ACT 4
INT. ROOSEVELT ROOM
Josh looked into the Roosevelt Room through the glass, taking a deep breath and reminding himself to stay calm. Congressman Richards sat inside at the long table, alone in the room, drinking from a glass of water. Josh pushed the door open and walked inside with Sam right behind him.
The congressman looked over and smiled uneasily, standing up and shaking Josh’s hand. “Josh, it’s good to see you,” he said not quite convincingly.
“You too, Congressman.”
“We miss you on the Hill.”
Josh allowed a small smirk to grace his mouth. “I’m sure you do,” he said sarcastically.
The congressman chuckled, a bit more at ease, and the three of them sat down.
“Congressman,” Josh said, sitting forward in the chair and resting his elbows on the table. “It’s seems there’s been some miscommunication. The deal for the road repairs bill you’d like is in exchange for the votes you carry on the education bill, not for welfare and formula.”
The smile, as fake as it might have been, left the congressman’s face. “Amy and I never discussed that deal.”
Josh closed his eyes briefly, the congressman’s words shredding any last bit of hope he had that this had all been a mistake. He opened them again and looked at the congressman. “That’s the deal, Congressman.”
The congressman’s face turned to anger. “The deal’s been made.”
“It’s off the table,” Josh said without backing down. “You can either take it for the education bill, or not take it at all. It’s up to you.”
The congressman looked down at his lap for several seconds before looking up at Josh with raised eyebrows. “You want 722 on the house floor, Josh? How’s that going to make the administration look?”
“722 is never getting to the floor,” Sam said, speaking for the first time since walking back into the room. “You know that, we know that.”
The congressman half-shrugged. “I’ve got three of the seven members of the subcommittee in my pocket. I only need one more to get it to committee.”
Josh shook his head. Of course the congressman would rather kill a bill that never stood a chance than vote in favor of a bill he didn’t support. His reaction wasn’t a surprise. “Hamilton, Clark and Larimer aren’t going to push a bill through sub-committee that’s going to make them look like they’re against poor working mothers. They’d never make it through their next primary if they did.”
Congressman Richards stared at him, and Josh wondered if he was trying to look intimidating and if so, if he really thought it was going to work. It never had before. Almost a minute passed before the congressman reluctantly nodded. “I’ll discuss it with my guys, but I think we can make it work.”
“You vote plus the other six,” Sam reminded him. “Otherwise, there’s no deal.”
“I understand,” the congressman replied.
“I’ll expect to hear from you tomorrow, Congressman.”
Josh stood up and Sam and the congressman followed. “It was nice to see you again,” he said, reaching his hand out.
The congressman looked at Josh’s hand for a second, then shook it while nodding and smiling slightly. “We don’t really miss you on the Hill, Josh.”
Josh smirked; he’d missed this. “I know.”
The congressman chuckled again and looked at Sam. “I’ll speak with you tomorrow, Sam.”
He turned and started walking towards the door. “Congressman,” Josh said, as the man pulled on the door knob.
He looked back at Josh. “Yes?”
“Amy Gardner never offered you this deal?”
“No,” the congressman replied, shaking his head. “In fact, I offered it to her. She turned me down.”
Josh nodded and watched as the congressman left the room, then looked down at the floor.
“I feel like I should be surprised,” Sam said quietly. “But I’m not.”
“Surprised?” Josh asked incredulously, looking up at him. “We should’ve been expecting it.”
“What are we going to do?”
Josh stared at him for a second before turning sharply and walking to the door. “She’s gone,” he said, pushing it open and walking out into the hallway.
CUT TO
INT. OVAL OFFICE
President Santos stared in disbelief at Sam and Josh. “You’re sure?”
“Positive sir,” Sam said.
“And it’s not the first time,” Josh added. “She was fired from being Mrs. Bartlet’s chief of staff for the same reason; choosing her agenda over President Bartlet’s.”
The president took a deep breath. Josh had warned him against hiring Amy, but when he’d been in
“I see only one option, Mr. President. I hate to say this, but part of what makes Amy so good at what she does is her devotion to her cause. She’ll choose the same path every time.”
There was a tap on the door and Ronna poked her head inside. “Mike Casper’s here.” She grinned a little and then added, “From the FBI.”
The president nodded slightly. “Send him in.” He turned back to Josh. “You’re going to take care of it?”
Sam took a slight step forward. “I’ll do it sir. I gave her the lead on this bill and I’m her direct superior.”
“And given my previous relationship with her, we don’t want to give her anything to argue,” Josh added.
Mike Casper walked inside and the president looked at Josh and Sam for a second before standing and shaking Mike’s hand. “How’s it going over there?”
Mike smiled. “The lockdown’s over, sir. We found two Glock 21’s in a sanitary receptacle in a ladies room on the second floor of the
“Do you suspect any sort of conspiracy?”
“There were no other weapons inside any of the buildings; but we’re not ruling out the possibility of involvement from the outside. We’ll know more when the suspects are questioned.”
“And still no casualties?” the president asked as Josh’s phone rang. Josh stepped to the other side of the room as Mike answered the president.
“No sir, none.”
“Good. You guys did good over there today, Mike,” the president said with a smile.
“That’s what we do, Mr. President. I’ll keep you advised of the situation, sir, and I’ll get the names of the suspects to Lester once we’ve released them.”
The president thanked him and he left as Josh walked back to the president’s desk. “That was Lou. She and Amy are fine.”
“Are they coming in?” Sam asked.
Josh shook his head. “I told them to go home and eat something. I thought it’d be better to take care of this in the morning before the majority of the staff arrives.”
Sam nodded. “That’s wise.”
Josh turned to the president. “We’re all in agreement?”
The president looked at Josh and nodded. “You’re in charge of the staff and they need to listen to you. If Amy can’t do that, then she can’t be a part of the staff.”
CUT TO
INT. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY
Donna looked up from her desk when she heard a knock on her door. “Got a second?” Ainsley asked.
“Sure,” Donna said with a smile, leaning back in her chair. “I could use the break.”
Annabeth walked inside and sat in one of the visitors’ chairs in front of Donna’s desk. “How are the proposals coming?”
Donna held up a packet of information. “The one going to computer manufacturers is done. I sent a copy to language for mark-ups. How did your meeting with Lester go?”
“Well,” Annabeth said, adjusting in her seat and crossing her legs. “They don’t want us to announce until the bill is signed. We can use that as our jumping off point.”
“Good,” Donna said with a sigh as she stretched. “Mrs. Santos is adamant that we stick with the west wing on this and I agree. They’re the elected ones; it’s not our place to overshadow them.”
“We’ll come off better to the public that way too,” Annabeth said.
“Lou told me the same thing.”
“She’s right,” Annabeth said. “Mrs. Santos… was it me or did she seem reluctant to get involved with this?”
“She’s just nervous,” Donna said confidently. “Both the HPV vaccine and the American Red Cross help consisted of little more than a public appearance and a few statements from her. We took care of everything else. This is going to require involvement on a real level and she’s used to standing on the sidelines.”
Annabeth nodded. “We can ease her into it.”
“I set up a meeting between her and Congresswoman Payne. The congresswoman’s very enthusiastic about this; I think that’ll wear off on Mrs. Santos.”
“Good,” Annabeth said, standing up. She turned to leave and then turned back to Donna. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” she said quietly.
“Good,” Donna said with a soft smile. “It means a lot to Josh to do this for Leo. He really misses him.”
Annabeth nodded slowly. “So do I.”
CUT TO
INT. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF
He walked into his office and over to the bookshelf lining the walls, putting his hands on a shelf leaning into it. His fingers gripped the shelf and he shook his head. Amy played him for a fool. And he was so… disoriented in this job that he’d let her without even putting up a fight. It was the president’s most important piece of legislation, the one that would put him on the map, and he’d let Amy take the lead on it when he should’ve been there every step of the way.
He stood upright and walked to his desk, sitting down and moving the uneaten salad Ainsley had left him to the corner of the desk. He had to thank Amy really; she’d given him the wake-up call he needed. He was no longer a junior partner at the law firm and he was no longer the speech writer answering to Toby. He was Josh’s right hand man, and so far, he’d been lacking. They’d been in danger of losing the education bill because Sam had left it to Amy. And in the end, it was Josh who saved it. That should’ve been Sam, and he’d been tempted to tell Josh that before he’d stormed into the Roosevelt Room. But he hadn’t, because how was Josh supposed to trust that Sam could get it done when he’d already failed at it once?
But all that was ending. His staff would be run by him, they wouldn’t run him. And he would have his pulse on every bit of legislation that went through the west wing. That was his job. The Hill was his domain; Josh had ambassadors, foreign dignitaries, wars and peace keeping missions, not to mention a president to deal with.
He heard a sound and looked up at Ainsley eating popcorn out of a microwave bag. In spite of himself, in spite of his mood or what he was going to do in the morning, he felt the corners of his mouth move into a small smile.
“You didn’t eat your salad,” Ainsley said, walking inside.
He looked over at it and then back at Ainsley. “I just got back here, believe it or not.”
“It’s probably bad by now,” she said, holding out the popcorn bag for him to take some. He pulled a handful out and she sat down across from him. “I rescheduled the meeting with Gary McKenzie for next Tuesday.”
He looked up at her. “I don’t know if I can go to
“I thought Amy was heading that up.”
“She was. I’m firing her tomorrow.”
Ainsley’s eyes registered shock. “You are?”
He nodded. “It shouldn’t be a thing, but she and Josh dated years ago. It might come up.”
“You have reason to terminate?”
“Absolutely.”
“Does the president know?”
“Yes.”
“Ok,” she said nodding. “Josh should not be there when you fire her. If he even smiled…”
“He won’t be.”
“I’ll call Gary McKenzie and tell him we need to meet here about the lawsuit. It might delay it another week.”
“That’s fine. Thanks.”
She nodded and held the popcorn bag out for him again. He looked at the bag and then at her, not saying anything.
“What?”
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Lauren wants to set a date for the wedding,” he said quietly.
“Oh, I…” She took a deep breath. “When did you decide?”
“We haven’t…”
“Oh.” The room went silent before Ainsley spoke again. “Why did you tell me that?”
He lifted his head, looking at the popcorn bag and then at her, staring at her for several seconds before speaking quietly. “Because you and I shouldn’t be sharing popcorn.”
CUT TO
INT. TOWN CAR
She watched the city pass by out the window of the car as they silently drove through town towards
She shifted and his arms tightened, not uncomfortably so, but not light and playful like he’d been that morning. This was a completely different Josh. “Everything alright?” she asked quietly, her back to him.
He didn’t answer right away and she thought maybe he hadn’t heard her, he was so far away. But then he turned his head slightly, his cheek against her hair, and she thought again how different he was from that morning. “We got the votes for the education bill,” he mumbled.
She smiled; that was good news. And it meant she needed to get moving on support for the computers in inner city classrooms project if they were going to announce it when the president signed the bill. “That’s good, right?”
“Yeah,” he whispered in a way that didn’t make it sound good at all.
His hands rested on her stomach and she put hers on top of them. “That was the president’s number one campaign promise. And passing it four months in? That’s great.”
He nodded, although she barely felt it, and she knew there was something that had dampened this great day he’d been determined to have.
“Sam’s firing Amy tomorrow,” he said out of nowhere, his voice sounding miles away.
Her eyes widened and she turned her head the slightest bit to look at him. He was staring blindly out the window, and silence filled the car again as she searched for something to say. “Are you ok with that?” she finally asked him.
He nodded again, not saying anything and not turning from the window.
She stroked the hand under hers slowly, and leaned back into him even more, tilting her head to see him a bit better. “It’s ok to be upset, you know,” she nearly whispered. “The two of you have a history. It’s…”
“I’m not upset,” he said slightly louder before looking at her. “I’m pissed off. She almost cost us the education bill.”
“Josh…”
He turned his head slightly and kissed her temple. “I’m not upset about Amy,” he said in the soft voice again.
She turned her head back to the front. “You’re upset about something.”
He shook his head and buried his nose in her neck, taking deep breaths and laying the occasional light kiss on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and let his breath on her neck relax her as the car drove through
“I was worried about you this morning,” came out as nothing more than a breath.
Her eyes opened; of course that was it. She should’ve known. “I know,” she whispered.
His hold on her tightened. “I was so worried.”
FADE TO BLACK