Oct 06, 2006 22:12
A little reminder
Character(s): Josh, Danny, Donna & Ensemble
Pairing(s): Josh/Donna
Category(s): Angst
Rating: MATURE
Summary: Josh is invited to an auction he can't resist.
Spoiler: Set in the intervening months between "Posse Comitatus" and "20 Hours in America"
Feedback: Please
Author Note: While none of this fic is truly graphic, there may be some things in here that might make some people uncomfortable. Please be advised. My thanks to Caz who is helping me wade through this monster... She's happy to play Toby to my Sam... Again, I own nothing and just thank everyone associated with this marvelous show for giving us the opportunity to play with the characters. Despite seeming to the contrary this fic does run chronologically. It just happens to span two time zones.
Chapter 15
Saturday July 6, 2002. Cairo - 8.45pm local time
The taxi pulled up outside the Marriott and let out its two passengers, the stockier of the two men all but supporting the slimmer frame of the other. A couple of passing tourists ‘tsked’ in disgust as the man they believed to be drunk leaned against the cab as his friend paid the fare.
“C’mon. Let’s get you inside.” Lifting the other man’s arm over his shoulder, the red-head put away his wallet and half-heaved his friend away from the cab, supporting him precariously. After a moment or two, the drunk, who was gently swaying on his feet seemed to stabilise enough to regain something of his balance, but lacked any sense of general direction, and stood squinting into the distance looking as though he had no idea where he was supposed to be going.
“This way,” said his friend, leading him towards the front door of the hotel.
But appearences could be decieving. It was sheer exhaustion and nerves shot to hell, not alchol, that caused Josh’s unsteadiness.
His pounding heart had slowly started to return to normal during the taxi ride back, but by the time they’d reached the hotel he suddenly found that the adrenaline that had been coursing through his body had turned into a super sized overload of by-products that turned his muscles to jelly. It was an extreme version of how Josh often felt after he went on a long run with CJ. Normally a quick collapse and a drink of water and he could shake most of the weariness from his limbs. This felt as though he’d gone into neural overload and his muscles didn’t want to work.
But he was okay. All he needed now was to lie down for a few minutes and he’d be fine.
So…what the hell had that been about anyway? Josh couldn’t help feeling slightly amused. When news of this got back stateside, he could guess what the general reaction was going to be. Mr O’Neill would be lucky if he wasn’t posted to the Outer Hebrides for that little mistake. As for the corporal - whom Josh had to assume had fired the rounds… could you get demoted from corporal?
Danny had said little during the journey back, instead letting Josh handle things in his own way. Josh couldn’t express his gratitude for the fact that Danny had been there when he had, or for for any number of things that Danny had done in the past 24 hours - the most obvious of which was sending the file that started this insane journey in the first place. When this was all over and Donna was safe Josh was going to make sure that Danny and only Danny would get the exclusive rights to the story, even if his part of it did come from a padded cell.
Now, with Danny’s support, he stumbled into the main foyer of the Marriott.
“Stay here, I’ll grab the key,” Danny said allowing Josh to sink into a chair.
Leaning his thumping head forward into his hands Josh ran over the events at the embassy again and again in his mind.
The President, Leo, Sam… all of them… they honestly thought that he was having an episode?
It was a logical enough assumption; his behaviour over the past day or so had been pretty erratic. What had surprised Josh the most about his conversation with President Bartlet had been his admission that he’d been harsh on Josh, which was surprising because Josh hadn’t seen it that way. Sure, the President had been cool towards him for the last couple of months, but he put that down to his screw up with Amy over the Welfare Reform bill. It hadn’t been one of his more shining moments in history and it had been completely his own fault. He’d known how she would react to the news about the marriage incentives, and shouldn’t have said anything to her, but hadn’t realised the extent to which she would go to stop him pre-empting her response.
Apparently it was hard for Amy to differentiate between ‘work time’ and ‘home time’… oh, who was he kidding? Josh snorted. ‘Home time’? The last time he’d truly had any ‘home time’ himself was after the shooting two years ago… and then it had been forced upon him by Donna
There she is again, Josh thought. Everything led back to Donna. She was why he was here. Donna had all but given her life over to him from the day she started working for him. Now she was in trouble and his one thought was to get her back - to somehow repay her for everything she’d done for him over the years. He knew there were people who thought he took her for granted, keeping her to ungodly hours on a weekly basis. That wasn’t true. Any time that she wanted to go, day or night, Josh wouldn’t have stopped her even if he’d wanted to. Well… if he was honest with himself, there was one exception. He ALWAYS tried to stop her from going out with those first class gomers she always seemed to find. But besides that, Josh couldn’t deny Donna a single thing. And it was Donna’s choice to stay back and work.
When Donna had come to see him the day of her testimony before the House Oversight Committee and revealed that she had in fact kept a diary, Josh had been furious. But not for the reason that Donna had believed. He was furious that he hadn’t taken the time to prepare her himself. That he had been so jealous of the fact she had gone out with Calley in the first place that his own fragile ego had prevented him from helping her when she most needed it. He should have been the one to grill her over a lunch of burger and fries (for him) and salad (for her - although she would almost certainly have stolen at least half of his fries anyway). He should have been the one to make sure that she was prepared in every way possible for any curveball the committee might have thrown at her. His first thought when she’d come to him had not been about how her lie would affect the administration, or even the President for that matter. The first and final thought in Josh Lyman’s head at that moment was of Donna and how to keep her from the mess of trouble she could find herself in.
It amazed Josh sometimes, how Donna could be so poised, so strong in so many aspects of her life, and yet so naïve and innocent in others.
Donna had become part of Josh’s life in the most gloriously insidious way, having been able to see straight through the facade he normally presented to the world to who he really was. She’d seen what he needed most; she’d seen his imperfections and accepted them, making herself totally indispensable until one day she had simply... become part of him. She was his moral compass, his voice of reason, the one person whose opinion mattered most above all others. She was the other half of his whole and without her, he was lost. She was so much a part of him that Josh wouldn’t allow himself to think about what it would have been like for him if she hadn’t been in his life after Rosslyn. And in all honesty, would he even be there if she hadn’t been? Would anyone else have picked up on what had been happening to him that dreadful December. Donna was so in tune with who he was that the thought of losing her was tantamount to the thought of losing a leg. He wasn’t complete without her.
Josh was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of Danny’s voice.
“Nah, the fool missed his connecting flight. Found him in the airport bar. Two drinks in his ‘delicate system’ and he’s gone.”
There was a chuckle followed by the sound of footsteps coming over towards him.
“We will make sure that the porters turn down the second bed for you, Mr Concannon.”
“Thanks Ashwan. With any luck I’ll get him on a flight tomorrow.”
The footsteps stopped, and Josh was looking down at Danny’s shoes.
“Come on. Let’s get you upstairs and into a niiiice cool shower.”
Josh appreciated that Danny was trying to give him a cover, but did he have to be enjoying it so much?
But he stood up anyway and suddenly the room started spinning as he pitched forward into Danny’s shoulder.
“Hey; not so heavy on the acting,” Danny half whispered to him.
“Who’s acting?” Josh groaned. His head was really starting to pound now. ‘My kingdom for an Advil!’ he thought. “And by the way… enough with the ‘delicate system’ jokes already. I get plenty of that from Donna.”
“Where do you think she got it from, ‘Mr-two-‘Buds’-and-I-am-trying-to-climb-the-library-flagpole’?” Danny snickered as he steered the all but shuffling Josh into the elevators and pressed the button for the second floor.
“I only did that because Gloria Valorfini volunteered to substitute her underwear for the flag if anyone could get it up there!”
“Yeah, suuure,” Danny drawled as the doors to the second floor opened at the same time as his cellphone started ringing. Josh looked at him in alarm as he flipped the phone open.
“I’m not here,” Josh mouthed fearing that the White House was trying to track him down.
Danny placed his hand over the mouthpiece.
“It’s Ahmed.” Josh sighed in relief as Danny opened the door to the room and flicked on the switch. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Okay…”
Josh flopped down onto the bed he had used earlier in the day and watched as Danny listened to Ahmed. Slowly Danny’s eyes began to widen.
“Hang on Ahmed. He’s here…”
Josh got immediately to his feet.
“What? Is it news on Donna? Is she okay?” A thousand scenarios ran through Josh’s head, none of them good.
Danny waved Josh off impatiently and placed his free hand over his uncovered ear for a second. When Josh got the message and shut up, Danny turned towards him and gestured towards the bed. Josh turned around and saw the TV remote laying where he’d left if before going to the embassy.
“Turn on CNN,” Danny instructed.
Hitting the ‘on’ button, both men moved a little closer to the TV as the tube came to life.
In the top left hand corner of the screen a graphic consisting of the American and Egyptian flags crossed over with a gun laying across both of them sat, its subliminal message not missed by either of them. Along the bottom of the screen the ticker tape typing told of gold prices and sports results. Soon the major news of the day would repeat its cycle. But the ticker tape and the graphics weren’t what held Danny and Josh’s attention.
“….just repeating. Reports coming out of Cairo today suggest there have been shots fired within the grounds of the American Embassy. Details at this moment seem sketchy. No injuries to staff or passers-by have been reported. Sources within the White House said that the President spoke to the Prime Minister of Egypt shortly after the shots were fired. CNN has been given to understand that the Egyptian authorities plan to release CCTV footage from outside the American Embassy at the time of the incident which they believe will help to identify and apprehend the person or persons involved. We will broadcast that footage as soon as it comes to hand. This is not the first instance of shots being fired at an American Embassy this year….”
The newscaster continued on with another related story and Josh muted the sound on the tv, looking over at Danny in shock.
Danny returned his gaze, speaking to Ahmed who was obviously still on the other end of the line.
“Yeah, yeah we saw it…. I don’t know…. I’ll call you back in about fifteen, okay? Yeah, thanks for the heads up, Ahmed. Talk to you soon.”
Danny carefully shut the phone and walked silently to the mini-bar. Opening the door he pulled out two beers, popped the tops and handed one to Josh who hadn’t moved from where he’d had been standing.
Taking the beer automatically from Danny, Josh felt him ‘clink’ the glass bottles together.
“Well - here’s to you, Josh,” Danny said saluting him before he took a swig of the beer. “You weren’t kidding were you?”
“Huh?”
“In the cab, you said your face wasn’t going to be too popular around here. Man, if they have good enough footage of you on that CCTV… you’re going to be very popular.” Danny gave him a mocking smile.
Josh took a deep drink of his own beer before replying.
“Danny. If their CCTV’s that good, you ain’t gonna be too popular either… Don’t forget… You’re an accomplice.” Josh’s own mocking grin was wider than Danny’s and grew even wider when Danny caught on. “Butch and Sundance ride again?”
Josh walked over the couch, flopped down into it and ran a hand over his face.
Danny, despite the situation, couldn’t help but laugh a bit.
“Fine, but if you think I’m gonna jump off anything for you… You’ve got another thing coming!”