TITLE: Nachos
AUTHOR: Demon Faith
CATEGORY: Insanity, Fluff, Angst, Thoughts. Multiple POVs (Josh, Donna, Sam, Toby, CJ, General)
PAIRINGS: Josh/Donna, slight CJ/Toby
SPOILERS: Minor for ITSOTG, The Portland Trip and Hartsfield’s Landing. Also, most J/D ‘clichés’ in existence.
SEASON/SEQUEL: After Hartsfield’s Landing, but w/o Amy. So, really, who knows?
RATING: PG-13
CONTENT WARNINGS: Insanity, Naked Josh, Graphic description, Character Death, Way too much depth.
SUMMARY: The danger of nachos.
DISCLAIMER: Don’t own, just borrowing, will put back in good time.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Hmm…this is…odd. That’s really all I’m saying.
I just want to say how much I love Jeanine, and that I’m thinking of her. I want to thank Tk for confirming that I am indeed mad.
“Under the apple tree, my true love said to me…”
Godammit, shut that woman up! I scream something unintelligible and open my eyes. Donna is sitting next to me, smiling. She’s wearing the red dress. I like that dress.
“Kiss me, hug me, tell me that you love me!”
Not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment, but what the hell…?
“Om, pom, push!” Each word is accompanied by a shove, and I fall off…the bed.
As I sit, dazed, Sam walks in, wearing his glasses and a superman costume.
“There’s a thing scheduled for Donna and you. There’s custard.”
“Sam, that made no sense.”
Sam looks at me as if I’m nuts, then shakes his head.
“The thing with the custard, and the jello rings! Toby wrote the speech and everything!”
He drags me to my feet, and Donna’s disappeared. He shoves me out of my bedroom and onto a platform. There are lots of people out there. Suddenly, a large amount of custard descends from the sky. Nobody laughs, but a few people may be crying.
“It’s alright, I’m fine…”
“It’s alright to be nervous, Joshua, we understand. Just save some coffee for us.”
The President winks at me, and then disappears. Suddenly, Donna’s back, and she’s wearing a white version of the red dress. I shake my head. The colour just makes her look pale, and it’s clashing with the custard.
“Are you ready Josh? Does CJ have the jello?”
“I don’t know. What’s…?”
“CJ must have it! Sam lost it, and Toby borrowed it, and then Charlie thought it was a toy…”
Donna is crying. I must stop this. I wipe away the tears, and think of something soothing to say. A miniature CJ hovers by my right ear.
“Now is not the time, Joshua. Just leave it unsaid.”
A miniature Toby appears by my left ear, scowling.
“Can we please get on with this? The coffee’s getting cold!”
They disappear, and I’m thinking that this is slightly beyond normal. Donna grabs my hands, and pulls me down, so we’re both sitting in the custard. The real CJ arrives, and hands me two jello rings. Without thinking, I hand one to Donna. She beams at me and slips it on her finger – her ring finger…
The wedding march begins and the crowd applauds. I stare at Donna, and she kisses me. Well, ahkay…
I wake up in a strange bed. The last thing I remember is a party of some kind, and Josh telling a story about Sam and custard. And now, I’m awake somewhere else.
“Mornin’ Donnatella.”
Arms shift around me and draw me close. I turn, and Josh is lying there, smiling at me. Oh. Dear. God.
“Is something wrong?” he’s got his concerned face on, as if he should be right there, as if he’s used to it. Well, I’m not.
“Uh…no.”
“Good!”
He gets out of bed, his bare skin tempting my fingers, and steps outside. Damn. I get up to follow him, and step into the hallway. This is not Josh’s apartment. This is…a house. There’s a picture on the wall…my graduation…I didn’t graduate, did I?
“Waffles or ice cream?”
I look at him, robe hanging loosely over his well-muscled shoulders. I ask you, when does he have the time to work out? I arrange his schedule, he has no right to look like that…
“Ice cream?” I say, puzzling why he would even suggest it.
“Just checking!”
He grins at me like a man in love. Wow, where did that come from? Curiously, I follow him, stopping to look at the pictures on the wall. Sam is holding a baby, that scarily bears a striking resemblance to Josh, and then CJ is dancing with Toby under a banner saying ‘President Seaborn for the People’. What the hell…?
Ok, I can hear a baby crying. I move to a little bedroom, and an adorable little boy is standing in his cot. It’s the baby from the picture, I swear…I wonder who…
“Mommy?”
Blinking back tears, I reach for the child and lift him into my arms. This is *my* child? Does that mean…?
“Toby, I thought you were gonna sleep for Mommy!”
Josh stands behind me, holding onto to my waist. Toby looks solemnly at Josh, and for an instance looks just like his namesake.
“Sowwy, Daddy.”
Josh ruffles his hair, and guides me towards the door. I’m…holding my baby…Josh’s baby…this is surreal…this is beyond…anything.
“Donnatella Moss-Lyman, I think we need to visit the White House.”
“Why, Josh?” I say quietly.
“Cos Toby has a meeting with the President, and he can’t be late!”
“Uncle Sam! Uncle Sam!”
Toby wriggles enthusiastically, and I almost drop him. We get to the kitchen, and I set him in his high chair.
“How’d we get here, Josh?” I say, lost, dazed, yet strangely content.
He leans close to me and whispers “We’ve always been this way…”
~
It’s cold here. It feels like I’m drowning in ice and fire – it’s the strangest feeling. I open my eyes, and I’m under water. I try to surface, but something’s holding me back. I can see faces peering down at me – Josh and Donna, CJ and Toby – just watching. I can hear their muted laughter, as I struggle to get out of this water. My lungs are burning, and my struggles are becoming weaker. I’m going to drown, I’m going to die…
I’m thrown clear by goodness-knows-what. The others have disappeared, and my clothes are suddenly dry. Actually, it’s hot in here. I look around the west wing, and all I see is fire. Everything is burning, alive with flames. I can hear people calling with strange strangled voices, as if they’re miles away. This is terrible, horrific…I run towards Josh’s office.
It’s hotter here, and I can hardly see through the smoke. Everything is rippling, like a bad TV reception, and I hazily make out a shape. Donna is slumped across her desk. I turn her over, and she looks at me with panicked, unfocused eyes. She’s bleeding from her mouth, and her face is burnt.
“Sam…?” she whispers, voice husky from the smoke.
“Hang on, Donna, I’m going to…”
Her body falls limp. Oh dear god, Donna…I shake her but there’s no response. I hold my fingers in front of her parched lips, and there is nothing. I hear someone calling, and I know I have to leave her.
The shouts are from Josh’s office. The door is burnt away, and I step through. CJ and Josh are standing on his desk, which is by the window. The curtains are open, and outside there is more fire. Is the whole world alight? I call to them, but they’re not listening to me. The front of the desk catches fire, and Josh shifts backwards, hitting CJ. I cry out, but it’s too late. She falls through the window, smashing glass mingling with tortured screams, as she falls into the furnace. CJ, just gone…
Josh notices me now, and calls out to me.
“Sam! You’ve got to help me!”
I have to help Josh, I have to save him. He is wobbling on the desk, terrified. This is a sea of bad memories for him, with Joanie and the fire. I reach towards him, but the flames are too hot and I draw back.
“You’ll have to jump, Josh.”
“It’s too hot, Sam! I can’t make it!”
He’s probably right. But I can’t think that, he must have a chance, I must save one, oh god, let me save one…
“You’ll be fine. I’ll catch you. You’ve gotta jump.”
He believes in me. He jumps towards me, and I know – he’s not going to reach me. No, no! I reach out to him, and try to swing him away, but the flames roar, and claim him. I have to pull back, I have to…I pull him out, but it’s not enough. He burns, and he looks at me, betrayed. I betrayed Josh and he’s burning. I pound out the flames, but he’s already stopped breathing. Josh…I’ve lost Josh…
“C’mon Toby! Throw the goddamn ball!”
Josh plants his hands on his hips, and I shade my eyes from the sun. I look at the White House baseball in my hands, and then back at Josh. He’s surrounded by people – Donna, in a dress I remember from the Inaugural Ball, a little boy covered in soot and what appears to be a version of himself, clutching his bloodied side, sitting by a wall that breaks up the lush grass. I shiver.
“Throw to me, Toby!” he calls again.
This is absurd – he can’t catch it with this many people around him. Still, I throw. He pushes past the little boy and his former self, and just as he catches the ball, it slips slightly and Donna’s hands surround his: the ball is safe. Josh always amazes me.
Donna takes the ball and throws it to me. She throws as hard as she can, but it looks like the ball is going to fall short, not reaching me. She watches it, Josh beside her, and the look on her face tells me she’s determined that it will reach me. I look back at the ball, and I have misjudged – it lands squarely in my hands.
Josh pats her shoulder, and they walk off together. Someone should be watching them, maybe me…
“Toby, I thought the idea was to throw the ball.”
I turn to the President, who looks remarkably chipper. He comes over to me, and then points at Sam. Sam is sitting on the grass, apparently picking daisies.
“I doesn’t look as if he’s ready, Toby. He’d never catch the ball, not a chance. Don’t throw to him.”
The President is right: Sam couldn’t catch the ball because he’s not ready, and he’s not much of a player anyway. I have, however, been surprised today by both Josh and Donna. I throw the ball.
It’s going to hit him on the head. He’s not even looking. The ball is about one yard away, when he turns and catches it soundly. He looks up at me, smiling. He gets off the grass, and brushes himself off, before moving towards us. I turn to the President to pass comment on his judgement, but he’s disappeared. Sam gives me back the ball, making sure it’s firmly back in my grasp.
“Thanks for trusting me, Toby.”
I don’t know what to say, as he walks off in the same direction as Josh and Donna – thank goodness somebody’s watching them! – passing CJ as she heads towards me. I trust CJ and throw the ball; she catches it deftly and slings it back at me. It’s passed me and is lying on the grass before I can react.
Damn – I’m good at this game! Why the hell didn’t I catch it? CJ puts a hand on my shoulder and smiles.
“Even you miss one every once in a while, Toby.”
I watch her then: her hair sparkling under the sun, her eyes twinkling. She’s is a breath-taking woman. Why haven’t I noticed before?
“Yes, yes I do.”
“Any questions?”
Why did I say that? I look around, and the White House Press Corps are looking at me, calling my name, and raising their hands for attention. I point to Katie.
“Why isn’t Josh dating his assistant?”
I blink and stare at her. That is not the most…frequent of questions to appear in the Briefing Room. Instead of giving the standard ‘The White House does not discuss the private lives of its staffers’, I feel the need to examine this myself. Can’t do any harm, can it?
“Well, Katie, there’s the possibility that he simple doesn’t like her,” they all laugh. Damn. “I think you’ll find there’s a policy…” Actually, there isn’t. I checked.
“No, there’s no policy.”
Damn.
“Well, it could be because Josh is a grown up, who realises that sleeping with his blonde leggy assistant will look extremely bad for the administration.” Josh? A grown up? Puh-lease!
Katie, however, seems satisfied with that answer, and scribbles on her notebook. Simon raises his hand, and I point to him.
“CJ, is it true that you no longer have a romantic interest in Danny Concannon?”
“I never had…” I stop myself. Ok, so that’s a lie. I start again. “Ok, so for a while, I had a slight…thing, but I’m over it now. Very much over it.”
Simon nods, and writes this down. What kind of questions are these? This must be a slow news day…I absently call to Clare.
“CJ, has Charles Young been arrested for misuse of crazy glue?”
I try to hide my smirk. It’s about damn time. “I’ll look into it. Tom?”
“I don’t have a question, CJ, I just wanted to thank you for all the hard work you do. I can’t be easy standing up there and fielding our questions every day. So, thanks.”
The Press are standing and applauding. I just got a standing ovation from the White House Press Corps…something strange is going on…
Donna snuggled further into Josh’s shoulder, as he began to stir. He didn’t move, just breathed in her scent, sighing to himself. Beside him, Sam was shaking and then he cried out. Josh reached out and touched his arm. Sam sat bolt upright and his eyes flew open.
“Shush, it’s alright Sam…”
Sam turned and looked at Josh.
“You’re…here…alive…”
He pulled Josh into a hug, arms also around Donna. She woke, and looked at him in surprise.
“What’s going on?”
“You’ve been dreaming,” Toby supplied softly, throwing a baseball between his hands. CJ had her head in his lap, and she opened her eyes after a few moments.
“Ah…makes sense…” she said, sitting up, and almost getting hit with the baseball.
When Sam had released Josh and Donna, he looked at them, close to tears. He sat back against the wall, and glared accusingly at the almost empty packet of nachos and tub of salsa in the middle of the streamer-filled room.
“Remind to never eat nachos before I fall asleep.”
“I dunno,” Donna said, not moving from Josh’s arms, “It wasn’t so bad…”
“It was…revealing…and…yeah…” Toby added quietly.
CJ and Josh exchanged glances and shrugged.
"The
future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
-Eleanor Roosevelt