TWW Ficlet: First 100 Days
Fandom: The West Wing
Title: The First 100 Days
Rated: PG
Characters: Josh, Toby, Ryan the intern, and someone special
Notes: Future fic... set in a new Administration. I'm never sure how old people are, so excuse me if I have the ages wrong.
[ the first 100 days ]
by kHo
Josh looked up, his eyebrows punching together. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’d just like to point out,” Toby said, leaning forward. “That I just said 20 minutes ago what you’re about to say.”
Josh frowned. “Is that your way of saying I shouldn’t say it?”
Toby shook his head. “It’s my way of saying: Not my fault.”
Josh snorted, looking to his deputy. “You should know, Ryan, the only reason you have this job is because Toby turned it down.”
Ryan sighed, crossing his legs. “Josh.”
“It’s Mr. Lyman,” Josh said, raising an eyebrow at him. “What did I tell you about that?”
Ryan sighed. “You told me if I’m on your good side, it’s Josh. When I piss you off, it’s Mr. Lyman.”
Josh nodded. “Do I look like you’re on my good side Ryan?”
Ryan smiled. “No sir, Mr. Lyman.”
“Then stop smirking at me and tell me why I’m pissed.”
Ryan looked to Toby for help but none was forthcoming. “I understand this isn’t what we wanted, Jo-- Mr. Lyman-- but it’s gonna be a hell of a fight to get it any other way.”
Josh rolled his eyes. “And yeah, the President is known for running away from the fights, isn’t he?”
Ryan shook his head. “No, but you take what you can get.”
“So, you talked to Rodriguez,” Josh asked.
“Yes sir.”
“And you talked to Carrollton.”
Ryan smirked. “Of course.”
“And you couldn’t come to any sort of agreement on this?”
Ryan shook his head. “No sir.”
Josh leaned forward, tossing the papers on his desk. “Ya know, this is minor league stuff, Ryan. If you can’t handle this--”
“We knew this was gonna be hard Josh!” At Josh’s look Ryan rolled his eyes. “Whether I call you Josh or I call you Mr. Lyman, it doesn’t change the fact that we knew this was gonna be hard to begin with, and you’re the one who told me that!”
“Do you know that on my worst day I could have gotten this done,” Josh asked, his voice raising. “When I was Deputy Chief of Staff, on my worst day, I would have had this done in an hour!”
“They wouldn’t budge!”
“That’s why you MAKE them!”
Ryan sighed, sinking further into his chair. “Okay. What would you have done different?”
Josh laughed, looking at Toby, who was smirking as well. “Oh, the myriad things I would have done differently.”
“Look, I got Carrollton to budge on the tax incentive, okay? Not 5% like we hoped, but 3% is more than 1%!”
Josh shook his head. “And that’s all fine and dandy, except… no, it’s not, because that 2% you dropped the ball on was about $500,000, Ryan!”
Ryan sighed. “I got you more than you had before, okay?”
“Oh,” Josh said, looking at Toby again. “Well, I guess he’s right, Toby. He did get us more than we had. I suppose I should give him a break.”
“Yes,” Toby said, nodding sagely. “I believe you should.”
“Maybe, perhaps, if you sat on some phone books,” Josh said, quirking an eyebrow at Ryan. “Then you’d be the same height, and therefore would have more leverage.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “I’m 30 Josh. I’m not still some 20 year old rookie you took under your wing.”
Josh snorted. “Took under my wing? I was forced to take you, Ryan. It’s not like a took a chance on a kid with a dream, I was stuck with you and I put up with it.”
“Grumbling the whole way,” Toby said, smiling.
“I put on a happy face,” Josh said defensively, cocking his head at Toby. “And hey, mine actually learned something. He didn’t, ya know, defect to the Vice President!”
Toby rolled his eyes. “Will was not my protégé--”
Josh sighed, looking back at Ryan. “Fix it.”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know if there’s a way I can--”
“Fix it,” Josh said, rising half way and leaning over the desk to glare at Ryan. “Or deal with me later. You know what I’m saying, Ryan? I haven’t even come close to how pissed at you I’m gonna be if we’re stuck with handing this to the President.”
Toby shut the door behind Ryan as he fled from the office, holding his smile in as long as he could. “That was fun.”
Josh grinned, propping his feet up on his desk. “Isn’t it always?”
Toby laughed, sitting back down across from him. “You don’t think it’s time to give him some slack? A little encouragement?”
Josh shook his head. “The last time I lit a fire under his ass he got five votes more than we needed to begin with.”
Toby nodded. “Yeah. I just thought maybe it was time to pat him on the back. Ya know. Let him know he’s still green in the gills, but starting to become one of us.”
Josh shrugged. “One of these days. Right now it’s too fun to watch that face of his crumble.”
Toby laughed. “He does have a baby face, doesn’t he?”
Josh nodded, letting his feet drop from his desk. “Works to our advantage. I still can’t believe I chose him though sometimes. Still annoys the piss out of me.”
Toby nodded. “Annoys the piss out of our opponents too, so that works to our advantage as well.”
Josh sighed, motioning for Toby to get out. “Go. Write that… thing you need to write.”
Toby nodded. “A man with a wonderful grasp of the English language, Josh, that’s what you are. You really missed a calling not becoming a speech writer.”
Josh smirked at him. “Get out!”
“Goodnight,” Toby said, backing out of his office. “Mr. Lyman.”
Josh laughed to himself as he stood and walked to the door leading to the Oval Office, poking his head in and knocking lightly. “Sir? Do you have a moment?”
“Josh, my good friend, my fine young friend, come in,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s been a good day, you know? A really good day. No national disasters. No political ramifications for things unseen. No annoying people I have to shake hands with.”
Josh laughed. “Yes sir.”
His face fell then. “You have bad news. You have bad news, and you’re going to totally ruin my good day, aren’t you?”
Josh stopped in front of the desk, shrugging. “Maybe not ruin your whole day. Just, ya know, the end part.”
Sighing the man nodded. “Alright. That sucks, but all right. Tell me.”
“Ryan got them to agree to 3%.”
“I thought we said, at the least, 5%.”
Josh nodded. “We did.”
“And so Ryan got 3%, which is, unless my mathetmatical skills are failing me, 2% less than our worst prospect.”
“Actually, our worst prospect was 1%. So… not less than, just… not as well as.”
He shook his head. “That’s not good enough.”
Josh nodded. “I know.”
“He’s gotta do better, Josh.”
“I know.”
“I won’t take less than 5%. I just won’t.”
Josh nodded, growing slightly annoyed. “I know, Mr. President. He’s gonna work on it more tomorrow. We have three more days till the deadline.”
“Our first 100 days is coming up soon, Josh, and I want to be on board with something significant,” he said, frowning determinedly. “I want to be on board with this. I want the headline to read President Ends First 100 Days With a Bang.”
Josh nodded. “We’ll get it.”
He grinned. “You know, Josh, I could hear you yelling all the way over here. It was just like when we were on Spring Break. When the pizza guy was 21 minutes late, and you wanted to enforce the ’20 minutes or its free’ rule. We’re 50 now, and you’re still the same guy.”
Josh grinned, nodding. “So are you, sir.”
He rolled his eyes, propping his feet on the desk and leaning back. “50 Josh. And I’m in the Oval Office, and I owe it all to you.”
Josh shook his head. “I think maybe you owe some of it to yourself there, too, sir.”
He frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing you call me sir, Josh.
Josh smirked. “Too bad. Sir.”
He stood, shuffling the folders on his desk into his arms and grinning in a way that lit up the room even more. “Still a good day, Josh. It’s still a great day.”
Josh nodded. “We’ll get the 2%, Mr. President.”
He nodded. “Knock off, Josh. Go home to Donna and the kids. And remember your money tomorrow.”
Josh nodded. “How could I forget,” he said, grinning. “Poker Night. My cash is as good as in your pocket already, sir.”
“Tomorrow, Josh, I’m Sam. Remember? On Poker Night I get to be Sam again.”
“Tomorrow,” Josh said, pointing at him as he backed out of the Oval. “At 12:00 tomorrow, I’ll call you Sam. Until then? Goodnight, sir.”
“Night, Josh.”
Title: The First 100 Days
Rated: PG
Characters: Josh, Toby, Ryan the intern, and someone special
Notes: Future fic... set in a new Administration. I'm never sure how old people are, so excuse me if I have the ages wrong.
[ the first 100 days ]
by kHo
Josh looked up, his eyebrows punching together. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’d just like to point out,” Toby said, leaning forward. “That I just said 20 minutes ago what you’re about to say.”
Josh frowned. “Is that your way of saying I shouldn’t say it?”
Toby shook his head. “It’s my way of saying: Not my fault.”
Josh snorted, looking to his deputy. “You should know, Ryan, the only reason you have this job is because Toby turned it down.”
Ryan sighed, crossing his legs. “Josh.”
“It’s Mr. Lyman,” Josh said, raising an eyebrow at him. “What did I tell you about that?”
Ryan sighed. “You told me if I’m on your good side, it’s Josh. When I piss you off, it’s Mr. Lyman.”
Josh nodded. “Do I look like you’re on my good side Ryan?”
Ryan smiled. “No sir, Mr. Lyman.”
“Then stop smirking at me and tell me why I’m pissed.”
Ryan looked to Toby for help but none was forthcoming. “I understand this isn’t what we wanted, Jo-- Mr. Lyman-- but it’s gonna be a hell of a fight to get it any other way.”
Josh rolled his eyes. “And yeah, the President is known for running away from the fights, isn’t he?”
Ryan shook his head. “No, but you take what you can get.”
“So, you talked to Rodriguez,” Josh asked.
“Yes sir.”
“And you talked to Carrollton.”
Ryan smirked. “Of course.”
“And you couldn’t come to any sort of agreement on this?”
Ryan shook his head. “No sir.”
Josh leaned forward, tossing the papers on his desk. “Ya know, this is minor league stuff, Ryan. If you can’t handle this--”
“We knew this was gonna be hard Josh!” At Josh’s look Ryan rolled his eyes. “Whether I call you Josh or I call you Mr. Lyman, it doesn’t change the fact that we knew this was gonna be hard to begin with, and you’re the one who told me that!”
“Do you know that on my worst day I could have gotten this done,” Josh asked, his voice raising. “When I was Deputy Chief of Staff, on my worst day, I would have had this done in an hour!”
“They wouldn’t budge!”
“That’s why you MAKE them!”
Ryan sighed, sinking further into his chair. “Okay. What would you have done different?”
Josh laughed, looking at Toby, who was smirking as well. “Oh, the myriad things I would have done differently.”
“Look, I got Carrollton to budge on the tax incentive, okay? Not 5% like we hoped, but 3% is more than 1%!”
Josh shook his head. “And that’s all fine and dandy, except… no, it’s not, because that 2% you dropped the ball on was about $500,000, Ryan!”
Ryan sighed. “I got you more than you had before, okay?”
“Oh,” Josh said, looking at Toby again. “Well, I guess he’s right, Toby. He did get us more than we had. I suppose I should give him a break.”
“Yes,” Toby said, nodding sagely. “I believe you should.”
“Maybe, perhaps, if you sat on some phone books,” Josh said, quirking an eyebrow at Ryan. “Then you’d be the same height, and therefore would have more leverage.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “I’m 30 Josh. I’m not still some 20 year old rookie you took under your wing.”
Josh snorted. “Took under my wing? I was forced to take you, Ryan. It’s not like a took a chance on a kid with a dream, I was stuck with you and I put up with it.”
“Grumbling the whole way,” Toby said, smiling.
“I put on a happy face,” Josh said defensively, cocking his head at Toby. “And hey, mine actually learned something. He didn’t, ya know, defect to the Vice President!”
Toby rolled his eyes. “Will was not my protégé--”
Josh sighed, looking back at Ryan. “Fix it.”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know if there’s a way I can--”
“Fix it,” Josh said, rising half way and leaning over the desk to glare at Ryan. “Or deal with me later. You know what I’m saying, Ryan? I haven’t even come close to how pissed at you I’m gonna be if we’re stuck with handing this to the President.”
Toby shut the door behind Ryan as he fled from the office, holding his smile in as long as he could. “That was fun.”
Josh grinned, propping his feet up on his desk. “Isn’t it always?”
Toby laughed, sitting back down across from him. “You don’t think it’s time to give him some slack? A little encouragement?”
Josh shook his head. “The last time I lit a fire under his ass he got five votes more than we needed to begin with.”
Toby nodded. “Yeah. I just thought maybe it was time to pat him on the back. Ya know. Let him know he’s still green in the gills, but starting to become one of us.”
Josh shrugged. “One of these days. Right now it’s too fun to watch that face of his crumble.”
Toby laughed. “He does have a baby face, doesn’t he?”
Josh nodded, letting his feet drop from his desk. “Works to our advantage. I still can’t believe I chose him though sometimes. Still annoys the piss out of me.”
Toby nodded. “Annoys the piss out of our opponents too, so that works to our advantage as well.”
Josh sighed, motioning for Toby to get out. “Go. Write that… thing you need to write.”
Toby nodded. “A man with a wonderful grasp of the English language, Josh, that’s what you are. You really missed a calling not becoming a speech writer.”
Josh smirked at him. “Get out!”
“Goodnight,” Toby said, backing out of his office. “Mr. Lyman.”
Josh laughed to himself as he stood and walked to the door leading to the Oval Office, poking his head in and knocking lightly. “Sir? Do you have a moment?”
“Josh, my good friend, my fine young friend, come in,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s been a good day, you know? A really good day. No national disasters. No political ramifications for things unseen. No annoying people I have to shake hands with.”
Josh laughed. “Yes sir.”
His face fell then. “You have bad news. You have bad news, and you’re going to totally ruin my good day, aren’t you?”
Josh stopped in front of the desk, shrugging. “Maybe not ruin your whole day. Just, ya know, the end part.”
Sighing the man nodded. “Alright. That sucks, but all right. Tell me.”
“Ryan got them to agree to 3%.”
“I thought we said, at the least, 5%.”
Josh nodded. “We did.”
“And so Ryan got 3%, which is, unless my mathetmatical skills are failing me, 2% less than our worst prospect.”
“Actually, our worst prospect was 1%. So… not less than, just… not as well as.”
He shook his head. “That’s not good enough.”
Josh nodded. “I know.”
“He’s gotta do better, Josh.”
“I know.”
“I won’t take less than 5%. I just won’t.”
Josh nodded, growing slightly annoyed. “I know, Mr. President. He’s gonna work on it more tomorrow. We have three more days till the deadline.”
“Our first 100 days is coming up soon, Josh, and I want to be on board with something significant,” he said, frowning determinedly. “I want to be on board with this. I want the headline to read President Ends First 100 Days With a Bang.”
Josh nodded. “We’ll get it.”
He grinned. “You know, Josh, I could hear you yelling all the way over here. It was just like when we were on Spring Break. When the pizza guy was 21 minutes late, and you wanted to enforce the ’20 minutes or its free’ rule. We’re 50 now, and you’re still the same guy.”
Josh grinned, nodding. “So are you, sir.”
He rolled his eyes, propping his feet on the desk and leaning back. “50 Josh. And I’m in the Oval Office, and I owe it all to you.”
Josh shook his head. “I think maybe you owe some of it to yourself there, too, sir.”
He frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing you call me sir, Josh.
Josh smirked. “Too bad. Sir.”
He stood, shuffling the folders on his desk into his arms and grinning in a way that lit up the room even more. “Still a good day, Josh. It’s still a great day.”
Josh nodded. “We’ll get the 2%, Mr. President.”
He nodded. “Knock off, Josh. Go home to Donna and the kids. And remember your money tomorrow.”
Josh nodded. “How could I forget,” he said, grinning. “Poker Night. My cash is as good as in your pocket already, sir.”
“Tomorrow, Josh, I’m Sam. Remember? On Poker Night I get to be Sam again.”
“Tomorrow,” Josh said, pointing at him as he backed out of the Oval. “At 12:00 tomorrow, I’ll call you Sam. Until then? Goodnight, sir.”
“Night, Josh.”