West Wing FF: The last stolen doughnut (Cathy, PG)
Title: The last stolen doughnut
Fandom: The West Wing
Characters: Cathy
Rating: PG
Length: 680 words
Disclaimer: All belongs to Sorkin and Wells.
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of S2
Summary: She wasn't ready to leave like this.
AN: For pocky_slash's Tertiary Characters Ficathon (a day late)
The Senior Staff didn’t think about it for a bit. They assumed that someone would take care of the situation, and she didn’t really blame them for that. So, somewhere between the first call, and the first real day afterwards, Cathy went to sit by Donna’s desk.
Leo was the only one who came to investigate, finding out where Josh's work had gone to. She looked up at him with a piece of paper in her mouth, and he smiled. “You’re doing good,” Leo said, and that was it.
Cathy divided messages into "Urgent" (to be diverted to Leo or Toby), "Less urgent" (filed away in order of date due, to leave for Donna) and "Toxic" (the request for an interview with Josh if he lived, and Sam or Toby if he didn't).
She, Bonnie, Ginger and Carol had a ritual burning of the toxic pile every few days.
Ginger came to sit by her, while she sorted through the mail. “Should you be here?”
“Leo said it’s fine.”
“I know, but shouldn’t you be…”
“It’s fine.”
It was quieter than she was used to - probably quieter than anyone in the Bullpen was used to as well. People tended to take a wide berth around the cubicle, sometimes walking the long way round to avoid even passing the office. The phone calls kept coming, though.
* * * *
The letter was sitting on her desk, and she looked at it from time to time. It wasn’t like she could pin it on the board to remind herself, but it was a nice thing to have close.
Especially right now, with a stupidly large pile of congressional reports that the White House was supposed to have read. At least all she had to do was summarise them, and take them to someone higher up the chain.
En route to Leo’s office, she lifted the doughnut from her own unused desk in Communications.
Bonnie asked, “I thought that was Sam's.”
“Yup.”
“Does he know you’re stealing his food?”
“It’ll cheer him up.” No one else looked particularly convinced by that logic, but she knew her (for a little while longer) boss. The others would just have to learn.
* * * *
“Hey.” Sam had come up behind her, pursuing lost snack foods. “I thought I might find you here.”
“Didn’t know you were looking.”
“A few people were, but I don’t think they thought about it properly. How long have you guys been doing this?”
“My job?”
“Cathy, you were supposed to start your new job a week and a half ago. What’ve you been telling them?”
“It’s the White House. They understand.”
“I’m sure they do. But I spent a lot of time and effort writing your reference. I gave it my A-game!”
“I know.” It was a beautiful letter, running into three pages, and even she would have hired herself after reading it. She had always told Sam she was a great assistant, but she hadn’t known she was quite that good.
“I don’t want you to feel trapped,” Sam said, looking at her with a hopelessly serious expression.
She didn’t. It was just all the empty desks, after what had happened, with that one particular conspicuous absence. Sam would never say anything about sinking ships - it was one of those clichés that would never make it far enough for a last minute extirpation - but he could think it.
“You gave notice before…” Sam trailed off. “It was more than two weeks before you took over here. It’s a better job, with better pay and better hours. And you shouldn’t… you shouldn’t feel that you have to stay just because of what happened. I wouldn’t want you to think that.”
“Just ‘til Donna’s back. We’ve been staffing it out between us, but someone needs to keep on top of what’s coming in.” Cathy smiled at him, and hoped he understood that she meant it.
“And that’s you?” he asked.
“You have Bonnie and Ginger - we set it up, remember? There’s enough people in Communications now.”
“We’ll still miss you.”
Cathy grinned. “Of course you will.”
FIN
Fandom: The West Wing
Characters: Cathy
Rating: PG
Length: 680 words
Disclaimer: All belongs to Sorkin and Wells.
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of S2
Summary: She wasn't ready to leave like this.
AN: For pocky_slash's Tertiary Characters Ficathon (a day late)
The Senior Staff didn’t think about it for a bit. They assumed that someone would take care of the situation, and she didn’t really blame them for that. So, somewhere between the first call, and the first real day afterwards, Cathy went to sit by Donna’s desk.
Leo was the only one who came to investigate, finding out where Josh's work had gone to. She looked up at him with a piece of paper in her mouth, and he smiled. “You’re doing good,” Leo said, and that was it.
Cathy divided messages into "Urgent" (to be diverted to Leo or Toby), "Less urgent" (filed away in order of date due, to leave for Donna) and "Toxic" (the request for an interview with Josh if he lived, and Sam or Toby if he didn't).
She, Bonnie, Ginger and Carol had a ritual burning of the toxic pile every few days.
Ginger came to sit by her, while she sorted through the mail. “Should you be here?”
“Leo said it’s fine.”
“I know, but shouldn’t you be…”
“It’s fine.”
It was quieter than she was used to - probably quieter than anyone in the Bullpen was used to as well. People tended to take a wide berth around the cubicle, sometimes walking the long way round to avoid even passing the office. The phone calls kept coming, though.
* * * *
The letter was sitting on her desk, and she looked at it from time to time. It wasn’t like she could pin it on the board to remind herself, but it was a nice thing to have close.
Especially right now, with a stupidly large pile of congressional reports that the White House was supposed to have read. At least all she had to do was summarise them, and take them to someone higher up the chain.
En route to Leo’s office, she lifted the doughnut from her own unused desk in Communications.
Bonnie asked, “I thought that was Sam's.”
“Yup.”
“Does he know you’re stealing his food?”
“It’ll cheer him up.” No one else looked particularly convinced by that logic, but she knew her (for a little while longer) boss. The others would just have to learn.
* * * *
“Hey.” Sam had come up behind her, pursuing lost snack foods. “I thought I might find you here.”
“Didn’t know you were looking.”
“A few people were, but I don’t think they thought about it properly. How long have you guys been doing this?”
“My job?”
“Cathy, you were supposed to start your new job a week and a half ago. What’ve you been telling them?”
“It’s the White House. They understand.”
“I’m sure they do. But I spent a lot of time and effort writing your reference. I gave it my A-game!”
“I know.” It was a beautiful letter, running into three pages, and even she would have hired herself after reading it. She had always told Sam she was a great assistant, but she hadn’t known she was quite that good.
“I don’t want you to feel trapped,” Sam said, looking at her with a hopelessly serious expression.
She didn’t. It was just all the empty desks, after what had happened, with that one particular conspicuous absence. Sam would never say anything about sinking ships - it was one of those clichés that would never make it far enough for a last minute extirpation - but he could think it.
“You gave notice before…” Sam trailed off. “It was more than two weeks before you took over here. It’s a better job, with better pay and better hours. And you shouldn’t… you shouldn’t feel that you have to stay just because of what happened. I wouldn’t want you to think that.”
“Just ‘til Donna’s back. We’ve been staffing it out between us, but someone needs to keep on top of what’s coming in.” Cathy smiled at him, and hoped he understood that she meant it.
“And that’s you?” he asked.
“You have Bonnie and Ginger - we set it up, remember? There’s enough people in Communications now.”
“We’ll still miss you.”
Cathy grinned. “Of course you will.”
FIN