A FUTURE WORTH LIVING FOR
"Raising kids is part joy and part guerilla warfare." ~ Ed Asner
The next morning’s senior staff came and went without any hitches, although Josh could see that Sam looked pretty glum. He let the others go, asking Lou, Lester and Sam to stay.
“Okay, let’s talk about the pictures,” Josh said. “Lester, what do you say?”
“The White House doesn’t comment on the personal lives of the staff,” Lester said.
“Right,” Josh said with a nod. “Prepare yourself for the pestering. They will come at you with their wild theories, try not to flinch.”
“Okay, boss,” Lester said, after flashing a brief grin at Josh.
“Lou?”
“I still think that doing nothing is the best course of action,” the Communications Director said.
“Well, putting aside that ‘doing nothing’ doesn’t constitute as action,” Sam started, “I still think that a call to the editor wouldn’t go amiss.”
“I thought about it and we’ll follow Lou’s lead, Sam. You and I are too close to call the shots on this,” Josh said, and Sam nodded. “Okay, anything else?”
All three of them signaled with a shake of head that there wasn’t, so Josh let them go.
“Ginger, what’s next?” he asked his assistant.
“The Chairman runs late so you have ten minutes,” Ginger said.
“Okay, could you place a call to Mallory?” Josh asked her, thinking that he should set up that meeting with Annabeth and Leo’s daughter as soon as possible.
“She is on line two!” Ginger shouted, and he picked up the receiver.
“Hi, Josh!” Mallory greeted him, and Josh could hear the smile in her voice.
“Hi, Mal! How are you?”
“Thanks, we are fine. Well, apart from the fact that Tommy threw his breakfast at me,” she said. “How comes you call me?”
“I need to talk to you. Preferably in person,” Josh said.
“Well, consider yourself lucky, we are in the D.C. Andy had to travel to San Francisco so we are at Mom’s.”
“I consider myself lucky then. Listen, I would take you out for dinner but there are reporters out for my blood and…”
“Say no more, I should visit you at the White House?” Mallory asked.
“That would be kind,” Josh said with a relieved sigh.
“Okay. I could come by around three today, if that’s okay with you,” Mallory said.
“I’ll transfer you back to Ginger, she handles my schedule,” Josh said with a self-deprecating smile.
“I see you learned your lesson well,” Mallory said with a chuckle.
“What kind of lesson?”
“That it’s really the assistants who run the country,” Mallory said with a laugh. “Now, transfer me back.”
Josh’s day quickly deteriorated soon after the conversation with Mallory. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ran late because there was an accident in Kazakhstan. Josh already memorized that Kazakhstan was eleven hours ahead of them so he did the math while hurrying down to the Situation Room where he spent most of his time before lunch. The situation got worse before it got better but he couldn’t do anything besides waiting. He realized that he could as well wait in his office, having lunch with Donna. He really needed the time with her. She not only grounded him, she gave him new energy; this wasn’t a new insight, he realized it the third day after Donna hired herself. She left around one and he dedicated himself to his security briefing memos. Just after two Sam poked his head in, asking for permission to enter.
“Ginger is not there?” Josh asked him.
“No,” Sam said. “Your other secretary is there, she told me to come in.”
“I wish she wouldn’t do that. I mean you are welcome here anytime but she is not able to tell the difference,” Josh said. “So, how was your day?”
“Better than yours by the sight of it,” Sam said, gesturing towards the piles on Josh’s desk.
“Yeah, we not only have a situation in Kazakhstan there are also problems in Israel,” Josh said with a sigh.
“You had lunch?” Sam asked him, looking at him with scrutinizing eyes.
“Yeah, Donna and I have lunch together every day. But you know that,” he added then with a grin. “She makes sure I eat the healthy stuff.”
“She is right, you know, you are not getting any younger,” Sam said.
“Nice way to tell me that I’m old,” Josh said with a scowl.
“Well, I call them as I see them,” Sam said with a grin.
“Hey, how did Anna take the picture?” Josh asked.
“Well, not that good,” Sam said. “Was Donna livid?”
“No, actually no,” Josh said in a low voice.
“Is something wrong?”
“Am I too old to have children on my own?” Josh asked his friend.
“No, I don’t think so,” Sam answered, and Josh could see that he really thought so.
“Okay,” he said non-committal then. “Is he okay?” he changed the topic with a movement of his head towards the Oval Office. He was not quite ready to share his worries about Donna with Sam.
“Yeah, he is okay,” Sam said with a nod. “We bonded a little. Apparently we both hate budget meetings,” he added then with a tired sigh.
“Who doesn’t? I mean except President Bartlet,” Josh said with a gentle smile.
“Yeah.” Sam smiled back.
“Oh, Mallory is coming to visit me today. You wanna meet her?” Josh asked Sam then out of the blue.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea,” Sam said, standing up.
“Well, she is coming in a half an hour and then we’ll go over to the East Wing,” Josh said.
“Okay, thanks,” Sam said and then left Josh’s office.
Josh returned to his memos, although his thoughts were elsewhere. He still didn’t know how to broach the subject to Mallory, but one thing was sure, he didn’t want Annabeth to tell Mallory the news. Leo’s daughter always had a quick temper, and Josh didn’t want to subject a pregnant woman to that. He knew he can take the heat, so it had to be him telling Mallory about Leo’s baby.
And that’s when Ginger told him that Mal was there.
“Send her in,” Josh told his assistant and watched Mallory as she entered the office.
“Nice job,” she said, gesturing around.
“Yeah, Donna helped me,” Josh said with a smile.
“So life’s been good to you lately?” Mallory asked her.
“Well, as good as it gets as Chief of Staff to the President of the United States,” Josh said.
“Tell me about it.”
“I learned a lot from your dad, Mal. I learned from his mistakes too,” he added.
“Good for you. And Donna,” Mallory said. “Okay, small talk aside, what do you want?”
“Well, that was fast,” Josh said with a smirk, but then his face sobered. “Listen, I need to tell you something about your dad. If you want to scream or trash something, you are welcome.”
“Are you sure you want to tell me?” Mallory asked, and Josh heard the trepidation in her voice.
“The papers will write about it soon, and I want you to hear from me,” Josh said.
“Okay,” Mal said, heaving a deep sigh. “Tell me.”
“Your dad had a romantic relationship on the campaign trail,” Josh decided to start there.
“You mean a campaign fling?”
“No, it wasn’t a fling,” Josh said with conviction.
“Well, he was a free agent,” Mallory said cautiously. “I mean it’s news, and I’m a bit hurt that he didn’t tell me, but I guess…”
“Yeah,” Josh interrupted her. “I’m sure they wanted to tell everyone after the elections. It was new. I mean I didn’t know about it back then.”
“Then how do you know it wasn’t a fling?”
“Because Donna and Mrs. Santos knew about it,” Josh said.
“Oh,” Mallory said, clearly taken aback.
“Yeah,” Josh agreed. “There is more.”
“There is more?” Mallory asked, her voice rising. “Did they marry?” she asked then sarcastically.
“That would make this easier,” Josh whispered. “No,” he said then aloud.
“Then what is it?” Mal asked back.
“Well, she is pregnant,” Josh said.
“What?” Mallory shouted and sprang up.
“Yeah, that was predictable,” Josh muttered under his breath.
“What are you talking about?” Mallory shrieked.
“I’m telling you that the woman who had a romantic relationship with your late father is pregnant with his child,” Josh said, and Mallory sat back, her facial expression unreadable. “Mal?”
“Hmmm,” Mal muttered. “Do I know her?”
“Probably,” Josh said. “I mean I think you met her.”
“She was at the funeral?” Mallory asked.
“Yeah,” Josh said.
“It’s Annabeth Schott, right?” Mallory asked.
“How did you know?” Josh asked perplexed.
“Yeah, I think I knew about them. I think I saw it in her eyes when she came to me to offer her condolences.”
Josh only nodded, and then drew a deep breath.
“She is waiting for us in the East Wing,” he said.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She wanted. She doesn’t know I did,” Josh said with a brief grin.
“Why didn’t you let her?” Mallory asked him.
“Well, I didn’t want you to fly off the handle in the presence of a pregnant woman,” Josh said.
“You can be so sweet sometimes,” Mal said with a grin.
“Yeah, they keep telling me that,” Josh admitted with a grin himself.
Josh arrived home around eleven; they waited for the sun come up in Kazakhstan. By eight o’clock local time, the search party found the missing soldiers. Fortunately, they only lost their way and weren’t kidnapped as the Chairman feared. He dragged his tired body into the shower and then into bed. He inched closer to Donna, looped his right arm around her waist and watched her sleep. Five minutes later, Donna woke up.
“It’s not polite to stare at people,” she said in a raspy voice.
“Yeah, I needed to watch you,” he confessed. “You are so beautiful.”
“Thank you. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, they just lost their way,” Josh said. “The Chairman feared that they were kidnapped, but they just got lost.”
“That’s good to hear,” Donna said.
“Any day now,” Josh said in a dark voice.
“Don’t think about it, Josh,” Donna admonished him.
“I just hate this whole situation,” Josh admitted.
“I know,” Donna said, caressing his face with the back of her hand. “You should sleep.”
“Yeah,” Josh said, but didn’t close his eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did you speak to Annabeth after Mal left?”
“Yeah, we had dinner together,” Donna said.
“How was Mal to her?”
“They had a lengthy conversation. Mal offered her to buy a flat for them from Leo’s estate,” Donna said with a chuckle.
“What did Annabeth say?”
“She told her she would think it over. She is a proud woman but she has to think about the baby,” Donna said.
“Yeah,” Josh agreed. “Would you accept it?”
“Annabeth asked me the same,” Donna said with a gentle smile. “I don’t know, probably. It’s not like Leo wouldn’t have left them something if he had known about the baby.”
“That’s right,” Josh said.
“She wants to talk to you,” Donna said. “But she said it could wait until your appointment next week.”
“Was she mad at me?” Josh asked then.
“Because you told Mallory?” Donna asked back.
“Yeah.”
“I think she was at first. She is a strong woman, Josh, she doesn’t need anyone to fight her fights. Her words, not mine. I told her she could always count on her friends, that’s what friends are for. Anyway, Mallory convinced her that it was better this way. Why did you do it?”
“I know Mal,” Josh said. “You know her too. I didn’t want her to scream at Annabeth. I mean she is pregnant, she doesn’t need the added stress.”
“You are…”
“I swear to God if you say sweet I might scream myself,” Josh said with a smirk.
“Yeah,” Donna said with a grin. “Okay, you are very considerate. And a fantastic friend. But I knew that for a long time.”
“Really?”
“Josh, you would do anything for your friends,” Donna said. “That’s one of the things why I fell in love with you. You are very loyal to them, even if they treat you bad.”
“Relationships don’t thrive on themselves, you need to work on them if you want them to work,” Josh said. “One of Dad’s words of wisdom.”
“Your father was a very wise man,” Donna said.
“Yeah, I followed his advice except with one person,” Josh said with a sigh and pulled Donna closer. “How could you ever forgive me for that? For neglecting our friendship?”
“Josh,” Donna sighed.
“Why did you forgive me for that?”
“Because I knew you cared. And because I love you. That’s all the reason I needed,” Donna confessed.
“How did you know I cared?” Josh pressed on. “I didn’t treat you right.”
“Josh. You were there for me when I needed you,” Donna said.
“Yeah, grand gestures. Empty grand gestures,” Josh said, knowing what Donna was talking about.
“I don’t want you to beat yourself up about this. It’s in the past, and you learned from your mistakes,” Donna said. “And they weren’t empty gestures, Josh. You knew the consequences, yet you made those grand gestures.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t think I’m not aware what the diary-debacle could have resulted. You could have been indicted, Josh! If Cliff would have been your standard Republican, he would have come with the Feds, and they would have indicted me for perjury and you because you wanted to cover it up. And don’t get me started on Germany! You left the country while there was an international crisis to deal with. That probably cost you the Chief of Staff-job,” Donna said, tears appearing in her eyes.
“I think my nutty outside the Oval cost me the Chief of Staff-job,” Josh said. “I still don’t know what I would do today if presented with a similar case.”
“You would deal with it, Josh,” Donna said calmly. “I have every confidence in you as Chief of Staff to the President of the United States. There is no better man for the job.”
“Thank you,” Josh said, leaning over to kiss her.
Donna was long asleep before his mind shut down too. He was still thinking about ways how to convince her to have a baby eventually. He couldn’t come up with any really compelling arguments but he decided he would ask people who have children. That was his plan. He didn’t know that Donna already came up with the same plan and set it in motion too. He didn’t even think about what the queries (coming from both of them) could do to the rumor mill.
GO TO PART SIX