Title: Glimpses of Everything and Nothing - Part 2/7
Author: Finn AUS
Rating: PG-13 (swearing) - turns a little saucy in future parts so be warned!
Spoiler Info: Vaguely placed somewhere in Season Seven
Disclaimer: WB, NBC, Aaron Sorkin are the masterminds, John Wells is the minor-mind who had the good fortune to co-produce. I have no money, and even less with the US conversion rate so really not worth it.
Archiving permission: Awesome, please let me know so I can go look!
Summary: After a Republican makes suggestions about Donna and Josh's relationship in an attempt to derail the campaign, it forces them both to face the real truth.
Author Note: Another continued heap of praise to Beta Caz for help me find Lou, showing me Santos and making sure Donna and Josh weren't constantly staring at each other for the first time! 'Beta the devil you know!'
Feedback: Love it, crave it, need it, beg it!
Josh sat in his car and exhaled deeply, running his hand over his face as he threw his head back against the headrest. The heat and anger he had felt since first reading the transcript of the interview was slowly ebbing away, although he suspected he would never be able to erase the indignation from his memory. This was what he had long been afraid of – sure, he knew there had been rumors about them for years, rumors he’d steadfastly ignored, but rarely had anything been said overtly, and certainly never on national television.
Starting the car, he realised that confronting Bruno had been easy. What he had to do next would be the hard part - going back to the office. Facing the assembled staff and working out a strategy to deal with this. They had to keep the focus on Santos, keep the press away from what many would see as a juicy political sex scandal… oh yeah this was gonna be a walk in the park.
Arriving back in the parking lot, he noticed there were more cars there than when he’d left, so clearly Lou was rallying the troops. The boardroom was buzzing as he stepped out of the elevator; he could hear raised voices and see people passing the transcript of the brief interview back and forth, looking for any weak spots on which they could mount a counter-attack.
Lou immediately stormed towards Josh, grabbed him roughly by the arm and dragged him into a corner.
‘Well, the dumbest guy in the Democratic Party returns!’ She glared at him, her hands thrown up in desperation. Clearly, she was seething at his rash departure.
‘You don’t believe in answering a phone?’ Lou jabbed a finger into Josh’s chest as she hissed at him.
‘No, not really.’ He rubbed a hand over his eyes and through his hair, starting to feel truly deflated. Thinking Lou was about to explode, he prepared himself for an ass kicking but she quickly changed tack, catching Josh off guard.
‘Are you a little saddle sore?’
‘Excuse me?’ His eyes snapped back open, as he wondered where this line of questioning was going.
‘From the big fat white horse you must have ridden over there on?’
‘Look-’
‘No you look! You took something that was a late night, low rating Friday night interview with Chucky Chuckison, the recently promoted weatherman and turned it into a national prime time exposé with Tim Russert!’ Lou leaned back slightly and paused long enough for Josh to slide around her and head off in search of coffee. But she followed him, clearly not impressed by his lack of response.
‘There weren’t any reporters there; no one saw me enter or leave.’ He attempted to blow her off with a casual wave of the arm.
‘Well that’s just dumb luck, isn’t it?’ Lou sighed heavily. She paused in the hallway, as Josh continued his march towards the coffee cart. Calming herself, she called to him.
‘Don’t you think there might have been a reason Donna didn’t give you the news transcripts? Do you think that maybe as a smart, intelligent professional, she may have guessed you’d react badly?’ He stopped, the coffee pot suspended in mid air, and stared off into space. Resolutely he poured the rest of his cup and turned to face her.
‘You know what Lou? I don’t care. You can’t suggest those kinds of things on television and not want anybody to hear it. You know everyone will be asking the question in the morning. They’re going after my staff and I won’t let that happen.’ Wearily, he began making his way back towards her.
‘Your staff? Or Donna?’ Lou saw him tense, a momentary flash that told her she’d got his attention.
‘It’s not about that,’ Josh raised his voice, becoming more irritated by the second and marched past her into the boardroom.
Lou flung her arms out in exasperation, and followed him. ‘You’re right! You probably are too stupid to ever admit to yourself that it’s not the same for everyone else.’
‘Lou, I’m warning you, don’t-’
‘You’ve got to know,’ she adopted a softer tone, ‘that because of what was said in that interview there was no way that you, of all people, should have gone over there tonight.’ She stared intently at him.
‘I’m really not in the mood for a lecture,’ he sighed, tired of her continual questioning.
‘OK,’ she paused. ‘So how about helping us plan a response?’ She motioned with her free hand towards the assembled staff.
‘Fine.’ He marched to the table and that’s when he spotted her. Standing defiantly in the corner, Donna was reading the transcript for what must be the hundredth time and making notes.
Setting down his cup, Josh flung himself into his familiar place at the head of the table, not waiting for others to sit before he began.
‘Right. We need to be aggressive with our response.’ He addressed the room, hoping to fool her into believing that he wasn’t as deeply affected by this as his sudden departure would seem to indicate. ‘I want to remove all doubt about Donna and her role in this campaign.’
‘That’s going to move us off our message,’ Bram countered.
‘What would you suggest?’ Josh shot back viciously.
‘What about scaling back her press conferences? Have a few other spokespeople so we can say she’s not the key spokesperson but one of many.’
‘That’s just going to make it seem like we’re admitting something,’ Lou offered. ‘Besides, Josh didn’t hire her – I did, and I certainly don’t have to justify my decision to anybody. But if it’ll help kill this story and keep us on track, I’ll go on record and make the details of her interview public.’
‘Yeah but that still doesn’t address the insinuations about their personal relationship. How do we get around that?’ Edie jumped in.
‘We can’t,’ Bram replied. ‘Half of Washington thinks it’s true.’ Josh leapt out of his chair at that, and began prowling around the room, running his hand through his hair, scratching the back of his head. He couldn’t believe it had come to this. A group of relative strangers were sitting here, calmly dissecting a relationship that had never existed. A relationship that he had denied himself for the last nine years, telling himself that it would be too complicated, that however much he needed her, desired her and loved her, it couldn’t be. So here they were, he and Donna, standing at opposite ends of a boardroom while others discussed and drafted various responses to the allegation that they were romantically involved. How ironic that it was a completely fictitious romance.
Temporarily lost in his thoughts, Josh realised that Lou was speaking again, and wrenched his attention back to the present.
‘Well we could mention the other relationships they’ve both had. Amy Gardner’s a public figure, maybe she’d consider…’
‘What?' Josh halted his pacing, desperately wanting to put an end to it all. ‘Getting back together to defend my ex-assistant? No way. This is goddamned ridiculous.’ Josh slammed his hand down the desk, fuming.
‘I agree.’ Donna’s determined voice startled everyone, because her silence had been taken for embarrassment. Allowing himself to look at her for the first time since his return from Bruno’s office, Josh saw no embarrassment or shame. Donna’s eyes were ablaze, a brilliant blue, her jaw set firmly and her head held high, and he knew she wasn’t cowering - she was gearing up for a fight. Preparing to defend herself against those unfounded accusations, especially that one untruth that cut the deepest.
‘What?’ Lou asked, uncharacteristically gentle, as if worried Donna would break under the strain. Josh turned from Lou to stare at her again, amazed at the woman he was seeing before him. He’d known for a long time that Donna had an inner strength that many didn’t see, but this confident professional display made him incredibly proud. Josh faced her, the beginnings of a smirk etched across his face, and as their eyes finally met he hoped she would see the pride and support he was desperately trying to project.
Caught off guard by the intensity of his expression, Donna fell back into their old pattern and looked away.
‘I agree with Josh, this is ridiculous,’ she said to no one in particular. ‘We can use this to our advantage so easily.’ People stared at her in dumbfounded silence, wondering how Donna could possibly see any of the accusations that had been levelled at her as something to be used to their advantage.
‘For years, Democrats - especially those from the North Eastern states – have been labelled elitist, morally superior, because of their Ivy League college degrees,’ she explained calmly. ‘This is the perfect chance to dispel that theory. Why not use this to say that everyone is welcome in the Democratic Party, that a person who is right for the job can’t be passed over just because they didn’t go to the right college or get the right degree?’ She placed the transcript onto the table and stepped forward further.
‘But Donna-’
‘Lou, I’m not saying that kids can be doctors because they’ve seen ER, or that because I really enjoyed Apollo 13 I’ll make a great astronaut. Some jobs will always require further education. I’m saying that certain jobs can require either a degree or experience from a candidate. Look at how many of the CEO’s of this country started on the factory floor. The last head of McDonalds was the fry boy when he started. Why not throw back that this assertion that my credentials are lacking came from an exclusive, discriminatory, and superior Republican candidate? We contrast that against the fact that Congressman Santos wants to encourage every American to seek out whatever job they dream of and remind voters that he will strive to ensure that they will not be restricted by glass ceilings. And we tell them that this presidential candidate is prepared to assist them in any way he can - be it job start programs or aggressive agendas - to relate job experience to college credits. The emphasis of our response must rest with the veil under which this whole attack was started – education.’ Donna spoke emphatically and for a moment there was silence.
Josh stared at her in awe, unable to stop the grin which was spreading across his face. Only hours earlier, Donna had been the victim of a malicious slander. Her credentials had been questioned, her ethics brought under the harsh light of public comment and her privacy invaded, yet here she stood, ready to pick up the gauntlet thrown by their opponents and use their accusations against them. Josh had never been more proud of her than at that moment, never more stunned by the woman she had become. His reverie was broken by Matt Santos strolling into the boardroom - having been standing at the door he had heard every word his Press Spokesperson had said.
‘I have no problem repeating that word for word on CNN, MSNBC and any other program that will listen if this thing blows up,’ he began, circling the room and stopping on the other side of the table. ‘Donna is completely right; the only way to fight back is with the good fight. They want us defending her morals, and focusing on the accusation that she slept her way into her jobs at the White House and on this campaign.’ Donna felt herself blushing at this, and she stole a glance at Josh, but his eyes were cast safely towards the floor, his hands firmly in his pockets.
Santos went on. ‘They will want us to produce documents of defence from everyone, have us scrambling to exonerate her. Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but it seems to me that we shouldn’t be afraid to get out in front of this one. Lou, I want to see a draft statement as soon as possible – use as much as you can of what Donna said, but I’ll have some additions to make, so don’t lock it up completely, OK?’ He looked around at his assembled staff and nodded gently. ‘Now, can we have the room please?’
The room quickly cleared, as Santos gestured for both Donna and Josh to sit. Donna directed her attention towards the Congressman, desperate to look at anything but Josh, who was leaning back in his chair, hoping to appear calm and relaxed.
‘Well now, I had a feeling this was coming,’ Matt Santos cleared his throat.
‘Sir, I want to apologise for any-’
‘Donna, don’t you dare. Don’t you ever apologise for any of it. If you weren’t right for the job, you wouldn’t be here. If this supposed … ‘entanglement’… between you had hindered your work, neither of you would be here.’ Donna bowed her head at the mention of an entanglement, hiding her reddening cheeks whilst Josh inwardly groaned and closed his eyes.
‘The thing is, whilst defending your lack of formal education will be simple, and I’m looking forward to it - I have to agree with Bram. You must both be aware that there have been rumors about the nature of your relationship for years. The general consensus seems to be that something is going on.’ Josh looked at him then, defensively, but Santos raised a cautionary hand. ‘I don’t care either way, but we need something to run with, so you will both stay in this room until you can come out and give us a line concerning your personal relationship that we can use - and no Josh, I will not accept no comment. Sort it out,’ he said and closed the boardroom door gently behind him, an embarrassed silence settling in his wake.
Continue on to Part 3
No comments:
Post a Comment