EPISODE 8.3 – Written by Aim
Ready for Prime Time
TEASER
INT. WHITE HOUSE RESIDENCE, SUNDAY MORNING
"What's on the agenda for today?" Matt asked.
"You mean now that Mass is out of the way?" Helen replied. She was two doors down, trading her pantyhose and skirt for more comfortable attire.
"Yes, now that we've fulfilled our religious duties, what else do we have planned today?"
"There's dinner."
"Dinner?" Matt asked in an open-ended, *that's it?* way.
"Yes, that meal we eat as a family on Sundays shortly after
"After that?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing," Helen confirmed, rejoining Matt in the sitting room his family had turned into something resembling the modern American living room. To the extent the housekeeping staff would allow at least. The living room lacked the familiar clutter of most living rooms, but Matt was making short work of the Sunday paper and a few of the kids' toys cluttered the floor.
"I knew making the staff take Sundays off would have benefits," Matt said from his seat on the sofa they'd brought from the family home in
"I'm still not sure how you get Josh away from his desk." Helen sat next to her husband.
"Donna's waiting for him at home," Matt pointed out.
"Good point."
"What have you got there?"
"This?" Helen held up a battered expandable file. "This is something Donna refers to as the 'What a Shame' file. She gave it to me last week and told me it was time for us to stop sitting on the sidelines. I think she's getting more than a little annoyed with me not knowing what I want to do. Anyway, there's a lot of good stuff in here that needs attention, I just don't have any idea where to start."
"What kinds of stuff?"
"Just stuff."
"Seriously, Helen. What's in that thing?"
"Foreign adoptions, special education for kids with disabilities, preservation programs, all sorts of stuff."
I'm sure if you pick some issues you want to address, Donna will know where to start. Isn't that why you stole her from me in the first place?"
"Hey, snooze and lose, buddy," Helen laughed.
"I'm playing with it!" The argument erupted from one of the kids' bedrooms.
"No you weren't!"
"It's my turn, Peter!"
"Mom! She wasn't playing with it! It was just lying on the floor!"
"Both of you change out of your church clothes and get ready for dinner." Helen got up to go referee the spat.
"Remind me again why we ever bought one of those crazy video game things?" Matt called after her, flipping on the TV.
*"...if the Administration is going to get any sort of education plan passed they need to get it out there now, during the first 100 days and sell the thing. And they need to sell it directly to the American people and encourage the public to put pressure on their representatives and senators."*
Matt pulled his tie off and changed the channel. They'd gone to the late Mass this morning, all he was going to catch was the end of the Sunday morning shows.
*"...interesting to see how the FDA handles the upcoming recommendation on the HPV vaccine. The religious right has been gearing up for this fight for a very long time. In fact, it bubbled up once during the Bartlet Administration..."*
"What are they talking about?" Helen returned through their private kitchen and got Matt a beer.
"HPV."
"What about it?"
"There's a vaccine for it going through the approval process at the FDA that's about 99% effective."
"99% effect? Really? I think it would be huge if we could actually prevent cancer," Helen said.
"That's very true, but not everybody sees it that way," Matt replied, turning the channel again.
Helen nodded, but kept her mouth shut. There was an conversation to be had about it, but dinner was almost ready and now wasn't the time.
*"Here's the next question for our panelists: is the relationship of Josh Lyman and Donna Moss actual news?"*
*"They are high profile White House staff members who have at one time or another been front page news."*
*"You remember back in New Hampshire in the earliest days of last year's campaign, the stories weren't even about Santos, they were about how Lyman quit his job in the Bartlet White House to run Santos' campaign..."*
CUT TO:
INT. JOSH'S APT., SAME TIME
*"...I say no and ask why are we even talking about this?"*
*"We're talking about this because the magazines, the blogosphere, and large portions of the mainstream media have been going nuts over them ever since the first pictures six weeks ago! And because they won't talk there are now rumors floating around about just when this relationship started..."*
*"Unsubstantiated rumors. The same unsubstantiated rumors that ran around behind those two for the seven years they worked together in the Bartlet Administration. You think if there was something to them, that card wouldn't have already been played? Josh Lyman's made a lot of enemies over the years..."*
*"This wouldn't even be a thing if they'd just come out and..."*
*"And what, Phil? Bare their souls to Barbara Walters?"*
"Like that's ever going to happen," Josh muttered. He dug through the sections of the Washington Post that littered the sofa searching for the remote. Finding it, he stabbed the power button and returned his attention to the editorial on the Superfund lawsuit the administration was facing in the
"Anyway, I gave her the 'What a Shame' file and attached bullet pointed index cards to every subject packet," Donna continued, telling Josh how she'd decided to handle the First Lady's inability to settle on an agenda as she walked past the back of the sofa.
"There was a lot of good stuff in that file. She ought to be able to find something to work on," Josh agreed without looking up from the paper. At the moment, he could care less how Donna motivated the First Lady, as long as she did. He knew Donna was bored and frustrated and while she had been great about understanding how busy he was, he felt guilty that she'd decided to take the job in the East Wing partly because of their relationship. The consequences of the last time Donna was professionally unfulfilled were still fresh in his mind.
"Do you even remember what's in that file?" Donna teased from the bedroom.
"Stuff we never had time to work on, but should have made time for. If you'd made me bullet pointed index cards, maybe we would have gotten somewhere on that stuff," Josh quipped.
"Cute, funny boy. Hey, you haven't seen my travel hair dryer, have you?"
"Why? Are you traveling somewhere?"
"No. I'm trying to find it so I can leave it here and take my full-sized one back to my apartment." Donna appeared in the doorway from the bedroom with her hands on her hips.
Josh looked up from the paper with a confused look on his face. "Why are you taking your hair dryer back to your apartment?"
"Because the twitchy chick from Treasury finally found an apartment of her own, so I can move back in."
"You're moving back into your apartment?" Josh couldn't help the squeak in his voice.
"Yes."
"You're moving out?" Josh scrambled off the sofa, his confusion quickly turning into panic.
"Josh, we talked about this last weekend. I asked if you would help me move some stuff and you said yes." Donna shook her head, somewhat hurt that he didn't remember their discussion from last Sunday.
"I thought you meant move more of your stuff in here, not move your stuff out of here. Those are two completely different things."
"I told you Tammy had found a place to live. Why would I move more of my stuff in here if the woman subletting my apartment was finally moving out?" Donna asked.
"I remember the conversation! You asked me to help you move some things and I said sure. You didn't say from where to where!" Josh insisted.
Donna shook her head again. "Because you said 'sure, just tell me where and when' and went back to watching CNN. This didn't seem like a big deal to you last week. Why are you making it a thing now?"
"Because you're moving out!"
"My living here was never permanent, Josh," Donna's eyes flashed. She had asked for his help last week and he hadn't batted an eyelash. Now all of a sudden it was a problem? "I have four months left on my lease and I don't have $4,000 to throw away paying rent at a place I'm not living in. Now, have you seen my travel hair dryer?"
SMASH CUT TO OPENING TITLES