Girl's Gotta Eat
Title: Girl's Gotta Eat
Author: sillyg
Prompt: Sam/Ainsley - They both go back to work at the White House, post-series
Fandom: The West Wing
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sam Seaborn/Ainsley Hayes; Sam Seaborn/Other; Donna Moss/Josh Lyman
Notes: Yeah I'm late...
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me!
“So how’s your first day?” Donna sauntered into the Chief Council’s office and stopped short, her question dying on her lips. Ainsley’s composure slipped as she met Donna’s eye and subsequently dripped jelly out of her donut and onto the dignified leather blotter in front of her. “Can I guess it’s not going that great?”
Ainsley dropped the donut, delicately licked the powdered sugar off her fingers, saying, “Seriously?” She continued to remove the powdered sugar from her fingers and quirked an eyebrow. “Seriously? A little warning would have been nice. What did I ever do to you? Was this pay back for Cliff? Because honestly, I thought we were over that forever ago.”
“Payback? Ainsley, what are you talking about?”
“I ran into an old friend in the Mess. Tall, good-looking, dark hair, bright blue eyes and a California tan. Ring any bells?”
Donna at least had the good graces to blush
Margaret takes one look at Sam’s face and doesn’t even warn Josh that he’s coming. She is still working on developing a loyalty to Josh that will someday rival her loyalty to Leo but it’s early in what will become a ten-plus year tenure with the unpredictable wunderkind heir to Leo’s legacy. Right now, she’s more entertained by what she thinks is about to happen - she saw it coming when she filled out the payroll files for the Chief Council position - and she thinks she’ll let Josh roll with it and see what happens.
“JOSH,” Sam’s bellow has deepened in the last four years and it surprises Bram and Otto but comforts Josh and Donna who hear a little of Toby in Santos’ Deputy Chief of Staff. Josh looks up in time to see glee in Margaret’s eyes and the phone rising to her ear, as he’s sure she’s calling Donna as fast as she can.
Josh pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes briefly before straightening up, folding his hands and meeting the gaze of his phoenix-like best friend. “Yes, Sam? How can I help you?”
“Did I tell you that I’m engaged? To a beautiful woman? A beautiful, smart, witty woman, no less? Because I seem to remember telling you that?!”
“Yes, I seem to remember meeting her in the limo between Inaugural Balls last week. She’s lovely. Are you yelling because you think I didn’t like her?”
“You couldn’t have warned me? Just a little? I go away for a day, ONE day, and come back to this!? Sara is going to freak out.” Sam starts pacing the carpet, the same path that Josh used to trace when he was having a nutty to Leo at the beginning of their first time.
Josh sighs, “Sam, it’s late. I’m tired. With Kazakhstan and Donna’s parents coming to visit and the rising oil prices, I’m just not following what it is that I’ve done - or apparently not done - so please just tell me so I can apologize.”
Sam sits, runs his hands through his hair and focuses just slightly beyond the Josh’s shoulder, staring into the Rose Garden and beyond. “I mean, I guess it makes sense. She worshipped this place. And for some reason that only God and Donna understand, she liked working with us. So, it makes sense that she’d show up here at some point.” He’s babbling now and if Josh hadn’t seen him lose it over many a girl in college and in the years since, he’d be completely lost but “she worshipped this place” made the puzzle pieces fit together, and Josh’s head snaps up with a grin.
“So, you saw Ainsley? God, doesn’t she look great? She came in her talking a mile a minute on Friday, hired herself and tried to leave before I had the chance to say anything. Personally, I think she was plotting with Donna on the technique but it was pretty funny. Same girl, same politics, same freakishly intelligent mind under all that conservative blonde hair. I had to call security to get them to stop her so I could officially offer her the Chief Council position. She’s going to be great, and with Vinick as Secretary of State, the Republicans on the Hill won’t know what hit them.” Josh was practically rubbing his hands together with glee he was so thrilled at the political maneuvering he’d accomplished with almost no effort.
He looked up at realized Sam was still in his own little world, sitting on the couch, still staring past him and contemplating. “Sam? Ya still there buddy?”
Sam snapped back to attention and a flintiness appeared in his eyes that Josh hadn’t seen in a long time - not since he’d come back to DC right after the second Inauguration to kick Toby’s ass about something and then back up and disappear to California again where he’d settled down, met a nice girl, made too much money, and conveniently forgotten everything and everyone he’d left behind for a few years. Its appearance reminded Josh that Sam was not the same naïve boy he’d brought onto the Bartlett campaign ten years ago. He was a completely different animal in a new game, and he had a quiet, icy power that Josh realized he was already strategizing how to use effectively for the coming years. It saddened him that he could be reduced to evaluating his friend so subconsciously and so quickly when the other man was obviously upset. This was his best friend - had been since the summer they were pages together as seniors in high school, even seven years apart as they attended college and then law school hadn’t shaken the rock solid friendship they’d formed running errands and shuttling flags back and forth between Congressional offices and the Capitol.
Josh sighed and repeated more quietly, “So, you saw Ainsley?”
“Yes. I ran into her in the Mess. It seemed appropriate.”
Their eyes met for a moment and they both chuckled as they simultaneously quipped in a southern accent, “Girl’s gotta eat.”
Sam’s eyes drifted back over Josh’s shoulder and focused somewhere beyond the glass window, “You’re right though. She looks great. She’s barely aged a day. You know, she came and saw me in California when I ran for the 47th. In fact, she campaigned on my behalf - said it would help to have a blonde Republican girl on my side in that neighborhood. And she was right; my numbers jumped for a day or so.
“So what are you going to do?” Josh asked the question carefully. It was a loaded question. It was so loaded in fact that Donna had forbidden him from asking any question with more guidance in it than that - he was not to suggest a path for Sam to take with his question. Donna had plans for their friends and pity the fool who got in her way. She’d already filled Helen in on her plans, and with the First Lady on her side; really, neither Sam nor Ainsley had a chance.
Sam sighed, “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to tell Sara. Last thing I need is for her to find out from someone other than her fiancé that his proverbial ‘one that got away’ is back in town.”
“She was the one that got away? How did I not know this? Really? I just thought you liked mocking her like I did.”
“You know I have a weakness for women who argue with me! Hell, look at Lisa; look at Mallory; when have I not been with women who argue with me? It’s hot.”
“I’m marrying the only woman who ever refused to bring me things. Trust me, I understand,” Josh deadpanned.
Sam laughed and then quieted, “But what if it’s not enough anymore? What if she’s over it?”
Josh saw shadows moving under the door to Margaret’s part of the office and he silenced Sam with a hand and nod of the head. “Sam, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Really, Donna’s so much better at this than I am. You really should go talk to her.”
He played to his audience while writing two restaurants down on a slip of paper. Sara’s name was next to the first one, Ainsley’s the second. When the shadows moved away from the door again, Josh dropped his voice and said, “Well, you obviously know what you want to do. And even if you don’t, I know that look and that tone so why not save us all the misery of a messy divorce and break up with Sara before the wedding instead of after it? You want to let her down easy, tell her the whole story and take her to this place, preferably before she makes the life changing decision to move everything she owns here and retakes the Bar. Then, take Ainsley here. I take Donna there every year for her birthday and I swear the portions are big enough.”
“Josh! I’m not just going to leave Sara! I can’t believe you’d even suggest it.” Sam started to trail off and he thought back over the relationships that he’d watched crash and burn in the walls of this office. It was really amazing that Josh and Donna had managed to make it this far without imploding.
“Really? Sara’s nice. I’m not saying she isn’t. In fact, she’s a Hell of a lot nicer than Lisa was, and she’s funny which you know I think is a keeper quality. But she looked bored by the second ball. And she was yawning by the fourth. And she’s already giving you a hard time about the hours. I know it’s tough love, but do you want to go back to California and her? Or do you want to stay here and change the world, carry on the legacy Leo and President Bartlett left us? You know I can’t do this without you.”
Sam stood up and started walking towards the outer office. He stopped at the door and looked back at his best friend, already looking haggard, and they hadn’t even been in office for two months yet. “You know, you may be a master political mind, but at least you’ve always been brutally honest with me when it matters. You’re lucky I value that or I’d probably have to kick your ass.”
Josh smirked and threw a wadded up piece of paper at him as he left the office, “Where you going!?”
“The Mess.” Sam’s yell held the promise of a smile as he sauntered off down the hallway.
Getting up and walking towards the door, Josh leaned in the doorway and smirked anew at the sight of Donna perched on the corner of Margaret’s desk filing her nails innocently and yelled louder, “Why?!” at Sam’s retreating form.
Sam turned around and grinned, “Well if I’m going to keep her quiet long enough to try and hash this out, I’m going to have to come bearing chocolate and Fresca. It’s the only thing that works.” He threw his hands up and walked off down the hallway towards a future he wasn’t sure was possible that he knew he wanted and had wanted since the first verbal smack down she’d handed him so many years ago.
Author: sillyg
Prompt: Sam/Ainsley - They both go back to work at the White House, post-series
Fandom: The West Wing
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sam Seaborn/Ainsley Hayes; Sam Seaborn/Other; Donna Moss/Josh Lyman
Notes: Yeah I'm late...
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me!
“So how’s your first day?” Donna sauntered into the Chief Council’s office and stopped short, her question dying on her lips. Ainsley’s composure slipped as she met Donna’s eye and subsequently dripped jelly out of her donut and onto the dignified leather blotter in front of her. “Can I guess it’s not going that great?”
Ainsley dropped the donut, delicately licked the powdered sugar off her fingers, saying, “Seriously?” She continued to remove the powdered sugar from her fingers and quirked an eyebrow. “Seriously? A little warning would have been nice. What did I ever do to you? Was this pay back for Cliff? Because honestly, I thought we were over that forever ago.”
“Payback? Ainsley, what are you talking about?”
“I ran into an old friend in the Mess. Tall, good-looking, dark hair, bright blue eyes and a California tan. Ring any bells?”
Donna at least had the good graces to blush
Margaret takes one look at Sam’s face and doesn’t even warn Josh that he’s coming. She is still working on developing a loyalty to Josh that will someday rival her loyalty to Leo but it’s early in what will become a ten-plus year tenure with the unpredictable wunderkind heir to Leo’s legacy. Right now, she’s more entertained by what she thinks is about to happen - she saw it coming when she filled out the payroll files for the Chief Council position - and she thinks she’ll let Josh roll with it and see what happens.
“JOSH,” Sam’s bellow has deepened in the last four years and it surprises Bram and Otto but comforts Josh and Donna who hear a little of Toby in Santos’ Deputy Chief of Staff. Josh looks up in time to see glee in Margaret’s eyes and the phone rising to her ear, as he’s sure she’s calling Donna as fast as she can.
Josh pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes briefly before straightening up, folding his hands and meeting the gaze of his phoenix-like best friend. “Yes, Sam? How can I help you?”
“Did I tell you that I’m engaged? To a beautiful woman? A beautiful, smart, witty woman, no less? Because I seem to remember telling you that?!”
“Yes, I seem to remember meeting her in the limo between Inaugural Balls last week. She’s lovely. Are you yelling because you think I didn’t like her?”
“You couldn’t have warned me? Just a little? I go away for a day, ONE day, and come back to this!? Sara is going to freak out.” Sam starts pacing the carpet, the same path that Josh used to trace when he was having a nutty to Leo at the beginning of their first time.
Josh sighs, “Sam, it’s late. I’m tired. With Kazakhstan and Donna’s parents coming to visit and the rising oil prices, I’m just not following what it is that I’ve done - or apparently not done - so please just tell me so I can apologize.”
Sam sits, runs his hands through his hair and focuses just slightly beyond the Josh’s shoulder, staring into the Rose Garden and beyond. “I mean, I guess it makes sense. She worshipped this place. And for some reason that only God and Donna understand, she liked working with us. So, it makes sense that she’d show up here at some point.” He’s babbling now and if Josh hadn’t seen him lose it over many a girl in college and in the years since, he’d be completely lost but “she worshipped this place” made the puzzle pieces fit together, and Josh’s head snaps up with a grin.
“So, you saw Ainsley? God, doesn’t she look great? She came in her talking a mile a minute on Friday, hired herself and tried to leave before I had the chance to say anything. Personally, I think she was plotting with Donna on the technique but it was pretty funny. Same girl, same politics, same freakishly intelligent mind under all that conservative blonde hair. I had to call security to get them to stop her so I could officially offer her the Chief Council position. She’s going to be great, and with Vinick as Secretary of State, the Republicans on the Hill won’t know what hit them.” Josh was practically rubbing his hands together with glee he was so thrilled at the political maneuvering he’d accomplished with almost no effort.
He looked up at realized Sam was still in his own little world, sitting on the couch, still staring past him and contemplating. “Sam? Ya still there buddy?”
Sam snapped back to attention and a flintiness appeared in his eyes that Josh hadn’t seen in a long time - not since he’d come back to DC right after the second Inauguration to kick Toby’s ass about something and then back up and disappear to California again where he’d settled down, met a nice girl, made too much money, and conveniently forgotten everything and everyone he’d left behind for a few years. Its appearance reminded Josh that Sam was not the same naïve boy he’d brought onto the Bartlett campaign ten years ago. He was a completely different animal in a new game, and he had a quiet, icy power that Josh realized he was already strategizing how to use effectively for the coming years. It saddened him that he could be reduced to evaluating his friend so subconsciously and so quickly when the other man was obviously upset. This was his best friend - had been since the summer they were pages together as seniors in high school, even seven years apart as they attended college and then law school hadn’t shaken the rock solid friendship they’d formed running errands and shuttling flags back and forth between Congressional offices and the Capitol.
Josh sighed and repeated more quietly, “So, you saw Ainsley?”
“Yes. I ran into her in the Mess. It seemed appropriate.”
Their eyes met for a moment and they both chuckled as they simultaneously quipped in a southern accent, “Girl’s gotta eat.”
Sam’s eyes drifted back over Josh’s shoulder and focused somewhere beyond the glass window, “You’re right though. She looks great. She’s barely aged a day. You know, she came and saw me in California when I ran for the 47th. In fact, she campaigned on my behalf - said it would help to have a blonde Republican girl on my side in that neighborhood. And she was right; my numbers jumped for a day or so.
“So what are you going to do?” Josh asked the question carefully. It was a loaded question. It was so loaded in fact that Donna had forbidden him from asking any question with more guidance in it than that - he was not to suggest a path for Sam to take with his question. Donna had plans for their friends and pity the fool who got in her way. She’d already filled Helen in on her plans, and with the First Lady on her side; really, neither Sam nor Ainsley had a chance.
Sam sighed, “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to tell Sara. Last thing I need is for her to find out from someone other than her fiancé that his proverbial ‘one that got away’ is back in town.”
“She was the one that got away? How did I not know this? Really? I just thought you liked mocking her like I did.”
“You know I have a weakness for women who argue with me! Hell, look at Lisa; look at Mallory; when have I not been with women who argue with me? It’s hot.”
“I’m marrying the only woman who ever refused to bring me things. Trust me, I understand,” Josh deadpanned.
Sam laughed and then quieted, “But what if it’s not enough anymore? What if she’s over it?”
Josh saw shadows moving under the door to Margaret’s part of the office and he silenced Sam with a hand and nod of the head. “Sam, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Really, Donna’s so much better at this than I am. You really should go talk to her.”
He played to his audience while writing two restaurants down on a slip of paper. Sara’s name was next to the first one, Ainsley’s the second. When the shadows moved away from the door again, Josh dropped his voice and said, “Well, you obviously know what you want to do. And even if you don’t, I know that look and that tone so why not save us all the misery of a messy divorce and break up with Sara before the wedding instead of after it? You want to let her down easy, tell her the whole story and take her to this place, preferably before she makes the life changing decision to move everything she owns here and retakes the Bar. Then, take Ainsley here. I take Donna there every year for her birthday and I swear the portions are big enough.”
“Josh! I’m not just going to leave Sara! I can’t believe you’d even suggest it.” Sam started to trail off and he thought back over the relationships that he’d watched crash and burn in the walls of this office. It was really amazing that Josh and Donna had managed to make it this far without imploding.
“Really? Sara’s nice. I’m not saying she isn’t. In fact, she’s a Hell of a lot nicer than Lisa was, and she’s funny which you know I think is a keeper quality. But she looked bored by the second ball. And she was yawning by the fourth. And she’s already giving you a hard time about the hours. I know it’s tough love, but do you want to go back to California and her? Or do you want to stay here and change the world, carry on the legacy Leo and President Bartlett left us? You know I can’t do this without you.”
Sam stood up and started walking towards the outer office. He stopped at the door and looked back at his best friend, already looking haggard, and they hadn’t even been in office for two months yet. “You know, you may be a master political mind, but at least you’ve always been brutally honest with me when it matters. You’re lucky I value that or I’d probably have to kick your ass.”
Josh smirked and threw a wadded up piece of paper at him as he left the office, “Where you going!?”
“The Mess.” Sam’s yell held the promise of a smile as he sauntered off down the hallway.
Getting up and walking towards the door, Josh leaned in the doorway and smirked anew at the sight of Donna perched on the corner of Margaret’s desk filing her nails innocently and yelled louder, “Why?!” at Sam’s retreating form.
Sam turned around and grinned, “Well if I’m going to keep her quiet long enough to try and hash this out, I’m going to have to come bearing chocolate and Fresca. It’s the only thing that works.” He threw his hands up and walked off down the hallway towards a future he wasn’t sure was possible that he knew he wanted and had wanted since the first verbal smack down she’d handed him so many years ago.