TWW Ficlet: untitled

Fandom: The West Wing
Title: --
Rated: PG
Notes: written for dianora2, who wanted Santos as Pres, Josh as COS,
and Donna as Press Secretary.



He smiles at the television, listening to the drone of countless
people calling her name and thinks this is how it should have always
been. People calling her name, not his. He was the behind the scenes
guy, he was the guy behind the guy. Who would want to look at him when
they could look at her?

"Mike, I swear, you ask me one more question about what you're about
to ask me about, and I'm going to flog you," she says with a grin.

"What about the situation in Culiacan," Mike asks anyway, and he
watches Donna just barely suppress a laugh. "Will the President be
commenting on that any time soon?"

"Would you prefer I flog you with a thin long stick, or a short fat one?"

There's laughter, and Josh finds himself laughing too. He doesn't know
exactly when Donna became so comfortable with the press, exactly when
she lost her shyness and her self-doubt, but he's glad to see it.

"That's a full lid, guys," she said, gathering her papers and stacking
them on the podium. "Go home to your kids and kiss 'em for me."

He hops up as she leaves the podium, jogging down the hall just in
time to fall into step with her and grinning. "Do you really think
it's good practice to be feeding Mike's sadomasochistic tendencies
with fantasies of you flogging him?"

"I don't know if it's a good thing she's feeding Mike's fantasies, but
I don't mind that she's giving me my own," Toby said, falling into
step with them.

"You boys and your sick, sick minds," Donna says with a smile, walking
backwards and wagging her finger at them. "This is truly a sad state
of affairs. We have Senior Staff now, am I going to be forced to drag
the two of you kicking and screaming by your ears?"

Josh grins at Toby. "I'm not gonna complain. You?"

"Nope," Toby says with a wide smile, laughing as Donna grins and turns
back around.

They walk into the Oval Office still giggling and sit down on the
couch before they even realize the President is standing in front of
them with a scowl. "Mr. President," Josh squawks, standing quicker
than all the others. "Is something wrong sir?"

Santos scans the group slowly and his scowl lands on Donna. "Ms. Moss,
what have I told you about threatening the press corps?"

Donna bites her lip. "I'm sorry sir?"

Slowly he grins. "If you're going to beat them, I get to watch."