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Analecta
by: N. Y. Smith
Disclaimer: Not Mine
Category: AU (very), Josh/Donna Romance, Josh POV, Angst,
Spoilers: Through Season Three
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Contains references to 9/11/2001. Amy-free universe.
Many days, in a way, I was glad Leo was gone.
I missed him, like I missed my father, but I was glad he wasn't here for the dismantling of the Bartlet
administration. That job fell to me-and to Donna.
After we returned from Saudi Arabia, she had returned to her Senior Advisor position and the Senior Staff
assigned her the logistical side of our journey from Oz. Secure storage places for records had to be found-the
President still hadn't settled on a site for his library. Everything had to be inventoried and accounted for. It was
right up her alley and she did it extraordinarily well.
In addition to being Acting Chief of Staff I coordinated the transition team. Our successor's staff were good
people, despite being Republicans, so that job was simple. My own personal transition, on the other hand, was
not quite as easy.
"So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Sam had asked with mock earnestness.
CJ and Toby, who'd also hung around after the Senior Staff meeting in Leo's office, chuckled.
"That would require that he actually grow up," Donna ribbed but gave me a short, sweet kiss before she left the
room.
"I know the Whip has offered you his Chief of Staff position," Toby fished. "And I'll be over on Andrea's staff .
. ."
"I thought you were taking that position at Yale then running for the Senate," CJ leaned forward, glasses perched
on her nose.
"Before that he's taking a vacation, then coming to California to manage my campaign for judge," Sam said
confidently.
"Then you can visit William and me in Napa," CJ's voice rose.
"Guys," I held up my hands, "Donna and I have gotten a lot of offers but we have to decide what's best for the
family." I studied the scar on my palm. "Maybe it's time for us to get out of the fishbowl of politics and give the
kids a normal life."
"I'm glad to hear you s-say that," the President leaned against the door jamb to the Oval Office. "A moment,
Josh?"
The ever-so-slight stutter had developed since Leo's death, and a hand tremor from September 11 had reappeared
in the last week or so. I followed the President while the Senior Staff went their way.
The President waved to his desk. "They're after me to make a decision-about the library."
"It's January, sir, and..."
"I don't want a Presidential Library," he cut me off. "That's little more than a crypt filled with books."
I chuckled. "Then what do you want?"
"I want," he sat in his chair, feet on the Great Seal and I perched on the sofa, "I want to take the money we'd
spend on some great stone edifice and really put it to good use. I want to..."
"We want to create the Bartlet Foundation, Josh," the First Lady strode into the room and sat on the arm of the
President's chair. "And we want you to run it."
I looked from the President to the First Lady and back again.
"There's a mill on the back side of the farm in New Hampshire. It would be a great place to raise a house full of
kids and we've already had it cleaned out for you."
"There are meadows and orchards and cows and horses. The slower pace and lower-stress will be great for the
kids."
"You've been talking to Donna." I ran my index finger across my lips.
"I don't have to, Josh," the First Lady said quietly.
"If that seems too bucolic for you, it's close enough to Boston for you to commute to that teaching position
you've been offered at Kennedy," the President prompted.
"We could car-pool to Boston," the First Lady said slyly.
"We need you, Josh," the President leaned forward. "We need you to get this thing off the ground."
I studied the Seal and swallowed hard. Donna and the kids deserved this chance at a normal life. "What would
we do?"
"What would you want to do? What do you want the Bartlet Foundation to be?"
I gazed out, across the balcony, at the blue skies, my mind tunneling back through years of memories to a
watershed day in Nashua, New Hampshire. "'Surely the code of our humanity is faithful service to that
unwritten commandment that we will give our children better than we ourselves received.'"
The First Lady smiled, then slid her arm across her husband's shoulder before he spoke, "I can't imagine a better
legacy, Josh, for any of us."
The cold wind was as bitter as the taste in my mouth as I stood among the silent sentinels on a Virginia hill
overlooking the Potomac. "So, it's off to scenic New Hampshire for the Lymans-me, Donna, Mom and all the
offspring." The stone before me listened silently. "I'll be teaching at Harvard, too." I chuckled. "Pity the poor
students." I buttoned my coat against the chill and shifted my weight. "I don't know when I'll be back this way
again." I could see Donna, sitting patiently with our family in the requisite Suburban. "I just wanted you to
know that," I could feel the tears rolling down my face, "I don't think I ever told you," I kneeled in front of the
headstone, dug into my pocket for a small stone I'd brought from Riyadh, placing it directly above the chiseled
cross. "Thank you, Leo. Thank you for my life."
I stood and walked back to my family, certain I could feel Leo's comforting hand on my shoulder. Sliding into
the driver's seat, Donna covered my hand with hers. Words did not exist for how I felt. With one last glance I
sighed, squeezed Donna's hand and slid the selector into gear. The pavement crunched beneath the tires as we
left the Arlington Cemetery, taking the loop around Washington before heading north. We were still in Maryland
when my older son, now five and almost too big for his toddler seat, grinned and asked, "Are we there yet?"
Chapters -
Prologue | 1 | 2 |
3 | 4 | 5 |
6 | 7 | 8 |
9 | 10 | 11 |
12 | 13 | 14 |
15 | 16 | 17 |
18 | 19 | 20 |
21 | 22 | 23
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