Challenge 14: Partytime!
Title: Lucky Charm
Fandom: West Wing
Pairing: Josh/Donna
Warning: What I wished had happened S4
Rating: T
Word Count: 1619
"Good evening, Dr. Bartlet." A flash of blonde stops me as I make my way through the crowd.
"Good evening, Donna." I smile at the young woman as she turns to greet me. "You look lovely tonight." And she does. Her hair is softly curled, and she's wearing a fitted pale blue dress. A blue topaz pendant necklace and charm bracelet complete the ensemble. Usually, she's not this dressed up. This isn't Donna's first party, after all. She often attends as Josh's assistant. Tonight, however, she's not here to work.
She's here for the first time as his date.
Which brings me back to her jewelry. She's all smiles as I compliment her necklace. As far as costume jewelry goes, it is beautiful. But in a room where women wear accessories as a status symbol of their wealth (or their wealthy husbands), it sticks out like a sore thumb. I know Josh would readily spend any amount on anything she wanted, but apparently expensive jewelry is where she draws the line.
"Can you believe this bracelet?" She gushes, holding her wrist out so I can get a better look. It's a charm bracelet, with about a half dozen charms on it already. Most I recognize as symbols of their relationship, but there is one that stands out.
"New Hampshire?" I ask.
"It even says "Manchester" for where we met," Donna says. "I don't know how he got it. He hasn't been there in over a year."
No, Josh has not been to Manchester in awhile. I too, puzzle over how he managed to buy the cheap souvenir charm...until I realize that maybe it's not so cheap. Oh Josh. This miscalculation is going to cost you.
I pretend to suddenly remember that Mark - my Communications Director - lives there. "Maybe Josh asked Mark to pick it up last time he was home?"
Donna's eyes narrow and I can see her put the pieces together. I love Mark dearly, but he is not exactly known for his generosity, or for going out of his way to do favors. Money had to be involved in this. Lots and lots of money. This is going to be fun.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am," she says slowly. "I just remembered I need to go corner a rat."
--------
I reach Josh before she does. He's slightly protected, after all, since he's chatting with the rest of the senior staff. Plus, of course, my husband the President.
"A $20 necklace, Joshua?" I lightly chastise him as I reach my husband's side. "I'm disappointed."
"It was $79.99," he defends. "And it's the one she wanted." You can tell this drives him crazy. Josh may not be into material status symbols as the rest here, but damned if he doesn't want to lavish the woman he adores with the best.
"Did you see the bracelet?" CJ asks me. "Who knew Josh could be that thoughtful."
"I am a thoughtful man," Josh claims.
"I really liked the New Hampshire charm, Josh," I make sure to tell him. "We were very curious as to how you managed to get it, considering your busy schedule. The only person I know who regularly goes there is Mark."
I can see understanding start to dawn. He knows I know. "You didn't happen to mention that to Donna..." he trails off.
"It might have come up in conversation, yes."
Outright fear widens his eyes now. "Excuse me," he says, and abruptly leaves. I've already made sure Mark is in no physical danger, but I'm betting Josh isn't so confident about that.
-------------
My husband turns to me. "What did you do?"
I return a coy smile. "Why Jed, whatever do you mean?"
"I mean, my dear Abigail, why does my Deputy Chief of Staff look like he has only moments left to live?"
Toby snorts. "He's still got until the end of the party before she can kill him. Too much Secret Service around." I raise an eyebrow at him, but Toby merely shrugs. "I only aid and abet."
"And set up," I admire. "You knew she'd wear it tonight."
He shrugs again and takes a drink of his champagne. "It's a hobby."
Sam seems slow on the uptake, but CJ clues in pretty damn fast. "How much did that charm actually cost, Tobias?"
"Ten dollars," Toby promptly replies, but CJ is no fool. She gives him her patented stare that not even Danny can work his way around, and he has the grace to squirm. "Unless you consider the upgrade to first class, the upgrade of his hotel, car rental, food accommodations, plus various other incentives," Toby's inflection on the word incentives is what kills it here. My estimation of Mark's ability to negotiate rises admirably. "Then it's about $2000."
We're all silent for a moment. Even Jed.
"Well then," Sam finally says. "Let the games begin."
We all scatter.
-----
It's been thirty minutes, and Donna has not let me down. She's calm, composed, and is the epitome of politeness to our guests. Josh, meanwhile, exudes exasperation at her stubborn refusal to even acknowledge his existence.
Others in the party - many of whom are from Congress - have begun to notice now, much to my amusement and Josh's increasingly obvious chagrin. They're clearly entertained by Donna's theatrics, and he knows he's going to pay for this in the form of utter humiliation the next time he's on the Hill. This is, after all, a man who Congress has deemed "Bartlet's pitbull." The man the President sends to get a yes, when all other options have given a no. Rumor has it, meetings are held specifically to warn new members about him.
And yet, here he is. Reduced to begging his girlfriend for forgiveness over daring to secretly spend money on her. Not that he's begging right now, but that part will come. No, Josh is still in denial mode convincing himself that maybe his wit and charm can still talk him out of this.
It should have been a scandal, their dating. It should have rocked the White House, prompted scores of investigations, numerous headlines, and sent the Deputy Chief of Staff - and possibly a few others - down in flames. A prominent senior staff member taking advantage of his much younger assistant? Shades of Chandra Levy and Monica Lewinsky. I know for a fact Leo has several files detailing strategies to fight back for when - not if - details of an affair between the two leaked. There's no shortage of people in DC who'd love an opportunity to take Joshua Lyman out. A sex scandal would do the job perfectly.
So you can imagine our surprise when said scandal never happened. It turned out, the rest of DC saw the couple like we did in the White House: inevitable. Daresay it, even cute. It helped that both were completely clueless for years as to what was obvious to everyone else. So really, the only thing that changed after the news came out was that all the betting pools for "when will they finally get together" have switched to "when will he finally propose."
I've got money on Super Tuesday.
A lot of people like Donna. Before Rosslyn, she had the reputation of being Josh's own pitbull. You wanted to talk to Josh? You had to get through Donna - and Donna is not easy to get through. When we got to Washington, it quickly became apparent to everyone (except us, since we already knew) how much they work together as a team. When one asks about Josh, inevitably they will also ask about Donna. She does her own thing, and she does it damn well. She may be young and quirky, but she's also smart and takes no crap. She keeps Josh working beyond his fullest potential. It's no secret that if Donna ever chooses to leave, there's an unending list of people - particularly powerful people - who'd snap her up in a second, with or without a recommendation from the White House.
After the shooting, however? Not even my husband could get through her.
You know, the President of the United States.
It's quite something to watch the leader of the free world need permission in order to call his own Deputy Chief of Staff, let alone schedule meetings for around when she thinks said deputy will be awake and not incoherent from drugs.
So we all watch in amusement as Josh slowly turns desperate when it becomes obvious he's starting to realize he may, in fact, die at the hands of his girlfriend tonight. Either that, or she'll deny him sex, which Josh might consider worse.
--------
"Evening, Ma'am."
"Josh," I acknowledge with a smile. "Are you having fun?"
"I hope you're enjoying my pain." He's frustrated, and it shows. "It's just a charm," he sighs.
"It's not just a charm," I remind him. "It's that you lied to her. Stop screwing up, Josh. Fix this now."
Josh looks like he's gone through twenty rounds with the Majority Whip. But he leaves to do as he's told.
------
It takes him ten minutes. Once he dropped his swagger and went straight to apologizing, Donna finally starting letting him off the hook. Rumor does have it though he will be spending tomorrow at some mall looking for a hammer charm, to symbolize all the times Donna wants to hit him with a real one.
They're leaving now, and he comes up to me. "What lesson did I learn here, Abby?"
"The same as always, Joshua," I tell him. "That girl is too important for you to lose."
"I know that."
"Does she?" I ask.
Josh says nothing for a moment. Finally, he nods. "I'll make sure she always does from now on."
