Calling The Question

by: Evelyn

“Is there any more duck sauce?”

“For ‘my’ spring roll, Donna?” Josh asked with a smirk.

“I don’t think they sent enough duck sauce,” Donna pouted, reaching for the last piece of spring roll on one of the paper plates spread out on the conference table.

“Don’t even think about it,” Josh warned playfully, grabbing hold of Donna’s wrist as she started to take the morsel to her lips.

“What?” Donna asked innocently.

“I didn’t get even a single bite of it tonight,” Josh complained with a smile.

“You want some?” Donna asks with one eyebrow arched.

“Donna!” Josh laughed and started to pull her hand to his mouth just as there was a knock on the door.

Josh and Donna froze and turned to look as Abbey Bartlet walked in, followed by Amy Gardner. Josh dropped Donna’s hand as they both leapt to their feet.

“Good evening, Mrs. Bartlet,” Josh said hesitantly, and nodded. “Amy. Can I help you?”

“Josh, Donna,” Abbey said with a smile. “Leo said we could find you in here. I hope we’re not interrupting.”

“We’ve got a late meeting with Bruno and were just grabbing something to eat,” Josh said, sweeping his hands across the table. “Do you need something?”

“Amy tells me that there’s a problem with the U.S. response to the international sanctions against legalized prostitution,” Abbey began.

“I’m surprised you’d say that, Amy,” Josh answered cooly, “since you know that we settled that issue months ago.”

“J,” Amy said with a smile, crossing the room and leaning in to kiss Josh on the lips. He turned his face so that her lips grazed his cheek.

“There’s still a lot of debate among the G-8 countries on this issue, and with another conference set for next week in Amsterdam, I wanted to be sure that we all agreed on the language. If we can just have a few minutes of your time, I’m sure between Abbey, you, and me, we can get this resolved.”

“If this is a bad time,” Abbey said, with a question in her voice, and looking carefully at Amy and Josh.

“No, we have a few minutes,” Josh said uncertainly.

“Fine,” Amy declared, turning to face Donna. “Would you get some coffee for Mrs. Bartlet, Josh, and me. You take yours black and decaf, don’t you Abbey? So do I. But, Donna, Josh always drinks 100-proof and takes his with a splash of milk,” she turned and smiled at Josh.

“I don’t want any coffee,” Josh said quickly, looking at Donna, but he couldn’t read her face.

“Of course you do. You always have coffee after dinner. Like you, of all people, need an extra jolt of energy, but that’s Josh,” Amy smirked. “Donna, get some coffee for Josh.”she demanded.

Donna looked at Amy, then at Josh, and turned without a word and left the room.

“Why don’t we all sit down,” Amy said, gesturing to Abbey to take a chair, and seating herself next to Josh.

“You have a meeting with Bruno?” Abbey asked, trying to fill the silence.

“Yes, to go over campaign strategy for Super Tuesday,” Josh said stiffly.

Just then, Donna came back with a tray of mugs, put one in front of Amy, and one in front of Abbey, who murmured her thanks. When she neared Josh, he reached out for the mug and said, “Thank you, Donna” trying to make contact with her eyes, but Donna refused to look directly at him.

“If you’ll excuse us, Donna,” Amy spoke firmly. “This is going to be a policy discussion.”

Abbey quickly said, “I’m sure it would be helpful if Donna joined us.”

But Amy interrupted, “I’m sorry Abbey, but some of this information is privileged from the Women’s Leadership Coalition.”

Still without saying a word, Donna looked directly at Amy, then turned on her heels and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Donna stood in the hallway and leaned against the wall fighting back tears. Then, after a few moments, she straightened up and muttered to herself, “Well that’s never going to happen again.”

“Excuse me, Donna? What did you say?” Margaret, who was walking down the hall, stopped. She looked at her friend, who looked even paler than usual, and then asked, “Are you alright?”

Snapping out of her reverie, Donna turned slowly and faced Margaret. After a few seconds, Donna got a determined look on her face and said simply, “I’m going home.”

“Are you sick?” Margaret asked anxiously.

Without another word, Donna walked down the hall to her desk.

Chapters - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Sequel - Like A Bad Penny

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