"The Last BBQ"
Title: The Last BBQ
Author: kellifer_fic
Fandom: The West Wing
Rating: PG
Pairing: None
Warnings: None
Notes: Written for the apocalyptothon. Thanks to my beta orwhoeveriam
Recipient: newredshoes
Request: Josh wishes he had that NSC card, if only so he could give it to someone else. Snark as a coping mechanism, and moments of clarity, please.
This is how it ends.
000
Donna digs her toes into Josh’s thigh and he drops a hand onto her foot. There’s the sound of Toby and Sam pottering around the kitchen and Josh thinks this could be any other lazy Sunday.
That is if it weren’t for the sound of the steady stream of humanity from outside, punctuated by the occasional scream and the far-off hum of sirens.
”Should we try going somewhere?” Donna had asked when they’d arrived at his apartment and Josh had shrugged.
The problem with being in charge and in the know was the whole… knowing part. Not having that comforting blanket of ignorance that meant you could pack all your belongings, run screaming and think you were actually getting away.
CJ is standing by the book case, thumbing through a large tome and Josh leans his head back so he can see her, upside down. “You won’t have time to finish that,” he says and she looks at him and rolls her eyes.
“I just wish I could call my parents,” Donna says from beside him and then she pauses, looking at him like she’s waiting for something.
Oh, he thinks. I’m supposed to make a joke here, something about cheese. He thinks about it, maybe something along the lines of sticking an antenna into a block of cheddar and seeing if they get a signal but he doesn’t. Instead Josh thinks about his own mother.
“Me too,” he says and Donna’s eyes soften.
000
No wait, maybe this is how…
000
Josh leans forward and sees someone had started making a banner. Had gotten as far as Happy End Of T- before they’d probably realised it wasn’t that funny. Josh wonders if maybe it was Toby, he always seemed to be the one with the darkest sense of humor. He sees Toby now, heading for the balcony off his bedroom and the small gas BBQ outside. The thing had been a housewarming gift and it had taken the end of the world for him to get around to using it.
They’re having a big blowout, cooking all the meat Josh has in his freezer. It won’t last long now the power’s out and there’s no real need to horde anyway. He has a surprising amount of canned goods in the pantry. Josh has this strange need to buy soup every time he picks up groceries to thank for that.
He doesn’t even eat soup.
The sounds of the migrating mass of humanity seem neverending and Josh is glad when Donna finds an old battery powered tape player under his bathroom sink and music fills the apartment. He wonders for a moment if the people moving past his building will look up, wonder who in their right mind would be hosting a BBQ and playing music on one of the last days they have but…
Josh can’t think of any better way to spend it.
000
Wait, really. I know how this goes.
000
Josh watches Sam and Toby pass a ball back and forth while CJ tends the BBQ. She flips burgers and checks steaks and Josh wishes they’d done this earlier, when circumstances weren’t so dire.
Josh looks back in the living room and Donna is still on the couch, but her legs are hooked over the back because he’s no longer there. She’s toying with the television remote, like maybe she forgot for a moment that she can’t actually turn the TV on anymore but didn’t want to put it down because that would be admitting defeat.
“Maybe we should try and leave,” Josh says and Donna tilts until she can see him. “I mean, there’s this friend of mine that has a farm… I’m sure he wouldn’t mind us using it.”
“You were right. We should stay here,” Donna says, letting the remote drop to the floor with a thump. “No one’s actually going to get out of the city before… and we all heard the NASA guys and the Pentagon guys. This is an ELE.”
Josh hates that there is a cute little acronym for something so huge.
“I just… I wish we didn’t know that.” Josh appreciates that it’s lame to bemoan the fact that they are too well informed. They have been left without the ability to believe loading the kids and the dog into the family’s station wagon and making for the horizon will make any difference.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Sam remarks sagely from the doorway, right before a nerf ball beans him on the back of the head and Toby honest-to-goodness giggles.
000
I should know how this goes. I used to know how this goes…
000
“I got this little card,” Josh confides, watching darkness sweep the land and the stars come out like it’s any other day. “Told me where to go and was kinda my hall pass for this kind of thing.”
CJ has a smudge of something on her nose and her hair pulled back. Josh wants to tell her that she’s the best woman he’s even known, or at least one of the top two. Instead he’s telling her this, that he once said no to survival like it was nothing.
He thought about it sure, but only in a very abstract way.
He feels something akin to pity and he realises it’s for Jed Bartlett, a man who wasn’t given a choice. Josh had been able to hand the card back so he could be here, with these people. He wonders what it was like not to have that option.
He knows keeping the card would’ve been impossible as well. He wouldn’t have used it but he would’ve pressed it into the palm of someone, known that he was giving someone a chance. His eyes skip back to Donna who is now dancing with Sam, swaying to the tinny sound of the tape player. His eyes slide to Toby and then finally rest back on CJ.
The only problem would’ve been who.
000
You know what? Forget it. Figure it out for yourselves.
000
CJ and Donna are sprawled across the carpet, passing a family sized block of chocolate between them like a joint. Sam is asleep in an armchair, looking impossibly young and Toby…
“You know what? This is kinda okay,” Toby says and Josh throws back his head and laughs.
Author: kellifer_fic
Fandom: The West Wing
Rating: PG
Pairing: None
Warnings: None
Notes: Written for the apocalyptothon. Thanks to my beta orwhoeveriam
Recipient: newredshoes
Request: Josh wishes he had that NSC card, if only so he could give it to someone else. Snark as a coping mechanism, and moments of clarity, please.
This is how it ends.
000
Donna digs her toes into Josh’s thigh and he drops a hand onto her foot. There’s the sound of Toby and Sam pottering around the kitchen and Josh thinks this could be any other lazy Sunday.
That is if it weren’t for the sound of the steady stream of humanity from outside, punctuated by the occasional scream and the far-off hum of sirens.
”Should we try going somewhere?” Donna had asked when they’d arrived at his apartment and Josh had shrugged.
The problem with being in charge and in the know was the whole… knowing part. Not having that comforting blanket of ignorance that meant you could pack all your belongings, run screaming and think you were actually getting away.
CJ is standing by the book case, thumbing through a large tome and Josh leans his head back so he can see her, upside down. “You won’t have time to finish that,” he says and she looks at him and rolls her eyes.
“I just wish I could call my parents,” Donna says from beside him and then she pauses, looking at him like she’s waiting for something.
Oh, he thinks. I’m supposed to make a joke here, something about cheese. He thinks about it, maybe something along the lines of sticking an antenna into a block of cheddar and seeing if they get a signal but he doesn’t. Instead Josh thinks about his own mother.
“Me too,” he says and Donna’s eyes soften.
000
No wait, maybe this is how…
000
Josh leans forward and sees someone had started making a banner. Had gotten as far as Happy End Of T- before they’d probably realised it wasn’t that funny. Josh wonders if maybe it was Toby, he always seemed to be the one with the darkest sense of humor. He sees Toby now, heading for the balcony off his bedroom and the small gas BBQ outside. The thing had been a housewarming gift and it had taken the end of the world for him to get around to using it.
They’re having a big blowout, cooking all the meat Josh has in his freezer. It won’t last long now the power’s out and there’s no real need to horde anyway. He has a surprising amount of canned goods in the pantry. Josh has this strange need to buy soup every time he picks up groceries to thank for that.
He doesn’t even eat soup.
The sounds of the migrating mass of humanity seem neverending and Josh is glad when Donna finds an old battery powered tape player under his bathroom sink and music fills the apartment. He wonders for a moment if the people moving past his building will look up, wonder who in their right mind would be hosting a BBQ and playing music on one of the last days they have but…
Josh can’t think of any better way to spend it.
000
Wait, really. I know how this goes.
000
Josh watches Sam and Toby pass a ball back and forth while CJ tends the BBQ. She flips burgers and checks steaks and Josh wishes they’d done this earlier, when circumstances weren’t so dire.
Josh looks back in the living room and Donna is still on the couch, but her legs are hooked over the back because he’s no longer there. She’s toying with the television remote, like maybe she forgot for a moment that she can’t actually turn the TV on anymore but didn’t want to put it down because that would be admitting defeat.
“Maybe we should try and leave,” Josh says and Donna tilts until she can see him. “I mean, there’s this friend of mine that has a farm… I’m sure he wouldn’t mind us using it.”
“You were right. We should stay here,” Donna says, letting the remote drop to the floor with a thump. “No one’s actually going to get out of the city before… and we all heard the NASA guys and the Pentagon guys. This is an ELE.”
Josh hates that there is a cute little acronym for something so huge.
“I just… I wish we didn’t know that.” Josh appreciates that it’s lame to bemoan the fact that they are too well informed. They have been left without the ability to believe loading the kids and the dog into the family’s station wagon and making for the horizon will make any difference.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Sam remarks sagely from the doorway, right before a nerf ball beans him on the back of the head and Toby honest-to-goodness giggles.
000
I should know how this goes. I used to know how this goes…
000
“I got this little card,” Josh confides, watching darkness sweep the land and the stars come out like it’s any other day. “Told me where to go and was kinda my hall pass for this kind of thing.”
CJ has a smudge of something on her nose and her hair pulled back. Josh wants to tell her that she’s the best woman he’s even known, or at least one of the top two. Instead he’s telling her this, that he once said no to survival like it was nothing.
He thought about it sure, but only in a very abstract way.
He feels something akin to pity and he realises it’s for Jed Bartlett, a man who wasn’t given a choice. Josh had been able to hand the card back so he could be here, with these people. He wonders what it was like not to have that option.
He knows keeping the card would’ve been impossible as well. He wouldn’t have used it but he would’ve pressed it into the palm of someone, known that he was giving someone a chance. His eyes skip back to Donna who is now dancing with Sam, swaying to the tinny sound of the tape player. His eyes slide to Toby and then finally rest back on CJ.
The only problem would’ve been who.
000
You know what? Forget it. Figure it out for yourselves.
000
CJ and Donna are sprawled across the carpet, passing a family sized block of chocolate between them like a joint. Sam is asleep in an armchair, looking impossibly young and Toby…
“You know what? This is kinda okay,” Toby says and Josh throws back his head and laughs.