this dress
later," he requested.
"Of course."
She pulled his head down to hers and her lips
were against his temple, when Margaret walked through the door. She took one
look at them and quickly left.
They looked at one another in
shock and then started laughing, until tears were welling in both their eyes.
“I can’t believe she found us,” Donna commented as the laughter wound down and
they began to sober. “We need to tell Leo now. I’m not sure she can keep a
secret like this for very long.”
“Ok, we'll find him at the party
and ask him to meet us in his office. You should freshen up your lipstick, or
something, before we go out there,” he suggested helplessly.
She looked in the mirror and fluffed her
disheveled hair, then wiped away what was left of her smudged lipstick. She was
just turning to leave when she realized that Josh had worked the zipper of her
gown halfway down. “Josh, help me with my dress. I can’t reach.”
He moved behind her and tugged on the stubborn
zipper. “It was a lot easier to get down,” he complained. Finally, he managed to
unsnag the teeth and started to slide it up. It was at that moment that CJ came
in.
“Donna, you would not
believe the story Margaret is telling to the others --- Oh. My. God!” CJ’s hand
flew to cover her eyes. She gingerly peered between two fingers and than
quickly covered her eyes again.
Josh quickly finished zipping
Donna’s dress for her and then addressed CJ. “It’s not…”
“… what I think?” CJ seethed as
she lowered her hand and glared at Josh. “How can it be anything else?”
“CJ,” Donna began, “I know how it looks, but…”
She grew silent as CJ turned a lethal look her way.
In a very controlled voice, CJ asked, “What the hell is going on?”
“Donna and I are seeing each
other,” Josh answered her calmly.
“Seeing each other? Like, dating?”
she asked. Her tone made it clear that she already knew the answer.
“Yes.”
“Donna, you came to my office
yesterday; you told me some nonsense about Josh and Joey. I thought you were
unhappy. I told Josh you had a crush on him. I told him not to hurt you! And
then I come in here and find the two of you – what the hell did you think you
were doing in here, anyway?”
“It wasn’t – it was just a kiss
that got a little out of control.”
“Any time you're into something
and you don't know how it will affect the administration, you tell me. You
don't keep it a secret! I'm your first phone call. Immediately. As soon as it
happens the *first* time!” CJ took a deep breath and then continued in a
slightly less strident voice. “I'm your first line of defense. You have to let
me protect you and you have to let me protect the President. Josh, you’re a
very high profile, visible member of this staff. You cannot be sleeping with
your assistant!”
“We’re not exactly doing it on the White House
lawn, CJ,” Josh interjected with a trace of amusement.
“But you are doing it in a public
restroom in the White House. Did you learn *nothing* from Sam and the call girl
fiasco?” she screamed.
“Can you keep your voice down?
There are hundreds of guests outside this door who would love to discuss this
little meeting over breakfast tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t care, you elitist,
Harvard, fascist, Yankee jackass! You do not do this!”
“I really don’t think you can tell
me what I can and cannot do in my private life.”
“No, but I can tell you what to do
in this office.”
“Technically, I outrank you. You can’t tell me what to do in
the office either.”
”Joshua…” she warned.
He held his hands out placatingly. “Ok, ok. Do
you think we can go somewhere and talk about this civilly?”
“An excellent idea,” Toby agreed
from the doorway.
**********
“I’ve already asked Sam to get Leo and meet us in his
office,” Toby told them as they walked through the halls of the West Wing.
“Toby, I don’t know how you knew, but I want to tell you –“
“Save it, Josh. We’ll talk when we get to Leo’s.”
They reached his office to find that Sam and Leo were
already there.
“Ok, you’ve pulled me away from a superb
raspberry, chocolate truffle cheesecake, and a lovely discussion of French impressionist
painting. Does someone want to explain why we’re having this meeting?” Leo
asked as he scanned the faces of the room’s occupants.
Sam looked at him blankly. “ I have no idea. All I know is
that Toby asked me to find you and to meet here.”
Leo looked at Toby. “Toby, would you like to explain?”
“We have a situation,” Toby began.
“It is *not* a situation,” Josh corrected.
“It has come to our attention,” Toby began
again, “that Josh and Donna have been pursuing a romantic relationship.”
Leo turned to Josh and Donna. “Is this true?”
Josh ducked his head a bit. “Yeah.”
Donna merely nodded.
“And when did this start?” Leo questioned him.
“It began sometime last February,” Josh
admitted.
“February? That’s nearly nine months! How the
hell did you manage… Never mind. Don’t answer that. When exactly were you
planning on telling me about this? When we got outta office?”
“We were planning on telling you soon,” Josh
answered stubbornly, while he studiously avoided looking directly at Leo.
“Donna? Do you have anything you want to say?”
She
looked at him with a small amount of panic in her eyes. “Leo, we didn’t… it
wasn’t supposed to… I’m sorry,” she ended lamely.
CJ noticed that Sam didn’t look quite as surprised by this
conversation as she had expected. “Did you know about this, Sam?” she asked
him, a hint of anger in her voice.
“I had suspicions,” he replied hesitantly.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“They were just suspicions. I didn’t know anything for
sure,” he told her, getting defensive.
“Sam understood that anything that was going on was private.
It had nothing to do with him,” Josh interjected.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Sam?” Donna questioned, a note of dismay in her voice. “I
thought – after the flower incident and all the times we went out for drinks –
you seemed to support us.”
“I’ve since learned that there’s a price to pay for what we
do and where we work,” Sam said, as if by rote.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Josh snorted.
“No, Josh, I’m not. How many times have I been told that
we’re held to a higher standard?”
“A higher standard? Is that was this is about? The
call-girl?”
“Laurie. Her name is Laurie. But, no, it’s not.”
“Can we please get back to the subject at hand?” Toby
interrupted impatiently. “We need to discuss what to do about Josh and Donna.”
“Yes,” Leo agreed. “Gentlemen, ladies, what do
you suggest we do?”
“It has to stop,” CJ declared. “She can’t work
for Josh while he’s sleeping with her.”
“What?” Josh asked incredulously. He turned to
Leo. “Our job performance has not-”
“Leo, with all due respect, we have handled ourselves
professionally at all times…”
She cut them off. “There are issues that need
to be discussed. For starters, Josh is more than 10 years older than her –“
“Oh, please! This has nothing to do with age. What about Sam
-”
“- is not under discussion. She’s 26!”
“And I’m 39. We’re both consenting adults.
Next?”
“The point remains that people fight, they
break up…”
“Yeah, because the idea that we *might* break
up would make you happy, wouldn’t it?”
“No, it wouldn’t. It would make me very sad.
But if that were to happen, it would make working together nearly impossible.
One of you would need to –“
“Quit? Or were you suggesting firing one of us?”
“No one has mentioned firing either of you.”
“Well, you’re doing a damn fine job of implying it.”
Donna could see that Josh was getting extremely
defensive and hostile and tried to calm him. She put a hand on his arm and
quietly said, “Josh, let’s see what CJ has to say…”
“No, Donna!”
“Josh, she has a point. What if we were to break up?””
Josh looked around at everyone in the room, settling on
Donna with a look of disbelief. “You think this is a whim? You think we’ve
managed to keep this quiet for nine months, and all for the sake of some sexual
gratification? That we’ll break up at the smallest hint of a problem? No.
Donna, this isn’t some passing fancy. You’re like my other half; I can’t
function without you,” he said, his voice softening as he looked at her. “I won’t
let them break us apart with doubts and innuendo. They’re trying to throw up
roadblocks. I want to know exactly why.”
“There’s age, there’s the chain of command,
there’s the secrecy…”
Suddenly, everything from the past few days
clicked in Josh’s mind – the plumber, the lunches, the looks. He interrupted CJ
and looked at her with disdain. His voice dripped with sarcasm as he began,
“Let’s talk about the chain of command, for a minute. Let’s talk about sleeping
with your supervisor, CJ.”
”Excuse me?” CJ faced him head on, knowing where he was going with this line of
conversation, but willing to deal with it if she had to.
“Tell me about the impropriety of a man sleeping with someone he brought
into the administration as his subordinate.”
“Josh.” Toby warned him. “Let’s not go there.” He was quickly losing his
patience with Josh’s attempt to change the focus of the discussion
Josh ignored him. “Let’s talk about how proper it is for them to take long
lunches so they can-“
“Don’t finish that sentence,” Toby interrupted angrily.
“Fine.” Josh glared at both of them, fully intending to resume the
discussion at a later time.
CJ started again, “About the topic at hand –
you and Donna. You cannot continue to work together under these circumstances.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not professional, it’s not ethical. Never mind the
hell of a scandal we’ll be faced with when it goes public that your
relationship started a few weeks after we took office.”
“One thing has nothing to do with the other.”
”The public won’t care. It’ll be spun –“
“It’ll be spun however the hell you decide to spin it,
Claudia Jean!”
“ENOUGH!” Leo roared.
The room became eerily silent and five pairs of
eyes turned to him. He ended the discussion with one short sentence. “Fix it,
or I will,” was the last thing he said before he walked out of the office and
slammed the door behind him.
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