Charlie smiled wryly. �She�s picking Sam up from the airport.�
�Is anyone free for dinner?� Zoey pouted.
�The First Lady is in her office today, I could call Lilly and see if she�s available,� Charlie said. Zoey gave him the puppy dog eyes. �I would love to, Zoey, you know that. But Mrs. Landingham had a doctor�s appointment and I�ve got to fill in for her while doing all of my work and there aren�t enough hours in the day for me to do two full time jobs and eat.�
Zoey hopped down off the desk. �Fine. I�ll go see if mom has time for me,� she said in the tone that told Charlie he was in trouble.
�Thanks Ken,� Donna said before closing the car door. She struggled slightly with the heavy luggage but she managed to get it up the steps to Sam�s front door while Sam carried his slumbering niece. Meredith had fallen asleep not long after they left the airport, not having slept since the night of the accident, and neither Sam nor Donna had the heart to wake her.
�You�ve still got your key, right?� Sam asked as he realized that he wouldn�t be able to get his keys out of his pocket without dropping Meredith and that it would look very bad for Donna to reach into his pants pocket. Donna nodded and fumbled through her purse for a moment before smiling triumphantly and pulling out a set of keys that Sam figured weighed more than his laptop. �You�re not moonlighting as a janitor are you?� he asked as she flipped through the keys to find the right one.
�The term is �custodial staff�, and when exactly would I find the time to moonlight? I work twenty hour days, six days a week,� Donna said. �I�m the head assistant in Operations. I have to be able to get into any and all offices in my area, as well as all the file drawers. Plus I have my house keys, car keys, Josh�s house keys and car keys, your house keys, the keys to my sister�s house in Madison, and about ten keys that I don�t really know the use of but I�m sure I�d find out if I threw them out so I�m keeping them anyway.� She found the key to Sam�s front door and quickly let them inside. �Office protocol decrees, ironically enough, that all keys to the offices be locked up while I�m in the office, by the way, so that�s why I don�t have to lug all these around all day.�
Sam frowned. Thinking back he could remember Bonnie complaining about the number of keys she needed to keep track of. He�d never really thought much of it.
�I�ll just put her down in my room,� Sam decided.
�No need. C�mon. I�ve got a surprise for you,� Donna said, leaving the rolling suitcase in the front hallway and tugging on Sam�s sleeve to get him to follow her to what was now Meredith�s room. �You didn�t have much time before you left and I promised to help out any way that I could, so� I went shopping,� she said as she pushed open the door and revealed what Sam decided was the perfect bedroom for his niece. �The, uh, mattress is new and you own it outright. The rest of the furniture is from one of those rental places because I knew you didn�t know how long Meredith would be here. That�s also why we decided not to paint the walls. Well, that, and the time factor,� Donna rambled as Sam set the little girl down on the bed and took off her shoes before tucking her in under the covers.