| Title: Bouncing Sunday Author: Priya [email protected] Rated: G Category: General/ensemble Summary: A Sunday afternoon, and things get a little loopy in the Bartlet White House. Disclaimer/notes: I don't own 'em, please don't sue me. Also, this is in response to the 'Playing Hooky' challenge. It's unbeta'd, too, so beware. In addition, I was very tempted to call this "Crouching Staffers, Hidden Balls," but better (?) sense prevailed. Archive: If you want to. Just let me know. *** The cursor blinked angrily at him. "Dammit!" he growled, slamming the laptop closed as carefully as possible, for he knew that laptops are inherently easy to break and slamming it closed uncarefully would result in serious breakage and repair bills made out to him. So he slammed the laptop closed as carefully as possible. Opening the drawer to his left, he fished around blindly until his fingers wrapped around a springy, foam rubber pink ball. Scooting back in his chair, he propped his sneakered feet up on the desk and tossed the ball at the bland-colored wall. It bounced back amicably, landing in his lazily outstretched hand. He threw it again; again, it returned easily. Three or four more bounces, and he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he mumbled, tossing the ball again. "Toby, that's getting, you know, *really* annoying," Sam Seaborn stated, motioning to the wall separating his office. "You live through it every other day in relative silence, why's today different?" He wasn't really expecting an answer; either that, or he didn't really care. "Today's Sunday, and we really shouldn't be at work. Also, it's seventy-four degrees outside, and absurdly sunny," was Seaborn's quick reply. Ziegler caught the ball and held it, glancing curiously at Sam. "It's absurdly sunny?" "Well, I mean-" "No, how can it be absurdly sunny?" "It's sunny, in an absurd way," he stated, gesticulating in a mutedly wild way, his t-shirt shifting silently as his arms went this way and that. "Because we're inside, going over legal briefs and statements from, like, two and three years ago, wondering if we accidentally lied to the press about something we *knew nothing about*." He fingered the ball for a moment. Suddenly, he threw it Sam's way. His deputy caught it easily, and looked at it in confusion for a moment. Grabbing the oblong, straight gel-filled wrist pad from his desk, he pointed at the ball in Sam's hand. Seaborn smirked a little and tossed it back to his boss. Gripping the longish pad with both hands, Toby whacked the ball back to him with the plastic side. Again, Sam caught it, and Toby followed him outside. The Communications bullpen was relatively empty, since it *was* a Sunday afternoon, but because of the computers and whatnot, they opted to enter the even emptier hallway. Taking up a ridiculously caricatured batter's stance at one end of the hallway, he waited for Sam's pitch. *whack* The pink rubber ball sailed over Sam's head in a lazy arc, and he watched dumbly as it bounced against the far wall before rolling back toward his feet and coming to a rest. "Great catch, Tonto," Toby called. "C'mon, gimme another." Glaring at his boss, Sam picked up the ball and tossed it hard towards him. *whack* This time, Sam had to duck so that the ball wouldn't slam into his head. Twisting around to see where the killer pink rubber sphere landed, he stared in amazement as CJ caught it deftly with one hand. "Wow," he uttered. "College. Softball scholarship." Tossing the ball back to Seaborn, she dropped the manila folder to the side of the hallway. "Let's go." He tossed the ball to Toby. This time, he hit it even harder than before, and Sam had to duck once more. It bounced against the floor once, but CJ caught it anyway, even though she had to use both hands instead of just the one. Ziegler quirked his head to the side and furrowed his brows, staring at her in amazement. "Damn," he muttered before taking off down the hall at breakneck speed. "The hell," Sam murmured, running after Toby in surprise. CJ was close behind him and catching up fast, her long jean-clad legs eating up the distance between them quickly. Toby darted into the first open door he saw. "Hey," he greeted hurriedly as he zipped past the desk into the next door. "Hey," Donna returned, confused. "And hey and hey," she added, as CJ and Sam turned into her office and followed the same path that Toby had. Curious, she got up and followed them into Josh's office, just in time to see CJ winding up a pitch. The ball sped through the air, and Toby ducked out of the way. It hit an already-dazed Josh instead, bouncing happily off his forehead and onto his desk. Lyman watched the ball in confusion for a moment, still sitting behind his desk, his pen still poised over a page of text. "Um . . . ow?" He picked it up and glared at CJ. CJ stared back at the pink rubber ball as Josh held it menacingly. "I . . . gotta go." She spun around and darted from the room. He turned his glare to Sam. "Hi." "People to meet, speeches to write," he stated lightly before turning and running from the office. His eyes then fell on Toby. "This yours?" Ziegler leaned against the wall comfortably. "Yeah." His countenance became startled as the ball bonked off his nose and back into Josh's hand. "Hey!" "Go. Now." He raced off after Toby, turning the ball madly in his hand. "You can't do this," Toby called behind him, running to catch up with CJ and Sam. "Yeah, I can!" Throwing the ball at Toby's head, he added, "Technically, I'm your boss!" He stumbled forward as another pink ball hit him in the back. "What the-!" Toby stopped and turned at Josh's exclamation. "Over here, Robin!" he shouted commandingly. Sam chucked a second ball to Toby, and handed a third to CJ. A fourth still rested in his hands. "You're time's up, Joker. The Dynamic Duo's here!" At CJ's cold glare, he added quickly, "With the help, of course, from . . . Catwoman." "Catwoman?" she asked, putting one hand on her hip and regarding him skeptically. He turned and looked at her, beginning matter-of-factly, "Well, you know, there's Bast, and all that-" "I'm the Joker?" He furrowed his brows, contemplating his new title. "Cool." "People," Toby stated, irritated. "Can we get on with it?" Three balls slammed into Josh's body as he twitched and writhed under the barrage. "No fair!" he yelped as the third one hit his shoulder. "I don't have any balls!" "I do!" came Donna's voice as she scurried to snatch up the pink globes before chucking them with dead-on accuracy at her boss' attackers. "Take that, you . . . people!" Sam was the only one quick enough to dodge out of the way. "That's right, we *are* people, Harley Quinn, people who are tired of-" "Shut up, Sam," CJ interrupted, grabbing his arm and dragging him off after Josh and Donna as they ran down a hallway. Toby was quick behind them, carrying all the discarded balls. "But I'm Robin," Sam sputtered. "Right, and I'm Rogue," she spat back. "Let's get 'em!" "That's not even the same comic book company," Toby panted out behind them. "Like I care. There they are!" She took a proffered ball, as did Sam, and they all took aim. They weren't fast enough, as Josh and Donna quickly disappeared into an office. Margaret looked up from her keyboard to see who had come in. "Hey guys, what-" She stopped mid-sentence as Sam, CJ, and Toby all stumbled into the office, throwing arms cocked at the ready. "Eep!" Dodging under the desk, she grabbed the phone and took it with her, careful to keep the phone line from coming loose. She dialed her boss' extension quickly and put the phone to her ear. Josh and Donna, in the meantime, were busy trying to look for cover. Thinking quickly, they leapt behind a couple of filing cabinets near Leo's door. Unfortunately, they were still in plain view of their aggressors. The Three Avengers all raised their arms to throw, when all the office's occupants heard a door open. Frozen in mid-toss, they looked at the door that was between Josh and Donna as it opened slowly. Leo emerged, slowly and ominously. Out of the entire group, he was the only one wearing a suit, albeit missing the jacket and tie, and with his sleeves rolled up slightly in the mid-afternoon heat. "Children," he growled warningly. Sam, CJ, and Toby glanced at each other. A moment later, the balls smacked into Leo, bouncing giddily from his body onto the ground. Josh and Donna were the first to start snickering as they stumbled back to their co-workers. The other three were soon to follow, guffawing and giggling at Leo's expense. McGarry crossed his arms over his chest, frowning at them with slightly furrowed brows and hard eyes. The balls lay silent and frozen at his feet. They stopped laughing abruptly. Just then, President Bartlet poked his head into the office, behind Leo. "What's up?" he asked cheerily. "I think it's time to teach the kids to respect their elders," Leo answered slowly, a mischievous glint seeping into his otherwise harsh eyes. Bartlet looked at him, then at the balls at his feet. "I see what you mean . . . " He tugged on his Notre Dame t-shirt imperiously and moved to stand beside his long-time best friend. "Indeed, I do." The five staffers stared at their bosses, eyes wide and jaws slackened in shock and slight fear. Abruptly, they all turned to leave, pushing past each other to be the first out the door. Leo and Bartlet scooped up the pink balls and raced after them, splitting up the ammunition and the targets as evenly as possible. Moments later, after the door had clicked shut again, Margaret poked her head up from behind her desk. Looking around warily to check if the coast was clear, she breathed a sigh of relief and stood up again. Reseating herself, a slightly harried expression on her face, she rolled her shoulders and put her fingers back on the keyboard. She began typing again, shaking her head in dismay. She paused and looked up in thought. "And they have the temerity to call *me* weird. Feh!" -end- |