"My key ring! The one in my purse."

"What about it?"

"Leo gave it to me." Tears rolled down Annabeth's cheeks. "It was my Election Day present."

Donna choked back her own emotion. "Oh sweetie." She pulled Annabeth into another tight hug. "I'm so sorry."

"I can't believe this," Annabeth sobbed.

"Maybe the guy will throw the purse down when he realizes there's no money in it. Then someone may find it, see your ID, and call the White House." Donna was grasping at straws.

"Do you really think so?" Annabeth pulled back and wiped her eyes with her hand.

"We have to hope," Donna squeezed her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah. We have to hope," Annabeth repeated then sighed deeply. "I think I've given them all the information they need for tonight." She tried to pull herself together.

Donna rubbed small circles on her friend's back. "Anything else they need can keep till tomorrow."

Josh finished talking to the officers in charge and crossed to Donna and Annabeth. "They said you can go," he said softly. Donna noticed that the gentle tone of his voice couldn't quite hide the tightness of his jaw and the building frustration written all over his face.

"Great. Thanks."

Donna kept one arm around Annabeth and slipped her free hand into Josh's as the trio headed toward the exit.

"Oh wait," Annabeth suddenly changed course and steered them towards where Craig was finishing up giving his statement to one of the officers. "I have to say goodbye."

Donna and Josh stepped off to the side to give Annabeth a chance to say goodbye to her new friend. Donna could feel the tension radiating off Josh as they waited. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on but knew this wasn't the place to discuss it.

"Goodnight, Craig," Annabeth said sincerely as she placed her hand on his arm. "I had a really good time today."

"Really?" Craig asked skeptically.

"Well, except for the ending." Annabeth attempted a smile but failed.

"I'm so sorry," Craig apologized.

"Don't be silly," Annabeth insisted. "It certainly wasn't your fault."

"Thanks for saying that. I just keep thinking I could have done something more. Reacted faster. Something."

"Nonsense. There's nothing you could have done. Neither of us got hurt and that's all that matters."

"I guess you're right." Craig looked over her shoulder to where Josh and Donna were waiting. "You'll be ok getting home?"

"I'll be fine," she assured him. "My friends are going to take me to the office to get my keys then they'll see I get home safely."

"Ok then. I'll call you tomorrow and check on you?"

"Thanks. That'd be very nice."

Annabeth smiled then turned and walked back to Josh and Donna and the three of them headed out.

CUT TO INTERIOR
JOSH'S TOWN CAR

Donna sat in the middle of the car's spacious back seat with Josh and Annabeth on either side. She was turned slightly to her left toward Annabeth, still concerned about her friend's condition.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Donna fussed as the car approached the White House. "We can take you to the hospital and have a doctor check you out if you want."

"I'm fine. Really," Annabeth assured her. "I just want to get my keys, go home, crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head."

"The police said they'll call you if they get any leads but this kind of thing generally goes unsolved," Josh said agitatedly. He glanced at Annabeth as he spoke then turned his head and stared out the rear passenger's side window.

Donna reached over and squeezed his knee but he barely seemed to notice.

"Do you want me to run in with you to get your keys?" Donna asked, turning back to Annabeth.

"No. Thanks. I know exactly where they are. I'll just be a second."

The car pulled up in front of the East Lobby. Annabeth exited the car as Josh motioned out the window to the guard to let her in even though she didn't have her ID.

"I can't believe this happened," Donna sighed. "Annabeth was really looking forward to this. She was so upbeat on her way to the bar. She was practically skipping."

"How do you know?" Josh turned to look at her.

"I walked with her part of the way."

"YOU WHAT?" Josh's voice echoed through the enclosed confines of the car.

"I walked as far as the apartment with her."

"According to the police report, she was mugged less than three blocks from our apartment," Josh growled.

"Wow." Donna seemed surprised.

"This is nuts." Josh's temper flared. "Georgetown is supposed to be a safe neighborhood. I think maybe we should consider moving."

"This was an aberration, Josh." Donna tried to calm him. "There's no reason to move."

"I don't care if it was an aberration. I'm not taking any chances. I don't want you walking home from work anymore. Or walking anywhere for that matter."

"I'm careful." Donna said, trying to keep her own emotions from escalating.

"Careful isn't enough. That could have easily been you with Annabeth when she was attacked."

"I think attacked might be too strong a word," Donna said defensively.

"She called from the police station, Donna."

"Yes but no one was hurt."

"This time. But what about next time."

"Josh…"

"No, don't 'Josh' me. I'm serious." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"We live in a safe neighborhood." Donna placed her hand on his arm reassuringly.
 
"Apparently not as safe as it used to be. I don't want you out walking alone," Josh stated as though he was giving an order to one of the staff.

"I don't recall asking your permission." Donna's face turned red and she could feel her neck heating up.

Josh looked to Rodney who was sitting in the front seat. "Help me out here, Rodney. Tell her it's not safe. That she can't be out walking around town all by herself."

"I'd rather not get involved in this, sir." Rodney begged off.

"You're no help," Josh shot back. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side. Can't you back me up here? How come I need a guard but she doesn't?"

"Josh, just drop it. Leave Rodney alone. You're tired. It's been a long day. Let's just get home and we'll talk about this in the morning."

"This isn't about me being tired, Donna. This is about me not wanting anything to happen to you."

"I refuse to live in a prison of my own making. Or yours," Donna snapped.

"Look I refuse to allow…."

"Allow???"

"If it would make you feel better," Rodney interrupted, not wanting things to escalate any further, "Ron Butterfield teaches a self defense class for women who work in the White House."

"He does?" Josh looked to Rodney. "How come I never knew about that?"

"He just started it about a year ago."

"You should take that." Josh said emphatically turning to Donna. "Let's call Ron now."

"I'll think about it. And we're not calling Ron now. I don't think he'd be very happy if you woke him up."

"Donna…."

"I said I'll think about it," Donna cut him off. "Now please drop it."

Josh was about to argue further when Annabeth re-entered the car. The driver started the engine and they headed across town in silence.

CUT TO
INTERIOR HAWK AND DOVE

Ronna, Margaret, Otto and Bram now sat with Lou, Sam and Lester in a large booth. They all looked exhausted but relaxed, trying to shake off the strains of the day. Sam, Lou and Ronna were on one side of the booth. Lester, Otto and Margaret were on the other. Bram had a chair pulled up to the end of the table

"You guys don't know how good you have it," Sam scoffed at the new staffers. "This is a piece of cake compared to the Bartlet years."

"It couldn't have been worse than this," Lou insisted. "These hours are insane."

Sam and Margaret glanced at each other and actually laughed out loud.

"What?" the others asked in unison.

"Listen, I loved Leo McGarry as much as anyone on this planet. Lord knows I did," Margaret said sincerely. "But he had no grasp of the concept of balance. He worked day and night and expected everyone else to do the same."

"That's for sure," Sam smiled fondly. "I remember one night during our first week in office. I was ready to drop. We'd been working practically around the clock for months to get ready to begin governing. I figured now that we were finally in office I could take some time to breathe."

"Boy were you wrong," Margaret snorted.

Sam smiled and continued. "It was around 10:00pm and I was getting ready to head out. Go home, put my feet up and revel in how far we'd come."

"Sounds reasonable," Otto said.

"You'd think," Sam replied. "I was gathering my things and Leo came into my office. He told me we were adding an event to President Bartlet's schedule two weeks down the road and asked me to work up some ideas for the speech. He wanted me to get back to him as soon as possible. I said I'd be happy to and kept getting things ready to leave. Leo just stood there staring at me with this look he had. I realized pretty quickly that even though the speech was still two weeks away, he wanted to see some ideas that night."

"I know the look well." Margaret nodded.

"Finally I offered to throw some things together right away, hoping of course that he'd tell me to go home and do it in the morning." Sam couldn't help but laugh as he remembered that night.

"But he didn't," Margaret said knowingly.

"Nope. He said 'That'll be great, Sam' and told me he'd be in his office when I was ready."

"That was Leo," Margaret smiled.

"And President Bartlet, for all his greatness, was no better," Sam added. "His kids were grown, his wife had her own life. He had no problem at all with working till all hours."

"So you're saying the hours aren't gonna get shorter as we get settled in?" Bram asked with some trepidation.

"You usually get out when the sun's still up. You should consider yourself lucky," Margaret said. "Leo would have called this schedule 'banker's hours'."

"I barely have time to maintain a relationship with this schedule and still do things like laundry and grocery shopping. I'm lucky if I get five hours sleep a night. I can't imagine putting in many more hours." Ronna shook her head.

"Speaking of relationships, how are things going with Claire," Bram leaned in and asked softly.

"Good thanks," Ronna smiled back at him.

"Plus," Sam interjected, "you're working for a much mellower version of Josh Lyman than the one we came to know and love during the Bartlet years."

"This is mellow Josh?" Otto snorted.

"Very mellow," Sam nodded. "He has Donna to go home to now so all-nighters are a rarity. I think we all owe Donna a real debt of gratitude."

"To Donna!" They all toasted laughingly.

"I remember what Josh was like in the early days of the campaign. When Donna was working for Russell." Ronna shook her head. "Those were dark days. We never failed to run into the Russell people on the trail, and every time he saw Donna he got more morose."

"Well then I take credit for part of his mellowness too," Lou saidtriumphantly. "I was the one who hired her after he refused to. I was also the one who brought her on board as spokesperson and told him to get the Hell over it and learn to work with her."

"That was a very smart move," Ronna said supportively.

"Here's to you," Otto raised his glass.

"Salud!" Sam chimed in. "It was about damn time."

"Does that win me back anything?" Lou looked beseechingly at Margaret who smiled a small smile.

"Maybe a little."

"I'll take it." Lou said gratefully.

"I'm sticking with a daily muffin delivery," Lester muttered.

"That's good too," Margaret said as she took another sip of her drink.

CUT TO
EXTERIOR ANNABETH'S APARTMENT

"You guys really don't have to walk me in. I'll be fine," Annabeth said as Josh's car pulled to a stop in front of her building.

"We'll feel better if we see you in safely," Josh insisted.

He got out of the car first and reached back to help first Donna then Annabeth out. They made their way almost silently to Annabeth's front door. Her hand shook slightly as she tried to put her key in the lock. On the third try she finally connected and turned the knob opening the door to her apartment.

"You know…now that I think about it, it might be nice to have someone to talk to for a few minutes. Would you guys like to come in for a drink?"

CUT TO
INTERIOR WHITE HOUSE RESIDENCE BEDROOM

"I mean…I couldn't believe she would do that to me. I went out on a limb to hire her. I knew Josh didn't want her. But I thought I could get her to tow the company line." Matt complained as he shed his suit and changed into his pajamas.

"Yeah, I could have told you that was never gonna happen," Helen snorted from her position on the bed. She had changed earlier and was reclining comfortably awaiting her husband.

Matt glared at her. "At least Josh had the decency not to say 'I told you so'."

"Josh has to be nicer to you than I do."

"You're saying you knew Amy would do this?" Matt asked disbelievingly.

"Not this specifically. But I knew she'd screw up in some monumental way."

"And you knew this how?"

"Women know other women."

"Ahhhhh. Women's intuition."

"Don't mock, Matt. I'm serious. I haven't had many dealings with her but I've seen enough to know everything I need to know."

"For example?" Matt challenged.

"Well first there was her pulling you out of the meeting when the kids were being introduced to their agents. Nothing could have been more important than that meeting. It shows exactly what she thinks of family."

"Ok. That was bad," Matt agreed grudgingly.

"Yeah well then there was the day the pictures of Josh and Donna hit the press."

"What did that have to do with Amy?" Matt asked as he lay down beside his wife.

"She came up to see Donna that day. The door between our offices was open a crack and I could hear everything that was said."

"And what was said?" Matt asked as he began to stroke his wife's arm.

"Amy was ever so subtly trying to undermine Donna's confidence, both in her ability to be my Chief of Staff and in her relationship with Josh."

"How so?" Matt pulled back, a little surprised.

"'Gee Donna, I really hope your new position doesn't interfere with your relationship. You know Josh always liked you immediately available to him' and 'I don't envy you, Donna. This job was hard enough for me to do. I can't imagine how it'll be for someone with no experience on this level'."

"It didn't work, did it?" Matt asked.

"No, but it was a damn good try."

"Well there's history there with Amy and Josh. I guess it's understandable."

"Don't reduce it to two women fighting over a man, Matt. I know a woman who hates other women when I see one. And Amy Gardner is that kind of woman."

"Well she's gone now," Matt sighed.

"Thankfully." Helen smiled as her husband grabbed her and pulled her on top of him.

"And you and I have better things to do with a rare quiet moment than talk about Amy Gardner."

"On that we definitely agree," Helen purred as she captured Matt's mouth with her own.

CUT TO
INTERIOR ANNABETH'S APARTMENT

"He was a great big softie at heart," Donna said affectionately.

She and Josh were sitting side by side on the loveseat in Annabeth's living room. Donna couldn't help but think that the apartment looked exactly like what anyone who had ever spent more than five minutes with Annabeth would expect it to look like. A Laura Ashley explosion. But somehow she managed to pull it all together with an air of sophistication.

Annabeth was sitting on the couch facing them. Her feet were propped up on the coffee table that was strewn with newspapers and mail. In the middle sat a half empty bottle of wine.

"Bet you never said that to his face," Josh smiled.

"He always acted like he had no interest in anyone's personal life," Annabeth said. "But there he was in the background always pulling strings to get people where he thought they needed to be."

"He got me to leave the White House and find my own 'real thing'," Josh said, shaking his head at the memory. "It was painful, but it was effective."

"And the right thing to do," Donna nodded.

"And look at you now," Annabeth said triumphantly. "In the office that connects to the Oval. Right where Leo always said you belonged."

"He had more confidence than I did sometimes." Josh drained his wine glass.

"He never had a doubt," Annabeth affirmed.

"It's a pretty nice office I guess," Donna teased. "Kinda small, but a decent location."

"Says the woman with the office big enough to host a State Dinner," Josh snorted.

"Thanks at least in part to Leo," Annabeth said.

"How do you figure?" Donna asked.

Josh leaned forward and picked up the wine bottle. He refilled the women's glasses first, then his own.

"He recommended you for the job," Annabeth replied matter-of-factly.

"When?" This was the first Donna had heard of such a thing.

"It was one night about a month after you joined the Santos campaign. We were hitting some of the markets that needed shoring up and we crossed paths with Mrs. Santos in…I think it was St Louis. Leo and I were scheduled to head out to Tulsa but it was raining cats and dogs and no planes were taking off. Somehow we all ended up in the hotel lounge with Leo telling war stories about the White House. He had us all in stitches."

"That sounds like him," Donna said with a smile.

"Mrs. Santos asked him about 'the new girl'. She said how impressed both she and the President…well the Congressman then….were with you."

Donna blushed.

"Leo told her the story of how you left Wisconsin on the heels of a bad relationship, drove across country on your own and hired yourself as Josh's assistant."

"I didn't even know he knew that story," Donna said quietly. She looked at Josh and they both began to smirk. "Margaret," they said in unison.

Annabeth smiled and continued. "She remembered you from the whole chicken fighting incident when you worked for Russell."

"I'm never gonna live that down," Donna moaned.

"Probably not," Annabeth agreed. "Because come on….that's a good story."

"It really is," Josh snickered.

"Anyway, Leo told Mrs. Santos how you'd outgrown your assistant position and how, as painful as it had been for everyone involved, it had definitely been time for you leave the White House and strike out on your own. Build your confidence and establish your own professional identity."

"That's very sweet." Donna's eyes welled a little. "He sent me a huge bouquet of flowers and a good luck note on my first day with Russell."

"At one point Mrs. Santos wondered aloud if you might be willing to help her if we won the election. I realize now looking back that's exactly where Leo had been trying to lead her all night. He said he had no doubt you were ready for the challenge of steering the 'Good Ship East Wing' as he called it."

"He was right as usual." Josh smiled as Donna blushed.

"I asked him later if you were that qualified why he was trying to get you out of the West Wing? Wouldn't you be better serving the president directly? But he just smiled and said he was hopeful that the two of you were finally going to wake up and he knew you wouldn't be able to work together after that."

"He did not," Donna scoffed.

"He did," Annabeth said. "He was hoping that as miserable as Josh was during your time apart it might spur him on to actually make a move."

"You'd think," Donna snorted, "But yet it was me. Twice."

"That was Leo's plan B," Annabeth giggled. "That you'd get tired of waiting."

"Didn't you two have anything else to talk about other than us?" Josh began to squirm.

"Lots of long plane rides," Annabeth said as she polished off her wine. "Oh, I almost forgot," She jumped up from her seat. "The campaign photographer sent me a batch of pictures from Leo's last public appearance. There are some really good ones. Let me grab them so you can see." She headed back the hall.

Donna snuggled tightly against Josh and he placed a soft kiss on her temple. She turned her head and whispered in his ear. "I love you."

"I love you, too and I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to lose my temper. I just want you to be safe. That's all."

"I know you do. But I can't live in a bubble."

"Unfortunately."

"I'll tell you what I will do though. I'll call Ron in the morning and see about signing up for his next class."

Josh exhaled and his whole body relaxed. "Thank you." He dipped his head. "Thank you."

Something shiny peeking out from under a newspaper on the coffee table caught his eye.

"Hey Annabeth?"

"Yes?" she said as she reentered the room carrying a stack of photos.

"What did the key ring Leo gave you look like?"

"It was a silver cat with a tiny rhinestone collar. It was sort of an inside joke because of my online password."

"Did it look like this?" Josh plucked a key ring from its hiding place under the papers on the coffee table.

"Oh my gawd!! That's it. I must have left this morning without my keys. I do that all the time. Which incidentally is why I have an extra set at work." She grabbed the key ring and hugged it to her. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was heartbroken at the thought of losing this. I can't believe it was right here all along."

Josh smiled at her exuberance and pulled Donna closer. "It's funny how life works that way sometimes."

FADE TO BLACK