EPISODE 8.8 - Written by Shelley
THEN AND NOW
TEASER
INTERIOR WHITE HOUSE
NORTH LOBBY
6:35 AM
Sam juggled his briefcase, his silver travel coffee mug, and a lukewarm whole-wheat bagel (which Lauren had insisted he take 'to go') as he swiped his plastic ID to officially begin his workday. One of the things his fiancée was finding hardest to deal with since their cross country relocation to DC was a serious lack of leisurely breakfasts and relaxing dinners like those they had shared almost daily in
"You're in early this morning, Mr. Seaborn," Tyrone said cheerily from his seat at the security station.
"Today is the kind of day that demands an early start," Sam said as he stuffed his ID in his pocket. He stopped in front of the large oak guard's desk and regarded Tyrone. "Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose."
"Give me a second." The wheels in Tyrone's head spun visibly. "Longfellow?" he guessed.
"That's right. I haven't stumped you in almost two weeks."
"When I ace my exams and finally graduate I'll buy you a beer."
"Deal," Sam smiled amiably. He started towards his office but turned back after a few steps. "Did Ron Butterfield talk to you about what's going on this morning?"
"Yes, sir. I'm going to handle it myself." Tyrone slipped efficiently back into work mode. "Just let me know when you're ready."
"Give me 15 minutes after Ms. Gardner enters the building then report to her office."
"Will do, Mr. Seaborn."
"Thanks, Tyrone," Sam called over his shoulder as he set off down the hall towards his office.
CUT TO
INTERIOR JOSH AND DONNA'S APARTMENT
SAME TIME
"Do you have your speech all ready?" Donna called from the bathroom where she was putting the finishing touches on her makeup. In the mirror she could see Josh standing by the bed making a third attempt at getting the knot in his tie straight. She smiled.
"Speech?" he answered, not looking up from the task at hand.
"Your Cheese Day speech," she said as she entered the bedroom. "Something to rally the troops. Get them excited about giving voice to the everyman."
Josh snorted loudly as he dropped his hands to his sides, deciding his latest attempt at tie tying was straight enough. "These people are not the 'everyman'. These people are nuts. Calling them a fringe element is being generous."
"Be nice," Donna warned.
"I am nice. I'm letting them in the building, aren't I? In fact, I invited them in."
"I'm beginning to think you only invited them in to make fun of them." Donna moved to the large dresser near the foot of their bed and picked up her earrings.
"Not true."
Donna arched an eyebrow and Josh caught the look in the dresser's mirror.
"OK, maybe a little," he conceded. "But mostly I'm doing it because…." His voice trailed off as he reached behind him to retrieve his suit coat from the bed.
"I know." Donna crossed to stand directly in front of him. She smoothed down his lapels and straightened his tie. "Leo would be honored that you're continuing the Cheese Day tradition in his memory."
"I hope so. It's just that it still hurts, ya know?"
Donna squeezed his hand. "I know."
"I don't want people to forget him. I want him to be part of the
"It's a great idea," Donna said with certainty. "He would have loved it."
"He would have loved the thought of someone mocking me during my speech the way I used to mock him." Josh picked his BlackBerry up off the bedside table and dropped it in his pocket. He caught Donna's eye and smiled, letting her know that he wanted this to be a happy day and didn't want to get maudlin.
"Exactly! And since you so kindly invited Annabeth and I to participate, I'll be there to see every minute of it. So that's even better."
"You'll probably be leading the mockers."
"Let the Cheese Day festivities begin," Donna thrust her arms in the air and cheered. Josh couldn't help but smile broadly.
"I have to touch base with Sam as soon as we get in," he said as he performed a last minute check to make sure he had everything. "I need to see how things went with Amy."
Donna frowned slightly. "Are you expecting a problem?"
"We're talking about Amy Gardner here."
"True," Donna nodded. "Do you think Sam can handle her?"
"I really do. I started to tell you last night after I talked to him," Josh grabbed his wallet off the dresser and they headed to the living room, "but then you did that thing with your tongue and I lost my train of thought."
Donna smirked. "Started to tell me what?"
"There was something different about Sam during our conversation."
"Different how?" Donna turned off the lights in the kitchen and living room.
"Tougher. More focused. More confident even. He's furious that Amy went behind our backs."
"That's understandable."
"The fact that she did it on the bill that's the cornerstone of the President's agenda…"
"Makes it worse." Donna finished his sentence.
"Yeah. I mean I've seen Sam pissed before. This is more than that."
"More?"
Josh shook his head. "I have a feeling Amy isn't gonna know what hit her."
CUT TO INTERIOR AMY'S OFFICE
Sam
"I've left at least ten messages on his voicemail since yesterday and he hasn't returned any of them. I need to talk to him NOW. No, don't put me on hold. No…no…DAMMIT." She pounded the desk.
Sam glared at her for a full minute before she noticed him. She held up her finger indicating that she'd only be a minute.
"Yes. I'm still here. Look, just have the Congressman get back to me the second he's available." She hung up with a growl and turned to face her boss.
"What do you need, Sam?" she asked hurriedly as she rifled through the files and papers cluttering her desk's surface.
Sam stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. "A request for you to come to my office first thing, Amy, means just that. First thing. It doesn't mean at your earliest convenience." Sam spoke calmly.
Amy didn't look up from the mess on her desk. "I have a million things to do today. That ridiculous lockdown put me so far behind it'll take the rest of the week to catch up."
Sam was silent as Amy continued talking, seemingly oblivious to his anger.
"I can't believe all the crap that piled up while I was wasting my day locked in a room full of tourists. There's no way I'm gonna be able to sit down with you today. Maybe tomorrow. Let's say lunch?"
"I don't care how much you have to catch up on." Sam's tone was measured. "When I say I want to see you first thing it means just that."
"Aye aye, Captain." Amy looked up and gave a mock salute then went back to her foraging. "I'll keep that in mind."
Sam smiled inwardly. He found that, to his great surprise, he was looking forward to what was about to happen.
"I took your meeting with Cal Richards yesterday."
Amy's head snapped up. She'd spent all night trying to get the Congressman on the phone with no success. She'd been hoping his lack of availability had something to do with what happened at the Capitol yesterday and nothing more.
"He showed up here thinking he had a meeting with you."
"I TOLD his assistant that I was stuck in the lockdown and we'd have to reschedule," Amy said angrily.
"A wire must have gotten crossed somewhere," Sam said. "But since we really need his help on the education thing, and didn't want him to feel like we weren't making him a priority, I took the meeting myself."
"The guy's a flake." Amy waved her hand dismissively but finally gave Sam her undivided attention. "Thanks for sitting down with him but I can take it from here."
Sam held her gaze. "He had some very interesting things to say."
Amy froze. The fear that had been building in the pit of her stomach since the night before became reality in a flash. Sam knew about the deal she had offered Richards, and he wasn't happy. It was going to take real finesse to get things back on track. She took a deep breath, regrouped, then drained her paper coffee cup and tossed it in the garbage.
"Ignore him," she scoffed. "He's small potatoes. I'm working on getting us the votes we need elsewhere."
Sam watched with fascination as Amy continued wrapping the metaphorical rope around her own neck.
"This bill is gonna pass. Just leave it to me."
"We did leave it you, Amy. And that was a mistake."
"Look, Sam, there's a reason you and Josh made me the point person on the Hill for education. I know what I'm doing. You just worry about the things you've got on your plate right now and leave this to me."
"I'm your boss. What's on your plate is on mine."
"I'm just saying, I'm not some neophyte you need to keep an eye on every minute, though God knows there are plenty of those around this place. Josh trusts me to handle this. The President trusts me to handle this. There's no reason you shouldn't do the same."
Sam shook his head incredulously. "You're not offering congressmen the deals you've been authorized to offer them and instead you're making up your own deals as you go along. You don't think that should make us question any trust we may have placed in you? How about the fact that you're putting your own political agenda above the President's? Or that you're dealing away valuable political capital on bills that aren't going anywhere? That shouldn't have us concerned?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Amy gritted her teeth. "And I really don't have time to go back and forth with you right now."
"Make time," Sam said, keeping his place in front of the closed door.
"I've got to see Josh before this ridiculous Cheese Day thing gets underway. I need to brief him, then get back to the Hill and try to make up the ground I lost yesterday."
"You won't be going back to the Hill today, Amy. Your services are no longer required."
"What are you talking about?" Amy came out from behind her desk and faced him defiantly.
"I spent half the night talking to people on the Hill about what you've been promising them over the last few weeks. Don't even bother trying to deny it."
Amy advanced on him, eyes blazing. "Don't tell me how to do the job Matt Santos hired me to do."
"He didn't hire you to run the Amy Gardner agenda."
"As long as he gets what he wants…"
Sam cut her off. "We were five votes down on the education bill and you were willing to squander the six Richards could give us. What if he hadn't gone for the deal on 722?" His voice was starting to rise.
"I knew he'd take it," Amy insisted.
"Until somebody wisely points out to him that he's trading his votes for nothing. 722 is a throw away. Then he comes back at the last minute looking for more."
"I have a plan to get the votes we need and then some. We don't need Richards," Amy spat out.
"That's not how it works, Amy. And the fact that you would actually try to make an argument to me that it is makes it very clear you aren't the right person for this job."
"What are you trying to say?"
Amy glared icily at him and Sam glared right back.
"You're fired. You have thirty minutes to gather your personal belongings…."
"You can't fire me!" Amy fumed.
"I can and I am," Sam said calmly. He reached behind him and opened her office door revealing a waiting guard. "Tyrone will watch you pack. Take only your personal items. No White House documents, no work product and no schedules. Turn in your ID on your way out."
"I'm going to see Josh." Amy's face and neck were beet red.
"Feel free. He's fully aware of what's going on."
"You two are delusional if you think you can get away with this. Matt Santos hired me personally. He's the only one that can fire me."
"Then by all means, go and see him," Sam stepped out of the doorway.
Amy stalked past him and started down the hall but turned back when Sam spoke again.
"I'm willing to live and let live if you end up back at the WLC or in some other position where we'll have to deal with each other professionally. That's the nature of this business. But if I ever hear so much as a whisper of you trying to make trouble for this administration, if I hear you breathed even one word insinuating that this firing was personally motivated on Josh's part, or if you try to play on even one piece of inside information you gained while you were here, you will be very, very sorry."
"Don't threaten me, Sam," Amy sneered. "You're not the intimidating type."
"Don't make the mistake of confusing kindness with weakness, Amy."
She began walking backwards down the hall. "Only one of us will be here at the end of the day, Sam. I plan on it being me."
CUT TO
INTERIOR OVAL OFFICE
"Please tell me this isn't going to throw the education bill off track," Matt said with a hint of agitation in his voice. He was sitting behind his desk, absentmindedly rearranging his pictures of Helen and the kids in an attempt not to look directly at his Chief of Staff.
"We're fine," Josh answered from his position near the couch. His posture was relaxed, arms hanging loosely at his sides. "Sam spent most of the night on the phone with key people. We'll have to deal with last minute wobblers as always but we're in good shape."
"We need this win."
"We'll get it, sir."
"I don't understand what's been going on. They're willing to accept the roads package in return for their votes on the education bill, right?"
Josh nodded.
"And we stood right in this very office and decided that was the best offer to make, right?"
"Yes," Josh said evenly.
"Then why was the welfare issue even on the table?"
"Because, sir," Josh took a deep breath and measured his words carefully. "Amy Gardner is incapable of passing up any opportunity to run her own agenda. That's why I had to fire her during the campaign."
"The welfare bill will never pass anyway," Matt stated with a hint of anger in his voice.
"No, it won't. But that isn't good enough for Amy. She believes in complete annihilation."
"And Richards was willing to go for that?"
Josh took a deep breath. "Whether he was or not really isn't the point," he said tightly.
Matt's jaw clenched. "Who was supposed to be overseeing this?"
"Sam was. And ultimately I was. But the fact is, sir, we can't have a Director of Legislative Affairs that we're afraid to send to the Hill alone for fear of what she'll do."
Matt nodded his agreement, still not meeting Josh's eyes. "When's Sam firing her?"
"It should be right about now."
"There isn't gonna be any drama, right? We've done everything by the book?"
"Yes, sir."
As if on cue the intercom on Matt's desk buzzed.
"Yes, Ronna."
"Amy Gardner is here to see you, sir. She doesn't have an appointment but she says it's urgent."
"Send her in."
"Do you want me to leave?" Josh indicated his office door.
"No. Stay."
They both startled slightly as Amy barreled into the office and came to a stop in front of the President's desk. She sneered at Josh. "I should have known you'd be here."
Josh bit his tongue.
"What do you need, Amy?" Matt asked as he stood, drawing himself up to his full, somewhat intimidating, height. "I have a very busy day."
"I want you to tell Sam Seaborn that YOU are the one that hired me," Amy said haughtily. "And that he has no right to fire me. Not now. Not ever."
Matt ignored her demand and posed a question of his own. "Who authorized you to put the welfare bill on the table in exchange for education votes?"
"All due respect, sir, you hired me to do this job because you knew I'd be good at it. And I am. I do what I need to do to get your legislative agenda passed. How I do it should be of no concern to you."
Josh watched the conversation with disbelief.
"Really?" Matt raised his eyebrows.
"Really. And if there's a chance for me to advance the cause of women at the same time I get you what you want, you better believe I'm gonna grab it every time."
"And you make these decisions autonomously?"
"As long as you get what you want, sir, yes. I don't need Sam, or even Josh," Amy turned her head briefly and glared at Josh then turned back to the President, crossing her arms over her chest, "looking over my shoulder while I do my work."
"I asked you to come to work here to help with this administration's legislative agenda. Things we agree on as a team. If everyone is out there making their own deals, not only are we going to look like a bunch of amateurs, eventually it will come back to bite us."
"I've been in this game a long time, sir." Amy said arrogantly. "I know what I'm doing."
"I'm sure you think you do."
Josh dipped his head and grinned.
"As long as we all get what we want, sir……"
"Let me ask you something, Amy. If it ever comes to a point where you have to choose between advancing your agenda and advancing mine, which would you choose?"
"I'll worry about that when it happens, sir," Amy said smugly.
Matt shook his head. "Sam had my blessing when he fired you." He glanced at his watch. "You better get moving. You only have 20 minutes left."
Amy stared at him mutely; a look of utter disbelief on her face, then turned on her heels and stormed out of the office.
Matt stared down at his desk, rearranging the few papers there.
"So…." he mumbled.
"So. Let's put that behind us and get on with the day. Is there anything you need from me before your first meeting arrives?"
"No, I'm good."
"OK, then. I have a rousing Cheese Day speech to deliver to the staff." Josh moved towards his own office.
"I wish I was gonna be there to see that," Matt flashed his first genuine smile of the morning.
"No, you don't, sir. Because if you were, Margaret would shove a file in your hand and make you take a meeting with people who believe they've been abducted by aliens in a past life or some such thing."
Matt laughed and Josh reached for the knob on their connecting door.
"Josh…"
"Yes, sir?" Josh turned back to face his boss.
"Thanks for not saying 'I told you so'."
SMASH CUT TO TITLES