ACT I
INT. JOSH'S CAR, 6:07 AM

Josh answered his chirping cell without looking up from the pad he was writing on. "Yeah."

"Did you get called in?" Donna asked sleepily.

"Good morning," his voice softened immediately, but when his driver glanced at him in the rear view mirror he fixed him with a glare that was a sharp contrast to his tone.

"Good morning," Donna drawled. "Is something happening? Sit room?"

"No," Josh said. "I wanted to get an early start. I have a stop to make before I go to the office."

"What kind of stop?" Donna groaned, and Josh could tell by her voice she was stretching lazily. His favorite moment of the morning was watching Donna stretch like a cat, naked in his bed.

"Today's the day, Donna. I was inspired last night."

"I'm quite inspirational."

He grinned. "No, I didn't mean that. Though, yes…you are. I'd compare you to a religious experience, but with the language you were using--"

"What was your inspiration?"

"I'm bringing her in."

Donna sat up in bed. "How? She said no twice."

"I'm gonna convince her," Josh said confidently. "It's the only way I'm gonna be able to do this. I'm going under already, and we're less than a month in. She's the only one available who can do this."

"She'd argue she's not available."

"And I'd argue otherwise. Whatever it takes, I'm not leaving until I get a yes."

Donna's hand went to her heart unconsciously. She was pretty successful these days at controlling her protective streak where Josh was concerned, but with her growing boredom in the First Lady's office, and seeing how overworked he was, she was half-tempted to say she'd take the job herself. "I can call ahead of you. Try to soften up the ground a little."

"Nah, then it will look like we're ganging up on her," Josh said. "I think I'm just gonna ask. Nicely. Appeal to her sense of patriotic duty."

"In other words you're gonna guilt her into it."

"Just call me Machiavelli."

"So I take it you didn't have any issues with Rodney this morning?"

"Au contraire, my little nymph," Josh snarled. "I opened the door, and he looked me up and down and up again. Like he was…I don't know, undressing me with his eyes."

"Oh, for God's sake."

"I feel so violated."

"Are you saying all this right in front of him?"

Josh looked at the back of his driver's head. "No, it's the…other one. The daytime one."

"Mark."

"Mark!"

"Yes, sir?"

Josh froze. "I, uh, nothing. Never mind, Mark."

On the other end of the line, Donna giggled.

"Thank you for that one," he said into the phone.

"Be sweet to her, Josh. You're really hard to resist when you're sweet."

"Which is always."

"That, right there, is a perfect example of what *not* to do."

"Gotcha. I'll see you at work." He flipped his phone shut just as something outside caught his eye. "Hey, pull over a second."

The car pulled to a stop and Josh opened the door, only to be met in the next instant by Mark, who had fixed him with his own disapproving glare.

EXT. WASHINGTON STREET CORNER, CONTINUOUS

"What did you do wrong just then, sir?"

"This is so damned ridiculous…" Josh whined.

"There's a procedure, Mr. Lyman. I get you out of the car. I enter rooms in front of you. We've been over this."

"You think this flower vendor is in fact an assassin in disguise who knew that I was going to be on this route, which I am not usually on, and that 30 feet back I would spontaneously decide I needed flowers?!?"

"There's no need to make a scene, sir." The agent was totally unperturbed. "There is, however, a need for me to get you out of the car. Do we understand each other?"

Josh put his hands up in surrender, but did nothing to take the disgusted look off his face. "After you." He motioned to the vendor.

The fascinated flower vendor watched as the agent surveyed the scene quickly, then cleared the way for Josh to approach him. "How can I help you?"

"Uh…do you have anything that's not roses?"

"New relationship?"

"I'm sorry?"

"This is a new relationship? The girlfriend, you think it might be too soon for roses?"

"No, it's…I mean, yes, it's new, but not…these aren't for my girlfriend. They're for…it's more a business gift. I don't think it needs to be roses."

"Business…are you trying to impress?"

Josh snorted. "No. I'm trying to…I'm trying to seem nice. *Be* nice, I mean. Be nice."

"I've got some assorted bouquets…nothing too out of the ordinary, but they're…nice."

"Good. I'll take one of those."

The vendor pulled out the flowers but instead of quoting Josh a total, simply folded his arms over his chest. "And what else?"

"That's all," Josh said, flipping through his wallet.

"You've got the roses for the girlfriend taken care of, then?"

Josh snapped his head up, sure this guy was making a wiseass remark off the magazine cover, but the man's expression revealed nothing more than a guy looking to make a sale.

"I've…well, I've kinda been let off the hook for that."

"How's that?"

"She's said she doesn't want to do anything special for Valentine's Day."

The vendor cocked his head to the side. "Of course she doesn't."

"No, I know what you're thinking, but she means it."

"New relationship?"

"Um…no. Yes. On this level, yes."

"She doesn't mean it."

Josh's brow furrowed instantly. "She doesn't?"

"Of course not. She's just *acting* like she doesn't care. It's what women do."

"It is?"

"Absolutely."

Josh looked off down the street for a moment. "I don't know, she was pretty adamant about it. I think she means it."

"She just wants you to *think* she means it. She doesn't want you to do it because you think she expects you to. She wants you to do it because you want to."

"I *did* want to!" Josh shouted to the mostly empty street. "She was the one who put the kibosh on things! No dinner, no presents, no flowers." He scuffed his shoe on the ground and then leaned toward the vendor conspiratorially. "You're saying she didn't *mean* any of that?"

The vendor shrugged. "What do I know? But let me ask you this. Your girlfriend, she works in an office?"

"Yes."

"So it's Valentine's Day, and everyone is getting flowers, all day long. Roses for the secretaries, roses for the bosses, roses for the girl who gets the coffee, roses, roses, everywhere. For everyone. But her. Picture that scenario, and then ask yourself if you're gonna have a good night tonight if you do as she asked."

"Oh, my God." Josh's eyes were the size of golf balls. "I am an idiot."

"Don't feel bad," the vendor comforted. "Rookie mistake."

"At my age," he mumbled. "No wonder I've been a bachelor so long."

"I'm sorry?"

"Nothing. Look, just get me the biggest ones you've got."

The vendor reached into a box and pulled out a bouquet of giant sunflowers with red-tinged petals.

Josh started. "I meant the biggest roses you've got."

"This is better."

"Why?!?" His head was beginning to pound.

"Well, for one thing, they're more expensive."

"That's why it's better for *you*. Why is it better for me?"

"Same reason. She'll know, and so will all the women she works with. Everybody's gonna have roses, come on! But NOBODY will have this. Nobody but her."

"They're HUGE, they look like John Bunyan's sunflowers."

"I thought you wanted to make a statement."

Josh took another look at the bouquet. "I'll take `em."

EXT. DC APARTMENT
6:39 A.M.

"Miss Weber," the agent greeted her when she opened the door.

"Mark," Margaret sighed. "Come on in. The little wriggly creature in the high chair is not a terrorist, so please don't, you know, tackle him."

"Yes, ma'am."

The agent stepped inside to reveal Josh standing on her doorstep. She leaned against the open door. "Well if it isn't the Capitol Casanova."

Josh opened his mouth to protest, but changed his mind at the last second. "That's funny," he said with a forced joviality.

"Like hell it is. Why are you here?"

"All clear, sir." The agent stepped out to the doorstep.

"Can I come in?"

"No," she said. "Why are you here?"

Josh looked back at the agent and grimaced a little. "For just a minute? I'm sure the cold can't be good…can't be good for the kid." He nodded toward the baby, who happily hurled a handful of cereal to the floor.

She stepped back, allowing him passage.

"Hey, there, little guy," Josh said, approaching the baby as if it were an armed bomb. "How you doing? Oh, these are for you." He turned around and thrust the flowers at her before stepping out of
the baby's throwing range. "He's getting big."

"He grows. That's what babies do. Josh…"

"Please come back."

"Oh, God, not today with this."

"Yes, today. Right now. Today. I've been waiting for you to come to your senses, and today's the day."

"There's nothing wrong with my senses. I said no. I meant it the first time I said it. I meant it the second time I said it. I mean it now. No. Have a nice day." She opened the door, but Josh closed it again.

"Look, I know you wanted a break from it. But you've had that. I need you back. If you won't stay permanently, then fine. Stay long enough to get the office back in order and help me hire and train a
replacement. But the temps can't touch what you can do, and I need help. Badly. Extremely badly. Donna says I need you, and I believe her. Come back."

"Josh, I was done. I wasn't even going to stay with CJ the last year, but I did. I'm more than done. It's time to move on."

Josh stared at his feet. "Is it…do you want more out of the job? More responsibility, more challenges? Because I would…I mean, I know, you've probably heard all the gory details of how I didn't do that, but I've learned my lesson, and if it would convince you to come back, we'd adjust the job description however you needed to. You were hitting your head on the top of the pay scale before, but I'll ask to have it adjusted, and we could even flex your hours, you know, so you could see the kid--"

"You think I want something more challenging than what I was doing? I loved that job, Josh."

"You just don't want to do it for me." Josh guessed. "I know, I'm… not the easiest guy in the world to work for. I'd promise you no yelling, but I think we both know it would be a lie. I promise I'll always apologize for it, though. I mean, if there's something in particular that's a deal breaker…"

"Things aren't meant to stay the way they were forever, Josh. I did good work for the Bartlet administration, and I'm proud of it. It's time to move on. People don't stay forever."

"I'll be as flexible as I possibly can with your schedule so you can be with the baby as needed. I mean, hell, if you want to hire your OWN assistant, I'm all for it."

"Josh…" she sighed.

Josh took a deep breath. "I've been through four temps since we took office, and none of them holds a candle to you on your very worst day. My phone calls aren't getting returned, my office is hemorrhaging paperwork, the staff barrels right past the assistants and monopolizes my time, I'm missing meetings, I've got things that have been in my inbox for a week that don't even belong in the
*building*. I was still working at 1 this morning, which is a great thing to have happen on a regular basis when you're advising the president, and you've got troops overseas in a war zone. I will work with you in every way I can, but I'm sorry. Margaret, on behalf of the President of the United States, I'm asking you to serve your country. As only you can."

Margaret sank to the arm of the couch. "You're really serious about this."

"Yes."

"Josh," she looked down at the bouquet in her hands. "I--I don't know what to say. I don't know if I've got two more terms in me. I don't know if I've got ONE more term in me."

"Say you'll do it on a trial basis, and if you find you can't, you'll help me fill the position with someone who can do the job and deal with me. Say I owe you until the end of time. Say you want me to get on my knees and beg. Say whatever you want, as long as one of the things you say is yes."

Margaret watched as the baby hurled his entire bowl to the floor. "I'd need a few hours to find someone to keep him today. And I'm going to need to shop around for day cares if I can't get him back on at his old center."

Josh's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "Yes?"

Margaret sighed, but nodded. "Yes."

"Yes!" Josh raised both fists over his head.

"On a trial basis, Josh."

"Gotcha." He bounced happily on his heels before charging forward and enveloping her in a brief bear hug. "Oh, Margaret you have no idea how much I appreciate this. You'll like it, you'll see." He pulled back. "Ahkay, I gotta go. I'll see you at work. See ya, kid!" he called over his shoulder as he opened the door.

Margaret closed the door as Josh followed the agent down the steps and leaned against it. "You'll like it, you'll see," she mimicked. "Josh thinks Mommy just fell off the turnip truck yesterday, doesn't he, Jack?" Margaret cooed to her giggling son.

END ACT I