Title: Fifty Dollar Bill
Author: coffeeplease
Rating: YTEEN
Category: future fic, past fic, sappy
Spoiler Info: Everything up to "Tomorrow"
Disclaimer: WB, NBC, John Wells, Aaron Sorkin.... owners. I just lease
and try not to stain the carpet. Lawsuits don't look good on me.
E-mail address for feedback: jamhandy1@yahoo.com
Archiving permission: Sure, just tell me first
Notes: Feedback is better than a fifty dollar bill and a medium rare steak.


She woke up in a hotel, with one of his ankles pinning one of hers
under the covers. He had wrapped the pillow around his head, his face
covered. But at least his covered face was pointed her direction.

He woke up a short time later, when she turned on CNN and left the bed
to make them coffee. Four AM. They had to get dressed, catch a flight
to DC and then... then they had to bury Leo.

She went back to her room to get dressed. Putting the delicate chain
necklace on, she remembered that she didn't have a place to stay in
DC. A knot formed in her stomach; to ask the obvious person would
probably ignite a conversation. And the day they buried Leo, the day
he watched his second father go into the ground, was the last day on
earth she wanted to have it.

Her thoughts turned somewhere else.

********************************

"Come in, kid."

She hobbled in the best she could. The ankle was healing nicely, but
she still kept it bandaged tightly. As if to have a constant reminder
of mistakes she had made, pain she had caused herself and the healing
she had yet to really do. "You wanted to see me, Mr. McGarry?"

"Leo, kid, it's Leo. Mr. McGarry makes me sound like someone's gym teacher."

"Okay... Leo."

She sat down in the plastic chair across from Leo, swallowing the urge
to be nervous. Confidence, she told herself. Fake it until you make
it.

"Listen..." Leo began, sounding as if he had very specific things in
mind to say. But before he got too far, his train of thought jumped
the tracks and he interrupted himself. "You're a real skinny girl,
Donna. Do you eat anything?"

"Leo..."

"I mean, I know people around here skip meals and all and you don't
have much money, but you're basically, like, blond hair and bones."

She blushed a bit.

"I'm sorry, that's rude of me." Leo smiled. "I didn't mean to... aw, Hell... "

"No, that's okay." She wasn't about to protest the campaign manager
being concerned with her weight. Even if she were insulted, she would
never let it show. She wanted this thing, this experience too badly.
"I eat, Leo."

He nodded. "That's good. Not that I'm trying to be a mother hen or
anything, but the last thing we need is you, you know, collapsing on
us."

Donna refrained from reminding Leo that, with Bartlet in distant third
place, there were more pressing concerns than her. Like climbing out
of said third place. But she just smiled and nodded.

Leo continued. "Okay, then. Josh wants to put you on staff."

Donna's stomach did a flip-flop. A stomach, by the way, that had hash
browns and a sausage/egg/muffin combo from the deli down the street in
it. Lots of protein and only three bucks and change.

"And I'd like to put you on staff. Hell, the entire staff would like
to put you on staff, except Toby, but that's only because he has no
idea who you are."

Donna nodded again. She had talked to Toby twice and she found Toby...
interesting. He was very polite, not dismissive or anything, but she
got the sense that he just wasn't paying attention to the people who
flitted in and out of the campaign doors. Or even the people riding
the bus with him. He was kind of lost in his own world of numbers,
speeches, rubber balls and notepads.

"The problem is, we just don't have the money for it. Until we get out
of third place, we're operating on a tight budget."

"I completely understand."

"We can definitely give you a title of some sort. We can elevate your
status beyond just volunteer, which, obviously, it already is.
Volunteers give us three hours on a Sunday; you're here everyday."

"Well... thank you. That's fantastic."

Leo made a face. "No, it's not. You deserve to get paid for being here
everyday. You deserve it for working with Josh, for crying out loud."
Leo stopped for a moment, his face becoming reflective. "By the way,
just out of curiosity... why did you pick him?"

"Pick him?"

"Yeah. I mean, he told me the story and everything. And nobody besides
me had someone answering their phone, so you could have picked CJ or
Sam. Or Toby, but I suspect you wouldn't be here right now if you'd
picked Toby. So why Josh?"

Donna shrugged. "His office was the messiest."

Leo smiled broadly and nodded. "Yeah. You're a smart kid, Donna."

"Thank you."

"Of course, now you're stuck with him."

"That's fine with me. He gave me a chance. He didn't have to."

Leo sat for a moment, thinking. Donna had no idea what about; she
worried, sometimes, about what others thought. Why or how they thought
she had gotten this gig. She sometimes thought about it. Why did Josh
say yes? She hoped it wasn't the reason that occasionally popped up in
the back of her mind. The obvious reason. He had never done anything
to suggest it was. Everything was proper, close and friendly, but
proper.

She was so grateful for it. Yes, he was an attractive man, but it was
literally the last thing she needed right now. After everything with
Paul, every goddamn lie and mistake they had both made, the almost
Shakespearean drama of her last two years with him... she just wanted
space and time away from relationships and drama. And Josh was a good
guy and it heartened her to think that there were more good guys out
there.

Leo nodded, as if to end his thought process. "I think you bring out
good in Josh. He needs someone to keep him on an even keel sometimes.
Most of the time, he's rational, but sometimes he obsesses about one
or two things. He likes to fix everything. Comes from..."

Leo stopped abruptly. "What am I saying again? You know the guy.
Anyway, you're hired without pay. And as soon as we can pay you, we
will. And when we win, you'll be working at one of the most famous
workplaces in the world and the taxpayers still probably won't pay you
what you're worth, but you'll get to ride in Air Force One."

"Really?"

Leo leaned forward, teasingly. "That's the reason I'm doing this. I
want to ride on the big plane."

Donna laughed and stood up. "Thank you, Mr.-- Leo. Thank you."

Leo reached around to his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "This
seems slightly... well, here." He handed her a fifty. A fifty!

She took the money. "Wha--"

He interrupted her. "For food and, you know, stuff. You know what you
should do? Tonight, when that lug of a boss of yours lets you leave...
there's a place on the corner of fourth and Maple. Best steaks in New
Hampshire. They do it in a wine sauce, a rich burgundy. Get that, the
cherry pie and a glass of the house Shiraz."

"Sounds great, except the Shiraz. I'm not really a red wine person."

"Well, you can't have white with steak!" He laughed. "What's your drink?"

"Rusty nail."

"Ah... scotch and drambuie. That's a nice drink. Have yourself one of
those; not too many, we need you fresh for tomorrow."

She turned to leave. "What's your drink?"

He smiled. "I don't drink. But you know, when I did, I always liked a
good glass of Scotch."

She could easily read between those lines, but Leo didn't seem
bothered by telling her what he knew he had just told her. It warmed
her inside that he trusted her enough to share that.

"Thank you, Leo."

"No problem, kid."

She left the office, went back to work and ordered the steak that
night like he recommended. She didn't have a rusty nail; just a Coke.
The waiter was very nice to her, commented on the Tolstoy she was
reading. When she went to pay the bill, she found out that someone had
already picked up her tab. Leo McGarry.

He had given her fifty bucks and a free meal. Really, Donna knew that
the campaign probably owed her more than that for the work she had
done, but she was touched and moved. The former Secretary of Labor.
One of the highest power players in the DNC.

The world was full of good men, apparently.

Until they put her on staff, Leo gave her fifty bucks every week.

********************************

Josh, Santos, Bartlet and the others had already moved the casket past
Donna when she, for some reason, touched her ankle. She didn't even
think about it.

Later, when President Bartlet and everyone else was soothing
themselves with funny Leo stories, she almost told them about the
fifties and the steak, but she couldn't. Everyone was telling funny
Leo stories, not touching Leo stories, not stories about Leo that
warmed the insides.

She didn't want to break the mood and she didn't want to see Josh's
reaction. So she kept it to herself.

She wanted to thank Leo again, but how could she? She didn't want to
put a fifty on his grave; it would just get stolen. She didn't want to
give a fifty to Mallory; this was between her and Leo. No one else.
But the proper way to tell him, the proper way to pay tribute, she
just couldn't come up with.

Three years passed.

********************************

"Committee to Reelect Santos, this is Karen speaking, how can I help you?"

Donna heard the words in passing, as her husband was dragging her
around the office. The campaign offices, newly acquired and much more
lavish than the first time around. Of course, she remembered that from
the second time around of Bartlet. Incumbency has its perks.

"I got a leather couch in my office, Donna." Josh kept holding her
hand as they walked into his office. He was the co-campaign manager;
he was the campaign manager making strategy and calling the shots, not
the one traveling with Santos. He also had negotiated being home at a
reasonable hour. Also, he had negotiated...

"You also have a portable crib and a playpen."

"Yeah, you know. So I can teach him how to run a campaign."

"He's two months old, Josh."

"He can learn the basics."

She sat on the bragged-about leather couch. This was the first time
she's been away from the baby in awhile. Josh, too, seemed nervous,
about baby-sitters and schedules and how this was all going to work.
She would consult from home, they had decided, until later in the
campaign. He would try and be home by six every night. If it was
impossible, then Donna and the baby should come to the office.

She wondered how it would all work in reality. When it wasn't just
their abstract plan.

Josh looked at his Blackberry. "Bruno wants to complain about
something. I'll be right back." He kissed her quickly, then bulldozed
out the door, throwing on his jacket as he walked.

A skittish young woman came into the office and set down a file on
Josh's desk. Donna smiled at her. "Hello..."

"Hel-- oh. You're Mrs. Lyman."

She was still Moss at work, but she kept her smile anyway. "And you are?"

"I'm Karen. I'm the receptionist. Well, one of the receptionists. Tony
went to lunch."

Tony was Josh's actual assistant. "It's nice to meet you, Karen."

"Likewise, Mrs. Lyman."

"Please call me Donna."

The young girl looked confused. "Okay."

"Mrs. Lyman's my mother-in-law."

The girl nodded.

"Is this your first campaign?" Donna leaned back into the leather
couch. Man, it was nice leather. She had a feeling her and Josh might
be sleeping on the damn thing, so it was good it was comfortable.

"Yes. Well, I... I put up signs around my town for Bartlet, the first
time. With my Dad. I was in middle school."

Donna smirked. "Now you're making me feel old."

Karen blushed. "Oh. I'm sorry, Donna. I didn't mean to do that."

Donna looked at the young woman, her eyes piercing her in a kind, soft
way. Looking to see something... looking to see herself, maybe.
"Karen, I'm the last person here you need to be nervous around."

"Okay."

Karen still seemed nervous, almost scared.

"Is everything okay?" Donna asked.

Karen met her eye for the first time. "I read an article about you
when I was in college. When you were the First Lady's Chief of Staff.
All about how you just showed up at the Bartlet for America
headquarters and hired yourself. Made me think that you didn't have to
have ten degrees to do this."

"Just a lot of hutzpah."

Karen smiled. "Yeah."

"Did you... just walk in here and hire yourself?"

Karen shook her head. "No, I applied. Still, sometimes I don't feel
very comfortable. I'm not the most confident person in the world."

Donna pushed herself out of the very comfortable leather and stood.
"You fake confidence until you actually have it. At least, that's what
I did."

"Still..."

"Don't worry about it. It'll come."

Karen looked at her again. "I just--- its really an honor to meet you.
I think you must've inspired a lot of people out there. You inspired
me."

After all these years, Donna didn't know she could still blush. Yet,
she felt her cheeks warm. "Thank you, Karen. That means a lot to me."

Karen nervously, but smiling, began to back out of the room.

"Wait!" Donna said, reaching for her purse.

Karen stopped in her tracks.

Donna pulled out her wallet and began sifting through the bills. "This
is going to seem strange and maybe one day, I'll tell you the story of
why I'm doing this. They don't pay you much here, right?"

"I'm still technically an intern, so I'm not getting paid at all."

Donna found the bill she wanted. "We'll have to change that. I'll talk
to my husband. However, for the purposes of this moment, it works well
that you're broke."

She handed Karen a fifty dollar bill.