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�Mr. President?� Josh questioned. He hadn�t seen Bartlet looking so grim since he talked to the crew of the small ship that was destroyed in Hurricane Sarah the year before.
�Get Toby, Sam, and CJ in my office,� Bartlet said stonily.
Josh nodded. �Okay, but, uh, sir, Sam just got back from California and I don�t know if he will be able to get anyone to watch� um� Meredith,� he said, stumbling over his words. Seeing someone he idolized and had always thought of as so squared away acting the way Bartlet was had Josh feeling like Armageddon was upon them. Which, considering that Fitzwallace and Nancy had the same look on their faces, Josh thought that that might just be the case.
�He can bring her in. Get everyone back in. We�re going to need a full staff tonight,� Bartlet said.
�Yes, Mr. President,� Josh said as he rushed toward his office to pull everyone back in.
Donna was passing Meredith�s room when she noticed that the girl was awake and looking around the room with a curiosity that was definitely a Seaborn trait. �Hey,� Dona smiled. �Do you like your room?�
�It�s okay,� Meredith shrugged. �Uncle Sam said he hadn�t gotten it set up yet, though. He made it sound like I would be sleeping on the couch or something.�
�He didn�t know it was finished. Some of our friends at work did it for you,� Donna said as she entered the room and moved to sit down on the edge of the twin-sized bed. �I, uh, wasn�t sure what you liked, but I have a niece who is about your age, so I asked her for some advice on what girls your age like. If you don�t like it we can change anything you want.�
�No, it�s great. I think it�s bigger than my room at home,� Meredith said with a small smile. Donna returned the smile but didn�t say anything, knowing that she shouldn�t push. �How long have your known my uncle?� Meredith asked, changing subjects as quickly as Donna did from time to time.
Thinking back, Donna calculated the time. She had met Sam half an hour after Josh handed her his pass. It had been exactly three years, four months, six days, twelve hours, five minutes earlier that Sam had walked into her area in front of Josh�s office to get his opinion on a speech they were working on for the next rally. �For a little over three years. We met when he was trying to get the President elected. I joined the campaign about two months after he did,� Donna said. Meredith didn�t need to know that she knew the exact minute that they had met. She hadn�t even confessed that little secret to her diary.