ACT THREE
"Lester Charles, as I live and breathe."
At the sound of his name, the Press Secretary—who'd been looking for a restroom and then possibly an adult beverage-- whipped around, and his eyes went wide in recognition.
"Homeboy makes it to the big time and looks good doing it. Mmm-hmm! You know that back home you're all anyone's talkin' 'bout."
Lester's face spread into a huge grin. "Is that my baby sister's best friend? Troublemaking Cherry Washington, the heartbreaker of East High?"
"Nobody calls me Cherry anymore, Lester." The woman had dropped the affected accent of a few moments earlier. "I've dropped that nickname… a nickname you helped give me, if I remember correctly. I find that in the professional world, if your name is Cherry, people tend to assume you're a reformed porn star. I go by my given name of Sherrie now."
That just made him grin even harder. "You look good. What are you doing here, Cherry?" He said her nickname in such a way that she knew was tweaking her.
She quirked her lip at him. "You think you're the only person from the neighborhood to make it?"
"Well, no one ever doubted you were going to be a success. Last time I heard… weren't you a big shot in a marketing firm… doing PR for restaurants and nightclubs?"
"I was. How do you think I scored Inaugural Ball tickets? You have no idea how many people want to get into the exclusive private parties, so if you control tickets to those, it's easy to make a trade."
"So you're still doing PR?" He asked almost rhetorically.
"Actually, I-"
"Are you here with anybody?" He interrupted as his eyes zipped up and down her. She was wearing a silky lavender gown that hugged her curves and nicely complemented her light ebony skin. Friend of his little sister's or no, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
"No. But I should tell you-"
"Good!" His eyes lit up at the prospect. "Keep me company for awhile. We can catch up."
"No date?" She asked incredulously. When he shook his head, she continued, "How does a man like you not have a date? You always had a date."
"There was this woman from the campaign…" He thought back to Edie. "But that fizzled and you have no idea how much time is required when you work in the White House. Or at least, when you are preparing to work in the White House, but in truth I have no hope that it's going to get better any time soon," he replied as he started walking backwards, tugging her with him.
"Are you sure?" she asked, feeling caught in a whirlwind.
"Come on. Hang with me for awhile; who knows, you might meet some very interesting people."
CUT TO:
"…Governor, in this scenario, in a scenario where clemency will be the overriding issue during your confirmation hearings… how bad will it be?" It had taken Sam at least half an hour to find the Governor once he'd arrived at the Convention Center. Baker didn't seem to be entirely comfortable having a conversation on this subject in an alcove of the crowded ballroom.
The Governor leaned in, bringing his voice as low as possible. "Let's see… what got a lot of media attention. Oh, I expunged the records of some 120 odd people who had been convicted of war crimes during the First World War under speech laws that seem positively barbaric today."
"Okay, that shouldn't really cause any problems. What else? "
Baker looked contemplative before explaining, "
"They'll dig as deep as they need to. How bad?" Sam asked once again.
"It could be bad." Baker lifted a hand and ran it through his hair. "The merit of the pardon itself won't necessarily raise any eyebrows, but there is a link.”
"What kind of a link?" Sam asked with caution.
"A link between myself and the pardoned. The man who was pardoned was a former business partner of a large contributor to my first gubernatorial campaign."
"You knew this and you pardoned him anyway?"
"I did."
"Okay." Sam's mind was spinning a mile a minute, but there was no way to assess the potential damage until he was able to look at all the facts of the case. "And what will you say if they ask your opinion on Toby Ziegler's pardon?"
Baker lifted his head and looked Sam in the eye. "I'll tell them that he should have fried for leaking defense secrets, and that Bartlet let an enemy of the state go scott-free."
CUT TO:
INT: INT.
Donna looked around the crowded exhibit hall that had been transformed quite serviceably into a gigantic ballroom. She noted that the use of balloons was a bit much; there were gold ones everywhere, forming an almost solid gold backdrop—she could just hear the prom jokes Lou would make. As soon as the motorcade had arrived, she'd headed to the ladies’ room while Josh had gone to get them drinks. Now as she scanned the crowd, she didn't see Josh, but she did see someone else walking towards her.
"Donna Moss. What's a girl like you doing at a place like this?"
"I could ask you the same thing; aren't you a Republican?" She asked pointedly, but in not an entirely unfriendly manner.
"You forget my short, but storied tenure with the Bartlet administration." Cliff Calley put his hand to his chest as if he were wounded. "Besides, I'm back to lobbying, which means I lean the direction the wind blows."
"I see…" There was a laugh in her voice at his candor.
"May I say you look lovely this evening?" He reached for her hand and then lifted it to press a kiss to the back of it.
She smiled graciously at him, although felt mildly uncomfortable at his effusive attention. "Thank you."
"I'm really glad I ran into you."
"You are?" She asked with unconcealed surprise.
"Yes, we never had that dinner you promised me. You've been back after Super Tuesday for quite awhile now, so I'm thinking after all this time you owe me two dinners."
"I promised you, did I?" She raised a brow skeptically at him.
"My recollection says you did. So how about it… can we make a date? Or two?"
"Um…" Donna grimaced, not sure what to say. So far she really hadn't had to tell people she was with Josh. Either they were in the inner circle and knew because of Josh and Donna’s vacation and living arrangements, or they didn't and there was no reason to tell them. After years of having to tell people they weren't actually a couple, this was a new and entirely different dilemma.
But just then she felt a familiar presence at her side. "What's goin' on here?" Josh's voice held way too much forced joviality. Instantly she knew he'd heard him ask her out. For his part, Josh tried to keep the severe dislike off his face and out of his voice as he greeted the other man through a stiff, fake grin. "Cliff."
"Josh." Cliff nodded in return, also sounding slightly put-out by the Chief of Staff's appearance.
"So you were asking out my date when I was walking up; do you need a minute?" Josh's voice and smile were both still fake as he handed Donna her drink and then slipped his arm behind her back, a tad more possessively than his normal posture would have allowed.
"Date?" Cliff's question rang with genuine shock.
Donna bit her lip and nodded quickly. She was pretty sure she might be blushing under his new scrutiny.
"A real date? He's not just dragging you around everywhere with him like he used to?"
Now her eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes, a real date."
"Really? Wow. Well… uh… congratulations, man, for finally pulling your head out of your…" He thought better of what he was saying to the Chief of Staff of the
Before Josh could say anything Cliff bowed slightly towards Donna. "Donna, always a pleasure." He looked at Josh. "Better be good to her; if I hear otherwise, I'm giving her a call." He winked at her and walked away.
Stunned, Josh's mouth gaped open and Donna pressed her lips together, trying not to giggle. Finally, Josh was able to half-yell, "You'll have to call her at my house."
"I leave you alone for two seconds and you were making a date?" His voice was joking, but there was a hint of hurt in his eyes.
"How else am I supposed to get possessive caveman Josh to come out and play?" When his eyes bugged out, she swatted his arm. "I'm kidding. Of course I wasn't making a date. I guess not everyone knows we're… you know… together these days."
Josh took a second to digest that. "I guess we haven't really been out much."
"Or, you know, at all."
"Maybe I should take out an ad on the front page of the paper, announcing you're off the market." He pulled her even tighter to him to make his point.
Donna shuddered, but didn't resist his embrace. "Don't even joke about that."
Josh was going to rib her some more, but just then he noticed Lester crossing in front of them. He released his grip on Donna slightly and called, "Hey, Lester."
Lester looked startled for a moment before he realized he'd stumbled onto people he was with. "Hey Josh, Donna. This place is so cavernous I never thought I'd find any of you again."
Donna looked around him and noticed the woman who'd been walking on his other side. "But you managed to find a friend?"
"I did," he replied enthusiastically and moved aside so Sherrie could join the newly forming circle. "This is Sherrie Washington; we grew up together. She's my little sister's best friend in the world. Donna Moss and Josh Lyman."
"Nice to meet you-" Donna was in the middle of greeting her warmly when Lou barged into the circle. By this point, her wrap was gone completely, and she must have run across a #2 pencil at one of the balls, because one was currently stuck in her hair, holding it in a sloppy, rudimentary bun. Wiry tendrils of hair were springing out in about a dozen haphazard directions from her head.
"I need five minutes with Josh and Lester."
CUT TO:
INT. WASHINGTON CONVENTION CENTER HALL C ALCOVE
"Otto and Bram found Glen Moorhead," Lou announced after she'd dragged Lester and Josh to a quiet section of the ballroom.
Josh nodded his approval at them seeking out the new NSA. "Good thinking, he was at the Pentagon early in Bartlet's presidency. What did he say?"
"Best of his recollection, they didn't retire the Warrior fleet because they didn't need to. Pushed it back and allocated the money elsewhere. The final decision was Miles Hutchinson's."
"Good. Tell them to get back to the White House. I want every detail they can give me on the when and where of this blog story."
CUT TO:
INT.
"So Sherrie," Donna turned to the woman, prepared to make small talk, which didn't seem like such a chore. "What do you do-"
"Donna!" A call from behind interrupted Donna's inquiry.
Donna froze at the very identifiable voice that was calling her name. Taking a deep breath, she pasted on a smile and turned, cursing Josh for leaving her to this fate… even if he had a good excuse.
"Amy, how are you this evening?" Donna didn't miss a beat before finding refuge in making introductions. "This is Sherrie…" she paused a moment to let the name come back to her "…
"Hey." Amy spared the woman a lazy nod in greeting.
"I like your dress," Donna added, because she really didn't have anything else to say. Amy wore a long, tight, shiny black dress that clung to her body like Saran Wrap. And yet, for how much it revealed, it was decidedly boring. One thing that meeting with all of Helen’s fashion consultants had taught her was not to wear black to this kind of occasion; it faded you right into the background.
"Versace," Amy replied.
"Oh." Donna merely nodded and smiled.
"And I'm wonderful this evening; it's so nice not to have to work tonight. It's a relief not having to hit every single ball with the President. I can actually enjoy the evening."
Donna smiled inwardly, but nodded as if she agreed. They both knew it was a lie; it was never better to be farther away from the President. Feeling fortified by the fact that Donna herself was traveling with the President on Inauguration night, she adopted an interested expression and asked, "Where's your date? I'd like to meet your boyfriend."
"Oh, he can't stand putting on a tux, so I left him at home…" She reached back and gave a tug on someone behind her. "So instead I brought someone I could have a good time with. I believe you know Sarah Petrero." A woman materialized from the crowd behind Amy and was now standing at her side.
"Yes." Donna stiffened and tried not to sound surprised at the other woman's presence. She remembered that it wasn't so long ago that Amy had wanted to set Josh up with Sarah, but like the confident pro she was, she quickly recovered. "Hi, Sarah, you look nice." She gestured to Lester's friend. "This is Sherrie Washington."
Sarah and Sherrie exchanged brief pleasantries, before Sarah turned to Donna. "Donna, I love your dress, and congratulations on being named Chief of-"
"Remember when I wanted to set Sarah up with Josh?" Amy interrupted with a jovial tone that sounded decidedly false. At the interruption, Sarah looked incredibly uncomfortable, Sherrie looked instantly intrigued, and Donna took a deep breath and set her jaw.
"I do." Donna gave a reassuring smile to Sarah, who now, Donna noticed, looked like she wanted to throw up.
"It's funny how things work out. Who would have thought that after ten years as his assistant, you would finally snag him? I'm sure there were a lot of people in this town who lost money on that bet. It was a surprise to all of us," Amy related with an oddly smug tone. She must have had more than a few glasses of champagne already.
Sherrie's eyes went wide; she had no idea she was going to be witness to such drama tonight. Lester had been right; she was meeting interesting people. However, Sarah now looked as if she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole, and Donna narrowed her eyes slightly. She was determined not to let Amy get to her, so she resisted the urge to remind her that she hadn't been Josh's assistant for over a year.
"By the way, have you seen Josh at all tonight? I need to talk to him," Amy asked.
"Since he is my date, yes, I have seen him," Donna answered without giving her any information.
"Of course, what was I thinking?" Amy looked behind her. "So where is he?"
"Is it an emergency?"
Amy laughed as if Donna had told a great joke. "Donna, you're not his assistant anymore; you don't have to screen access to him these days." Amy was trying to appear sincere, but as always, there was a subtle note of condescension in her voice.
"Well, you don't have to worry about any of that important stuff anymore; you can leave that to those of us in the West Wing. You're in the East Wing; you can enjoy tonight. Eat, drink…" Amy pointed to the champagne glass in Donna's hand, apparently oblivious to the half-empty champagne glass in her own hand. "And be merry."
"Is that what you did when you were in the East Wing?"
"Well, Mrs. Bartlet and I were different than you and Helen."
"Mrs. Santos." Donna couldn't stop herself from correcting Amy.
"What?"
"I'd prefer it if you called her either Mrs. Santos or the First Lady when you refer to her in public."
"Oh, right." Amy was now looking around Donna. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I do see Josh." And just like that, Amy left the three women standing there in her wake.
Donna quickly shook her head to stop her. "For what? There's no reason to apologize."
"No, really, I’m sorry. Amy's a friend of mine, but sometimes…"
"She likes to rattle cages?" Donna asked with a knowing smile.
"Exactly," she replied before raising her own champagne glass. "And we've had a few of these."
"Don't worry about it." Donna thought to herself that it'd been a long time since she'd let Amy rattle hers. A calendar would have told Donna it had only really been since Leo's memorial, but no need to get into specifics. Blissfully, through transition she'd had very limited contact with her.
Sherrie's eyes had narrowed shrewdly as she observed the dynamic between the two women.
"Listen, I really had nothing to do with her wanting to set me up with Josh. She suggested it and I wasn't opposed, but it wasn't my idea. I also had no idea you two were together-"
"It's all right…" Donna tried to wave her off, but the other woman, obviously nervous to be standing in front of Donna in the current situation, just kept babbling.
"…I mean I'd heard the rumors about you two, everyone in
"Their history?" Sherrie couldn't help it; the question was out of her mouth by instinct.
"Oh yeah, you know, the way she worked for him all those years in the White House and then Josh was the one who was shot at Rosslyn and then Donna was the only surviving member of the CoDel a few years ago. You know, he dropped everything to fly to her. It's just so romantic that they finally found their way to be together, don't you think?"
"Uh…" Donna was stunned; Sarah's geyser-like outpouring had rendered her speechless. She’d had no idea anyone even realized she and Josh were together, let alone knew their history. She took a few deep breaths and remembered that Sarah had almost been set up with Josh. Heck, she was probably standing face-to-face with a charter member of Josh's fan club. That probably explained her overeager interest in them. Sarah had a crush on him and frankly, she couldn’t blame the woman for that. Donna breathed easier. No one else cared, just this possible fan-club member who'd had a thing for Josh. Meanwhile, it had become clear how Amy could be friends with this woman. Sarah was sweet, a tad naïve, and a bit bumbling-- clearly no threat to Amy. Clearing her throat, she forced a smile. "Well, Sarah, thank… uh… you, it was great to see you."
"Oh, great to see you, too. And nice to meet you." She nodded at Sherrie and then must have realized she'd been dismissed, because she turned and disappeared through the crowd.
"Oh my." Donna shook her head as though trying to clear it after sticking it in a fan. "I can't believe that."
"What she said wasn't true?" Sherrie asked.
"No, it was pretty much all true, but it's just weird hearing it like that."
At that moment, Josh came up behind Donna and put his arms around her waist. Sherrie watched as he pressed a kiss to her cheek and she seemed to relax immediately.
"Can I steal her away?" Josh looked at Sherrie. "We're wanted on stage."
"Of course." Sherrie nodded with a smile. They seemed like nice people and really were a good-looking couple. She'd bet they were really photogenic.
As Donna turned in his arms, she asked quizzically, "On stage?"
"You wanted a dance earlier."
Donna's eyes lit up and she flashed a delighted smile at Sherrie as Josh dragged her away.
As she watched them go, Sherrie made a split-second decision and quickly dug her cell phone out of her purse.
"Ted? It's Sherrie Washington. I think I have a great human interest angle for you on the Inaugural coverage; do you have a photographer here at the Convention Center? Good, I need him in Hall C right now..."
CUT TO:
"What did Amy want?" She asked, trying not to roll her eyes.
"To talk about some bill about welfare mothers and breast feeding that's never going to get through committee, nothing that can't wait until… never."
"That's what I thought," Donna replied knowingly.
"I was hoping tonight would be quiet," Josh lamented with almost a pout.
"What are you, new?" Donna asked with good-natured sarcasm. "Isn't it always like this?"
"Mmmm… let's see. Last time we were dealing with a major shift in military ideology and the operation in Kundu, bad quotes and snowballs."
Donna blushed, as she always did when bad quotes and snowballs were brought up, but didn't flinch because at the same time, he wrapped his arm around her and brought her closer. "This time it's pardons, helicopter crashes and the Army's aging air fleet. Did you know the Kiowa Warrior was supposed to be retired in 2001 but it was pushed to 2008 during our prior stay in office?"
"I did, actually."
"You didn't?" Josh spun towards her so they were now face-to-face.
"I did," she shrugged. "It was on the Defense budget breakdowns that were sent over from the Pentagon and were kept in your office. I was familiar with all of them." She crinkled her brow for a second. "If I remember correctly, the money that was freed went to the development of the F-22 Raptor. I remember that because there must have been a half dozen updates to the budget about it with the money rolling back and forth. Apparently, there was some wrangling and tension because it was the Army's idea to keep the Warriors in the field, but they wanted those funds. Instead the money was reallocated to the Air Force for the fighter planes."
In absolute awe, he took a moment to just stare at her. "Why aren't you working for me again? You would have saved Bram and Otto a lot of time if you'd been in on this tonight." He shook his head with both pride and frustration.
He leaned into her ear. "I promised you a dance."
Donna smiled and decided to just enjoy the moment; she’d worry about the rest later. "You wouldn't dance to Ricky, but you'll dance to Enrique?"
"I prefer Julio," he smarted. But he pulled her tightly to him and now they stood almost nose to nose. "But Enrique is acceptable."
"Good, but remember that in exactly two balls we're going to be seeing Bono, and you've promised that I can meet him."
"You think I'm introducing you to a rock star while you're talking about fighter jets and wearing that dress?"
"What's wrong with this dress?" she pouted.
"Nothing," he growled before kissing her full on the lips.
A few moments later they parted, and she panted, "Okay, that was a really good answer, but should we be doing that in public?"
"No one can see us,” Josh replied with a grin. “We're offstage."
"Kay." Donna smiled as he kissed her again.
CUT TO:
SAME TIME
"Don't you need to be with the President?" Claire eyed her curiously as they sat watching the First Couple dance on one of the stages.
"They wanted me to make some phone calls, so I had to be somewhere quiet. It's quiet here and I can see where they are on the monitors." After greeting the entourage, she'd taken the first excuse to come back and visit Claire.
"See, if I could leave this room, I'd be down there."
Ignoring the implication that Ronna had no good reason to be hanging out with her—because she had to admit, she wasn't exactly sure why she was drawn to the small room and the probably-straight woman in the first place—she turned to smile inquisitively at Claire. Changing the subject, she asked, "So why did you volunteer to work tonight?"
"I wanted to come to the ball."
"Ahhh… couldn't find tickets?"
"Not everyone works directly for the President and gets invited to ALL of them." Claire smirked at her.
Ronna admitted, "I know how it is. I worked for Matt Santos when he was a Congressman here in DC during Bartlet's second Inauguration; I didn't end up scoring tickets to anything."
"Well, I did find my way to a pair of tickets to the one at the Old Post Office, but Bono isn't playing that venue, so I volunteered here. Now, if Vinick had won, I'd be up to my eyeballs in-"
But Ronna had stopped listening. She interrupted excitedly, "You like Bono?"
"Of course."
"Me, too!" she squealed, in the way Ronna was prone to do when the subject turned to anything Bono related.
"He is to die for," Claire agreed with an amused look at Ronna's response, before demanding incredulously, "If you like him too, why aren't you down there meeting him? One of us has to! I would be meeting him if I had the chance." She added the last part a bit dreamily.
"Oh… uh…" she motioned to the monitors. "They're only at Hall C, still two balls away from Bono." But Ronna looked a little apprehensive, as if the excuse was thin even to her own ears.
But Claire just nodded as if that made sense. They continued to watch the monitors. Ronna wasn't sure what to say, because she also felt a little deflated. It sounded as if Claire liked Bono, as in “found him sexually attractive,” and that wasn't good news.
"Look, there's Josh Lyman." Claire pointed him out on the side of the stage. "Don't need a cheat sheet to pick him out. Wow, he looks surprisingly good in a tux."
"Watch a lot of coverage of the campaign, did you?" Ronna tried to sound conversational, but felt even more disheartened after Claire’s comment about Josh looking good. She was pretty sure it was a universal rule that lesbians didn't find Josh attractive, at all, tux or no.
"Yeah, but that's not why. He's what you might call… notorious in my family. Whoa… whoa… whoa! Alert… he's totally kissing that woman." Claire picked up the cheat sheet of Presidential VIPs and then squinted back to the monitor. "Yup, I thought I recognized her—this time from the campaign-- that's definitely campaign spokeswoman Donna Moss… or, from this list, Chief of Staff to the First Lady Donna Moss." She turned to Ronna. "Are they together?"
Ronna looked suddenly like she was the one who'd been caught kissing. "I really couldn’t say…"
Her tone made Claire laugh. "I think the cat’s out of the bag, since they just made out on stage in front of thousands of people. Enrique Iglesias is singing about six feet to their right."
With alarm, Ronna studied the monitor. "No, see. They're offstage."
"Actually, there are tricky angles on that stage…" Claire punched up a different camera angle on the router. "…so it's hard to tell, but look." She pointed to the wide-shot on the screen. "If this camera can see them, then I'm pretty sure 80% of the audience can see them."
Ronna's eyes widened. "Oh, great."
"Problem?"
"It's just that if I know them, they didn't mean to do that. They tend to be private."
"As they have a right to be; whom someone sleeps with is no one else's business!" Claire replied somewhat vehemently.
"True." Ronna watched her out of the corner of her eye, becoming even more confused by Claire's sudden passion for the issue. They sat and watched for a moment, until Claire's comment from earlier finally hit her. "Wait, a few minutes ago did you say that if Vinick won, you could have had tickets to any ball?"
Claire nodded, but also grimaced at the same time. "I did."
"How?"
"I was kind of hoping you hadn't caught that; my mouth ran away with me. It tends to do that sometimes; I don't know if you've noticed. It's useful in lobbying, some of the time. The truth is that my father is an… uh… elected official."
Ronna's jaw swung loose before she asked, "A Republican?"
Claire nodded.
"You're a Republican?" Her tone would have been the same if she'd been questioning whether someone was a Nazi. She didn't know any girls who played for her team and were also Republican; things were looking dire on that front. Her radar must be on the fritz.
Claire tried not to look offended at the assumption, but she obviously was. "What… my Dad's Republican, so I must be, too?"
"No…sorry, of course not." Ronna quickly backtracked. "It's just my experience with political families is that it sort of…stays in the family. Loyalty and all that..." she finished lamely.
"Oh, well, we were all in the family until about three years ago, but I'm not the one who changed loyalties."
"Three years ago?" Ronna asked as she visibly started putting two and two together.
Claire nodded and a chagrined look stole over her face.
"Are you saying your father is Senator Chris Carrick of
She nodded with a grimace.
"Oh." It was the only response Ronna could find.
"That's not a good 'oh,' is it?" Claire asked cautiously.
"No, no… it's... fine. It's just… I have only been in the West Wing a few hours, but I know from transition that we anticipate your father to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks with confirming a VP." Ronna pushed herself into a standing position and clumsily forced herself to try to appear unbothered as she looked down at the other woman. "Uh… they're taking a bow, must mean they're leaving… I should catch up with them. Thanks so much for your kindness." Ronna didn't meet her eye. "It was nice meeting you."
Befuddled, Claire watched her go before calling, "I like Baker!" after Ronna's quickly retreating form.
CUT TO:
"I've got some good ones of the two of them, and also with the President and First Lady. The gold backdrop is really making them pop. I can't believe they were canoodling like that on stage; it was perfect. You want me to keep going?"
"Don't stop until they're offstage." Sherrie tried to sound confident; meanwhile, the acid in her stomach was churning in a nervous pit. There was no turning back now.
FADE TO BLACK