ACT 1

INT. ROOSEVELT ROOM
FOUR NIGHTS PRIOR - 9:30 PM, DECEMBER 27th

Through one of the windows of the Roosevelt Room Josh could see Lester with his feet propped up comfortably on a chair, and that the table in the center of the room was littered with take-away food containers. It was clear an informal staff meeting was taking place. Josh pushed open the door just in time to hear Lou make a pronouncement that made him want to order her to go outside, run around the building three times and spit.

"…with these approval ratings we'll be able to run the table after the State of the Union."

"Whoa." Josh held up one hand and carelessly flung his gym bag to the floor with the other as he entered the room. In one stride he was standing behind Donna. The room waited for him to speak but he was now distracted. Placing one hand on her shoulder, he leaned over and surveyed the remains of her dinner eager to pilfer a fry or two. His brow crinkled when he found only vegetables and other remnants of a salad.

"A salad? Did you get me something?" Josh frowned as he leaned to the side to grab a fry from Sam's plate. "I worked out. I need real food."

Donna turned to him and lifted an eyebrow. "I ordered myself a salad, there's a sandwich on your desk."

At her look, he hastily smiled and said thank you, all the while guilty stealing another fry from Sam.

"How was racquetball?" Sam asked with only a hint of humor in his voice.

"You play racquetball?" Annabeth scoffed and Josh turned to look at her with a trace of indignation. "I mean, I'm just surprised you actually know *how* to play racquetball?"

"What is so surprising about me playing racquetball?"

She smiled sweetly at him. "I guess it's just that I think of you more as a cerebral being and less as a-"

"Physical one?" Lou interjected with sardonic satisfaction before Annabeth could finish her thought.

Otto snickered. Bram snickered. Almost the whole room was snickering or trying not to snicker. Donna turned and patted his arm as if to say she knew he was a plenty physical being but that it would be inappropriate for her to defend him on this matter at the current time. Before Josh had a chance to offer a retort to his insolent staff, Sam turned to Annabeth and explained. "The President's on a sudden racquetball kick."

"Whose idea was it again to get a jock elected President?" Josh asked rhetorically, before reaching up to rub his shoulder. He glanced between Sam and Lester. "If he wants to play tomorrow, the two of you can flip a coin."

Sam shook his head vehemently. "It's all you, Lester."

"Fine by me. I'll take the face time with the man in charge."

"Now that we've got the President's racquetball schedule out of the way, you were saying?" Lou tried to steer the conversation back to business.

"When?" Josh asked as he walked over and stole another fry, this time from Lou herself.

"Before the discussion of your physical prowess, you walked in and you were going to say something."

"Right." He thought for a split-second. "Let's practice cautious optimism on the numbers staying put through the end of January. We've got a lot of ground to cover before then. First things first, how is
this week looking with the welcome home events for the troops?"

"Good. We worked out the scheduling glitches. We now have a full calendar of events spread between the President, Vice President, First Lady and other cabinet members. Every event is timed not to overlap so, unless something big happens, each event should have its own coverage and news cycle and we should be able to keep the troops homecoming at the forefront of every American's mind for the next week."

"Good," Josh replied. "Because in the second year the newness has worn off. We're no longer going to be able to get things done because we're the brand new shiny kids on the block. We'll need approval numbers to move our agenda. The bigger the better."

"It's as good as done," Lou replied confidently. "It's the holidays, we've got 30,000 troops coming home from Kazakhstan and nothing is going to interrupt the flow of good news or the feel-good times of the people."

"There's one thing that might." Startled by the interruption, everyone in the room whipped around to see Arnold Vinick standing in the doorway. He looked at Josh when he spoke.

"We've got a problem in Kazakhstan. A big one."

CUT TO:
INT. WHITE HOUSE RESIDENCE

Josh stood outside the President and First Lady's bedroom. His hands were shoved roughly in his pockets and he rocked back and forth as he waited for the President to emerge. A moment later, the door cracked open.

"Josh?" The First Lady walked into the hall, a robe wrapped tightly around her, a circumstance that made Josh instantly uncomfortable. It wasn't that Helen was showing anything she shouldn't, but she was the First Lady, in a robe, standing in front of him outside the first bedroom. Even though it had happened with regularity on the campaign trail, in the White House it seemed to take on a different intimacy with her position. Unbidden the thought of seeing the formidable Abbey Bartlet similarly attired flitted across his mind and made him shudder.

"Yes, Ma'am." Josh tried to look anywhere but directly at her.

"Matt jumped in the shower after racquetball but he knows you need to talk to him. Just give him a minute to get dressed."

Josh nodded, his eyes now glued to the floor. "I just need him for a few minutes, hopefully it won't take long."

Armed with that information Josh assumed Helen would take her leave and go back into the bedroom. She did not. Instead she stood rooted to the spot, watching him quizzically as he continued his, now,
almost scientific-like study of the carpet.

Helen watched Josh watch the carpet and smirked at his odd behavior. After a moment she spoke. "So how was your holiday?"

"Good!" Josh replied too enthusiastically. Still looking at the floor he continued in a more normal tone. "It was good."

Helen watched him another few seconds before answering as if he'd posed the question in return. "Ours was good, too. Although a little hectic. My sister's family was here."

Josh nodded, but still didn't look at her. "Right, Donna said you had a full house."

"Yes, we did. And we had some excitement. My niece got engaged."

Josh mentally cursed the President for taking such a leisurely shower and having nothing else to say replied, "That's nice."

"Oh, it was, but we dove right into the wedding planning and I have to admit after several full days of dresses and flowers and invitations and music I'm a little wedding'd out."

Again, Josh had no idea what to say. He went with, "Oh."

Helen watched him critically for a beat before continuing. "Speaking of weddings, I thought my Chief of Staff might come back to work today with some big news of her own."

Josh forgot why he wasn't looking at Helen and met her eye with a startled, "What?"

"Donna's not wearing a ring."

"Excuse me, Ma'am."

"There's no ring on her finger."

Josh watched her for a moment and then took a deep breath. "You know too?"

"Word gets around."

"Great." Josh felt the familiar tightness in his chest. Anxiety. Trying to find a time and place to propose to Donna was more stressful than... well than the current situation in Kazakhstan. Maybe not, but close.

"I thought you might ask her on Christmas. Why didn't you ask her on Christmas?"

"I…uh… I…" Josh sighed and shook his head. "I thought about it, but I wanted to make things perfect and I haven't had time yet to… make things perfect."

Helen nodded her head thoughtfully. "I see."

Then for a reason unknown to Josh he confided a fear that had been nagging him for several weeks. "It's not like we're going to have time to get married anyway."

"You two are very busy people but I'm sure you can make the time. If you want to that is…"

"I want to." Josh said forcefully. "Of course, I want to."

"Then what is it?" Helen prodded.

Josh sighed; he wasn't really comfortable discussing this with Helen since he'd always assumed she didn't like him. But here he was, so he just went with the flow. "It's not so much setting aside the time. I… I guess I'm just afraid that anything we try to plan will be interrupted by some crisis or another. If our wedding day goes up in smoke because there's another assassination attempt in Amiir or a volcano erupting in the Pacific Northwest, then that's it. Donna would be disappointed. And what if she decides it was sign that we shouldn't get married or something?"

"These are the things you think about?" Helen's voice held humor but also sympathy at his dire prediction. "Well, if it's as bad as that, you know you could always elope."

Josh perked up. "Elope?"

"Sure," Helen replied with a twinkle. "However, even with an elopement you still have to ask her first."

Josh was saved from replying by the President emerging from the bedroom. Helen promptly took her leave by saying goodnight to Josh before laying a hand on her husband's arm and murmuring "Don't be too late" as she shut the door behind her.

The President had hastily put on a T-shirt and sweat pants before meeting Josh in the hall. His hair was still wet and a damp towel was draped around his neck. He looked to Josh with a frown of concern. "What's up?"

"It looks like Kazakhstan is balking on their agreement from last fall."

Santos' frown deepened. "Balking? What part of the agreement?"

"All of it. They're claiming some undue pressure by the Russians and are now saying they're not comfortable with the Russians monitoring the election."

"But that means…" The President's voice rose.

Josh nodded once in agreement before finishing for him. "That means if we don't act fast then both the Russians and Chinese will stall their retreat and we could be back at square one."

CUT TO
INT. WEST WING HALLWAY

"I'll pay you." Bram sounded almost desperate as they wound their way through the mostly empty halls of the West Wing.

Lester glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "How much?"

"A thousand dollars."

Lester stopped and turned to Bram, a look of comic disbelief on his face. "A thousand dollars?"

"That's what I said."

"You would drop a dime just so you don't have to go to Fort Bragg tomorrow?"

"Yes. And drop a dime? What, have you been hanging out at the track?"

"If you must know, several young members of my family played a lot of Final Stretch on Christmas. I lost a lot of cyber money on a filly named Midnight Mayhem. Now what's wrong with Fort Bragg? You're the one who recommended it for a Presidential visit, remember?" Lester shot him a probing look. "And fought to go along."

"Nothing's wrong with Fort Bragg, the homecoming event should go off like clock work. However, at the time I suggested the visit I didn't realize who else would be going. I can't handle being trapped with… them… for almost a full day."

"You're still on that?" Lester asked with a chuckle.

"You don't know, you weren't there!" Bram replied with a violent shudder. "Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace and joy, but I spent it having Otto/Lou sex flashbacks!"

Lester grimaced at him. "Don't say it. There's no need for you to say it and drag me into your nightmare."

Bram soldiered forward anyway. "How do you think I feel? I saw them, Lester. Having sex. I saw it with my own two eyes. And the vision isn't going away."

Lester shot him a mischievous grin. "I will not take your place at Fort Bragg tomorrow, but look at the bright side."

"What bright side?"

"Do you have a date for the President and First Lady's New Year's Eve Party?"

"No… not yet."

"Well then consider tomorrow a prelude to the three of you attending the social occasion of the year… together. A threesome if you will," Lester taunted with a smile as he started walking backwards towards his office. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we have a crisis and I have a meeting."

Horrified, Bram stood rooted to his spot in the hall. After a moment of reflection he fumbled for his phone and began to dial. When a voice picked up on the other end, he began speaking in a rush. "Sierra… its Bram. Bram Howard. I know we haven't touched base in awhile…"

CUT TO:
INT. CHIEF OF STAFF'S OFFICE

Josh entered his office to find the sandwich Donna had promised as well as a small side container of fruit and an iced tea. He would have to thank her later for this, maybe by asking her to marry him. He had taken his second bite of sandwich when Sam entered and took a seat in one of Josh's visitor chairs. Josh motioned to the door to the Oval. "The President will be down in ten minutes."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "If we have to halt the withdrawal of troops this will affect almost every aspect of our State of the Union agenda."

Josh nodded in agreement. "Yes, it will."

"What are we going to do?"

"Fix it," Josh replied calmly as he took a swig of ice tea.

Sam studied him a minute before he started chuckling.

"What?" Josh asked defensively as he speared a strawberry with a white plastic fork.

"We've just found out that we might have to continue a resource-draining, unpopular occupation of a foreign land, standing, by the way, between two nuclear powers, our entire agenda for the year could be derailed and you're completely calm. But if I ask you why you haven't proposed to Donna yet...."

Josh almost knocked over his tea. With fumbling hands he set it to rights as Sam continued. "…you're thrown for a loop. It's funny to me, that's all."

"I'm not thrown for a loop."

"Yes, my friend, you are. How long has that ring been burning a holein your pocket?"

"Thanksgiving," Josh mumbled.

Sam shook his head at his friend's inability to act. "And it's now two days after Christmas." That must have put something in Sam's mind because he looked up at Josh brightly. "I know. I have it. The perfect time and place for you to propose."

That got Josh's attention. "Go ahead."

"The Santos' New Year's Eve party. Of course." Sam sounded almost surprised at himself, like he should have thought of it sooner. "The mansion is beautiful right now and it's going to be an impressive, swanky occasion-"

"I am a man of occasion." Josh interrupted thoughtfully.

"Right. And then you'll be able to celebrate your engagement with friends at the party. Besides you'll be in a tux, trust me, it will be that much harder for her to say no if you're wearing a tux."

Josh dropped the forkful of fruit he was about to put in his mouth. "You think there's a chance she'll say no?"

Sam smiled wryly at him. "Don't you?"

"What? No! Of course she's going to say yes." Josh stopped for a second and thought about it. "Well, I'm 99.9% sure she's going to say yes. Why would you think she'd say no!?"

Sam folded his hands in his lap and eyed Josh cagily. "Why are you so nervous about it and putting it off if you're sure she'll say yes?"

"I just want it to be perfect," Josh defended, before relenting, "and I'm worried about the actual wedding part. When do we have time to get married? I don't know when we could ever plan it without worry that something was going to come up and ruin it."

"Don't you think you're putting the cart before the horse there a little?"

"Maybe, but I can't very well ask her to marry me and then tell her it's going to be hard finding time to actually get married."

"I wouldn't go that direction either," Sam replied with a rueful chuckle. "Maybe you should just elope."

Being that it was the second time Josh had heard that advice in the last ten minutes he took notice. "Elope? Do people really do that?"

"I guess so. Hey, you know if this Kazakhstan thing doesn't completely spiral out of control you could even take a few days and get away after New Year's Eve and just get it over with."

"Just get it over with?" Josh repeated incredulously. "That right there is why I'm not taking your proposal advice." However, Josh proved that a lie by sitting back in his chair and pondering the suggestion. "I don't hate the idea of just doing it though. I wonder if Donna really wants a big, elaborate wedding..."

Sam didn't have time to venture an opinion as the President's body man interrupted from the adjoining door to the Oval. "Mr. Lyman, Mr. Seaborn, The President is on his way into the Oval."

CUT TO:
INT. OVAL OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

"So, where are we?" Santos asked as he strode into the room. While he had changed out of his sweats he was still dressed comfortably in a button down shirt and slacks, no tie.

Sam stepped forward. "Lou, Otto and Lester are looking at all the remarks for tomorrow and determining how we can change the language, removing any promises for more troop withdrawal without signaling that there's a problem. Secretary Vinick is on a call with General McClain to find out why we didn't know this was coming."

"What's your take?" Santos addressed Josh.

"It's not entirely out of left field. If the Russians were going to play nice, we probably wouldn't need to be there in the first place."

The President looked to Sam. "First things first, should we be cancelling the troop homecoming events, starting with Fort Bragg tomorrow?"

Sam shook his head. "No, Sir. That would certainly send up a red flag before we're ready. I think we should go ahead as planned."

"But aren't we going to look like idiots if we start celebrating the end of peace keeping troops in Kazakhstan only to turn around and announce, oops, it's not over?"

"We'll make sure the language is cautious. Besides, troops are back on U.S. soil and their Commander in Chief is coming to greet them. That's what it will be about."

Santos nodded reluctantly. "The best case scenario is if we can smooth this over and the election takes place in January as planned."

"Yes, Sir," Josh agreed decisively.

"If Kazakhstan is no longer willing to honor their agreement and allow Russian election monitors, we need to find a new plan that everyone will agree to."

"Will they allow us to do it?" Sam asked just as Secretary Vinick strode into the room.

Vinick picked up the answer. "I would guess that's amenable to Kazakhstan, but not to Russia and China. Good Evening, Mr. President."