Disclaimer: I don't own most of these characters but I wish I could. Tucker Watt, however is my own creation. Life went on Part 2 Outside Josh Lyman's Office 7:45 am I needed some more time to compose myself after Leo left. And after I finally did I realized that Donna was going to be mad because I was late. So I came in bearing her favorite latte and a muffin. I couldn't believe how quietly I had been able to slip in. In fact, no one even noticed me. When I got to Donna's desk I saw that she wasn't at her desk, but I placed that latte and the muffin down anyway. "No, Josh isn't in right now. I'm sorry but Mr. Lyman isn't in yet. I wish I knew when he was coming in. Yeah, I'll give him the message." Donna said as she slammed down the phone. I winced and I snuck in to my office. I saw Donna sitting at my desk and typing at my computer, still upset about the phone call. "Like I'm going to give Josh the message. The last thing he needs right now is to give an interview about how it feels to be back to work. He needs to be at work. Dammit Josh, it's almost eight, where are you?" Donna called out. I stood in the corner of my office and pondered that question. Donna obviously hadn't heard me come in. I couldn't help but wonder who she was really mad at, that reporter or me? I also wondered why she was at my desk, using my computer. Before I could ask her the phone rang again. "Josh Lyman's office, Donna Moss speaking. Hi, no he's not in yet. I know Leo wants us to go to the library. I was just waiting for a technician to look at my computer, but I can come now. Okay bye." Donna said as she hung up the phone. I watched her gather a few things and head out of the office. I called her name but she didn't hear me. I tried again, but she was halfway down the hall. I could've yelled her name, because I do tend to do that a lot, but I knew she was already in a bad mood. So I just let her walk away. I sighed and I sat down at my desk. I looked at the stack of work that Donna had left me. Strangely, it wasn't near as high of a stack as it normally was. I remembered that I needed my schedule so I went and grabbed it off of Donna's desk. My gifts were still sitting where I had left them. I shook my head and went to work. My schedule was very light. In fact the only thing that was written was a senior staff meeting at nine-thirty. I glanced over a few of my files to prepare me for that meeting. I wasn't exactly sure what I would be expected to know, but at least I could be somewhat prepared. Around nine-thirty I gathered a few things up and I headed to Leo's office. His office was empty. I waited for a few minutes before I realized that the meeting must have been cancelled or something. I happened to notice Leo's schedule out and a line through the meeting. I sighed as I also noticed what was scribbled on the back of a memo. Sam and Toby-on the hill (Senator Hoyes among others) C.J.-with the President at the hill, maybe pentagon Donna and Margaret- Library of Congress Me-with C.J. for the morning- V.P. Hoynes later??? Josh-??? still at home??? I hung my head and I walked dejectedly back to my office. No one had even bothered to try and find me. Let alone tell me where they were going. Maybe Donna was wrong; maybe my ego could be replaced. Outside Josh Lyman's office 5:15 pm I spent the whole day at the library. I hate looking up stuff all day. I walked to my computer and noticed a cute little out of order sign. The technicians weren't funny. They only seemed to listen to Josh, because he was the only one who got them to work on my stuff in a timely matter. As I sat down I realized that there was a cup of coffee and a muffin. I knew that I hadn't put it there and I was pretty sure that it didn't come from the technicians. That left only one person, Josh. I went into his office and I noticed that the files I had left on his desk, had been scattered about in the Josh-like fashion. I also noticed his appointment book had a few appointments listed for tomorrow. I knew for a fact that it had been blank because it was Zoey's birthday so the President would be at Camp David, Leo and C.J. had some personal things to attend to, Sam and Toby were still going to be at the Hill, and I had to go to a stupid assistant training thing. No one was going to be here for him. "Come in, Donna." C.J. called as I knocked on her door. "What's the matter with you?" "Did you see Josh today?" I asked slowly. "Josh wasn't in this morning...wait I did leave at seven-thirty with the President. I just got back, why what happened?" C.J. asked with concern. "Um, Josh was here today and I was at the library with Margaret." I said. "And Sam and Toby were with Ashley..." C.J. trailed off. "Josh isn't going to be happy." I said quietly. "No, I'd say that he is going to be very upset." C.J. replied. "We had better go tell Leo." I followed C.J. to Leo's office. Sam and Toby were already there. Leo let us in after we knocked. Sam and Toby shot us surprised looks, because we looked like a bomb had gone off. "Guys, what's wrong?" Leo asked. "Josh was here today." C.J. stated. "Oh good, send him in, the president and I need to talk to him." Leo said. "No, he was here but he isn't anymore." I said lamely. "What?" Leo asked, confused. "I think that they are trying to say that Josh came to work today but that nobody was here to notice." Toby theorized. "Oh man. First, Ashley and now this. Can my day get any worse?" Sam moaned. "Shut up, Sam." C.J. said sharply. "I saw him today." Leo said, causing everyone to look at him. "So he was mad huh?" Toby asked. "I saw him today but not here." Leo said quietly. "Leo, what do you mean that you didn't see him here? Where else would you have gone to see him?" C.J. asked. "Did you know he was coming in? I mean did you ask him?" I asked before he could answer C.J.'s question. "I forgot to ask him." Leo replied. "Guys, this is worse than we thought." Sam said. "Sam! Stop being so dramatic." Toby ordered. "I'm serious. Josh told me while he was still in the hospital, that his biggest fear was that he would come back to work and no one would even notice him." Sam began. "And no one even noticed." I lamented. "Our second problem is tomorrow." Toby brought up. "Being what?" Sam asked. "The fact that none of us, not even the president is going to be here tomorrow." C.J. stated absently. "That's right. Donna have you tried to call him?" Leo asked. "Well, I paged him but I found his pager in his office. I would call his cell phone but it was damaged that night and he hasn't gotten around to getting it fixed. And I was going to call his house, but what was I supposed to say? Sorry, that your own assistant didn't even acknowledge your presence. Sam's right, we're in deep trouble." I replied. "Why does the words Sam and right belong in the same category as Josh and right?" Toby joked lamely. "Hey." Sam protested. "I'll fix this." Leo stated, even though he had no idea how. "No Leo, we all should take the blame." C.J. said realizing for the first time where Leo had seen Josh this morning. Georgetown Bar 6:30 pm I knew that Donna would kill me if she knew where I was right now, and if she knew what I was about to do. But I didn't really give a damn. I hadn't seen any of my so-called friends at all today, even though I had left messages with all of them. So when an old college buddy of mine Tucker, called and suggested we go out drinking, I took him up on his offer. So here I was nursing my first bottle of beer waiting for Tucker to show up. Granted, I was a little early, but I had just had a terrible day. I needed to drink my problems away. It still amazed me just how much work I did today. I can't believe how much smoother things go when no one interrupts me. And I didn't even scream Donna's name once. That never ever happens. Maybe I don't need an assistant after all. Or maybe it was just dumb luck, since I only had a teeny bit of work. At the very least I expected her to show up around lunchtime or so, because when I was at home she came by for lunch every day. But she didn't even come back to her desk. And there weren't any messages on my machine at home. They had just flat out ignored me today. Maybe I could be replaced. Thoughts like those were why I was so willing to go out with Tucker. He had called me and said that his wife of nine years had just left him. I agreed to try and help him, even though I had only met his wife once and the only way to properly describe her was to call her a bitch. But at least Tucker wouldn't nag me about drinking too much; his system was more sensitive than mine. "Josh what am I going to do?" Tucker moaned after he sat down. "I don't know, maybe you'll be better off without her." I suggested, even though he shot me a killer look. "But she is my life. I can't function without her. She is the only person who can put up with my..." Tucker's words went on, but I lost him after I can't function without her. That was what I always said about Donna. That I couldn't function without her. That I couldn't do my job without her holding my per verbal hand. At least not without pissing most of the country off. But today I think I did a pretty good job of not pissing anybody off. Of course, the phone calls that I did make were to people in congress who actually liked me, not the ones who only pretended to. And I didn't really talk to that many people...but still I think I did more than okay for my first day back. I tried to help Tucker and it wasn't long before we were both pretty drunk. I knew that I would have a killer headache in the morning, but I didn't care. I didn't care and neither did Tucker Watt, my friend from Harvard. The one friend who had called me today.
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