Master of the City

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

You know what's sad?

What's sad is I finished the frickin' epilogue and have yet to finish the next chapter.

Thanks for being patient with me.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

After A Mandatory Vacation/Part 13

Rating: PG, some language, references to sex -- not explicit.
Spoilers: Everything, especially Transition.
Disclaimer: Wells, Sorkin, WB, NBC, definitely not me. Don't sue, this is not for profit, only for fun.
Archive: Yes Please.
Feedback: Always welcome. You can always post a comment. Any and all feedback welcome. Really.
A/N: Again, not beta'd. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are below. And we're back. Sorry for the delay in working on this. Part 14 should be up in about a week.

“That’s right C.J.; I just went over there and had my way with him as soon as he got home.”

“Donna, this is a very bad pattern.”

“Well, it’s a pattern that we ended so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“Okay. So how was it?”

“It was fine.”

“Fine?”

“Well, you should realize that he had flown to and from California to talk to Sam that day, so he had left his apartment at about four that morning, worked on the plane, gotten into LA at eleven California time, saw Sam, then hopped on a plane at two California time and walked in his door at eleven that night when I got there. He was fried. So it was hot and desperate and needy and did not take particularly long and he passed out right afterwards. Normally I would have been a little upset but in this case he seemed so…”

“Desperate?”

“Yes.”

“You always liked it when he needed you.”

“Yes C.J., and this is why I probably need intensive therapy; but it certainly felt nice to think that I was that need.”

“So you had lousy sex…”

“No, I had serviceable sex. Not great, but good. I think he enjoyed it more than I did, but I certainly wasn’t left frustrated. Of all of the bad things we could both say about Josh, he’s not selfish in bed. He makes sure his partner is suitably entertained.”

“Well, I’ll file that away in case we are ever the last two people on earth and the human race is dependant on us for survival.”

Donna smiled and rolled her eyes. “Well, we were asleep before midnight, which was probably good as Josh had not been sleeping all that much and, in truth, I hadn’t been sleeping all that well and I slept so soundly that I didn’t even wake up until five.”

“Slept in did you?” C.J. smiled wryly.

“My sleep had been completely off since the campaign, so five and a half hours uninterrupted were lovely, thanks for asking. But Josh wasn’t in bed when I woke up. Knowing we had to talk I showered quickly and put my clothes back on and finally went out to the living room where he was sitting in his underwear working.”

“How charming.”

“Yes, I can’t say that was ever part of the fantasy, although it is very much in keeping with that which is Josh.”

“Very true.”

“He asked me something having to do with policy and then he told me that the previous night was nice.”

“Nice?”

“Nice.”

“Well I guess that’s…”

“Nice?”

C.J. snorted. “Yeah.”

“Yeah, then he babbled a little bit about the ‘niceness’ of the previous meeting and I realized we had to talk or this would just go on. I’d been practicing what I needed to say for about three days, figuring out what he would say back and so I just let him know that I understood why whatever we were doing was undefined but that we had to define it before it was too late. I told him we never had to talk about the relationship but if we didn’t it would be over in about four weeks.”

“Wow. That took some…”

“Balls is the word I think you’re looking for.”

“Probably.”

“I even told him he didn’t have to panic, which I was sure he would, but he seemed more dazed by the whole speech. Then I told him I had to go because I didn’t know how long I was going to be able to hold myself together after all of that, I kissed him goodbye, just so he would remember what he was giving up if he chose not to talk about whatever was going on, and I left.”

“He didn’t say anything.”

“I heard him yell ‘bye!’ as the door closed. And you’d be proud. I didn’t go over that next night…although it turned out he spent the night working so it wouldn’t have done me much good anyway.”

“Well you were probably chafing at that point anyway.”

“C.J.!”

“I’m just saying, it was probably good for your guys to take a night off. You’re not 19 anymore and he certainly isn’t.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Yeah. But as you so ably pointed out when you showed up here a little over a week ago, I was most certainly not at my best.”

“Yes, I was certainly right.” Said Sam.

“Acknowledged.”

“So what did you say to her later.”

“Later?”

“Yes, later that day, you know, that which is after what came before?”

“Stop snarking at me.”

“You know, Donna used that word and I didn’t know what it meant then.”

“Oh God, do you mean I’ve picked up a Donnaism?”

“After nine years, I’d think you’d pick up several.”

Yeah, but, Sam, Harvard and Yale and now I’m talking like a cheese head.”

“She was always more than just a cheese head. And watch it, that’s my friend you’re talking about.”

“Yeah. Your right. On both points.”

“So, are you ever going to tell me how you followed up Donna’s speech to you that morning?”

“Uh, I didn’t.”

“You didn’t.”

"No. I didn't."

“Well. If I were C.J. I would smack you on the back of the head now.”

“I hadn’t seen her Sam! I didn’t see her all day! And then I worked late. I didn’t spend any time with her at all.”

“But you didn’t make time.”

“No.”

“So when did you talk to her about it?”

“The next day.”

“After you had spent the whole night working…”

“Yes.”

“After admitting to me that you were not at your best…”

“Yes.”

“Well, that must have been bad on so many levels.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“I’m just saying, it was probably good for your guys to take a night off. You’re not 19 anymore and he certainly isn’t.”

“Actually, given his drive you might think he was.”

“DONNA!”

“You brought it up C.J.”

“I did,” C.J. sighed, “Don’t let me drink any more of this. My judgment is clearly compromised at this point.”

“Okay.”

“So, you guys took the night off, after you told him that he needed to make a decision.”

“Well, a night off is a bit of a misnomer for Josh. He just spent the night in the office.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. I didn’t see him the entire day after I gave him my thoughts. In fact I didn’t lay eyes on him until the next afternoon. Which is, of course, when he told me that he wasn’t going to be able to make any kind of relationship determination in my time frame.”

“I don’t even know why I’m surprised.”

“Yes, you really shouldn’t be. I just told him he had three weeks and six days to go.”

“Good for you.”

“I thought it was the right move.”

“What about not putting pressure on him?”

“Well, first, he had initiated the whole thing by saying he wanted to ‘talk.’ Second, I wasn’t pressuring him, I wasn’t hounding him, he brought it up and I mentioned the deadline again. And third…”

“There’s a third?”

“Of course there is a third. And third, Josh was just doing what he does in any situation where he doesn’t have the answer. He tries to change the parameters to his advantage. He wanted to see if I was going to cave to make his life easier.”

“And you weren’t going to do that.”

“Clearly not. And finally…”

“Wait, there is a finally? I thought that’s what the ‘And third…” signified?”

“No, there is a finally.”

“What is it then?”

“I know Josh.”

“Yeah, so do I.”

“Right, but I know Josh. I know how his mind works. I knew he’d eventually make the right choice.”

“You did not.”

“Well, I’ve never been completely confident in my relationship with Josh. But over the past year I’ve begun to realize a few things. One of those things is that we need each other C.J. I’m afraid it sounds a bit co-dependant but we’re better together than we are apart. I just had some faith that would be enough. I had faith that he would come to the right conclusion eventually.”

“But what if that conclusion hadn’t been within your time frame.”

“You know, I was a little worried about that, but I had faith he would figure it out. And, if I may point out, he did. And it only took two and a half days total. So I was right.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Well, that must have been bad on so many levels.”

“Well, yeah.”

“What happened?”

“I realized she still hadn’t been offered a job and I had met with Lou that day and she had accepted Communications Director so when I bumped into Donna I offered her the Deputy job.”

“Which she isn’t taking now.”

“No.”

“Because of you?”

“Uh…yeah…no…well, yeah, but only sort of.”

“She’s only sort of not taking the job because of you?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, she said that whatever was going to happen between us she couldn’t work for me again. She said if we were sleeping together that wouldn’t work well and if we had stopped sleeping together…”

“She had a good point. I can see how that might be a problem.”

“Yeah. But there was another thing.”

“What other thing?”

“It seems she got a better offer?”

“What better offer? She’s going to work for that other government?” Sam grinned, “The Benelux countries really did make her an offer?”

“Uh, no, this isn’t public knowledge but she’s going to be Chief of Staff.”

“Josh. I get that you love her, but that doesn’t mean you have to give her your job.”

“No, not Chief of Staff to the President! Chief of Staff to Mrs. Santos.”

Sam blinked in stunned silence for a moment. “Wow, that’s…really? That’s great, good for her.”

“Yeah. That was my reaction too.”

“It was?”

“Well, the shock was certainly the same. Only I had been thinking we really could just work together and sleep together. It never occurred to me that she might have a problem with it. And now we wouldn’t be working together at all…”

“Well, I suspect you’d have some interaction…”

“Yes, but it wouldn’t be like it had been. It wouldn’t be her and me against everyone else. It wouldn’t be the same as it had been on the campaign after she joined. It just…”

“You panicked.”

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“I told her that it was great. And then I told her I needed more than the four weeks she set out to make a decision.”

“Was she mad?”

“No. She just told me I had three weeks and six days and walked away.”

“Did you chase after her?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I needed to go to a meeting. I had a million and one things to do. I pushed it aside.”

“Okay.”

“But I think you now know why I blew up at Otto now.”

TBC (with less of a lag time. Promise.)

Part 13 Will Be Posted Tonight.

I need to get home from work (which is where I am writing this now...shhhhhh...) and then I need to proof it one more time and then I will post.

14 to follow about a week later I would imagine.

Thanks for all your support.

Friday, September 29, 2006

I Swear Part 13 is Coming!!!!!!

But it's not done yet. The following have been the reasons for the delay:

1) Had to give a HUGE presentation at work which was finished on Tuesday (yeay!)

before that:

2) I was away for vacation for almost two weeks

before that:

3) I was busy trying to get stuff done before I want on vacation

and during all of this I:

4) Have been interviewing for a new job which, on Wednesday, I will have my SIXTH, that's right, SIXTH interview for.

So basically I have done very little writing but I HATE it when people don't finish their fics so I swear it will not let this one die and I plan on finishing it very soon.

Sorry.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

After A Mandatory Vacation/Part 12

Rating: PG
Spoilers: Everything, especially Transition.
Disclaimer: Wells, Sorkin, WB, NBC, definitely not me. Don't sue, this is not for profit, only for fun.
Archive: Yes Please.
Feedback: Always welcome. You can always post a comment. Any and all feedback welcome. Really.
A/N: Again, not beta'd. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are below. I know these are taking forever, Feedback makes me write faster.

“Yeah, but I think in the long run it was good. It meant we were sort of back to our old selves.”

“But I know you didn’t spend that night with him.”

“No. I knew he wanted to, which was enough for me at the time, but I wanted to mourn Leo in my own way. I didn’t want to help Josh mourn, and that’s what would have happened. And it would have been kind of rude and more than a little mean to do what I wanted to do, which was get laid and then leave. If I was going to spend the night with Josh I was going to have to be there for him emotionally that night and I couldn’t do that. So I didn’t.”

“But I know you went the next night.”

Donna grinned, “Yes I did.”

“And it went well?”

“Well, we still fit together if that’s what you mean.”

“Ew, no, that is not what I mean.”

Donna smiled. “Look C.J., we still hadn’t talked about what this whole thing was. You and I would get home, make small talk, close our doors and pretend to be asleep. Don’t think I didn’t know you were sneaking out and I’m not stupid enough to think that you didn’t know I was sneaking out and, yes, at some point, but obviously not tonight, we are going to have a conversation about you sneaking out because it’s only fair that if I have to talk about all of this then you have to talk about all of this. But at the time I was sneaking over to Josh, using him for my own selfish pleasure, and then when I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom I would leave quietly and come back here in the early morning.”

“I can’t imagine Josh was particularly fond of that arrangement.”

“Why not?”

“Because of a few things. One, Josh is a control freak and he had no control over whether you were having sex or not, you had the control. Two, Josh hates uncertainty. As much as an idiot as he is about women he likes things defined…and you were not defined. Three, because he’s been in love with you for years and he still couldn’t tell you.”

“Yes, but don’t forget he also fears change…which is kind of awful given that he works in government if you think about it…so I think he was also scared that we needed to define the relationship. And I think he was even more terrified that it was going to have to be him that did the defining, as I was not going to push him in the slightest. I’ve seen what happens when you push Josh, he tends to run the other way and ask questions later. I had no time or energy to let Josh feel pushed by me so instead I wanted to wait until he brought it up.”

“Wait, so Josh was the one who initially brought up defining the relationship.”

“Oh yeah. I slept with him Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He told me that we needed to ‘talk’ on Tuesday. Sounded terrified too.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“No, she didn’t. But she came over the next night.” Said Josh with a big smile as he drank again from his beer.

“Really, and did you talk?”

“No, we did not. She called me and said C.J. was asleep and wanted to know if she could come over, which I, of course, said she could. About a half hour later she was standing at my door. She looked as gorgeous as ever and I just had to kiss her.”

“I think it is remarkably funny that you keep having all these urges to kiss Donna. I have to wonder if these urges are new?”

“I think we both know that the urges are not new.”

“So the fact that you have been kissing her has worn your resistance to resisting these urges down?”

Josh gave a half smile, “You know, I always suspected if I started kissing Donna it would be extremely difficult to stop kissing her.”

“And it proved true.”

“Could be a self fulfilling prophecy.”

“I actually highly doubt that.”

“So was I that obvious to everyone?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, well, she came over, we you know…”

“Made love?”

“Had sex.”

“I don’t think so actually, I think you made love to her.”

“That’s such an awful phrase.”

“But an apt one given the situation.”

“I suppose. Anyway I fell asleep in her arms after we were finished.”

“That must have been nice.”

“It was.”

“And I assume you talked a little after that.”

“Uh, no, she was leaving when I woke up.”

“Wait, what time was that?”

“Around 4:30 in the morning.”

“So she came over late at night, used you for sex, and then left?”

“Yeah.”

“And did you confront her in the slightest?”

“I asked her where she was going that first night.”

“That first night?”

“Yeah, that first night started the pattern. She came over Saturday and Sunday and Monday and on all three nights she came over late, used me for sex…not that I am complaining about that mind you…fell asleep with me and then left really early. So that first night, Saturday night, I asked her where she was going and she said she had lots of things to do the next day and needed to go home and change and get an hour of sleep before going into the office.”

“So by the time I saw you on Tuesday morning…”

“She had done this three times to me.”

“Which is why when I asked you about your personal life…”

“What was I going to say Sam? This unspoken thing between Donna and me, which I didn’t even know anyone had ever noticed, seemed to be turning into something else and I didn’t know what it was or what to do about it and I was scared out of my mind that I was going to screw it up?”

“Well yeah.”

“Sam!”

“Yeah Josh, that’s exactly what you say to your friends about your relationships.”

“Well I know that NOW.” Josh smiled into his beer.

“Eh, looks like you didn’t need me anyway?”

“Well, actually I did. When you asked me about my personal life and I didn’t know what to say I realized I really needed to talk to her, so on the way back to the airport I called her and told her I thought we needed to talk.”

“Over the phone?”

“No, not over the phone, when I got back into town.”

“And was she responsive.”

“She said that would be good.”

“And was it?”

“Well, when I got back, we didn’t talk so much as, uh, she used me for sex again and then she talked.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Oh yeah. I slept with him Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He told me that we needed to ‘talk’ on Tuesday. Sounded terrified too.”

“Wait, this is such a classic Josh with a girl moment. I want to know the details.”

“Well, first, let me set the tone in his voice. He sound like someone was strangling him while he was talking to me.”

“Donna!”

“What, it’s true!”

“Okay, so he called you and sounded like his nuts were in a vice…”

“C.J.!”

“What, I’m just embellishing.”

“No, actually, I like that a lot better, it’s more descriptive.”

“Well thank you.”

“You welcome. So he called me and we talked business for a moment and then he didn’t hang up so I asked if there was something else. His voice was strangled and he said he was sure there was something and then he told me we should ‘talk’ when he got home. I had been waiting for him to say something so told him that I though it was a good idea. I was worried he would hear the relief in my voice but I think he was so embarrassed that he sounded like a 14 year old boy that he didn’t even notice. Then I wished him a good flight and he wished me the same…”

“But your were in D.C.?”

“Yeah, he realized that too, then he started to back-track, but I saved him from himself and told him I needed to go.”

“So you talked when he got home that night.”

“Oh, of course we didn’t.”

“But you didn’t even wait until I was faking sleep that night, you just left.”

“I know, but we didn’t talk Tuesday night C.J.”

“So what did you…oh wait, old pattern.”

“That’s right C.J.; I just went over there and had my way with him as soon as he got home.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Well, when I got back, we didn’t talk so much as, uh, she used me for sex again and then she talked.”

“I’m so confused now. Start at the beginning. You left me, you told her you guys needed to talk, she agreed, you flew back here and then what?”

“I walked in the door, dropped my stuff and she knocked on my door perhaps two minutes later. I answered it and she was standing there and I told her that when I told her we needed to talk I didn’t mean right then, that I was fried and she said she had no intention of talking and kissed me. So I kissed her back and the next thing I knew we were, well, doing what we had been doing a lot over the course of the past week.”

“And then you said she talked?”

“Well, she had been leaving when I was asleep but this time I woke up before she left and so, instead of going back to sleep I got up and did some work in the living room waiting for her to wake up. She started to stir at about 5am, which is about an hour after I woke up and she came out and I tried to initiate a conversation.”

“How did you do that?”

“Well, not very well unfortunately, I told her the previous evening had been very nice…I actually kind of botched it but she interrupted me and then gave me a little Donna speech.”

“A Donna speech?”

“Yeah, where she has clearly thought out what she thinks I am going to say and then goes on a little diatribe trying to hit all the points before I can bring up the negatives. She used to do it all the time when she was my assistant and she was trying to convince me to let her do something I didn’t want her to do. The funny thing is I always assumed that she would go off and so I generally had already made the decision to let her do whatever it was before the actually did the diatribe, but it entertained me.”

“She always entertained you.”

“She still does. Anyway she told me to listen to her and then she sat down across from me and laid out what we had been doing and how we didn’t know what it was and we needed to figure it out within the next four weeks or there probably wasn’t really anything there. And then she kissed me, a spectacular kiss I should clarify, and then she left.”

“And you didn’t respond?”

“I didn’t have time.”

“Although, now that I think of it, that was less than two weeks ago so, uh, if she’s moving in now…”

“Yeah, I figured it out, but at the time I couldn’t think when I was going to have the time to figure out what I wanted from her.”

“But you knew what you wanted from her.”

“Excuse me?”

“You knew what you wanted. Josh, you’ve known for a while now what you wanted from her.”

“Yeah. But as you so ably pointed out when you showed up here a little over a week ago, I was most certainly not at my best.”

TBC

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

After A Mandatory Vacation/Part 11

Rating: PG
Spoilers: Everything, especially Requiem.
Disclaimer: Wells, Sorkin, WB, NBC, definitely not me. Don't sue, this is not for profit, only for fun.
Archive: Yes Please.
Feedback: Always welcome. You can always post a comment. Any and all feedback welcome. Really.
A/N: Again, not beta'd. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are below. I know these are taking forever, hopefully I'll be back on track but no promises.

“Oh please, Josh was focused on the laptop; he wasn’t even paying attention to me.”

“The idea that anything more happened between you two boggles my mind.”

“Well, look, we weren’t exactly at our best. Either of us.”

“That’s true.”

“C.J., I think we’ve established that neither Josh nor I were at our best.”

“Yes. And I think I’ve established that we can agree on that.”

“So I went back to my room. I packed, I napped, and I left for D.C. that morning and checked into the hotel in D.C. and did some last minute work with Lou in our D.C. campaign office coordinating taking over the transition offices at the OEOB, at which point I was told that I would be homeless come Friday afternoon. I spent the day doing that and was just exhausted when I got back to my room. I think I saw Josh for all of three seconds when he got there. I went back to the hotel I had been given by the campaign and didn’t even eat dinner, I just went to sleep. Next morning I woke up, dressed for Leo’s funeral and went to Leo’s funeral. Then, at the wake, I asked you if I could stay with you. I barely saw Josh during that time, unless you count actually seeing him from across the room at the funeral. I would have been there for him, but he never asked and he was so distracted, I just didn’t want to get in his way.”

“Oh, God, so when you asked if you could stay with me you thought you were done with Josh.”

Donna furrowed her brow. “No. I honestly didn’t know. I’ve seen Josh Lyman screw up relationships with women for so many years I had all this knowledge about what I shouldn’t do…and it worked. I shouldn’t push him, I shouldn’t crowd him, I shouldn’t yell at him. I figured if I followed those basic guidelines I would figure out what was happening with us eventually. As it turned out, I was right.”

“So, you didn’t want to ask if you were staying at his place because…”

“Because if I had asked him if I could stay with him he would have had a nutty. Can you just imagine,” Donna’s pretended to have the conversation with Josh, “’Hi Josh, I have no place to live, can I stay with you?’ He would have blanched and started looking for the nearest exit. Besides, I didn’t want that much togetherness without some boundaries being established, that would have been bad too.”

“But I saw you guys talking at Leo’s wake?”

“Yeah. Which, by the way, started off when I stopped by to say ‘hi’ to Charlie and he wanted to know why Josh hadn’t offered me a job yet, which I couldn’t exactly answer given the circumstances. I mean really. I finally had to talk to Josh when I needed to alert him that someone was looking for him to ask about a job and I also wanted to extend the President’s invitation to go up to the residence. I had seen him leaving with Amy earlier.”

“And what did you think of that?” Ask C.J., smiling.

“Not much to be honest. Oh, I know, he dated her for the better part of a year and then fell back into bed with her for a while, but that relationship was doomed from the start and of all of the things I know about Josh, I know he doesn’t want to go through that again.”

“Well, that’s certainly true.”

“Yes it is. Given what had happened in the last few days I was not particularly concerned about Josh falling into bed for comfort with Amy. In truth I was more afraid that the only reason he was going to fall into bed was with me again.”

“Donna, you know, you really should give yourself a little more credit…”

“C.J., it has nothing to do with credit. It has to do with Josh…”

“Hey, you’re right. I mean if anyone gets Josh, it’s you.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“…I just wasn’t focused on her. I know I should have been, but I wasn’t.”

“Josh…” Sam sighed.

“I know. Anyway I didn’t realize she had left until the door clicked shut and I couldn’t very well run after her could I?”

“And why not.”

“Hunh?”

“Why not? Why couldn’t you run after her?”

“Because I was in my underwear!”

“Yeah, but that’s not the reason.”

“Of course it was the reason.”

“Josh…”

“What? It was four in the morning!”

“Yeah. But the reason you didn’t follow her out wasn’t because of your underwear and it wasn’t because it was four in the morning. It was because you were scared she didn’t want you to follow her.”

“Yeah, right Sam. Whatever.” Josh took another swig of his beer and rolled his eyes.

“Look, you can deny it as much as you want, but I know you. But let’s move on because you’re obviously not going to admit it. When did you see her again?”

“Well, I really didn’t see her again until the funeral. I mean she was at the transition offices working with Lou the next day, but I was so busy and she was so busy I just never got the opportunity to talk to her. I wanted to ask her if she needed a place to stay past Friday, but there was never the opportunity, so I didn’t until Leo’s wake.”

“You asked her if she wanted to move in with you at Leo’s wake?”

“No, I didn’t ask her if she wanted to move in with me.”

“Wait, so what did you ask her?”

“Well, she came over to tell me something and I asked her if she had still had someone staying in her apartment.”

“Which I know she did.”

“Right, but she was going to stay with C.J. so I told her I thought she could crash with me.”

“You invited her to “crash” with you?”

“Well, I didn’t put it that way!”

“What way did you put it?”

“I asked her if she still had my key…”

“From when she was your assistant?”

“Well, I didn’t add that part. Anyway then I told her I thought she could stay with me.”

“And she said.”

“She said I was sweet but she didn’t think I was ready for that step.”

“Oh God!” Sam placed his head in his hands, he could see what was coming and it wasn’t good.

“I asked if she thought I was ready for sex in a hotel but not in my apartment.”

“And what was her reaction?” asked Sam, still not looking up.

“She asked me if I thought that all of this was awkward and hard to navigate…so she totally called me on my shit. And she had a point.”

“Yes she did.”

“So, I was really worried that maybe this thing with Donna was over, you know? But then I realized it probably wasn’t.”

“And when did you realize this?”

“When Amy Gardner tried to set me up with Sarah Potraro.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Hey, you’re right. I mean if anyone gets Josh, it’s you.”

“I suppose. Although he often surprises me.”

“I know I’ll regret asking, but how so?”

“Like he assumed I would be staying with him and not you when we got back to D.C.”

“Wait! When did you find that out?”

“At the wake.”

“Hang on there; back-up a moment for those of us who don’t always get the dynamic here. Josh hasn’t really spoken to you since you left his room without him even noticing Thursday very early in the morning and at a wake he mentions to you that he expects you to stay with him?”

“Well, it was more like he asked me if I still had his key and then sort of assumed I would be staying with him so I could have sex with him.”

“And you said no I assume.”

“Safe assumption since I stayed with you that night. I used you as the excuse actually. At least I did on Friday night.”

“Yes, I noticed those oh so stealthy disappearances at midnight.”

Donna blushed and smiled, “I know you didn’t notice all of them because I know that on several occasions you were not home, and I am fairly sure you weren’t working late.”

“All right, we’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you.” C.J. could feel her face flush as well.

Donna dropped it and moved on. “Well I was fending off rumors from a reporter and the President had invited us back to the residence after the wake, so I needed to find Josh and get him there and when I found him he was talking to Amy Gardner again.”

“And there’s nothing there…”

“Unless animosity counts C.J., there is really nothing there. After I told Josh about the rumor Amy asked me about this woman, Sarah Potrero and asked me what I thought of her. Before I had a chance to answer Josh informed me that Amy wanted him to date her.”

“Oh, well, that’s awkward.”

“Actually it wasn’t. I decided it was time to mess with Josh a little bit so I told him she was a sweetheart. Then the President-Elect came over and we left him so he could talk to Amy. While we were on our way to your office I continued to tease him about it. It drove him nuts.”

“I bet it did.”

“Yeah, but I think in the long run it was good. It meant we were sort of back to our old selves.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“When Amy Gardner tried to set me up with Sarah Potraro.”

“Are you serious?”

“I wish I wasn’t. Donna came over while we were talking to tell me…I don’t know, something. Anyway then Amy asked Donna what she thought of Sarah and I made if very clear that Amy was trying to set me up on a date.”

“Was Donna mad?”

“No. She said Sarah was great. Fortunately the President-Elect came in then and needed to speak to Amy so we left quickly. Then she started to make more fun of me. She started telling me what a great body Sarah had. It was really weird, but kind of nice too.”

“How was it nice?”

“It was like Donna and me again. Just the two of us, kind of like old times. And I realized that although we had slept together nothing had really changed. It was nice to know we were still the same.”

“Did she come over that night?”

“No, she didn’t. But she came over the next night.” Said Josh with a big smile as he drank again from his beer.

TBC

Thursday, July 20, 2006

After A Mandatory Vacation/Part 10

Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Everything, especially Election Day II.
Disclaimer: Wells, Sorkin, WB, NBC, definitely not me. Don't sue, this is not for profit, only for fun.
Archive: Yes Please.
Feedback: Always welcome. You can always post a comment. Any and all feedback welcome. Really.
A/N: Again, not beta'd. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are below. Sorry this has been to delayed. Once again, I hope to get back on track.

“She told me that I should probably check my messages and she got dressed and went back to her room.”

“Wait, so she left?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe, you know…”

“Maybe what?”

“Maybe, and I’m just positing a theory mind you, maybe you weren’t quite as skillful as you thought you were.”

“I know that’s not true.”

“Why?”

“Because if that were true, why would she be with me now? Oh, and by the way, nice attempt to deflate my ego…”

“But there is nothing that could possibly do that.”

Josh placed his hands behind his head, leaned back and smiled. “Exactly. I don’t know why you even bother to try.”

Sam rolled his eyes and took another swig of his beer. “Hey, I’m going to use the…” Sam indicated towards the bathroom, “While I’m up, do you have any food?”

“Yeah, Donna bought some stuff…”

Sam went to the bathroom as Josh continued to play with the label on his beer. Two minutes later Sam returned with a wicked grin on his face. “I just found something in your bathroom I never thought I would ever see.”

“What?”

Sam reached his hand from behind his back and held it up. Josh blushed a deep red. “That’s not mine.”

“Obviously.” Sam twirled the tampon in his fingers.

“Could you put that away please?”

“Poor Josh, has to put up with all Donna’s girly stuff.”

“Well, I suppose it’s a small price to pay.”

“Yes, feminine hygiene products and losing half your closet space is a small price to pay for regular sex.”

“No. Actually that is far too high a price to pay for regular sex. It is not, however, to high a price to pay for Donna. It’s a very low price to pay. A bargain even. Now go get us some food and put that damn thing away.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Donna inhaled deeply and started again, “I just started to doubt every reason I was there and Josh was with me so I told him he needed to check his messages and I left to go back to my hotel room.”

“You didn’t!”

“C.J., we had this emotional rollercoaster and I didn’t know whether he was reacting to me, or win the election, or losing Leo or any of a dozen other things that had happened. In the meantime we had a ton of work to do, I needed to check in with Lou, he needed to check in with Santos. There were transition offices to set up. Then we were going to have to fly back to D.C. and go to Leo’s funeral. There would have been too much to do without Leo dying. With Leo’s death he needed to focus on the job at hand. I felt like it was part of my role there to be supportive and make sure he had his game face on.”

“You know, Donna, it wasn’t your job anymore. You should have talked to him.”

“But what if he was talking to me out of emotion and loss and anger and sadness? I had to let him finish what he was working on and deal with Leo’s death. Then we could talk about us. And I wasn’t quite sure I could talk to him about us anyway. I wasn’t doing much better myself.”

“So what did you go and do?”

“I did what Lou told me to do. I spent the day working on things, making arrangements, talking to the press. I got back to my room at around 11pm and was exhausted again, which wasn’t surprising. Then I noticed a call on my room voicemail, which is unusual, because everyone knows to call me on my cell. Anyway, it was from Josh.”

“Why didn’t he call you on your cell? I can’t imagine he doesn’t have it.”

“Of course he has it. The call was about an hour old. I couldn’t figure it out even after I listened to the message. It just made no sense.”

“…Makes no sense. Well, that certainly sounds like Josh.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“… Now go get us some food and put that damn this away.”

Sam went into the kitchen, threw out the tampon and rummaged in the kitchen, finding a frozen pizza in the refrigerator. He nuked it and wandered back into the living room where Josh was busy putting piles cloths and books haphazardly into boxes.

Sam put the pizza down on the table and Josh stopped working, grabbing part of the pizza and another beer.

“So,” Sam began again, “Donna told you to check your messages and left. What happened next?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean what happened next. Was I unclear?”

“No, I mean, nothing happened next. I checked my messages. I wound up the campaign. I made sure everyone had been paid. I talked with the President-Elect, I checked in with Mallory, talked with the transition guys. I did all of the things I knew Donna thought I should take care of when she left to go work on all the things she knew she needed to take care of.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway, I was done with all that around 10 that night, but I didn’t want to interrupt her because I knew she was still working with the press, so I called her room and left her a message that I wanted to see her.”

“You didn’t call her cell?”

“No. I didn’t want to disturb her in the middle of being interviewed on MSNBC, which was exactly what she was doing when I called her. Besides, I didn’t need her to come running. I just wanted her to come over when she was done.”

“So, just out of curiosity, what exactly did you say on this message you left for her.” Sam knew this couldn’t have been the way Josh was going to spin it.

“Jeez, I don’t know, probably something like, ‘hey Donna, when you get in, why don’t you give me a call,’ or something like that.”

“And did she call you?”

“No, actually, quite to my surprise she came over at a little after 11. I’ll tell you, that woman is insatiable.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“…Makes no sense. Well, that certainly sounds like Josh.”

“Yes, it really does. The message was something like, ‘Donna, it’s Josh…’”

“Wait, he identified himself?”

“Yes.”

“What, because after nine years of talking to him every day you couldn’t recognize his voice?”

“I know C.J. After identifying himself he then said something like he needed to see me when I got in.”

“What for?”

“I had no idea.”

“So?”

“So I brushed my hair and washed the TV make-up off my face, re-applied a little and went up to his room. I assumed it was business related although I couldn’t figure out why he called me on the room phone.”

“And what did he need.”

“Oh. Nothing.”

“He needed nothing?”

“Well, first he was asleep when I got there. So he was all sleepy and scruffy and didn’t smell wonderfully either. I don’t think he had showered after I left that morning.”

“Eh, I know that smell well. I remember that smell from eight years ago and the first campaign.”

“Yes, I like the way Josh smells, but not that much.”

“So what did he want?”

“He couldn’t remember.”

“What?”

“Yes, I got there, woke him up, asked him what he needed to see me about and he couldn’t remember. So I pushed him into the shower and told him to rinse off quickly to get his blood flowing and then we could talk. He took a three minute shower; all the while I’m sitting in his room waiting for him to get finished and comes out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel.”

“Okay…”

“Wait, wait, I’m not done. He seems surprised, SURPRISED, that I was still waiting for him and gets this big grin on his face and said ‘hi there’ with this stupid look.” Donna huffed her exasperation at his behavior.

“Calm down there, if I recall, you love the guy and everything turned out fine so relax a little bit and take a breath.”

“C.J., I swear, sometimes I don’t know if I love him or I want to kill him.”

“Well, I’m not sleeping with him, but I can honestly say those two emotions are not mutually exclusive when it comes to Josh.”

“No kidding. Anyway he then said he remembered what he wanted to ask me and I’m waiting and I asked ‘yes?’ and he reponds, ‘oh, I just wanted to check up on you and see how you were doing.’”

“Makes you want to kill him.”

“Yeah, or the other thing?”

“The other thing?”

“You know…”

C.J. smiled knowingly, “…Or jump him?”

“Unfortunately, yes, definitely the ‘or jump him’ option.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“No, actually, quite to my surprise she came over at a little after 11. I’ll tell you, that woman is insatiable.”

“Wait, so Donna got a message from you which said you wanted to talk and she came to your room and slept with you instead?”

“Yup.”

“I have a feeling there is more to it then that.”

“Well, it had been an hour since I had called her so I had fallen asleep.”

“So let me set the scene. You answer the door in your underwear, completely groggy and can’t remember why you called Donna.”

“No. I knew why I had called her, but she didn’t look like she was in the mood for it.”

“So what happened?”

“She told me I needed to take a shower, so I did. I actually didn’t expect her to be there when I got out so I was just in a towel.”

“Why would you care whether you were in a towel? I assume she had seen you naked a few times at that point.”

“Yeah, uh, I don’t know, I just wouldn’t have been. It seemed too intimate and awkward. Anyway, I felt weird and I thought she would have gone, but she hadn’t so I just said ‘hi there’ and she looked pissed and wanted to know what I had called her for.”

“And did you tell her?”

“Yeah. I told her I just was calling to make sure she was okay. And the next thing I know she’s pressed against me and my towel is on the floor. Not that I minded, I just was surprised.”

“So you…”

“Yeah…”

“Yeah…”

“Yeah…”

“Josh, the grin is a little smug, don’t you think?”

“She couldn’t keep her hands off me.”

“Whatever Josh.”

“Hey, I said the woman was insatiable!”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Unfortunately, yes, definitely the ‘or jump him’ option.”

“So you slept with him again.”

“No C.J., I jumped him. I crossed over to him in 3.2 second and removed his towel and started to paw him.”

“And he pawed back.”

“Of course.”

“And you fell into bed with him and had a great time.”

“Again, yes.”

“And you fell asleep afterwards.”

“And one more yes.”

“And…”

“And then at about 4am I woke up to Josh clicking away on his laptop talking about hotel rooms and when I asked him what was going on he told me that I was officially not working for the campaign as of Friday and that the campaign would cover my room costs here in D.C. for Thursday night but after that I was on my own.”

“Josh is such a romantic.”

“Yeah, well he was stressed out and I don’t think he was thinking of me so much as campaign staffers in general.”

“So what did you do?”

“I got my clothes, I knew I was leaving earlier on Thursday than Josh was and I wanted to pack and clear out of my room. So I got dressed and I left.”

“What did Josh say about that?”

“Oh please, Josh was focused on the laptop; he wasn’t even paying attention to me.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Hey, I said the woman was insatiable!”

“So what happened when she was satiated?”

“Oh, we fell asleep.”

“So that must have been nice.”

“I don’t remember, I was asleep.”

“And, at this point, can I assume that when you woke up you didn’t talk.”

“Well, when I woke up she was still asleep. It was only 3:30 in the morning and I wanted her to get as much sleep as she needed to I pulled out the laptop and started to figure out who we were paying and how long we were paying them for. Most people went off the payroll as of Wednesday, but there were a bunch of people on staff until Friday at 5pm and I wanted to make sure that the hotel information which had been emailed to me had been correct. Then I also wanted to check out some of the more important details of Leo’s, uh, thing, which Mallory had emailed to me.”

“So you worked while she slept. That was nice I suppose.”

“Yeah, she woke up about a half-hour later and asked me what I was working on and so I told her.”

“Did she offer to help you?”

“No, she just got up, got dressed and left.”

“Josh!”

“Look, I didn’t realize it! I was working on the thing and I wasn’t paying attention until she was gone.”

“Josh…”

“I know! I feel like and idiot now, but I had a lot on my mind, not the least of which was how the hell I was going to make it through Leo’s funeral on Friday. I just wasn’t focused on her. I know I should have been, but I wasn’t.”

TBC...

Sunday, July 09, 2006

After A Mandatory Vacation/Part 9

Rating: R
Spoilers: Everything, especially Election Day II.
Disclaimer: Wells, Sorkin, WB, NBC, definitely not me. Don't sue, this is not for profit, only for fun.
Archive: Yes Please.
Feedback: Always welcome. You can always post a comment. Any and all feedback welcome. Really.
A/N: Again, not beta'd. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 7 and 8 are below. A little dirtier than previous episodes. Be warned.

"Then I woke up and she was still there and this time I wasn't afraid to touch her."

“You had been afraid to touch her?”

“You know, the first time, we hadn’t established, oh I don’t know, whatever. And the second time, afterwards we were rudely interrupted, so there was no time to, um, bond.”

“Bond? You were going to slap her on her ass and talk sports?” Sam grinned wryly.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes I do. But I would think that after knowing Donna for as long as you have, after working with her for as many hours as you have…”

“Yes! I understand! We would have bonded! Perhaps not my best choice of words. I meant that I woke up about three hours later and instead of being on all the way on the other side of the bed my arms were wrapped around her and my hand was…well…quite frankly, I had my right hand on her breast.”

“Really?” Sam smiled looking mildly amused at his friends seeming surprise at this turn of events. “So what did you do about that.”

Josh returned the smile. “Well, I decided it was time to go exploring.”

“Exploring?”

“Investigating?”

“Surveying?”

‘Scouting?”

“Reconnoitering”

“Okay, that’s just snotty.” Josh said.

“Sorry. And how exactly did you do this exploring.”

“Well, I had this warm sleeping Donna in my arms. My hand was on her breasts, she wasn’t really waking up, so I just…uh…felt around. I moved my hand, which I was quite loathe to do, and stroked her stomach and her hip and I couldn’t help it, my head was positioned so that I could kiss the side of her neck, and it was just there so I had to kiss it.”

“And did she like it?”

“She was out cold. I don’t think she noticed. I was doing it for my own entertainment at that point anyway.”

“It doesn’t speak well for you that she didn’t wake up.”

“Actually, I think it speaks very well. I wasn’t trying to. I had only been with the woman twice before and neither of them had I been exactly at my best. Although, did I mention, the second time we slept together, she was, uh, satisfied four times. I mean four times!”

“Yes, I think that may have been mentioned before Josh.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"It was a very good idea. Especially because of what happened when he finally woke up again." Donna grinned.

“Do I even need to ask? What happened when you woke up?”

“Well, I noticed that someone was tracing little circles on my hip and stomach and there was this kissing on my neck thing. Kind of like waking up from a nice dream into a nice dream.”

“And…”

“And I just lay there a little bit letting Josh do his thing. You know, it was sort of amusing in a sad way because we had this amazingly stressful day, we still had no idea what this thing between us was, we started a sexual relationship only 36 hours ago, and we had been completely unable to connect after sex on any kind of physical way except for some hugging when we were upset and when we won the election and it seemed like all of that didn’t really matter. What he was doing was really turning me on. And even better, I wasn’t distracted with Election Day stuff. My only concern was that I wanted him to keep doing whatever it was he was doing.”

“And I’m assuming he did.”

“C.J., how drunk are you?”

“Fairly drunk. Drunk enough to pretend you’re not talking about Josh.”

“So how detailed do you want this description to be?”

“Pretty detailed at this point.”

“Okay, because right at that moment I was really enjoying what was happening. He moved his hand to my belly and then up to my breasts all the while he was kissing my neck. He was incredibly slow and sensual. I’m not sure how he could have possibly thought I could have slept through it, but I tried to keep quiet as long as I could.”

“And I suppose there came a time when you couldn’t.”

“Yeah. His hands came to rest at my breasts and he started tracing these circles on my nipples…God, this is so embarrassing…and I just let out this little, I don’t know, whimper.”

C.J. was smiling her Cheshire cat smile, “I would guess that by that point he figured out that you were not still asleep.”

“You could say that. He didn’t do anything to acknowledge that he knew I was awake. Oh, except for slowly moving his hand from caressing my breasts to moving it down lower.”

“Oh my.”

“No kidding. It really was an ‘oh my’ C.J. You know how when Josh wants to do something well he can just methodically go at it until he receives the desired results?”

“Yes. Although generally he used that skill to annoy and tease you.”

“Yes, he could spend hours methodically entertaining himself by annoying and teasing me. But apparently, he’s even better when he decides to methodically tease me and thereby bring me to orgasmic heights.”

“Orgasmic heights?”

“I’m trying to explain this in the kind of detail you would like without resorting to hard-cord expressions of porn or sounding like a cheesy bodice-ripper so you’re going to have to bare with me on these verbal flights of fancy C.J. Besides, you know I get a little to, uh, verbal, when I’ve had more than my share of wine.”

“Okay, so Josh did well and took care of your needs first, like the good boy he is. Did you reciprocate?

“Of course I reciprocated C.J. Besides, at that point, I don’t think there would have been anything that could have prevented me from reciprocating.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Yes, I think that may have been mentioned before Josh.”

“Well, I think it’s an important point to bring up again Sam. I mean really. That’s when I wasn’t at my best.”

“I understand that Josh. You are obviously a God amongst men and all the rest of us mere mortals quake in the presence of your greatness.”

“You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps just a little.”

“Well, for your information, I continued with my investigations for a good ten minutes until I realized she must have been awake because her breathing had gotten quicker and she made this little sound. So I took my hands and, well, I don’t want to kiss and tell but she was quite happy with what I did next.”

“Which was?”

“I’m not going to say. But when I was done…and I made it take a while…she was very much awake and smiling.”

“Okay.”

“And then she jumped me.”

“Pardon?” Sam said, laughing.

“She jumped me. She recovered from what I was doing and then literally attacked me. She was on her side and I was pressed up against her back and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back and she was on top of me.”

“Well, that’s interesting.”

“Sam, she ripped my shirt off.”

“Excuse me? Did she become the hulk?”

“Well, it was only my undershirt and she pulled it off quickly and it got all stretched out, but still, she was like a wild woman.”

“But you had a good time?”

“Look, Sam, you should probably stop asking me that. I mean obviously I had a good time. Obviously the sex had been amazing every single time. On the other hand bad sex is pretty difficult to have, but it was Donna, so how could it have been bad, right? The sex was wonderful, but what made it so great was that she just kept surprising me.”

“She always surprised you. Why did you think it would be any different when you finally got her into your bed?”

“I never thought of that. You’re right though. I never thought about it. She has always surprised me.”

“I know.”

“Wow, no, I mean I really never thought of it. I wonder if that’s why I love her? That she never ceases to amaze me.”

“I think that’s part of it Josh.”

“But not all of it.”

“No.”

“Okay.”

“Was it less awkward afterwards this time?”

“Well, there was some kissing afterwards but it wasn’t as if we snuggled or anything.”

“And then what happened?”

“She told me that I should probably check my messages and she got dressed and went back to her room.”

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Of course I reciprocated C.J. Besides, at that point, I don’t think there would have been anything that could have prevented me from reciprocating.”

“So you took charge then?”

“You could say that. I kind of manhandled him.”

“Rode him like a pony?”

“C.J.!” Donna almost spit her drink across the room.

“I’m just saying Donna, that’s what I think of when I think manhandled…”

“Yeah, I know. I forced him onto his back and had my way with him.”

“And was that fun?”

“It was very fun.”

“And was the afterwards better?”

“We kissed a little. Josh was kind of in a daze afterwards, but he kept kissing me.”

“Nice.”

“Well it was better than what we had done afterwards the other times, but then my mind started to race and I started to think of all the things I needed to do and I got all nervous because there wasn’t and election and there wasn’t any reason not to talk to each other about whatever was happening between us and then I started thinking that maybe this thing had happened a third time only because Josh needed some comfort because of Leo and…”

“Hey, hey, slow down. Take a deep breath,”

Donna inhaled deeply and started again, “I just started to doubt every reason I was there and Josh was with me so I told him he needed to check his messages and I left to go back to my hotel room.”

Obviously TBC