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Author: Toni McIntyre (Rogue Title: A Mentor for Joanie Part 2/?Rating: PG Summary: Now that things with Bartlet or scheduled, Joanie drops by home for a visit to her parent's campaign head quarters. Note: Thanks to everyone who gave me ideas for Sam's son's name! The winner is...Leo Tobias Seaborn! I like it a lot actually! I also introduce a new character: Delores (Lori) Abigail Ziegler. Guess whose kid she is? Giggle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Mentor for Joanie Part 2 I caught the earliest flight out to Connecticut that I could. I only had so many days of vacation left and I wanted to spend the rest with my family. I had meet with Professor Bartlet and now that a time and date was out of the way I could go visit my family's campaign head quarters in Connecticut. Now I'm leaning back in my chair just gazing out my window as we descend. I watch the sun rise, the orange and red colors flashing wildly over the Connecticut airport. We come to a slow stop and I get ready to leave, slowly gathering my things. I hate planes, I have a sickening fear of heights, honest to god, parking too high in a parking garage drives me nuts. But I bear the plane trips with gritted teeth because it's the fastest way for me to visit my family and friends who don't live in Boston. I stumble out into the airport, still trying to remember how to walk. My carry on is slung over my shoulder and I think I must look horrible. I'm wearing a plain black Harvard tee shirt and faded jeans, my brown hair pulled back into a sloppy bun with strand falling haphazardly in front of my face. I some how trudge to the luggage claim and grab my suitcase. "Joanie!" I turn when I hear my name and I think I do it a little too fast cause I get dizzy. I still have air plane legs, remember? Also I get motion sickness really easily...I am definitely a dork. I balance myself and look out to see my brother Jed walking towards me. "Josiah?" I ask and smile. "How ya doin'?" "Call me Jed Joanie or I'll start calling you Joan," he threatens before hugging me. "I'm fine. Mom and Dad are back at headquarters but they asked me to pick you up." "You're driving?" "Yeah." "I think I'll take a cab." "Joanie..." "No, seriously, I was the one who had to ride with you on the Speedway at Disney land, I know how you drive." "I was six!" "Still...hey, maybe I'll walk." "Ten miles?" "Fair point." My whole family argues like this, I swear. I blame it on mom and dad. "So has the house been taken over by the campaign?" I ask as we start to leave the air port. "We moved most of it to the headquarters down town," Jed says. "But you know Mom and Dad, sometimes they forget the difference between office and home." I laugh, "Yeah they do. Can we stop at the head quarters before we go to the house? I want to say hi to everyone." "Sure," Jed says and we start out the exit towards the familiar blue van from my childhood. Same van that drove me to kindergarten, I swear. "Actually I kinda figured you would say that." I nod and when we reach the car I open the trunk to shove my things in. I lam it down after I'm done and go to slide into the passenger seat. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" I ask Jed when he climbs in the driver's seat. "Joanie, stop freaking out okay? I can handle this," Jed says in his usual cocky tone. He pulls into reverse and stomps on the gas...almost slamming into the BMW behind us. I don't say anything...instead I just give him one of those big sister looks that says I was right. "That could have happened to anybody," Jed argues over the shouts of the BMW driver. "Get out, I'm driving," I order and Jed doesn't complain. He slides out and I walk around the back of the van where the other driver is still screaming. "What the hell did you think you were doing?" he yells. "Sorry sir," I say, putting on an innocent look. "It was my brother, he's a teenager and an idiot, hey vote Lyman in November!" With that I walk to the driver's side and climb in to where Jed is giving me a smug look. "What now?" I ask. "The primary's in January." "Shut up." ******** Somehow we get to campaign head quarters––don't ask how, there were fair amounts of blows exchanged––and I park outside the small building with Lyman posters all over the windows. The letters above the door were painted bright blue and said: Lyman for America Campaign. I know it used to be the Bartlet for America sign until my Aunt CJ got a hold of it and made a couple changes. I'm sure Mr. Bartlet didn't mind. When I think about Josiah Bartlet my mind drifts back to our conversation at Notre Dame. After I finished visiting my family I would head back to Harvard, and the Tuesday after I'd go back to Notre Dame to begin my interviews with Josiah Bartlet...I get butterflies just thinking about it. "Joanie!" A shrill scream cuts through my thoughts and I grin when I see Margaret run towards me. She's one of my mother's closest friends and has known my family since the Bartlet administration. "Hi!" I laugh and Margaret hugs me, tears in her eyes. "Oh, it's so great to see you! Look how tall you are!" she continues on and on and Jed moves behind her and starts making faces so I find it difficult to keep a strait face. "Margaret," I say, interrupting her when I found the chance. "Are my parents available?" "They're in side," Margaret says excitedly. "Oh, they'll be so happy to see you!" We start to walk in and turn back to Jed. "Jed, why don't you take my stuff to the house?" "Gladly, if this is the kind of reunions I'll have to put up with all day," he makes a face before heading to the car. I walk through the door and there's another scream. " Oh my god!" There's a couple more oh my gods before Dolores Abagail Ziegler runs towards me and hugs me so hard I'm afraid I stopped breathing. I motion to Margaret I'm okay form here and she walks off towards a desk with a smile. "Lori! Oh wow, you look great!" I look down at my child hood friend. She's in a deep blue suit and must be doing volunteer work at the campaign or something. "You too Joanie! Do your parents know your here?" she asks in a hushed voice now. "Not yet, but I think with all the screaming they will soon," I laugh. "So how's Berkley?" "Fine! I almost got my masters degree," she grins widely. "I'm thinking about going into TV. Mom says I got her PR strengths." "If you did you're lucky," I snort. "Your mom's a great Press Secretary, Lori." "Don't need to tell me," Lori laughs. "Wow I can't believe your here! Now all we need to do is haul Leo's ass away from school for one day and the three musketeers would be back together!" I smile at the nickname our parents gave us when we were young. Yup, it was Joanie Lyman, Lori Ziegler and Leo Seaborn––the three musketeers. I swear we went everywhere together for the first half of our lives. Our parents were all such good friends that it just made sense for all of us to be too. Lori's CJ and Toby's daughter, she has CJ's eyes but Toby's almost black hair that's wavy all the way down to her waist. She's always loved acting and would like to write TV scripts one day, having inherited Toby's writing talent. Lori was always the pretty one, attracting all the guys attention...but like her mother she received a shiska feminista attitude and usually stomped them down before they could ask for her number. Leo––the last musketeer––is still at Harvard. How the two of us managed too go to the same law school is beyond me. Leo's a hard worker, like his father Sam, and taking a day off to him is a sin. Lori and I have been trying for years to get him to lighten up a little...so far no luck. At first we thought we might loose Leo to the dark side of politics. His mother Ainsley is a Republican and for years we tried to sway him away from Republican tendencies. We won, Leo's a full-bred Democrat and his father couldn't be happier. "Oh, Lori, I gotta tell you...I just got back from Notre Dame," I say excitedly, remembering the true cause behind this trip. "You did?" Lori's eyes get big. "Did you talk to him?" "Yeah, get this, we're meeting next Tuesday!" I say, practically jumping up and down. "Oh, cool!' Lori laughs. "That's so great!" "I think I remember issuing a memo strictly prohibiting bouncing in the hallways." I turn slowly towards the deep voice to see my father––Joshua Lyman—leaning against the doorway to an office. He looks great, he aged well (although he denies aging at all) with gray near his ears, interrupting his curly brown locks here and there. "Well I wasn't here so I received no such memo," I snuff, smiling. "Well it also said you can be forgiven of such a sin as jumping in the hallway, you just have to do one thing," my father has that sneaky grin on his face like he has a plot. "Oh...and what would that be?" I ask, enjoying this little game." Give your father a hug." "Ick no, I think I'll take whatever other punishment you have, what's the worse it can be? Five to ten?" "Joan Claudia Lyman get over here and hug your father." I obey, but only because he used my full name. I hug him and smell his strong cologne that I remember spilling all over the carpet once when I was five. The room reeked for days but now I always think of my dad when I smell it. Kinda strange the things you remember, huh? "Hey where did those sarcastic comments come from?" He asks, raising an eyebrow after our hug ends. "Mom says I got them from you." "Your mother has her fair share of sarcastic streaks." "I know," I giggle a little. "When did you get in?" he asks. "Just now, I got attacked in the drive way by Margaret and then by Lori." "There are some crazy woman running around this place," my father laughs. He turns to where Lori's still standing. "Hey Lori your father was looking for you a second ago." "What about?" "Apparently some guy named Lewis called forty times and your father's threatening to break the answering machine." I grin in amusement, whey do I see Toby actually doing that? Lori shrugs, "Empty threat, he'd miss all his business calls if he did, plus I don't think Mom would approve. But.... I think I'll go talk with him anyway." I smile as I watch Lori run off down the hall and then I turn back to my father. "So I take it you ended up driving here?" he asks me as we continue walking towards his office. "How'd you know?" I ask, smiling. "Because you aren't complaining about throwing up or hitting anything, or calling me from the hospital," my dad grunts. "I shoved Jed out of the front," I confirm. "Doesn't surprise me in the least," he says, shaking his head. "I said it was a bad idea, but your mother insisted upon it, sometimes that woman–– "That woman can what, Joshua?" I try as hard as I can not to laugh as my father looks very surprised. We turn and my mother is glaring at him, arms folded over her chest. Donna Moss–Lyman looks as beautiful as ever, blonde hair pulled up into an elegant bun––more elegant then mine––she looks fit to kill in a dark red suit. "Do you think I should jump out the window?" my father asks me quietly. "I don't think it would be the brightest idea," I say, clearly amused "I don't always have bright ideas." "Well I think we established that a long time ago," my mother smiles for a moment before going all business. "Did you talk to CJ about the press conference on Tuesday?" "Yeah, we're set," Dad says. "Also Sam wants to run through the speech." "Later," Mom say, sighing. "I was hoping actually we could skip out and get dinner out tonight...but that doesn't look like it'll be happening." "Sorry, we're running for President here Donnatella," Dad says. I think it's so cute when he calls her by her full name. I'm standing off to the side just watching my parents. It's my idea that all married couples should talk like this. "By the way, you skipped the nine o clock," Mom says, suddenly shooting daggers again. "I didn't skip it I...rescheduled it." "It was important, Josh." "It was Hanks, Donna, he has little control, it'll be fine." "That's what everyone said about Stackhouse," she grins and I'm thrown out on a loop. Who? "I'll reschedule and make it first priority," Dad assures her. He grins at her. "I hate it when you're right." "I know, but I love it," she grins and grabs him by the lapels and kisses him. I smile and fade slowly in to the back ground, not wanting to interrupt the moment. When they part my father looks at my mother lovingly before saying, "now hug your daughter before she can slink any further in to the shadows." Damn I'm, caught. I grin as my mom turns to me and gets a bright smile on her face. "Joanie! Come here!" I walk up to my mother and hug her tightly. "How was your trip?" she asks. "Great,' I smile. "That reminds me.... I have to tell you about how I met Bartlet." "Fine, we'll go into your father's office and hide for a while," Mom says and we walk inside. My parent's exchange brief devious and amusing looks before my father leans out of his office again. "Margaret!" my dad calls and the woman comes hopping in to view a moment later. "Yeah?" "If CJ calls, we're at the dentist." "All three of you?" "Yes, now go."Margaret rushes off and my dad shuts the door. He sits down on the couch next to my mom and I place myself in the chair in front of them. "Now, tell us everything." TBC
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